1–What is the title of your latest release? A SPOT OF TROUBLE 2–What is it about? A SPOT OF TROUBLE is a sweet 101-Dalmatians-inspired romantic comedy about a cupcake baker and a new-to-town firefighter who both have two very opposite pet Dalmatians. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The setting of this book is a fictional, small North Carolina beach town called Turtle Beach, and it’s actually very near and dear to my heart, because it’s based on a real place called Topsail Island, NC. My family has been visiting Topsail nearly every summer for more than twenty-five years.  4–How did your heroine surprise you?  By listening to her own heart from the very beginning of the book, in spite of her family’s efforts to protect her from getting hurt.  5–Why will readers love your hero?  Readers will love Sam because he’s swoony and stoic and loves Violet just as she is. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Not going out and adopting a Dalmatian! Ha! (For real, though.) 7–Do you look forward to or do you dread the revision process?  Revisions are actually my favorite part. I…

Thanks to Fresh Fiction for having me today and for providing me with this interesting challenge: use the letters in my title to describe HIGHLAND THIEF, book five in The Sons of Gregor MacLeod series. Okay, here goes… H is for Hot Highlanders—five of them, to be exact! These strong Highland lairds and foster brothers are left reeling when they meet the sassy women who finally bring them to their knees! I is for Injustice. The lairds fight injustice to bring peace to the Highlands. G is for Gregor MacLeod. Twenty years ago, Gregor defeated his enemies and fostered their sons—Darach, Lachlan Callum, Gavin, and Kerr—bonding them to him and to each other, thereby honoring his wife’s dying wish: to bring peace to the Highlands. H is for History. Set in 1453, Highland Thief brings medieval Scotland to life. L is for Laird Kerr MacAlister. Kerr is the hero of Highland Thief, and he intends to marry Isobel MacKinnon…even if his bride-to-be doesn’t intend to marry him. A is for Annoyed, which is how Kerr makes Isobel feel most of the time. Of course, it doesn’t help that Kerr deliberately riles her…and she deliberately riles him right back. N is for Never…

1–What is the title of your latest release? The Duke Who Loved Me 2–What is it about? Circumstances showing a pair who have known each other for years that they belong together, despite obstacles. Particularly the duke, in this case. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  It includes the house of an aristocratic hoarder. The deceased previous duke was eccentric, to say the least. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  She was tempted by the idea of becoming a princess. 5–Why will readers love your hero?  Besides being a drop-dead gorgeous duke, he learns a great deal about himself, the heroine, and the inequities of society and appreciates the chance to do so. 6–What was one of your biggest challenges while writing this book (spoiler-free, of course!)?  Showing how two people who have known each other for a long time can realize they are in love. 7–Do you look forward to or do you dread the revision process?  I like it. I often learn interesting things about the characters and story in that stage. 8–What’s your favorite snack to have on hand while writing?  Tea and cookies! 9–Where would you go for an ideal writer’s retreat? …

1–What is the title of your latest release? UNCHARTED  2–What is it about? In this follow-up to WHITEOUT, Leo—a hotshot pilot—is on a race to find a man and a virus when she crash lands in Alaska… and finds a man. She’s just not sure if he’s the right one. The two team up in order to survive and discovery that maybe, they have, indeed, found the right one. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  Writing and researching these Survival Instincts books has been an absolute adventure because the setting—in this case, the remote Alaskan forest—is more than a place. It’s a character. Leo and Elias have to work with their surroundings in order to survive. But of course, that’s never easy, especially while the ice is breaking up and the elements are working against them. But there’s so much beauty everywhere and that’s what I loved the most… this setting is pristine and wild and it forces the characters to go back to their most basic selves.  4–How did your heroine surprise you?  The biggest surprise with Leo was her unexpected soft bits. She’s a tough, accomplished woman who has gotten where she is through intelligence…

“How about we get a couple of pictures of you two together?” A photographer waved them closer. With each new pose, her awareness of Travis King grew to an alarming level. Little details. The mole on the side of his neck. The scent of spearmint on his breath. One especially long curl that hung onto his forehead. Like a blond Superman. He had a slight bump in his nose. His hand was warm against her back. The gravel timbre of his voice. The more he smiled, the more she wanted to grab him and… Push him far, far away. She didn’t exactly push him, but she made sure to put space between them just as soon as the pictures wrapped up. With a smile and a wave, she was out of the press room… She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going—only that she needed to get Travis out of her head. She glanced at the sign on the wall, turned, and headed for the dressing rooms. If Bree was there, she’d change and attempt a quick exit. “Loretta.” Travis called out. No. At this point, there was nothing left to say. Don’t look back. “Hold up.” He was getting…

