blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Hidden Truth – C.D. Steele

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Private Investigator Joe Wilde is investigating the murder of Philippa Redmond a former Labour MP.
She had been found dead in her sauna over the Christmas holidays six weeks ago. The majority of her family had been staying with her at the time, but the police didn’t regard any of them as
suspects. Evidence suggested an intruder had got into her home.

Joe also takes on a cold case of a missing woman named Julie Turnbull. She had disappeared six years ago without a trace. Meanwhile Joe’s good friend DI Whatmore is investigating the horrific murder of a woman who was burnt alive in her own home. His investigation crosses over with Joe’s missing person investigation. As they conduct their own investigations there are more killings.
DI Whatmore and Joe must join forces to track down a serial killer and solve a puzzling mystery, but doing so puts them and others in grave danger.

UK Paperback UK ebook
US Paperback US ebook

Author Bio – C.D Steele works as an Executive Officer in the Civil Service. He has a degree in Recreation Management and lives in County Down, Northern Ireland. This is his third novel and is the
next book in the Joe Wilde Series after False Truth and Dark Truth.

CD Steele on Amazon

Giveaway to Win 3 x copies of False Truth (book 1 in the Joe Wilde series) and 1 x copy of Dark Truth (book 2). (Open to UK Only)

My thoughts: Private Detective Joe Wilde, formerly of MI6 has two complicated cases on his desk. One the murder of a former MP, the other the disappearance of a young woman six years ago.

The family of the MP are cagey, and not happy with his lack of progress, her daughter keeps threatening to stop paying him.

But the missing girl seems to be connected to something bigger, as DI Whatmore’s investigation reveals, a robbery, several murders and gangsters are all involved. The missing Julie seems to have been the daughter of a rather unsavoury person and been dragged into a whole mess before she disappeared.

As Jack and the police carry out their investigations they put themselves in the firing line as someone is chasing old secrets and won’t stop for anyone.

It’s a tangled web that has to be unwoven in order to solve the tragic disappearance and the MP’s murder too. Although Jack is dedicated and determined. This is a clever read with a twisty turny plot.

*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 link. 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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Blog Tour: Bright Burns the Flame – Angelina J. Steffort

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We’re celebrating the release of Bright Burns the Flame and we are thrilled to introduce you to your new obsession!

Bright Burns the Flame

Release Date: February 28, 2026

Genre: Epic Romantic Fantasy

  • Badass FMC
  • Only one horse
  • Found family
  • Deadly trials
  • Brutal academy
  • He falls first and hard
  • Fantasy spice
  • Slow burn romance
  • Lethal secrets
  • Mentor/mentee
  • Forbidden romance

Welcome to the dark and secretive world of Ashthorn Ward, the kingdom’s most brutal military academy—where weapons aren’t forged of steel, but of people.

Nineteen-year-old Lory has spent her life surviving Dunai’s alleys with blades, wits, and an iron will. Now, caught and conscripted, she must endure Ashthorn, where rivals are lethal, failure is fatal, and obedience comes at the cost of herself.

But Lory is not like the others. When the Ward uncovers a dangerous secret in her blood, she’s offered an impossible deal: survive their trials, and she’ll serve the crown as a weapon honed for war. Fail—and she won’t leave Ashthorn alive.

Overseeing her transformation is Captain Khayrivven Falcrest. Cold, ruthless, and utterly untouchable, he’s the last person she should trust—and the only one who seems to see the person beneath the monster the Ward wants her to become.

As war rises beyond the border and rebellion festers in the shadows, Lory must navigate Ashthorn’s deadly games—and her forbidden gift—before both claim her.

Enemies. Rivals. Lovers.

At Ashthorn Ward, trust is a weapon, love is a liability, and the only way out is through blood.

Bright Burns the Flame is the first installment in a darkly romantic fantasyscape, perfect for fans of slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, morally gray heroes who fall first and hard, heroines who fight for their own power, and magical academies filled with secrets and danger.

Perfect for fans of Fourth Wing, Quicksilver, and A Court of Mist and Fury.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

 

Triggers:

  • Violence
  • Death
  • Gore
  • Torture
  • PTSD
  • Explicit sex scenes
  • Profanity

 

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Blog Tour: Six Hours to Live – Charlie Gallagher

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Margate, on England’s south coast. The hottest day of the year.

