Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Penny Aimes | Exclusive Interview: FOR THE LOVE OF APRIL FRENCH
Author Guest / August 31, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Penny! Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your debut novel, FOR THE LOVE OF APRIL FRENCH.   Here’s the bio I’ve been using everywhere! “Penny Aimes was assigned Hoosier at Birth but made her way to Austin, Texas, where she lives with a beautiful accountant and a very loud bird. Her debut novel FOR THE LOVE OF APRIL FRENCH is the story of a trans woman who has always seen herself as a stopover for others on their way to a happily ever after and the cis man who knows his home will never be complete without her. Both kinky and unrepentantly fluffy, it is a story about letting go of fear and believing that you can love and be loved in return. It’s also about embracing your community and letting your community vice you a little versa now and then.” “Kinky and unrepentantly fluffy” comes from a very kind review from Talia Hibbert, which is also quoted on the front of the book. A funny thing about that quote is that we had to keep revising the attribution as Talia got more awards and honors. I think we finally settled…

Christi Caldwell | Exclusive Interview: ALONG CAME A LADY
Author Guest / August 25, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Christi, and congrats on the release of your new book, ALONG CAME A LADY! We’d love to hear more about it and the set up for this new series, All the Duke’s Sins.   Christi:  Danielle! I’m so excited to be back here chatting with you!! Thank you for both having me, and the warm congrats. Fun fact about me and Fresh Fiction…Fresh Fiction was one of the first blogs to ever host me, back when I began publishing. As such, it’s always special being here! And, I’m really excited to share more about my All the Duke’s Sins series. The series centers on the Audley family: three brothers and a sister who live and work in a mining village in Regency, England…and who also happen to be the illegitimate children of the Duke of Bentley!  Rafe is the eldest of the Audley family. Two things matter more to him than anything. First: his family. He is the protector of his younger siblings. The second being his role as foreman of the Cheadle mines. Rafe lives to thwart his father. He believes his father is a ne’er do well who abandoned his children…however, there…

Chantal Fernando | Exclusive Interview: CUSTOM LOVE
Author Guest / August 24, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Chantal! We are so excited to have you here. Congrats on the release of your new book CUSTOM LOVE. What is it about?   Chantal:  Thank you for having me! Custom Love is Trade and Nadia’s story, and is a romantic suspense full of surprises, love and second chances. CUSTOM LOVE is the latest book in your Fast and Fury series, a spinoff of your Knights of Fury series. What do you love about writing in this world you’ve created?  I love that the books have MC elements, but also give me more room to play. I love the characters and the friendships between them. Nadia and Trade are characters we’ve seen throughout the series and are finally getting their own story told. What are some of the challenges of bringing together two characters readers already feel like they know? Did Nadia and Trade surprise you in any way while writing their love story?   They did surprise me. I think the two of them surprised each other, too, and were meant to be together. Trade is a single dad and has experienced tragedy in his life. How do you think these aspects of…

Tif Marcelo | Exclusive Interview: IT TAKES HEART
Author Guest / August 10, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Tif! Please tell us about your new book, IT TAKES HEART.   Tif: Thank you so much for having me back Danielle! I love the Fresh Fiction crew! I’m so pleased to introduce IT TAKES HEART, the first book in a new romance series called Heart Resort, which takes place on a heart-shaped peninsula on the Outer Banks. The series concept revolves around four siblings trying to find love on the couples resort that they collectively run, and IT TAKES HEART is between Brandon Puso (the youngest Puso sibling) and his former love, Geneva Harris. IT TAKES HEART is a wonderful story, chock full of some of my favorite romance tropes: returning home, second chance romance, sibling’s best friend… I say, the more the better! Do you have a favorite romance trope to write? What about to read?   Thank you so much for that! My favorite romance trope is second chance romance and friends to lovers! To read, I love opposites attract and just one bed. I adored the setting of your novel: a couples resort in the Outer Banks! What do you love most about writing in this locale? Were you able to travel…

Sarah Zachrich Jen | Exclusive Interview: THE OTHER ME
Author Guest / August 9, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Sarah, and congrats on your debut novel, THE OTHER ME! Can you tell us a little about your journey into publishing this book?   Sarah: Thanks for having me! The book that eventually became THE OTHER ME went through several rewrites on its way to publication. When I started writing, I had no idea that it would be a thriller—I was having more upmarket/literary thoughts, though still with the speculative element, and the original pacing and ending reflected that. I took a few years to get the book to where I thought it was ready to query, and then I entered the Pitch Wars mentoring program, which I’d read good things about online. I didn’t get in, but PW mentor Layne Fargo (who’s also an amazing author) loved my manuscript. She was kind enough to refer me to an agent she knew, who asked me to revise and resubmit. I signed with that agent, did one more revision, and settled in to wait for months while my agent shopped the book around to editors. My agent emailed the manuscript to one editor on a Friday to give her an advance look before we went on…

Isabel Cooper | Exclusive Interview: BLOOD AND EMBER
Author Guest / July 29, 2021

