For readers who are new to Christine Feehan and your amazing world, would you please give a little background on you and your latest release, LEOPARD’S WRATH? I have written most of my life. My first novel, Dark Prince, was published in 1999 and my first Leopard series book was published in 2002. I’ve written 7 different series and several single title books. I’m a #1 New York Times bestselling author several times over, for which I am deeply grateful to my readers. I have many children and even more grandchildren and have two great-grandchildren children as well. I love spending time with my big family. I have two huge Black Russian Terriers and live on the Northern California coast. Leopard’s Wrath is the 12th book in my Leopard series. Mitya Amurov is the hero and has been in some of the previous books. His love interest in Ania Dover, a thrill-seeker and transporter. These are suspense shapeshifter books and are my most erotic books. Where do the ideas in your stories come from? I’m especially interested in how you came up with the Carpathians? Are they pure imagination, a case of what if… with research to follow, family, or…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Kate! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, and your new book, THIS EARL OF MINE? Hello and thank you for having me! I write historical romance as both Kate Bateman and K.C. Bateman. I’m originally from England, but now live in the USA, and I’m a complete history geek! Before I started writing romance, I spent fifteen years as a fine art & antiques appraiser in the UK, running my own auction house, and I still have a not-so-secret double life as a TV antiques expert/appraiser on several British antiques TV shows. In 2011 my husband’s job moved us to the USA and I decided to try my hand at writing historical romance, (I was already an avid reader.) Now I get my history fix by sneaking real historical facts into my plots. My latest release, This Earl Of Mine, is a marriage-of-convenience with a twist. It features my favorite kind of independent-minded heroine and a sexy, snarky, Bow Street Runner who turns out to be her nemesis/perfect match. There’s lots of flirty banter, unresolved sexual tension, and a true historical plot to rescue Napoleon from exile on the island of St Helena…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Julie Anne! Please tell us about your new Cider Shop cozy mystery series and the first book, APPLE CIDER SLAYING. Hi! Thank you SO crazy much for having me back!! I’m really amped up about this new release! APPLE CIDER SLAYING is near and dear to my heart, set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of northern West Virginia, an area I know well. Winnie lives with her Granny Smythe on the family apple orchard and becomes entangled in a murder investigation when Granny’s arch-nemesis is found lodged in the apple press, and the new sheriff names Granny as his number one suspect. Winnie Montgomery is just trying to keep her family’s apple orchard in business, but when her beloved grandmother is accused of murder, Winnie is having a hard time keeping things in order and just wants to prove her grandmother’s innocence. What do you think made Winnie a good amateur detective? Winnie is the best. Her natural curiosity gives her the little push she needs to get started once the urge hits. Before that, her big heart gets her started. Anytime Winnie sees an injustice or an underdog, she’s nearly compelled to jump in…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Rhenna! Can you tell us about your new series, NOLA Knights, and the first book, HIS TO DEFEND? Absolutely! Sergei Petrovyh first appeared in the fourth book of my Men of Haven series, TEMPTED & TAKEN. I loved everything about him. His broodiness. The unmistakable danger and unapologetic approach he took to life. I was also fascinated with articles and stories I’d read of Russian culture and the highly Alpha aspect to dating. So, when my publisher asked me what I wanted to do after the last of the original Men of Haven got their stories, I knew I wanted to delve deeper into Sergei’s world. The result was a planned trio of three extremely Alpha males conquering not just one of my favorite cities in the world (New Orleans), but three bold and brave women who give their driven men a run for their money. Evette Labadie is a hardworking woman who will do anything for her son, Emerson. Although she was recently (wrongfully) fired from her job, she needs to find a way to send her son to an expensive private school so he can have the best future possible. Desperate and unsure…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you please tell us about your new book, HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE? RORY is about a princess who has been blessed (and cursed) by fairies and expects to inherit the throne. Then her father is assassinated, her mother marries the Regent of a rival kingdom to keep the political peace, and Rory finds herself betrothed to that kingdom’s prince. (Except the kingdoms are huge interplanetary collections). When Rory gets there, however, she finds out the prince is missing. She decides to find him, rescue him, and restore him to his rightful place. And then, well. Things don’t go to plan. Rory Thorne is a smart and determined young woman who thought she was going to inherit the throne, but her mother gives birth to a son and she suddenly becomes a political pawn. What character trait do you love the most about Rory? She’s fearless. Rory is the firstborn daughter in ten generations, and her birth is marked by esteemed pomp and circumstance, including receiving fairy blessings. She receives a curse from one of the fairies, to “know truth when you hear it, no matter how well concealed.” If you could bestow a…

