Kara Bryant is everything Chris Abrams ever wanted. She’s passionate, beautiful, and smart.
She’s also married to his boss.
When millionaire Perry Bryant offers psychologist Chris a position on his healthcare staff it seems the perfect chance for Chris to escape the mistakes of his past and start over.
But then he meets Perry’s wife, Kara. She takes his breath away. It soon becomes clear she wants him just as much as he wants her. And more… much more.
In fact, she wants everything.
Kara asks Chris to help her kill her husband. In spite of himself, Chris can feel himself falling under her spell. It makes him question everything – his friendship with Perry, his loyalty, even his own character.
Until finally he’s faced with the ultimate question – just how far will he go for love?
My thoughts: this was very clever, I really didn’t see the twists and turns coming. Perry just seemed too trusting and naive to be real, and Chris didn’t even seem to really care about betraying him for Kara. Who was a total nightmare. Anyone can get a job, but she’s decided she just wants to have a nice life spending someone else’s money and never work, despite not having any of the issues that Perry deals with in order to be able to make all that money.
But oh, the shock twists, so nicely done, so clever. So yes, read this and while I give nothing away, it’s jaw dropping stuff. Trust me.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
An ostentatious party descends into violence—and a disgraced cop sets out to redeem herself by solving the case . . .
Susan Grey’s fiftieth birthday party promised to be a talked-about event—an over-the-top extravagant gathering of a hundred guests at her sprawling Georgian home. But it would be talked about for all the wrong reasons . . .
From an escalated argument to the disappearance of an expensive piece of jewelry, the party was quickly spiraling out of control. But the worst was yet to come, when Susan suffered a horrific fall down the grand staircase. Was it an accident or was she pushed?
For DI Grace Roth, relegated to desk duty due to an internal investigation, this could be a high-profile case and a chance to redeem herself. But every lead seems to send her in circles. As the badly injured Susan lies in her hospital bed, DI Roth must try to gather the scattered pieces of the puzzle and make them fit—before anyone else gets hurt . . .
When I’m not working within the NHS as a Health Visitor, or stood on the side of a football pitch watching my son play football, I can be found hauled up in my favourite spot with a good book in my hand. I could literally spend all day every day reading books, talking about books and writing books. I especially enjoy women’s fiction, crime and fantasy.
My thoughts: Susan has organised a big 50th birthday bash, despite the many problems in her life, she’s hoping to enjoy herself while her husband Martin sulks in his study. But then she takes a tumble down the stairs – did she fall or was she pushed?
DI Grace Roth is assigned the case, while it might have been an accident, there’s some questions that still need answering. Susan’s in critical condition and her family all seem to be hiding things, making them all a bit suspicious. As she investigates, those secrets come to the surface and Grace unravels the whole story.
An intelligent police procedural with sympathetic characters and an interesting case to solve – what more can you want?
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
I’m a big fan of Bookshop.org – an alternative way to buy books online and support indie bookshops and this summer they’re running The Big Read. It reminds me of the summer reading challenges my local library ran when I was a kid. Read on for more details straight from bookshop.org
The Big Read, summer reading challenge
Join in #TheBigRead and tell us what you’re reading.
The challenge This July, we invite you to join us for asummer reading challenge with a difference, where every book you read and recommend on your socials supports independent bookshops.
What’s on your TBR? Whether you already love to share your recommendations, or if you’re looking to bust your way out of a reading slump, share a Bookshop.org link to a book you’ve read, are reading or want to read and tag @bookshop_org_uk #TheBigRead by 31 July for the chance to win a Bookshop.org gift card worth £50, plus tote bags and other bookish goodies every week.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lee Goldberg, comes an explosive, page-turning investigative thriller – with a mind-blowing twist.
There’s a saying in Barstow, California, a decaying city in the scorching Mojave desert . . .
The Interstate here only goes in one direction: Away.
But it’s the only place where ex-LAPD detective Beth McDade, after a staggering fall from grace, could get another badge . . . and a shot at redemption.
