Happy publication day to Cynthia Hilston and congratulations on the release of The Rock at the Bottom! Read on for more details!
The Rock at the Bottom (Lorna & Tristan Series Book 3)
Publication Date: March 22nd, 2023
Genre: Historical Romance/ Prohibition Era/ Clean Romance A big dreamer and successful novelist carries the sins of his father and a secret that leaves him wondering if he is the author or killer of love.
Stephen feels he is marked from day one to lose the ones he loves. His mother dies giving birth to him, and his alcoholic father makes sure Stephen never forgets it. To block out his father’s hate, fists, and belt, young Stephen loses himself in his imagination. Stories become his closest companions and barricades against a family that never wanted him. Once he can look his father in the eye, Stephen swears he will never be the monster his old man is. He vows he will become a published author, if for no other reason than to prove his father wrong.
While his dreams of being a bestselling novelist and falling in love come true, Stephen has much to prove to himself before he can write his own happy ending. Set against the backdrop of Prohibition-era Cleveland, Stephen fights the same alcoholic demons that plagued his father as he tries to begin a life free from his family. He meets equally headstrong Julie and is smitten, but their marriage is as fractured as his career is solid. He can find ten ways to write about being in love, but he has a hard time translating love on the page to love in real life. Julie slips between his fingers like sand, and Stephen sees his father staring back when he looks in the mirror.
Try as he might to rewrite his life, even going so far as to change his name, he has to wonder if he is the author or the killer of love.
Cynthia Hilston is a stay-at-home mom of three young kids, happily married, and lives in the Cleveland, Ohio, area. Writing has always been like another child to her. After twenty years of waltzing in the world of fan fiction, she stepped away to do her debut dance with original works of fiction, although she still dabbles in fan fiction.
In her spare time – what spare time? – she devours books, shamelessly watches Hallmark movies and When Calls the Heart, pets her orange and black kitties, looks at the stars, drinks wine or coffee with good friends, and dreams of what other stories she wishes to tell.
New South Wales, 1972. Following the death of her beloved Aunt Hilda, widow Clare Barclay inherits Bellevue, an historic property in the Blue Mountains township of Numballa, Australia. Giving up her teaching job to move to the mountains, Clare plans to restore the house to its original glory. She also hopes to track down a box of missing documents that may shed light on why husband Jack secretly second-mortgaged their former home. Clare makes friends with the locals, including a young boy, Joe, and soon hears of plans to redevelop Numbulla and to exploit the land bordering the protected wilderness area. As she joins the protest against the rezoning, it’s clear someone doesn’t want her there and they’ll do anything to stop her…
Written from Clare’s and Joe’s perspectives, Bellevue highlights cross-generational bonds that grow between them as they struggle, individually and together, towards an acceptance of the losses each has sustained.
Born in Australia, Alison Booth gained a degree in architecture before transferring to economics. She is Professor Emeritus of Economics with a PhD from the London School of Economics and spent over two decades living and working in the UK before returning to Australia. She wrote her first novel at the age of nine, before other distractions set in.
Alison’s seventh published novel, Bellevue, will be out in March 2023. Her previous novels were published by Penguin and RedDoor. Her fiction has been translated into French and her short stories have appeared in international publications including Antipodes and New Writing. Awards include a Varuna Longlines Fellowship from the Eleanor Dark Foundation and the Highly Commended Award in the 2011 ACT Book of the Year Award. Her novels are: Stillwater Creek, The Indigo Sky, A Distant Land, A Perfect Marriage, The Philosopher’s Daughters and The Painting. For more information visit: https://www.alisonbooth.net/home
My thoughts: this was a really interesting book about community, friendship, outsiders and the environment. Clare inherits her late husband’s aunt’s house Bellevue in the small New South Wales town of Numballa. Hoping to build a new life and a permanent home for herself there, she finds that all is not well. Silent phone calls, vague threats, a car accident that probably isn’t an accident. Someone is trying to drive her away.
As the battle for the wilderness at the edge of her land heats up, she finds that she’s not alone. Other members of the local conservation group are also being harassed and frightened but Clare won’t give up.
