Today, Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager Danielle Dresser chats with bestselling author Melinda Leigh about the latest book in her popular Morgan Dane Series, SECRETS NEVER DIE! Your Morgan Dane mystery series is long-running. For new readers, tell us a little bit about the series, and what inspired the creation of Morgan. Morgan was originally a secondary character in my Scarlet Falls Series. By the time I had finished writing Seconds to Live, she wanted her own story. I had been wanting to write a continuing character series for a while, and Morgan seemed perfect. She was already a complex character. I’d given her a deep backstory that begged for further development. What are the pros and cons of writing about Defense Attorney Morgan and PI Lance Kruger now that they are in an established relationship? After writing a dozen traditional romantic suspense novels, I was ready for a fresh challenge with the Morgan Dane Series. I enjoyed writing a continuing character series much more than I expected. In a traditional romance novel, the couple must achieve their happily ever after by the end of the book. Slowing down the romance to a pace that felt more organic meant I never…

Senior Reviewer Debbie Wiley has some great book recommendations for the luckiest day of the year!  St. Patrick’s Day is only a few days away and what better way to celebrate the magic of Ireland than through books! I had the good fortune to visit Ireland several years ago and St. Patrick’s Day brings back those joyous memories. So, let’s dive into the books as the allure of Ireland awaits us. Carlene O’Connor’s biography indicates she spends time regularly in Ireland and her love for the country shows in her Irish Village series. The first book, MURDER IN AN IRISH VILLAGE, introduces us to Kilbane in County Cork where we are immediately immersed into the life of a small Irish village. I love how Carlene O’Connor incorporates the inflections of speech as it makes me feel as if I’m sitting in the family-owned bistro in Ireland right along with the rest of the O’Sullivan clan. Carlene O’Connor’s sixth book in the series, MURDER IN AN IRISH PUB, delves more into the work of the Garda in a small village and is a real treat for readers. I love the direction this cozy mystery series is taking and recommend the Irish…

I’m often asked where my book ideas come from and, quite honestly, they come from too many sources to list. I’m one of those people who can imagine almost any situation as a novel. And I really do believe that every person walking the planet has a unique and interesting story . . . if you dig deeply enough. Consequently, I doubt I’ll ever run out of material to write about. And since I plan to keep writing until I’m, say, a hundred, I should have sufficient inspiration to keep me going. Speaking of growing old, the story idea of Courting Mr. Emerson was inspired by the simple fact that we are all aging. It’s simply a fact of life. As a ‘baby-boomer,’ I’m constantly confronted with this news via obnoxious email ads for anti-aging products like hearing aids or granny-diapers. I also get unwanted letters from AARP and a multitude of other “gentle” reminders that seem determined to remind me that I’m “of a certain age.” Not to mention some aches and pains I didn’t have twenty years ago. So, okay, I get the hint already. As a result, I sometimes find myself observing other aging “baby-boomers.” I probably…

Thanks so much for having me here on Fresh Fiction. I’m a huge fan of your site. I’m excited to be celebrating the release of my book, Story of Us. In the book, Sophia Strombi is the younger sister of a lifelong friend of Declan James. That isn’t the only thing that’s supposed to keep her off limits for his heart; he also hires her to be the manager of his pub, On Dec. With a background in marketing and promotion, Sophia is eager to bring in new business for the local establishment. One of her ideas is to bring in a speed dating company. I thought, for this post, it might be fun to have both of my main characters answer a ‘speed dating’ questionnaire. I’ve selected ten questions from an online questionnaire that I’ll put below and answer in character for each of the questions. Let’s see how well suited they are after the fact! Sophie Strombi 1. What makes you happy/sad/angry? Creating a really successful marketing campaign makes me happy professionally. Personally, being with my family and just sitting back and watching them all interact with each other brings me a sense of happiness. It makes me…

Parenting is tough. Understatement of the year, right? First, it’s the baby years of all-hours-of-the-day feedings and forever dodging spit up. Next, it’s the toddler years, when you’re convinced they’re going to trip and fall down any flight of stairs within a three-mile radius if you turn your head for one second. Then comes elementary school, where you’re trying to keep your sanity while trying to coach your kids through “new” math (which makes absolutely no sense whatsoever—why can’t five plus seven just be twelve without all these darned boxes and rounding and uuuuuuuugh). We’re now into the middle and high-school years at our home, and trust me, those each come with their own (frequent) moments of chaos and homework calamity. Add in two kids in sports that of course never meet at the same time or place, and yeah, insanity can quickly become magnified tenfold. So why do we let them do it? Because we love our kids (and we wouldn’t trade a moment of any of it for the world.) Band, choir, drama, sports—these are just a few of the extracurricular activities that threaten to gobble up those precious few minutes between work/school and bed. But they’re also…

