Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Tiana Warner | 20 Questions: THE HELHEIM PRINCESS
Author Guest / January 6, 2022

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE HELHEIM PRINCESS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? THE HELHEIM PRINCESS is a sapphic enemies-to-lovers romance about valkyries, who are warrior women on winged horses. Sigrid wants more than anything to be a valkyrie, but she doesn’t have a winged horse, so she’s doomed to be a stable hand. Then she sees a vision of herself leading a valkyrie charge on Odin’s eight-legged stallion, Sleipnir, and she realizes that a greater destiny for herself is possible. So she teams up with an enemy valkyrie who helps her cross the nine worlds to get to Sleipnir. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I decided to write about valkyries because I wanted to write about warrior women on horseback. From there, it was a matter of picking which of the nine Norse worlds they should live on. A bit of research later, we ended up in the beautiful world of Vanaheim! 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely! We would have an awesome time. I’d love to go riding with her. 5–What are three words that describe your other heroine? Destined…

Jerri Chisholm | Exclusive Excerpt: UNRAVELING ELEVEN
Author Guest / November 19, 2021

“Why is it,” Jeffrey Sitwell asks, “that you want to become a guard?” Under the desk, my steel-toed boot taps against the floor. Unsteady fingers smooth my ponytail, they tug my blazer straight. The past two hours were spent celebrating; Emerald is now a professional fighter, though it was never in question, and Maggie is a writer for Compound Eleven’s paper. I am happy for my friends, but now it’s my turn. I take a steadying breath and glance around the small office where I sit, one located on the fourth floor where the guardship is housed. A concrete room, no decoration or ornament whatsoever. Nothing to distract me from the two men sitting across the table. One of them has black hair and black skin, and his name is Dirk Nkrumah. He wears the uniform of a guard, but he is no regular guard. He is the most senior guard of the compound, and I loathe him for this reason alone. Beside him is Sitwell, a man much older, a Preme, one dressed in a navy-blue suit with gold cufflinks, one with white hair and a sharply cut nose. The one in charge of Compound Eleven’s security. His skin…

Cookie O’Gorman | Top 5 Body Positive YA Romance Books & Movies
Author Guest / November 4, 2021

Body Positive is a term I’ve been hearing a lot lately. That could be because I just wrote my first-ever #OwnVoices YA romance. It’s called CUPCAKE, and it features a teen girl named Ariel who is an amazing baker, movie addict, and a reluctant princess when she is nominated onto her high school’s Homecoming Court. She also just happens to be plus-size. That ‘just happens to be’ is actually very important to the book. When I was growing up, there weren’t a lot of stories—either in film or literature—that had characters who are plus-size, let alone ones that were happy in their own skin. Ariel (aka Cupcake) loves herself as she is. She loves her body. She’s a healthy teenager with a healthy relationship to food. That self-love, though it may waiver slightly, is the beginning and end of everything. When I sat down to write this list, I knew that there still wasn’t a lot of representation of plus-size characters—especially in YA. But I also realized that several of my favorite movies/books on this list may be body positive—but they typically feature main characters who struggle with their weight for most (if not all) of the story and are…

Marlene Perez | Title Challenge: I’M WITH THE BANNED
Author Guest / October 12, 2021

I’m Marlene Perez and I’m here to give you a little hint of my new book, I’M WITH THE BANNED, the second book in my teen vampire trilogy with Entangled Teen.  I love a good title challenge! I is for intense. Tansy and Vaughn have always been friends, but there’s some intense relationship stuff Tansy has to figure out when Vaughn disappears for a month. M is for Mariotti. Tansy’s Granny Mariotti is a librarian-witch you don’t want to mess with. She’ll find you the perfect book and put a spell on you. * W is for werewolves. Tansy and her friends have to figure out who is killing werewolves before a vampire-werewolf war breaks out. I is for intimidating. T is for Tansy. The main character in I’m with the Banned is Tansy, a high school senior and the newly crowned queen of the vampires. She’s got a lot on her plate: a new boyfriend, a new title, and a new enemy. Or maybe it’s an old enemy. H is for Hecate, Tansy’s new and unusual pet. Hecate smells like burned marshmallows and brimstone. * T is for Travis, the lead singer of The Drainers and the vampire everyone…

Vanessa Barneveld | Title Challenge: UNDER THE MILKY WAY
Author Guest / August 12, 2021

I’m Vanessa Barneveld, and I’m so excited take on the famous Fresh Fiction Title Challenge! UNDER THE MILKY WAY is a paranormal YA romance that’ll make you believe in – and fall in love with – aliens. I can’t wait for you to meet the stars of my book, Cassidy and Hayden.    U is for unidentified flying object. Also more fashionably known as unidentified aerial phenomena. N is for nefarious black-ops projects, the kind that seem too outlandish to be true… D is for dance floor. When Hayden takes Cassidy for a spin at the homecoming dance, it’s not his two left feet that freak her out. Nope, she sees something much more frightening and otherworldly.  E is for extraspecialterrestrials, aka humans, who believe we are not alone in the universe. R is for risk. By getting involved with Cassidy, Hayden puts his whole existence at risk. At first, he vows to keep her at arm’s length, but… * T is for the virtual tractor beam that draws Hayden to Cassidy. He can’t drag himself away from her. But sticking together could endanger them both. H is for Hayden, who’ll move galaxies to save Cassidy. E is for extra-special-terrestrials…

