All of this week, we’re showcasing a different Forever holiday romance author! Visit the blog every day for author interviews, cheery giveaways, and more festive fun.  Up first, Annie Rains! ** What’s the name of your latest release? My new release is called SEASON OF JOY. I think it’s the perfect title for this book because it’s a holiday story and Joy is the name of my heroine. What do you love about writing holiday/Christmas romance?  There’s a touch of magic in a Christmas romance. It’s the season of hope, which is really at the root of all my books. I also love adding in all the festivities of the season like picking out a Christmas tree and decorating it, buying gifts, festivals, flotillas, and of course the food! There’s so much to love about a holiday book. Who can resist? Are your hero and heroine full of Christmas cheer or do the holidays bring out the worst in them?  Well, my hero is the owner of the local Christmas tree farm. He’s typically full of Christmas cheer, but this year he’s struggling because half of his tree farm burned down in the spring. My heroine, Joy, is also struggling….

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  THE PRICE OF TEMPTATION 2–What is it about?  An estranged married couple must reunite to circumvent blackmail against the family. This book started out life as “Pride and Prejudice if Lizzy were a jewel thief and Darcy were a conman” and took on a life of its own from there. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Resourceful. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  His utter devotion to the heroine. Even after years apart, Adam is still willing to do anything to protect and support Lily. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  In this case, each other. Both have an unfortunate habit of trying to fix situations on their own, but when they’re really in need, Adam and Lily know they can count on one another despite their rocky history. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? With every book I write in the Regency era, I love to dive deeper into a certain aspect of the history. In this case, I did a lot of research about the fad of Egyptomania and how this love for all things Ancient Egyptian affected certain social circles….

1–What’s the name of your latest release? CUSTOM BUILT 2–What is it about? It’s a spin-off series about Crow, a member of the Knights of Fury MC, and Bronte, who starts working with him. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Strong. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? The love and support he has for the heroine. His easy-going charm mixed with bad boy vibes. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Crow turns to his MC, and Bronte turns to Crow, and Nadia her old boss. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? I love the Fast & Fury custom garage, and the relationship and banter all the staff have there. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? I’m definitely a pantster. I do an outline but it usually changes. 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? I write when my kids are at school, and then hide in my office, with music playing until it’s time for school pick up. (With snacks of course) 9–Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the…

Hi, Donna! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. We are thrilled to have you here. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your new book, CONFESSIONS IN B-FLAT.   Thank you for having me! Well, I was born and bred in Brooklyn, NY. I have three adult children (most of the time) and four fabulous grands. My sister and her family along with my brother and my two eldest daughters all want me to move to New Jersey, but in the infamous words of Effie in Dreamgirls “I ain’t going!” LOL. As for my writing life, writing has always been my first love and I can say that I began on the road to becoming a “paid” writer when, in grammar school, I would write love letters for my girlfriends to give to their boyfriends! They were verses from songs and song titles strung together–very creatively I might add. And my friends would pay me in lunch money and candy. It wasn’t until many years later that I officially tried my hand at writing when I penned short stories for the Confession Magazines. My first confession story was published in 1987, “The Long Walk,” which I did for several years until…

Hi, Julie Ann! Welcome back to Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, RIDE THE TIDE.  Holla Fresh Fictioners! It’s so good to be back! My name is Julie Ann Walker, I’m the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of steamy, sexy romantic suspense novels and epic love stories that will melt your heart. (Or at least that’s what I TRY to write. Ha! I guess I’ll leave it up to you guys to determine whether or not I hit my mark.) I have a mutt named Conan who suffers from allergies, howls at sirens, and would love to FINALLY catch a squirrel. And I’ve travelled to over 50 countries because I suffer from more than my fair share of wanderlust. For readers who aren’t familiar with the Deep Six series, can you catch us up to speed on what’s been going on?  Deep Six is a romantic suspense and adventure series set on a fictional island in the Gulf of Mexico. It follows six “retired” Navy SEALs as they hunt for the lost treasure of the world’s holy grail of sunken shipwrecks, the Santa Cristina. The series tagline is: Six men. One sunken Spanish galleon….

