blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Vengeful Dreams – Alexa Michaels

ramblingmads

VenegefulDreams copy

Hades and Persephone but make it a dark mafia romance please! Done!

1.Vengeful Dreams_Ebook (1)

Vengeful Dreams: A Dark Mafia, Forced Proximity Romance (The Vlasov Bratva)

Publication Date: April 17, 2024

Genre: Dark Mafia Romance

  • Obsessive hero
  • Slow burn until it’s not
  • Mistrust to lust
  • Bratva & civilian
  • Forced proximity
  • Grump & sunshine
  • Mafia Romance
  • He will burn the world for her, and does
  • A bit of groveling
  • “Who did this to you?”
  • Touch her & 💀

Daniella

Revenge,
I crave it,
But can’t get it on my own.
I ventured into the underworld and broke into the house of a monster.
And now, I have to pay the price for his help.

Work for the cold, ruthless Bratva prince,
The one whose name is whispered throughout the underworld,
And earn his trust.

But before I collect my part of the bargain,
I accidentally start an underworld war.

Kazimir

The Bratva hardened me, forged me into the perfect soldier.
Nothing surprises me.
Until I discover a little thief in my home.

The audacity of this woman,
A clever girl, aware of our world, but always keeping away,
Until now. Until she needs help when the more legal channels fail her.

I’m captivated by her graceful presence.
I can’t stay away. She calls to a part of me I thought was long burned away.
She came to the underworld looking for a dark knight,
Now I’m not letting her go. I want her—all of her.
And I will do anything to keep her in my dark kingdom.
Forever mine.
Even if it means breaking the rules and starting a war on her behalf.

Vengeful Dreams is the first book of the Vlasov Bratva series, set in the larger Midwest Underworld series. It’s a stand-alone darker mafia romance, with no cheating, a guaranteed HEA, and no cliffhangers. A morally grey romance, this book may not be suitable for everyone.

Triggers/Content Warning:

A heartbroken sibling
Reference to sex trafficking
Violence
Reference to drug abusing relative
Light stalking, more like haunting her
On page romance
Adult language
Impact play
Talk of starting a family, but there is NO pregnancy trope in this book
A corporal punishment in the criminal world
Destruction of those who hurt the FMC
Maiming of those who hurt the FMC
A Blood Oath

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

About the Author

When Alexa isn’t writing, she can be found with a book in her lap and a mug of coffee or glass of red wine within reach.

A native of the North Woods, Alexa is an avid lake-jumper, beach lounger, and sunshine lover. Alexa is living a happily ever after with her own steamy hero.

Summer 2023, Alexa and her husband moved to the Southern Coast, changing from the court of winter and ice and pledging their allegiance to the court of sun and sea.

Alexa loves any type of love story. So you can find her writing both contemporary romance and fantasy novels. Instead of making a separate pen name, Alexa just adds her middle initial to her fantasy genre books!

Alexa H. Michaels

Book Tour Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Illusion of Stars – Sarah Marie Page

ramblingmads

Welcome to the tour for Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page! You’re going to want to pre-order this one for sure!

image

Illusion of Stars: A Banter Filled Romantasy

Expected Publication Date: July 16, 2024

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

  • ACOMAF style romance
  • Feral love interest
  • You drew scars around my scars
  • Fade to black spice
  • He teaches her to be stábby
  • FMC is a terrible spy
  • Bridge Kingdom vibes
  • She’s stealing more than secrets.

As the royal physician of a tiny, windswept island, Isabel spends her days trying to keep the queen from dying and the mad king from streaking naked down the halls. But when her best friend is found murdered on the beaches, her world is ripped apart. Desperate for answers, she discovers a stash of letters that reveal a terrifying truth: the neighboring kingdom of Volgaard possesses a kingdom-shattering weapon and is poised to conquer everything in its path.

Seeking vengeance, Isabel infiltrates the enemy. Her mission? Woo Erik Lothgarson, the general’s steamy, illusion-magic wielding son, and steal the dangerous weapon. She can bring Volgaard to its knees—if she isn’t caught.

But as Isabel dances along the knife edge of deception, the lines between truth and fiction blur, and she must wrestle her quest for vengeance against her undeniable attraction to the enemy.

The heart-pounding tension of Danielle Jensen’s BRIDGE KINGDOM meets the snarky banter of Emily Thiede’s THIS VICIOUS GRACE in this swoon-worthy fantasy romance.

PRE-ORDER HERE

Book Tour Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Hollywood Governess – Alexandra Weston

ramblingmads


A governess bound by her own strict rules, a movie-star tormented by grief, a forbidden love story you won’t forget.

