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 CLARE O’DONOHUE! Writes: Spy novels and mysteries, with my latest, BREAKING THE DANCE, the 2nd in my World of Spies series hitting the shelves May 8th, 2019. About: Mystery writer and avid traveler seeks readers for adventures in Ireland (BEYOND THE PALE) and South America. BREAKING THE DANCE is Nick & Nora meets James Bond when a husband & wife team of accidental spies try to help an art thief stay alive while on the trail of a notorious Argentinian killer. Laughs, thrills and a few tips on how to dance the tango all included. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader: A detective who follows the clues no matter where they go A traveler (real & armchair both welcome!) A lover of smart, strong characters living out real relationships amidst sometimes surreal circumstances An adventurer who doesn’t mind hanging out with art thieves, spies, and killers Someone who enjoys classics like Mrs. Polifax, and Lord Peter Whimsey & Harriet Vane…

Your book has been described as Mad Men meets Devil Wears Prada – a very enticing combination! What sort of research did you do for this novel, and what was the most surprising thing you learned? I was lucky with this book because there were several excellent biographies on Helen Gurley Brown, as well as all the books she wrote herself. Naturally, the place for me to start was HGB’s scandalous bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. It was published in 1962 and sold two million copies the first month it was out. It was basically a guide on how to find men and what to do with them once you’ve found them. It was truly groundbreaking material because, at that time, no one else was speaking to single women in that way. Sex and the Single Girl gave me a good feel for Helen Gurley Brown’s philosophy and her views on men, dating and of course, sex. The blueprint for her future makeover of Cosmopolitan can be easily found in the pages of her book. I also watched the Sex and the Single Girl movie and lots interviews with HGB—there’s a slew of them on YouTube. (Also I was fortunate to have met…

In my recent release, Of Fire and Lions, I explore the biblical story of Daniel, who was exiled to Babylon. Remember the guy thrown into the lions’ den who escaped unharmed? Because the Hebrew Bible usually records only male descendants and Daniel has no recorded offspring, this novel gives Daniel only daughters. Five, actually; and a significant part of the story involves his fictional wife’s strained relationship with them. Why add a seemingly insignificant conflict when the story already includes Daniel saved from lions, three men’s escape from a fiery execution, a king’s transformation into a beast, and a wealthy nobleman’s rescue of a lovely woman from a degrading priesthood? Because the emotional struggle between a mother or daughter affects about half the women I meet—and I have two daughters of my own. The moment they slipped squalling from my body, they’ve been a conundrum. They’re like yin and yang. Black and white. Completely opposite yet best friends. But it hasn’t always been that way… At first, daughters seem a kaleidoscope of colors—impossible to sort out for a young mom. “Why is she crying? Why won’t she sleep? My daughter won’t share—will she ever have friends? She did WHAT to…

Many thanks to Christi Caldwell for joining us on the blog today! Welcome to the Fresh Fiction blog! Can you tell us a bit about the Wicked Wallflowers series, and your most recent release, THE BLUESTOCKING? Thank you so much for having me! The Wicked Wallflowers world is one that’s been so refreshing and rewarding for me as an author to write in. It’s set in the late Regency era, however, it explores life outside of the ton. Many times readers picture ballrooms and rides in Hyde Park when thinking of Regency romance, and though we have glimpses of that in my Wicked Wallflowers books, they really move so much deeper, looking at how people born outside the nobility lived…and struggled. In The Bluestocking, for example, I’ve paired Gertrude Killoran, the clever, partially blind, oldest sister of a gaming hell family with her family’s greatest rival…the Marquess of Maddock…known as the Mad Marquess. A man whose wife and unborn child were killed by Gertrude’s late father, and whose son was kidnapped and absorbed into the Killoran gang. It’s a very raw and real story that brings an HEA not only to Gertrude and Edwin as individuals but the pair of…

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 Meghan Quinn. Writes:  Hi pretties! I write romantic comedies and contemporary romance full of heart, humor, and heat. I love to make you, laugh, swoon, and fill you up with all the feels. That Second Chance is my newest release which touches upon my classic humor, my steaminess, and an addictive small town that you wish was real. It release May 7th. About: Peanut butter enthusiast and tea addict, Meghan Quinn resides in Colorado with her family, two adopted kids, and the love of her life. She grew up in Southern California where she learned a cheeseburger from In and Out will always be hard to beat—always order it animal style. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Someone not afraid to pee their pants from laughter. A spouse they can wake up in the middle of the night because they happen to snort while reading. Appreciates a sassy female lead, but swoons for an alpha with a heart of…

