#Cover for Talk Derby to Me by @rhtuckerbooks @XpressoTours

Talk Derby to Me
R.H. Tucker
Publication date: August 2020
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

As the editor-in-chief of his high school newspaper, Evan Maldonado is right on track for college next year and pursuing his dream of being a journalist. To put the finishing touch on his college applications, he’s taking an intern position with a well-known newspaper where he’ll receive a letter of recommendation from the editor. There’s just one little problem. The business intern spot he was expecting to get is taken. The only other position they have available is covering the local roller derby league.
Mari Valdez isn’t worried about getting into college. All she’s concerned with is getting through the repulsive world of high school. Sure, she has her best friend, but she still has to put up with teasing because of her multi-colored hair or bruises. The bruises are from roller derby, by the way, the only thing that Mari looks forward to. It’s been her safe haven since her world imploded.
In order to get more information on the derby league, Evan follows Mari to her practices and games. To call their friendship rocky would be an understatement, but the more Evan and Mari are together, the more they seem to connect. When Mari’s personal life boils over, she finds herself confiding in Evan. And just when everything seems to be coming together for the two, a horrible mistake may separate them for good.
Talk Derby to Me is a stand-alone, YA romance novel.

#BookBlitz: Between the Pages by @LaurenB_Books @XpressoTours #Giveaway $20 Amazon gift card

Between the Pages
Lauren Baker
Publication date: July 20th 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Whatever possessed her to say yes?
Emmy Flanagan never thought she’d be forced into a Faustian pact to stop her beloved bookstore being turned into a luxury residence. But when her landlord, multi-millionaire Eric Oswell, offers to postpone the eviction if she’s willing to go on a few dates with him, it’s either accept or see four years of hard work and dedication go up in smoke.
The bad news is, he’s charming, well-read and irritatingly self-assured, and they spark off each other like two characters in a Lubitsch romcom. Which makes it very hard for her to resist the powerful physical attraction between them – even though she knows it’s a terrible idea. He woos her with classical concerts, nights at the opera, art exhibitions and a magical mystery Thanksgiving trip – but his deep-rooted trust issues and traumatic family secrets threaten to destroy their relationship before it’s had a chance to prove itself.
Set in contemporary New York City, Between the Pages charts a fast-moving romance with explosive chemistry between two very different but equally driven people. It’s Lauren Baker’s second novel after Finding Home, co-written with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Bonnie Dee.

#BookBlitz: The Deception Incident by Marla Holt @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card + ebook copy of The Deception Incident

The Deception Incident
Marla Holt
(The Incident Series, #2)
Publication date: July 21st 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Her life is stabilizing and his is spiraling while they both keep secrets.
Minnie Halvarson moved to Kansas to start over. She wanted to be anonymous, live a simple life, and heal from her past. When Bryant Wilder walks into her bookstore, she thinks she’s hit the boyfriend jackpot. What more could she want than a tall, bookish man who worships her?
Until Minnie finds out he’s dating mega pop star, Van Birch and cuts all ties with him.
Bryant Wilder is a humble Kansas contractor by day and Van Birch’s fake boyfriend whenever she needs him to bel. At first Bryant is happy to do it, but after five years, he is tired of dodging paparazzi and keeping his hookups on the down low.
Bryant wants more.
Who he wants is Minnie. But she won’t even look at him.
Now Van is back in Wellville, and has adopted Minnie into their friend group, Bryant is just as smitten with her as ever. Maybe if she hadn’t just had a baby, he’d actually have a chance.
The Deception Incident is the second book in the Incident Series. Dig into this steamy, instalove, secret baby romance with a guaranteed happily ever after by Marla Holt.

#BookBlitz: Falling for the Innkeeper by @MeghannWhistler @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card

Falling for the Innkeeper
Meghann Whistler
Published by: Harlequin Love Inspired
Publication date: July 21st 2020
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

She’s the home he never expected to find.
A battle for a charming Cape Cod inn…
But what happens when romance checks in?
Single mom Laura Lessoway won’t accept her mother’s plan of selling her late grandmother’s inn without a fight. But when big-city attorney Jonathan Masters arrives to arrange an offer from his client, she’s drawn to him. And working together as he helps with repairs only brings them closer. With his career and her home on the line, can they ever find common ground?

