The Best Gift Books for 2008 according to Fresh Fiction Staff Members

Every day Fresh Fiction has a new "Fresh Pick," a book recommended by readers not necessarily reviewers although I think there are a few reviewers opinions sought during the process. But the cool thing--does that age me -- is a group of readers sit down and come up with the best books for a theme. The books are usually fiction but sometimes a cook book or self-help will creep in. I've heard the arguments that most self-help and cookbooks are works of fiction anyway. Could be the non-cooks complaining and I won't even touch the bit about the self-help since I'm rather fond of those myself.

Anyway, for the past few months the looming days around the end-of-year holidays is always a hot topic. Like what are the books you read to get into the mood, when do you start reading, is Halloween too early? What do you like to read, something uplifting to raise spirits, something fluffy to get away from all the stress? And gifts. What do you give someone -- gasp -- who doesn't read? Or someone who only reads a certain genre. Everyone knows someone so prejudiced, you buy them a contemporary when they only read historical, or only regency, no Victorian. You know, the usual reader chit chat about books.

So, this year we've had two strong themes going in December. The first is a list of books that are the best gifts to give for a category. Yes, it's not scientific but who better to listen to than a group of buying readers who know their stuff?

By the way, the voting was spirited and loud at times, so you know you've got some STRONG opinions and recommendations here...

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Womens Fiction

Searching for Paradise in Parker, PA by Kris Radish

From the bestselling author of The Sunday List of Dreams and Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral comes a poignant, funny, and uplifting novel of a woman at midlife whose search for happiness within her marriage—and within herself—turns a whole town upside down.

After twenty-eight years of marriage to her husband Lucky, Addy Lipton feels anything but happily married. In fact, just thinking of ... more

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Paranormal Romance

Nightkeepers by Jessica Andersen

As a Miami narcotics detective, Leah Daniels never knows how her day will turn out. But she certainly never expected to be strapped to a stone altar, the human sacrifice in an ancient Mayan ritual meant to coax up a demon from the underworld. Or that she’d be saved by a handsome warrior- priest king who claims to recognize her from his visions... Jaguar Strike wishes he hadn’t made the mistake of reuniting...more

Extraordinary and intriguing start to a new series about the Mayan 2012 Doomsday prophecy.

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Contemporary Romance

Natural Born Charmer by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Chicago Stars quarterback Dean Robillard is the luckiest man in the world: a bona-fide sports superstar and the pride of the NFL with a profitable side career as a buff billboard model for End Zone underwear. But life in the glory lane has started to pale, and Dean has set off on a cross-country trip to figure out what's gone wrong. When he hits a lonely stretch of Colorado highway, he spies...more

"Excellent combination of madcap comedy and emotional drama in this contemporary romance."

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Chick-Lit

This Is How It Happened by Jo Barrett

(not a love story)
He lied, he cheated. He destroyed her life.

How difficult could killing him be? more

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Historical Romance

The Spymaster's Lady by Joanna Bourne

Dark secrets and French spies make for a suspenseful debut historical romance.

She's never met a man she couldn't deceive...until now.

She's braved battlefields. She's stolen dispatches from under the noses of heads of state. She's played the worldly courtesan, the naive virgin, the refined British lady, even a Gypsy boy. But Annique Villiers, the elusive spy known as the Fox Cub, has finally met the one man she can't outwit. more

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Erotic Romance

Art of Desire by Cherie Feather

Contemporary erotica with a historical romance twist from a hot new author.

Museum director Mandy Cooper is obsessed with nineteenth-century artist Catherine Burke—and the artist’s erotically charged relationship with Atacar, her enthralling American Indian lover. But Mandy’s link to the legendary couple runs deeper than she knows. She’s having a heated affair herself—with Jared Cabrillo, Atacar’s handsome great-great nephew who knows precisely what it takes to seduce a woman… ...more

Fresh Fiction Staff "Gift Pick" for Romantic Suspense

Take Me If You Can by Karen Kendall

"A swift, smart and sassy suspense with lots of romantic tension."

For art recovery agent Avy Hunt, no task is too risky when it comes to rescuing stolen treasures. Her latest mission is to locate the multimillion-dollar Sword of Alexander, believed to be in the possession of master thief Sir Liam James. But there is far more to this heist than meets the eye, and what Avy doesn’t know can definitely hurt her. ...more

Later this week be sure to check back for the books from our second strong December theme -- Holiday Reading!

Disclaimer: Fresh Picks are selected by a committee of readers. If you know a terrific book you'd like to share with others, or would like a book to be considered, please contact us.

