Category Archives: Character-driven

Hot Stuff

by CJ Fosdick

HotHot Stuff takes on double meaning when klutzy Kate is faced with rookie cop Dallas looking for a stolen lawn statue. In her quiet, crime-free Wisconsin village, Kate has her hands full writing slogans for candy hearts and keeping her kleptomaniac brother with Asperger’s Syndrome inside the law. Even her grandmother’s famous snickerdoodle cookies can’t ameliorate the crime when a stolen lawn statue turns out to be a drug dispenser. Will Kate rise above her concern of what Dallas’s uniform represents and admit the charming Texas rookie is the man of her dreams?

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About the Author

CJ was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis. but has lived longer in Rochester, MN where her writing career escalated from locally- and nationally-published award-winning stories, articles, and anthologies to her first novel--The Accidental Wife. Though she has lived on a woodsy 12-acre hilltop deer haven for decades, she has ventured down on rare occasions to climb a waterfall in Jamaica, float in the Dead Sea, kiss the Blarney Stone, and train wild mustangs, several dogs, cats, children and one patient husband.

The Accidental Series #3: The Accidental Heiress

The Accidental Series #3

by CJ Fosdick

TheA plane crash in the Shannon River spins Jessica’s Irish honeymoon into a wilderness of unexpected emotions. For Robbie, the heroic Irish time-traveler she met and married in Wyoming, it becomes more than a reunion to the homeland he left…in the nineteenth century.

Things have changed since then. The old manor house of his youth has become the honeymooners B & B, run by descendants of his wild boyhood friend and the willful heiress of the estate. Dual era love stories, a hidden diary and the 104-year-old family healer reveal scandalous secrets and consequences that began with Robbie and trickled down through generations. Can he reset history and restore honor without losing Jessica, the soulmate he vowed to love “forever and a day?”

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About the Author

CJ was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis. but has lived longer in Rochester, MN where her writing career escalated from locally- and nationally-published award-winning stories, articles, and anthologies to her first novel--The Accidental Wife. Though she has lived on a woodsy 12-acre hilltop deer haven for decades, she has ventured down on rare occasions to climb a waterfall in Jamaica, float in the Dead Sea, kiss the Blarney Stone, and train wild mustangs, several dogs, cats, children and one patient husband.

The Accidental Series #2: The Accidental Stranger

The Accidental Series #2

by CJ Fosdick

TheJessica Brewster is being watched...and things go missing from the remote Wyoming home she shares with her toddler. In a freak accident, she shoots the bearded thief stalking her before she recognizes the mesmerizing green eyes that belong to the only man she ever loved.

Has Mitch bridged time to find her? In a race to save his life and change hers forever, she takes him into her home and heart. But his memory loss and puzzling clues curry doubt and expose mystery and danger. Is he truly her son’s father or an irresistible stranger in her arms?

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About the Author

CJ was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wis. but has lived longer in Rochester, MN where her writing career escalated from locally- and nationally-published award-winning stories, articles, and anthologies to her first novel--The Accidental Wife. Though she has lived on a woodsy 12-acre hilltop deer haven for decades, she has ventured down on rare occasions to climb a waterfall in Jamaica, float in the Dead Sea, kiss the Blarney Stone, and train wild mustangs, several dogs, cats, children and one patient husband.

Lost Children #0: Awakened

The Lost Children

by Krista Street

AwakenedAfter waking in an alleyway with no memories, a strange tattoo and a supernatural ability, Lena knows something extraordinary happened to her. When a deep guiding instinct hums to life inside her, she sets out into the unknown in hopes of unlocking secrets to her past. Now, hitchhiking around the country with nothing but a personalized bracelet as proof of a life she once led, Lena must decide - seek answers to her past at any cost or accept that the truth to who she really is may never be known.

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About the Author

Krista Street is a Minnesota native but has lived throughout the U.S. and in another country or two. She loves to travel, read (obviously), and spend time in the great outdoors. When not writing, Krista is either chasing her children (or hiding from them, it varies depending on the day), spending time with her husband and friends, sipping a cup of tea, or enjoying the hidden gems of beauty that Minnesota has to offer.

Lost Children #3: Reborn

The Lost Children #3

by Krista Street

RebornThey've found the other lost children, but that win came at a price. On the run, Lena, Flint and their family know they have two options: go back into hiding or fight.

Will their abilities be strong enough to ensure their freedom? Or will Lena and Flint's greatest fear finally come true?

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About the Author

Krista Street is a Minnesota native but has lived throughout the U.S. and in another country or two. She loves to travel, read (obviously), and spend time in the great outdoors. When not writing, Krista is either chasing her children (or hiding from them, it varies depending on the day), spending time with her husband and friends, sipping a cup of tea, or enjoying the hidden gems of beauty that Minnesota has to offer.

Lost Children #2: Remembered

The Lost Children #2

by Krista Street

RememberedLena, Flint and their unique family have discovered what created their extrasensory abilities and hidden memories. When a new opportunity arises to give them answers to a past they thought was lost, an entire world is reopened. Now, stronger than they were before, they venture to the heart of what created them knowing they may not all return.

Remembered is book 2 in The Lost Children Trilogy - a New Adult Paranormal Fantasy with elements of romance and YA themes - sure to please mature YA and adult readers alike!

