Happy release week to Kara M. Zone! Fans of the Trium Perfectum Series will love Rose and Philip’s story!
Even After (Trium Perfectum Series)
Release Date: July 20, 2026
Genre: Dark Fantasy/Romantic Fantasy
Redemption Arc
Second Chance
Mental Health rep
Portal Magic
Bad Ass FMC
Protective Heroes
Fated Bonds
Shifters
Found Family
Real-World/Fae Crossover
Philip Avery and Rose Everhart are bound by fate, their connection undeniable, their souls intertwined by something deeper.
But destiny is never simple, fate can be cruel, and love isn’t always enough.
Torn between his pack and Rose—his trium perfectum, the one person meant to balance his magic, heart, and very being. Philip walks away when his alpha demands a choice—his pack or Rose—leaving behind the one person who truly saw him.
Even after heartbreak and separation, their souls refuse to sever.
Philip and Rose must decide: Can love survive the weight of regret? And is redemption possible when the person you hurt is the one you’ve always belonged to?
The Egregious Affair of a Cold-Hearted King: The Shadowed Throne Chronicles, Book 1.5
Release Date: July 21, 2026
Genre: Romantasy/ No Spice
Tropes: cursed star-crossed lovers, elven fated mates, love as obsession vs love as rebellion, dark fantasy, fast paced, morally black mmc, pure of heart fmc, mental health awareness, she wants to die/he won’t let herm, tragic love, holiness x damnation, forbidden love
He saw salvation in her chains. She saw damnation in his eyes.
Crown Prince Azriel Faundor has learned to live by cruelty. Groomed to inherit both a throne and his father’s ruthlessness, he hides his fractured humanity behind steel and ceremony—until he discovers Nadia, a forgotten elf queen hidden beneath his castle. Her sorrow stirs compassion in him, but soon that fragile pity curdles into something darker.
What begins as mercy festers into obsession, and his version of love becomes her prison.
Trapped by prophecy and his delusion, Nadia learns that the only thing keeping her alive aside from her blessed blood is fear. She dreams of escape, of silence, of death, of freedom—but fate has other designs, and her unwilling union will give rise to the curse that damns them both.
Bound by sin, betrayal, and a love twisted into horror, this is how a king was broken, a curse was seeded, and a queen bore its beginning.
Purchase Link: Amazon Kindle Unlimited/Paperback Triggers: Rape (off-page), fade to black, mild language, fantasy violence, suicidal thoughts
Survivor meets Fear Factor in this dark romantic fantasy filled with magic, vampires, and steamy enemies to lovers.
We’re celebrating the release of Immortality Island this week and we think you’ll want to bump a few books on your summer reading list for it!
Immortality Island
Release Date: July 21, 2026
Genre: Dark Romantasy
Enemies to lovers
Forced proximity
Slow Burn
Banter
Magic
Reality Competition
Forbidden romance
Dual POV
Action and Adventure
Hunting her was meant to be easy . . . until desire got in the way.
From the creators of Spellcaster comes a thrilling new reality competition where the stakes are higher than ever . . .
Twenty human spellcasters. One deadly island. Four cutthroat vampire masters. Only one caster can make it to the end . . . and win a place in a vampire clan for eternity.
After her doctor discovers a brain tumor and gives her months to live, Joni Mullins sees winning the show as her last chance at survival.
Sterling Alder is a vampire master with a personal vendetta and a mission: destroy her. But on Immortality Island, survival isn’t just about magic—it’s about temptation, betrayal, and falling for the one person he should never want.
Welcome to Immortality Island, where contestants are literally thrown to the sharks!
Baz Swoon is on the brink of the biggest deal of his life when two brutal murders shatter rural Maine — and all the evidence points straight at him.
His wife, Melanie, already wary of his secrets and long absences, questions the man she thought she knew.
Detective Philippa Fraiser heads south to North Carolina, and together with Lieutenant Marquez, they uncover a pattern too precise to be a coincidence.
Someone is orchestrating the perfect frame — always one step ahead.
As Baz’s world unravels, his reputation, marriage, and freedom hang by a thread. But the deeper Philippa digs, the clearer it becomes. This isn’t just a setup.
Alistair Birch is a thriller writer and occasional poet, penning silly and poignant rhymes. After two stints with separate publishers, he turned indie in 2024, producing a nineteen-eighties psychological thriller, The Evil Within, followed up by a co-authored epic historical thriller, The Girl from Berchtesgaden.
The re-release of his two-book, modern action thriller series, Shadow Pursuit and Shadow Play, came next and in 2026 he’s begun a new US-based detective procedural series. Book one is called Two States One Killer with the sequel, Cold Vein, well into production.
