We’re touring the August release Ink Witch this week! If you love a good witchy book with a fierce FMC, you need to read this one!
Ink Witch (Arcane Magic Book One)
Release Date: August 27, 2026
Genre: Urban Fantasy Stand-Alone
Fierce Heroine
Magical Mysteries
Runes & Sigils
No Spice, Slow-Burn Romance
Magical Worlds
Loyal Dog
Branded a failure. Buried in shame. Then they steal her dog.
Once, Elenora “Elmo” Morris was the pride of Ink District. Chosen as Champion for the Immortality Trials, she carried a city’s hopes on her shoulders — until it all went wrong and she crawled home in disgrace.
Now Elmo works as a bounty hunter in a city ruled by immortals. Her only friend is Mina, her beloved dog. When enforcers snatch Mina and drag her to the immortal commander’s compound, Elmo has only hours before her dog disappears for good.
Breaking in should be a death sentence. Instead, ink power flares back to life, and Elmo discovers the Trials weren’t just rigged — they were a lie.
To save her dog and face the family who cast her out, this ink witch must stop running from the past and become the spark that burns the lies down.
Ink Witch is the spellbinding first standalone in the Arcane Magic urban fantasy series. If you love fierce middle-aged heroines, slow-burn romance, loyal dogs, and magic-soaked suspense, you’ll adore this magical rollercoaster ride.
When bestselling author Helen finds herself at the centre of a scandal, she escapes to Rathbrooke Hall on a remote island off the Northumberland coast.
Tasked with cataloguing the books of a reclusive collector she’s relieved to be out of the glare of publicity, even if the locals are less than welcoming. But as she spends more time among the dusty bookshelves and rare first editions, she uncovers clues to a secret collection of books that could save the island – and the community that she’s begun to feel part of.
Can she unravel the mystery of the hidden library and can she trust Thiago, a charming librarian with secrets of his own?
Sharon started her career as an entertainment journalist, writing non-fiction books about film and television. She is also the author of multiple children’s books. Sharon and her husband live in a small village in northern Cumbria where they run a second-hand bookshop, Withnail Books in Penrith. She can be found on Twitter @sharongosling.
My thoughts: I loved this, a huge house, a magnificent library, secrets and a lost Shakespeare manuscript – this could not be more me. It’s the stuff literary nerds dream of.
On an island off the Northumberland coast, where a reclusive collector has built a library of rare and precious books (the smell must be heavenly, all those old books) Helen has been sent to catalogue and also try to find the late owner’s will.
When a man who looks like a pirate turns up claiming to be a librarian who had been in contact with Cyril, Helen is swept into a quest for a missing Shakespeare manuscript that might just be hidden in the library.
There’s danger, intrigue, possibly ghosts, definitely a grumpy teenage girl, storms, possible romance, giant cats and if this house was real I’d be campaigning to move in as the resident librarian.
It’s an enchanting and very enjoyable read, and if like me you like books about books and bookish people – you’ll love this.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Mary English, a dockworker’s daughter from Faversham, England, travels to South America to escape a scandal from her past. She ends up running a cacao plantation in Colombia, at a time when women were not legally allowed to own businesses there.
Manuela Sáenz, tempestuous lover of Venezuelan revolutionary Simón Bolívar, serves as a colonel in his army. She joins him in battle to fight the Spanish and twice saves his life from assassination attempts.
This is the story of two real-life remarkable women, both fighting oppression, hardship and danger in 1820s Colombia, who come together to change the course of a nation’s history.
GD Harper became a full-time author in 2016. He has written three psychological thrillers, Love’s Long Road, A Friend in Deed and Silent Money, and two historical novels, The Maids of Biddenden and Arden.
The Maids of Biddenden was the winner in the historical fiction category of the 2024 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, the largest international awards program for indie authors and independent publishers, and was shortlisted for the 2023 Selfies Award at the London Book Fair.
Arden was placed third in the 2024 Yeovil International Literary Prize. The Other Life of Mary English was a finalist in the Eyelands Book Awards. He has also been longlisted or shortlisted for fourteen other awards.
His books have had over one million page reads on Kindle Unlimited, been number one most downloaded e-book on Amazon UK, number three on Amazon worldwide, and garnered over two thousand reviews and ratings on Amazon and Goodreads, with an average rating score of 4.4.
He lives in East Sussex and, when not writing, can be found wild camping in the Scottish mountains or in the mosh pit at live music events.