#ReleaseBlitz for Finally...My Forever by @KristiPelton and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Finally...My Forever
Series: Just One of the Guys #4

Author: Kristi Pelton

Genre: New Adult

Release Date: July 21, 2020

Blurb

What happens when…

after leaving the place you called home,

to forget the girl you loved,

knowing she chose someone else,

you must now return for a wedding you can’t bear to watch.

So, you pay a beautiful girl…

to trek across the country with you,

pretending the two of you have plans for a new future,

faking a relationship in front of your old crew,

unprepared for when she slams those rounded, green eyes into you.

Suddenly, you realize…

you are actually over the bride and ready to move on,

quite sure the feelings you’ve been pretending to have,

aren’t so fake after all,

yet, she needs the money, so you continue to play along.

Trying your damnedest not to fall…

to remember she’s an ‘employee’ you paid to come along,

and keep a promise of no romantic entanglements,

until that one moment, when you know,

you have finally found your forever.

Except for the secrets that threaten it all…

an uninvited guest from her past shows up at the wedding,

threatening to crumble your dreams,

and even if she still picks you,

your dark secrets might just end everything.

#TeaserTuesday: She Wears the Mask by @sstrattonbooks @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Women’s fiction, Historical Fiction

Date Published: August 11, 2020

 

 

Gripping and moving, She Wears the Mask is a novel about two women from two very different worlds, both burdened with secrets from their pasts, who form an unexpected bond…

1950s Chicago: Angelique Bixby could be one of many fresh-faced sales girls working along the Magnificent Mile, but she’s unique. She’s a white woman married to a black man in 1950s Chicago, making her stand out among the tenements on the South Side where she lives. Despite the challenges the couple faces, they find comfort and strength in their love for one another. Angelique is content, as long as she has her Daniel by her side and their baby in her arms, until she loses them both—one to death and the other to dire circumstances.

1990s Washington, D.C.: Angelique Crofton is a woman of privilege. A rich, aging beauty and mother of a rising political star, she has learned to forget her tragic past. But now that she is facing her own mortality, she is finally ready to find the daughter she left behind, remember the young woman she once was, and unearth the bittersweet memories she had long ago buried.

Jasmine Stanley is an ambitious lawyer—the only black woman at her firm. She is too busy climbing the corporate ladder to deal with her troublesome family or their unresolved issues. Tasked with Angelique’s case, Jasmine doesn’t know what to make of her new client—an old debutante with seemingly too much time and money on her hands. Jasmine eagerly accepts the challenge though, hoping if she finds Angelique’s long-lost daughter, it will impress the firm’s partners. But she doesn’t count on the search challenging her mentally and emotionally. Nor does she expect to form a friendship with Angelique, who is much more like her than she realizes—because Jasmine is harboring secrets, too.

#BookReview: A Private Cathedral (Dave Robicheaux #23) by James Lee Burke

Synopsis: After finding himself caught up in one of Louisiana’s oldest and bloodiest family rivalries, Detective Dave Robicheaux must battle the most terrifying adversary he has ever encountered: a time-traveling superhuman assassin.

The Shondell and Balangie families are longtime enemies in the New Iberia criminal underworld and show each other no mercy. Yet their youngest heirs, Johnny Shondell and Isolde Balangie, rock and roll-musician teenagers with magical voices, have fallen in love and run away after Isolde was given as a sex slave to Johnny’s uncle.

As he seeks to uncover why, Detective Dave Robicheaux gets too close to both Isolde’s mother and the mistress of her father, a venomous New Orleans mafioso whose jealousy has no bounds. In retribution, he hires a mysterious assassin to go after Robicheaux and his longtime partner, Clete Purcel. This hitman is unlike any the “Bobbsey Twins from Homicide” have ever faced. He has the ability to induce horrifying hallucinations and travels on a menacing ghost ship that materializes without warning. In order to defeat him and rescue Johnny and Isolde, Robicheaux will have to overcome the demons that have tormented him throughout his adult life—alcoholism, specters from combat in Vietnam, and painful memories of women to whom he opened his heart only to see killed.

