The Ruination of Ramona Stone by Lisabet Sarai – Spotlight and Giveaway

November 13, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lisabet Sarai will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

To Victorian London, they were childhood friends reunited by tragedy. Behind closed doors, they were each other’s undoing.

Ramona Stone survived the bleak years at boarding school because of bright-eyed Juliet—her childhood anchor and her dearest confidante. While Juliet marries for love, Ramona accepts the husband her father has arranged, an ambitious barrister twice her age.

When an accident leaves Juliet a penniless widow, Ramona persuades her husband to grant her friend shelter. Proximity kindles unexpected passion; sympathy turns to illicit desire. What begins as solace quickly transforms into a force that neither woman can resist or deny.

Trapped with a domineering husband, living in a society eager for scandal, Ramona understands that every touch is a gamble and every glance a betrayal. If their secret comes to light, she won’t just lose her place in society—she will lose the only love that she’s ever known.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“Oh, Ro! I don’t feel strong now.” Tears welled up in her eyes. “I don’t know how I will survive. I have exactly twelve pounds to my name, plus two suitcases of personal belongings. No roof over my head. No friends aside from you, or so it seems. The people in George’s circle were all eager to attend our social functions, but now they won’t even acknowledge my letters. My brother refuses to speak to me. I’ve offered to work for him, if he’ll take me in. I don’t want to be a burden. I could serve as housekeeper on his estate. Nothing will melt his heart of stone. Harry told me I was dead to him when I chose George. Apparently he meant it.”

She buried her face in her hands, whimpering and sniffling.

“Juliet. Juliet! Don’t cry. We’ll come up with a plan.” I pulled her into my arms and held her tight. She clung to me like a shipwrecked sailor trying to stay afloat. “Don’t worry, darling. I’ll take care of you.”

I stroked her wayward locks, escaping as they always did from the pins and ribbons that held them. She clutched me around the waist, desperate sobs shaking her body. I was at least inches taller than she was. Her tears soaked the satin of my bodice. I bent my mouth to her ear and murmured soft platitudes meant to soothe her pain.

It was terrible to see her suffer. Yet despite everything a strange sort of joy sang through me as I cradled her in my arms and comforted her. She would never be alone, I vowed, as long as I was alive. I would care for her like my own flesh and blood.

Gradually her sobbing quieted and her tears dried. Still, we held each other, sinking into the warmth of our mutual embrace. Our breathing synchronised. I could not feel her heartbeat through the layers of her widow’s dress, but I would not have been surprised to discover it beat in time with mine. An odd peace stole over me. I believe Juliet felt it too. Blossoming out of the heart of that peace, I had a sense of new possibilities.

Finally I loosed my hold upon her. She tipped her face up to mine, eyes shining and lips parted. A bolt of heat swept through me, so sudden and unexpected that I gasped.

“What is it, Ro? Are you unwell?”

“No, no… I’m fine.” I pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, trying to forget the awful desire that had arced through me only moments before. “And you are better too, are you not?”

“I believe so. I suppose I needed to release some of the pain. Thank you for allowing me to fall apart.” She stepped backward, smoothing her hands over her skirts. I felt a blush warming my cheeks.

“You can trust me with your sorrow. I’m your friend, your oldest and closest friend.” And that’s all I am, I reminded myself sternly. A friend.

“My only friend.” She reached for my hand. “But perhaps you’re all I really need.”

About the Author Lisabet Sarai writes in many genres, but F/F fiction is one of her favorites. In addition to her single-author lesbian romance and erotica titles, her Sapphic credits include contributions to Lambda Award winner Where the Girls Are, Ippie-winning Carnal Machines, Best Lesbian Romance 2012, Best Lesbian Erotica 2015, Forbidden Fruit: Stories of Unwise Lesbian Desire, and Lammy-nominated Coming Together: Girl on Girl.

Lisabet holds more degrees than anyone would ever need, from prestigious educational institutions who would no doubt be deeply embarrassed by her explicit literary endeavors. She has traveled widely and currently lives in Southeast Asia, where she pursues an alternative career that is completely unrelated to her writing.

