A world on the brink of war. One woman whose courage could change everything.
Paris, 1938. As the world teeters on the edge of war, Lady Pamela More knows her latest assignment is her deadliest yet. Her days as a London society columnist are merely a cover. She must infiltrate the decadent Parisian circles of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor as they openly cavort with fascists and voice dangerous Nazi sympathies.
The nation’s security could be compromised — and Lady Pamela must uncover what, or whom, they might betray. In the glittering salons of Paris, amidst the clink of champagne glasses and careless gossip, dark allegiances fester. The Windsors are charming — and cunning — and Pamela walks a delicate line between loyalty and deception.
But as she steps back into a life of shadows, old temptations resurface, including charismatic American Sid White, whose presence reawakens more than just memories.
Surrounded by spies, traitors and the ghosts of her past, Lady Pamela must decide: how far is she willing to go to protect a country that may never thank her before the city falls to the Nazis?
Originally from Chicago, Sarah Sigal works across theatre, film and fiction. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and English Literature from Gettysburg College and an MA in Writing for Performance and a PhD in Theatre and Performance, both from Goldsmiths College University of London. She teaches at a number of universities across the UK and is the author of WRITING IN COLLABORATIVE THEATRE-MAKING (Bloomsbury, 2016), as well as numerous plays and 2 short films. THE SOCIALITE SPY (Lume Books, 2023) is her first novel, the first in a series about the lead character, the socialite spy herself–Lady Pamela More. She lives in London.
We’re thrilled to present the cover for A Poem Penned in Poison by R. Dugan! Pre-order today!
A Poem Penned in Poison (Tales of Wonder and Woe Series)
Expected Release: October 31, 2025
Genre: Dark Romantasy/ Fantasy Horror
Enemies to Lovers
Forced proximity
Grumpy x sunshine
Assassin x healer
Reluctant partners
Masquerade ball
He falls first AND harder
Villain romance
Social Recluse x social butterfly
Touch her and die
Poet x muse
NAOMI WEATHERS is running from something—and no one knows it.
THE POET POISONER is on the hunt…and Naomi has just stepped into his path.
In the enchanting and deadly third installment of the TALES OF WONDER & WOE, a healer and a poisoner clash in a wicked struggle for survival…a struggle that might be a blade in both of their hearts.
They say sharing is caring, but sharing a husband? That’s a grave mistake.
And Hell hath no fury like three widows with a murder to solve . . .
Albert Franklynn’s sudden and mysterious death leaves everyone in the pretty village of Monksworthy in shock — especially his wife Sylvie, who runs the local tearoom.
But the real surprise comes at the mortuary, where not one, but three grieving widows show up to identify his body.
It turns out that Albert wasn’t just a devoted husband to Sylvie . . . He had two other wives as well.
As everyone reels from the revelation of Albert’s double — or triple — life, three widows reluctantly team up to investigate a mystery more tangled than the village’s gaudy bunting: who killed Albert — and why.
It turns out Albert’s list of enemies is longer than the village bake sale sign-up sheet. Can these three unlikely sleuths resolve their differences to become partners in crime-solving . . . before the killer writes them out of the story for good?
The start of an unmissable cosy crime series, this gripping mystery about murder, mayhem and marital mischief is perfect for fans of Faith Martin, the Reverend Richard Coles, Kristen Perrin, Veronica Heley or Fiona Leitch.
Gaynor Torrance lives near Cardiff with her husband and their rescue cat, Cleo. The area is the setting for her Detective Inspector Jemima Huxley Crime Thriller series of books. Like Gaynor, Jemima has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Though, apart from them both having a keen interest in human behaviour, that’s where any similarity ends. When she’s not writing or glued to her Kindle, Gaynor enjoys listening to music, playing the piano, walking, travelling, and eating far too much chocolate.
My thoughts: This is a very funny and rather clever book. Albert has (at least) three wives – Sylvie and Harriet, and the mysterious Tess, who does a bunk after identifying his body.
But Sylvie and Harriet find common ground, not least because they have children (all grown up) to think about. Albert has a list of secrets as long as his arm, including what he actually did for a living, and the fact his mother and brother are very much alive.
As Sylvie and Harriet carry out their own investigation, along with Sylvie’s friend and business partner Liz, they think they may have found a black widow in the absent Tess, with multiple identities and presumably in search of a new victim. With a little help from pal Barney, they alert well to do men on their own to be wary of this woman and try to get the police to take them seriously.
