#BookReview: The Headmaster's List by Melissa de la Cruz

Synopsis: One of them was driving. 
One of them was high. 
One of them screamed. 
And one of them died. 

When fifteen-year-old Chris Moore is tragically killed in a car crash, Argyle Prep is full of questions. Who was at the wheel? And more importantly, who was at fault? 

Eighteen-year-old Spencer Sandoval wishes she knew. As rumors swirl that her ex, Ethan, was the driver that fateful night, she can’t bring herself to defend him. And their messy breakup has nothing to do with it – she can’t remember anything from that night, not even what put her in that car with Ethan, Chris, and Tabby Hill, the new loner in school. Was it just a night out that went very wrong? And is it just a coincidence they were all part of Argyle’s esteemed honor roll, the Headmaster’s List? In a place ruled by pedigree and privilege, the answers can only come at a deadly price.

Set against the glitz and glamour of an elite LA private school, Melissa de la Cruz's first YA thriller is an addictive mystery perfect for fans of Gossip Girl and A Good Girl's Guide to Murder.

#BookBlitz: The Space Between Us by @mjsummersbooks @XpressoTours #Giveaway $500 USD prize to one lucky creator

The Space Between Us
Melanie Summers
(Brainiacs in Love, #1)
Publication date: February 29th 2024
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

Love just might be the final frontier…

S.E.T.I. researcher, Gwen Fox, is a woman on a mission—to answer the cosmic question of the ages: Are we alone?
Along with her work family, Gwen is perfectly happy spending her days listening for extraterrestrial signals— until the worst happens. They get word that they’re about to be shut down by Ty Sterling, their billionaire backer whose heart is as cold as interstellar space.

About to lose everything, Gwen has no choice but to travel to Peru to change his mind. Armed only with scientific zeal and optimism, Gwen faces off against Ty, who just might be the most stubborn, cynical man in the galaxy.

As the tension between the pair builds, so does the undeniable chemistry that neither of them saw coming. Against the breathtaking backdrop of the Peruvian jungle, the space between enemies and lovers begins to collapse.

Will Gwen and Ty discover that together they form a supernova of passion? Or will their budding relationship crash and burn on impact?

*** The Space Between Us is a swoony, adventure-filled, delightfully funny tale of a woman who will do anything to save her job and the stubborn billionaire who dared to get in her way. It’s a standalone rom-com with a little more spice than a regular Melanie Summers book. ***

WHAT TO EXPECT:
Enemies to lovers
S.T.E.M. romance
Billionaire
Adventure, romantic settings, and a little danger
Forced Proximity/Only one tent
A secret cinnamon roll hero
Loads of banter, awkward moments, and delicious tension

#BookReview: Gothikana by RuNyx

Synopsis: The eternal romance of Beauty and the Beast meets the gothic suspense of Dracula in this erotic dark academia story of epic love from bestselling author RuNyx.

"RuNyx immerses her readers in the dark worlds she builds and then injects life into them in the most hauntingly beautiful way. Her work is unique and addictive—she really is one of a kind.”--Hannah Grace, New York Times bestselling author of ICEBREAKER

“Original, innovative, and unlike anything I’ve read before.”―L. J. Shen, USA Today bestselling author

An unusual girl. An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?

An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an old, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.

An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his path crosses with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is.

They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years over the past century, Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.

And so begins a tale of the mysterious, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.

#BookBlitz: The Edge by Jim McGhee @XpressoTours #Giveaway $25 Amazon gift card

The Edge
Jim McGhee
(DI Barney Mains, #5)
Publication date: February 28th 2024
Genres: Adult, Thriller

DI Barney Mains blames himself for the grotesque murder of a top banker in France.

He’s obsessed with the belief that he allowed a near-mythical assassin to escape certain death to kill again.

And when a duplicate murder is reported 1000 miles away in Barney’s home town in Scotland, the guilt drives him ever closer to the edge.

