Sara Reyes | Tripping Down Memory Lane

This has been an interesting week coming off a beautiful relaxing away-from-it-all vacation to business catch-up, a little family drama, death of a favorite author to a full-blown panic attack. I seldom have panic attacks in fact probably wouldn't know what they were unless someone I trust told me about them. I just called them anxious moments. Anyway, this one went full blown crazy and was all based, believe it or not, on books. Or more specifically the chance of not being able to get new books.

First it was just a weird dream sorta a nightmare but it kept echoing in my mind. I was wandering in a book store -- the old Waldenbooks on Midway, now a beverage center (sigh) -- where I had spent many memorable minutes and hours every week for about fifteen years. It was the first stand-alone chain bookstore I'd ever been in. Some of the staff members are still my friends. They made me feel at home in Texas, this new place I'd moved to from the East. They learned my name, my taste in books and even introduced me to new authors and books I'd never tried before. Judy and Jackie put aside books for me every week and even called me on Tuesdays when they got books in they thought I might like. I was a steady customer, buying about ten books per trip for me, and two each for the children. My husband would be dragged in on the weekend buying splurge and he'd pick up a tech magazine or book or one of those war books he liked so much. I'd drop in on the way home from work if I had a particularly bad day or a good one. I never missed a Tuesday or a weekend because you never knew what might be waiting for me.

So back to the dream. All the bookstores closed. Yup, it was terrible. I remember the day I went to the Waldenbooks and Judy told me they were closing at the end of January. It was horrible, a shock. But I wasn't too concerned because there was a Borders and Barnes & Noble closer to my house now and there was always Amazon. So life would go on...right? I haven't thought about that time in years and it's sad to know because of this week's events something happened to make me take the trip down my memory lane.

When I got the news that Edith Layton had passed away, I made a trip to my "storage books." Not that far away, just a big room upstairs. I needed to spend time with an old friend. Layton was one of those marvelous Regency authors Judy had introduced me to in the 1980s when I moved to Texas. I had started reading Regencies when we lived in Germany and the Post Bookstore had them in stock. But they were not ones they carried too often so it was a hit or miss adventure in finding them and buying new ones. In Texas I started my collection of Regencies and now have an eight-foot tall bookcase (four stacked) of them. It was nice to know my old friends are still with me.

Today is a day I'll blame on Marie Bostwick. She introduced me to a world set in the barnstorming days of the early 20th century midwest in her Fields of Gold and On Wings of The Morning. Because of her, I'm up at 4am to drive five hours to the last meeting of the biplane association in northern Oklahoma. Ah, the romance of the biplane: goggles and white scarves.


Until next time...

Get out there and READ a book...

Sara Reyes

DFW Tea Readers Group

Join us at Readers 'n 'ritas November 13-15, 2009!

TJ Bennett |An Interview With

TJ Bennett is the author of "Dark and Daring Romance" and a former Romance Writers of America Golden Heart nominee. TJ writes "outside the box" historical romance featuring richly detailed settings and unusual subjects. Her critically-acclaimed debut novel, THE LEGACY, was rated a "Buried Treasure 2008" and a “Desert Isle Keeper” by the influential reader site All About Romance. The Historical Novel Society deemed THE LEGACY “a solid historical romance from a promising debut author.” THE LEGACY, set in 16th century Reformation Germany during the Peasant Revolution, was also a finalist in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence contest, the Book Buyers Best Award, and the Holt Medallion. TJ’s newest release, THE PROMISE, follows a mercenary during Charles V’s Italian campaigns. THE PROMISE was awarded TOP PICK status by Night Owl Romance and given four stars by Romantic Times BOOKReviews, which called TJ an “author to watch.” Eye on Romance’s Historical Romance Writers’ reviewer says TJ is a “master at writing historical fiction.”

FF: Welcome to Fresh Fiction, TJ. Tell us a little more about your work.

TJ: I’d like to thank Fresh Fiction for having me here today to talk about my latest release, THE PROMISE. This is a story of love, redemption, and the power of a promise. In 1525, a German mercenary (a Landsknecht) in the service of Emperor Charles V must overcome his own wounded heart and convince a reluctant widow to marry him in order to keep a promise to a dying friend. A gypsy’s curse on every man who loves her forces the Spanish beauty to rebuff him, but their passion for one another is stronger than the mysterious misfortune that seems to plague any with the courage to defy the curse. THE PROMISE features the brother of my printer hero from THE LEGACY, my debut novel.


Click to read the rest of TJ's blog and to comment.

Karen Kelley | Twenty Questions...or Things You Didn't Know About Me

Twenty things you don’t know about me. Less if I run out of stuff to say.

1) My name is Karen Kelley. Okay, if you’re reading this blog you probably already knew that.

2) I write romance. And you might have known that, too. But did you know I write steamy romantic comedies?

3) I have two books out right now. How To Seduce A Texan. This is a new book from Kensington Brava. I was raised on a small farm so I had a lot of fun taking a big city reporter and putting her undercover in the country on a dude ranch. Except the hero in hiding discovers her deceit and plans to make her earn every word.

4) I’m usually laughing when I’m writing. I just can’t help myself. It’s like telling myself a joke I’ve never heard before.


5) The second book is one that went to mass market from trade. It’s the first book in my Planet Nerak series, Close Encounters of the Sexy Kind. It’s another steamy romantic comedy. Warning: do not drink liquids when reading this book. Especially in public places because you might spray on the person in front of you.

