Tag: blog tour

Nikky Lee is an award-winning author who grew up as a barefoot 90s kid in Perth, Western Australia on Whadjuk Noongar Country. She now lives in Aotearoa New Zealand with a husband, a dog and a couch potato cat. In her free time she writes speculative fiction, often burning the candle at both ends to explore fantastic worlds, mine asteroids and meet wizards. She’s had over two dozen stories published in magazines, anthologies and on radio.

Her short fiction has been shortlisted six times in the Aurealis Awards with her novelette Dingo & Sister winning the Best Young Adult Short Story and the Best Fantasy Novella categories in 2020. In 2021, she received a Ditmar Award for Best New Talent. Her debut novel The Rarkyn’s Familiar won the 2023 Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best Youth Novel, three 2022 Indie Ink Awards, Bronze in Young Adult Fiction at the 2022 Foreward INDIES Book of the Year Awards, and was a finalist in the 2022 Aurealis Awards for Best Young Adult Novel.

Blog Tour: The Legend of Gasparilla – S.T. Fernandez

Dec 4, 2023Dec 4, 2023 ramblingmads

The Legend of Gasparilla copy

Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean

Welcome to the tour for The Legend of Gasparilla by S.T. Fernandez, a gorgeous historical fantasy full or romance and pirates!

Ebook_Cover - The Legend of Gasparilla

The Legend of Gasparilla: A Historical Pirate Romance

Publication Date: November 7, 2023

Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance/ Pirates

Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean in a story many argue is not a myth but a legend.

Admiral José Gaspar of the Spanish Royal Navy had it all: the love of his life, Joséfa de Mayorga; the confidence of the King; and a plan to become one of the most successful merchants in all of Spain. But when a jilted former lover accuses him of stealing the crown jewels, he escapes Sevilla only to realize he’s duped into piracy, further staining his legacy. Gaspar continues down an immoral path he works relentlessly to resist. The dream life he yearned for with Joséfa slowly slips away, his reputation far too ruined to be worthy of her honor.

After having her beloved ripped from her life, Joséfa and Gaspar’s friends work tirelessly to clear his name to no avail. When fate finally hands her a chance, she sets sail to find José, but fate is both friend and foe. Joséfa discovers the man she lost is different from the viscous pirate she rescues from certain death.

When infamous pirate hunter Lieutenant Kearny of the USS Enterprise sets his sights on the new pirate, Gaspar must decide between a dark and perilous addiction to piracy or living a subdued life in the shadows. His darker inhibitions may take his soul hostage, and Joséfa’s love may not be enough to save him.

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About the Author

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S.T. Fernandez, known as Stephanie, is originally from Orlando, Florida, and was born to two parents from La Isla del Encanto, Puerto Rico. She now resides in the beautiful small beach town of Ventura, California with her husband and their two wiener puppies.
Stephanie is an avid reader of all levels of spicy, steamy romance—mostly in fantasy, historical, or paranormal genres. Just as much as she enjoys disappearing into a good book, creating a story that readers can disappear into brings her immense joy.
She is currently working on her second book in the fantasy romance genre, full of wonderfully diverse characters and themes. S.T. Fernandez’s fantasy romance intertwines Puerto Rico’s Taino indigenous culture’s beautiful themes and language into a fantasy world. She is thrilled and excited to present it to readers when completed.

ST. Fernandez

My thoughts: I love pirates, always have since I learnt about Edward Teach aka Blackbeard aged 5. So this was right up my gangplank.

A well respected Admiral in the Spanish Navy and advisor to the King, Josè Gaspard is horrified when an ex-lover and her new fiancé accuse him of stealing from the king and he is arrested. Escaping from prison and smuggled aboard a ship, which turns out to be captained by an English pirate. Forced to join the crew and separated from his love, Josefa, Gaspard becomes what he most dreads.

Back home Josefa has kept faith and petitioned the new king, son of the man who imprisoned Josè, for a pardon. But neither she nor the king know that he has become a pirate and killed Spanish sailors.

Josè’s story is related by the descendants of a crew mate and his own family years later, while living in Florida, still a wanted man.

There’s lots of swashbuckling adventure on the high seas, but it is Josefa’s love and devotion to him that holds this story together, whatever he has done she forgives.

Book Tour Organized By:

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Point Where the Ocean Ends – Siobhan Murphy

Dec 3, 2023Nov 29, 2023 ramblingmads

Fate can conspire to put two people in the exact right place at the exact right time. And just as easily it can tear them apart.

