Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Carrie! We are thrilled to have you here. Can you tell us about your new series, Sea Spray Island, that starts with your latest release, CELEBRATION AT CHRISTMAS COVE?  Carrie: The books in my Sea Spray Island series are humorous, heartwarming holiday romances set on an island where the scenery is gorgeous, the townspeople are quirky, and the heroes and heroines are definitely not looking for love…but they’re finding it anyway!  Celeste is still grieving the loss of her mother and had plans to spend Christmas in the Caribbean, but her plans are thwarted, and she ends up on a small Massachusetts island. What do you think readers can take away or learn from Celeste’s predicaments in this novel?   Without giving too much of the plot away, I hope readers will connect with Celeste’s experience of believing she knows exactly what she wants in life until she encounters obstacles that force her to consider other possibilities she might not have imagined for herself.   Nathan is also dealing with loss, and he wants the holiday season to be very special for his daughter, Abigail. When he meets Celeste, he’s unsure if he’s ready for…

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Kerry! Congrats on the release of your debut novel, THE WEDDING RINGER! I’d love to know more about your publishing journey.   Kerry: Thanks so much, Danielle! THE WEDDING RINGER is actually the third novel I’ve written. I wrote my first manuscript in 2015, and it lives in a desk drawer that shall never see the light of day. In 2017, I wrote a women’s fiction manuscript and entered the mentorship program Pitch Wars, where I was selected as a mentee and spent a few months working with romance author Melissa West. After Pitch Wars, I queried that manuscript but didn’t land an agent. I did, however, learn a great deal about plotting, story structure, and pacing. In 2019, I wrote the manuscript that would become THE WEDDING RINGER and entered Pitch Wars again. This time, I was mentored by women’s fiction author Susan Bishop Crispell, who helped me expand on the book’s emotional depth by adding more of the protagonist Willa’s internal reactions and using characters’ physical actions to convey emotion.  After the Pitch Wars agent round, I found myself with multiple offers of agent representation. I’d dreamed for years of an agent requesting a…

Jen: What inspired you to start writing DOCTORS AND FRIENDS in early 2019? Kimmery: You know what they say about fiction: write what you know. I’m a former ER doctor so it was natural for me to write medical fiction. In 2018 I wrote a column about my desire to base a novel around an infectious disease doctor who would embody some of the characteristics of my late father: somebody innovative and scientific and data-driven and quirky. Initially, I envisioned the novel as a cautionary tale. We hadn’t experienced a major pandemic in a long time and since it was inevitable that one was going to occur at some point, I thought it would be interesting to explore how that might play out in the era of modern medicine. In 1918, when a highly virulent form of superflu decimated large chunks of the population, things were very different than they are now. (Or so I thought! It turns out we repeated many of our same mistakes … but that will undoubtedly be the subject of much nonfiction analysis.) The main protagonist of DOCTORS AND FRIENDS is an ID doctor at the CDC, and when a new viral outbreak occurs, she…

1–What is the title of your latest release? DEADLY TARGET 2–What is it about? Criminal psychologist Erin Larson is running a podcast and caring for her mother when her ex—Detective Nathan Campbell needs her help. Someone shoots his father who was investigating a cold case. Erin’s podcast focuses on cold cases, so they join forces to learn the truth. But someone is trying to stop them. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the spectacular and stunning setting of the Rocky Mountains in Montana. Thick green forests and beautiful pristine rivers. 4–How did your main character(s) surprise you?  Erin’s secret past was unexpected, and I loved the twists and turns that arose as I wrote the story. 5–Why will readers relate to your characters?  My hope is always that my characters will be relatable. Erin’s character is complex and she’s relatable on many different levels. She has career dreams and goals but gives those up to help her mother. We can all relate to the fact that life is filled with hard choices, and we must choose our hard. She also wants to make sense of her past, but has no one she can truly…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE FRENCH GIFT 2–What is it about? THE FRENCH GIFT is a dual time-line story of female friendship, longing and sacrifice through war and loss, bringing together the present and the past. The story begins with Margot Bisset—a French maid on the Riviera—who is convicted of murder after a glamorous party takes a surprising turn. She is interned in a German rayon factory, and develops an unlikely friendship with the brilliant writer and resistance fighter Joséphine Murant. In a German WWII rayon factory, two female prisoners support one another—and others—in horrific circumstances and form an unbreakable bond. In her later years, Joséphine Murant retires to the Riviera and continues the career she has built as an international bestselling mystery writer. Overlaying this is a contemporary storyline: the healing, hunt-for-truth story of Evie—and her 17-year-old-son Hugo—as they try to make peace and heal following the tragic death of beloved father/husband, Rafael, two years ago.   Mother and son decide to summer at an old family house in the Riviera—inherited from Rafael’s great-aunt Joséphine Murant—to help local museum director—the handsome and gentle Clément Dumas—prepare a retrospective exhibition. Together they hunt for a missing manuscript that…

