You know how gum adheres to the bottom of your sneaker on a hot summer day? You can’t shake your foot free or peel it off, at least not that easily. What you don’t remove gets pressed in between the grooves, becoming so enmeshed over time, it blends with the sole. That’s how my mama’s words stick to me. I remember how quickly my folks declared, “Nothing good happens after midnight” when I asked about changes to my curfew. Mama drove this point home one Friday night at a school dance when I was partying too hard to realize the time. Suddenly the music stopped and the deejay announced, “Robin, your mom is here to pick you up.” Trust me, not even Cinderella in her pumpkin could’ve caught me scooting out of that high school dance. But I didn’t run far from Mama’s words of wisdom. Just ask my own little people. When she says something, you’d best believe it, hold on to it, and apply it. So when she told me, “Robin, I’m not your friend,” I took that pronouncement to heart, just like an arrow to its target. Her words hurt for a time, more than any sticks…

Wiping her hands on a towel, Charlotte turned to Faith, smiling as the manager typed out a message so fast on her ever-present phone that her thumbs blurred. “What’d you need?” Charlotte asked. “You, your effervescent personality and beautiful face.” “Do you want me to clue you in on how pimp-ish that sounds, or are we just going to ignore it?” Char­lotte drawled, quirking an eyebrow. “Ignore it.” Charlotte snickered, then grinned. As she had been headhunted from the California restaurant where she’d been working, so had Faith, from her native San Anto­nio, to run Sheen. Faith had created a name for herself as a Jon Taffer in heels. Not that Sheen had been failing and needed rescuing when Faith had been brought on several weeks ago and prior to Charlotte’s hiring, but the owners had wanted to make sure their venture hit the ground running from the beginning. “Okay, give. I have nearly a full restaurant of hun­gry customers to feed,” Charlotte said, crossing her arms. “What’s up?” “What’s up is I just heard from a source who shall remain nameless that the food critic from the New York Voice magazine will be dropping by Sheen next Tues­day.” Astonishment…

1–What is the title of your latest release? OBSESSION, Natchez Trace Park Rangers Book 2 2–What is it about? Natchez Trace Ranger and historian Emma Winters hoped never to see Sam Ryker again after she broke off her engagement to him. But when shots are fired at her at a historical landmark just off the Natchez Trace, she’s forced to work alongside Sam as the Natchez Trace law enforcement district ranger in the ensuing investigation. To complicate matters, Emma has acquired a delusional secret admirer who is determined to have her as his own. Sam is merely an obstruction, one which must be removed. Sam knows that he has failed Emma in the past and he doesn’t intend to let her down again. Especially since her life is on the line. As the threads of the investigation cross and tangle with their own personal history, Sam and Emma have a chance to discover the truth, not only about the victim but about what went wrong in their relationship 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I fell in love with Natchez and Mount Locust the first time I traveled to Natchez on the Natchez Trace. It is…

Chapter Four Amara’s next stop was the one she most dreaded. Zachary Coleman’s parents. When she’d phoned the father, his raspy, monotone voice penetrated her heart and sent an ache through her chest. The man’s joy was gone. Back in Property Crimes, she dealt with her share of angry and frightened people, but that paled in comparison to this. The Colemans lost their son. How did a person deal with that? When Amara’s dad died, the pain had been deep and overwhelming. How much more at the loss of a child? The death of Benjamin Reyes, the five-year-old boy who triggered the investigation into Cotulla, at least had a silver lining. Nearly fifty other children saved because of his bravery. Had that eased the pain for his parents? Could it? And the Colemans had nothing like that to cling to. Their son died and nobody could tell them why. Natural causes or OD or bad luck or homicide. Would any of those reasons be better or worse than the others? Zachary was gone, and he wasn’t ever coming back. Dr. Pritchard had texted last night to let her know the boy’s body was being released to the parents. The funeral…

We’ve loved sharing more about our reviewers with all of you over the last couple of months! We hope you enjoyed learning about them, the books they love to read, and some of their favorite reads from next year. Thanks for following along! More great reviews are in the works by these awesome book lovers–we hope you will read along with us throughout 2021!  Your Name Angie Elle   How long have you been a Fresh Fiction reviewer?  About 4 months What are your favorite genres to read and review?  Mystery/Thriller and Romance What are your TOP 3-5 Books of 2020? A Bad Day for Sunshine by Darynda Jones The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik What do you like to do outside of reading? Crochet, Quilt, and spend time with the little that I babysit What are some of your holiday traditions? Holiday Bingo with the kids, Christmas Eve at my Grammie’s, and holiday dinner with the entire family What are your reading resolutions/intentions/goals for 2021? Knock out some of my older Netgalley reads and curate my reading tastes. What do you love about being a Fresh Fiction Book Reviewer? The community of…

