Hi Bethany – welcome to Fresh Fiction! Please tell us about yourself and your new book: Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish.  Hi! I’m excited to be here! A little bit about me. . . I’m the wife of a radio broadcaster who I met in an online chat room in the late 90s, the mom of two boys who really are the best teenagers on the planet–even if they can’t keep their rooms clean to save their lives–and I’m the most three of all threes on the Enneagram. As for Hadley Beckett’s Next Dish. . . it’s the story of two polar-opposite celebrity chefs, Hadley Beckett and Max Cavanagh, who are forced to work together months after an on-air altercation between the two of them that brought Max’s career crashing down and helped shoot Hadley to stardom. Hadley Beckett is a successful TV chef who goes out on a limb to participate in a cooking competition show. The culinary world is notoriously male-dominated, but Hadley can hold her own against the best of the best! What inspired the character of Hadley? What does her chosen profession as a chef add to her story arch? When I first began thinking about this story,…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-ReaderMatch” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Cathryn Fox! Writes: Hooked on You is a sexy romantic comedy set in the port town of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia where you can discover amazing restaurants, distilleries, artisan shops, and hot lobster fishermen! About: Introverted extrovert seeks a fun-loving reader who loves books, embellished stories, dining and dancing, and will bring me food when I’m on a deadline. Must have a sense of humor. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: -Loves small town. -Is open to trying new foods. -Loves cows. -Doesn’t mind living with a houseful of hot fisherman. -Can clean out a pumpkin and race it across the water. -Might not understand mathematical computations but listens intently, anyway. -Must love a hot hero who wants to do right by the town, and his girl. What to expect if we’re compatible: -sexy books that give you all the feels. -A fun newsletter with FOXY swag giveaways. -Heroes who have a sense of humor. -Heroines who will always challenge the heroes. -Fun readers group–FOXY FICTION. -A huge…

Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present Laura Brown! Writes: Laura writes romances featuring characters with hearing loss, ranging from New Adult, to Contemporary, to Romantic Comedies. Matzah Ball Surprise is her first romantic comedy, featuring a fake date for Passover! About: A self-professed introvert, Laura becomes outgoing in quiet environments. She loves to read, and all things cats, and like many parents will enjoy child-free time, but may also talk about her son! Willingness to repeat is a must, as Laura’s hearing loss selectively misses words without her permission. Knowledge of ASL a bonus! What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: *Desire to learn ASL *Willingness to try matzah *Enjoys the fake date/only one bed trope *Ogles the gym buffs with Gaby (heroine) *Enjoys dogs with a penchant for mischief What to expect if we’re compatible: *Fulfilling HEA *Heroes who stumble over their emotions. *Lots of little hearing loss references *Supportive yet overwhelming families *Food as foreplay — FOR A CHANCE TO WIN: Rafflecopter Giveaway – $10 Amazon Gift Card & digital Copy…

Paradise Island was exactly as cheesy as all the online reviews Zach had read on the flight down had suggested. He could hardly believe that Jenna would actually choose to honeymoon here or that she thought Elliot wouldn’t take one look at the place and immediately insist on going somewhere else, sexy lingerie or no. But when somebody allowed sentimentality to trump logic, this was the result. Had she even read any of the reviews when she’d planned the trip? To begin with, it wasn’t a hotel, but a cluster of small huts, which were probably supposed to suggest some kind of alone-on-a-tropical-island fantasy, on which continent, he had no idea. From the pictures online, it looked like someone had bought up all the set pieces from Gilligan’s Island, stuck them on sketchy dock structures the middle of a shallow inlet, and opened for business. Each cluster of huts had its own pier leading from a main building where the shops, restaurants, and spa were located, and each individual hut was spaced along the pier far enough from its neighbor to guarantee “privacy.” In other words, honeymoon gymnastics could take place without couples in the other hump-huts having to listen….

What is a perfect day? It’s a different answer for everyone. For some, it’s a thrilling adventure at an amusement park with friends while for others it’s a quiet day at home in solitude. I think a perfect day is one that allows for resting and recharging, but also leaves time to enjoy the company of loved ones. If I had to choose, here is what my perfect day would look like: It would start with sleeping in as late as I want. I have two kids in the single digits so the “I’m hungry. She hit me. Mooooooomy wake upppppp!” Start early. After waking up I’d enjoy a warm cup of coffee and a yummy breakfast of fruit and cheese while reading a few chapters of a favorite book while the kiddos snuggle at my side with their own books. Reading doesn’t have to be a solitary enjoyment. Even if you’re reading different things, when you read together, it’s great family time. After enjoying a relaxing morning it would be time for a sandwich and snacks party with my friends where we’d munch while playing Tabletop games. Because it’s my day, the games on the docket would be Betrayal…

