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 Suleena Bibra! Writes: Hi! I write contemporary Rom-Coms with Indian-American characters who love banter and avoiding their feelings. My debut novel, TWO HOUSES, is about auctioneers from rival auction houses in New York City. Priya and Gavin have been in competition since preschool, because of their families’ businesses, and their feud has only intensified since they began working at their respective companies. The rivalry heats up even more when they go head-to-head to win the rights to sell a big collector’s art, wooing him at his week-long country house party in a historic Long Island mansion. Forced together, feelings arise that neither can deny. Now they both have to decide if they can work together for a relationship, or if their life-long competition will prove too big a barrier to overcome. About: I’m from Southern California, but currently live in Virginia (I am not handling weather, particularly humidity, well—I was very spoiled in California). I love travelling and learning about art…

In SLEIGH BELLS RING, Amber Evans is the maid of honor for her best friend Samantha Darling, and Kip Covington is the best man for Nathan Snow. Amber and Kip have been at odds for a year, trying to outdo each other in every aspect of wedding plans. Now that it is their job to plan the bachelor and bachelorette parties, they can’t agree on a theme. Kip oversteps his bounds and invites them all to a joined party at his couples’ ski resort in Vermont. The bride and groom and thrilled, so Amber has no choice but to go along with the plans. That got me thinking about bachelor and bachelorette parties. I’ve been married for thirty-two years, so I haven’t been to a bachelorette party or thought about one in quite some time. In doing research for this book, I was amazed at the themes that are out there now, from wild to flat-out crazy. Here are my top ten favorite ones: A Friends-Themed Bachelorette Party You can arrange your very own Central Perk inside your bachelorette pad with a Friends-themed bachelorette. You can send the coffee mugs home with guests as favors, after your Instagram shoot. You…

1–What is the title of your latest release? NICK AND NOEL’S CHRISTMAS PLAYLIST 2–What is it about? Two lifelong friends falling in love over the course of a holiday season. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The small town of Mistletoe, Idaho is set in the mountains above Fairfield. The area is gorgeous and the close-knit, mountain town backdrop always makes me feel at home because it’s a homage to the towns I grew up in. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  Her ability to say exactly what’s on her mind with no qualms. Sometimes, I wish I had that skill. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Nick is such a genuinely good guy and funny to boot! Who doesn’t love a good sense of humor and a heart of gold? 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Balancing the weight of Noel’s past with the hopeful joy the holiday season brings. 7–Do you look forward to or do you dread the revision process?  I shine during edits. First drafts are torture. My version of hell is writing a first draft over and over with no input and relying…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Auralee! Please tell us a little about yourself and your new book, IN THE COMPANY OF WITCHES.   Auralee: Thank you so much for having me!! So, what can I tell you about myself? I’m a happily married mom of three who plays way too much soccer for her age, and I absolutely love autumn. The more pumpkin spice, the better! As for my new book, IN THE COMPANY OF WITCHES tells the story of a grieving young witch trying to solve the murder of a guest at her family’s B&B without the help of her powers. The story has lots of quirky relatives, spells gone wrong, and a crow named Dog. Witches are having a bit of a pop culture moment right now. What drew you to having a witch as your main character? Do you think her supernatural abilities help or hinder her amateur sleuthing?   Ever since I was little, I wanted to be a witch. I blame the Brothers Grimm, and the fact that I grew up in a stone cottage that backed onto a forest. I can’t tell you how many days I spent playing by the creek in my…

“That wraps up the tour.” Richard Tucker opened the door that led from the school’s main corridor to the Ivy Hill administrative offices. “I’m sorry more staff members weren’t around for you to meet, but this place is a ghost town over Christmas break.” “Understandable.” Zeke Sloan followed the president into the office suite, giving it another discreet perusal. The place was functional, but the original artwork, mahogany furniture, and custom rugs on the polished hardwood floor spoke of a solid financial base. Not a luxury many private schools had these days. “I’ll introduce you to the rest of the faculty at our staff meeting next Friday and—” A door to the right opened, and Richard swung toward it. “Will! I thought you’d left for the day.” A uniformed, fiftyish balding man who could use a few extra trips to the gym paused. “I decided to make one more circuit.” Richard smiled. “I’ve been raving to our new Spanish teacher here about the dedication of our faculty and staff. Thank you for giving witness to that. Zeke, meet Will Fischer, Ivy Hill’s director of security. Will, this is Zeke Martinez, who’ll be filling in for Teresa while she recovers from…

