Worthy of Fate by A.N. Caudle is now available! If you love an intriguing magic system, dark forces, spirits, and forbidden fated mates, this one’s for you!
Worthy of Fate (Realms In Peril Book 1)
Publication Date: April 11, 2024
Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance/ Spicy
▪︎Forbidden fated mates 🥵 ▪︎Badass, stabby FMC⚔️ ▪︎Stalker Shadow daddy 😏 ▪︎Touch her and ☠️ ▪︎Morally grey characters 🩶 ▪︎Found Family 🫶 •Marked by the Gods❌️
The Gem
Marked by the Gods, Kya is forced to partake in a Trial for a chance to be deemed Worthy. If she succeeds, she’ll be gifted great powers. If she fails, she could lose her life or worse. But that’s only the start of her worries. Now, the same plague that took her home is spreading and threatening the fate of the realm. Can Kya survive the Trial of the Gods and gain the needed power to rid the world of the growing threat before it’s too late? Or will she be drawn to what awaits her in the shadows?
The Shadow
Ryker has waited a long time for her—his mate. Now he’s found her. He plans to claim what is rightfully his, but dark forces threaten to destroy his Nation should he embrace the bond he so desperately desires. Unable to escape the drive to be near her, he waits for his precious gem, lingering in her shadow.
Worthy of Fate is the first book in a new adult, dark fantasy romance series with an intriguing magic system, dark forces, Spirits, and forbidden fated mates.
Paisley, Scotland, 1697. Thirty-five people accused of witchcraft. Seven condemned to death. Six strangled and burned at the stake. All accused by eleven-year-old Christian Shaw.
Bargarran House, 1722. Christian Shaw returns home, spending every waking hour perfecting the thread bleaching process that will revive her family’s fortune. If only she can make it white enough, perhaps her past sins will be purified too. But dark forces are at work. As the twenty-fifth anniversary of the witch burnings approaches, ravens circle Bargarran House, their wild cries stirring memories and triggering visions.
As Christian’s mind begins to unravel, her states of delusion threaten the safety of all those who cross her path. In the end she must make a terrible choice: her mind or her soul? Poverty and madness, or a devil’s bargain for the bleaching process that will make her the most successful businesswoman Paisley has ever seen?
Her fate hangs by a thread. Which will she choose?
An eerie tale of lies, deception and the supernatural from award-winning author Victoria Williamson.
My thoughts: inspired by a true case in 17th century Scotland, Red Runs the Witch’s Thread follows Christian Shaw as she attempts to set up a business in Paisley, her father and brothers are dead and as the eldest, she is trying to revive her family’s fortunes and provide for her mother and sisters.
Her family is looked on with suspicion because as a child Christian claimed to be cursed by witches and accused 35 people of witchcraft, leading some to be burnt at the stake (which only happened in Scotland, in England they were hung).
Christian is having flashbacks to that time and the events that led to so many deaths by her hands, albeit indirectly. It’s causing her to hallucinate and act very strangely, frightening not only herself but her family and servants. She’s also becoming increasingly obsessive over the bleaching process for the thread her livelihood depends on. As she unravels, her past revisited, she starts to realise the truth of whose influence she has really been under.
Christian isn’t a hugely sympathetic character, her single mindedness and high handed way of talking to everyone – servant and family members isn’t very pleasant and it’s no surprise her sisters aren’t that fond of her. But her clearly troubled mind and conscience, are no surprise either. Eleven year olds tell lies, but the fact that so many adults, including supposedly educated ones, believed the terrible things she said is shocking.
There is an ongoing movement in Scotland to have the victims of the witch trials, Christian really did exist and really did have 35 people condemned to death, pardoned by the state and removed from the lists of convicted and executed criminals. Most of the “witches” were guilty only of poverty and of their circumstances. I would probably be among their number if I was in the 16th and 27th centuries so I have a lot of empathy for these men and women.
Victoria Williamson brings that era of superstition and suspicion vividly to life in Red Runs the Witch’s Thread as Christian attempts to rebuild her family fortune and her reputation.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
You can bury the dead. But you can’t bury the past.
