Keeping his gaze on me, he unhooked a wooden bar hanging on long ropes and tossed it over. “Now, let’s start, shall we?” His look was challenging. I gripped the bar and tugged. “You don’t truly expect me to swing through the air on this contraption, do you? How will that help me dance?” “What you’ve done isn’t working, is it? I aim to give you new experiences, push you off a few of your precious safety ledges. Now hold on.” “But I’m afraid of—” “I said, hold on.” . . . heights. A gentle shove against my back and I was hurtling through open space, high over the straw-covered floors. I clutched that awful bar for dear life, digging my fingernails into the wood. I squeezed my eyes shut as I sailed through the air, then I forced one eyelid open. Another platform rose up to meet me, and I scrambled to get my feet onto it, but as my shoes touched wood, my weight pulled me back down. I trembled on the swing back, until I felt solid hands around my waist. Jack hauled me onto the loft and steadied me. “Now you know what it feels like to fly.” “I…

It was twelve o’clock and the start of the lunchtime lull. The only other people in the library were Stanley, snoozing behind a newspaper in his chair, and Mrs. Bransworth, skulking around the shelves muttering to herself. June sat down at the desk and took a few deep breaths, filling her nostrils with the comforting scent of the library. As a child, she used to believe that each book had its own smell, specific to its story, and the smell of a library was the combined scent of thousands of different tales. She once explained this theory to her mum, telling her that the Children’s Room smelled best because everyone knew that kids’ books had more exciting stories than grown-up ones. For months after that they’d played a game whenever they read a book together, deciding what particular aroma the story had. The Secret Garden, for example, smelled of mud and roses, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory smelled of both sugar and cabbage soup. “Excuse me, can I take these out, please?” June looked up to see a tall pile of books in front of the desk, with a pair of eyes blinking at her over the top. “Of…

March 1967 Glory Ann scooped her daughter from the back seat, relishing the sweet pudge still lingering on the fifteen-month-old’s lengthening legs. The curly-haired tot pushed back from her mother’s embrace and bore her blue-eyed gaze into Glory Ann’s. “Down! Me do it.” Glory Ann swiped a thumb across the child’s sticky cheek. “Okay, but stay close and no running. It’s Gramma Hawthorne’s birthday.” Her chest tightened. “And we must be on our very, very best behavior.” Glory Ann put her daughter down and straightened the crumpled flounces of the tiny pink dress. She then smoothed the front of her own orange shift. “Now, hold my hand.” It had been months since she’d been home to see her parents, and though her mother promised she’d come to Brighton, she had never made the one-hour drive. Not in the many months her little one grew in her middle. Not when she’d labored in the sterile hospital, longing for her mother’s hand to hold. Nor any other time during the fifteen months of her daughter’s life. She took a shaking breath and found an anchor in her child’s tight grip on her thumb. It had seemed a fun idea to surprise Mother…

1–What is the title of your latest release? The Duke Who Loved Me 2–What is it about? Circumstances showing a pair who have known each other for years that they belong together, despite obstacles. Particularly the duke, in this case. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  It includes the house of an aristocratic hoarder. The deceased previous duke was eccentric, to say the least. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  She was tempted by the idea of becoming a princess. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Besides being a drop-dead gorgeous duke, he learns a great deal about himself, the heroine, and the inequities of society and appreciates the chance to do so. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Showing how two people who have known each other for a long time can realize they are in love. 7–Do you look forward to or do you dread the revision process?  I like it. I often learn interesting things about the characters and story in that stage. 8–What’s your favorite snack to have on hand while writing?  Tea and cookies! 9–Where would you go for an ideal writer’s retreat? …

