Month: Aug 2024

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Oceansong – C.W. Rose

ramblingmads

We’re celebrating the upcoming release of Ocean Song this week! Pre-order a copy early a get one on August 27th!

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 LI
🤨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.

GET IT ON AMAZON

X @cwrose813 @hey_hey_books @rrbooktours1

IG @cwroseauthor @rrbooktours @hey_hey_books_publishing,

Tags

#rrbooktours #rrbtoceansong #oceansong #romanticfantasy #romanticfantasybooks #mermaidromance #romantasy #fantasy #romancebooks #summerreading #cwrose

books

Cover Reveal: Neon is the Colour of Vengeance – Elanor Miller

ramblingmads

Anyone who is a fan of this time period and aesthetic will love the cover for the prequel companion novel in Elanor Miller’s Flappers & False Gods series.

NEON IS THE COLOUR OF VENGEANCE

✨MM Mafia Romance❤️‍🔥
✨Enemies to lovers 🔪
✨Spicy🌶️🥵
✨Tragic💔
✨Reveņge plot🩸
✨Set in a futuristic Gatsby era🍸
✨John Wick/Peaky Blinders vibes🔫

He loved. He lost. He killed.

NEON IS THR COLOUR OF VENGEANCE is a dark MM mafia romance about a hitman who fell in love with the man he was supposed to kill only to have that man murdered by the people he trusted most.

It’s a tale of love, death, grief and vengeance with no happy ending.

By night or neon light, he will have his revenge.

NEON IS THE COLOUR OF VENGEANCE can be read on its own, or as a prequel to the main series as it features new characters

COMING SOON!

COVER REVEAL ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

books, reviews

Book Review: Luna’s Veil – Wes Verde

ramblingmads

Leonard Burton wakes up to find his life in ruins. His wife is dead, and no one believes his story about what killed her – he’s not even sure he believes it himself. Now, in jail for the crime and with no friends, his prospects are bleak. That is, until he is rescued by Dr. Cecil Gainor, an enigmatic investigator and perhaps the only other man who knows what unnatural horrors are really at work.

Unfortunately, more questions arise when Cecil’s partner disappears while chasing the same dark forces responsible for the death of Lenny’s wife. The two men realize they must follow the trail themselves, or many other lives may be at risk.

What follows is a race against time to clear Lenny’s name and find the real killers before the full moon. The death and destruction that has already been suffered is nothing compared to what will occur beneath Luna’s Veil.

My thoughts: This is a mix of crime thriller, investigating kidnappings, murder, secret societies, and eldritch horror – with terrifying creatures woken up and brought into the world.

After Lenny wakes up next to his wife’s body and is arrested for her murder, a strange man comes to break him out of jail and asks him about the changes in Rita’s behaviour before her death.

The pair go looking for another member of Cecil’s organisation, and Lenny hopes for answers. What they uncover is a terrifying conspiracy and monstrous crimes beyond the imagining.

The plot twists and turns, as the two men hunt for Cecil’s missing friend and then for a new acquaintance’s sister – a young girl with unusual abilities. They hook up with a family of bootleggers who give them the weapons they need when they reach the end game – at Lenny’s father-in-law’s island mansion, where the mysterious Taurus Society are summoning their first leviathan.

Creepy and suspenseful, with elements of the Jersey Devil folklore, and references to the infamous Aleistair Crowley (that idiot), it’s a nightmarish world where demonic creatures slumber in the rivers of New Jersey.

Review opportunity provided by R&R Book Tours

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions remain my own.

books

Cover Reveal: Creatures of Chaos – Julie Hall

ramblingmads

We are super excited to present the absolutely gorgeous cover for USA Today bestselling author, Julie Hall’s upcoming release, Creatures of Chaos!

Visit our Instagram page for a chance to win a special edition hardcover!

