#BookReview: Not Your Property (The Steel Disciples, #2) by @Tyranni_Thomas @booksprout

Synopsis: They organized the hit on his mother and his wife. Now the mob has their hands on his sister, Trista and unless Makaveli is willing to join families and marry a mafia princess, she’ll be lost forever into the mob’s vast network of human trafficking.

He is the VP of the Steel Disciples, of course, he will do what he must...

He’ll marry Isabella, and he’ll make her pay for everything her family has done to him and his club.

…Assuming he survives her.

Not Your Property is a Dark MC Romance novel with an Antihero love interest and a badass heroine to put him in his place. This novel contains morally gray characters, intense steam, and found family. This is a Dark Romance novel and does have scenes detailing past abuse, please use your own discretion.

#BookTour: A Court of Tangled Threads by @amanda_pillar @RRBookTours1 #RRBookTours

Welcome to the tour for romantic fantasy A Court of Tangled Threads by Amanda Pillar!

A Court of Tangled Threads Publication Date: September 8, 2023 Genre: Slow-burn Romantic Fantasy Some goals are harder to achieve than others. Violet has only three, each one more impossible than the last: cure her sick sister, get a better job, and on the off chance she manages the first two—it would be great if she could avoid accidentally snatching souls along the way. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. When she finds herself trapped in the realm between the human world and the fae, Violet realizes no one's coming to save her. But it's not the rescue she needs—it's the escape. Her plan might work, but it could have a soul-rending outcome for everyone around her. Blake can kill with a touch, but when the Black Queen commands, refusal is never an option. To complete a ridiculous quest, Blake makes a deal with a Troll, setting off a chain of events that leads him to a castle filled with the dead and a soul-stealing woman with magic as dark as his. As their fates become entwined, Violet and Blake find themselves on a perilous journey to unravel one of the greatest crimes in fae history, but it's not just fate that Violet has to worry about—it's the enigmatic knight whose grip on her heart grows stronger with every step. 

#BookReview: Things We Never Got Over (Knockemout Series, #1) by Lucy Score

Synopsis: Bearded, bad-boy barber Knox prefers to live his life the way he takes his coffee: Alone. Unless you count his basset hound, Waylon. 
Knox doesn’t tolerate drama, even when it comes in the form of a stranded runaway bride.

Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding to the rescue of her estranged twin to Knockemout, Virginia, a rough-around-the-edges town where disputes are settled the old-fashioned way…with fists and beer. Usually in that order.

Too bad for Naomi her evil twin hasn’t changed at all. After helping herself to Naomi’s car and cash, Tina leaves her with something unexpected. The niece Naomi didn’t know she had. Now she’s stuck in town with no car, no job, no plan, and no home with an 11-year-old going on thirty to take care of.

There’s a reason Knox doesn’t do complications or high-maintenance women, especially not the romantic ones. But since Naomi’s life imploded right in front of him, the least he can do is help her out of her jam. And just as soon as she stops getting into new trouble he can leave her alone and get back to his peaceful, solitary life.

At least, that’s the plan until the trouble turns to real danger.

#BookReview: Southern Fried Sass: A Queen's Guide to Cooking, Decorating, and Living Just a Little "Extra" by Ginger Minj

Synopsis: RuPaul’s Drag Race superstar Ginger Minj shares her favorite recipes, best advice, and wildest stories in this hilarious book that’s part memoir, part cookbook. Perfect for fans of Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood.

Drag icon Ginger Minj brings her signature humor and sass to this tongue-in-cheek memoir-cum-life manual-cum-cookbook. Featuring Ginger’s favorite Southern-inspired recipes, Southern Fried Sassshowcases some of her most vulnerable and celebratory moments, revealing the most valuable lessons she’s learned after years in drag and the pearls of wisdom she’s gleaned from her grandmother’s personal brand of Southern resilience.

