Month: Jun 2024

books

Book Blitz: The Shadows of the Kingdom – Jen Bliton

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Happy release day to author Jen Bliton! Make sure you get a copy of the next Light in the Shadows book, The Shadows of the Kingdom!

TSotK-draft4-adj

The Shadows of the Kingdom

Publication Date: June 25, 2024

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

💀Ancient evil
💀 Relationship struggles
💀 new monsters
💀 Undertaking quests
💀 Kingdom politics
💀 History revelations

After defeating the evil behind the attacks on the southern lands of Caldumn, Wren and Tyran begin to settle into their new life that begs to be calm… or so they thought.

With so many questions left unanswered about the Red Kingdom’s threat, and what they’ll now do after they withstood Rhonin’s advance, they receive a letter from a mysterious magic kind that kept themselves in the shadows with a warning of the Red Kingdom’s motives.

Now the threat won’t just be to the towns, but their world as they know it. Wren and Tyran begin the journey to stop the Red Kingdom at all costs. Faced with conflicting beliefs as to what they should do, their relationship is tested in more ways than they can imagine:

Embrace the shadows or choose a path of light.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

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Blog Tour: Aultemus – Mike Burke

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Welcome to the book tour for Aultemus by Mike Burke. Read on for more details!

Aultemus-Final Cover

Aultemus

Publication Date: February 22, 2024

Genre: Fantasy/ Mythical Creatures

Lightning, but not from the sky. From the trees, from maybe even your friend. Magic is woven into everything in this reality; from the birds (they don’t like you calling them that) in the sky, to the rocks deep in the earth.

Aultemus, Syora, Railo, and Feuson have to set out in this reality, but this is their reality, and they’re quite fond of it. They have their own struggles clawing at their minds but that’s why they’re together.

There’s someone who plans to get rid of magic in their world, the magic that makes it special, turning a blind eye to the sacrifices they must make to reach their goal. The adventurers want to stop him but is that why they’re really doing it? Is it the right thing to do to stop someone doing evil things, or are we all in it because of the sunk-cost? Can we even overcome our true nature with all the magic in the universe?

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Blog Tour: The Ghost Ship – Kate Mosse

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Next in the #1 Sunday Times bestselling series, New York Times bestselling author Kate Mosse returns with The Ghost Ship, a sweeping historical epic of adventure on the high seas.

The Barbary Coast, 1621. A mysterious vessel floats silently on the water. It is known only as the Ghost Ship. For months it has hunted pirates to liberate those enslaved by corsairs, manned by a courageous crew of mariners from Italy and France, Holland and the Canary Islands.

But the bravest men on board are not who they seem. And the stakes could not be higher. If arrested, they will be hanged for their crimes. Can they survive the journey and escape their fate?

A sweeping and epic love story, ranging from France in 1610 to Amsterdam and the Canary Islands in the 1620s, The Ghost Ship is a thrilling novel of adventure and buccaneering, love and revenge, stolen fortunes and hidden secrets on the high seas.

KATE MOSSE, CBE, is a multiple New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author with sales of more than eight million copies in thirty-eight languages. Her previous novels include Labyrinth, Sepulchre, The Winter Ghosts, Citadel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, and The Burning Chambers. Kate is the founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a visiting professor at the University of Chichester, and in June 2013, was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. She divides her time between Chichester in the United Kingdom and Carcassonne in France.

My thoughts: this is the third installment of The Joubert Family Chronicles, but I think it could be read as a standalone too. Louise’s story is inspired by the real life female pirates like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, women who took on male roles, who did things they weren’t expected to.

After coming into her inheritance Louise buys a merchant ship, and during a voyage from Amsterdam to the Canary Islands her experiences and the stories of the crew make her want to make a difference. She’s also drawn to a young man, Gilles, who she’s taken under her wing. But like Louise, Gilles is not exactly what he seems. 

They become pirates of a sort, stealing not treasure but saving lives – hunting down slave ships and freeing the captives, encouraging them to take over the ships they’re held on.

It’s both an adventure and a romance, Louise and Gilles are both incredibly brave and resourceful, even when things seem incredibly bleak and hopeless, they have courage and faith in one another.

