Danielle: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Ruby! Congrats on your debut release, HOT COPY. What made you decided to tackle a workplace romance?  Ruby: Thank you! Very excited to be here! Well, mostly I wanted to write a desk sex scene… But more seriously, I wanted to take a swing at existing power dynamics and I also think that workplaces are a common setting for a lot of real-life romance. Combine all of that together and Hot Copy was the final product! Corrine has a reputation for being ruthless and “icy,” but she feels like she is doing what needs to get done to make it to the top. Of course, this all comes with its own consequences as a result. What do you think readers will relate to in Corrine? How does Corrine have to grapple with the decisions she’s made to further her career?  Corrine is an egg. She’s hard on the outside (she has to be) but soft on the inside (like a lot of us are) and I think that a lot of people are familiar with having to put forward a hard outer shell in order to protect our more vulnerable selves, whether that be in a…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Yaffa and congrats on your debut novel hitting stores! Please tell us more about yourself and your book, A TASTE OF SAGE. Thank you! A TASTE OF SAGE came to be as I combined my interests in the romance genre and cooking. It was also important to me that there be some aspect that extends beyond the five senses. I started with Lumi, my main character, and an idea of the journey I wanted for her, but not as much of a clear idea of how she would get there. Little by little, I added the other characters and conflicts. That was the fun part. Will you talk a little bit about your journey into publishing? What has been the most surprising thing about becoming a published author so far? I queried for about two years on and off before I connected with my agent. What surprises me the most is how much there is to learn about how publishing works, though I’m making progress every day. In addition to being a contemporary romance, A TASTE OF SAGE is also a love letter to FOOD! I was obsessed with the descriptions of food throughout this novel…

My top five favorite workplace romances? The author who immediately comes to mind on workplace romances is Jayne Ann Krentz. Most of her early heroes felt like cowboys in the boardroom. I used to eat up her contemporary romances like they were going out of style. So I’d have to put an oldie but a goodie, Sweet Fortune by Jayne Ann Krentz, on my list. And if she’s there, then I have to also add Susan Elizabeth Phillips and the first in her Chicago Stars books, It Had to Be You, about a woman who inherits a football team yet knows nothing about the sport. The humor and conflict between the hero and heroine are laugh-out-loud funny. And the steam factor is high! On a less contemporary note, I’m a huge Shelly Laurenston fan, and she’s known for writing zany paranormal romances. But one workplace romance that’s stayed with me is Big, Bad Beast, which pits wolf shifter and former Marine sniper Dee-Ann Smith up against Ric Van Holtz, her boss. I laugh and flip page after page whenever I’m reading Shelly Laurenston’s books. Staying in the paranormal lane, I’d have to go with Thea Harrison’s The Elder Races series,…