VALLEY OF SECRETS comes out on September 7th. It’s a women’s fiction book with romance and a bit of mystery. The story is about a woman following her aunt’s journal on a journey of self-discovery who finds herself in an unlikely relationship with the editor-in-chief who is trying to solve a mystery that has haunted him for years, but a valley of secrets and a devastating loss threaten the new life she fought so hard to create. It takes place in a fictional town called Mystic Valley, but the state of Vermont itself is very real. I lived in Vermont for a while, and the state is beautiful and mystical with many things to love. Everyone has their favorites but my top five favorite things to do in Vermont are: See the Covered bridges Covered bridges are on my list of must-sees. You won’t find any better than those in Vermont’s Bennington County, where every spot to cross a stream seems to be under wooden eaves. You will find most of the covered bridges in the state’s southeastern corner, including the 88-foot-long Silk Road Bridge, which spans the Walloomsac River and dates from 1840. Anna drives over a covered bridge…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Penny! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your debut novel, FOR THE LOVE OF APRIL FRENCH.   Here’s the bio I’ve been using everywhere! “Penny Aimes was assigned Hoosier at Birth but made her way to Austin, Texas, where she lives with a beautiful accountant and a very loud bird. Her debut novel FOR THE LOVE OF APRIL FRENCH is the story of a trans woman who has always seen herself as a stopover for others on their way to a happily ever after and the cis man who knows his home will never be complete without her. Both kinky and unrepentantly fluffy, it is a story about letting go of fear and believing that you can love and be loved in return. It’s also about embracing your community and letting your community vice you a little versa now and then.” “Kinky and unrepentantly fluffy” comes from a very kind review from Talia Hibbert, which is also quoted on the front of the book. A funny thing about that quote is that we had to keep revising the attribution as Talia got more awards and honors. I think we finally settled…

1–What is the title of your latest release? UNCHARTED  2–What is it about? In this follow-up to WHITEOUT, Leo—a hotshot pilot—is on a race to find a man and a virus when she crash lands in Alaska… and finds a man. She’s just not sure if he’s the right one. The two team up in order to survive and discovery that maybe, they have, indeed, found the right one. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Writing and researching these Survival Instincts books has been an absolute adventure because the setting—in this case, the remote Alaskan forest—is more than a place. It’s a character. Leo and Elias have to work with their surroundings in order to survive. But of course, that’s never easy, especially while the ice is breaking up and the elements are working against them. But there’s so much beauty everywhere and that’s what I loved the most… this setting is pristine and wild and it forces the characters to go back to their most basic selves.  4–How did your heroine surprise you?  The biggest surprise with Leo was her unexpected soft bits. She’s a tough, accomplished woman who has gotten where she is through intelligence…

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 Debra Holt! Writes: I read my first romance over 30 years ago — Janet Dailey’s “Fiesta San Antonio” — and became hooked on the genre. Writing romances, both contemporary and inspirational, is both my passion and dream come true, and I hope my books will bring smiles…and sighs… to all who believe in happily-ever-after. My romance novels are set in small towns in my home state of Texas and the ranches that surround them. My favorite trope to write is second chances. It always brings out the romantic sparks in my mind. But in my latest novel, THE BRONC RIDER TAKES A FALL, I decided to write the trope opposites attract. Can the “Rodeo Romeo” and the small town girl at heart find room in their hearts for each other? THE BRONC RIDER TAKES A FALL is book three in the Tremaynes of Texas series, following CAPTURING THE TEXAS RANCHER’S HEART and THE RANCHER RISKS IT ALL. Book four, THE SHERRIF AND…

1–What is the title of your latest release? I’M ONLY WICKED WITH YOU. It’s the third book in the Palace of Rogues series. 2–What is it about? Hugh Cassidy is the battle-hardened son of a bastard, raised in the wilds of New York. Lady Lillias Vaughn is the sheltered, blue-blooded darling of the London broadsheets, destined to marry a duke. Their worlds collide at The Grand Palace on the Thames, a boarding house near the docks—and the war between them ignites when Hugh catches her smoking a cheroot and tattles on her to the Earl of Vaughn, her father. While their mutual attraction is incendiary and unwelcome…they’re absolutely at its mercy. But little by little, spark by spark, they begin to learn truths and vulnerabilities in each other that no one else in the world has ever uncovered. When their inevitable soul-searing indiscretion threatens to destroy their futures, Hugh comes up with a plan to unravel their entanglement…and the brutal truth is the best way to love her might be to break his own heart. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book? Everything! I’m having the best time writing the stories set at The Grand Palace on…

“How about we get a couple of pictures of you two together?” A photographer waved them closer. With each new pose, her awareness of Travis King grew to an alarming level. Little details. The mole on the side of his neck. The scent of spearmint on his breath. One especially long curl that hung onto his forehead. Like a blond Superman. He had a slight bump in his nose. His hand was warm against her back. The gravel timbre of his voice. The more he smiled, the more she wanted to grab him and… Push him far, far away. She didn’t exactly push him, but she made sure to put space between them just as soon as the pictures wrapped up. With a smile and a wave, she was out of the press room… She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going—only that she needed to get Travis out of her head. She glanced at the sign on the wall, turned, and headed for the dressing rooms. If Bree was there, she’d change and attempt a quick exit. “Loretta.” Travis called out. No. At this point, there was nothing left to say. Don’t look back. “Hold up.” He was getting…