Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Jocelyn Adams | The Evolution of an Idea
Author Guest / February 11, 2016

I’ve always been fascinated by the stars. What’s out there? Are we alone? How did we get here? Several years ago, I decided to explore that idea in fiction, and what a journey it’s been. I knew what was out there in books on the subject, and my goal was to write something new and unexpected. Not an easy aspiration with all of the creative minds out there filling the shelves with their brilliant works. As with every idea that evolves into a book, it began with a single question: What if… Of course, the first few things I finished that sentence with didn’t lead me anywhere interesting. Aliens and beasts and special abilities that have been done and redone every which way. Demons and angels, gods and time travelers. None of them were right, but what else was there? One night while watching a movie—I can’t even remember which one now—I began thinking about the power of emotion and how it can give someone seemingly super-human strength in the face of a crisis, physically and spiritually. What if emotion could be harnessed as a shield or a weapon? Why would it be needed? What foe could be so strong…

Q&A with Maia Chance – BEAUTY, BEAST, AND BELLADONNA
Author Guest / February 11, 2016

Ready to dash back to the Victorian Era and uncover who-done-it at a perfectly ghastly country party? Then sit back and enjoy our Q&A with Maia Chance, author of the Fairy Tale Fatal Mysteries. Her heroine Miss Ophelia Flax is in quite a fix–ready to unload one boorish fiancé and saddled with guests from, well, you know where until one shows up dead and mauled. Describe BEAUTY, BEAST, AND BELLADONNA in 140 characters or less. BEAUTY, BEAST, AND BELLADONNA is a fun, adventurous, and romantic historical mystery set in a secret-riddled French chateau in 1867. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Happiness for me is spending time outside somewhere beautiful, with my husband, kids, and dog. What’s your favorite part of Ophelia’s quirky personality? I like the way Ophelia compensates in creative and gutsy ways for her lack of a good formal education. She’s smart and resourceful and she uses her unusual skill set—farm girl, circus performer, actress—to help solve the mystery. Which living person do you most admire? My husband, actually. He is an unusually gifted person who overcame significant disadvantages and obstacles to get where he is today. And he gives the best pep-talks! What inspired you…

Support American Vets with SAVED BY A SEAL Purchase
Author Guest / February 11, 2016

Three New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling authors have joined forces to give back to the military veterans who have given so much to their country. Lindsay McKenna, Chris Keniston and Susan Stoker bring you SAVED BY A SEAL, a first in series box set. Join these authors and their SEAL heroes from the very beginning of their bestselling romance series. 99¢ for a limited amount of time About SAVED BY A SEAL 100% of all author proceeds from this first in series boxed set will be donated to help Disabled Veterans get service dogs through AMERICA’S VETDOGS. NOWHERE TO HIDE by Lindsay McKenna Book 1, Delos Series Lia Cassidy left the Army scarred physically and emotionally after a vicious attack by two fellow soldiers. She turns to helping others, working at a Delos Home School Charity in Costa Rica that aids abused women and children. But when the deadly drug lord, La Arana, attacks the school, Lia finds herself on the run for her life. The only person she can trust is the ex-SEAL sent to protect her. Cav Jordan is strong, honorable and gorgeous and intrigued by Lia. He knows she has suffered pain in her past,…

Tara Sue Me | My Journey So Far
Author Guest / February 10, 2016

THE MASTER is my tenth published book, so I thought it would be beneficial to stop and reflect on my journey so far. So here are a few things I need to remind myself. Take baby steps. I say this all the time, but it stands repeating and it does me good to hear it again. “It’s a marathon, not a sprint.” I hope to write books for a long time, I need to set a steady pace and not a wear myself out or spread myself too thin. Don’t take it personally. People aren’t going to like everything I write. Some people aren’t going to like anything I write. This is okay. My mom doesn’t like chocolate. I think she’s crazy and I don’t understand how we’re genetically related, but she’s entitled to her opinion. “No” is a perfectly good answer. I’m a people pleaser by nature and I hate conflict, but I can’t do everything. I can’t even come close. Sometimes I should say, “No.” It’s my journey, no one else’s. Comparisons are poison and should be avoided at all cost. Repeat to self as needed. Guard your writing time and hold it sacred. There are so many…

Sherilee Gray | Curvy Heroines
Author Guest / February 10, 2016

I’ve been reading romance for….some time now 🙂 My very first was a novella written by Sherrilyn Kenyon, and I was immediately hooked. I devoured romance novels after that first fabulous book, forsaking all other genres. But I noticed a theme that, at times, didn’t sit well with me. The pages were full of slim, gorgeous, flawless woman. Don’t get me wrong, I’m cool with that, woman come in all shapes and sizes and I want to read about all of them. I just felt there weren’t enough curvy or plus-size women being represented in these books I loved so much. I wanted to read a book with a heroine I could relate to in that way. I’ve never been one of the skinny girls, and at times struggled with it. I suffered the name calling at school and the lack of self-confidence. Our culture is filled with negative messages directed at women who don’t fit some advertiser, magazine editor, or movie producer’s ideal. It’s shoved down our throats on a daily. So here I was going about my business, reading romance like a demon, and happy days! I found what I was looking for! The joy I felt when…

