Jen: What inspired you to write THE LAST NIGHT IN LONDON? Karen: Many things, but mostly my experience of living in a beautiful old building in London for 7 years when I was a teenager, and the frequent emails from readers wanting to know what happened to Maddie Warner from my two previous books, Falling Home and After the Rain.  I guess you can say I’ve been waiting for over a decade to find the perfect story to bring these two inspirations together. What brings Eva Harlow and Precious Dubose together in pre-WWII London? They are both beautiful young women with a passion for beautiful things, including clothes.  They are also poor and needing to earn a living, and they become models for a small couture house while sharing a small flat.  Working and living together brings them to become as close as sisters.  At least at first. When Graham St. John comes on the scene, how does their friendship change? Initially, it doesn’t.  Both women are both enjoying their newfound freedom and access to higher social classes, and the exciting social scene of pre-war London.  It’s only when Eva becomes romantically involved with Graham that she begins to see…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Ruby! Congrats on your debut release, HOT COPY. What made you decided to tackle a workplace romance?  Ruby: Thank you! Very excited to be here! Well, mostly I wanted to write a desk sex scene… But more seriously, I wanted to take a swing at existing power dynamics and I also think that workplaces are a common setting for a lot of real-life romance. Combine all of that together and Hot Copy was the final product! Corrine has a reputation for being ruthless and “icy,” but she feels like she is doing what needs to get done to make it to the top. Of course, this all comes with its own consequences as a result. What do you think readers will relate to in Corrine? How does Corrine have to grapple with the decisions she’s made to further her career?  Corrine is an egg. She’s hard on the outside (she has to be) but soft on the inside (like a lot of us are) and I think that a lot of people are familiar with having to put forward a hard outer shell in order to protect our more vulnerable selves, whether that be in a…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Blackberry Beach 2–What is it about? Here’s the back cover blurb: Katherine Parker is on the cusp of having everything she ever wanted—fame, money, and acclaim. So why isn’t she happy? In search of answers, she comes incognito to Hope Harbor on the Oregon coast for some R&R. Maybe in her secluded rental house overlooking the serene Pacific she’ll be able to calm the storm inside. Coffee shop opener Zach Garrett has found his niche after a traumatic loss—and he has no plans to change the life he’s created. Nor does he want to get involved with his reticent new neighbor, whose past is shrouded in mystery. He’s had enough drama to last a lifetime. But when Katherine and Zach are recruited to help rehab a home for foster children, sparks fly. And as their lives begin to intersect, might they find a future together in this small town where hearts heal…and love blooms? 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Hope Harbor, my fictional small town, is located on the spectacular Oregon coast. It’s the kind of place all of us would love to call home, filled with…

Jen: What inspired you to write Life’s Too Short? Abby: I wanted to write a true opposites attract love story! Opposites attract is such a challenging trope, because you really have to make the reader think they’re too different from each other for it to work—but then you have to show the reader how they do work and you need to make that believable. It’s a juggling act. Adrian is a straight-laced, workaholic attorney. He plans everything, he doesn’t do spontenaity, he thrives on routine, never has fun. Vanessa’s a free spirit in every sense of the word. Vanessa has a 50% chance of developing ALS, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that runs in her family, and she’s set on living her potentially short life to the fullest. She goes where the day takes her and she finds joy and excitement where she can. She never makes plans, she never saves anything for later because she doesn’t know if there will be a later. The way I write my heroes is I ask myself who the heroine is, then I write the man she needs. But in this case, they both got exactly who they needed. It was so fun to…

Jen: What inspired you to write The Truth and Other Hidden Things? Lea: Often my writing process happens by a combination of two story ideas or characters – and in this case, I had envisioned a woman in her 40’s with an accidental pregnancy (which I will admit is something of a fever dream for me) and also the idea of someone who is desperate to be noticed but who writes under the cover of anonymity. Once I had established who Bells Walker was, the plot grew from there. As it turns out, in the past year so many people have been moving from New York City to the Hudson Valley, and it’s been great fun to read real-life accounts of some of the thing Bells noticed about her new home – the tattooed, kombucha drinking hipsters and their love for reclaimed wood and mason jars!   Bells’s life takes a sudden turn when her husband moves the family from Manhattan to the Hudson Valley. How does she handle the big change? Not well! Bells, already socially anxious, uses her move and her pregnancy as an excuse to hole up and stay home. She’s convinced that any person she meets…