1–What is the title of your latest release? MISS MORIARTY, I PRESUME? 2–What is it about? This is book 6 in the Lady Sherlock series and Moriarty at last makes his grand appearance. A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes’s doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth.  Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty’s daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte’s longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte—or is it the other way around? But the more secrets Charlotte unravels about Miss Moriarty’s disappearance, the more she wonders why Moriarty has entrusted this delicate matter to her of all people. Is it merely to test Charlotte’s skills as an investigator, or has the man of shadows trapped her in a nest of vipers? 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  One of the great loves of my life is the Southwest Coast Path in England, 630…

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Karen! We are so excited to have you here. It’s a bittersweet day, because the last book in the Tradd Street series, THE ATTIC ON QUEEN STREET, has finally arrived. What has writing this series meant to you? How do you think you’ve changed during the course of writing about Tradd Street?   Karen:   The idea for the series began in 2005—sixteen years ago!  A lot can happen in sixteen years.  My children, then 13 and 11, have gone through high school, college, and grad school (lots of graduations!) and are now launched into adulthood with one wedding on the horizon.  We acquired two dogs, and lost one, remodeled our kitchen, bathrooms, and pretty much everything else, and bought a beach house.  We survived a pandemic and I inherited the care of my elderly parents.  All this while writing all seven books in the series plus nineteen other books and a chapter in an anthology.  I’m not sure I slept very much! I had never written a series before, and when the idea first hit me, I knew immediately it had to be set in a Southern city filled with lots of history, gorgeous architecture and, of course,…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE FASTEST WAY TO FALL 2–What is it about? THE FASTEST WAY TO FALL centers heroine Britta, a budding journalist tasked to review a body positive fitness app and write about her experiences. Wes is the owner of FitMi Fitness and, overwhelmed with day-to-day corporate life and family issues, decides to take on a client for training through the app. The two have immediate chemistry while chatting on the app and eventually meet in person but working out and running together turns into both feeling like they’re running toward professional and ethical disaster by being interested in the other. Then again, professional and ethical disaster might not be so bad when the person running next to them just might be the one with whom they go the distance. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Chicago is a great city in the heart of the country. Wes grew up in Chicago while Britta is a transplant from a small town. With distinctive neighborhoods, a multitude of cultures, and a Midwest setting, Chicago is perfect. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  When I started writing, I thought Britta might think…

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE WEDDING CRASHER AND THE COWBOY 2–What is it about? It’s about an ER doctor who crashes a wedding to help a friend and comes face to face with the last man she ever wanted to see again. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love that it’s set in a small town where everyone knows everyone, it’s hard to keep anything a secret, and there are shops like Baked on Main where you can get the best glazed doughnut ever. 🙂 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  Kennedy turned out to be more adventurous than I thought she’d be. She’s a city girl who likes to wear high heels when not in the ER but she took to the ranch with relative ease and accepted the challenges Maverick threw at her with confidence. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Besides Maverick’s blue eyes and dimples, he’s loyal, attentive, earnest, loves his family, and talks to his horse. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  This is my first enemies to lovers romance and I wanted to be sure that transitioning…

1–What is the title of your latest release? PRETTY LITTLE LION  2–What is it about? Really attractive miniature lions! Just kidding. It’s the second book in my Third Shift series, featuring various supernatural beings and humans in a post-2016 election world. This one sees lion shifter Elijah Richter, a gruff but deeply loving team leader, joining forces with celebrity influencer Meghna Saxena-Saunders, who is not exactly what she appears to be. The two must stop a would-be supervillain and deal with their sizzling attraction while other beloved Third Shift operatives grapple with problems of their own. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  It’s New York City—and even in an alternate universe where things have gotten worse for marginalized communities, it’s one of my favorite places in the world to write about. It’s a city with a heartbeat—and its heart is comprised of people from all walks of life.   4–How did your heroine surprise you?  I invented her, so I kind of knew what she was up to. Other characters in the book surprised me, because I saw angles in their arcs I hadn’t thought of before, but not her. Meghna is a badass. In many ways,…