This month, I’m thrilled to be talking with one of my very favorite authors and human beings, Maddie Dawson! Maddie is a transplanted Southerner living in the Northeast, and the bestselling author of eleven novels. She specializes in humorous literary fiction about people stumbling toward love, family, connection, and hope – and usually finding it in the most unlikely circumstances. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages. Marie Bostwick: What was your journey from mild-mannered civilian to multi-published author? Maddie Dawson: Ha! My journey toward fiction writing actually began on a hot day in Florida when I was six years old, and I wanted money for the ice cream man, and my mama said no. And so I stomped into my room and wrote a story about a king who slept for three hours and forty-five seconds. I glued the pages together and went door to door until I’d sold my book for 25 cents, which was enough for two banana popsicles! TWO OF THEM. To my shock, my mother was furious with me for “bothering” the neighbors, but the lesson I came away with was quite different from what she intended: writing was going to provide me with…

By now you’ve probably seen many lists in many subgenres of most anticipated romances coming out this year. I decided I want to highlight some Indie and small press books, since they tend to be overlooked, and you can find hidden gems. January 2nd EYES OPEN, a Ruskin City Novel by Devin M Cressman This gritty urban fantasy romance with a very possessive and protective alpha hero is available now! EYES OPEN by Devin Cressman Ruskin City #1 It has been three years since Kendra woke up in Ruskin City Memorial Hospital with no memory of what happened or who she was. And for the past three years, she’s made a life for herself with new friends and loved ones. She became one of the most respected enforcers throughout the city and somehow managed to develop a friendly acquaintance with one of the most feared crime bosses around town. Her comfortable world, however, begins to tear apart around her when Roland Skaustrand barges into her life and tips everything on it’s axis. Now she’s stuck with him as her shadow and torn between the need to protect him and the burning desire to ram her knife into his gut. It doesn’t help…

I know what you’re thinking. The holidays are over – but not at Mermaid Bay’s absolutely adorable year-round Christmas Shoppe! Who doesn’t buy a holiday ornament while on vacation? I think I could fill two trees with destination ornaments, so this memorable series grabbed my attention right away, especially when I read about secondary character Peppermint Patti. Score! Rest easy dear reader, mystery author Heather Weidner isn’t writing about Saint Nick in January, in her second Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mystery, TWINKLE TWINKLE AU REVOIR she’s celebrating another special holiday with St. Valentine! Cozy authors know all about the best meet cutes in fiction, they just like to do it with towns, pets, secondary characters, and if there’s a love interest involved you’re sure to get a heartwarming introduction there too – Nick – Weidner’s buff sheriff version of the saint who likes to deliver gifts of justice all year round. With her love theme set from page one, Ms. Weidner takes readers on a delightful trip through Mermaid Bay which looks the same as it did in the 1950s – the perfect setting for the Love Channel’s television production of My Coastal Valentine. Are you in love yet? I…

Happy New Year, Everyone! So many opportunities: new reading challenges, new authors to try, new genres to explore, and resolutions to abandon! You’re reading this at Fresh Fiction, where we obviously celebrate “fiction,” particularly romance. But in honor of new beginnings, allow me to alter course for just a moment with a few non-fiction titles. This year, like so many previous years, I resolved to improve my fitness and devote time to meditation (and if I can’t stick with meditation, then at least more mindfulness). To that end, I was delighted to come across Brett Larkin’s new book, YOGA LIFE Habits, Poses, and Breathwork to Channel Joy Amidst the Chaos. I’ve certainly got the chaos, so I’m grateful to anything that helps channel joy. Fortunately, the author understands that few readers or listeners will become devoted yogis, so she wisely parcels out suggestions to incorporate a little here, a little there, leading to results that compound like a high-yield CD. I’m never going to master a headstand, but even I can remember to do some deep, slow breathing whenever stress starts to build. Santa was kind enough to bring me a copy of Patrick Stewart’s MAKING IT SO, and I’ve…

In honor of the New Year, traditionally a time for new beginnings, this month we’ll look at novels that feature protagonists embarking on a new phase of life after momentous events – the end of war, the beginning of a new reign, and the challenge of seizing an unexpected opportunity. Proceeding chronologically, we start with THE WAR WIDOW by Tara Moss.  War correspondent Billie Walker returns to Sydney in 1946, her husband Jack missing in Europe and her father recently passed away.  After finding that, despite her experience, Sydney newspapers are only interested in hiring male former soldiers as reporters, the tough, determined Billie decides to reopen her father’s private investigation agency, taking on a wounded former soldier as her assistant.  At first, their clients are mainly women suspicious of cheating husbands.  But then a woman comes in asking Billie to locate her missing 17-year-old son.  When Billie starts investigating the boy’s ties to a fancy dance club and a high-end auction house, people she interrogates begin to turn up dead.  As Billie and Detective Inspector Hank Cooper dig deeper into the case, ties to Nazi war criminals and looted Jewish plunder emerge, threatening Billie’s business and her very survival. …

