Isa startled awake, nearly jumping out of both her skin and the unfamiliar bed. With her heart in her throat, it took a few moments for her to collect her bearings, the events of the last twenty-four hours slowly easing their way back: being stalked, being tossed in the back of a moving van, and then being whisked away to a secret underground bunker beneath a distillery just off the Potomac River. Somehow her mundane, unchanging routine had been knocked on its side and flipped around, and even though she couldn’t directly pin it on Roman Steele, he served as a good target. Isa reluctantly slipped out of bed, thankful to Zoey for the extra set of clothes, and padded barefoot into the hall. With no one around to guide her toward coffee, she used her questionable sense of direction to find the kitchen and once again was taken in by the industrial homeliness of the Steele Ops common area. Polished cement floors and red brick walls complemented the warm tans and leather-accented furnishings, and colorful abstract artwork gave the sprawling underground space pops of color. It was the perfect blend of rustic home and modern industrial…and then you looked…

Hi, Jennifer! Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us about yourself and your latest Sassy Cat Mystery novel, MIMI LEE READS BETWEEN THE LINES?   Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be on Fresh Fiction today! A little about me: I write multicultural mysteries, and I live in Los Angeles, where I’m constantly on the hunt for all things matcha. In Mimi Lee Reads Between the Lines, pet groomer Mimi Lee takes her big sister role to the max by trying to get her young sister off the police’s radar. Mimi Lee owns a pet-grooming business and has a talking cat! Where did you get the idea for this delightful series?   I grew up reading Garfield comics and loved his snarky attitude. Also, I was always drawn to this idea of a pet-owner connection, so I figured a telepathic sassy cat would make a great sleuthing partner–and add to the humor. I love an amateur sleuth! What do you think makes Mimi a great detective? Does she find situations or do the situations find her?  Mimi is a bold sleuth who’s willing to take chances to get to the answer. She really perseveres, especially when loved ones…

Book recommendations from Fresh Fiction Senior Reviewer, Debbie Wiley! You can read more of her reviews and columns here. Enjoy! — Comfort reads have always been an important part of my life. Some of my oldest (and favorite) books I own have been read and reread, particularly when life seems a bit tougher than normal. While many nowadays struggle to agree on just about anything and tensions and turmoil are heightened, comfort reads are a great escape and an excellent form of self-care. One of my all-time favorite comfort reads, THE RED CARNELIAN by Phyllis Whitney immediately pops to mind. However, I’m also finding comfort in new read, particularly cozy mysteries and I want to share a few of my recent enjoyable book escapes. Any book featuring a bookstore is almost guaranteed to be a hit with me and Lauren Elliott’s Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery series is certainly that! In A PAGE MARKED FOR MURDER, Addison Greyborne has her hands full. Not only is she the owner of Beyond the Page, a book and curio shop, but her flakey cousin isn’t coming to work regularly leaving only Addison and her shop assistant, Paige Stringer, during the Fire and Ice Festival. Worse…

“I did not call you a sex robot.” The woman behind the counter flushed almost the exact same color as the pink polo top displaying a cutesy lip-print logo. She was gorgeous. Tumbling blond hair swept up into a bouncy ponytail, wide green eyes staring at him unflinchingly, and full lips all competed for his attention. There was something arresting about her, something strong and willful and so electric it grabbed Ronan Walsh by the balls. Add to all that a full figure with the kind of curves that could make a grown man weep, and he was momentarily robbed of his resolve to not to even think about women for the next twelve months. “She totally called him a sex robot.” One of the younger women at a nearby table snickered and ducked her head behind a coffee cup big enough to caffeinate an entire college faculty. “How embarrassing.” “Can I help you with a drink?” The woman asked, trying to act like she wasn’t ruffled. As she came closer, Ronan caught the name Audrey printed neatly on a white badge. “Maybe a croissant or a bagel?” “A coffee, black, in whatever is your biggest cup.” He tore his…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, LSA! This may be a loaded question, but how are things going?  Marissa Backlin, co-owner of LSA:  It’s going, haha. It hasn’t been easy, but every month we can pay the bills, we breathe a sigh of relief. I keep saying, if we can hang on until the holiday season and stay healthy, we’ll have some wiggle room. Of course, now that schools are starting to go hybrid and in-person (I’m also a kindergarten teacher), the risk level goes up, but we’re trying to pack up anticipated holiday trope boxes in advance and we’re doing a preorder campaign for them so we can get as many as possible boxed up before Thanksgiving. What are some of the ways you’ve adapted your bookstore to the pandemic? Definitely focusing on online sales and pushing preorders. Before March, aside from November/December, most of our sales were in person. Now, most of our sales are online, which does benefit us because we can sell books we don’t have in store. Now that the store is open to the public, we’re very strict on mask-wearing and we have hand sanitizer at the door, and we have changed our checkout process…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? SEND ME THEIR SOULS! 2–What is it about? Zera, a Heartless who can’t die, races to save the world from an incursion of mythical wyrms with her love Prince Lucien and her friends by her side. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Sassy, for sure. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? Lucien is kind, caring, and fiercely devoted to protecting those he loves! 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Zera really hates asking for help, but in this book she’s finally learned to accept it from Lucien and her friends. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? Arathess is just such a cool fantasy world – floating witch-cities, subterranean cities made of gems, a library made out of a hollowed-out volcano! 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? I’m absolutely a pantser! Plotting bores me and makes me feel like I’ve already written the book – a dangerous pitfall! 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? A quiet one, with lots of tea and pastries. 9–Do you listen to music while you write,…