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Duke du Jour by Petie McCarty – Spotlight and Giveaway

September 1, 2026 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Petie McCarty will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She’s waiting in the past . . . He belongs in the future.

Jared Langley, present-day Duke of Reston, tumbles into an abandoned fountain on his ducal estate and is pelted back in time to the year 1816. There, Reston servants and local villagers think him a dead ringer for his namesake and rakehell ancestor—the seventh Duke of Reston, gone missing at the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, Seven got mixed up with French spies out to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and an unwary Jared ends up in their crosshairs.

Lady Ariana Hart has loved Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was twelve years old, until the night the rogue broke her heart. Given up for dead, her rakish neighbor makes a miraculous return from Waterloo. Only Jared shows up a changed man and reignites all the feelings Ariana had long ago buried.

Jared is in a race against time.
His tasks?

Waylay the suspicions of his quirky servants and neighbors
Get to Wellington before the French spies do
Fix his fountain–before Seven shows up–so Jared has a way home
And definitely do not fall in love with the irresistible Lady Ariana . . .

Second Edition

Enjoy an Excerpt

The sound of hoofbeats and wheels churning came from the path to the old stone stable. Seconds later, what looked to be a perfectly restored nineteenth-century curricle pulled up with a magnificent pair of spirited blacks in harness. The young man driving tied off the reins and jumped down, and Jared could only stare in stunned disbelief.

Curricle Man matched Jared’s height and build and wore scuffed knee-high boots, what appeared to be knickers, and a woolen waistcoat over a loose, long-sleeved white shirt with a linen scarf stuffed in the collar. A wave of dizziness struck Jared again. Curricle Man strode over and bowed.

Bowed?

“Chappy said you were back, Master Jared. So I took the liberty of bringing round your curricle, so you could take straight off to see Lady Wilder.”

This tableau had quickly turned into a nightmare.

“I do this often,” Jared said. The words came out sounding like a question, and he received two incredulous looks.

“As soon as you arrive, Mast—uh, Your Grace. At least, you did on the last few visits before you left for the continent,” Curricle Man offered. “I only thought―”

“Well, do not think. Maybe this visit I choose to be different. I can change.”

Jared got the you-must-be-daft look again. Truth be told, he felt a bit daft since he had not known he owned a curricle and had no intention of driving this one until he learned how. Harness-racing sulkies he knew.

Restored curricles, not at all.

“Begging your pardon, Your Grace,” Curricle Man persisted, “but you always said if you did not go there, Lady Wilder would come here. And you hate that.” The man gave him a wary stare. “Of course, that was more than two years ago.”

Jared’s head pounded in earnest, and he fought off a wave of nausea brought on by the accompanying dizziness. He did not know these people, he had no idea what or whom they were talking about, and he feared a climactic ending to this delusional scene.

“Yes, but this year is—” He had meant to say different, but Cook—who had been strangely silent throughout their discourse—beat him to the punch.

“—Eighteen sixteen, of course,” she said, looking worried. “Are ye sure ye didn’t hit yer head back at the fountain, Master Jared?”

“Eighteen sixteen?” he asked weakly.

“Right,” the two strangers agreed in unison.

Oh, dear Lord in heaven! I am not just named after Jared Langley. I am Jared Langley, seventh Duke of Reston.

Then everything went black.

About the Author: Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World—”The Most Magical Place on Earth”—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said goodbye to her “day” job to write her stories full-time.

These days, Petie spends her time writing new tales for her Cinderella series, her new The Watchers series, sequels to her Regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and more contemporary romance standalones, along with her two previous releases—Any Fin For Love and Ambush in the Everglades.

Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy who makes a cameo appearance in Christmas Watch, Book 2 of The Watchers series.

Visit Petie at her website to get to know her, learn about her current projects, and discover her other published works.

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The Lie That Could Save Her Daughter or Destroy Everything by Alix Nichols – Guest Blog and Giveaway

June 24, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Alix Nichols will be awarding a digital box set of her bestselling series The Darcy Brothers to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

The Lie That Could Save Her Daughter or Destroy Everything

One of the questions that stayed with me long after I finished writing A Duchess with a Secret is this: Does protecting someone you love justify hiding the truth?