Creatures of Chaos

Expected Publication Date: October 29, 2024

Genre: YA Urban Fantasy

  • Best Friend to Lovers
  • Forbidden Love
  • Fake Dating
  • Secret dating
  • Not The Chosen One
  • Morally Gray MMC
  • Secretive MMC
  • Deadly Competition
  • Magic-less FMC in a Supernatural World
  • All the Supernatural Creatures

Perfect for fans of forbidden love, high-stakes games, and everything supernatural. Creatures of Chaos is a fast-paced YA urban fantasy series that’s being called The Serpent and the Wings of Night meets Crave.

There’s only one rule in chaos: win or die trying.

Chaos, the vicious supernatural competition where heroes are born and riches are won.

To most, it’s just an urban legend whispered in the darkest shadows, but that all changes when my best friend drags me into a savage world where vampires, shifters, and fae compete for glory and fame.

As a creature without magic, I’d be a fool to enter Chaos, but the prize—a dagger of untold power—could change my powerless existence. With that dagger, I could wield magic, earn respect, and maybe, just maybe, win the heart of the dragon heir… it’s a risk I have to take.

Now, I’m pitted against beasts in a ruthless battle with no powers, no plan, and an infuriatingly attractive ally who’s just as likely to slit my neck as save it. Every round of Chaos leads me closer to seizing my deepest desires or losing everything.

In Chaos, survival is the only rule. And winning is all that matters.

PRE-ORDER HERE

IF YOU LOVED:

The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, Crave by Tracy Wolff, The Serpent and the Wings of Night by Carissa Broadbent, and Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

The Inheritance Games – Love triangle, difference in class standings, mystery and intrigue

Crave – YA urban fantasy with multiple different supernatural creatures set in an academy environment

The Serpent and the Wings of Night – High stakes games where she is forced to make an alliance with a rival

Fourth Wing – Love triangle aspect and an underdog female main character

COVER REVEAL ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

books, reviews

Book Review: Singapore Worlds – Murray Bailey

ramblingmads

Independent of the government, Carter is looking for work and thinks the unsolved death of a police officer. Sergeant Cox appears to have been murdered by a skilled assassin. The police have few clues and fewer suspects, but the suggestion that there may be a boxing connection intrigues him.

In this novella, set between Singapore Girl and Singapore Boxer, Carter confronts fighters in the ring and the streets to solve who killed Sergeant Cox and why.

My thoughts: Ash Carter is freelance but available to the military police, while working with the local force on the case of the murdered policeman. This will see him entangled in a world of gangs and underworld boxing rings. He’s sure that Sergeant Cox was crooked and his death has something to do with the gangs of young men he was supposed to be investigating.

A quick trip to look into the accidental death of a young soldier gets Carter some new acquaintances in the MP, which come in handy when he goes in search of a young gang member who might just hold the answers to both the murdered cop and a murdered gang leader.

I like Carter and the way he likes to work, just outside the lines, so it was nice to return to his story, as he investigates these cases, willing to go to places the police can’t. This story explains how he ends up boxing for a promoter in his next book too.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, all opinions are my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: A Deadly Affair – E.V. Hunter

ramblingmads


A local gossip is about to get her just desserts!

Life at Hopgood Hall is never boring, but Alexi Ellis hopes that there will be no more murders for the time being – she’s solved four already and is getting a reputation in the local area for being bad luck.

So when local gossip Polly Pearson arrives at Hopgood Hall, Alexi knows this can only mean bad news. Polly has made it clear that she dislikes Alexi and has campaigned for her to leave Hopgood Hall forever – so what could Polly want?

Then Polly reveals that her partner, Gerry, has been found murdered in her B&B and that she is the main suspect!

Alexi, her partner Jack, and Cosmo the cat are all left speechless. More so when Polly begs Alexi for help improving her innocence.

But Alexi isn’t sure she wants to help this spiteful gossip. Is she really innocent or as deadly as the police believe her to be?

Purchase 


E.V. Hunter has written a great many successful regency romances as Wendy Soliman and revenge thrillers as Evie Hunter. She is now redirecting her talents to produce cosy murder mysteries. For the
past twenty years she has lived the life of a nomad, roaming the world on interesting forms of transport, but has now settled back in the UK.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Newsletter

My thoughts: My cat is very jealous of how much I enjoy this series and Cosmo the crime fighting feline. I was reading this book and Ted was furiously demanding attention – oops!

