It’s the end of January and I thought I’d try something new this year-taking a day to recap some of what I read or listened to this month. One of my many yahoo groups has several different reading challenges which will be ongoing throughout the year, and last year I had resolved to participate and started out great, and really petered out, but this year I am again determined to participate. There are three challenges that I chose to attempt for January, and below you will read about my results. To read more of WHAT I READ FOR JANUARY and to make a comment please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

December 2009On Sale: December 1, 2009Featuring: Adrianna Barrington; Gage Hudson384 pages ISBN: 1420100289EAN: 9781420100280Paperback$6.99 Romance Suspense Buy at Amazon.com Dying Screamby Mary Burton It’s the last sound you’ll ever make… NO ONE WILL FIND YOU. An aspiring artist. A high-school senior. A stripper. Three women who seemed to have nothing in common except their sudden disappearance. But one man knew them all. Wealthy, privileged Craig Thornton even claimed to love them. And for that, they paid the ultimate price. NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU When Adrianna Barrington receives an anniversary card from her husband Craig, she assumes it’s a some crackpot’s idea of a joke. After all Craig is dead. But then come phone calls, flowers, messages…all reminding her how much Craig misses her. While Adrianna begins to doubt her sanity, grisly remains are found on the Thornton estate. Detective Gage Hudson is convinced the bodies are linked to Craig. But the biggest shocks are yet to come. NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM A psychopath has taken up his chilling work again, each death a prelude to the moment when she is under his control at last. And the only way for Gage and Adrianna to stop him is…

t’s time to reveal something you may or may not know about me. I am quite serious about series. For more years than I can count I’ve been told I really needed to read the Born In trilogy by Nora Roberts. For a variety of reasons these three books never made it to the top of my TBR. However I finally downloaded them in audio from the library and have totally enjoyed listening to all three titles. Another series I’ve put off reading was the Grace Valley series by Robyn Carr. When I finished the first two books in the series I had been entertained and didn’t feel like I had wasted my reading time, but still pined for more from her popular Virgin River series instead. Then I finished Down By The River and went “Oh I get it now” I now fully understand the need for more books in this series. To read more of SERIOUS ABOUT SERIES please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Last Sunday my husband and I went shopping. He has decided that we need to attend a dinner for long term employees of the company he works for and therefore I needed a cocktail dress. I was really not looking forward to buying a fancy dress, and especially not with him as my co-shopper. I suppose he knew this as he bribed me first with a new piece of technology. I know am the proud possessor of a new MP3 player that holds a micro sd card that has preloaded music. The card is called slot radio, and while you can’t arrange the songs there are different cards you can buy, and the cards have several different playlists to choose from, and my card has 1000 songs. To read more of TECHNOLOGY MY NEW BEST FRIEND please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

Went to the west office of FreshFiction (VR) and worked on the books. We’re still processing books from 1/4 and almost done so the arrival of another 97 just adds to the pressure. Processing means opening the packages, sorting by publication dates, entering into our systems: once for sheer number and offering to reviewers and secondly and more important, putting all the data from the book package into our database and thus the website. So conservatively we’re dealing with about 200 books with publication dates of 12/26 to 2/5 range. Every book we enter needs to be checked to see if we have all the information about the book, summary, the books place in a series (or not), an excerpt if available or not, cover information, taglines. If we added videos to the mix we’d go nuts but that is definitely coming, I can see it. It’s hard enough prying the summary and excerpt from publishers and authors. I do NOT understand why authors don’t willing and eagerly supply the information on their websites or in the review packages! It only helps them, ah well. After all the books are entered…actually while two of us are doing data input, and…

On Saturday I had a nearly perfect day. I say nearly because is any day truly perfect? I woke to temps that were climbing, even though my friend Yvonne took great pleasure in informing me that my home in Texas was several degrees cooler than her home in England. I went to coffee and donuts with my friends, and came home to find my oldest son awake and coherent. Woke the younger one to head out the door and did a few things like loading the dishwasher and laundry. Finally it was time for some “mom” time. I hid out in my room and finished reading One Reckless Summer by Toni Blake. Then it was errand time. To read more of THE PERFECT DAY…DOES IT EXIST? I SAY MAYBE please click here. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.

