The screen door swung open. Della came out into the alley. “Hey there,” Della said. She fished a half-smoked joint out of the pocket of her faded plaid shirt and lit up. “I thought you’d be long gone. You forget something?” Della was planning to work a double shift again. Brutal hours, but she didn’t have a choice. The bank was threatening foreclosure on her house. “No. I was just daydreaming.” Sarah pushed away from the building. Della nodded, took a long toke, then tipped the joint toward Sarah. “Want a hit?” Sarah shook her head. “Thanks for the offer though.” Even though she didn’t smoke, she was touched by the generosity of the gesture. “See you tomorrow,” Sarah called over her shoulder as she headed past the sour-smelling dumpster. “Yup.” Della leaned her bony hip against the building, took another long toke, shut her eyes, and tipped her face up to capture the late-afternoon sun. As Sarah turned left out of the back alley onto E. Knoxville street, she could see Della, eyes still shut, exhaling a long, slow stream of smoke into the air. Sarah walked on. A gray pickup truck rumbled by, but other than that, it…

Welcome to the 2021 Summer BBQ Recipe Roundup! We have a fabulous lineup of authors with new books, delicious recipes perfect for summer parties, and BOOK GIVEAWAYS. Follow along all week to see who is joining us. You’ll learn about new books and find your next great recipes. Plus, there are chances to win books, too!  To kick things off, historical romance author Minvera Spencer shares a sweet treat, perfect to nibble on while chatting with friends on a deck or patio. Her new book, OUTRAGEOUS, the second in the Rebels of the Ton series, is a high stakes battle of wits that pits two people against each other initially… until pesky attraction starts to come into play! *** “TWO-FILLING” PECAN BRITTLE My mom calls this pecan brittle “Two-Filling Pecan Brittle” because she broke not one, but TWO dental fillings one Christmas. But that didn’t make her stop eating it…. (Image from Food Network) Ingredients 1 1/2 cups toasted chopped pecans (the toasting is up to you and you can substitute other nuts if you don’t have pecans) 1 heaping tablespoon salt 1 cup water 1 1/4 cups light corn syrup (you could use dark but you’d get a different…

Up until a few years ago, I had written off graphic novels as “just comic books” and nothing “too serious.” Said the woman who now writes contemporary romance novels (Summer 2022! GET READY). But I remember listening to a podcast or seeing a list on a book review site that said something along the lines of “Graphic Novel Recs for Any Type of Reader” and suddenly, my library hold list was full of requests for books with pictures. And now, if I’m not reading at least a graphic novel or two at a time—in addition to all of the other reading I do—then it’s because I just came off of a week-long bender devouring an entire graphic novel series and I need a breather before I start a new one. There’s something in the physiology of reading Graphic Novels that just works for me. I get to see the characters and all the plotlines come to life in front of me. I read dialogue and inner monologues with the added benefit of sometimes having reactions from other characters that would otherwise go unsaid or a glimpse of foreshadowing from a literal shadow in a scene. The attention to detail is…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE CALYX CHARM 2–What is it about? It’s the third book in the Sacred Dark series, so it’s also about resurrection, second chances, and found families. This one in particular features star-crossed lovers, Violetta and Tibario, who come from feuding households. Tibario died during this feud, only to return to life as a blessed cat-soul. Violetta, a seer, has foretold the destruction of the world as they know it due to the escalation of their families’ battle. So when Tibario returns to her with an apocalypse hanging over them, they have a chance to start again and create a new future together.  3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I absolutely loved writing a setting in which trans people are part of the cultural background. I also love the fantasy drama of grandiose witches and primeval spirits, set around resurrection, dark sorcery, and thunderous prophecies. It’s meant a lot to me to tie all these together with flairs of swashbuckling romanticism. 4–How did Violetta surprise you?  It felt like Violetta was one surprise after another. She was a complicated character to write because her story is so personal, so…

So many of my friends are non-fiction readers.  They don’t grasp the true enjoyment of reading. In fact, their idea of “reading” fiction is binge-watching whatever the latest book adaptation is on Netflix.  They don’t make a connection between the vibrant stories they enjoy and the books that gave them life. And they are fine with that. Meanwhile, I scratch my head. I’m also puzzled by the readers who think Romance is only about sex.  Now, let me assure you, I love the pull and verbal sparring of a couple destined to be in bed together (or anywhere else they want to be.). But that isn’t the reason I’m a dedicated Romance reader.  I knew the moment I was introduced to my first Romance heroine this is where I belong. Without fanfare, here are the reasons I knew I was a Romance Reader: I love a book where the woman decides to take control of her destiny, even if it flies in the face of societal norms or puts her in dangerous situations, or encourages her to go after that promotion. I know she is going to triumph and I’m onboard with cheering her on. I believe love is the…