But it is a great read, Alexi’s nemesis in the village, a woman who has spread malicious gossip about her for a while, now needs her help. Oh, and Jack’s horrible ex-wife is in town too, she’s Polly’s friend and conveniently turns up to support her.

There’s a lot of twists and turns in what the police originally thought was a straightforward murder case. He was found stabbed in Polly’s home, in her bed, with a knife like the set she has in the kitchen. And the B&B guests had heard Gerry and Polly arguing before he was killed.

But as Jack and Alexi (and obviously Cosmo) dig into Gerry’s life and all his secrets (and there are many) there are more suspects than just Polly. The local CID are quite happy for the team to do the legwork while they work on other cases, being a small department. And most people are more or less happy to help, except for a shady livery owner who tries to set his dog on them. As Jack and Alexi get to the bottom of Gerry’s shady dealings, secrets and lies spill out from everywhere.

Another absolutely fiendish and intelligent read from E.V. and a great book for fellow crime fans. Enjoy!

*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, reviews

Blog Tour: 33 Women – Isabel Ashdown

ramblingmads

When sisters Celine and Pip get a call telling them their reclusive mother has died, the women are reunited at her riverside home in Arundel to pick up the pieces. But someone is missing – their middle sister, Vanessa, brutally murdered years ago and the victim of an unsolved case. As the sisters confront ghosts from the past, the discovery of another body in similar circumstances throws new light on Vanessa’s death. Could there be more to her case than the police first thought? And what do the mysterious residents of Two Cross Farm, the neighbouring women’s commune, have to do with it? What secrets are lurking behind their locked gates? And what is the significance of the number 33?

My thoughts: Two Cross Farm is a rather strange place, they choose to cut themselves off from the rest of the world – which means that rumours about what happens there.

Celine and Pip are sorting out their late mum’s house, or trying to, when a woman’s body is found just down the road. Was she from the farm? Did someone there kill her?

A twisting, intelligent thriller, which slowly reveals the truth behind the gates of the farm, the connection to Celine and Pip’s sister Vanessa, and what happened to the woman whose body was found.

*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, reviews

Blog Tour: What the Lady Wants – Emma Orchard

ramblingmads

Autumn, 1816…

Lady Ashby is grieving the death of her beloved husband just two years earlier. Although still young and beautiful, Isabella is resolved never to marry again, and plans to leave London, return to her
parents’ Yorkshire house, and resign from society before the year is over. But first, she wants one more taste of life…

Isabella has written a list, the contents of which, if discovered, would create a scandal that neither she nor her family would recover from. A list of things she would like to experience, just once more,
before she surrenders herself to the life of a widow. And she knows just the man to help her: her friend, handsome and honourable Captain Leo Winterton.

But Captain Winterton has a secret of his own. He is in love with Isabella – and when she makes her most improper proposal to him, he is powerless to resist her, even if she is resolved never to love
again. Can he persuade her they are destined to be together? Or will their impropriety be discovered, to the ruin of both?

Purchase


Emma was born in Salford and studied English Literature at the universities of Edinburgh and York.
Her first job after graduating was as a Copy-Editor at Mills & Boon, where she met her husband in a classic enemies-to-lovers romance. Emma has worked behind the scenes in television and as a Literary Agent, and in 2020 started writing Georgette Heyer fan-fiction.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Newsletter Bookbub

My thoughts: There’s a belief that the Regency period was really buttoned up and unsexy but the king and queen had 15 children, what did people think they were doing? The Prince Regent was infamous for his behaviour (he couldn’t stand his wife, but he did have lots of lovers) so in a way, although people weren’t openly having sexual relationships, there was plenty going on as long as you kept it quiet, especially in the ton.

Lady Ashby has been widowed for two years and after recovering from a breakdown following her husband’s death,  she’s determined to do things on her own terms – she doesn’t want a husband, she would prefer a no strings lover, she’s got a list and wants to get through it.