It’s a question Eva, the heroine of my novel, has been forced to confront in the most painful way. For years, she has lived with secrets — some forced upon her, others she chose to keep in order to shield the people she loves.
Now she finds herself standing at a crossroads where the “right” choice could hurt the very person she’s trying to protect.

Eva has spent much of her life enduring, first from her parents, then from her husband. She knows better than most how silence can feel like safety… and how it can also become its own kind of prison. But when the truth she carries has the power to change everything for her daughter, the lines between protection and deception become dangerously blurred.

At the same time, Alex is facing truths of his own — about his family, his inheritance, and the man he thought he was.

Their stories collide in a place where love doesn’t simplify moral choices or make the path clearer. It just makes the stakes higher.

Eva must decide what she’s willing to sacrifice. When her darkest, most dangerous secret becomes too heavy to carry alone, she’s forced to make an impossible choice.

If you’ve ever wrestled with a similar dilemma, I think you’ll understand Eva’s struggle. And if you want to find out what she ultimately chooses, and whether her whirlwind romance with Alex can survive that choice, I hope you’ll pick up A Duchess with a Secret!

For sixteen years, they’ve hated each other…
and craved each other.

Widowed and betrayed, Eva Castellane will do anything to protect her daughter’s inheritance.
Standing in her way?
Alex Castellane—her late husband’s steely, magnetic half brother.
The man poised to take it all.
Her worst enemy.
Her forbidden temptation.

Stuck together in the family castle, their legal fight spirals into war…
until a common threat forces a reluctant alliance.
Desire blurs the lines.
Chemistry sizzles.
Rules get broken.

But as the verdict nears, one slip could unravel Eva’s explosive secret…

A Duchess with a Secret stands alone within the Montevor Royals Saga. It is a spicy contemporary enemies-to-lovers romance with forced proximity, family secrets, and a hard-won HEA.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“He’s here,” Millie whispers.

I don’t look. I don’t need to.

The man she’s warning me about radiates a chill so palpable I can sense which door he entered through. The air in Fort Vauclairt’s reception hall, warmed by hundreds of flickering candles and the breath of mourners grows colder by the second.

Of course, Alex would show up! Nothing like a funeral to size up how much of the estate he can have, just because he happens to share the same father as Geoffroy.

I’m being unfair, I know.

After all, Alex is the old duke’s second son. In neighboring France, the math prodigy would’ve inherited half of the duchy when Rodolphe passed.

Then again, there are no dukes or duchies in the Republic of France, nor are we subject to its laws. We’re old school in Mount Evor. Here, the principles of primogeniture and representation still reign supreme. The firstborn takes it all. The child comes before the sibling. With both Geoffroy and Julian gone, Millie’s birthright ensures that she inherits everything.

The only way Alex Castellane gets a chunk of the estate is if Geoffroy named him in his will. Which I know he didn’t. My late husband and his younger half brother had been estranged long before I met and married Geoffroy Castellane, a dashing widower twice my age.

Alex will get nothing or next to nothing. And Millie will be the next Duchess of Rohinn.

He knows this, of course he does. Yet he carries his tall, infuriatingly well-proportioned form with confidence, which lends an air of legitimacy to his potential claims.

About the Author Alix Nichols is a caffeine addict, a longtime fan of Mr. Darcy. She pens sexy romantic comedies and romantasy. Her books have been described as “pure pleasure” (Kirkus Reviews) that “keep fans of romance hanging off the edge of their seat” (Romantic Times).

At the age of six, she released her first book. It featured highly creative spelling on a dozen pages stitched together and bound in velvet paper.

Decades later, she lives in France and still writes. Her spelling has improved (somewhat), she has become a Kindle Scout winner, Chanticleer First Place winner, USA Today bestseller, Book Riot’s Top 100 Must-Read International Romance author, and Amazon All-Star for being one of the 100 most-read authors in Kindle Unlimited.

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Love Across Time by Beth Ford – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 1, 2026 By Leave a Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Beth Ford will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. And click here for our review.

