Sneak Peek Wednesday: The Boardwalk Bookshop by Susan Mallery

2 June, 2022 5:39 pm , Leave a Comment ,


The Boardwalk Bookshop
by Susan Mallery
Publisher: MIRA
Publication date: May 31 2022
Genre: Romance

When fate brings three strangers to a charming space for lease on the California coast, the Boardwalk Bookshop is born. Part bookstore, part gift shop, part bakery, it’s a dream come true for Bree, Mikki and Ashley. But while their business is thriving, their personal lives are…not.

Bree, wounded by brilliant but cold parents and her late husband’s ultimate betrayal, has sworn to protect her heart at all costs. Even from Ashley’s brother, a writer and adventurer who has inspired millions. He’s the first man to see past Bree’s barricades to her true self, which terrifies her. Mikki has this divorce thing all figured out—somehow, she’s stayed friends with her ex and her in-laws…until a new man changes how everyone looks at her, and how she sees herself. Meanwhile, Ashley discovers that the love of her life never intends to marry. Can she live without being a wife if it means she can have everything else she’s ever wanted?

At sunset every Friday on the beach in front of the Boardwalk Bookshop, the three friends share a champagne toast. As their bond grows closer, they challenge one another to become the best versions of themselves in this heartachingly beautiful story of friendship, sisterhood and the transformative power of love.

 

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Posted in: Excerpt

Sneak Peek Wednesday: Heather by Natasha Alterici, Ashley A. Woods (Giveaway)

25 May, 2022 12:19 am , 1 Comment ,

Heathen
The Complete Series Omnibus Edition
By: Natasha Alterici, Ashley A. Woods (Illustrations)
Publisher: Vault Comics
Publication date: May 17 , 2022
Genre: Fantasy Graphic Novel

SMASHING THE PATRIARCHY – Viking Style!

WOMAN. WARRIOR. VIKING. HEATHEN. OUTCAST.

THE GODS MUST PAY…

Born into a time of warfare, suffering, and subjugation of women, and exiled from her village for kissing another woman, the lesbian Viking warrior, Aydis, sets out to destroy the god-king Odin and end his oppressive reign. She is a friend to many as she is joined by mermaids, immortals, Valkyries, and the talking horse, Saga. But she is also a fearsome enemy to the demons and fantastic monsters that populate the land.

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Posted in: Excerpt, Graphic Novel

Review: Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

20 May, 2022 8:53 pm , 2 Comments ,

The Unhoneymooners
by Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication date: May 14, 2019
Genre: Romance
Rating:

Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, in…well, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancé is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and she’s managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, she’s forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man.

Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. And now there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs.

Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.

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Posted in: Romance , Tagged: ,

Review: Ricochet by Keri Lake

17 May, 2022 9:33 am , Leave a Comment ,

Ricochet
(Vigilantes #1)
by Keri Lake
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: July 9, 2015
Genre: Dark Romance
Rating:

The only sure way to destroy a man is to take what he cannot live without.

Three years ago, I had everything.

A beautiful wife.
A son.
A reason for living.

Until a ruthless task force, assembled under Mayor Michael Culling, with a brutal strategy to make the streets of Detroit ‘safe’, ripped away everything I loved in a deadly hunt called The Culling.

They tried to kill me, too. I wish they had. Now I’m cursed by the memories of that night, and the words I whispered to my dying wife.

A promise—to avenge the wrong and set it right.

I’m no longer Nick Ryder. I’m a masked vigilante. Faceless. Loveless. Fearless. A man with nothing left to lose—one who’s seen the dark and violent truth behind the city’s flawless veneer.

Michael Culling doesn’t know who I am. Or what I want. All he knows is that I’ve kidnapped his beautiful wife.

An eye for an eye—isn’t that how the saying goes? And Aubree Culling is the perfect pawn to destroy him.

If she doesn’t destroy me first.

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Posted in: Romance

Review: Death by Laura Thalassa

13 May, 2022 12:44 am , 2 Comments ,

Death
(The Four Horsemen #4)
by Laura Thalassa
Publisher: Lavabrook Publishing
Publication date: Nov. 9, 2021
Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance
Rating:

They came to earth–Pestilence, War, Famine, Death–four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all.