My thoughts: I love learning about women from the past, especially those who defied convention and forged their own paths as both Mary English and Manuela Sàenz did at a time and in a place that did not encourage them at all.
Mary returns to Colombia as a widow, and as the agent of a bank aiming to establish themselves as the go to for all the material comforts of Britain in the newly established republic. She’s attempting to outrun a scandal too. Her first husband was a bigamist and is still alive, unfortunately in South America, and while her marriage to General English was legitimate, her daughter Eliza isn’t.
She becomes the Belle of Bogota, a society hostess, popular with the locals of high society and the British military types. She plans to marry Colonel Campbell but the threat of scandal destroys that, although he remains both Britain’s chief envoy and a loyal friend. Instead she marries William Greenup and together they buy a cacao plantation, with dreams of making their fortune from chocolate.
When William must return to England, Mary runs the plantation with the help of her foreman. But this is unheard of and adds more challenges to her ambitious plan.
At the same time Simòn Bolívar is fighting against the Spanish to liberate and hopefully unite South America. His lover, Manuela Sáenz, is by his side, even traversing the mountains of Peru to be with him in battle. She’s incredibly brave and resourceful, risking scandal and her life to accompany the Liberator as he fights for a new future.
The two women form an alliance and share information in an attempt to prevent Bolívar from being assassinated.
While some parts of the story are fictionalised, GD Harper draws on the letters and diaries from the time and from both women to bring their world, of revolution and struggle, to life.
An absolutely fascinating and enjoyable 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.
Every now and then we get to share something special with you all and The Peddler is a fantasy anthology which is the very definition!
The Peddler
Release Date: January 2026
Genre: Fantasy Short Stories/ Fantasy Anthology
A traveling peddler enters a tavern on a stormy night.
She takes a seat at a table, opens her sailcloth bag, and removes a number of trinkets, ready to weave tales from her travels to her rapt audience… But where to begin?
…a mermaid seeking to walk on land to avenge a murder.
…a daughter of powerful nobles battling how she was raised and what she believes.
…a lighthouse keeper holding vigil for her long-lost love across the sea.
…a petty thief scamming the rich to help the poor.
…or perhaps something else to keep her audience on the edge of their seats.
This collection of fairytale retellings will introduce you to familiar characters you may no longer recognize. Perfect for fans of shadowy plots, criminals with hearts of gold, star-crossed lovers, and happily-ever-afters, The Peddler is sure to entertain you as much as her captive audience.
We’re celebrating the August release of the audiobook edition of Twisted Bond by Katlyn DeRouen!
Twisted Bond (Twisted Bond Series #1)
Release Date: August 4, 2026
Genre: Portal Fantasy
Narrators: Monica Cannon & Dallin Bradford
Found family
Enemies to lovers
Hidden identities
Royalty
Closed door
Prophecies
Fae
Portal to another world
Enemies to friends to lovers
Good vs. Evil
Three Girls.
Three Lives.
One Bond.
After almost a decade apart, Cammie, Hannah, and Sabina never expected their paths to cross again so suddenly. But when Cammie is plagued by memories of a person she has never met, she has no choice but to reach out to the friends she lost touch with years ago.
A charismatic stranger—by the name of Caelan—claims he holds the answers to her mounting list of questions. Instead, Cammie winds up in a comatose state. With Caelan’s help, Sabina races against time to find the man in Cammie’s memories who holds the key to an unseen world… before her friend is lost within her own mind forever.
Meanwhile, Hannah finds herself fighting for her life after being thrust into the middle of a war between beings rumored to be myth. In the midst of the chaos, one element holds true… fate pulled them back together for a reason. Will the trio uncover the truth they seek? Or run from an answer they fear will shatter their world as they know it?
Trigger warnings in this book include kidnapping, minor descriptions of blood, a few on screen character deaths, and characters you will love/hate to root for.
Jen is confident she has complete control over the things that are trying to control her. Until she isn’t. Until she hasn’t. Until she realises she has never been in control at all. She’s been papering over it for years.
It’s the start of the year 2000. A new millennium has arrived. For Jen and her three friends, university life in Manchester is full of possibility and endless fun. Sassiness, spontaneity, marvellous mayhem and youthful optimism reign in the Manchester rain.
But beneath the sometimes brash bravado sometimes even the most resilient, carefree, fun-loving characters who, on the surface look like they are living their best lives, are perilously close to falling apart. Over the course of one unforgettable year, the young women confront their own realities and truths. Some make foolish mistakes and others life changing choices. Sometimes heartwarming and other times heartbreaking, but always brutally honest.
