Category: blog tour

Author Bio

An earnest scribe born at 348.65 ppm of atmospheric CO2. An unreliable narrator, feral but mostly harmless. The Shareholders is my debut novel and it is attempt to wrestle with the human drive to live forever, both figuratively and literally, amidst widespread ecological extinction. I swear, I’m a little less of a kill-joy in person. Keep an eye out for my next novel, Children of the Fall. Coming Fall 2023.

Instagram Twitter Website

Blog Tour: Let Them Float – Katy Wimhurst

Dec 7, 2023Dec 7, 2023 ramblingmads

In these short stories, Katy Wimhurst creates off-kilter worlds that illuminate our own.

Apocalyptic rabbits invade a town.

People overwhelmed by their lives float above an urban park.

A woman turns transparent after a virus.

The playful lens of magical realism is used to explore physical and mental illness and our fragile environment. Thought-provoking fiction with a good dose of whimsy.

Goodreads – Buy Links

Katy Wimhurst’s first collection of short stories was Snapshots of the Apocalypse (Fly on the Wall Press, 2022) and her second collection Let Them Float will be published in December 2023 (Alien Buddha Press).

Her fiction has been published in numerous magazines and anthologies, including The Guardian, Writers’ Forum, Cafe Irreal, Kaleidotrope, To Hull and Back, and ShooterLit. Her first book of visual poems, Fifty-One Trillion Bits, was published by Trickhouse Press (2023). She sometimes interviews writers for 3AM Magazine.

She is housebound with the illness M.E.

My thoughts: as someone who lives with chronic illness I did recognise some of the kinds of feelings present in these short stories. Most of them are gentle and moving, although the giant rabbits were a bit sinister. The longest story, the title one, was deeply intriguing. It certainly spoke to me about mental illness and the desire sometimes to just disconnect from life around you for a while.

It’s an interesting collection and full of light and darkness, some are very tiny snippets of people’s lives and others a bit more detailed. Easy to read but should be savoured as each has layers to it.

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

Blog Tour: Mr Gearhart – Emily Owen

Dec 7, 2023Dec 7, 2023 ramblingmads

1863

Six years have passed at Ravenfeld Hall. The Abernathy siblings’ fortunes continue to improve as George and Douglas’s android-building business thrives. But change looms on the horizon. Douglas’s engagement to the sweet, charming Clara Marsden threatens to take him from his family, while sister Molly contemplates whether a future with the man she loves means sacrificing her independence and academic pursuits.

Then the family face more pressing concerns…

One night, George’s latest invention escapes the Hall. Four months later, a charismatic inventor by the name of Gearhart appears in London, with an intellect to rival that of the Abernathys’. George senses there’s something sinister about the mysterious Mr Gearhart, who’s planning to unveil an invention that could change the world. But does he have far grander ambitions? And can George uncover the truth about him in time?

Emily Owen studied English Language and Literature at the University of Leeds, and completed her Masters by Research in 2018. She works as a Digital Executive and lives in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. She self-published her debut novel The Mechanical Maestro in 2020, which is the first book in her series following the adventures of the Abernathy family and their clockwork creations. The second book in the series, The Copper Chevalier was released in March 2022.

My thoughts: I really enjoyed this third outing for the Abernathy siblings. Their successes mean that they are relatively settled now and able to enjoy life a bit more. Until the arrival of the sinister Mr Gearhart, who targets George.

He seems to have some pretty interesting ideas, ideas that feel familiar and something is a bit off about him. So George investigates, keeping Douglas at arms length to protect him.

Molly has her own misadventures in the greenhouse, when she accidentally creates a superhero/villain origin story type potion. But she keeps it a secret and almost ruins everything with Arthur in the process.

With appearances from Maestro and Colonel Copperton, this ties in nicely with the previous books in the series.

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Rise of Riverstone – Mandy Schimelpfenig

Dec 6, 2023 ramblingmads

She was forced to watch her world burn.

They should have killed her when they had the chance.

Praed is a country of vast prairies and looming mountains where the elite make their homes along a mighty river. For hundreds of years, to wear the crown is to tempt fate, for in Praed, any man may become king if he’s strong enough.

Laria Audrey lives in privilege as the daughter of a famous knight, until one night she’s ripped from her bed to find that her entire life has gone up in flames. Forced to serve those responsible, Laria pretends to be deaf and mute to survive. But when days turn to weeks, Laria loses hope of awakening from the nightmare and must admit she’s truly alone.