He’s known by many names: Thanatos. Horseman. God’s last angel. And then, of course, there’s the one I’m all too familiar with—

Death.

The day Death comes to Lazarus Gaumond’s town and kills everyone in one fell swoop, the last thing he expects to see is a woman left alive and standing. But Lazarus has her own extraordinary gift: she cannot be killed—not by humans, not by the elements, not by Death himself.

She is the one soul Death doesn’t recognize. The one soul he cannot pry free from her flesh. Nor can he ignore the unsettling desire he has for her. Take her. He wants to, desperately. And the longer she tries to stop him from his killing spree, the stronger the desire becomes.

When Lazarus crosses paths with the three other horsemen, an unthinkable situation leads to a terrible deal: seduce Death, save the world. A hopeless task, made all the worse by the bad blood between her and Thanatos. But Death’s attraction to her is undeniable, and try though she might, Lazarus cannot stay away from that ancient, beautiful being and his dark embrace.

The end is here. Humankind is set to perish, and not even the horsemen can stop Death from fulfilling his final task.

 

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Posted in: Fantasy , Tagged:

Review: Iced by Karen Marie Moning

10 May, 2022 9:42 am , Leave a Comment ,

Iced
(Fever #6)
by Karen Marie Moning
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication date: Oct. 30, 2012
Genre: Urban Fantay
Rating:

The year is 1 AWC—After the Wall Crash. The Fae are free and hunting us. It’s a war zone out there, and no two days are alike. I’m Dani O’Malley, the chaos-filled streets of Dublin are my home, and there’s no place I’d rather be.

Dani “Mega” O’Malley plays by her own set of rules—and in a world overrun by Dark Fae, her biggest rule is: Do what it takes to survive. Possessing rare talents and the all-powerful Sword of Light, Dani is more than equipped for the task. In fact, she’s one of the rare humans who can defend themselves against the Unseelie. But now, amid the pandemonium, her greatest gifts have turned into serious liabilities.

Dani’s ex–best friend, MacKayla Lane, wants her dead, the terrifying Unseelie princes have put a price on her head, and Inspector Jayne, the head of the police force, is after her sword and will stop at nothing to get it. What’s more, people are being mysteriously frozen to death all over the city, encased on the spot in sub-zero, icy tableaux.

When Dublin’s most seductive nightclub gets blanketed in hoarfrost, Dani finds herself at the mercy of Ryodan, the club’s ruthless, immortal owner. He needs her quick wit and exceptional skill to figure out what’s freezing Fae and humans dead in their tracks—and Ryodan will do anything to ensure her compliance.

Dodging bullets, fangs, and fists, Dani must strike treacherous bargains and make desperate alliances to save her beloved Dublin—before everything and everyone in it gets iced.

 

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Posted in: Urban Fantasy , Tagged:

Review: Locked Hearts by T.L. Smith

6 May, 2022 2:08 am , 3 Comments ,

Locked Hearts
(Keir & Sailor Duet #2)
by T.L. Smith
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication date: Nov. 16, 2021
Genre: Dark Romance
Rating:

When the king of the underworld wants you.
You have no place to run.
No matter how hard you try, no matter where you go.
He will find you.
It’s just a matter of, do you want him to find you.
Or do you want to run.

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Posted in: Romance , Tagged:

Sneak Peek Wednesday: Operation Get a Life by Marilyn Jeulin (Giveaway)

4 May, 2022 9:26 am , 2 Comments ,

Operation Get a Life
(The Bias Wrecker Series, #1)
by Marilyn Jeulin
Publisher: Self-published
Publication date: April 22, 2022
Genre: Romance

A chance encounter with an alluring American Music Producer suddenly turns Cha Min-Jun’s world upside down. And as the days go on, and he readies to perform his duty to his country, his mind is elsewhere, imagining how he could seduce the beautiful American girl.

Luisa “Seven” Fernandez is tired of having doors firmly shut in her face, so she packs up and goes to couch surf with her best friends in Seoul. And it’s there that she inadvertently meets one of Kpop’s biggest stars in a bar’s bathroom in Itaewon.

