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Friday, March 24, 2023

Review: The Writing Retreat by Julia Bartz

Author: Julia Bartz
Publisher: Atria
Publication date: February 2023

A book deal to die for.
Five attendees are selected for a month-long writing retreat at the remote estate of Roza Vallo, the controversial high priestess of feminist horror. Alex, a struggling writer, is thrilled.

Upon arrival, they discover they must complete an entire novel from scratch, and the best one will receive a seven-figure publishing deal. Alex’s long-extinguished dream now seems within reach.

But then the women begin to die.

Trapped, terrified yet still desperately writing, it is clear there is more than a publishing deal at stake at Blackbriar Estate. Alex must confront her own demons – and finish her novel – to save herself.

This unhinged, propulsive, claustrophobic closed-door thriller will pull you in and spit you out…

The Writing Retreat is a isolation, closed door story about five women who are invited to a month long writing retreat with their favorite female horror author.  The writers each have their own reason for being there and they all hold secrets.  I ended up really enjoying this one.  

This is definitely not what I was expecting, but in a good way. About halfway through the story, it took a very dark turn with a twist that I didn't see coming.  It's kind of hard to describe without giving anything away.  The story is told through Alex's perspective.  I really liked her character and where she ended up at the end of the book.  This is a book where you are better off not knowing much about it before going in, so give it a try.  I highly recommend it.  This is the author's debut novel and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next.




Thursday, March 23, 2023

Spotlight: Peace in the Midst of the Storm by Kaleb Thompson

 



Book Details:

Book Title:  Peace in the Midst of the Storm by Kaleb Thompson
Category:  Adult Non-Fiction (18+), 86 pages
Genre:  Poetry
Publisher:  Wipf and Stock
Release date:   December, 2021
Content RatingG because it provides positive, wholesome content through spiritual poetry that seeks to encourage and inspire others.
Book Description:

Anxiety and fear seek to prey on the damaged and create heavy burdens that scar the soul, being heartless and insensitive to the lost, unkempt, and broken-spirited in a troubled, unwholesome world. However, they do not reign for eternity, as faith, resilience, and empowerment remain planted from within to help overcome pressing obstacles, regardless of how difficult they may be. Peace in the Midst of the Storm primarily focuses on the beauty of positivity, selflessness, and honorable confidence that symbolizes the importance of light being present within darkness. This book also holds accountability in facing the realization that as life may prove frustrating at times, giving up is never an option! This shows that regardless of our mistakes, life does not promise us that we will remain positioned in negativity. What we were in our pasts will not seep into who we have grown to be as positive individuals. What we have now realized is that we often must prepare to speak victory over our storms and, as we continue to encourage ourselves to do that, we will overcome anything.
Buy the Book:
Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ Target
Books-a-Million ~ Walmart ~ BookBub
add to the goodread

Meet the Author:

Kaleb Thompson is a dedicated and optimistic individual who enjoys living life to the fullest. Being a native of North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Kaleb received his Bachelor's degree and Master's Degree from Coastal Carolina University where he has valued much of his educational experience and career within the hospitality and tourism industry. He has recently started to write poetry to not only inspire others but to help relieve stress as a whole.

connect to the author: website goodreads


PEACE IN THE MIDST OF THE STORM Spotlight Book Tour Giveaway




Wednesday, March 22, 2023

Spotlight: More Than Cocoa by Christine DePetrillo

 More Than Cocoa by Christine DePetrillo is out now! Check out the gorgeous small town romance be sure to grab your copy today!

Title: More Than Cocoa
Author: Christine DePetrillo
Genre: Small Town Romance

How could he have betrayed his own brother? His identical twin brother. The only true family he’d ever had.
 
Detective Rachel Lorensen has played so many roles in her undercover work with the Boston Police Department that she’s not entirely sure who she is anymore. Taking down the bad guys satisfies her and she loves the thrill of solving difficult cases, but something is missing in her life. Something she thought she had once. Something she wouldn’t mind having again.

Former news anchor Harris Wilder just completed sixteen months in jail for making some bad decisions. Though his brother has offered him a place to crash, he is eager to get his life back on track, but ties to his former journalistic glory have all been cut. He’s facing a complete reinvention of himself and doesn’t know where to start. He’d thought life on the outside would be easier than prison life. Now he isn’t so sure.

