#BookReview: Daughter of Shadows and Ash (Araceli’s Blade #1) by Ember Johnson

Synopsis:
When her loved ones are brutally slain, Alora vows to hunt down the men responsible. Through her journey of grief and revenge, she becomes an assassin. Unintentionally becoming a symbol of hope for the people of the war torn land.

Fate had other paths for her to take.

After spending a passionate night with a handsome stranger, she finds herself face to face with him once again in the throne room of the Sunnevean King. After completing the king's assessment, she's betrothed to the hateful prince, her fated mate who she hasn't seen since their last and only night spent together.

As dark forces gather threatening to tear two kingdoms apart, Alora must choose: to cling to her vow of vengeance and lose herself to the shadows, or embrace the light of love and risk everything for a future she never dared to imagine.

#SalesBlitz: Barren Hill Series by @authorwillowsanders @indie_pen_pr

She fell into a ravine. He caught her—and never let go. Set against the rugged charm of Baren Hill, this heartfelt romance delivers a swoony grumpy sunshine dynamic, a heroine rediscovering herself after divorce, and a cinnamon roll mountain man with a beard—and a bar—to fall for.

Read Beard on Tap Here→ https://books2read.com/beardontap

Excerpt

Copyright 2025, Willow Sanders

“Fuck. Hello? Ouch! Motherfucking dick waffle!”

Usually it was songbirds and toads that greeted me, not a foul-mouthed woman.

“Hello?” she called again. “Please tell me those are human footsteps crunching on the gravel. Though it would totally be my luck if I met my demise being some bear’s post-hibernation meal.”

“Do you always talk to yourself?” I called into the air.

“Oh, thank god. Hi! I honestly thought I was going to die down here.”

Down. As in the ravine. Hell’s fire, she was in the ravine.

“Do I need to call an ambulance?”

“No, I’m okay. I think I twisted my ankle though. I tried to stand on it a second ago and it was not having it.”

I shot a text off to Emmett to keep him on standby, then climbed down.

Her smile when I got to her exploded in relief.

“Yoga pants and flip flops?” I helped pull her to a stand. “Did you get dropped on your head? What makes you think that is acceptable attire for these trails?”

“Excuse me?” she shoved away, nearly losing her balance until I caught her. “Was I dropped on my head?”

“There are snakes out here,” I pointed at her toes. “You startle them, they’ll be revoking your birth certificate.”

She was already pretty pale, but at the mention of critters her face blanched to near white.

“You miss the mountain signs all over town? Ski in the winter, hike in the summer? What part of the word ‘mountain’ implies you can skip around here in those?”

“We gotta get some ice on that.”

“After you just insulted my intelligence, do you honestly think I would have any inclination to accept help from you?”

I extended my hand. She stood there like a damn flamingo. I lost the last shred of patience I had and scooped her up.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She kicked in my arms like a wet cat. My palm had strict directives from my brain to stay right the fuck where it was tucked beneath her knees. The yoga pants she wore had to have been painted on her body, because every curve brushed against me like she wore nothing at all.

“Are you insane? What kind of a person just picks someone up without their permission?”

She pitched her fit all the way to the top. Thankfully, The Old Lady was less than fifty meters from the ravine. She’d get over it real quick.

#ReleaseBlitz: Ruthless Desires (Volumes 1 & 2) by @elirafirethorn @indie_pen_pr

Volume One

Three hitmen who'll stop at nothing to get revenge—until they meet her.

Wren is the sweet barista who always lights up with Elliot, Rhett, and Oliver walk into her shop. All three of the guys are drawn to her, but they know getting closer to Wren would put her life at risk. But after a chance encounter at a masquerade ball and one night together, these men are all forced to face one undeniable fact:

None of them can resist her. And now, they may not have to.

But can they keep her—and each other—safe from their enemies?

#BookTour: Nemesis (The Wrath of Chaos Book 1) by @shaniascichilone @rrbooktours

We’re touring Nemesis this week! It’s the first book in The Wrath of Chaos series by Shania Scichilone and we think you’re going to love it!

Nemesis (The Wrath of Chaos Book 1)

Release Date: August 1, 2025

Genre: Dark Romantasy

Morally Grey Shadow Mommy

A Fae King who Yearns

One Horse Trope — But it’s a Dragon

Delicious Banter and Tension

Dragons x Dragon Riders

The Asherian War has ushered Earth and its population into a new age. Humankind has gone, giving rise to a tenuous society of other races once confined largely to shadows and stories. The new paradigm is overseen by the Celestials, whose terrestrial ambassadors, the Legacies, wield a potent and manifold elemental magic—one ruled by the astrological sign one is born under. They were instrumental in banishing the dragons—ravenous and mindless beasts—to the gloomier land of a place known as the Outer Edge.

Astraea, the powerful general of the Legacy Legion, cannot stand by when two massive dragons descend on the Legacy Compound and abduct her younger sisters. Leaping on one of their great scaly backs, becoming a willing captive to the darker margins of their world, she and her siblings undertake a shocking and revealing journey, one where prior deceptions are lifted, where alliances fall and former enemies become allies and where new, unexpected dangers are born.