A derelict warehouse on an industrial estate. A woman claws desperately at the
smooth, unbroken walls of a steel shipping container as it slowly fills with water.

She has six hours to live.

Her husband gets a chilling message on his phone: Drown The Rats. And a map. He
races to the site. He sees his wife struggling for life . . .

Police Constable Abigail Morton is in her twenties, can’t find a man she wants to
keep, and has just resigned after being passed over for promotion. Her special talent is getting people to talk to her, making her perfect for the role of source handler.

The one detective she really respects is DCI Paul Cotterill. And Abigail is the one
person Cotterill needs in this case. When she gets the call from him, she’s back in.

Goodreads
Purchase

Charlie Gallagher was a serving UK police officer for thirteen years. During that time he had many roles — starting as a front-line response officer, he became a member of a specialist tactical team and finally a detective investigating serious offences. Charlie left to concentrate
on writing full time.

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My thoughts: This was a really interesting and fascinating case, death by drowning is apparently incredibly unpleasant, your body desperately tries to fight it. I cannot imagine what watching someone you love die in that way, but that is what happens here.

The police are at a loss, the victims were connected to their covert intelligence unit – passing on information about criminals they happen to be in the orbit of. But someone is clearly unhappy about this and is determined to stop them. It looks like there’s a leak in the unit, so the team have been suspended. At the end of his wits, their boss DCI Paul Cotterill calls on Abigail Morton – freshly resigned from the police, to help him.

I really like Abigail, she’s clever and resourceful, knows her own mind and has become frustrated after being passed over for promotion in the very team that needs her help. She’s not impressed with Cotterill’s methods, but she is intrigued by the case.

As these two cops attempt to get to the bottom of these awful deaths, find the leak and prevent another person from being killed, they come into contact with a strange man who commits the same crime repeatedly in order to get into police custody. He might hold the key to the whole case.

Gripping and intelligent stuff, I wanted more immediately. Abigail is a really interesting character and I would like to see what happens next for her.

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

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Demons for Breakfast – J. Morgyn White

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We’re getting ready for the release of Demons For Breakfast on March 13th, and can’t wait to hear what early readers are saying! Pre-order now!

Demons For Breakfast (Nightshade Hearts)

Expected Release Date: March 13, 2026

Genre: Witchy Urban Fantasy

*Urban Fantasy
*Reluctant Partnership
*Cursed Hero
*She Saves Him
*Witch Romance
*Slow burn
*Herb Based Magic

San Francisco is cracked open by demon portals, but Sorrel Redwood has always known the dead don’t stay quiet. A commune-raised herb witch with a silver mane and lavender-tinted shades, Sorrel makes her living banishing spirits and brewing intention oils. What she really wants, though, is revenge—the kind that only comes when she finds the demons who tore her mother from the world.

But when a botched banishment binds her to Ranth, a centuries-old wizard with more scars than secrets, Sorrel’s witch-for-hire gig turns into a war. Demon hounds are hunting. An ancient cult is watching. And thanks to the curse laced through Ranth’s golden bracelet—now mirrored on Sorrel’s own wrist—if he dies, she dies.

With her Scooby-gang of experts, a grumpy cat named Antimony, and every herb in her belt, Sorrel will have to decide how much she’s willing to sacrifice. Because in San Francisco, even the city of fog can’t hide the truth: not all demons wear horns, and not all hearts stay human.

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON

 

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Blog Tour: Sharks – Simone Buchholz, translated by Rachel Ward

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In Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg’s so-called ‘problem area’, an American couple is found brutally murdered in a derelict house. Prosecutor Chastity Riley is assigned the case and quickly finds herself waist-deep in a murky tangle of city planners, shady investors and vanishing officials.

The gentrification machine is rolling on, and someone is sending a very clear message. As November fog settles over the city, Chastity is coughing up blood, her personal life is a slow-motion disaster, and her former colleague, Faller, won’t stop interfering.

But nothing’s going to stop her from cutting through the lies – not even the sharks circling ever closer…

Simone Buchholz was born in Hanau. At university, she studied Philosophy and Literature, worked as a waitress and a columnist, and trained to be a journalist at the prestigious HenriNannen-School.

