Category: blog tour

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Tales From Beyond the Rainbow – Pete Jordi Wood

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Ten captivating stories of adventure and resilience celebrating LGBTQ+ characters, published as an illustrated collection of queer classics for the first time.

These are the fairy tales that history forgot – or concealed. Tales in which gender is fluid and where queer stories can have a happy ending.

From the humble sailor who finds his handsome prince to the transgender market girl who becomes queen, from Europe to Asia via the African savannah, LGBTQ+ folklore researcher Pete Jordi Wood has combed through generations of history and adapted ten unforgettable stories, each illustrated by an artist who shares heritage with the culture from which the stories were born.

Pete Jordi Wood (he/him) is a British author, illustrator and screenwriter from Cornwall, U.K. Pete has written original drama for Channel 4 and the BBC and was a recipient of The John Brabourne Award from the Film and Television Charity. He describes himself as a ‘fairy tale detective’ who has dedicated himself to the academic study of queer folk tales, myths and legends.

My thoughts: what a great book to start Pride Month off with, ten stories from around the world collected here in this beautiful book. Each story has an LGBTQ+ protagonist and they’re illustrated too.

From modern day Benin (then the Kingdom of Dahomey) to Russia, China, India and beyond, these are traditional tales featuring characters that are either explicitly Queer or could be read as such.

Modernising the language but not altering the content, making them more accessible for younger readers as well as folklorists means this is a collection that could sit easily alongside a collection of Grimm tales on either a child’s shelf or a researchers. Or just someone like me, who loves fairy tales and folklore (and ok, I do have an academic background in this) but any reader would find these enchanting.

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

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Blog Tour: Balloon Days – Kristi Strong

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Welcome to the book tour for genre-bending novel by Kristi Strong, Balloon Days. Read on for an exclusive excerpt!

BalloonDaysCover

Balloon Days

Publication Date: January 25th, 2023

Genre: Psychological Fiction with Literary Bent

Let Your Perception Be Your Guide…

At the Manhattan-based Center of Balloon Days, you will find a psychotherapy unlike any that came before it. Imagine unlocking your desires and fears and manipulating them in an unparalleled lucid-dream-like state.

Bookish Elliott Bailey, a psychologist at the Center, struggles to prove the perfect life exists, all while helping others with their own troubles. Love-starved Howard Nor’s use of Balloon Days may be allowing him to live in a fantasy while his real life falls apart. Top lawyer, Orson Thatch, develops an obsession with Balloon Days-even if it puts his career and his relationship, with his young son, at risk. All three face a choice: Continue to live a life rooted in illusions or overcome the challenges of reality.

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Excerpt

“We ensure that all our patients who undergo Balloon Day therapy are ready. And you are ready. Your grief is fresh, your emotion is raw. It is the perfect time to work on your healing.”

Dr. Heller passed the tablet, consent form open, over to Orson. The limit was three Balloon Day sessions per week, ninety minutes maximum per experience. An in-person check-in session at least once a month was required or else the Center would suspend any further appointments. Scrolling down, he noted at the bottom, as Dr. Heller mentioned, the risks stopped when the patient wanted them to stop.

“I’m in full control then.”

Dr. Heller slowly nodded, smiling. “Precisely.”

Images of Madison overwhelmed him. It felt right, as if she was telling him to sign on the dotted line and go with it.

He thought of life without her. He thought of Ryder.

He signed.

Dr. Heller nodded, taking the tablet back. “Your Elite Day Room, B107, is on floor ten. You will take the blue elevator. This will be yours to return to as you please for your scheduled Balloon Day sessions. In addition to the delightful perk of Elite Day Rooms being grander in size, we stagger the appointments, so you will not have to wait for anyone, but there is still a pre-room with the bathroom for you if need be.”

“Thank you.”

“Let your perception be your guide.” Dr. Heller smiled and shook Orson’s hand.

Orson’s waiting room, or the “pre-room” rather, was gleaming white and cozy. As he stepped into the restroom, he noticed an immaculate toilet and sink, complete with a beautiful brass waterfall faucet.

No mirror? Strange.

Although there wasn’t necessarily any reason why he would need to see himself at this moment, not having a mirror there gave him a feeling of invisibility; nothing to reflect his existence, no feedback for his mind. Maybe that was the point. Soon, as he was told, all sensory input would be stripped from him, allowing his brainwaves to shift into a blank canvas. Whatever the hell that meant.