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About the Author

Krista Street is a Minnesota native but has lived throughout the U.S. and in another country or two. She loves to travel, read (obviously), and spend time in the great outdoors. When not writing, Krista is either chasing her children (or hiding from them, it varies depending on the day), spending time with her husband and friends, sipping a cup of tea, or enjoying the hidden gems of beauty that Minnesota has to offer.

Lost Children #1: Forgotten

The Lost Children #1

by Krista Street

ForgottenFour months ago, Lena awoke in a dark alleyway with no memories of who she is or what happened to her. Even more alarming, she has a mysterious tattooed symbol and an extrasensory ability which allows her to see if people are good or bad.

Armed with nothing but her determination to pursue answers to her forgotten past, a strange guiding instinct pulls her to a small Colorado town. There, she meets others like her. Others with forgotten memories, strange abilities, and tattooed symbols. Among them, a dark eyed man she's inexplicably drawn to. With him, her body remembers what her mind cannot. Yet despite Lena and her new friends banding together, they're unable to find answers to explain their mysterious beginnings until they stumble upon a clue that alludes to the depths of their connection. A connection that plunges them into a sinister world filled with secrets. Secrets that may be deadly.

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About the Author

Krista Street is a Minnesota native but has lived throughout the U.S. and in another country or two. She loves to travel, read (obviously), and spend time in the great outdoors. When not writing, Krista is either chasing her children (or hiding from them, it varies depending on the day), spending time with her husband and friends, sipping a cup of tea, or enjoying the hidden gems of beauty that Minnesota has to offer.

Time in My Pocket

by Gina Dewink

Time“You do not believe me, this I can see. But it does not matter whether you believe or not. It does not matter if you think I am crazy. It does not even matter if you know anything about it…If you can see past yourself, you will just fall into another time.”

When Liza Anderson looks into a locket’s mirror, she suddenly finds herself in a younger woman’s body in 1947. Believing she has traveled more than 60 years back in time, Liza must face the reality of life during the golden age of Hollywood—glamour, communism, smallpox and all—only to discover the Barbara Jane Miller she’s become is caught up in a drug-selling scheme that could get her killed. Will Liza ever return to her own time and the children she left behind?

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About the Author

Gina Dewink was born and raised in Minnesota’s heartland. Since 2001, her career has been in nonprofit communications. In addition to her communications career, Gina Dewink is a contributing writer for mediums such as Thrive Global, The Line Media, 507 Magazine and Rochester Women Magazine. She lives in Minnesota with her husband and two children. Time in My Pocket is her first novel.

Jin-Ling’s Two Left Feet

by Helen Chen

Jin-Ling'sLike the yin and the yang, Jin-Ling is comprised of two equal parts that fit together. One part is the dutiful Chinese daughter who does everything her immigrant parents expect of her, and the other part is the American teenage girl who yearns for the independence that she sees her peers taking for granted every day.

Jin-Ling would do anything to have Tony Blake - the smartest boy in school - for her prom date. Tony not only has the look that her friends would approve, but also meets her parents' definition of a "good" boy. Jin-Ling's hopes are shattered when she finds out Tony is going to prom with Kim - one of her very best friends. What should she do? No matter what she decides, it seems that Jin-Ling is destined to always feel as if she is walking on two left feet - feet that are often heading in opposite directions.

In Jin-Ling's Two Left Feet, Helen Chen explores the challenges and struggles of fitting in with a touching and sensitive narrative of an Asian American teenager's voice. Heartwarming and humorous, this compelling story of clashing cultural expectations and self identity will be enjoyed and related to by all who come across it.

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About the Author

Helen Chen was born in Taiwan and educated in Taiwan and the United States. She and her husband live in Rochester, Minnesota, where their daughter grew up. She has won prizes in: Kay Snow Non-fiction contest (2002), Winnipeg Free Press/ Writers' Collective Non-Fiction Writing Contest (2004 and 2006), and the Minneapolis Writers' Group Writing Contest (2005).

Nobody’s Angel

by Melissa McNallan

Nobody'sIt's hard to be a Munson in Harmony, Montana. Even harder, being an Indy in Ma Sue's house where margaritas, cigarettes, and microwave meals reign. Independence Angel Munson lucks her way out of both Harmony and her grandma, Ma Sue's house when her dad brings his girlfriend Lydia home for a visit.

After her mom passed on, her dad left town for the open road. On occasion, he'd stop on home with stories of his adventures. Indy couldn't wait to get out into the world and live some stories of her own. Indy's dad and Lydia invite her to join them on the road, she jumps at the chance. Her days become filled with pool hustling, magazine and romance novel reading, and boy meeting.

Out on the road, Indy learns that some stories cost more than others. In order to get by and make a life, there are some things she'll have to abandon.

"I'm ready to leave his too long glances and the broken tiles of Hotel Bradenton behind."

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About the Author

Melissa McNallan is a columnist for the Post Bulletin and a journalist for several publications. Her short stories and poems have appeared in The Green Blade and The YellowJacket Review. In 2010, she earned a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant in Prose for an early draft of Nobody's Angel (then titled I.A.M.). She was a finalist in the 2015-2016 Loft Mentor Series in Poetry and Creative Prose.