Dragons, Astraea learns, are hardly the mindless creatures she knew them to be—they are, as one named Nemesis tells her, thoughtful seekers of peace, with a wholly different perspective on the Asherian War, and their banishment to the Outer Edge.

As Astraea and her sisters reconcile themselves to this new reality, the fae king, Asher—so named for the war, and who is very much in love with Astraea—pursues them to the Outer Edge. Though he can be pompous and presumptuous, there is no doubt Astraea herself is drawn to him. Now, as she cautiously opens her heart, and arms herself with new understanding, she and the others must also prepare to confront those who stand in the way of peace.

#BookBlitz: Making Peace with Dementia by #AnnOlson @sweetbasilseniorcare @RABTBookTours

 

Nonfiction

Date Published: July 10, 2025

Publisher: MindStir Media

A compassionate, practical, and empowering guide for dementia caregivers—because you deserve peace too.

Making Peace with Dementia is written for the unsung heroes navigating the challenges of dementia care—family members, friends, and loved ones suddenly thrust into a complex and emotional role. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience as an occupational therapist, senior living consultant, and dementia care coach, Ann Olson offers both heart and expertise in this easy-to-read, transformative guide.

Blending professional insight with real-life stories, Olson shares tried-and-true strategies to help care partners interact more effectively and peacefully with those living with Alzheimer’s, Lewy body, or frontotemporal dementia. With clarity and warmth, she addresses some of the most difficult aspects of caregiving—challenging behaviors, communication struggles, burnout, and grief—while reminding caregivers that they are not alone.

Inside you’ll discover:

● A deeper understanding of what your loved one is experiencing

● Tools to respond to difficult situations with empathy and confidence

● Guidance on setting healthy boundaries and letting go of guilt

● Techniques to reduce tension and create calmer interactions

● Self-care practices to protect your well-being while caregiving

Through empowering language and uplifting wisdom, Olson reminds readers that while dementia may not improve, we can get better at managing it—and ourselves.

Whether you’re just beginning the journey or deep in the throes of caregiving, Making Peace with Dementia is your roadmap to reclaiming hope, balance, and peace.

#ReleaseBlitz: Protect My Wrong Secret by @summerhunter_author @RABTBookTours

 

Pine Peaks, Book 2

Romantic Suspense

Date Published: August 28, 2025

She’s the wrong secret I should’ve left buried.

Jaci Linwood is unlike any woman I’ve ever known.

Pint-sized and buttoned up, she’s enclosed in sky-high walls I can’t charm my way past.

Giving up is not my MO.

So when HEY, the security firm I co-own with my ex-military friends, gets tasked with finding out what she and her boss are doing at Pine Peaks Resort, I’m stoked to be the private investigator on the case.

Mysteries shroud their presence, but my investigation proves that they’re not merely vacationing.

Something far more sinister lays at our doorstep and Jaci’s at the center of it.

I should be doing my job...

But she becomes a fixation I can’t break, a craving that’s never satisfied, a need I don’t want to escape.

She sees through my facade and challenges me, pushes me, unravels me.

Then I’m straddling two paths—doing my job or following my desire.

The danger creeps closer, bearing down on her.

I must protect her from those who’d cause her harm.

And from my obsessed self...

#ReleaseBlitz: Devoured by @authorsephyrra @rrbooktours

We're celebrating the release of Devoured today, a horrormance by Sephyrra!

This is a dark one besties, so please read the content warnings carefully before diving in.

Devoured (The Primal Sins Collection Book 3) 

Release Date: August 28, 2025

Genre: Horror Romance

Dark Romance
Psychological Horror
Monster Obsession
Haunted psychiatric hospital
Plus-size, over-35 BIPOC heroine (Pakistani-American)
Monster x human pairing
Silent, masked executioner (inspired by Pyramid Head)
Religious horror (sacrifices, rituals, twisted theology)
Power imbalance and forced proximity
Dubious consent
Hurt/comfort in brutal, obsessive ways
Monster obsession (he watches, stalks, protects)
Distorted memories, unreliable POV
Trauma bonding
Feminine Rage

There was nothing left for me. Only judgment.

St. Dymphna's is where they lock up women like me. The ones who killed their husbands. The ones who won't stop screaming. The ones nobody wants to remember exist.

But this place is wrong. Something lives in these walls—something ancient and hungry.

Then I saw him. Eight feet of scarred muscle behind a metal mask. Red eyes that burn through the dark. A nightmare that shouldn't exist but does.

I was supposed to be another broken woman for the doctors to play with. Another meal for whatever feeds on guilt and madness here.

I should have been his perfect victim too.

But I didn't break.

I bit back.

And he saw something in that darkness—something that made him stop. Something that made him watch instead of strike.

Now in this asylum where something ancient demands its sacrifices, where a masked monster decides who lives and who dies—I'm learning that some prey are more dangerous than their predators.

Horror romance with a plus-size heroine, enemies-to-lovers. Asylum horror drowning in gore, feminine rage, and obsession.