Diane Gaston | A Regency Christmas

As an author of Regency Historicals, I love to imagine myself in Regency England. At this time of year that means imagining a Regency Christmas.

The Regency (1810 – 1820) was the time period of the Napoleonic War, of literary greats such as Jane Austen and Lord Byron. Many familiar Christmas traditions--decorating Christmas trees, singing Silent Night, waiting for Santa Claus--did not emerge until the later Victorian times, but a Regency Christmas did have other traditions still celebrated today.

Regency families decorated their houses with holly and ivy and evergreens of fir and pine. Mistletoe was hung and the tradition of a gentleman and lady kissing beneath it would have been part of a Regency Christmas. With each kiss the gentleman plucked a berry from the mistletoe. When the berries were gone, so were the kisses.

Christmas was mainly a religious holiday during the Regency. Gifts were exchanged, church attended, and guests might be invited to Christmas dinner. At Christmas dinner a goose or turkey would be served. A Regency household would also serve a Christmas pudding that was made on Stir Up Sunday, the Sunday before Advent, and served on Christmas day. The pudding was a porridge of sugar, raisins, currants, prunes, and wine that was “stirred up” and boiled together in a pudding cloth.

Some of the traditions of the Regency holiday season had their origins in ancient winter celebrations. First-Footing customs of New Year’s Day may have originated in ancient Greece. In order to have good fortune all the year, an uninvited stranger--a dark man in some areas of the UK but the hair color could vary by region--should be the first to cross the threshold on New Years Day. He might carry symbolic gifts- salt (or a coin) for wealth; coal for warmth, a match for kindling, and bread for food. The householder might offer him food and drink. In some villages one tall, dark, and handsome fellow was selected to visit all the houses, receiving food and drink at each one.

Twelfth Night, the eve of the Epiphany, was even more of a time for revelry than Christmas day during the Regency. It was a time to drink wassail (ale or wine spiced with roasted apples and sugar) and play games. A bean was buried in a cake and whoever found it was designated the Lord of Misrule who presided over all the Twelfth Night festivities, which might include theatricals or singing, although many of our most popular Christmas Carols were translated from German later in Victorian times. When Twelfth Night is over, the house decorations are removed and the season is over.

In 2006 my Christmas novella, A Twelfth Night Tale, was released in the Harlequin Historical Christmas anthology, Mistletoe Kisses. Last year the same stories were released in the UK as A Regency Christmas. Read more about them on my website. Both books are available at used book sites online. I’ll also be blogging about the holiday on the Risky Regency Blog and The Wet Noodle Posse.

Do you have any questions about a Regency Christmas?

What is your favorite Christmas tradition?

Diane Gaston
www.dianegaston.com/

Wendy Etherington | Holiday Decorating--Friend or Foe?

Well, finally, the village is assembled!

Is my shopping done? No. How about baking/cooking? Ah, no. Do I have any idea what I’m wearing to the holiday parties this weekend? Definitely not. But the village--the porcelain, hand-painted, Victorian-era, more-expensive-every-year, oversized project is up, so Christmas is officially here.

Wendy's Christmas Village

I’m not one of those people who are constantly evaluating and redoing my house. I know those who strive to have every stick of furniture and accessory in place, whose homes are showplaces of decorating magnificence. They’re proud--and have every right to be--of their talents in coordination, cutting-edge style and color.

Me? I move in, scatter stuff around and nod. That’ll work for a good decade.

So Christmas is the only time I putter and angst over coordinating colors, greenery, ornaments, lights, hiding electrical cords and, ah yes, that crazy, precious village.

Like all loyal children, I blame my mother.

She started my collection when my husband and I were first married over seventeen years ago. When my kids were little, I let them hang whatever ornaments they wanted on the tree any which way. They shook packages with glee. But touch Mama’s village? That was a line nobody dared cross.

Why I spend three hours of assembly, plus at least two trips to the craft store to update details, then obsess and rearrange for up to a week, I’m not really sure. Maybe it’s the novelist control freak in me. All those little porcelain people to place and move around, each one with their imaginary lives trapped in a joyous moment of time. Maybe it’s the cuteness of those people, tiny and delicate. Maybe it’s the warmth of the lights shining through the windows, glowing against the cotton pretending to be snow.

More likely it’s simply the satisfaction of a project launched, completed and suitable for showcasing within a week--a rarity in the book business.

So, while there’s no racing until February, I’m unlikely to have a white Christmas and there are deadlines looming after the new year’s champagne goes flat, I have my family to hang out with as my village lights glimmer in the background.

