Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Roshani Chokshi | Exclusive Interview: ONCE MORE UPON A TIME
Author Guest / October 7, 2021

Danielle Jackson: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Roshani! We are happy to have you here! Can you give us your elevator pitch for ONCE MORE UPON A TIME?  Roshani Chokshi: ONCE MORE UPON A TIME is, perhaps, a very long epilogue to what I imagine must really happen after a happily ever after. ONCE MORE UPON A TIME was originally released as an Audible Original last summer and is now in print! Did you do anything different in your writing process when you knew it was going to be an audiobook first? What was the process like taking it into print?  Writing for something to be heard was fascinating. It makes you rethink the cadence of every sentence, the time spent on settings, the propulsion of the story, and the function of dialogue. A major thing I had to do was watch the verbs and adverbs surrounding the dialogue. Since someone would be narrating, they didn’t need me to provide tonal context…they would supply it via direction. When we got the news the story would go to print, what had been a process of subtraction meant quickly adding back in some of the tonal cues for readers. One of my favorite parts…

Avery Flynn | Exclusive Interview: MAMA’S BOY
Author Guest / October 1, 2021

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Avery! We are happy to have you here. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, MAMA’S BOY.  Thank you so much for having me! Love getting to hang out with fellow Fresh Fiction book nerds. I have the absolute best memories of FF get-togethers and how nice everyone was and how fun it was to get to talk books with everyone. So. Much. Fun. Speaking of fun, that’s pretty much what you get with MAMA’S BOY. It’s the first book in the Last Man Standing series all coming out together on August 30 (my birthday!). It has Dixon (a billionaire mama’s boy control freak determined to win a bet), Fiona (a Hartigan and a woman on a mission to put this billionaire in his place), attack geese, a hidden room in a library scene that is HOT, and a ghost dog that isn’t a ghost but is most definitely a dog. Basically, it’s a good time in book form.  MAMA’S BOY is the first book in the Last Man Standing series, with NEANDERTHAL and MANSPLAINER are coming soon. I have to admit, the titles are very intriguing, but perhaps more than what they seem on…

Annabeth Albert | Exclusive Interview: SAILOR PROOF
Author Guest / September 28, 2021

Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Annabeth! Congrats on your new release, SAILOR PROOF. Can you give us the quick elevator pitch for this book?  Annabeth:  This is my new military romance LGBTQ+ series. Readers who loved my Out of Uniform series will love this best friend’s little brother romance which has a heaping helping of fake dating, close proximity, only one bed, and big feels in a low-angst package! This is the start of a new series for you! What do you like about starting new series? What are some of the challenges?   I love getting to explore a new universe, discover interesting side characters and places, and I actually love the research aspect. Here, I got to research Navy subs, Seattle, and the Olympic Peninsula. It was hard because of COVID-19 because I couldn’t actually go places and had to rely a lot on memories as well as tons of pictures, videos, documentaries, blogs and more.  To make his ex jealous, Naval Chief Derrick Fox wants to return home with what appears to be a new boyfriend. But his plan goes awry when he and the fake BF, Arthur, start to have very real feelings. Fake dating…

Roan Parrish | Exclusive Interview: THE LIGHTS ON KNOCKBRIDGE LANE
Author Guest / September 24, 2021

Danielle: Hi, Roan! Welcome back to Fresh Fiction. For readers who might not be familiar, can you give us a little rundown about your Garnet Run series?   Roan:  Totally! The Garnet Run series is what I’d call cozy romance. It’s set in the small town of Garnet Run, Wyoming where (in my head canon, at least) everyone is queer unless explicitly stated. We start with Better Than People, in which Jack, a grouchy and antisocial artist, breaks his leg and can no longer walk his pack of rescue animals. Enter Simon, a super-shy, virgin animal lover who takes over the task. As they get to know each other, Simon falls in love with Jack’s menagerie—and then with Jack himself. Jack, of course, is already smitten. We also meet Jack’s older brother, Charlie, who raised him after their parents died when they were teenagers. The second book, Best Laid Plans, is Charlie’s love story. Forced to grow up at 18, when he had to raise Jack, run the family business, and pay the rent, Charlie missed out on the whole self-discovery part of being young. Now in his thirties, he’s never had a relationship—he doesn’t even know if he has…

Helena Hunting | Exclusive Interview: WHEN SPARKS FLY
Author Guest / September 21, 2021

Danielle: Hi, Helena! Welcome back to Fresh Fiction. Can you give us the quick elevator pitch for your new book, WHEN SPARKS FLY?   Helena:  When Avery has an accident that puts her out of commission for weeks, her best friend and roommate, Declan, steps in to take care of her. As they grow closer, lines blur and they take their friendship to the next level, but Avery’s past and Declan’s relationship baggage threatens to destroy everything. I love the setting of Colorado Springs for this book, as well as the backdrop of an event planning business for your heroine. What made you decide to set your books here and give your character such a high-pressure job?  Back in 2018, I attended a Book Bonanza, a book convention in Colorado. My family attended and afterward we took the opportunity to travel and see more of the state. I discovered that I’m not a fan of driving on the sides of mountains, but I did love the backdrop and wanted to set the story in Colorado. As far as a high-pressure job, when Avery and her sisters took over Spark House it was manageable, but when the backbone of the event hotel—Avery—is confined…

Ann Aguirre | Exclusive Interview: WITCH PLEASE
Author Guest / September 16, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Ann! We’re so excited to chat with you today. Can you call us a bit about your new book WITCH PLEASE?   Ann: WITCH PLEASE is a delicious cupcake of a book. It’s just enough to heat, sweet and lovely, with a bit of creamy goodness to make it go down smooth. But if you want more story details, I’d say it’s a forbidden love romance with lots of sisterhood, family complications, and tons of heart and humor. I adore that your heroine, Danica, works as a magical tech “fixer!” What are some of the magical “rules” you have in place in your story that readers should know about?  Magic is low-key in this world. There are no demons being summoned or fireballs being cast. Think along the lines of charms and hexes, illusions, repair work. It’s small, subtle magic generally, though there are some powerful implications in being a tech witch. A tech witch could make a machine malfunction at the wrong time, which would be incredibly dangerous. In terms of rules, mundanes can’t know about the existence of witches due to earlier witch hunts. It’s to keep witches safe from persecution but it…

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…