Jane’s father was murdered in cold blood at the family home. The killer was never found.
In the years since, Jane has done everything in her power to stay away from that house. To forget the nightmare and get on with her life.
But now she has to go back.
Her mother is ill and Jane must care for her. Her husband Joe goes with her but soon after they arrive at her family home, he begins to act strangely. Adding to her unease, Jane’s brother Dan is openly hostile.
Increasingly unnerved, Jane feels compelled to uncover the secrets of the old house. And discovers that her father may have been killed by someone close to her. Someone who’s been hiding in plain sight all these years.
Now it’s a race against time. Can Jane discover the shocking truth about her father’s death before it’s too late? Can she right the wrongs of the past?
Kevin is a Guidance Counselor by day and a psychological thriller author during his off hours. He puts an original slant on some common experiences and creates engaging stories with a personal twist. Kevin lives in Dublin, Ireland with three great kids, a frenetic Westie, Alfie, and a wife who makes him laugh, which is really all he could ask for.
My thoughts: moving in to her childhood home to care for her ailing mother brings all sorts of memories back for Jane, not least the murder of her father on the driveway, never solved, it still haunts her.
Her husband Joe resents being expected to help care for his mother-in-law and has plenty of secrets of his own, as their marriage struggles, he withdraws further.
Then there’s Jane’s odd brother Dan, always in his cycling gear, despite supposedly having a high flying finance job, he has plenty of time to pop in at random points during the day, make creepy comments and then cycle off.
As the family soldier on, Jane’s mother’s health continues to fail, she drinks too much despite the medication she’s on and her memory wanders, does a care home feature in her future sooner rather than later?
Joe confides in Dan, which can’t end well, and Jane wants to confront her husband about his secrets. As things come to a head, will Jane finally learn the truth about her dad’s death and will everyone survive the answers?
Gripping and full of twists and turns, this is a sinister and tragic family thriller.
*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 Calliope Wakes by Constance Kersaint! Read on for more details!
Publication Date: February 23, 2024 Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
The gods are alive, and they’re in Michigan.
Something is wrong in Bellhaven, and Callie doesn’t know how to stop the nightmares. She just wants to be safe in her small city by Lake Michigan, but there are strangers in town and evil around the corner. Is she causing the troubles or is there something more sinister? Erik has come back into her life and seems to know more about her bursts of insanity than her, but she doesn’t know if she can trust him or if he’s trying to distract her. Then buildings are collapsing, wolves are attacking, people are dying and only Callie can save them. Will this time be different? Will they finally live to see the sun rise on All Hallows’ Eve?
My thoughts: blending Celtic (Irish and Welsh) with Norse mythology is interesting, all these reincarnated gods and frost giants roaming around, desperate to break a curse thousands of years old, mostly by murdering one of both of two teenagers, none of whom asked for any of this, to escape their fates.
Callie is 18, trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, and then she’s told that she’s the reincarnation of the Welsh goddess Branwen – doomed to fall in love with a Viking god’s reincarnation and get him killed by his own family, thus creating this looped curse that has kept them all trapped for centuries. Oh, and she can’t leave town – the curse won’t let her.
Her childhood best friend Erik is the other half of the doomed couple, but they haven’t even spoken in four years, so how can they be fated to fall in love? And her whole family turn out to be gods too – at first she thinks she’s losing the plot, but a blow to the head brings back her memories.
Callie is determined to figure a way out of the curse for everyone, a way that doesn’t require her or Erik to be murdered, even if his cousins are gunning for her, and his ex-girlfriend Helena – who’s also Hel, goddess of the underworld. Lovely.
As Samhain approaches and Callie and Erik become even more entwined by the curse, Callie must figure out how to survive, even if Ragnarok will come for them sooner or later instead.
It’s helpful to know a bit about mythology reading this, I’ve read the Mabinogion, the Welsh myth cycle, some Irish myths and Norse myths before, all of which was a bit helpful, as the three overlap a bit here, which is a little confusing at times. Especially as more gods and monsters come to town, but I liked Callie and Erik, as well as Erik’s brother, who was always making stupid jokes.
