Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Lisa Kessler | 20 Questions: PIRATE’S PERSUASION
Author Guest / June 25, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? Pirate’s Persuasion 2–What is it about? An immortal pirate is haunted by the loss of his nephew 200 years ago, but when the ghost of his nephew communicates with a local medium, Drake and Heather discover there is more than a ghost bringing them together. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Unique 4–What makes your hero irresistible? His loyalty and honor 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? Agent Bale at Dept. 13 and One-Eyed Bob the immortal pirate cook  6–What do you love about the setting of your book? It takes place in modern-day Savannah Georgia. It’s such a gorgeous, haunted city with so many stories! I love it there! 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? Pantser 8–What is an ideal writing day for you? As long as I have my playlist and headphones I can write anywhere. 9–Do you listen to music while you write, need total silence, or do you have the TV on? Playlist for every book. 10– How do you approach research? I usually do most of my research at the…

Ian Douglas | Exclusive Interview: ALIEN SECRETS
Author Guest / June 25, 2020

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Ian! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your latest sci-fi novel, ALIEN SECRETS. Well, I’m Ian Douglas, also known as William H. Keith, H. Jay Riker, and a few other names. Alien Secrets is the first book in the Solar Warden series.  Solar Warden, in real life, is a conspiracy theory about a top secret US government program of the same name, involving our government back-engineering crashed flying saucers, trading abductees for advanced technology, working with various alien species, and keeping it all hidden from the public. This is the first book in your new series, Solar Warden. What do you enjoy about starting a new series? What will readers find within the world you’ve built in ALIEN SECRETS? Unlike much of my SF writing, the Solar Warden series is set pretty much in the present day. While I get to imagine the various alien technologies available, I can also reference recent world events without having the characters think of them as ancient history.    There’s quite a bit of history throughout ALIEN SECRETS. Did you initially intend for this? Where did the idea come from? I’m a history buff anyway, and much of the current conspiracy…

Maisey Yates | 20 Questions: THE BAD BOY OF REDEMPTION RANCH
Author Guest / June 23, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? The Bad Boy of Redemption Ranch 2–What is it about? The heroine, Pansy, is on a quest to become Chief of Police to honor her father’s memory, but her attraction to the new bad boy in town complicates things… 3–What word best describes your heroine? Pansy is very good. It’s important to her to honor her father’s memory and to do right by the town of Gold Valley. She’s also afraid of her own wild impulses, which West brings out in her.  4–What makes your hero irresistible? He’s a bad boy who is also a good man.  5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? West is learning the concept of family and connecting with half-brothers he only recently met, and he’s starting to turn to them for advice. Pansy is very close to her siblings. When their parents died, they took care of each other. She confides in her sisters, and in her older brother.  6–What do you love about the setting of your book? I always love returning to Gold Valley. I love the old west feel of the town and the mountainous terrain that surrounds…

Kym Roberts | Cozy Corner Interview: DIANE KELLY
Author Guest / June 22, 2020

Summer is here, and what better way to celebrate but with a new eye-catching series in a completely different format than what we in the cozy genre are used to. Is there romance? Of course. Is there mystery? Absolutely, and the combination in bestselling author Diane Kelly’s new series is as fresh as sipping ice tea by the pool. Diane has taken the cozy genre and added a bold new twist that I adore. Check out her brilliant new angle to a feel-good genre. *** Kym: Welcome to the Cozy Corner, Diane! Diane: Thanks so much for inviting me! It’s always fun to connect with other book people, and especially to talk about the mysteries we love. I love the premise for your new Busted series featuring female motorcycle cops in various small towns across the country. What inspired the transamerican format instead of one small town? Will we see any female Canadian Mounties or a British Bobbies from across the pond? When I wrote Busted, I envisioned it as a stand-alone. I considered it equal parts romance/women’s fiction and mystery, and hadn’t really thought about making it a series since most romances/women’s fiction are stand-alone books. But after publishing it and getting…

Julie Clark | Exclusive Interview: THE LAST FLIGHT
Author Guest / June 22, 2020

Hi, Julie! Thanks for stopping by Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, THE LAST FLIGHT. Thanks for having me! THE LAST FLIGHT is the story of two women, both desperate to escape their lives. A chance encounter in an airport bar presents the two women with a crazy solution: switch plane tickets, then drop off the grid when they land. But one woman will never reach her destination. On the surface, both Claire and Eva have led inspired lives. Claire is a socialite and married into a powerful pollical family, but there are painful secrets she’s tired of hiding. Eva was raised in the foster system, and had a pretty good life going until she met the wrong guy. Even though their lives are different, they are quite similar in many aspects. . . How did you develop these two women while writing THE LAST FLIGHT? It took a lot of brainstorming, drafting, and revising to fully flesh these two women out. I wanted to make sure they were fundamentally different, and yet I wanted the core of them to be the same–two women, each fighting to get the life she wants. It took me about two years…

