Happy release day and congratulations to author Brittany Gossin on the release of Dream Walker, the first book in a brand-new series!
Dream Walker (Realm of Dreams #1)
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Genre Romantic Fantasy
🗡️found family 🗡️Secrets and betrayal 🗡Closed-door spice 🗡️magic, fae, elves 🗡Dragons and demons 🗡️slow burn
In the aftermath of a harrowing nightmare, seventeen-year-old Ella Windsor must face a chilling reality as the wounds from her dreams appear on her body. To add to her terror, she witnesses the intrusion of a nightmarish creature come to life, lurking on her high school campus.
Faced with no choice but to escape the nightmares and search for why she’s the only one who can see them, Ella ventures into the mysterious Astral Realm. Alongside Ethan Wessex, a stunningly gorgeous Lieutenant of the Queen’s Astral Guard with his own air of mystery, Ella discovers a realm on the brink of war.
Azvameth, the King of Nightmares, harboring secrets of his own, seeks dominion not just over the Astral Realm but every waking world. With the assistance of other dream walkers, including the devastatingly handsome Cole, a Fae Prince, and Rhea, a feisty Elven female, each armed with latent magic, Ella may prove to be the missing piece in destroying Azvameth and saving her precious Mortal and Astral Realms.
In this epic romantasy, Ella grapples with love and betrayal, torn between the mysterious Ethan and the potential true love of Cole, all while embarking on a journey of self-discovery and found family. The nightmares have awakened, but so has she.
Set in London in 1968, A CURTAIN TWITCHER’S BOOK OF MURDER follows the lives of the inhabitants of a suburban London street. But this is no ordinary road.
“Ask anyone on Atbara Avenue how well they know their neighbours, and they’ll answer ‘well’. After all, they see each other across the vast distance afforded by close proximity, and that is probably for the best”
For the best, because Atbara Avenue is a street where, all too often, murder feels like the solution.
With a delicious cast of characters, dazzling plotting, and an utterly unique voice, Gay Marris’ first book is remarkably accomplished. If you’ve been longing for a fresh and compelling new voice in the world of crime fiction, your wait is over.
Dr. Gay Marris is a retired research scientist. Her career focused on insect ecology, parasites and honey bee health. A Curtain Twitcher’s Book of Murder is her first novel, set in the suburbs of the deceptively dangerous suburbs of 1960s London, where she grew up. Gay now lives in York with her husband, a cat and a tortoise.
My thoughts: Atbara Avenue is full of secrets hidden behind the net curtains, each house full of people with hidden desires and grudges.
As we get to meet the residents of some of the houses, and spend time with them, seething resentment seems to be the order of the day, and some of the residents are pretty weird. I certainly don’t think I’d want to move there.
Funny, dark and twisted, this selection of stories where Death knocks on the doors of this street are entertainingly macabre.
*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 town under fire. A detective with something to prove. A killer hiding in plain sight.
The small town of Rislake in the picturesque Blue Mountains is about to be engulfed by a major bushfire. The order has been given for the residents to clear out. But a last sweep uncovers one person is missing: Tracey Hilmeyer, wife of one of the firefighters tackling the blaze.
Detective Kennard is in town to help with crowd control, but instead he finds himself driving straight towards the inferno to look for Tracey at the Hilmeyer home. When he gets there, he finds her dead at the bottom of the stairs, and it’s clear she was murdered.
With the evacuation almost complete there is barely enough time to save the living never mind the dead. But Detective Kennard has something to prove and cannot let this one go.
Can he solve her murder before the crime scene, and the entire town, turns to ash?
James Delargy was born and raised in Ireland and lived in South Africa, Australia and Scotland, before ending up in semi-rural England where he now lives. He incorporates this diverse knowledge of towns, cities, landscapes and cultures picked up on his travels into his writing. His first novel, 55, was published in 2019 by Simon & Schuster and has been sold to 21 territories to date, and was followed by the standalone thrillers Vanished (2021) and Into the Flames (2023). Find him on Twitter: @jdelargyauthor
My thoughts: I never quite understand why anyone moves to Australia, where everything, including the weather, wants to kill you, and that’s without human killers.
