Let me be honest with you: I have been to Paris many times, and every single trip has started with a very important reason. A champagne tour. Dinner at Coco. Shopping at Lacombe, or hunting down the perfect perfume in a tiny boutique near Saint-Germain. My favorite hotel in the world, La Maison Favart, always waiting for me like an old friend. And yes – I’ve walked the streets of Paris more times than I can count, researching every detail for my books, including I KNOW YOU KILLED YOUR HUSBAND, which is out this week. But here’s what I will also admit: the real reason I keep going back is the chocolate. And the cream puffs. And the hot cocoa. And the croissants. And the macarons. And just about everything else the city slides in front of you with that particularly Parisian sense of “well, of course.” On my Paris reader tours, one of the things I love most is introducing people to their first real Parisian sweet – watching someone take a bite of a proper choux pastry or taste their first sip of Angelina’s hot cocoa and just stop walking. You can’t help it. The city does that…

Excerpt from Charred: A Whipped & Sipped Mystery, GP Gottlieb  (Anamcara Press 2026) It was warming up inside the car. Alene searched for Kacey and Kofi through the car window and the construction fence, but there was a jungle of trees and bushes lining the sidewalk. The post-fire building site was probably soggy and disgusting. If only she’d thought of bringing an old blanket to protect the back seat from burnt wood.  Kacey startled Alene by opening the passenger door and jumping back in. “He doesn’t need my help,” Kacey said as she used her shirt to clean her glasses. “We were looking for a way to get into the site and my glasses got too smudged for me to see. I’ll stay in here with you.”  Kofi had probably circled the tall fence surrounding piles of wet, muddy, and burned wood, trying to get inside. Moments later, they heard an owl hoot, and Kacey whispered it was Kofi letting them know that he’d gotten past the fence. What if tromping through the remains of the fire exposed Kofi to toxic materials? He wore gloves and a mask, but it wasn’t an N95 with protection against particulates. If paper masks…

Each Friday the Smashwords store reports the bestselling indie fiction titles based on the previous week’s sales. If an author has more than one title eligible for the list, only the highest performing title will be included. This ensures high-performing titles receive the accolades they deserve, while providing up-and-coming authors the visibility they have earned. Don’t miss Monday’s Top 10 Hot Preorders List, where Smashwords will provide a list of the most highly anticipated ebook preorders.

Book Title: WINGS OF LIFECharacter Name: Serae of Cavendaffe (a day before WINGS OF LIFE begins) How would you describe your family or your childhood?Normal enough. A bit dull whenever Bale was away at school, but when he used to come home for the summers to celebrate our shared birthday, it was a dream. He’s four years my senior, and this birthday will be the first we’ve ever spent apart. He’s off fighting in the king’s army, no doubt because of some idiot scheme of Father’s to try to stay in the king’s good graces. The king seems to like Bale well enough, probably because they were schooled together, but he doesn’t pay my father, the margrave, much attention. What was your greatest talent?Putting up with my older sister, Merria, without gouging out both my eyes and cutting off my ears. If Gerta heard me say that, she’d give me that look, but I swear…it’s a talent. Merria is insufferable, and I am her favorite target for ridicule. If she understood half my retorts, she’d probably learn to leave me alone. But – pity for me – she’s got nothing but sawdust between her ears. Significant other?Oh, I suppose that…

From Dungeons and Danger by Elizabeth Penney. Copyright © 2026 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. CHAPTER 1 ALL HALLOWS’ EVE THE MURDER The horned Viking headdress I was wearing slipped as I pushed through the throng on the bluff overlooking the bay. Pausing to nudge the awkward helmet back into place, I took in the scene. Where is she? I was looking for one of our guests, and I couldn’t find her anywhere in this crowd. The one-day Viking Fest my brother put on to promote his mead brand was definitely a huge hit. At least five hundred people, most of them dressed in historic costume, milled around the large, grassy area. The aroma of roasting ox drifted from huge grills and glasses were lifted with toasts in the tavern tent. Melodic yet energetic Viking rock provided an atmospheric accompaniment. A bonfire roared on the bluff and now the evening’s climatic spectacle came into view: a burning longship drifting into the cove, fierce flames leaping into the night sky. Exclamations and cheers rose from the crowd as they pushed closer to the bluff’s edge, caught by the incredibly cinematic sight. In the back…

