We’re thrilled to present the cover for the next book in Isobel Reed’s series, Cop-Off! Pre-order a copy today!
Cop-Off (Love Burns Series Book 2)
Expected Publication Date: October 22, 2024
Genre: Police Romance/ Enemies-to-Lovers
🚨 Enemies to lovers
🚨 Forced proximity
🚨 He falls first
🚨 Small town rom com
🚨 Dual POV
🚨 Steamy
Return to Woodvalley Pines…where a sexy police officer comes across one troublemaker that he’s determined to pin down.
Cat is looking to snag herself a cowboy. After all, what else is there to do in the small town of Woodvalley Pines. And after the year she’s had, she deserves to treat herself. There’s only one problem. Cody freaking McBride. The devil himself. And the bane of her existence. It’s bad enough she has to look at his smug face most days, but now he’s made it his mission to meddle in her love life. Which means only one thing, it’s about to get ugly.
Single dad and local cop Cody thought he was done with love. He was content in his routine. Work, eat, sleep, repeat. But then Cat shows up in town. Lighting fires wherever she goes and hurling insults his way while she’s doing it. He actually finds himself enjoying fighting with the little she-devil, it’s the most alive he’s felt in years.
Woodvalley Pines is about to witness the ultimate showdown. Where clothes aren’t the only things getting torn to shreds.
Cop-Off is set in a small town filled with sassy heroines, hunky heroes, and busybodies who can’t help but share their two cents. Fans of Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson and Worth the Risk by Jamie Beck will love Isobel Reed’s steamy, snarky romance!
A remote lakeside house. Six strangers with something to hide.
Who’s out for revenge? Who will survive?
When Polly signs up to an art retreat in the Lake District, it’s an escape from the stress of recent months, when a stalker preyed on her and her friend.
It’s also an opportunity to find out more about her family history: Polly believes her biological mother once lived here, at Lakeside House.
But things quickly turn sinister. The previous owners supposedly took their own lives here, years before – and the glamorous new owners are now receiving disturbing threats. Someone is sabotaging Polly’s artwork. The five other guests on the retreat all seem to be hiding something.
Then one of them goes missing.
Is someone trying to scare Polly? Do the creepy goings-on have anything to do with the family she never knew? Or has the stalker followed her to Lakeside House, and is now hiding in plain sight?
Now You Are Mine is a pulse-pounding dark psychological thriller. If you like Lucy Foley or C.L. Taylor, you’ll love Amanda Brittany
My thoughts: I understand Polly’s impulse to try to find out about her biological parents, despite having the loveliest adoptive family. But I would never go to a creepy house where the previous owners disappeared under suspicious circumstances.
The art retreat is, of course, peopled with a selection of oddballs and people full or secrets. Even the owners are strange and unhappy. Then weird things start happening. And after being stalked and spied on, Polly’s nerves are on a knife edge.
She’s still keen to learn about where she came from, to get some answers as to whether she’s connected to the house and its former occupants. But as the situation gets worse, will she get answers before it’s too late?
Creepy and tense, with twist after twist, as the secrets and lies all come tumbling out during a terrifying and harrowing final day at the house, Polly is wishing she’d just gone to stay with her parents in France.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
IF YOU BELIEVE IN THE GODS, PRAY NOW. THEIR PROTECTION ENDS HERE.
At Asrai’s Academy for Orphans, Hyacinth stands at a crossroads. Torn between the safety of the only home she has ever known and leaving it all behind for a chance at a new life—for freedom. But when a mysterious messenger appears, whispering rumors of a God among Fae, everything Hyacinth thought she knew about the Realms comes crashing down.
Thrust into a deadly game of power and greed, Hyacinth discovers dormant magic within her that may hold the key to survival—or mark her for death. With her friends beside her, Hyacinth must navigate through murderous realms of vicious creatures, lethal betrayals and prophecies of old.
Secrets unravel, bonds are tested, and romance decays and blossoms amidst the looming promise of war. As alliances shift and enemies close in, her only hope lies in reaching the fabled safe haven of Locdragoon—but reaching it may cost her everything she loves.
“The Book of Cin” is a high fantasy tale of love, loss, and the enduring power of friendship. Embark on an epic adventure where courage meets destiny—and magic, sacrifice, and hope are the threads that bind us.