*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: Oceansong – C.W. Rose

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We’re thrilled to present the cover for Oceansong by C.W. Rose! Make sure to add it to Goodreads and get a copy on August 27th!

Oceansong_eBOOK

Oceansong

Release Date: August 27, 2024

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romantasy

🧜🏼‍♂️Merfolk Mythology
🌊Ocean-based magic
⚔️Enemies-to-lovers
💘Forbidden & Slow Burn Romance
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Asian family dynamics
😒🌞Grumpy (female) x sunshine (male)
💞HEAs
🥧Cinnamon roll male
🤨Prickly, snarky female MC who’s a softie inside
🏘️Small-town settings (Alaska)

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

OCEANSONG is an Adult Contemporary Romantasy that is an Asian Romeo & Juliet meets The Little Mermaid, set in the grittiness of the real world.

Fish are mysteriously disappearing, starving the people in Angie Song’s Alaskan hometown. Angie, an aspiring marine biologist and dock worker, enthusiastically joins the hunt to find out where the fish are gathering. When her family and the villagers discover that merfolk are responsible, they vow to destroy every last one. In the midst of the conflict, Angie faces off with a merman and fails to pull the trigger.

Inquisitive Mer-Prince Kaden is just as snarky as Angie, but he’s willing to talk and stop the brutal massacring of his people. The two form a cautious alliance to broker peace between the humans and mer before any more of them die.

As tensions clash between the two races fighting to control the sea’s resources, Angie and Kaden’s forbidden relationship ignites. And as she learns about the mer’s mysterious world and the reason why the fish are gone, Angie starts to question who the true monster is, and where her loyalties lie. Taking the wrong side means choosing between family and her job, or the man she’s fallen for and the merfolk she’s come to respect—or losing it all.

COMING SOON!

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Blog Tour: The Hungry Heart – Clare Finney

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Award-winning food writer Clare Finney presents a moving, heartfelt exploration of the intertwining influences of food and love
 
From family feasts to comfort foods, first dates to office cake; how does what we eat define us, and the relationships we have with others?
 
Award-winning food writer Clare Finney delves into these questions with a rare and insightful sensitivity, telling a powerful story of life and love whilst uncovering the manifold ways in which food touches all relationships: from perfect strangers to partners, parents and friends.
 
Beginning with a childhood spent in her grandmother’s hotel kitchen and ending at her grandfather’s bedside, she charts a course through the meals and recipes which have shaped the person she is today.
 
Finney also investigates the role food plays in a modern society which can often feel isolating, exploring how eating unites us in varied ways throughout our lives. From the dance of culinary courtship entailed in dating to the funeral foods that remind us of the connections between life and death, Finney examines the power of food and drink to attract, bind and define us – and of course, its power to divide and repel.
 
At a time when our relationship towards what, when and where we eat has become increasingly complicated, Hungry Heart is a feast; an honest, heart-warming account of humans breaking bread together and what that really means.

Clare Finney is a food journalist, Londoner and cheese lover. In 2019 she won the Fortnum & Mason Food Writing Award for her work with Foodism and Market Life, Borough Market’s magazine.

My thoughts: exploring her life and emotions through recipes and the meals that made them, the author (who grew up in the same town as me – some of the places she mentions have resonance for me too) charts her childhood trips to her grandparents’ hotel, her parents’ divorce, her teenage eating disorder and her university years.

As a food writer she has written extensively on the things we eat, but here she explores our emotional connection to food, her own and her friends and colleagues. Each chapter ends with a recipe, dishes that have been made with love and are imbued with memory and in many cases comfort.

It was a really interesting book to read and one I will come back to as a lot of the things discussed in the chapters were intensely thought provoking.