She also meets Joe, a young boy with a love of birds, who draws beautiful pictures of them. Befriending him and offering him a safe space to work on his art, Clare expands her new world again.
Joe is struggling, after his mother’s death, left with an often absent older brother and a father who drinks too much, he’s a sensitive, artistic soul. Afraid to tell anyone except the local librarian of his passion, he’s sneaking into Clare’s hayloft to draw. Their unlikely friendship is a delight to read about. As Joe comes out of his shell, things seem to look up for his family too.
There’s a lot of heart in this book, and as Clare finds her place in Numballa, making friends and campaigning to save the wilderness, she slowly comes back to life after years in survival mode.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Happy publication day to Janilise Lloyd and congratulations on the release of The Whisperer’s Wish!
The Whisperer’s Wish
Publication Date: March 21st
Genre: YA Fantasy/ Clean YA Fantasy
For sixteen years, Laurelin Moore has been keeping a secret. She is a whisperer, and she knows that to reveal her gift now is a dangerous risk. Past whisperers have been exploited for their power. But Ausland’s queen is dead and acknowledging her magic is her only chance at becoming a Rook in the Pentax—a competition that will decide the kingdom’s next ruler.
Laurelin isn’t in it for the crown, though. She’s after the wish that will be granted to the victor. A wish that would save her dying brother, Pippin. But there are dangerous undercurrents to the competition, and Laurelin finds herself at the center of it. She begins to search for answers and discovers a secret with the potential to shatter the entire kingdom.
Janilise Lloyd is a former junior high school teacher who lives in Northern Utah with her husband and toddler. She balances a love for running with a love for all things dessert. Her family likes to be on the go, so you will often catch them at the zoo, the park, or skipping rocks by the river. Janilise is the coordinator for the ScrivKids writing community for student writers and is a member of the Storymakers Guild. You can find her on Instagram or Facebook @janiliselloyd or on her website, janiliselloyd.com.
We are so excited to share not only the stunning cover of Dreams Really Do: A Bomb-Ass Genie Wedding, but the blurb too! Read on for all book and preorder details!
Dreams Really Do: A Bomb-Ass Genie Wedding (Come True #3)
A dream is a wish your heart . . . definitely doesn’t need.
Recent college graduate Dolly Jones just wants to live a nice, quiet life with her ultra-hot, ultra-magical genie boyfriend. Is that too much to ask? Yes, because she’s still stuck tethered to the bad-boy brother, Velis is busy prepping for the coronation that will make him laird of the estate, and there are multiple evil sons of b*tches out there that want her dead. Not to mention she’s plagued with magical dreams now. Of a memory Arrik swears he didn’t take.
Velis and Arrik Reilhander were born to be rivals—one of them not full djinn, the other not a full person, both finding validation in a shared source of light. When Daddy Djinn’s return home to the manor sparks the escape of the oldest, nastiest triplet who wants Dolly’s head more than ever, Velis and Arrik will stop at nothing to make sure Dolly is safe. Forever. Even if for one of them, it means saying goodbye.
DREAMS REALLY DO: A BOMB-ASS GENIE WEDDING is the romantic, fantastic second-coming-of-age story of at least three flawed twenty-somethings from different realms battling their inner demons, and each other, one wish at a time.
★A jaded girl. A persistent genie. A contest of souls.★
Recent college graduate Dolly Jones has spent the last year stubbornly trying to atone for a mistake that cost her everything. She doesn’t go out, she doesn’t make new friends and she sure as hell doesn’t treat herself to things she hasn’t earned, but when her most recent thrift store purchase proves home to a hot, magical genie determined to draw out her darkest desires in exchange for a taste of her soul, Dolly’s restraint, and patience, will be put to the test.
Newbie genie Velis Reilhander will do anything to beat his older half-brothers in a soul-collecting contest that will determine the next heir to their family estate, even if it means coaxing desire out of the least palatable human he’s ever contracted. As a djinn from a ‘polluted’ bloodline, Velis knows what it’s like to work twice as hard as everyone else, and he won’t let anyone—not even Dolly f*cking Jones—stand in the way of his birthright. He just needs to figure out her heart’s greatest desire before his asshole brothers can get to her first.