We’re so excited for this tour! If you enjoy dark fantasy romance, enemies-to-lovers, and a good anti-hero this book is a must read!
A Sword of Shadow and Deceit (Mortal Gods #1)
Publication Date: March 21, 2024
Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance/ Why Choose
🖤Dark Fantasy Romance 🗡️Assassin FMC ☠️Anti-Hero 🚫Forbidden Existence ❤️Enemies-to-Lovers 🔥Why Choose
Desperation makes warriors of captives.
The Gods split the skies and rained down tyranny upon the mortal realm long ago. Ever since then, the only thing worse than being human is being of Divine Blood.
For someone like me—an undocumented God child, indebted to the Underworld Assassination Guild—that means only one thing: A life in the shadows.
Or so it should have been … until Mortal Gods Academy. Until them.
The Darkhaven Brothers are truly the worst of all the Gods’ spawn. Arrogant. Wicked. Violent.
To them, I’m nothing more than a human plaything meant for torment. For me … they’re the path and the key to my freedom.
But if any of them find out who I am, what I am … even the shadows won’t be able to save me.
*Please note this is a DARK Fantasy Romance with themes of a dark nature, death of loved ones, and other various themes that may be triggering. Please check trigger warnings and read responsibly*
Lucy Smoke, also known as Lucinda Dark for her fantasy works, has a master’s degree in English and is a self-proclaimed creative chihuahua. She enjoys feeding her wanderlust, cover addiction, as well as her face, and truly hopes people will stop giving her bath bombs as gifts. Bath’s get cold too fast and it’s just not as wonderful as the commercials make it out to be when the tub isn’t a jacuzzi.
When she’s not on a never-ending quest to find the perfect milkshake, she lives and works in the southern United States with her beloved fur-baby, Hiro, and her family and friends.
Meet Fred. He is about to turn forty and has invited an eclectic group of friends to celebrate at a rented stately home. He is a wheelchair user after being paralysed in a road traffic accident, has been busy at work at his memoir and is longing to reconnect with long-standing university crush, Heather, a high-flying TV foreign correspondent. What should have been a jolly weekend in the country starts getting decidedly more complicated when Heather realises that the publication of Fred’s book could threaten her career ambitions.
The Ha-Ha is a thoroughly engaging and very entertaining novel about friendship, sex, hallucinogenic drugs, marriage and putting the past behind you. There is also a very hungry pig who may or may not have eaten Fred’s stolen memoir. It also proves that you can write about disability without making a big fuss of disability and that you can pay tribute to the immortal world of Blandings without ever including a PG Wodehouse character.
Tom Shakespeare CBE is a social scientist and bioethicist, an academic who writes and talks and researches mainly about disability, but also about ethical issues around prenatal genetic testing and end of life assisted suicide. Born in 1966 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, he studied at Cambridge University and has lived in Gateshead, Geneva and Norwich, while working at Universities of Sunderland, Leeds, Newcastle, then at World Health Organisation in Geneva, afterwards at UEA Medical School, and presently as Professor of Disability Research, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Tom has presented programmes and documentaries on BBC Radio and has written for publications including The Guardian and The Lancet, alongside talking to academic, professional and lay audiences around the world. He has been a stand-up comedian, an actor, a dancer, and an artist. A father of two grown-up children, he now lives in London.
My thoughts: this was a fun, and funny, read about a group of people, who mostly went to the same university years ago, gathering for their friend Fred’s fortieth. Fred is probably the nicest one of the lot, and deserves better friends and certainly a better brother. Unfortunately it doesn’t work for that.
I felt quite sorry for Fred, and not because he’s disabled (I know far too many wheelchair users) but because he’s throwing his own party and nothing goes to plan. He’s rented a beautiful old house, planned delicious meals, wants to do a bit of kayaking, maybe play Scrabble, explore the grounds, dress up for dinner in period costume and generally have a nice time.
But the rabble he’s invited instead fall out with each other, steal the manuscript of his memoir, end up in A&E, and other associated chaos. The seven year old might be the most mature one of the lot!