Over a century ago, and just a few miles further into the bleak landscape, a desperate stranger ended up in Calico, a struggling mining town, also hoping for a second chance.
His fate, all those years ago, and hers today are linked when Beth investigates an old skeleton dug up in a shallow, sandy grave . . . and also tries to identify a vagrant run-over by a distracted motorhome driver during a lightning storm.
Every disturbing clue she finds, every shocking discovery she makes, force Beth to confront her own troubled past . . . and a past that’s not her own . . . until it all smashes together in a revelation that could change the world.
Lee Goldberg is an ex-Navy SEAL, nuclear physicist and a professional Daniel Craig impersonator.
Okay, that’s not true. But he wants this biography to be really exciting, so pay attention. If things bog down, I’ve been instructed to add a car chase or some explicit sex.
Here’s the real story. Lee Goldberg writes books and television shows.
His mother wanted him to be a doctor, and his grandfather wanted him to go into the family furniture business. Instead, he put himself through UCLA as a freelance journalist, writing for such publications as American Film, Starlog, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle (He also wrote erotic letters to the editor for Playgirl at twenty-five-dollars-a-letter, but he doesn’t tell people about that, he just likes to boast about those “tiffany” credits).
He published his first book “.357 Vigilante” (as “Ian Ludlow,” so he’d be on the shelf next to Robert Ludlum) while he was still a UCLA student. The West Coast Review of Books called his debut “as stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort,” singling the book out as “The Best New Paperback Series” of the year. Naturally, the publisher promptly went bankrupt and he never saw a dime in royalties. (But the books are available on the Kindle as “The Jury Series”)
Welcome to publishing, Lee.
His subsequent books include the non-fiction books “Successful Television Writing” and “Unsold Television Pilots” (“The Best Bathroom Reading Ever!” San Francisco Chronicle) as well as the novels “My Gun Has Bullets” (“It will make you cackle like a sitcom laugh track,” Entertainment Weekly), “Dead Space” (“Outrageously entertaining,” Kirkus Reviews), “Watch Me Die” (“as dark and twisted as anything Hammet or Chandler ever dreamed up,” Kirkus Reviews).
“Take me now,” she moaned, “you hot writer stud.”
She tore off her clothes and tackled him onto the floor, unable to control her raging lust. Nothing excited her more than being around a writer with a big list of books.
Got your attention again? Good. I don’t know about you, but I was starting to nod off. Where was I? Oh yes…
Goldberg broke into television with a freelance script sale to “Spenser: For Hire.” Since then, his TV writing & producing credits have covered a wide variety of genres, including sci-fi (SeaQuest), cop shows (Hunter, The Glades), martial arts (Martial Law), whodunits (Diagnosis Murder, Nero Wolfe), the occult (She-Wolf of London), kid’s shows (R.L. Stine’s The Nightmare Room), T&A (Baywatch), comedy (Monk) and utter crap (The Highwayman). His TV work has earned him two Edgar Award nominations from the Mystery Writers of America.
His two careers, novelist and TV writer, merged when he began writing the “Diagnosis Murder” series of original novels, based on the hit CBS TV mystery that he also wrote and produced, and later wrote the 15 bestselling novels based on “Monk,” another show that he worked on. He is co-creator of the hit Hallmark movie series “Mystery 101.” He also he teamed up with Janet Evanovich to write the #1 New York Times bestselling Fox & O’Hare novels (“The Heist,” “The Chase,” “The Job,” “The Scam,” “The Pursuit”). His most recent books include “Movieland” (the 4th novel in the Eve Roninseries), “Malibu Burning” (the first novel in the Sharpe & Walker series) and the genre-bending thriller “Calico.”
But perhaps he’s best known for his pioneering work mapping the human genome and negotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Goldberg lives in Los Angeles with his wife and his daughter and still sleeps in “Man From UNCLE” pajamas.