DS Kennard is sent to the small town of Rislake after failing to stop a teenager from shooting himself in a tense situation. He’s got PTSD but won’t take time off. Rislake is in the grip of a raging wildfire and as the town evacuates, the body of Tracey Hilmeyer is found in her hallway, her head caved in. Who killed her and why?
Trying to investigate a murder in the middle of a huge fire, evidence on the verge of being destroyed, the husband (and possible suspect) a firefighter, witnesses quite lacking, is not easy. And hardly anyone seems to have known the victim well.
She was locked in a war with her sister over their inheritance, had lost her business and spent much of her time alone. As the detectives dig into her life and possible murderers, they discover she had plenty of secrets. Could one of them have got her killed?
Tense and clever, this was a gripping and engaging crime thriller with a deadline – they might have to evacuate any moment as the fire creeps closer and lose all their evidence and suspects.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The secrets of Rayna Laurence’s past threaten to unravel the life she’s created for herself in West London in 1957.
A young West Indian girl with a talent for singing, Rayna takes a job as a barmaid in a local pub, and it’s there that she meets the charismatic leader of a West Indian jazz band, Eddie Keane. But when her affections become the subject of a tug-of-war between Terry Collins, the pub owner, and Eddie, Rayna chooses Terry, but the love triangle is far from over.
As her fame and fortune as a performer grow, Rayna finds her past catching up with her.
Will the secrets of her former life in the West Indies destroy the life she’s built for herself?
An emotional story of love, music, and hidden truths in post Windrush London.
Fran Clark writes Women’s Fiction, both contemporary and historical. Her first novel was published by Indigo Dreams in 2014. In the same year she achieved a Distinction in her Creative Writing MA from Brunel University. In 2016 she was shortlisted for the SI Leeds Literary Prize. In February 2024, her Island Secrets Book Series will be published, starting with Holding Paradise Book 1.
Originally from London, Fran moved to the English countryside with her musician husband. A musician herself, Fran teaches vocals and leads a local choir. She has two sons.
Fran also writes under the pseudonym, Rosa Temple, writing contemporary fiction and published by HQ Digital and Simon & Schuster UK
My thoughts: I am always interested in why people would pack up their lives and move to the sad, soggy archipelago that is the UK, confronting racism, the crap weather, the grinding poverty and the terrible jobs immigrants often take, which no one else wants to do.
In Rayna’s case, it’s desperation. The job she had back in Dominica wasn’t one she could return to – so to England, and a nursing course she came. My mum was a nurse for over 40 years and worked with lots of women just like Rayna, young, intelligent and resourceful, hardworking and a long way from home.
But Rayna gives up the nursing, ends up in a factory, then when that closes, panicking, she asks a new friend for help. Taking a job as a barmaid in West London isn’t her dream, but she hopes it will keep a roof over her head.
Her talent as a singer leads her on stage, first just in the Pelican, but from there, on world tours, but jazz draws her back to the corner of London she considers home. And into a conflict of the heart, the pub landlord who loves her, the jazz musician who offers her the world. It also brings her face to face with her past, with what she ran from.
It’s an engaging, intelligent book, there’s a lot of heart and Rayna is a wonderful protagonist – big hearted, gentle and talented. She’s not perfect and she makes mistakes but she admits to them, and makes changes to mend them. I really enjoyed this one and rooted for it’s characters all the way through.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Detective duo Mrs Jameson and Marjorie Swallow are called to investigate when a renowned garden designer suspects that someone is sabotaging her priceless Himalayan Sapphire Lilies, ahead of the 1923 Chelsea Flower Show. But soon it’s not just the flowers that are dying. Rival gardeners, intrepid plant hunters and even King George V himself are caught up in a poisonous bouquet with its roots deep in the mountains of Tibet. The third in the Marjorie Swallow 1920s murder mystery series requires all her wit, charm and pluck to solve.
