Hi romance lovers! I’m Heather McCollum, USA Today best-selling author of Scottish Historical Romance. I’m excited to announce the release of my newest book about a brawny, tortured hero with a golden heart and a feisty heroine who is desperately trying to save her sister. He’s an executioner, and she’s a midwife. Can two people on opposite ends of life come together? HIGHLAND BEAST– Raised to be the Horseman of Death, Bàs Sinclair is tasked to kill the lass (Shana) who gave him his very first kiss. Refusing means war. Following through means death to his own soul. H is for Highlands, my favorite setting, which is full of raw beauty and rich history. I is for Ilsa & Iona, Bàs’s Highland Coos who get washed downstream. G is for Gorgeous Glutes! H is for Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Bàs and his three brothers were raised to play the parts by their mad father. L is for Lies that are told against Shana and her sister, deadly lies. A is for Attraction, which ignites to burn out of control between Shana and Bàs. N is for Now. When Shana and Bàs come together, they only focus on the Now instead…

Book Title: AN ARTFUL LIE Character Name: Aidan Nowlton   How would you describe your family or your childhood? My father, the late Bertram Nowlton, was the Duke of Malmsby.  The Nowltons are a family of multi-talented individuals. I had four older siblings. I was an afterthought, ten years younger than my sister Catherine. As a young boy I would follow them and try to do what they did. They asked me to help them sometimes and I enjoyed that. It wasn’t long until helping the family instead of doing something unique for myself became my life. What was your greatest talent? You could say I am the black sheep in the family as I never had a talent. I helped my siblings with their talent endeavors, but never had a recognized talent. Where do you live? London, just outside of Mayfair. I have a townhouse with an Art Gallery on the ground floor. Do you have any enemies? No, though I don’t get along with Lord William Candelstone, my sister Catherine’s husband. He is a spymaster whose mantra is “For King and Country.” What do you do for a living? I own an Art Gallery. Greatest disappointment? Courting Bella….

Good morning, friends of Fresh Fiction!   I’m excited to be here today and share an excerpt of the first book in my Say I Do series. YOURS TRULY, THE DUKE, is a marriage of convenience story between the Duke of Wyatthaven and Miss Fredericka Hale. Wyatt is at the top of his game in fencing, cards, and social life and he has no interest in marriage. Fredericka is in need of a husband and fast. They both discover that there are times in life when unimaginable things start to happen. Enjoy! Amelia     Yours Truly, The Duke     Satisfied, Fredericka turned to the duke and smiled quite splendidly. “Now, I believe it’s time you told me why you’re here.” He looked at her as if wondering why she asked him that question. “I’m here concerning the letter I had delivered to you.” Letter? Instantly thinking it might have something to do with her sister’s children, since he had just mentioned them, Fredericka visibly tensed. “I’m sorry, Your Grace. I don’t recall receiving correspondence from you.” He lifted his brows in doubt. “My courier didn’t arrive with it earlier today?” “Today?” She glanced at the clock on the…

My most recent book, HOTEL OF SECRETS, is set in the winter of 1878, at the height of Vienna’s ball season. This sumptuous tradition of formal winter balls still continues today in Vienna, and, providing they adhere to the right etiquette, it is even possible for foreigners to attend! Unfortunately, many of us cannot fly to Vienna to dance the night away, and therefore I have asked the characters of my book for advice on creating the perfect ball experience in your own home.   Maria Wallner, hotelkeeper: There are five elements of a ball: the food, the music, the clothes, the company, and the surprise. It’s best if the surprise is something like a dozen psychics ready to tell the crowd’s fortunes, rather than, say, an assassination attempt or a fire.   Eli Whittaker, American Secret Service Agent: Those weren’t surprises. They were crimes.   Maria: They came as a great surprise to me, I assure you. Oh, also sometimes there’s a flood. Or a wild boar attack—   Eli: That didn’t happen at a ball, we were in the middle of the Vienna Woods—   Maria, with great dignity: I wasn’t talking about the one that happened to…

Book Title: AN ARTFUL LIE Character Name: Aidan Nowlton   How would you describe your family or your childhood? My father, the late Bertram Nowlton, was the Duke of Malmsby. The Nowltons are a family of multi-talented individuals. I had four older siblings. I was an after-thought, ten years younger than my sister Catherine. As a young boy I would follow them and try to do what they did. They asked me to help them sometimes and I enjoyed that. It wasn’t long until my helping the family instead of doing something unique for myself became my life. What was your greatest talent? You could say I am the black sheep in the family as I never had a talent. I helped my siblings with their talent endeavors, but never had a recognized talent. Where do you live? London, just outside of Mayfair. I have a townhouse with an Art Gallery on the ground floor. Do you have any enemies? No, though I don’t get along with Lord William Candelstone, my sister Catherine’s husband. He is a spymaster whose mantra is “For King and Country.” What do you do for a living? I own an Art Gallery. Greatest disappointment? Courting…