He stepped back out. Slipped his Day Room card into the slot, selecting to use four out of his ten credits. Dr. Heller had suggested buying credits in bulk; Orson figured he would stick with the ten to see how things panned out.

The stunning blue, ice-like door slid open. Orson’s gaze fell to the floor first—the same thick white carpet as in Dr. Heller’s office. He took off his shoes and sunk his feet into the plush, delicate material. The softness against his silver socks, peppered with race cars for Ryder, put him at ease. The air smelled of mulled cider. Soothing sounds of a crackling fire filled the room. White angelic feathers covered all four walls. To his surprise, he suddenly wanted to create art, romantic, dreamy art, the art Madison had inspired. His Day Room was divine.

Scanning the sizable but quaint square room, everything was white save for the cobalt blue of the sky-like ceiling matching the pillows atop the velvety-looking sofa lining the back wall. The ethereal hammock in the middle of the room, hanging diagonally, the thin, clear wires of it barely noticeable, giving it a look of invisible suspension, was pure luxury.

Next, he discovered the control in a small white pocket hanging on the wall to the right of the door. He clutched it in his hand as the lights dimmed further, the white of the room now snow, in the dark.

The button glowed. His promise of refuge. He closed his eyes and envisioned his beautiful wife’s face, as he had remembered her long before she had become bedridden, mostly skin and bones. He pushed it. Instantly, he was as weightless as one of the feathers on the wall.

Opening his eyes, astounded and sitting on the edge of his bed inside his old college dorm, he recognized where he was immediately. The room Orson had during his second year—the year he met Madison. He hopped off the bed.

Everything was as it had been. His desk a mess of pens and papers from studying, political science textbooks opened to random chapters on the floor. A mirror hanging on his closet door showing his reflection, which startled him. Orson was his young and handsome nineteen-year-old self.

Hair darker and thicker, body less muscular in his green t-shirt and jeans—he had been scrawny in his youth. Minor wrinkles around his umber-brown eyes smoothed over. All in all, he was impressed at how little he had changed over the years.

Orson left his room and ambled down a path between the fellow residence halls. He didn’t feel quite in control of his actions. Not quite out of control either.

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About the Author

Biophoto
Kristi Strong was born and raised in (or how we prefer to say it here: on) Long Island. She considers herself to be the human version of her dog—the exceptionally weird and affectionate Rat Terrier named Sophia. Kristi loves to wander the planet with her wonderful hubby as much as she loves being nestled in the same spot of her couch most evenings, curled up with a good book.
Kristi’s writing draws upon her professional experience as a trauma- informed mental health therapist. Highlighting the human condition and the power of resilience—whether it be through fiction or non-fiction—is Kristi’s calling and passion. She has the honor of witnessing all facets of what it means to be human, and she wrote her first novel Balloon Days to remind readers they are worthy and capable of change.

Kristi Strong

Book Tour Schedule

May 29th

http://rrbooktours.com – Kick-Off

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature

https://breakevenbooks.com – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/bingingbooksandcoffee/ – Feature

May 30th

https://www.instagram.com/get.outside.and.read/?r=nametag – Review

https://www.instagram.com/paulalearmouth/ – Review

https://instagram.com/beckerbingesbooks?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= – Review

https://www.instagram.com/fictionandme/ – Review

May 31st

https://www.instagram.com/fathomsamidstthelines/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/silkybookloverfun – Review

https://www.instagram.com/sabireads1984 – Review

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

June 1st

http://blackcoffeebrowncow.blogspot.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/bookqueenbee/ – Review

https://rissreviewsx.wixsite.com/website – Review

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

June 2nd

https://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/ems.readsandreviews/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/jlreadstoperpetuity – Review

http://readsandreels.com – Feature

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Blog Tour: Bad Realities – Andrew Schrader

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Welcome to the tour for Andrew Schrader’s creeptastic collection, Bad Realities. Read on for more details!

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Bad Realities: Stories of Shock and Suspense

Expected Publication Date: Spring 2023

Genre: Speculative Fiction/ Horror/ Suspense/ Sci-Fi

To avoid the apocalypse, a boy must cannibalize the dead in . . . THE IMPORTANCE OF EATING ERNEST

A Tarkagen barbarian returning home to retrieve an ancient elixir faces his own worst fears in . . . HONDO RANE AND THE CITY OF ILLUSION

After World War IV, a giant, radioactive floating brain haunts the wastelands. Can a psychic girl harness her powers long enough to stop it? . . . in THE FLOATING BRAIN.

