Thank you for having me here to share some details about my new release, INKED WITH A KISS, the second book in my Thorn & Thistle series. In INKED WITH A KISS, tattoo artist Jamie and social worker Sierra have both come to rely on themselves more than anyone else, but a future together will mean letting their guards down and accepting each other as a safe place to fall. I is for irresistible. That’s what they are to each other. N is for new. Sierra introduces Jamie to new experiences, like a picnic under the stars. K is for kinks. Can freckles be a kink? Well, Sierra’s are for Jamie. E is for enthusiasm. Sierra has lots of it. D is for discovery. They discover in each other exactly what they need. * W is for worry. Jamie is a worrier. Thankfully, Sierra is going to help her with that. I is for independent. Sierra is independent and proud of it. T is for tattooer. Jamie is a tattoo artist and Sierra is her most challenging client. H is for help. With a little convincing Jamie is helping Sierra with a fundraiser. * A is for age gap. Twelve…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  NOT THAT KIND OF GUY 2–What is it about?  It’s a workplace romance between an older woman and her intern, but with wild Vegas weekend in the middle. It’s the companion book to NOT THE GIRL YOU MARRY, and you get to see a lot of the characters from that book, but it can be read on its own.  3–What word best describes your heroine?  One word to describe Bridget Nolan: tough. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  His kindness and empathy.   5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Bridget turns to her dad and brothers, and Matt turns to his parents.   6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I loved the brief period of time that I lived in Chicago and I think it’s such a great rom-com setting. It’s larger than life.   7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? I’m pretty much a plantser. I have a synopsis at the start but most of my books diverge from the plan at some point.  8–What is an ideal writing day for you?  Honestly, my…

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 Carla Cassidy!  Writes: Books like 48 Hour Lockdown, the first novel in the Tactical Crime Division series. It’s a fast-paced, high drama read highlighting some of the people in this unique division of crime-fighters. About: Extroverted author seeks readers who love murder and mayhem. I also love to hang out with people who have a sense of humor and like to laugh. I’ll supply coffee and ice cream (my secret weakness) for an evening of laughing and talking about all the ways to kill a character! What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Must love characters that are strong as they protect and serve. Must love reading at a breath-taking pace, complete with lots of action scenes. Must love suspenseful moments that take your breath away. Must enjoy moments of heartrending emotion that makes you want to cry and scream at the same time. Must love the ultimate battles between good and evil. What to expect if we’re compatible: Romantic…

Is it just me or is it hard to concentrate on anything right now? I usually read between 6-10 novels and graphic novels a month and I’m not sure I fully finished a book during the month of March. I finally forced myself to sit down and read two books (mainly because it’s part of my job to review books and also interview authors about their books) over the last couple of weeks, and I’ve started about three more, but they’re just sitting on my nightstand collecting dust or waiting patiently on my kindle.  But I have been consuming romance novels, just not in the traditional sense. Romance Podcasts! There are many, they are delightful, and I can turn them on while I stress-bake, stress-clean, or stress-stare-off-into-space. I admire so many of these hosts, enjoy their banter, and trust their judgment when it comes to book recommendations, and I can safely “argue” with them when I disagree. The podcasts listed below are a small number of the romance podcasts available – check your favorite podcatcher for even more romance listening:  Fated Mates Hosted by bestselling romance author Sarah MacLean and romance critic Jen Prokop, Fated Mates started out in season…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Meet Me At Midnight 2–What is it about?  They have a love-hate relationship with summer. Sidney and Asher should have clicked. Two star swimmers forced to spend their summers on a lake together sounds like the perfect match. But it’s the same every year—in between cookouts and boat rides and family-imposed bonfires, Sidney and Asher spend the dog days of summer finding the ultimate ways to prank each other. And now, after their senior year, they’re determined to make it the most epic summer yet. But their plans are thrown in sudden jeopardy when their feud causes their families to be kicked out of their beloved lake houses. Once in their new accommodations, Sidney expects the prank war to continue as usual. But then she gets a note—Meet me at midnight. And Asher has a proposition for her: join forces for one last summer of epic pranks, against a shared enemy—the woman who kicked them out. Their truce should make things simpler, but six years of tormenting one another isn’t so easy to ignore. Kind of like the undeniable attraction growing between them. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Sidney is a lot of things,…