I really enjoyed this book and if the trio are going to be having more adventures – then I’ll be there to read them!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the book tour for the newest swoon-worthy release by D.L. Houpt, The Stardust of Dawn! Read both books now on Kindle Unlimited!
The Stardust of Dawn (The Heir of Darkness #2)
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
💛 You will cry 💛 Slow burn 💛 Bodyguard romance 💛 Villain origin/prequel to book 1 💛 He’d burn the whole damn world for her (duh) 💛 The juiciest f*ck it moment 💛 Did I mention you’ll cry?
Even the most beautiful flowers have petals that rot.
Tethys, Patron Goddess of Venia, has always lived a life of duty—until she meets Araes, an honorable yet infuriatingly ambitious mortal lieutenant. When children begin vanishing from Venia, she is forced to set aside her hatred. But the deeper she searches for answers, the more secrets she uncovers—from her sister Polaris’s self-imposed isolation to the hidden histories of the primordial gods.
Inspired by Ares and Aphrodite, the second installment in the Heir of Darkness trilogy is an epic prequel of love and the fight for freedom, exploring the delicate balance between following one’s heart and the true power of a woman scorned.
We’re celebrating the release of this epic finale with a tour and giveaway! The Legacy of Ophelia is available on August 7th, and you can read the entire series on Kindle Unlimited!
The Legacy of Ophelia is the fifth and final book in the epic romantic fantasy series, The Curse of Ophelia. Start the quest today with book one The Curse of Ophelia where we follow a cursed warrior on a quest with her found family to try to find the boy she loved and restore her clan to glory before her curse takes her life, but she ends up exposing ancient prophecies and political schemes instead.
🪽 Meddling angels
🏛️ Curses & quests
🪽 Warrior clans
🏛️ Found family
🪽 Multiple slow burn romances
🏛️ High stakes fantasy
*SPOILERS*
A forgotten myth resurrected. A legacy to conquer them all.
Ophelia and Malakai have been ripped from their loved ones and are at the mercy of a vengeful god.
But they quickly discover that in order to uncover secrets buried among realms, that may be precisely where they need to be. Even if it jeopardizes all they have fought to become.
Meanwhile, their friends receive a surprise visit from a potential ally that spurs them to rekindle partnerships, deny the bounds of power, and push love to the brink of destruction.
With myths resurrected and the very fabric of Ambrisk at risk, can the warriors survive their final battle against the deities? Or are they fated to become the legends stories are written of?
Everything culminates in this high-stakes, realm-shattering conclusion to the Epic Romantic Fantasy series, the Curse of Ophelia. With a loveable found family, scorching slow burn romances, and inspiration from Greek mythology, this series introduces a universe full of twisted lore and ancient battles that is perfect for fans of Chloe C Penaranda, Sarah J Maas, and Melissa K Roehrich.
The remote village of Didsbrook is thrown into turmoil after its best-known resident, the former actress turned best-selling novelist Jocelyn Robertshaw, is found dead under mysterious circumstances.
Villagers are appalled to learn that the charismatic Jocelyn died from Hemlock poisoning. Police claim she shot and ate a quail that had ingested hemlock. A theory disputed by all who knew her well. The animal-loving Jocelyn would never kill anything, but due to the lack of forensic evidence, police rule death by misadventure.
Jocelyn’s young protégée, Lucy Fothergill, determined to discover the truth about what happened to her mentor, discovers a hidden stash of Jocelyn’s notebooks, revealing jaw-dropping secrets from Jocelyn’s past. The impression Jocelyn gave the world that she lived a near-perfect life was an Academy Award-winning performance.
RBelieving the events from Jocelyn’s past may have led to her death forty-eight years later, Lucy begins to piece together the clues that lead to the truth.
The sleepy village of Didsbrook is about to wake up!
Tessa Barrie was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and despite her parents uprooting her at the age of three and moving her down south, she is proud of her Yorkshire heritage.
Growing up, she recalls her family life being more Little House on the Prairie than The Waltons because her early years were fraught with drama. However, intermingled with all the emotional disruption, she remembers humour squeezing its way through the frayed feelings.
So, incorporating humour in her writing has become very important to her as she believes that, however dark a story gets, there should always be a subtle sprinkling of humour.
In June 2021, Tessa self-published her debut novel, Just Say It, a bittersweet family saga, and her second novel, The Secret Lives of the Doyenne of Didsbrook, a quirky murder mystery, is currently on pre-order and is due for release on 1st July 2025. Her third novel, The Rebuilding of Freya Michaels, will be published in 2026.
