From two-million-selling author Steena Holmes, nine dark and gripping stories featuring Detective Meri Amber.
Nine missing girls. Nine cases the world wants to forget. One detective who never will.
Each file is someone’s daughter. Someone’s sister. And if Meri Amber can’t bring them home, she’ll make sure their stories end with justice.
As the FBI’s leading child abduction specialist, Meri has spent her career chasing the vanished – from Minnesota to Montana, from abandoned barns to dark cellars that still echo with screams. But every case cuts deeper than the last.
“I’m Detective Meri Amber. I’ve been searching for my sister for twenty years. Every missing girl is a mirror. Every scream behind a wall could be hers. I’ll never stop looking. These are the stories of the girls I’ve found, the truths I’ve uncovered, and the cracks in my own past I can’t seem to seal.”
From the horrifying secrets of the House of Dolls, to a macabre twelfth birthday party, to the sinister truths buried in the Widow’s Barn: delve into nine intriguing mysteries which will chill you to the bone.
NINE NAIL-BITING STORIES FULL OF SHOCKING TWISTS BY A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR.
With 2 million copies of her titles sold world wide, Steena Holmes was named in the Top 20 Women Author to read in 2015 by Good Housekeeping. She continues to write books that deal with issues that touch parents heart, whether it is through her contemporary fiction or psychological suspense novels.
My thoughts: Over nine cases Meri Amber looks for missing girls, girls like her sister, who she still wants to find, even if she can’t save her. She’s building a case, missing girl by missing girl, tracking evil across the country.
Sometimes she can help a vulnerable young woman, sometimes all she can do is ensure they aren’t forgotten, that any family they might have gets answers.
The stories are shocking, dark and sinister, there’s no happy endings here. There’s a narrative running through the nine stories, as Meri and her colleagues try to get justice, and stop the men who exploit, kidnap, abuse and kill.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
– Borderline Fiction by Derek Owusu (Canongate) – novel (UK)
Irenosen Okojie MBE, Chair of Judges, said: “This is a marvellous, galvanising shortlist. We’re thrilled by the scope, breadth and depth of these works across forms. These books have profound things to say about the ways we live, what it means to be human and overall are propulsive reads that imbue the writing space with new energies.”
The winner will be announced on the 14th May 2026 in Swansea.
Economic systems rarely collapse without warning. Stockbroken by Billy and Jan Hemby centers on a market veteran who begins recognizing subtle signals that suggest a much larger financial event may be approaching. Bo Parrott has spent forty years studying how financial markets behave during periods of both growth and instability. His career as an investment advisor has taught him to pay attention to the small indicators that others often overlook. When new patterns begin appearing in market data, Bo quickly realizes they resemble the early stages of past economic crises. His growing concern intensifies when a sudden death draws him into the sphere of influential figures with significant control over financial systems. The deeper he looks, the more it appears that a coordinated effort may be underway to manipulate economic conditions for enormous profit. As Bo continues piecing together the evidence, the situation becomes increasingly dangerous. Speaking publicly about what he has discovered could disrupt the plans of powerful individuals who are prepared to do whatever is necessary to keep those plans hidden.
Billy Hemby is a managing director with Level Four Financial, a division of CRI Advisors, PLLC, and has over thirty years of experience in the financial services business. With multiple books in publication, Jan Hemby is an award-winning fiction novelist and a regional featured speaker. The two are native North Carolinians with deep roots in Southern culture. Their goal is to bring to life money dynamics, global events, and local culture in story form that engages both experienced investment enthusiasts and casual readers alike. Visit them at their website.
Chapter One
From his office in the lower Manhattan financial district just a few blocks from Wall Street, Bo Parrott stared in disbelief as his phone rang . . . again.
With decades of experience as an investment advisor, Bo was no stranger to the long hours required to answer the barrage of client calls that defined his workday. The call volume typically increased whenever the storm clouds began to gather, signaling a stock market downturn. He was no stranger to that, either. But today it felt different. The phone had been ringing nonstop since he stepped through the door two hours earlier.