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 Stephanie Rowe! *** Writes: I write contemporary romance across a range of genres: dark paranormal, funny paranormal, small-town Maine, cowboy, and suspense. The genres may change, but all of my stories have women who find the strength we are all fighting to find in ourselves. Women who find the love they deserve, but long ago gave up finding. The heroes are dangerous, but they are loyal, honorable, and treat their women with all the reverence, support, and kindness any woman would dream of. There’s always a bit of humor as well because sometimes we need a spark of laughter to get through the day. My newest book, a dark paranormal romance titled, Darkness Awakened: Reimagined is a stunningly sexy, action-packed paranormal romance between forced mates which reveals the power of true love against the darkest evil. About: I’ve been writing romance novels for ages, and I’ve been a reader for even longer! I have three awesome dogs who snuggle on the couch…

Flambé rose slowly, but without hesitation, although she seemed a little wobbly, and crossed to his side. He slid his arm around her, pulling her beneath his shoulder so she could fit snugly into the window frame with him. He could have easily moved over to give her room, but he wanted to see her reaction to his proprietary claim on her. She seemed to accept him, just the way her leopard accepted his close proximity. The man coming toward the house was still a distance away and was striding boldly up the walkway, two men on either side of him. He acted as if he owned the property, and no one would ever think to oppose him. “He has more men with him. They’re hidden from view in the shrubbery on either side of the house. I’ve counted at least six, but most likely there are more.” Sevastyan was matter-of-fact. Calm. He kept his arm around her. A little shudder went through her body and she took an involuntary step back as if to get away from the window. At the same time, she tried to tug on his waist to take him with her. Her little leopard pushed…

“Bébé, what are you doing?” I called from the bed as I looked at Yin fussing around in our little kitchen on the other side of our studio apartment. I bit back a smile when he whipped around toting two mugs in a candy cane motif. “I was trying to bring you some coffee with peppermint creamer, Mr. Sleepy Head.” The attempt at sounding stern was thwarted by the grin on his face. He closed the space between us in a few steps and handed me the steaming mug. I reached out for the drink knowing it would probably be too sweet. And that I would drink it anyway, because how could I not, when it was made for me with such love? It was still hard to believe sometimes that I had this life. I patted the spot on the bed next to me, as Yin blew on his own cup. “Come sit with me.” He held up a finger and looked down at his drink. “Let me wait until this cools down, because you know me, I’ll probably spill this all over the bed and then we’ll spend Christmas at the ER.” I had to bite back a…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  SLOW BURN 2–What is it about?  After a terrible tragedy, Jake Lowell flees his home. But he leaves behind the girl he loves. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Adaptable. . . 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  He feels things deeply, even when he can’t show his emotions. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  For Nikki, it’s her mom. Jake turns to no one. He lives life on his own. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I had to brush up on New Jersey, because I haven’t spent time there. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? Pantser all the way! 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? Putter in the morning, chores, email, etc. Then hit the writing hard in the afternoon. If my husband has night meetings, I’ll write a lot more after dinner. 9–Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the TV on? Total silence. . . 10– How do you approach research?  I Google everything!! And I mostly write…