*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 Winter Killings – Wes Markin

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A gruesome find. A missing colleague. A case that hits closer to home…

As winter settles over Yorkshire, DCI Emma Gardner is hoping that work will calm down for everyone.
Distracted by the continued disappearance of DI Paul Riddick Emma can’t seem to get her head back in the game. But when a human skull is discovered in a local pub, Emma knows it’s time to get a grip.
With no one local reported missing, and with no body to be found, the team have their work cut and no obvious clues to follow. Who could the skull belong to and what message is the killer trying to
leave them? And then the first body is found…

As Emma and the team try desperately to identify the body and the killer, secrets from the past begin to reveal themselves. A home for single mothers. Babies who tragically didn’t make it. A coverup at
the highest level.
With the clock ticking, winter has one final cold reveal for Emma. Her old friend Riddick…

Purchase


Wes Markin is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels, set in Salisbury. His new series for Boldwood stars the pragmatic detective DCI Emma Gardner who will be tackling the criminals of North Yorkshire. 

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My thoughts: When a real skull appears in the props box of a local storyteller, during a performance in a local pub, right in front of DCI Emma Gardner and her colleague, it sends them on a hunt for a body, the identity and into the past in search of a motive.

The trail leads to a former homeless shelter, where truly shocking secrets have been buried, but perhaps not deep enough. Someone is determined to drag all of the terrible things that went on into the light, and they’re using murder to do it. 

Emma and her team are working hard, despite not having enough manpower –  and one of the team having a personal connection to the case. It’s a tough one for everyone.

As well as the case, Emma is still trying to find Riddick, she’s asked a former colleague to hunt him down, and he’s in a bad situation. A very bad one, but it might just be enough to get him to leave it and finally make contact with Emma.

Gripping, shocking, filled with twists, this is the best in the series so far. Can’t wait for the next one.

*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: Tangled Power – Jillian Witt

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TangledPower copy

We’re celebrating the release of Tangled Power by Jillian Witt! Make sure to get your copy on June 18th!

Tangled Power Cover large

Tangled Power: Compass Points #2

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Genre: Romantic Fantasy/ New Adult/Adult

🧭His power scares everyone but her
✨Dual POV
🧭Hot Forging 😏
✨Opinionated Magic
🧭”Get in losers. Let’s go find a rogue god.”

“Technically, the continent is doomed if you can’t figure out how to work together…the good news is there’s no way for the Compass Points to trust each other less than they currently do.”
— Arie

Before the Compass Points can confront a god, Rose will unite them the only way she knows how: through their magic.

To forge her weapons is to know the heart of the wielder. Uncovering the secrets that have plagued the fae courts longer than the mist will not be an easy task. But it may be simpler than predicting how her magic entwines with the Suden Point’s unprecedented power—and the growing bond between them.

Tangled Power is the second book in the Compass Points series

GET IT ON AMAZON

About the Author

Jillian Witt reads more romantic fantasy than is strictly necessary and writes books she would love to read. Her stories unleash powerful women into fantasy worlds, usually turn enemies into lovers, and always offer an escape from reality.
When not reading or writing, she’s enjoying all four seasons in Michigan with her partner and their dog, Loki.

JILLIAN WITT

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Blog Tour: The Love of my Afterlife – Kirsty Greenwood

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What if the end of her life was just beginning…

If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie Bookham would be dying of embarrassment.
She’s woken up in the afterlife after choking on a microwave burger, wearing the kind of pyjamas you’d be mortified if anyone saw you in, and has crashed headlong into the most handsome man she’s ever met. Who is also dead and smiling at her.

As they talk, Delphie starts to can feel that elusive spark between them – something she’s waited her whole life to feel. Perhaps the afterlife won’t be so bad if she’s potentially found her soulmate to spend it with… That is until someone comes running in, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth and leaving Delphie behind.

 Now the powers that be are offering Delphie a deal: go back down to Earth, find her mysterious maybe soulmate, and get him to fall in love with her. Or stay dead. The challenge? She only has ten days to find him, and he has no recollection of them ever having met…

Kirsty Greenwood is an internationally bestselling author of funny, fearless romantic comedies about extraordinary love. When she’s not writing books she composes musicals and explores London where she lives with her husband.

 Follow Kirsty Greenwood on social media and tag her using #LoveofmyAfterlife and Twitter – @KirstyStories | Instagram – kirsty_greenwood | Facebook – KirstyGreenwoodBooks

My thoughts: this was a clever premise and a fun rom com read, when Delphie chokes to death on one of those grim microwave burgers in her ugliest nightie, and finds herself in a heavenly launderette, her life finally starts.