As winter turns to spring on the North Cornish coast, Kerensa O’Connell receives an unexpected message relating to a passionate relationship from deep in her past. A message which stirs up vivid memories, and threatens to derail the comfortable life she has created for herself after years of drifting.

While the world is forced to press the pause button, Kerensa battles both mental and physical health issues and has no choice but to slow down and confront the demons that have plagued her throughout her life.

Simultaneously unfolding over a few months and several decades, the story moves from the windswept plains of East Africa to the stunning islands of the Great Barrier Reef, the tranquil mountains of the Himalayas, and the bustling cities of Europe. Kerensa confronts happiness and heartbreak through the lens of her camera and her connection to the people she loves. Piecing together her memories of love, loss, and adventure, she starts to make sense of the choices she has made and question the internal chaos that has always defined her.

Finally the secret she has been kept buried for years comes to light and Kerensa must decide once and for all what she is looking for from life and whom she wants by her side.

An unforgettable love story about wanderlust, heartbreak and colliding life paths.

A lyrical meditation on the importance of our memories and a reminder that sometimes, letting go of the past can take a whole lifetime.

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Siobhan Murphy a contemporary women’s fiction writer based in the UK. Over the years she’s drifted around the world in search of adventure, hoping to figure out what to do with her life. She is not sure if she’s found the answers, but loves to learn and has always wanted to write books.

As an impulsive and easily bored individual with hundreds of ideas spinning around her brain on any given day, she has turned her hand to many jobs over the years. Her favourite job was as a bookseller for Waterstones, recommending books to customers and applying those 3 for 2 stickers that people find so hard to remove. For the last 17 years she has been a professional photographer, taking portraits of humans – often the really, really small ones.

She is unable to use 3 words where 300 will do and suffers from a condition called Pareidolia, which causes her to see faces in everyday objects. Her hobbies include eating sweets, talking nonsense and walking into rooms wondering why she is there. She overthinks everything so will no doubt keep deleting and re-writing this bio for the forseeable future.

Blog Tour: The Haunting Scent of Poppies – Victoria Williamson

Dec 3, 2023Dec 2, 2023 ramblingmads

A spine-chilling winter ghost story set in the months after the Great War. Perfect for lovers of MR James and Susan Hill

The War is over, but for petty criminal Charlie his darkest days are only just beginning.

Charlie Briggs is never off-duty, even when a botched job means he’s forced to lay low in a sleepy Hampshire town for the holiday season. Always searching for his next unwitting victim, or a shiny trinket he can pilfer, he can’t believe his luck when he happens upon a rare book so valuable it will set him up for life. All he needs to do is sit tight until Boxing Day. But there’s a desperate story that bleeds beyond the pages; something far more dangerous than London’s mobsters is lurking in the shadows.

Could the book be cursed? Why is he haunted by the horrors of war? Can he put things right before he’s suffocated by his own greed?

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Victoria Williamson is an award-winning author who grew up in Scotland surrounded by hills, books, and an historical farm estate which inspired many of her early adventure stories and spooky tales. After studying Physics at the University of Glasgow, she set out on her own real-life adventures, which included teaching maths and science in Cameroon, training teachers in Malawi, teaching English in China and working with children with additional support needs in the UK. Victoria currently works part time writing KS2 books for the education company Twinkl and spends the rest of her time writing novels, and visiting schools, libraries and literary festivals to give author talks and run creative writing workshops.

Victoria’s previous novels include The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle, The Boy with the Butterfly Mind, Hag Storm, and War of the Wind. She has won the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020/2021, The YA-aldi Glasgow Secondary School Libraries Book Award 2023, and has been shortlisted for the Week Junior Book Awards 2023, The Leeds Book Awards 2023, the Red Book Award 2023, the James Reckitt Hull Book Awards 2021, The Trinity School Book Awards 2021, and longlisted for the ABA South Coast Book Awards 2023, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize 2020, and the Branford Boase Award 2019.

Her latest novel, The Pawnshop of Stolen Dreams, is a middle grade fantasy inspired by classic folklore. Twenty percent of the author royalties for this book are donated to CharChar Literacy, an organisation working to improve children’s literacy levels in Malawi.You can find out more about Victoria’s books, school visits and free resources for schools on her website: www.strangelymagical.com

Thank you Victoria for this lovely book parcel

My thoughts: this slim little volume contains a creepy ghost story perfect for this time of year. Thief Charlie steals a rare French translation of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, but the book is haunted. Its former owner died from mustard gas exposure on the battlefields of WW1 France, while an obliging doctor wrote Charlie a false sick note.

