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Blog Tour: The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder – Stephen Cox

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London 1881.

Can two crooked women stop a murder?

Extravagant medium Mrs Ashton and her lover, blunt working-class Mrs Bradshaw, run a spiritualist  scam. Mrs Ashton secretly reads minds.

Believing that Mrs Ashton is genuine, grieving Lady Violet craves the truth behind her mother’s untimely death. But Lady Violet’s powerful husband Sir Charles hates spiritualists. Has he killed before?

Uncovering this MP’s wicked crimes will put all three women in terrible danger…
To solve a shocking murder, look both sides of the grave.

“I loved this book! Victorian murder mystery meets “ghost” story, with delicious sprinklings of compassion and mischief…”
Caroline Day, author of Sunday Times Bestseller Hope Nicely’s Lessons for Life

Direct from Author Amazon UK Amazon US




Exciting News: Book 2 in the Crooked Medium series is now available for pre-order!!

My grandmother told me I read too much. I remember walking in the garden when I
was small, telling myself stories. It was over thirty years of wanting to be a novelist before I tried…  and succeeded.

The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder arose because I wanted to write about Britishness and  specifically about Englishness; about our complex relationship with the past; I wanted leads who  were morally grayer but still capable of kindness. It was time for a novel with queer leads. And in quite desperate times, I needed to write something with some uplift. It’s the first book intended to
start a series.

My first books, Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds are set in the 1960s USA. It’s about Gene and Molly, a childless couple, and Cory, the little boy from the stars that they adopt, under such
challenging circumstances. The books got lovely reviews and are available on both sides of the Atlantic.

I spent nearly all my childhood in Bristol, and I’m now an adoptive Londoner. I live with my partner, and it’s the best thing our two adult children come back from time to time. Our garden rages wild.


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Giveaway to Win 4 x Signed Books by Stephen Cox (Open to UK Only)
Prize includes – Our Child of the Stars, Our Child of Two Worlds, The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder and the Crooked Medium’s Guide to Terror.

Win 4 x Signed Books by Stephen Cox (Open to UK Only)

My thoughts: This was really good, Mrs Ashton, a spiritualist, and her companion/partner Mrs Bradshaw (Braddie) are often in trouble, having to leave places at short notice but they’re trying to settle, although Braddie wants a cottage somewhere quiet and not in London.

Unfortunately they’ve got themselves involved with a truly unpleasant man. He’s an MP and violent. His wife wants their help, but he threatens them, and worse. As they get more and more mired in the relationship between Lady Violet and Sir Charles, and end up at the country estate, things get worse.

I loved Maisie, the leader of their Baker Street Irregulars, she’s fiery, smart as a whip and could be a brilliant detective. She also looks after her younger siblings and her Pa, making sure they have what they need.

The case is knotty and clearly Mrs Ashton has form, with the police, creditors and trouble. But she also knows how to read people – both with and without her mysterious powers. Her relationship with Braddie is delightful, although faltering at times as Braddie wants to stop running and settle down while Mrs A enjoys her work and the people she meets.

I’m looking forward to book two – keen to see how much trouble they get themselves into.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or
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Book Release Blitz: The Duchess Curse – Charlie Lane

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The Duchess Curse: A Spicy Historical Romantasy

Series: Alchemy of Desire

Release Date: August 31, 2026

  • Gaslamp fantasy
  • Hints of steampunk and witchery
  • Marriage in trouble
  • Spicy open door scenes
  • Love potion revenge
  • All the groveling
  • Women in magical STEM
  • Bridgerton meets magic
  • Standalone 

Shadows rule the darkness. She must embrace them to find the light.

A transcendent daughter’s life should be carefree, but Guinevere’s life has always been a curse. Loving any man could kill him, so she swears to remain a spinster. And when her parents force her into an arranged marriage, she knows the only way to save the mysterious duke she could love, is to break his heart by leaving.