Sent back to life to find her soul mate and get him to kiss her, with only ten days to do so, this normally isolated introvert has to get out of her shell and hunt down the mysterious Jonah. But of course there’s lots of plot twists and along the way she makes new friends, finds herself in all sorts of scrapes, and just possibly finally understands love at the last possible moment.

This was such a fun book, I wolfed it down, enjoying every second, funny, intelligent and filled with wonderful characters.

*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: Within the Embers – T.A. Reilly

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Happy cover reveal day to author T.A. Reilly! Within the Embers comes out early fall, but you can pre-order it early!

Within the Embers Cover

Within the Embers (Scattered Destinies #2)

Expected Publication Date: September 21, 2024

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Cover Designed by: @moonpressdesign

Steam/Heat Level
● 2-3 🌶
● A few explicit, open door scenes

Tropes:

● One Bed w/ a Twist
● Found Family
● Who Did This To You
● Time Travel
● Magic Training
● Sibling Banter
● Bonded Mates

Sought after answers are never as they seem.

When Kateya awakens with no memories, in an unfamiliar land, she knows two things for certain: she’s in danger, and she’s traveled back in time . . . again. Only this time, icy darkness lurks in the sky, revealing how different things truly are.

All magic demands balance.

Kateya’s memories begin to surface, haunting her with a past—tainted by dark magic—carved into her skin. As raging embers of magic begin to burn within her, the King of Avyon realizes she’s not only incredibly powerful, but a danger to everyone . . . including herself.

Alliances become weapons of war.

Past and present collide and bonds are forged through passion and hatred, forcing Kateya to question everything she believed she knew about those she loved. She must learn to harness the power rising within her, while determining who she can truly trust.

A fate written in the stars.

Harrowing truths are revealed that hold the power to not only alter the destiny of those prophesied, but change the future of the Vanaiyer Realm. As Kateya fights for freedom, she realizes not all knowledge is power and magic can’t always change the inevitable—including the tides of war.

The darkness is creeping closer . . . will they be able to hold it off?

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON

Triggers/Content Warnings:
Mentions of abuse, harm, profanity, violence, blood, capture, and death

About the Author

T. A. Reilly is an author of NA fantasy romance with equal levels adventure, time travel, and romance mixed in.
Reading came naturally to her at a young age, and the words began flowing shortly after that. She has traveled all over the world from a young age and is constantly counting down the days until her next trip! After graduating with a master’s in Professional Communications, she decided to pursue her lifelong dream… bringing time-travel to life on paper.
Currently, she and her husband call Florida home. In her free time, she loves rewatching Friends, going to the beach, and staying up too late lost in a good book.

T.A. REILLY

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Happy cover reveal day to author T.A. Reilly! Within the Embers comes out early fall, but you can pre-order it early!

Within the Embers Cover

Within the Embers (Scattered Destinies #2)

Expected Publication Date: September 21, 2024

Genre: Fantasy Romance

Cover Designed by: @moonpressdesign

Steam/Heat Level
● 2-3 🌶
● A few explicit, open door scenes

Tropes:

● One Bed w/ a Twist
● Found Family
● Who Did This To You
● Time Travel
● Magic Training
● Sibling Banter
● Bonded Mates

Sought after answers are never as they seem.

When Kateya awakens with no memories, in an unfamiliar land, she knows two things for certain: she’s in danger, and she’s traveled back in time . . . again. Only this time, icy darkness lurks in the sky, revealing how different things truly are.

All magic demands balance.

Kateya’s memories begin to surface, haunting her with a past—tainted by dark magic—carved into her skin. As raging embers of magic begin to burn within her, the King of Avyon realizes she’s not only incredibly powerful, but a danger to everyone . . . including herself.

Alliances become weapons of war.

Past and present collide and bonds are forged through passion and hatred, forcing Kateya to question everything she believed she knew about those she loved. She must learn to harness the power rising within her, while determining who she can truly trust.

A fate written in the stars.