When one steamy kiss mistakenly gets Harris involved in Rachel’s latest undercover case, the safety of seventeen missing women is on the line.

So is the mending of two broken hearts.


 
Catching Up with the Series:
More Than Pancakes
More Than Cookies
More Than Rum
More Than Pizza
More Than Cocoa
More Than Peaches
More Than Candy Corn
 

About the Author:
Christine DePetrillo can often be found hugging trees, conversing with dragonflies, and walking barefoot through sun-warmed soil. She finds joy in listening to the wind, bathing in moonlight, and breathing in the fragrances of things that bloom. If she had her way, the sky would be the only roof over her head.
 
Her love of nature seeps into every story she tells. As does her obsession with bearded mountain men who build, often smell like sawdust, and know how to cherish the women they love. Today she writes tales meant to make you laugh, maybe make you sweat, and definitely make you believe in the power of love.
 
She lives in Vermont with her husband and many woodland creatures who defend her fiercely from all evils.
 
Connect with the Author:
Website | Newsletter | Bookbub | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Tiktok
 

Tuesday, March 21, 2023

Blog Tour: Excerpt & Giveaway for Timeless and Timeless Encore Duet by Kaylene Winter

 


Timeless: Zane & Fiona
by Kaylene Winter
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
 
Goodreads
 
Purchase:
Amazon

TIMELESS:
A Steamy, Coming-of-Age, Friends-To-Lovers, Rockstar Romance
“I vowed nothing would keep us apart…”
Fiona Reynolds is my other half.
It’s been that way from the day I was born.
I’ve dedicated my life to keep my promise.
Fate just laughs in our face.
She’s always out of reach, this time for good.
I’ll do anything to prove she’s my destiny –
if only she’d trust me one more time.

“After what I’ve done, how can I deserve him?”
Zane Rocks is my everything.
There’s no one I love or trust more than him.
It wasn’t his fault when he left me.
I always knew he’d find his way back.
Fear overwhelmed me, and I broke his heart.
Will the most celebrated musician on the planet,
really give me another chance?

When a rash decision changes their lives forever, hope for their future is all but shattered.
Stakes are high.

But Zane’s determined to prove a love this pure is TIMELESS.

TIMELESS ENCORE:
A steamy, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance between a sexy billionaire rockstar and his plus-size soulmate
“Restraint is not my strong suit.”

I’m finally reunited with the woman I’ve loved since birth.
Why do I feel so untethered?
Fiona’s living her dream and I’m doing my best to support her.
But, with so many dark secrets revealed, my very foundation is rocked to the core.
Will we ever outrun our past to have the life we deserve?

“My lifelong dream blew up in spectacular fashion”
Zane and I overcame many obstacles to achieve our destiny.
We’re best friends and soulmates—with a love life other couples only dream of.
Anxiety and self-doubt still threaten my confidence.
When neither of us have reconciled our past,
Can we find the courage to embrace our future?
Happily ever after can mean so many things.
Life happens.
Faith is tested.
Will Zane and Fiona overcome decades of deception?

Is true love really TIMELESS?

TIMELESS ENCORE is Book 8 in the Less Than Zero Rockstar Romance Series, and is the sequel to TIMELESS
It is strongly recommended you read Books 1-4 before reading any of the “ENCORE” sequels, otherwise you’ll be spoiled
!

 
Here is a sneak peek:

