Danielle: Welcome back to Fresh Fiction, Karen! We are so excited to have you here. It’s a bittersweet day, because the last book in the Tradd Street series, THE ATTIC ON QUEEN STREET, has finally arrived. What has writing this series meant to you? How do you think you’ve changed during the course of writing about Tradd Street?   Karen:   The idea for the series began in 2005—sixteen years ago!  A lot can happen in sixteen years.  My children, then 13 and 11, have gone through high school, college, and grad school (lots of graduations!) and are now launched into adulthood with one wedding on the horizon.  We acquired two dogs, and lost one, remodeled our kitchen, bathrooms, and pretty much everything else, and bought a beach house.  We survived a pandemic and I inherited the care of my elderly parents.  All this while writing all seven books in the series plus nineteen other books and a chapter in an anthology.  I’m not sure I slept very much! I had never written a series before, and when the idea first hit me, I knew immediately it had to be set in a Southern city filled with lots of history, gorgeous architecture and, of course,…

ExPro hockey player, Jake Champagne, and artisan pie maker, Evie Pemberton, were best friends from childhood until Jake ghosted on the friendship when he fell for Evie’s beauty queen cousin. Now, as Jake recovers from a messy divorce, they have reconnected and are struggling to find their footing in this new relationship. Can they get their old friendship back, or do they want something more? In this except, they have been shopping and a salesperson mistook them for a married couple. *** “I can’t believe she thought we were married.” Jake laughed. “I could have told her you were in my wedding, all right. You just weren’t the bride.” And in a split second, the laughter died on Evie’s face. “Jake, I wasn’t.” She hadn’t been in that Cecil B. Demille production of a wedding? At least fourteen women had marched down that aisle wearing dresses the color of Bazooka bubble gum; surely Evie had been one of them. “You weren’t? I could have sworn…” How could he have missed that? Evie smiled a sad little smile. “To be fair there was a lot of pink tulle and ruffles going on with those dresses. It was hard to see who…

Those of you who’ve read my work know I frequently write about magic (the Maclean Curse and Talisman Ring Series), and now I’m beginning an entirely new, contemporary magic realism series. THE BOOK CHARMER is my newest book and it’s about a woman who is one of seven sisters, each with their own magical ability. Sarah Dove’s magic is that she can talk to books … and they can talk back, too, which is super helpful as she’s a librarian and so knows which book belongs with which reader. If I could have a magical power, I’d want Sarah’s because I can imagine of no power so wonderful as seeing a reader’s face light up as they read a book they love. Which is why I put it first in my list of FIVE TYPES OF MAGIC WE ALL NEED: 1. The magic of the right book at the right time. You know how it happens — there you are, dealing with something personal and heavy, when you find yourself lost in a book that gives you a deep sense of comfort. Sometimes the book dwells on the same issue you’re struggling with and gives you fresh ideas of how to handle…