No matter how much Guinevere pushes him away, the Duke of Braxton knows she’s the only woman for him. His magic allows him to hide his identity and follow her wherever she goes. As she cultivates the reputation of the most notorious potion maker in England, he abandons the role of duke for that of Guinevere’s bodyguard Bran.

Years later, a Queen’s command forces them to meet once more as man and wife, duke and duchess. But he can’t keep his secrets forever, and when Guinevere finds out Braxton and Bran are the same man…

He’ll do anything to atone.

And she’ll do anything to keep him safe, even break her own heart.

Purchase

Triggers:

  • On-page physical violence
  • Discussion of death
  • On-page emotional neglect of child
  • Discussion of child marriage
  • Discussion of substance abuse

🥳PAPERBACK COPIES OF BINDING THE BARON & CHARMING THE ROGUE (US ONLY)🥳

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Blog Tour: Dark Ugly Places – Ashley Mansour

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Welcome to the ARC tour for psychological thriller, Dark Ugly Places by Ashley Mansour!

Available in all formats at your favorite retailer on September 15th!

Dark Ugly Places

Expected Release Date: September 15, 2026

Genre: Psychological Thriller

Some wounds don’t heal. They fester. They whisper. They take over.

In Dark Ugly Places, trauma isn’t something you survive — it’s something that survives you.

Thirty-four-year-old Nicola Holiday loses everything in a hit-and-run: her husband dead, her body broken, her fourteen-year-old daughter Emmy forever changed. With no one held accountable, she spirals into grief, panic attacks, and financial ruin — awakening a hereditary darkness she’s spent her life trying to outrun.

That darkness has a voice now. Her name is Martha, and she aches for revenge.

As Nicola’s grip on reality loosens, Martha slips into another life — one of wealth, glamour, and moral rot. When she crosses paths with the wife of a famous actor, Nicola’s suspicions ignite.

Pulled between vengeance and annihilation, Nicola and Martha collide with a woman whose secrets may be the key to everything — or the thing that destroys them both.

Dark, provocative, and deeply unsettling — a haunting psychological portrait of female rage, obsession, and the terrifying lengths the mind will go to survive unbearable pain.

Because sometimes the most dangerous place isn’t the past. It’s inside your own head.

Dark Ugly Places is a psychological thriller of identity, grief, and revenge — a haunting domestic suspense for readers of Verity, Behind Her Eyes, and The Silent Patient.

CONTENT WARNINGS:

Violence (hit-and-run accident), grief and loss, panic attacks, mental health themes (dissociative identity), revenge, and mild language.

 

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Blog Tour: Dungeons & Dimwits – James Mascia

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Dungeons & Dimwits is a fantasy comedy series about a group of gamers trapped inside their own tabletop role-playing campaign. This first volume begins their journey as they discover that their imaginary world is now very real―and very dangerous. The series follows the party as they face monsters, magic, rival adventurers, impossible quests, and the consequences of their own chaotic

storytelling. Readers should begin with Volume 1, which introduces the characters, the world, and the hilarious disaster that launches the adventure.


Amazon UK Amazon US

James Mascia is the founder and publisher of Dren Productions, where he creates sci-fi, horror, and fantasy comics and novels packed with imagination, humor, and thrills. He is the author of titles including Flesh-Eating Cheerleaders, Dungeons & Dimwits, The Poe Murders, and High School Heroes. When he’s not writing strange and exciting stories, James works as a high school English teacher in Maryland. A lifelong fan of Comic Cons, cheesy sci-fi and horror movies, and Dungeons & Dragons, he brings his love of genre storytelling into everything he writes.

Facebook/Instagram – @DrenProductions

My thoughts: Sucked into the role playing tabletop game (rptg) that shares it’s initials with this book’s title, a group of friends discover that things have just got very real. And that two of them are apparently girls now.

Trying to find a way out of the fantasy world where everything is trying to kill them only seems to make things worse. They’re not powerful to escape and they need to level up and also defeat a sorceress who seems to be the reason they’re stuck. So side quests it is. Once they escape the dwarf dungeons they’re currently stuck in and stay alive long enough to get home.