It’s so fun to be back on the Fresh Fiction Blog! If we haven’t met before, I’m Lisa Kessler and I write paranormal romances that have plenty of twists and turns, danger and adventure, and sexy romance that will curl your toes. I love writing paranormals, but I don’t stop with vampires and shifters. In the Sentinels of Savannah series, I’ve got a sexy crew of immortal pirates, but they’re not vampires. Their final plunder as mortals turned out not to be gold, but the Holy Grail. They’ve been immortal ever since, living and working at their favorite port city, Savannah Georgia! My new release, Pirate’s Pleasure, is book 3 in my new Sentinels of Savannah Series but it can be read as a standalone. Why pirates in Savannah? My grandmother was born and raised just outside of Savannah in Darien, so I’d visited America’s Most Haunted City before and pirates are a big part of their history. I’ve wanted to write a pirate series since the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie came out, but I didn’t want to write a historical soooo… One day it hit me! What if the pirates were still here, today? Immortal. They all have…

The Rise and Fall of Florence Lawrence, the World’s First Movie Star What makes a movie star? Today we’ve got the general recipe down: mix bankable films with broad popularity. Add a healthy social media following and sauté in critical acclaim. Garnish with head-turning red carpet appearances. And if you’re very, very lucky, pair with a performance of your blockbuster movie’s Oscar-winning theme song … But in 1909 no one knew. The concept of stardom didn’t exist because early movie studios didn’t want anyone to know. The thinking went like this: the more popular and “known” actors became, the more money they would demand. Studios kept their performers anonymous—no acting credits were listed—so that if a particular actor became too demanding or difficult, he or she was more easily replaced. Disposability served the bottom line. Then Florence Lawrence came along, and all hell broke loose. She was attractive, but no more so than many other actresses of her day, such as Mary Pickford and Lillian Gish, both of whom would go on to be far more successful and well-remembered. What Florence was, besides anonymously popular, was prolific. From 1908 through the middle of 1909, she was featured in over 100…

My latest book, Under the Northern Lights, is about Mallory Reynolds, a driven, passionate woman who is pursuing her dream of photographing wild animals in remote locations. On the way to her favorite spot in the Alaskan wilderness, the unthinkable happens—the engine on her plane stalls and she crashes. Mallory survives the crash only to find herself injured with limited supplies and no hope of returning home. Just when all seems lost, Michael Bradley, a mysterious mountain man, comes to her rescue. Mallory soon discovers that she has to spend the entire winter in a small, isolated cabin with a stranger. The remoteness, the caregiving, the constant threat of danger—it all creates a near-instant intimacy between the characters that is both real and understandable. I love writing tension between characters, so having them stuck together for months was a writing playground for me. It led to some great interactions early in the story, keeping the pace flowing in a fun and realistic way. Here is one of my favorite interactions between my hero and heroine from Under the Northern Lights: “How was work?” I jokingly asked. A brief laugh escaped him. “Good and bad.” “Oh, how so?” I asked, amused that he…

I’m a Kansas farm girl at heart, and I love a great cowboy romance. Throw in a quirky small town and a dog, and I’m sold. That’s why I write small town stories filled with humor and heart. And I love when a western romance does something unexpected, like when Colorado cowboy heroes also play hockey. Oh wait, I know that series. And if you love the idea of cowboys who are as hot on horseback as they are on the ice, then you need to check out the Cowboys of Creedence. The third book in the series, It Started With a Cowboy, is just releasing now, and in this one, Colt, the youngest James brother, talks shy schoolteacher, Chloe Bishop, into helping him coach a youth hockey team of rowdy eight years olds. Being so close to the cowboy she’s crushing on is dangerous territory for Chloe. But when a real enemy threatens her, Colt will do anything to protect her. Even if it means risking himself—and his heart. Once you’ve devoured the James brothers and made Colt James your newest book boyfriend, here are five other great cowboy books to sink your spurs into. It was so hard to pick just five,…

Do you remember the TV show Buck Rogers in the 25th Century? For a while, it was my favorite show as a kid. For those who don’t remember, the premise of the show was that a US astronaut got accidentally frozen on a deep space mission and then was defrosted five hundred years later, only to find that Earth was a completely different place to the one he remembered. Although the TV producer’s vision of the future looked a lot like the era it was made—Farrah hair, shiny neon cat-suits, and mini-skirts! The thing that really stuck with me though, *mumble-cough* years later, was that the hero was a man out of his time. All the cultural references he made were lost on the people around him. His jokes fell flat because they didn’t have the context for them. But we did. And the audience laughed along with Buck and commiserated that no one else got the joke. Although to be fair, I think sometimes we were laughing at Buck rather than with him. Go back and watch an episode, you’ll see what I mean! The thought of being transported to the future has always tickled my imagination. What would…