“What the hell is going on, Parrott? Did you see this coming?”
Bo recognized the voice as belonging to a client known for his strong personality yet weak command of genteel discourse. Howard Lanning may never have gotten a stomach ulcer, but he was more than capable of giving one to someone else. Bo studied the report streaming across his screen. Despite Howard’s abrupt delivery, his words echoed Bo’s own concerns.
“I’ll find out, and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.”
Spencer T. Barnes, Bo’s young assistant, sat across from Bo’s desk. “Howard Lanning?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Bo nodded. “Yes, but he’s not the only one. Our client base comprises a significant percentage of savvy investors, and many of them have caught wind of a potential shift in the stock market that could negatively impact their earnings. With over three thousand clients worldwide, that’s a lot of phone calls! They’ve been pouring in all morning.”
Bo powered up his laptop. Despite feeling unsettled about the possible rate hike from the Federal Reserve, he managed to smile as the charts began to populate his computer screen. He asked Spencer to move his chair closer for a better view.
“The indicators really are something to behold, especially when you consider what they represent. The lines are like a kaleidoscope with a panoramic effect and a beauty all their own.”
Realizing how that last statement may have sounded, Bo quickly backtracked as he darted his eyes in Spencer’s direction. “If you like that sort of beauty.”
Twenty-five years Bo’s junior, Spencer chuckled as he ran his hand through his side-part haircut. A few streaks of brown blended with his golden mane. “It’s growing on me.”
Bo continued, “A seafoam-green background serves as the canvas for the market indicators. They appear like an artist applying dabs of paint squirted onto a palette board.”
Spencer leaned in closer as Bo pointed to several images on his computer screen. “Each colorful line tells a story. Some lines have more relevance at specific coordinates on the chart’s workspace, and some have less. At zenith moments, the chart system behaves like a supernova: Brightness increases when the star explodes and releases most of its mass. When the mood is right in the stock market, the drama is something to behold.”
“What about today?” Spencer asked.
“Today, the mood appears dark and foreboding. Figuratively speaking, this chart represents a network of capillaries that have burst. Blood is gushing profusely. Unless a tourniquet is applied soon, the victim could die.”
Spencer leaned back in his chair. “Wow, it’s one thing to see these stock market configuration indices in multicolor. It’s another to interpret what it all means.”
What’s a detail, theme, or clue in your book that most readers might miss on the first read—but you secretly hope someone notices?
The murder of Edmond Brockett by his wife, Regina, in a suspicious house fire which appears to have been started by a hitman on assignment from a primary villain in the story as a red herring.
When did this story or idea “click” into place for you—was there a single moment you knew you had to write it?
In the stock market crash of 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
Which character or real-life person surprised you the most while writing this book, and why?
Antagonist Kathryn Romanov is multi-dimensional and groomed for world power inspired by global espionage.
If your book had a soundtrack, what three songs would be on it and what scenes or moments would they pair with?
Chapter 3, Return to North Carolina from New York: “In My Mind I’m Going to Carolina” by James Taylor.
Chapter 40, The death of Selby: “Sky Full of Stars” by Coldplay
Chapter 53, Bo’s Retirement: “Feeling Good” by Michael Buble
What’s one belief, question, or emotional truth you hope readers carry with them long after they finish your book?
To find out the truth in a matter, follow the money trail.
Tell us about a moment during the writing process when the story (or message) took an unexpected turn.
An initiative to ignite global unrest blows up to destroy the dark consortium that originated the scheme.
If your protagonist (or the central figure in your nonfiction) could give the reader one piece of advice, what would it be?
Lessons learned from history could prove invaluable…and the high cost of forgetting those lessons could prove disastrous.
What real-world place, object, or memory helped shape a key element in your book?
The stock market crash of 1929.
What’s something you had to research, learn, or experience to write this book that genuinely shocked you?
The parallel between current market and economic events and those of the Roaring 20s is somewhat shocking.
If your book were invited to join a shelf with three other titles, which ones would make you happiest—and what would that shelf say about your story?