It’s funny, silly and perfect for anyone you know who likes D&D or other role playing games. You don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the games to enjoy it though, I have beginner’s knowledge gleaned from having friends who play these games, and I found it very entertaining.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: Flesh Endures – Sue C. Bentley

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Lord Karolan, endowed with an arcane knowledge of alchemy, knows immortality comes at a price, for any lover perishes at his touch. His only companion is his ‘familiar’ – a greedy, wanton spirit that attached itself to him during his transformation and feasts on his fleshly desires as it yearns to become human.

Karolan saves Garnetta from the plague sweeping through early gothic Europe, by bestowing the ‘dark gift’ upon her, but without her permission. A bond of desire develops between the two, and a future for them seems possible. Until Garnetta learns the shocking truth about what Karolan’s laboratory holds, and what he has done to her.

Fleeing in horror, she unwittingly falls into the hands of the inquisition. Found guilty of heresy, she is to be subject to a fate even she cannot survive. Dare she open her heart to Karolan now she knows what he is? All while risking attracting his ‘familiar’ – now attached to her also and eager to inhabit her enticing female form.
Karolan is desperate to find the woman he has grown to love, knowing that only a leap of faith can lead him to her, before time runs out.

Pre-order Links

Amazon UK Troubador Waterstones

Publication Date: 28th October 2026

Sue’s first love is gothic fiction, both to read and to write. Her books for adults are inspired by classics like Frankenstein, Dracula, the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch and William Blake, Victoriana,and the dark fairy tales and folklore of the British Isles.

She has published a number of novels using pen names, notably for Virgin Publishing’s Black Lace imprint – erotic fiction for women, written by women. And for Little, Brown’s, XLibris list. She is also the author of a Sunday Times, worldwide bestselling children’s series for Penguin Random House.

During recent years she has returned to writing for adults, exploring her favourite themes with two dark fantasy novels for Joffe Books. Her short stories have also been published in a number of anthologies. 

Flesh Endures is the product of her latest journey into the dark underworld of her imagination.

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Cover Reveal: Calamity of the Three Suns – Jessica J. Ayala

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Calamity of the Three Suns (Dusk and Dawn Book 3

Expected Release Date: March 30, 2027

Genre: Dark Epic Fantasy/ Latin Mythology

Cover by @seventhstarart

Tropes:

  • High stakes
  • Plot twists
  • Found family
  • Epic quest
  • Slow burn
  • Myths and legends
  • Forgotten cities
  • Morally grey heroes
  • Mercenary guilds
  • Latin-inspired lore
  • Epic dark fantasy worldbuilding

Tagline: Where hope dies, vengeance wakes, and the gods don’t answer…

After the devastation the new High King wrought against Damalis, Zara Santos is at the complete mercy of her enemies. Heartbroken, she struggles to maintain her resolve, on the verge of losing everything she has been fighting for. The power in her blood is on borrowed time, and Zara must decide whether to succumb to what the Council wants or claim a destiny only she can bear.

Meanwhile, her friends and allies must forge their treacherous paths if there is any hope to save the Continent. Their bonds are tested as they become more entangled with the ethereal forces that could save or destroy them. And the fate of the universe shifts while their enemies continue to infiltrate the mortal world with armies that rival the strength of the Primordials, who eagerly await their return.

Calamity of the Three Suns is the third installment of The Dusk and Dawn adult high fantasy series, a page-turning continuation brimming with high stakes, heartache, and a red-drenched pursuit for victory.

Read Fall of the Horizon and Blood of the Lost Gods on Kindle Unlimited

Trigger Warnings: On and off page torture, Emotional abuse, Graphic violence, Grief and loss, Emotional trauma, Explicit sexual content, Mentions of sexual abuse

IG: @authorjessicajayala @rrbooktours

TIKTOK: @authorjessicajayala @rrbooktours

Reveal organised by R&R Book Tours

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Blog Tour: The Mothers of SW19 – Catherine Yardley

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Unassuming Emma, a blogger turned wannabe social media influencer, moves to an exclusive enclave in SW19 to get her son into the best school in the area. On the first day of school, she bumps into Annabel, a gregarious journalist who is head of the PTA.

