On the 1st December 1838, all slaves were finally freed on South Africa, four years after slavery had officially been abolished.
First of December follows three people during the week of November 1838: James and Caroline Kendrick, and an unnamed runaway slave making her way to Cape Town along the coast, desperate to reach it by midnight on the 31st November.
Caroline is trapped in an unhappy marriage, in a place she hates, always longing to go home; bored, lonely, without purpose or any sense of belonging. James is forever on the move, desperate for success after a lifetime of failure and humiliation, seeing South Africa as his last great hope, preparing for the climax of his work, a bank to serve the city. Each resents the other, feeling trapped and unloved, yet with a wish for it all to change.
Meanwhile the slave-apprentice, fearful of being caught before the deadline, meets others living on the coast, at the edge of society, yet always remaining alone, without any clear idea of what to expect in Cape Town.
My thoughts: This is a slender book that packs some serious thought-provoking heft. As the true freedom for South Africa’s slaves approaches, the British settlers fuss and worry about whether they will be murdered in their beds (maybe you should have treated your slaves better) when the 1st of December arrives.
Caroline is miserable, her husband never comes anywhere near her after her battle with typhus, she doesn’t really have any friends and she misses her family back home. Lonely and frustrated, she relies on Leah, her maid, who she thinks will stay with her once she is free.
Caroline’s husband James is worrying about his standing, he doesn’t think much about his wife and her feelings, scared that his business plans will all fall apart, that his bank will fail and he will be forced to return to England in disgrace. He’s broke and keeping it hidden is causing terrible stress.
The unnamed slave heading for the city, looking for a new start, a fresh page, the safety of anonymity. She’s terrified as she travels alone through potentially dangerous places, unsure of what she will find in the city, but certain anything has to be better than where she’s left.
All three characters stand on the cusp of huge changes, in their personal lives, in their society and country. The British like James and Caroline might have to adjust to life without staff, or at least to paying their servants.
But the freed slaves, embodied by the Everygirl making her way to the city, face uncertainty too. Will they be able to find paid employment, will they be able to find safe places to live, feed their families, reunite with their families who have been sent elsewhere?
Thoughtful and quietly moving, the shift comes quietly with the new day, not with the violence the military believes they will have to quell, but with a slow understanding that things will be, must be, different from now on.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
If this whole saga was a fight between good and evil, then who had won?
As far as Miriam could work out, neither good nor evil had triumphed yet. Now she was having to confront the grim consequences of Will’s behaviour, and she was mortally afraid. Maybe he and his darkness would win after all.
The tragic suicide of a young student starts a shocking chain of events for William Marshall, his wife Miriam and their son, Ollie. As Will descends into madness, a ghostly presence appears in their old house to protect Ollie. However, when two strangers threaten Miriam and an attempt is made to snatch Ollie, mother and son are forced to flee.
Amidst ever-present danger, they shake off pursuers to seek sanctuary in Rock House in Dorset, where they meet Caitlin and her friends. Twenty years have passed since Charlie Bond helped Caitlin solve the mystery of her mother’s death. Now, it is the turn of Charlie’s sidekick, Sam Haskell, to investigate a mysterious cult and unmask a killer.
Gill Calvin Thomas has retired from academic life and lives with her husband in Swanage, Dorset. She finds inspiration while walking in the Isle of Purbeck. Here, she is able to escape into a world of her own making, getting to know her characters, whilst she plans the next twist and turn of the plot.
As writing has become a major part of Gill’s life, she has withdrawn from taking a leading role in many community volunteer activities, although she has retained her interest in local and national politics. A lifelong feminist, Gill likes nothing better than a spirited debate on the issues of the day with family and friends. As her writing career develops, she hopes to explore those issues in her stories.
My thoughts: Worried about the changes in her husband, Miriam and her son Ollie flee their home for the safety of her cousin’s home in Dorset. Unfortunately the other members of the cult her husband seems to have founded are still after Ollie.
Especially the rather malevolent Sister Olive, who has plans of her own for William, her own husband Leo and young Ollie.
But Miriam has some new friends who want to help her stay safe and Sam goes undercover in the group to try to discern their plans and find the missing William.
Twisted and strange, this cult has deviated from their original beliefs and now Olive has seized control, and no one feels safe.
The story is clever and full of twists and turns as Miriam and Ollie try to stay ahead of this dangerous woman.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
Icelandic detective-in-training Sigurdís is studying criminal psychology in the US, but her plans are thrown into disarray when she discovers that her boss and mentor, Garðar, has been fired from Reykjavík CID over his investigation into Sigurdís’s father’s death.
Returning to Iceland to deal with the fallout, Sigurdís finds herself pulled into a disturbing case: controversial TV personality Olga Einars has been stabbed to death during the Reykjavík Marathon. Struggling to locate a runner waring the number 1407, who was seen near the murdered woman during the race, the police soon discover that several masked runners were wearing the same number.
As the mystery deepens, Sigurdís and her fellow detective Unnar soon learn exactly how unpopular Olga was – not just with the interviewees she humiliated on live TV, but with her own son, her business partner, a widower who insists that she had a hand in his wife’s death, and her ex-husband, who died in suspicious circumstances thirty years ago…
As her exploration into Olga’s past becomes ever darker and more harrowing, Sigurdís must also face the truth about her own father, while searching for an attacker who will go to any lengths to cover up their crimes…
Katrín Júlíusdóttir is a former Icelandic politician, elected in 2003 and serving as Minister of Industry, Energy and Tourism, Minister of Finance and Economy and Social Democratic Alliance’s vice-chair until she retired from politics in 2016.
Before she was elected to parliament, Katrín was an advisor and project manager at a tech company and a senior buyer and CEO in the retail sector, as well as the managing director of a student union at Reykjavík University, where she studied anthropology and received an MBA. She is now managing director of Finance Iceland.
Katrín won the Blackbird Award for best Icelandic crime debut for her first novel, Dead Sweet, in 2020, and it received immense critical acclaim, hitting the bestseller lists shortly after publication. In the UK, it was a Booksellers Circle Book of the Month and longlisted for the Waterstones Debut Novel Prize, debuting at No. 15 on the Sunday Times bestseller list.
Katrín was raised in Kópavogur, about fifteen minutes’ drive from downtown Reykjavík, and she now lives in the neighbouring town of Garðabær with her family. She is married to author Bjarni M. Bjarnason, who encouraged her to start writing, and they have four sons.
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.
ramblingmads 