1–What is the title of your latest release? ACTIVE DEFENSE 2–What is it about? As a former field surgeon in Afghanistan, Heather Fontaine is used to life-or-death situations. She just didn’t expect them to follow her home. When she returns from a party to find that someone has broken into her house–and threatened her friends–she assumes it is the stalker who has been following her and creeping her out. She hopes to find safety and peace of mind by leaving the city and hiding out in a small town. But trouble has followed her even there. Luckily, a stalker isn’t the only one watching Heather. Travis Walker has been secretly watching out for her for weeks. As owner of his own security agency, it’s what he does. Together, Travis and Heather must figure out who wants her dead–and why–before it’s too late. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love that it’s set in the city where I grew up–which is great because I know the “lay of the land” so to speak. 🙂  4–How did your main character(s) surprise you?  Heather was a complete surprise, to be honest. When she appeared in the other two…

1–What is the title of your latest release? Tidewater Bride 2–What is it about? A young woman who is the head matchmaker for a 1634 Virginia colony yet lacks her own match. Selah Hopewell is tasked with bringing ‘Tobacco Brides’ to the male-dominated New World but she never realizes by doing so she is arranging her own nuptials.  3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Early Virginia is an explosion of all the things that make pages turn – a brave New World, handsome tobacco planters, treacherous politics, precious few women, ships, Indians, and the accompanying tumult that settling a new nation brings.  4–How did your main character(s) surprise you?  Sometimes they did things I wasn’t expecting, taking a scene in a direction I hadn’t thought of or anticipated. The mystery of creating! There’s even a bit of humor within.  5–Why will readers relate to your characters?  Their faults and foibles became very apparent to me. We all have them and characters should have them, too. Pride and false assumptions play a large part in this story, as troubling then as now.  6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Keeping…

Melanie’s heart quickened when the first tower of the Mackinac Bridge came into view. This would be her seventh time over the bridge, a significant number. Seven days of the week. Seven notes in the diatonic scale. Seven letters in the Roman numeral system. The seven in the Tarot deck was the card of the chariot—the symbol of overcoming conflict and moving forward in a positive direction. Lucky number seven. She’d need luck on this trip if she hoped to move forward in a positive direction with Olivia. She hit her sister’s upper arm with the back of her hand. “There’s the bridge!” To her surprise, Olivia smiled. A good sign. Maybe it would all work out. It had to. Because they couldn’t go on as they had for the past ten years. Something had to change. Only time together would do it. Time with no distractions. Time in the forest. Time for Melanie to explain herself. She had seven days to make it work. Seven days was enough. Her seven-day spiritual detox program was her most popular offering on Meditations with Melanie. And nothing needed detoxing like her relationship with her sister. “I know a bailiff who refuses to…

Hoping to escape the mother-­daughter conflict that was about to escalate to a new level, Emma hurried outside. Pausing on the snow-­covered path to the driveway, she allowed fat snowflakes to fall on her, even catching a couple with her tongue. Snow couldn’t hurt you. She looked all around, taking in the other large homes, beautifully blanketed in snow, and the mountains behind them. This place was truly magical! As she walked up the driveway, she spotted what looked like a caretaker’s cottage and slowly approached it. Hopefully the ol’ grump wasn’t as bad as Gillian had described. Holding her breath, she tentatively knocked on the door, expecting a gray, grisly old man to answer. To her surprise, a younger man opened the door. Dressed in jeans and a plaid flannel shirt, he stared at her with a puzzled expression. She suddenly wondered if she’d knocked on the wrong door. She smiled stiffly. “Sorry to bother you. I—I was looking for the caretaker, and I thought this was the right—” “Yeah, yeah.” He studied her with a furrowed brow. “This is, uh, the caretaker’s cottage.” She blinked. “Oh, so . . . are you the caretaker?” For some reason this guy didn’t…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to the authors as a reader you may fall in love with… It’s our great pleasure to present LISA HARRIS!  Writes:  Lisa Harris writes adrenaline-fueled suspense laced with romance. Her latest novel, THE ESCAP, is book one in a brand-new US Marshals series and explores the dangerous job of chasing down fugitives. Lisa has been compared to the thriller style of J.T. Ellison and Julie Garwood and is known for crafting fast-paced adventures with complex suspects, romance, and messages of faith. d About:  While many people love an adrenalin rush–anything from extreme sports to amusement parks to high-stress jobs–Lisa’s perfectly content to spend her days sitting behind the safety of her computer screen while she puts her hero and heroine’s lives on the line. But she’ll never pass up a safari and a close-up encounter with wild animals in the African bush, as she’s lived on the African continent for almost two decades. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Someone who lives for getting tangled up in a suspense novel filled with twists and turns…

