Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: OF LOVE AND TREASON by Jamie Ogle
Author Guest / January 12, 2024

Welcome to Jen’s Jewels, your go-to destination for uncovering the story behind remarkable literary gems. This week, I’m thrilled to shine a spotlight on Jamie Ogle, the gifted mind behind OF LOVE AND TREASON. Join us as Jamie unveils the inspiration that transformed Valentine’s Day from a puzzling celebration into a compelling narrative. Explore with us the extensive research that brought the enchanting backdrop of ancient Rome to life, and discover the delicate balance Jamie strikes between love, courage, and the early church’s indomitable spirit. Step into the heart of Jen’s Jewels where each author and their story is a precious gem waiting to be discovered.   Jennifer Vido: What inspired you to write a captivating story about the legend of St. Valentine? Jamie Ogle: I never really liked Valentine’s Day, and for so many years didn’t understand why we celebrated it. But I have always loved digging into the “why” behind things, and when I finally looked up the origins of the holiday, I was captivated by the story of forbidden marriages and a man who risked his life to marry couples in secret. I couldn’t help but start playing around with a story centering on one of the…

Kerri Maher | Conversations in Character with Patty Buford
Author Guest / September 22, 2023

Book Title: ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS CALL Character Name: Patty Buford   How would you describe your family or your childhood? I had an idyllic childhood outside of Chicago. My mom and I were really close until my little sister Eliza arrived when I was 10. I’ll be honest – it took me a long time to get used to her, but I love her now as much as I loved my mom.  I wish every day Mom was still alive.   What was your greatest talent? I’m a pretty great mother, if I do say so myself.   Significant other? Dr. Matt Buford, cardiologist. He’s my rock.   Biggest challenge in relationships? I find change very difficult – and I had to do A LOT of it in 1972.   Do you have any enemies? Me?   How do you feel about the place where you are now? Is there something you are particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by, in this place? 1972 was the hardest year of my life – harder than when Mom died, in a lot of ways.  But it made me into the person I am today, and I wouldn’t do a…

Julia Justiss | Faraway and Fascinating
Author Spotlight / September 20, 2023

What history nerd can fail to be fascinated by stories of Chinese history and culture?  While modern governments seldom last more than a handful of seasons, imperial China endured for two thousand years.  Although, as elsewhere in the world, China was dominated by rulers and an elite hierarchy of men, there were several women at the end of its imperial history who wielded real power. This month’s selections will give us glimpses of two of the most important of them, the first empress and the concubine-turned-empress who came to overshadow her. We begin with THE OTHER EMPRESS by Amanda Roberts.  Though trained from birth to become the wife of a high-ranking man, gentle fifteen-year-old Zhenxiu was not prepared to master the bitter rivalries and dangerous intrigue of the Qing Court into which she is thrust as the new wife of future emperor Xianfeng.  Befriending young concubine Lanhua, she helps bring the girl to the emperor’s attention, and over the years, the two grow close.  When the emperor dies, leaving Lanhua’s five-year-old son as the new emperor, the two band together to protect the boy, becoming defacto rulers.  But as the unprepared dowager empress relies more and more on the bold…

Gill Paul | Exclusive Excerpt A BEAUTIFUL RIVAL
Author Guest / September 6, 2023

Red Cross ball, Manhattan, 1917 Suddenly Elizabeth [Arden] sensed a lull in the conversation and noticed heads turning toward the doorway. A striking, dark-haired woman stood poised in a gown made of shimmering gold fabric with a deep V neck and Grecian-style folds. Her hair was pulled back in a chignon. It wasn’t . . . it couldn’t be Madame Rubinstein, could it? She most definitely hadn’t been on the guest list. Vogue staffers scurried around like squirrels, while the newcomer surveyed the room with a smile playing on her lips. She was sure it was Helena Rubinstein: she recognized her from magazine images and from that one time she had glimpsed her in her Paris salon. Someone should eject her, Elizabeth thought, but no one was doing anything. She grabbed the arm of a waiter. “That woman is not on the guest list,” she said, her eyes sliding toward the entrance. “Could you please go over and explain to her the ball is invitation-only? If she objects, ask to see her invitation. She doesn’t have one, so then you can ask her to leave.” He reddened. “It’s not my place . . .” “Do I need to fetch the manager?” she snapped. “I’m in charge…

Denise Mina | Exclusive Excerpt: THREE FIRES
Excerpt / August 2, 2023

i   t h e   c o n f e s s i o n   The Great Hall, Palazzo della Signoria Florence, Wednesday 18 April 1498     It’s late afternoon as Fra Girolamo Savonarola shuffles onto the raised stage at the front of the Hall of the Five Hundred. He drags his sandalled feet, scuffing the stone floor with a shush, shush, shush. Savonarola commissioned this chamber, currently the largest room in Europe. It was built to hold the five-hundred-strong Grand Council, part of the new Republic of Florence established under his authority. The vast walls are plain, not yet frescoed. Through the high windows a clear spring light floods into the room from the west. The full council watch him walk on in silence. They are seated in neat rows, but standing behind them and around them are a substantial portion of the male population of Florence. Everyone is perfectly still and listening. It hasn’t rained in Florence for a week and the men have walked dust from the street into the room. It floats above them like a scum on a broth, swimming in the warm air, rising high. Savonarola looks out at the gathered crowd…

