A warm holiday welcome to Fresh Fiction Reviewer, Miranda Owen, who is here to discuss some of her favorite holiday-themed romances! If this post doesn’t get you in the holiday spirit, we don’t know what will. Without further ado… I love a fun holiday-themed romance. Admittedly, my favorite holiday-themed romances involve Halloween, but I enjoy Christmas ones too. Some of my favorite books by Carolyn Brown and Terry Spear are centered on Christmas and family. The Christmas romances I’ve read this year – by old favorites and new-to-me authors – have had dual themes of “family” and “Christmas” with delightful results. The one story featured here that’s not set during Christmas is a paranormal romance by Cynthia Eden that opens with a catastrophic blind date on New Year’s Eve, but that story also has a lot to do with family. In SOMEONE TO TRUST by Mary Balogh and THE CHRISTMAS KEY by Lori Wilde, the heroes are both drawn to women with big hearts and loving families. SOMEONE TO TRUST opens with an idyllic Christmas house party with the Westcott family and their assorted friends and relations. Colin Handrich, Lord Hodges can’t help but be charmed by these people because…

Every day from now through the end of the year (and even a few days into 2019), we’ll be sharing our reviewers’ favorite reads of 2018. A different genre will be featured every day! We’ll share why these books were some of our favorites and what made them so special. We hope you’ll share yours in the comments, too! Up first, our favorite mysteries, of all kinds – thriller, psychological, romantic suspense… Check back next week for cozy mysteries, though! Below they are listed in no particular order: NO PLACE FOR WOLVERINES by Dave Butler Jenny Willson 2 REVIEWER: Clare I recently read this and knew straight away it was my thriller of the year. A Canadian national park and nearby town try to fend off a big-money ski resort proposal. We learn so much about the get rich quick types behind this, the activists are driven to protect their park, the geology, and nature of the wilderness area, the work of police and journalists. Mystery Woman Sleuth | Thriller Crime [Dundurn, On Sale: October 13, 2018, Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 978145973983 / ] An intelligent web of money, threats, townsfolk, and wilderness… Buy NO PLACE FOR WOLVERINES: Amazon.com |…

Guest writer: Rebecca Adler First, a big howdy to y’all from Texas. Second, a big thanks to the lovely Kym Roberts for this opportunity to share all the exciting new cozy releases hitting the shelves of your local and virtual bookstores during the month of July. As a heat wave blazes its way across the country this week, I encourage you to declare your independence from the humdrum of work and responsibilities. Stake out those well-deserved hours, minutes, or even moments, of relaxation and repose by engaging your problem-solving skills in one of the most enjoyable ways possible—by reading a delightful cozy mystery. Whether you choose a title from a beloved author, discover a new favorite series, or both, this week’s new releases will make you glad you asserted your right to relax and solve a wonderful whodunit. THE CORPSE AT THE CRYSTAL PALACE by Carola Dunn Daisy Dalrymple Mystery #23 A casual outing to the Crystal Palace in London takes a mysterious and murderous turn in The Corpse at the Crystal Palace, the latest mystery in Carola Dunn’s beloved Daisy Dalrymple series. April 1928: Daisy Dalrymple Fletcher is visited in London by her young cousins. On the list of…

As I’m about to read SERPENTINE – the latest book in Laurell K. Hamilton’s Anita Blake series – and dive into a world of vampires, hunters, and wereleopards, it got me thinking about my love of romances featuring animal shifters. I enjoy a good vampire story, but in the age-old debate over blood suckers vs furry warriors – I’m Team Werewolf. I love werewolves, werebears, werehoney badgers, and everything in between. And how amazing are heroes who also happen to turn into dragons? Recently I’ve read a bunch of fabulous new releases with shape shifters of all sorts as main characters – MIDNIGHT WOLF by Jennifer Ashley, HOT AND BADGERED by Shelly Laurenston, ALL’S FAIR IN LOVE AND WOLF by Terry Spear, WICKED AND WILD by Cynthia Eden, and the anthology THE BIG ALPHA IN TOWN with stories by Eve Langais, Millie Taiden, and Kate Baxter. MIDNIGHT WOLF by Jennifer Ashley Shifters Unbound #11 Angus Murray, bouncer for a New Orleans Shifter bar, is sent to round up an elusive, Collar-less Shifter woman, Tamsin Calloway, who is causing trouble for Shifter Bureau, and possesses information they want. If Angus refuses, he risks losing his cub. He finds Tamsin but she’s…

As most readers know by now, my May 2009 release, The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie, features an unusual hero. Ian Mackenzie has Asperger’s Syndrome, which is considered to be high-functioning autism. Traits include the inability to make eye contact, trouble with nonverbal cues and subtext, obsession with detail (but missing the “big picture”), and others. Not everyone who has AS exhibits the same traits, and the syndrome tends to present differently in men than women. I’ve been recently praised for the risk I took writing Lord Ian. Which surprises me a little (though I don’t mind the compliments!), because when I sat down to write the story, I never thought: “Hey, I’m gonna go out there and take a risk! I’m going to do something different.” Click here to read the rest of Jennifers blog, leave a comment and enter her blog contest. Visit FreshFiction.com to learn more about books and authors.