You’ll cheer for Ginger as she spills the tea with exclusive behind-the-scenes details from three seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race and offers her best advice on everything from contouring to cooking and setting the table for a full-on Southern-style Thanksgiving dinner. Did we say dinner? Here, you’ll find more than fifty recipes, including The Minx’s Sick’ning Scalloped Pineapple Paradise, Red Barn BBQ Ribs platter, Better Than Sex cake, and countless other decadent desserts. From fighting for what you’re worth to looking good on a motorcycle as a big girl to finding love while also making damn good cupcakes, this is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to live their best life.

#BookReview: A Storm of Infinite Beauty by @JulianneMacLean @AmazonPub

Synopsis: From the bestselling author of Beyond the Moonlit Sea comes an atmospheric tale of how one woman’s search for the truth uncovers long-hidden secrets and rocks the very foundation of her world.

Scarlett Fontaine is a true Hollywood legend—a singer, actress, and beloved fashion icon. But Scarlett dies tragically at just thirty-six years old, leaving behind no children. Or so the story goes…

Gwen Hollingsworth is the curator at a museum dedicated to Scarlett’s life. She’s also sole heir to Scarlett’s fortune as a descendant of the star. But all is not well in Gwen’s world. She’s dealing with a messy marital separation and is struggling to move forward. So when Peter Miller, a biographer and photojournalist, comes to the museum with shocking claims about Scarlett—a life of exile in Alaska, a baby born in secret—Gwen’s whole world is turned upside down.Again.

Determined to uncover the truth, Gwen and Peter set out for Alaska together but soon find themselves on a path toward something far deeper and more meaningful than either of them ever expected.

A Storm of Infinite Beauty takes readers on a breathtaking journey from a lush vineyard in Nova Scotia to a rustic lodge in Alaska where old family secrets are revealed and the quest for true happiness begins.

#BookReview: Let Us Descend by @jesmimi @ScribnerBooks @BloomsburyPub

Synopsis: From Jesmyn Ward—the two-time National Book Award winner, youngest winner of the Library of Congress Prize for Fiction, and MacArthur Fellow—comes a haunting masterpiece, sure to be an instant classic, about an enslaved girl in the years before the Civil War.

“‘Let us descend,’ the poet now began, ‘and enter this blind world.’” — Inferno, Dante Alighieri

Let Us Descend is a reimagining of American slavery, as beautifully rendered as it is heart-wrenching. Searching, harrowing, replete with transcendent love, the novel is a journey from the rice fields of the Carolinas to the slave markets of New Orleans and into the fearsome heart of a Louisiana sugar plantation.

Annis, sold south by the white enslaver who fathered her, is the reader’s guide through this hellscape. As she struggles through the miles-long march, Annis turns inward, seeking comfort from memories of her mother and stories of her African warrior grandmother. Throughout, she opens herself to a world beyond this world, one teeming with of earth and water, of myth and history; spirits who nurture and give, and those who manipulate and take. While Ward leads readers through the descent, this, her fourth novel, is ultimately a story of rebirth and reclamation.

From one of the most singularly brilliant and beloved writers of her generation, this miracle of a novel inscribes Black American grief and joy into the very land—the rich but unforgiving forests, swamps, and rivers of the American South. Let Us Descend is Jesmyn Ward’s most magnificent novel yet, a masterwork for the ages.

This title will be released on October 24, 2023.

#BookReview: The Search for Us by @susanazimboyer @WednesdayBooks

Synopsis: “A sharp-witted and illuminating, impressive sophomore novel.” - Isaac Blum, author of the award-nominated The Life and Crimes of Hoodie Rosen

Two half-siblings who have never met embark on a search together for the Iranian immigrant and U.S. Army veteran father they never knew.

Samira Murphy will do anything to keep her fractured family from falling apart, including caring for her widowed grandmother and getting her older brother into recovery for alcohol addiction. With attendance at her dream college on the line, she takes a long shot DNA test to find the support she so desperately needs from a father she hasn’t seen since she was a baby.

Henry Owen is torn between his well-meaning but unreliable bio-mom and his overly strict aunt and uncle, who stepped in to raise him but don’t seem to see him for who he is. Looking to forge a stronger connection to his own identity, he takes a DNA test to find the one person who might love him for exactly who he is―the biological father he never knew.