It’s kind of like being suspended in time when you drown.
Slowly you slip down, sinking farther and farther into a vast, aqua-blue ocean. At first, the sun flitters at the surface, making the sea look like glittery, blue diamonds. It’s like heaven. Dreamlike. Floaty. Beautiful.
Once the light begins to dissipate, suddenly your surroundings feel ominous. The water feels heavy, not light. Stifling. Claustrophobic. The sea turns midnight blue. Then it is so dark you can’t even see your hand inches from your face.
That’s when survival instinct kicks in. Arms sluice upward. Your legs scissor and kick in attempt to reach the surface. All you want is to find the light again. Just one more time.
All of this happens in a minute, though it feels like hours. Days. Weeks. Years.
But it’s too late. Your lungs fill. When you try to breathe, all you do is suck water into your windpipe. You panic. Flail. Gasp. Scream. Fight with everything you have, because if you don’t reach the surface…
I shoot up in bed, clutching my chest. Gulping in air. Tears stream down my face. I can’t catch my breath. My heart pounds.
Goddammit.
This sucks so bad. I can’t keep having these drowning dreams. They’re freaking me the fuck out.
I’m pulled from behind into a full-body hug.
“Your doctor said this would pass in another week or two. Stick with it, Fee. Subconsciously you know I’d never let you drown.” He nuzzles my neck with his scruffy face, tickling me a bit.
I lean back against Zane. My best friend. My lover. My everything from the day I was born. “I know you wouldn’t. It’s just a lot freakier than they said it would be. If I’d known it was this hard to wean myself off Xanax, I’d never have started taking it in the first place.”
”You’ve been under tremendous amounts of stress with Mia’s custody stuff for so long, babe.” Zane eases me down so he’s spooning me. “It was either that or not sleeping. Now that Corey-fucking-Johnson is firmly in the rearview mirror, you just need a little recoup time and you’ll be as good as new. The world is ours for the taking. At-fucking-last.”
My entire body relaxes against him. “Yeah, I knew I had to stop when I realized I was taking double my dose. There’s no way I’m going down that path. Obviously.”
Addiction has taken so much away from my man, there’s no way I’d ever do that to him. Not after we’ve overcome so much to have our happily ever after.
 
AUTHOR BIO:

When she was only 15, Kaylene Winter wrote her first rocker romance novel starring a fictionalized version of herself, her friends and their gorgeous rocker boyfriends. After living her own rockstar life as a band manager, music promoter and mover and shaker in Seattle during the early 1990’s, Kaylene became a digital media legal strategist helping bring movies, television and music online. Throughout her busy career, Kaylene lost herself in romance novels across all genres inspiring her to realize her life-long dream to be a published author. She lives in Seattle with her amazing husband and dog. She loves to travel, throw lavish dinner parties and support charitable causes supporting arts and animals.

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Monday, March 20, 2023

Review: Episode Thirteen by Craig DiLouie

Author: Craig DiLouie
Publisher: Redhook 
Publication Date: January 2023

Fade to Black is the newest hit ghost hunting reality TV show. Led by husband and wife team Matt and Claire Kirklin, it delivers weekly hauntings investigated by a dedicated team of ghost hunting experts. Episode Thirteen takes them to every ghost hunter's holy grail: the Paranormal Research Foundation. This brooding, derelict mansion holds secrets and clues about bizarre experiments that took place there in the 1970s. It's also famously haunted, and the team hopes their scientific techniques and high tech gear will prove it. But as the house begins to reveal itself to them, proof of an afterlife might not be everything Matt dreamed of. A story told in broken pieces, in tapes, journals, and correspondence, this is the story of Episode Thirteen -- and how everything went terribly, horribly wrong.

Episode Thirteen is a "found footage" story about a crew of ghost hunters featured on a hit show called Fade to Black.  Married couple, Matt and Claire and their team are having success on the show.  Matt is the believer and Claire is the scientific skeptic.  In the thirteenth episode, they  head to a haunted mansion where a group of scientists disappeared in the 70s.  This is their story.

First, I think best way to consume this book is through audiobook.  It has a full cast of characters and sound effects.  It helped set the atmosphere of the house and the events that happen to the Fade to Black crew. I really enjoyed it. I liked the characters and found myself rooting for all of them. I liked Claire's character the most.  With me being a scientist, I could identify with her skepticism the best. 

The book set up in typical "found footage" form.  Raw video footage and recordings are mixed in with media excerpts and journal entries. The "audience" is left to try to decide if it all really happened or not.  I  am a sucker for found footage movies, so I knew this was right up my alley.   I think this would make a fun movie.  Do they make it out alive?  You'll have to read to find out.  I highly recommend this one.