COME TRUE: A BOMB-ASS GENIE ROMANCE is the romantic, fantastic second-coming-of-age story of two flawed twenty-somethings from different realms battling their inner demons, and each other, one wish at a time.
★Some villains have reasons for sticking to the shadows.★
Recent college graduate Dolly Jones has spent the last week shacked up with her genie boyfriend in a pompous fantasyland manor avoiding the three vengeful brothers determined to sully her relationship with the new Laird. The rest of the world may be against Velis Reilhander taking a human for a mate, but Dolly is committed to being the person on his side, at his side—her own anxieties be damned. But when a trip to the nymph realm doesn’t go as planned, Dolly’s newfound strength will be tested as she quickly learns there are more secrets surrounding the Reilhander legacy than even Velis knows.
Veteran genie Arrik Reilhander will do anything to make himself feel better, anything. Even if it means jumping into someone else’s story. Especially if it means jumping into someone else’s story. And as for Dolly f*cking Jones . . .
GRANTED: A BOMB-ASS GENIE SEQUEL is the romantic, fantastic second-coming-of-age story of three flawed twenty-somethings from different realms battling their inner demons, and each other, one wish at a time.
About the Author
Brindi Quinn is a fangirling fantasy author from Minnesota specializing in world-building and romance. She is an advocate of quirky love and firmly believes that banter makes the heart grow fonder. Her main ingredients for a great read are spice, sparkle, and SWOON.
Since 2011, Brindi has written over a dozen young adult and new adult novels beginning with her debut epic fantasy series, Heart of Farellah. Her works often blur the lines between paranormal romance, science fiction, and fantasy, and her series have been hailed as unique, addictive reads by reviewers.
Brindi is an IT Project Manager by day and has a bachelor’s in communication-based studies from Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in suburban Minnesota where she likes to bike, indulge in video game lore, and spend time with her life partner, Kent, the world’s cutest pup, Burton, and the fluffle of cantankerous rabbits that hop around her house.
Cheerful text and whimsical illustrations bring alive this heartwarming story of kindness and inclusion featuring a character with Down syndrome.
Jana has just learned how to put her socks on all by herself.
Jana also happens to have Down syndrome.
To celebrate her new skill, she gets loads of brightly coloured socks as a gift.
What happens when Jana shows them to everyone at school?
Join Jana on a fun-filled journey as she discovers what it means to be a true friend and the real value of kindness.
This is a heart-warming and beautifully illustrated book that celebrates friendship and inclusion. It encourages children to embrace the differences and similarities within us.
Socks were deliberately chosen in this story to reference the extra chromosome in Down syndrome. Chromosomes are shaped like socks. Even though we all have chromosomes that make us who we are, we are still all remarkably unique.
Writing is very much a part of who author Sally Fetouh is as a human being. As a child, writing was a way for her to express herself and all of the stories and ideas she had in her head. Now, as an adult, she has been inspired to write a beautiful story of kindness and friendship, Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks, a heartwarming picture book loosely based on her daughter who has Down syndrome.
It was important to Sally that her daughter and other children like her were able to see themselves represented in literature. The idea came to Sally when she visited her daughter’s preschool to read a story about a girl with Down syndrome. The loving, accepting, and inquisitive responses from her daughter’s classmates inspired her to write a story reflecting these caring friendships.
Sally believes a great book is one that has impactful characters and a story that provides a new experience or perspective to the reader that stays with them long after the book is closed. She hopes that her young readers with disabilities or those who are different in some way will be able to relate to the main character and see a little bit of themselves, while also aiming for other readers to gain insight into the world of Down syndrome and the importance and impact of kindness and friendship.
When she isn’t writing thought-provoking children’s books, Sally works as a lawyer and a photographer. She enjoys painting, hiking, and horse riding. She lives with her family in Sydney, Australia. Jana’s Brightly Coloured Socks is her debut picture book.
