I’m such a sucker for happily-ever-afters. What romance author isn’t? So when I first laid eyes on the Hollhenzollern Lock Bridge in Cologne, Germany, I was as good as a fish on a line–completely hooked. It was a chilly but sunny clear spring day, and I stood at one end of the bridge and gawked at the thousands of locks that extended nearly to the other side, all in a rainbow of colors. So. Many. Locks. (photo from Atlas Obscura) Some locks were inscribed with a couple’s names and wedding date, others had names and dates inked on, and yet others had metal tags with messages written on them. They were messages of love that pledged eternal devotion. Sigh. So sweet, so romantic, so up my alley! Lock Bridge had made such an impact on me, I had to incorporate it in my new rom-com, SEDUCED BY THE SOLDIER. In it, Blake and Zandra travel through three European countries so that Zandra can complete a photography assignment for a popular e-zine. There are adventures and surprises along the way, of course, and by the time they get to Cologne the two are very much into each other but unwilling to…

I have had a love affair with American History, especially America’s “Old West” nearly all my life, probably because I grew up on TV westerns like Gunsmoke and old western movies starring Clint Eastwood and John Wayne. But I truly believe there is a part of me who, in another life, lived in the west, either as an Indian or a pioneer woman. My top five reasons for loving the West would be: The magnificent landscapes The phenomenal growth of our frontier The rugged pioneers The fact that men set their own laws, sometimes “on the spot” The respect and admiration most men of the West had for the pioneer women who dared to join them in a savage land And a sixth. . . complete strangers often ended up marrying out of need and loneliness, which is what my book is about. Excerpt: August 1869 Kate ducked into the tall grass as soon as she heard men’s voices. She slowly crawled to get close enough to listen, then parted the dense, yellow blades to see five rough-looking men gathered around a lonely, half-dead cottonwood tree. One of the men raised up in his stirrups and flung a rope over…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Eva! Can you tell us more about your new series, Union of the Rakes, and book 1 in particular, MY FAKE RAKE?  Thank you so much for having me back! I’m very excited to introduce my Union of the Rakes series to your readers, since it combines two very important things in my life: my love of the Regency, and my love of the ‘80s. The whole premise of the Union of the Rakes might sound familiar to ‘80s film fans: five very different boys meet at Eton when they’re assigned to an all-day punishment in the library. Yes–it’s the Breakfast Club! Twenty years later, the boys are now grown men in a close friendship, and each one finds their own HEA in the pages of the Union of the Rakes books. My Fake Rake is a mash up between Weird Science, Can’t Buy Me Love, and Some Kind of Wonderful. That means we get fake dating, makeover (it’s his makeover), and friends to lovers, all in one book!  One of my favorite things about this new series of yours is that it’s inspired by 80s movies! Where did this fabulous idea come from? What’s…

How sixteen years of working in movie production inspired me to write my new novel. . .  My new erotic romance, Hot Nights in Morocco, sees the heroine, Charlie Winters, traveling to North Africa to begin her first job on Hollywood producer Jake Dalton’s new movie. It’s an exciting world I know a little something about because for sixteen years I lived and breathed movie production, (that’s until I hit thirty-four and chose to embark on a new adventure–raising a family and writing books!) During my time in the industry, I was lucky enough to work on some amazing shoots in some pretty far-flung places, many of which have given me the backdrop to my stories. Nevertheless, one thing people never warn you about is all the downtime on movie sets. If you’re not directly involved with the actual shooting of a scene, it can often feel like you’re sat watching your art director’s paint dry. . . As a production manager, my job was to oversee things like the budget, crew hospitality, kit hire, and cast management. Most of this takes place in a temporary office on the Unit Base so trips to the set necessitated a lot of…

Kym: Welcome back to the Cozy Corner, Lynn! Lynn: It’s so nice to chat with you again. 🙂  With three working series, you are one busy woman! What keeps you on track the most? I do a lot of planning. A. Lot. I use Asana to track the projects – like writing a book. Or planning my release. It sets up dates to check in as well as gives me check list inside each project to backward plan the process. I have a google/phone calendar (as well as a day job online calendar) and I’m good at blocking out big things. Like deadlines.  And releases.  The other thing is I’m not afraid to re-plan/re-organize if things go sideways. (Like a few months ago when a novella took me twice as long to write as it was planned for. New series, I needed more time but I hadn’t planned for it. The good news is I had some free writing time that I could move somethings around.  Since book 4 in the Tourist Trap Mysteries, you’ve done two novellas in-between each full-length book. That alone is an incredible pace without sticking your other two series into the mix, and you’re the…