What is the title of your latest release? WINGS OF FURY What is it about? It’s a new tale inspired by ancient Greek mythology. Fans of both CIRCE by Madeline Miller and WONDER WOMAN will make the acquaintance of Althea Lambros, a young woman who must fight both with—and against— the gods to save her family. Althea’s world is ruled by Cronus, the God of Gods, whose inheritance is the world and women, his playthings. He takes mortal women as prizes and discards them when he’s through. No woman dares to defy him. After her mother is taken from her and dies as a result of Cronus’s cruelty, Althea is determined not to suffer the same fate as so many women before her. To honor the dying wish of her mother, Althea promises to take care of her sisters no matter the cost. Following the vision that has been revealed to her by the Fates—that she will crush the Almighty and free the world from his terror—Althea travels to the southern isle of Crete, where women who seek refuge from Cronus live hidden among the exalted Boy God. The Boy God, Zeus, the only son of Cronus, is believed by…

1–What is the title of your latest release?  THE VINES 2–What is it about? Across a century and against seemingly insurmountable odds, a woman with an astonishing immune system and an equally dramatic determination to survive is held against her will on an abandoned island near New York City. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Everything. The idea for this novel started with its setting—an abandoned quarantine facility on an isolated island in the middle of bustling New York City. Originally an isolation hospital for the city’s poor immigrants, Riverside Hospital on North Brother Island underwent several reincarnations before becoming an experimental treatment center for drug-addicted teens in the 1950s. In 1963, the facility was shuttered. Ever since, a forest has been hellbent on destroying the hospital remains. Now a federally protected heron reserve, North Brother Island cannot be accessed without a permit from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they’re not accepting applications. The island has a dark, little-known history, rife with tragedy and misery. In its present state, its crumbling buildings serve as an eerie foreshadowing of a post-apocalyptic world. Several photographers have been able to capture…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl 2–What is it about? Knit, Purl, a Baby and a Girl is all about a young woman, Poppy, who finds herself accidentally pregnant after a one night stand with her stoner ex. She’s not sure if she’s ready to be a mother and she doesn’t have a lot of support, so she joins a local Stitch n’ Bitch to make friends and boost her confidence by finally following through on learning how to knit. What she’s not expecting is to fall for Rhiannon, the hot butch clinic escort who’s been giving her lessons. At any other time in their respective lives, it’d be a perfect meet-cute, but can commitment-shy Rhiannon with her chronic second sock syndrome handle the pressure of knowing that being with Poppy means taking on her baby-to-be as well? 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Setting the book in Yonkers, New York was definitely a challenge. I’ve set past books in all sorts of locales, from Vancouver to Ireland to ancient Rome, some of which I haven’t even visited, but New York, even if it’s not NYC proper,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? The Virgin Hunt Games Volume 3 2–What is it about? We have a whole new lot of contestants in the Virgin Hunt Games Volume 3, where terrible perils are faced by 10 women (hunted) and 10 men (hunters) on every level of the six floors of the Games. Violet has signed a contract for the deadly contest so that her biological parents might recognize her face that will be on every screener around the universe if she wins (she is hard to miss with her rare violet coloring and gold eyes.) Prince Zel is her mate in these Games, which means he has to have sex with Violet as often as possible while gifting her with orgasms to win. But they also have to survive the deadly obstacles and each other, not to mention the other hunters and hunted who are out for blood so they can be the victor. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book? I just love that for each book the tower and the amphitheatre are the same, but inside the six levels of the tower, every Games (held every four years in place of…

Jen: What inspired you to write ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED? Farah: Reena came to me a few years ago. I’ve always loved food and wanted to write a food blogger character. When I wrote my debut, THE CHAI FACTOR, I used my food blogger character as the main character’s best friend, intending to go back to her for my next book. I loved the character so much and knew that the love interest that I paired her with had to be worthy of her, so I created the food-loving, equally adorable, and sexy Nadim for her. Reena’s parents have always been overbearing, so I knew an arranged marriage, or facilitated marriage trope would make sense, but I’ve always loved a fake relationship. The end result is an arranged marriage/fake relationship romance full of family, food, and lots and lots of love.   How does Reena feel about the art of baking? Like so many of us, baking is a stress reliever for Reena. She feels that she doesn’t have a lot of control in her life. She’s unsatisfied at work, her romantic life is a disaster, and her best friend has moved away. And her parents are well-meaning, but far too intrusive…