The Big Short, 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History, and The Great Gatsby. That shelf would say that the book appeals to market enthusiasts, American history buffs, and readers of the classics and love stories.
We’re proud to present the gorgeous cover for the next Moonshine Hollow book, Must Love Lavender and Little Lies!
Must Love Lavender and Little Lies (Moonshine Hollow Book 3)
Expected Release Date: April 14, 2026
Genre: Cozy Fantasy Romance
Fake Fiancée
Friends to Lovers
Orc MMC
Magical Spring Festival
Enchanting Small Town
Shrieking Goats
Farmcore & Cottagecore Aesthetics
Orcish Shenanigans
Forced Proximity
Guaranteed HEA
Medium Spice 🌶️🌶️🌶️
She’s his bestie. He’s her rock. And now? They’re accidentally engaged.
Juniper runs the village apothecary, and Granik grows lavender on his farm. These two plant lovers have always had each other’s backs. When orcish custom demands Granik get married, Juniper does the only logical thing to save her best friend: she proposes a fake engagement. Brilliant plan, right? The only trouble is that in orcish customs, engagements are binding and there’s no such thing as fake. Now they have to find their way out of a major mess. That proves harder than anticipated when Granik’s family comes to celebrate the spring Greening festival. Juniper and Granik must convince everyone they’re madly in love. But the longer they pretend to be a couple, the harder it becomes to remember why they were faking it in the first place.
Must Love Lavender and Little Lies is a spicy cozy fantasy romance full of farmcore vibes, gentle magic, mischievous shrieking goats, and a love story that will warm your heart.
Must Love Lavender and Little Lies is book 3 in the enchanting Moonshine Hollow series. Each novel in the series can be read as a standalone. Different couples and storylines
Perfect for lovers of wholesome spice and cozy romantasy! Fans of Kimberly Lemming, Heather Fawcett, J Penner, and Tee Harlowe will devour this perfectly cozy and deliciously passionate tale of magic, friendship, and learning what you really want in life.
When she was five, her mother ran – with Steph and her younger sister in tow – from an abusive husband into the arms of a small Cherokee community, where she hoped they might finally belong. But Steph soon sets her sights as far away as she can get, vowing that she will let nothing interfere with her dream to become an astronaut, and ultimately, to go to the moon.
In Steph’s certainty that only her ambition can save her, she will stretch her bonds with the three women who know and love her most dearly: her younger sister Kayla, an artist whose determination to appear good takes her life to unexpected places; her college girlfriend Della, who strives to reclaim her identity as an adult after being removed from her family as a young girl through a challenge to the Indian Child Welfare Act; and her mother Hannah, who has held up her family’s history as a beacon of inspiration to her kids, all the while keeping the truth about her own past a secret.
Told through these women’s interwoven lives, and spanning three decades and several continents, To the Moon and Back is an astounding and expansive coming-of-age novel of mothers and daughters, love and sacrifice, alienation and heartbreak, terror and wonder. At its core, it is the story of the extraordinary lengths one woman will go to find a little space for herself.
Eliana Ramage holds an MFA in fiction from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She has received residencies and fellowships from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, Lambda Literary, Tin House, and Vermont Studio Center. A citizen of the Cherokee Nation, she lives in Nashville with her family. To the Moon and Back is her first novel.
My thoughts: This is very good, a beautifully written, engaging, intelligent story about family, as complicated as that can be, told through the eyes of two sisters – Steph and Kayla, and their mother Hannah. As well as Steph’s friend Della.
Their lives haven’t been easy, as members of the Cherokee, they live with the memories of the trauma their people suffered over generations. And they have their own too.
Hannah fled her abusive husband with her daughters, from Texas to Oklahoma, hoping to give them more than she had. Her parents threw her out when she was pregnant, and she does her best to love and support them, struggling to express that all the while.
Steph wants to be an astronaut, it’s her lifelong, obsessive, dream. It takes over at times and damages her relationships with her family, her friends and her girlfriend Della. She works diligently at achieving her goal, studying hard, applying for fellowships and eventually going to Hawaii to live in a simulated environment in an experiment.