My thoughts: this was a great genre bending crime novel, blending science fiction and time travel with the small town cop trying to solve the appearance of a man from the 1800s with the disappearance at almost exactly the same time of a man driving through the same town. There’s a mysterious explosion on a military base, that’s definitely not a bin fire and all sorts of other weirdness for Detective Beth McDade to sort through as she attempts to solve the case.
Clever, blackly comic and entertaining, this is a great and compelling read. I can’t decide which of the storylines and characters I liked more, the accidental time traveller or the world weary, cynical detective discovering that things are both stranger and yet more believable than she first thought. I’d love more peculiar crimes in the desert for Beth to solve, especially now she knows the X-Files aren’t entirely fiction. A really fun 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.
Check out the cover for The Red Woman and the White Bear by Fern A. Ellis! Coming this Fall!
The Red Woman and the White Bear
Expected Publication Date: Fall 2024
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Fae courts
Enemies to lovers
Hurt/comfort
Shadow magic
Court politics
Opposing religions/religion is magic
Slow burn forbidden love
Hidden identity
Morally grey characters
Reluctant chosen one
Soul-deep connection
It is both the fate and the burden of the Red Woman to bring peace.
The Fae are real—this is a fact that Aisling Morrow has believed with varying degrees of certainty since she was a child. Her late mother’s accounts of their beauty still linger in her mind, but always with the caveat: Do not involve yourself uninvited with matters of the Fae. Aisling has no plans to do so—until she discovers an arcane prophecy which names her the Red Woman, destined to turn the tides of war in the realm of Wyldraíocht by ensuring the fall of the Unseelie Court.
On a quest to understand her role, Aisling ventures into Wyldraíocht. Except Fae prophecies aren’t so easily interpreted, and she is soon ensnared in a dangerous web of political machinations, opposing religions, and dark magic—at the center of which stands the fierce and vengeful Unseelie King.
King Kael Ardhen, a vessel for raw power bestowed upon him by an eldritch god, is consumed by his own unbridled rage—a rage which he would not hesitate to turn on the human woman prophesied to destroy his court. Yet something about the way Aisling calls to his shadows draws him in, at once both granting him control over his violent magic and inviting him to relinquish control over his guarded heart.
As unsettling truths about the world her mother so loved challenge Aisling’s convictions and call into question the true purpose of the Red Woman, the Veil between realms grows ever weaker with the echoes of war. Soon, the crueler sorts of Fae will no longer be confined to Wyldraíocht. With time running out to protect those she loves, Aisling finds herself at the crossroads of fate and choice—and the ultimate price of peace may demand more than she is willing to pay.
In an alternative Elizabethan London, Fang awakes from his death to discover he is not quite human anymore. In fact, despite having somehow acquired the power of immortality, he’s also not quite vampire, zombie, werewolf or any of the other supernatural beings who roam the twin cities of Upper London and its underground counterpart, Deep London.
A jaded traveller from the Ming Empire, Fang is desperate to find a way to reverse the spell and get on with being dead when he stumbles upon Lazare de Quitte-Beuf, a theatrical Frenchman who is afflicted with the same mysterious condition. Thrown together by the curse they share, the two men set out to undo the strange magic that binds them. As they are drawn further into the shadowy world of Deep London, they unearth a dangerous plot which they appear to be right in the middle of…
And, surely, when in grave danger, the worst thing they could do would be to fall in love, wouldn’t it?
My thoughts: this is very very funny, very silly and just a bit brilliant. I loved it.
Fang is cursed not to die, he gets stabbed a fair bit, but nothing seems to kill him. He’s fed up, tired and a long way from home. Lazare also gets cursed but nothing (except maybe not getting cast in Kit Marlowe’s play) gets him down, he’s basically happy all the time. Thrown together in an attempt to undo their curses, successfully avoid getting arrested and finding themselves in Deep London, literally under the city, with a small dragon called Amber (I would love a small dragon pal), Nell the apothecary and a little girl who is very scared, they’re on the adventure of a lifetime and right in the middle of a total lunatic’s scheme!
