After yesterday’s delicious kickstart by Kendra Elliot, we’re so excited about today’s post from contemporary romance author, Laura Trentham because she has a delectable dessert recipe! The first book in her Highland, GA series, A HIGHLANDER WALKS INTO A BAR, will be in stores later this summer. Be sure to check out our other Summer BBQ Recipe Roundup posts all week! Day 1: http://freshfiction.com/page.php?id=10089 *** A Highlander Walks Into a Bar answers the age-old question: What would you do if your mother brought home a handsome six-foot tall Scotsman as a souvenir? (You thought I was going with, What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt, didn’t you? ☺) Our heroine, Isabel Buchanan, tries to her suspicions the man is planning to take advantage of her mother, because she has bigger problems. The annual Highland Festival is only three weeks away and she and her mother are in charge! Enter Alasdair Blackmoor, another handsome Scot who harbors his own suspicions about Isabel and her mother’s intentions with his uncle. Hilarity (and passion) ensues as Isabel and Alasdair spar and try to ferret out the truth. A Highlander Walks Into a Bar is a wild romp during a Georgia summer. I dare…

Growing up my favourite Disney movie was The Little Mermaid. I wanted to have Ariel’s signature red hair, and I loved shiny things like she did. I was fascinating with anything “underwater” like reefs and sharks and colourful fish. Basically, I knew if Ariel was a real person, we would totally be BFFs. I was also a huge fan of all the 90’s Disney movies: Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King… it was a good era for Disney. As I grew older, I assumed that fairy tales would lose their shine. After all, I knew what the real world was like and fairy tales were far from realistic…right? Well, maybe not. If you look past the themes of fairy tales to the message behind it, there’s something that still deeply resonates with me as an adult. Take Beauty and the Beast, for example. Belle had standards, she isn’t going to settle by living someone else’s dream. She most certainly wasn’t going to change all that because the people in her town thought she was an odd duck. As an odd duck with big dreams myself, I appreciated that. What about The Lion King where we learn about loyalty…

Get ready for some fun in the sun with our Summer BBQ Recipe Roundup! All week we’re featuring a different author each day who is sharing info about her latest book release, as well as a delicious recipe perfect to take to your next get together. Be sure to check back tomorrow (and all week) for another awesome author’s mouthwatering summer recipe! We’re getting things started with romantic suspense author Kendra Elliot, who has an appetizing appetizer to share! Her latest book, A MERCIFUL PROMISE, hits stores tomorrow. Remember, come back tomorrow for more! *** FBI Special Agent Mercy Kilpatrick has a secret. She was raised in Central 
Oregon as a prepper and survivalist and hides that she continues to practice that way of life. Her fiancé Truman Daly is the chief of police in the rural town where she grew up. He knows about and supports her secret because she is the woman he loves. In A Merciful Promise, Mercy uses her survivalist skills to infiltrate a militia amassing stolen firearms in an isolated forest community. It requires that she relinquish all contact with the outside world and live in a culture where suspicion is second nature. While she is…

Summer reads are my favorite kind of books. Being able to relax on the beach or sip sweet tea poolside with a new release in hand is what I look forward to all year. This month’s jewel, Amy Mason Doan, could not agree more. Her latest work, Summer Hours, is a novel about friendship, love, and ambition set in the mid ‘90s and 2008. Sometimes the path to achieving life’s dreams can be a little rocky as depicted in this thought-provoking book filled with hope and forgiveness. Go ahead, and grab a cold lemonade and get to know the superbly talented author behind the story, Amy Mason Doan.   What inspires you to write novels set in summertime? Summer seems like this lazy, golden season, but I think that’s deceptive. The summer months can be surprisingly intense. Summer is when we reinvent ourselves; I don’t think I’ve ever shaken off my shock over classmates who came back to school in September completely transformed. My mom has this long frame in her bedroom with a bunch of my pre-teen and teen yearbook photos in it. It’s held together with gold hinges, and I stare at it every time I visit her. I…

Christmas Eve Buddy was looking forward to this Christmas unlike any other Christmas in his entire life. Christmas growing up in Texas was exciting like it is for any kid. That is, until Kenny started to drink and beat his mother and just generally be an asshole to everyone…ruining their family. Then Christmas wasn’t so much fun anymore. It was just a short break from the loud, sad, horror show that seemed to hijack his interrupted childhood. Christmas, after arriving in North Carolina, seemed to be okay, but it took a while for Buddy and his mother to make their own new traditions for the holiday. They were living someone else’s life at that point, and so they were doing someone else’s traditions. They had no family to speak of, no one to go visit, no one to come visit them, no one to send Christmas cards to…not even to the nice ladies they met in New Mexico. There was no receiving a gift in the mail, such as a dress shirt that didn’t fit quite right, from Daniel Junior’s Uncle Frank and Aunt Nikki. It was a strange holiday now. Just – nothing, empty, voided – but with reds…

