Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Heather McCollum | 20 Questions: THE HIGHLANDER’S UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL
Author Guest / October 21, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  The Highlander’s Unexpected Proposal  2–What is it about?  Adam Macquarie needs a bride to re-establish his dying clan, and Lark Montgomerie needs an escape from her horrible life, but they are both hiding secrets that could ruin everything for them and Wolf Isle. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Determined 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  Sense of honor (not to mention his biceps!) 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Lark finds a friend in Lady Ava Maclean. Adam has four brothers, but the second oldest, Beck, is the one he turns to first. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The western isles of Scotland are rugged and beautiful with mountains, lush valleys, and stormy, dramatic seas. I love it all! 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? Definitely a pantser. I’m trying to plot more, but even when I do, my characters decide where we will be going each day when I sit down to write. 8–What is an ideal writing day for you?  Waking up early before everyone else. Sitting down…

Carla de Guzman | 20 Questions: SWEET ON YOU
Author Guest / October 20, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? Sweet on You 2–What is it about? It’s about a rivalry between a barista and a baker, set during the peak of the Christmas season on the Philippines. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Stubborn. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? He’s charming, but not in the way that he thinks he is.  5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Sari would rather suffer alone than ask for help, but if she had to, she would turn to her friend Kira or her older sister, Sofie. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? My family and I spend Christmas in Lipa, so it feels special to write a book in that setting, in that time. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? Plotter, definitely!  8–What is an ideal writing day for you? Finishing a big scene or a chapter in a day, with a cup of iced coffee and maybe a sugar cookie. 9–Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the TV on? Depends on how annoyed…

Janine Rosche | 20 Questions: WILDFLOWER ROAD
Author Guest / October 13, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Wildflower Road 2–What is it about?  A widow searching for peace and a fallen pastor seeking refuge must work together to save her family’s struggling resort on Montana’s Madison River, but it’s only a matter of time before their pasts catch up to them. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Resilient–Despite all Ryann has endured, she has remained steadfast and loyal to those around her. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  Shane has a humility that could only come from losing everything and everyone he’s loved, all thanks to his own actions. He doesn’t believe he deserves the second chance at life he’s been given in Montana. And he certainly doesn’t believe he deserves the affection of a girl as trusting as Ryann. He’s as vulnerable as he is dreamy. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  They both have a tendency to carry their own burdens to protect those around them. In one another, they find someone they can finally lean on. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  My parents introduced me to West Yellowstone, Montana, when I was younger. I’ve waded in…

Aimee Molloy | 20 Questions: GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL
Author Guest / October 12, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? GOODNIGHT BEAUTIFUL 2–What is it about? A newlywed couple named Sam and Annie move from New York City to Sam’s sleepy home town. Sam, a therapist, opens a home office, unaware that his sessions with patients can be overheard from a room upstairs. Listening ensues, an alluring patient transpires, Sam disappears, and all hell breaks loose. (I would like to add that Sam’s disappearance is very much related to him participating in an eerily similar 20 Questions column for a local newspaper, so I’m suspicious of this already.) 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Sam: sensitive hunk Annie: clever 4–What makes your story relatable?  The story is premised on a person discovering a chance to eavesdrop on therapy sessions, forcing you, as the reader to question if, in that position, you would choose to listen. (Which, of course you would.) But what I find more compelling is that underneath the plot is an exploration of the lasting impact of a father’s influence on his son–and in particular, when a father teaches his son a toxic idea of masculinity. I think toxic masculinity is something we all can relate to at this particular…

Cat Schield | 20 Questions: UNTAMED PASSION
Author Guest / October 6, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Untamed Passion 2–What is it about?  After a single night of passion results in an unplanned pregnancy, a woman must decide if she can make a future with a man who can’t embrace love while he’s trapped by his resentment of his father. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Determined. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  I love Oliver’s inner strength. He’s a recovered addict who strives every day to stay sober despite the increasing pressure coming to bear on him because of the drama surrounding his father’s criminal activity. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Oliver struggles to reach out to anyone. He has estranged himself from his family and keeps most people at arm’s reach. His assistant is the person who he relies on the most. It’s to her he turns when he needs to find the woman who ran out on him after an incredible night of passion. Sammi has a tricky relationship with her mother who has managed Sammi’s modeling career since she was a baby. Sammi has a best friend, a fellow model who offers some much-needed career and romantic advice. 6–What…

