#BookBlitz: This is Halloween by @author_sarah_branson @XpressoTours #Giveaway

This is Halloween
Sarah Branson
(A Blue Spruce Hills Novella)
Publication date: September 17th 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Midwife. Halloween. A Pennsylvania hill town. A ghost with an agenda. A historian with patient eyes.

Jules Lockwood, nurse-midwife and family nurse practitioner, wants two years of loan forgiveness and a one-way ticket to Australia. Her obstacle: a town that keeps finding reasons to need her.

Eli Matthews, Blue Spruce Hills town historian, is the kind of man who came back when it mattered and stayed. He brings coffee every morning without being asked.

Agnes Bell, midwife, 1856 to 1931, has been waiting in Blue Spruce Hills since her death for the right pair of hands to pass her work to. She has found them. She is not subtle about it.

On Halloween night, when the veil between past and present is at its thinnest, everything Jules came to Blue Spruce Hills to avoid arrives at once.

This Is Halloween delivers the satisfaction of a woman choosing herself and her work on her own terms, a slow-burn romance that earns every moment, and a ghost story that will make you wish you could have known Agnes Bell.

• small town romance
• ghost mentor
• found community
• slow burn
• woman finding home
• past and present collide
• reluctant to stay
• Halloween setting
• professional woman romance
• haunted by the past (literal)
• second chance at belonging

Heat level: closed door
Series: Blue Spruce Hills, Book 1 — standalone, complete story, no cliffhanger
POV: third person limited, Jules
Tense: past
Setting: small Pennsylvania town, October through May
Comp titles: The House in the Cerulean Sea; Beach Read; A Discovery of Witches
Content notes: pregnancy and birth depicted (clinical, not graphic); brief mention of historical pregnancy loss (off-page); deployment/absent spouse (minor character)

#ReleaseBlitz: Zombie Zoo by @byMelanieAbed @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Adventures in Tub (Felix & Ninja, Book 1)

Upper Middle Grade

Date Published: 09-15-2026

Publisher: Oculus Print

Two orphan loners. One supernatural plague. When wood-eating zombies threaten their island, mismatched investigators Felix and Ninja must combine science and instinct to save Spinachi-before they're next.

ZOMBIE ZOO is Book 1 in a five-book middle grade adventure series for readers ages 8-13, blending paranormal mystery, zombies, unlikely friendship, and STEAM-powered problem-solving.

When 13-year-old aspiring naturalist Felix Fizzystyxx discovers that orphans at Wayward Amok Orphanage are transforming into wood-eating zombies, his quiet tree-fort observations are no longer enough. Someone has deliberately unleashed a strange plague on Tub's island town of Spinachi-and they're still out there.

To find a cure, Felix must team up with Ninja, a shadow-dwelling orphan who trusts her instincts and never backs down. Intense and razor-sharp, she notices what others overlook and lives up to her name as the island's most mysterious sleuth. With their eccentric mentor Doc Brunne compromised and the town's water supply contaminated by a glowing bioluminescent substance, the two mismatched investigators must combine scientific observation with sharp intuition to stop the outbreak before their island home is devoured.

Set on the fictional island of Tub, this fast-paced, humorous adventure naturally weaves in STEAM concepts-biology, chemistry, bioluminescence, water systems, pattern recognition, and the scientific method-within an age-appropriate supernatural mystery. Themes include unlikely friendship, identity, trust across differences, courage, and finding your voice when adults won't listen.

Featuring diverse protagonists, quirky humor, spooky-but-fun scares, and strong female and male leads. ZOMBIE ZOO is ideal for reluctant readers and fans of Max Brallier's The Last Kids on Earth, B.B. Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers, and Goosebumps. Comprehensive educator resources-including discussion guides, vocabulary lists, STEAM extension activities, and printable maps-support classroom use, library programming, book clubs, and make this title ideal for cross-curricular lessons bridging ELA, STEAM, and SEL.

#AudioBookReview: The Nameless Trickster (Beloved Villains, #3) by Rebecca F. Kenney

Synopsis: When Juliette’s older brother makes an astounding claim to save his own skin, Juliette is escorted to the palace, along with other magically gifted young women who are being taken from their villages so the king can choose a bride.

But Juliette’s brother lied. She has no magic. She’s a baker and a businesswoman, not a sorceress… and now she’s trapped, facing death if she displeases the king.
When a handsome tattooed man shows up and proposes a bargain, Juliette makes a deal with him out of desperation. But their collaboration results in a crisis neither of them expected, one with dire consequences—
Unless Juliette can learn the stranger’s true name.