When her sworn enemy approaches her with a shocking proposition, Laria must decide if she’ll resign herself to misery or become the hero she never believed she could be.

CW: This book contains references to sexual assault.

Amazon UK USA Canada

Mandy received her B.S. in Zoology from Washington State University and an A.S. in Veterinary Technology from St. Petersburg College. Clearly her life goals were not geared toward a career as an author. She is a Certified Veterinary Technician specializing in small animals. When she’s not saving lives, she’s weaving tales of strong women using their intelligence to pursue incandescent happy endings. The Rise of Riverstone is the debut novel in her medieval historical fantasy series, Daughters of Riverstone. She lives on the Washington Coast with her husband and their four children. Besides leaning uncomfortably over a computer screen, Mandy enjoys camping and hiking with her family, reading, and wearing out her dogs on the beach.

Blog Tour: The Scotsman – Rob McClure

Dec 6, 2023Dec 5, 2023 ramblingmads

The Scotsman is the story of a Glasgow detective investigating his own daughter’s death in Washington, D.C. Six months after the murder of Catriona Cowan, a Scottish exchange student, her father arrives in D.C. skeptical of the findings of an earlier police investigation. Chic Cowan’s own inquiries lead him from the deprived neighborhoods of Southeast D.C. to the townhouses of Capitol Hill and to the suspicion that his daughter’s death is connected to an upcoming Senate election. But the obsessed and grieving father, wrestling with sobriety, comes to question his own sanity as he closes in on the truth.

Rob McClure was born in Scotland.

He currently lives in Galesburg, Illinois, and teaches film at Knox College where he is John and Elaine Fellowes Professor of English.

His fiction has appeared in Gettysburg Review, Manchester Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, Barcelona Review and many other magazines.

My thoughts: the DC police have written off Catriona Cowan’s murder as a mugging gone wrong, but her father, Scottish detective Chic Cowan is far from convinced. Flying into the US capital, he starts his own investigation, taking him deep into the heart of Washington politics and covert organisations. Catriona was a student, but her girlfriend was a journalist. Did the two women dig up something they shouldn’t?

Chic teams up with Catriona’s friend Dayon, and interviews her professors, room mate, and a US senator and his staff. Somewhere in amongst the lies is the truth of what happened to his precious daughter and he will go to any length to find out.

He gets slightly side tracked when he meets Rita, an alluring woman with a tenuous connection to his investigation, but even as she becomes a victim of the people he’s hunting, he never fully loses focus and now has two reasons to keep searching – Rita might even still be alive.

Clever, gripping and full of the darkness hidden underneath a politician’s smile, this is a tense and engaging 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.

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Raven Tower – Emma Miles

Dec 5, 2023 ramblingmads

How much would you sacrifice to save your people? Your freedom, your home … power … love … your life?’

Four lands beneath the sky. A haven of peace, a kingdom of plenty, ravaged islands, and a nation of cruel, dark magic. One will try to devour them all.

Spring brings the ruthless Borrow raiders much earlier in the year, their attacks more ferocious, more desperate. When Kesta uses her magic to see in the flames who is really behind the raids the Independent islands of the Fulmers seem doomed to fall. Their only hope is to cross the sea to seek the help of the King of Elden and his dangerous sorcerer, the Dark Man; but what price will the king demand for his aid?

Wild Kesta has been raised to be a leader, trusted, loved, with the freedom of her cherished Islands. Can Kesta subdue her fiery nature and work with a man she hates, a man she fears, to stop the evil that will consume their lands and enslave them all?

Amazon Canada USA UK

I often get asked when I knew I was a writer; the answer is always. A writer is what I am, it’s in my soul. There have been times in my life when I couldn’t write, and times when my writing has been the only thing that kept me going. I think I always longed for something deeper from life, something more meaningful, and I found it in my imagination and in the music of words.

It was poetry which first caught my attention, and whilst my younger cousins called for ghost stories it was animals I first wrote of. I think I gravitated toward fantasy because of the freedom it gives, I could create my own worlds and decide my own rules. My Wind’s Children trilogy was born from an image that came to me whilst daydreaming, of a young man sitting alone below a bridge. I didn’t know who he was; it turns out neither did he, but we found out together.

