Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Jennifer Vido | Jen’s Jewels Interview: THE KEEPER OF HIDDEN BOOKS by Madeline Martin
Jen's Jewels / July 28, 2023

Jennifer Vido: What inspired your latest release, THE KEEPER OF HIDDEN BOOKS? Madeline Martin: I found some incredible journals by Warsaw’s public librarians about their efforts through the Nazi occupation during WWII. While the looting and pulping of Polish books was rampant, the librarians were secreting books away – hiding them in boxes and under debris and even storing them in a secret warehouse. When Nazis closed the libraries, the librarians opened a secret one under their noses, ensuring there were still ways for their patrons to read books when they needed them most. But subterfuge around secreting books to readers was also happening within the Warsaw ghetto walls. People hauled their own personal collection of books in suitcases to share with one another. And a librarian of the Warsaw Public Library opened something called CENTOS, which was a secret library for children disguised under the auspices of being a care facility for orphans. CENTOS was truly ingenious with secret shelves that flipped around to hide the books within. Those amazing effort were so inspiring!   Jen: How does Zofia’s love of reading bring her comfort in war-torn Poland? Madeline: When I create my characters, I delve into the country’s…

Julia Justiss | Fresh Tales of Exceptional Women
Author Spotlight / April 20, 2022

As the world endures once again the recurrent tragedy of war, this month’s stories remind us of those exceptional individuals who still manage to display courage and compassion despite cruelty, horror, destruction and loss.   We begin with one of the most unusual of these women – Mila Pavlichenko, heroine of Kate Quinn’s THE DIAMOND EYE, which is based on a true story.  Quiet Kiev history student Mila is completely absorbed by her library job and caring for her young son when Hitler’s invasion of Russia upends her world.  Called up like many women to join in the defense of the Motherland, she becomes one of the deadliest snipers on the Eastern front, named “Lady Death” by her Nazi foes.  But after her three hundredth kill, a government needing a rallying point turns her into a national heroine and sends her on a goodwill tour to the U.S. She’s feeling alone and lost in Washington, DC, until an unexpected friendship with Eleanor Roosevelt and a link born of shared experience with a fellow sniper brightens her world.  But wounds, loss, and a determined enemy from her past will show her that though she may have left the battlefield, the struggle…

Madeline Martin Interview – Highland Romance
Author Guest , Interviews / March 18, 2022

Your book THE HIGHLANDER’S STOLEN BRIDE is described as an enemies-to-lovers romance. Not counting a few exceptions that prove the rule, I’ve always been more of a friends-to-lovers fan. What is the dynamic between these two characters? And what makes their love story so compelling? I confess, I’m a huge enemies-to-lovers fan, especially when it includes a wounded hero…which this one does. When the Campbell clan comes back from their exile in Ireland to reclaim their land in Scotland, the McMillan siblings scramble to ally themselves through the best way they could in those days – through marriage. This is the last book of the Highland Alliance’s series and the heroine, Elspeth MacMillan, is supposed to wed the son of a neighboring laird, but on her way to the unwanted union, she gets kidnapped by Calum Campbell, son of the notoriously cruel Alexander Campbell who killed Elspeth’s father and many of their people. However, Calum Campbell is not only the son of a terrible and powerful man, he’s also the hero of The Highlander’s Stolen Bride.   Do you like to throw third act surprises in your romances? Like the hero and heroine almost have their relationship worked out when…