A Private Cathedral, James Lee Burke’s fortieth book, is his most powerful tale, one that will captivate readers—mixing crime, romance, mythology, horror, and science fiction to produce a thrilling story about the all-consuming, all-conquering power of love. 

#BookBlitz: Savage Beginnings by @AuthorJLBeck & @CassyHallman @XpressoTours #Giveaway 3 signed paperbacks of Savage Beginnings

Savage Beginnings
C. Hallman & J.L. Beck
(The Moretti Crime Family, #1)
Publication date: July 31st 2020
Genres: Adult, Dark Romance, Romance

It started with a single look… my obsession, my desire, and need to possess the sweet, and incredibly naive Elena Romero.
Dark raven hair, and piercing green eyes. She would make a beautiful bride.
Ten-millions dollars and a forced signature later and she was mine.
Like a thief I came in the dead of night and stole her away from her protected castle and placed her in a gilded cage made of gold.
The deal had been settled.
She would become my wife.
She would bear my children.
She would bend to my will.
But most importantly she would help me destroy the man she loved most. The man who took everything from me: her father.
*This is a dark mafia romance that contains mature themes, graphic violence, and sexual content. This is a complete standalone that ends with a happily ever after. 100,000+ words long. There is NO cheating either.**

#EarlyReview: You Have a Match by @dilemmalord @WednesdayBooks

Synopsis: From the beloved author of Tweet Cute comes Emma Lord's You Have a Match, a YA novel of family, friendship, romance and sisterhood…

When Abby signs up for a DNA service, it’s mainly to give her friend and secret love interest, Leo, a nudge. After all, she knows who she is already: Avid photographer. Injury-prone tree climber. Best friend to Leo and Connie…although ever since the B.E.I. (Big Embarrassing Incident) with Leo, things have been awkward on that front.

But she didn’t know she’s a younger sister.

When the DNA service reveals Abby has a secret sister, shimmery-haired Instagram star Savannah Tully, it’s hard to believe they’re from the same planet, never mind the same parents—especially considering Savannah, queen of green smoothies, is only a year and a half older than Abby herself.

The logical course of action? Meet up at summer camp (obviously) and figure out why Abby’s parents gave Savvy up for adoption. But there are complications: Savvy is a rigid rule-follower and total narc. Leo is the camp’s co-chef, putting Abby's growing feelings for him on blast. And her parents have a secret that threatens to unravel everything.

But part of life is showing up, leaning in, and learning to fit all your awkward pieces together. Because sometimes, the hardest things can also be the best ones. 

#ExcerptReveal for King of Souls by @authorlacotton and @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: King of Souls

Series: Verona Legacy #2

Author: L.A. Cotton

Genre: New Adult Romance

Release Date: August 11, 2020

Blurb

Arianne Capizola is living a lie.

Angry. Abandoned. Afraid.

She’d rather spend her days locked away on her father’s estate than with the guy who stole her innocence: her fiancé.

Niccolò Marchetti is living a nightmare.

Broken. Banished. Betrayed.

He’d do anything to save the girl he loves, even if it means paying the ultimate price.

As the truth surround their legacies begins to unravel, everything they thought they knew shatters. But Nicco will do anything to protect the girl who taught him how to love, and she will risk it all to save the guy who stole her heart.

The clock is ticking as old and new enemies close in.

Only this time, their love might not be enough to save them.

*King of Souls is the second book in Nicco and Ari’s duet. Due to mature content that some readers may find distressing, this book is recommended for readers 18+

#BookReview: No Rules: A Memoir by Sharon Dukett @travelsed

Synopsis: It’s 1971 in Connecticut, and sixteen-year-old Sharon’s parents think that, because she’s a girl, she should become a clerical office worker after high school and live at home until she marries and has a family. But Sharon wants to join the hippies and be part of the changing society, so she leaves home and heads to California.