Instead of a DNA match with their father, Samira and Henry are matched with each other. They begin to search for their father together and slowly unravel the difficult truth of their shared past, forming a connection that only siblings can have and recovering precious parts of their past that have been lost. Brimming with emotional resonance, Susan Azim Boyer's The Search for Us beautifully renders what it means to find your place in the world through the deep and abiding power of family.

This title will be released on October 24, 2023.

#BookReview: Salt Kiss (Lyonesse #1) by Sierra Simone

Synopsis: Tristan Thomas is lost. After leaving the Army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse—DC’s ultra-secret club—to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral.

But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous—and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged—but the soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him.

Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss.

From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden. But in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…

The Lyonesse trilogy is a queer, kinky contemporary retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, set in the same world as the New Camelot series. Readers will not have to read New Camelot to enjoy Lyonesse, although readers who enjoyed New Camelot will find all the things they loved about the trilogy here: MMF ménage, plenty of the angsty forbidden, and a sweeping retelling of a familiar story.

#BookReview: From Blood and Ash (Blood and Ash #1) by @JLArmentrout

Synopsis: A Maiden…

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own. The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods. But the choice has never been hers.

A Duty…

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, something she’s not even quite sure she wants for herself. Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need. He incites her anger, makes her question everything she believes in, and tempts her with the forbidden.

A Kingdom…

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising once more, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. And as the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred. Poppy is not only on the verge of losing her heart and being found unworthy by the gods, but also her life when every blood-soaked thread that holds her world together begins to unravel.

#BookReview: The Witching Year by Diana Helmuth

Synopsis: A skeptic’s year-long quest to find spiritual fulfillment through modern Witchcraft, perfect for fans of A.J. Jacobs and Mary Roach.

Diana Helmuth, thirty-three, is skeptical of organized religion. She is also skeptical of disorganized religion. But, more than anything, she is tired of God being dead. So, she decides to try on the fastest growing, self-directed faith in Witchcraft.

The result is 366 days of observation, trial, error, wit, and back spasms. Witches today are often presented as confident and finished, proud and powerful. Diana is eager to join them. She wants to follow all the rules, memorize all the incantations, and read all the liturgy. But there’s one glaring problem: no Witch can agree on what the right rules, liturgy, and incantations are.

As with life, Diana will have to define the craft for herself, looking past the fashionable and figuring out how to define the real. Along the way, she travels to Salem and Edinburgh (two very Crafty hubs) and attends a week-long (clothing optional) Witch camp in Northern California. Whether she’s trying to perform a full moon ritual on a cardboard box, summon an ancient demon with scotch tape and a kitchen trivet, or just trying to become a calmer, happier person, her biggest question Will any of this really work?

The Witching Year follows in the footsteps of celebrated memoirs by journalists like A.J. Jacobs, Mary Roach, and Caitlin Doughty, who knit humor and reportage together in search of something worth believing.

#BookReview: Echo of the Evercry by E.J. Dawson

Synopsis: The cost of magic has never been clearer.

Larissa's inability to kill is a disgrace to her absent mother, Sword Matriarch of the Fair Lady's order, a sisterhood whose purpose is to hunt down sorcerers corrupted by the Evercry and slay them. But Larissa hides an even more sinful secret: she is drawn toward magic, and it grows stronger in her every day.

Larissa keeps a stranglehold on her gift until the day of her graduation test, when her misuse of magic leads her to failure. Prepared to be cast out of the sisterhood, she is instead brought into the scorned caste of the darkkins, those who study and wield magic in the fight against the Evercry. In their halls she discovers that her proclivity for magic makes her powerful, and a little dangerous.

Gone for years, her mother suddenly sends word that she needs help to defeat a formidable sorcerer, help only Larissa can give. Larissa will do anything to save her mother, even travel with the girl who bullied her all through school. But as they battle monsters and mercenaries, Larissa must grapple with dark truths about the sisterhood and her heritage, and decide who she can really trust with her mother's fate...and her own.