In a candlelit ballroom, London’s most fashionable amateur sleuth, Cressida Fawcett, is dancing the night away in her sparkling silk dress. It’s a night Cressida will never forget. Because outside the window, there’s a body under the falling snow…
Christmas Eve, 1925. The Honourable Cressida Fawcett is delighted to attend an exclusive ball at London’s glamorous Mayfair Hotel. When she steps out into the moonlit courtyard with her little pug Ruby wrapped in her furs, she is thrilled to see a dashing man propose to her best pal under the swirling snowflakes. But instead of squealing ‘yes’, Dotty lets out a terrified scream…
Because floating in the fountain, with her long blonde hair rippling in the ice-cold water, is the body of their dear friend Lady Victoria Beaumont.
It’s clear the wealthy young beauty was murdered, whacked over the head with a bottle of champagne. Would Victoria’s elderly husband Lord Beaumont kill his wife over rumours of her younger beau? Or did someone clobber Victoria to prevent her producing an heir for the Beaumont fortune?
A snowstorm prevents the authorities from arriving, and just as Cressida searches for clues, she finds herself locked inside a large wicker hamper. Why does the scent of the hamper’s smoky luxury tea remind her of the crime scene? And will a suspiciously rotund Ruby follow her snuffly nose and find Cressida in the nick of time?
Trapped in the hotel with a killer lurking among the guests, will Cressida lose someone dear to her heart? And when she finds a clue among the Christmas crackers, can Cressida solve her most mysterious case yet?
The perfect cozy whodunnit for a cold winter’s night. Fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Lee Strauss won’t be able to put this down!
Fliss Chester lives in Surrey with her husband and writes historical cozy crime. When she is not killing people off in her 1940s whodunnits, she helps her husband, who is a wine merchant, run their business. Never far from a decent glass of something, Fliss also loves cooking (and writing up her favourite recipes on her blog), enjoying the beautiful Surrey and West Sussex countryside and having a good natter.
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My thoughts: Heading to a glamorous party at the Mayfair Hotel on Christmas Eve, the last thing Cressida and her pals are expecting is to find one of their friends dead in the hotel fountain just as Dotty and George are about to make a huge decision.
Once the detectives arrive and lock down the hotel, Cressida realises that they only have a few hours before the party ends and the guests start making a fuss about leaving.
Obviously the best detective on the team is pug Ruby, who makes time between finding clues, makes time to sample the hotel’s delicious spread.
When another person is killed, and Cressida knocked unconscious and locked in a giant hamper, it’s clear that the murderer isn’t done yet. They’ve still got to evade the police, Cressida and her friends, and of course Ruby.
With the humour and entertaining twists this series always displays, this is a smart, entertaining festive case for Cressida and Co.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Escaping the city doesn’t mean escaping the criminals…
1916, Midwinter Manor: Desperate for a Christmas weekend break from war-torn London, Hannah Merrill and her Aunt Violet take Bartleby the cat and themselves off to visit Hannah’s sister, in her beautiful country estate, deep in the English countryside.
The huge house is full of relatives, friends and merrymakers, and everyone’s excited to have a Christmas to remember. But then, when a fellow-guest’s body is found in the library – apparently bludgeoned to death – and a precious ruby is stolen from another guest, it appears that it’s going to be memorable for all the wrong reasons.
With the house snowed in, and the rural police force completely incapable of finding a single credible suspect, Hannah and Aunt Violet realise that once again it’s going to be down to them to get to the bottom of it. Because whoever’s behind the crimes must be at Midwinter Manor… And if they’re not found, who knows what their next ‘gift’ will be?
A totally unforgettable Golden Age, country house, cozy crime novel, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon, Verity Bright, and Agatha Christie.
My thoughts: I am not a huge fan of the extended family Christmas, and for good reason. There’s nothing worse than being stuck in close proximity to your relatives, including the ones you wouldn’t choose to be with, so when Hannah Merrill and her Aunt Violet head to Midwinter Manor, home to Hannah’s sister Iris, her husband and children for the festive season, even before anyone gets murdered, things are tense.
Iris’s deeply annoying sister-in-law is obsessed with the ruby her family gave her when she got married. She’s handed it to her eldest daughter, who is getting married soon. It’s a big, ugly lump of red and no one except Norah is keen on it.
When one of the guests is found bludgeoned to death in the study, his death seems completely random. He wasn’t the nicest man, but he wasn’t the worst either. Then the ruby is missing, and perhaps he was killed by a thief? The local detective thinks so, and pins it all on a footman. Luckily Hannah and Aunt Violet are on hand to untangle things and solve the crime.
There’s a car chase through the snowy woods, a soldier with shell shock, an annoying neighbour, various other hijinks ensue and Christmas isn’t quite the holiday Iris wanted it to be. But Hannah has some news that might just save the festivities too.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Welcome to the tour for C.M. Skiera’s epic fantasy, Plea to a Frozen God! Read on for more details!
