Melissa Foster

Frequently asked questions

• What was Melissa Foster's first novel, and where did it come from?

  Her debut was Megan's Way (2009), a work of women's fiction about a single mother facing an impossible choice for her daughter. Foster has said the story poured out of her while one of her sons napped, and that it grew from a deeply personal event involving her own mother, years before she turned to the romance she is now known for.

• Why does Melissa Foster write in so many different genres?

  She started in literary fiction, mystery, thriller, and historical fiction before moving into romance, and she treats romance as a way to fold all of that in: in her words, it lets her wrap her love of other genres into her books. Alongside the Love in Bloom romances she has written suspense (Chasing Amanda, Come Back to Me), historical fiction (Have No Shame), and a psychological thriller (Traces of Kara).

• How are all the Love in Bloom books connected?

  Love in Bloom is one big interconnected universe rather than a single linear series. Each sub-series follows a different family (the Snow Sisters, the Bradens, the Remingtons, the Ryders, the Seaside and Bayside Summers crews, the Whiskeys, and more), and characters carry forward as cameos and updates in later books. Every title is still written to stand alone, with no cliffhangers.

• Who is Addison Cole, and how do those books differ from Melissa Foster's?

  Addison Cole is Foster's own pen name for sweet, clean-language romance: the same kinds of characters and settings with the explicit content and strong language removed. Several Love in Bloom books have sweet counterparts published under the Cole name in the Sweet with Heat line.

• Where should a new reader start with the Love in Bloom series?

  Because every book stands alone, you can begin almost anywhere, but the chronological entry point is Sisters in Love, the first Snow Sisters book, which introduces characters whose families anchor the later sub-series. Foster also publishes a free reading-order guide for readers who want to follow the full family timeline.

• Do Melissa Foster's romances deal with serious real-world issues?

  Yes. Underneath the romance, her books deliberately include differently-abled characters and tackle subjects such as cancer, blindness, amputation, PTSD, substance abuse, and elder care. Foster has said she wants those characters to have a real voice rather than be used as a plot device.

• How did Melissa Foster become such a prolific bestselling author?

  Foster built her career as an independent author, joining Barnes & Noble's self-publishing platform when it launched and going on to write more than 100 novels as a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestseller. She also gives back to the writing community, founding the Women's Nest and the World Literary Cafe and mentoring other authors through her Fostering Success programs.