Two kings rule the ancient woodsāthe Oak King in summer, the Holly King in winterāand no mortal may cross into their realm without leave. But when eighteen-year-old Rowan GwĆ³zdekās sister vanishes, Rowan defies the old laws and enters the forbidden forest, desperate to find her. She isn’t alone for long. Keziah, a trans (and very handsome) hunter with a shadowy tie to the Oak King, offers his helpāand a perilous path to the Bear Maiden, a creature said to grant wishes. Together, Rowan and Keziah face mossmen, a wood dragon, and other servants of the forest kings.
But danger lurks deeper still. Caught between the warring Oak and Holly Kings, Rowan is forced to take sides in a battle far older and fiercer than she ever imagined. Saving her sister could cost her everythingāincluding her way home.
Detective Norman is out of retirement and back on the beat in a rainy Welsh seaside town. Llangwelli might be short on sunshine, but itās certainly not short on murders . . .
Norman may seem a bit old-fashioned, but heās always willing to learn from his band of misfit recruits.
A body in the forest. An ancient pagan ritual. A baffling mystery.
On Halloween night, the body of a young woman is discovered buried in a shallow grave in the Dragon Forest, a popular local beauty spot. The only clue to her identity is the number 37 tattooed on the sole of her foot.
Detective Normanās new boss, Acting Superintendent Evans, is convinced the murder is connected to a group of pagans who were performing a secret ritual in the forest that night.
Normanās not so sure. The one thing he does know is that heād make much faster progress without the insufferable Evans breathing down his neck.
Something is off about this case. Norman knows heās missing something important ā but he canāt seem to see the wood for the trees.
Then the discovery of a second body in the woods turns everything on its head.
Peter Ford always dreamed of becoming a writer, but a dream is easily stifled without support from those around you. It was only when his old, unhappy life fell apart and he met his new partner (now wife) Mary, who believed dreamers should be encouraged, that he finally got the chance to live that dream. Fast forward a few years and you find a man transformed. Now, blissfully happy, settled in a quiet corner of Wales with wife Mary and their rescue dogs, P.F. Ford is living proof that itās never too late to achieve your dreams.
May 1940. As the Nazis overrun Denmark, Britain counters by invading Iceland. Secret agent Daphne Devine is dropped into occupied territory to assess a clairvoyant in Reykjavik, who may be passing information to the enemy. Alone, Daphne must navigate her way through this strange, frozen landscape, where the Allies arenāt always welcomed with open arms.
When a new lead takes her North into Strandir, the land of sorcerers, she encounters fresh peril and discovers that now she, the hunter, has become the hunted. Daphne must use all her Secret Service training to outwit the enemy agents in her midst.
Twice shortlisted for a CWA Dagger, Syd Moore returns with a thrilling new series, exploring Britainās secret wartime history.
SYD MOORE has been a Royal Literary Fund fellow and is currently working with them to pioneer ‘Reading Round’ courses in hospices. Her novel The Witching Hour was a Top Twenty bestselling horror title of 2024. She was the first Author in Residence for Essex Libraries and is best known for her Essex Witch Museum Mysteries, which was shortlisted for the Good Reader Holmes and Watson Award in 2018 and 2019. She has been shortlisted twice for a CWA dagger for her short stories. Syd founded the Essex Girls’ Liberation Front and successfully removed the term āEssex girlā from the Oxford dictionary in 2020. She lives in Essex.
My thoughts: This was really interesting, I don’t remember learning about the occupation of Iceland during WW2, yet another thing school forgot to tell us!
Daphne has been sent north in the guise of a journalist for The Times, to write about the occupation and also about a medium who is making claims to be able to communicate with the dead – but might actually be communicating with the Nazis. He’s Icelandic and putting on performances in Reykjavik, making it easy for Daphne to observe him. Conveniently everyone speaks English, or she’d be in real trouble (a large percentage of the Icelandic population does speak some English) as none of her training covered learning the language.
She’s paired up with local journalist Anna as her guide and helper, although Anna doesn’t know everything. There’s also a grumpy British major who can’t really be bothered with Daphne and Septimus, who is supposed to be helping her too – but seems to be disinclined to listen.
Eventually she and Anna, and Anna’s police officer cousin, find themselves heading into the more remote north of the country on the trail of a book that Hitler wants. Out amid the falling snow, danger waits.