Upon arriving in California, Sharon is thrown into an adult world for which she is unprepared, and she embarks on a precarious journey amid the 1970s counterculture. On her various adventures across the country and while living on a commune, with friends and lovers filtering in and out of her life, she realizes she must learn quickly in order to survive—as well as figure out a way to reconcile her developing spirituality with her Catholic upbringing.

In this colorful memoir, Sharon reflects upon the changes that reshaped her during the 1970s women’s movement, and how they have transformed society’s expectations for girls and women today—and, through it all, shares moments of triumph, joy, love, and awakening. 

#ReleaseBlitz: Everwinter by @rjlloyd7 @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Chronicles of Naelyra Series, Book 1

Fantasy

Date Published: July 20th

Publisher: Digital Quill Publishing

 

Typically, my daily routine is to get up, enjoy my hot chocolate, go to work at my book store, go home, cook, clean, read a book and go to bed.

Simple. Relaxing. Calm.

But not all days go as planned.

Nope. Some days, you get up, have your morning hot chocolate, go to work, head home only to be portalled to another world. I’ve done my best to try to fit in. But while changing my clothes seemed reasonable, sharing a bed with their king put an entirely new level of complication on things.

Try to sort out your day when that happens. Especially when nobody in your new surroundings knows how you got there, let alone how to get you home.

#BookBlitz: Duke by @KiruTaye @XpressoTours #Giveaway $5 Amazon gift card

Duke
Kiru Taye
Publication date: June 29th 2020
Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense

Duke’s life is about honour, loyalty and respect for the business.
Nothing else.
Yet…
One look at Carla across a crowded nightclub, and he breaks his own rules.
One night with the seductive woman who calls to him like no other, and he wants to keep her.
But…
His troubled angel is a mafia princess who lives dangerously on the edge.
She plays a desperate prank and sparks a cartel war.
Now…
Duke is in a high-stakes battle to keep everything he loves.
And he intends to win, come Hell or high water.

#BookBlitz: Casino Chronicle by @batieufaye @RABTBookTours @BookBuzznet

Memoir, Business, Self-Help

How I Recovered from Injurious Employment Practices-So Can You!

Published: June 2020

 

Casino Chronicle is the story of how one man contributed a number of visionary ideas that the casino he worked for used to grow its business and add comforts to its customers. This should be a story about great success for the writer and his employer, but unfortunately it is not. This memoir is also the chronicle of how the author’s ideas were stolen, under the guise of an “employee suggestion program,” then he was marginalized, his sanity questioned, and then ultimately pushed aside. It revolves around a series of dark chapters from 1996 to 2004 that would change the author’s life, but also teach valuable lessons about the nature of casinos and the truth about what can go wrong between the powerful and the powerless. This is one man’s story, but it could happen to anybody.

#SeriesBlitz for The Heart Series by Michelle B. @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Breathe With Me
Series: Heart Series #1

Author: Michelle B.

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb

What happens when you grow up with your soulmate and become as close as two people can become? Then, tragedy strikes, and you desperately fight yourself trying to hang on to what you have with him , but ultimately, push him away because of the pain and fear.

Time passes.

The pain you felt subsides, lying dormant.

You can finally wake with the sunrise with a smile on your face, only to have it ripped away from you again when you're abducted and held prisoner by sadistic human being.

Only to be released and promised he'd come back for me…

My given name is Sofia Rose Heart and I am the headstrong daughter of an organized crime boss. But, I am also known as beautiful, by my best friend and soulmate, Caelan O'Reily. He is my strength, courage, heart, childhood memories, and even the breath that I breathe at times to keep me alive.

My name is Caelan O'Reily. What would you do when you are trying, so desperately, to hold onto the woman you love, but she keeps pushing you away? You fight, that's what you do. I have loved my beautiful girl since we were kids. I have waited years for her to acknowledge our love, and for in short glimmer of time, I thought she had.

I'm done waiting.

She is my girl.

She always has been.

She always will be.