My thoughts: When former actress turned author Jocelyn Robertshaw is found dead at home one Sunday morning, the police suspect foul play as she was in good health and the autopsy reveals she was poisoned by hemlock. From this I learned that quail are one of the few species that can eat hemlock and not be affected by it, I have never eaten quail, and just to be on the safe side, I don’t think I ever will.
Her protégée Lucy inherits Jocelyn’s writing studio, Manderley (named after the house in Rebecca, which seems a bit ominous) and finds her mentor’s diaries, all of her past and her secrets laid bare. They give a member of the community, later seen trying to break into Manderley, a serious motive, and armed with the facts, Lucy confronts the suspect at the local writers’ group. Could she be right? Are the secrets Jocelyn kept in her notebooks the reason for her death all these years later?
With lots of twists and turns as we learn, along with Lucy, the story of Jocelyn’s life and loves, the secrets she kept till the very end, have implications for many of the other villagers and her family.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Frank Armstrong, a successful but self-important portrait painter, is horrified to discover that Martin, a former student, has painted them together in an exposing scene as past lovers.
Despite his efforts, he is unsuccessful in persuading Martin not to exhibit the painting named ‘The Art Lovers.’ The matter escalates further when Martin has an accident and ends up in hospital in a coma, and the police investigate Frank as a suspect.
Once free from the police and their questioning, Frank is commissioned to paint a series of murals for the nuclear industry and rents a flat in Cumbria. But he soon finds himself amidst protesters and living in an environment very different to the one he grew up in as a child in Kendal.
Things are spiralling out of control when the building to house the murals he painted is burnt to the ground. However, thanks to his resourceful wife, Louise, and the efforts of two crafty art dealers, Frank muddles his way through the setbacks and is surprised to realise a newfound fame which leads to an unexpected reconciliation with Martin.
Apart from three years studying History of Art and Philosophy at University College London, I have lived my entire life in the North West – born in Warrington, lived and worked in Manchester, and fourteen years ago moved to north Cumbria.
After several years of freelance arts journalism, I ran a NW-based public relations agency called Lawson Leah in the 1990s, then worked for various organisations in the construction industry, as CEO of Construction for Merseyside Ltd and then Director of the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association. I have been a guest lecturer on urban regeneration and chaired a housing association for three years, and now work part-time as a consultant.
I have had articles on a range of topics, including the arts, construction, engineering, housing and economic development published in numerous magazines, as well as poetry and a guidebook to waterway walks in the NW.
My approach to writing tends to involve identifying a problematic situation and then finding a means of resolving it. I derive particular pleasure from finding the right words to achieve that.
I was first inspired to write, as a teenager, after reading The Catcher in the Rye, and latterly find inspiration in the daunting novels of Bellow, Nabokov and Pynchon.
My thoughts: A group of grumpy old artists are stirred up when one of their former students paints a portrait implying that he, Martin, and his former tutor, Frank, had a relationship back when they were younger. Frank is horrified by this and confronts Martin, but his wife Louise is unbothered. When Martin suffers an accident and ends up in hospital in a coma, the police think Frank is involved, but thankfully the evidence points elsewhere. Another member of their group decides to put the cat among the pigeons and then mysteriously disappears.
Meanwhile Frank is commissioned to paint a series of landscapes, despite normally being a portrait artist, to encourage people to think positively about nuclear power. He is required to return to Cumbria, where he grew up, but finds a very different place to the one he knew. Then the building planned to house his work is burnt down and stuck with a series of paintings he doesn’t want, his agent conspires to include him in an art exhibition of queer artists, despite Frank not being one – because of the slightly infamous “Art Lovers”.
Filled with dry humour, grumpy old men and their much smarter wives and daughters, this was an interesting read, all about complex relationships.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
When private investigator, Dan Armstrong, and his girlfriend, Anna, are invited to the gorgeous island of Elba for a much-needed break, he jumps at the chance. The thought of sun-drenched shores makes Dan promise Anna he won’t “play detective” for a whole week…
A luxury hotel…
Their luxurious hotel, with its wonderful food and picturesque seaside views, seems the perfect escape, especially with Dan’s best friend Virgilio and his wife joining them. But the calm shatters with a sinister encounter and a sudden, suspicious death..
A decades old case…
Virgilio’s past connection to the victim casts a long shadow, pulling Dan into a decades-old case. But beneath Elba’s beauty lie secrets and resentments – the victim was universally hated – but was his death the result of foul play or just a tragic accident?
