My most recent book, HOTEL OF SECRETS, is set in the winter of 1878, at the height of Vienna’s ball season. This sumptuous tradition of formal winter balls still continues today in Vienna, and, providing they adhere to the right etiquette, it is even possible for foreigners to attend! Unfortunately, many of us cannot fly to Vienna to dance the night away, and therefore I have asked the characters of my book for advice on creating the perfect ball experience in your own home.   Maria Wallner, hotelkeeper: There are five elements of a ball: the food, the music, the clothes, the company, and the surprise. It’s best if the surprise is something like a dozen psychics ready to tell the crowd’s fortunes, rather than, say, an assassination attempt or a fire.   Eli Whittaker, American Secret Service Agent: Those weren’t surprises. They were crimes.   Maria: They came as a great surprise to me, I assure you. Oh, also sometimes there’s a flood. Or a wild boar attack—   Eli: That didn’t happen at a ball, we were in the middle of the Vienna Woods—   Maria, with great dignity: I wasn’t talking about the one that happened to…

The Palais Garnier sat fat and contented after its opening night. The final trickle of theatergoers making their way from the building had stopped, and women with scarves tied around their heads pushed brooms and mops across the front steps. The light from the theater, which had poured golden and fizzy like champagne at the beginning of the night, was slowly being extinguished, one window at a time. On a cold, iron bench, Benedict stared up at the single room at the very top of the building. It was still lit—a pale, watery light that spread mere feet across the domed roof beyond its windows. She wouldn’t be there. He doubted she could even climb the stairs after tonight’s performance, with her hip in that condition. She’d danced perfectly tonight. No one would have noticed the injury—even he had sensed rather than seen it. He didn’t know how she was dancing on it. The pain must be unimaginable. Perfect. A strangely unpleasant word. He shivered and pulled his coat closer. After the performance, he and Victor and Camille had gone to a late supper, and then to a bar. After the three had drunk several bottles of champagne (and two…

Confession time: I’m a big ol’ scaredy-cat. I’ve been to one haunted house in my life and never want to go again, and I’ve been known to sleep with the lights on after seeing a trailer for a scary movie.  But I love Halloween. Weird, right?  I have been known to dip my toe in what I’m calling “spooky” reads, though. They aren’t really scary per se, but they definitely have an atmosphere. My #romancelandia pal, BandHerBooks, and I like to say we’re “pastel goths,” which I think just means we like skulls and cozy sweaters and idolize Morticia Addams, but that’s a topic for another blog post.  I gravitate toward spooky reads around this year especially, but my supernatural-lite obsession lasts year-round–does my skull soap dispenser stay in the powder room even if it’s weeks past October 31st? Yep. Do I wear all black pretty much every day? You bet. Will this lovely typewriter with a “heartwarming” message have permanent residence in my office? MOST DEFINITELY!  Here are a few spooky reads for the rest of the pastel goths out there–enjoy them at Halloween or whenever you want to do your best Lydia Deetz impression. . . *** THE…

Some of our reviewers will be sharing their top reads of 2019 from now through the end of the year! Today’s list is from Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager Danielle Dresser. 2019 was an awesome year for books. I’m grateful I have the opportunity to work with books every single day. In additional to being the editorial manager of Fresh Fiction, I’ve also started working closely with Love’s Sweet Arrow, the romance independent bookstore outside of Chicago. I’ve taken my love of books and cultivated a fulfilling career within the world of literature, and I’m so pleased to be able to share with you some of my favorite reads of the year.  I did my best to read widely and outside of my comfort zone – for me, that meant reading nonfiction and graphic novels (which I did do! Check out my Good Reads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/35789908-danielle-dresser). But I couldn’t stray too far away from my love of romance and literary fiction, which is what makes up the majority of my Top Reads of 2019.  Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – This has to be, hands-down, the book I’ve recommended the most this year. Featuring a uniquely grumpy…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us a little bit about your new historical mystery, THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE? Someone recently described THE WIDOW OF ROSE HOUSE as a gothic rom-com and I think that’s absolutely perfect. It’s about a scandalous widow, Alva Webster, who badly needs a fresh start. After her (terrible) husband is murdered in Europe, she returns to New York, buys a decrepit mansion, and decides to use its renovation as the basis for a home decorating book. Unfortunately, it may be haunted. Enter Professor Samuel Moore, scientist and inventor extraordinaire, who is fascinated both by the possible ghosts and by Alva herself. It’s a love story, a ghost story, and a story about learning to laugh again. Alva Webster is a determined woman with a scandalous past that both hinders her and works to her advantage. She buys the supposedly haunted Liefdehuis mansion and brokers a publishing deal to write a book about restoring it and giving interior design tips. But New York society – including her own parents – won’t speak to her or invite her back into polite company. So, on the one hand, Alva wants to be welcomed home, but she also…