Anna Sayburn Lane is the author of page-turning murder mysteries set in jazz age London, and of award-winning short stories and contemporary thrillers. Her debut novel, Unlawful Things, was shortlisted for the Virago New Crime Writing award, and her first historical mystery, Blackmail In Bloomsbury, has been described as ‘like slipping on a pair of elegant evening gloves and slipping back to the golden age of detective fiction’. Before turning to fiction, Anna worked as a journalist for local newspapers and medical journals – useful for thinking up novel ways of bumping off fictional characters. She lives in the UK, sharing her time between London and a small seaside town.
My thoughts: I really enjoy this series, I love Marjorie and Mrs Jameson and this particular investigation is very fiendish. After an act of sabotage, which they’ve been called into investigate, a gardener is killed, which is puzzling, and then another body drops at the famous Chelsea Flower Show – in front of the king! That just won’t do.
Is it because of the mysterious flowers due to be exhibited – rare Himalayan Sapphire Lilies or is there something even murkier in their acquisition that’s behind the deaths? There’s lots of shady figures in the flower world it seems, and Mrs Jameson and Marjorie must solve all of this – by Royal request, as murder in front of the monarch is a big problem.
Witty and clever, there’s little time for socialising and lunch in fancy restaurants this time round, and Marjorie is increasingly becoming the quicker detective as she hones her skills of observation and interrogation. Delightful.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
We’re celebrating the newly released vampire romance, Our Little Monster by Lashell Rain!
 Our Little Monster: A Why Choose Vampire Romance (Deviant Desires Series) Publication Date: May 28, 2024 Genre: Vampire Romance/ Why Choose
Inspired by The Vampire Diaries & Supernatural
Monster Hunter FMC
Touch Her & Di3
She Saves Them
Why Choose MFM
Vampires She doesn’t know whether to kill them or keep them…
In a world where monsters lurk in the shadows, Serina Velika is a hunter, born and raised to keep the balance between humans and everything that goes bump in the night.
But no one is safe in the dark.
When vampires viciously attack her and her father, she is left shattered and bleeding on the forest floor, forced to bear witness to the horrifying scene as they mercilessly take her father’s life. The one person who anchored her is gone and now she has nothing left to lose.
She embarks on a mission for vengeance, keeping her heart guarded and her loved ones at arm’s length. But fate has other plans.
After eight months of little to no answers, Serina crosses paths with three captivating vampires—Bastian, Nox, and Thorne, who propose an intriguing deal. With no other options, she reluctantly allows them into her life and is thrust into a world of deception, unaware that with every shared moment her resolve weakens and her emotions ignite like wildfire. Will their love conquer all, or will her need for vengeance tear them apart? Dive into this thrilling adventure where passion ignites, bonds are tested, and a new dawn of hope awaits. 18+ Adult content and explicit scenes AVAILABLE ON AMAZON Book Tour Organized By:
 R&R Book Tours
1798: A magical, dark adventure. Fourteen-year-old Pâtca, initiated in the occult arts, comes to Bucharest, to her uncle, Cuviosu Zăval, to retrieve the Book of Perilous Dishes. The recipes in this magical book can bring about damaging sincerity, forgetfulness, the gift of prediction, or hysterical laughter. She finds her uncle murdered and the book missing. All that Zăval has left her is a strange map she must decipher. Travelling from Romania to France and on to Germany to do so, Patca’s family’s true past and powers are revealed, as is her connection to the famous and sublime chef, Silica.
DOINA RUŞTI, important contemporary Romanian novelist, is unanimously appreciated for epic force, for originality and erudition of her novels. She received all major Romanian awards, including the Romanian Academy Prize, and was translated into many languages (even in Chinese).
She wrote ten novels, including: Fantoma din moară (The Phantom in the Mill, 2008), Lizoanca (2009), Zogru (2006).
The novels Manuscrisul fanariot (The Phanariot Manuscript, 2015), Mâța Vinerii (The Book of Perilous Dishes, 2017) and “Homeric” (2019) can be a Phanariotic Trilogy (18th century). The most recent novel: Paturi oculte (Occult beds), 2020.