Edinburgh 1896 Amy Alardyce’s once-perfect life is in tatters. Her eldest son, Robert, has come of age, become the master of his own home, and married his childhood love Jane. But with maturity has come a terrible legacy, and the dark desires Robert inherited from his evil father Matthew, are fighting to get loose. Whilst Jane is working hard to get her and Robert accepted into fashionable society, poor women are being hunted on the streets of Edinburgh, and Amy fears her son is to blame. And once the infamous Inspector Murphy takes up the case, Amy has to face a stark choice – denounce her son as a monster or risk her own safety to protect him from the consequences of his lethal actions. Purchase
Heather Atkinson is the author of over fifty books – predominantly in the crime fiction genre. Although Lancashire born and bred she now lives with her family, including twin teenage daughters, on the beautiful west coast of Scotland. Her gangland series for Boldwood, set on the fictional Gallowburn estate in Glasgow begins with the title Blood Brothers.
My thoughts: Amy and Henry Alardyce are just too nice, they keep trying to save Robert from himself, from the darkness he’s inherited from his monstrous father, and in this installment of the Alardyces’ story, he’s actually trying as well. Married to the lovely Jane, father to a new baby daughter, he wants to change, to not bring the cruelty and violence within him home. But it keeps breaking out, and people are getting hurt.
I kept waiting for his Mr Hyde side to pop out and it did, learning to box leads him to almost kill a man, and his attacks on women continue. Now that the police, in the form of Inspector Murphy are on his tail, he’s running out of places to hide and his parents must decide what to do. Can Amy and Henry protect him anymore? And should they? I feel sorry for Jane, the Robert she knows isn’t all of him, and the part she doesn’t see is terrible. The village witch Magda (I love Magda) warns him that he will have to leave his family to protect it. Staying will have terrible consequences. More please!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
We’re celebrating the release of The Last Saxon King by Andrew Varga! Read on for more details!
The Last Saxon King (A Jump in Time #1)
Publication Date: March 7th, 2023
Genre: MG Fantasy/ Historical Fantasy
One jump to save all time.
When Dan Renfrew is accidentally transported to England in the year 1066, he also learns a startling fact. He’s a time jumper, descended from a long line of secret heroes who protect the present by traveling to the past to fix breaks and glitches in the time stream. To get home alive, Dan must try to restore history, but he soon discovers even bigger challenges than suspicious Anglo-Saxons, marauding Vikings, and invading Normans. A band of malicious time jumpers is threatening the very future of the universe.
Ever since his mother told him he was descended from Vikings, Andrew Varga has had a fascination for history. He’s read hundreds of history books, watched countless historical movies, and earned a BA from the University of Toronto with a specialist in history and a major in English.
Andrew has traveled extensively across Europe, where he toured some of the most famous castles, museums, and historical sites that Europe has to offer. During his travels he accumulated a collection of swords, shields, and other medieval weapons that now adorn his personal library. He is skilled in fencing and Kendo—the Japanese art of sword fighting. He has also used both longbows and crossbows, built a miniature working trebuchet, knit his own shirt of chain mail, and earned a black belt in karate.
Andrew currently lives in the greater Toronto area with his wife Pam, their three children, and their mini-zoo of two dogs, two cats, a turtle, and some fish. It was his children’s love of reading, particularly historical and fantasy stories, that inspired Andrew to write this series. In his spare time, when he isn’t writing or editing, Andrew reads history books, jams on guitar, or plays beach volleyball.
Celebrating the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama, the annual Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize is one of the most important awards for young writers, aimed at encouraging raw creative talent worldwide. The prize is named after the Swansea-born writer, Dylan Thomas, one of the most influential, internationally renowned writers of the mid-twentieth century, and invokes his memory to support the writers of today and nurture the talents of tomorrow.