But her interpersonal relationships are a mess, she’s bad at expressing her emotions, bad at communicating. Her obsessive plan to go to space overwhelms everything.
I found the relationship dynamics between the characters fascinating, they felt like real people – messy and complicated. The writing is confident and engaging. I don’t know a lot about Native Americans, living in the UK, they’re not something that we’re taught about, so a lot of those parts were interesting too.
It’s a really enjoyable book, and for a debut, is so confident and well written, I can’t wait to see what Ramage writes next.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the tour for Kelli Storm’s witchy urban fantasy, Desolate! Read on for more details!
Desolate (Assembly Hearts Book 1)
Release Date: October 2025
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Accidental Time Travel
Forbidden Love
Fish Out of Water
Who Done It
Neurodivergent Heroine
Sapphic Romance
A time-bending mishap forces a witch to navigate a new reality and an unexpected romance. Can Mia find her way back home, all while stopping a killer?
Being a witch with ADHD has its challenges. When Mia gets distracted while performing a spell, she becomes an accidental time-traveler.
Waking up in 1992, she comes across supernatural creatures attacking a young woman, and she taps into strange, unknown powers to save her. But as Mia starts falling for the enchanting near-victim, she discovers the girl will soon die.
She might be the only person who can stop her killer, yet everyone knows messing with time can have dire consequences.
As she works on finding a way back to her timeline, Mia quickly realizes she needs to make a choice. Let history happen, or stop this dark destiny from coming to pass.
Kelli Storm’s debut YA urban fantasy, Desolate, is a spellbinding novel for lovers of LGBTQ+ heroines, character-driven plots, neurodivergent representation, and bewitching twists. Join Mia on her journey of the choice between destiny and saving the ones we love.
Welcome to the ARC tour for The Keepers by Sarah Goehrke, an epic witchy fantasy coming early this summer!
The Keepers (The Turners Saga Book 1)
Expected Release Date: June 16, 2026
Genre: Epic Literary Fiction
Sanverra lies at the heart of the Cardinal Lands, dynamic realms ruled by lines of great queens. While magic is very real, witchery is challenged, for witches bow to no queen, they hold loyalty to no crown. The queens may accept advice or healing from their local Covens of the Grounded, but they and their subjects are well aware witches do not offer their services without a price.
Aleris, adopted into the ambitious Orcharder family as a second daughter, is raised to hide the magic she was born with—until she no longer can. When she finally embraces her own witchery, she changes more fates than her own.
Queen Daphne of Sanverra’s word on any matter is final—until she is nearly silenced forever. When she lives through her own death, she begins to understand how much she doesn’t know about the witches of her world.
Greater than any Coven of the Grounded, though, is the otherworldly Coven of the Keepers, whose magic turns the very Wheel of the Year. These witches take sacrificed moments from the world to do so, adhering to only one truth: The Wheel must turn.
To celebrate the longlist (see image above) the books are being reviewed on book blogs and social media. To follow along search #SUDTP26
Worth £20,000, this global accolade recognises exceptional literary talent aged 39 or under, celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama. The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer Dylan Thomas and celebrates his 39 years of creativity and productivity. The prize invokes his memory to support the writers of today, nurture the talents of tomorrow, and celebrate international literary excellence.
With an average age of 32, and comprising seven novels, three poetry collections, and two short story collections, the longlist is:
– Harriet Armstrong, To Rest Our Minds and Bodies (Les Fugitives) – novel
– Isabelle Baafi, Chaotic Good (Faber) – poetry
– Colwill Brown, We Pretty Pieces of Flesh (Chatto & Windus, Vintage) – novel
– Sasha Debevec-McKenney, Joy Is My Middle Name (Fitzcarraldo Editions) – poetry
– Suzannah V. Evans, Under the Blue (Bloomsbury Poetry) – poetry
– Vanessa Santos, Make a Home of Me (Dead Ink Books) – short stories
I read Gunk by Saba Sams, find my thoughts below ⬇️
From the award-winning author of the smash hit Send Nudes: an electrifying debut exploring love and desire, chaos and control – and family in all its forms
Jules has been divorced from her ex-husband Leon for five years, but she still works alongside him at Gunk, the grotty student nightclub he owns in central Brighton. She spends her nights serving shots and watching, from behind the bar, as Leon flirts with students on the dancefloor. In the early hours of the morning, she paces home to sleep.