Good international reviews in: La Stampa, Stato Quotidiano, Il Venerdì di Repubblica. Il Libero, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Magyar Nemzet, La Opinion, Turia. Il Mercurio etc.
Doina Rusti lives in Bucharest, and is a professor and screenwriter.
My thoughts: After her grandmother is dragged away to be executed, our 14 year old protagonist heads to Bucharest to find her uncle. Unfortunately he has been murdered and she gets involved in the various intrigues of society.
The titular book, one Pâtca wrote several years before, has fallen into the hands of a cook who is now making those perilous dishes for the local ruler, and they’re having some strange effects.
As she attempts to get the book back from the cook, solve her uncle’s murder, and stay ahead of the city – who are looking for a witch called Cat O’ Friday, another name for Pâtca.
I really enjoyed this book, Pâtca is an intriguing character, trying to figure all of these different things out, she’s only a teenager but seems wise beyond her years and quite dangerous.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The Light Between Us is a Southeast Asian historical romance that defies time and space as an archivist explores Singapore’s tumultuous past through a supernatural connection.
At work one night, photography archivist Charlie Sze-Toh receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial era Chinese photographer.
Through a mysterious digital folder and photographic plates, a conversation is sparked, leading to a romance that spans lifetimes.
In his time, Tian Wei scours a turbulent Singapore for his missing friend, Aiko, leading him to the perfumed chambers of a Japanese brothel. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Charlie struggles against a family dynamic dominated by her stepmother, a manipulative matriarch who uses family secrets as bargaining chips.
Communication starts to become difficult and Tian Wei’s letters are tinged by the increasing threat of Japanese Occupation. Will one last fate-defying letter from Charlie allow Tian Wei to keep their love alive?
Inspired by her research into Singaporean historical archives, Elaine Chiew weaves Chinese mythology and early 20th century colonial Singapore into this speculative epic.
Elaine Chiew is a writer, editor, creative writing teacher/mentor, and visual arts researcher. Her debut novel The Light Between Us (Neem Tree Press), long listed for the inaugural Cheshire Novel Prize, will be out May 16, 2024.
Her short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora (Penguin SEA 2019 & Myriad Editions UK 2020) explores the Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese diaspora living primarily in London, New York, and Singapore; it has been mentioned as a recommended read in The Guardian, The Straits Times Singapore, BookRiot and Esquire SG, been featured in literary festivals in Singapore, Malaysia and Kerala, received a Special Mention in the UK Saboteur Awards, and reviewed favourably in Malaysia, Singapore, UK and US.
She is also the compiler/editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World (New Internationalist, 2015).
Twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition in the UK, she has had numerous stories published in Singapore, US and UK anthologies, most recently with BBC Radio Four.
Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, she has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and was a corporate securities lawyer working in New York, Hong Kong and London. In 2017, she received an MA in Asian Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is based in London. You can find her on X @ChiewElaine and IG @epchiew.
My thoughts: In the archives of a Singapore gallery, Charlie catalogues photographs, finding on her screen one day a strange letter, she can’t work out what it’s doing there, but intrigued she saves it for later. After another appears, she decides, despite the fact it seems to come from another age, to write back. And so begins a rather unusual love story.
Charlie and her new pen pal, a 1920s photographer called Tian Wei, share the details of their lives – Tian Wei is searching for a young Japanese woman he considers his sister, she’s vanished and no one seems bothered. In modern Singapore Charlie is struggling with her family relationships, her stepmother is something of a nightmare, her half brothers not kind and she’s closest to her adopted brother Sebastian.
Sebastian’s business and romantic relationship are on the outs, and he vanishes for a time. But Charlie and Tian Wei sustain each other through their crises via their letters.
It’s a beautiful quantum entanglement, their letters, and later photos, reaching back and forth in time. But when Charlie crosses a line, things change in her time, and political changes in Tian Wei’s put him in danger.
It’s hard to define this book, part romance, part science fiction, part mystery, and it took me a while to like Charlie – she keeps all of her emotions very tightly bound, letting no one in. Tian Wei is much more open, there’s a joy and lightness to him for much of the book, despite his worries about Aiko, despite the political turmoil.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
At last, Malcolm has found the perfect woman. Now he just has to keep her.