Outside of writing, Alistair works in IT and has volunteered as a facilitator in a mental health charity. He loves to cook, and occasionally head out for a run.
My thoughts: The evidence builds against Baz, and the police are soon on his trail, only he doesn’t even know that they think he might have murdered two people. He’s busy organising a buyout of his business, or so he thinks. The only person he trusts is Nick, but is he wrong to do so?
When detective Philippa Fraiser arrives in North Carolina from Maine, she thinks it’s a pretty solid case, except her prime suspect has never been to Maine, and then his assistant Cindy disappears, swiftly followed by Baz himself. What is going on?
As Philippa and Martinez search for the man, a series of rather obvious clues left for them, lead them to think someone else is manipulating things, pulling Baz’s strings. And they might be dangerous.
A clever, twisty story, where it’s hard to know exactly who to believe in until it all starts to become clear, and fall apart, as the police close in on their killer, just as he thinks he’s got away with it.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour,but all opinions remain my own.
We love a good audiobook and Armored Hours ticks so many boxes! Think Cable Girls meets Peaky Blinders meets Titanic!
Armored Hours (Reincarnated Souls Book One)
Release Date: July 7, 2026
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Narrators: Eric Smies & Elise Arsenault
@blush_audiobooks @tantoraudio
Historical romantasy
Girl squad
Opposite sides of the track
Loveable rogue
Prohibition era
Matchmaking mother
Dandy friends
The girls had forged a bond together like iron that could not be broken. Claudia, Kiersten, Lina, and Florian were on the brink of making history with their powerful feminist movement, but then they suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Alexander was a desperate bootlegger who was willing to risk it all to search for them. Not only were they in cahoots with him to help smuggle feminist contraband and forbidden booze, but Claudia had also unknowingly captivated his heart. He vowed to find them at any cost, but little did he know that their disappearance was part of a much bigger and sinister plot from the upper echelons of society.
Set in 1920s Paris of the Plains, Armored Hours is a thrilling tale of love and mystery interwoven with hints of magical realism.
We’re touring The Ninth Realm this week! If you’re looking for an epic romantasy with a Norse twist, this one’s for you!
The Ninth Realm (The Norse Realms Saga Book 1)
Release Date: May 21, 2026
Genre: Norse Romantasy
Lethal trials
Ruthless gods
Norse legends
Companion beasts
Star-crossed romance
Forbidden love
Bonded mates
Political intrigue
Mythological creatures
Forced proximity
A high-stakes romantasy where The Hunger Games meets Norse mythology, packed with deadly trials, dangerous intrigue, and a slow-burn romance where your greatest enemy may be your only ally.
Nine realms. One bond. No escape.
For ten thousand years, a Keeper has stood between Earth and the chaos of the Norse realms, holding back cunning gods, legendary creatures, and beautifully wicked fae. But Saga knows nothing of this until her dying father calls her home to Iceland and leaves her his title, his secrets, and a fate she can’t refuse.
She discovers she’s bound by magic to Kalen, a mysterious fae who despises her fragile humanity because when she dies, so does he. So when the Norse gods resurrect the Tournament of Realms, a brutal contest where champions fight for the role of Keeper, Saga must obey the call, and Kalen becomes wholly infested.
To survive the trials, Saga must master her fighting skills and tether with her companion beast while navigating the intrigue of the gods. Yet her greatest challenge may be resisting Kalen, who could either save her heart or shatter the world she’s fighting for because desire is as lethal as the gods’ games.
A must-read for readers who love plot twists, dangerous trials, Norse legends, companion beasts, and star-crossed romance. Perfect for fans of Demi Winters and Danielle Jensen.
Lesley seems like a perfectly normal woman. Until you ask her to leave.
Gillian wants to do right by her elderly Aunt Myra. A safe nursing home. Daily visits. A peaceful final chapter for the woman who has been like a mother to her. A plan that’s derailed when a stranger turns up on the doorstep claiming to be Myra’s long-lost niece, Lesley. She says she’s here to look after Myra.
Within days, Myra’s bank accounts are being drained and Lesley has taken full control of the house. And Gillian—the woman who has always been there for Myra—isn’t allowed through the door.
When she demands to see her aunt, the threats begin. Smashed windows. A slashed tire. Headlights chasing her down a lonely country road. But Gillian isn’t backing off.
Suspicious that Lesley isn’t who she says she is, Gillian digs into her past. And discovers a secret far more horrifying than anything she could have imagined.
A chilling, twist-laden thriller about the people we let through the door, and what they take when we do.
Don’t Let Her In – the shocking psychological thriller, perfect for fans of B.A. Paris, Shari Lapena, and Lesley Pearse.