For the happy-go-lucky, quick-witted, no strings attached, Seven, meeting Min-Jun can’t come at a worse time. Not sure where her professional life is going, and seeing as not much is happening in Seoul, Seven makes a drastic decision that affects them both.

While Min-Jun and Seven try to come to terms with events that bind them together, they also have to race against the clock before Min-Jun’s fans turn on him as news of his current not so single status is splashed across Social Media. Will the secrets that unite them help their budding relationship flourish, or will it all be for nothing?

 

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Posted in: Excerpt

Review: Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning

2 May, 2022 1:07 am , 1 Comment ,

Shadowfever
(Fever #5)
by Karen Marie Moning
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Publication date: Jan. 18, 2011
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Rating:

MacKayla Lane was just a child when she and her sister, Alina, were given up for adoption and banished from Ireland forever. — Twenty years later, Alina is dead and Mac has returned to the country that expelled them to hunt her sister’s murderer. But after discovering that she descends from a bloodline both gifted and cursed, Mac is plunged into a secret history: an ancient conflict between humans and immortals who have lived concealed among us for thousands of years.

What follows is a shocking chain of events with devastating consequences, and now Mac struggles to cope with grief while continuing her mission to acquire and control the Sinsar Dubh — a book of dark, forbidden magic scribed by the mythical Unseelie King, containing the power to create and destroy worlds.

In an epic battle between humans and Fae, the hunter becomes the hunted when the Sinsar Dubh turns on Mac and begins mowing a deadly path through those she loves.

Who can she turn to? Who can she trust? Who is the woman haunting her dreams? More important, who is Mac herself and what is the destiny she glimpses in the black and crimson designs of an ancient tarot card?

From the luxury of the Lord Master’s penthouse to the sordid depths of an Unseelie nightclub, from the erotic bed of her lover to the terrifying bed of the Unseelie King, Mac’s journey will force her to face the truth of her exile, and to make a choice that will either save the world . . . or destroy it.

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Posted in: Urban Fantasy , Tagged:

Finally Some Good News

1 May, 2022 5:43 pm , 8 Comments ,


I’m linking this post to Sunday Post, Mailbox Monday, and It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

 

I did it! I pulled the plug and left the rescue organization that was causing me so much stress. I had teamed up with a local rescue group to help them start up a TNR department. However, it became apparent that the cat side of the organization was not a fan of me being part of the team. Right from the get go they took over doing TNR. From deciding on doing large TNR operations, to teaming up with a different TNR group to host TNR fundraising events, all with me finding out via a Facebook post. Let’s just say it was a lot of stress from the start with me trying to not only get my footing on starting a department from the ground up, but also trying to find a way to fit into a place where I was clearly not wanted. It took about 4 months of me trying to get funds, do grants, build up a TNR team, come up with the SOP’s and the job titles, only for the cat side of the organization to just do what they want. Finally, I decided enough was enough and threw in the towel. I’m now back to doing my own thing, and I couldn’t be happier.

Other good news, Sassy, the cat that I’ve been working with since January got her HEA. She was a TNR cat that showed up with what we thought was an infection near her eye. However, after a few months of antibiotics and steroids, it became clear that something else was going on. So, I took her to a different vet where they diagnosed her with a tumor that required not only surgery to remove the tumor, but the eye as well. Not wanting to just say “ok”, we got a second opinion and that vet said the same thing. So, after she healed from the surgery and got her stitches out, I listed her on a rehoming page and a wonderful woman reached out to me. She took Sassy in, renamed her Billie, and has sent me and my friend updates on how she’s doing.

Oh yeah, and I finished out the month by taking our first trip out here. We flew to Tokyo and let me tell you, it was both overwhelming and amazing. We went to some temples and shrines, spent a day in Chinatown and Koreantown, went to a bunch of arcades, and spent more time on the trains then I would even like to know. We got so many cool souvenirs, and a ton of amazing memories. Our favorites from the whole trip was the shrines and temples. I started a goshuincho this year and got a bunch of really cool seals from the temples and shrines that we went to. Seeing that piece of history and culture at each of the shrines/temples was just breathtaking.

 

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Posted in: meme