Tag: book spotlight

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Book Spotlight Thursday: Blood Red Steel by Damien Larkin

Sci-fi readers alert! Happily caught in my spotlight this Thursday is Blood Red Steel by Damien Larkin.

Blood Red Steel (Big Red Book Series)

*Standalone Adventure

Publication Date: October 3, 2023

Genre: Science Fiction

Blood alone decides the fate of Mars
For two years, the Mars Expeditionary Force has held the line against the last remnants of the Third Reich. McCabe, Jenkins, and the Second Battalion long for home. Reinforcements have arrived, but the veterans of the MEF have one final mission. Defend Forward Base Zulu at all costs.
While Generalfeldmarschall Brandt plans a decisive showdown at Forward Base Zulu, Reichsführer Wagner celebrates the activation of the first generation of the Hollow Programme. Surrounded and cut off, McCabe and Jenkins once again find themselves in league with the MAJESTIC-12 operatives known as the Black Visors. Now the future hinges on the sacrifices of a few determined soldiers.

BUY HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Damien Larkin is an Irish science fiction and fantasy author. His novels Big Red and
Blood Red Sand was published by Dancing Lemur Press and went on to be
longlisted for BSFA awards for Best Novel. He spent seven years in the Irish Reserve Defence Force and currently lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Follow Larkin at Damien Larkin

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Book Spotlight Thursday: Where Did the Wind Go by J.M. Failde

Lastly on my Thursday Book Spotlight triple-header just in time for October I am featuring Where Did the Wind Go by J.M. Failde. 

Where Did the Wind Go?
Genre: YA Horror
Ages: 14 - 18

With the help of the newly formed Ghoul Gang, self-proclaimed ghost hunter Simon Woo soon learns that his new town of Ravenswood, North Carolina, is riddled with ghouls. But something even more nightmarish is lurking within the woods. And it has its eyes on Simon.
After moving with his family, Simon discovers that his new town is better fitting for a survivor in a horror movie rather than a junior in high school. He quickly befriends two other outsiders—Miles, the equally horror-obsessed new kid from New York City, and Riley, the resident goth girl with a secret.
As the brutal murders continue, the Ghoul Gang must discover the truth behind the ghoul in the woods in order to save Simon from becoming the entity’s new host.

AVAILABLE HERE

Add to Goodreads

About The Author

Author Page photo-cmyk (1)

J. M. Failde spent just over one hundred fortnights rigorously studying the complexities of the English language at Florida International University. While she is not conjuring up stories, she can be found searching for el chupacabra, befriending the ghost in her house, or dying her hair a new shade of blue. Failde currently resides in her gothic manor on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia, with her partner, Mike, and her familiar—the round but feisty calico cat, Maki.

Follow J.M. @ J.M. Failde

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Book Spotlight: Open the Casket by J.N. Eagles

It’s a book spotlight triple-header as we start to enter the fall season. As the days get shorter and the air crisper delight yourself with Open the Casket by J.N. Eagles.

Open the Casket

Publication Date: April 2023

Genre: Paranormal/ Horror/ Poetry/ Young Adult

A ghost, he has the freedom to roam as long as he stays within the black gates. What he didn’t expect was to fall in love. Can he protect the grave she’s mourning? Can he restore the guidepost for all spirits who pass through the cemetery? Should he remain or transcend? So many questions, and yet one thing is for certain—he must protect the guidepost at all costs.

AVAILABLE NOW ON AMAZON

About The Author

J. N. Eagles currently lives in Alabama with her husband, daughter, two cats, and a flock of chickens. She runs a reading blog where she posts reviews about the books on her shelves, and she plans to write many books of poetry. She graduated from Athens State University with a Bachelor’s in English/Language Arts and graduated from the University of North Alabama with a Master of Arts in Writing. When she’s not reading or scribbling new stories, she’s enjoying the outdoors and working in her garden.

Learn more about J.N. at JN Eagles

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Book Spotlight Thursday: Tethered by Elayna R. Gallea

Having spotlighted the release of book three (Treasured) I was more than delighted to spotlight and go back to where it all began with Elyana R. Gallea’s Amazon #1 best seller in YA dark fantasy Tethered by Elayna R. Gallea. 