“When I’m with you, I get these crazy feelings,” she started slowly. “Emotions I’ve never experienced before come bubbling up out of nowhere. They’re so powerful, they take my breath away.” Even as Samantha recognized the complete truth of what she’d said, it was impossible to miss the effect her words had on Trey. He looked stunned. “Crap,” she muttered, wrapping her arms around herself protectively. “This isn’t coming out the way I wanted. I must sound insane.” But instead of backing away like she expected, Trey took her into his arms, squeezing tight and making the most calming shush- ing sounds she’d ever heard. “You don’t sound insane,” he said, tugging her close until her head was nestled comfortably under his chin. “I completely get everything you’re saying. It’s not crazy at all.” Samantha pulled away, opening her mouth to tell him she didn’t appreciate being patronized. She was so focused on what she was about to say, she forgot about Trey’s mug sitting on the edge of the counter. At least until her flailing hand slammed into it and sent it flying, spinning the thing into the tile backsplash hard enough to shatter it into a thousand pieces,…

Zeke Montgomery knew Morgan West was going to be trouble the minute he laid eyes on her. She stood at the foot of the steps to her own front door — the front door he’d been waiting outside of for the past couple of hours, not that he’d been counting or anything — with her arms folded, looking sternly at him like he was a little kid who’d just drawn on her walls with a crayon. She was very small and wore a not particularly flattering uniform of dark brown pants and khaki shirt, with a dark brown parka that nearly swallowed her thrown over the top. And her strawberry blond hair, the color of which reminded him of apricots, was in a very severe ponytail down her back. She wore no makeup, her face freckled and wholesome, with those bright blue eyes, the ones he remembered from Cal’s funeral that had been red from weeping then, but were much brighter now. They were also very, very direct. And she was still the prettiest thing he’d seen for months, if not years. All of which spelled trouble with a capital ’T’. She said crossly, “Where on earth have you been,…

Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Isabel! It’s hard to believe BLOOD AND EMBER, the third book in your Stormbringer series, is already out. What have you loved about writing this series the most?  Getting to build my own world! Bits of it were tough–the maps especially, as I am not a person who’s good with space and distance. (I am a person who lives in Massachusetts and continually refers to “going up to New York City.”) But I got to think up holidays and histories and peoples, which was tons of fun. I also got to create a world with a benevolent goddess of death and vengeance, and not in a gross “scorned woman” way, which I am into. Olvir embarks on a harrowing journey to hopefully figure out the true nature of his powers, and his friend Vivian (a warrior in her own right!), is not going to let him go about this on his own. Of course, their friendship develops into something more. How did you balance their epic journey with their changing relationship?   The thing I’ve found about travel is that it gives you a lot of time and space to think–like, just being away from your normal surroundings can…

F: Female Warrior I: Independent woman E: Enigmatic alpha R: Riding crop fun C: Convenient marriage E: Enemies to lovers * C: Cave secrets O: Old enemies returned W: Wolf Pack Run B: Birth of a new era O: Ominous messages Y: Young love lost * W: Wild wolf pack O: Only one I’ve ever really wanted L: Love wasn’t part of the plan F: Finally together as equals * FIERCE COWBOY WOLF by Kait Ballenger Seven Range Shifters #4 Cowboys by day, wolf shifters by night: These bad boys are ready to heat things up in a sexy paranormal wolf shifter romance from author Kait Ballenger. Packmaster Maverick Grey is reconciled to spending the rest of his life alone. No woman can compare to his former love, least of all Sierra Cavanaugh–a woman who makes level-headed Maverick’s blood boil with a fire even his worst enemies could never evoke… But then, with his reputation on the line, and the pack’s safety his primary concern, Maverick finds himself in need of a mate, and Sierra comes to him with a proposal. All she wants is to become an elite warrior, and she needs Maverick’s help to get to her goal….

1–What is the title of your latest release? WHAT IF YOU & ME 2–What is it about? Andi, a horror writer/true crime podcaster who struggles with anxiety from a trauma in her past, tangles with her grumpy new neighbor, a former firefighter who’s feeling lost after a career-ending injury sidelined his life plans. 3–What do you love about the setting of your book?  This story is set in New Orleans, where I grew up, so it’s special to me because it will always be my hometown. But New Orleans itself is such a unique, singular kind of place that it gives me a lot to work with—the food the characters eat, the double-shotgun style house Andi and Hill live in, Andi’s aggressively friendly southern hospitality (where she’s just not going to accept that her grumpy, lonely neighbor wants to stay grumpy and lonely.) It’s a fun place to set a story. 4–How did your heroine surprise you?  Andi’s full of contradictions. She loves horror but because she finds relief from her anxiety in it (there’s science to back that up if you’re wondering!). She’s sunshine-y, outgoing, and enthusiastic, but she also has real darkness she’s fighting. I didn’t know when…