What is the title of your latest release?VESPER What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?An anti-romance literary novel about independence, love, and self-discovery. For those who enjoy a layered, voice-driven story with philosophical depth and an unconventional perspective on the NYC dating scene How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I chose New York. Partly as a homage to the film that inspired the story (Alfie; and the Bill Naughton play), and partly because the city has been my home for the last decade, and there are a lot of perspectives to share Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?If she could get her act together with her text messaging, probably What are three words that describe your hero?Witty, intelligent, and impulsive, making for never a dull moment What’s something you learned while writing this book?That Antarctica doesn’t have any polar bears Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?Wait until I’m totally done What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?The coconut crab curry from Fish Cheeks in Soho is up there Describe your writing space/office!It’s a mix of my home office in downtown Manhattan and wherever I’m travelling…

Book Title: LOVE ON THE SHELFCharacter Name: Parker Black How would you describe your family or your childhood?I grew up with a single mom who is the best. I also have an awesome uncle who’s been my father figure for years. A former Superbowl winner, he often guests on my radio sports talk show. He also, like my mom, is a writer and he’s not all that impressed by the book I’ve written. Or the new segment I’ve added to my show. Hey, just trying to save men from the bad influence of romance novels. Which my mom happens to write. And yes, that’s a little awkward. What was your greatest talent?I can talk, that’s for sure. Before I blew out my shoulder I had a promising career in professional baseball ahead of me. I think I did a pretty good job of reinventing myself. Significant other?No one now. I’d just bought the ring and was ready to propose when I found out woman number one was cheating on me. Did I learn from that? No, I fell a second time. Turns out that woman had issues, and after we broke up she wrote a romance novel and put me…

Hi readers, I’m Lexi. Some of you know me as the hockey romance author, but others might recognize me as the former NHL WAG who spills behind-the-scenes hockey tea on TikTok. Either way, if you’re hockey-obsessed and looking for your latest romance fix, you’ve come to the right spot. I first got into hockey romance after learning that readers were discovering hockey through the novels, but remaining fans of the sport well beyond the Happily Ever After. My love for hockey romance initially began as a fun way to help teach new fans about the sport, but it quickly became a creative outlet for my writing and storytelling. Who better to tell a hockey romance tale than someone who has lived it? My latest hockey romance novel, Evening the Score, is packed with emotion, wit, and of course – lots of hockey. When Olivia Hinckley takes a temporary job as an NHL mascot to seek revenge against the team’s new star player, Brody Parker, shenanigans ensue. While Olivia attempts to enjoy the best of both worlds, the mascot mask slowly slips as she discovers her once-perceived enemy isn’t as horrible as she thought. The life of a sports fan is…

What is the title of your latest release?CHASE THE LIGHT – book two in my National Park Summers series. What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A young park ranger follows a trail of clues tied to a long-buried mystery in Acadia National Park, only to discover that what she’s really chasing might be truth, healing, truth, and a love she didn’t expect. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?Acadia National Park practically chose me! There’s something about that rugged coastline, the crashing ocean, and those quiet carriage roads that feels both mysterious and sacred. It begged for a story. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Absolutely! Ranger Scout Johnson is enthusiastic, a little earnest, and deeply loyal. She’d probably have us up at sunrise for a rugged hike, but she’d also remember how to get us back. And I’d bring the snacks. An ideal combo. What are three words that describe your hero?Earnest. Rule-follower. Amusing. What’s something you learned while writing this book?That history is rarely as tidy as we’d like it to be. And sometimes the truth has been buried on purpose. Do you edit as you draft or wait…

