I never used to listen to music while writing. But after the pandemic hit, and we went into lockdown, everything changed. It’s been a year unlike any other as I’ve adjusted to having my kids and husband home full-time. The vibration—along with the noise level—in my house shifted. The added energy seeped under my writing lair door, disrupting my muse (the little bugger likes the status quo), and with him in full-blown meltdown, my ability to get into the flow floundered. With deadlines on the horizon, I needed to keep writing, so… Enter the solution—Noise Cancelling Headphones. A gift from God. A happy accident. There’s something about being flexible—adaptive in the moment—that pays off. I resisted at first, trying to power through, but in the end, hopped on Amazon and ordered a pair of NC headphones. And surprise, surprise, it not only worked but also expanded my horizons. Since then, I’ve discovered that each book takes on a musical personality of its own. It happens organically over the course of writing a book. No plans in the beginning. No driving intention behind the process. But by the end, I’m listening to the same string of songs over and over, until…

1–What is the title of your latest release? MESSAGE IN THE SAND 2–What is it about? MESSAGE IN THE SAND is a love story: the love of small town life, teenage love, rekindled adult love, and what makes up the fabric of family. MITS is about a young war veteran suffering from PTSD, Wendell Combs, who returns to the sleepy small town of Saybrook, CT where he works on the lush and private estate, White Pines, for the Lancaster family. After a heartbreaking loss, all Wendell wants, and feels he deserves, is to be left alone. The Lancaster family, however, has different plans for him. Despite his best intentions, Wendell feels the pull of the family unit, especially fifteen-year-old Julia, their eldest and strong-willed teenage daughter. Julia has her sights set on a summer riding her horse, swimming in the lake of White Pines, and spending time with the boy next door, who she has never really noticed, but now fears she may be falling in love with. One perfect summer night, as Julia’s family hosts their glamorous annual gala, a tragic accident occurs that no one in the close-knit community could have imagined. The accident leaves Wendell and the…

My name is Sunshine Meadows, but everyone calls me Sunny. I’m the heroine of Kari Lee Townsend’s Sunny Meadows Mystery series. I used to live in the Big Apple with my well-meaning parents who just don’t get me. So, I moved to the small town of Divinity, NY to start over. Something about the town spoke to my soul. You see, I’m psychic. I have visions, but they’re not always clear, so I use fortune-telling tools to help me figure out what my visions mean. I bought an ancient Victorian house I call Vicky, and a large white cat appeared on day one. He came with the house and decided to let me live with him. I never see him eat or sleep, and he moves at lightning speed, appearing from out of nowhere in random places. I’m thinking he’s immortal, so I named him Morty. After I settled in, I opened my own business and started giving readings in a special room I call my sanctuary. When a person comes to me for help, I get a vibe on what fortune-telling tool to use for that particular person, and then everything becomes clear. In TEMPEST IN THE TEA LEAVES,…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present J.L.Crosswhite! Writes: Christian romantic suspense with her latest release, OUT OF RANGE, book 2 of the In the Shadow series. Book 3, OVER HER HEAD, will hit the shelves on June 21. Because when you grow up in the shadow of a hero as a sibling, can you find your own adventures as well? About: California-native author who’s spent significant time in the Midwest seeks readers for a page-turning novel about clothing designer and sister of the groom Kim Taylor, who is planning the girls’ adventure and spa weekend before the wedding to prove to her brother she’s not the flighty flake he thinks she is. But when the bride’s sister has other ideas, a forest fire burns out their adventure, and a stalker sets his eye on Kim, can she find strength and comfort in fun guy Matthew Ellis? He blew his first chance with her but he’s desperately trying to make things right. When her life is on the line, can he…

Jen: What inspired you to write The Invisible Husband of Frick Island? Colleen: A few years ago I ran across a newspaper article about a woman in Australia whose husband had died, and she was in such denial about it, she left his body in their bed and continued to live her life as though everything were completely fine. It wasn’t until a neighbor noticed an… odor, that people found out. I know that’s so morbid, but as a novelist I found it fascinating—the idea that grief can make us do such strange things, and that no two people grieve the same way. And that woman’s story was the initial spark of the idea for The Invisible Husband of Frick Island, about a woman who is in such denial about her husband’s death, she wakes up every morning and lives her life as if he is right there beside her (fortunately, without the rotting corpse in the bed). Let’s talk about Piper and Tom Parrish. Who are they and what’s their connection to the island? Piper and Tom are high school sweethearts turned young newlyweds who live on Frick Island, a tiny strip of land smack in the middle of…