Tethered (The Binding Chronicles #1)

Publication Date: February 1, 2023

Genre: Dark Romantic Fantasy/ Upper YA
🦇Vampires
🦇Magical Bindings
🦇Arranged Marriage
🦇Only One
🦇Tormented Hero

What could be worse than an arranged marriage to a vampire prince?
When Luna is sold into marriage to the Prince of Darkness, she thinks she knows what to expect. Arranged marriages happen all the time, right? Wrong. No one could have prepared her for the reality of being married to the vampire prince.
Ever since the day he was Made, Sebastian has been living according to Queen Marguerite’s rules. After all, he’s only alive because of her. When she orders him to marry and Bind himself to Luna, a human hailing a neighboring kingdom, he has no choice. He agrees to the marriage but never expects to feel anything for Luna.
When their Binding Ceremony goes awry, and they are magically Tethered, everything is thrown into upheaval. Unable to leave each other’s presence, they must learn to live with each other. Or die.
Tethered is a slow-burn arranged marriage epic romantic fantasy and is filled with forced proximity, magical bindings, vampires, and world-building.
Tethered takes place in the same world as Of Earth and Flame. It can be enjoyed on its own or alongside The Ithenmyr Chronicles.

NOTE**This series is upper YA/NA and has moderate steam. There are some instances of violence, language, and mature situations. Recommended for ages sixteen and up.

Available Now on AMAZON

Add to Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elayna R. Gallea is a whimsical weaver of words, creating tales of romantic fantasy. Nestled in the enchanting land of New Brunswick, Canada, she lives with her husband and two younglings. When she’s not writing fantastical stories, she eats copious amounts of chocolate and cheese, reads every day, and plays with her cats and dogs.

Elayna R. Gallea

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Pre-Order Book Spotlight: Grave Prophecies by Cassandra Aston

Happy news! After spotlighting Cassandra Aston’s Grave Secrets (book 1 in her Prophecies of Angels and Demons series) I am happy to announce the soon-to-be-released book#2 Grave Prophecies! Available for pre-order now!

GRAVE PROPHECIES

Expected Publication Date: May 2024

Genre: Urban Romantic Fantasy

What if everything you knew was a lie?

It’s been a busy summer. Things are heating up in Allie’s relationship with Simon and college is just on the horizon, but when school starts, so do all her problems.

Just when she’s ready to set off for college, a man from her past returns to stir up trouble, and then students on campus start turning up dead. Worst of all, Simon’s been keeping late hours at work. Is it trouble in paradise, or can he be trusted?

The more Allie learns about her past, the more secrets there are to unravel.

After uncovering a prophecy foretelling the end of life as she knows it, she’ll need to rely on the help of a few unlikely allies to solve a mystery that may lead to the ultimate sacrifice.

If that weren’t enough, Gabriel has found himself in hot water, but friends willing to come to his aid are in short supply. Perhaps keeping everyone at arm’s length for eternity wasn’t the best plan after all.

Grave Prophecies is a dark urban fantasy story, recommended for 18+ due to mature content.

Pre-order Here

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Cassandra Aston grew up near Austin, TX on a ranch just outside the city. She holds a BA in Communications and an MS in Psychology, from USC.

Her love of reading and writing began when she was nine years old. She is a fan of all things fantasy but especially loves the Fae. Although her first series Prophecies of Angels and Demons doesn’t delve into the realm of the Fae, her 2022 NaNoWriMo project, which will be released in 2024, is an urban fantasy, stand-alone story that will take the reader deep into the world of Faerie.

Cassandra currently lives in Houston, TX with her family of four.

Follow Cassandra and her works at Cassandra Aston

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Book Spotlight: Her Blind Deception By Hailey Jade

A scheduling conflict made me unable to post this Thursday but I managed to hop on at the end of this blog tour for the highly anticipated sequel to Her Dark Reflection by Hailey Jade Her Blind Deception. READ ON!

Her Blind Deception (The Dark Reflections Series #2)

Publication Date August 13, 2023

Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance/ Fairy Tales

Winning power is easy, but keeping it is a whole new game.

After being tricked into marriage at the height of her victory, Rhiandra finds herself tied to the dark and devious Draven. But he’s manipulated her for the last time. As she struggles to maintain control of her crown and gain control of her new husband, she’s determined to evade his influence and outwit her own heart. After all, how can she trust him when she’s hiding a secret that could unravel them both?

Meanwhile, the crown princess is in hiding, enchanted by a new world free of the restraints of her old life, and content to stay far away from her stepmother. But a dead princess is no small thing to forget, especially when she is very much alive. The question is, how long before she’s found?

Her Blind Deception is the second book in the Dark Reflection series. Blood will be spilled, magic will change hands, and war will raise its hackles as a game of love and betrayal stakes entire kingdoms on the outcome.

Because when you’re the villain in the story, how far will you go for revenge on those who hurt you?
How far will you go for revenge on those you’ve loved?

AVAILABLE NOW on AMAZON

And don’t forget…

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Her Dark Reflection (Book #1 in the series)

Publication Date: June 15, 2022

Genre: Dark Fantasy/ Dark Romance/ Fairytale Retelling

“They called me the Whore Queen. Some even called me the Evil Queen.
But they could call me whatever they wanted. I was still queen.”

