Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Danielle Jackson | 2021 Trends in Romance
Author Guest / December 17, 2021

2021 has been… a year. One that felt both very long and over in the blink of an eye. Thankfully, we have had a plethora of romance novels come out to occupy our time, make sense of the world, and have a little fun. I read a lot of books. A LOT of books. Some I finish, some I don’t, some I buy and they sit happily unread on my bookshelves and eReader. I spend a ton of time looking at books that are coming out—I just received my first email about a JUNE 2022 book—and noticed some trends throughout the year… Trends that I think we’ll continue to see explored, subverted, and challenged into next year as well. WITCHES 2021 was the year of the witch! September and October 2021 saw a bunch of witchy, cozy, paranormal romance novels come out, and I am here for it all. Women (and men, too) discover their powers and how to control them, but also what can happen when they let loose a little, too. PAYBACK’S A WITCH by Lana Harper, who was a guest on the Fresh Fiction Podcast earlier this year. BLACK MOON RISING AND BLACK SIREN’S SONG by Mila…

Roan Parrish | Exclusive Interview: THE LIGHTS ON KNOCKBRIDGE LANE
Author Guest / September 24, 2021

Danielle: Hi, Roan! Welcome back to Fresh Fiction. For readers who might not be familiar, can you give us a little rundown about your Garnet Run series?   Roan:  Totally! The Garnet Run series is what I’d call cozy romance. It’s set in the small town of Garnet Run, Wyoming where (in my head canon, at least) everyone is queer unless explicitly stated. We start with Better Than People, in which Jack, a grouchy and antisocial artist, breaks his leg and can no longer walk his pack of rescue animals. Enter Simon, a super-shy, virgin animal lover who takes over the task. As they get to know each other, Simon falls in love with Jack’s menagerie—and then with Jack himself. Jack, of course, is already smitten. We also meet Jack’s older brother, Charlie, who raised him after their parents died when they were teenagers. The second book, Best Laid Plans, is Charlie’s love story. Forced to grow up at 18, when he had to raise Jack, run the family business, and pay the rent, Charlie missed out on the whole self-discovery part of being young. Now in his thirties, he’s never had a relationship—he doesn’t even know if he has…

Roan Parrish | 20 Questions: BEST LAID PLANS
Author Guest / February 26, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? BEST LAID PLANS (Garnet Run #2) 2–What is it about? BEST LAID PLANS is about Charlie, a gentle giant who lost his parents as a teenager and had to figure out at a very young age how to take care of everything–his younger brother, Jack, his father’s hardware store, their family home–putting his own dreams on hold in the process. Rye Janssen is his complete opposite: where Charlie is stable, Rye has never stayed in the same place for more than a year; where Charlie knows all the rules of adulting, Rye enjoys breaking them. So when Rye inherits a crumbling house in Garnet Run but has no idea how to make it livable, Charlie can’t help but get involved. At first, Charlie and Rye feel like they’re from two different worlds. But soon each one realizes the other is exactly what they need! Charlie never had a chance to figure out what he wanted for himself, and Rye helps him explore. Rye never had a home, and Charlie helps him make one. Throw in some hot sex, a bunch of adorable cats, and all the secondary characters you met and loved…

Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup: BEST LAID PLANS by Roan Parrish
Author Guest / February 12, 2021

Thank you SO much for celebrating Valentine’s Day with us this week! We hope you discovered some great new books and will try a recipe or two that have been shared. Don’t forget to leave comments on the posts for chances to win amazing books by these wonderful authors. Today, Roan Parrish brings this roundup to a close with more about her book, BEST LAID PLANS and a recipe for decadent truffles! Best Laid Plans is the second book in my Garnet Run series, which features cozy, queer romances that take place in a beautiful small town. We met Charlie Matheson briefly in Better Than People, the first book in the series, which featured his brother, grouchy children’s book illustrator Jack. When Charlie Matheson’s parents died just days before his eighteenth birthday, he learned to fend for himself and take care of his younger brother, Jack. That included learning how to cook. He was always competent, but he never saw food as anything more than fuel to get him through the day, repeating the same five meals every week for the last fifteen years. When tattooed new arrival, Rye Janssen, inherits a house in Garnet Run, Wyoming, he brings much-needed…

Roan Parrish | Exclusive Interview: BETTER THAN PEOPLE
Author Guest / August 25, 2020

Hi, Roan! Welcome to Fresh Fiction. Thanks for visiting with us today. Will you tell us about yourself and a little bit about your new book, BETTER THAN PEOPLE? Hi! Thanks so much for having me :-). I am extremely into cooking and baking, plants and gardening, Halloween, horror movies, DIY projects out of random stuff I find, and exploring abandoned buildings. I live in West Philadelphia with my magical cat, Dorian Gray, where I bake a lot and write queer love stories about people who feel like home to one another. BETTER THAN PEOPLE is the first in my cozy new series, Garnet Run, and the whole series is my love letter to animals. BETTER THAN PEOPLE is about Jack, a grouchy children’s book illustrator, who eschews other people in favor of a pack of stray animals he’s collected. Jack’s favorite thing is walking his pack of dogs (and Pirate the cat, who leads the way). But one evening, chasing after Puddles, a jittery dog, he breaks his leg and needs someone to walk the animals for him. Enter Simon, an animal lover with no animals and intense anxiety around people. The more Jack and Simon know about each other,…