Misa Ramirez | How I Learned About My Charcter

I’m so glad to be here at Fresh Fiction, and I’m geared up to celebrate the release of Hasta la Vista, Lola, the second book in my Lola Cruz Mystery Series. The release date is February 2nd, and the book is getting tons of buzz!

I thought I’d share a story today about one of the questions I get asked most (and sometimes not asked verbally, but with raised eyebrows) as a writer of a Latina mystery series. Bet you can’t guess what the question is. I’ll give you a hint. I’m not Latina. In fact, I say in my bio that I’m proud to be Latina-by-marriage.

So, the question is... drum roll...

"Why do you write a Latina character, and how did you manage to make her so authentic?"

To read more of HOW I LEARNED ABOUT MY CHARACTER and to comment for a chance to win please click here.

Fresh Pick | WAKING THE DEAD by Kylie Brant

The Mindhunters #3

November 2009
On Sale: November 3, 2009
Featuring: Caitlin Fleming; Zach Sharper
304 pages
ISBN: 0425231143
EAN: 9780425231142
Paperback
$7.99

Romance Suspense

Buy at Amazon.com

Waking the Dead
by Kylie Brant

Former forensic anthropologist Caitlin Fleming knows bones. So the investigator is the first one called when seven sets of skeletal remains are found dumped in a makeshift graveyard in the Oregon wilderness. Each skeleton bears the same distinctive marks. And each is minus a skull.

Cait needs ourdoors guide Zach Sharper for one reason only— to help her find her way through the Willamette Forest as she pieces together clues. Despite the attraction that burns between them, nothing will be allowed to shake her focus. Until the killer closes in to terminate the investigation...and the ones on the verge of unmasking him...

Get ready for lots of twists and turns with an abundance of suspense in this thrilling romance.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Seven stainless steel gurneys were lined up in the morgue, each occupied by a partially assembled skeleton and a large garbage bag. The bones gleamed under the florescent lights. An eighth gurney was heaped with the stray bones that had been found lying separately. Caitlin Fleming’s first thought was that the extra bones looked forlorn. Deprived of their dignity, until they could be rejoined to form the remnant of the person they’d once belonged to.

Her second thought was that without the skulls, the chances of identifying those persons decreased dramatically.

“What do you think?” Sheriff Marin Andrews demanded. Her booted feet echoed heavily as she walked from one gurney to the next. “The bones were pretty much loose in the bags, but the medical examiner made an attempt to re-assemble them. We brought out the bones Read More... Previous Picks

Melissa Senate | How I Got Inspired To Write The Secret Of Joy

For Rebecca Strand, the 28 year-old main character of my new novel The Secret of Joy, published this past November in trade paperback by Simon & Schuster, the secret begins with her father’s deathbed confession of a long-ago love affair, a baby that he turned his back on, and a stash of unsent letters he’s written every year on the child’s birthday. Shocked to discover she has a half-sister she never knew existed, Rebecca is now the keeper of the secret. What will she do with it? Her overbearing lawyer boyfriend thinks she should excise the secret-a sister!-from her mind, as her father did. "Just forget the women exists-lest she try to get her possibly trashy hands on your father’s fortune," is his lawyerly advice. But this secret stirs something in Rebecca. Her mother is gone. Her father is now gone. Her boyfriend, is, well, trying to run her life. And her job as a paralegal at a divorce mediation firm, where said boyfriend is a partner, is all about endings. Rebecca needs a beginning. And that beginning is dependent on setting things right, on finding 26 year old Joy Jayhawk in a small coastal town in Maine. In delivering those letters.

So when Rebecca knocks on Joy Jayhawk’s door and doesn’t receive the warmest welcome from the separated mother of a little boy who wants nothing to do with Rebecca or the "guilt" letters of her late "father," Rebecca doesn’t just turn around and go home. Because she’s about to discover the many facets to secret of joy and it isn’t about giving up. Thanks to some help from the Divorced Ladies Club of Wiscasset and one very hot carpenter named Theo, Rebecca does discover the secret of joy (and so do several other characters).