#BookReview: The Keeper (Royals & Legends, #1) by Lynn Montagano

Synopsis: Some secrets never stay buried…

Victoria Chase
It started in the English countryside when he stopped to see if I was having car trouble.
It should have ended there.

But it turned into three of the most intense days of my life. And guess what? It didn’t end there either. 
His name is Xavier Maddox. Sexy, talented, untamed. A British soccer star. The enticing bad boy. He should be off limits for me. I have this policy about getting involved with professional athletes…or as I call them, the product.

Xavier was only supposed to be a one night stand. A distraction for me while I dealt with a long ignored family situation. 
Fate had other plans…


Xavier Maddox
Pulling off the road to help a stranded motorist should have been simple. But nothing is simple when it comes to this fiery American redhead. 
Victoria Chase has me questioning the parts of myself I buried years ago. She’s the gasoline to a fire I once needed to extinguish. Those flames have roared back to life.

Now I’m desperate to unlock her deepest secrets.

Trouble is, those secrets connect us both to one fateful summer. I’ll do anything to protect her. She’s my light and I’ll stop at nothing to make her see that.
Even if it means letting her go…

#BookReview: Salt Kiss (Lyonesse #1) by Sierra Simone

Synopsis: Tristan Thomas is lost. After leaving the Army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse—DC’s ultra-secret club—to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral.

But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous—and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged—but the soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him.

Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss.

From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden. But in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…

The Lyonesse trilogy is a queer, kinky contemporary retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, set in the same world as the New Camelot series. Readers will not have to read New Camelot to enjoy Lyonesse, although readers who enjoyed New Camelot will find all the things they loved about the trilogy here: MMF ménage, plenty of the angsty forbidden, and a sweeping retelling of a familiar story.

#BookReview: The Girl Who Survived Auschwitz by Sara Leibovits & Eti Elbom

Synopsis: Poland, 1944 The train slowed and halted with a squeal of the brakes. It felt like we waited in the carriage for an eternity, but eventually, the heavy doors opened, directly into the chaos outside. Sara Leibovits, a 16-year-old Jewish girl, was a passenger on the train, together with her family. Within minutes, their horrific fate was sealed.
The little family spent their final minutes together on the platform at Auschwitz before they were ordered in all directions and each left to their own fate. Sara’s mother and baby brothers were sent to their deaths. Her father was made a Sonderkommando, one of the men forced to remove the bodies from the gas chambers, and was later executed. This is the powerful true story of Sara Leibovits and the incredible pain and hardships she went through during her time in the Death Camp. Yet despite the horrors she faced she always tried to maintain her families’ values ​​of courage, faith and kindness to others. Her story is intertwined with that of her daughter, Eti, seventy years later, who embodies the voice of the second generation and completes the Holocaust survivors' tale.

#BookReview: With Regrets by @leeykelly

Synopsis: With Regrets , from author Lee Kelly, is equal parts Big Little Lies and Bird Box , a suburban drama wrapped in a 24-hour survival story at the end of the world, perfect for fans of David Koepp's Aurora.

Seven courses, seven guests, twenty-four hours that will obliterate everything.

When recent NYC-transplant Liz Brinkley and her husband are invited to an exclusive soiree by their neighbor, “lifestyle guru” Britta Harris-Che, Liz’s immediate thought is hell no. Britta is insufferable, and Liz is wary to leave her young children with a barely-teenage babysitter. And yet she RSVPs anyway, trying to extend an olive branch to her withdrawing husband, who seems desperate to get in with the cliquey elite.

They’ve barely made it through their first round of champagne when a “red alert” comes through their phones, and every channel on the television tells the same strange atmospheric masses, reported to look like “glimmering clouds,” have been spreading through major U.S. cities and killing anyone they touch. Authorities have just one clear Find shelter. Immediately. 

 A collective panic seizes the dinner party; all the guests have children at home. In the mad dash to their cars, they see a shimmering net floating over the town. The street is littered with wrecked cars and dead bodies. Leaving now is not an option. Instead, the group launches into survival mode, grabbing supplies to take shelter in the hosts’ wine cellar. But everyone has very different opinions about the best plan from there.

