Looking for the perfect author reader match? Fresh Fiction is here to help. Today we’re presenting ANNA BRADLEY. She’s got lots to offer a reader so check her out! What I Write Sexy, steamy Regency historical romance—if you’re into wild, wicked alpha heroes and sassy heroines who bring the naughtiest, haughtiest rogue to his knees, then you’ve found your perfect book match! About Me I’m looking for readers who will risk their hearts on a handsome rake. Are gowns, gloves and garters your thing? Do you want to spend an evening flirting with earls and waltzing with dukes? Then you’re the reader I’m looking for! Warning: my books are not for the faint-hearted. The Regency is rife with scandalous intrigue. Dangerous flirtations, deadly duels, seductive scoundrels, and arrogant rakes with riding crops abound. I’m Looking for a Reader who . . . Love a great romance more than she loves sleep. Has an appreciation for bad boys heroes—Regency style. Thinks cravats and breeches are sexy (readers with kilt obsessions are also welcome!) Loves to see a wicked hero redeemed Craves love scenes that give her a reason to use her fan. Believes in sizzling passion, life-altering kisses, and love at…

The best writing advice I’ve ever gotten was from the incomparable Jennifer Crusie’s blog, Argh Ink. She said, paraphrasing, give the hero and heroine a dream, and then create a situation in which they can have their dreams or they can have each other, but not both. To find their happily-ever-after, one of them will have to be defeated—aka, give up their dream for love. The key to making this a truly happily-ever-after is that of one of the dreams is, in some way, a compromise, or in the case of my new book, a deal with the devil. Signing on that dotted line will make that character less than the best version of themselves. In RECKLESS IN TEXAS, Violet Jacobs isn’t going anywhere. She’s an unmarried mother tied to the Texas Panhandle by her son—whose father also lives in their tiny hometown—and by her family’s small time rodeo stock contracting business. But she has big dreams, and she’s going to find a way to push Jacobs Livestock into the national limelight even if she has to drag the rest of the family along kicking and screaming…bless their hearts. Joe Cassidy fell deeply, irrevocably in love when he was fifteen…

Thank you for stopping by Fresh Fiction for all your reading needs and recommendations. I’m bestselling historical romance author, Christina McKnight. My writing style focuses on strong heroines who are out to right a wrong done to them…and men who don’t always fit the classic ‘hero mold’. I also enjoy throwing together unlikely couples and letting their story take over. My earliest Regency Romance inspiration was Amanda Quick. I love her use of mystery as a subplot to further deepen her stories. You’ll notice a majority of my books also have a hint of mystery to accompany the romance—and to make my characters work harder to secure their Happily Ever Afters. I write heroes for every woman; from brooding alphas, to compassionate betas, and even the occasional scoundrel needing redemption or introverted scholar. With each book I write, I see it as the opportunity to write a completely different story with a new setting, fresh characters, and unsurmountable obstacles to their love match. Another element I love weaving through my plot lines are historical facts; including obscure French history (SCORNED EVER MORE, A Lady Forsaken Book Three) or rare wind instruments said to have been created by Greek gods (THE…

It’s been a well over six years since my ten-year marriage ended and I started over as a single mom. When I first started dating my ex, having dial-up internet was the big tech craze. Facebook didn’t exist. Beepers were the way of texting and online dating was unheard of. The way you met people was through work, friends and going out. Now fast forward a decade. I have two kids. No time. The same small group of friends I’ve had for years and I work from home. See the problem? For me, the scary part of starting over wasn’t having all the responsibilities completely on my shoulders, it was the idea of dating again. Meeting someone the ole fashion way—meaning you actually met a person, felt a connection with said person and things happened naturally—didn’t seem likely for me. Which left online dating. Of course, I knew about online dating. I had a couple of friends who’d used that route. One actually met someone they eventually married. But more often than not, all I heard were horror stories. I had always thought, I’m glad that’s something I don’t have to worry with anymore. *Snort* My introduction to dating again…

Last spring I was on a panel at Malice Domestic, and Margaret Maron was moderating. She was asking questions about JUST KILLING TIME, the first book in this series. She wondered if anyone in my family was a clock maker, since my protagonist Ruth Clagan had such a palatable love for clocks. No one in my family is a clock maker. But research for this series has made me passionate about them, and I’m happy if that spills onto the page. What has my research taught me? Being a clockmaker takes years of learning and apprenticeship. Like writing (or acting, or playing a musician), talent is important. But as important, maybe more, is spending time learning your craft. I admire people who dedicate themselves to learning as part of how they make their living. Especially when actually making a living isn’t a given. Clocks are beautiful on the outside. If you go to the American Clock and Watch Museum in Bristol Connecticut, you will see dozens and dozens of clocks and watches. Some clocks are “just” clocks, but most are also pieces of art unto themselves. Cabinetry, painted faces, choice of clock hands, size, style. Details matter on clocks, and…