Tee O’Fallon | 20 Questions: TRAP ‘N’ TRACE
Author Guest / June 15, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  TRAP ’N’ TRACE 2–What is it about?  This story is about tracking an elusive killer, and the police can’t find a motive. The only link between the victims is that they were discovered by the same person–Katrina Vandenburg. Kat is a wealthy socialite with a heart of gold. She gives oodles of money to charity every year and has her own charity–the Canine Haven, a rescue shelter that finds good homes for dogs and trains some of them to be service animals. FBI agent Dayne Andrews and his K-9 Remy are drawn into the investigation and wind up protecting Kat. Despite their extremely different backgrounds, the sparks fly between Dayne and Kat. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Caring. Many people often equate wealth with snobbishness, insensitivity, and self-centeredness. Kat is just the opposite of that, and Dayne is surprised to learn just how warm, generous, and caring she really is. 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  I just love a strong hunky guy with emotional wounds from his past, and Dayne is no exception. He’s tall, dark, and broody with amazing green eyes, and he’s got a soft spot for Kat. Although it…

Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: PERFECTLY FAMOUS by Emily Liebert
Author Guest , Jen's Jewels / June 12, 2020

Jen: What inspired you to write Perfectly Famous? Emily: I love writing about strong women who are at crossroads in their lives and need to figure out how to find happiness again. In this case, I set out to tell the stories of two women—a famous author and a former journalist—whose issues are very different, yet, in the end, they manage to save themselves and each other. I also wanted to give my readers a fun, deliciously dark thrill ride with some major twists and turns. What happens to author Ward DeFleur that tears her life apart? Her 16-year-old daughter, Stevie, is abducted and killed, while Ward is busy launching her new book. How does Ward’s life change after the tragedy? Ward flees the sheltered town in Connecticut, where she lived with Stevie, and disappears. She reneges on all future book tour events and the other novels she’s contracted to write. She feels responsible for what happened to Stevie and like she can’t go on with things as they were. Nothing makes sense to her anymore. She lives in constant fear and in a state of depression. What happens in Bree Bennett’s life that leads to her taking a job…

Jenny Colgan | 20 Questions: 500 MILES FROM YOU
Author Guest / June 12, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  It’s called 500 Miles from You 2–What is it about?  It’s about two health care workers, Lissa and Cormac, who have to swap jobs – Lissa moves to rural Scotland, and country medic Cormac moves to the London inner city – and they have to trade notes on patients, but they never meet. Until… 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Well, they both work in health care so they’re pretty brave. Lissa though is shy about meeting men after some bad ghosting experiences, and Cormac was an army medic still troubled by his past so they need healing too.  4–What makes your story relatable?  I think we’ve all had days wherever we live where we think, ‘if I was only in the city/ in the country/ somewhere COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. 🙂 I think it’s nice to get the chance to walk in someone else’s shoes.  5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Well, Lissa has Cormac’s old boss Joan, the town doctor, who is quite fearsome and gives good advice, and Cormac has Lissa’s best friend Kim-Ange, an unusual character who has a lot to teach him…

A.C. Arthur | 20 Questions: CLAIM THE DRAGON
Author Guest / June 11, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release? Claim the Dragon 2–What is it about?  My hero, Steele, is a dragon shifter with the magical power to predict death in his dreams. Ironically, Steele, the man, has a hard time dealing with the death of a loved one. Now, Steele wants to save a woman he saw in his dream, Ravyn, but Ravyn’s used to saving herself. A victim of Burgess’ corrupt government, Ravyn has created a safe place for others like her so when Steele comes around talking about cursed Egyptian daggers and vicious vampires, she’s reasonably skeptical. How can two people so obviously at odds in this world end up on a supernatural journey to save everyone they care about…oh, and fall in love too? 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Sassy 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  Physically I’d say his eyes, but if we’re digging a little deeper, his loyalty. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Ravyn’s best friend is Cree, a guy who saved her life Steele turns to his brother, Magnum 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the futuristic city of Burgess with…

Kimberly Belle | 20 Questions: STRANGER IN THE LAKE
Author Guest / June 8, 2020

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Stranger in the Lake 2–What is it about?  Stranger in the Lake is a story about Charlotte, a woman who’s left her trailer-park past behind to marry Paul, an older, wealthier man with a gorgeous house on an Appalachian lake in North Carolina. Their relationship is the focus of much small-town gossip, but Charlotte is able to ignore it until a woman’s body washes up under their dock—in the exact same spot where Paul’s first wife drowned. At first, the woman’s death seems like a horrific coincidence, but the stranger in the lake is no stranger. Charlotte saw Paul talking to her the day before, even though Paul tells the police he’s never met the woman. His lie exposes cracks in their fragile new marriage and dark secrets that have been simmering under the lake’s waters for years. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Rags-to-riches 4–What makes your story relatable?  All my stories tend to focus on familial relationships. Parent-child, husband-wife, siblings. I love exploring the emotions that come along with these types of bonds, mostly because they’re so universally recognizable. Toss in the suspense angle—a lying spouse, a child gone missing,…