Ashley and Thomas, a medieval knight, are in 1377 England, escaping from present-day immigration authorities intent on capturing Thomas. Having fled to the past to ensure their togetherness, Ashley is faced with adapting to fourteenth-century life, while Thomas, new to his title as Baron after his older brother’s death, is called to Parliament, encountering enemies there and at court as he struggles to build his own alliances.

Ashley’s work at a monastic hospital is deemed “miraculous” but draws unwanted attention as potential witchcraft. Meanwhile, becoming embroiled in a political movement, she realizes too late it’s a plot against the King.

How can Ashley conform to social expectations, counter the plot, and still keep her relationship with Thomas, in all the turmoil?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Ashley struggled to absorb the bucolic version of Salisbury she glimpsed through the trees. The road that had so recently—to her mind—trundled along the base of the low green hill had transformed into a simple dirt track. A mile or so off, the spire of Salisbury cathedral stuck out in the landscape, surrounded by low buildings. Around her, everything else was silent.

Except for the pounding of her heart and Thomas’s steadying breath beside her.

He tugged her gently back into the woods. “We can’t risk anyone glimpsing you from the road.”

Right. She looked down at her clothes. Denim, polyester—fabrics that didn’t exist here, in the time that Thomas hailed from. The time that she had abruptly landed in with no preparation or planning.

She glanced back to the clearing in the woods that held the flat, mossy rock she and Thomas had just knelt at in 2022 and risen from in 1377—the year it had been for Thomas when the rock had abruptly deposited Thomas in her time earlier that summer. She recalled the sixteenth-century manuscript they found in the university database in Southampton when searching for answers to his situation, the manuscript that had given them the key to getting Thomas home.

There is sayde to be much magik and manye secretes on Salisbury plain. A person can fynde their greatest heart’s desire in that playce. This person shoulde return to the same stane with a clere purpose in his heart and mak the prayer again. But ev’ry time the magik is called on, there may be other consekwences, therfor it should be used only when absolutly necesary.

Calling on the magic had been absolutely necessary. They had been pursued up this very hill by the police who were intent on viewing Thomas only as an illegal refugee with no papers and Ashley as his accomplice. And in the moment while they waited to be caught, while Thomas and Ashley held hands and closed their eyes hoping the magic would deliver Thomas home, the mossy rock had known her own heart better than she had—it had sent her to the past with Thomas, and she knew that decision was right. Ashley prayed there would be no negative consequences such as were hinted in the manuscript.

About the Author: Beth Ford writes historical and time travel stories that transport you in time. She is the author of the novels In the Times of Spirits, Love Between Times, Love Across, Time, and After the Spirits Come: A Continuation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. She also writes the Cassie Woods, Reporter historical mystery romance novella series. Her work has also appeared in a variety of literary journals. She lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

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Release Boost for Fake It Until It’s Real & Fight It Until We Can’t by Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca – Spotlight

May 28, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Fake It Until It’s Real

Jess Harper finally has the fresh start she was looking for until she needs a fake date to survive her ex’s wedding weekend. Caleb Ward is the reliable, closed-off man who agrees to help, expecting nothing more than a favor. But when their pretend relationship starts to feel real, they’ll have to decide if they’re brave enough to risk everything for something neither of them believed they deserved. Readers who enjoy steamy fake dating romances will devour Fake It Until It’s Real by Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca, a small-town, forced proximity romance.

She’s afraid she’s too much. He’s convinced he’ll never be enough.

Maplemoor is Jess Harper’s fresh start. A quiet place to rebuild after a future that never happened. Now she has a book club that feels like family, a coffee shop that knows her order, and a life that finally feels steady again.
What she doesn’t have is a date to her best friend’s wedding—the one where her ex and his brand-new fiancée will also be there.

Enter Caleb Ward. Dependable. Steady. The kind of man who shows up before you even have to ask—for everyone except himself. He’s got a life in Maplemoor that works for him, but when it comes to love, he keeps his walls firmly in place—and exactly where he wants them.

Agreeing to be Jess’s date to the wedding is just a favor. Nothing more.

Until it isn’t.

One weekend together. One very convincing performance.

