This new release will have you wrapped up in the nostalgia of youth! Check out Becoming Carly Klein by Elizabeth Harlan!
Becoming Carly Klein: A Novel
Publication Date: September 17, 2024
Genre: YA/ Contemporary Young Adult/ Coming-of-Age
Fans of contemporary coming-of-age young adult fiction will root for Carly Klein as she fights to find her place in the world—even if she has to lie to everyone in her life to get there.
Neglected by self-absorbed parents who wind up divorcing by the time she’s sixteen, Carly Klein is sustained by her best friend, Lauren. But when Lauren and her family move away, Carly is forced to find new ways to entertain herself. It doesn’t take her long to locate the perfect subject: her therapist mother’s patients.
Carly soon becomes obsessed with one patient in particular—Daniel, a blind junior at Columbia College—and, desperate to become part of his life and knowing he’ll never go for a high school girl, gets close to him by pretending to be a student at neighboring Barnard College. Becoming Carly Klein follows Carly on a roller coaster romp through the exhilaration and disappointment of first love—and the unintended consequences of disguise, deception, and discovery.
This year, their families can deck the bloody halls themselves…
Old friends Shelley, Lena and Pearl have reached their limit with the festive preparation that has always fallen to them, and five days before Christmas, they’ve booked a mini break… without their families. Up until Christmas Eve, they’ll be sipping prosecco in the Highlands while their kids wrap bacon around 100 chipolatas and their partners brave the supermarkets.
It’s exactly what they need… until they’re snowed in. Facing the prospect of Christmas 500 miles from home, each woman is forced to confront her real reasons for needing to escape: the fiance with the obnoxious family; the son’s new girlfriend who is taking over their home; the family who take their mother for granted all year round…
Will the friends make it home before Christmas day? And if they do, can they really go back to their old lives?
This Christmas, forget Elf on the Shelf, get ready for Mums on the Run in the hilarious and heartwarming new novel from Fiona Gibson.
My thoughts: I subscribe to Fiona’s Substack, which is funny and wry, much like her books, including this seasonal offering, complete with Taylor Swift title.
Christmas is a fraught time of year for many, Shelley and her friends Lena and Pearl too. Shelley’s sick of being taken for granted by her family, her husband seems completely oblivious to how much she does – he just expects everything to happen without doing anything himself, same with the kids.
Lena and Pearl have their own share of useless family members, Lena’s fiance just expects her to put up with his parents, who don’t treat her very well and constantly compare her to his ex-wife. Pearl’s son and his girlfriend are driving her crazy – the girlfriend has “borrowed” her favourite lipstick and taken over her flat.
So a quick jaunt to Scotland for a few days seems like a genius idea, a chance to get away from all the festive stress, the planning, the shopping, the wrapping. Let their families sort themselves out for a bit.
Then the weather takes a turn for the snowed in…
Funny, a bit silly, full of whatever the opposite of the joys of the season, the friendship between the three women is what sees them through everything that this suddenly unpredictable Christmas throws at them, from them not being able to find the freezer to being stranded by the snow, they persevere with laughter and lots of wine. Great fun and a good way to remind yourself to be grateful for the people in your life that you love and love you.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
London 1918: Is Fiona Figg ready to exchange her sleuthing cap for a bridal veil?
Fiona is set to tie the knot with her dashing captain, Archie Somersby. But, while Fiona is busy planning her happily ever after, side-kick Kitty Lane and a group of judo-chopping suffragettes are kicking up trouble at the Piccadilly Jujitsu Club.
When Kitty is found unconscious in the locker room during a high-stakes competition, Fiona must forsake her bouquets and bridal gown to investigate. Her sleuthing leads to a posh lady’s luncheon where a mysterious death crashes Fiona’s wedding plans.
To make matters worse, the arch-nemesis of all things matrimonial Fredrick Fredricks is up to his old tricks, attempting to put the brakes on Fiona’s journey down the aisle. Will he succeed in tripping up Fiona’s wedding vows? Or will she finally say “I don’t” to the charming devil?
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.
My thoughts: Fiona is finally about to marry her beloved Archie, or is she? Obviously charming German spy Frederick Fredericks says she shouldn’t, but she’s sure he’s just meddling with her. But after Kitty gets a bump to the head and loses her memory – telling Fiona she’s an MI5 agent and needs to find a woman called Jane, but not able to even remember her canine sidekick, Poppy.
Fiona needs to find out who conked Kitty on the head, what it has to do with the war and the Irish independence struggle, and decide whether or not she’s actually going to marry Archie.
Without her usual know-it-all partner, but with Clifford acting as chauffeur, it’s off to Ireland on the hunt for a shillelagh with a distinctive shamrock decoration, and someone with it in for Kitty. Fiona gets arrested for murder along the way, and gets to wear some of her beloved disguises, as she unravels what happened to Kitty, and waits for the teenage spy to get her memory back.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
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.
ramblingmads 