Tuesday, December 12, 2023

#BookBlitz: A Murder in Ashwood by Robert Brighton @XpressoTours #Giveaway $35 Amazon gift card




A Murder in Ashwood: Scandals and Secrets in the Gilded Age
Robert Brighton
(The Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries)
Publication date: June 27th 2023
Genres: Adult, Historical, Mystery

Named BookLife Reviews “Editor’s Pick” – “Setting this series apart from other historical mysteries is Brighton’s deft hand at capturing the dishy lives of long ago … has the feel of a great cocktail party… the tangled mysteries compel … a polished, rewarding page-turner …”

“Brighton spins a tale of murder and revenge… it’s hard to resist the detailed and authentic world [he] creates … time and place are fully realized in this murder story … a fascinating period piece … – Kirkus Reviews

A lush and immersive historical award-winning mystery inspired by a ‘true crime of the century’ that shocked the world.

New Year’s Day 1902 . . . Ashwood awakens to a foul murder . . .

Buffalo, New York . . . as the remains of the great Pan-American Exposition are swept away, and the bitter memories of William McKinley’s assassination begin to fade . . . the city reels again, at the sensational murder of successful businessman Edward Miller, bludgeoned to death in his cozy den, in one of the city’s most fashionable enclaves: Ashwood.

But for all its glitz and glamor, Ashwood guards the dark secrets of its fashionable residents . . . including those of Edward’s estranged wife Alicia, her lover Arthur Pendle, and would-be detective Sarah Payne. Soon, they will all face a hurricane of courtroom drama, public outrage, and the behind-the-scenes scheming of cold and corrupt District Attorney Terence Penrose.

Meanwhile, those caught up in the most scandalous crime of a new century have reputations to protect . . . skeletons best kept hidden away in the tidy closets of trendy Ashwood . . . and plenty of reasons to keep the motive behind Edward Miller’s murder from ever seeing the light of day – a motive that only the victim and his killer knew …

Can justice be done . . . and the truth uncovered by the Avenging Angel Detective Agency . . . before a killer strikes again?

Find out in award-winning A Murder in Ashwood . . . the second novel in the Avenging Angel Detective Agency™ Mysteries from Robert Brighton, acclaimed author of The Unsealing.

It’s as much a ‘whydunit’ as a ‘whodunit’ in a page-turning story that leaves readers wanting more.

Contains three original interior scratchboard illustrations by Mark Summers.

Discover the Avenging Angel Detective Agency Mysteries…

Get your copy today!

#BookReview: Follow the Shadows (Tales of Moerden, 1) by Rosemary Drisdelle @GoSparkPress






Synopsis: When Marise Leeson gets her hands on a crystal ball, she believes her knowledge of Wicca is about to expand. The magic, however, goes horribly wrong. In short order, she’s thrown into an alternate world, attacked by a dragon, and rescued by Javeer, a young male dragon in search of a friend.

Marise is desperate to get home alive. Instead of dabbling in scrying and spells, she must now use her Wicca skills to survive in Moerden―navigating rival dragon factions, riding Javeer without falling, and dodging unknown perils of an alien landscape. Through a series of adventures and mishaps, she learns that the dragons face slow extinction from a mysterious disease. Some see Marise as part of the cause. Some hope she’s a key to a cure.

Marise grows up fast as her focus switches from escape from Moerden to saving the dragons. She draws upon her powers, intuition, and some help from home as she and Javeer begin a quest to solve the puzzle of the stagger. If they survive, and if their trust and courage are strong, they may succeed. If they do not, the dragons of Moerden will cease to exist.


#BookReview: Blood of The Hunted by @MarcMicciola






Synopsis: The Resistance Is Rising

Weylyn, Olwen, and other members of the marginalized and subjugated group known as the Tóráin are trying every day to gain equality and freedom. Their enemies, which consist of vile human monarchs, their soldiers, and a masked witch assassin known only as The Dove, continue to tighten their grip around the necks of the Tóráin.