Turns out the line between pretending and real is thinner than either of them thought. The hard part is knowing which side they’re on.

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Fight It Until We Can’t

Operations Manager Carli Porter runs The Lochwell as if it were her own and is fiercely protective of the community she’s built within its walls. But when the building’s owner sends in his best friend to evaluate its future, Caril finds herself fighting to keep everything she loves from slipping away. Left with no other option, she’s forced to team up with Alexander Grassi, the very man who could decide the building’s fate. Readers who enjoy steamy, he-falls-first romances will devour Fight It Until We Can’t by Cissy Mecca & Tina Gallagher, a small-town, rivals-to-lovers romance.

He’s a property analyst hired to find the cracks.

She’s the operations manager who will make sure he doesn’t.

Carli Porter runs The Lochwell like it’s hers. The coffee shop is her living room. Its book club members are her family. The residents are her friends. The pub is her Friday night. The only problem? The building belongs to someone else, and that someone just sent his best friend to decide its fate.

Alexander Grassi is smart and annoyingly hard to hate. He also has the kind of forearms that make it very difficult to stay mad at him. (She’s tried. It hasn’t worked.) He’s supposed to write a report, hand it over to his friend and leave. He wasn’t supposed to start showing up to trivia night. Or turning her coffee cup so the handle faces her. Or looking at her like she’s the best thing in a building full of things worth saving.

She says his report could ruin her life.

He says she’s not wrong.

She says that’s makes him the last person she should want around.

He says he’s staying anyway.

Because some legacies (and people) are worth fighting for.

Goodreads

Buy Now or Read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

Tina Gallagher grew up and continues to live in Northeast Pennsylvania. As a tween, she and her best friend would create happily ever afters for their favorite soap opera couples. Eventually, the soap operas lost their appeal, but the writing never did. Before living her dream as a full-time author, she worked a spectrum of jobs ranging from baking and cake decorating to marketing and project management. In between creating memorable characters, traveling, and taking pole dance lessons, Tina enjoys spending time with her two grown children and Golden Irish named Thea.

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A “recovering” 8th-grade teacher and curriculum consultant with a PhD in Language & Literacy, Cecelia loves writing high-heat, emotionally charged romance. The Brands (The Mecca Romance Multiverse): Cissy Mecca: Contemporary Romance, Cecelia Mecca: Medieval and Scottish Historical Romance. C.L. Mecca: Fantasy and Paranormal Romance. Mecca Romance Signature Style: Heroines: Bold, strong women who fall hard but never lose their identity. Heroes: High-heat, protective, and intense. Vibe: Visceral, sensory-rich escapes… from family-owned vineyards to the war-torn Anglo-Scottish borders. Other Info: Representation: Katie Reed (Katie Reed Literary) Personal: Married, two teens, Disney enthusiast, traveler, and wine lovers Authority: PhD background makes her an excellent guest for craft-focused podcasts or literacy-based panels.

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Twinkle of Doubt by Patricia Leavy – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 26, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Patricia Leavy will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

For fans of Colleen Hoover, this inspirational follow-up to Shooting Stars Above continues the love story between internationally best-selling novelist Tess and counterterrorism agent Jack as they both fight to overcome their deepest fears.

Tess Lee is a wildly successful and world-famous novelist whose inspirational books explore our innermost struggles and the human need to believe that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Jack Miller is a federal agent who has spent decades working in counterterrorism—a violent world that has left an inevitable residue on his psyche. Two years into their marriage, as Tess and Jack both heal from past trauma, their epic love, fostered by their ability to truly see one another, has brought them profound happiness. When an anonymous threat is made against Tess’s life, however, everything changes. Will they learn to lean on each other, or will they fall apart into the darkness?

In Twinkle of Doubt, the second Celestial Bodies Romance, Tess, Jack, and their chosen family explore the nature of doubt and the struggle to feel worthy of love.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The next morning, Tess and Jack were snuggling in bed. Jack was playing with Tess’s hair and teasing her. “I’m serious. You’d look good in a tiara; maybe you should have gone for that royal.”

“First of all, everyone looks good in a tiara.”

“That’s your first of all?” he said, tickling her mercilessly.