With his faithful canine companion, Oscar, Dan must unravel the island’s mysteries, a task that soon takes a decidedly personal and unsettling turn.
T. A. Williams is the bestselling author of the Armstrong and Oscar cosy mystery series. Trevor studied languages at University and lived and worked in Italy for eight years, returning to England with his wife in 1972. Trevor and his wife now live in Devon.
My thoughts: Dan, Anna and Oscar are on holiday with Virgilio and Lina, on the island of Elba (the one Napoleon infamously escaped from). They’re all hoping to get a break from murder for a while, but crime seems to follow them around. Although it might be an accident, a man seems to have fallen from the cliff. Until his brother turns up dead a night later, not a coincidence surely?
Obviously Dan can’t resist digging, especially as Virgilio has history with the first man, many years ago he arrested this person for a horrific crime. Now he’s on Elba at the same time – the police can’t believe that’s a coincidence either.
Do the brothers’ deaths have to do with the second one’s dodgy business dealings? The concigliere is interested in the smuggling of ancient Etruscan artefacts, and he might be using his campsite as a front for the removal of these priceless pre-Roman antiquities. As Dan and Virgilio assist the local police, Anna gets injured, and Dan makes a huge decision.
Oscar finds clues, suspects and saves a life because he is a hero dog. He is rewarded with lovely steak and fusses from the many admiring fans. As he should.
Another excellent crime caper in beautiful Italian sunshine.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
A freak accident in rural Wyoming leads the sheriff’s department to arrest a man for a possible double homicide, but further investigations suggest a much more horrifying discovery: a serial killer who has been kidnapping, torturing, and mutilating victims all over the United States for at least twenty-five years.
The suspect claims he is a pawn in a huge labyrinth of lies and deception—but can he be believed?
The case is immediately handed over to the FBI, but this time they’re forced to ask for help from ex-criminal behavior psychologist and lead detective with the Ultra Violent Crime Unit of the LAPD, Robert Hunter. As he begins interviewing the apprehended suspect, terrifying secrets are revealed, including the real identity of a killer so elusive that no one, not even the FBI, had any idea he existed…until now.
My thoughts: Robert Hunter, possibly the best detective the LAPD has, is about to take his first holiday in…well, forever, when the FBI come calling. They’ve picked up a murderer, and the only words he’s said in the four days they’ve had him are to ask to speak to Hunter.
Flown to Quantico, Hunter discovers the man in custody is someone he used to know. His college roommate to be precise. And he’s possibly the most disturbing killer the FBI, and Hunter, have ever met. He leads them on a merry hunt all over the country to find the remains of his victims. Somehow he’s flown under the radar for 25 years, killing across various states, in various ways, never sticking to one type of victim.
Hunter is horrified, especially as this monster has killed those close to Hunter, from a mutual friend at college, to someone Hunter has never recovered from losing.
This might be his most personal and most horrifying case ever. Each piece of information revealed leads us to a new twist in the tale. What’s clear is that this killer is like no one Hunter or the FBI have dealt with before.
Drawing on his own experiences as a criminal psychologist, Chris Carter has crafted a truly chilling monster in this installment of Hunter’s story.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
For those of you who were waiting on the twins’ stories, the wait is over! My Pucking Mates by Izzy Elliott is now available!
My Pucking Mates (Pucking Werewolves #4)
Release Date: August 1, 2025
Genre: Paranormal Hockey Romance
🩷 MFM
🐺 Found Family
🩷 Hockey Romance
🐺 Fated Mates
🩷 Multiple POV
🐺 Werewolf Romance
🩷 Twins
In the heart of the wild, where the moon casts its glow, the twins are left to confront their deepest demons while a part of their pack embarks on a perilous mission.
As they grapple with the shadows of their past, they find themselves at a crossroads—one that could shatter or solidify their bond with the only woman who can claim their hearts.
With her fierce spirit and undeniable allure, their mate holds the key to their future, but she must navigate the tangled web of their histories. As secrets are laid bare and vulnerabilities exposed, the brothers realize that the greatest challenge isn’t just about facing their fears—it’s about revealing the truth to the woman they love.
Can they conquer their past to offer her the future she deserves, or will the weight of their history prove too heavy for their hearts to bear?
Dive into a world of passion, danger, and the intoxicating pull of destiny in this sizzling shifter romance that will leave you breathless.
This is the 4th book in the Pucking Werewolves series and while it picks up right where book 3 left off, there will be no continuation of the main plot. This addition to the series is about the twins and their mate.
ramblingmads 