I’m now working on my seventh book and love writing more than ever, it’s an addiction, an obsession, but one I now share with my wonderful writing family. My beta readers, my editor, and you, my readers, having you with me on my journey means the world to me.

I write as much as I can around work, but I also try to squeeze in a ridiculous amount of hobbies! I’m a wildlife photographer and do a little archery. I paint, sculpt with clay, withies and driftwood, preferring to be outdoors if I can. I still have a love for the theatre, having started out in life studying backstage crafts, and a great love for language. I speak a little French, Romanian and Italian, ma non molto bene!

Blog Tour: How Not to Murder Your Ex – Katie Marsh

Dec 5, 2023Dec 4, 2023 ramblingmads

It is 5:30 am on Clio’s forty-fifth birthday and her hated ex is lying dead on her doorstep. Even worse, this is no accident. Someone’s killed him…
When single mum Clio’s ex Gary turns up dead on the doorstep of her caravan – the one she’s been forced to live in ever since he stole every penny she had – there’s only one suspect. Her.
What’s more, she doesn’t remember much about the night he was killed – not just because of the forgetfulness that’s been plaguing her along with the hot flushes – but because she definitely had one too many cocktails with her two best friends Amber and Jeanie.
Clio does remember them talking about how much they all hated him though. And, in the frame for murder, she has to ask herself – if she didn’t kill Gary, who did? One of his many enemies? Or someone a little closer to home? And can she and her friends find the real killer before it’s too late?
Unputdownable mystery set on the English coast – perfect for fans of The Thursday Murder Club, Bad Sisters, and How to Kill Your Family.
Purchase

Katie Marsh wrote five bestselling, uplifting women’s fiction novels before turning to cosy crime for Boldwood. Previously published by Hodder, the first in her new crime series How Not To Murder Your Ex, following the fortunes of the Bad Girls Detective Agency, will be published in December 2023.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Newsletter

My thoughts: Clio didn’t kill her awful ex-husband but she certainly has a lot of reasons why she might. But so do quite a few other people, it turns out. Gary is a pretty terrible person and quite frankly it’s impossible to feel sorry for him.

Although Clio does end up in custody at one point, thankfully her besties – Amber, a former police detective with something to prove, and Joanie – a sleep deprived mother on twins currently on mat leave, are on hand to solve the case and stop Clio taking the blame for something she didn’t do.

Funny, entertaining, with a cast of very relatable and rather brilliant protagonists, this was a lot of fun and a good start to a new crime series.

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Rarkyn’s Familiar – Nikky Lee

Dec 4, 2023 ramblingmads

An orphan bent on revenge. A monster searching for freedom. A forbidden pact that binds their fates together.

Lyss has heard her father’s screams; smelled the iron-tang of his blood. She’s witnessed his execution.

And plotted her revenge.

Then a violent encounter traps Lyss in a blood-pact with a rarkyn from the otherworld and imbues her with the monster’s forbidden magic. A magic that will erode her sanity. To break the pact, she and the rarkyn must journey to the heart of the Empire. All that stands in their way are the mountains and the Empire’s soldiers—and each other.

But horrors await them on the road, horrors even rarkyns fear. The most terrifying monster isn’t the one Lyss travels with…

It’s the one that’s awoken inside her.

Monsters of a feather flock together.

Amazon UK Canada USA

Nikky Lee is an award-winning author who grew up as a barefoot 90s kid in Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk Noongar Country. She now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with a husband, a dog and a couch potato cat. In her free time she writes speculative fiction, often burning the candle at both ends to explore fantastic worlds, mine asteroids and meet wizards. She’s had over two dozen stories published in magazines, anthologies and on radio.

Her short fiction has been shortlisted six times in the Aurealis Awards with her novelette Dingo & Sister winning the Best Young Adult Short Story and the Best Fantasy Novella categories in 2020. In 2021, she received a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. Her debut novel The Rarkyn’s Familiar won the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel, three 2022 Indie Ink Awards, Bronze in Young Adult Fiction at the 2022 Foreward INDIES Book of the Year Awards, and was a finalist in the 2022 Aurealis Awards for Best Young Adult Novel.

Blog Tour: The Legend of Gasparilla – S.T. Fernandez

Dec 4, 2023Dec 4, 2023 ramblingmads

The Legend of Gasparilla copy

Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean

Welcome to the tour for The Legend of Gasparilla by S.T. Fernandez, a gorgeous historical fantasy full or romance and pirates!