Plea to a Frozen God
Publication Date: August 22, 2024
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Prince Ligo endured a troubled engagement. Betrothed to a foreigner to save a realm abandoned by their god, the prince suffers a seizure during a sacred hunt, and awakens to see his fiancée’s family usurp the volcano-menaced realm. Indeed, Prince Ligo has seen better days.
When the enigmatic Mystic Riggan rescues Prince Ligo from the deadly coup, she leads him on a pilgrimage to the cryptic God of Death’s secret sanctum. Fugitives in the frigid wilds, the beleaguered duo conscripts a badly wounded soldier to help them survive. Pursuing answers to what truly ails the realm, the misfit trio discovers more ancient mysteries at their journey’s end. They also find the beginnings of a home and family like none they’d ever known.
We’re touring Alisha Tanner’s new release Bad Blood, which is the first in a new romantic suspense series!
Bad Blood (What Doesn’t Kill Us Book 1)
Publication Date: August 20, 2024
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Romantic Suspense
Murder & Mayhem
Slow Burn
Revenge
Blackmail
Doctor/ Model
Dual POV
Forbidden Romance
There’s a fine line between malpractice and murder.
One lawsuit. That’s all it takes for a nationally renowned medical career to come crashing down. Except Dr. Brighton Fields’s reputation is on the line for a mistake she didn’t make. For now, playing by the rules is the only option. An option the blue-eyed, tattooed distraction in the waiting room won’t accept…
Dax Blakely is not about to let his brother die. But first, he has to convince Dr. Fields — the leading Orthopedic Oncologist in New York City— to ignore the hospital’s referral protocol and treat Liam herself. Dax will do just about anything to get his way, even if that means accepting Dr. Fields’s wishes and keeping things platonic. Without her, Liam doesn’t stand a chance. And without Liam, Dax has no one.
When a female doctor is found brutally murdered at the hospital, panic infiltrates the staff. With detectives stumped and an old mistake on her conscience, Brighton takes matters into her own hands…and finds unlikely allies in the Blakely brothers. But in their pursuit of the truth, they uncover more than one secret —leaving multiple lives hanging in the balance.
Glasgow, 1966: Stevie ‘Minto’ Milloy, former star footballer-turned-rookie reporter, finds himself trailing the story of a young Eastern European student whose body has been found on remote moorland outside the city. How did she get there from her hostel at the Sovereign Grace Mission, and why does Stevie find obstacles at every turn?
Italy, 1943: As the Allies fight Mussolini’s troops, a group of young soldiers are separated from their platoon, and Glaswegian Jamesie Campbell, his newfound friend Michael McTavish at his side, finds himself free to make his own rules…
Glasgow, 1969: Courtroom sketch artist Donald ‘Doodle’ Malpas is shocked to discover that his new case involves the murder of a teenage Lithuanian girl he knows from the Sovereign Grace Mission. Why hasn’t the girl’s death been reported? And why is a young police constable suddenly so keen to join the mission?
No one seems willing to join the dots between the two cases, and how they link to Raskine House, the stately home in the Scottish countryside with a dark history and even darker present – the venue for the debauched parties held there by the rich and powerful of the city who call themselves ‘The Weekenders’.
Painting a picture of a 1960s Glasgow in the throes of a permissive society, pulled apart by religion, corruption, and a murderous Bible John stalking the streets, The Weekenders is a snapshot of an era of turmoil – and a terrifying insight into the mind of a ruthless criminal…
David F. Ross was born in Glasgow in 1964 and has lived in Kilmarnock for over 30 years. He is a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, an architect by day, and a hilarious social-media commentator, author and enabler by night. His debut novel The Last Days of Disco was shortlisted for the Authors Club Best First Novel Award, and optioned for the stage by the Scottish National Theatre. All five of his novels have achieved notable critical acclaim and There’s Only One Danny Garvey, published in 2021 by Orenda Books, was shortlisted for the prestigious Saltire Society Prize for Scottish Fiction Book of the Year. David lives in Ayrshire.
Steeped in ancient magic, dark divinity and wild ways, Goddess with a Thousand Faces takes you on a historical journey like no other…
Blending mythological retellings with historical research, Goddess with a Thousand Faces traverses the world and transports through time to bring ten formidable and inspiring ancient goddesses to life. Meet Artemis, the Greek goddess of the wilderness, never without her bow and arrow; Sedna, Inuit goddess of the ocean, guarding the icy waters and all its creatures; Isis, Egyptian goddess of healing, who dwells by the River Nile, just to name a few…
Jasmine Elmer explores these goddesses of our past, uncovering their truths, their rebellion and their freedom. For too long, they have been written out of history; lost to the sands of time and stamped into silence. Goddess with a Thousand Faces restores these women to their glory.