Now the ghost of Arthur and the terrible death he suffered is haunting Charlie. He can’t sleep and it pursues him everywhere demanding “Remember me”.

He tries to return the book but can’t and in the end the scent of poppies and gas seem to drive him mad. A short but powerful tale of greed and guilt.

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Phoenix and the Sword – J C Snow

Dec 2, 2023Nov 29, 2023 ramblingmads

Cursed with immortality and destroying fire, Aili Fallon will cross life and death to find the truth.

Aili is desperate.

Determined to escape her past, the young woman refuses to let anything impede her training as a combat nurse. But when the woman she loves binds her with blood and disappears, Aili is transformed into a magical killer, a blood-bound healer, an immortal being.

Gambling with her own existence, she crosses through phoenix gates into a new world. But when she is reunited with her lost love, she learns they have been pawns in an ancient game of immortals, the keystone in a demon’s curse.

Will Aili’s newfound power and the secrets of her past destroy her, or can she and her lost phoenix unravel the binding of life and death?

The Phoenix and the Sword is the first book in the Crane Moon Cycle, a queer epic fantasy novel set in a world of spiritual powers, past lives, and beings of myth and legend. Unexpected, multilayered, and beautiful, The Phoenix and the Sword begins a tale of love and adventure that crosses centuries and worlds.

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The Crane Moon Cycle is set in a world that includes war and violence, and themes that may be difficult for some readers. Please see the author’s website, jcsnow.carrd.co, for list and details.

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J. C. Snow (she/her) is a queer fantasy author. Her fantasy worlds are inspired by diverse historical and cultural settings, and her stories always center queer characters. She holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Columbia University and has written extensively on religion and race in American history, including a book on religion and early Asian immigration to the United States. She lives with her amazing partner and child in the Bay Area. When not writing she is mostly wishing she could be writing, or wandering around unsupervised at night listening to spotify character playlists.

Blog Tour: Arsenic at Ascot – Kelly Oliver

Dec 2, 2023Dec 1, 2023 ramblingmads

Saddle up for this first class historical mystery, perfect for fans of Helena Dixon and Verity Bright.

London, 1918
Fiona Figg finds herself back in Old Blighty saddled with shuffling papers for the war office. Then a mysterious card arrives, inviting her to a fancy house party at Mentmore Castle. This year’s Ascot-
themed do will play host to a stable of animal defense advocates, and Fiona is tasked with infiltrating the activists and uncovering possible anti-war activity.
Disguised as the Lady Tabitha Kenworthy, Fiona is more than ready for the “mane” event, but the odds are against her when both her arch nemesis, dark-horse Fredrick Fredricks, and would-be fiancé
Lieutenant Archie Somersby arrive unexpectedly and “stirrup” her plans. And when a horse doctor thuds to the floor in the next guest room, Fiona finds herself investigating a mysterious poisoning
with some very hairy clues.
Can Fiona overcome the hurdles and solve both cases, or will she be pipped to the post and put out to pasture by the killer?
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Kelly Oliver is the award-winning, bestselling author of three mysteries series: The Jessica James Mysteries, The Pet Detective Mysteries, and the historical cozies The Fiona Figg Mysteries, set in
WW1. She is also the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University and lives in Nashville, Tennessee. She is bringing new titles in the Fiona Figg series to Boldwood, the first of
which, Chaos in Carnegie Hall, will be published in November 2022.

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My thoughts: released from the dreaded filing, Fiona Figg is finally given a case of her own and actually encouraged to don her collection of costumes with the War Office footing the bill!

She’s undercover at Porton Down – the MOD’s chemical warfare research facility, and also at a fancy Ascot themed country house party – what could possibly go wrong?

Obviously there’s a murder – it’s the perfect setting for one, and Fiona is on the case. Escorted as ever by Clifford, and with the arrival of Archie, Fredericks and Kitty (with Poppy on a lead) the gang’s all there to help solve, or possibly hinder, the investigation. As well as the murdered scientist, there’s some missing race horses, an anti-vivesectionist group to infiltrate and someone is leaking secrets from the research lab. It’s all go.