My new book, DISASTER GIRL, which was released on May 20, is my favorite thing I’ve ever written.  There are many reasons I like it:  It’s set in Chicago, the city where I live.  The plot, involving revenge porn and a sleazy Internet predator, is timely and fast-paced.  The romance between mouthy, feisty Tess and brilliant, sweet Max was unbelievably fun to write.  But the real reason this book is my favorite is because I absolutely loved writing from the perspective of Tess, the main character. Right from the beginning of the project, Tess’s voice was clear in my head.  While the story took many iterations to get right, Tess herself, did not.  I knew her.  Like most of the women I know in real life, Tess is extremely independent and capable.  She’s great at her job and she’s dedicated to her friendships and family.  But also … she loves drinking bourbon at her neighborhood bar.  Sex is a priority, and she relishes her silly escapades with one-night flings.  She has a tense relationship with her mother and is overly protective of her younger sister.  Tess has a bit of a past; she’s done some not-great things that affect the…

“Why did you marry me, Maggie?” His voice was gritty and dripped with raw vulnerability. She whipped around to face him. He stood just out of reach with arms splayed gently to his sides. Sweat and sawdust glistened on his skin and thin lines of wet dampened his shirt where it clung against the curves of his chest. “It was the first thing I ever did for myself,” she whispered to him. Her honesty hit her in the gut. Her only taste of freedom had been with him. Free to make her own choices and to love unequivocally, even in the most profound ways. “Love” was a strong word. But so was “forever.” She stepped forward. The harsh light made the edges of his face sharp and distorted, and she found herself reaching up to brush away the hard shadow from his chin with the tips of her fingers. He caught them with his own and held them for a moment, pressing them against the angle of his jaw. The hair there prickled the tender skin of her wrist and she pulled back slightly, unsure as to why she’d done that in the first place. “I’d never pushed boundaries like…

“Life is like an ice-cream cone, you have to lick it one day at a time.”-Charles M. Schulz We all scream for it, don’t we? Yep! Ice cream is that universal crowd-pleaser that makes us think of celebrations and summer days. So what better way to indulge in that sweetness than a mystery series centered around an ice cream shop in the wacky little town of Upper Sprocket? To whip up a sweet mystery series, we’ll have to have an interesting protagonist. How about, Trinidad Jones, a woman who lands in the same hometown as her two ex-sisters-in-law and finds out the police chief is her felonious ex-hubby’s sister? How is she going to keep her Shimmy and Shake Shop going when there’s a murderer on the loose? And any worthy cozy will need an animal sidekick, of course. Trinidad’s faithful friend is Noodles, the aged labrador, who flunked out of service-dog school due to his myriad of quirky behaviors. He’s been known to hoard the mail and activate the car’s turn signal upon occasion. Okay! We’ve got the protagonist, the fuzzy sidekick, and the town. On to the good stuff! Writing a series of this kind necessitates LOTS of…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Boston. Please tell us about yourself and a little about your new book, TWO BOYS AT BREAKWATER.   A writer should never tell you a little about their own book. It might tend to sound too much like a waiter reading off to you the night’s specials. Set against the backdrop of New York in the 1950s and 60s, TWO BOYS AT BREAKWATER is about two young men growing up and learning about who they truly are, and the love they find in each other. Where did the idea for this novel originate?   I collect incidents. I listen and I watch. And what I sense will take me somewhere else I write down. I sat at my desk for a generation And watching the Bronx rain one night I recalled A moment in a drinking dive not unlike The one Gary Snyder wrote about in I Went into the Maverick Bar That too was on a rainy night Coming down hard on a tin roof. Above the room  Where a pool table reigned supreme. And where two rough type western drunks Shot eight ball and the breeze. “This is gonna come across as strange,” one said. “But…

I fell in love with mysteries at an early age. Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and the Hardy Boys were my first foray into the genre. Then I discovered Phyllis Whitney’s young adult mysteries, Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple mysteries changed my world. Hercule Poirot bragged about using “the little gray cells” while both he and Sherlock Holmes carefully observed the tiniest details and made brilliant observations around those details. Miss Marple, on the other hand, listened to town gossip and used her years of wisdom about human nature to deduce what others missed. All three of them shrewdly found the solutions to murders that stumped even the cleverest of inspectors. I devoured all sorts of mysteries and thrillers, trying to astutely deduce the murderer just as my fictional favorites of Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, and Sherlock Holmes had done. Recently, while driving back and forth to South Carolina, I listened to several of Agatha Christie’s stories as produced by the BBC, including POIROT’S FINEST CASES and MORE FROM MISS MARPLE’S CASEBOOK. My love for all things Agatha Christie re-ignited, and what a joy for me to…