To read more of HOW I GOT INSPIRED TO WRITE THE SECRET OF JOY please click here.

Fresh Pick | WAKING THE DEAD by Kylie Brant

The Mindhunters #3

November 2009
On Sale: November 3, 2009
Featuring: Caitlin Fleming; Zach Sharper
304 pages
ISBN: 0425231143
EAN: 9780425231142
Paperback
$7.99

Romance Suspense
Buy at Amazon.com

Waking the Dead
by Kylie Brant

Former forensic anthropologist Caitlin Fleming knows bones. So the investigator is the first one called when seven sets of skeletal remains are found dumped in a makeshift graveyard in the Oregon wilderness. Each skeleton bears the same distinctive marks. And each is minus a skull.

Cait needs ourdoors guide Zach Sharper for one reason only— to help her find her way through the Willamette Forest as she pieces together clues. Despite the attraction that burns between them, nothing will be allowed to shake her focus. Until the killer closes in to terminate the investigation...and the ones on the verge of unmasking him...

Get ready for lots of twists and turns with an abundance of suspense in this thrilling romance.

Excerpt

Chapter One

Seven stainless steel gurneys were lined up in the morgue, each occupied by a partially assembled skeleton and a large garbage bag. The bones gleamed under the florescent lights. An eighth gurney was heaped with the stray bones that had been found lying separately. Caitlin Fleming’s first thought was that the extra bones looked forlorn. Deprived of their dignity, until they could be rejoined to form the remnant of the person they’d once belonged to.

Her second thought was that without the skulls, the chances of identifying those persons decreased dramatically.

“What do you think?” Sheriff Marin Andrews demanded. Her booted feet echoed heavily as she walked from one gurney to the next. “The bones were pretty much loose in the bags, but the medical examiner made an attempt to re-assemble them. We brought out the bones Read More...

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Fresh Pick | THE GATEKEEPER by Michelle Gagnon

Kelly Jones #3

November 2009
On Sale: November 1, 2009
Featuring: Kelly Jones; Jake Riley
400 pages
ISBN: 0778326721
EAN: 9780778326724
Mass Market Paperback
$7.99

Thriller Police Procedural, Romance Suspense
Buy at Amazon.com

The Gatekeeper
by Michelle Gagnon

We are our own worst enemy...

Drugged then kidnapped, a young girl wakes up to a nightmare...

From the moment sixteen-year-old Madison Grant is abducted, an unthinkable terrorist plot is set in motion— pitting Special Agent Kelly Jones against her most powerful adversary yet. The kidnapper's ransom demands aren't monetary...they come at a cost that no American can afford to pay.

As Kelly's fiancé, Jake Riley, races to find Madison, Kelly is assigned to another disturbing case: the murder and dismemberment of a senator. At first the two cases don't appear to be related. But as Kelly navigates her way through the darkest communities of America—from skinheads to biker gangs to border militias—she discovers a horrible truth. A shadowy figure who calls himself The Gatekeeper is uniting hate groups, opening the door to the worst homegrown attack in American history.

Ripped from the headlines, this chilling tale of hate groups in America is shocking and believable.

Excerpt

Madison Grant leaned over the sink, careful not to get her jeans wet as she applied another coat of gloss. She rubbed her lips together, smacked them once, then dabbed the excess with her fingertip. She examined the resulting pink sheen critically—perfect. Stepping back, she tossed the wand into her purse. It was actually her sister's knockoff Fendi. Bree would totally flip when she realized it was gone. Hopefully that would distract her from checking for other things that had gone missing, like her driver's license and social security card. Of course by that time the shit would have hit the fan anyway. Their mom would be so freaked out that Bree's complaints about a stolen purse would fall on deaf ears. At least that's what Madison was hoping.

She shrugged on the purse and grabbed the handle of her carry-on Read More...

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Opal Carew | The Confessions of an Erotic Romance Author Or How I Research my Erotic Romance Books

Do I do all those things I describe in my books?