In 2016, Simone Buchholz was awarded the Crime Cologne Award as well as runner-up in the German Crime Fiction Prize for Blue Night, which was number one on the KrimiZEIT Best of Crime List for months. The critically acclaimed Beton Rouge, Mexico Street, Hotel Cartagena (winner of the CWA Crime in Translation Dagger) and River Clyde all followed suit, with 2023’s The Acapulco and 2024’s The Kitchen reloading the series.

She is on the board of PEN Berlin, and is at the forefront of the lobbying movement for fair pay for authors. She lives in Sankt Pauli, in the heart of Hamburg, with her son.

My thoughts: Chastity Riley has a nasty virus she can’t shake, and a nasty case too. Two elderly Americans who have lived in Hamburg for decades, have been murdered in their homes.

As the team investigate, they discover a mess of planning applications, permits, foreign investment and no one wants to answer her questions. There’s a niece who has hired a retired Faller, who has started working as a PI, but her story seems a bit off.

Faller’s replacement has started, and causes more than a ripple in Chastity’s personal life too. She needs to get some rest, but she can’t shake this case.

Another clever and twisty turny story of Hamburg’s seedy underbelly and opaque bureaucracy. Chastity gets more complicated, and the changes to her team of detectives throws up complications. I’m really glad this series is back, the writing is always excellent and compelling, really enjoyable.

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

books

Book Blitz: Chasm of Dreams – Dakoda Mazzill

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Chasm of Dreams is LIVE! This is the first book in a new series by Dakoda Mazzill!

Chasm Of Dreams (The Fate of Astaran Series Book 1)

Genre: Dark Romantasy

Release Date: March 3, 2026
✨Touch her and die
✨One horse
✨” Who did this to you?”
✨ FMC goes from reluctant hero to BAMF
✨Hurt/Comfort/Consent
✨Mysterious mind link between MCs
✨ Strangers to lovers
✨Yearningggg
✨Non-toxic relationships
✨MMC is a cinnamon roll w/ a tortured soul
✨” The Gods have abandoned us…”
✨ Epic, High Fantasy
✨Psychic abilities
✨Prophecy
✨Revolution
✨” Where you go, I go.”
✨” You have me now. All of me.”
✨Trauma and orphan rep
✨Alchemy magic
✨Multiple POV & couples
✨Found family 🫶🏼
✨Diverse cast
✨Open door spice

More than a thousand years ago, the humans of Astaranwere conquered by a vengeful Fallen Angel named Chemosh a.k.a “The Sovereign”. Through the deception of Hel’s general—the mighty black wolf and demi-God, SkÖll—she betrays the Gods of Lyrath to declare war on a race of humans with powerful psychic abilities. The Gods then exile her to Astaran and sever her black wings. With the help of her acolytes, The Anakaii, she takes control of Astaran.

AIDA is an orphan and nomad whose parents vanished when she was seven. Her gift of Dream Walking allows her to project into anyone’s mind and plant a suggestion that will compel them to comply. When her power leads to deadly consequences, she vows to never use the gift on anyone again. During her time in the wilderness, Aida’s relationships are sparce, except for the mysterious presence that has been linked to her consciousness for as long as she can remember…

When an Astaran Guard and tracker named TYRAN is tasked with finding an escaped prisoner, he finds Aida after she has been captured by four vicious servants of The Sovereign. Upon saving her from a brutal assault, the pair flee into the dangerous depths of The Furian wood, far from the reach of The Sovereign’s stronghold in Opeth city.

As they travel to the bounds of their known world and approach the towering Vazaketh mountain range, they encounter ancient beasts, discover a hidden race of exiles, learn the answers to the secrets of their past and future, and a solidify a soul-bond that may be the key to the liberation of their entire realm.

GET IT HERE

CONTENT WARNING

Chasm of Dreams takes place in a primitive world where only brute strength, cunning and cruelty have enabled its humans to survive. This story contains graphic depictions of violence, death, imprisonment, drugging, suicidal ideation, kidnapping, consensual sex, and threats of SA.

