#BookReview: Order of Swans (The Blue Swan duology #1) by Jude Deveraux

Synopsis:
In this spellbinding, fantasy-rich novel, a woman is swept into a world where she has the power to alter fairy tales, and change a kingdom’s destiny…

To Kaley Arens, a PhD student and expert in folklore, fairy stories have always had a power and an allure beyond mere entertainment.

It’s only when Kaley accompanies her lifelong friend Jobi on a visit to his home that she realizes how much she still has to learn. Bellis isn’t the remote island that she believed it to be. It’s another world—a stunningly beautiful and seductive one, with its own royalty, its own rules, and inhabitants who breathe life into the tales she was taught were fiction.

Kaley’s presence is no simple holiday. She has a mysterious connection with Jobi and with Bellis, and abilities that may help determine this world’s fate. Tasked with locating a lost prince, Kaley and her companions—the enigmatic Tanek, a member of the Order of Swans, and Sojee, Kaley's colossal bodyguard—journey through a land both thrilling and terrifying, where the uncanny and the familiar go hand in hand.

But in fairy tales, heroes and villains are easy to discern. Here, nothing is quite as it seems. And though Kaley is discovering that she can change the outcome of the fairy tales she knows so well, her own story is unfolding in ways impossible to predict, with a destiny she could never have foretold…

#AudioBookTour: Trailridge by @kevinwolfstoryteller @RABTBookTours

Mystery

Date Published: Aug 1, 2025

Narrator: Greg O'Donahue

Run Time: 6 hours 24 minutes

 

Guy Hogan and his wife planned to share their dream home in Colorado but cancer his took her from him. The mountains became his refuge and each day he hoped the next cast of his flyrod will chase away his loneliness.

Then he finds a man’s body in his favorite trout stream.

Learning why the man died becomes a quest to fill his emptiness. Hogan befriends a young woman as empty as he. Their path leads to a ring of poachers killing elk for their antlers, a break neck car chase across the twist and turns of the highest paved road in the United States, and the fury of a mountain flash flood.

But the young woman is not what she seems. Will her deadly secrets force Hogan to become the very thing he despises? The challenge is as treacherous as Trail ridge Road.

#BookTour: Sword Brethren by #JonByrne @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

Book 1 of the Northern Crusader Chronicles

Historical Adventure

Date Published: 11-28-2024

Publisher: The Book Guild

1242. Wounded and captured after the Battle on the Ice, English knight Richard Fitz Simon becomes the unlikely guest of Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod. Curious about his prisoner, Alexander commands his scholar to record Richard’s tale.

Richard’s story begins in 1203, when betrayal shatters his path to knighthood and drives him from England to the merchant city of Lübeck. There, entangled in an illicit affair and the cutthroat salt trade, he finds only temporary refuge. Fleeing once again, he joins the Livonian Brothers of the Sword—a militant order sworn to spread Christendom across the pagan Baltic.

Amid the cold austerity of Riga’s commandery and the looming threat of enemy tribes, Richard must battle not just for survival, but for meaning in a life shaped by violence, doubt, and fractured loyalties. When a pagan army threatens to overrun their outpost, he faces a final reckoning—one that will test his faith, his honor, and the limits of his courage.

#BookTour: Twenty of Two the Infamous They by #RolandHughes @RABTBookTours

Thriller/Espionage

Date Published: 07-04-2025

Publisher: Logikal Solutions

In life, the journey is the reward. Old Timer certainly has had a journey through this life. For nearly forty years he has been both a geek and an assassin. Despite someone at his company having given him the contract decades ago, nobody there actually knew what he did, just that the client paid. Had he told anyone about it, especially his coworkers, they would have laughed in his face.

Since late January, 1992, he has kept a secret . . . and souvenirs. Secrets were common currency in his world, but souvenirs were against company policy and strictly forbidden.

Presented as a novel. Any names, dates, events or places that happen to exist in the world you know are strictly coincidental. Take the journey that is about to start. Find out how Ukraine saved the world from nuclear war in 1992 and what they did is still saving it today because nobody ever found out.

Some readers will never think about food the same way again.

Slava Ukraini! Heroiam slava!

bon appétit

#BookTour: One Year in Paris by @horsnells @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

 

Contemporary Romance

Date Published: 07-25-2025

Publisher: Lipstick Publishing

When Annalise Garner arrives in Paris to study art, she’s chasing quiet—far from her Southern roots, far from expectations. What she doesn’t expect is to meet Jett Hunter, a star American soccer player with green eyes, a bruised past, and a future under a constant spotlight.

Jett lives for the game. Annelise lives for the canvas. But when fate intertwines their worlds on a rain-soaked street in the City of Lights, neither is prepared for the slow-burn connection that follows.

As their hearts tangle between café tables and gallery walls, the intrusion of the press and career choices threaten to pull them apart.

Jett faces pressure to return to New York.

Annalise wrestles with who she is beyond her art.

And just when they start to find their rhythm, a devastating injury changes everything.

Set against the romance of Paris and the quiet beauty of rebuilding a life, One Year in Paris is a tender story of love that endures the noise, finds strength in the silence, and blooms where it’s least expected.

#BookTour: Built To Last by @david_amerland @RABTBookTours #Giveaway

How To Get Stronger, Healthier, And Happier At Any Stage Of Life

Nonfiction / Fitness and Wellness

Date Published: 01-03-2025

Publisher: New Line Books

Discover the Secret to Lifelong Fitness.

Imagine a simple, science-backed plan that helps you build strength, boost your energy, and improve your mood every single day-no matter your age. "Built to Last" is your complete blueprint for transforming both body and mind, making it easy to overcome fitness challenges and truly thrive.

Inside this book, you'll find:

 

- 84 Easy-to-Follow Workouts: Each exercise is designed to be effective and accessible, whether you're new to fitness or looking to break through a plateau.

- Science-Backed Strategies: Learn the latest techniques from exercise science, longevity research, and neuroscience to get the most out of every workout.

- Stress Management and Habit Building: Discover practical tips to manage stress, form lasting healthy habits, and stay active even when life gets busy.

 

With clear, actionable advice that fits seamlessly into your daily routine, "Built to Last" takes the guesswork out of getting fit. This book isn't just about exercise-it's about creating a balanced, healthier lifestyle that empowers you to live your best life.

 

Your journey to becoming stronger, healthier, and happier starts now. Let "Built to Last" be your guide every step of the way.

#BookTour: Selected Misdemeanors by @suewilliamsilverman #RABTBookTours #Giveaway

 

Essays at the Mercy of the Reader

Creative Nonfiction; Essay Collection; Flash-Essay Collection

Date Published: September 1, 2025

Publisher: University of Nebraska Press

The essays in Selected Misdemeanors are unapologetic word grenades lobbed into an otherwise complacent forgetfulness. Throughout the collection, Sue William Silverman focuses on pivotal, often fleeting moments that defined the course of her life, such as a fraught family vacation; an evening watching the Chippendale dancers’ extravaganza; a Pac-Man-and-bourbon-fueled rumination on failed relationships; and the way melodramatic movies such as Rome Adventure shape an adolescent’s idea of love. Ranging from short to flash to micro length, these emotionally courageous writings imbue minimalist forms with maximalist emotions and an unrepentant, no-holds-barred attitude. Each action explored in this collection produces the Butterfly Effect—seemingly quotidian events rippling into emotional tsunamis.