Ebook_Cover - The Legend of Gasparilla

The Legend of Gasparilla: A Historical Pirate Romance

Publication Date: November 7, 2023

Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance/ Pirates

Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean in a story many argue is not a myth but a legend.

Admiral José Gaspar of the Spanish Royal Navy had it all: the love of his life, Joséfa de Mayorga; the confidence of the King; and a plan to become one of the most successful merchants in all of Spain. But when a jilted former lover accuses him of stealing the crown jewels, he escapes Sevilla only to realize he’s duped into piracy, further staining his legacy. Gaspar continues down an immoral path he works relentlessly to resist. The dream life he yearned for with Joséfa slowly slips away, his reputation far too ruined to be worthy of her honor.

After having her beloved ripped from her life, Joséfa and Gaspar’s friends work tirelessly to clear his name to no avail. When fate finally hands her a chance, she sets sail to find José, but fate is both friend and foe. Joséfa discovers the man she lost is different from the viscous pirate she rescues from certain death.

When infamous pirate hunter Lieutenant Kearny of the USS Enterprise sets his sights on the new pirate, Gaspar must decide between a dark and perilous addiction to piracy or living a subdued life in the shadows. His darker inhibitions may take his soul hostage, and Joséfa’s love may not be enough to save him.

Amazon

About the Author

7R8A3855-2 (Square)

S.T. Fernandez, known as Stephanie, is originally from Orlando, Florida, and was born to two parents from La Isla del Encanto, Puerto Rico. She now resides in the beautiful small beach town of Ventura, California with her husband and their two wiener puppies.
Stephanie is an avid reader of all levels of spicy, steamy romance—mostly in fantasy, historical, or paranormal genres. Just as much as she enjoys disappearing into a good book, creating a story that readers can disappear into brings her immense joy.
She is currently working on her second book in the fantasy romance genre, full of wonderfully diverse characters and themes. S.T. Fernandez’s fantasy romance intertwines Puerto Rico’s Taino indigenous culture’s beautiful themes and language into a fantasy world. She is thrilled and excited to present it to readers when completed.

ST. Fernandez

My thoughts: I love pirates, always have since I learnt about Edward Teach aka Blackbeard aged 5. So this was right up my gangplank.

A well respected Admiral in the Spanish Navy and advisor to the King, Josè Gaspard is horrified when an ex-lover and her new fiancé accuse him of stealing from the king and he is arrested. Escaping from prison and smuggled aboard a ship, which turns out to be captained by an English pirate. Forced to join the crew and separated from his love, Josefa, Gaspard becomes what he most dreads.

Back home Josefa has kept faith and petitioned the new king, son of the man who imprisoned Josè, for a pardon. But neither she nor the king know that he has become a pirate and killed Spanish sailors.

Josè’s story is related by the descendants of a crew mate and his own family years later, while living in Florida, still a wanted man.

There’s lots of swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, but it is Josefa’s love and devotion to him that holds this story together, whatever he has done she forgives.

Book Tour Organized By:

R&R Book Tours

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Point Where the Ocean Ends – Siobhan Murphy

Dec 3, 2023Nov 29, 2023 ramblingmads

Fate can conspire to put two people in the exact right place at the exact right time. And just as easily it can tear them apart.

As winter turns to spring on the North Cornish coast, Kerensa O’Connell receives an unexpected message relating to a passionate relationship from deep in her past. A message which stirs up vivid memories, and threatens to derail the comfortable life she has created for herself after years of drifting.

While the world is forced to press the pause button, Kerensa battles both mental and physical health issues and has no choice but to slow down and confront the demons that have plagued her throughout her life.

Simultaneously unfolding over a few months and several decades, the story moves from the windswept plains of East Africa to the stunning islands of the Great Barrier Reef, the tranquil mountains of the Himalayas, and the bustling cities of Europe. Kerensa confronts happiness and heartbreak through the lens of her camera and her connection to the people she loves. Piecing together her memories of love, loss, and adventure, she starts to make sense of the choices she has made and question the internal chaos that has always defined her.

Finally the secret she has been kept buried for years comes to light and Kerensa must decide once and for all what she is looking for from life and whom she wants by her side.

An unforgettable love story about wanderlust, heartbreak and colliding life paths.

A lyrical meditation on the importance of our memories and a reminder that sometimes, letting go of the past can take a whole lifetime.

Amazon UK USA Canada