Hollywood, 1937
Hester Carlye has no wish to look after the pampered offspring of the rich anymore, in spite of being a highly sought-after governess. But with her elderly father frail, and the roof of their rundown cottage falling in, she has no choice but to accept a dazzling new placement.
Movie star Aidan Neil is box office gold, but after the tragic death of his wife Dinah Doyle, he needs Hester’s help to raise their young daughter Erin. Aidan and Dinah were once the perfect Hollywood couple, but stars don’t shine forever…

At Aidan’s glittering Hollywood mansion, Hester finds a family struggling with their grief. Hester knows she can help little Erin, but Aidan’s torment is palpable. Brooding and reclusive, he is far from the picture-perfect hero Hester’s seen in films. There’s an edge to him that makes Hester wonder if he’s hiding a dark secret of his own….

Was the marriage between Aidan and Dinah as perfect as it appeared to be? Was Dinah’s death really a tragic accident?
When it finally comes, the truth is more shocking than Hester could ever have imagined. And she knows that if revealed, it will destroy the family she has grown to love and ruin Aidan’s Hollywood dream forever…

Purchase

Alex Weston is a debut historical fiction writer whose novels are inspired by forbidden love in 1930s Hollywood. She lives in East Yorkshire and her first book for Boldwood, The Hollywood Governess,
will be published in June 2024.

Facebook Twitter Instagram

My thoughts: Hester Carlyle is a professional governess, hired by wealthy families to care for and educate their children, but she’s had enough, after a terrible accident and a broken engagement, she’s retreated to her family home in Yorkshire to rest and recuperate.

However the roof is falling in, her father’s sick and her youngest sister’s school fees need paying. So she agrees to take another job, for a Hollywood star, a recent widower with a seven year old daughter. Going to work in a bereaved family isn’t easy, but she’s resourceful and good at her job, she’s also kind and compassionate, and it isn’t only Erin who needs her.

As she gets to know her employer, she discovers there are secrets in the past that need to be let into the light in order for everyone to heal and be able to move on with their lives. Hester may play a bigger role in things than she could ever imagine.

This is a lovely, tender read with beautifully written characters and heart.

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

books

Book Blitz: The Shadows of the Kingdom – Jen Bliton

ramblingmads

Happy release day to author Jen Bliton! Make sure you get a copy of the next Light in the Shadows book, The Shadows of the Kingdom!

TSotK-draft4-adj

The Shadows of the Kingdom

Publication Date: June 25, 2024

Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

💀Ancient evil
💀 Relationship struggles
💀 new monsters
💀 Undertaking quests
💀 Kingdom politics
💀 History revelations

After defeating the evil behind the attacks on the southern lands of Caldumn, Wren and Tyran begin to settle into their new life that begs to be calm… or so they thought.

With so many questions left unanswered about the Red Kingdom’s threat, and what they’ll now do after they withstood Rhonin’s advance, they receive a letter from a mysterious magic kind that kept themselves in the shadows with a warning of the Red Kingdom’s motives.

Now the threat won’t just be to the towns, but their world as they know it. Wren and Tyran begin the journey to stop the Red Kingdom at all costs. Faced with conflicting beliefs as to what they should do, their relationship is tested in more ways than they can imagine:

Embrace the shadows or choose a path of light.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Book Blitz Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Aultemus – Mike Burke

ramblingmads

Welcome to the book tour for Aultemus by Mike Burke. Read on for more details!

Aultemus-Final Cover

Aultemus

Publication Date: February 22, 2024

Genre: Fantasy/ Mythical Creatures

Lightning, but not from the sky. From the trees, from maybe even your friend. Magic is woven into everything in this reality; from the birds (they don’t like you calling them that) in the sky, to the rocks deep in the earth.

Aultemus, Syora, Railo, and Feuson have to set out in this reality, but this is their reality, and they’re quite fond of it. They have their own struggles clawing at their minds but that’s why they’re together.

There’s someone who plans to get rid of magic in their world, the magic that makes it special, turning a blind eye to the sacrifices they must make to reach their goal. The adventurers want to stop him but is that why they’re really doing it? Is it the right thing to do to stop someone doing evil things, or are we all in it because of the sunk-cost? Can we even overcome our true nature with all the magic in the universe?

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Book Tour Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Ghost Ship – Kate Mosse

ramblingmads

Next in the #1 Sunday Times bestselling series, New York Times bestselling author Kate Mosse returns with The Ghost Ship, a sweeping historical epic of adventure on the high seas.

