The lost city of Atlantis was cursed to the sky, and it falls upon one girl, with the help of an Atlantian refugee and a ragtag band of space pirates, to return the magical city to the ground.
Welcome to the tour for Atlantis by Amy Cip!
Atlantis Rising
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy
The lost city of Atlantis was cursed to the sky, and it falls upon one girl, with the help of an Atlantian refugee and a ragtag band of space pirates, to return the magical city to the ground.
When an accident on the mainland leaves her parents dead and her sister in long term care, Ember Weathers is forced to drop out of school to run her parents’ bookstore in Devil’s Fork, Maine. Her only excitement is her pet dragon, who no one else can see. At least not until an attractive stranger named Shepherd walks in seeking her mother’s art. Before she can get any answers from him, hellhounds chase them to the relative safety of a woman named Maryse, who turns out to be no friend at all, but another seeker of Atlantis who will do anything to see the island returned.
They’re rescued by a band of space pirates led by Captain Hawkins who are ancestors of Atlantis that seek and protect survivors from the curse of the Atlantian King’s brother. Ember has a choice to stay with this band of survivors or pursue the return of Atlantis. In her quest, she’ll be forced to seek out Maryse, who holds her sister hostage, as well as discover the secrets of Shepherd’s past, including the dark magic allowing him to live hundreds of years. In the end, it’s Ember who must go alone if she’s to free her sister and return the island of magic and love to the world.
Fans of Holly Black, Rebecca Ross, Sarah J. Maas, Lauren Roberts, Kiera Cass, Tracy Wolff, and Jennifer L. Armentrout will enjoy Amy Cip.
We have a fantastic book rec for you all today! Check out new release, The Legend of Rosa by Jasmine Hernandez!
The Legend of Rosa (The Rosa Chronicles Book 1)
Release Date: October 10, 2025
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy
Cover Artist: @alrun.art
Superhero Origin Story
Magical Realism
Crime/Thriller
Romance
Revenge Story
In the shadows of Tampa, Florida, a ruthless gang leader known as El Cazador wreaks havoc, leaving a trail of terror and cryptic tarot cards at each crime scene. The Tower card, a haunting omen of destruction, is his sinister signature.
Florence, a determined and sharp-witted attorney, is thrust into this dark world when her fiancé, Kevin, is brutally murdered on the night of their engagement. Devastated and fueled by vengeance, Florence discovers her engagement ring now holds mystical powers, transforming her into Rosa, a fearless and powerful superhero.
With her newfound powers, Rosa vows to avenge Kevin’s death and dismantle El Cazador’s reign of terror. By day, Florence continues her investigative work as an attorney, gathering clues and intel. By night, Rosa takes to the streets, using her magical abilities to protect the innocent and bring justice to Tampa.
From the sun-kissed streets of Tampa to the darkest corners of the underworld, Rosa’s quest for vengeance becomes a legendary force. Will she outsmart El Cazador and shatter his grip on the city, or will his cunning prove too powerful?
The Legend of Rosa is a thrilling tale of love, loss, and redemption, infused with magical realism and Latin American culture.
The book contains mature themes, violence, and murder.
It’s been eighteen months since the Enceladons escaped the clutches of an American military determined to exterminate the peaceful alien creatures.
Lennox and Vonnie have been lying low in the Scottish Highlands, Ava has been caring for her young daughter Chloe, and Heather is adjusting to her new life with Sandy and the other Enceladons in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Greenland. But fate is about to bring them together again for one last battle.
When Lennox and Vonnie are visited by Karl Jensen, a Norwegian billionaire intent on making contact with the Encedalons again, they are wary of subjecting the aliens to further dangers. But when word arrives that Ava’s daughter has suffered an attack and might die without urgent help, they reluctantly make the trip to Greenland, where they enlist the vital help of local woman Niviaq. It’s not long before they’re drawn into a complex web of lies, deceit and death.
What is Karl’s company really up to? Why are sea creatures attacking boats? Why is Sandy acting so strangely, and why are polar bears getting involved?
Profound, ambitious and moving, The Transcendent Tide is the epic conclusion to the Encedalons Trilogy, and a final showdown between the best and worst of humanity, the animal kingdom and the Encedalons. The future of life on earth will be changed forever, but not everyone will survive to see it…
Doug Johnstone is the author of 18 previous novels, most recently Living Is a Problem (2024) and The Collapsing Wave (2024). The Big Chill (2020) was longlisted for Theakston Crime Novel of the Year, and Black Hearts was shortlisted for the same award. Three of his books, A Dark Matter (2020), Breakers (2019) and The Jump (2015), have been shortlisted for the McIlvanney Prize for Scottish Crime Novel of the Year.