Enjoy this fun interview between bestselling author SOPHIE JORDAN and Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager, Danielle Dresser! For readers who aren’t caught up, can you tell us a bit about the Rogue Files series, and your latest release, This Scot of Mine? Well, believe it or not, This Scot of Mine is the fourth book in the Rogue Files series. They’re all connected through characters often family members. By book four it’s a little challenging to relate how they are all connected. Book five, possibly the last in the series, is coming this October. Hmm. Maybe it’s time for a family tree!?   This Scot of Mine is a crazypants idea I came up with while on a writers retreat …. I pitched it to some of my other fabulous writer friends and we all brainstormed until I arrived at the final idea of a girl who PRETENDS to be ruined and pregnant (all lies for good reason) and gets paired up with the hero who needs to get married but has this curse hanging over his head.  I’ve read about secret babies before, but not so much about made-up pregnancies in historicals! Clara was such a fun heroine. What was your favorite part about writing her…

Shannon moved up the beach by half a mile and settled into one of only two second-story suites the boutique hotel offered. With the uninterrupted views of the ocean and a private patio that had its own plunge pool, this hotel was exactly what she envisioned while staying in Tulum for a vacation. She was on the balcony when she heard Avery enter the room. Shannon stood from the shady spot she’d propped herself up on to greet her friend. Avery held her welcome drink in one hand and her purse in the other. “Eeeeek. This place is awesome,” Avery said, tossing her purse aside and offering Shannon a one-arm hug. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” The bellhop placed Avery’s bag in the room and asked if there was anything else he could assist with. Shannon tipped the man and closed the door behind him. “Check out the balcony.” Avery didn’t need to be asked twice. She wandered outside and tossed her arms wide. “A private pool?” More like an oversize hot tub, but yeah. “A great place to wash the salt water off after a day in the ocean.” “This is fabulous.” They talked briefly about her flight and drive from…

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 Kirsten Weiss!  Writes: I write cozy mystery in its various forms, including paranormal. My latest release is the cozy mystery CHOCOLATE A LA MURDER, book four in my Perfectly Proper Paranormal Museum series. I call this series “paranormal light.” There may be something supernatural happening at the San Benedetto Paranormal Museum (it is, after all, a paranormal museum), but that’s up to the reader to decide. The real defining elements of my books are love and humor. The main characters love and care about each other, and the quirky humor reflects that. About my heroine: Maddie Kosloski returned to California after a decade overseas and discovered she had a lot of rebuilding to do. CHOCOLATE A LA MURDER is the fourth book in the cozy mystery series, and at this stage, Maddie’s finally ready to settle into her new life with her new love, police detective Jason Slate. But the universe has some zany curveballs (and murder) in store. Plus chocolate. Lots…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match,” where we introduce readers to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Jolina Petersheim! Writes: My father was raised Mennonite in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; my mother Brethren, and I grew up as a caretaker’s daughter on a sprawling Civil War–era farm/camp in western Tennessee. This combination allowed me to see the intricacies—and complications—of community, so I love placing my characters inside morally twisting novels and then watching how they find their way out. (My newest novel, How the Light Gets In, might be the most morally twisting to date.) About: I am happily married to a “strong, quiet type” mountain man and mother to our three fluffy-haired little girls, ages six, four, and one. We’ve lived in five different homes in ten years of marriage (one a solar-powered farmhouse in Wisconsin, where How the Light Gets In is set). My husband—who also has a Mennonite/Amish background—is busy building our sixth house in the foothills of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee. We strive to live with the same simplistic, family-oriented mindset as our ancestors, but due to our…

Spoiler alert: I’m about to seriously date myself. When I was in college, all my girlfriends were crazy about the movie Somewhere in Time, starring Jane Seymour and the late Christopher Reeve. In case that film was before your time, it’s about a modern-day playwright named Richard Collins, who travels back in time to meet, court, and win the heart of Elise McKenna, a turn-of-the-century actress whose image and mysterious story have captivated him. Just as it appears that love will win the day, Richard reaches into his pocket and pulls out a forgotten 1979 penny, which immediately yanks him out of the past, away from his soul mate, and literally “back to the future.” My own stories are set in my native South, and I feel as if I spend a big chunk of my writing time dodging The Dreaded Coin, working as hard as I can to skirt my way around anything and everything that might yank a reader out of the story. It doesn’t take much. One factual inaccuracy (like putting the Brazos River in Mississippi) or one line of dialogue that sounds nothing like authentic Southern speech (“I’m mad about you! Mad I say!”), and the…