For those of you who’ve been yearning to return to my little seaside Oregon town of Hope Harbor—the wait is over! If you haven’t visited, I hope you’ll stop by. Starfish Pier is Book 6, but every story stands alone. So please drop in! In my latest novel you’ll meet Holly Miller, who’s new in town. Moving to Hope Harbor was a big step for her for several reasons, but she’s settling in as a first-grade teacher. Life is good…but a little romance wouldn’t hurt. Enter Steven Roark, who’s left the military behind and now runs fishing charters. He’s in town on a mission—a personal one this time—but his take-charge manner isn’t helping him achieve his goal. And he definitely isn’t looking for romance. Funny how that works, though. Sometimes when you least expect it Ms. Right can show up—even if she’s nothing like the kind of woman you thought you’d fall for! So let’s see where this game takes us. S is for Starfish. Matchmakers don’t always have to be human. 🙂 T is for traumatic. Holly and Steven have both had their share of tough times. A is for antagonistic. Which captures the mood of their first meeting….

1–What’s the name of your latest release?  Perfect Distraction 2–What is it about?  Perfect Distraction is about an oncology pharmacist, Lauren Taylor, and Andrew Bishop, a young law student recently diagnosed with Hodgkin Lymphoma, and their failed attempts to NOT fall in love with one another. 3–What word best describes your heroine?  Compassionate 4–What makes your hero irresistible?  Andrew is confident and purposeful, but also selfless and kind. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  Andrew has a twin sister he’s close to, who also happens to occasionally meddle in his love life. Lauren’s two colleagues – Emma and Kiara – are her lifeline when things get tough. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book?  The setting of Perfect Distraction is near and dear to my heart. I’m an oncology pharmacist myself, and the cancer center where much of the book takes place is modeled after my workplace. The main thing I want people to take away from this setting is that love can bloom anywhere—even places you’d never expect. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the seat of your pants)? I’m definitely a panster….

Our first foster dog came into our home at an embarrassingly late stage in my dog training career. I’d been talking and writing about fostering for years but hadn’t made the leap to actually doing it for reasons (excuses?) that might sound familiar to you; I was busy, my resident dogs might not enjoy it, and I’d have a hard time saying goodbye to my new best friend. But when the heartbreaking photos of dogs in need on my feed got to be too much for me, I finally decided it was time to stop talking and start doing. We welcomed an adorable pitbull named Freddy and that dude helped us kick off our fostering journey. Since then my husband and I have gone on to foster a bunch of other dogs with more on the horizon. My initial concerns about fostering didn’t really matter when I saw the happy endings that happened once our fosters found their forevers. There are so many compelling reasons why fostering is important, but the following are a few of my favorites. Fostering Saves Two Lives Any time you bring in a foster you’re saving an additional life along with the temporary one under…

Since the  Lamaze class  I  scheduled was in  Jersey,  my sister insisted I stay the night at her place. My phone buzzed with an incoming text just as Sapphire pulled into the parking lot of the hospital. Max: I’m in my apartment and ready to go! “Speak of the devil?” Sapphire asked as she parked the car “Yeah.”  I  got out of the car and could feel her eyes drilling into my back as I texted him. Me: Heading in now. Call you in a few minutes. Avoiding  Sapphire’s scrutiny,  I  walked purposefully toward the main entrance. Unsurprisingly,  my sister followed close behind me.  “Jade.” “What?” “You know how  I  feel about your work and having no life. I want you to be happy. You really can’t blame me for being your voice of reason.” “No,  I  can’t  blame  you  for  being  you.”  When she grinned,  I  leaned in and kissed her cheek. My sister had always been extremely protective of me and brutally honest with her opinions, and clearly she was #TeamMax. A  few minutes later,  Nurse  Gail addressed the class.  Introductions were made, and we were all given name tags to wear.  I  waited until our instructor said, …

1–What’s the name of your latest release?   Little Wonders, arriving today: Tuesday, March 17! 2–What is it about?   It’s about the parent-eat-parent world of preschool, and how being a mom today is nearly impossible, because you aren’t just told you can have it all – you are told that you must have it all. Here’s the blurb: When Quinn Barrett’s son refuses to wear his hand-crafted costume to the Little Wonders Preschool Happy Halloween Parade and Dance Party she loses it — complete with stomping, screaming, and costume-destruction galore. Not her best day. And caught on viral video.   Yep, “Halloween Mom” is now internet famous.  The posting culprit: tattooed, blue-haired, west-coast transplant Daisy McGulch, out of place in the posh New England town and unable to blend with the other perfect mommies of Little Wonders Preschool. While she couldn’t care less about organic snacks (paleo-preferred) or the winter quarters of the Little Wonders chickens, she’s not about to admit she’s the one who accidentally brought Quinn’s worst moment to the entire world–she’d be kicked out of town! But when Quinn and Daisy find themselves unlikely cohorts in the fight for Little Wonders Parents Association supremacy, they also discover they have…