– Seven Steeples by Sara Baume (Tramp Press) – novel (Ireland)
– God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu (Orion, Weidenfeld & Nicolson) – short story collection (Nigeria)
– Maps Of Our Spectacular Bodies by Maddie Mortimer (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – novel (UK)
– Phantom Gang by Ciarán O’Rourke (The Irish Pages Press) – poetry collection (Ireland)
– Things They Lost by Okwiri Oduor (Oneworld) – novel (Kenya)
– Losing the Plot by Derek Owusu (Canongate Books) – novel (UK)
– I’m a Fan by Sheena Patel (Rough Trade Books) – novel (UK)
– Send Nudes by Saba Sams (Bloomsbury Publishing) – short story collection (UK)
– Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire (Chatto & Windus) – poetry collection (Somalia-UK)
– Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens (Picador, Pan Macmillan) – novel (UK)
– No Land to Light On by Yara Zgheib (Atlantic Books, Allen & Unwin) – novel (Lebanon)
Worth £20,000, the Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prizeis one of the UK’s most prestigious literary prizes as well as the world’s largest literary prize for young writers. Awarded for the best published literary work in the English language, written by an author aged 39 or under, the Prize celebrates the international world of fiction in all its forms including poetry, novels, short stories and drama.
American poet, novelist and essayist Patricia Lockwood received the award in 2022 for her inventive debut novel, No One Is Talking About This (Bloomsbury Publishing).Chair of the 2022 Judges, Namita Gokhale, said: “No One Is Talking About This is a vital reflection on online culture today. A deeply timely winner, Patricia Lockwood is the voice of a generation of new writers who grew up under the constant pressures of real-time news and social media.”
The Swansea University Dylan Thomas Prize shortlist will be announced on Thursday 23 March followed by the Winner’s Ceremony held in Swansea on Thursday 11 May, prior to International Dylan Thomas Day on Sunday 14 May.
In I’m A Fan a single speaker uses the story of their experience in a seemingly unequal, unfaithful relationship as a prism through which to examine the complicated hold we each have on one another. With a clear and unforgiving eye, the narrator unpicks the behaviour of all involved, herself included, and makes startling connections between the power struggles at the heart of human relationships and those of the wider world, in turn offering a devastating critique of access, social media, patriarchal heteronormative relationships, and our cultural obsession with status and how that status is conveyed. In this incredible debut, Sheena Patel announces herself as a vital new voice in literature, capable of rendering a range of emotions and visceral experiences on the page. Sex, violence, politics, tenderness, humour—Patel handles them all with both originality and dexterity of voice.
Sheena Patel is a writer and assistant director for film and TV who was born and raised in North West London. She is part of the 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE collective, has been published in 4 BROWN GIRLS WHO WRITE (Rough Trade Books) and a poetry collection of the same name (FEM Press). In 2022 she was chosen as one of the Observer’s Top 10 best debut novelists. I’m a Fan is her first book.Follow her on Twitter @Sheena_Patel_
My thoughts: I’m from the same part of North West London as the author and the narrator of this book, so every now and then as a place was mentioned I’d get a little surprise jolt of nostalgia. But otherwise the narrator and I are nothing alike. I couldn’t tell if this was purely fictional, autofiction or a mix of the two.
The obsession with “the man I want to be with” and his many girlfriends, especially the one she’s stalking on Instagram, the fact that he’s serially unfaithful to his wife, the way he toys with the narrator’s feelings and she never seems willing to just get away from him, the boyfriend she clearly doesn’t love anymore. All of it left me cold, we would not be friends.
The stream of consciousness style was interesting, the way it felt like the inner monologue of a young woman’s mind, her constant sense of being unbalanced, she knows none of this behaviour is healthy but yet can’t seem to break out of the cycle.
We all use social media to look at lives we want to live – the comparison, the shameless “where is that from?” and the copycatting of bits of other lives we can afford and hope will somehow make us more like them. This I could totally relate to. But her stalking of the other other woman, that I found a bit much.
As a story of obsession, emotional self harm this totally hits the mark. You’re not a fan, you’re obsessed and it needs to stop. Though I am now a fan of Sheena Patel, can’t wait to see what she writes next.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Acclaimed novelist Livi Michael returns with a tense novel about memory, guilt and reinvention, and the dangerous power games played by children and adults.
At the International Conference Centre in Geneva, Hannah Rossier, formerly Annie Price, comes face to face with Neville Weir, someone from her childhood whom she never expected, or wanted, to meet again. As Neville’s reasons for attending the conference become clear, the dark waters of Hannah’s past start to rise. Hannah is a psychotherapist, with a specialist interest in memory and how connections are made between past and present. She has reinvented herself successfully, moving from a small northern town in England to Lucerne, Switzerland, with her husband, Thibaut.