Karen Rose Smith is at the top of her game. In Hollywood terms, she’s a hyphenate. She’s a USA Today best-selling mystery novelist, the author of 112 books, and a writer whose romance novel was adapted for a movie on the UPTV network called A Very Country Christmas. Recently, I sat down with Karen to find out more about her writing life, her plans for the future and the secret to her amazing energy. If I were Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, I’d say, “I want what she’s having!” Q: I remember you had a book signing at a tea shop and you went from table to table, chatting with the guests, which sounds lovely. I want to go to the next one! How did this come about? A: When Kensington offered me a contract for my Daisy’s Tea Garden series, I sent letters to all the tea service shops around me. I knew some had gift shops who could stock the books. I was familiar with tea shops who served tea because I’d participated in their tea services. TranquilaTEA in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania asked me to come for tea service and a book signing. I could also do…

What’s the title of your new book?POLLOCK’S LAST LOVER What is the elevator pitch for this book?POLLOCK’S LAST LOVER is primarily about the last four months of the tumultuous life of the great painter Jackson Pollock. But on a deeper level, it is a study of the women in his life: who honors him, who inspires him, who enables his worst impulses — and how each of them reflects on feminism and the power of women today. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?This novel is a work of historical fiction, so the main geography was preordained – New York City. But there were many scenes for which I could select the setting: beside the Hudson River, on the roof of an office building, inside a dive bar in Greenwich Village, and along certain beaches on the outer reaches of Long Island. My favorite setting was the Rose Room in the main branch of the New York Public Library. That’s where I do my writing when I’m in New York, so it was a treat for me to set a scene there. What three words describe your main character?Anguished, struggling, brilliant What side character stole…

I was a teen in the 1960s when Bobbie Gentry’s enigmatic song about Billy Joe and the Tallahatchie Bridge became an overnight sensation. The song came out in 1967. I was fourteen. That song was like a bolt of lightning through my soul. I knew these people—I knew the circumstances they faced. I knew the heat and the garden work and the suffocation of small town judgment. I grew up playing at Merrill, Mississippi where the Chickasawhay and Leaf rivers join to create the Pascagoula. I’ve been up on the railroad bridge (I’m too old to be arrested now!) and watched the muddy waters mingle and flow. Not too many years later, as a cub reporter for the weekly paper in my hometown, I was back on the Pascagoula to watch the recovery of three bodies—contemporaries who had drowned. The river gives and the river takes. My grandmother emigrated to America from Sweden in 1892. She was six. Her father and brothers were loggers brought down to Mississippi to cut the pine timber and hardwoods needed for houses and furniture. The men would cut the trees, haul them by oxen teams to the river, tie them together, and float them…

What is the title of your latest release?MURDER MOST DELICIOUS What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?An American Sommelier who has lost her sense of taste is interviewing for a job at a bistro when the chef dies of poisoning, leaving her the primary suspect. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?The setting of this novel, the 7th arrondissement of Paris, was the inspiration for the novel. I knew that this mystery would be set in Paris from the very beginning. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?YES!! What are three words that describe your hero?Curious, determined, fun. What’s something you learned while writing this book?This book is full of French culture- food, wine, perfume—so I learned a lot about these things. Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?With this novel, I wrote the full draft first, then went back and edited it. What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?French fries and crème brulée Describe your writing space/office!I have a large desk on which there are paper weights, fountain pens, lots of jars of ink and my favorite paper: Clairfontaine. I write by hand, so my writing…

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?THE BRUNSWICK What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?When a woman in small-town Georgia offers to house Jewish refugee children in her family’s old hotel, she must confront the choices her own parents made in order to finally feel worthy of love herself. Inspired by real people and events, THE BRUNSWICK is a fresh spin on historical fiction set in both Norcross, Georgia and Austria in the months preceding World War II. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?The story is inspired by a true story that took place in Austria and Philadelphia, but as I tried to imagine it, I could only picture my small town of Norcross, Ga. So, I moved the story there! The Brunswick is a hotel in our town’s past that I’ve long been fascinated by, and it was such fun to imagine this story inside its walls. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?The heroine is so closely based on me and my own life and struggles that I think I hang out with her already, every day. What are three words that describe your hero?Entrepreneurial, (unhealthily) self-reliant,…