There is also love, courage, kindness and compassion…

All the makings for one Hel of a revolution…

 

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Blogathon: The Death Watcher – Chris Carter

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The 13th adrenaline-packed Robert Hunter thriller and Top Ten Sunday Times bestseller.

When a routine autopsy on what looked like a straightforward hit-and-run leads the LA Chief Medical Examiner, Dr Carolyn Hove, to discover some puzzling inconsistencies, she calls in Detective Robert Hunter of the LAPD Ultra Violent Crimes Unit. Not only did Dr Hove discover that the death wasn’t caused by a hit-and-run, but she also found indications that the victim had been severely tortured prior to death.

What no one realises is that what Dr Hove has stumbled upon is just the tip of the iceberg and it will lead Hunter and his partner, Carlos Garcia, on the trail of a twisted and clever killer who hides in plain sight. A serial killer no one even knew existed – a killer who has always operated under the radar, expertly disguising every gruesome murder as an accidental death.

But with no leads as to why the victim was targeted, the investigation comes to a standstill, until another body is discovered with an alternative cause of death.

What becomes clear is that this serial killer isn’t going to stop – unless Hunter and Garcia can get to him.

But how do you investigate a murder when you have no victims? How do you catch a killer who leaves behind no crime scene? How do you stop a ghost who no one can prove even exists?

My thoughts: Thirteen books into this dark but compelling series, I am still completely hooked. This case might be Hunter and Garcia’s strangest yet.

Because their medical examiner is brilliant, she spots a few things that prove their hit and run victim is nothing of the sort – he died from hypothermia. In Southern California, in summer. Now I have actually spent summer in Orange County, south of LA and it is hot. So, so hot. There’s just no way you could get that cold unless you were locked in a freezer. And nobody does that voluntarily.

While Hunter and Garcia are trying to figure out whodunnit and why. There’s another body that appears, again the supposed cause of death doesn’t match the evidence on the body. A body that was donated to the students at a medical school, training to be medical examiners.

Slowly, the brilliant detective duo, veterans of dozens of baffling cases, put together what links the victims and what might the killer be thinking.

Chris Carter is a brilliant writer, and was a criminal psychologist, and really knows how to build suspense and a sense of real danger, which once again Garcia and Hunter find themselves in.

This blogathon has been just tremendous to be part of and I cannot wait to see what Carter 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.

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Blog Tour: Blind Pursuit – Rob Sinclair

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Callum Murphy thought he was happily married to a corporate consultant…
But when police show up at Callum’s work site, informing him of his wife Lea’s death – his world starts to crumble. And it turns out, her death was just the beginning…

Within a few hours, Callum is told that Lea was, in fact, an MI6 agent who was killed because of intelligence only she had, strangers with guns break into his home and he’s forced to run for his life.

Thrust into a terrifying chase across Europe, Callum has to dodge British police and shadowy MI6 operatives who believe he knows more than he’s letting on. All the while trying to piece together the
truth about his wife’s final mission.

But the deeper he digs, the more dangerous his situation becomes, forcing him to ask the ultimate question: Who did he marry, and can he trust anything she ever said to him?

Purchase


Rob Sinclair is the million copy bestseller of over twenty thrillers, including the James Ryker series.
Rob previously studied Biochemistry at Nottingham University. He also worked for a global accounting firm for 13 years, specialising in global fraud investigations.

Facebook: @robsinclairauthor
Twitter: @rsinclairauthor
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Bookbub profile: @RobSinclair

My thoughts: When his wife dies in a motorbike accident in Bucharest, Callum Murphy is thrown into a world of spies and high stakes. The woman he married is not who he thought she was. Instead she was an MI6 agent, involved in dangerous work that took her around the globe.

He is interrogated by the police and MI6, Lea was in possession of important secret information but no one knows where it is. They suspect Callum knows but he hasn’t got a clue. Lea kept him completely in the dark.

But he does find a trail of clues, put together especially for him that take him on a journey into his wife’s world of danger and espionage. All he wants is to understand who Lea was and why she had to die, all they want is the secrets she took with her. But the truth might cost Callum everything.

High stakes, high octane drama, a man who doesn’t know who to trust, spies with secrets and answers hidden that only one person can find.