When I worked as an entertainment reporter for a television news channel, we weren’t allowed to file stories about the Windsors under ‘entertainment’. Instead, they were to go beneath the banner of ‘world’ news, besides elections in India and China trade tensions. There’s a reason that felt misplaced: because the British royals are unquestionably a source of entertainment, once described by a psychology professor as “one of the longest-running reality TV shows in history” (which means we’re currently on season nine-hundred-and-fifty-something). At the time of writing, Princes William and Harry are jousting for the highest number of Instagram followers (William has 9.1 million and Harry has 8.4 million—that’s around the same number as Walt Disney and Game of Thrones). Nearly 23 million US viewers watched Prince William marry Kate Middleton in 2011, with viewers tuning in from more than 180 countries. The acceleration of technology has handily turned the British royals into a global brand, with millions following them by choice rather than decree. Plenty of fans worship the Windsors to connect with their past and preserve British tradition, but why are the rest of us still so captivated by the Elizabeths, the Williams, the Henrys, the Georges, and the…

Hello! I’m Tina Gabrielle and I write adventurous historical romance featuring feisty ladies and bold heroes. I’m excited to be on Fresh Fiction to celebrate my new historical release, HOW TO BEST A MARQUESS, the second book in my Raven Club series. Writing a novel is not an easy task. I think of it as a rollercoaster ride of emotion. One day I can be struggling with the dreaded sagging middle, and the next day my fingers are flying over the keyboard. Writer’s block is also a dreaded phenomenon, and it can result in frustration and depression. I’ve experienced a form of it. Whether I’m staring at a blank screen or an empty piece of paper, it can be crippling. Thankfully, I’ve used helpful tips to overcome it. Exercising works best for me. I’m a lap swimmer, and I’ve found the quiet time away from the kids and work very helpful. I’m able to simply think. If this doesn’t work, I change my environment. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I go to my nearest Starbucks with my laptop and order a large iced tea. Something about being around people, without having to talk to anyone, helps me focus. I’ve…

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 Leslie Budewitz!  Writes: Cozy mystery. My latest release is CHAI ANOTHER DAY, 4th in the Spice Shop Mysteries set in Seattle’s famed Pike Place Market, coming June 11, 2018. The crimes are fiction; the food is real. About: Mystery author obsessed with food and the Northwest seeks readers for armchair travel to foodie heaven, the Pike Place Market in Seattle, with a savvy Spice Shop owner who doubles as the poster child for the cliche that life begins at forty. When she overhears an argument in an antique shop, she finds herself drawn into a murder that could implicate an old enemy, or ensnare a new friend. With her natural people-smarts and determination, she asks questions the detectives can’t, using her knowledge of the community to bring a killer to justice. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Knows that reading, and friends, are the spice of life Looks at their TBR pile and thinks they need another bookshelf—or three…

If there is anything I love in life, it’s a book with a dog as the costar. Puppies make romance sweeter, and the whole plot line so much better. All my favorite romances, including the ones written by me, have a cute cuddly co-star. My absolute favorite have a big, gruff hero who turns into a puddle of goo for their woman and their dog. So, here are my top five favorite romance starring a four-legged companion. GOOD BOY by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy STAY by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy These two ladies can write a darn good book on their own, but put them together and add a puppy; sold! UNTIL NOVEMBER by Aurora Rose Reynolds Sassy woman, alpha man, and add a protective dog. You really can’t go wrong with this series no matter which book you pick up, and once you feel the ‘BOOM’ you can’t go back. ANYONE BUT YOU by Jennifer Crusie Jennifer Cruise writes an amazing book, no matter which one you pick up, but something about the droopy basset hound, Fred. Fred is lazy, slow, and adorable. He also makes a great matchmaker. ANIMAL MAGNETISM by Jill Shalvis When you put…

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 M.C. Planck!  WRITES: Science Fiction and Fantasy ABOUT THE AUTHOR: I was born in the USA and spent a good four decades there, studying philosophy at the University of Arizona and co-founding a small scientific instrument company. After that I spent a few years convincing missiles to fly but that was never really satisfying, so when I met an Aussie girl in an on-line debate forum I packed up and moved to Melbourne. We now have a brilliant daughter and two lazy cats, but sadly no kangaroos. WHAT I’M LOOKING FOR IN MY IDEAL READER MATCH: Readers who want to read about heroes, who care as much about the side characters as the main, who want a world they could imagine living in, who want to see happy endings even while they know that the real world does not sell its victories cheaply. WHAT TO EXPECT IF COMPATIBLE: Realistic, believable worlds with real human characters even while they are zooming around in…