Fiction

“Tell Me about Orchard Hollow is the second in the Smoky Mountain Novel series. Stepp’s first installment was The Foster Girls. In Tell Me about Orchard Hollow, marital betrayal sends New Yorker Jenna Howell retreating to her friend’s mountain cabin in Townsend, Tennessee. She hopes for peace and quiet and time to think about the course her future should take, but soon she finds herself challenged by unexpected events and new friends. One of her neighbors is Boyce Hart, whom Jenna knows she has no right to find as attractive as she does. This upbeat contemporary romance is set against the backdrop of the picturesque Smoky Mountains.”

“Eighty-seven year old Viola Garland has secrets that have tormented her for over sixty years. She kept these secrets because she believed her family would be protected. When a skeleton is discovered at a Rayes County building site, the choice she made as a young woman threatens to come to light. She knows the lie has kept the family disjointed but she is sure the truth will destroy it. Set in 1936 rural Kentucky and Northern Ohio, Sister Blackberry is a story about women—friends, sisters, mothers, daughters and granddaughters—and how their relationships are affected by secrets and lies of the past. When the truth surfaces, these women learn things about themselves and the family matriarch that shake each woman’s idea of who she is and how she fits into the only family she’s ever known.”

“A smooth prose style and an authentic Big Easy vibe distinguish Tentler’s debut. Dr. Rain Sommers, the host of Midnight Confessions, a New Orleans late-night radio talk show, was two years old in 1981 when Gavin Firth, Rain’s British guitarist father, murdered her mother, Desiree Sommers, a popular goth singer, then killed himself. Special agent Trevor Rivette of the FBI’s Violent Crimes Unit has been hunting a serial killer dubbed ‘the Vampire’ (aka Dante), who’s slain five women across the U.S. and is now in New Orleans. The sadistic Dante slashes his victims’ throats and leaves a signature rosary just like one Rain’s mother wore in some publicity photos. After killing three goth scene teens, Dante targets Rain. While thriller fans will find much that’s familiar, from the vampire-like killings to the dependable FBI guy falling for the pretty woman in jeopardy, the shivers are worthy of a Lisa Jackson.”