It’s that most, wonderful time of the year: the time to give and receive books! My parents didn’t have much money when we were growing up, and my mother insisted that buying books was a needless, sinful expense, particularly when there was a good library close to our house. And believe me, I utilized that library! But back then, when dinosaurs had just barely ceded dominance of the land, librarians considered Nancy Drew books unworthy of library shelf space. My pain was extraordinary. It was alleviated, however, twice a year, by an extraordinary angel: my sister. She saved her pennies, and every birthday and Christmas, she gifted me a Nancy Drew book. I have never forgotten the joy those gifts brought me, and to this day, I feel guilty if my gifts to loved ones do not include a book. Thus, in the spirit of perpetuating forever the joy of giving and receiving books, here are some of my suggestions for this holiday season. I’ve mentioned Julie Garwood frequently in my columns this year since that beloved writer’s too-early passing last spring. Many of even her earliest books are still in print, so grab them now before they disappear. I’m…

It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year – for reading Christmas novels, that is! With that in mind, I’m devoting this month’s column to two authors who have recently released absolutely delightful Christmas books that straddle the line between romance and women’s fiction, Susan Wiggs and Sheila Roberts. In a nod to the titles of their books, I’ve posed twelve questions that will help you know more about Susan and Sheila’s Christmas likes, traditions, disasters, and special memories. (There might even be a recipe in there!) But before we get to the Q&A, let me give you a little peek into these two charming, heartwarming holiday novels! THE TWELVE MONTHS OF CHRISTMAS by Sheila Roberts When three friends have horrible holiday fails, they decide to try again. And again. And again. And again, all through the year, trying to keep the holiday spirit alive. Through laughter and tears, they’re bound to find hope, love, and a happy ending after 12 months of Christmas. THE TWELVE DOGS OF CHRISTMAS by Susan Wiggs Hoping to escape Christmas–which has never gone well for her–newly-single Brenda volunteers to transport a vanload of rescued dogs of all shapes and sizes from Texas to a wintry town…

Today I want to highlight some of the hidden gems that don’t get as much attention as the big presses and would make good gifts for the romance reader in your life. This list has something for everyone!   Fairytale Romance/ Black Romance SEDUCING THE BLACK PRINCE by Layla J. Omorose LOVE MAKES MONSTERS OF US ALL… A lesson, Jackson “Beast” Marshal, learned the hard way. Cursed to spend his life as a twisted creature, he has given up o returning to the man he once was. Until he met her… his last chance at salvation. FOR WHO COULD EVER LOVE A BEAST? Life has taught, Sonya “Beauty” Lamar, that fairytales are better left in children’s books. As she struggles to pick up the pieces of her world, a mysterious stranger appears on her doorstep. Quickly, she learns that there are worse things than the heartbreak of starting over. TALE AS OLD AS TIME… To break the spell of a mad witch, can a prince, who is more beast than man, win the heart of the only woman who could save him from his torment? Or will she damn him to the darkness as the last rose petal falls? Romance Paranormal [Self Published,…

If I were to pack a Christmas stocking to gift a special friend with my favorite historical fiction reads this last year, which would I choose?  So many wonderful stories, narrowing the list down to just a few is very difficult.  But, forced to make the decisions, I offer the following list of fascinating stories from different areas and eras that mesmerized me, and should delight any lucky historical fiction lover on your gift list (including yourself!) One of the things I love about great historical fiction is its ability to transport you to another place and time, with world-building as complex and fascinating as that in any fantasy novel.  I especially love books that illumine cultures different from my own, one of the reasons Lisa See is a favorite author.  Her latest offering, LADY TAN’S CIRCLE OF WOMEN, is another stellar contribution, a fictional rendition of the life of a real Ming dynasty woman drawn from extensive research that includes accounts written by the lady herself.  Though raised to be completely a woman of her time, a time when a high-born woman’s life was confined from birth to death to the inner courtyard of first her birth family, then…

It may not seem like it, but it’s already time to pay homage to the year’s best mysteries. Each year I struggle to list what I believe to be the best of the best. Some of the authors I’ve interviewed, some I’ve merely featured, and others haven’t even made the Cozy Corner’s blogs—I could write a blog a day and never complete the list of great mysteries released every year. Yet, it’s a job I’ve tasked myself with year after year.  This year I decided to sub-genre the mysteries in my own categories; not Amazon’s, not New York’s and maybe not a category you’ll recognize. Hopefully, these ‘new’ groups will give you a different perspective of what I liked about the mystery, the style of writing, or world the author created. (Most of the books could fit in two, three or all categories, but this is where I decided they fit best—for now.) After I decided to create my own categories, however, I realized I made an extremely tough job tougher! Lol, I’ve never been known to take the cleared path, why should I start now.   Delicious Mysteries of 2023 The best foody mysteries of the year the make…