The idea of family has always been an important theme in my books, but it’s especially big in my newest series, Love is in the Air.

The first book starts off with the family becoming broken at the unexpected death of the father, leaving Selah, Naomi, and Hailey, along with their mother, to try to keep the family’s hot air balloon business afloat in the aftermath. Each sister deals with the loss of their father in very different ways, and their path toward healing is not always an easy one and is sometimes rocky. But they end up with a new type of family by the end of it, growing even bigger than it was before.

While their family will never look the same again, it doesn’t mean that the way it evolves into something different isn’t just as beautiful.

In the third book, The Love Feud, it focuses on the youngest daughter, Hailey, who carries around a great deal of guilt because she believes that her relationship with her late father wasn’t as good as it should have been. She wasn’t as close to him as her sisters had been, and, even worse, it wasn’t something she strived for. Plus, she didn’t value her family until a part of it was gone. Hailey feels like she has a lot to make up for, and this affects a lot of her decisions, including keeping up with her father’s imaginary feud with the other rival hot air balloon business in the area. It’s her way of making up for and protecting the family she has left.

It’s not until she sees the truth of the whole situation that she discovers things were way more complicated than she realized. This makes things change again—both her perspective and how she sees family. Because, as we all know, family is not just what people are born into, but it can grow from other people you meet along the way.

And I think the concept of family is something many people find relatable. Family is something we all need. People who will support us and love us even when we mess up. Hailey is really a character who puts this to the test because she doesn’t always make the best decisions, even if she thinks she’s doing it for a good reason.

At the beginning, she’s not looking to make Ryland, the love interest in The Love Feud, part of this family. In fact, it’s just the opposite. She’d rather keep the feud between them going, holding the man at arm’s length as long as she can. As hard as she tries to fight against Ryland and the rest of his family, it’s a losing battle. Turns out they’re exactly what she needs to make her own family even stronger. It’s a big surprise when she discovers they’re not exactly who she always imagined them to be.

Perhaps that’s why sometimes it’s better to take a chance. Because you never know where you’re going to find love or your next family.

About the Author.

Janine Amesta has loved reading kissing stories most of her life. She currently resides in Oregon with her husband and their pets, Hitchcock and Pippin. She studied screenwriting in college and her banter is influenced by the screwball romantic comedies of the 1930’s. She’s always on the lookout for the perfect line. You can also follow me on Bluesky.

GIVEAWAY: Because who doesn’t love FREE books?

We will pick ONE winner to receive a digital book copy of one of our March 2026 releases!

Comment down below saying which book you’re looking most forward to reading! Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. The winner will be randomly selected and announced at the end of the month.

Good luck and happy reading!

I think ever since I started writing romances, I wanted to write a hero like Boone. It only took me five books to get there. With my newest small-town romance, The Wedding Con, Boone is a confident, smooth-talking ex-con artist, who knows how to play the game when it comes to getting what he wants. It’s sort of the morally gray, complicated character that doesn’t have the best history when it comes to making decisions, but you know that deep down inside there’s still good there even if he doesn’t like to show it. Our heroine, Naomi, sees him as a street-smart alley cat who uses his handsomeness to take advantage of people. Because of this, it takes them a while to get to a spot where real trust (and other feelings) are allowed to develop.

While he does try to sweet-talk her, she’s not necessarily the person who’s going to trust him, especially since her own father had been taken in by scammers in the past. This is the reason the family’s hot air balloon business struggles after his death. She doesn’t want to fall prey herself and understands the vulnerability the Moreno women find themselves in now that they’re left alone to run the High Desert Tours. I can certainly understand her position, as I had similar feelings after the passing of my own father and heard about businesses that suddenly were appearing on my mom’s doorstep and trying to get her to sign up for things.