Tremendous fun as always, with Fiona never entirely sure where she stands but happy to have an official case to investigate. Her relationships with Archie and Fredericks continue to be more complicated than she’d like and Kitty is still a bit of a nuisance, but at least she brought her forensics kit along.

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Only Exception – Claire Huston

Dec 1, 2023Nov 29, 2023 ramblingmads

Lucinda Green knows something is missing from her life. But what? Her catering business is enjoying modest success and she loves her cosy house, even if she does have to share it with her irritating ex-fiancé.

Whatever’s making her unsettled and edgy, Lucinda’s certain that a lack of romance isn’t the problem. How could it be when she doesn’t believe in true love?

But Lucinda’s beliefs are shaken by a series of electric encounters with Alex Fraser, a newly notorious actor who gradually proves himself to be infuriatingly funny and smart, as well as handsome.

Not that any of that matters. Because Lucinda doesn’t believe in all that ‘The One’ nonsense. That’s the rule.

But doesn’t every rule have an exception?

A sweet, slow-burn romcom perfect for fans of Portia MacIntosh, Trisha Ashley and Kathryn Freeman. This standalone, grumpy-sunshine romance is part of the Love in the Comptons collection.

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Claire Huston lives in Warwickshire, UK, with her husband and two children. She writes uplifting modern love stories about characters who are meant for each other but sometimes need a little help to realise it.

As well as her website, clairehuston.co.uk, you can find her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: linktr.ee/clairehuston_author

Book Blitz: Spread; Tales of Deadly Flora – edited by R.A. Clarke

Dec 1, 2023Dec 1, 2023 ramblingmads

Green thumbs beware. Plants are beautiful, peaceful, abundant, and life-sustaining. But what if something sinister took root in the soil, awakening to unleash slashing thorns, squeezing vines, or haunting greenery that lured you in? Perhaps blooms on distant planets could claim your heart, hitch a ride to Earth on a meteor, or simply poison you with their essence. Imagine a world where scientists produced our own demise in a lab, set spores free to infect, even bred ferns to be our friends only to witness the privilege perverted. When faced with botanical terror, will humanity fight to survive, or will they curl and wither like leaves in the fall? Read ten speculative tales ripe with
dangerous flora to find out.
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Instagram & Twitter: @pageturnpress

An excerpt from Spread: Tales of Deadly Flora (Page Turn Press).
Black Thumb by Alyssa Beatty.

When a woman encounters a mysterious plant on an alien planet that can make all of her pain go away, she must decide whether to let it.

Lexa’s dirty secret: for a botanist, she had a shockingly black thumb. She could identify and classify like nobody’s business but give her an actual houseplant, and she’d kill it within a month, despite knowing its preferred soil pH level, sunlight, and watering requirements. So, it
was a bit of a surprise to see a mutated version of Nepenthes Distillatoria, a pitcher plant, sitting in the arc of her windowsill, with a red bow on it.
She tiptoed toward it. The flora on this planet was more aggressive than the plants on Earth. The ice-shard leaves of the towering trees had a nasty habit of detaching and plunging to the ground, right through the skull of an unsuspecting settler below. Then the trunk sent out
winding tendrils that drank the blood up with a truly unsettling slurping sound. On the other hand, the little purple-leaved plants near the beach sang when you stroked them, a lilting melody that Ciara, Lexa’s boss, swore was an Irish lullaby.
The plant sat placidly in its pot. It didn’t hiss or try to bite. Smaller pitchers surrounded a large central one, all facing it like children sitting around a teacher at story time. Their lids were delicate blue, a rare colour in this red-tinged world. Lexa bent to the largest pitcher to smell the
phytotelmata, the reserve of nectar resting in the bottom of the trap. It smelled like real rain on real soil. She heard the tapping of raindrops on green leaves. She bent closer, then stepped back.
“Nice try,” she told the plant.
The lid snapped down over the pitcher. A little petulantly, Lexa thought.
She fingered the bow on the pot. The thought skittered across her mind, briefly, that maybe this was some sort of peace offering from Gary. He knew her affinity for carnivorous plants. Or at least the affinity she used to have. On this planet, where every other plant harboured
a murderous urge, the bloom was off the rose for her and Dionaea Muscipula. And anyway, it was unlikely Gary was in a peace offering mood.
And there it was, that pressure in her chest again, like some unseen hand squeezing the life out of her heart. She closed her eyes and breathed. It was probably her imagination, but when she opened her eyes, she swore the little plant looked repentant.
“It’s okay, ” she told it. “It’s nothing to do with you. You’re lovely, whatever you are. This is human stuff.”
The stems straightened, and the pitchers opened, releasing the sweet scent of rain into the pod.
“Thanks,” Lexa mumbled. Then felt like an idiot. She talked to plants all the time; they
were good listeners. But this was the first time she’d thanked one.
She shut off the lights and curled into the bed, which was just large enough for one body.
She scootched until her back met the curve of the wall. It was almost like being held.

