#BookReview: Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae #1) by Briar Boleyn

Synopsis: A doomed love, a dangerous mission, and a kingdom on the brink of war...
A cast-off princess…

Born into a life of duty and sacrifice, Morgan Pendragon’s destiny has never been her own. Rumored to carry the tainted blood of the fae in her veins, her birthright is stolen from her when she is a mere child. Growing up in the shadow of her brother the king, she has been promised to the goddesses when she comes of age. So, when her brother commands that she seek out a fae weapon of legendary power, Morgan seizes the chance to break free from the chains of her fate.

A dangerous temptation…

As she travels, Morgan finds herself drawn into a strange group of outcasts, led by a dark and enigmatic warrior whose sharp wit and fierce beauty set her heart ablaze. But while Morgan struggles to reconcile her desires with her duty, she and her new comrades discover dangers that await them beyond anything in their wildest nightmares.

A slumbering kingdom awoken by blood…

Believed to have vanished generations ago, a fae kingdom dreaded by mortals is ascending once more, bound to reclaim what was lost by violence and bloodshed. As the fae world, with its intricate web of lies and mysteries, is slowly revealed to Morgan, she is led to the terrible realization that the secrets she carries in her blood make her a greater threat than she could ever have imagined.

The first in an action-packed new series brimming with magic, danger, and spellbinding slow-burn romance, Queen of Roses is perfect for fans of Holly Black, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Sarah J. Maas. < Lies 

#BookReview: The Witch and the Vampire by Francesca Flores

Synopsis: Francesca Flores's The Witch and the Vampire is a queer Rapunzel retelling where a witch and a vampire who trust no one but themselves must journey together through a cursed forest with danger at every turn. 

Ava and Kaye used to be best friends. Until one night two years ago, vampires broke through the magical barrier protecting their town, and in the ensuing attack, Kaye’s mother was killed, and Ava was turned into a vampire. Since then, Ava has been trapped in her house. Her mother Eugenia needs her: Ava still has her witch powers, and Eugenia must take them in order to hide that she's a vampire as well. Desperate to escape her confinement and stop her mother's plans to destroy the town, Ava must break out, flee to the forest, and seek help from the vampires who live there. When there is another attack, she sees her opportunity and escapes.

Kaye, now at the end of her training as a Flame witch, is ready to fulfill her duty of killing any vampires that threaten the town, including Ava. On the night that Ava escapes, Kaye follows her and convinces her to travel together into the forest, while secretly planning to turn her in. Ava agrees, hoping to rekindle their old friendship, and the romantic feelings she'd started to have for Kaye before that terrible night.

But with monstrous trees that devour humans whole, vampires who attack from above, and Ava’s stepfather tracking her, the woods are full of danger. As they travel deeper into the forest, Kaye questions everything she thought she knew. The two are each other's greatest threat—and also their only hope, if they want to make it through the forest unscathed.

#BookReview: The Warning (The Warning, #1) by Kristy Acevedo

Synopsis: The end is coming. There's no escape...or is there? The first in a compelling YA dystopian series for anyone who's ever felt like their life-their world-is on the brink of destruction.

Alexandra Lucas' anxiety disorder was enough to deal with before then mysterious holographic doors suddenly appeared throughout the world, heralding the end of the earth. The holograms claim to be humans from the future offering the promise of safety. A recording plays on loop: heed the warning and step through a portal-like vertex to safety...or stay and be destroyed by a comet that is on a collision course with the planet. But without the ability to verify their story, Alex is forced to consider what is best for her friends, her family, and herself.

Stay or go: everyone must make their own choice. With the deadline of the hologram's prophecy fast approaching, Alex feels as though she's living on a ticking time bomb. But the truth is much, much worse. And every decision comes at a price.

#CoverReveal for A Vicious Proposal by @authorkristym and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: A Vicious Proposal

Series: The Fallen Kings of Eden #1

Author: Kristy Marie

Genres: Contemporary Romantic Suspense

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers/Forced Marriage

Cover Design: TRC Designs

Release Date: August 28, 2023

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I knew him only as Van Gogh.

A tortured artist who owned the night as he moved through the shadows, cloaked in hate and madness.