Joanne Kennedy | Every Character Has a Story
Author Guest / February 10, 2016

While I was writing HOW TO WRANGLE A COWBOY, I found myself wishing I could start the story a generation or two early. I write contemporaries, and I love my modern-day cowboys and their spunky modern women. But from the opening pages, where heroine Lindsey Ward’s grandma is mourning her husband in her own inimitable way, I longed to write the story of her grandparents, Bud and Grace Ward. A former stunt rider, Bud encapsulates all the excitement and romance of the Hollywood Western. I based him on Rex Rossi, a trick rider and Hall of Fame stuntman who doubled for various movie stars for over half a century. He performed many of the tricks that made cowboys like Roy Rogers, Hoot Gibson, and Bob Steele famous. Sadly, he died with his boots on after long day on the set. I made Bud’s story a happier one. Arthritis, brought on by his many injuries, forced him to leave stunt riding. He didn’t think that was a happy ending at the time, but then, on his last film, he met Grace. From afar, he’d admired the beautiful ingénue who was playing a pioneer lass, but beat up, bruised, and dirty as…

Kat Martin | Movies and Writing
Author Guest / February 10, 2016

Since Academy Awards night is one of my favorite evenings, I thought it might be fun to talk movies. Old favorites, new favorites, worst picks of all time. Who doesn’t love ET? Star Wars? Gone with the Wind? Wizard of Oz? They’re classics, never to be forgotten. As I look back, I realize some of the novels I’ve written were probably inspired by films I’ve seen and loved. Old movies like The African Queen with Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn; new ones like Taken, with Liam Neeson; Ocean’s Thirteen; Mission Impossible; the Heist. The plot for my new book, INTO THE FURY, may have developed from the fast action and suspense in those kinds of movies. When Valentine Hart, one of La Belle lingerie’s most beautiful models, receives a death threat, it’s bodyguard Ethan Brodie’s job to protect her. Throw in murder, mayhem, and copycat killers and you have INTO THE FURY, a fast-paced, action-packed, hot-blooded romantic suspense I’m hoping readers will enjoy. Gone with the Wind, a time of elegant hoop skirts and Georgia mansions, led to CAPTAIN’S BRIDE, CREOLE FIRES, and NATCHEZ FLAME. My husband and I actually stayed in a gorgeous old plantation house in Natchez built…

Michele Callahan | If this book had a music playlist or soundtrack, what would it be and why?
Author Guest / February 9, 2016

Music is powerful. The melodies crash through our bloodstream and make us feel whatever it is that the musician/lyricist wanted us to feel: anger, despair, desire, love, longing, happiness. Every emotion we can imagine is expressed in music. When I got the idea for my new Love You Like A Love Song Series, I was struggling with the question asked today; If this book had a music soundtrack, what would it be and why? And then I thought, the romance should have its own song, a song that tells the story of these two characters. Their love story is unique, and strange, and powerful. And so, my Love You Like A Love Song series was born. CRASH AND BURN, ALONE WITH YOU (Feb 2016), UP ALL NIGHT (March 2016) and MAKE ME FORGET (April 2016) – with more to come So, I sat down with the vague idea for CRASH AND BURN, day one, page one, and I started with song lyrics. It sounds crazy — and I felt a little crazy when I was writing it — but the lyrics came, and with them came the voice of my heroine, Erin Michaelson, as she introduced herself to me. Turned…

Christy English | A Highland Tea
Author Guest / February 9, 2016

Lady Olivia, the matriarch of the Waters Highland clan, has sent her two youngest sons south to London with the task of marrying off their hoydenish sister, Mary Elizabeth Waters. While in England, Alexander (HOW TO SEDUCE A SCOT) and Robert (HOW TO WED A WARRIOR) were under strict instructions not to marry an English girl, a stricture which they both ignored. Mary Elizabeth can out-hunt, out-shoot, and out-ride every man she has ever met, and she has declared openly and directly that she will never wed. Now, let’s sit down to tea with the Waters clan, shall we? Tea with the Waters Family Alexander Waters: I’ve gathered you all here today to consider why Mary Elizabeth isn’t married yet. Mary Elizabeth Waters: Because marriage is for fools! What woman would give up her life to a man? No offense, Catherine. Mrs. Catherine Waters (laughing): You don’t offend me, Mary. Robert Waters: Now, Mary darlin’, don’t be too hasty. Ye might enjoy wedded bliss. Mary Elizabeth: Just because you caught Mrs. Prudence— Robbie: She caught me! Mary Elizabeth (with a glower): Just because you caught my Mrs. Prudence and got her to marry you, does not mean that you are…

J.L. Hammer | Up Close and Personal With a U.S. Marshal
Author Guest / February 8, 2016

In the next Vegas Vixens novel, TATTOOED AS TROUBLE, from Entangled Publishing, Raegan Storm enters the Witness Protection Program after witnessing a murder only to lose her heart to the U.S. Marshal sworn to protect her. This isn’t just any U.S. Marshal, but the ruggedly handsome Quinn Bronson. He takes his job as a marshal seriously and by the book, that is until he has to guard the lovely Rae Storm. And boy, does she turn his world upside down. Like the other vixens in the series, she is TROUBLE. But Bronson would rather face hit men than deal with his intense attraction for Rae, a woman that is strictly off limits. Now creating the character of Bronson took some research. As I uncovered what made the man tick, I discovered some interesting facts about the U.S. Marshals. The Witness Security Program has successfully protected an estimated 18,400 participants since the program began in 1971. The marshals arrest 400 fugitives every day on average. The U.S. Marshals operate the federal Witness Security Program, sometimes referred to as the “Witness Protection Program.” The marshals claim a perfect success rate, with no witnesses being harmed while under protection as long as all…