Malcolm Todd seems like an average older man – he lives a quiet life in an ordinary bungalow on a suburban street.
But Malcolm is hungry – he’s looking for love.
There was that young woman at work with the lovely hair. That didn’t work out.
And the one who worked at a delicatessen. That ended quite badly.
But now someone very special has come to stay, right here in his own home.
Josie is young, beautiful, spirited. And it’s clear to Malcolm that he and she have a very strong connection. A connection that could lead to a truly delicious future.
Josie might not immediately understand how happy they could be together. But Malcolm is sure he can find ways to persuade her…
Iain Maitland is the author of three previous psych thrillers, The Scribbler (2020), Mr Todd’s Reckoning (2019) and Sweet William (2017), all published by Contraband, an imprint of Saraband.
Iain is also the author of two memoirs, Dear Michael, Love Dad (Hodder, 2016), a book of letters written to his eldest son who experienced depression and anorexia, and (co-authored with Michael) Out Of The Madhouse (Jessica Kingsley, 2018).
He is also an Ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity. He talks regularly about mental health issues in schools and colleges and workplaces.
This is Iain’s fifth psychological thriller with Inkubator Books.
My thoughts: so this was very creepy and with a very unreliable narrator at the helm. Malcolm spends a lot of time hinting at things he thinks his son Adrian has done, but then he starts writing in his journal about the genuinely unpleasant and awful things he’s done himself. At one point, he actually seems to claim driving a man to suicide as a victory in his old job as a tax inspector at HMRC.
He’s an unpleasant and rather nasty man, never at fault, everything that’s gone wrong in his life, the crimes he’s committed, always someone else to blame. Even getting fired after harassing a colleague is not his fault. Then there’s the bodies in the old air raid shelter in the garden…
When his son brings home his girlfriend and her little girl, things get even more sinister, he quickly becomes obsessed with Josie, keen to keep her at his home, for himself, he even plans to get rid of her daughter. Her horrible ex is stalking her, and so she needs to hide out for a bit. His house is perfect for that, even with the police coming round with questions about his missing wife and her lover.
There’s lots of sudden twists, Malcolm is one of the most unpleasant protagonists I’ve read in a while, and his mood can change suddenly and violently. He’s not even honest in his own head. But it is gripping and clever and the end twist was worth it.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The Genesis of Seven by Sara M. Schaller has a brand-new look and is now available!
The Genesis of Seven (The Empyrean Trilogy)
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
Found Family
Good & Evil
Prophecies
Mystery
Action & Adventure
Angels
Morally Grey Devil
Eighteen-year-old Jordan Conway has always wanted to help people, but helping seven archangels to achieve their divine duty was never quite what he had in mind…
When Jordan is entrusted by the head nun of his orphanage to deliver a mysterious backpack to a New York City address, he comes unexpectedly face-to-face with Archangel Gabriel. Their acquaintance fast uncovers a labyrinth of secrets that connect Jordan’s once-normal life to an ancient heavenly prophecy. Now, he must help Gabriel to reunite the archangels before evil forces grow too strong.
Soon, Jordan and Gabriel find themselves on a divine quest across the globe, while deep in the pits of Hell, Satan plots his return to earth. To gain control, however, Satan needs the powerful prophetic objects locked safe inside Jordan’s backpack-and the devil will stop at nothing to get what he wants.
With that notion threatening his only family and the safety of his newfound friends, Jordan must do whatever it takes to protect the ones he loves and help the archangels succeed. If that means sacrificing all he thought he knew to go to war with the devil himself? Bring it on.
Sara M Schaller is an author and publishing professional who lives in Colorado.
Sara loves the world of pop culture and the performing arts, so when she is not reading or writing, she is either watching movies and shows, attending conventions, or going out to see live performances.She likes to write stories for all ages in the fantasy genre, and her writing usually contains elements of speculative fiction and features a large cast of characters.
ramblingmads 