She giggled uncontrollably until he stopped.

“Okay, I should have said, ‘In no particular order.’ But my other points were that royalty is absurd, and that man was dull and uptight. And furthermore, Omar is out of his mind. He wasn’t in love with me.”

“Well, that’s where you lose all credibility. I trust Omar on this one. It’s impossible not to fall for you.”

She slid her hand behind her head, pulled out her pillow, and walloped him in the face.

“You did not just do that,” he said through laughter.

“That’s what you get for saying such silly things,” she said, now lying flat on the bed.

“Hey, I’m just grateful you’d give up a crown and palace for a guy like me,” he said.

“Jack, there are no guys like you. There’s only you.”

He leaned over, caressed her face, and kissed her.

“Give me my pillow,” she said.

“Oh, now you want it back?” he teased, holding it in his hand as far away from her as he could stretch. “You’re gonna have to come and get it.”

She started to crawl over him when his cell phone rang. “Ah, you’re in luck,” he said, handing her the pillow. “It’s Bobby.”

“See if they want to go to the movies with us later,” Tess said, propping herself up against her pillow. “If Gina’s there, we can persuade you two to see a romantic comedy and not one of those killing spree monstrosities.”

Jack laughed and answered the phone. “Hey, Bobby. What are you guys up to later? Save me from a chick flick.”

About the Author: Patricia Leavy, PhD, is an award-winning, best-selling author. She is also the publisher and CEO of Paper Stars Press. She was formerly Associate Professor of Sociology, Chairperson of Sociology & Criminology, and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College. She has published more than fifty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book awards. Her novel Shooting Stars Above was featured on People “10 Romance Books to Read After Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry” and was the 2025 Firebird Book Award First Place Winner in Contemporary Novel, Romance, and Summer Beach Read. Patricia has also received career awards from the New England Sociological Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, the International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry, and the National Art Education Association. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” In 2024 the London Arts-Based Research Centre established “The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research.” Patricia lives in Maine. In addition to writing, she enjoys art, reading, and travel.

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The Secret Cottage by Kate Ellington – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 25, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Kate Ellington will be awarding a $20 Amazon gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Isabel Tate yearns for the simple pleasures she took for granted before scandal rocked her family two years ago. On May Day, she’s determined to forget her troubles and enjoy herself at the Claremont family’s annual festival. Meanwhile, Robert Claremont steels himself to begin courting the haughty heiress next door, but his bashfulness is only one obstacle to winning her hand. Despite a deep sense of family obligation, he dreams of choosing his own bride. Captivated by each other from the moment they meet, Robert and Isabel are kept apart by a misunderstanding until a chance encounter leads to friendship and more. With opposition on all sides, they must overcome inconceivable odds to claim happiness.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Isabel turned her horse into the woods, directing him to a gurgling stream under a canopy of trees. The forest was quiet but for the splashing of the water, bird songs and the rustle of branches. They hadn’t been there long when Isabel heard a new sound. Hoofbeats and muffled voices. She urged her horse closer to the road, and easily heard the riders’ conversation.

“What makes you think she came this way?” a man asked.

A deeper voice answered, “Merely a guess. It seemed as good a place as any to look, but I’m thwarted again.”

“Let’s turn back, we can look for her tomorrow.”

“I’m sitting for the portrait tomorrow.”

Isabel’s pulse quickened as she recognized the deeper voice. Robert Claremont. So he’d been looking for her. Why hadn’t he come to the house? She started back toward the stream, but suddenly reason left her and she guided her horse through the trees, emerging just as Robert and his companion rounded the bend going in the opposite direction. They hadn’t seen her.

Isabel paused for a moment, thinking what to do. Go back home and hope he came to the house soon? Or seek him out for herself? Her reckless side won. Spurring her horse to a gallop, she chased after them. Robert turned in his saddle and Isabel was delighted with the look of shock on his face as she sped past him and who she could now see was Mr. Kensington.

About the Author: Kate Ellington grew up in a woodsy New England town where summer days at the lake seemed to last forever. She read her first historical romance at age eleven when a teacher challenged her to find a book in the library written by an author she’d never heard of. Thus began a life-long love of love stories.