It’s just a lot of fun, there’s so many fantasy (and romance) tropes and little references and I just had a ball reading it. The first in a new series, it’s an absolute treat.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Lose yourself in Lakeville Hills in this gorgeous new romance from bestselling author Camilla Isley…
When she’s ghosted by yet another Tinder match, Leighton swears off dating for life. Who needs apps and blind dates when she has the perfect-in-every-way (apart from being fictional) heroes of her beloved romance novels?
That night Leigh finds a second-hand book on her TBR pile, which transports her to the small-town of Lakeville Hills, where the heroines wear shorty-shorts and the men drink bourbon. And as Leigh drifts off to sleep, she dreams of billionaire cowboy Killian St Clair, who could win a gold medal for smouldering and bicep flexing. For a while, Leigh finds it easier to stomach misogynistic supervisors, newly coupled friends, and extravagant bridesmaid duties knowing she can return to Lakeville Hills each evening.
Until one day, she wakes up to find she’s brought a bit of Lakeville Hills back with her: the impossible sexy and entirely implausible Killian St Clair is in her apartment. Now Leigh must help Killian navigate the real world. But as she gets to know the man behind the trope, can she keep her heart safe, or does she risk falling in love with her book boyfriend in real life?
Camilla is an engineer who left science behind to enter the whimsical realm of romantic fiction. She writes contemporary rom-coms. Her characters have big hearts, might be a little stubborn at times, and love to banter with each other. Every story she pens has a guaranteed HEA that will make your heart beat faster. Unless you’re a vampire, of course. Camilla is a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.
My thoughts: this was lots of fun, we all have that romantic lead that we think we’d fall in love with if they were real, and suddenly right there. Well, Leighton wakes up with her book boyfriend in her bed.
Killian St Cloud is a cowboy billionaire, suddenly in Chicago, no billions in the bank, because he doesn’t exist. Except he does, other people can see him and now they have to make him a life. First there’s getting him some non-cowboy clothes, a job, an ID, and are they really in love?
Funny, silly, entertaining and with a fantastic pair of protagonists, this is a fab read and will keep you amused for hours.
*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 love sweet, small-town romance with a marriage of convenience, you are going to want to get a copy of The Love Chase by Emily Schneider!
The Love Chase
Publication Date: July 8, 2024
Genre: Romance/ Contemporary Romance
TROPES:
💍Marriage of convenience
🩷Friends to lovers
⛈️Storm chasing
🎸Country music
🏠”One townhouse”
💕Forced proximity
🏘️Small town romance
🥰”It’s always been you”
💘She fell first, he fell harder
Marrying my best friend for money without revealing my hidden feelings for him…How hard could it be?
Everything was going great until my life fell apart. One minute, I had a great internship, I was accomplishing my dream of becoming a storm chaser, and I was happy.
But in one single day, I became jobless, homeless, and deeply in debt, my life stuttering to a crashing halt.
Forced to head home to Meridel, proverbial tail tucked between my legs, things only got worse when I ran into my best friend, Liam—err, ex-best friend.
We’d been friends since we were kids, up until he moved away two years ago to chase his own dream of being a famous country music singer, effectively cutting me out of his life for good.
But now he’s back, and to top it off, his manager has created a harebrained scheme to improve his new bad boy image—marrying me.
If it weren’t for the money promised to me in exchange, I never would have agreed, especially when I’d been hiding the fact that I’d been in love with Liam for years.
But now, I have to marry my best friend, live in close quarters with him, and help him fix his reputation, all while keeping my feelings hidden?
Should be a piece of cake. Right?
The Love Chase is a sweet, closed-door romantic comedy, full of laugh-out-loud moments, sizzling chemistry, and swoony kisses.
This is the third interconnected standalone in the A Sweet Meridel Romance series.