Jen: What inspired you to write The Closer You Get? Mary: A friend told me about a single woman we knew who was having an affair with a married man. He left his wife and went to live with her, but the relationship didn’t last long and he went straight back to his wife. It made me wonder what would happen if both affair partners were married to other people and decided to be together; who would dare to take that first step towards their new life? How could you trust anyone enough to do that? If you were in that position and left your marriage and the other person didn’t leave, you would have burned all your bridges. So that became the start of the idea, that a married woman leaves home to be with a married man, but he doesn’t show up. What draws coworkers Ruby and Harry into having an extramarital affair? I think Ruby is a classic case of a woman who’s very unhappy at home and falls for the first person to show her some kindness and interest. On the other hand, Harry’s actually always been happy at home. His reasons for having an affair…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Alison! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your debut novel, YOU AND ME AND US. Thanks so much for having me! My name is Alison Hammer, and during the day, I’m a VP Creative Director at an advertising agency in Chicago, and during nights and weekends—I write upmarket women’s fiction. You and Me and Us the story of a workaholic woman and her distant teenage daughter, and it’s about the way their relationship evolves as they go through a tough summer, losing the third member of their family. It’s a tearjerker, but there are parts that will make you laugh and smile, too! What had your publishing journey to your debut novel been like? What has surprised you about getting to the publication of your first book? While You and Me and Us is my debut novel, it isn’t the first book I wrote. I have a manuscript that I put in a drawer after trying to find an agent for about a year. While I was querying, I wrote and revised You and Me and Us. It took about seven months of querying to sign with my amazing agent Joanna—who happened to be the…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, M.A.! Please introduce yourself and tell us more about your new novel, THE IRON CROWN. Thank you so much for having me! I always struggle to introduce myself. I guess the easiest way of explaining who I am is to say that I’m basically the village lady who lives on the edge of the woods and only comes in to town when absolutely necessary. I love my animals, spending my time gardening, crafting, and baking, as well as writing and reading. I enjoy living in the liminal space between the world we know and the world we can sense, but not always see. The entire DARKEST COURT series is a great reflection of who I am and all the nerdy things I love. It centers on the lives of three Unseelie princes at the moment a civil war breaks out in Faerie, threatening their world and the safety of their people. THE IRON CROWN features the last battles of the war and ties up all the plotlines that have run throughout the series. This is the third book in the Darkest Court series. Can you set the scene (without out too many major spoilers, LOL!) for…

Times are stressful right now. Parents and teachers are learning how to implement distance learning, going to the grocery store feels like a live version of Pac-Man, and we’re all desperately hunting for toilet paper. Nerves are frayed as everyone fears that even the slightest cough could mean a dangerous virus has entered their home. Quarantines are the norm. Who would have thought this is what 2020 had in store for us? Now, more than ever, is time to stop, take deep breaths, and read some good books that take us all away to other places right now. Urban fantasy and fantasy are two of my favorite genres and fortunately, there are some phenomenal new books out there right now to dive into. Here are a few of my recent favorites: The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is one of my go-to series when things seem depressing as Mercy Thompson Hauptman is one of the best kick-butt, loyal, and compassionate characters out there. SMOKE BITTEN is the latest in the series and things are definitely in a chaotic state in the Tri-Counties. Mercy’s mate and Alpha wolf, Adam Hauptman, has been emotionally distant, a rarity for a werewolf. There’s…

My name is Tracey Enerson Wood, and I’m thrilled to chat about my debut novel, THE ENGINEER’S WIFE, on-sale April 7. What fun this is! I never would have thought to look at the title this way. Here’s what I came up with. Would love to hear ideas from readers! Emily Warren Roebling oversaw the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge—yet she was lost in its shadow after the fact. In THE ENGINEER’s WIFE, her story finally gets the spotlight. T— is for Time. It took nearly 14 years to build the Brooklyn Bridge. H— is for Henrietta, one of my favorite characters, whose humor and wise council keep Emily grounded. E— is for Emily, the amazing unsung hero. * E— is for Electricity. They built that amazing bridge without it! N— is for Emily’s true North. You find out what that is at the very end. G— is for Ginormous. A great word to describe the challenge Emily and Wash face. I— is for Ingenuity, they’re building a massive bridge like no other before, and have to solve unique problems. N— is for New York City, the always fascinating city that is the main setting. E— is for Eleanor. A…