Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Evie Dunmore | Conversations in Character with Lady Catriona
Author Guest / December 12, 2023

Book Title: THE GENTLEMAN’S GAMBIT  Character Name: Lady Catriona   How would you describe your family or your childhood? I loved my childhood, at first. My parents were academics, and I was part of their excursions and research activities since I took my first steps. It was always the three of us. Then my mother did during childbirth when I was nine years old. Everything changed. My father drifted into his own world, and I was alone in a Scottish castle. I fell into books. Books became my friends, my solace, and my teachers. I did have one real-life friend, Charlie, but he turned out to be a massive disappointment. I suppose you can say I wasn’t properly socialized. By the time my father noticed I was peculiar and needed guidance to become a lady, the ship had sailed. I did not last long at Mrs. Keller’s Swiss boarding school. My father and I are on good terms now, but it was a journey.   What was your greatest talent? I have an extraordinarily high pattern recognition. It has enabled me to teach myself languages from books by myself and to become a proficient linguist. It also means I can…

Danielle Dresser | Most Anticipated New Releases: Fall-Winter 2020!
Author Guest / August 10, 2020

This has been a roller coaster of a year when it comes to books and reading. I don’t think a read a full book in the month of March, but I read over 10 books in July! With Fall quickly approaching, here are a bunch of wonderful and intriguing titles coming out this month through the end of the year, and I cannot wait for everyone to read them. AUGUST Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera – Two New Yorkers get together while they’re both working in Texas. There’s some workplace drama, instant attraction, and much more. Sexy, fun, and low angst. You Had Me at Holaby Alexis Daria – This felt like reading an entire season of Jane the Virgin. Clever, funny, and ultimately, uplifting. Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer – So we can’t go to hockey games, but we CAN read about them. badass ladies to boot? Sign me up. Also look for: Marriage by Arrangement by Sophia Singh Sisson, Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles *** SEPTEMBER When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole – I am not a thriller reader. I repeat – I am NOT a thriller reader. but I stayed up…

Danielle Dresser | Fresh Fiction Reviewer Top Reads of 2019
Author Guest / December 16, 2019

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…

Evie Dunmore | Exclusive Excerpt: BRINGING DOWN THE DUKE
Author Guest / September 4, 2019

I am fascinated by the heroines of this new series, A League of Extraordinary Women, who are suffragists! It was also particularly intriguing in the scenes where Queen Victoria shows up, to find that she was against this movement, and wanted to get rid of feminists. What was the most surprising thing you learned while researching this novel?  I spent some time in the archives of Oxford’s first women’s college, Lady Margaret Hall, to research my story. The first surprise was how pleased the archivist was about my interest in the first women at Oxford because they were so “under-explored”. I wondered why–these women were extraordinary, pioneers if you will, considering how unusual and controversial it was for a woman to go for higher education in 1879. I want to add that LMH shone a spotlight on the first women students this summer, when they marked the 140th anniversary of the college, and I was delighted when they asked me to share my research for the occasion. The other big surprise was how frequently objections to women’s rights in the Victorian era were couched in terms of concern for women’s health and happiness. Women were not allowed to fully matriculate…