(In April’s post, I realized I was dealing with demons in my own consciousness and asked for help to get rid of them.) Zula, my emotional body, finally tracked down that second little blob of nothingness. We went through pretty much the same procedure that I described in Part 1 of this bizarre tale. With this addition. I went back into one of my first lives on planet earth. This life is one of the past lives involved in my dark high fantasy series, Stoneslayer. That life was brief. I died as a teenager, bound hand and foot and thrown into a freezing pond to drown. But in water that cold, death took time. My consciousness lingered in my almost dead body. I was desperate, panicked, and felt alone and helpless. Easy pickings for demons, or denial spirits, as some call them. They must have energy from somewhere to keep existing since they have denied the unconditional love-energy from our Creator that sustains the multiverse. That need for energy is what drives demons to infest any living being or thing that has energy. These two gaslighters (my name for them) pounced, promising help if I would just let them into…

What is the title of your latest release?A ZOOM WITH A VIEW What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A cozy murder mystery filled with hometown drama, social media influencers, an over-the-top mother, and two very attractive local men, A Zoom with a View will make you want to move to Blue Oak – if only the Fourth of July festivities didn’t end with a dead body. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I always knew I wanted to write a book set in the kind of place I live, where people from all backgrounds create a quirky, weird, loving community together. I created a small town, Blue Oak, that looks like the Texas I know; it’s a place with great food, sweet tea so strong you can stand a spoon up in it, and a wide welcome for everyone exactly as they are. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely. We’d talk about our favorite writers and compare literary trivia; eventually we’d be close enough friends that I’d suggest she reconsider those bangs. What are three words that describe your hero?Inquisitive, self-contained, intrepid. What’s something you learned while writing this book?Many…

I have a free newsletter on Substack called The Storied Sisters Society. Each week a different heroine of historical fiction is highlighted, but with a modern twist. There are headings like, “Her Superpower Is:” to give these women of the past a contemporary spin. To celebrate the publication of my upcoming historical fiction book, DEAR MISSING FRIEND, I thought it might be fun to give my own protagonist, Catherine McGuirk, the same Storied Sisters treatment I give our other heroines. The Moxie Meter: 9/10 Cath leaves her homeland to come to America, learns every job in two hotels, befriends two famous authors, hangs out with a former slave turned actual saint, fulfills her professional teaching ambitions, helps support many nieces and nephews – and all this while it’s still the 1800s. Why We Love Her: Cath is a good friend and loyal to her family. She makes the best with what she is given. Her relationships with young people are a strength. Cath’s innate honesty inspires trust from others. Why We Question Her: Cath’s vindictiveness is her worst quality. It takes time and healing from loss for her to finally wake up and rise above her grievances. Her Superpower Is:…

What is the title of your latest release?MURDER ON VACATION What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?Abby Jones is ready to set her amateur sleuthing to the side and enjoy a romantic lakeside vacation with her boyfriend Nathan. But when the beloved owner of the local bed and breakfast is shockingly murdered – and Nathan was the last person to see her alive – Abby puts her detective skills to the test yet again. It’s up to Abby (and you!) to piece together the clues and catch the killer! How did you decide where your book was going to take place?The wonderful folks at Adams Media had the idea for a murder on vacation at a quaint inn, and I thought, what about a “locked room” murder – the inspiration being Agatha Christie’s, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD, of course. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely! She does word searches, loves books, and she isn’t afraid to question people’s motives. That’s the type of nosy introvert I’d love as a friend. What are three words that describe your hero?Nosy, bookish, and kind. What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned a lot about a…

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 you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Tessa Bickers! Writes:Modern romance (often with many nods towards my favorite thing ever – 90’s rom coms) where the heart of the story is more about the journey each imperfect character goes on to heal themselves, with love fuelling the way. Normally featuring: troubled pasts, warped family dynamics, grief, loneliness, deep connections, chemistry and a quest for greater joy, all wrapped up with a happy-ever-after bow. If I haven’t made you laugh and cry in my books, I haven’t done my job. About:As an author I’m the USA TODAY bestseller of THE BOOK SWAP and my second novel, THE NIGHT BUS, is published in May 2026. As a human I love to sing while having absolutely zero sense of rhythm and a total inability to dance. I LOVE love and will cry at almost any romance I watch or read. If you tell me the story of how you fell hard for someone you will get to watch goosebumps spread across my whole body…