Harrowing truths are revealed that hold the power to not only alter the destiny of those prophesied, but change the future of the Vanaiyer Realm. As Kateya fights for freedom, she realizes not all knowledge is power and magic can’t always change the inevitable—including the tides of war.

The darkness is creeping closer . . . will they be able to hold it off?

PRE-ORDER ON AMAZON

Triggers/Content Warnings:
Mentions of abuse, harm, profanity, violence, blood, capture, and death

About the Author

T. A. Reilly is an author of NA fantasy romance with equal levels adventure, time travel, and romance mixed in.
Reading came naturally to her at a young age, and the words began flowing shortly after that. She has traveled all over the world from a young age and is constantly counting down the days until her next trip! After graduating with a master’s in Professional Communications, she decided to pursue her lifelong dream… bringing time-travel to life on paper.
Currently, she and her husband call Florida home. In her free time, she loves rewatching Friends, going to the beach, and staying up too late lost in a good book.

T.A. REILLY

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Blog Tour: The Curse of Penryth Hall – Jess Armstrong

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An atmospheric gothic mystery that beautifully brings the ancient Cornish countryside to life, Armstrong introduces heroine Ruby Vaughn in her Minotaur Books & Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Award-winning debut, The Curse of Penryth Hall.

After the Great War, American heiress Ruby Vaughn made a life for herself running a rare bookstore alongside her octogenarian employer and house mate in Exeter. She’s always avoided dwelling on the past, even before the war, but it always has a way of finding her. When Ruby is forced to deliver a box of books to a folk healer living deep in the Cornish countryside, she is brought back to the one place she swore she’d never return. A more sensible soul would have delivered the package and left without rehashing old wounds. But no one has ever accused Ruby of being sensible. Thus begins her visit to Penryth Hall.

A foreboding fortress, Penryth Hall is home to Ruby’s once dearest friend, Tamsyn, and her husband, Sir Edward Chenowyth. It’s an unsettling place, and after a more unsettling evening, Ruby is eager to depart. But her plans change when Penryth’s bells ring for the first time in thirty years. Edward is dead; he met a gruesome end in the orchard, and with his death brings whispers of a returned curse. It also brings Ruan Kivell, the person whose books brought her to Cornwall, the one the locals call a Pellar, the man they believe can break the curse. Ruby doesn’t believe in curses—or Pellars—but this is Cornwall and to these villagers the curse is anything but lore, and they believe it will soon claim its next victim: Tamsyn.

To protect her friend, Ruby must work alongside the Pellar to find out what really happened in the orchard that night.

JESS ARMSTRONG is the USA Today best selling author of the Ruby Vaughn Mysteries. Her debut novel, The Curse of Penryth Hall, won the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel Competition. She has a masters degree in American History but prefers writing about imaginary people to the real thing. Jess lives in New Orleans with her historian husband, two sons, yellow cat, speckled dog, and the world’s most pampered school-fair goldfish. And when she’s not working on her next project, she’s probably thinking about cheese, baking, on social media or some combination of the above.

My thoughts: Cornwall is a place steeped in magic and mystery – long thought the land of Arthur and his knights, there’s many stories about piskies and spells in England’s southernmost county.

Ruby Vaughn is tasked to deliver a chest of books, despite not wanting to go anywhere near the home of her former close friend Tamsyn Chenowyth. But of course she visits Tamsyn and something terrible happens – Edward Chenowyth is murdered.

The Pellar, a sort of wise man, is called to inspect the body – as well as the constable, as there’s a curse on the family, or so they and the village believe. Ruby, being a modern scientific minded woman, doesn’t believe in curses or magic, she believes a human hand is behind all of it, and she will prove it. Even as she and Ruan Kivell (the Pellar) are drawn together.

The atmosphere does start to get to Ruby, but she’s determined to help Tamsyn, who is terrified her young son will be next. The answers lie in secrets from the past, things kept hidden, in grief and rumour.

I was gripped by this clever, sinister and compelling story, I really liked Ruby, her bookseller employer/surrogate father, the pompous house cat who keeps turning up everywhere, the housekeeper who over feeds everyone, they’re a delightful crew and there’s a hint at the end that there will be more to come….

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