He was a vicious vigilante—a serial arsonist who thrived on the fear he triggered with a single match between his tattooed knuckles.

We were told to lock our doors and stay inside.

I wanted to. I really did.

But then I saw his eyes, burning like embers as he watched me through the smoke.

And like the flames at his feet, I delighted in his attention.

I became his muse.

His passion.

His obsession.

His perfectly flawed flower.

But that was years ago.

Before my seaside town became his canvas…

Before the ashes of my enemies became his paint…

Before he hated me… and made me his wife.

#PreorderBlitz for Her Fearless Warrior by @CaitlynOLearyNA and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Her Fearless Warrior

Series: Omega Sky #4

Author: Caitlyn O'Leary

Genre: Romantic Suspense

Tropes: Military/Alpha Hero/Strong Woman

Release Date: July 13, 2023

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Finding Them? Simple.

Getting Them Out Alive? Now That Will Take a Minute.

Lincoln Hart’s Navy SEAL team is sent to Syria to rescue a team of Americans who have been captured. When he realizes their interpreter, Leila Cloud is one of the people who has been kidnapped, all bets are off. He’s been dreaming about her for months.

With their protective detail dead, Leila was determined to keep her small group unhurt and alive. Can she do this without making herself a target of their brutal captors?

Linc knows that finding the group of American’s will be the simple part of the mission. Getting them out alive will be next to impossible.

#BookReview: A Realm of Ash and Shadow (A Realm of Ash and Shadow #1) by Lara Buckheit

Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old princess, Valeria Breault, is sure of three things. One, she was exiled from Empyrean because her father didn't want the hassle of raising her. Two, her perfect realm would be better off without a mortal-raised smart-ass with a foul mouth and penchant for trouble. And three, neither of those things matter when a horde of demons crashes prom.

Forced to fight for her life, Valeria narrowly escapes being captured by the Realm of the Forsaken, only to be dragged back to Empyrean before she is meant to return. Instead of the beautiful utopia from her bedtime stories, Val finds herself thrown into a hellish nightmare where the poor are dying, the rich are thriving, and her claim to the throne is in jeopardy. But not if Valeria can help it.

The overwhelming desire to belong and a craving for power has her making choices that make it harder and harder to guard her heart against the man who's bound to protect her, the god she's vowed to hate, and the darkness that's growing inside her. Only time will tell if the secrets she unravels and the alliances she makes will lead to the throne or the pyre.

#BookTour: Hope Surge by @Melissa Benson @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Religion / Christian Living / Inspirational

Date Published: June 22, 2023

 

In this devotional-style book, you will discover that hope is a weapon! It’s a key God has given us to unlock radical growth, heart healing and unexplainable peace. Hope is a Kingdom strategy that will cause you to walk in deeper levels of joy, faith and courage. When you begin to grab a hold of God’s perspective and the supernatural hope it’s covered in, nothing can remain the same!

Author Melissa Benson offers powerful hope injections to take you deeper in your connection with Jesus through topics like identity, vision, freedom and restoration. She also addresses tough but real subjects like lies, offense, trials and disappointment and brings a fresh point-of-view on each. Even more important to her than her own writings are the over 100 accompanying scriptures for you to meditate on and dive deeper into.

Whether you have been living with disappointment and hopelessness or just want to stay focused on what God is up to and excited about, the Spirit-led, Bible-based principles in Hope Surge will light a fire in your belly and bring about a renewed excitement for life.

It’s time to get your hopes up—way up!

#BookReview: The Fourth Piece by E. Ardell

Synopsis: Admitting what you are will end everything you know. Embracing who you are will start a war...

Life is great when you’re good-looking and popular…so long as no one knows you’re a vulatto. Being half-alien gets you labeled “loser” quicker than being a full vader. So it’s a good thing Devon, Lyle, and Lawrence can easily pass for human—until the night of the party. Nothing kills a good time faster than three brothers sharing a psychic vision of a fourth brother who’s off-world and going to die unless they do something. But when your brother’s emergency happens off-planet, calling 9-1-1 really isn’t an option. 