I don’t remember the first vampire book I ever read, but I do remember the first vampire movie I saw. I didn’t sleep soundly for days after watching Stephen King’s SALEM’S LOT movie. In fact, even thinking about it now, I can still envision those vampires at the window and hear them trying to come inside! The sound still gives me shivers! It didn’t help that I was still young (not even a teenager yet) and my best friend had giant bay windows in the living room where we watched the made for tv movie. As night fell, the windows behind us seemed more and more ominous as I was just certain a vampire or two would come calling for us! After watching the movie,  I of course had to read the book, ‘SALEM’S LOT, and Stephen King’s words were even scarier than that old movie. I devoured all of his books that I could get my hands on, looking for something to grab my attention like the vampires had. And oh, did I love Stephen King’s books… but the vampires came back to bite me again when I discovered Anne Rice and Lestat. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE took me…

“Thank you, Reverend.” Mary held back her emotions with an iron will, determined to behave with all the dignity she’d thus far lacked in this man’s presence. It was well and truly over, if indeed, it had ever even begun. Turning, she silently urged the horse to pick up the pace. The sooner they parted ways and she forgot him, the better. When he spoke, it was with an air of studied indifference. “Am I to assume this means you no longer wish to accompany me on my Sunday calls?” She couldn’t look at him. Not without bursting into tears. “I would not want to cause you further discomfort. You’ve made it perfectly clear you have neither need for my assistance nor desire for my company. Therefore, to continue in our present mode makes no sense.” “What of the people you’ve promised to visit?” Oh, really! Must he make this more difficult? “I shall arrange to call on them during the week with my mother.” She clenched her teeth for a moment before continuing, gathering her courage. “With the exception of church, however, our paths need never cross again. I’m afraid I cannot avoid attending services without rousing my parents’…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HOW NOT TO MESS WITH A MILLIONAIRE 2–What is it about? A sassy American interior designer and a brooding Italian restauranteur engage in a battle of wills over who gets to stay in a villa on the Amalfi Coast that should be big enough for two—but not these two. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  It’s Italy. What’s not to love? The food. The wine. The Mediterranean. I wish I was there right now. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  All of my heroines tend to be spunky, but Zoe might be the feistiest one yet. And she’s super creative when it comes to dreaming up ways to get Dante to vacate the villa. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  He’s a classic alpha wounded hero. He knows how to love deeply but is afraid to go there again. It doesn’t hurt that he’s smoking hot, as Zoe quickly learns when she arrives at the villa and finds him buck naked. Plus there’s that Italian accent. Swoon. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Honestly, it was Dante. I’ve never written…

PROLOGUE Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God. PSALM 68:31 AD 31 He took one last aching look outside the crumbling window; the Nile was molten gold in the light of the rising sun, a sparkling coil winding its way into the horizon. Forcing himself to turn away, he came to kneel by the pallet where his bride lay sleeping. To have this woman, he would have to give up the lush beauty of his land, give up his family and heritage. He smiled. She was worth all the loss. For his sake, she had given up as much and more. “Time to wake up, love.” She groaned something incoherent, more asleep than awake. “Come now, lazy. Open those enchanting sea-green eyes. We can’t linger here. They will have discovered our absence by now.” He spoke in a light tone, making sure none of his mounting anxiety leaked into his voice. Still, the reminder of their vulnerability was enough to banish the last vestiges of her sleep. She snapped her eyes open and sat up in one smooth motion, holding the sheet to her throat. “How long have we been here?” “Too long.” He motioned to the…

Half an hour later, Letty opened the front double doors, dropping her keys and kicking off her heels at the front entrance of her temporary apartment. Emphasis on temporary. Her passive-aggressive, spineless cretin of a landlord had decided to jack up prices in an effort to evict tenants like Letty and those on lower incomes. Mitchell’s paid well, but her family made it impossible for Letty to save because every other month they seemed to need something. She truly believed there was a special place in hell reserved for people like her ex-landlord, preferably where they waxed his balls again and again with no pause in between. Waxing was a bitch and a half, no contest. Letty had bemoaned her homeless fate to Reagan, who had immediately called her older brother Callum. And voila, he’d let her stay in this upscale apartment free of rent, in a gorgeous part of Scarlet, while Callum lived on the sunny East Coast, in a city called Galena, on the other side of the country for the baseball season. Did she mention free rent? And six bedrooms? And bathrooms for days? Letty had grown up a child of divorce and hadn’t had her own…