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Isabel! It’s hard to believe BLOOD AND EMBER, the third book in your Stormbringer series, is already out. What have you loved about writing this series the most?  Getting to build my own world! Bits of it were tough–the maps especially, as I am not a person who’s good with space and distance. (I am a person who lives in Massachusetts and continually refers to “going up to New York City.”) But I got to think up holidays and histories and peoples, which was tons of fun. I also got to create a world with a benevolent goddess of death and vengeance, and not in a gross “scorned woman” way, which I am into. Olvir embarks on a harrowing journey to hopefully figure out the true nature of his powers, and his friend Vivian (a warrior in her own right!), is not going to let him go about this on his own. Of course, their friendship develops into something more. How did you balance their epic journey with their changing relationship?   The thing I’ve found about travel is that it gives you a lot of time and space to think–like, just being away from your normal surroundings can…

Olivia Drake | Exclusive Interview: WHEN A DUKE LOVES A GOVERNESS
Author Guest / July 28, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Olivia!  Can you tell our readers a little bit about your series, Unlikely Duchesses? Olivia: The “Unlikely Duchesses” series features feisty women who seek employment as a governess in the home of a duke.  They’re slightly scandalous, not perfect ladies, and of course, they don’t care a fig for the rules of high society. Book 1:  THE DUKE I ONCE KNEW showcases Max Bryce, the Duke of Rothwell, a rake who was rejected by his first love, Abby Linton, the girl next door. When he meets the spirited spinster again fifteen years later, Abby is governess to his sister and scornful of the rogue that he’s become.  Yet the old spark is still there, fanned into flames by their sizzling encounters. Book 2:  FOREVER MY DUKE features Hadrian Ames, the Duke of Clayton, whose ordered life is turned topsy-turvy when he meets a lively American woman. Natalie Fanshawe is hard-working, independent, and plucky, with a definite preference for America’s system of equality over England’s class hierarchy.  The last thing she wants is to marry a duke! Book 3:  WHEN A DUKE LOVES A GOVERNESS continues the series with a penniless hatmaker who dreams of…

Charlotte Carter | Exclusive Interview: RHODE ISLAND RED
Author Guest / July 27, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Charlotte! We are excited to host you here today, and celebrate the re-release of RHODE ISLAND RED, the first book in your Nanette Hayes Mystery series. How does it feel to have Nanette back in print?   Charlotte:  I have to say, it feels pretty good.  This re-do was quite unexpected.  Nanette Hayes is a fierce, clever sleuth, who teaches French and plays the saxophone. Where did the idea for her start for you? How has she surprised you?   It’s true that not too many women play sax, but I actually did see a young woman playing on the street—this was some 20 years ago. I was just taking a walk with my husband, and we came upon her,, gave her a couple of dollars. He was the one who suggested creating a street musician character. From there, I won’t pretend it was easy, but Nan kind of presented herself. I got the chance to give her a lot of stuff that I myself lacked—grit, youth, “hotness,” forthrightness, romanticism, etc. And of course, I put a bit of myself in the mix—the travel bug, love and admiration for music, and the people who play/master it….

Jennifer Chiaverini | Exclusive Interview: THE WOMEN’S MARCH
Author Guest / July 26, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Jennifer! We are so excited to celebrate the release of THE WOMEN’S MARCH with you. This book is full of incredible historical detail about the women’s suffrage movement. What inspired you to tackle this topic?   Jennifer: The idea for THE WOMEN’S MARCH first came to me in January 2017, soon after the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration of the 45th president. Nearly half a million demonstrators marched in the US capital to protest against his past reprehensible treatment of women and to advocate for women’s rights and other human rights issues. Millions of other protesters joined in satellite marches around the world, including an estimated 100,000 in my hometown of Madison, Wisconsin. Afterward, when I read news coverage of the events, I was intrigued to learn that the Women’s March of 2017 had an important but nearly forgotten historical precedent. More than one hundred years earlier, thousands of women had assembled in the nation’s capital the day before the inauguration of President Woodrow Wilson to demonstrate on behalf of woman’s suffrage. The organizers planned a beautiful, dignified parade from the Capitol down Pennsylvania Avenue past the White House, with elegantly…

Danielle Jackson Dresser | What I Love About Graphic Novels
Author Guest / July 16, 2021

Up until a few years ago, I had written off graphic novels as “just comic books” and nothing “too serious.” Said the woman who now writes contemporary romance novels (Summer 2022! GET READY). But I remember listening to a podcast or seeing a list on a book review site that said something along the lines of “Graphic Novel Recs for Any Type of Reader” and suddenly, my library hold list was full of requests for books with pictures. And now, if I’m not reading at least a graphic novel or two at a time—in addition to all of the other reading I do—then it’s because I just came off of a week-long bender devouring an entire graphic novel series and I need a breather before I start a new one. There’s something in the physiology of reading Graphic Novels that just works for me. I get to see the characters and all the plotlines come to life in front of me. I read dialogue and inner monologues with the added benefit of sometimes having reactions from other characters that would otherwise go unsaid or a glimpse of foreshadowing from a literal shadow in a scene. The attention to detail is…