Excerpt from AFTER THE SHADOWS by Amanda Cabot     “Emily Vaughn, why, it is you. I didn’t know you were back in town.” Emily turned, recognizing the voice of the woman whose home was now no more than smoldering ruins. Mrs. Carmichael was sitting on her neighbor’s porch, her arm wrapped around Clara Adams’s shoulders, giving comfort though she was the one who needed it. How typical of the gray-haired widow. Though she was close to seventy, Mrs. Carmichael had always impressed Emily as being much younger, perhaps because her light blue eyes normally seemed to sparkle with happiness. She doubted they were sparkling now. “I arrived this afternoon,” Emily said as she approached the older women. “I’m sorry about what happened to your house.” It was a day no one in Sweetwater Crossing would soon forget. “I wish I knew what happened. I didn’t leave anything cooking on the stove, but someone said embers might have started the fire.” “Now, Mary, it doesn’t matter.” Mrs. Adams shook her head, strands of white hair escaping from the knot at the back of her neck, her gray eyes solemn. The widow was the shortest of Mrs. Carmichael’s friends, like Emily…

Excerpted from THE CHARMER WITHOUT A CAUSE, Chapter 2, by Katherine Grant. Copyright © 2023 by Katie Flanagan Benjamin could hardly believe his good luck. Here was his mysterious woman, the one who hadn’t left his imagination for days, and all he had merely needed to ask in order to secure an introduction. And both she and her mother seemed delighted to have him sit with them. Lady Lydia Deveraux. Benjamin soaked her in as she told him about her childhood in Ireland. Blond, fair, and tall, as he had observed in his first glimpses at the musicale. Bright blue eyes slicing through small talk followed by a slim, solemn nose. Hers was not a face that smiled easily at a joke. Yet she didn’t need to smile, not when her whole countenance was softened by a pair of perfect, pink rosebud lips. That mouth had anchored his daydreams this whole week. He couldn’t help but fantasize about running into her at Hyde Park to earn a smile, about dancing with her at an assembly and seeing them part with exertion, about whisking her into the garden for a kiss. “There never was a people more eager for an education….

Book Title: Her Secret Rogue (Rakes & Rebels: The St. Briac Family, Book 3) Character Name: Anthony St. Briac – an interview during Chapter One of Her Secret Rogue, when Anthony was in the Galapagos Islands   How would you describe your family or your childhood? The best way to describe my childhood? Complicated. I was born in 1809 and grew up in London as the son of Sir Harry Brandreth, Baronet. My mother, Mouette Raveneau, is the daughter of legendary Historical Romance couple André and Devon Raveneau. During her unhappy marriage to Sir Harry, it seems she had a brief tryst with the wicked French pirate, Justin St. Briac, and much later I discovered I was really HIS son. Since Sir Harry turned out to be a disreputable criminal, this was good news. My parents now enjoy a tempestuous marriage, and our primary family home is in Cornwall. I’ve been drawn in a few times to settle their quarrels, which stiffened my own resolve to avoid serious romantic entanglements.   What is your greatest talent? I am a “naturalist” like my university friend, Charles Darwin. Fossils, geology, and zoology are endlessly fascinating to me, and I also possess enough…

1–What is the title of your latest release? A MATCH IN THE MAKING 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Miss Gwendolyn Brinley takes on a paid companion position for the summer in Newport, thinking it would be a nice reprieve from her demanding cousin. However, when her position changes from companion to assistant matchmaker and she’s tasked with finding a bride for the most eligible bachelor in the New York Four Hundred, her summer turns far more complicated than she could ever imagine. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I’ve wanted to return to Newport ever since I wrote In Good Company. Throwing a young lady into the midst of the most exclusive resort of the Gilded Age, and as an assistant matchmaker, well, it just seemed to work. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Of course. Gwendolyn is a no-nonsense lady, as well as being rather amusing. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Practical, compassionate, and competent. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? All the rules pertaining to a game called Annie Over that children used to play during the Gilded Age. I’ve…

Because of Jennifer Deibel’s new book THE MAID OF BALLYMACOOL, we here at Fresh Fiction thought it would be a fun way for readers to get to know her characters better to play a little game we call “The Character Most Likely”. I love this because it satisfies my romance nerd self and you can discover new book boyfriends. If you’re new to her books – she writes character-driven stories set in Ireland that are a wonderful mix of history and romance. Most likely to be underestimated? That has to be Aedach in A Dance in Donegal. He’s the character you love to hate, and he’s capable of far more than most might expect. Most likely to surprise themselves? Oh goodness…I think all my heroines are a three-way tie for this one! However, the first one that sprang to mind is the heroine from my debut novel, A Dance in Donegal, Moira Doherty. Not only does she end up moving from her home in Boston to a tiny village in Ireland to teach, but by the end of the story, she’s almost unrecognizable to herself in all that she’s seen and done. But, really, she’s the most authentic version of…