Nobody, not even Hannah, knows the full truth about herself. Her ‘memories’ consist of glimpses of the place where she played in childhood, known simply as ‘The Wild’. Over the three days of the conference, she has to decide whether she can avoid Neville, or whether she should submit to an encounter with him and with her past. And in her keynote lecture about the neuroscience of memory, how much to conceal or reveal. But can her specialism save her from drowning?
LIVI MICHAEL has published seven previous novels for adults: Rebellion; Succession; Accession; Under a Thin Moon which won the Arthur Welton award; Their Angel Reach which won the Faber Prize; All the Dark Air which was shortlisted for the Mind Award; and Inheritance, which won a Society of Authors Award.
She has also published several novels for young adults and children and her short stories have been published in several magazines and anthologies. Livi has two sons and lives in Greater Manchester. She teaches creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and has been a senior lecturer in Creative Writing at Sheffield Hallam University.
My thoughts: a terrible incident from her childhood haunts Professor Hannah Rossier but she has been able to bury it deep enough to work, marry, build a reputation, until now when an unfriendly face from the past tries to bring her world down.
Neville was a slightly strange little boy who followed Hannah (then known as Annie) and her friend Joanna around, spying on them in the way of lonely, socially awkward kids. He was caught up in the incident and blames Hannah for the shape his life took. Although she was also a child at the time.
This was incredibly fascinating, I used to play in the woods with my friend at about the same age, and we were forever coming home soaking wet or coated in mud, famously once without a shoe (left in the sinking mud that took it) but luckily nothing serious ever happened. Children’s memories are often terrible and since we know that the part of the brain that understands consequences doesn’t develop till later, they can’t always explain their actions.
To place so much blame, although Neville insists it’s not about blame, on another child, is very wrong. It was the adults (his parents, teachers, social workers, police) who let him down, who punished him wrongly, who didn’t see that he was innocent, not Hannah. Indeed they hadn’t seen each other for 40 years and she had no idea what had happened to him. Her own experience was difficult enough.
The events at the conference, the confrontation, when it comes, is shocking. Neville carries so much anger, despite overcoming it all, despite his career and life now. It would be like carrying resentment of our childhood slights or bullies all our lives – it’s not healthy.
Hannah is confused and hurt by his accusations, by his genuine anger. He can’t even really say what it is he wants from her. He insists it’s not an apology he wants, but can’t articulate it. Jopi, the conference host, attempts to resolve things, but I don’t know if it actually makes it worse. There’s still a lot unresolved at the end and I found it unsettling not knowing how any of the characters were going to move ahead.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the book tour for Cursed Memory by River Ash. This beautiful novella is part one of a duet. Read on for more info!
Cursed Memory (Cursed Bloodlines #1)
Publication Date: January 17th, 2023
Genre: PNR/ Vampire Romance
Length: 65 pages
I remember the club. The pounding of the beat pulsing in my veins, the way my body moved with the music.
Then — nothing.
My memories are locked away in the dark corners of my mind, replaced by an insatiable hunger nothing can fill.
Until I found him.
I felt his presence before I saw him. My blood calls for this mysterious man whose darkness matches my own. Being near him sets my body on fire, making me ache for every touch… every taste. It’s as if my soul recognizes him, loosening my trapped memories. Each time a new one breaks free, I wonder if he holds the key to what I’ve lost, what I can’t remember. But everything comes with a price. I’m beginning to fear the cost of remembering all that I’ve done might be more than I can bear. What if the monster of this story… is me?
River Ash is a writer of paranormal romance novels. Her stories are filled with passion and fantasy and all have HEAs. Her latest book in the Cursed Bloodline world, “Cursed Memory” is out.
Her love for reading began when she was a young girl sneaking into the school library, and grow into adulthood.
When River’s not reading, she is writing passionate fantasy with romance twist. Or else, she can be found solving sudoku puzzles. River loves traveling, is obsessed with energy drinks, and has several relationships with fictional characters.
ramblingmads 