Amber Mitchell | Author-Reader Match: ROOTS OF RUIN
Author Guest / August 6, 2021

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Amber Mitchell! Writes: I write young adult fantasy with cinnamon roll boys and determined teen girls, who understand the power of good female friendships! ROOTS OF RUIN is the final novel in the Garden of Thorns series, featuring sixteen-year-old Rose’s struggle to escape a slave dance troupe, take revenge on those that enslaved her, accept her destiny and fight alongside the current emperor of a foreign land to free her people in a neighboring kingdom. About: An amateur cooking enthusiast, travel addict, and history junkie author with a passion for stories in all forms, whether that be books, t.v., online gaming, or tabletop gaming. I met my husband as a teen and begin taking writing seriously which led me to realize that teenagers can do anything. When I’m not gushing about my newest fandom or latest book crush, I’m looking up pictures of future destinations I plan to explore. Must love to hear about the “stories” behind each travel site and constantly be willing to answer if…

Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount | Exclusive Interview: GUTTER GIRL
Author Guest / May 14, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Lynn and Kelly Anne! Can you tell us about how you two started writing together? Lynn & Kelly Anne: It almost resembles a prom-posal. We met on our Seymour Agency loop when Kelly joined the agency. After becoming critique partners one day Kelly said something to the effects of, “Hey, we should write a book together.” And heck yeah, I said yes!   We talked over iMessage and on the phone, going over potential ideas until we settled on a sports romance, IN THE PENALTY BOX, which released in January 2021. Once we started writing IN THE PENALTY BOX, it led to the sequel, CROSSING THE LINE. It didn’t stop there, though, either. The 12-book concept of Twin River High a.k.a. Sweet Valley High meets Gossip Girl was born. In 2020, we wrote six books together through Google Docs, countless hours on the phone, and lots of texting. It’s been awesome! We are a great team and love creating new series, storylines, and characters for you to fall in love with! I’m sure you get asked this all the time, but how do you decide who writes what? Do you have any tips for…

Katie Delahanty | Author-Reader Match: INCOGNITO
Author Guest / May 7, 2021

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Katie Delahanty! Writes: I write both adult women’s romantic fiction and YA. My latest novel INCOGNTIO, is the second book in my dystopian YA “Keystone Series” about a teenage Influencer who fakes her death to join a secret society of thieves who are stealing analog history before dark forces can forever alter the past. INCOGNTIO reunites teens-with-a-crush Elisha and Garrett when they are both asked to steal the same object from Andy Warhol’s Time Capsules. Pitted against each other, they must figure out who they can trust—and if they can trust each other—as they unravel a conspiracy that has the power to re-set history. About: I’m a former fashion and lingerie designer who’s career almost came to a crashing halt when Google accused me of selling “Mail Order Brides” (long story, we can talk about it over dinner on our first date). Having been banned from AdWords for life, I started a fictional blog as an alternative way to drive traffic to my employer’s website. That blog…

Molly E. Lee | Title Challenge: EMBER OF NIGHT
Author Guest / May 6, 2021

I’m so excited to be here to talk a little bit about EMBER OF NIGHT! Ember of Night is a young adult paranormal romance about a girl from a broken home that has one goal in life—get her little sister away from their abusive father. If that wasn’t a hard enough task, a hot stranger comes into her life and tells her she’s the key to saving the world from a war between heaven and hell. But the world has never been kind to her, so who says it’s worth saving? E – E is for Electric. The chemistry between Draven and Harley is electric—even when they’re arguing 🙂 M – M is for Magical. Harley’s world is suddenly entrenched in magic when Draven opens her eyes to supernatural elements she never knew existed.  B – B is for Blurry. The lines between good and evil are blurred the more Harley learns about her new world.  E – E is for Edgy. Harley’s journey is not an easy one. It’s filled with sharp edges, fast drop-offs, and quick turns, but she meets each new challenge head on. R – R is for Rage. Because of Harley’s home life, she has…

Angie Barrett | 20 Questions: LOVE SPELLS AND OTHER DISASTERS
Author Guest / February 5, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? LOVE SPELLS AND OTHER DISASTERS 2–What is it about? This is an ooey-gooey romance about a girl who writes some love spells for a class project then discovers they actually work! 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the Marshall mansion with all of its ghostly appeal. I love the candle store, Scents and Things, where Rowan and Abby get one of their spells from –it’s modeled after some of the stores I’ve visited in Salem, Massachusetts. I love the Grady Farm and the renovated barn that Luca takes Rowan for a romantic evening. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  I created Rowan to be the embodiment of so many of my past students that she has all of the parts that I loved the most. While it didn’t surprise me, I love that she finds the strength to reconnect with her mom and through their bond, find a solution to her love spell dilemma. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Luca is caring and respectful. He understands consent and doesn’t push Rowan into doing anything she isn’t comfortable with. He knows what he wants to do…