Join these poor souls and many others as they struggle to survive in worlds gone wrong. Can you handle the shock? Or will their stories leave you in a crumpled heap, screaming in vain to escape.

Now Available on Amazon and Free for KU!

About the Author

andrewtattoopic

Andrew Schrader is a Los Angeles-based author and film director known for his fascination with the stranger sides of human nature. He’s directed two feature films, music videos for bands Osees, Moon-Drenched, and White Reaper, and was a script consultant on “Afterlife,” a horror series for Crypt TV.

His three-book series, What Goes On In The Walls at Night, was featured on the Reddit No Sleep podcast and twice won the Red City Review Book of the Year for fantasy and horror. He also wrote several episodes of the animated show Tig n’ Seek. Bad Realities is his fourth book of short stories.

Yes, of course he loves cats.

Andrew J. Schrader

Book Tour Schedule

May 29th

http://rrbooktours.com – Kick-Off

http://www.ismellsheep.com/ – Feature

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Review

May 30th

https://instagram.com/jemreader?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== – Review

https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/ – Review

http://readsandreels.com – Feature

May 31st

https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/countrymamaswithkids/ – Review

June 1st

https://cherylsbooknook.blogspot.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/toomuchcoffeemd/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D – Review

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

June 2nd

https://www.instagram.com/ameliaveganreader/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/punkybookbabe/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/read.em.if.you.got.em/ – Feature

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Blog Tour: Fractal Noise – Christopher Paolini

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Fractal Noise is the thrilling prequel to the masterful space opera To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by internationally bestselling author of Eragon, Christopher Paolini.

On the planet Talos VII, twenty-three years before the events of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, an anomaly is detected: a vast circular pit, with dimensions so perfect that it could only have been the result of conscious design. So a small team is assembled to learn more – perhaps even who built the hole and why. Their mission will take them on a hazardous trek to the very edge of existence.

For one explorer, this is the opportunity of a lifetime. For another, a risk not worth taking. And for xenobiologist Alex Crichton, it’s a desperate attempt to find meaning in an uncaring universe. But every step they take towards that mysterious abyss is more punishing than the last. Ultimately, no one is prepared for what they will encounter.

My thoughts: I loved TSiaSoS, but while this is set in the same universe, twenty three years earlier, it is a very different book, and not just because of its lengths.

In a way it is a desperately sad book, these four humans more or less alone on an alien world, a hostile environment, making it hard for them to sleep, to walk, to do anything. Alex, the protagonist, is mourning his wife, the other members of the team have their own traumas and damage. As they trudge endlessly across an uncaring planet, towards an unknown goal, their exhaustion and isolation make them spiral.

They’re convinced someone made the mysterious, loud, EMP emitting hole, it’s too perfect to be accidental, but the only creatures they encounter are somewhat hostile and make no attempt to communicate, they are so strange that no one knows what to make of them. They don’t seem to be doing anything recognisable, we always try to equate things back to what we understand from human experience – but these creatures or machines, follow no patterns the team can discern.

As they get closer, a series of accidents make it harder and harder for them to accomplish their work and their mental states start to struggle. The desperate straits they find themselves in are worsened by not being able to contact the rest of the crew, isolation pushing them to breaking point. None of them are particularly easy people to be with, and there’s a distinct lack of team spirit. Alex withdraws into himself and his memories, and the rest of the team aren’t any better.

What their mission achieves is minimal and for a moment, all seems lost. There’s a Pandora’s Box effect for Alex, suddenly looking up, the ship passes overhead. And hope sparks. Perhaps we aren’t alone – we have each other.

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

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Blog Tour: A Vintage Vacation – Maddie Please

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Clover Harrington might be sixty-one, but she’s still bossing it in the corporate world and can still run rings around her younger colleagues. And then she is made redundant….
Devastated and now suddenly the wrong side of sixty Clover doesn’t know what to do with her life or her corporate wardrobe! What does she wear if not red lippy and a power suit?! Rather than offer
her any support, her partner, Jack announces he’s off on a golfing weekend, leaving Clover completely adrift.
Desperate to get away from it all, Clover decides to visit her cousin Zoe at her small taverna in the gorgeous Italian Lakes. There she can rest and recuperate and plan the next stage of her life.
Until Clover’s eighty-year-old mother, Eleanor decides to turn up for the holiday too! Instead of gentle ambles around the lake, Eleanor seems more interested in late night poker and swigging Prosecco and Clover can’t quite believe her mum is having more fun than she is. But as the saying goes – if you can’t beat em, join em!
But is Clover brave enough to live La Dolce Vita?
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Maddie Please is the #1 bestselling author of novels including The Old Ducks’ Club and Sisters Behaving Badly. Having had a career as a dentist and now lives in rural Devon where she enjoys box sets, red wine and Christmas. She will be taking a new direction in her writing for Boldwood with
joyous tales of older women.