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…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Adriana! Please tell us about yourself and your latest novel, AMERICAN LOVE STORY. I am an Afro-Dominicana author writing contemporary romance. I like to say that I write romance full of people who look and sound like my people. American Love Story is the third installment in the Dreamers series and it’s a story about love, racial justice, activism, privilege and navigating a world that sometimes feels like it wants to pull us all apart. Patrice Denis is an ivy-league professor and a Black Lives Matter activist and Easton Archer is a prosecutor who is everything he wants in a lover, but represents some of the things that he’s actively fighting against. Patrice Denis is an interesting character – he works tirelessly both in his job as a professor and in his work as an activist, but this intense work ethic denies him a personal life. What does Patrice’s need for perfection in all aspects of his life, aside from personal relationships, show readers about his personality? With this series I wanted to render the immigrant experience, as I understand it. As a black man and an immigrant Patrice is a man that has a lot…

with Fresh Fiction Reviewer, Helen Williams Helen: How do you go about developing your characters? SUSAN: I first think about how I want the H/h to meet. It might be a completely dramatic thing, or it might be they already know each other. Then I think about what the 85% drama will be. Once I have those two things, I’m good to start writing. Their personalities come out as I write (and since I write series, I usually already know a lot about the Hero because he’s been in the other books before).  How long does it take you to get a storyline together? I never REALLY know what the storyline is until I’m writing. I know what the drama will be, but the rest kind of just comes as I’m writing.  In reading your stories I see a lot of issues that are relevant today. Do you go to any particular resources for background information (i.e. epilepsy, PTSD)? I don’t have a go-to source, but there have been times I’ve asked my readers for their input. For the book Rescuing Macie, the heroine suffers from anxiety. I asked my readers who suffer from this to share their thoughts if…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us about your new release, FROST AND FLAME, the second book in the Gods of War series? Frost and Flame is Bane and Nola’s story.  Bane is an ice-cold warrior with a bloodthirsty dragon-like beast trapped inside him.  He’s determined to win the war, so he can kill his queen–the woman who murdered his wife.  Nola is a Korean-American mortal woman who suffers with fibromyalgia and doesn’t know she has ties to Bane’s world. . . or that she’s an up-and-coming queen with the ability to control Bane’s beast.  Needless to say, he isn’t happy about it.  But, the two must work together if they are to survive the war.  If only they could stop lusting for each other. . . (Narrator: They can’t!) Nola Lee is destined to rule, but she doesn’t know it at the beginning of the novel. That being said, she’s hardworking and kick-ass, as well as vulnerable and sensitive. She has spent most of her life unwell, having dreams of a golden god. Now, that god is here, and her illnesses are under control. What went into creating this multifaceted character?  I wrote Frost and Flame while…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us about your latest release, ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS? It’s the story of a little-known wagon train trying to find religious freedom in Alta California and their remarkable survival in a terrible winter (in the same place in the Sierra Nevadas that the Donner party encountered two years later – with very different results). It’s incredible to know that ONE MORE RIVER TO CROSS was inspired by a true story. Where did you find out about this piece of history and what brought about writing an entire book about it?  While researching another book I found a footnote that said, “Here’s the cabin wherein 1844-45 8 women, 17 children, and James Miller spent the winter in the Sierra Nevadas.”  Hmm, were they on a vacation? There’s a group of women in this novel who have to survive the unthinkable while taking care of children and keeping them all alive in harsh conditions. Their strength and resilience are inspiring. What sort of research did you do about survival tactics? Did you learn anything about the actual women who went through this journey?  Sheltering each other, collaborating and keeping a focus on what…