He’s taught creative writing and been writer in residence at various institutions over the last decade, and has been an arts journalist for over twenty years. Doug is a songwriter and musician with six albums and three EPs released, and he plays drums for the Fun Lovin’ Crime Writers. He’s also co-founder of the Scotland Writers Football Club, and has a PhD in nuclear physics. He lives in Edinburgh.
My thoughts: We reach the end of the story of the Enceledons and their time on Earth, Sandy, Xander and the others have reached a place of safety in Greenland, or so it seems. Lennox and Vonnie are students studying sealife in Scotland, Ava is trying to adjust to life with Chloe, who still doesn’t speak. Heather and the other humans who chose to go with Sandy are slowly changing into hybrid human/Enceledons, deep in the Arctic Ocean.
But danger is coming their way. A billionaire obsessed with the aliens is trying to find them, and reaches out to Lennox and Vonnie. They’re reluctant, but Chloe becomes life-threateningly ill and only Sandy and co can help.
Events take a shocking and horrifying turn and once again the Enceledons and their friends are at risk. Changes have also been taking place in the ocean, the residents of the depths are fighting back (like the whales we’ve probably all seen online tipping fishing boats) and the local Inuit community get involved too.
I was fascinated by the descriptions of the lives of the native Greenlanders, how they have managed to preserve and protect their traditions despite the Danish attempts to colonise them.
I did cry, there are some very sad and upsetting moments and I freely admit to being a typically soppy animal lover, and feeling guilty for occasionally eating meat and fish. I also really love Sandy and his friends, these huge, gentle creatures who come to Earth for sanctuary, and find only violence abd death. I want to press copies of this trilogy into the hands of every corrupt politician and business owner and beg them to remember we aren’t the only lifeforms on this planet.
*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 One More Chance by Reno R. Mist! Read on for more details!
One More Chance (Heretical Gods #1)
Release Date: June 30, 2025
Genre: Dark Psychological Romance/ Time Travel
Adult Romance
Angsty
Dark Romance,
Romantic Suspense
Betrayal and Redemption
Paranormal Romance (Time Travel)
Dystopian Romance
Vengeance
Infidelity
Second Chances
Groveling
Strong FMC
LOVE IS A DAGGER.
After dying in a devastating car crash, Levi wakes up twelve years in the past, back at the moment he walked out on the love of his life. His marriage to Sloane is shattered by betrayal, and his family left in ruins. But now, with the knowledge of everything he’s lost, and everything that’s coming, he’s been given one impossible gift: a second chance.
This time, Levi will do anything to make things right. To prove to Sloane that he sees her now, and show her that she was always the one for him – even if he has to spend the rest of his life proving it.
As the world quietly begins to crumble, Levi and Sloane must confront the wreckage of their past while fighting to protect their children and each other. Through heartbreak, healing, and the slow rekindling of a once-shattered love, they’ll discover that survival isn’t just about enduring the end – it’s about choosing one another, again and again.
First book of a gripping dark psychological romance series where time bends, betrayal cuts deep, and redemption demands everything.
Welcome to the ARC tour for Dot Slash Magic, a truly genre-blurring with magic, AI and punk culture, and spice, all in an academy setting! Follow #rrbtDotSlashMagicTour for early reviews and more!
Dot Slash Magic
Expected Release Date: August 19, 2025
Genre: Spicy Urban Romantasy/ “Romantas-topian”
Perfect for fans of I am Number Four and Zodiac Academy
Tropes:
Romantas-topian
Academy setting
Found family
Forced proximity
Strangers to lovers
Slow burn
New adult
Micro Tropes:
☆Unique Magic System
☆Bonkers Spice
☆College Setting
☆Punk Vibes
☆🍆Jokes
☆Monsters & Mayhem
☆Enby & Ace Folks
☆Cat
Blurb:
When twenty-something coder Seven Jones goes back to school at a community college in San Diego, the last thing she wants is to join some stupid club. And the last thing she expects is for that club to be an underground magic club. Like, actual wizards and sh*t.