“This about the name of the teacher who influenced you the most.” The question came from Kurt Vonnegut, American author and icon. “And don’t say it out loud.” It happened a couple of decades ago; I sat in an auditorium at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, where Mr. Vonnegut was holding a public lecture. A jumble of thoughts seemed to whirl through the audience. I, however, did not have to ponder. For me, that teacher was Miss Carroll. Way back in the 1960s, she’d been my English teacher in both sixth and ninth grades, in West Springfield, down the road from Northampton. For some mysterious reason, she’d recognized that writing would be my life. “We’ve had fun,” Miss Carroll wrote in my yearbook. “You have a talent. Write! Write! Write!” She was young, energetic, and clearly loved teaching. (I can still see her long, polished fingernails clicking the beats of iambic pentameter when she taught us to embrace poetry.) Most of all, she encouraged me to daydream, to make up stories, to write them down. In an era when, in many small towns, career opportunities (and expectations) for girls were still limited, Miss Carroll taught me to be me. Did…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Avery! We are happy to have you here. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, MAMA’S BOY.  Thank you so much for having me! Love getting to hang out with fellow Fresh Fiction book nerds. I have the absolute best memories of FF get-togethers and how nice everyone was and how fun it was to get to talk books with everyone. So. Much. Fun. Speaking of fun, that’s pretty much what you get with MAMA’S BOY. It’s the first book in the Last Man Standing series all coming out together on August 30 (my birthday!). It has Dixon (a billionaire mama’s boy control freak determined to win a bet), Fiona (a Hartigan and a woman on a mission to put this billionaire in his place), attack geese, a hidden room in a library scene that is HOT, and a ghost dog that isn’t a ghost but is most definitely a dog. Basically, it’s a good time in book form.  MAMA’S BOY is the first book in the Last Man Standing series, with NEANDERTHAL and MANSPLAINER are coming soon. I have to admit, the titles are very intriguing, but perhaps more than what they seem on…

Nash A new start. After driving a moving van fourteen hours, putting his stuff in storage, living out of a suitcase for two weeks while sleeping on his best friend Brandon’s couch, and finally finding an apartment, Nash had a home. It was the size of a shoebox…but it was a home. He closed the door and turned to survey the studio. He didn’t have much stuff—­he’d sold most of it before coming up north. The windows behind his couch overlooked Third Street. His bed was pushed up against the left corner of the apartment, a nook where the living space met the outer walls of the bathroom, creating a dedicated sleeping space. The renovated kitchen lined the right-­side wall, conspicuously smaller than any kitchen Nash had ever seen, with a door at the end for a bathroom. He remembered the nights when the electricity went out and Mom had shouting matches with the electric company about extending their payment period. Memories of his twin mattress against the carpet made him thankful for the fact that he could afford a box spring now. While the walls could have used a new coat of paint, as Brandon so kindly pointed out,…

The Palais Garnier sat fat and contented after its opening night. The final trickle of theatergoers making their way from the building had stopped, and women with scarves tied around their heads pushed brooms and mops across the front steps. The light from the theater, which had poured golden and fizzy like champagne at the beginning of the night, was slowly being extinguished, one window at a time. On a cold, iron bench, Benedict stared up at the single room at the very top of the building. It was still lit—a pale, watery light that spread mere feet across the domed roof beyond its windows. She wouldn’t be there. He doubted she could even climb the stairs after tonight’s performance, with her hip in that condition. She’d danced perfectly tonight. No one would have noticed the injury—even he had sensed rather than seen it. He didn’t know how she was dancing on it. The pain must be unimaginable. Perfect. A strangely unpleasant word. He shivered and pulled his coat closer. After the performance, he and Victor and Camille had gone to a late supper, and then to a bar. After the three had drunk several bottles of champagne (and two…

You know the scene. That one where the hero races through the airport to catch his sweetheart before she boards the plane and soars out of his life forever. It’s a moment in countless stories, both in print and in cinema, where we cheer for the couple and maybe even become a little misty-eyed. But really, what would you do if you were faced with the potential of losing the best thing in your life? Many great love stories feature an airport or airplane scene, often in those final moments of the story when all hope seems lost. That’s when one of the characters realizes the depth of their feelings and risks everything to declare their love. Here are my top five favorite airport/airplane scenes from movies and television: Love Actually: This movie is unique in that it starts and ends in Heathrow airport. As the movie opens, we see various couples and families happily hugging their loved ones at the arrival gate. At the end of the movie, we watch as a dad, played by Liam Neeson, rushes his son through the airport so that the young boy can express his feelings to a classmate who is moving away….