Ethan was staring at the moon. He sat up, gasping and choking. He rolled off the padding and clawed at the raw planks of the floor. Then he heard the water. A soft summer breeze blew up tiny waves. They splashed like cymbals against the pilings that rose to either side of where he lay. He gripped the nearest strut and forced himself to his feet. The night was utterly dark. He was dressed in a pair of raggedy cutoffs and a T-shirt. On his feet were leather sandals curled and cracked by salt and hard days. He was completely alone. Ethan cried out, a choking sound wrenched from the terror and confusion that filled him. He knew where he was. What was more, he knew when. The summer before his final year at the university, when he and his best friend had wrangled jobs at the Holiday Marina. The long pier ran back to the shore, every plank in place, the pilings straight as arrows. The marina’s unmistakable form was silhouetted by yellow streetlights. Four A-frames housed the sailing classes, the repair shop, the store, and the stockrooms. An old canvas inflatable raft lay on the pier, with a…

1—What’s the name of your latest release?  Softly Blows the Bugle is the third book in my Amish of Weaver’s Creek series. 2–What is it about? When Elizabeth Kaufman received the news of her husband’s death at the Battle of Vicksburg in 1863, she felt only relief. She determined that she would never be at the mercy of any man again, even if it meant she would never have a family of her own. Then Aaron Zook comes home with her brother when the war ends two years later. Despite the severity of his injuries, Aaron resolves to move West and leave the pain of the past behind him. He never imagined that the Amish way of life his grandfather had rejected long ago would be so enticing. That, and a certain widow he can’t get out of his mind. Yet, even in a simple community, life has a way of getting complicated. Aaron soon finds that while he may have left the battlefield behind, there is another fight he must win–the one for the heart of the woman he loves.  3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Elizabeth is determined, but fragile. Aaron is steadfast. 4–What makes your story…

T is for truth, the heroine’s strength and downfall as well. In romance, in her medical career, even in prickly family matters, she cannot help but spout out the truth the moment it comes into her head. H is for happy endings, something that nearly everyone at Crestwicke lacks, and only a few will find by the end. E is for epic love story, the sort that has blossomed out of the dry stones of Crestwicke, between two unknown people connected by an old love letter. * L is for lost chances, which happened when a letter admitting to a secret love was dropped—or hidden—in the crack of a desk without ever being opened. When the heroine finds it, she is determined to reunite the secret lovers—if the chance is not already lost completely. O is for obsessed, which the lonely maid at Crestwicke becomes when she stumbles on the letter, believing she now has a secret admirer. V is for Vanish, which is what the letter does over and over, landing in different people’s hands and causing chaos below the surface that will eventually explode out into the open. E is for enduring, which is exactly what our hero…

Hi Regina! Thank you for joining us on Fresh Fiction today. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your new book, NOTHING SHORT OF WONDROUS.   Delighted to be here! I’m the author of more than 50 warm and witty historical romances, set from the Regency to the Old West, England to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. I’m excited to have the second book in my American Wonders Collection coming out. NOTHING SHORT OF WONDROUS tells the story of when the U.S. Cavalry rode to the rescue to protect Yellowstone National Park from poachers and vandals. Turns out the Army needed a little help learning how to get around the vast lands, which is where my widowed innkeeper comes in. Kate Tremaine knows Yellowstone like the back of her hand, and she has a personal stake in protecting its wonders. But spending time with Lieutenant Will Prescott makes her question her decision never to marry again. What was something interesting or surprising that you learned while researching this time period in history?  Just the fact that the Army was given control of Yellowstone surprised me. But Yellowstone was our very first national park, and there was no park service….

If you travel to north Louisiana and listen carefully, whispers on the cypress-laden air will tell you legendary tales of a young woman who repeatedly tried to make lemon bars. The trees shield their eyes from the tragic tale of utter failure, while the bayous draw their waters up tight in sympathy and shame. . . Well, okay, that might be exaggerated, but not by far. Confession: I don’t bake. If you say the word “lemon bar” around my mom, she turns ghostly pale from blocked memories of my attempts to make those pesky little yellow desserts all through high school. Never got it right. I’m convinced they’re my nemesis. Now, don’t get me wrong–I can make a mean batch of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. You know, the kind where you cut open the package and place the already perfectly circular bits of dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes? I’ve got that down! In fact, I make them a little on the “not quite done” side, and people rave. Everyone always wants me to bring those to parties, like I did something spectacular. (and when I remember the lemon bars, I’m convinced I did) My mother…