Imagine stepping into a town where the future arrived decades ahead of its time. You stroll beneath towering trees, passing brick buildings where students still hurry to class. Today they carry backpacks instead of leather satchels, coffee cups instead of slates, but Oberlin, Ohio, still feels like a place where ideas matter. At first glance, it seems like another charming college town. Look a little closer, though, and you’ll discover that from the 1830s through the 1880s, Oberlin was one of the most radical communities in nineteenth-century America, a place that dared to imagine a different future. Every town has stories, Oberlin’s are extraordinary. The more time I spent walking these streets while researching my novel, The Ladies Hall, the more I realized my story wasn’t simply about three remarkable women: Mary Church Terrell, Anna Julia Cooper, and Ida Gibbs Hunt. It was also about a town courageous enough to nurture them. Sometimes the most memorable journeys don’t take us across oceans. They take us into the past, where we meet the people and places that changed America’s future. So, let’s begin our walk. Welcome to the town that proudly claims it helped ignite the events leading to the American…

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 Siera London! Writes:I’ll introduce you to heroines you’ll recognize, heroes you’ll wish lived next door, and love stories you’ll be thinking about long after you’ve turned the last page. If you’re the reader who believes the best romances should leave you happier than they found you, then A HARD HABIT TO BREAK and I are excited for our first date. About:Retired Navy veteran turned professional matchmaker…for fictional people. I have a weakness for witty banter, undeniable chemistry, and heroes who discover that falling in love with a smart woman isn’t a challenge, it’s the best decision they’ll ever make. My stories are filled with intelligent heroines who occasionally make questionable choices, heroes who earn every ounce of trust, and enough laughter, longing, and heart to keep you reading long past your bedtime. Whether offworld, uptown, or small town, love is always worth the risk in a Siera London novel and gets the last word. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:• You…

Excerpt from THE LIE by Jude Berman: In what is night to all beings, a wise one is awake; in what is day to those beings, the wise one sees a dark night. IN THE DARK: Jedd “Lie! Down!” The sharp, staccato bark of a disembodied male voice cuts the silent darkness. I’m seated on the ground, legs stretched out in front of me, but I instantly drop back onto my elbows, then lower myself to a fully supine position. Anticipate the kicks delivered by the steel toe caps that must belong to that voice. Feel its fingers closing around my neck. Hear the hiss of its spit landing on my face. But there is only silence. Only darkness. I slowly rotate my neck left to right and back to center as I strain to pick up any clues that might indicate where I am. Or whose voice that was. It was sharp but also raspy. Like a hoarse drill sergeant. Vaguely familiar. I think. Or maybe not. With the throbbing in my head, it’s hard to know. My eyes are wide open, but all I see is pitch black. If it weren’t for the slight tickle of oxygenated air…

What is the title of your latest release?THE ONE WHO WALKED AWAY What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Bounty hunter Elle Randolph is chasing a dangerous man who seems to be hiding out somewhere on the Mendocino coast in Northern California. He has not killed anyone yet, at least not that Elle knows of. But that changes when people start dying all around her and finding her quarry becomes even more urgent. She wants to work with the detective investigating the murders, but Ronan Clarke doesn’t trust bounty hunters any more than Elle trusts cops. Can they declare a truce long enough to catch a killer? How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I’ve been visiting the Mendocino coast for about ten years. My husband and I vacation here every summer to beat the heat. It’s usually about thirty degrees cooler on the coast than it is anywhere else. I’ve fallen in love with the rugged coastline, the waves crashing on the rocks, and the serene redwood forests. I wanted to share my appreciation for this amazing place with my readers! Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?I would. I would hang…

I love a good Regency romance story! When I set out to write A MISMATCH MADE IN LONDON I knew I wanted it to be fun, sweet, and true to the time period. And consciously or unconsciously, I was influenced by my favorite Regency romances. So here is a list of my Top 5 favorite Regencies. (Okay, yes, they are all Jane Austen novels, but I love them!) Number One has to be PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. I will never forget the first time I read this story. I was in my teens, and I had already read Emma by Jane Austen, which I loved, but PRIDE AND PREJUDICE was just so incredibly PERFECT. I remember reading the book with such excitement, especially the part where Lizzie was discovering that Mr. Darcy had saved Lydia and their entire family from ruin. I couldn’t sit still. I literally read while pacing. Seeing the two of them go from intense dislike to falling in love and believing that they could only be happy if they ended up getting married was just the most exciting story progression I’d ever read. It became my favorite novel ever. My story, A MISMATCH MADE IN LONDON, uses…