This was a really gripping, fascinating read. Daphne hasn’t really been prepared very well, she can’t speak or read Icelandic, her clothes aren’t really warm enough and at times she’s forced to improvise, even recruiting Anna and her cousin Rafn isn’t really something she should have done, but the men she’s reporting to don’t seem to be listening.
But her intelligence is good, she and Anna spot the secret messages the medium is passing on to someone in the audience, they analyse everything he says and does on stage, much more closely than most, and following an order from London, take a big risk with a big reward if they survive the weather and whoever is following them.
It’s a really clever, interesting and enjoyable book, I was hooked from the get go. You will be too. Ā
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Two rivals. One bet. First to fall in love wins . . .
For Nat Lane love is predictable. Controlled. Scientific. As the founder of a high-profile dating app, she is far more comfortable working on the data behind the dates than finding love herself. Until her infuriating, but charming, business rival, Rami, publicly challenges her data.
To prove him wrong, Nat makes a bet: sheāll find her perfect match using her own dating app. Rami must find a date the old-fashioned way. First to find āthe oneā wins.
But as the competition heats up, so does their chemistry. Until the lines between rivalry and romance begin to blur. Nat set out to prove love is a science. But with Rami, it might just be something far more unpredictable . . .
Tropes: š Rivals-to-lovers ā¤ļø Slow burn ā¤ļø Heroine in STEM ā¤ļø Opposites attract ā¤ļø Grumpy x Sunshine ā¤ļø Opposites attract
Paula Rogers is a twice BAFTA-nominated writer in video games, journalism, film, and television. Her work in print and radio has been featured by San Francisco’s KQED Public Radio, National Public Radio, the Third Coast International Audio Festival, and Salon. Her writing for screenplays and games has received awards from IndieCade, Austin Film Festival, and the Humanitas Prize. She was Lead Writer and Story Editor of the game Neo Cab, which was named one of the best titles of 2019 by the L.A. Times, The Washington Post, and Paste Magazine. She was a writer and narrative designer with Sweet Baby, Inc., a lead writer on the 2023 Tribeca award-winning game Goodbye Volcano High, and has worked on IP for Marvel, DC, and others. She is also the creator of the anti-dating app, rom-com webcomic, Blind Data, where she chronicles her dating experiences and draws the men as cats.
My thoughts: This was a fun rom com set in San Francisco where two app developers make a rather public bet to find love – one, Nat, via her dating app, and the other, Rami, the old-fashioned way – in person.
Nat relies on data and analytics to match her with her “ideal” man and Rami has to speak to women in public and hopefully not scare them off. It’s a struggle for both of them, Nat’s been single a long time, and Rami isn’t the most confident man.
But their secret meet-ups to debrief have them discovering that they might have more in common than Nat’s app would believe. And it’s not long before they want to spend time together – not on terrible dates. Oops.Ā
Fun, funny and with two protagonists who come to realise the person you find utterly infuriating, might just be your person.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Donāt speak. Donāt move. Donāt even breathe.
After a whirlwind romance, widow Lisa thinks she’s found her perfect match in senior policeman Alex. He’s everything she needsāa devoted husband and caring stepfather to her daughter Bella. And, like Lisa, he knows what it is to lose someone precious. Alex suffered his own bereavement when his previous partner, Polly, passed away.
But is he really Mr. Right?
As Alexās charm gradually morphs into rigid control, Lisa realises that he has a dark side, that she has married a man she doesnāt really know. When she discovers a note left by his deceased wife Polly which seems to imply that Alex may have been responsible for her death, Lisa fears that she and Bella may be in mortal danger. But escaping a man who wears a badge and knows how to hunt isn’t just difficultāit could be deadly.
Elena enjoys psychological thrillers and crime fiction of all kinds, from the cosiest of cosies to the blackest of noirs. She lives in East Lothian, Scotland, with her husband, three kids, and a fat black pug. Born in a colliery village in the North East of England, she cut her literary teeth on the great storytellers of the 70’s – Wilbur Smith, Frank Yerby, and Mary Renault. She began her writing career as an advertising copywriter and has since had novels published by Random House and HarperCollins. Sheās had an original audio series produced by Audible UK, and also writes for TV.
My thoughts: The domestic abuse statistics for police officers are pretty grim and the last few years have shown us that not everyone who works for the service is a good person. That’s certainly what Lisa comes to realise as she discovers that her new husband Alex is not the person he pretends to be.