Sunday, March 19, 2023

Review: A Sliver of Darkness by C.J. Tudor

Author: C.J. Tudor
Publisher: Ballantine Books (Random House)
Publication Date: November 2022

The debut short story collection from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man, featuring ten bone-chilling and mind-bending tales

Timeslips. Doomsday scenarios. Killer butterflies. C. J. Tudor's novels are widely acclaimed for their dark, twisty suspense plots, but with A Sliver of Darkness, she pulls us even further into her dizzying imagination.

In Final Course, the world has descended into darkness, but a group of old friends make time for one last dinner party. In Runaway Blues, thwarted love, revenge, and something very nasty stowed in a hat box converge. In Gloria, a strange girl at a service station endears herself to a cold-hearted killer, but can a leopard really change its spots? And in I'm Not Ted, a case of mistaken identity has unforeseen, fatal consequences.

Riveting and explosively original, A Sliver of Darkness is C. J. Tudor at her most wicked and uninhibited.

A Sliver of Darkness is a horror anthology with eleven short stories.  I can genuinely say that I enjoyed all of the stories in this collection.  It's not often that I can say that as I am usually only half impressed.  This collection is what I expect when I want to read a horror anthology.  As I was reading, I felt nostalgia for early Stephen King horror anthologies like Skeleton Crew and Night Shift.  It was that good.

To start each story, the author gives us a peek into what motivated her to write the story.  All of the stories were creepy, twisted and disturbing.  It is hard to pick a favorite.  If I was hard pressed, I would have to say "Dust", "The Block" and "Final Course" are the ones that stuck with me the most.  I definitely think there is something in here for any horror fan.  I highly recommend it!




Friday, March 17, 2023

Review: Bad Dolls by Rachel Harrison

Author: Rachel Harrison
Publisher: Berkeley
Publication date: December 2022

In this stunning new collection of four horror stories, Bram Stoker Award nominee Rachel Harrison explores themes of body image, complicated female friendship, heartbreak and hauntings.

I think I'm going to have to admit to myself that this author is for me.  I have read 2 of her other books, which I gave 2 stars to) and DNF'd a third.  This is my final try.  I love horror anthologies so I had high hoped for Bad Dolls. The collection has four short stories.  Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy any of them.

Out of the four, the only one that I remotely kind of enjoyed was "Goblin".  I liked the twisted ending.  Other than that, the other three had promise.  The openings to the stories were intriguing enough to make me listen.  However, each one lost gas halfway through and just petered out.  Other than Goblin, none of them had great endings.  It felt like the author just didn't know how to end them, maybe?  This is probably on me.  When I read a horror anthology, I want horror.  None of these were close to what I would call horror.  They were essentially boring.  I think fans of this author will like these.  They just weren't for me.  


Thursday, March 16, 2023

Spotlight: Excerpt from Daughters of Nantucket by Julie Gerstenblatt

 


Author:
Julie Gerstenblatt 
Publication Date: March 14, 2023
ISBN: 9780778333425
Paperback Original 
Publisher: MIRA
Price $19.99

 “Gerstenblatt's distinctive tale, a triumph in storytelling, celebrates the courage and tenacity of women.” Booklist, starred review
 
Set against Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear.

Nantucket in 1846 is an island set apart not just by its geography but by its unique circumstances. With their menfolk away at sea, often for years at a time, women here know a rare independence—and the challenges that go with it.

Eliza Macy is struggling to conceal her financial trouble as she waits for her whaling captain husband to return from a voyage. In desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free Black woman trying to relocate her store to Main Street. Meanwhile, astronomer Maria Mitchell loves running Nantucket’s Atheneum and spending her nights observing the stars, yet she fears revealing the secret wishes of her heart.

On a sweltering July night, a massive fire breaks out in town, quickly kindled by the densely packed wooden buildings. With everything they possess now threatened, these three very different women are forced to reevaluate their priorities and decide what to save, what to let go and what kind of life to rebuild from the ashes of the past.

Buy Links:
BookShop.org
Barnes & Noble
Amazon
IndieBound
 
Enjoy this excerpt!


ONE WEEK BEFORE THE FIRE 

Monday, July 6, 1846




ELIZA




IN THE HEAT of summer, gossip spreads through Nantucket town like wildfire.