She’s picked handsome Captain Leo Winterton (who served with her husband in the wars against Napoleon) to be her first option – if he says no, she also has a list for that. Thankfully he agrees to a discreet, private arrangement.

This is a very sexy book, there’s lots of sex scenes, but thankfully they’re not too cringe worthy. And of course keeping the feelings out of it, doesn’t quite work out.

I really enjoyed this, Isabella was a very modern protagonist – she knows what she wants and she goes for it. Which I loved, she’s no shrinking violet. I also liked Leo, he’s the one dealing with feelings for once and it’s a refreshing change to the female lead with the crush.

*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: Crimson Kiss – Jodie Angell

ramblingmads

We’re celebrating the newly released debut romantasy novel by Jodie Angell with a book tour this week! Make sure you grab a copy today!

Crimson Kiss (The Ancient Spells Trilogy Book 1)

Publication Date: August 5, 2024

Genre: Romantasy

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️

✨ forced proximity
✨ he fell first
✨ it was always her
✨ cinnamon roll MMC
✨ four horsemen of the apocalypse reimagined
✨ elemental beings
✨ spice

A mage. A knight. A destiny…

When the Orcs lay siege to the Eyre, Evalyn’s family are murdered, and she finds herself the last surviving heir to the kingdom of Arogath. She has no choice but to flee the only place she’s called home. With Felix, a sworn bodyguard by her side, she desperately seeks refuge.
It’s not long before Evalyn discovers the brutal lengths the Orcs will go to in order to expand their territory, and with her people’s lives at stake, she is forced to unearth a long since buried magic. As she grapples to control her volatile powers and fill the role of queen, enemies rise in all corners of the kingdom—some with carefully curated disguises. And they are much closer than she thought.

Despite it all, Felix remains a constant. Her childhood friend, her loyal protector. With a war raging around them, she finds herself falling for him. And the cost of saving her people from a terrible fate might just be her heart.

GET IT HERE!

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Don’t Tell a Soul – Jessica Huntley

ramblingmads

She thinks she’s safe. She couldn’t be more wrong.

Elle, desperate to escape her abusive home, runs away to a seemingly cute small town where she gets a job as a waitress. And meets Vera, who offers her an attic room in her large house.

For the first time in years, Elle feels something like contentment as she bonds with Vera who becomes almost like a mother to her. Blossoming, Elle slowly begins to piece her life back together, make new friends and stand on her own two feet.

But all is not as it seems.

Because this old house contains a dark secret. And much as she cares for Elle, Vera will do anything to protect it. That’s why she’s warned her young tenant that she must never, ever go down to the basement.

But Elle doesn’t obey this simple rule and when she sees what’s down there, she finally understands that her lovely new life is actually the gateway to a special kind of hell…

Don’t Tell a Soul – the shocking psychological thriller perfect for fans of John Marrs, Shari Lapena, Kiersten Modglin.

Goodreads Purchase

Jessica Huntley is an author of dark and twisty psychological thrillers, which often focus on mental health topics and delve deep into the minds of her characters. 

She has a varied career background, having joined the Army as an Intelligence Analyst, then left to become a Personal Trainer. 

She is now living her life-long dream of writing from the comfort of her home, while looking after her young son and her disabled black Labrador. She enjoys keeping fit and drinking wine (not at the same time).

This is her first psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Website

Inkubator Books

Facebook Twitter Instagram Website

My thoughts: This ended up being way creepier and completely different from what I thought when I started reading it. At first it seemed to be about two girls who had been abused at home and how they dealt with that, but instead it became a sort of horror story in Vera’s big, empty house with all it’s locked rooms and secrets. Elle hasn’t quite learnt how to spot a bad idea yet, but she’s getting there.

Her experiences in the picturesque village will leave her changed but she’s a survivor and will only grow stronger now that she’s escaped the killers the village has in residence. I don’t think I’ll be booking a holiday there any time soon!

Clever, full of twists, I mean honestly, I was so shocked by some of them, completely blindsided – but in a good way. If you like a good thriller, you’ll love this.

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