In their attempt to save a brother they barely remember, Devon, Lyle and Lawrence expose themselves to mortal danger and inherit a destiny that killed the last four guys cursed with it. In 2022, there are humans and aliens, heroes and monsters, choices and prophecies—and four brothers with the power to choose what’s left when the gods decide they’re through playing games.

Book I in the Order's Last Play series

#BookReview: Mountains Made of Glass (Fairy Tale Retelling #1) by Scarlett St. Clair

Synopsis: "Could you love me?" he whispered. The question stole my breath and burned my lungs in the silence that followed. 

I wanted to answer, to whisper yes into the space between us, but I was afraid.

All Gesela's life, her home village of Elk has been cursed. And it isn't a single curse—it is one after another, each to be broken by a villager, each with devastating consequences. When Elk's well goes dry, it is Gesela's turn to save her town by killing the toad that lives at the bottom. Except… the toad is not a toad at all. He is an Elven prince under a curse of his own, and upon his death, his brothers come for Gesela, seeking retribution.

As punishment, the princes banish Gesela to live with their seventh brother, the one they call the beast. Gesela expects to be the prisoner of a hideous monster, but the beast turns out to be exquisitely beautiful, and rather than lock her in a cell, he offers Gesela a deal. If she can guess his true name in seven days, she can go free.

Gesela agrees, but there is a hidden catch—she must speak his name with love in order to free him, too.

But can either of them learn to love in time?

#ReleaseBlitz for Thorns of Death by @EvaWinners and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Thorns of Death

Series: Thorns of Omertà #3

Author: Eva Winners

Genre: Dark Mafia Romance

Tropes: Single Dad, Grumpy/Sunshine, Forced Proximity

Release Date: July 6, 2023

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Enrico Marchetti.

One of the five Italian mafia kings.

Powerful. Untouchable. Corrupt.

It started with one innocent look across a room in Paris. He was a lot older than me. A Roman god dressed in an Italian suit, surrounded by an aura I couldn’t resist.

When I ran into him again, he effortlessly pulled me under his spell. But little did I know, a night full of carnal pleasure would cost me everything.

When Enrico Marchetti wanted something, he didn’t just take it. He possessed it. Now, his sights were set on me.

There were secrets this man was keeping. They surrounded him, his dead wife, his children.

I wanted no part of it, but there was no escaping him. He had taken me to his kingdom, locked the doors, and thrown away the key.

Now the only thing left to do was fight. Even if it killed me.

#CoverReveal for Letters from the Heart by @PowerofRomance and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Letters from the Heart

Series: Willow Valley #3

Author: S.L. Sterling

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Small Town/Widower/Military

Cover Design: Thunderstruck Cover Design

Release Date: July 26, 2023

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Peggy

After the death of my husband, I drowned myself in flowers, a bittersweet memory of the good times we’d shared. I’d had the good fortune to fall in love with a man who wasn’t great with words but understood the language of flowers. There had been flowers for every occasion, which culminated into the biggest flower delivery of all, my own shop in the small town of Willow Valley, Peggy’s Petals. So I spent all my time and energy building my small flower shop.

Eight years later, my friends are trying to encourage me to move on, but how does a person do that and leave behind the guilt they hold? Instead, I tried something safer. My best friend, Trinity, suggested I join the Army pen pal program. It seemed the safest way to test out the waters with someone new, and the best part, we’d never meet, or so I thought.

Ethan

I’d now been widowed longer than I’d been married and thanks to countless deployments, I knew the men under my command better than I knew my own daughter. As I neared retirement, I wanted to change that. I started talking to my daughter. She explained that she had been doing some volunteer work for a non – profit. She was starting a pen pal program for military men and women and she wanted me to get involved.

Apparently, all I needed to do was write a pen pal provided by the non-profit. So, I signed up, and began exchanging letters. This went on for a few months. The more I knew about her, the more I wanted to know. Then kismet played its hand. Melinda, my daughter, and Peggy, my pen pal lived in the same small town.

As I prepared for retirement, I finally knew where I wanted to settle down. The military had given me an amazing life, now I wanted the job of being a family man, which meant being with my family. I planned to move to Willow Valley, build a relationship with my daughter, and if I had my way, build one with Peggy too.