As an erotic romance author, I find that people seem to be fascinated with how I research my novels. It is the most frequent question people ask me — usually with a wink and a grin. At a recent signing at a show called Sexapalooza in my home city of Ottawa, Canada, many people asked if it’s personal experience. I glanced around at the piles of books (6 different novels) and winked, telling them I’ve been a very busy lady. (My husband of over 25 years just chuckled! Um, yeah, I was about 2 when I got married!)

So how do I do my research? Well, I’ve found that there is an unexpected wealth of information all around us. At a family gathering, my niece, who has studied hypnotherapy, told me about an intriguing concept called erotic hypnosis. That inspired me to write a scene where one of my heroines (Hanna in BLUSH) enjoyed a very hot erotic fantasy with a plethora of sexy, leather-clad bikers. What I loved most was that I could really push the limits because it was a guided flight of imagination.

To read more and for chance to win today's blog contest click here.

Stephanie Tyler | Look It Up!

Hey Everyone!

Great to be invited back to the Fresh Fiction blog.

I was always an avid reader - in school, for pleasure, the backs of cereal boxes if nothing else was available, I would read anything and everything I could get my hands on. This included a biography of Linda Lovelace that I was much to young to read - and thankfully, to comprehend - plus many historical romances that had quite a number of sex scenes. Oh, and the VC Andrews books, which I really think are a rite of passage.

But I digress.

Anyway, whenever I’d get to a point in a book where there was a word I couldn’t figure out in context, I’d ask my mother, what does this mean? Inevitably, she would say, look it up

To read the rest of LOOK IT UP! and to comment for a chance to win please click here.

Fresh Pick | COLD RIVER by Carla Neggers

December 2009
On Sale: November 24, 2009
Featuring: Sean Cameron; Hannah Shay
384 pages
ISBN: 0778326551
EAN: 9780778326557
Mass Market Paperback
$7.99

Romance Suspense
Buy at Amazon.com

Cold River
by Carla Neggers

A past she wants to forget collides with a cold-blooded murder he is determined to solve…

Hannah Shay has finally shown the town of Black Falls what she's worth. Her Three Sisters Café is a success and she's soon to become a prosecutor. When the café becomes an epicenter for investigators trying to pierce a violent crime ring that's leaving bloody trails in nearby Cameron Mountain, Hannah suspects a man from her past is involved.

Sean Cameron returns to the snowy cold of his Vermont hometown to unmask his father's killer. Sean has the skills and resources to mount his own search, but he must convince the resistant Hannah to cooperate—because the killer is ready to strike again...and closer than anyone ever imagined.

The twists and turns awaiting them will take them closer to the explosive truth...and into the sights of a killer.

Excerpt

March 26—nine months ago—Black Falls, Vermont

The Cameron brothers were in town that night. Hannah Shay watched them enter O'Rourke's from her perch on a high stool at the rough-wood bar. She couldn't remember when she'd last seen them together. A.J., the eldest, was down from the mountain lodge the family owned and he ran with his wife. Elijah was home briefly from war. Sean had flown in from Southern California between fighting wildfires and making his fortune.

As they gathered at a table on the far wall, under old black-and-white photographs of their small Vermont town, Hannah doubted they noticed her with the glass of char-donnay she'd been nursing for the past thirty minutes. She had no concerns about being at the bar alone. The owner, Liam O'Rourke Read More...

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Fresh Pick | SLEEP NO MORE by Susan Crandall

January 2010
On Sale: January 1, 2010
Featuring: Abby Whitman; Jason Coble
400 pages
ISBN: 044655684X
EAN: 9780446556842
Mass Market Paperback
$6.99

Romance Suspense

Buy at Amazon.com

Sleep No More
by Susan Crandall

DANGER NEVER RESTS
The night was always Abby Whitman’s enemy. As a young girl she walked in her sleep, and one night, started a fire that scarred her sister for life and left Abby with unbearable guilt, and a loneliness that echoes within her

AND EVIL NEVER CLOSES ITS EYES
Now Abby has begun blacking out again—with apparently fatal results. A car accident has killed the son of a prominent family. Even though the evidence seems to exonerate her, Abby is plagued by doubts—and soon by mysterious threats. A young psychiatrist, Dr. Jason Coble, is intrigued by Abby and offers to help her explore the dark recesses in her mind. Through this terrifying journey, Jason’s interest turns to passion, and he yearns to give her the love she craves. But first, Abby must trust him—and shed light on secrets that will rock this Southern town and reveal a danger that threatens them both.