An unfortunate misunderstanding leads to a clash, and the school gate mothers taking sides. Emma’s world has been blown apart by motherhood. As she struggles to find her new identity, she has to defend herself against Annabel and her clique. The mean girls with mortgages.

Emma learns a devastating secret about Annabel that could destroy her entire life. Will Emma play dirty to win, and what lengths will Annabel go to protect what she has?

There can only be one winner. But what will be the cost?

Amazon 

Catherine Yardley is a freelance journalist and author. She writes for The Sunday
Times, Stylist, The Times, Telegraph, Metro, Huffpost and the i paper. She’s the editor-in-chief of Frost Magazine. The Mothers of SW19 is her third novel. Her two other books published are Ember
and Where The Light is Hottest. Both did well and got fantastic reviews. She has been on numerous podcasts, including The Conversation with Nadine Matheson and Confessions of a Debut Novelist with Chloe Timms. She lives in SW19 with her husband and children.

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My thoughts: Emma is hoping to make friends with the other mums at the school gate, but after a brief encounter with Queen Bee Annabel and her Mean Girls with Mortgages (MGwM), she’s left feeling a bit deflated, and when they start a campaign to discredit her and destroy her fledgling social media career, because Annabel says so, she’s totally thrown. It doesn’t help that her son and her nemesis’ son are now best friends, thrusting the two women constantly into each other’s lives.

However, a brief indiscretion on Annabel’s part, caught on Emma’s phone, gives her potential leverage. Will she utilise it as they go head to head for the vacant governor’s position at the school? And when things spiral out of control and lead to tragedy, can either woman come back from that?

What starts as a silly Mean Girls feud rapidly overwhelms both of their lives, threatening to destroy everything. Can they de-escalate and back down in time? Or will SW19 be gossiping about them forever?

Clever, funny and with a truly shocking twist, this is what happens when mean girls get older but don’t really grow up.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The Vanished Queendom – S.T. Fernandez

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We’re thrilled to announce the release of The Vanished Queendom by S.T. Fernandez! strong>

The Vanished Queendom (The Heir of Atlantis Book 3)

Release Date: August 25, 2026

Genre: Romantasy

  • Sky Realm
  • Bermuda Triangle Folklore
  • Elemental Fae
  • Rightful Heir
  • Political Intrigue
  • Power Awakening
  • Strong FMC
  • Breeding

    • One of four sacred relics lies hidden in the skies… and a malevolent darkness hunts her every step.

    Branded a traitor to Atlantis, Asherah Delmar—the goddess’s chosen—must flee through the Bermuda Triangle to the realm of Airelandia, a queendom lost to time and space. On her mission to recover the goddess’s next artifact before she’s forced to reveal the truth of what she is, she must risk every soul depending on her to succeed, and the one she’d burn the world to protect.

    Dark forces move to exploit her bondmate, Draevyn Eliron—her greatest strength and deepest vulnerability. Queen Leanah offers sanctuary, but in a realm woven with illusion, even peace proves fleeting. Asherah soon discovers that the evil she thought she escaped has already taken root in Airelandia’s skies.

    When vengeance comes for her, Asherah must wield her conviction and her fury, or watch the light of her world vanish with the Queendom itself.

    The Vanished Queendom is the third book in The Heir of Atlantis series and is intended for readers 18+. It is recommended to start with The Veiled Heir (The Heir of Atlantis, Book One).

    For a full list of trigger and content warnings, please visit STFernandez.com.

     

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    Blog Tour: Valeztein – Emilia Ramos

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    We’re celebrating the release of Emila Ramos’s new epic fantasy, Valaztein!