The Barbary Coast, 1621. A mysterious vessel floats silently on the water. It is known only as the Ghost Ship. For months it has hunted pirates to liberate those enslaved by corsairs, manned by a courageous crew of mariners from Italy and France, Holland and the Canary Islands.

But the bravest men on board are not who they seem. And the stakes could not be higher. If arrested, they will be hanged for their crimes. Can they survive the journey and escape their fate?

A sweeping and epic love story, ranging from France in 1610 to Amsterdam and the Canary Islands in the 1620s, The Ghost Ship is a thrilling novel of adventure and buccaneering, love and revenge, stolen fortunes and hidden secrets on the high seas.

KATE MOSSE, CBE, is a multiple New York Times and #1 internationally bestselling author with sales of more than eight million copies in thirty-eight languages. Her previous novels include Labyrinth, Sepulchre, The Winter Ghosts, Citadel, The Taxidermist’s Daughter, and The Burning Chambers. Kate is the founder director of the Women’s Prize for Fiction, a visiting professor at the University of Chichester, and in June 2013, was awarded an Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to literature. She divides her time between Chichester in the United Kingdom and Carcassonne in France.

My thoughts: this is the third installment of The Joubert Family Chronicles, but I think it could be read as a standalone too. Louise’s story is inspired by the real life female pirates like Anne Bonny and Mary Read, women who took on male roles, who did things they weren’t expected to.

After coming into her inheritance Louise buys a merchant ship, and during a voyage from Amsterdam to the Canary Islands her experiences and the stories of the crew make her want to make a difference. She’s also drawn to a young man, Gilles, who she’s taken under her wing. But like Louise, Gilles is not exactly what he seems. 

They become pirates of a sort, stealing not treasure but saving lives – hunting down slave ships and freeing the captives, encouraging them to take over the ships they’re held on.

It’s both an adventure and a romance, Louise and Gilles are both incredibly brave and resourceful, even when things seem incredibly bleak and hopeless, they have courage and faith in one another.

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

books

Cover Reveal: Oceansong – C.W. Rose

ramblingmads

We’re thrilled to present the cover for Oceansong by C.W. Rose! Make sure to add it to Goodreads and get a copy on August 27th!

Oceansong_eBOOK

Oceansong

Release Date: August 27, 2024

Genre: Adult Contemporary Romantasy

🧜🏼‍♂️Merfolk Mythology
🌊Ocean-based magic
⚔️Enemies-to-lovers
💘Forbidden & Slow Burn Romance
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Asian family dynamics
😒🌞Grumpy (female) x sunshine (male)
💞HEAs
🥧Cinnamon roll male
🤨Prickly, snarky female MC who’s a softie inside
🏘️Small-town settings (Alaska)

Spice Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️

OCEANSONG is an Adult Contemporary Romantasy that is an Asian Romeo & Juliet meets The Little Mermaid, set in the grittiness of the real world.

Fish are mysteriously disappearing, starving the people in Angie Song’s Alaskan hometown. Angie, an aspiring marine biologist and dock worker, enthusiastically joins the hunt to find out where the fish are gathering. When her family and the villagers discover that merfolk are responsible, they vow to destroy every last one. In the midst of the conflict, Angie faces off with a merman and fails to pull the trigger.

Inquisitive Mer-Prince Kaden is just as snarky as Angie, but he’s willing to talk and stop the brutal massacring of his people. The two form a cautious alliance to broker peace between the humans and mer before any more of them die.

As tensions clash between the two races fighting to control the sea’s resources, Angie and Kaden’s forbidden relationship ignites. And as she learns about the mer’s mysterious world and the reason why the fish are gone, Angie starts to question who the true monster is, and where her loyalties lie. Taking the wrong side means choosing between family and her job, or the man she’s fallen for and the merfolk she’s come to respect—or losing it all.

COMING SOON!

Cover Reveal Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Hungry Heart – Clare Finney

ramblingmads

Award-winning food writer Clare Finney presents a moving, heartfelt exploration of the intertwining influences of food and love
 
From family feasts to comfort foods, first dates to office cake; how does what we eat define us, and the relationships we have with others?
 
Award-winning food writer Clare Finney delves into these questions with a rare and insightful sensitivity, telling a powerful story of life and love whilst uncovering the manifold ways in which food touches all relationships: from perfect strangers to partners, parents and friends.
 
Beginning with a childhood spent in her grandmother’s hotel kitchen and ending at her grandfather’s bedside, she charts a course through the meals and recipes which have shaped the person she is today.
 
