Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Sarah Zachrich Jen | Exclusive Interview: THE OTHER ME
Author Guest / August 9, 2021

Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Sarah, and congrats on your debut novel, THE OTHER ME! Can you tell us a little about your journey into publishing this book?   Sarah: Thanks for having me! The book that eventually became THE OTHER ME went through several rewrites on its way to publication. When I started writing, I had no idea that it would be a thriller—I was having more upmarket/literary thoughts, though still with the speculative element, and the original pacing and ending reflected that. I took a few years to get the book to where I thought it was ready to query, and then I entered the Pitch Wars mentoring program, which I’d read good things about online. I didn’t get in, but PW mentor Layne Fargo (who’s also an amazing author) loved my manuscript. She was kind enough to refer me to an agent she knew, who asked me to revise and resubmit. I signed with that agent, did one more revision, and settled in to wait for months while my agent shopped the book around to editors. My agent emailed the manuscript to one editor on a Friday to give her an advance look before we went on…

Fresh Fiction Reviewer Spotlight: Sharon Salituro
Author Guest / December 7, 2020

Here’s another interview with one of Fresh Fiction Reviewers! You can always visit our REVIEWS page and sign up for a number of NEWSLETTERS for the latest reviews and updates!  ** Your Name Sharon Salituro How long have you been a Fresh Fiction reviewer?  Over 2 years What are your favorite genres to read and review?  Mystery, historical, romance What are your TOP 3-5 Books of 2020? Lies in White Dresses by Sophia Grant Ten Days Gone by Beverly Wong One Perfect Summer by Brenda Novak What do you like to do outside of reading? Play on my computer What are some of your holiday traditions?  Christmas Eve at my dad’s What are your reading resolutions/intentions/goals for 2021? To read more books What do you love about being a Fresh Fiction Book Reviewer? I can pick the books I want to read ** Don’t forget to check back all week for more interviews with our reviewers throughout December and January! 

Marissa Backlin | Love’s Sweet Arrow Bookstore Check-In
Author Guest / November 6, 2020

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, LSA! This may be a loaded question, but how are things going?  Marissa Backlin, co-owner of LSA:  It’s going, haha. It hasn’t been easy, but every month we can pay the bills, we breathe a sigh of relief. I keep saying, if we can hang on until the holiday season and stay healthy, we’ll have some wiggle room. Of course, now that schools are starting to go hybrid and in-person (I’m also a kindergarten teacher), the risk level goes up, but we’re trying to pack up anticipated holiday trope boxes in advance and we’re doing a preorder campaign for them so we can get as many as possible boxed up before Thanksgiving. What are some of the ways you’ve adapted your bookstore to the pandemic? Definitely focusing on online sales and pushing preorders. Before March, aside from November/December, most of our sales were in person. Now, most of our sales are online, which does benefit us because we can sell books we don’t have in store. Now that the store is open to the public, we’re very strict on mask-wearing and we have hand sanitizer at the door, and we have changed our checkout process…

Marissa Backlin | Exclusive Interview: LOVE’S SWEET ARROW, a Romance Bookstore + Giveaway!
Author Guest / April 1, 2020

Throughout the month, we’ll be checking in with Marissa Backlin, co-owner of Love’s Sweet Arrow, a romance-focused independent bookstore in Tinley Park, IL. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, sign up for their newsletter, and check out their Patreon. Their online store is still open! Up first, an interview with LSA co-owner Marissa Backlin and FF’s Editorial Manager, Danielle Dresser.  Danielle: Welcome to the Fresh Fiction blog, Marissa! We are so thrilled to learn more about Love’s Sweet Arrow. Where did the idea come from to open a romance-only bookstore in Chicagoland? Marissa: Roseann and I have always been big romance readers. I’ve been reading romance since I was sneaking it around 12 and Mom read it growing up too. I also ordered a few times from The Ripped Bodice once they opened and two Christmases ago, I got Mom the Lydia Bennett box! So two summers ago, we were just talking about how if we had an unlimited amount of money, opening a romance bookstore would be one of the things we would love to do. After a whole summer of daydreaming together about it, we decided to go for it! What are some of your…

Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: CAMILLE PAGAN
Author Guest / February 15, 2020

Jen: What inspired your latest release, This Won’t End Well? Camille: For my fortieth birthday, my husband, two children, and I went to Paris. It was an amazing trip. We stayed in a magical apartment in Montmartre that had sweeping views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. We couldn’t have found a bad meal if we tried, and we managed to do just enough sightseeing to make the most of the vacation without burning ourselves out. But eight days is a lot of family time–especially for a writer used to spending long stints alone in front of her computer. By the day after my birthday, I’d had so much togetherness that I felt like I couldn’t hear myself think. My husband, bless him, quickly realized this and volunteered to take our kids to a park on the Seine so I could go for a walk by myself. I was strolling along the river, thinking about what a feat it is to successfully manage relationships–even, or maybe especially, when they’re with the people you love most–when a single sentence popped into my head: Hello seems like such an innocuous word, but it’s really a portal to loss.  Which is, of course,…

Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: MEG AND JO by Virginia Kantra
Author Guest / December 13, 2019

Jen: What inspired you to write Meg & Jo, a contemporary retelling of Little Women? Virginia: I think we need stories about strong women and families pulling together in tough times. There’s so much warmth and joy in Little Women! When I first read the book—my grandmother gave a copy to my sister and me when I was about ten—I wanted to go live with the March family and act in plays and write a newspaper and all the rest of it. But as I grew up, things I’d sort of skipped over in the story struck me for the first time or in a different way. And I wanted to tell Meg and Jo (and Beth and Amy) in a way that reflected that perspective. As the author of over thirty novels, how did writing your first women’s fiction book differ from your previous works? I’m still writing about families and relationships. I’m still drawing on classic stories of my childhood for inspiration (I always imagined Sea Witch as a sexy, feminist version of The Little Mermaid). But the emphasis in this story is very different. Meg and Jo isn’t so much about if or who the sisters will…

Jennifer Ryan | Exclusive Interview: THE ME I USED TO BE
Author Guest / July 2, 2019

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell readers a little bit about THE ME I USED TO BE, and what inspired it? Thank you for having me back! THE ME I USED TO BE is a big family drama with lots of intense suspense, betrayal, and a budding romance between Evangeline and Chris, the cop who arrested her. It’s a lot of what I do in my romance series all wrapped up in a single book, but you get a glimpse of how all the family members perceive what happened, even though what they think happened wasn’t the whole truth. The book was inspired by something I’ve come to realize in my own life – People say beware of strangers, but family are the ones who can hurt you the most. I loved Evangeline Austen – a woman who is recently out of prison for a crime she didn’t commit. She comes home only to find out she’s inherited the failing family ranch, and even though they don’t want to, everyone is relying on her to pick up the pieces. What was the hardest thing for Evangeline to accept as part of her normal life once she got out?…

Elizabeth Heiter | Interview with Kensie Morgan of ‘K-9 Defense’
Author Guest , Interviews / July 1, 2019

Fourteen years ago, Kensie Morgan watched helplessly as her younger sister was abducted in front of their house. Ever since, her life has been filled with dead-end leads and false hope. But then a note surfaces in Desparre, Alaska, claiming to be from her sister. Kensie ignores the advice of everyone around her and travels to the remote town. Desparre Herald Reporter: Before we get started, I just want to let you know what to expect… Kensie Morgan: I know how this goes. I’ve been talking to reporters about my little sister since I was thirteen. Desparre Herald Reporter: But wouldn’t your parents… Kensie Morgan: After few years go by, a missing child is old news. No one wanted to interview my parents anymore. They couldn’t get attention for her. But talk to the older sister who watched her get taken? That was still newsworthy. Desparre Herald Reporter: Sounds like a tough way to grow up. Kensie Morgan: If any of this means I can bring Alanna home, it will all be worth it. Desparre Herald Reporter: Okay, then, let’s get to why you’re here. Most of the people who come to Desparre are looking to get lost. Either from…

Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: AMY MASON DOAN
Author Guest , Interviews , Jen's Jewels / June 14, 2019

Summer reads are my favorite kind of books. Being able to relax on the beach or sip sweet tea poolside with a new release in hand is what I look forward to all year. This month’s jewel, Amy Mason Doan, could not agree more. Her latest work, Summer Hours, is a novel about friendship, love, and ambition set in the mid ‘90s and 2008. Sometimes the path to achieving life’s dreams can be a little rocky as depicted in this thought-provoking book filled with hope and forgiveness. Go ahead, and grab a cold lemonade and get to know the superbly talented author behind the story, Amy Mason Doan.   What inspires you to write novels set in summertime? Summer seems like this lazy, golden season, but I think that’s deceptive. The summer months can be surprisingly intense. Summer is when we reinvent ourselves; I don’t think I’ve ever shaken off my shock over classmates who came back to school in September completely transformed. My mom has this long frame in her bedroom with a bunch of my pre-teen and teen yearbook photos in it. It’s held together with gold hinges, and I stare at it every time I visit her. I…

Renee Rosen | Exclusive Interview: PARK AVENUE SUMMER
Author Guest / May 8, 2019

Your book has been described as Mad Men meets Devil Wears Prada – a very enticing combination! What sort of research did you do for this novel, and what was the most surprising thing you learned? I was lucky with this book because there were several excellent biographies on Helen Gurley Brown, as well as all the books she wrote herself. Naturally, the place for me to start was HGB’s scandalous bestseller, Sex and the Single Girl. It was published in 1962 and sold two million copies the first month it was out. It was basically a guide on how to find men and what to do with them once you’ve found them. It was truly groundbreaking material because, at that time, no one else was speaking to single women in that way. Sex and the Single Girl gave me a good feel for Helen Gurley Brown’s philosophy and her views on men, dating and of course, sex. The blueprint for her future makeover of Cosmopolitan can be easily found in the pages of her book. I also watched the Sex and the Single Girl movie and lots interviews with HGB—there’s a slew of them on YouTube. (Also I was fortunate to have met…