Wendy Etherington
wendyetherington.com
AFTER DARK, Harlequin Blaze, January 2009

Karen E. Olson | SHOT GIRL

My fourth Annie Seymour mystery, SHOT GIRL, came out on Election Day. So far, reviews and comments from readers have been good. All are saying it's the best in the series.

It was the hardest one to write.

I decided to do something different with SHOT GIRL. With each book, I embrace a different style. My first book was a traditional mystery, the second is what I call my Mafia book, and the third is much more fast paced and thriller like. In SHOT GIRL, Annie is an unreliable narrator.

I had a friend express surprise that I would do this in the fourth — and last — book in the series. Wasn't it a risk? she asked. Sure it was, but I wanted to see if I could do it, if I could pull it off. When I'd started writing the book, I'd just finished reading Scott Turow's PRESUMED INNOCENT, in which he masterfully portrayed an unreliable narrator. Could I do that with Annie? I thought. It was worth a shot.

My goal was to have the reader ask throughout the book: Is Annie telling me the truth? What is she keeping secret? I know she's not telling me everything. But why?

I had to really think about how I was going to write this book, and since I don't outline there was a lot of going back and checking for inconsistencies. At one point Annie has a key that the reader doesn't realize she has. How did she get it? I had no idea. I kept a sort of graph about halfway through writing the book so I could keep track of the questions I had to answer before my editor got her hands on the manuscript.

I'm not sure I would ever do this again because it was difficult. But all reports indicate that I was successful. Annie most definitely is going out with a bang.

Karen
www.kareneolson.com/

Christine and Ethan Rose | YA Fantasy: It’s Not Just for Kids

As we tour around the country signing our book, Rowan of the Wood, we are frequently asked this question: "What age group is your book written for?" It’s a very difficult question to answer because we write for young readers of all ages. The content is appropriate for younger readers but it’s enjoyed by young and old, alike.

I learned to read at the age of six. A year later, I read Gulliver's Travels. By the time I was ten I was reading Frank Herbert's Dune, and now, at the age of 40, I consider Tove Jansson's Moomin books some of the best ever written. I read nearly as many young adult books as anything else. Many of the books I read in childhood were not fully understood by my younger self, but I enjoyed them anyway. They also helped me get a jump start on many difficult subjects that I would have to wrestle later in life.

The mind of a child is much more curious and agile than that of an adult, as well as being infinitely more creative. It should be fed to the limit of its capacity. Good stories, well written and enthralling, are a great way to encourage that creative appetite. Once a child’s mind is captured by the possibilities inherent in reading, they will never look back.

A good story is ageless. Timeless. It spans generations and breaks down international borders. YA Fantasy, with the success of such books as Harry Potter, Twilight, and Eragon, has become recognized and enjoyed by readers of all ages. For those of us who love a good story and do not require steamy sex scenes, the genre provides an escape into a more innocent time. We can once again dream of being the hero in a grand adventure, having magical powers, saving those we love. We believe in magic and in the goodness of people. Our hearts break with the sacrifices of the tragic hero and rejoice with the reunion of lovers. A good story is ageless. Timeless. Young Adult fantasy is no longer just for kids; or rather, it’s for the child in all of us, whatever our age.

So now when asked what age Rowan of the Wood is aimed at I reply, "nine to ninety-nine," but don't exclude anyone outside that age group who loves a good story.

BOOK BLURB After a millennium of imprisonment in his magic wand, an ancient wizard possesses the young boy who released him. When danger is nigh, he emerges from the frightened child to set things right. Both he and the boy try to grasp what has happened to them only to discover a deeper problem. Somehow the wizard’s bride from the ancient past has survived and become something evil. Award-Winning Finalist of the National Best Books 2008 Awards

Check out the Holiday Contests, where you can win books, B&N gift cards, a digital camcoder, and more!

The book is available now via Amazon (Kindle, too) and wherever books are sold.

Christine and Ethan Rose are the authors of the new YA fantasy novelRowan of the Wood. They live in Austin, TX with their three dogs and Shadow the Cat.http://www.christineandethanrose.com/ * http://www.rowanofthewood.com/

Anne McAllister | Where do you get your ideas?

The most common question writers are asked is: Where do you get your ideas?

Generally the people asking it are perplexed because they can't quite fathom how such ideas come or how they are different from other ideas or what writers can possibly do with them when they do turn up.

Usually I say, "Ideas are everywhere."

But that doesn't really help. So in case you're wondering how things come together, let me just illustrate with my January Harlequin Presents, Antonides' Forbidden Wife.

It certainly didn't come as a full-blown story. No IDEA (in capital letters) popped up in my head. In fact, it wasn't supposed to be a story at all -- because PJ Antonides is not what is commonly considered "a Presents hero." He was a surfer, for heaven's sake!