Luckily, as the Bard said, all’s well that ends well, and Fred makes a connection with Nel, the keeper of Vietnamese pot-bellied pig Vin Pong, who has bonded with pug Humphrey, and his friends return to their homes more or less intact. He might even have got his book back in one piece.
Realising the brothers were called Frederick and Roderick (Fred and Roddy) made me groan, but there are people out there who do that – my dad is one of 4, all with names that start with P.
The rest was however very funny, the characters were all pretty shallow but in different ways – Roddy is a wannabe MP (Labour not Tory) but a terrible person, his poor long suffering wife Charlotte (Lottie) deserved more, even if she was a bit of a snob. My favourite was the boyfriend of Robin, Fred’s old pal, Costa Rican chef Alberto, who overhears some of the book snatching plot and thinks Fred’s life is in danger, going completely crazy trying to safeguard him, all while his friends steal the manuscript.
*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 book tour for The Last Rays of Ra by Karina McRoberts! Read on for more details!
The Last Rays of Ra: A Journey Into Thrilling Adventure, Horror, And Suspense
Publication Date: March 20, 2024
Genre: Mystery/Thriller/Adventure
SISTERHOOD’S ANSWER TO AGENT PENDERGAST
Empathic Scotland Yard Detective Jackson Randolph is over-burdened by a series of bizarre murders. He enlists the aid of rogue Egyptologist Vahlona Selket Faralay, pleading with her to retrieve an ancient item linked to the crimes.
Vahlona leaves her mysterious home in the Yorkshire Moors and travels to Egypt, where she braves misogynistic policemen, vicious wildlife, and manic terrorists in her quest to procure the artefact. The shadowy but alluring antiquities dealer Usire Ra Arakti provides the answer, but can Vahlona smuggle the prize out of Egypt and back to London before the madman resumes his killing spree?
Thrilling suspense, horror, romance, and adventure await you in The Last Rays of Ra.
Karina is an American-Australian author, illustrator, musician, scientist and theatre producer. She considers herself to be a true Renaissance woman and strives to help other achieve the same. ( “After all, ladies, we didn’t get a chance last time!!!!”).
Previously working as a conservation scientist, she was struck down by a mosquito-borne virus. No longer able to work, Karina now spends her time writing fiction to inspire, encourage, enlighten and entertain; especially those readers active in social justice, humanitarian work, and protection of the Earth.
She also writes self-instruction books and gives workshops in illustration and creative writing.
In these dark days of crazy violence, betrayal, and plague, Karina hopes readers find solace and joy in her creations.
Hope is light to the heart! As her character JT Gordon says in her time-travel adventure/romance novel, The Palace of the Stars, ‘Don’t measure your time in minutes, treasure your time in moments.’ Indeed.
The Wild Kingdom trilogy is complete now that The Curse of the Fallen has been released! All books are also available on Kindle Unlimited too!
The Curse of the Fallen: A Soulmate Romance (The Wicked Kingdom Book 3)
Publication Date: April 7, 2024
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Hidden Identities
Slow Burn
Delicious Angst
Morally Gray Fae MMC
Burn the World for Each Other
One Bed
Powerful but Awkward FMC
Denied Soul Mates
A lost prince. A powerful heiress. A destructive secret.
Fleeing the castle’s gilded prison and on the run from the king, Nava and Arkimedes are confronted by a sinister shadow-figure, who looks like Arkimedes and who wants Nava dead. He vows to end the Beekeepers and bring destruction into the world.
Forced into hiding in the only place their enemies can’t reach them, the Society of Crows Safehouse, Nava and Arkimedes must find a way to prevent their enemy from unleashing demons into this realm.
But stopping him seems impossible, and with the king’s guards on their tail, will they manage it? Or will their love, their lives, and even the entire world be destroyed?
A dark, action-packed, sexy, fated mates fantasy romance, for fans of ACOTAR.
Vengeance Born is now available everywhere! You’re going to want to read this one!
Vengeance Born: A Grim & Reaper Netherworld Tale
Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance/ Mythology
Two Dark Tales. One deliciously haunting book.
