Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Cassandra Rose Clarke!   Writes: Dark paranormal romance with an edgy twist like in SINGING WITH THE DEVIL. Think demons-turned-rock stars playing in smoky dive bars and demon-hunters-turned-accountants getting drawn back in for one last demon hunt. Think forbidden romance blooming in the sultry swamps of Louisiana, evil cult leaders threatening to tear our lovers apart, and enough dark magic to stop the apocalypse.   About: I’m a life-long Texan currently living in Virginia, where I’m delighted to experience four distinct seasons for the first time (autumn really is as magical as everyone says). Non-writing interests include quilting and embroidery, watching more TV than I probably should, perfecting my lavender latte recipe, and attempting to land a flawless double pirouette as a second-chance adult ballet dancer. Somehow, I wound up with four cats.   What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: My ideal reader loves: Brooding monster boys Heroines learning to trust in their own abilities Spooky vibes Seriously…

With her new book WHEN SHE DREAMS out, we here at Fresh Fiction thought it would be a fun way for readers to get to know her characters better (from her many many fab books) to play a little game we call “The Character Most Likely“. I love this because it satisfies my romance nerd self AND because I love Amanda Quick’s books. If you’re new to her Burning Cove series – it takes place during the 1930s and has a wonderful mix of romance and mystery.   Most likely to successfully masquerade as somebody else to get information? ANSWER: Sam Sage (WHEN SHE DREAMS).  Hey, he’s a profession private investigator.  He knows how to do this stuff. Most likely to slip in and out of a locked room undetected? ANSWER: Simon Cage (THE LADY HAS A PAST). He’s got a psychic vibe. Most likely to have a plan blow up in their face? ANSWER: Maggie Lodge (WHEN SHE DREAMS).  She’s the overly-enthusiastic type. Most likely talk their way out of a sticky situation? ANSWER: Luther Pell (THE BURNING COVE series).  He’s got connections.  All he has to do is pick up the phone. Most likely to fall in love…

1–What is the title of your latest release? LADY, BEHAVE, Book 2 in the Naughty Ladies series 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? A stunning Irish lady with a sharp tongue finds a beau who falls for her despite her shady Irish family! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I decided to write a romantic comedy trilogy about sisters who had tiny flaws in their characters and who wished to reform…even if they couldn’t. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? YES! You would want to hang out with Adelaide Devereaux, too, because she sees people for who they really are…and tells others the truth about them. Always. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Needs to laugh! 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? Some people have the innate ability to survive life in prison without much hardship. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I do a sift and winnow type of writing. I write one chapter or scene and the next day, I edit that, then go forward to #2. On third day I return to #2 and…

Hi, I’m Ann H. Gabhart. So fun to be here to share about my new book WHEN THE MEADOW BLOOMS. Doesn’t that title make you think of how flowers bring new hope each spring? The people in my story need that new hope. This title challenge turned out to be a true challenge, but a fun one as I came up with words to share about my characters and more about my story. So here goes. W – Ways. WHEN THE MEADOW BLOOMS is a story of ways to keep believing when hard things happen. As the story begins, Calla, fourteen, and her sister, Sienna, nine, are in an orphanage while their mother, Rose, is being treated for tuberculosis at a sanatorium. Calla never stops praying for a way for their family to be together again.  H – Home. Is there a word that brings more warm thoughts and memories to mind? When their mother became ill, Calla and Sienna had to go to the Home for Girls, a place that never felt like home at all. Will Meadowland be their dreamed for home? E – Efforts. Every time Sienna gets in trouble at the orphanage, Calla wants to find…

Miranda Owen: As soon as I read the description for THE MURDER OF MR. WICKHAM, I was immediately intrigued. I love Jane Austen, and I love mysteries. What inspired you to write this book?    Claudia Gray: Make no mistake – I am a huge PD James fan – but when I first read Death Comes to Pemberley a decade ago, I couldn’t imagine why she cast Denny as the victim. Has anyone ever worried about what happened to Denny? Wickham was right there, being awful, surrounded by people who had very strong motives to loathe the guy. Eventually I decided, maybe I should stop wishing this very good book would be something it isn’t. If I think some novelist should kill off Mr. Wickham, then I’m going to do it myself.    MO: I love the idea of playing around with characters from a classic novel and putting them in different circumstances and mixing characters from different works by the same author. Is this something you’d do again with a different author? Like Charles Dickens? Do you think you stayed true to the essence of the characters while giving them a new spin?    CG: My hope is that…

