Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Danielle! Please tell us about yourself and your new book, ALL WE LEFT BEHIND.  Thank you for the invitation to be here! A little about me is that I am a child and family counsellor in private practice and I split time between Vancouver and Mayne Island Canada. I write historical fiction as Danielle R. Graham and contemporary fiction as D.R. Graham. All We Left Behind debuted on the Toronto Star and Globe & Mail Bestsellers lists in Canada and released in the US on March 30th! All We Left Behind is an emotional untold story of World War II, set against the backdrop of the internment of Japanese Canadians from Mayne Island, BC. Mark Sakamoto, author of Forgiveness, and winner of CBC Canada Reads, calls All We Left Behind, “As heartwarming as it is heartbreaking.” Glynis Peters, international bestselling author of The Secret Orphan, calls it, “Heart-wrenching. Emotional. A powerful story of wartime love and devotion.”   I haven’t read many books set during WWII in Canada. What made you set your novel in British Columbia?  I grew up in Steveston BC, which is a predominately Japanese-Canadian fishing village and I have a family cottage…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Negeen! We are so happy to have you here today. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, SET TO MUSIC.  Hi everyone! Thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here. A little bit about me…I’m a born and raised Cali girl so I have no clue what real seasons are. I’m a wife and a mother of two rapidly growing boys, one who’s about to go into high school, and honestly, I have no idea how that even happened. I’m an Iranian daughter. If you haven’t read my books yet, you’ll understand what that means when you do. And I’m a dentist by day. I know, totally makes no sense alongside a romance writer, but hey, I like to be different.   There’s just something about a rock star romance! What drew you to writing about this fun romance trope?  I mean, rock stars, what’s not to love? But truth be told, Anthony was created out of my unhealthy obsession with Nicky Jam. I’m thoroughly obsessed with his music, even though I can only really understand half of what he’s singing. My Spanish can carry me in a conversation, but it’s no match…

Hi, Deanna! We are so happy to have you back on Fresh Fiction. Please introduce yourself to our readers.  I’m a 5 foot, 5 inch-tall Gemini, I like long walks on the beach and men who aren’t afraid to cry. (Okay, I’m a 52-year-old 6th-generation Texan married to my college sweetheart with one child and a starter pack of Australian Labradoodles. I am currently working on my 17th novel and I have a mild addiction to Twitter.) The Veronica Speedwell historical mystery series is such a fun premise and has been enthralling readers for the last few years. What do you love about the character of Veronica?   Veronica is one of the most enjoyable characters I’ve ever written because she is–like Molly Brown–unsinkable. Nothing ever seems to get her down for long. We know she’s been through volcanic eruptions, shipwrecks, kidnapping by brigands, yet she’s irrepressibly optimistic. She’s very secure in her own sense of purpose, and I love that she is so thoroughly grounded in who she is. I suspect she might be a little tiresome in real life–she’s an absolute bulldozer to poor Stoker sometimes–but on the page, she delights me.   One of my favorite aspects…

Danielle: Hi, Marie! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please tell us about yourself and your new book, THE RESTORATION OF CELIA FAIRCHILD. Marie: Hi! I’m happy for the opportunity to talk with you today! I’m a lot of things – wife, mom, quilter, dog lover – but mostly I’m a writer. So far, I’ve written nineteen novels that run the gamut from historical to contemporary, set in just about every region of the country. But there’s a common thread in all my books; though my characters face the kinds of problems and challenges that resonate with women, my stories always end on an uplifting and hopeful note. That’s why I’m especially excited about introducing readers to Celia Fairchild and her story. Celia is the kind of friend we all wish we had, and her story of restoration and hope is something that I think we all need right now. Celia writes a popular advice column, called Dear Calpurnia. I loved this aspect of the novel! What sort of research did you do into advice columns and giving good advice? Do you have any favorite advice columnists?   I’ve been an advice column junkie for a long time so, in a way,…