Finney also investigates the role food plays in a modern society which can often feel isolating, exploring how eating unites us in varied ways throughout our lives. From the dance of culinary courtship entailed in dating to the funeral foods that remind us of the connections between life and death, Finney examines the power of food and drink to attract, bind and define us – and of course, its power to divide and repel.
 
At a time when our relationship towards what, when and where we eat has become increasingly complicated, Hungry Heart is a feast; an honest, heart-warming account of humans breaking bread together and what that really means.

Clare Finney is a food journalist, Londoner and cheese lover. In 2019 she won the Fortnum & Mason Food Writing Award for her work with Foodism and Market Life, Borough Market’s magazine.

My thoughts: exploring her life and emotions through recipes and the meals that made them, the author (who grew up in the same town as me – some of the places she mentions have resonance for me too) charts her childhood trips to her grandparents’ hotel, her parents’ divorce, her teenage eating disorder and her university years.

As a food writer she has written extensively on the things we eat, but here she explores our emotional connection to food, her own and her friends and colleagues. Each chapter ends with a recipe, dishes that have been made with love and are imbued with memory and in many cases comfort.

It was a really interesting book to read and one I will come back to as a lot of the things discussed in the chapters were intensely thought provoking.

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

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: The Winter Killings – Wes Markin

ramblingmads

A gruesome find. A missing colleague. A case that hits closer to home…

As winter settles over Yorkshire, DCI Emma Gardner is hoping that work will calm down for everyone.
Distracted by the continued disappearance of DI Paul Riddick Emma can’t seem to get her head back in the game. But when a human skull is discovered in a local pub, Emma knows it’s time to get a grip.
With no one local reported missing, and with no body to be found, the team have their work cut and no obvious clues to follow. Who could the skull belong to and what message is the killer trying to
leave them? And then the first body is found…

As Emma and the team try desperately to identify the body and the killer, secrets from the past begin to reveal themselves. A home for single mothers. Babies who tragically didn’t make it. A coverup at
the highest level.
With the clock ticking, winter has one final cold reveal for Emma. Her old friend Riddick…

Purchase


Wes Markin is the bestselling author of the DCI Yorke crime novels, set in Salisbury. His new series for Boldwood stars the pragmatic detective DCI Emma Gardner who will be tackling the criminals of North Yorkshire. 

Facebook Instagram Newsletter Bookbub

My thoughts: When a real skull appears in the props box of a local storyteller, during a performance in a local pub, right in front of DCI Emma Gardner and her colleague, it sends them on a hunt for a body, the identity and into the past in search of a motive.

The trail leads to a former homeless shelter, where truly shocking secrets have been buried, but perhaps not deep enough. Someone is determined to drag all of the terrible things that went on into the light, and they’re using murder to do it. 

Emma and her team are working hard, despite not having enough manpower –  and one of the team having a personal connection to the case. It’s a tough one for everyone.

As well as the case, Emma is still trying to find Riddick, she’s asked a former colleague to hunt him down, and he’s in a bad situation. A very bad one, but it might just be enough to get him to leave it and finally make contact with Emma.

Gripping, shocking, filled with twists, this is the best in the series so far. Can’t wait for the next one.

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

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: Tangled Power – Jillian Witt

ramblingmads

TangledPower copy

We’re celebrating the release of Tangled Power by Jillian Witt! Make sure to get your copy on June 18th!

Tangled Power Cover large

Tangled Power: Compass Points #2

Publication Date: June 18, 2024

Genre: Romantic Fantasy/ New Adult/Adult

🧭His power scares everyone but her
✨Dual POV
🧭Hot Forging 😏
✨Opinionated Magic
🧭”Get in losers. Let’s go find a rogue god.”

“Technically, the continent is doomed if you can’t figure out how to work together…the good news is there’s no way for the Compass Points to trust each other less than they currently do.”
— Arie

Before the Compass Points can confront a god, Rose will unite them the only way she knows how: through their magic.

To forge her weapons is to know the heart of the wielder. Uncovering the secrets that have plagued the fae courts longer than the mist will not be an easy task. But it may be simpler than predicting how her magic entwines with the Suden Point’s unprecedented power—and the growing bond between them.

Tangled Power is the second book in the Compass Points series

GET IT ON AMAZON

About the Author

Jillian Witt reads more romantic fantasy than is strictly necessary and writes books she would love to read. Her stories unleash powerful women into fantasy worlds, usually turn enemies into lovers, and always offer an escape from reality.
When not reading or writing, she’s enjoying all four seasons in Michigan with her partner and their dog, Loki.

JILLIAN WITT

Book Tour Organized By:

RRBookTours Button

R&R Book Tours