Welcome back to Jen’s Jewels, your weekly destination for all things fiction. Today, I am featuring THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET by New York Times bestselling author Natasha Lester. If you like historical fiction, this one is for you. LIGHTNING ROUND What’s your favorite way to spend a slow summer afternoon?At the beach with my family, reading a book! What snack, drink, or sweet treat always finds its way to your desk when writing?Cups of rose and vanilla tea. If your main character could plan the perfect summer getaway, where would they go?To a beautiful island like Madeira, off Portugal, which is both gothic and gorgeous like the Chateau Marmont, and where you can swim in the sea all year round. What’s one thing that instantly helps you slip into a creative mindset?Doing my morning pages! Once those are done, my brain knows it’s time to write. THE SUMMER SPARK June often feels like the beginning of adventure and possibility. In what ways did this story represent a new direction or challenge for you as a writer?THE CHATEAU ON SUNSET is, in some ways, a reimagining of the classic novel JANE EYRE. I’ve never written a reimagining before, so it was…

Book Title: THE CHATEAU ON SUNSETCharacter Name: Aria Jones How would you describe your family or your childhood?My childhood was great until my parents died in a fire at a gas station and I was shipped off to the Chateau Marmont to live with my aunt, whose name is Miss Devine Rey, the weirdest name I’ve ever heard of. But she’s an actress, and it seems like having a strange name is normal in Hollywood. After that, my childhood vanished completely – living in a Hollywood hotel makes you grow up fast. What was your greatest talent?Being invisible. In a place where everyone wants to be seen, I just want to slip through the shadows. Significant other?My best friends, actresses Calliope and Flitter, who’ve taught me everything I know about Hollywood and the world. We call ourselves the Three Sisters. Biggest challenge in relationships?I try not to have relationships because everyone I’ve ever known ends up dead or gone. But now that the Chateau Marmont has been bought by rock star Theo Winchester, I’m having trouble sticking to my “no relationships” rule. Where do you live?At the infamous Chateau Marmont on Sunset Boulevard, along with all the stars of the…

What is the title of your latest release?THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A big, sexy tearjerker. Marc Lacourt might have great cheekbones and a sexy French accent but he’s a terrible person who did a terrible thing to Cassie the first time they met. Too bad that Cassie’s best friends Lucy and Russell think he’s wonderful. But years later, when an unexpected tragedy strikes their friendship group, Cassie and Marc team up to give Lucy and Russell the best weekend ever. Which means convincing everyone that Cassie and Marc are head over heels in love.After hating him for so long, it takes four bittersweet days for Cassie to wonder if she got Marc all wrong. Can they let go of their troubled past and together, face whatever the future is going to throw at them? How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Most of my books are set in London, where I live, but I knew that the largest part of THE LAST DAYS OF SUMMER, had to be set by the sea. So I borrowed the gorgeous Arts & Crafts house situated on a cliff top on the…

• Triskaidekaphobia is the fear or avoidance of the number 13. • A Strawberry Moon is not named for its color. Early indigenous tribes used the name to mark the time when strawberries ripened. • During the siege of Sarajevo, people built makeshift stoves for cooking. Wood was scarce, so they burned whatever they could for cooking. Shoes were best for making pies. For soups, hardback books. And car tires. The amount of treads it took to cook a meal would be added to the recipe. Beans took six whole treads. • Most strawberries are hermaphrodites. • Soteria is primarily the Greek goddess of safety and deliverance • Hypothermia, acidosis and massive bleeding is called The Triad of Death. • “Like a Dog with Two Peters” is military slang for someone who is absolutely clueless. Somehow I always wind up with a subdirectory named msc in my research folders. The bulleted info above is just a few drops of the ocean of material I collected for my new book, SANCTUARY, a thriller set in America’s near future. Given that I was writing about the aftermath of a climate catastrophe that had crippled the U.S., there was a good deal of…

Each Friday the Smashwords store reports the bestselling indie fiction titles based on the previous week’s sales. If an author has more than one title eligible for the list, only the highest performing title will be included. This ensures high-performing titles receive the accolades they deserve, while providing up-and-coming authors the visibility they have earned. Don’t miss Monday’s Top 10 Hot Preorders List, where Smashwords will provide a list of the most highly anticipated ebook preorders.