He made an appearance in an earlier book. As the younger brother of the uptight, determined, severely responsible hero, PJ was by turns annoying, misunderstood, breezy and charming. Pretty much everything his brother was not. He also didn't own any multi-national corporations on the side.

He was also, in that book, called Peter because that's my husband's name and I called him that because I wanted a name I liked but one that I wouldn't be using for a hero (one hero named Peter is all anyone is allowed, I figure).

But I needed a book (I'd just stopped writing the one I had been working on, due to circumstances beyond my control), and one of the higher beings in the Harlequin pantheon of editors suggested Peter's story.

I said, "What story?"

Long pause on the trans-atlantic telephone line.

"He's a surfer!" I said.

"I thought you left him running the company," she replied, "when Elias went off to build boats." There was a sniff of disapproval about Elias's behavior.

"Well, yes," I said. And already the wheels were turning. I had left Peter running the company. But he was pretty much an unknown quantity as far as the family went. They'd barely seen him in ten years. He'd gone off to Hawaii and rarely came back. He'd even left his old identity behind. He'd become PJ out there. (Tricky guy. He obviously had designs on becoming a hero).

I wondered what other secrets he might have.

No secrets, he told me. Just a wife.

A wife? Where did that come from?

I have no idea. I guess it was mulling over what shocking revelation might create an interesting set-up and provide a stepping stone for some conflict. Yeah, a wife would definitely do that!

But where did he get her? Hawaii, apparently, because that's where he'd gone. Who was PJ likely to meet in Hawaii?

And just when I needed her, Ally Maruyama waltzed into the book.

Ally was a combination of several girls I'd known growing up in California -- daughters of mixed cultural backgrounds who had to try to deal with "old world" expectations within the world they wanted to live.

But why did PJ marry her? And where was she now? And what had brought her back?

All these questions demanded ideas to answer them. They were questions that took a lot of thought -- a lot of playing around with who these people were, what mattered to them, what drove them.

And then, of course, I had to ask who was Ally now, so many years later?

There were, as I said, lots of ideas involved in discovering the answers to that.

And that's where another bit of my own background came in. One of my best friends, growing up, has become a talent fiber artist. Melody Crust has won awards, written books, taught scads of workshops. Her career informed Ally's. I read Melody's book, A Fine Line, trying to see it through Ally's eyes.

I didn't know a lot about fiber art. I'm not an intensely visual person. But one of the joys of writing, as Silhouette author Karen Sandler said the other day at the Harlequin Open House, is learning about so many different things in the course of research.

Melody's vocation was my starting point. Ally's career and Ally's personality grew from there.

That's what most ideas are -- they are beginnings. They are catalysts. But alone they are no more than sparks. They need to ignite interest, research, discussion, and ultimately they need to create more questions and more answers until the story begins to develop and, eventually, takes on a life of its own.

And when it does, the characters come up with their own ideas -- and it's all I can do to keep up with them!

Anne McAllister
www.annemcallister.com/

Sandi Shilhanek | The Book Search

This week my friend Yvonne has been visiting from England. One of the things that we try to accomplish when she visits is to see how many bookstores we can peruse in the Dallas area. Often while we are in the bookstore Yvonne’s cell phone will ring, and it will be another friend of ours from Hawaii.

The conversation almost always starts with what book are you looking at? Does it look good? Oh, I think I might want a copy of it too. Yvonne being the generous sort is always willing to contribute to someone else’s tbr pile, so we add book upon book to the basket we’re toting, and eventually try to head to the checkout stand.

So last spring Yvonne is in Dallas visiting, and the phone call comes. This time it’s slightly different. I’d like a book that I think is red, it might have heart in the title and might have been written by someone named Kane, or is it Cain, is that a first or last name? She had no clue! How in the world did she expect us to find this book?

Well, Yvonne is nothing if not determined, and I’m not far behind her when the mood strikes. We were a sight to be seen scouring the stores looking for a book. The salespeople were trying to be helpful, but we’re like we have very little information, and don’t think you can help us with what we have.

Did we ever find the book? We did! Are you as surprised about that as we were? How did it happen you may ask? We were in line to check out, and Yvonne did a quick check of a bargain book table, and there was a red book with the title Heartsick, and the author’s name was Chelsea Cain. We had no idea whether it was the correct book or not, but thought we had nothing to lose by buying it. As it turned out it was the correct book, we lucked out!

So, have you ever tried to search out a book with little to no information about it? Were you as successful as Yvonne and I were? Did you give up the search? If you gave up the search did you ever end up finding the book?

Sandi