1–What is the title of your latest release? A TEMPEST AT SEA, Lady Sherlock book 7 2–What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book? Like Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, except on the high seas. 3–How did you decide where your book was going to take place? I wanted my characters to go away somewhere for a bit and the idea came that perhaps they could be on a steamer, on an ocean voyage. 4–Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life? With Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock? I would. We can just eat cake and each do our own thing side by side. 5–What are three words that describe your protagonist? Gender-bent Sherlock Holmes. 6–What’s something you learned while writing this book? I learned that on a London-Bombay voyage in the 1880s, one typically stopped only in these following places along the way: Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, and Aden. 7–Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done? I edit as I draft, but not daily, only when I think I’ve gone as far in a particular draft as possible, then I start another draft. 8–What’s your favorite foodie indulgence? Ooh, probably loaded…

1–What is the title of your latest release? MISS MORIARTY, I PRESUME? 2–What is it about? This is book 6 in the Lady Sherlock series and Moriarty at last makes his grand appearance. A most unexpected client shows up at Charlotte Holmes’s doorstep: Moriarty himself. Moriarty fears that tragedy has befallen his daughter and wants Charlotte to find out the truth.  Charlotte and Mrs. Watson travel to a remote community of occult practitioners where Moriarty’s daughter was last seen, a place full of lies and liars. Meanwhile, Charlotte’s sister Livia tries to make sense of a mysterious message from her beau Mr. Marbleton. And Charlotte’s longtime friend and ally Lord Ingram at last turns his seductive prowess on Charlotte—or is it the other way around? But the more secrets Charlotte unravels about Miss Moriarty’s disappearance, the more she wonders why Moriarty has entrusted this delicate matter to her of all people. Is it merely to test Charlotte’s skills as an investigator, or has the man of shadows trapped her in a nest of vipers? 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  One of the great loves of my life is the Southwest Coast Path in England, 630…

This has been a roller coaster of a year when it comes to books and reading. I don’t think a read a full book in the month of March, but I read over 10 books in July! With Fall quickly approaching, here are a bunch of wonderful and intriguing titles coming out this month through the end of the year, and I cannot wait for everyone to read them. AUGUST Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera – Two New Yorkers get together while they’re both working in Texas. There’s some workplace drama, instant attraction, and much more. Sexy, fun, and low angst. You Had Me at Holaby Alexis Daria – This felt like reading an entire season of Jane the Virgin. Clever, funny, and ultimately, uplifting. Out on the Ice by Kelly Farmer – So we can’t go to hockey games, but we CAN read about them. badass ladies to boot? Sign me up. Also look for: Marriage by Arrangement by Sophia Singh Sisson, Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles *** SEPTEMBER When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole – I am not a thriller reader. I repeat – I am NOT a thriller reader. but I stayed up…

Some of our reviewers will be sharing their top reads of 2019 from now through the end of the year! Today’s list is from Fresh Fiction Editorial Manager Danielle Dresser. 2019 was an awesome year for books. I’m grateful I have the opportunity to work with books every single day. In additional to being the editorial manager of Fresh Fiction, I’ve also started working closely with Love’s Sweet Arrow, the romance independent bookstore outside of Chicago. I’ve taken my love of books and cultivated a fulfilling career within the world of literature, and I’m so pleased to be able to share with you some of my favorite reads of the year.  I did my best to read widely and outside of my comfort zone – for me, that meant reading nonfiction and graphic novels (which I did do! Check out my Good Reads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/35789908-danielle-dresser). But I couldn’t stray too far away from my love of romance and literary fiction, which is what makes up the majority of my Top Reads of 2019.  Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert – This has to be, hands-down, the book I’ve recommended the most this year. Featuring a uniquely grumpy…

As part of our countdown to Readers & ‘ritas 2018, our Meet the Author interviews help you get to know the authors joining us in Texas on November 9-11. Read on to get acquainted with USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas, and purchase your ticket to meet her in person at Readers & ‘ritas! Pitch us your newest book in one sentence. In THE HOLLOW OF FEAR, when the man she loves is accused of murder, Charlotte Holmes, Lady Sherlock, goes undercover to learn the truth. If you could meet one of your characters in real life, who would you choose and what would you do? Most definitely Iolanthe Seabourne, the powerful elemental mage from the Elemental trilogy, my YA fantasy. And I would ask her to please bring down a thunderbolt, while summoning all the other four elements, too! What gets your creative juices flowing when you’re brainstorming a new story? Alas, nothing. My ideas come very slowly and usually at the cost of a lot of words thrown away. Which part of Readers & ‘ritas are you most excited about?  Brownies? I become a dessert fiend when I leave my house, and conference lunches often have brownies. 😀 And…