This spicy grownup retelling of Rumplestiltskin is perfect for fans of romantasy & fantasy romance books, and it blends a cozy fantasy atmosphere with more intense, dark fantasy vibes. Reading guidance for the darker moments can be found in the front of the book.

#BookTour: Thinking Critically in College by #LouisNewman @RABTBookTours

The Essential Handbook for Student Success

Nonfiction, College Guide

Date Published: April 1, 2026

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group

The Definitive Guide for Success in College and Beyond

Finally, a book that actually prepares you for college! Nearly every first-year college student discovers that college courses are more academically challenging than high school. Professors expect you not just to absorb material but to analyze and synthesize it, to consider multiple perspectives, to evaluate conflicting evidence, and then to apply what you've learned in new contexts.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience teaching and advising students, former dean of Academic Advising and associate vice provost at Stanford University Louis E. Newman explains how to do all this, and more. Whatever your background or academic interest, this book will prepare you for college-level learning. Thinking Critically in College is the definitive guide, not only for those in college, but for everyone who needs a refresher on thinking clearly.

"Thinking Critically in College details and exemplifies the differences between high school and college. Students who read this book before coming to college will have an advantage over those who don't." -LEE CUBA, professor emeritus of sociology, Wellesley College, and author of Practice for Life: Making Decisions in College

"Even students who have taken college-prep and AP courses are unprepared for the type of learning that will take place in college. Thinking Critically in College is poised to help all students at all types of institutions develop the dispositions and skills necessary for success in college." -LYNN PASQUERELLA, president of Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)

#BookBlitz: This is Halloween by @author_sarah_branson @XpressoTours #Giveaway

This is Halloween
Sarah Branson
(A Blue Spruce Hills Novella)
Publication date: September 17th 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Midwife. Halloween. A Pennsylvania hill town. A ghost with an agenda. A historian with patient eyes.

Jules Lockwood, nurse-midwife and family nurse practitioner, wants two years of loan forgiveness and a one-way ticket to Australia. Her obstacle: a town that keeps finding reasons to need her.

Eli Matthews, Blue Spruce Hills town historian, is the kind of man who came back when it mattered and stayed. He brings coffee every morning without being asked.

Agnes Bell, midwife, 1856 to 1931, has been waiting in Blue Spruce Hills since her death for the right pair of hands to pass her work to. She has found them. She is not subtle about it.

On Halloween night, when the veil between past and present is at its thinnest, everything Jules came to Blue Spruce Hills to avoid arrives at once.

This Is Halloween delivers the satisfaction of a woman choosing herself and her work on her own terms, a slow-burn romance that earns every moment, and a ghost story that will make you wish you could have known Agnes Bell.

• small town romance
• ghost mentor
• found community
• slow burn
• woman finding home
• past and present collide
• reluctant to stay
• Halloween setting
• professional woman romance
• haunted by the past (literal)
• second chance at belonging

Heat level: closed door
Series: Blue Spruce Hills, Book 1 — standalone, complete story, no cliffhanger
POV: third person limited, Jules
Tense: past
Setting: small Pennsylvania town, October through May
Comp titles: The House in the Cerulean Sea; Beach Read; A Discovery of Witches
Content notes: pregnancy and birth depicted (clinical, not graphic); brief mention of historical pregnancy loss (off-page); deployment/absent spouse (minor character)

#BookTour: Turtle Lake by #RobertMilne @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

 

Crime Thriller / Suspense

Date Published: 09-07-2026

Publisher: Mission Point Press

Turtle Lake is a gripping tale of revenge, survival, and the intricate interplay between human nature and the natural world. The story follows Jim Peters, the comptroller at Ramsey Motors, who uncovers a corrupt scheme by the company and its insurer, U.S. Underwriters, to defraud employees of their retirement and insurance benefits before moving operations overseas. Infuriated, he devises an elaborate extortion plan to expose their corruption and protect the employees through a spectacular plot that ends up achieving national headlines. To accomplish his plan, Peters uses simple, everyday methods and lessons learned from alpha predators in the natural world.

#AudiobookReview: Bound Lives (Steel Legends, #6) by @authorhelenhardt

Synopsis: He let her go.

Now he has to live with the silence.

Tabitha Haynes was the light that cut through Henry Simpson’s darkness. Their connection was instant and undeniable, but when Henry told her they had no future, she believed him. So she chose herself and an opportunity she couldn’t afford to pass up.

When Henry suffers an accident and asks for Tabitha from his hospital bed, she again chooses herself. Henry isn’t the only one carrying trauma. Tabitha has her own scars. Her own fears. Her own reasons for staying away from the man who once set her body afire.

But distance doesn’t erase chemistry. When fate forces them back into the same room, they must confront the truth.

Being together will demand sacrifices neither is ready for.