Charlie heard the noise of a vehicle approaching. A Dodge Durango, red. Oh, no. That wasn’t–surely not– Jake Braddock. Nooooooooo! Not again. Not here. Not now. Charlie realized the picture she must make at the moment: butt in the air, bootless, muddy socks, scraggly hair, filthy blackened hands and beet-red face because her head was hanging upside down. The Durango had pulled forward and stopped. A figure that looked an awful lot like Jake Braddock got out of it and shut the door. Tall, dark tousled hair, broad shoulders. T-shirt under a flannel shirt rolled to the elbows. Arms so cut with muscle that they were even defined under the plaid. Charlie straightened, turned at the waist and with effort, unstuck one foot and set it down in front of her. Then with determination, with what she thought of as sheer brio, she unstuck the other one, slid on the first, lost her balance and pitched forward onto her face. Mortification had never smelled so much like weeds, wet earth and—ugh–deer dung. This-is-not-happening-this-is-not-happening-this-is-not-happening! She sang to herself. Nope-not-never-not-not-not-nope! I am dignity itself, shimmering in the wind, the very spirit of grace. This is so not happening. I am visualizing this…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Cindi! Please tell us a little bit about your latest novel, A COWBOY NEVER QUITS. A Cowboy Never Quits is about the Dawsons, who run a rehab ranch for teens, and a single mom who had a daughter at sixteen. Jess and her daughter have always been close, but they’ve been drifting apart lately, and when Chloe lands in jail, Jess is desperate to keep her from going down her same path and get her the help she needs. Even if it involves working for slightly grumpy cowboy, Wade, and taking a cooking job she may or may not have exaggerate how qualified she is for. This is the first book in the Turn Around Ranch series. What inspired this cowboy romance series? I grew up on a cattle ranch, and I’m a big believer in the sort of therapy that comes from nature, animals, and people who genuinely care. I’m also a mother of teens, and as I’ve talked to other mothers of teens, we’ve talked about some of the issues our kids are facing, namely anxiety and depression. I liked the idea of a close mother-daughter relationship, and a mom who was scared…

The Harvey Girls, in full uniform, stood shoulder to shoulder, arms linked, at the entrance to the church. Emma was at the center of the lineup. Grace Hopkins was on her left and a woman Max didn’t recognize was on her right, all three also in uniform. Sheriff Bolton stood before them, shouting out threats to arrest the whole lot of them. Off to one side sat the bride, her face blotched with either fury or misery or both. Father O’Meara stood between McCoy, the local lawyer, and Mr. Gilmore, trying without much success to get them to lower their voices. And instead of consoling his bride, whose day had clearly been ruined, RJ stood with his arms around his mother—and his eyes fixed on Emma. Max started making his way through the crowd. “Wait, Max,” Aidan called, stopping him. “Let them alone. This just might work.” “Mr. Campbell,” Ford said, “please explain why employees of the Harvey Company are staging what appears to be a protest outside a church of all places.” “It was all their idea,” Aidan said, gesturing toward the waitresses. “Emma’s really—along with Grace and Lily, of course.” “Who’s Lily?” Max asked. Aidan pointed to the…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Roni! Please introduce yourself and tell us about the fourth book in The Ones that Got Away series, THE ONE FOR YOU. Hi there! Thanks for having me back. J I’m Roni Loren, and I write contemporary romance and erotic romance. My latest book The One For You is the final book in a four-book series about survivors of a school shooting. (You don’t have to have read the previous ones. You can jump in wherever.) The series follows these characters a decade later as they come to terms with what happened, heal, and find love. This new book focuses on one of my favorite characters of the whole series, Kincaid Breslin. She has been the feisty, upbeat, tell-it-like-it-is friend to the other three women featured in the previous books, and now it’s finally her turn to find love. She think she lost the love of her life and her only chance at a happy relationship in the tragedy, but when her wry, bookish (and estranged) best friend from high school, Ashton Isaacs, comes back to town, she’s in for a big surprise. All of the books in this series deal with the aftermath of a tragic…

