Instead of trying to find your perfect match in a dating app, we bring you the “Author-Reader Match” where we introduce you to authors as a reader you may fall in love with. It’s our great pleasure to present MarcyKate Connolly! Writes: Fantasy novels with undertones of classic stories. MarcyKate’s most recent book, TWIN DAGGERS (out August 25!), is a fantasy spin on Romeo + Juliet . . . if Juliet and her twin sister were magic-wielding spies out for revenge in a world of magic versus machines. About: MarcyKate loves books, dogs (especially pugs!), and caffeine, and has minor obsessions with Jane Austen, Shakespeare, and Grimm’s fairytales. She’s a night owl who enjoys staying up late plotting all the terrible twists that will befall her characters, researching strange and/or paranormal things, or reading an unputdownable book until dawn. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: • Loves confident, mission-driven girls • Enjoys being immersed in complex fantasy worlds • Sucker for star-crossed lovers • Doesn’t mind a betrayal or two What to expect if we’re compatible: • Feminist spins on classic stories • Girls who know their own worth and the boys who love them • Ancient conspiracies…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction, Sarah! Please tell us about yourself and your new book, RUTHLESS. Hello!  Thanks for having me!!  I started off my career writing for television (and still do!), so my prose tends to be fast-paced and dialogue-heavy.  RUTHLESS is the third book in my EYE OF THE BEHOLDER trilogy, about a seemingly idyllic future society where good people are rewarded and bad ones punished… “good deeds” make you more beautiful, while “bad” ones lead to deformity and death.  By the time we get to the third book, our main character, Grace, has learned the truth about her world, and she’s on a mission to set things right.  Although, “setting things right” is more complicated than it seems, just like in real life – and that’s a lot of what this series is about, that nothing is black and white. RUTHLESS marks the end of your Eye of the Beholder trilogy. What have you loved the most about creating these books? Is it bittersweet for this series to come to an end? I’m really excited for this full trilogy to be out in the world!  Though RUTHLESS was the hardest book I’ve ever written, I’m really proud of…

I get asked a lot of questions as a writer, but one of the most common ones is what my process for writing each story looks like. Because I’m an organized soul, it’s typically the same for each book. I’m here today to share what that process looks like for me. I’ve written a lot of stories over the years, and after the first several, I started to develop a process that worked for me as I created a story from beginning to end. The beginning doesn’t start with writing, it starts with plotting. In fact, it just starts with an idea. A big idea. For example, with STING, I thought of one of my favorite classic stories, The Count of Monte Cristo, and knew I wanted to write a retelling. But I wanted to have a female heroine and a dystopian twist. So first I get my big idea. Then I test it. Testing it means making sure there’s a big enough conflict to sustain a whole story with twists and turns. With STING, it was a little easier because I wanted to stick close to the original plot, but typically I figure it all out from scratch. I…

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 Jus Accardo! Writes: Pulse-pounding Young Adult fiction that will make you linger on the edge of your seat. Have a savage love of unfailingly loyal friendships, intense love that will stick with you for days after reading the last page, and action that will have you holding your breath? We might be Book Soul Mates. About: Music-loving caffeine junkie with a fierce love of books, dogs, photography, and ink. Low maintenance and no real-world drama as I’m usually absorbed in the lives and trials of fictional characters. I’m dog obsessed–but this can only benefit you because, dogs. Shy at first but get to know me and we’ll be friends for life. What I’m looking for in my ideal reader match: Someone who thrives on love stories with a paranormal, scifi, or fantasy twist. Appreciators of snarky, sometimes dark, humor. Lovers of strong, independent girls that fight for what they want and those they love. Admirers of quirky, flawed characters that have room to grow….

1–What’s the name of your latest release? SELECTED 2–What is it about? A teen who comes from nothing and finds herself at an amazing school with a golden ticket for the future. She quickly learns that nothing at the school is what is seems and falls for a guy who she isn’t sure she can trust. 3–What word best describes your heroine? Gifted. 4–What makes your hero irresistible? He’s superpopular but turns his back on his shallow friends to find something real in life, to find someone real. I love that quality in him. 5–Who are the people your main characters turn to when they need help? My main characters turn to their friends when they need help. They are also very self-reliant. 6–What do you love about the setting of your book? I loved playing around in the near future, like, twenty years ahead. I loved playing around with what society would look like if an overarching government broke down. And I loved setting a story in a make-believe prep school. There’s so much pressure on teens today that I think is captures at Easton Prep. 7–Are you a plotter (follow an outline) or a pantster (write by the…

Welcome to Fresh Fiction! Can you please tell us about your new book, HOW RORY THORNE DESTROYED THE MULTIVERSE? RORY is about a princess who has been blessed (and cursed) by fairies and expects to inherit the throne. Then her father is assassinated, her mother marries the Regent of a rival kingdom to keep the political peace, and Rory finds herself betrothed to that kingdom’s prince. (Except the kingdoms are huge interplanetary collections). When Rory gets there, however, she finds out the prince is missing. She decides to find him, rescue him, and restore him to his rightful place. And then, well. Things don’t go to plan. Rory Thorne is a smart and determined young woman who thought she was going to inherit the throne, but her mother gives birth to a son and she suddenly becomes a political pawn. What character trait do you love the most about Rory? She’s fearless. Rory is the firstborn daughter in ten generations, and her birth is marked by esteemed pomp and circumstance, including receiving fairy blessings. She receives a curse from one of the fairies, to “know truth when you hear it, no matter how well concealed.” If you could bestow a…

1. Travel! I spent two years between high school and college seeing the world. I helped bathe orphans in Mexico, saw the wall come down in Germany, rode a bike in snowy Denmark, slept in too many airports to count, sang on a stage in Poland, and so much more. Since then I’ve sailed to the Bahamas, climbed a lighthouse in Bermuda, hiked the Na Pali coast in Hawaii, canoed in Venezuela, zip lined a forest, crawled through caves in Ireland, and the list goes on… Travel! It’ll open your mind and soul to this incredible earth we live on. 2. Be open to change. When your heart and gut tell you to take a less comforting choice, consider listening. 9 times out of 10 your heart and gut are right. 3. Learn a language. Be it Spanish, French, Farsi, or whatever, dig in and learn it. Be willing to travel to a country that speaks your chosen language and do total immersion. Be willing to take more classes than are required for a high school diploma. Knowing another language is an irreplaceable skill. 4. It’s okay to break up with someone you’re dating. What’s it’s not okay to do…