Everyone on the island knows that, including Eliza Macy. Usually, Eliza enjoys the chatter of the women in town, the way her neighbors walk and talk with baskets of goods on their arms as they exchange tales along the busy, brick-paved and cobbled streets that lead to the harbor, where thousands of kegs of oil wait to be processed and shipped. Usually, she’s very much a part of that very chitchat. On any given Monday, she might lean in close over a barrel of grain at Adams and Parker as so-and-so says such-and-such about you-know-who. And although she’s not proud of it, Eliza has been known to follow a small cluster of ladies out of Hannah Hamblin’s candy store on Petticoat Row just to catch the end of a particularly juicy tidbit about a Starbuck or a Coffin, prominent families on the island, even if she hasn’t yet purchased the black licorice whips she came in for. But today turns out to be anything but an ordinary Monday, which is why Eliza isn’t out socializing in town.


The morning begins with a vexing conversation with her husband Henry in the kitchen of their stately Colonial home on Upper Main Street.

“But, what do you mean, Henry? How can you possibly stay out at sea when we need you here at home?” Eliza asks. There is no answer. Eliza continues. “I just wish you would be clearer in your intentions. Less obtuse. It can be so very frustrating to be married to you!”

Well, not a “conversation,” exactly. How can one possibly be speaking with one’s husband when he has been off at sea for almost four years? Conversations exist mostly in her mind—and when she’s really annoyed, aloud—in a pretend dialogue with an absentee man. In reality, these conversations are monologues, long letters sent back and forth across the globe. Delayed worries and emotions so stale that by the time they get a response, Eliza’s concerns have moved on to something else entirely. In a letter, Henry will present a solution to a problem three months old—the leak in the roof Eliza has since gotten fixed, the seasonal cold that one of their twin daughters Mattie has recovered from—and think he is being helpful! And so Eliza thanks her husband of twenty years for his thoughtful ideas and lets him believe anything he says from the Pacific Ocean is meaningful to her everyday existence. Then she tells him what she really thinks from her kitchen. Alone.


The letter from Henry she receives this morning, by way of a sailor passing through to Nova Scotia, is one such missive. On folded parchment, in his slanting script, Henry informs Eliza of his new plans. She reads the line aloud to herself, imagining Henry’s deep baritone filling their home. “Although I promised to be back on Nantucket this summer, my love, this trip has been delayed due to unforeseen complications,” his letter says.

Eliza is trying to enjoy a cup of tea, while sitting at the small table tucked under the windows in a corner of their bright kitchen. The tea tastes bland and watery, for she is trying to conserve sugar. And tea leaves. She reaches to the wooden shelf on the wall beside her, locating the dark glass bottle of laudanum, and adds a dash or two of the powder into her china cup. She closes her eyes and holds the bitter liquid in her mouth for a second to let it cool before swallowing. There. The hot tea is surprisingly refreshing as she gulps it down, one quick sip after another, knowing the medicine will do the trick and ease whatever ails her. Nerves. Loneliness. Headache. Heartburn. Three to four times a day, the dosage on the vial suggests. Better to take more than less, to ensure effectiveness. It’s readily available on the island, so Eliza can always get more at the apothecary when she runs out.

She reads the letter again.

“What unforeseen complications, Henry? Please do tell!”

Henry doesn’t specify, leaving her confused. What else is there possibly to do at sea but catch and kill whales, dismantle them by means of stinking, gory masculinity, and turn the massive mammals into profits? Isn’t that what the captain of a whaling ship does, for goodness’ sake? Grow his whiskers long and bark at his crew and risk life and limb in pursuit of oil?

He says only that he’s reached the port of New Orleans and not to worry.

A puzzle. Apart from the obvious annoyances this letter implies—that she and her children, who haven’t seen Henry for forty-plus months, will have to wait even longer for his presence—is the practical impact that delayed return will have. For Eliza Macy, on dry land, is out of household money. And, until Henry’s ship comes in, weighed down with its hundreds of barrels of oil, albeit liquid gold (God willing!), no more money is to be found. She has gotten used to trading candles for goods and services, but now she is even running low on them.