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My thoughts: this was a lot of fun to read and a good reminder that you’re never too old to start again! Or to have fun.

Clover is sixty-one, redundant, and done with partner Jack, who doesn’t seem to see that she needs his support – he’s more interested in playing golf. So she tells him to get out and hopes on a plane to Italy, where her cousin runs a trattoria with her husband. And a hunky local painter, Gio, picks her up from the airport.

Before she knows it, she’s helping in the kitchen, getting messy and finally learning to let go and enjoy herself. Then her hilarious mother rolls into town (I found her antics so funny), getting drunk and cheating at poker, having a little romance with Uncle Franco and generally having a merry old time.

Clover doesn’t want her old life anymore, it doesn’t fit with who she is in Italy, possibly who she’s always been, deep down, and it’s time for a different life. A better, happier one. A lesson for us all there.

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

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Blog Tour: Seahurst – S A Harris

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‘Seahurst is set on the Suffolk coast. The area is famous for its folklore. I was born in the county and spent my childhood on the beaches, running along narrow, sandy paths that thread through the dunes. The vast empty skies, mudflats and whispering reed beds have inspired writers over centuries. What better setting could there be for a contemporary haunted house ghost story?’ – S.A. HARRIS

S.A. Harris returns with a gripping contemporary ghost story set on the Suffolk coast.

Evie Meyer and her son Alfie flee from her abusive partner Seth in Toronto to spend New Year with her half-brother Luke at their late father’s summer home on the Suffolk Coast, only to find Seahurst abandoned and Luke missing.

As Evie searches for her brother, she is filled with a deepening dread that something is very wrong at Seahurst and that their father’s death may not have been suicide after all. Can Evie uncover Seahurst’s sinister secrets and keep Alfie safe before the souls of the dead claim yet another terrible revenge?

‘Seahurst is a suspenseful spine-tingling ghost story I absolutely loved! One moment I was holding my breath, and the next my heart was aching for Evie and her son Alfie. Harris has once again held me with her spell-binding prose’ – RUBY SPEECHLEY

Sally Harris writes ghost stories and gothic fiction as S. A. Harris. Her first novel, Haverscroft was long listed for Not The Booker Prize, was one of Den Of Geek’s best books of 2019, a semi-finalist in the Book Bloggers Novel of the Year Award 2020, and a Halloween recommended read in Prima Magazine. Sally is a family law solicitor living with her husband and children in Norwich.

For more information visit https://saharrisauthor.com/ Follow Sally on Twitter @salharris1

My thoughts: Seahurst is on a crumbling cliff, parts of which have already fallen away. It may also be haunted. Perhaps using parts of the old Abbey in its walls was a bad idea. Evie’s father lived there alone, and committed suicide off those cliffs, and now her brother seems to have vanished in the same way.

During a fraught time in her life, attempting to get away from her abusive partner and protect her son., she’s returned to Suffolk to see her brother and old friends but the past lingers. Her father’s room is the same as when he died, her brother’s things are everywhere, as though he just left the room. There’s strange noises and smells, the house seems sinister, which it didn’t before.

There’s a lot of tension in the book, the characters are all carrying it and maybe are more affected by the house and the winter, cut off at times from anyone else, than they’d like to admit. Suffolk is famous for its ghosts and monsters, something about all that land that belongs more to the sea than anything else.

Evie is on edge and her son, Alfie, picks up on that. It’s only them that sense the sinister in the house, Evie’s friends seem unaffected, certainly her horrible ex, when he shows up, doesn’t feel it.

While this isn’t a happy book, and the ending, while one of escape and resolution, doesn’t feel enormously cheering, there is hope for Evie and Alfie, and for their found family.

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

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Blog Tour: Grace Summit – Denise Roma

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We are happy to share Denise Roma’s novel Grace Summit with you all today! Read on for more details!

9-12-22 FINAL Full Cover -- Grace Summit

Grace Summit

Publication Date: September 2022

Genre: NA College Romance/ FF Romance (slightly literary bent)

Ann, Amelia, and Jackie arrive at Grace Summit Bible College with their own particular heartbreaks. Ann is lonely and hungry for belonging, Amelia is broken from abuse and separation from her child, and Jackie is searching for friendships to sustain her.