Pour over this treasure trove of myths, legends and mighty goddesses. Hear the messages echoing through the ages and see yourself in the faces of these icons. For while their stories might ancient, today they are more important – and more powerful – than ever.
A treasure trove of beautiful storytelling and ancient wisdom, perfect for fans of Love in Colour by Bolu Babalola and Storyland by Amy Jeffs.
Jasmine Elmer is a straight-talking ancient world expert. Deciding her subject needed a ‘glow up’, she began her mission in 2020 to make the subject relatable and representative. Outside of writing, she spends her time bringing that energy to television screens, appearing on broadcast channels such as Channel 4, Channel 5 and National Geographic, as well as hosting and featuring on many podcasts. Her debut book Goddess with a Thousand Faces is a bold exploration of world goddesses, blending storytelling with historical fact. It follows from years of research as a student at universities like UCL, Cambridge and Exeter and a career as a secondary school teacher of Classics. She is of dual heritage, Pakistani and white, and her mother was born in Canada. She grew up in East London but now lives in Exeter, Devon with her husband and son. She has five cats and is absolutely not ashamed of that fact! When she has some downtime, she loves spending time in nature, curling up with a good book and a hot choc, and having a laugh with her friends. She flits between meditation and being frazzled. Such is life.
My thoughts: This was a really interesting, totally fascinating book, bringing a selection of goddesses from pantheons across the globe, from Inanna of Sumeria, to Sedna of the Inuit, spanning thousands of years and dozens of belief systems.
Retelling one of the stories of each goddess and then discussing their history, importance and impact through a modern feminist lens, this was a really thought provoking read. I actually really wished it was longer and looked at more goddesses, it felt like a great jumping off point for deeper research and another thing to get totally obsessed with.
Some of goddesses, particularly the Greek and Norse ones were familiar to me from previous reading and a mild obsession with mythology, others were less familiar and in a couple of cases, I had not heard of them at all. Which was a bit frustrating as of course goddesses from pantheons outside of Europe aren’t often featured in many mythology encyclopedia apart from those of Egypt sometimes.
Before I vanish down the rabbit hole of research and reading, I will recommend this as a great introduction to a wide range of religious beliefs, many old and some still practised around the world today and the goddesses that form part of those faiths.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Julia Bird loves a walk in the countryside. There’s nothing quite like the fresh air and green rolling hills of the Cotswolds to clear your head. Unless you come across a dead body, that is…
When the local Berrywick vet, Dr Eve Davies, is found dead at the bottom of a cliff, the police believe it’s nothing more than a tragic accident, but Julia isn’t so sure. Just a few days earlier when she took her dog, Jake, to the vets, Dr Eve said she believed something awful was about to happen. It turns out she was right…
But who would want the beloved village vet dead? Was it her mother Kay, a down-and-out gambler who stands to inherit her unwedded daughter’s home? Was it her assistant Olga, who was close to getting fired? Or was it her cut-throat tennis partner Will, with whom Dr Eve had an argument shortly before she took a tumble? And who is the stranger skulking around Berrywick peering into people’s windows?
When a second body appears in the exact spot where Dr Eve was found, Julia knows it can’t be a coincidence. Both victims were pushed off the cliff, but why? Should Julia let sleeping dogs lie, or will she be like a dog with a bone to find the murderer?
A totally gripping and charming cosy mystery set in the English countryside. Fans of M.C. Beaton, Faith Martin and Betty Rowlands will love the Julia Bird Mysteries.
Katie Gayle is the writing partnership of best-selling South African writers, Kate Sidley and Gail Schimmel. Kate and Gail have, between them, written over ten books of various genres, but with Katie Gayle, they both make their debut in the cozy mystery genre. Both Gail and Kate live in Johannesburg, with husbands, children, dogs and cats.
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My thoughts: I kinda love Julia, she’s just a really nice person, smart and kind and funny. However she does have the worst luck ever, always finding dead bodies – often of people she knows. This time it’s the village vet, Dr Eve, a woman Julia only saw a few days previously.
Of course Julia starts digging, the supposed accident isn’t one, and Dr Eve was worried about something. Is it to do with her job? Or maybe the Padel club she’s part of?
As Julia investigates, she ruffles someone’s feathers, but can she and lovely Labrador Jake solve the vet’s death and catch the killer.
This series gets better with each book and I love how the other villagers have become more and more involved with Julia’s investigations. I also loved how many adorable dogs this one contained, although Jake is still my favourite.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 