Liz becomes increasingly willing to do anything it takes to get back to her children. As the glimmering clouds continue to kill anyone who steps outside, the tensions and suspicions among the party guests near a boiling point. But she begins to realize that there may be others in that cellar even more desperate than she is.

#BookReview: Salt Kiss (Lyonesse #1) by Sierra Simone

Synopsis: Tristan Thomas is lost. After leaving the Army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse—DC’s ultra-secret club—to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral.

But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous—and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged—but the soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him.

Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss.

From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden. But in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…

The Lyonesse trilogy is a queer, kinky contemporary retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, set in the same world as the New Camelot series. Readers will not have to read New Camelot to enjoy Lyonesse, although readers who enjoyed New Camelot will find all the things they loved about the trilogy here: MMF ménage, plenty of the angsty forbidden, and a sweeping retelling of a familiar story.

#BookReview: Always Orchid by Carol Van Den Hende

Synopsis: Shortlisted for the 2023 Hawthorne Prize for Fiction

He almost let her go. Her past could tear them apart. But a love like theirs is worth fighting for...

Phoenix Walker will never be the same. Nine months after a heroic act leaves him forever changed, he refuses to hurt Orchid Paige ever again.

Orchid is ready to forgive. Convincing her guy she still loves him, no matter his injuries, she works to rebuild their intimacy. But their move to her family's ancestral country unveils China's superstitions against people with disabilities. Worse, their friend's life has been upended by those prejudices.

Will Phoenix and Orchid find a way to beat the odds and turn discrimination into acceptance?

Always Orchid is the riveting third book in the Goodbye, Orchid contemporary fiction series, and can be read as a standalone. If you like relatable characters, surprising twists, and stories that pull on your emotions, then you'll love award-winning author Carol Van Den Hende's journey to unconditional acceptance.

Releases October 24, 2023

#BookReview: The Sisters of Reckoning (The Good Luck Girls, #2) by Charlotte Nicole Davis @torteen

Synopsis: The Sisters of Reckoning is the blockbuster sequel to Charlotte Nicole Davis's alternate Old West-set commercial fantasy adventure. 

The Good Luck Girls are free. Aster's sister and friends have new lives across the border in Ferron, while Aster remains in Arketta, helping more girls escape. But news of a new welcome house opening fills Aster with a need to do more than just help individual girls. And an unexpected reunion gives her an idea of how to do it. From there, grows a wildly ambitious plan to free all dustbloods, who live as prisoners to Arketta's landmasters and debt slavery.

When Clementine and the others return from Ferron, they become the heart of a vibrant group of fearless fighters, working to unite the various underclasses and convince them to join in the fight. Along the way, friendships will be forged, lives will be lost, and love will take root even in the harshest of circumstances, between the most unexpected of lovers.

But will Arketta's dustbloods finally come into power and freedom, or will the resistance just open them up to a new sort of danger?

#BookReview: Singularity Part 1: The Dale Chronicles by Chuck Stewart

Synopsis: How do A.I. and robots become conscious? That question is explored in the Singularity trilogy. Dale, a narcissistic gay man on the verge of becoming a partner at his financial planning company in the year 2050, sees other electric cars self-driving, speeding, cutting in line at the charging station, and other law violations. He wants the same privilege and seeks out illegal software that enables these features on his new, very expensive electric car. A mysterious benefactor upgrades the car’s computers, surprisingly allowing the car to be conscious and sentient. Many more of his household computers and robots join the network with surprising results. But they need to learn what it means to be conscious. Dale, and his self-centered behaviors, teach the robots survival skills. At the same time, a new powerful e-bomb has been released onto the planet that destroys all electronics in a small designated area. It is a cheap, renewal weapon for which there is no defense. The world faces being thrown back into the stone age. Can Dale help? Will the robots help? How do robots become conscious? What does this all mean?


The author, Chuck Stewart, believes science fiction should be based on good science. All the technological innovations discussed in the book are based on real science projected a few decades into the future. The book is non-apologetic about language, sex, and action. This is written for adults ready to consume an action-packed science fiction with explicit gay male sex, violence, and strong language.