There are cameras inside the house “for security”, he tracks her phone, checks her emails, follows her to her friend’s digs in Bath, demanding they go home right away. She catches him attempting to drown their dog. None of this is normal behaviour. Then she learns a bit more about his previous marriage, and the fact that he might have been poisoning his late wife.
So she plans to escape him, taking her young daughter with her, scared for her safety. He’s dangerous and she can’t go to the police – he’s one of them and she doesn’t trust that they’ll listen to her.
Then things turn really nasty. It seems there’s nowhere she can go that he won’t find them, nothing she can do to escape him. Faking her suicide might hold him off long enough to get away, but it might also put people she loves in danger, as he will go to any lengths to hold onto his family.
Gripping, tense and grounded in reality, this is a stay-up-all-night, rooting for the protagonist read.
*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 missing heir. An out of sorts duchess. A Season in High Society that just became far more interestingā¦
London, 1891. With the gossip broadsheet The Society Page speculating that her husband is getting far too cosy with their female neighbour back at his country estate, Alice, Duchess of Stortford, is fed-up. And itās raining!
But when a flustered nobleman appears at her door, knowing of her reputation for managing discreet enquires, he begs her for help. His nephew, who is about to inherit an Earldom, has gone missing.
But the deeper Alice digs, the murkier things become. Why are the late Earlās wife and his stepson so evasive? What really happened at The Carlton Hotel the night the heir was last seen? And whoās set to gain the Earldom if the heir ends up dead?
Aided by her loyal maid Maud, her quick-thinking footman George, and the ever-resourceful private investigator Ben Beaumontānot to mention a certain well-known detective with a pipeāAlice must untangle a web of secrets to find the missing heir before itās too late.
The clock is ticking, the gossip is swirlingāand only Alice can set things right.
Helen Golden spins mysteries that are charmingly British, delightfully deadly, and served with a twist of humour.
With quirky characters, clever red herrings, and plots that keep the pages turning, sheās the author of the much-loved A Right Royal Cozy Investigation series, following Lady Beatrice and her friendsā including one clever little dogāas they uncover secrets hidden in country houses and royal palaces.
Her new historical mystery series, The Duchess of Stortford Mysteries, is set in Victorian England and introduces an equally curious sleuth from Lady Beatriceās own family treeāwhere murders are solved over cups of tea, whispered gossip, and overheard conversations in drawing rooms and grand estates.
Helen lives in a quintessential English village in Lincolnshire with her husband, stepdaughter, and a menagerie of petsāincluding a dog, several cats, a tortoise, and far too many fish.
If you love clever puzzles, charming settings, and sleuths with spark, her books are waiting for you.
My thoughts: This was lots of fun and suitably fiendish. Alice might be a Duchess, but she’s happiest when reading the crime pages in the papers or solving cases of her own. Her acquaintance with private detective Ben Beaumont and his infamous friend doesn’t hurt either.Ā
She’s asked to locate an heir, newly arrived in London from South Africa, where his family emigrated when he was a child. Only something isn’t quite right.Ā
As Alice and Ben, and her very discreet footman, make enquiries, it soon transpires that things are not as they seem, and Alice was very right to be suspicious. Throw in a jewellery smuggling ring, and Alice’s marital woes are completely forgotten as she’s hot on the trail of an heir…or is he?Ā
If you like the Lady Bea books by the same author (as I certainly do), then you’ll very much enjoy these, or any of the historical crime solving lady sleuths that are around, Alice, Duchess of Stortford should be on your tbr!
*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 greatest mystery of all time is about to be revealed.
When world-famous archaeologist and ex-soldier Max Hunter finds a mysterious artifact in a tomb beneath the Gates of Nineveh, his lifelong dream of finding Atlantis comes one step closer. But he’s not the only one looking for itā¦
His discovery unleashes a high-speed hunt for the lost civilisation between a mysterious Swiss foundation, the FBI, and the worldās most secretive society.
From the dangers of the Iraqi desert to Cuba and the jungles of El Salvador to the enigmatic Valley of the Kings in Egypt, Hunter faces a race against time and murderous enemies who will stop at nothing to claim the greatest prize in history. As he fights for his life, it soon becomes apparent that his enemies are searching for something altogether more sinister than the lost cityā¦
Hunter must use his unique ingenuity and knowledge to decipher the clues and find Atlantis – and its lethal treasures – before they fall into enemy hands.