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Wolf Untamed 2–What is it about?  Wolf Untamed is the 11th book in the Special Wolf Alpha Team series. In this story, Officer Diego Miguel Martinez and his SWAT team of werewolves have been dealing with a city gone mad. People are behaving strangely, committing violent crimes out of the blue, without even remembering it. Is it delirium–a new drug supposedly flooding the streets–or is it something much more terrifying? Bree Harlow is dealing with issues of her own. Her ex-husband was sent to prison and her son, Brandon, has been struggling. He’s been acting out and getting into more and more trouble, and Bree has no clue what to do next. When she takes him out for breakfast at their favorite diner, hoping to get him to open up about what’s wrong, the situation takes a drastic turn after someone walks into the place with a gun. As Diego and some of the other members of the SWAT team show up to help, Bree’s life is sent careening down a completely unexpected path. Bree’s son is definitely dealing with some big issues, just not the issues she assumed. 3–What word best describes…

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  The Star-Crossed Sisters of Tuscany 2–What is it about?  The book, set in Italy, chronicles a life-changing journey of three second-born daughters who, according to centuries-old family lore, are believed to be cursed, never to find lasting love. But eccentric Aunt Poppy never believed in the curse. She invites her great nieces–and fellow second-born daughters–to accompany her to their homeland of Italy, where Poppy vows she’ll meet the love of her life on the steps of the Ravello Cathedral on her 80th birthday, and break the supposed curse once and for all. As the trio traverses the Italian countryside, hearts are lost, memories are found, and secrets are revealed. . . secrets that could threaten the Fontana family far more than a centuries-old curse.  3–What word best describes your heroine(s)?  Independent 4–What inspired you to write about this group of women? When I worked as a high school guidance counselor, it wasn’t unusual for my young female students to come to me, heartbroken over some doomed teenaged romance. I tried to assure them they were young and had decades ahead of them, that if I had a crystal ball, we’d see that one day…

Jen: What was your inspiration behind Girls of Brackenhill? Kate: When I was a kid, we didn’t take big fancy vacations. Our only trip to Disney World lasted two days: we drove down in a rented car and stayed an hour away with my great grandparents in July. Instead of hotels and airplane trips, we went camping. Up and down the East Coast, to whatever state park was drivable. When I was about fourteen, we camped in the Catskills and drove through a town called Roscoe NY. My dad parked the car and led us up a steep incline to Dundas Castle. At the time, it was marked as private property, but it was abandoned and not monitored in any way. The doors were all unlocked and we spent (to my memory) hours there, exploring every square inch of this abandoned castle. Memory is a fickle thing but I do remember the basement being a series of very small rooms. I remember this day with more clarity and fondness than either of the two days I spent at Disney World. When I had to plan my next book, I really wanted to write a ghost-like story. The memory of the…

Hi, Nicola! We’re so glad to have you hear on Fresh Fiction today. Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your new book, THE BOY TOY?   Hi, thanks so much for having me! I’m a USA Today bestselling and multi-award winning author of 70 books. I write contemporary romance, women’s fiction and domestic thrillers for a variety of publishers and I’m hugely excited about my new book, THE BOY TOY. It’s a multicultural, interracial contemporary romance set in my home city of Melbourne, featuring a biracial heroine who’s half Indian, half American, an Aussie stuntman with a stutter who’s a decade younger, and a cast of interfering friends and relatives! While it’s a romance, it tackles a few deeper issues like infertility, divorce, cultural assimilation, family expectations and speech impediment. You write across a variety of different genres and have had quite a few new books come out over the last year (and in the coming months)! What do you like about writing in different genres? Do you find it difficult to switch between them so often?   Writing in different genres allows me to flex my creative muscle. It’s not difficult to switch between them because it…

The pandemic has given us a very different 2020 than most of us would have anticipated. Would you say that the pandemic has helped or hindered you creatively? Do you have any advice for writers or artists trying to navigate their creative pursuits during this time? I’ve been doing all right for the most part. I work at home, so quarantining doesn’t change that. Near the beginning, I’d get bummed out being on lockdown, but I’ve adjusted, and writing is nothing if not an escape. I really would have liked to go to New England to research a book this summer, but I couldn’t (and still can’t) do that, which has been unfortunate. For those trying to navigate creative pursuits–writing is mostly done online anyway. You can pitch, sell, and even buy books without leaving your computer. For others, it’s not so easy. No theaters, no art shows… it’s a lot harder to go out into the world for inspiration. Though a lot of museums have virtual tours now, which can spark ideas! Most conferences have gone online as well, which, while not having a social element, can actually make it easier for those with disabilities or those who can’t…