“Oh, you poor honey,” Hailey said, scooping up the tiny bundle and examining him closely. “I was afraid of this.” “What is it? What’s the matter with him?” Cole remained on the other side of the gate—mostly to keep Philip from barging in after him—but there was a sharp note of worry in his voice. Hailey nestled Rufus closer to her neck so he could absorb some of her body warmth. His small body was so delicate, his skin so much like paper, that she could feel each of his bones. “He’s not taking well to the family dynamic,” she said. “He’s always the last to eat and the first to wander away.” “Bess is rejecting him?” Hailey nuzzled the puppy closer, fearful of him overhearing the words and taking them to heart. Which was ridiculous for a lot of reasons, but she couldn’t help it. Rufus needed all the love he could get his tiny paws on. “Not rejecting, exactly,” she said. “She seems to like him just fine when he’s around, but with so many other, stronger, more insistent puppies to look after, he kind of gets lost.” Overlooked. Forgotten. It was no one’s fault, but that didn’t…

My husband and I have had plenty of ups and down, and we always try to put the pain, joy, and absurd humor of our daily lives into our novels. It’s one of the reasons readers tell us they’ve formed deep connections with our characters, especially our amateur sleuth, single mom and coffeehouse manager Clare Cosi, whose quirky adventures and complicated love life have helped us sell more than one million books in our Coffeehouse Mystery series. With Clare now on a path to be married to her longtime boyfriend, NYPD Detective Mike Quinn, my husband and I began our Brewed Awakening story development with a conversation over (no surprise) coffee. After everything Marc and I have gone through as a couple, we wondered: What if our years together were suddenly wiped from our memories? Would we be drawn to each other again? If so, how exactly does “like” deepen into something more? When does love begin? To tell this story, we agreed that Clare would have to suffer from a traumatic memory loss. Her damaged memory ends up wiping away years of experiences, including every single memory of Detective Mike Quinn, the man she’s grown to love over our…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Victoria Christopher Murray: THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN which I co-authored with Marie Benedict. Marie Benedict: THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN, which was co-written with Victoria Christopher Murray. 2–What is it about? VCM: It is the story of Belle da Costa Greene, a woman who walked into JP Morgan’s library in 1906 when she was in her twenties, became his personal librarian, and rose to be one of the most powerful women in the art world. She helped to build Morgan’s art and rare books and manuscript collection. MB: THE PERSONAL LIBRARIAN is the remarkable story of J. P. Morgan’s personal librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, who became one of the most important people in the art world during her lifetime and left a lasting legacy that enriched our nation but could only do so by passing as white and hiding her true Black identity because of the racist, segregated society in which she lived. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  VCM: It’s in New York (my favorite place in the world) and so much of it takes place at the Morgan Library which is incredibly beautiful for lots of reasons. MB: The book…

Her breath caught. The duke was still sound asleep, but he had turned and now lay on his back. The arm that had curved around his head lay flung over his face, hiding it from view. A chiseled chest dusted in crisp hair rose and fell with deep, even breaths. Her dread didn’t allow her to appreciate the frontal view of him—she was only intent on escape. Muttering an oath under her breath, Sarani blew out a breath. Easy does it, she told herself. Retracing her steps with her skirts in hand, she climbed up on the bottom bar and stretched out her left leg toward the bunk rail. She made the mistake of looking down in her precarious and admittedly lewd position—she was straddling the man, for heaven’s sake—and nearly toppled over. Everywhere her eyes fell, she saw nothing but acres upon acres of masculine perfection. If his back had been delicious, his chest was a veritable feast. A slow ache took up residence in her belly and then spread like hot oil elsewhere. She might be in a hurry, but she wasn’t dead! This man did not look like he had an ounce of excess anywhere on him,…

In the first book of my Widow Rules series, A DUKE IN TIME, a war hero duke falls in love with his stepbrother’s wife. Could he legally marry her? Under the Church of England’s rules of consanguinity and affinity, a brother couldn’t marry his brother’s widow. Nor could a sister marry her sister’s widower. Yet they could marry first cousins. But what about stepbrothers and stepsisters? Do these rules apply in the blended families of yesteryears? Way back in the day of merry ol’ England, the Church of England had pretty strict rules of who could marry whom related to family. Let’s get some definitions out of the way to make this a little easier to understand. Consanguinity basically means two people are related by blood relation and that they share common ancestors. Affinity is a relationship by marriage. When people married in violation of the Church of England’s prohibition of consanguinity or affinity, the marriages were either void or voidable. If a marriage is void, it’s invalid and illegal. End of story. Any children born of such union were illegitimate. If a marriage is voidable, then it’s valid. However, it could be annulled if an interested party successfully challenged…