But then Leon hires nineteen-year-old Nim to work the bar with Jules – Nim, with her shaved head and steady pour, her disarming sweetness and sudden distance – and Jules finds herself jolted awake. When Nim discovers she’s pregnant, Jules agrees to help. As the months pass, and the relationship between the two women grows increasingly intimate and perplexing, it emerges that Nim has her own unexpected gifts to give.
Now, alone in her small flat, Jules is holding a baby, just twenty-four-hours old, who still smells of Nim. But no one knows where Nim is, or if she’s coming back. What could the future – for Jules, Nim, and this unnamed baby – possibly look like?
Raw, exhilarating, tender and wise, Gunk is an electrifying debut novel exploring love and desire, safety and destruction, chaos and control – and family in all its forms.
My thoughts: Jules has been divorced for five years but still works in her husband’s student filled night club Gunk. When he hires Nim to work behind the bar, she and Jules become friends, and possibly more as Jules finds herself drawn to Nim.
When Nim finds she’s pregnant, she offers the baby to Jules, who has wanted to be a mother, but never managed to get pregnant. Nim moves in with her, and the two women share her flat while waiting for the baby to arrive.
Neither knows how the birth will change things, whether Nim will stay or how they will cope. Can their relationship, whatever that might be, survive the changes coming?
Jules is a complicated character, she’s basically stuck in a rut in her life, still in the same job, still looking after her ex-husband, not having started a new relationship or really moved on in her life in a long time. Nim’s arrival shakes things up, although there’s a big age difference and Nim doesn’t talk about her life before.
The relationship between them is quite strange, they share a bed as there’s only one in the flat, Jules is a caretaker, she wants to look after Nim, even though Nim finds it too much.
It’s an interesting book, even if I never felt I really knew the characters, even Jules, the narrator, her habit of being arms length with her family felt like she was written to keep the reader at a distance too.
The longlisted titles will now be whittled down to a six strong shortlist by an impressive panel of judges chaired by Irenosen Okojie MBE, award-winning Nigerian British author of Curandera, Butterfly Fish, SpeakGigantular and Nudibranch, and former Women’s Prize for Fiction judge, who is joined by: Joe Dunthorne, award-winningSwansea-bornpoet and novelist; Nidhi Zak/Aria Eipe, poet, pacifist and fabulist; Prajwal Parajuly, multi-award nominatedauthor of The Gurkha’s Daughter and Land Where I Flee; Eley Williams, acclaimedauthor and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Last year’s prize was awarded to Palestinian writer Yasmin Zaher for her novel The Coin, and previous winners include Caleb Azumah Nelson, Arinze Ifeakandu, Patricia Lockwood, Max Porter, Raven Leilani, Bryan Washington, Fiona McFarlane, and Kayo Chingonyi.
The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist will be unveiled on Thursday 19 March, followed by a shortlist celebration event in London (13 May), with the winner revealed on International Dylan Thomas Day (14 May) at an evening ceremony in Swansea.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Expert on body language and memory, and consultant to the Oslo Police, psychologist Kari Voss sleepwalks through her days, and, by night, continues the devastating search for her young son, who disappeared on his birthday, seven years earlier.
Still grieving for her dead husband, and trying to pull together the pieces of her life, she is thrust into a shocking local investigation, when two teenage girls are violently murdered in a family summer home in the nearby village of Son. When a friend of the victims is charged with the barbaric killings, it seems the case is closed, but Kari is not convinced. Using her skills and working on instinct, she conducts her own enquiries, leading her to multiple suspects, including people who knew the dead girls well…
With the help of Chief Constable Ramona Norum, she discovers that no one – including the victims – are what they seem. And that there is a dark secret at the heart of Son village that could have implications not just for her own son’s disappearance, but Kari’s own life, too…
Known as the Queen of French Noir, Johana Gustawsson is one of France’s most highly regarded, award-winning authors, recipient of the prestigious Cultura Ligue de l`Imaginaire Award for her historical thriller Yule Island. Number-one bestselling books include Block 46, Keeper, Blood Song and The Bleeding. Johana lives in Sweden with her family.