I’m always fascinated by the American fascination with royalty. Why did the colonies fight so hard to get rid of a king, only to spend the next two hundred years wishing they had one? Well, maybe the fantasy aura of royalty is better than the reality. This series came into being because my editor had been urging me to write a big, dark standalone. I kept toying with serial killers, child molesters and terrorists and finally asked myself whether I wanted to spend six months in such company. The answer was a resounding NO. So a silly idea crept into my head. What if my sleuth was a sheltered, upper class British girl in the 1930s—what if she was a member of the royal family, not allowed to work, to go out unchaperoned, and destined to marry to some chinless, spineless, buck-toothed and utter awful European royal. Trying to solve a murder would indeed be a challenge, and fun. I would have a chance to poke fun at the British class system and chuckle to myself as I wrote. And I did have the necessary background to make this authentic: I had had tea with the current queen. I had…

When I was a teenager, back in the Jurassic period (okay, the late 1970s), Gothic novels were hugely popular. I read them voraciously, entranced by atmospheric castles on the moors (or someplace equally remote), sinister servants, and heroines standing up to brooding heroes (or were they really the villains?). I read Phyllis Whitney, Victoria Holt, Joan Aiken and her sister Jane Aiken Hodge, Daphne duMaurier, Susan Howatch, Dorothy Eden, Philippa Carr, Mary Stewart, and many others. I hope those names ring a bell for some of you. They swept me up and entertained me, gave me something to look forward to after doing my Algebra homework, and comforted me when the objects of my crushes ignored my existence. I’m not sure what attracted me to that variety of romantic suspense, but I think it had something to do with a young heroine, sometimes protecting a child (if she was a governess or new wife as many of the protagonists were), striking out on her own and emerging triumphant. (The fact that “triumph” in these books meant, at least in part, snaring the moody man of the moment was a non-feminist story chestnut that didn’t bother my teen self as much…

If you’ve checked the news recently … maybe you wish you hadn’t. These are anxiety-provoking times, overwhelming and draining times; times that make it seem four horsemen may just be galloping ever closer on the not-so-distant horizon. Since I learned how to read, books have been where I’ve turned for consolation, hope, and a clarifying dose of perspective. Lately, my solace seems to come from classic literature. Classics remind me how resilient humans are, how much beauty exists in the world. They remind me of the cyclical nature of human history. They illuminate all that humans have survived—insane rulers, endless wars of all kinds, devastating plagues, more devastating plagues … yet another devastating plague. We have survived it before, and we can survive it all over again. The Iliad by Homer (maybe) That this poem, set in the 10th year of the Trojan War, has survived thousands of years provides hope in itself. Gruesome battle scenes play counterpoint to moments of grace, as when a Greek and a Trojan honor their past friendship by refusing to strike each other down. Woven throughout the poem are timeless snapshots familiar in any time and place – the pleasure of a cozy sleep,…

Spoilers Ahead Missy Jane: Today we’re talking to Master Wynnston and Master Kephas, the two heroes of Born of Magic. Welcome gentlemen, and thank you for the interview. I know you’re both quite busy. Wynn: (chuckles) Thank you, Missy. I wouldn’t say we’re very busy at the moment. Kephas has his royal wedding approaching, but I’m free so long as Zephara doesn’t need me. Kephas: (groans) Gods, don’t remind me of the wedding. Do you realize the entire kingdom has been invited? Missy: Aren’t you excited? Kephas: Not at all. I’d much rather steal my bride away and have a quick handfasting like Nel did. He avoided all of the crowds and fuss that way. Wynn: The king would kill you. Kephas: (sighs) Yes, I know. So instead I’m allowing the royal house of Kadmos to plan out the most important day of my life… I can’t wait for it to be over. Missy: (laughs) Let’s talk about the journey you both had to take to find your women. Was it a surprise that you found women so compatible and irresistible? Kephas: Yes. Wynn: Absolutely. But it was a relief as well. We have watched Orestes and Nel with their…

The thing about weekends is they’re rarely perfect. The other thing about weekends, though, is if you chase perfection too hard, you’ll destroy any chance you have of achieving it. It’s sort of like a soufflé in that regard. A perfect weekend requires both underplanning and overdelivering. When I think about that elusive, never-to-be achieved perfect weekend, I think a lot about unstructured time. By unstructured, I don’t mean time in which I’m doing nothing. I am genetically incapable of doing nothing. The idea of stretching out for an hour by the pool with my eyes closed give me hives. Nor do I nap—at least not willingly–though I will occasionally nod off for five minutes in a movie. (I blame the dark.) Unstructured time means time in which I can do whatever I want for as long as I want. So, for me, the perfect weekend would be something like this: Friday Afternoon swim with husband. We have a heated pool at our condominium. Heaven. Better than cocktails and that’s saying A LOT. Head to a late afternoon movie. (Yes, we’re that old.) Head somewhere for dinner—Thai, Indian, Ethiopian, sushi, Mexican, BBQ, noodles—we like it all. Home for a TiVoed…