Eliza takes a break from her worries by calling out to her twins, getting ready for the day in their bedroom above the kitchen. “Girls! Breakfast! School!”


“Five more minutes, Mother!” one daughter calls down the stairs.

“Where is my satin hair ribbon?” the other yell-asks.

Sixteen-year-old identical twin girls. Eliza goes to the front hall where the acoustics are better for shouting, and aims her voice up the grand staircase. “Girls, you know I cannot tell your voices apart unless you are standing before me. I found a hair ribbon on the floor last night, but couldn’t see the color. It’s on my nightstand.”

Footfalls above. Then, “I don’t see it. Let’s just go to Jones’s Mercantile after school and buy new bows.” It’s Rachel. The girl peeks her head through the spindles in the banister.

“Oooo, that’s a lovely idea!” Mattie says, right beside her sister. “And then we can shop for summer dresses. Maybe something new for our upcoming birthday?”

“Maybe,” Eliza concedes. Although she knows there’s no way they’ll be doing that. She must keep her entitled daughters away from the mercantile! As the girls finish getting ready upstairs, Eliza heads into the kitchen to avoid hearing them. With a small knife, Eliza cuts an apple into very thin slices and divides them onto two china plates with a slice of buttered bread.


Until Henry’s ship comes in, their wealth is all theoretical, their profits floating in wooden barrels at sea. Eliza has no money on hand with which to pay for flour or cornmeal or music lessons. No coins for bolts of silk and wool to make party dresses for their sixteen-year-old twin daughters about to enter society. Just ink and a quill to write Henry’s name on a black line in a leather-bound book at the dry goods store and the doctor’s office, to record what the Macys owe and what they will pay back when his ship the Ithaca returns.

But when will the Ithaca return?

The rant that follows is also one-sided, as Eliza paces the kitchen alone, letter in hand, responding to Henry, her frustration causing her to speak much louder than she should. Keep your voice down, Eliza, she scolds herself, a reminder that Rachel and Mattie are probably listening in from the grand staircase in the hall.

Eliza takes a last sip of tea, her arms tingling with vague numbness caused by the powder she’s added, as her mind fills with a pleasant fog. She pops the apple core into her mouth and chews. The twin girls enter the kitchen, both starving, not understanding why they can’t have eggs and hash and corn fritters for their breakfast. After all, they have to walk to school, and they can’t very well learn while their stomachs grumble, can they? Eliza does her best to appease their appetites while not arousing their suspicion that something might be amiss.

But one quick glance between the twins—with identical pale blue eyes like their father’s—is all it takes for Eliza to know that they are alert to her every move. It’s probably too late for her to continue pretending all is fine when it isn’t. But keeping the girls calm and happy while their father is Lord Knows Where with a harpoon in his grasp has been her job for their entire lives, and she’s not about to shirk her responsibilities now. Better her girls be left in quiet darkness than to deal with the harsh light of day, that’s Eliza’s parenting motto. There’s only so much a girl needs to know.


And so Eliza lies. “I’m just so busy with house chores, I haven’t had a moment to get to the grocer. You’ll help me later with the last of the housework after school, won’t you? Then maybe we can talk about the mercantile for another day.”

The girls roll their eyes but nod that yes, they will. Then up and out they go. How Eliza has managed to raise such idle creatures, she’ll never know. At least Alice, the oldest of the three Macy daughters, has some ambition. But then again, Alice isn’t actually hers. She is Henry’s daughter with his first wife.

Eliza gathers together items for a package she’s been planning to send to Henry, adding a new note to the parcel. She tries to be measured in her response, although the point of her quill scratches through the parchment twice. She is frustrated by the miles and miles of time, oceans of time, between his words and her retort.

Eliza then spends the rest of the morning alone, washing dishes, changing and cleaning bed linens, dusting the wooden staircase, darning old stockings, and polishing the silver set that belonged to Henry’s mother in anticipation of having to sell it. It used to sit atop a beautiful mahogany sideboard, but Eliza sold that piece six months ago for cash to run the house. Now she keeps the silver in a cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. That way, when she sells it soon, she won’t miss it.