LONDON 1824: KENSINGTON HOUSE Never knew a moment made better standing still. Never knew an hour made perfect by silence. It’s been a long time since I’d had peace—moments of dance, hours in hymns. It disappeared when the Demerara Council forced its tax. Fidgeting, I sit in the front parlor of Kensington House switching my gaze from the sheers draping the window to the finishing school’s headmistress. Miss Smith, she’s across from me in a Chippendale chair sipping her chamomile tea. Her fingers tremble on the china handle. “Mrs. Thomas,” she says with eyes wide, bulging like an iguana’s. “Your visit is unexpected, but I’m pleased you’ve taken my offer to stay at Kensington to review our school. You’ll see it’s a worthy investment.” “I was always fond of the name Kensington.” My voice trails off as I think of walks, of choices, then my aptly named plantation. Kensington is a set of squiggled letters chiseled in a cornerstone back home. The headmistress chatters on, and I nod. The white egret feather on my bonnet jiggles and covers my brow. I bat it away like the memories I want gone, but you never get to choose what comes to mind….

There’s definitely something romantic about old journals and love letters, a certain mystery that intrigues me. So, I wanted to include this element in my upcoming release, A Lot Like Love hitting store shelves on June 29, 2021. In this second chance romance, Sarah Lewis not only inherits her grandmother’s B & B in a small coastal town, but she also finds her grandmother’s old journal, where she discovers a secret no one ever knew. This plot device of journals and love letters as a way of communicating in books and movies is one of my favorites and here are my top 5 love story movies that feature this element. P.S. I Love You– This movie starring Gerard Butler and Hilary Swank based on the bestselling novel by Cecelia Ahern has to be my all-time favorite. Love letters from beyond the grave that are heartwarming, sentimental and tear-jerking make this movie unforgettable. For me, the best part was seeing their love for one another through the flashback moments that the letters provided and seeing the heroine overcome her sadness and open herself up to love again. The Lake House– This movie starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock was so unique…

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Stefanie! Please tell us a bit about yourself and your new book, FOREVER STARTS NOW.  Stefanie: Thanks for having me! I’m Stefanie London, Aussie gal living in Canada. I’m the USA Today bestseller of more than thirty contemporary romances and romantic comedies that meet at the corner of sweet and sexy. Outside writing, I love to read, knit, bake and play video games. My latest release, FOREVER STARTS NOW, is a fake relationship romance between an Aussie hero searching for his father, and a prickly diner owner whose life has stagnated after divorce. At the heart of it, this story is about understanding who you are and being authentically yourself. There are also very strong themes of family and belonging. Both Monroe and Ethan have had their lives shaken up by devastating news, and we meet them in the aftermath of trying to figure out where they’re headed. It’s funny and heartfelt and you might tear up a little. There’s a steamy kiss in a haunted house, a wacky town mascot and a quirky cast of characters to fall in love with. I hope you’ll check it out! Forever Falls, the fictional small town at the heart of your novel, sounds charming,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? PAWS AND PREJUDICE 2–What is it about? It’s an enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance about a romance-writing heroine who loves her dogs and hides behind snark, and what happens when she’s forced to work with a new guy in town who has a fear of dogs and who basically (on the surface) represents everything she loathes. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  First, it’s set in Alaska, which is just gorgeous. And second, I love quirky small towns, and my town is torn in half by a century-old feud that makes everything about living there far more complicated than it should be. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  I always knew she used snark as a way to deflect and keep people at bay, but when I started writing her, it became clear that she also did it because she is overprotective of the people she cares about. She’s always willing to make herself a target to take the heat off of others. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  He’s an ambitious cinnamon roll! He brews beer, bakes, cooks, and he knows how to keep a secret. 6–What was one…

H is for the Heart of Turn-Around Ranch, and how it helps teens and adults alike O is for two Opinionated people, who argue about as much as they thinking about kissing each other. P is for Pining over your best friend, even though you know you shouldn’t. E is for the excitement of the town rodeo and how the two ranches are preparing for their showdown. On the R is for the two Ranches that neighbor each other, and the special spot in the middle Tanya and Brady have met up since they were kids. A is for All-Around Cowgirl, a title Tanya’s won in the past, and Harlow, the town’s good girl, is training for. If only Maddox, the bad boy who’s been sent to the ranch would stop giving her a hard time during training so she could better focus. N is for Nosy family members who’ve been trying to get Tanya and Brady together forever G is for Winston, the three-legged Goat that Tanya saved and acts as a therapy animal to scared horses. (Which is a real thing between goats & horses sometimes) E is for the big town rodeo Event with an Ending that…