Rhiandra Tiercelin hungers for power and her charm has always been her sharpest weapon in hunting it. So when a brutal attack leaves her physically scarred, desperation drives her to make a deal with Draven, a magic-wielding stranger who is inexplicably compelling and definitely dangerous. She knows she can’t trust him, but he when he offers to make her a queen, the temptation is too enticing to resist.

Armed with a glamoured face and an enchanted apple, Rhiandra is determined to scheme her way into a crown, even if it means risking the deadly punishment for unsanctioned magic use. But Draven is playing a bigger game, and she is just one piece on the board.

Can she keep her wits about her long enough to uncover his secrets, or will he lure her down a path she will come to regret?

Her Dark Reflection is the first book in a new dark romantic fantasy series perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy, Jennifer Armentrout, and Sarah A. Parker. If you like cunning, ambitious heroines, morally ambiguous men, and romance that toes the line between love and hate, then you’ll love Hailey Jade’s dark reimagining of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author photo

Hailey Jade has tried to quit writing, but alas, the characters who live in her head will not stop yammering. She’s hoping that building them ink-and-paper homes will make them pipe down long enough for her to get some sleep. She likes creating fantasy worlds populated by complicated, morally-grey characters who try to resist their attraction to other complicated, morally-grey characters, but who inevitably fall in love, because everyone needs a Happily Ever After.

Hailey has completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Teaching at Flinders University and spends her daylight hours trying to convince reluctant teenagers to love books. She lives in regional South Australia with her partner, bouncy baby boy, and feline overlord.

Hailey Jade

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Book Spotlight Thursday: Eternally Artemisia by Melissa Muldoon

Catching in my spotlight eye today is the whimsical Eternally Artemisia by Melissa Muldoon. Because. some loves, just like women are timeless.

Eternally Artemisia

They say some loves travel through time and are fated to meet over and over again. For Maddie, an art therapist, who wrestles with the “peculiar feeling” she has lived previous lives and is being called to Italy by voices that have left imprints on her soul, this idea is intriguing. Despite her best efforts, however, proof of this has always eluded her. That is, until one illuminating summer in Italy when Maddie’s previous existences start to bleed through into her current reality. When she is introduced to the Crociani family—a noble clan with ties to the seventeenth-century Medici court that boasts of ancestors with colorful pasts—she finally meets the loves of her life. One is a romantic love, and another is a special kind of passion that only women share, strong amongst those who have suffered greatly yet have triumphed despite it. As Maddie’s relationship develops with Artemisia Gentileschi—an artist who in a time when it was unheard of to denounce a man for the crime of rape, did just that—Maddie discovers a kindred spirit and a role model, and just what women are capable of when united together. In a journey that arcs back to biblical days and moves forward in time, Maddie encounters artists, dukes, designers, and movie stars as well as baser and ignoble men. With Artemisia never far from her side, she proves that when we dare to take control of our lives and find the “thing” we are most passionate about, we are limitless and can touch the stars.

Check out Eternally Artemisia Available on Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Muldoon is the author of four novels set in Italy: “Dreaming Sophia”, “Waking Isabella”, “Eternally Artemisia”, and “The Secret Life of Sofonisba Anguissola.” All four books are set in Italy and tell the stories of women and their journeys of self-discovery to find love, uncover hidden truths, and follow their destinies to shape a better future. For more information visit: MelissaMuldoon.com

Melissa is the author also of the Studentessa Matta website, where she promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog written in Italian and English (studentessamatta.com). “Studentessa Matta” means the “crazy linguist” and has grown to include the podcast “Tutti Matti per l’Italiano”, and the “Studentessa Matta” YouTube channel, Facebook page, and Instagram feed. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Programs, which she co-leads with Italian schools in Italy to learn Italian in Italy while immersing in language and culture. Through her website, she also offers Homestay opportunities to live and study in Italy in the private home of a teacher.

Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master’s degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence. She is an artist, and professional book designer, and designed the interiors of all three of her books as well as illustrated their covers. Melissa is also the managing director of Matta Press.

Learn more at Melissa Muldoon

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Book Tour Spotlight: The Seldom Wings by Beka Westrup

Combining forces with R&R Book Tours for the blog tour for The Seldom Wings by Beka Westrup. Today it’s my stop on the tour to showcase this beauty once again.