From Chapter One Halloween. Since becoming a cop six years prior, I’d grown to dread the thirty-first day of October. I could no longer believe the holiday was simply a night of innocent fun. I’d been witness to desecrated graves and smashed pumpkins; violent bar brawls and deadly DUIs. The night gave liberty to all sorts of spooks and ghouls, not only encouraging them to come out and play but practically daring them not to. I was also a parent, though, and slowly learning that Halloween was a night I needed to tolerate, if not someday even embrace. My daughter, Grace, was nearly a year old and already she was captivated by the glowing pumpkins and toddler-size spider webs that adorned front porches and yards all over town. Luckily, because Grace was so young, my fiancé, Brody Sutherland, and I still had full control over what she wore. He wanted to dress her as a witch, while I was leaning toward a cute bunny. After a heated discussion in the back aisle of a costume shop on Colfax in Denver, where the three of us had gone for a quick weekend getaway in late September, we split the difference and…

As a romantic suspense author, I’ve heard and read complaints that romance authors create unrealistic expectations in our heroes. I beg to differ. My female and male heroes very much reflect my experiences in real life. They reflect people I know and love, including my husband. In fact, my perfect hero is much like the people in your everyday life, in all of our lives, struggling to be better and sometimes actually being their best selves. Keeping that in mind, here is my list of 4 perfect hero attributes. Funny–Have a good sense of humor or at least don’t take themselves so seriously. Though I’ve read and enjoyed books in which the blank-faced hero has no sense of humor, I’m a sucker for a funny and light-hearted hero or even a dry and witty hero. My husband has a very dry and witty sense of humor. He delivers his jokes straight, so there is often a processing pause to register the joke and then the burst of uncontrolled laughter. In the second novel of my Black Ops Confidential series, THE PRICE OF GRACE, there is a lot of tension and suspense, but also humor. Starting with Gracie when she’s hidden…

The new trailer for Netflix’s series adaptation of VIRGIN RIVER by bestselling author Robyn Carr released today, and we are beyond thrilled for this show to start. Make sure you read to the end for a special giveaway just for Fresh Fiction readers! Robyn had the opportunity to interview one of the stars of VIRGIN RIVER, Colin Lawrence, who plays Preacher. Check out this photo from the set and the delightful interview Robyn did with him:  *** — COMMENT TO WIN: Harlequin is giving away two brand new, special hardcover copies of the Virgin River Netflix tie-in editions! To enter to win, tell us what romance novel series you’d love to see adapted into a tv or movie. Good luck! — VIRGIN RIVER by Robyn Carr Virgin River #1 Welcome back to Virgin River with the book that started it all… Wanted: Midwife/nurse practitioner in Virgin River, population six hundred. Make a difference against a backdrop of towering California redwoods and crystal-clear rivers. Rent-free cabin included. When the recently widowed Melinda Monroe sees this ad, she quickly decides that the remote mountain town of Virgin River might be the perfect place to escape her heartache, and to reenergize the nursing…

Bess looked at the handsome physician still standing opposite her. “I assume by the way you just said that there’s an ulterior motive?” He lifted his hands. “I need you to talk them out of something.” Of course he did. His three little girls were known for both their stubbornness and their indefatigable ef­forts to always get their own way. Fortunately, Jack’s fifty-six-year-old housekeeper and nanny was pretty good at getting and keeping them on track. “Can’t Mrs. Deaver back you up?” Jack scrubbed a hand across his face. “She’d prefer not to get involved with this one.” Bess paused, aware that the mystery of whatever was going on in his estrogen-fueled household had already drawn her in. Even though she knew she had to be care­ful not to get too involved in the sexy widower’s prob­lems, given her current emotionally vulnerable state. “Which begs the question, then, Doc. Should I?” she retorted, enjoying the switch back to their usual play­ful banter. The corners of Jack’s eyes crinkled. “Just join us for pizza.” As she had many times in the past when he required an extra hand corralling his girls. She sighed. Why was he so damned hard to resist?…

One of the most frequently asked questions of authors is where do you get your ideas? I hate to be the one to break it to you, but. . . there’s no such thing as a magic idea tree. However, every once in a while, we can backpedal to the moment that inspiration sparked. So today I get to tell you exactly how I got the idea for my Unexpectedly Royal series. I’m a huge musical theatre fan. After all, I performed in shows for more than a decade, from Guys & Dolls to Phantom. So for my birthday a couple of years ago, we did a theatre trip to NYC. We saw The Play That Goes Wrong – hilarious! – and Anastasia. Originally we had tickets for Bandstand, but sadly it closed two weeks before we went. (Don’t worry, I get to see it in March!) I frantically had to scrape up replacement tickets and landed on Anastasia. No, I wasn’t a crazed fan of the original Disney movie. But I am a sucker for the Anastasia Romanov legend, as well as all things royalty-related. And Disney has proven that they know how to throw money at a Broadway…