In the suburbs of near-future London, two childhood friends discuss the creation of a technology company that elevates awareness and well-being. What begins in a garage grows into a ubiquitous enterprise that changes what it means to be alive. The Consciousness Company is a funny, philosophical and prophetic story about companies without limits, and technology that can rewire minds.
On the way to a New York stock market listing, the company’s founders join forces with a sceptical investor, a venture capital fund impressed by their early success, and an ethics committee buckling under its godlike responsibility. As the company’s artificial intelligence reads, analyses and inserts thoughts into its members’ minds, the lines between individuals blur, and the company’s users wade through their own psyches, guided by devices that know them better than they know themselves.
A question lingers—in what form will humanity survive after all this? Step into The Consciousness Company and lose yourself in the substance of existence.
M. N. Rosen has worked for more than 20 years in the financial services industry, most recently for a foundation which invests in climate-focused technology businesses. In The Consciousness Company he draws on his experience working with early-stage technology and impact businesses, as well as for private equity andventure capital firms, and, at the beginning of his career, an investment bank.
M.N. Rosen is 44 years old and lives in North London with his wife and three young children. He graduated from New College, Oxford in 2001 with a first-class degree in philosophy, politics and economics.
My thoughts: This was something different to my usual reading and it took me a while to get into it, the writing style is very distinctive and the decision not to use names, but instead the roles of the different characters takes getting used to. It’s a genre bending exploration of business, high finance and who has the right to your thoughts. The company itself contains, processes and manipulates the thoughts of its users – social media on steroids.
It’s a thought provoking read, and leaves the reader with a lot of questions about the role of technology in our lives. It’s certainly timely as AI becomes ever more prevalent and debates about the role of intelligent software grow more common. I found it very interesting and stimulating, as well as wryly 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.
We are thrilled to present both the stunning cover and blurb for Of Monsters Of Kings by Kelly St. Clare! Now available for pre-order!
Of Monsters Of Kings (Unworldly City Book 1)
Expected Publication Date: July 25, 2024
Genre: Gothic Romantasy
Destined to be
Royal immortals
Monsters with manners
Age-gap
Hidden society
Ancient magic
Romance vs. duty
New girl in town
Bring. Take. Raise. Change. See.
Three princes, each, shall come to thee.
Monsters to guide kings to thrones,
To keep real monsters chained with blood and bone.
Your immortal burden cold and lonely,
Hear! Rule until the bloody finish.
For the mighty never stirred at dawn,
They burst forth at dusk,
into toothed beast’s yawn.
In the 1200 years since The End, fifty mothers in my line have passed the truth to their daughters. They passed truths of how the world was, of how the world changed, and even mythical stories of powerful romances that sparked great tragedy and war.
Those romances are dead and gone, and as the fiftieth daughter, I am determined the truths of my ancestors will die with me too.
I will be the last daughter to bury her withered mother.
But ancients pull back the bloodied curtain without warning, and I cannot unsee the hidden world revealed beyond. Sinister impossibilities lurk in this walled city. They have always existed—dusk immortals who battle and prowl, filled with menace and conflicting purpose. And they, even the dark creature I blind with my presence, must decide the fate of all.
Yet fifty mothers prepared for nightfall. They knew five kings could not win.
Now the fiftieth daughter will walk into the toothed beast’s yawn.
For the mighty never stirred at dawn… and I’m about to inherit something more monstrous than the truth.
Of Monsters Of Kings is a dark fantasy romance thoroughly drenched with the morally gray and intended for mature audiences. This story contains monsters with manners, heaped teaspoons of spice, magical impossibilities, and not many conventional things at all, really.
Kelly St. Clare is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Supernatural Battle, The Tainted Accords, The Darkest Drae, and Honey & Ice Trilogy.
She exists in her own fantasy in New Zealand where she works to regenerate the land, grow marvelous things, and create magical memories for her family.
Books are her fated mate, and she is immortally grateful to exist in this world of words where fresh opportunities hook her at every new chapter.
ramblingmads 