Leading The Resistance, Weylyn and Olwen endure many trials that test them physically and mentally, relying on their loved ones to keep them from losing hope. They both wish to see a time of equality and peace, but to achieve that requires more than what they have. Desperation leads The Resistance to find new allies all across the continent of Kosavros with the goal of finally defeating their oppressive overseers.

Their fight for freedom and respect leads Weylyn and Olwen down paths that open their eyes to new dangers, both involving themselves and the rest of the world. However, they do not waiver. For the Tóráin are known for their resilience, and they have already endured much. What comes next will be hard, but they’re ready to fight for their lives. Together.


#BookTour: War of the Land (Olympian Wars, #2) by @danaclairebooks #TheIndiePenPR

 
  His valor could save the lands. Her darkness could consume it. In a world where mortals are hapless pawns moved at the whims of gods, a defiant Titan emerges from the shadows of history. Prometheus, having once defied Zeus to gift mankind with fire, dares to challenge the heavens to a new match. Now, he fights not just to ease man’s suffering, but to prevent Zeus from clearing the board. Success or failure depends on a future queen. Princess Savina of the Isle of Cava, a demi-god whose powers hold sway over life and death, becomes the latest target of her grandfather Zeus’s merciless vendetta. Exploited by family, she gambles her last shred of trust on the enigmatic Duke of Eloqua, her promised consort. But is he a white knight, or is he part of a more insidious plot to weaponize her against her own people? As the celestial storm brews and loyalties are tested, the land’s fate balances on a knife’s edge. Can a Titan and demi-god stand united against Olympus, or will their dangerous newfound flame for one another burn their beloved world to ash?

#BookReview: Vespertine by @MarRogerson






Synopsis: The dead of Loraille do not rest.

Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.

When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.

As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.


#PreorderBlitz for Meeting My Forever by @redphoenix69 and @GiveMeBooksPR








Title: Meeting My Forever
Series: The Brothers Macallan #1
Author: Red Phoenix
Genres: Romantic Comedy
Tropes: Small Town/Opposites Attract
Release Date: January 9, 2024


BLURB

In the smallest towns you find the biggest hearts.

When Avery visits the small town of Crested Butte, she only has a short time to decide if she will put down roots here as their new librarian or return home. As charmed as she is by the mountain town and the kind people there, it's a chance encounter with a kitten and a handsome fireman that really make an impression on her heart.

The Macallan family is a pillar of the Crested Butte community, but they've got a reputation for being eternally single. Lance is no stranger to relationships. As the youngest Macallan and a fireman, he's an extremely eligible bachelor in the small town. But no woman has ever made him want to settle down. When he meets a cute out-of-towner while rescuing an adorable kitten, the life he knows is about to be shaken to its core.

Monday, December 11, 2023

#BookReview: The Locked Door by @Freida_McFadden






Synopsis: Some doors are locked for a reason…

While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.


#BookReview: The Puzzle Master by @DaniTrussoni @randomhouse






Synopsis: Reality and the supernatural collide when an expert puzzle maker is thrust into an ancient mystery—one with explosive consequences for the fate of humanity—in this suspenseful thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of Angelology

“This novel has it all and more. In the nimble, talented hands of Trussoni the pages fly.”—#1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci

All the world is a puzzle, and Mike Brink—a celebrated and ingenious puzzle constructor—understands its patterns like no one else. Once a promising Midwestern football star, Brink was transformed by a traumatic brain injury that caused a rare medical condition: acquired savant syndrome. The injury left him with a mental superpower—he can solve puzzles in ways ordinary people can't. But it also left him deeply isolated, unable to fully connect with other people.

Everything changes after Brink meets Jess Price, a woman serving thirty years in prison for murder who hasn't spoken a word since her arrest five years before. When Price draws a perplexing puzzle, her psychiatrist believes it will explain her crime and calls Brink to solve it. What begins as a desire to crack an alluring cipher quickly morphs into an obsession with Price herself. She soon reveals that there is something more urgent, and more dangerous, behind her silence, thrusting Brink into a hunt for the truth.