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

books

Cover Reveal: A Fated Reckoning – Jamye Smith

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We’re proud to present the cover for A Fated Reckoning by Jamye Smith! Pre-order this beauty now!

A Fated Reckoning: An Epic Fae and Vampire Romantasy Standalone
Expected Release Date: June 24, 2026
Genre: Dark Romantasy

TROPES:

💔 Hate-to-Love
🔥 Fated Mates/Soul Bond
🗡️ Second Chance Romance
🧛 Vampire x Fae Warrior
🔒 Forbidden Love
⚔️ She’s Mine
🐌 Slow Burn
⛓️ Forced Proximity
💀 Deadly Trials
♾️Immortals (she’s older)
✨High Fantasy world

SPICE:
🌶️🌶️🌶️

Spicy Romance – foreplay & one explicit intimate scene

A FATED RECKONING is a standalone second-chance romantic fantasy between bonded mates. Bryn’s soul is shattered into four fragments after Mikael gets her cursed. They haven’t seen each other in 200 years. And now, Bryn is forced to work with Mikael to break the curse or she’ll die.

I loved him once. Now I measure my hate in the inches of steel I’ve driven into his chest. 200 years ago, Mikael’s betrayal cost me everything. I survived by becoming someone who feels nothing. Then he shows up claiming I’m cursed—my soul shattered into four fragments. To recover them, we must face deadly trials together.

PERFECT FOR FANS OF:

Quicksilver by Callie Hart – When the Moon Hatched by Sarah A. Parker – Serpent and Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent – Smoke and Scar by Gretchen Powell Fox – No Rest for the Wicked by Kresley Cole

EPIC FANTASY WORLD:

Multi-species cast (pixies, ice dragons, siren priestesses, beasts) – Post-war landscape – Magical Wastelands – Political intrigue

Standalone with HEA – No cliffhanger – First Person POV. This is Book 1 in an interconnected series of standalones featuring different couples in the world. Each book can be read alone, but characters appear across stories.

PRE-ORDER:  https://a.co/d/017Es4US


CONTENT WARNINGS:

Alcohol Abuse
Violence, Blood, Gore
On-page character death
Explicit sexual content
Themes of self-sacrifice and loss

IG: @thejamyesmith @rrbooktours

TIKTOK: @jamyesmith @rrbooktours

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#rrbooktours #rrbtAFatedReckoning #romantasybooks #darkromantasy #coverreveal

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Blog Tour: The Mark of Eternity – Murray Bailey

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An ancient symbol. A deadly killer. Two strangers must decode the past to survive the future

Book Two of the Egyptian Stones Trilogy – Coming Spring 2026

FBI Special Agent Charlie Reed thought the Surgeon — a notorious serial killer — was a ghost from the past. But when a new series of murders erupts, each marked with strange, arcane symbols, the trail leads Reed across continents to Egypt… and to a chilling revelation: the Surgeon has returned, and this time, his killings follow a pattern—one tied to a purpose more terrifying than anyone imagined.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Alex MacLure has uncovered more encoded messages in ancient tablets. An ancient Egyptian was searching for a forgotten symbol. His name appears in a programme written by a brilliant AI student. The student reaches out with a wild theory — but before MacLure discovers the truth, he’s arrested for a murder he didn’t commit.

Thrown together by fate and hunted by forces beyond their understanding, Reed and MacLure must unlock an ancient secret. They must stop the Surgeon before he unleashes a plan, millennia in the making.

My thoughts: A serial killer who has hidden dozens of bodies across America and now has apparently headed to Egypt, an AI program that is spewing out word maps about Alex MacLure and secrets hidden in the desert, a race against time to save his journalist girlfriend Rebecca from fanatics that believe they can bring about a new Christ by re-enacting the crucifixtion using ancient Egyptian symbols.

Alex’s job deciphering clay tablets telling the life story of an important clerk in the ancient world and his links to pharaohs and prophecy might help him find the mysterious symbol the killer seeks.

I was absolutely hooked by this next installment in Alex’s adventures, I read a lot of crime fiction so the serial killer angle was interesting too, bringing in another dimension and the FBI in the form of Agent Charlie Reed.

It’s a fast paced story, with lots of action and the puzzles Alex must translate and solve in order to save the day.

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