Rob Jones has published over forty books in the genres of action-adventure, action-thriller and crime. Many of his chart-topping titles have enjoyed number-one rankings and his Joe Hawke and Jed Mason series have been international bestsellers. Originally from England, today he lives in Australia with his wife and children.
My thoughts: My friend’s mum is a doctor of archaeology and I don’t think her career has been anywhere near as action-packed as this one week in Dr Max Hunter’s life is. Mostly it seems to have consisted of lots of bits of pots (she’s an expert in Roman Britain) and conferences.
Max Hunter however spends his time getting shot at, chased through deserts, jungles, Paris, Greenland. As you do. But he’s trying to prevent ancient artifacts from falling into the hands of dangerous underworld types, who don’t want to share their discoveries with the world but use them to manipulate it.
He’s long been convinced that the lost island/city/civilisation of Atlantis mentioned by Plato, not only existed, but connected ancient communities across the globe together. He thinks he’s found proof, but there are others who want the same knowledge and will stop at nothing to get it. Teaming up with a specialist unit of the FBI, he’s in a race against time and an old acquaintance to find Atlantis’ remains and stop a terrible weapon from being unleashed.
This is very in the Da Vinci Code, National Treasure adventure mode, but is also funny, doesn’t get confused about geography (one of the things I found incredibly jarring about the Da Vinci Code) and has a much more likeable protagonist. Max’s back and forth with lead FBI agent Amy is entertaining and the addition of other characters stops it from getting boring as they all bring unique elements to the team. He jokes that he’s no Indiana Jones but with his military background and academic knowledge, he’s certainly more of an action hero than someone who’s always worried it’s going to be snakes!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Weāre touring Must Love Libraries and Libations this week! If you love cozy fantasy, romance, and magic, this oneās for you!
Must Love Libraries and Libations (Moonshine Hollow Book 2)
Release Date: August 26, 2025
Genre: Cozy Fantasy Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Forced Proximity
She Falls First, He Falls Harder
Grumpy/Sunshine
Magical Library & Cozy Small Town
Protective Alpha with Hidden Soft Side
Magical Mishaps
Tiny Dragons (aka Bookwyrms!)
Found Family & Positive Female Friendships
HEA Guaranteed
Sheās planning the party of the year.
Heās 1000% done with her sparkly ideas.
One grumpy gargoyle. One sunshine half-elf. And one epic clash that will go down in Moonshine Hollow history.
Half-elf Primrose Windsong is a walking ray of sunshine who’s never met a celebration she couldn’t make sparkle. As Moonshine Hollow’s most beloved party planner, she specializes in turning ordinary events into magical memories. When the village elders hire her to plan the library’s 111th birthday bash, she’s ready to pull out all the stops: enchanted cupcakes, ethereal decorations, and flower-scented fireworks that’ll light up the night.
There’s just one massive problem. The library’s intimidatingly gorgeousāand incredibly grumpyāgargoyle guardian is having none of it.
Erasmus has spent decades protecting the ancient tomes and mischievous bookwyrms of Moonshine Hollow’s magical library. The brooding gargoyle prefers his books properly bound, his silence undisturbed, and his temperamental magical tomes safely contained. Primrose’s glittery plans? Absolutely not happening.
But when every argument between them ends with flushed cheeks and sizzling glances, maybe thereās more to this crackling tension than meets the eye.
Will love bloom among the ancient scrolls, or will the library’s magical hijinks spell chaos for them both?
Must Love Libraries and Libations is book 2 in the enchanting cozy fantasy Moonshine Hollow series, but each novel in the series can be read as a stand-alone.
Perfect for lovers of steamy fantasy rom-com, romantasy, and cozy fantasy romance with a dash of spice! Fans of Heather Fawcett, J Penner, and Tee Harlowe will devour this super cozy but very passionate tale.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed this cute and magical romance in a library and I really want a bookwyrm (like library-dwelling mini dragons) of my own, I’d call them Pratchett, as per the naming convention.
Erasmus is the gargoyle guardian of the library, his job is to contain all the rather wild spells and magic in the books so they don’t get out of hand, he also cares for the bookwyrms, feeding them and trying to keep them out of mischief. He’s grumpy, over five hundred years old and not one for parties.
