Book Title: STRANGE FAMILIARSCharacter Name: Percy the cat How would you describe your family or your childhood?I was never a “child”, since cat children are not called children, but rather “kittens”. However, I shall forgive your temporary lapse of knowledge, even despite your purporting to be a website of literary merit. My kittenhood was dreadful. I never knew my father, and I was most unfortunately ripped away from my mother and four siblings before I was barely weaned. Following this, I spent fourteen years living with Mr. Nathaniel Price, a cold-hearted, narcissist of a man, and his awful wife. It was only recently that I was rescued by a kindhearted woman called Gwendolynne Chan, who is either my savior or my jailer – depending on my mood and the direction the wind is blowing. What was your greatest talent?I am a cat. Therefore, my talent is, well, everything. Significant other?I have no significant others. I have only enemies. Biggest challenge in relationships?The biggest challenge in any of my relationships is that no one can hope to match my intellectual prowess, handsome looks, or unmatchable charisma. Where do you live?Right now, I live in Gwendolynne’s awful room in the residential halls…

I wrote THE PRETENDERS in Singapore, a place as different from London (where its set) as it’s possible to be. My Spotify playlist helped me immerse myself in Ovidia and Edmund’s world. Playing the same music each time I sat to write allowed me to close myself away from the ceaseless noise and motion of a city as dynamic as Singapore. I had a very long playlist which thankfully my music app has preserved, and it’s been fun to go back to it. The songs on it stir memories of sitting in cafes or at my tiny Ikea desk in our sitting room typing away without a clue what I was doing. Of course, my playlist has also aged, when I wrote THE PRETENDERS about six years ago, Charley Puth was still in the charts and a few others that I haven’t mentioned here. While a lot of the music was background noise as I’ve mentioned, here are some songs that really did affect the direction or mood of my writing. Some conjured up an atmosphere and others had lyrics that spurred something within me: Good Lava by Esperanza Spalding.I must have played this song hundreds of times and I…

Welcome back to Jen’s Jewels – your go-to destination for the hottest new reads and swoon-worthy escapes. Today, I’m diving into FORTY LOVE by Jane Costello, a sexy, feel-good rom-com packed with second chances, sharp wit, and plenty of heart. If you love stories that prove it’s never too late for love, this one deserves a spot on your reading list. LIGHTNING ROUND What’s your favorite writing season: hopeful spring, beachy summer, reflective fall, or cozy winter, and why?Spring because I’m a born optimist and am never happier than when I can look out of my window and see the first blossom and glimmers of blue sky. If your main character had a motto, what would it be?It’s never too late to start over. However, it’s probably too late to win Wimbledon. What’s one small thing that instantly puts you in a creative mood?Reading a book. THE SPRING SPARK May often signifies the start of something new. In what ways did this story represent a new chapter for you as a writer?The book is all about reinvention in midlife and that’s something I can relate to. My main character Jules is persuaded to pick up a tennis racket for the…

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.

Excerpt from THE ROARING RIDLEYS by K.M. Colley: Chapter 1 Amelia Ridley The grandfather clock’s gold hands struck half past four. Yet at 4:37 p.m., it was the seven that stood out in that time more than anything to her. It had been seven years since the public had seen Amelia, the Ridleys’ eldest daughter, and the rest of her siblings together in one room. Still, that seven wasn’t even the worst of it. It was now seven minutes and counting. Her insufferable youngest sister, Kavita, was late for their solo press interviews. The garden room was stuffy that evening, with a heavy cloud forming in the room, not from the summer heat, but the hovering words that each might say. The members of the press cleared their throats, some coughing, trying to avoid the impending silence that kept aimlessly dragging on. Father had insisted that each of them had to do an interview with the press in their sacred place, their home. This confused Amelia to no end, and she wondered why their father had invited the vultures into their safe haven, ready to tear into her and her siblings’ flesh, regurgitating and twisting each word they said to…