June 2010 On Sale: May 25, 2010 Featuring: Lord Vere; Elissande Edgerton 432 pages ISBN: 0553592440 EAN: 9780553592443 Mass Market Paperback $7.99 Add to Wish List Romance Historical Buy at Amazon.com Fresh Fiction Readers favorite Summer read! His At Night by Sherry Thomas Love is hottest in the darkness before dawn. Elissande Edgerton is a desperate woman, a virtual prisoner in the home of her tyrannical uncle. Only through marriage can she claim the freedom she craves. But how to catch the perfect man? Lord Vere is used to baiting irresistible traps. As a secret agent for the government, he’s tracked down some of the most devious criminals in London, all the while maintaining his cover as one of Society’s most harmless—and idiotic—bachelors. But nothing can prepare him for the scandal of being ensnared by Elissande. Forced into a marriage of convenience, Elissande and Vere are each about to discover that they’re not the only one with a hidden agenda. With seduction their only weapon—and a dark secret from the past endangering both their lives—can they learn to trust each other even as they surrender to a passion that won’t be denied? A who plays an idiot will have to…

My favorite way to learn history is to come across it via fiction. Of course, since my favorite kind of history is not the chronicle of kings and queens, but everyday history–what people ate, how they lived, what they did to get away from it all–it is these details and quirks of history that stay with me. For example, in Laura Kinsale’s FOR MY LADY’S HEART–for my money, one of the best medieval romances ever written–the hero is a knight, the heroine is far above him in worldly stature: she is a princess. On the run from danger, it is the two of them against the world. One scene in the book has her giving him an orange and a stick of violet-scented sugar that made up part of her meal. And this is a paragraph from that scene: He sucked the fruit, allowing the rich bitter juice to run on his tongue. He’d had oranges in Aquitaine a few times, at feasts and Christmas–but to eat one every day as she did was something utterly beyond his experience. And the penidia: he’d never tasted white sugar but once, a score and more Christmas gone, a child at the high…

A couple of weeks ago, I called a local romance-friendly bookseller to invite her to have lunch with the published authors of my RWA chapter. And she invited me, in return, to attend the monthly paranormal readers’ meeting, which would take place that evening at her store. The kids were at Grandma’s for spring break. And though I did not read heavily in the paranormal genre, I thought it was a good opportunity to get out of the house and meet the bookseller in person. Did I mention that I don’t read heavily in the paranormal genre? I was surprised when I got to the meeting to realize how many I have read. There was another author from my local chapter at the meeting. Other than the two of us, none of the other readers present had yet to try J. R. Ward. We practically shoved the Black Dagger Brotherhood books into their hands. During the course of the evening we’d recommended Shana Abe, Nalini Singh, Lara Adrian, Meljean Brook and Marjorie M. Liu, among others. And right after I left the meeting, I smacked myself on the forehead. How could I have forgotten Kelley Armstrong? It was, believe it…

After a voracious romance reader had read an advance copy of my debut historical romance, Private Arrangements, she emailed and told me that she loved the book, but being a devotee of the Regency era, she was surprised at how different and modern the turn-of-the-century setting felt. So when Fresh Fiction asked me to guest blog, I immediately thought of a whirlwind introduction to my favorite era for readers who might be unfamiliar with it.La Belle Époque, aka fin de siècle, aka the (more loosely defined) Edwardian era, refers to a time period that comprises the last two decades of the nineteenth century and the first fourteen years of the twentieth century, until the outbreak of World War I. Victoria still reigned in the 1890s, the decade in which both of my first two books are set. But oh what a different world she lived in from when she’d first ascended the throne. Early in the nineteenth century, travel was still slow and laborious. But by the end of the century, you could cross the Atlantic in less than a week. And then, make the trip from London to Edinburgh in eight-and-half hours on the Scotch Special Express (later renamed…