Enter the Netherworld and dive into the dark with Grim and Reaper. The resident lords of Purgia may govern the deathly dealings of the day, but faced with the matters of their heart, their worlds get turned upside down.
When an enigmatic woman begs Thelios Mirth to save she and her sister from the clutches of Hades, the Grim Lord finds himself gambling with the unexpected. His heart.
Lord Roark wants for nothing but to reap the strays and vagabonds roaming the city of Purgia, but when a ward of the High Prince seeks his help against rebel forces, he forsakes his better judgment with hopes to reap something forbidden. Love.
Vengeance Born: A Grim & Reaper Netherworld Tale is a two-act novel filled with dark fantasy, broody, ruggedly handsome mythical men, strong love interests. Both tales are steamy, dark, no cheating, with touches of mafia and barbarian-ish charm. Readers of the Fire duet, Fire Kissed & Fire Born will be happy to see Grim & Reaper again, while newbies get to dive head-first in an interconnected, yet standalone book.
Author Note: Mature content. Suitable for ages 18+. Contains sexual situations, pillow talk, violence among supernatural creatures, discussions of death and morbidity and some gore.
Well, at least that’s how I’m described in the confines of my everyday life.
Writing has always been second nature to me. I spent my childhood creating short stories and my collegiate years writing for the campus paper (Go TERPS!) Jump twenty years to the present–I’m still writing. At my day job I spend most of my time writing capability briefs, white papers, proposals–you name it.
Then one day it hit me! It was time to access my own creative power and bring to life the characters I’ve created in my mind.
In addition to enjoying life with my amazing family, I can usually be found with my head in a book, binging my favorite shows, and watching movies with jaw-dropping scores! (I love all things Danny Elfman!)
Nina always wanted a child of her own. Now she has one.
Nina feels trapped. Her partner Gary is controlling, his daughter hates her, and she’s recently suffered a miscarriage. Just as her life seems hopeless, Alex, the son she gave up for adoption nearly 20 years ago, shows up at her door. Somehow, he has tracked her down.
Their reunion is everything Nina has hoped for. Now she has a child of her own, someone in the family who really cares about her.
But honeymoons are brief and this one is no exception.
Far from welcoming him, Gary is hostile to Alex and as their arguments become increasingly vicious, it soon becomes clear that Nina must choose between them.
But how will the abusive Gary react if she rejects him? And can she trust Alex? Is he really the loving son he seems to be – or does he have a sinister agenda of his own?
Iain Maitland is the author of three previous psych thrillers for Inkubator Books: The Soulmate, The Perfect Husband and The Girl Downstairs.
Iain is also the author of two memoirs, Dear Michael, Love Dad, a book of letters written to his eldest son who experienced depression and anorexia, and (co-authored with Michael) Out Of The Madhouse.
He has also written a semi-autobiographical novel, The Old Man, His Dog & Their Longest Journey.
He is an Ambassador for Stem4, the teenage mental health charity. He talks regularly about mental health issues in schools and colleges and workplaces.
My thoughts: Nina hasn’t had a very happy life, her parents were very strict and used their religious beliefs as a stick – and when she got pregnant as a teenager sent her to an even stricter aunt and forced her to give up her son. She even lost her boyfriend when his family moved away.
Now she’s in a relationship with the rather repugnant Gary and his awful daughter Chloe is also living in her house. She’s recently lost a baby, one she wanted.
When a young man knocks on the door and claims he’s her long lost son Alex, she’s overcome. And immediately feels a connection – instantly feeling as though everything’s coming together.
But Gary is suspicious of this sudden “cousin” who is now staying with them. And despite his own nastiness, might be right. Monsters often recognise each other. As the situation in the house deteriorates, and Gary’s past starts to catch up with him too, Nina feels like she’s losing something. A chance encounter with her lost love, Ryan, her teenage boyfriend (and Alex’s father) gives her a spark of hope, but it might be too late…
Loads of shocking twists and turns, that I did not see coming, this is gripping, OMG stuff, clever and well written, and with an ending that throws in more surprises, I felt so bad for Nina, nothing in her life has gone well and she’s so desperate for happiness.
Click to access more info on the tour
*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 