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 Catherine Bybee! Writes: My newest novel, My Way To You, has a central romance between Parker, a strong, independent heroine and Colin a man who helps her get through the tragedies she faces. But beyond that, it’s about the journey of allowing Parker to love herself. About: I was born in Southern California. However, my parents divorced when I was two and my mother moved us to Washington State where I was raised. Four days after I graduated from high school I returned to So. Cal and never left. I was an RN who spent the majority of my career in a level 2 trauma center until a career ending injury.  I have always been a gifted storyteller. But it wasn’t until I was back in school to become a nurse that I was told I had the ability to ‘write’ a story. I had taken a creative writing course in college for my English credit and it was that teacher who pulled me aside and told me I should…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Gretchen! Please tell us about yourself and your new novel, THE OPERATOR. The Operator is the story of Vivian Dalton, a nosy switchboard operator who eavesdrops on all the conversations of the residents in her small town.   Set in Wooster, Ohio in the 1950s, I read that this story is inspired by your own family’s history! Can you share the background and inspiration for THE OPERATOR? I’d been doing genealogy research on my mom’s side of the family, and combined a little of that with my grandmother’s occupation.       Vivian Dalton is one of the town’s switchboard operators and knows everything about everyone because she and the other operators secretly listen in on conversations. If you were in a similar occupation, would you listen in on conversations? Why or why not? I really don’t think I would. It’s so invasive. Vivian overhears a conversation that could be her downfall – she’d be humiliated in front of the entire town and she’s desperate to stop it from getting out. What do you think readers will love about Vivian? What do you think they will find frustrating about her? I know different readers will love & find frustrating…

1–What’s the name of your latest release? The Antidote for Everything 2–What is it about?  It tells the story of what goes spectacularly wrong in the deep friendship between a woman named Georgia (a urologist) and a man named Jonah (a family medicine doctor) after one of them is unjustly fired. 3–What word best describes your main character(s)?  Bullheaded 4–What makes your story relatable? I think we are all tuned in to the concept of friendship as a fundamental human relationship, maybe even more so than family in certain ways, since friendships are voluntary and self-selected. But also the novel poses the question of who should get to make medical decisions: politicians? Administrators? Or doctors and patients? And what is a justifiable response to injustice? 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help?  I have two main characters and there is no question: they turn to one another. Neither of them has close family and they have the magical kind of friendship where they are completely comfortable with each other. There’s no artifice, no self-censoring, no fear of abandonment between them. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? It’s set in Charleston…

Jen: What inspired your latest release, This Won’t End Well? Camille: For my fortieth birthday, my husband, two children, and I went to Paris. It was an amazing trip. We stayed in a magical apartment in Montmartre that had sweeping views of Paris and the Eiffel Tower. We couldn’t have found a bad meal if we tried, and we managed to do just enough sightseeing to make the most of the vacation without burning ourselves out. But eight days is a lot of family time–especially for a writer used to spending long stints alone in front of her computer. By the day after my birthday, I’d had so much togetherness that I felt like I couldn’t hear myself think. My husband, bless him, quickly realized this and volunteered to take our kids to a park on the Seine so I could go for a walk by myself. I was strolling along the river, thinking about what a feat it is to successfully manage relationships–even, or maybe especially, when they’re with the people you love most–when a single sentence popped into my head: Hello seems like such an innocuous word, but it’s really a portal to loss.  Which is, of course,…

Alas – it’s the last day of our Valentine’s Day Recipe Roundup! We have two more great posts from awesome authors – read on for a caffeine fix! *** In my new book, The Solid Grounds Coffee Company, ex–rock climber Bryan Shaw opens a coffee-roasting business in Denver . . . and ropes his friend and longtime love interest, marketing expert Analyn Sanchez, into helping him. And while the characters in the story are more concerned with third-wave roasting methods and black coffee made by pour-over, I happen to know that no one can resist a Valentine’s Day latte. Filled with chocolate-covered cherry goodness, even a coffee purist won’t be able to resist this “dessert-in-a-mug” take on chocolate-covered cherries. DARK-CHOCOLATE CHERRY MOCHA Makes: 1 serving 4 ounces very strong coffee or espresso 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao or higher) 8 ounces whole milk, 2% milk, or almond milk 2 ounces sour cherry juice ½ teaspoon vanilla extract 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (or) 2 tablespoons unflavored simple syrup Whipped cream (optional) Chocolate shavings or sprinkles (optional) Combine half of the milk with the chocolate in a double boiler and whisk over low heat until melted. Whisk in…