Irene Hannon | 20 Questions: POINT OF DANGER
Author Guest / October 5, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Point of Danger 2–What is it about?  When radio talk show host Eve Reilly finds herself in the sights of someone who wants her voice silenced, Detective Brent Lange must track down the unknown foe before he loses the woman who is willing to take risks for what she believes–and who is also stealing his heart. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)? Tenacious and brave  4–What makes your story relatable?  My heroine finds herself caught up in a very credible, dangerous situation, which ended up being more topical that I could ever have predicted when I started the book two years ago. I think readers will admire her courage and spunk and find much to like in both her and the hero. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  This is book 1 in my Triple Threat series (note: each book can be read as a standalone), which features three sisters. I loved exploring the relationship they have. So Eve, my heroine, relies on her sisters for support and friendship. My hero has a best friend who serves as his confidante. But other than that, he’s…

Belle Callhoune | 20 Questions: ALASKAN CHRISTMAS REDEMPTION
Author Guest / October 2, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? My latest release is ALASKAN CHRISTMAS REDEMPTION, coming out on September 29th 2–What is it about? The story centers around Piper Miller, who owns the Snowy Owl Diner, in Owl Creek, Alaska. Piper inherited the diner when her father, Jack, passed away. Now, four years later, the establishment is running on fumes and teetering on the brink of closure. Determined to save the diner, Piper enlists the help of her childhood best friend, Braden North, who has recently returned to town. Problem is, Braden is hiding a huge secret from Piper, one that might permanently end their friendship. As the two work together to save Piper’s business, sparks begin to fly between the childhood friends. But, secrets from the past might unravel their budding romance. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Plucky. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? Adorable. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Piper turns to her mother, Trudy, and her best friend, Rachel. Braden comes from a large family so he turns to his siblings, Connor and Sage, as well as his parents and grandparents. 6–What do you love about the setting of your…

Ausma Zehanat Khan | 20 Questions: THE BLADEBONE
Author Guest / October 1, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  The Bladebone.   2–What is it about?  The Bladebone is the final installment in my Khorasan Archives fantasy series (which began with The Bloodprint, followed by The Black Khan and The Blue Eye). Two women warriors named Arian and Sinnia are in a race against time to save their world from being destroyed by the One-Eyed Preacher’s holy war. Only the powers of an ancient magic weapon called the Bladebone can help them to defeat him. But Arian and Sinnia are surrounded by enemies, while Arian is cut off from the man she loves–the Silver Mage, her powerful ally. As their world burns down around them, Arian must find the Bladebone and face off against the Preacher in a cataclysmic battle for the future.   3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Tenacious. But I could also add courageous, vulnerable, literate–important qualities in Arian’s world.   4–What makes your story relatable?  The characters in this story care deeply not only about each other, but also about the common good. The Bladebone is a story about hope, love and the right to human dignity, and I think those themes are always relatable.   5–Who…

Erica Vetsch | 20 Questions: THE GENTLEMAN SPY
Author Guest / September 30, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  THE GENTLEMAN SPY, book two in the Serendipity & Secrets series released in July, and in just a few more days, I have a novella releasing in the Joy to the World Collection that will also be part of the Serendipity & Secrets ‘universe.’ 2–What is it about?  The Gentleman Spy is about Lady Charlotte and His Grace, Marcus, The Duke of Haverly. Marcus needs a wife to maintain his cover as a spy for the Crown, and Charlotte is looking for a way out of her dysfunctional family’s home.  They enter into a not-so-convenient marriage, while Marcus tries to keep his clandestine work a secret, and Charlotte tries to understand the complex man she’s married. He’s chasing assassins, and she’s chasing him! 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Crusader. Charlotte has a strong sense of justices, and she is determined to right the wrongs she encounters. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? He’s a cloak-and-dagger spy while also being a chivalrous, innately kind Regency Duke. He’s naïve about romantic relationships, and yet manages to make Charlotte fall in love with him with little effort. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to…

Vivian Conroy | 20 Questions: FOR LETTER OR WORSE
Author Guest / September 28, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? For Letter or Worse, the second installment in my Stationery Shop series. Readers need not have read book 1, Last Pen Standing, to dive in! And fun fact: this is my 20th cozy mystery, releasing in 2020! So I’m extra pleased to be here on Fresh Fiction answering these 20 questions. 2–What is it about? For Letter or Worse follows Delta Douglas, co-owner of stationery shop WANTED in Tundish, Montana. Delta is excited to host a 3D cardmaking workshop for the birthday of former model Lena Laroy, but when Lena is threatened during the party and a dead body turns up, Delta must engage her Paper Posse crafting friends and wildlife guide Jonas with his former K9 Spud to weed through the clues and catch the killer. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)? Just one word?! Hmmm. . . Energetic! 4–What makes your story relatable? Delta recently moved to Tundish and has to settle in her new town, learn the ropes of running her own business, make new friends and figure out if her relationship with Jonas is taking a romantic turn. Her struggles and dilemmas, her setbacks and victories as she…