It’s not surprising when Naomi is dismayed not only with her family hiring Boone to be part of the chase crew but also with her mom taking him in, like he’s part of the family. I have to say that I also relate to the mother in this aspect as well, but only because I am a writer of damaged, looking-for-second-chances heroes, and there’s nothing I enjoy better than redeeming them. It’s extremely satisfying to follow a cynical, doesn’t believe-in-love type of character and see how love is the same thing that changes their whole perspective. Going on that journey with them and seeing a rejection of their old life for a new one is a lot of fun, but also you see the old parts that continue to stick with them.

I would say that it’s not only Boone who evolves but also Naomi. She realizes that it’s not just her who can be taken in by a con, but really anyone, including Boone, because we all have our vulnerabilities, where, given the right incentive or lie, it’s very easy to become a victim. Closing off the whole world is not only not ideal but also usually impossible as well. To live in society is about taking risks about who you open up to and let into your life. But they all learn that the best way to fight against this is by sticking by the ones you love and looking out for each other.

And that’s really what makes a great romance: it’s the creation of a new team built on love and respect. This is the story of Boone and Naomi, and they learn that true love isn’t a con after all.

Janine Amesta has loved reading kissing stories most of her life. She currently resides in Oregon with her husband and their pets, Hitchcock and Pippin. She studied screenwriting in college and her banter is influenced by the screwball romantic comedies of the 1930’s. She’s always on the lookout for the perfect line. You can also follow me on Bluesky.

GIVEAWAY: Because who doesn’t love FREE books?

We will pick ONE winner to receive a digital book of their choice from the September romance releases.

Comment down below saying which book you’re looking most forward to reading! Giveaway is open INTERNATIONALLY. The winner will be randomly selected and announced at the end of the month.

Good luck and happy reading!

I’ve always been a nature girlie. I like exploring the wilderness, going hiking, and appreciating the natural beauty you can find in the world. So when my husband suggested that we move from the traffic-filled Los Angeles to Oregon, I thought I knew exactly what I was getting into. Lots of forests and foggy days and ocean!

As with my stories, nothing ever seems to happen the way a character expects it. We moved to Central Oregon, which is considered the High Desert, and if you can’t tell from the name, it’s very dry and it has a high altitude. It wasn’t at all like the lush green forests and foggy skies I had been dreaming of.

But just because it wasn’t the stereotypical image of Oregon that most people have, it didn’t mean the area didn’t offer really cool things like caves and giant rocks and lots of sunshine. Sometimes I’ll be out on an early morning walk, and I’ll spot a local hot-air balloon in the sky, sparking my imagination. Exploring Central Oregon has actually been amazing, and it’s why I decided to make it the location of my newest series, Love is in the Air.

The first book, Love at First Flight, is about a woman, Selah, who takes over piloting her family’s hot-air balloon business after the sudden loss of her dad. Despite living in the sunny High Desert, she and her family find themselves in a dark hole, struggling to make things work. Things slowly change when Selah meets Dex, a local state park ranger, who’s looking to take a hot-air balloon ride. Even though they hit it off, things hit a roadblock when it’s revealed Dex is planning on using the balloon ride to propose to his girlfriend, putting him off the market.

But as I stated earlier, things never turn out the way my characters expect. The proposal flight is a disaster, first with it getting rejected and then ending with a fateful burst of wind tipping the basket over upon landing, sending Selah into Dex’s lap. The whole situation is awkward and embarrassing for both parties, but neither one expects to ever see each other again.

Only a few months later, they do bump into each other, and though things start off a little bumpy, they start to develop a friendship with each other. This is pushed further when a social media post about them goes viral. And not only does Selah have trouble letting go of Dex, but she also discovers she’s just as attached not only to the hot-air balloon business started by her father but also to the area it’s connected to.

All these years of flying above the land in a hot-air balloon have etched themselves into her heart. It’s part of her and it’s a part of her family. She learns, as I had, that sometimes you’re surrounded by a beauty that you never expected to find. 

About the Author.

Janine Amesta has loved reading kissing stories most of her life. She currently resides in Oregon with her husband and their pets, Hitchcock and Pippin. She studied screenwriting in college and her banter is influenced by the screwball romantic comedies of the 1930’s. She’s always on the lookout for the perfect line. You can also follow me on Bluesky.