How many more must pay the ultimate price for his failure?

But then death comes closer to home. He is left with no choice but to face his demons, before a shocking confrontation which will change everything…

#BookReview: The Cruel Dark by Bea Northwick

Synopsis: Millicent Foxboro is haunted.

Not by ghosts but by the anguish of her past and the uncertainty of her future. After all, even in the progressive year of 1928, most people would balk at hiring a woman who’d spent two months in a mental ward for traumatic amnesia. So when an uncommon assistantship to a reclusive Professor of mythology falls into her lap with an ungodly salary attached, her desperation for stability overrides her cautious nature. 

To Millie’s dismay, the widowed Professor Callum Hughes and his estate, Willowfield, are more than she bargained for. The once magnificent home, known for its sprawling gardens and dazzling parties, is falling to pieces after the death of the professor’s fragile wife. What’s more, the staff has been reduced to the only three people not frightened away by rumors of ghosts, leaving the halls empty and languishing in bitter memories.

The professor himself is a grim, intense man with unclear expectations, unpredictable moods, and hungry eyes that ignite Millie’s own dormant passions. The closer she finds herself drawn to Professor Hughes and his strange world of flowers and folklore, the more the house closes in, threatening to reveal her secrets. But the professor is keeping secrets of his own and the most dangerous of all is hers to discover.

#Teaser: The Freaks of Lark Street by Harvey Havel @RABTBookTours

 

Fiction

Date Published: 01-04-2024

Publisher: Pageturner Press and Media

 

Julius T. Downer has lost his job at a prestigious Wall Street firm, his lovely girlfriend who has run off with his best friend, and his shoebox of an apartment where he and his girlfriend have been locked up in Pandemic-stricken New York City during COVID. Without much money left, he has little choice but to dump it all and relocate to Albany, New York, where he lives hand-to-mouth at a Motel 6.

Demoralized, Downer knows he must get on his feet. He ventures to the most cosmopolitan street in Albany, which is Lark Street, hoping to find another girlfriend similar to the one who just abandoned him and also hoping to have a little fun before he searches for another job. Instead, he finds an antagonistic and unwelcoming crowd who snub him at every turn. The only ones who welcome him in are those he terms as "freaks." These are the homeless, the drunks, the addicts, and the sex workers on Lark Street.

But his downward slide is mitigated by an outsider artist who takes up residence in one of the few coffee shops that are established there. With the help of this outsider artist and his group of "freakish" friends, Julius T. Downer finds that he has a special supernatural ability when it comes to viewing art.

And Downer enters Albany already hating artists and everything about them. But after finding that he has this new ability bestowed upon him by this outsider artist, he finds that his new relationship to art and the art world around him can help many people who are suffering and struggling through their own lives. Downer finds a new path to follow with the understanding that he is just a "freak" himself.

#BookReview: The House of Starlight & Shadow (The Mirror Kingdom Chronicles #1) by Coreene Callahan

Synopsis: From Amazon Bestselling Author Coreene Callahan comes a spellbinding novel about a woman born to stand in the breech between parallel worlds where revolution is imminent, honor means little, and the stakes are life and death.

Truly Langford-Bardot has spent her life pretending to be normal. No one knows about the monsters that stalk her sleep, or that she was left inside a cardboard box on the steps of a church as a newborn. Raised in foster care on the tough streets of Philadelphia, she learned to take care of herself and trust no one.

After being forced out of her dream job, she’s working a dead-end one when a mysterious stranger arrives with proof she’s heiress to a Victorian mansion in a ramshackle neighborhood. But upon entering her new home, Truly accidentally unlocks a door to a magical realm, releasing an ancient evil from its prison—along with a dark family secret.

Hunted by those who rule the mirror kingdom, Truly comes face-to-face with Westvane, the queen’s slayer, and is given an ultimatum—help him recapture the monster she set free and kill the queen, or be executed for opening a portal to another world.