#BookBlitz: The Aftermath of Drifting Away by @mlleab @XpressoTours #Giveaway

The Aftermath of Drifting Away
Audrey Beaudoin
(Fate, #1)
Publication date: July 15th 2020
Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

We survived the plane crash.
We survived days on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Right when all hope to get rescued crumbled, we shared a kiss that left me heartbroken―my first and last kiss.
Or so I thought. Because we didn’t die.
My plan is to never see Chris Ross again. To keep hanging out with his sister without crossing his path. Getting my life back together and working on my goals are the only things that matter. I have plans, and they don’t include love.
But then he shows up at my workplace, asking for my friendship. When I learn something that changes everything, I’m determined to stay away and not let myself fall for him.
Too bad he’s persistent. Too bad I can’t stop thinking about the damn kiss. Too bad it’s nice having him around and being his friend.
If things were to change, they could get really complicated…
The Aftermath of Drifting Away is a sweet contemporary forbidden romance. It is the first book in the Fate series that can be read as a stand-alone.

#BookReview: Metaphrog's Bluebeard by Metaphrog @AnnieBookReader

Synopsis: Award-winning duo Metaphrog transform the classic folktale into a feminist fairy tale, about the blossoming of a young child to womanhood striving for independence. Eve spends an idyllic childhood of long summer days with her sweetheart Tom, and together they dream of exploring the world. But that dream is soon shattered as she comes of age. The mysterious Bluebeard is looking for a new bride and has his sights set on Eve, and rumor has it that his former wives have all disappeared. What will Eve find in the castle beyond the enchanted forest? A forbidden chamber, a golden key and the most terrifying secret, take on a new life in this gothic graphic novel. 

#BookReview: The Awakening (The Dragon Heart Legacy #1) by Nora Roberts

Synopsis: #1 New York Times bestselling author of the epic Chronicles of The One trilogy returns with the first in a brand new series where parallel worlds clash over the struggle between good and evil.

Breen Kelly had always been a rule follower. So when her father left when she was twelve years old, promising to return, she waited. Now, more than a decade later, she needs to move forward. She can wait no longer. A summer trip to Ireland seems like the perfect next step. She never dreamed it would lead her through a portal to another world, where her latent powers of magick will be awakened, her true ancestry revealed and an epic battle against evil fought.


This title will be released on November 24, 2020. 

#ReleaseBoost for Burned by Suzanne Winslow @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Burned

Series: Smoke and Fire #1

Author: Suzanne Winslow

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Release Date: July 14, 2020

Blurb

Not once did he doubt she was meant for him...

A fresh start is all Jenifer Nichols, a single-mother with a six-year-old son, has in mind when she moves into her new home in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Overwhelmed by a failed marriage and disputes over her husband's death, she stopped believing in happy endings.

Fate, however, has bigger plans in store when firefighter Matt Barnes saves her son's life.

Matt is patient, persistent, and no stranger to disillusion. His heart belongs to Jenifer from the start, but he understands early on that winning her heart will take more time.

As their relationship strengthens, questions arise about Matt's past. Jenifer learns a second chance at love takes courage and commitment. Redefining family is complicated. And her faith in happily-ever-after is threatened again, only this time, she could lose everything.

#BookReview: The Beast Warrior (The Beast Player #3-4) by Nahoko Uehashi, Cathy Hirano (Translation)

Synopsis: A companion to The Beast Player, this is the conclusion of an epic YA fantasy about a girl with a special power to communicate with magical beasts and the warring kingdom only she can save.

Ten years after the fateful clash between two opposing sides of the Divine Kingdom of Lyoza, Elin lives a peaceful life with her family. She tries to stay as far away from her past as possible—the girl who communicated with creatures and befriended a Royal Beast wants no part in the power struggles of humans. But when Elin is called upon to investigate a mysterious illness that's stricken the Toda, she uncovers a startling plot—one that could threaten everything she holds dear.

In this thrilling sequel to The Beast Player, Elin must confront her destiny and the dire warnings of history. Is a final battle between the Toda and the Royal Beasts inevitable? Or will it mean destruction for all?