Time to try something new

If you’ve read any of my books, you probably know that I often have a bit of suspense in my stories. There’s a reason for that—romantic suspense was one of my gateways into romance (Nora Roberts, for one), and I’ve always loved the co-existence of an action/mystery/danger plotline along with the romantic one. Falling in love while investigating a crime or navigating peril? Totally my jam! But in my own books, I’ve focused more on the romance, the sizzle, the banter.

So when it was time to write a new series, I started toying with the idea of writing a suspense series. I was nervous. Could I do it? Or should I make it just slight more suspense-ish than my other books? I called up my editor. Her advice? Lean in. Go full romantic suspense. Just do it—in your voice. (In other words: Don’t lose the sizzle or the banter.)

And that was how Firelight Ridge came to be! This series has so many elements I love. To balance out the rugged remote wilderness of the setting, it focuses on four very close friends, who will each experience their own romantic adventure in Alaska. It might be suspense, but it’s still romance—expect a happy ending for each of these intrepid heroines.

The first book, ICE FALLS, is out now, so you can take your first journey into the wilds of Alaska with Molly Evans and the pilot Sam Coburn!

From USA TODAY Bestselling Author Jennifer Bernard comes a new sizzling suspense series set in the Alaskan wilderness.

From childhood misfit to successful attorney, Molly Evans wouldn’t be the strong, independent force of nature she is today without the support of her three best friends—and one of them is missing. On a mission to find answers, she tracks Lila all the way to Firelight Ridge, Alaska, a wild outpost where Molly sticks out like a sore thumb in her designer duds and desperate search for Wi-Fi. Regardless, just days after arriving, she can’t resist getting sucked into the mystery surrounding a local’s death, a group of reclusive settlers…and a surly but undeniably attractive pilot.

Sam Coburn has carefully cultivated a lone-wolf persona since moving to Firelight Ridge, necessary for a job he’s reluctantly agreed to take on. Then Molly Evans steps onto his plane, and he just knows the gorgeous redhead is about to make his life interesting. She’s as fierce as she is feisty…and it’s not long before she inadvertently provides him access to an isolated wilderness family he’s tried and failed to get close to for over a year. But it turns out they are excessively interested in Molly…a potentially dangerous turn of events Sam didn’t see coming.

Throw in a teen runaway, a shooting, sexual attraction as dazzling as the endless Alaska sky, and a potentially catastrophic event, and Sam and Molly’s breathtaking adventure could end up either life-altering…or life-ending.

Win a Maple Syrup Gift Basket

THE FLING is out today, and I’m celebrating with one of my favorite giveaways ever! Emmaline Curtis, the heroine, is a maple syrup farmer, so of course I had to go wild with maple syrup products. I ADORE maple syrup (why do you think I gave Emmaline that profession?) and the incredible variety of treats that can be made with it. This gift basket has a little bit of a lot of them! For instance …

2 tshirts (size L & XL), maple tea, assorted maple candies, maple popcorn, maple brittle, chocolate maple brittle, assorted maple syrup, maple sugar, maple sticker & a tumbler.

It all started that summer in Lake Bittersweet…

Emmaline Curtis has never been outside the state of Minnesota before, so winning an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii is a dream. Back home, working the family farm and caring for her brother means precious little free time. So when she meets an intriguing hottie at the resort, she’s ready for anything. No last names. No personal details. Just two willing strangers enjoying each other in paradise; then Emmaline can go home with good memories and no chance of awkward future run-ins with Conor.

Conor Gault’s business trip turned sensual excursion is cut short by devastating news—his rock star father has unexpectedly passed. Suddenly he’s heading to a town he’s avoided for seventeen years. Lake Bittersweet, Minnesota. The place where one long-ago disastrous night changed the course of his life. The last person he expects to run into is Emmaline, the quirky knockout who’s been living rent-free in his head ever since Hawaii…and who just happens to be a local.

Before long, their sizzling attraction heats up again. Their worlds couldn’t be more different—he’s a wealthy financial whiz, she’s a farmgirl. But in a startling twist of fate, Conor and Emmaline discover their pasts are linked in ways they never imagined. Ways that may ensure their fiery affair will never be more than a temporary fling.

New holiday romance out today!

IT’S LIVE!!!

HEAD OVER HEELS FOR THE HOLIDAYS is now available at all ebook retailers! This is book 7 in the Lost Harbor, Alaska series — but can be read as a standalone.

Amazon | Apple | Nook | Kobo | GooglePlay

Amazon Canada | Amazon UK | Amazon Australia

Paperback

Lost Harbor Police Chief Maya Badger finally gets her moment to shine … and boy, does she have a lot going on! There’s the unsolved mystery of what’s going on in Lost Souls Wilderness. There’s the fact that the holidays are almost here, which is always a tough time for her. And then there’s her beloved father, who’s recovering from heart surgery.

Maya’s used to taking care of everything, but when it comes to her dad’s health, she turns to the professionals and hires a home health nurse. To her amazement, the handsome hunk the agency sends turns out to be her childhood buddy. Lucky for her, Rune Larsen turns out to be the answer to all sorts of needs.

I hope you love Maya and Rune’s story and also that your Thanksgiving holiday is nurturing and safe, no matter if you’re traveling or staying home. Happy Reading and Happy Thanksgiving!

Win a "Wicked in Winter" Hawaii Care Package

Waving hello from my mandatory post-travel quarantine in Alaska! We got back from Hawaii just in time for WICKED IN WINTER to come out.

Buy WICKED IN WINTER here.

And yes, it’s still winter here!! Two feet of snow and temps down to 10 degrees. SO missing Hawaii right now.