I hail from Mayo in the west of Ireland, although I spent much of my life away, in the US, UK, Europe, Jersey in the Channel Islands and various parts of Ireland. In my younger years I was incredibly restless. I left home and school at 16 and spread my wings.
I’ve had over forty jobs, everything from barman, labourer, staff newspaper reporter, soldier in the Irish army, station foreman with London Underground, mason, and many more besides. I returned to education as a mature student in the early noughties and hold a BA in history and sociology from the National University of Ireland at Maynooth, and an M.Phil in creative writing (first class honours with distinction) from Trinity College Dublin.
Since 2005 I’ve been a civilian employee of the Irish police, An Garda Síochána. However, I’ve been on extended sick leave since 2015 following a mystery illness which struck while travelling in Spain. It almost killed me. The doctors never got to the bottom of it and they call me the Mystery Man. But every cloud has a silver lining. It has given me the time to write.
Although I’ve been writing all my life, most of my output languishes in the bottom of drawers. Under my real name, Michael Scanlon, I was published for the first time in 2019 by Bookouture with the first of three crime novels.
Working with Inkubator is a great opportunity because I think I’ve learned something since becoming published and I want to put it into practice. It is a new departure and I have adopted a pseudonym because the books are so different. I hope readers like them.
My thoughts: Poor Aunty Myra, her nieces by marriage have always been there for her, especially Gillian, but now her long-lost niece has arrived from Scotland with her brutish husband and grown up grandsons to “look after” her. Gillian is immediately suspicious.
They won’t let her visit, the formerly impeccable house is a mess, then Myra ends up in hospital after a fall. She’s not with it and seems incredibly groggy and sleepy. The nurse at the hospital is suspicious too.
Gillian has been dealing with several scary things, her windows are smashed, her tyres slashed and she feels terrified, she’s positive it’s the Cuckoos (as she calls them) but has no proof. Until a chance phone call with Myra’s great-nephew fills her in. Now to try and get the police to do something.
There’s also a little time for romance too, in the form of hunky farmer Paddy, who comes to her aid at the Thursday night dance in the community centre. Gillian doesn’t feel so alone with him around, and her sisters are on side too. Can they save Aunty Myra from her so-called niece before it’s too late?
I was hooked, Gillian just wanted the best for a woman she’d known and loved her whole life and Lesley was a bit suspect from the off, she certainly had all the answers. Her family are awful and Myra’s lovely home is soon a total mess, a far cry from the way it is right at the beginning. It was just a shame no one official took a closer look at the family before moving on. A clever and nasty woman vs a kind and trusting one. It never ends well.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
DETECTIVE KATE HAMBLIN IS FIGHTING FOR HER CAREER – AND MAYBE HER LIFE – IN THE GRIPPING CRIME THRILLER FROM A FORMER POLICE OFFICER.
Elderly Agnes Everard never stood a chance. The car slams into her at breakneck speed, then vanishes in a cloud of billowing smoke and burned rubber.
Hours later, two officers knock on Detective Kate’s door. A witness swears it was Kate’s vehicle that hit Agnes Everard – and the evidence agrees. Kate knows it’s a lie. But before she can fight back, she’s suspended, her badge stripped away, her reputation in tatters.
With the help of her loyal husband Hayden – the only person who believes she’s innocent – Kate sets out to investigate. A tip-off leads to a rented flat in Highbridge – and a body at the foot of the stairs, neck snapped, eyes staring. Kate realizes Agnes wasn’t the only target.
Someone is orchestrating this. Someone who’s watching Kate closely.
Someone who knows exactly how to destroy her – and is prepared to kill anyone who gets in the way.
With her career on the line and the net tightening, Kate must uncover who wants her ruined – before she becomes the next body on the floor.
David Hodges served in the Thames Valley Police, from the rank of Constable to Superintendent, retiring after thirty years with the force. During that time, he gained wide experience in numerous operational and management roles, including both urban and rural policing, membership of the tactical Support Group, an authorised firearms and public order unit, and departmental and operational command. Prior to his retirement, he was appointed the force Press, Public Relations Officer and completed his career as the head of Corporate Communication.
A prolific writer, with fifteen crime novels published so far, including ten in his Somerset Murder Series, David is a member of the Society of Authors, the Crime Writers and Crime Readers Associations and International Thriller Writers.
An active supporter of public libraries, and keenly interested in wildlife and the countryside, he is married, with two daughters and four grandchildren, and now lives in beautiful Pembrokeshire, where he can fully indulge his passion for writing.