As a romcom author, it goes without saying that there’s a fair bit of romance in my stories – like my next book, How to Hack a Heartbreak, which is all about the highs and lows of searching for love on the internet. In the story, the main character, Melanie Strickland, sets her sights on one guy in particular, Alex Hernandez. But her burgeoning love affair with Alex isn’t the only significant relationship in her life. Equally important (if not moreso) are the friendships Mel has with her three best girlfriends: Whitney, Dani, and Lia. As I was writing How to Hack a Heartbreak, I wanted to convey the power of women and the importance of female friendships. Because let’s face it, ladies: lovers often come and go, but your girlfriends will always be your true ride or dies. The girl gang in this book was partially inspired by my own best friends, who’ve been there for me through practically every momentous life event – from my high school graduation to my wedding day, from my son’s birth to my mother’s death. Sometimes I think they know me better than I know myself, and frankly, I’m not sure I’d be…

Do you like reality shows? What about watching people fall in love? I’ve got a book release today that I’m excited about because it has both. It not only features a hero that is melt-your-heart, smoldering-hot delicious and a really fun and relatable heroine that you want to be best friends with, but it also features a couple that is in the midst of – yes! – a reality show, which made this book so fresh, fun and realistic. Luke and Nell are both needing, and hoping, to win a million dollars when they walk into the casting of MILLION DOLLAR MARRIAGE. Neither of them has a clear idea of what the show is about, but what the hell, right? Surprised when they both make the cut, they’re even more shocked to realize each of the contestants will be married to someone for the duration of the show—and that she and Luke, will be married to each other. Together, they need to face obstacles, physical and mental, as they race to the finish line with the same goal as all the other show couples: winning. Nell figures that even if she is absolutely not compatible with Luke, they could still…

I’ve been published for fourteen years and put out a lot of books – over 70 at last count. Across those 70 books I’ve written the odd pet or two but it seems, in the last few years in particular, I’ve written a lot of pets that have tended to take over the story. In No More Mr. Nice Guy there’s a cockatoo called Shakespeare with a very loud mouth and very poor timing. In Playing With Forever, a tear away Great Dane called Tiny takes centre stage. My first Credence, Colorado book – Nothing But Trouble – showcases Wilburta, a cute little piglet and in the second book which is out in October – The Trouble With Christmas – a turtle called Zoom steals the show. I’ve also written several different pet dogs of varying ages and degrees of…shall we say, attractiveness? As well as fornicating goldfish and even an alpaca. Pets aren’t only cute and fun to write but they deliver the awww factor. They also give we, the readers, insights into the characters because how people treat animals is a true litmus test for the kind of person they are and this is as true in fiction…

Thanks for stopping by Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us a bit about The Bookish Life of Nina Hill? TBLONH is about a millennial girl who works in a bookstore, loves her cat, her planner and her trivia team, and whose life is ticking along nicely until suddenly it all gets complicated. Nina Hill is wonderfully nerdy, and as the title suggests, bookish! We’re big fans of bookish people – real and fictional. What made you decide to make Nina so ensconced in books? Did this make her easier or harder to develop?  Nina was inspired by all the lovely young bookstore women I met while touring bookstores to promote my last book, Other People’s Houses. They were all incredibly well-read, super smart and slightly quirky. I wanted to make them the hero for a change. After Nina’s estranged father dies and includes her in his will, Nina finds herself with this new family of very outgoing, very eager people who want to get to know her. After spending most of her upbringing with her live-in nanny while her photographer mother was on assignments around the world, this is a huge and unexpected adjustment. How does this newfound family change her perspective…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you tell us a little bit about CRASHING THE A-LIST and what inspired it? So…I had this mild heart attack a few years back. (Don’t all books start like this or…?) Anyway, I was lying in the hospital, hooked up to a million machines, and I had this sort of drug-induced fever dream about Benedict Cumberbatch and storage units, and when I woke up I thought it was weird enough to write down on my phone so I wouldn’t forget it. Then I was like, “Could this be a book????” and within an hour I had an entire synopsis and half the outline done. Clara is so awesome – I loved her sarcastic wit! Even though she’s going through a rough time after losing her job, Clara ultimately decides not to sell the info she has on super famous Caspian. How does this decision change the course of her life? For most of the book, that decision doesn’t have a single silver lining for her. Clara is more of a Netflix and jammies gal, not so much a celebrity espionage one. She tried to do the right thing and then gets stomped on from every…