Surrounded by a motley crew of magic weirdos, Seven discovers her own power and struggles to control it…until she figures out how to channel her magic through an artificially intelligent computer program.
But when terrifying creatures from all sorts of mythologies show up and start hunting students, Seven fears her magic AI is somehow summoning them. When another student is killed, blame falls on Seven and her “artificial magic.”
With only one person – cute ex-Navy seal Logan – on her side, Seven fights for her life against the monsters, and struggles to convince everyone that her AI has nothing to do with them.
But how can she convince her peers when she isn’t totally convinced herself?
Dot Slash Magic is a “Romantas-topian” about love and friendship and how we can work together to bring down the real bad guys.
My thoughts: Seven agrees to go to college in exchange for her late uncle’s boat, Dragonfly, to use as her home. She signs up for some courses, not entirely sure what she wants to do. A coder, one of the courses is in computing, she has to design a program, which she does. Only Dot is a little more sentient than most AI.
At the same time Seven has also stumbled into a secret club operating at the college. A club of magic users – not wizards, and not all very friendly. Seven it seems has magic powers and with the help of Dot, she can do all sorts of things, like levitate. But something has gone terribly wrong.
This was a really fun read, I liked Seven, I felt for her as she struggles to fit in and make friends, being a bit older than some of the other students and a bit socially awkward. She is a good person, nothing she’s done is malicious. Not intentionally.
I’m keen to see what happens next, as the end third of the story is very different and puts a different spin on the preceding story so it would be interesting to see how it proceeds.
How beautiful is this cover? Fans of K-Drama and time travel will love Where Fireflies Dwell by Samantha J. Won!
Where Fireflies Dwell
Release Date: January 2025
Genre: YA Time Trave Romance/ LGBTQAI+/ K Drama Vibes
Enemies to lovers
Best friends to enemies
Time travel
BL, LGBTQ Rep
Family
Time travel is not a choice. It’s a curse.
Ri Yunho and his best friend, Jo Wooju, have it all. With the immense fame and wealth that come with being two of the most popular Korean Hallyu actors in their generation, the pair jump from one wild success to another. But when Yunho’s life is shattered after a heinous allegation by Wooju leaves him in prison, he’s forced to grapple with the reasons behind his best friend’s betrayal.
As if to salvage his life from the ruin it has become, Yunho mysteriously meets a magical entity and is transported back to his teens, where he is given one chance at redemption—to reshape his future and uncover the truth behind Wooju’s backstabbing.
Caught up in a mounting conspiracy that will force Yunho to reconsider everything he knew about his former best friend, he’ll need to delve into the past and find the shadowy figure pulling the strings that led to his imprisonment.
Can Yunho unravel the web of secrets behind Wooju’s betrayal? Or has his fate already been decided?
Where Fireflies Dwell is a story about friendship, family, and youth. But most importantly, it’s about what it means to love unconditionally.
We’re celebrating the release of The Sundered Stars with a tour, and we’re thrilled to announce that it’s now available!
The Sundered Stars (The Starborne Saga Book 1)
Publication Date: May 19, 2025
Genre: Sci-Fi Fantasy
Comps: Guardians of the Galaxy x Star Wars
Tropes & Story Elements:
🌌 Bounty hunter FMC with chronic pain
🗡️ Tattooed warrior MMC with healing magic & a kind heart
✨ Space empires at war
☄️ Magic AND energy weapons
🌌 A hunt for lost divine artifacts
🗡️ Ragtag found family you’ll adore
✨ Dislike to allies to slow burn lovers (it’s about the yearning 🤌)
☄️ Epic—if not chaotic—battles
🌌 She’s overly protective of her ship
🗡️ He falls first
Betrayal is just the beginning…
After a decade of hunting the Federation’s deadliest criminals, Mora “Mo” Cevi is done risking her life—but she needs a way out. So, when a lucrative military contract lands in her lap, she takes it despite her mistrust of the government.
Steadfast leader Ezra Lyre has dedicated sixteen years to the Federation Space Command, climbing the ranks to become one of the military’s most revered Vanguards. But when he’s assigned to protect a group of archaeologists on a remote dig, he’s confused. The Federation is at war, and he should be on the front lines, not babysitting scholars.
Mo has been fighting Ezra’s orders for days, until a group of traitors steal a treasured artifact, and he needs her to help him bring them to justice. With the Federation rejecting their concerns, they pursue the thieves on their own.