My thoughts: Framing a police officer for the hit and run of an elderly lady was never really going to work. Detective Inspector Kate Lewis is too clever and too determined to just roll over and take the blame. She knows she’s innocent, and she’ll do whatever it takes to prove it.
With the help of her loyal husband (and fellow police officer) Hayden, she’s soon tracking down answers, even if some of her senior officers would rather see her go down for it.
There’s lots of twists and turns as Kate digs into the case, determined to prove her innocence and stop whoever it is that’s out to destroy her. They don’t seem to want her dead, but her career and life in ruins. Who could be so motivated?
A smart and engaging investigation, a clever and dogged protagonist, a psychopathic criminal, it’s a heady mix and a great read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
January 1670. London is enduring its worst winter in decades. But for Samuel Pepys, the darkest days are yet to come.
When a strange young man turns up at his office on Seething Lane asking for help, Samuel Pepys is too distracted to take him seriously. Nell Gwyn is about to make her scandalous return to the stage and he wouldn’t miss it for all the world.
But in the cold of a winter’s dawn, tragedy strikes. Called upon to investigate the brutal murder of a libertine aristocrat, Pepys discovers that the dead man is connected to his mysterious visitor in the most shocking way possible.
A trail of secrets leads Pepys from the backstreets of London to the glamorous world of the theatre, where nothing is quite as it seems. But whatever the dangers, he may find that the deadliest threat lies closer to home…
Reimagining one of Britain’s greatest historical figures through a 21st century lens, Seething Lane sees the return of infamous diarist Samuel Pepys, complete with his trademark audacious wit, keen eye for observation and gripping historical adventure.
My thoughts: Samuel Pepys is a fascinating person, he lived through a tumultuous time in history and luckily for us, documented it all in his famous diaries.
This book, the sequel to The Lost Diary of Samuel Pepys, sees him during the time he served in the Admiralty offices, but also imagines him working for a secret organisation serving Charles II, as an investigator. There weren’t really police at the time so he isn’t stepping on any toes as he looks into two murders.
It also features the king’s most intriguing mistress, actress Nell Gwynn. She’s a lot of fun, as I imagine the real Nell probably was. She plays a fairly important role in the story, helping Pepys go undercover at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
The Duke of Monmouth, Charles’ illegitimate son, is implicated in a plot to get himself on the throne as Charles had no legitimate children with his wife. His best friend is one of the murder victims that Pepys and his colleague Will are trying to find the killer of.
Pepys is also investigating a non-conformist preacher, Wrath, who is very fire and brimstone and possibly preaching sedition at the same time.
As Pepys investigates, all the threads start to slowly come together and he finds that his investigations have connections. His wife Elizabeth is unwell and her poor health worries him, but the work distracts him from his concerns.
It’s a really enjoyable and interesting book, I like the characterisation of Pepys and how he handles his work, although his official job gets badly neglected, but since it’s on the king’s business he gets away with it. I felt bad for Elizabeth, Pepys isn’t really there for her and medicine in the 17th century was really primitive.
The court is full of fascinating figures, most of them real, and I liked the way Jewers portrays the king and Nell, as well as Lady Castlemaine, the outgoing mistress. Jewers does a great job of bringing the world of Restoration London to vivid life.
I hope there’s more cases for Pepys and the other characters, he’s an astute investigator, putting things together, often without much evidence.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for reading and reviewing, but all opinions remain my own.
We’re thrilled to present the book trailer reveal for Loyal Liars by R.M. Carpus – Coming June 2027!
Loyal Liars
Expected Release Date: June 8, 2027
Genre: Dark Academia Villain Romance / Suspense Horror
Tropes & Themes:
Villains
Morally gray
Enemies to lovers
Touch her and 💀
Class divide/class differences
Secret societies
Broken bad boy
Strong FMC
Family secrets
Rags to riches
It was all a bet
Dark elite underworld
Wealth and power
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, Who’s the greatest liar of them all?
When the Reapers unleash a new wave of terror on Abingdon University’s elite, ivy-shrouded halls, Lukas Godfrey, the drop-out son of the school’s esteemed English Chair, is ordered by his father to retaliate against their leader. Confronting the Reapers is the last thing he wants to do, but their latest attack threatens the only home he’s ever known, and what Daddy wants, Daddy gets. As Master of Abingdon’s oldest and most powerful secret society, Liam Godfrey makes the rules, and only fools disobey.
Until Lukas meets the girl who makes him want to break free for good from his father’s tyrannical reign and start creating the blueprint for his own destiny. Lana Cameron is everything Lukas isn’t, and a raging storm he never saw coming. As he fights his desire to choose Lana over the privileged life Liam has mapped out for him, he discovers the one thing they have in common might be the key to saving them both.
ramblingmads 