But the library is 111 years old, which is a very special birthday, and the residents of Moonshine Hollow want to celebrate their beloved community space. So party planner Primrose is hired to get it all under way. If she can win over the Guardian gargoyle.Ā
Obviously, they bicker their way into being trapped in an enchanted room by a long-dead witch’s spell, they’re only released when they admit there’s more to their relationship than mutual dislike. And there’s lots of food and cute bookwyrms (I mentioned the bookwyrms, right?)
There are a couple of rather adult scenes, so don’t leave your copy where the kids can find it!
If you’re into whimsical romances between mythical creatures, then you’re going to want to read this.
Where do you hide an escaped prisoner? On a wheelchair holiday perhaps. Like a spoke in a wheel, the villain is seen but not seen.
Aspiring writer Sandy Blee is stuck in a dead-end receptionist job until she wins a working holiday to Jordan, pushing a wheelchair for Wheelchair Warriors Holidays. Even though she quickly realises she was the only entrant in the Blerglergle writing competition she is extremely excited about leaving England for the first time.
However, after arriving in the pink city of Petra she discovers her fellow travellers are not all they seem, and most are not who they claim to be. Moreover, the whole group is under investigation by the SeeMs Detective Agency who have been sent out to search for an escaped convict.
When members of the group are kidnapped and one mysteriously dies, Sandy finds herself pulled into the SeeMs detectivesā investigation. Is she, who so wants to write bestselling crime stories, ready to take on a real-life mystery ā one that might just turn deadly?
This book will be enjoyed by readers who like travel crime, plus devotees of Agatha Christie, Grease the movie and MM Kaye
Like many authors, Gina has had a lot of different jobs and careers. She has been a physiotherapist, a flying instructor and pilot, a dog breeder, and a journalist. This is her sixth book in the SeeMs Detective series: the agency that looks behind what seems to be true. Gina had two lengths of time when she was in a wheelchair (after a car crash and a helicopter accident) and having experienced the difficulties of wheelchair travel firsthand she wanted to write a book that showed the challenges for wheelchair users when travelling, not just steps and narrow doorways, for example, but unexpected things like the difficulties of traversing cobbles. When not writing or travelling Gina lives in Sussex with her husband and dogs.
My thoughts: The SeeMS Detective Agency are sent to Jordan to apprehend a familiar villain, mistress of disguise and Stevie’s former girlfriend Bella Chantry, they also uncover another criminal on the run – Lady Bumstead.
But before that, a member of the travelling party with Wheelchair Warriors Holidays is tragically murdered and Cat and Miranda must help the local police identify the killer after a botched hostage taking.
The trip’s organiser Miss Abbey is at her wits’ end with the group, mostly elderly, mostly impossible to manage – like herding cats. The majesty and beauty of Petra seem lost on them as they bicker and gossip their way through the desert. But who hated Mrs Cox enough to kill her?
I do wonder if the detectives are a little bit hopeless, they get distracted from their task a bit too easily and I figured out who the disguisedcriminals were in about thirty seconds. But the hostage taking, murder and all the other secrets the tourists are carrying were quite gripping and intriguing.
I have first-hand knowledge of how difficult it can be to travel with a wheelchair and negotiate awkward terrain (Cyprus FYI is a great place to go if you are looking for a holiday that’s pretty good on access – the beach even had a ramp and a sort of chair lift into the sea) so I understood how tricky finding willing “pushers” could be and although most wheelchair users would far rather take their own chair, how difficult it is to load and unload transport while travelling.
Overall I enjoyed the book, and wonder whether the detectives will ever catch Bella or whether they’re destined to chase her around the globe, always one step behind.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Andi is worried that her relationship with Drew has become dull and boring. They never do anything exciting these days, in or out of the bedroom. So when a swoon-worthy stranger appears she is instantly swept off her feet.
When they unexpectedly meet again, they realise they have more in common than they thought possible so draw up a pact to spice up their lives! The plan they conjure up while working together at The Pumpkin Patch, to make their partners jealous, brings them closer than ever.
Andi plucks up the courage to finish with Drew but there are no signs of Andrew doing the same and she thinks sheās lost him forever.
With meddling exes, misunderstandings and miscommunication getting in the way, can The Pumpkin Pact bring them back together?
ramblingmads 