What is the title of your latest release?TWELVE WEEKS OF LOVE & LOSS is Book Two in The Secrets Trilogy. It follows the characters from my debut novel, SIX WEEKS OF LOVE & LARCENY, into the next chapter of their lives three years later. It’s a stand-alone novel that doesn’t have to be read in sequence, but I guarantee if you read it first, you’ll want to go back to where it all begins with Six Weeks. What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?TWELVE WEEKS OF LOVE & LOSS is a thriller of obsession, deception, and survival – set against the backdrop of a love story that never quite let go. The story begins with a random encounter that opens the door to a second chance at an unforgettable romance but quickly takes an unexpected turn down a dark and twisted road paved by deep emotions that turn into something sinister. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?All three novels in The Secrets Trilogy are set in Philadelphia – it’s where the story began and continues to live on. I originally chose Philly as a backdrop simply because I’m familiar with it, but the…

Book Title: YOU’LL LOVE IT HERECharacter Name: Mona Bucket How would you describe your family or your childhood?Well, my parents were always causing chaos for me so…not great. Ever since my dad passed, it’s like my mom has taken it upon herself to carry on his share of the havoc. It’s a lot to worry about when I’m trying to manage my own life, but I digress. What was your greatest talent?I can focus on a task for sixteen hours straight with minimal downtime if I ignore the pain that comes right between my eyes during hour seven. Significant other?I’m focusing on my career for the next five quarters. Once I’ve secured my promotion, I can get back to other pursuits like relationships. Sami and I are friends—he’s helping me manage the tenants with their wildly different personalities. He’s easy to chat with and easy to look at—but nothing’s going on with us! Biggest challenge in relationships?It can be hard to find someone worth sacrificing my time for so I find that with friendships, it’s best to surround yourself with people who are where you want to be in life; people that inspire you and challenge you to work harder,…

I have what I’d call a weird process for writing my books. Every time I start a new book, I tell myself the same lie: This time I’m going to write straight through. First draft, start to finish, no looking back. And every time, I believe it. I start strong. The first half comes fast. I’m feeling good, maybe a little smug. Then somewhere around the middle, I hit a wall. Not writer’s block exactly — more like a structural wobble. Something isn’t hanging together, even if I can’t name it yet. So I break my vow and go back to the beginning. I read through, then start editing, because inevitably I find holes — timeline gaps, spots where the story doesn’t quite work yet. Once I fix those, I keep going. I write another 25%, then do the whole thing again. By the time I’m writing the ending — always hard, always — most of the editing is done. The last pages usually get written right before I hit send to my editor. For years I thought this meant something was wrong with me. Every writing book described a process that looked nothing like mine. Every workshop said just…

Excerpt from THE INEVITABLE UNDOING OF ZAHARA DOUGLASS by Leslye Penelope: December 12, 1999 A sound like the manic warbling of a robotic bird cuts through the all- too- familiar melody of Tchaikovsky’s “Waltz of the Flowers.” Zahara is in the middle of a series of whipping fouetté turns when it hits, and she stumbles. A cell phone. Somewhere in the first few rows. Its high- pitched dissonance is at odds with the orchestra’s faultless tones. The phone’s distinct melody is also well known but grating. The first chair flute, a ghostly pale young man with a shock of unruly orange hair, copies the ring tone subtly, then re-joins the rest of the woodwinds without missing any additional notes. A smattering of laughter breaks out in the crowd as the conductor bulges his eyes and purses his lips. Perhaps the young ginger will not be first chair for long. Zahara wobbles her way out of the turns and into the leaps that take her to the edge of the stage, a delighted smile never leaving her face. Breaking character would turn the disaster of her mistake into a catastrophe. She holds the final arabesque, briefly becoming a statue carved from…

Excerpt from FREIGHT by Ryan Lowell: CHAPTER 1 Billy Trask stopped short of the border and swung his tractor trailer into the storage facility. He took one last pull off his cigarette, flung it out the window into the slush, and situated his truck so that he was facing the road. It was only then that he pulled his crossword book from the console. He could see his breath. He kept it cold in the cab because the heat made him sleepy. The crossword book was for beginners, but he didn’t have an ego when it came to that stuff—he didn’t like to struggle. His father did the harder ones when he was alive, but his father was smarter and he said the puzzles kept him sharp. Billy got a couple words, and then he checked the time and pulled down his visor and looked at himself and took the gray bandana off and tied it back over his long, mostly gray hair, and he did not talk to himself this time. He pushed the visor back up, and in the distance the Buick was rolling toward him. Slowly. Too slowly. He set his crossword book back in the console…