A sparse and unfulfilling lunch follows, stale brown bread with thin jam in the silence of her now clean kitchen. In these moments she misses her former housekeeper, Mrs. Charles, terribly. For her elbow grease, certainly, but even more so for the pleasant conversation. Eliza reads Henry’s letter again over a second cup of tea. Then she sees clearly what she must do next, in response to Henry’s delay. She has no choice.






Excerpted from Daughters of Nantucket. Copyright © 2023 by Julie Gerstenblatt. Published by MIRA Books.



Author Bio: 
 
Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown & Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.
 
Social Links:
Author Website: https://www.juliegerstenblatt.com/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Juliegerstenblattauthor 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juliegerstenblatt/ 
 

Wednesday, March 15, 2023

Release Blitz: Tidal Ides by Layne Daniels

 



by Layne Daniels
 
When the new theater director wants to shake up the routine, Candy Cane Key's mayor has some issues to take up with her. Readers who love Jessa Kane and Jamie Schlosser will enjoy Tidal Ides by Layne Daniels, a steamy, small town, enemies-to-lovers, beach romance.
 
My job as mayor of the most Christmasy town South of the North Pole comes with enough perks to overlook the headaches of municipal leadership. Most of the time. The new owner of Candy Cane Key’s Community Playhouse is putting that theory to the test.
 
Austie Norman, with her holly berry red lips and evergreen eyes, fits in perfectly. If I ignore the way she’s messing with tradition and making changes. And if I ignore the way she blazes past tradition and brings fresh energy to town. Definitely if I ignore the way she makes my heart trip over itself every time we argue about her plans to produce an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Ides of March. We can’t do Shakespeare when we’re meant to be doing Seuss. This is Candy Cane Key and people have certain expectations when they come here.
 
I can ignore all of that to fall in love. I just need to find a way to make Austie ignore all the ways I drive her crazy so she falls in love with me, too.
 
The MAN OF THE MONTH CLUB is a steamy small-town collection featuring a new hottie (or two!) every month. In 2023, escape to Candy Cane Key, Florida, and celebrate ALL the holidays with your favorite group of romance authors and their delicious men. Can’t wait to see you there!
 
 
Buy Now or Read FREE with KindleUnlimited!
 
Add to Goodreads Here!

 
About Layne Daniels

Layne is a USA Today Bestselling Author, a long time reader of steamy romance, and began writing her own stories in December of 2020. Her favorite books to read are about Daddy Doms, strong alpha men who fall in love with fierce women, and sex positive living. When she’s not writing, she’s wrangling her family of jocks into some semblance of chill, running a business, getting ALL the tattoos, and living her love-at-first-sight fairytale with Mr. Mine.
 
Follow: Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads | Bookbub | Amazon | Newsletter | Reader Group
 

Tuesday, March 14, 2023

Review: A Change in Tide by Freya Barker

Author: Freya Barker
Date of publication: April 2017

What impact would it have when everything suddenly faded to black?

For Mia, a crowded subway ride changes her entire life. Retreating to the wilderness helps her cope with a world that is suddenly too loud, too turbulent.
Her existence safely contained to the small cottage on the lake, she is unprepared for the neighbor that moves across the bay

A career-ending injury has Jared permanently benched. His reputation as The Enforcer won’t survive the unanticipated responsibilities awaiting him.
Away from the public eye, he adjust to his new reality, under the quiet observation of the intriguing hermit on the other side of the water.

A Change in Tide is the first book in the Northern Lights series. The book involves Mia, who suffers from PTSD and has chosen to live a life of solitude.  When a new man, Jared, moves in across the lake, her life is turned upside down.  Jared is retiring from hockey due to an injury and has set up a quiet sanctuary for him and his pregnant sister.   I really wanted to love this one.  However, it ended up being just OK.

One of the things that kind of turned me off of the book was the opening scene.  Mia's first glimpse of Jared is seeing him across the lake having sex on his dock with a random woman.  Not my preferred way to experience an opening scene of a romance.  The rest of the story was fine.  There was OK chemistry between Mia and Jared.   It was really kind of boring.  Honestly, I was more invested in Jared's sister's side romance.  I wanted to read more about that one.  It's not a bad book, it's just didn't live up to my expectations. Give it a try, maybe you will like it more than me.