#BookReview: The Box in the Woods (Truly Devious #4, Stand Alone) by Maureen Johnson

Synopsis: After solving the case of Truly Devious, Stevie Bell investigates her first mystery outside of Ellingham Academy in this spine-chilling and hilarious stand-alone mystery from New York Times bestselling author Maureen Johnson.

Amateur sleuth Stevie Bell needs a good murder. After catching a killer at her high school, she’s back at home for a normal (that means boring) summer.

But then she gets a message from the owner of Sunny Pines, formerly known as Camp Wonder Falls—the site of the notorious unsolved case, the Box in the Woods Murders. Back in 1978, four camp counselors were killed in the woods outside of the town of Barlow Corners, their bodies left in a gruesome display. The new owner offers Stevie an invitation: Come to the camp and help him work on a true crime podcast about the case.

Stevie agrees, as long as she can bring along her friends from Ellingham Academy. Nothing sounds better than a summer spent together, investigating old murders.

But something evil still lurks in Barlow Corners. When Stevie opens the lid on this long-dormant case, she gets much more than she bargained for. The Box in the Woods will make room for more victims. This time, Stevie may not make it out alive.

#BookBlitz: Mushroom Honeymoon by @charlotte_dune @RABTBookTours

 

Book Two in the Psychedelic Love Series

Magical Romance

Date Published: May 2021

Publisher: Ocean Flower Press

Magical, sexy, tropical, and terrifying — Mushroom Honeymoon follows a couple's quest for harmony and love, despite physical and mental obstacles.

Newly married, Saman wants to be a wonderful husband, but serious health concerns are affecting his daily life and marriage. To improve his situation, he undergoes a kidney transplant, but the procedure leads to as many complications as solutions to his problems.

After the operation, Saman’s wife, Thelma, plans a belated honeymoon to Hawaii, hoping it will help her troubled husband relax. Before they leave, a friend gives Thelma the contact of a wealthy entrepreneur who hosts transcendental magic mushroom (psilocybin) and psilohuasca (ayahuasca component + magic mushrooms) ceremonies on his secluded Hawaiian estate. Based on her own visions and transformative experiences with psychedelics, Thelma believes the ceremony may benefit Saman, and she books the psychedelic retreat.

As the couple explores the lush landscape of Hawaii, the trip reveals the strengths and weaknesses of their bond. Saman grows hesitant to attend the mushroom ceremony, while Thelma becomes convinced that it’s exactly what her husband needs. What she doesn’t realize is that Saman harbors a secret that could threaten more than just their marriage.

Is the honeymoon of their love only beginning? Or will Saman’s dishonesty lead to the destruction of their relationship?

In Mushroom Honeymoon, Charlotte Dune creates an emotional and supernatural romance, teaming with visionary energy and surreal hallucinations, taking the reader deep into the psyches of two incomplete individuals seeking to emerge together in wholeness and love.

Mushroom Honeymoon, is book two in The Psychedelic Love Series and can be read as a standalone or in sequence. It picks up where Cactus Friends: A Psychedelic Love Story leaves off and delves into the challenges of marriage, plant medicine culture, and the joys of Hawaii.

#BookTour: An Unwitting Trickster by @@KaiStrand @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

 

Young Adult Fantasy / Mythology

Date Published: 06-08-2021

Immortal Trickster, Luke, is starting a fresh life in a new-to-him seventeen-year-old body. With yet another lifespan stretched out in front of him, he’s questioning what purpose his endless compulsion to play tricks serves.

Agnar, a Thor look-alike claiming to be his adoptive brother from the planet Asperian, appears to declare Luke has been away from home too long. One problem. Luke doesn’t remember Agnar or living on another planet.

With more questions than answers, Luke cautiously agrees to accompany his “brother” back to Asperian, but the travel portal rejects him, leaving him behind to continue his mundane life of trickery. When interplanetary soldiers show up intent on killing him, he’s forced into hiding and his list of unanswered questions grows.

Will Luke remain trapped on Earth forever, pulling meaningless pranks? Or will he finally figure out his true purpose?

#WeekBlast: Live! Love! Rest! God's Plan by Karen Baker

 

The Perfect Person to Get Cancer

Biography/Memoir

Date Published: January 1, 2021

Karen Baker had the perfect life. She had a dashing husband, two beautiful daughters, and two incredible parents who set her up with firm financial foundations. At least, that was how it looked on the outside.

Beneath the surface, Karen’s marriage was in turmoil. To make matters worse, a series of seemingly freak accidents and medical diagnoses put her through trial after trial. Through it all, she took care of everyone around her. Her determination and grit were such that, when her final diagnosis came, a friend said something startling: “Karen, you’re the perfect person to get cancer. Because you’re going to beat it and use the experience to help others.”

Now Karen shares her remarkable story—how she cared for three generations of her family through illness and tragedy, and the lessons she learned along the way. She includes practical tips for financial well-being during life’s storms—and the final and most powerful lesson of all.

#BookReview: A Pack of Vows and Tears (The Boulder Wolves #2) by @OWildWrites

Synopsis: In the seductive follow-up to A Pack of Blood and Lies, Ness Clark’s heart and legitimacy are again put to the test. 

She thought the fight was over, but it was only just beginning. 

At the end of the trials, Ness Clark has earned her spot in her all-male pack and has won over her new Alpha, Liam Kolane. But her place amongst the Boulders and at Liam’s side is compromised. First when her cousin, who’s become enemy number one, claims Ness helped him elude his death sentence. And then, when August Watt, Ness’s childhood friend and confidant, comes home to Boulder, Colorado.

Although August’s plan was to pledge himself and return to active duty, he finds himself incapable of leaving. This becomes problematic for Liam and Ness, because a mating link has clicked into place between Ness and the ex-marine. If not consumed, the link will fade, but that’ll take months. How long and hard can two people fight a physical attraction that renders their bodies unreceptive to anyone’s but their mates?

Ness is tired of fighting, tired of having to prove herself worthy of her pack’s trust and of her Alpha’s affection. But when an enemy pack arrives and threatens the Boulders, she has two choices: step aside and let the wolves who have pushed her away fend for themselves, or step up and help them fight the newcomers.

Ness has never stepped aside…not for anyone.

Why would she start now?

** Not suitable for children under 14.

#BookReview: In the Forest of the Lost and Found by K.D. Van Brunt

Synopsis: Eighteen-year-old Allyssa Baylor lives a sheltered life of privilege. Not anymore. Now she is lost in the wilderness below the arctic circle with little more than the clothes on her back. A battle is coming and if she’s going to survive it, she must lose who she was and discover who she is. 

Ever since her mother’s horrible death, Allie wants nothing to do with her family, particularly her sister, Grace, whom she blames for the loss of her mother. But Allie is persuaded to join her family on one last vacation, one last chance to heal the breaches among them before college. The group travels by float plane to a remote lake cabin in northern Canada located 150 miles from the nearest road. 

The vacation becomes a disaster when the plane never returns to retrieve them, and they have no way to call for help. Soon, the food runs out. More ominously, something prowls the woods around the cabin, and they dare not go outside after dark. Finally, desperate and with no other options, Allie resolves to do the impossible: hike through the Canadian wilderness back to civilization and evade whatever predator is waiting in the surrounding forest. 

With her younger sister and brother in tow, Allie sets off into the wild with few supplies and no survival skills. They are not alone. A monster begins relentlessly hunting them. After weeks of running and hiding, the end has come. Allie must overcome the raw fear inside her and make a stand against the beast alone, buying what time she can for her family to escape.