First of all – I love the cover for your book THE HACIENDA. It seems to capture the mood based on the book’s description. Your book is described as “Mexican Gothic” and “supernatural suspense”. What does that mean to you? How would you describe that for readers? THE HACIENDA is a genre-bending novel that combines elements of historical, horror, thriller, paranormal, and fantasy, tying it all together with a dash of romance. I believe the term “supernatural suspense” signals to readers what kind of experience awaits them between the covers: a suspenseful, terrifying tale of ghosts, witchcraft, and things that go bump in the night. Mexican Gothic is both a comp title (as in, THE HACIENDA will appeal to readers of the novel Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia) and, I believe, a genre in and of itself with ample room to grow! So many things about Mexican culture and history lend themselves beautifully to the Gothic as a genre: ghosts, tempestuous colonial histories, long-buried secrets, buildings that are hundreds of years old, the cultural predominance of and tension between Catholicism and traditional religious beliefs, and the skeletal iconography of holidays such as the Day of the Dead. I eagerly await…

I freaked out more than a little bit when I first realized I could see Mt. Rainier from my neighborhood. The day has to be clear and the air quality has to be decent, but it’s totally possible to see that giant, magnificent, looming dormant volcano steps away from my back door. And without fail every time I see it, I turn into an overexcited fangirl with zero cool. I don’t know how, but that mountain finds a way to sneak up on me. I’ll be passively scanning the skyline, minding my own business, and then what’s that, a cloud? A trick of the light? Then BAM. Mountain. Just like that. My son now knows to expect cheers and a good amount of jumping when it turns out to be a “mountain day” as we’ve so creatively coined it.   Last year, I was really hoping to make it to Mt. Rainier National Park before winter set in since that’s the destination my protagonist sets out to reach in my upcoming novel, All That Fills Us. I was hoping to get a sense of what the park looked and felt like during the fall, since that is when she’s set to…

Thank you for having me at Fresh Fiction today. I’m always excited to be invited. 1–What is the title of your latest release? A GENTLEMAN SAYS “I DO” 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? TEASER: A GENTLEMAN SAYS “I DO” is about a determined, savvy lady who only wants to save her family and a dashing rogue accustomed to getting what he wants. He’s looking for revenge but she helps him find love instead. SYNOPSIS: At the virile age of twenty-nine Iverson Brentwood has finally met his match. Catalina Crisp heats his blood like no other in his history as a confirmed bachelor. She is the most alluring young lady he’s ever encountered. Her boldness has stopped him dead in his tracks. But no matter how attracted he is to the intriguing Catalina, he can’t give into his desire to possess her in every way…for she is the daughter of the man he’s sworn to destroy. Catalina’s father is a well-known poet and a writer, but wastrel whose disappearances continuously put their household one step away from destitution. Something drastic must change, so it is with quill in hand, that Catalina completes her father’s latest parody of the…

Describe the setting that LETTERS TO SINGAPORE takes place for me. LETTERS TO SINGAPORE takes place in Calgary, Canada and Singapore. The protagonist Simran is a new international student at the University of Calgary. Bewildered and alone, she arrives in Calgary (the West) from Singapore (the East). Simran sends letters that go back and forth to 4 women in Singapore. She learns about surviving in a new city, new country and new “everything,” so place becomes a metaphor for transformation and reinvention for Simran.   Does this story draw on personal experience at all? What inspired you to write this book? I was inspired to write this novel when I was accepted into a four-month writing program by the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and Alexandra’s Writers’ Centre in 2019. I was excited and inspired, especially when I found out that my mentor was the marvelous Aritha van Herk. Thrilled and nervous, I finished this novel in 100 days. There are some parts of the novel that draw on personal experiences – one is the skiing adventure. Other parts are the strokes of creative fiction that I enjoyed incorporating as I delved into developing the stories. I enjoyed engaging in the intricacies…

What made you choose 1971 as the setting for A Snake in the Raspberry Patch? I chose 1971 because I didn’t want technology such as cell phones or computers to be in the story. Also, since true crime events in rural communities were part of the inspiration for this book, I didn’t want the date to conflict with other mass murders that have occurred in Canada. And in 1971, I was a teenager so could relate quite easily to what it would be like to live in that decade.   Is the story told through one character’s perspective? Liz is the protagonist, so the story is told through her eyes, but Rose, whose personality seemed to jump out early in the writing, took over many of the scenes. She almost came alive as I wrote. I could even hear her voice in my head.   Do you try to maintain the tension throughout the story? The murders, and/or a killer on the loose, so a potential threat to the girls, are mentioned throughout, creating tension. But I also wanted some normalcy – i.e., depiction of life on the prairie in the 70’s.   Families seem to be the heart of…