A former journalist, Thomas Enger is the number-one bestselling author of the Henning Juul series and, with co-author Jørn Lier Horst, the international bestselling Blix & Ramm series. One of the biggest proponents of the Nordic Noir genre, his books have been translated into twenty-eight languages. He lives in Oslo.
My thoughts: I knew from the authors that this was going to be good, gripping and shocking. There are lots of different sons in this book, from Kari’s, missing for seven years, to the suspect, whose parents don’t seem remotely interested in him, as friends and other connected people.
The town where two teenage girls are brutally murdered is called Son, it’s quiet, not many full time residents, and they’re planning a Halloween party, but someone decides to stop them from ever having a good time. The police arrest an acquaintance of theirs, who admits to being in the house, having been invited to bring over some drugs, but says he’s innocent. The detectives don’t believe him. Kari does. She analyses his body language, those nonverbal clues that say a lot more than words.
So she starts digging. Digging into the lives of the two victims, into the lives of their families and friends. She learns a lot of secrets – affairs, money troubles, blackmail. But are any of them bad enough to kill over? Or is it something she can’t even yet guess at?
This is a real page turner – each revelation and twist kept me hooked. Kari is an interesting character, she goes against her police colleagues, determined that the science proves she’s right and that somewhere in all the evidence she uncovers, will be the answer, the reason why two young women were brutally killed. And in helping the suspect, her lost son’s best friend, maybe she can find some peace too.
*this is a repost from last year’s hardback tour, when I was provided with a copy of the book, but as always, all opinions remain my own.
She’s the woman of his dreams. He’s the monster from her nightmares.
When Daniella rescues elderly Peggy from a mugger on a Boston street, she expects nothing in return. But then she meets Peggy’s son, Lucas—devastatingly handsome and utterly captivating. Unlike her distant husband Grant, Lucas sees her. Wants her.
Daniella can’t resist and they spend one reckless night together which she immediately regrets.
Too late, because Lucas doesn’t just want Daniella. He needs her. And he’s willing to destroy everything—and everyone—standing in his way.
Lucas plays the long game, worming his way into Daniella’s life—befriending Grant, charming her twin daughters, inveigling his way into her family. Every time she turns around, he seems to be there.
As the depths of his obsession become clear, Daniella realizes she’s in a fight for her life. Because the family she tried to help is hiding something dark. Something deadly.
And she’s already in too deep to escape.
Don’t Answer the Phone – the chilling psychological thriller from the best-selling author of One Little Mistake and The Visitors.
Miranda Rijks is a writer of fast-paced, twisty psychological thrillers many of which have been Amazon bestsellers. She has an eclectic background ranging from law to running a garden centre. After surviving bone cancer, Miranda turned to writing and is now living the dream, writing suspense novels full time. She lives in West Sussex, England with her Dutch husband and two black Labradors and spends as much time as she can in the Swiss Alps.
My thoughts: Daniella helps an older woman who was being mugged. Peggy is very grateful and the two women become friends. Unfortunately this brings Daniella, a married mother of twins, to the attentions of Peggy’s son, Lucas. He’s obsessive, violent and likes to get his own way. He decides that Daniella is the one for him, and won’t let anyone – his mother, her husband, get in his way.
His campaign to win over Daniella starts well, but as she rejects him, he turns violent. But not towards her. He believes that he can still convince her to be his. Things get nastier, more violent, Daniella becomes a victim too.
There are plenty of red flags in Lucas’ behaviour, and Daniella certainly spots some of them. He’s scarily obsessive, the death of his former girlfriend worries her, other incidents make things worse. The story is gripping and full of sudden twists and turns, Daniella and her family are put into danger, and things change for them forever.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 