Ann and Amelia find the connection they seek in one another, but they must navigate the college’s religious mandates and eventually, the passage of decades. It is during those passing years that Jackie comes to understand the influence Amelia’s and Ann’s love story has had on her own life.
Grace Summit explores the lives of women coming of age in the late ’80s, navigating their places in a changing world. Giving each woman a voice to reflect on her story, it weaves together attraction, love, religion, and finally, aging, illness, and loss. It’s an achingly beautiful novel that spans cities and lifetimes, capturing the intensity of first loves and women’s friendships.

Available on Amazon

About the Author

Denise photo 2

You can find Denise Roma’s poetry in After Hours, a Chicago journal of literature and visual art, and short fiction in the online literary journal Thread and the New Town Writer’s Off the Rocks magazine. Grace Summit is her first novel.

Denise lives in the Chicago area with her family. She loves reading, writing, dancing in land or water and early morning air.

Find out more at: Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/GraceSummitNovel

Instagram profile: https://www.instagram.com/gracesummitnovel/

Book Tour Schedule

May 29th

http://rrbooktours.com – Kick-Off

https://www.instagram.com/silkybookloverfun – Review

http://readsandreels.com – Feature

http://ramblingmads.com – Feature

May 30th

https://www.instagram.com/brandikaedesigns/ – Feature

http://www.thefaeriereview.com – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/latishaslowkeylife/ – Feature

https://christinebialczak.com/ – Feature

https://www.facebook.com/CocktailsFairytales – Feature

May 31st

https://www.instagram.com/bingingbooksandcoffee/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/margiebythebookcase/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/literaryinspired/ – Feature

https://bookwormbunnyreviews.blogspot.com/ – Feature

June 1st

https://lshadowlynauthor.com/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/aebennettwrites/ – Feature

https://freelancewriterjannyc.com/ – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/siriuslyjenn_/ – Feature

June 2nd

https://countrymamaswithkids.com – Review

https://www.instagram.com/katierichardauthor/ – Review

https://www.instagram.com/sharingthebooklove/ – Review

https://www.thesexynerdrevue.com – Feature

https://www.instagram.com/sky.s_library/ – Feature

https://www.booksblog.co.uk/ – Feature

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Blog Tour: Troy Story – Carla Luna

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The friendship that launched a thousand adventures is about to embark on the greatest one of all…
Ever since Stuart Carlson and Dusty Danforth met as kids on a dig in Egypt, they’ve been best friends, supporting each other through heartaches, triumphs, and countless archaeological expeditions. So
when Stuart gets hired to help run the American excavations at Troy, he asks Dusty to join him as the site illustrator.
For Dusty, the Troy project isn’t just another adventure. It’s the chance to tell Stuart how she really feels. After years of pining for him, she’s ready for more than friendship.
But soon after they arrive at the site in Turkey, they’re caught up in a feud with a group of German archaeologists. While both teams are eager to make a major find, Stuart’s boss is so determined to beat his rivals that he’s willing to break a few rules. Or laws.
As Stuart and Dusty work together to keep the dig on track, they give in to the passion that’s been simmering under the surface. But will their romance survive when their boss’s scheme puts the entire project in jeopardy?

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Carla Luna writes contemporary romance with a dollop of humor and a pinch of spice. A former archaeologist, she still dreams of traveling to far-off places and channels that wanderlust into the settings of her stories. When she’s not writing, she works in a spice emporium where she gets paid to discuss food and share her favorite recipes. Her passions include Broadway musicals, baking, whimsical office supplies, and pop culture podcasts. Though she has roots in Los Angeles and Vancouver Island, she currently resides in Wisconsin with her family and her feisty Siberian cat.

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My thoughts: my friend’s mum is a doctor of archaeology and wherever I went to their house as a kid, she’d be cleaning up trays of potsherds, little broken pieces of ancient pottery. I love history but archaeology didn’t appeal a huge amount as some of it seemed really boring – mostly the cleaning of bits of pots!

In this book however, an archaeological dig in modern Turkey, at the site of Troy, is full of incidents, arguments, a bully for a boss, thefts of artifacts and love.

It’s also great fun to read, and highly entertaining as Dusty and Stuart finally admit they’re in love amid the goings on at the dig site and at the German site across town. Most academics are obsessive about their subject (I’m an academic, I know this all too well) and these archaeologists are no different. What they don’t tend to do is what ghe ghastly Dr Hughes does – steal from another dig, threaten his employees, sexually harass his grad students and any other women, bully his way through life and basically be a turd of a human being.