Our final reviewer top reads list comes from Svetlana Libenson! You can check back and read our other favorite reads of 2019: Debbie Wiley Danielle Dresser Jessica Grogan Miranda Owen Teresa Cross Now, here’s Svetlana’s list: It’s that time of year again: time to reflect on the last twelve months, to make resolutions, and to welcome in a new decade, 2020. I can hardly believe its 2020. It seems like only yesterday that 2019 had begun, and now in a couple of days we will walk into the 2020s. When it comes to literature, my taste runs towards historical fiction, domestic suspense, multicultural fiction and contemporary fiction, and 2019 had its good moments in those categories.  In no particular order, I will share eight of my favorite 2019 reads as well along with some honorable mentions. MIRACLE CREEK by Angie Kim was a recent read for me, but it’s one that I’ll think of whenever I remember 2019. My favorite parts were the quotes Angie Kim wrote, and I also loved how she touched the interracial marriage between the characters as well as the struggles of identity and immigration in her character of Mary. Because I’m also a huge fan…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Katie! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your latest novel, RISK IT ALL? It’s great to be back–thank you for having me! I write romantic suspense with funny bits (at least I hope they’re funny) set in the Colorado Rockies. In my latest book, RISK IT ALL (Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters #2), we’re back with the bounty hunting Pax sisters and their felonious mom. All Cara Pax wants is to be a kindergarten teacher, but she somehow finds herself chasing after bail jumper and accused killer Henry Kavenski. As she gets swept up in the danger that surrounds Henry, she realizes that things are even more complicated than first appears, and she begins to wonder–is he innocent, or is she just a sucker for a gorgeous, protective skip?       RISK IT ALL is the second book in your Rocky Mountain Bounty Hunters series. What keeps you coming back to writing romantic suspense, and specifically set in this party of the country? The rugged, remote, and oftentimes dangerous mountains are the perfect setting for romantic suspense! While I lived there, I fell in love with the Colorado Rockies, as well as the interesting…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Tracey! Please tell us about yourself and your latest book, SWEET TALKIN’ LOVER. Thank you for having me! I write contemporary romance novels with interracial couples. I live in Virginia with my husband and three kids and I’m a designer purse and planner addict! Sweet Talkin’ Lover is the first book in my new Girls Trip series which revolves around a group of four women who met during their first year of college and go on vacation together every year. Grief over her beloved grandfather’s death leads marketing director Caila Harris to make several catastrophic work decisions. Devastated, she’s given one final chance to prove herself: shut down an unprofitable factory in a small Southern town. But as soon as she arrives in Bradleton, she meets one outsized problem: the town’s gorgeous mayor, Wyatt Bradley, aka “Mayor McHottie,” who insists on acting as Caila’s personal escort during her stay. Hijinks, sexy times and falling in love ensues. Caila Harris is due for a promotion at work and wants nothing more than to prove to her boss that she has what it takes. She faces a devastating loss at the beginning of this novel, and it affects her…

Melissa was just getting out of the shower when her phone rang. She wrapped herself up in a bath towel and ran to answer. “Hello.” “Hey, it’s me. I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed spending time with you today and to wish you a good night.” Melissa was grinning from ear to ear. “Thank you. I loved spending time with you, too. Did you find any new leads?” “No.” “I’m sorry,” Melissa said. “Just remember I’ll help you tomorrow if you want.” “Rest well, and I’ll check on you in the morning, if it’s okay with you.” Melissa laughed, and the sound rolled through him like silk against his skin. “Of course it’s okay,” she said. “Call anytime.” And then the connection ended, and Sully put his phone on the charger, got in bed, and turned out the lights. He pulled up the covers, and within minutes he was asleep. — The sound of a siren woke Sully up the next morning, and he was out of bed, his heart pounding with adrenaline, before he remembered he wasn’t at the station anymore. But hearing a siren before daylight had him wondering what was going on in…

Genevieve showed up looking effortlessly pretty. Like flowers in a vase. Rowan braced herself for the hug and the dual cheek kiss, awash in the heady scent of roses and a bit of jasmine. “Hello, Rowan.” “Hey, Genevieve. Come through to the kitchen. Dinner is nearly ready.” “Give me a tour first.” That’d give Clive a little longer with his tea to calm and accept reality and it would give Rowan some extra time to gentle Genevieve toward him. David had come up to the main house for the meal and Rowan heard him speaking to Betchamp in the kitchen as she and Genevieve headed away. Some part of her relaxed, knowing everyone was in the house and safe. “I didn’t want to say this on the phone or over text,” Rowan said after the tour of everything but the kitchen and dining room. She and Genevieve remained in Rowan’s office. “I had a visit with Carl today. He told me a bunch of stuff and gave me a dog. Or maybe it’s more like she decided to come live with me and be my keeper. She’s magic. Something like that.” Genevieve’s gaze sharpened. “Carl? The sage who likes stuffed…

It’s that time of year when I must pick the best mysteries I’ve had the pleasure of featuring on the Cozy Corner throughout the year. I’m not going to lie, it’s my favorite, and least favorite part of this blog. I obviously can’t choose them all, yet every one was featured because it spoke to me in a special way. This year brought us some wonderful who-dun-it to enjoy; favorite series of the past, along with a bunch of new mysteries full of diversity that kept our days and nights busy with memorable characters. There were also so many novels I couldn’t feature due to scheduling and space constraints—so how did I choose from such a large pool of incredible mysteries which released this year?  With high spirits, and a glass of wine to toast each and every author;) *** Singapore Sapphire was featured on Cozy Corner blog titled New and Tried and True in September, 2019. A.M. Stuart has a winning start to this series! SINGAPORE SAPPHIRE by A.M. Stuart Early twentieth-century Singapore is a place where a person can disappear, and Harriet Gordon hopes to make a new life for herself there, leaving her tragic memories behind her–but murder gets in the…