This is a story of friendship, mistakes, self-discovery and acceptance; identity, love and the messy reality of becoming an adult. It’s about the masks we wear, the mistakes and choices we make, and the courage it takes to stop papering over it and face ourselves when everything feels like it’s falling apart.
It’s real, raw, raunchy, sometimes random and frankly rude at times. Just like Jen and her friends.
Ruth has worked in Marketing for twenty-seven years and has always loved writing and storytelling. Understanding people and their behaviour, creating stories that resonate and developing engaging and enduring narratives have all been key to success in her professional background.
From a personal perspective, Ruth is a Manchester born, bred and based menopausal mum of three boys (twelve, fifteen and twenty seven). She spends most of her weekends trying to manage the family mayhem with her partner Simon and watching their younger boys on the sideline of various sports pitches hunting for a loo (occasionally having to resort to a wild wee), a sausage sandwich and a brew while trying to keep warm in doubled-up big socks (mainly stolen from the males in her house) and multiple layers (having had it drilled into her since childhood that it is the number of layers that count, not the thickness of each layer – the complete opposite of friendships).
A nasty accident on Good (Bad) Friday in 2024 meant she spent several months sat on her arse with one leg having to be perpetually higher than said arse. As an energetic, self-confessed curator of chaos, she needed something to focus on and keep her from going frankly crazy. And keep her family from going crazy too. She found that you can’t do much when you’re in acute pain with one leg in the air (including the jigsaws and ‘paint by numbers’ well-wishers had kindly gifted her). But you can read, reflect, think and you can definitely reminisce and daydream. And you can write. Which is what she did.
Her debut novel, Paper Over It, combines her sometimes over-enthusiastic imagination with insights gained from growing up in the 80s and becoming a young mum in the late 90s, her silent struggle with eating disorders in her earlier years, the power of some relationships and the destructive nature of others, and the joy of family, friendship, loyalty, hope and laughter.
My thoughts: I’m a bit younger than the characters in this book, but I do remember the early 2000s, I was a teenager and the music the girls listen to was the soundtrack to my year back then too.
Jen, Em, Lou and Kate are all at Manchester uni, with their final year (except for Kate who’s on a 4 year course) and their futures all ahead of them.
Over the course of a tumultuous year, they’ll fall in love, figure out their next steps, party hard and deal with heartbreak, unexpected surprises and learn how to be adults.
I really enjoyed the book, I liked the four young women at the heart of the story, their adventures, mistakes, and the bond they share. It was funny, life affirming and enjoyable, a book with real heart.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Extravagant medium Mrs Ashton and her lover, blunt working-class Mrs Bradshaw, run a spiritualist scam. Mrs Ashton secretly reads minds.
Believing that Mrs Ashton is genuine, grieving Lady Violet craves the truth behind her mother’s untimely death. But Lady Violet’s powerful husband Sir Charles hates spiritualists. Has he killed before?
Uncovering this MP’s wicked crimes will put all three women in terrible danger… To solve a shocking murder, look both sides of the grave.
“I loved this book! Victorian murder mystery meets “ghost” story, with delicious sprinklings of compassion and mischief…” Caroline Day, author of Sunday Times Bestseller Hope Nicely’s Lessons for Life
Exciting News: Book 2 in the Crooked Medium series is now available for pre-order!!
My grandmother told me I read too much. I remember walking in the garden when I was small, telling myself stories. It was over thirty years of wanting to be a novelist before I tried… and succeeded.
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder arose because I wanted to write about Britishness and specifically about Englishness; about our complex relationship with the past; I wanted leads who were morally grayer but still capable of kindness. It was time for a novel with queer leads. And in quite desperate times, I needed to write something with some uplift. It’s the first book intended to start a series.
My first books, Our Child of the Stars and Our Child of Two Worlds are set in the 1960s USA. It’s about Gene and Molly, a childless couple, and Cory, the little boy from the stars that they adopt, under such challenging circumstances. The books got lovely reviews and are available on both sides of the Atlantic.
I spent nearly all my childhood in Bristol, and I’m now an adoptive Londoner. I live with my partner, and it’s the best thing our two adult children come back from time to time. Our garden rages wild.
Giveaway to Win 4 x Signed Books by Stephen Cox (Open to UK Only) Prize includes – Our Child of the Stars, Our Child of Two Worlds, The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Murder and the Crooked Medium’s Guide to Terror.