The Seldom Wings (Winged Spirits Series Book 1)

For years, Sia’s hidden herself in the gnashing forest, dodging her father’s bounty hunters and ignoring the nameless magic in her veins. When she receives a letter from an estranged lover, she returns to the coast she used to call home, within reach of her father’s magical city hovering above the smog and the arranged marriage waiting for her. This place is not somewhere Sia wishes to linger—the land is noxious and filled with rebels, witches, and other humans who become walking corpses when they die. What was intended to be a brief visit turns into a death-bed promise anchoring Sia to Gwaith House for the foreseeable future. She agrees to look after her first love’s human child until her widower proves he can care for his daughter himself.

The thing with promises is: Sia can’t break them. No seraph can. At least not without severe consequences.

While navigating the complex feelings she develops for the angry widower and her own grief, Sia becomes entangled in a mysterious string of dismembered corpses roaming the smog and a strange detective who refuses to leave her alone. As the desperate undead draw closer and closer to the child she is sworn to protect, Sia races to find the murderer responsible for creating them. She needs to figure it out quickly, or she may risk falling right back into her father’s scorching hands.

PURCHASE HERE

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Beka Westrup is a genre-hopping author of fantasy and romance. The Seldom Wings is her second full-length novel. She lives in the PNW with her husband and two children, collecting more books than she’ll ever be able to read and drinking copious amounts of iced coffee.

Beka Westrup

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Book Release Spotlight: Lady of Dragons by Shelby Elizabeth

In celebration of the release of  Lady of Dragons by Shelby Elizabeth, I had to spotlight this beauty as I love dragons! If you’re a dragon lover or dragon rider, read on!

Lady of Dragons (Book One)
Publication Date: August 29, 2023
Genre: YA Fantasy Romance

Finlay McDonough wants nothing more than to be a Dragon Knight: a warrior bound with a dragon partner, intent on ridding the kingdom of its dragon-killing monarchy. Well, she might want one thing just a bit more … Evander, her childhood friend, now keeper of the dragon sanctuary. Scouting with Evander one day, Finlay’s attempt to save a dragon goes horribly wrong, and she inadvertently ties her fate to the dragon’s–their souls bind, lending Finlay powers like those of the Mages the Knights are sworn to destroy.

After passing the trial to train as a Knight, Finlay discovers a devastating truth about a beloved dragon. To save them, she’ll need to risk her dream of becoming a true Knight, her chance at a happily-ever-after with Evander … and maybe her very identity.

A fantasy romance with a strong heroine, sweet love interest, a sassy dragon companion, and more than a dash of adventure awaits.

AVAILABLE NOW ON Amazon

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shelby Elizabeth is an English teacher in Upstate New York, with a B.A. in Writing from SUNY Potsdam (2019) and an M.A.T. in Secondary English from SUNY Empire (2021). I have self-published a young adult fantasy trilogy about Shifters and Elementals in the modern world (Celestials), and a young adult contemporary m/m romance (Don’t Hate the Player). When I am not writing in my free time, I am spending time with my family and my cats, reading, or watching just a little too much television.

Learn more about Shelby and her work at Shelby Elizabeth

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Book Spotlight Thursday: Between the Dark Spaces by Melissa Groeling

WELCOME! to another Book Spotlight Thursday! Today we are highlighting Between the Dark Spaces by Melissa Groeling.

Between the Dark Spaces

How deep do those dark places go?

Sixteen-year-old Aris Black likes to think she knows about dark places. Every day, she watches her father struggle to hang on to his sobriety. She works long hours after school to help pay their bills so they don’t end up out on the street. She knows one wrong move and they could lose everything.

When she meets Chapman Woolfe, she knows she’s not the only one fighting to stay in the light. Chapman is a boy surrounded by monsters that wear masks of the people he thought he knew.

Together, Aris and Chapman discover the world these monsters created and its origin is a lot closer to home than they realize.

Can these two teenagers find their way out before the darkness swallows them whole?

AVAILABLE NOW at Amazon | Booktopia | Barnes & Noble

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Melissa Groeling didn’t know she had an accent until she moved from New Jersey to Philadelphia. She thought everyone spoke the same way, and called things by the same name…that is, until she got into her first debate with a Pennsylvanian over a “sub” or a “hoagie.” This soon led to other debates: jimmies versus sprinkles. Pork roll versus Taylor ham. It all became quite the struggle, a fight not to conform. Boldly trekking onwards, she knew she preferred a sub, sprinkles on her ice cream, and Taylor ham for breakfast. So she kept at it, much like her writing.

Drop her line sometime. She’ll happily talk to you about tea (oh yes, she’s a tea drinker off-set only by those fancy-schmancy mochas from Starbucks), the New York Giants (a die-hard fan), chocolate (the dark kind, thanks), and cupcake recipes, because really, without icing, the world is just a muffin.

Learn more about Melissa and her books at Melissa Groeling