    Valaztein

    Release Date: August 23, 2026 (Paperback)

    Genre: Epic Fantasy/ Young Adult

    What to Expect:
    • Enemies-to-Lovers
    • Dragons
    • World Travel
    • Sailboats
    • Slow Burn
    • Dark Magic
    • Found Family
    • Sirens
    • Royal Houses
    • Poetry & Music
    • Theaters, Grottos, & Enchanted Libraries

    Her mother crushed the war and erased her from history.
    But dead princesses are not supposed to return with an army.

    Naomi Elistaire never planned to become the face of a revolution. She had to. After leading a rebellion against Valaztein’s crown, she loses her kingdom, her army, and the life she was born to inherit.

    So, Naomi gathers an unlikely crew and sails across the known world in search of an army. Every kingdom offers new wonders, every alliance demands a price, and every secret brings her closer to the truth about the magic in her veins.

    But rebellion is never simple.

    Old rivalries, the man she once loved, and impossible choices begin to surface, pulling Naomi and her crew toward a war that could free Valaztein—or destroy what remains of it.

    Because reclaiming a throne is not enough.

    She must build something better.

    UNDER THE COVER:

    • Original siren songs
    • A found family of royals, thieves, soldiers, and magical beings bound by secrets
    • Upside-down deserts, enchanted libraries, siren grottoes, and dragon caverns where charm hides danger
    • Buried histories, kings, enemies-turned-lovers, and old magic…

    One haunting question: Are we defined by what we inherit—or by what we choose?

    Warning: This book may steal your sleep. Once the journey begins, putting it down may no longer feel like a choice.

    AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

     

    BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

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    Blog Tour: Split Second – R.C. Bridgestock

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    What if one moment – one split second – changed everything? 

    When a firearms officer shoots a suspect dead and wounds another, who later dies in hospital, the official line is that the sun was in her eyes. Her body cam failed.

    Known only as Officer X, her anonymity is meant to protect her – until a judge releases her name and a media storm erupts. Detective Superintendent Jack Dylan and DI Charley Mann are called in to determine whether it was a justifiable use of force – or something darker. And when it’s revealed that Officer X knew the victim, and her brother died of a drug overdose linked to the same woman, the case becomes charged with personal and political tension.

    As pressure mounts, a vulnerable witness dies and a lost phone surfaces with a photograph and a message that could unravel everything – and reveal the truth about what happened that day.

    Split Second brings Dylan and Mann together for the first time, in an investigation that will test their instincts, their loyalties and the limits of justice itself, as both detectives must decide how far they’ll go – and what they’re willing to sacrifice – to uncover the truth.

    Former Head of CID Bob Bridgestock is now an international best-selling author, along with his wife Carol, who also worked for West Yorkshire Police. The couple, who write under the pen name of R.C. Bridgestock, were voted the eight best crime writers of all me by WHSmith Readers.

    The writing duo created the character DI Jack Dylan, a detective from Harrowfield, with nine books in the Dylan series. In 2020, they launched a new series featuring a strong Yorkshire female, Detective Inspector Charley Mann. The couple were the storyline consultants/police procedural on BAFTA winning BBC1 police drama Happy Valley, Scott & Bailey and The Beast Must Die, as well as other police dramas.

    My thoughts: I can’t imagine having to make the split second decision the story revolves around, knowing you might be about to end someone’s life, but the officer in this case does make that decision and then everything changes.

    The decision is made to charge the officer with murder – because she has a link to one of the deceased pair of criminals, and it looks a bit convenient that she was the one who took the shot. But things are a lot more complicated than that.

    As the case progresses, as the barristers present their versions of events, hoping to sway the jury, we spend time with Officer X, her nerves and her fears. It’s intense and the confines of the dock add to the feeling of pressure building. Juries can be hard to predict and if one barrister is more persuasive than the other, that could be all it takes.

    There’s a couple of killer twists and a few things not followed up by either the police or the lawyers that leave unanswered questions and a nagging suspicion of something else going on. It’s very clever and subtle. 

    I really enjoyed this, it’s got excellent plotting, paced out beautifully, and interesting characters, I wanted to know more about so many of them. A really good read. 

    *I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.