What is the title of your latest release?THE SPY WORE LONG WHITE GLOVES What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Book 4 in my American Spy Sisters series – inspired by a long-forgotten family connection – is about a privileged (but reluctant) Boston debutante speaking finishing-school French and German who volunteers for the Red Cross, but is soon recruited by British intelligence to ferret out Nazi spies infiltrating the United Kingdom in advance of Hitler’s threatened invasion of England itself! How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Books 1 through 3 of the series were set primarily in France, with a few scenes in New York or Washington D.C. For Book 4, I wanted to explore the Home Front in the United Kingdom during WW II…asking myself how would an American woman, recruited into MI5 even before the U.S. joined the Allies, survive fighting Nazis in a country not her own? Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Actually, I can almost say I have! One of the inspirations for the book, in addition to the family connection of my father-in-law’s when he was raised in France, was a close friend I met freshman…

Hi! I’m Alexa Aston, author of contemporary & historical romance. My 2025 small-town contemporary romance series is Hearts in Hawthorne, and HOOPS AND HEARTS, the final book in the series, just released. All my romances can be read as standalones, but I think it’s fun to read them in order. I have over 100+ books in Kindle Unlimited, so I hope you’ll try one of my romances, especially HOOPS AND HEARTS. Sawyer Montgomery returns to his hometown of Hawthorne, Texas, burned out from pouring everything into his law career after his fiancée’s death. WNBA player Paisley Roberts has met with success at every playing level, and now she’s been hired to coach the Lady Hawks in a small town in North Texas. This pair tries to heal emotionally as they navigate the waters of love. H is for Hawthorne, a small town where Sawyer grew up. O is for orphan. Paisley was raised in foster care, and she has massive trust issues because of her experiences in the system (and yes, a snake is involved—ICK!). O is for optimism—even opportunity—as this hero & heroine make the best of where the past has brought them, even as they look forward to…

What is the title of your latest release?CHILDREN OF ASH, Book One of the Children of Ash Series What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?The legends of the Trojan War meet Norse mythos in this story of war, secrets, and heartbreak. Best friends Petyr Mallorysson and Axel Ashersson are the greatest heroes in their kingdom, yet their past haunts them even as they fight for the peaceful future they long for. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I really wanted to write a Viking inspired book. When I realized what story I wanted to base this book off of, I instantly realized it would be so easy to transfer the story from a Greek setting to a Norse one. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?That’s a really good question. Both Axel and Pet would be interesting to hang out with, but I don’t know if I would survive the encounter. Especially if either of them gets into a fight. What are three words that describe your protagonist?For Pet: broody, haunted, vicious. Axel would be described as charming, honorable, and loyal to a fault. What’s something you learned while writing this…

What do you do for a living?I’m a private detective working for Decorah Security. I used to be with the Howard County, Maryland, police force, but Frank Decorah made me a better offer. Where do you live?Right now, I’m on assignment in St. Stephens, a small town on Maryland’s Eastern shore—which happens to be my hometown. Until the 1950s you could only get here by taking a boat across Chesapeake Bay. Now there’s a four-and-a-half-mile bridge—a veritable highway of tourism leading to our quiet old town full of shops, restaurants, inns and real estate offices. I used to think of this place as the backwater of the universe, but it’s changed a lot since the bridge. Wealthy people including my current client, Lee Tillman, have scooped up the old mansion houses along the river. Lee came here, seemingly out of nowhere, about thirty years ago. He’s a little man with a big chip on his shoulder. He hired Decorah Security to find out who’s trying to kill him. You sound like working with Tillman is a PITAYou got that right. But I’m kind of indebted to Lee. After my dad died, he gave Mom extra hours as his house cleaner…

Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

What is the title of your latest release?My new book is THE SISTER’S CURSE. What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When mysterious drownings plague her small town, a detective haunted by her serial killer father must uncover whether revenge, ancient legends, or something darker lurks beneath the surface. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I wrote a previous book, THE HUNTER’S DAUGHTER, about Anna Koray, a decorated police lieutenant who is the daughter of a notorious serial killer. She lives in rural Bayern County, where her father committed his murders, a place of strange crimes and stranger superstitions. Some of the suspects in the latest spate of murders suggest that it’s a place where spirit roads cross, where people are trapped by their pasts and cannot escape. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?I would! I think that Anna is an interesting character in that so much of her life is an internal struggle between who she wants to be and who she fears she is. She’s afraid that she’s inherited her father’s taste for killing, and tries to rise above it. But she forgets that she’s also her mother’s daughter…

What is the title of your latest release?LONG WAY DOWN What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?She thinks she’s marrying the perfect man. But nothing is as it seems. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I needed two small towns divided by both a river and economics. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Most definitely. What are three words that describe your protagonist?Wily, Quixotic, Sensitive What’s something you learned while writing this book?How to fly a single engine plane; how to rig explosives in a rock quarry Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?Both. I sort of play leapfrog. I leap forward for a while, then jump back a few spaces, fix some things, then go forward again. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?Caviar – Beluga to be sure. Describe your writing space/office!I write in a small upstairs room in our 1925 Craftsman house in Burlington, Vermont. My desk—an old pine dining room table I found at a garage sale—is set in front of a huge window. When I’m not staring into my computer screen, I can watch the comings and goings in my neighborhood as…

I love Halloween! I decorate my house, have a huge party, watch monster movies all month and most importantly, I read Halloween mysteries. Which is why I’d like to share a favorite with you. Leslie Meier’s Lucy Stone mysteries are a favorite and she has a few Halloween themed mysteries that will get you in the Halloween spirit. One word of warning, it is a long series and I usually read in order, because the character changes, grows, and so on through the course of the series. But that being said, you could read these out of order. I’ve included what number these books are in the series so you know where they land. Number 3 in the series – It’s October in Maine, and everyone in Tinker’s Cove is preparing for the annual Halloween festival. While Lucy Stone is whipping up orange-frosted cupcakes, recycling tutus for her daughters’ Halloween costumes, helping her son with his pre-teen rebellion, and breast-feeding her brand-new bay, an arsonist is loose in Tinker’s Cove. When the latest fire claims the life of the owner of the town’s oldest house, arson turns into murder. . . While the townsfolk work to transform a dilapidated mansion…

How did you organize all of this?It’s taken well over a year of preparation and diligent planning to get everything set up for the Busty Bodice Club – an eight-book series coming in April ’26. The covers, the theme, the authors…it was all diligently planned. I wanted the set to be bright, bold, and beautiful. And I wanted truly curvy women on the covers. After being part of several sets, I did my best to make it easy for authors to say yes and jump in. I wanted to have everything well organized and communication clear and consistent. So I’ve taken tips from other sets I’ve been in and incorporated them into this one. What motivated you to pick the themes that you did?I currently write under two pen names, Lana Piers and Eliana Piers. Lana Piers writes contemporary romance and I see a lot of body positive representation in that genre, but in historical romance (with Eliana Piers) I’ve only seen one other series that has promoted curvy heroines. I’m sure there are more out there, but I’ve only seen one. I wanted to do a multi-author project to bring more attention to curvy FMCs. Hence the start of…

What is the title of your latest release?MANHATTAN TRIPTYCH What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?40 years in the friendship of three women, up to the moment one of them disappears. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?It required no decision on my part. Manhattan is as much a part of the story as anything else, the way it has so drastically changed since the ‘70s. As the women change, so does the city. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?I would, but I would hang on for dear life to my husband. What are three words that describe your hero?There are three heroines, really. Diane is very smart and a bit self-destructive, Nikki’s reckless choices in her early twenties caused her to seek shelter early in conventionalism, and Orla is a passionate dreamer. (I know, that’s more than three words.) What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned that moving back and forth in time can work if you have a very firm grip on where you’re going. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?I constantly edit. Each morning when I pick up…