Annie Lyons | WWII Widow Looks After Teenage Refuge and Bonds
Author Guest / July 12, 2023

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE AIR RAID BOOK CLUB 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? London, 1938. Bookseller Gertie Bingham is facing difficult times after the death of her beloved husband, Harry. She decides to sell up and move to the coast but then her husband’s best friend, Charles asks if she would be willing to take in a young Jewish refugee from Germany. Gertie agrees and when fifteen-year-old Hedy Fischer arrives, she fears she has nothing left to give the troubled girl. But as war begins and the lights go out over London, Gertie and Hedy realize that joining forces will make them stronger, and that books have the power to bring young and old together and unite a community in need in its darkest hour. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I always set my books in and around south-east London where I live so my local town became the imagined location because the community is just as friendly as Beechwood’s! 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Definitely! I used to be a bookseller so would love to work in Gertie’s bookshop. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist?…

Claire McMillan | A Painter and Her Poet Lover are Desperate to Escape the Nazis
Author Guest / July 12, 2023

1–What is the title of your latest release? ALCHEMY OF A BLACKBIRD 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Desperate to escape the Nazis, painter Remedios Varo and her lover, poet Benjamin Peret, flee Paris for Villa Air Bel, a safe house for artists on the Riviera. Along with Max Ernst, Peggy Guggenheim, and others, the two anxiously wait for exit papers. As the months pass, Remedios begins to sense that the others don’t see her as a fellow artist; they have cast her in the stifling role of a surrealist ideal: the beautiful innocent. She finds refuge in a mysterious bookshop, where she stumbles into a world of occult learning and intensifies an esoteric practice in the tarot that helps her light the bright fire of her creative genius. When travel documents come through, Remedios and Benjamin flee to Mexico where she is reunited with friend and fellow painter Leonora Carrington. Together, the women tap into their creativity, stake their independence, and each find their true loves. But it is the tarot that enables them to access the transcendent that lies on the other side of consciousness, to become the truest Surrealists of all. 3–How did you decide…

Vanessa Riley | Author-Reader Match: QUEEN OF EXILES
Author Guest / July 12, 2023

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Vanessa Riley!   Writes: Ready for an intimate look at true history? Vanessa Riley writes award winning fiction showcasing the power women time has erased. Get swept away in court intrigue, politics, and scandal in Riley’s QUEEN OF EXILES.   About: Looking for a good time, and want to learn a little something? Take a spin with Vanessa Riley. Vanessa Riley is an award-winning author of Island Queen, A Good Morning America Buzz Pick and the forthcoming Queen of Exiles. Riley’s historical novels showcase the hidden histories of Black women and women of color, emphasizing strong sisterhoods and dazzling multicultural communities. Her works encompass historical fiction, historical romance, and historical mystery and have been reviewed by the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publisher Weekly, and the New York Times. Riley was named the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year Awards Literary Fiction Winner for Sister Mother Warrior.    Vanessa’s looking for soul mates – readers who want: Women in power Intense love relationships Sisterhoods Hidden histories…

Alex Hay | A Historical Heist Set in London in 1905
Author Guest / July 5, 2023

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE HOUSEKEEPERS 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The Housekeepers is an historical heist set in London in 1905. It tells the story of Mrs. King, sharp-witted housekeeper to one of Mayfair’s grandest mansions, who on being unfairly dismissed gathers a group of fellow servants and criminal associates to pull off the most audacious robbery high society has ever seen, right under the nose of her former employers on the night of the grandest ball of the season. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I had been longing to write a novel set in the early 1900s for ages, because I adore the glamour and gumption of the period – it’s so enterprising, complex, and you find such startling flashes of modernity. Plus, I’d read a brilliant book called The Lost Mansions of Mayfair, describing the opulent mansions that were once scattered all across West London, now mostly lost to redevelopment or bombing. I knew I wanted to tell a story set in a fictionalized version of one of those fabulous homes… 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? I would…

Hazel Gaynor | Two Women’s Lives Become Fatefully Entwined
Author Guest / June 14, 2023

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE LAST LIFEBOAT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Two women’s lives become fatefully entwined when an evacuee ship carrying British children to Canada during WW2 is torpedoed in the Atlantic. Alice King finds herself in a lifeboat with other survivors while, in London, Lily Nicholls desperately awaits news of her children. Inspired by true events, The Last Lifeboat is a very different story of WW2, a story of human courage and endurance, and I’m so excited for readers to turn the first page! 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? History decided the setting when I read about an evacuee ship that was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the middle of the Atlantic, and a lifeboat of survivors was lost at sea for eight days. Much of my story is set in a lifeboat in the Atlantic. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Absolutely. I would love to spend time with both Alice and Lily. They are both strong intriguing women, with fascinating stories to tell. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Alice: Uncertain, brave, humble. Lily:…