The quest takes Brink through a series of interlocking enigmas, but the heart of the mystery is the God Puzzle, a cryptic ancient prayer circle created by the thirteenth-century Jewish mystic Abraham Abulafia. As Brink navigates a maze of clues, and his emotional entanglement with Price becomes more intense, he realizes that there are powerful forces at work that he cannot escape.

Ranging from an upstate New York women's prison to nineteenth-century Prague to the secret rooms of the Pierpont Morgan Library, The Puzzle Master is a tantalizing, addictive thriller in which humankind, technology, and the future of the universe itself are at stake.


#CoverRereveal for Borrowed by Victoria Ashley @GiveMeBooksPR







Title: Borrowed
A Fake Relationship Rock Star Romance
Author: Victoria Ashley
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Rock Star/Fake Relationship/One Bed
Forced Proximity/Boyfriend's Brother
Cover Design: Jay Aheer, Simply Defined Art
Photographer: Michelle Lancaster, Lanefotograf
Model: Chad Hurst
Re-release Date: December 18, 2023


BLURB

I was never supposed to want to keep her.

She was meant to be borrowed.

Mine for six days and not a day longer.

She doesn’t belong to me.

She belongs to someone else.

My brother…

The closest person I have outside of the screaming fans and paparazzi—a constant in my new life— other than the whiskey I drown myself in to numb the pain left by someone else.

But a secluded cabin in the woods and my ex who decided she’s not over me forces me to go to the extreme in order to take control of my world again before I lose it completely.

Unfortunately for me, my brother’s girlfriend is the only girl I haven’t slept with and made fall for me, resulting in hating me in the end.

She's my only option.

Sharing a room in a cabin with me is most girls’ dream come true, but for Natalie, she claims it’s her worst nightmare. She thinks I’m nothing more than a reckless rock star and has always been good at destroying my ego.

I never realized when I asked to borrow her for the trip, that I’d feel something I haven’t felt in a long time, or that I’d like the way she pretends she doesn't enjoy being around me.

Have you ever borrowed something and didn’t want to give it back?

Yeah, well, me too. And I’m starting to think she should have been mine to begin with…


**Borrowed was previously published under the title Reckless Rock Star**

#ReleaseBlitz for A Winter's Night with Tempest by Michelle Mankin @GiveMeBooksPR






Title: A Winter's Night with Tempest
Series: Tempest #8
Author: Michelle Mankin
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Rockstar/Holiday Romance
Release Date: December 11, 2023


BLURB

Tempest. The biggest baddest rock band in the world. No one expected five misfits from Southside Seattle to climb that mountain, but they stormed it. Not only that but each of them found love along the way. But hold up. Maybe things at the top aren’t as blissful as they seem. Tempest might have to defend that hard won prize from another band who thinks they’re even bigger and badder.

Warren “War” Jinkins is the handsome and volatile lead singer of Tempest. The most arrogant frontman in the business won't yield without a fight. But now he has his wife Shaina, the woman he always needed, and his twin girls to consider.

And then there is Bryan Jackson’s boy. The kid has an attitude and some to spare. Can War help Bryan understand his headstrong son? Can he be the father his girls need? Can his band fend off their challenger? And what will happen when War invites the whole crew to his place for the holidays? Will it be a merry Christmas or just mayhem? These answers and more can be found inside: A Winter’s Night with Tempest.

#ReleaseBlitz for Finding the Road to Us by @CarrieAnnRyan and @GiveMeBooksPR







Title: Finding the Road to Us
Series: The Wilder Brothers #6
Author: Carrie Ann Ryan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Jilted Love/MMF/Friends to Lovers
Release Date: December 11, 2023


BLURB

I was ready to say, ‘I do’, then my fiancé left me at the altar.

Broken and embarrassed, Trace and Elliot helped me run away—ditching my wedding dress in the process.

When I come back to the Wilder Retreat to show the world I’m no longer hurting, I know I must ignore my traitorous needs when it comes to these two men.

Because my body wants them both.
And my soul craves them just as much.

I know I can’t choose, and part of me asks why I should.
Only when we decide to take that chance and share everything, the danger from our pasts refuses to let our choice stand.

With one kiss, one dance into temptation, we could lose everything.
Including our lives.