The good news is that before we left I gathered some of my favorite local treats and goodies for an amazing Hawaii Care Package! Kona chocolates, passionfruit, gourmet salt, an Aloha protection candle, and a few more goodies. Throw in a signed paperback copy of WICKED IN WINTER and you have an extra treat for your social distancing. Good luck, and I hope you love WICKED IN WINTER! And yes, there is a Hawaiian vacation in this book!

Enter here:

Or on the Wicked in Winter page.

Amazon | Nook | Apple | Kobo | GooglePlay

Amazon UK | Amazon AUS | Amazon Canada

Paperback

Everyone needs a fresh start sometime. For Gretel Morrison, that time is now, and the place is tiny, snowbound Lost Harbor, Alaska. It’s about time she learned how to rely on herself instead of her wealthy, controlling family. If she can survive the winter here, she can survive anything—although maybe not the lethally sexy and attractive next-door neighbor, Zander Ross.   

Zander has his hands full raising his two younger brothers. The last thing he needs is distraction in the form of a spoiled rich girl who has no idea what she’s in for. He’d bet anything she won’t make it past the next blizzard—although he might not either, not with his sanity intact. With her dazzling smile and lighthearted style, she’s everything he’s not. And everything he longs for. 

When a threat to the Ross family surfaces, Zander gets the shock of his life when Gretel steps up with an outrageous idea that might help them both. Can he trust her enough to take a chance? Or will Gretel’s mega-millionaire father find a way to ruin their amazing-but-fragile new bond?

Alaska winters are always wild, but this one is about to get wicked.

Winter Wonderland Giveaway

As I post this, the thermometer outside my house reads -3.5. Luckily, I’m inside with my tea and fleece slippers. It’s been a deep cold winter here in Alaska, which got me in the mood for my giveaway celebrating the release of SEDUCED BY SNOWFALL on January 28 — the Winter Wonderland Giveaway!

Win these fabulous winter survival goodies: 

❄️ Fleece snowflake slippers

❄️ "Snow Angel" hand cream from Philosophy

❄️ Tea Forte Winter Tea sampler of 28 varieties

❄️ A make your own photo Snow Globe!

❄️ Signed paperback copy of Seduced by Snowfall

No purchase necessary to enter (but sharing will get you 2 extra entries!)

ENTER HERE (and good luck!)

http://JenniferBernard.net/winter-wonderland-giveaway


Pizza, true love, and a local legend

This is how the story goes—although I’ve heard a few different versions. A young couple had a dream: to bring the best possible pizza to their tiny town in Alaska. The husband traveled to Italy to learn how to make pizza the original old-country way. The secret, he discovered, was to use a wood-fired oven. But those aren’t exactly growing on trees in Alaska.

So the couple researched and hunted and finally located the perfect oven—in New Jersey. Being intrepid Alaskans, they were not deterred by the distance. The husband and his father got in their truck, hitched a trailer to it, and drove the many thousands of miles to the east coast—and back again, with the oven strapped tight on that trailer. Is it the only time a pizza oven has traveled the Alaska-Canada Highway on a trailer? Possibly.

With the wood-fired pizza oven safely installed in a little shack-like building overlooking spectacular Kachemak Bay, they opened their restaurant and named it after their baby son. It was a wild success and still serves pizza to this day, although that baby is now about to graduate from high school. It’s our own family’s favorite place to celebrate birthdays.

Finn’s Pizza is a well-loved local establishment here—so well-loved that it provided the inspiration for Last Chance Pizza in YOURS SINCE YESTERDAY. Of course most of the backstory details are different—in my book, the shop is run by the Bellini family and their six kids, of which Zoe, the heroine, is one. She takes it over after the death of her father. By the time the story starts, she’s running the pizza shop while wrangling her twin teenage sisters.

That’s when her long-lost best friend Padric Jeffers—now a famous rock star—returns to town. You’ll have to read the book to see what happens next!

And while you’re reading, if you’d like to picture the real-life inspiration of Last Chance Pizza, here are a few shots.

From the beach at sunset … the view from inside … and the view from the road!

From the beach at sunset … the view from inside … and the view from the road!

Original_MeganHenderson_FinnsPizza_50StatesofPizza_Alaska.jpg
Finns20140522.jpg

Can you blame me for being inspired by this romantic setting for a pizza shop? Are you hungry yet? I hope you enjoy YOURS SINCE YESTERDAY even more than a pepperoni and mushroom pizza! (Or whatever your fave is.)

Yours Since Yesterday

Once they were best friends. Now they’re from two different worlds. 

Zoe Bellini’s world exploded the second she kissed her best friend…and not in a good way. Every teen dream came crashing down when Padric was whisked away from Alaska, and her luck hasn’t improved in the last fifteen years. In fact, the pizza shop owner’s terrible track record with men has become a local legend. She doesn’t expect it to change when Padric—now a world-famous rock star—sails back intotown. It’s not like they can just pick up where they left off…but her traitorous body sure wants to try.

Padric Jeffers never expected to return to his hometown of Lost Harbor, Alaska—not after the scandal that sent his family fleeing. But a mysterious letter with a warning about his childhood friend Zoe? Thathas him postponing his tour and hopping on the next flight north. Zoe’sbeen on his mind and in his lyrics since he left her behind, and once he sets eyes on the stunning grown-up version of his best friend, his mission is clear: do whatever it takes to have her—and keep her—this time around.

Easier said than done, since not everyone in town is excited about Padric’s return. And someone will do anything it takes to get rid of him. Can a pizza maker and a rock star overcome their history—not to mention scandals, angsty fans and unexpected danger—and find their way back to love? 

A standalone novel in the Lost Harbor, Alaska series.