Blog Tour: Courting Samira – Amal Awad

Dec 1, 2023Dec 1, 2023 ramblingmads

Set in Sydney, Australia, Courting Samira is a charming and frothy romantic comedy about a twentyseven-year-old Palestinian woman who finds herself in an unexpected love triangle—a sparkling ode to meddling best friends, traditional courtship, The Princess Bride, and, of course, the possibility of love.

Coming from a moderately traditional Muslim family, twenty-seven-year-old Samira Abdel-Aziz has endured her fair share of arranged matches—first dates she calls “doorknock appeals,” where she and her possible suitors eat snacks in her living room in the company of both sets of parents. Her general rule: no shoes with tassels, no cheesy leather jackets, no mustaches. A girl has to have some standards, right? The truth is, Samira is already experiencing enough wedding drama as an assistant at Bridal Bazaar magazine and as a gofer for her soon-to-be-married cousin and nemesis Zahra. She’s not sure she needs to add any of her own.

When she meets the charismatic Menem at a work retreat, Samira finds herself intrigued. But her best friend Lara insists Menem isn’t right for her, and now her childhood friend Hakeem has begun behaving oddly. Adding to the confusion, Samira is seeking a promotion at work, yet isn’t sure it’s the job of her dreams. Suddenly, her life is full of drama and complications, and she realizes that part of growing up is making difficult choices about what—and whom—she really wants.

Amal Awad is a journalist, author, and screenwriter. She has written for Elle, The Guardian, and other publications and held senior editorial roles at a number of trade media publications. She has spoken at schools, universities, and writers’ festivals around Australia, and she facilitates workshops on diversity, multiculturalism, women’s issues, and pop culture. Amal is the author of eight books, including four novels— Courting Samira, This is How You Get Better, The Things We See in the Light, and Bitter & Sweet—and the nonfiction books The Incidental Muslim, Beyond Veiled Clichés, Fridays With My Folks, and In My Past Life I was Cleopatra. Courting Samira is the first of her books to be published in America.

My thoughts: Samira reminded me of some of my friends and their sisters, bound by tradition and family. She’s a 21st century woman determined to make more of her life than just as a wife and mother. She thinks she wants to be a journalist or perhaps a photographer. But she does also want to find the one – it’s just not so easy when you’re Muslim.

After a string of “door knock” disasters – hello Manga Boy – she’s fed up. Then she meets Menem at work and suddenly there’s a possibility. His brother is getting married to her bitchy cousin Zahra – which means lots of rushing around but also the potential for more meetings. If she can get best friend (and another cousin) Lara onside.

When Samira decides what she wants, from her career, from love, there’s nothing that can stop her. A funny, charming and delightful read with an equally entertaining protagonist.

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

BBNYA Semi-finalists: The Lost Sentinel – Emma L. Adams

Nov 30, 2023 ramblingmads

They say the country of Zeuten no longer has any need for heroes.

Quests have been completed, the great Powers have withdrawn from the world, and the Sentinels

who guard the last Relics are largely forgotten. Unlike their neighbours in the country of Aestin, whose Invokers wield the magic of the deities in exchange for glory and prestige, they leave the gods alone, and the gods extend the same courtesy to them.

When Zeuten’s last Sentinel disappears, Zelle, her granddaughter, intends to track her down. Instead she runs into an Aestinian stranger with no memories of his past, who claims to be looking for a long-lost Relic hidden in the mountains by the first Sentinels. To Zelle, the rumours of lost Relics are just stories told to trick gullible travellers, but the hordes of enemies on the stranger’s tail suggest otherwise. Armed with nothing but her grandmother’s sentient (and temperamental) magical staff, Zelle finds herself tasked with keeping them both alive.

Between monstrous beasts, magical storms, and an enthusiastic but inept aspiring assassin and her dragon sidekick, Zelle has her work cut out if she wants to survive long enough to save her grandmother and prevent the destruction of a nation.

Maybe Zeuten is in need of a few heroes after all…

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