Hi, Lexi! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please tell us a little bit about yourself!   Thank you for having me! Let’s see, I’m a romance author, I like to line dance, my own hero is a veteran, former fire chief, and current Coast Guardsman. I’m a native of nowhere but live in Florida at the moment. I have two kittens named Bailey and Whiskey. I make my own ice cream every weekend. I always wear a hat. Did I mention I’m a romance author? I’m a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romance inspired by the classics and I now have 30 books out. Yay! The Time Weavers Inc. series is such a fun premise! For readers who aren’t familiar, can you set up the series for us and tell us where A POCKET IN TIME fits in?  Oh, I’d love to! Time Weavers, Inc. (TWI) is basically “Quantum Leap” meets “Charlie’s Angels” meets “X-Men.” 🙂  TWI was created by the mysterious Jules who only communicates telepathically with the agents of TWI. Disruptors have been changing history to the detriment of mankind, so the agents go back in history and basically reset history on its original path. The first book…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Janet! Congrats on your new novel, THE JUICE. Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your book?  Thank you so much for featuring me! I’m thrill-honored. I kind of live a double life. On the one hand, I’m a longtime journalist who fell into writing about media companies a long time ago. They are constantly changing, and utterly fascinating to me. On the other hand, I have been a teller of fictional tales ever since I was a little girl in a tiny upstate New York village called Franklin. (Now I live in the Bronx, and I can pull out the attitude to prove it!) I like to write fantasy and sci-fi stories that take conditions present in the world today and play them forward, into another space and time. That’s what I did with THE JUICE, which is a cyberpunk sci-fi tale about a secret substance that makes people incredibly charismatic, with god-like abilities. They are “used” by a media company to bend public thought to its will. Three unlikely allies try to stop this: a dirt-poor, homely teen who becomes a sort of Cinderella when she takes the Juice; a…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Allie! Please tell us about yourself and your Magic in Manhattan series.   Thank you so much for having me! I’m Allie, a Cuban-American author, attorney, parent, spoonie, and occasional oversharer of cat pictures. The Magic in Manhattan series is a blend of urban fantasy and romance set in 1925 New York City. It follows an “opposites-attract couple” through three books: Arthur, a non-magical WWI soldier from a political family who hunts supernatural relics, and Rory, an immigrant’s son hiding his ability to see visions of objects’ pasts by working in a Hell’s Kitchen antiques shop.   WONDERSTRUCK is the final book in your Magic in Manhattan series. What is it like bringing a series to an end? What are some of your favorite things about writing this magical series?   Endings are hard! It’s bittersweet to say goodbye, but at the same time, it was really nice to finally be able to give Arthur and Rory their happily ever after. Some of my favorite things about writing this series were learning about New York’s history, and coming up with ways to intertwine magic and history and romance all together. I love that these books…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Susan! We are so happy to have you here today. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your new book, THE NATURE OF FRAGILE THINGS. I am a historical fiction novelist and native Californian who has lived in other states and abroad, but California is where I have spent the majority of my life and is probably the reason why I chose to set my newest novel around the time of the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. I’ve experienced many tremblors; they are fairly common here, but none of the magnitude of that historic one. It reshaped San Francisco in many ways. Anytime you have a major event where ordinary people are thrust into extraordinary circumstances, you also have a backdrop for a story to be told. Sophie answers an ad to be a mail-order bride. An Irish immigrant in New York, she then travels across the country to marry a man she’s never met and take care of his daughter. Where did the idea for Sophie come from? What research did you do into mail-order brides, and did you learn anything truly surprising?  I wanted Sophie to have good reasons for wanting to…

Hi, LaQuette! We are thrilled to have you on Fresh Fiction today. Please tell us a little bit about yourself.  Hello, thank you so much for having me.  I’m a Brooklynite, and I love writing emotionally gripping, sexy stories featuring multicultural characters living their best lives.     JACKSON is the first book in your new Restoration Ranch series. Will you set up the basic premise for this series and a little bit about JACKSON?  A woman, who is sponsoring two parolees as they work to rebuild her family’s ranch, is being threatened by an unknown person.  To find out who’s trying to bring her harm, the Texas Rangers show up to investigate.  Restoration Ranch is a place where everyone can find redemption, family, and love.  I loved the idea of people having a place to lay down their burdens to find help, support, and a safe space to rebuild so they could have a second chance at life. I love the opposites attract vibes between Jackson and Aja. How much fun did you have creating these two characters and their love story? What surprised you while writing this book?    Aja and Jackson were a hoot to write.  Although I…

Hi, S.W.! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Please introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your new book, PATIENCE & ESTHER.  Hello! I’ve been making comics for ages and started writing/drawing erotica when Spike of Iron Circus hired me to create a story for the 2014 Smut Peddler anthology. Since then, I’ve been an ongoing contributor to Filthy Figments, plus my erotic work has appeared in other places like the French magazine L’Immanquable. I’ve been so freaking fortunate to find publishers who support me in making some of the most fun, indulgent stuff. Working in this genre is a really nice emotional break from the other more serious books I make for other audiences. Patience & Esther: An Edwardian Romance is Iron Circus Comics’ collected edition of my Sparks series that ran on Filthy Figments from 2015-2019. It’s about two women who fall in love while working in service on a country estate, and their subsequent journey toward independence as they make a life together. It’s a quiet story about the experience of being in love and growth, both as individuals and a couple. The Edwardian period was a very interesting time of transition in England’s history. What sort…