After the flurry of the holidays, I had expected January to be a nice, quiet, slow month for books – boy, was I wrong! I have a plethora of brand new cozy mysteries to share with you this month, and each one sounds just as fun and fascinating as the next. And what a perfect month to just stay inside and read! Where I live in North Texas, we are experiencing the coldest, strangest winter I can personally remember. We had 11 inches of snow on Christmas Eve that all but brought the entire region to a standstill and now, in January, we are about to dip down into the ‘teens temperature wise. We Texans aren’t used to this! But I’m not too worried about it – got a load of firewood and a batch of delightful cozy mysteries to keep me busy and warm! I hope you can find something among these titles that will peak your interest as well! DEAD AIR:A Talk Radio Mystery By Mary Kennedy Obsidian Mystery; $6.99 In a brand new series, author Mary Kennedy explores the scenes behind a popular radio talk show with her book, DEAD AIR: A Talk Radio Mystery. Maggie Walsh…

Vintage Magic Mystery #2 August 2009On Sale: August 4, 2009Featuring: Madeira Cutler304 pages ISBN: 0425229114EAN: 9780425229118Paperback$7.99 Mystery Woman Sleuth Buy at Amazon.com Larceny And Lace by Annette Blair Maddie Cutler has it all in the bag: fashion, magic–and murder! If that dress could talk… Madeira Cutler is busy opening her new vintage clothing store in what was once the town’s morgue when she discovers an intruder snooping around a bunch of bones in a body drawer. Now, she’ll have to dig up more than the past to solve a crime. Excerpt “I find that it is vital to have at least one handbag for each of the ten types of social occasion: Very Formal, Not So Formal, Just a Teensy Bit Formal, Informal but Not That Informal, Every Day, Every Other Day, Day Travel, Night Travel, Theater, and Fling.”  —Miss Piggy Chapter One If I hadn’t asked my New York cronies to mention my grand opening in their national fashion magazines, I might be able to breathe as if I weren’t wearing Scarlett O’Hara’s corset. Thirteen days before Halloween. Thirteen days to open Vintage Magic, my dress shop for timeless classics and designer originals. What was I doing to make…

Fresh Takes from the Teen ShelvesAll the news, updates and gossip for the Young Adult — books, authors, movies and more! Happy New Year!  Lot’s of great books coming out this year, and some of the nicest people I know are kicking things off in January. I’ve been looking forward to some of these books for awhile, so it’s great to get to tell you about them. Leading things off is Stacey Jay’s UNDEAD MUCH?, the follow up to the awesomely titled YOU ARE SO UNDEAD TO ME. Stacey Jay:  It’s winter break in Carol, Arkansas and Zombie Settler, Megan Berry, finally has everything she ever wanted–a place on the pom squad, peace among the undead, and the boyfriend of her dreams. But life in Zombie-ville never stay drama-free for long. Soon a cheerleader uprising threatens to ruin half time forever, an undead psychic hottie makes Megan question her commitment to Ethan, and super strong zombies that are immune to Settler magic land Megan and her Settler friends in a huge mess of trouble. Even worse, Megan herself is the prime evil-zombie-raising suspect and on the verge of being thrown in jail for working forbidden magic. Now Megan and her…

Women of the Otherworld #10 October 2009On Sale: September 29, 2009Featuring: Elena Michaels; Clayton Danvers384 pages ISBN: 0553806629EAN: 9780553806625Hardcover$26.00 Fantasy Urban, Romance Paranormal Buy at Amazon.com A Fresh Fiction read for 2009! Frostbitten by Kelley Armstrong The Alaskan wilderness is a harsh landscape in the best of conditions, but with a pack of rogue werewolves on the loose, it’s downright deadly. Elena Michaels, the Pack’s chief enforcer, knows all too well the havoc “mutts” can wreak. When they hear of a series of gruesome maulings and murders outside Anchorage, she and her husband, Clay, journey to Alaska in the dead of winter in order to hunt down the dangerous werewolves. Trapped in this savage, untamed winter realm, she and Clay learn more about their own werewolf heritage than they bargained for, tapping a little more into the wild nature of the beast within. With Elena back in the starring role, this is the book Kelley Armstrong fans have been waiting for. One of the very best entries in this talented author’s Women of the Otherworld urban fantasy series. Previous Picks Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.