Thankfully Dusty has a strong backbone and the support of her academic parents, the rest of the dig team and the person funding the trip, Mort, when she faces off against the unpleasant man.

I really enjoyed this book, the history stuff, the romance, the scumbag getting his comeuppance, the whole thing really. And I think you will too. Plus it’s made me want a holiday in Turkey even more than I already did!

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

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Blog Tour: An Unsuitable Heiress – Jane Dunn

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‘Do you realise, Corinna, just how hard it is for a young woman of irregular birth, without family, fortune or friends in the world? Marriage is the only way to get any chance of a life.’
Following the death of her mother, Corinna Ormesby has lived a quiet life in the countryside with her cantankerous Cousin Agnes. Her father’s identity has been a tantalising mystery, but now at nineteen Corinna knows that finding him may be her only way to avoid marriage to the odious Mr Beech.
Deciding to head to London, Corinna dons a male disguise. Travelling alone as a young woman risks scandal and danger, but when, masquerading as a youth, she is befriended by three dashing blades,
handsome and capable Alick Wolfe, dandy Ferdinand Shilton and the incorrigible Lord Purfoy, Corinna now has access to the male-only world of Regency England. And when she meets Alick’s turbulent brother Darius, a betrayal of trust leads to deadly combat which only one of the brothers
may survive.
From gambling in gentleman’s clubs to meeting the courtesans of Covent Garden, Corinna’s country naivety soon falls away. But when she finds her father at last, learns the truth about her parentage
and discovers her fortunes transformed, she must quickly decide how to reveal her true identity, while hoping that one young man in particular can see her for the beauty and Lady she really is.
Purchase


Jane Dunn is an historian and biographer and the author of seven acclaimed biographies, including Daphne du Maurier and her Sisters and the Sunday Times and NYT bestseller, Elizabeth & Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens. She comes to Boldwood with her first fiction outing – a trilogy of novels set in the Regency period, the first of which was published in January 2023. She lives in Berkshire with her husband, the linguist Nicholas Ostler.

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My thoughts: I loved this, Corinna (or Cory) is a wonderful protagonist and the friends she makes in London (and Will from back home) are a fun and charming bunch. The author has great fun with the Georgian slang these young bucks speak, and the various slightly outrageous things they get up to.

Cory is incredibly brave, and very lucky as things could have gone very wrong when she runs away dressed as a boy.

If you like Bridgerton or Georgette Heyer or any of the more recent Regency books (there’s so many around) then you need to get stuck into Jane Dunn’s books, there’s two out so far, and they’re both great. I loved this one and didn’t want it to end. With a fabulous cast of characters and real heart, it’s very much worth a read.

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

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BBNYA Blog Tour: The Goddess of Nothing At All – Cat Rector

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BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.  If you are an author and wish to learn more about the BBNYA competition, you can visit the official website http://www.bbnya.com or Twitter @bbnya_official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

Perhaps you know the myths. 

Furious, benevolent Gods.

A tree that binds nine realms.

A hammer stronger than any weapon.

And someday, the end of everything.

But few have heard of me. 

Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else. 

Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love. 

But there’s no going back. 

We were happy once. 

And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.

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Cat Rector grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other. After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada with her spouse to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it’s going to read itself. 

Epilogues for Lost Gods is the sequel to her debut novel, The Goddess of Nothing At All.

Find her on Twitter, Tiktok, and Instagram at Cat_Rector 

Or visit her website, CatRector.com 

My thoughts: I do enjoy a mythic retelling, and this, from the point of view of the Norse goddess Sigyn, wife of Loki, goddess of Fidelity, is really good. Daughter of Odin, but not one of his favoured children, she falls in love with the Trickster god and has two sons with him.

Their life together is not easy, Loki still has to work for Odin, and the All Father is not a kind master. Sigyn has no idea what fate has in store for her family, but a lifetime of cruelty and mocking is wearing and her love for her fellow Aesir is limited.

It is Ragnarok that brings Sigyn and Loki together the most, their punishment and the redemption the end of the world offers her.

Lots of research has clearly gone into the writing of this book and the little details, like the use of Icelandic words for the Jotun language, add flavour and depth to the story. It takes a while to get going, drawing you in slowly to the love that blossoms between the two main characters. Much of their life together is quiet, raising their children. But as Loki defies the gods, and draws events to their violent end, things shift and Sigyn has to choose her stand. A clever, well written and enjoyable retelling of this old story with a fresh modern perspective and voice.

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