My thoughts: This was really good, Mrs Ashton, a spiritualist, and her companion/partner Mrs Bradshaw (Braddie) are often in trouble, having to leave places at short notice but they’re trying to settle, although Braddie wants a cottage somewhere quiet and not in London.
Unfortunately they’ve got themselves involved with a truly unpleasant man. He’s an MP and violent. His wife wants their help, but he threatens them, and worse. As they get more and more mired in the relationship between Lady Violet and Sir Charles, and end up at the country estate, things get worse.
I loved Maisie, the leader of their Baker Street Irregulars, she’s fiery, smart as a whip and could be a brilliant detective. She also looks after her younger siblings and her Pa, making sure they have what they need.
The case is knotty and clearly Mrs Ashton has form, with the police, creditors and trouble. But she also knows how to read people – both with and without her mysterious powers. Her relationship with Braddie is delightful, although faltering at times as Braddie wants to stop running and settle down while Mrs A enjoys her work and the people she meets.
I’m looking forward to book two – keen to see how much trouble they get themselves into.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
*Terms and Conditions –UK entries welcome. Please enter using the Gleam box below. The winner will be selected at random via Gleam from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.
Welcome to the ARC tour for psychological thriller, Dark Ugly Places by Ashley Mansour!
Available in all formats at your favorite retailer on September 15th!
Dark Ugly Places
Expected Release Date: September 15, 2026
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Some wounds don’t heal. They fester. They whisper. They take over.
In Dark Ugly Places, trauma isn’t something you survive — it’s something that survives you.
Thirty-four-year-old Nicola Holiday loses everything in a hit-and-run: her husband dead, her body broken, her fourteen-year-old daughter Emmy forever changed. With no one held accountable, she spirals into grief, panic attacks, and financial ruin — awakening a hereditary darkness she’s spent her life trying to outrun.
That darkness has a voice now. Her name is Martha, and she aches for revenge.
As Nicola’s grip on reality loosens, Martha slips into another life — one of wealth, glamour, and moral rot. When she crosses paths with the wife of a famous actor, Nicola’s suspicions ignite.
Pulled between vengeance and annihilation, Nicola and Martha collide with a woman whose secrets may be the key to everything — or the thing that destroys them both.
Dark, provocative, and deeply unsettling — a haunting psychological portrait of female rage, obsession, and the terrifying lengths the mind will go to survive unbearable pain.
Because sometimes the most dangerous place isn’t the past. It’s inside your own head.
Dark Ugly Places is a psychological thriller of identity, grief, and revenge — a haunting domestic suspense for readers of Verity, Behind Her Eyes, and The Silent Patient.
CONTENT WARNINGS:
Violence (hit-and-run accident), grief and loss, panic attacks, mental health themes (dissociative identity), revenge, and mild language.
Dungeons & Dimwits is a fantasy comedy series about a group of gamers trapped inside their own tabletop role-playing campaign. This first volume begins their journey as they discover that their imaginary world is now very real―and very dangerous. The series follows the party as they face monsters, magic, rival adventurers, impossible quests, and the consequences of their own chaotic
storytelling. Readers should begin with Volume 1, which introduces the characters, the world, and the hilarious disaster that launches the adventure.
James Mascia is the founder and publisher of Dren Productions, where he creates sci-fi, horror, and fantasy comics and novels packed with imagination, humor, and thrills. He is the author of titles including Flesh-Eating Cheerleaders, Dungeons & Dimwits, The Poe Murders, and High School Heroes. When he’s not writing strange and exciting stories, James works as a high school English teacher in Maryland. A lifelong fan of Comic Cons, cheesy sci-fi and horror movies, and Dungeons & Dragons, he brings his love of genre storytelling into everything he writes.
Facebook/Instagram – @DrenProductions
My thoughts: Sucked into the role playing tabletop game (rptg) that shares it’s initials with this book’s title, a group of friends discover that things have just got very real. And that two of them are apparently girls now.
Trying to find a way out of the fantasy world where everything is trying to kill them only seems to make things worse. They’re not powerful to escape and they need to level up and also defeat a sorceress who seems to be the reason they’re stuck. So side quests it is. Once they escape the dwarf dungeons they’re currently stuck in and stay alive long enough to get home.
It’s funny, silly and perfect for anyone you know who likes D&D or other role playing games. You don’t need to know all the ins and outs of the games to enjoy it though, I have beginner’s knowledge gleaned from having friends who play these games, and I found it very entertaining.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