Welcome back to Jen’s Jewels, your go-to destination for the hottest new summer reads! Today, I’m featuring THE STORIES WE TELL by Savannah Carlisle. If you love heartfelt coastal stories filled with charm, emotion, and summer romance, this is one you won’t want to miss. LIGHTNING ROUND What’s your favorite writing season: hopeful spring, beachy summer, reflective fall, or cozy winter, and why?In the beginning, I only wrote beachy summer, so it’s definitely my go-to. However, I wrote my first Christmas romance last winter and loved it so much that I’ll be releasing another one this year! What’s one snack or treat that always appears when you’re deep in writing mode?An iced skinny vanilla latte with cinnamon keeps me fueled during those long writing sessions. If your main character had a motto, what would it be?Piper’s motto would be, “Always stay one step ahead.” As a publicist, she’s always looking out for her clients’ reputations, and she’s a Type A who loves to plan everything in both her personal and professional life. THE SPRING SPARK May often signifies the start of something new. In what ways did this story represent a new chapter for you as a writer?It’s really the…

Excerpt from DUCK REDUX by Nic Bettauer: Departure There once was a man who had loved deeply and well, but whose loving had come to an end. He sat on the bed in his rental apartment in Los Angeles. On one side of him was a potted sapling; on the other was an urn. In the urn were his wife’s ashes. To the world, insofar as it took note of him, the man’s name was Arthur Chase, but as there were no other Chases around, it could have been anything at all. Back in his day, Arthur’s full name had been like a home in which he, his wife Frances, and son Daniel had sheltered. But without them, he needed no other name than Arthur, so this is what we shall call him. Arthur wore a brown-toned suit, his Sunday best. He leaned down to fit his feet into his shoes, his motion neat and smooth, his shoehorn like a lever, opening up a space and place for his propriety. He was a dignified man. He stood up, straightened the cuffs of his pants over his socks, smoothed his jacket, and set his tie. He was well-dressed enough now for…

Excerpt from TWO LIVES WITH YOU by Lauren Ho: Dana2023: The Hour Approaches It was the hour of the Maintenance Shag, and Dana had to hurry home. In spite of her best efforts, the morning was getting away from her, and she had much work to do in the house before she could flop down in front of her husband in choice underwear (i.e., those that hadn’t gotten gray and saggy in the wash), the door to their bedroom carefully bolted, and say, Ravish me, honey. People in their forties—in her case, thirty-nine, but she was close enough—were supposed to ravish their partners still, after sixteen years of marriage, weren’t they? Popular media didn’t shed much light on such bedroom maneuvers; it was more interested in people in their twenties and early thirties, tops. But they had to, surely? And, more important, how often should they endeavor toward such ravishment? Their gimlet-eyed marriage counselor—or rather, the IG marriage therapist whose advice they could access for free (all they could afford given their household’s straitened purse strings)—had suggested that for couples in their age bracket (old, beaten-down millennials) who’d “been together for some time,” once every two weeks would be appropriate…

Bedford, New York. The invisible world is full of presences. Come with me on an adventure where we will see the visible edges that lead to the invisible forces residing in Bedford, New York. Among the three hamlets of Bedford (Bedford Hills, Katonah, and Bedford Village), the most haunted is Bedford Village. Journey with me into Bedford’s landscape and embrace Draakensky Windmill Estate. The windmill overlooks the famous Mianus River, revered for its quiet but mysterious character. Between the river full of shadows and the winging sky, you will find many thresholds. Great elms, maples, and yew trees stand like totems as they shed their seductive silence. Listen. Presence is not a thing but an atmospheric existence, textured and flowing with energy. Stay with me, so you don’t get lost between realms. Something knowing here beckons sketch artist Charlotte Knight as she spends these next few months here, a voyager among the residents of Bedford Village. Too soon, she falls for Draakensky’s mesmerizing power and the cracks of the Otherworld realms. On the surface, Bedford is like any other northeast American rural town. The three hamlets boast about 18,000 residents—Bedford Village hamlet has fewer than 2000. Quaint shops line the…

Book: PRECIOUS FRIENDS: MURDER IN SAG HARBORCharacter: JB Pulaski We sat down with Joseph Byron Pulaski – JB to the select few he allows close – at his Sag Harbor home, where he received us with the practiced graciousness of a man who has never once been surprised by anything. He was immaculate. The garden behind him looked like a still life. He offered us a martini at ten in the morning, and we said yes. How would you describe your family or your childhood?My father was a drunk. My mother was a woman who stayed with a drunk. That covers the essential architecture. I learned early that the safest place in any room was the one closest to the exit, and that the adults most likely to harm you are the ones who insist they love you. I don’t say this to invite sympathy – I’ve never had much patience for people who collect their traumas like souvenir spoons. I simply found it clarifying. You learn, under those conditions, to become very self-sufficient. Very still. Very watchful. What was your greatest talent?Observation. I have always been able to read a room – and more importantly, the people in it…