University of Munich Munich, Germany March 28, 1938 After the professor departed, Peter Lang checked his watch. The reporter would arrive in three minutes if she were the punctual sort. He closed his logbook and filed it away. His friend George Norwood, bureau chief for the American News Service in Berlin, had called to say he’d given Peter’s number to a firebrand female reporter who didn’t know her place. George was heaping on assignments to keep her out of trouble. “Good luck.” Peter closed his file drawer. By definition, troublemakers made trouble. “Entschuldigung?” A slender brunette knocked on his open door. Not a pretty woman, but . . . arresting. “Professor Peter Lang?” “Just Mr. Lang until I receive my doctorate,” Peter said in English, and he strode over. She had a firm handshake born of working in a man’s profession, no doubt. “You must be Miss Firebrand.” Medium-brown eyes looked up at him, lit by intelligence and humor. “My reputation precedes me.” What had he said? “Pardon?” “My name is Evelyn Brand, not Firebrand, despite what Mr. Norwood says.” For heaven’s sake. “My apologies, Miss Brand. I assure you, the mistake was mine, not George’s.” “No need to apologize.” The pleasure…

We’re joined by one of our long time reviewers, Teresa Cross, for today’s Reviewer Spotlight!  Your Name Teresa Cross How long have you been a Fresh Fiction reviewer? 6 years What are your favorite genres to read and review? Mystery/thrillers What are your TOP 3-5 Books of 2020? He Started It by Samantha Downing Devolution by Max Brooks The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan Confessions on the 7:45 by Lisa Unger What do you like to do outside of reading? Actually, if I’m not reading a thriller, I do love to watch them. I like to write some too though I’m still finding it hard to do at times because I have so many great books I still want to read! What are some of your holiday traditions? When my parents were alive, we would meet over at their house for Christmas. My children would always open one gift the night before from each other. Then Christmas morning the rest! What are your reading resolutions/intentions/goals for 2021? Well, I set for 50 this year and really exceeded it, (I wonder why) so I say 60 books next year! What do…

You know one thing I like about writing cozy mysteries?  They’re series, centering around the life of the protagonist.  Which means they need a large cast of friends, family, and business associates, all with the potential to get developed as the series progresses.  Of course, some of these people will be developed into murder suspects – and victims.  But the people closest to your protagonist are generally safe bets for readers to get attached to. Cozies also allow for elements of romance, as new people come into the character’s life as a result of the murder investigation.  Which gives a whole other layer of tension to the plot. I’ve taken advantage of all of that in GRAND OPENINGS CAN BE MURDER, the first book in my Bean to Bar Mysteries.  My protagonist, Felicity Koerber, moved home to Texas after her husband died.  She’s made some new friends, and her old friends – especially her best friend Autumn and her Aunt Naomi – have rallied around her, to help her through this time of grief.  And Naomi is a bit of a matchmaker, determined to get Felicity dating again, so there’s bound to be some cute guys dropping into her world,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? HER BANISHED KNIGHT’S REDEMPTION 2–What is it about? HER BANISHED KNIGHT’S REDEMPTION is the 2nd book of the Notorious Knights series, set in 1218. It features Sir William (Will) Geraint – the good friend of Hugh de Villiers (the hero from book 1 – THE REBEL HEIRESS AND THE KNIGHT). Will is quite embittered and different from the affable, easy-going knight we first meet in book 1 and is now living in exile in France as a sword-for-hire. He goes on quite a journey in this book as he escorts the lost heiress, Lady Isabel de Clancey back to England where they’re forced to work together to uncover secrets from their past. With every rushed mile, their intense attraction becomes dangerously thrilling. There’s a medieval treasure hunt to discover on their quest and even features a scene with the legendary Knights Templar. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  My book is set in the villages and countryside around Aquitaine, the port of La Rochelle – which was part of the English Crown in 1218 – and also the English port of Southampton. What I loved most about all the…

Chapter 4 We know bad things happen in the world, that they always have, that they’ll continue to do so. We also know that we can’t stop them, and this knowledge is almost worse than the bad things themselves. That’s what we’ve learned from Alice Lange. Sometimes the darkness wins. It creeps in like a thick, gray fog, covering everything as we stumble around, and when it finally lifts, we see what it has done, what it has taken from us and what it has left behind. Before Alice, there was another girl. Rachel Granger. This was whom Millie was thinking of that night, when she said it wasn’t safe to be out wandering alone in the dark. Her mother had only talked about Rachel to her husband, changing the subject when Millie walked into the room, but she’d picked up on the story, had known there was something, someone out there, to be afraid of, and the idea of it lodged itself in her brain. Rachel wasn’t from our neighborhood, but she lived only a few miles away. Like Alice, she was here and then gone. As far as anyone knows, this is what happened: on a Friday, she…