You're not even halfway done! Click here to read the rest...they're fun!

Linda Goodnight | Cinderella at the Book Expo

I just returned from New York City and my very first trip to the Book Expo of America (BEA). For the uninitiated, BEA is an enormous trade show of publishers exhibiting their authors, books and other forms of media. People from literally all over the world gathered at the Javits Center on the Hudson River for several days of sales, book signings, workshops, and general schmoozing.

The BEA buzz is noisy, energizing and exhausting. My feet are still recovering. Authors from every genre—children’s books to nonfiction to romance-were in abundance. Posters and banners bearing names such as Debbie Macomber, Oliver North, R.L. Stine, and literally dozens of others lined the walls and hung from the ceilings. All were scheduled to sign free books for anyone willing to stand in some very long lines.

On a personal note, I had a couple of special highlights. One was a fun and friendly audio interview done by "All About Romance" to be aired online at their website at a future date. For someone with an Oklahoma twang, I’m a little nervous about hearing my voice online.

Probably my favorite thing was signing my latest release from Steeple Hill, THE BABY BOND, in the Harlequin booth.

Click to read the rest of Linda's blog and to leave a comment.

Romance Readers mourn the loss of Edith Layton

Long-time and beloved romance author Edith Layton passed away this morning following a long bout with ovarian cancer.

She leaves behind three grown children, her grandchildren, and tens of thousands of readers who enjoyed her historical romances.

WordWenches.com which Edith was active on until a few weeks ago, is doing a commemorative post for Edith tomorrow, June 3, 2009.

Please invite anyone who knew Edith and/or her books to come by and leave a comment. They are planning on putting everything they get on CDs for the family.

Click here for ommemorative post

Carly Phillips | Feeling Lucky?

Everybody fantasizes about going to Las Vegas and winning big. And certainly, we’ve all seen the "Whatever Happens …" TV commercials and secretly wished we were experiencing the spontaneity and frenzy of Sin City shown in these ads. Excitement and luck run rampant there. Everywhere you turn, someone or something is beckoning to you to try your LUCK!

Mike Corwin, the second Corwin cousin heads to the gambling capital for just such an experience, but will the infamous Corwin Curse that has plagued the males in his family for generations follow him? Or will he end up on a lucky streak that lasts a lifetime? This is the premise of my newest novel and the second book in my “Lucky” series, LUCKY STREAK.

And sometimes, thankfully, luck pays off for me! I definitely don’t like to presume good things will happen, I like to hope. I’m afraid of jinxing something. Can you really do that? I rarely tempt fate. But it’s an interesting concept, isn’t it? Luck?

LUCK is fickle. And yet many of us believe. When I ask myself why, I realize it’s because of HOPE. It’s the possibility that Lady Luck will step in and pick us up that provides a ray of hope. LUCK causes us to play the lottery, pick up a heads up penny, read fortune cookies, and many more crazy, superstitious things. It was the concept of LUCK that drove the idea for my new LUCKY series and book two is in stores now!

Click here to read the rest of Carly's blog and to leave a comment.

Susan Mallery | What do our characters wish for?

In the last hours before college graduation, I was saved from life as an accountant by a continuing education course titled "How to Write a Romance Novel." Not that there’s anything wrong with being an accountant. It’s just that, for me, the infinite realm of numbers couldn’t possibly compare to the infinite realm of characters.

Numbers can’t surprise you by making bad decisions. Numbers don’t have quirks that make you laugh. (Except for 43,770. For some reason, 43,770 cracks me up every time.)

But "infinite" can feel overwhelming to a writer facing a blank page, and I’m always on the lookout for a new tool to get to know my characters better. I think I found one in Debbie Macomber’s wonderful book, Twenty Wishes. Anne Marie, a young widow, is stuck in a rut of grief and decides to make a list of twenty wishes, hoping this will give her something to look forward to and will restore her positive outlook on life. The bubble wrap popping scene is a hoot! I want to have a party like that.

What would I learn, I wondered, if I did this exercise from the point of view of my characters? What new insights would I gain? I mean, we're talking twenty wishes here – that's going to dig pretty deep. And we’re not talking Miss America-style "world peace” kinds of wishes. No, these need to be things the character can impact and achieve. Come to think of it, "world peace" might work as a wish for one of my monarchs. A king can refuse to start a war, right? But not for the everyday folks.

Click here to read the rest of Susan's blog and to leave a comment.

Sandi Shilhanek | Anthology - Book Counts

As I contemplated this week’s blog I was really struggling for a good topic, and decided to read instead of worrying over the blog…either an idea would come to me or it wouldn’t!

The book I chose to read is titled Believe by Sharon Sala, but what it is really an anthology collection of three of her earlier releases; Miracle Man, When You Call My Name, and Shades of a Desperado. Now this poses an interesting set of questions…when you read a book that has three complete stories in it, do you count that as one book or as three separate stories? Do you like when the book is stories by just one author, or do you prefer two or more authors to have a story in one volume? Do you want each book to be a full length story, or when you buy an anthology do you prefer short stories that you can read here, there, and everywhere?

Here my indecision comes shining through. I like to have more than one author in the book because it’s a great way to experiment with new authors, but I will only buy the anthology if an author I either love already or having been wanting to try is featured.

I guess this week my question boils down to are you an anthology lover or hater? Longer previously released single titles or a variety of short stories? Do the stories need to have a common link or just be entertaining?

Until next week happy page turning!