But as their manhunt tangles them in a web of dangerous conspiracies, Mo and Ezra find themselves racing to stop a threat that could destroy the Federation—if their enemies don’t destroy them first.
Skylark in the Fog was the 9th place finalist in BBNYA 2024!
About BBNYA
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists (16 in 2024) and one overall winner. If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
So when the universe falls to pieces, it doesn’t mean your life has to, right? That comes later.
Jeane Blake, captain of the spaceship Skylark, makes her living by looting dead worlds, planets fallen prey to naturally occurring wormhole-like rifts plaguing the cosmos. She survives the only way she knows how: avoiding commitment and arguing with her dead foster father’s ghost. But when her crew stumbles upon an alien device that could collapse the wormhole network and wipe out all sentient life, they catch the hungry eyes of the Union, a tyrannical empire hunting the sinister tech.
As she flees the Union’s brainwashed agents, Jeane is forced to take on a shady mission and gets stuck assisting the runaway monarch of a technocrat planet. Queen Maura Tholis is seeking the aid of an interstellar resistance to reclaim her war-torn world, with another trouble-magnet device as her bargaining chip: a glove that allows her to command AI systems. Jeane couldn’t care less about the whole deal, but things become personal when the Union annexes the place she calls home. And it might be her fault.
Reluctant to become weapons in the hands of power-hungry militants and desperate rebels, smuggler and queen join forces. But to save their homes, they must redefine themselves, work with the enemy, and face personal traumas they’d buried long ago-and only stars know which challenge might break them in the end.
Helyna L. Clove (she/they) is a lover of the written word, hot comfort drinks, a universe full of stars, and all things neat and kind. She was born in 1988 in Hungary, and was raised in a small village a few miles off the shores of Lake Balaton. Described as someone always having “her head in the clouds”, she spent the first fifteen years of her life mostly consuming books from her dad’s home library, watching some great 90’s sci-fi series and movies, slowly working on her eclectic music taste, and dreaming about being abducted by cool alien friends.
After the arduous years of acquiring her astrophysics degree (because if they were not coming for her, she would damn well at least try and spy on those aliens) she worked as a researcher in Budapest, moving onto the green pastures of South-France in 2018, then Wales in 2022, where she currently lives with her small family of a wonderful boyfriend and Puddle, the tortoiseshell cat. She spends most of her time commandeering telescopes, staring at molecular spectra, writing/reading, cooking, playing video games, and trying her hand at different crafts.
Although she has been, as the Hungarians say, writing to her desk drawer since she was a kindergartener, it wasn’t until 2019 that she stepped out into the world with her stories. In the hell-year of 2020 she finished her first full-length novel, Skylark in the Fog, a light-hearted but honest space opera featuring a grumpy spaceship captain and her wayward friends on a quest to find their metaphorical (and maybe literal) homes, and, if everything goes well which it rarely does, to save the universe as well.
Her current projects include Imbued and Untwined, a new adult/adult dark fantasy duology about magic and love and how those might break the world, a paranormal horror about a team of demonhunters, several other speculative story ideas, and the so-far-untitled sequel to the adventures of the Skylark-crew.
My thoughts: I loved this, it’s exactly the kind of sci-fi I enjoy, a crew of misfits, an impossible mission, chaos, adventure, secrets, overthrowing the evil empire. And it was just lots of fun. Jeane was my favourite, after ALU, that little tin can with its mysterious origin, love of helping and strong bonds of friendship, too cute.
Although if I’m really honest, I loved the whole gang – not a duff character among them. And poor Skylark, definitely here for Skylark 2: Taping the ship back together.
Jeane takes on a quick pick up job for an old friend, while avoiding the Union (evil empire) who are hunting their ship, because of the super secret alien tech they previously collected. Then they get involved in about three wars all at once. Everyone is forced to reckon with their families and upbringing, Jeane almost dies inside an AI system, the evil empire keeps trying to kill everyone, some stuff explodes, some people die (boo!) and then the gang goes their separate ways…which I did not like.
I really hope when book 2 arrives, my new pals are reunited, the evil empire is less evil and Jeane gets to smile occasionally, even though her permanently grumpy mood is very funny. Look, I loved this, it filled a sci-fi hole that I didn’t know I had.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
The Hero Virus tells the thrilling story of Chris Taylor, who is hanging on to life by a thread. Recently widowed, his only reason to carry on is his faithful Labrador, but even that doesn’t stop his willingness to gamble with death every day. When his companion suffers a violent demise, Taylor thinks he has nothing left to live for, until he discovers he has chanced upon a precious gift… when he gets very ill.
