Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Katy Birchall | Exclusive Excerpt: THE LAST WORD
Excerpt / May 3, 2023

I start searching around my feet for my bag. I spin round in my swivel chair a few times, examining the floor. “What are you doing?” Mimi asks. I groan. “I left my bag in the meeting room.” “I’ll come with you. I want a coffee anyway,” Mimi says, standing. “I’m guessing you won’t turn down a coffee, Rakhee?” “You know me so well,” Rakhee says, typing away furiously again. Gabby, our editorial assistant who sits a couple of rows behind, overhears. “I can get your coffees if you like,” she sweetly offers, glancing up from her screen. “That’s okay,” I say. “I need to rescue my bag from the meeting room.” “You’d lose your head if it wasn’t screwed on,” chuckles Dominic from the picture desk as we wander by. “Hey! If you still want early screening tickets to the next Ryan Reynolds movie, I’d be careful about your tone,” I say breezily. “Have I told you lately how amazing you are?” he adds quickly. “That’s more like it.” I grin, winking at him. Mimi is waylaid at the picture desk about one of the hotels she’s featuring in an all-inclusive round-up, so I go ahead, swiftly passing Cosmo’s…

Amanda Elliot | A Spicy Enemies-to-lovers Romance
Author Guest / February 21, 2023

1–What is the title of your latest release? BEST SERVED HOT 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Best Served Hot is about two restaurant critics with opposing tastes and methods of reviewing who are forced to work together after a video of them fighting goes viral. Aside from a spicy enemies-to-lovers romance, it features some class warfare, lots of droolworthy food descriptions, and a ton of love for New York City and its restaurants. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I knew I wanted to write about food critics and restaurants, and while I’ve had amazing food all over the country, my stomach is happiest in New York City, where I live. The book became a love letter to my home and its incredible food scene. 4–Would you hang out with your heroine in real life? Absolutely! Julie and I would have a ton of fun going out to eat together and savoring every bite. 5–What are three words that describe your hero? Polished. Loyal. Hungry. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? How stressful it can be to be a major restaurant reviewer! Think wigs, aliases, and full-on disguises so…

Lizzy Dent | 20 Questions: THE SETUP
Author Guest / June 14, 2022

1–What is the title of your latest release? THE SETUP 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? The summer long transformation of astrology-obsessed Mara, who must loosen her grip on fate and find her own direction in life. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted to set it coastal Kent, England among the fish and chips and the white chalk cliffs. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? Errrr.. it would probably take some time. Mara needs trust and love to let her sweet, charming side out. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Lonely, lovely, and learning. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? To let go of trying to relate to my MC completely. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit what I wrote the day before every day. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Pizza without doubt. But can I also add a good BLT. A perfect roast chicken. 9–Describe your writing space/office! I have a desk in my bedroom, but mostly I work from a co-working space in a village near my house. It’s above an…

Timothy Janovsky | 20 Questions: NEVER BEEN KISSED
Author Guest / June 1, 2022

1–What is the title of your latest release? NEVER BEEN KISSED   2–What is it about? Wren Roland has never been kissed, but he wants that movie-perfect ending more than anything. Feeling nostalgic (and drunk) on the night of his twenty-second birthday, he sends emails to all the boys he crushed on before he came out. The next morning, he finds a response from Derick Haverford, his #1 pre-coming out crush. Through the exchange, Wren learns that they are going to be working together at their struggling hometown vintage drive-in movie theater. What ensues is a hazy summer consumed by a special project that draws the pair closer together. As they work to save the drive-in, they might just get a second chance at that perfect-kiss-before-the-credits Wren has always dreamed about.   3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  NEVER BEEN KISSED takes place mostly at a fictional drive-in movie theater called Wiley’s Drive-In. I love the nostalgic, summery vibes it casts over the whole book. It’s both fun and cinematic. I’ll never stop picturing Danny Zuko singing “Alone at a Drive-In” from Grease, clearly a pivotal moment in my early childhood obsession with love stories and…

Magan Vernon | 20 Questions: HEIRLY EVER AFTER
Author Guest / May 14, 2021

1–What is the title of your latest release? Heirly Ever After 2–What is it about? A young woman is attending her sister’s royal wedding–sans a date who broke up with her after she dropped out of college for him–so she takes a date with a Scottish man she meets on the train who happens to be the outcast of the royal family. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  I love the Cotswold feel of an English country town with rolling hills and the historical aspects of the castle that I built in my head in Heired Lines from watching a lot of Secrets of Great British Castles 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  She wasn’t supposed to be this dang persistent. In my head originally she was spunky, but I kept having to tell my brain one thing and she wanted to do another. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  That he’s genuine. His story could have been very different and he could have been a villain or an anti-hero. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  To make Lord Jacob a real hero and not an anti-hero. 7–Do…