Excerpt

Prologue

The house where Abby Whitman’s family lived wasn't like the plantation houses in the movies. There was no sweeping staircase and grand foyer. The house did have two sets of stairs. The second was at the back of the house -- it was for servants "back in the day," as Abby’s daddy said. The foyer stairs was fancier, sure, but it was no Tara.

It was at the bottom of the foyer stairs that Abby's mother stopped her and held her by the shoulders. Confused and disoriented, Abby tried to pull away. She didn't know why panic was squeezing the breath from her lungs. She shouldn't be afraid of Momma.

"Abby. Abby, stop," her mother's voice was quiet, but Abby heard something underneath; a dark whisper of fear.

Abby's eyes began Read More...

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Karen Harper | What I Did On My Summer Vacation-(And How It Inspired My Novel)

Several years ago my husband and I took a two week trip to Alaska, one week by bus and train, one by cruise ship. I was surprised how much I loved "America’s Last Frontier," and realized it would be a great place to set a romantic suspense novel. Not only was the scenery awesome, but it could easily become dangerous, especially if-hm, let’s say a south Florida heroine visiting there is somehow swept down a wild river. And then, what if Mitch Braxton, her former fiancé, who owns a lodge nearby, risks his life to rescue her in a kayak, but then they are stranded in the wilderness... Ah, yes, the eternal "what if" of a fiction writer.

During our trip, I met and interviewed many unique Alaskans, some of whom thought nothing of holding down two or three part time jobs for the privilege of living in their beloved state. Besides meeting the human denizens, we were astounded to see so much of nature up close and personal: moose walking down the street; bears grabbing migrating salmon out of a wild river.

To read more of What I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION-(AND HOW IT INSPIRED MY NOVEL).

Fresh Pick | DYING SCREAM by Mary Burton

December 2009
On Sale: December 1, 2009
Featuring: Adrianna Barrington; Gage Hudson
384 pages
ISBN: 1420100289
EAN: 9781420100280
Paperback
$6.99

Romance Suspense
Buy at Amazon.com

Dying Scream
by Mary Burton

It's the last sound you'll ever make...

NO ONE WILL FIND YOU.

An aspiring artist. A high-school senior. A stripper. Three women who seemed to have nothing in common except their sudden disappearance. But one man knew them all. Wealthy, privileged Craig Thornton even claimed to love them. And for that, they paid the ultimate price.

NO ONE WILL SAVE YOU

When Adrianna Barrington receives an anniversary card from her husband Craig, she assumes it's a some crackpot's idea of a joke. After all Craig is dead. But then come phone calls, flowers, messages...all reminding her how much Craig misses her. While Adrianna begins to doubt her sanity, grisly remains are found on the Thornton estate. Detective Gage Hudson is convinced the bodies are linked to Craig. But the biggest shocks are yet to come.

NO ONE WILL HEAR YOU SCREAM

A psychopath has taken up his chilling work again, each death a prelude to the moment when she is under his control at last. And the only way for Gage and Adrianna to stop him is to uncover the truth about a family's dark past--and a twisted love that someone will kill for again and again.

A picture perfect life gone horribly wrong.

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Sandi Shilhanek | SERIOUS ABOUT SERIES

t’s time to reveal something you may or may not know about me. I am quite serious about series.

For more years than I can count I’ve been told I really needed to read the Born In trilogy by Nora Roberts. For a variety of reasons these three books never made it to the top of my TBR. However I finally downloaded them in audio from the library and have totally enjoyed listening to all three titles.

Another series I’ve put off reading was the Grace Valley series by
Robyn Carr. When I finished the first two books in the series I had been entertained and didn’t feel like I had wasted my reading time, but still pined for more from her popular Virgin River series instead. Then I finished Down By The River and went “Oh I get it now” I now fully understand the need for more books in this series.

To read more of SERIOUS ABOUT SERIES please click here.