The sickness gives him powers and, fairly soon, the authorities are swooping on to the ever-increasing list of cases. The Hero Virus might be different to other illnesses, but it’s no less dangerous. The effect it has on the world, though, is wildly different to any other virus that has come before. The unique reaction of the human body to infection means that everyone wants it. And some will do anything to get it.
How do you stop a pandemic when there are people who will kill for the virus? How do you stop people getting infected when they’re willing to die for it? How do you stop the infected when they have abilities nobody has ever seen before?
The Hero Virus is the second novel from Russell Dumper, after releasing Britannia Rises to widespread acclaim last year, winning him three categories in the 2024 Bookstagram Awards, for Debut Author, Thriller and Historical Fiction. He lives in the east of England with his family and still has many more books in the pipeline. Next, he will be concentrating on The Britannia Series, more of which will be released in the near future. Instagram handle – russ2000_uk
My thoughts: Chris has had a really terrible time, his wife and unborn baby were killed by a drunk driver, he’s struggling to find meaning in his life and then his beloved dog dies too. Falling ill is the last in a long line of bad things, and then he wakes up. Four days have passed and he’s bizarrely strong. Like super hero strong.
As more and more people become infected with this strange new virus – 50% develop powers, the other 50% tragically die, scientists are trying to solve it. A vaccine, a cure, anything, as it’s getting out of control. Some of the powers people develop are truly rubbish, others are extremely dangerous. And one man discovers he can absorb others’ new gifts. Could he be a cure? Or will he become a megalomaniac intent on world domination? Can Chris stop this from happening and will the scientists ever find a way to halt this virus and save lives?
I liked Chris, he never loses his humanity, despite being patient zero and developing this new super strength. He just wants to live his life quietly and for as short a time as possible, considering his losses. Instead he’s being poked and prodded in the name of science, and then asked to basically save the world. Can a man be miserable in peace?
The virus at first seems amazing, but people continue to be people, and are the worst. Trying to get infected in case you’re in the 50% who don’t die, and then your power is that you can make people piss themselves if you touch them? Sounds rubbish. (If you’ve seen the show Extraordinary you might see what I mean, some people’s powers are really crap).
And when they’re rounding up infected people and putting them into comas while the scientists try to unravel the virus? That’s not exactly better. I think I’d rather not bother.
This is an interesting exercise in what happens to people, some get greedy and one goes way, way too far, power corrupts and all that. But Chris remains a bastion of genuine niceness in all of this, yes being super strong is pretty cool, but it doesn’t make him an arrogant monster, and that’s really intriguing.
*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 ARC tour for The Lies that Hide Within! Pre-order now for only $0.99!
The Lies That Hide Within
Expected Publication Date: March 25, 2025
Genre: Dark Dystopian Sci-Fi
If Black Widow & Captain America got together…
Villain redemption arc
Even more steamy slow burn romance than Book 1 (but still a subplot)
Only one tent
Plot twists that make you go😱
Feels like an action movie It’s 𝑹𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑬𝒗𝒊𝒍 with the found family & humor of 𝒁𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, the ragtag team & heists of 𝑩𝒂𝒃𝒚 𝑫𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓, the mind-bending plot twists of 𝑺𝒉𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒅, & the quirky, fast-paced action of 𝑲𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒏: 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑮𝒐𝒍𝒅𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝒊𝒓𝒄𝒍𝒆.
Penny finally has the one thing she’s always wanted—her brother, back from the dead.
Problem is, he hates her guts—and he should, after the tragedy she brought upon him. Voted “most likely to stab someone in the face” in high school, making nice was never Penny’s strong suit. But for her little brother? She’d do anything.
Even team up with the ever-present thorn in her side and her brother’s favorite human being on f*cking planet Earth, Mal, the giant, hulking, infuriating general. And, unfortunately, her general.
I’d rather punch myself in the face than work with that thunderous oaf.
The Lies That Hide Within is perfect for fans who wonder what it would be like if Black Widow and Captain America ended up together…Book 2 of The Darkness Duology blends Resident Evil with the humor & found family of Zombieland, action/adventure like Kingsman: The Golden Circle, unlikely allies & heists like Baby Driver, and mind-bending twists like Shutter Island.
ramblingmads 