#BookReview: Belladonna by Anbara Salam ~4Stars

Synopsis: An evocative, atmospheric story of friendship and obsession set in the 1950s that follows two schoolgirls from Connecticut whose lives are changed forever when they travel to a silent convent in northern Italy to study art for a year

Isabella is beautiful, inscrutable, and popular. Her best friend, Bridget, keeps quietly to the fringes of their Connecticut Catholic school, watching everything and everyone, but most especially Isabella.

In 1957, when the girls graduate, they land coveted spots at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Pentila in northern Italy, a prestigious art history school in the grounds of a silent convent. There, free of her claustrophobic home and the town that will always see her and her Egyptian mother as outsiders, Bridget discovers she can re-invent herself as anyone she desires.

Only Isabella knows the real Bridget, just as Bridget knows the true Isabella. But as that glittering year goes on, Bridget begins to suspect Isabella is keeping secrets from her, secrets that will ruin all of her plans and that will change the course of their lives forever. 

#BookReview: Release Blitz for Pained by @VeraHollins @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: Pained

Series: Bullied #2

Author: Vera Hollins

Genre: Dark High School Romance

Release Date: March 31, 2020

Blurb

Two months have passed since the day I pushed Hayden away. Two months since I found out he loved me and wanted to be with me. I’ve been trying to move on and forget about him, but my heart refuses to listen.

Hayden had almost died saving me. Half of me wants to forgive him for everything and give him another chance. The other half prevents me from doing so, distrusting him and ignoring my heart's desires. Hayden is dark and complicated, and as the days pass, he gets further away from me, ignoring me whenever our paths cross.

I have less than a year before I go to college, and I won't see him ever again. I have to believe I will get over him and move on with my life. I have to believe in my future without him. 

Unless he didn't really move on, and our masks are about to fall.

#BookBlitz: Perfect Pending by Lucia Ashta @XpressoTours #Giveaway

Perfect Pending
Lucia Ashta
(Witches of Gales Haven, #1)
Publication date: April 1st 2020
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Marla’s ancestors saddled her with frizzy red hair, sarcasm on tap, the Gawama last name, and the urge to run from her problems.
Her bloodline was also supposed to guarantee she’d be a powerful witch.
She isn’t, not by a long shot.
Only those with magic are allowed in her hometown. Now that her teenage children are awakening, and sparking enough power to be a fire hazard, she’s headed back.
Even if she isn’t ready. Even if she’s fresh out of divorce court.
Home is where her family is. Her nan is head of the council, and her aunts claim multiple orgasms are the source of their limber joints.
But then Marla and her kids all but blow up the town on day one. And her first boyfriend, the one who broke her heart long before her ex did, seems better than ever.
He has his eye on her…
So does everyone else.
Somehow it’s on her, and the magical creature who won’t get out of her head, to save Gales Haven. Before her former mother-in-law redecorates the town in baby pink … and breaks the centuries-old spell that keeps it safe and hidden.
Perfect Pending is a Paranormal Women’s Fiction novel. If you love snarky stories with women so empowered they’re a force to be reckoned with, then you’ll love Perfect Pending, the first book in the Witches of Gales Haven series.

#BookBlitz: Slayer by @Cyndi_Friberg @RABTBookTours

Shadowborn Rebellion, Book 1

Sci-fi Romance

Date Published: March 2020

Publisher: Anything-but-Ordinary Books

General Malik Xett doesn't have time for romance. His one and only concern is curtailing the power and influence of the ruthless Sarronti elite. Still, the human female working with him lingers in his mind and fuels his imagination.

Though Kara O'Leary has been attracted to Malik since they first met, she never dreamed he returned her feelings. One kiss ignites a hunger neither can deny, but the timing couldn't be worse. Hostilities rapidly escalate and new threats are revealed. How can Malik and Kara bring freedom to the "world below" when all they can think about is each other?

#BookReview: Darling Rose Gold by @stephwrobel 4~Stars

Synopsis: Sharp Objects meets My Lovely Wife in this tightly drawn debut that peels back the layers of the most complicated of mother-daughter relationships...

For the first eighteen years of her life, Rose Gold Watts believed she was seriously ill. She was allergic to everything, used a wheelchair and practically lived at the hospital. Neighbors did all they could, holding fundraisers and offering shoulders to cry on, but no matter how many doctors, tests, or surgeries, no one could figure out what was wrong with Rose Gold.

Turns out her mom, Patty Watts, was just a really good liar.

After serving five years in prison, Patty gets out with nowhere to go and begs her daughter to take her in. The entire community is shocked when Rose Gold says yes.

Patty insists all she wants is to reconcile their differences. She says she's forgiven Rose Gold for turning her in and testifying against her. But Rose Gold knows her mother. Patty Watts always settles a score.

Unfortunately for Patty, Rose Gold is no longer her weak little darling...

And she's waited such a long time for her mother to come home.

#ReleaseBlitz: Double Blind by Sara Winokur #Giveaway @RABTBookTours

Mystery Thriller

Date Published: March 31, 2020

Publisher: Anchor House Publishing

A young boy disappears in the chill of North Iceland. Twenty years later, a mysterious poem lands on the desk of his twin sister Brynja, a forensic geneticist, and rekindles her hopes that her brother might be alive. As Brynja unravels the clues, more poems arrive, each bearing dire consequences for those who receive them: the guard of the medieval manuscript of Icelandic sagas that possibly has the answer to her burning question, the prime minister’s secretary, the local pastor.

Is the poet out to stop Brynja from finding her brother and shut down her access to the DNA database? Or is the verse maker simply a psychopath copycat killer?

Fighting the visual auras that have plagued her since childhood and now threaten everything she holds dear, Brynja must summon the strength to navigate the twisted labyrinth of the poet’s mind and confront the dark secret buried in her family’s past.

DOUBLE BLIND is a wild ride through the cultural landscape of Iceland, from rural farmsteads to icy fjords to the high-tech world of DNA forensics. This crime thriller packed with twists and turns that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end.

#NerdBlast: Angel Raven by @heatherburch @JeanBookNerd #Giveaway

Sometimes dead is better.

Raven has always considered himself a casualty of war. An outsider to all he secretly longs for, his dark fate and a broken heart have isolated him from his fellow Halflings. He's lost Nikki--a devastating blow. So it's fine with him that the other Halflings assume he's dead.

When Raven overhears Dr. RIchmond--his favorite human--has a college-age daughter in mortal danger, he swoops in to save her.

Raven finds that like him, Jessica Richmond has a dark side. Fleeing together, the two fight an unbearable attraction while they outsmart the thugs sent to kidnap Jessica. Raven is falling hard for the kick-butt college girl.

But Jessica holds a dark secret. One that could threaten everything the Halflings are working to protect.

In this fourth installment of the Halflings series, you'll journey with Raven as he rides the thermal currents between darkness and light. Grab your copy now. It's time to fly.