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 Janyre Tromp! Writes:I write twisty historical suspense with a dash of myth – think espionage, art theft, and curses that refuse to stay buried. My newest book, THE SCORPION THIEF, involves Cold War politics, Egyptian artifacts, sisters who definitely shouldn’t trust each other, and a side romance that simmers beneath the surface. About:I’m a mom, best-selling writer, and professional wrangler of both teenagers and storylines. I love deep conversations, a little mystery, and finding beauty in unexpected places. I’m equal parts bookish and adventurous. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match:• You love twisty, atmospheric stories with real stakes• You’re drawn to historical settings that feel immersive and alive• You enjoy a hint of myth or the possibility that something unseen is at work• You’re intrigued by complex relationships—especially when loyalty gets messy• You don’t mind a little darkness if there’s meaning (and hope) on the other side• You appreciate romantic tension that simmers without becoming explicit• You’re the type to say…

What is the title of your latest release?THE HOUSE OF NOW AND THEN What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A trans man rents a beachside cottage on Cape Cod for one lonely summer after a big breakup, only to discover that the house holds a magical secret: behind each door is someone from his past, reliving moments from their shared history together on loop. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?It was always going to be Cape Cod. That came into my head right along with the concept of this magical cottage. The Cape has always felt like a slightly magical place to me. Time slows down. Life moves at a different place. It was the perfect setting for a story about someone who wants to escape all the messiness of his own life. Would you hang out with your hero in real life?Haha, probably? It’s funny, I’m aware that I have a hand in crafting my characters (obviously) but I do also feel like they develop on their own, and so it’s definitely true that I would not be friends with all of them. But in the case of both Harlowe (my main…

My list of recommendations is shorter than usual this month, but only because I read/listened to some truly fabulous but weighty books. The four books below—the first two I’m ashamed I took so long to start reading—filled me with awe, admiration, terror, and (thank you, K.J. Charles!) heart-warming laughter. I’ll start with terror. Louise Penny’s most recent Inspecter Gamache book, THE BLACK WOLF, is an amazingly timely and frightening tale, delivered with the author’s habitual and delectable charm. Conversations (often conducted in a dark, mist-enshrouded, and mostly abandoned church) about a possible impending international Armageddon are accompanied by warm croissants and hot chocolate (and yes, they’re sometimes consumed in the church). Former adversaries are forced to work together, and alliances are made, broken, and remade while the clock ticks down towards disaster. Through it all, Gamache, his wife Reine-Marie, their family, and the eclectic inhabitants of Three Pines, Québec put love of country and peace before personal concerns while praying that the chess moves they’re attempting will prove wilier than their opponents’. This is the 20th book in Ms. Penny’s best-selling series, but I think even a first-time reader will come to love the characters, understand the dread, and hold…

The trauma and destruction of war conceals…but over time, almost all secrets are finally revealed.  So it is with the quartet of alternating-timeline stories highlighting family dramas that we will look at this month. We begin with THE SECRETS OF FLIGHT by Maggie Leffler, featuring one of my favorite protagonists—a female flyer!  As a young woman, Miri risks everything, denying her family and changing her name to fulfill her dream of being a pilot, eventually flying throughout World War II with the WASPs.  Skip to the present, and Miri is now a eighty-seven-year-old widow presiding over a writing group. When fifteen-year-old Elyse Stricker joins the group, her strong resemblance to Miri’s sister Sarah moves Miri to finally want to tell her story.  She hires the aspiring teen writer to type it, and as the two delve deeper into the past, a friendship forms, eventually leading them both to discover the deeper meaning of family, the healing quality of forgiveness and the truth that it is never too late for a second chance. WHAT THE SILENT SAY by Emerson Ford depicts World War II on the homefront and the battlefield—and secrets revealed years later, the novel based on letters the author…

What is the title of your latest release?DECOMPOSITION BOOK What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A lonely college student finds the dead body of a lost hiker in the woods behind her house and decides to befriend the corpse instead of calling the police. How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I looked for news stories of hikers getting very lost and took note of where these disappearances happened most often. Then I positioned Savannah’s house at a plausible walking distance through the woods. Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?Definitely! Savannah is my precious baby. I support her rights and her wrongs. And Ava’s kind of a love letter to my wife, so I’d go one step further and sign a contract to hang out with her forever. What are three words that describe your hero?Funny, Lonely, Survivor What’s something you learned while writing this book?I learned how to edit all the way to my limits. I’d written four books before writing this one, but I’d never edited something to the point of being publishable, so with this one I think I learned how far I can currently go. I plan…