After graduating from college with an art degree she settled in the Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides with her family.

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Code One Club series by Alison Naomi Holt – Spotlight

May 4, 2026 By Leave a Comment

Some relationships are built on balance. Others take shape through contrast, where power meets vulnerability and certainty meets hesitation. The Code One Club series by Alison Naomi Holt leans into sapphic stories that live in that tension, where connection forms between women who are not easily changed.

The world of the Code One Club brings together women whose lives are shaped by power, survival, and emotional restraint, where connections form beneath the surface and often carry more weight than they first appear. These stories explore how opposing forces, from control and chaos to grief and desire, shape relationships that are difficult to ignore.

In The Inheritance, Phyla McGuire is powerful, controlled, and emotionally untouchable, while Ash Redux is a former Army K9 handler barely holding on, navigating life on the streets while battling PTSD. When their lives collide, what begins as circumstance becomes something deeper and far more dangerous, forcing both women to confront what lies beneath the roles they’ve built.

Whiskey-Colored Eyes follows Jude Lorcan, a grieving widow moving forward one careful step at a time, and Dr. Noémi Boudon, whose quiet search for something real brings them into each other’s orbit. Their connection develops slowly, shaped by grief, hesitation, and emotional restraint.

In Melt for Me, Alléandra Alfieri has built her life on control and distance, while Maren Tempest introduces unpredictability and intensity. When they collide, control is challenged and completely undone, shifting the balance between them in ways neither can ignore.

Enjoy an Excerpt from THE INHERITANCE

Allegra studied the portfolio as though it were a disgusting piece of gutter trash. Her lips twisted only slightly before she composed her features. She’d turned sixty-five the previous week and had immediately booked an appointment with her plastic surgeon to discuss the slight lines she imagined had appeared in her upper lip in the twenty-four hours between being sixty-four and turning sixty-five. She had no intention of adding to them simply because Harcourt Langdon needed to make changes to a perfectly good trust.

She should know. She was the one whom Langdon had insisted prepare it nearly twenty years earlier. She grabbed the document and strode purposefully into the elevator, punching the button for her floor and seething as the doors closed much too slowly on the only man in the company who could and would make her life a living hell if she lost the Langdon account.

Her heels clicked decisively on the marble floor as she stepped out of the private elevator onto the floor immediately below his. This was her domain, where conversations stopped when she walked in and her people stared at their desks or shoes as though she would bite their heads off if they made eye contact. As she passed her assistant on the way to her office, the woman—she couldn’t remember her name since the chit had only just begun the job the week before—fell in behind her. Allegra held up a finger. “Stay.”

The woman immediately stopped and whispered, “Yes, Ms. Saint-Germain.”

“And tell Jon to have the limo ready in thirty minutes.”

“Yes, Ms. Saint-Germain.”

Honestly, Allegra didn’t think she’d heard the woman utter any other words than, “Yes, Ms. Saint-Germain.” It wasn’t as though Allegra was a monster like Harcourt Langdon. That thought bothered her for precisely one second before she banished it from her mind. “And change that awful-looking sweater before I leave. Heaven forbid I have to walk past it twice in one day.”

Allegra rolled her eyes as her door shut on the woman’s “Yes, Ms. Saint-Germain.”

Her go-to place of comfort was the rather worn, multi-colored wingback chair her grandmother had left her when she’d passed away on Allegra’s twenty-fifth birthday. When Allegra’s parents had died in a car accident on her first day of sixth grade, it had been her beloved grandmother who’d picked her up from school and taken her to a nearby park where she could give the little girl the news that her parents were dead.

About the Author Alison Naomi Holt writes bold, emotionally charged sapphic fiction centered on powerful women who refuse to be diminished. A former police officer, she brings grit, realism, and a sharp sense of humor to stories that explore love, resilience, and identity.

Her books often feature commanding “ice queens,” fiercely independent women, and unexpected connections that challenge both. Whether set in high-powered boardrooms, dangerous streets, or intimate emotional landscapes, her stories blend intensity with vulnerability, creating characters who feel as real as they are unforgettable.

Holt is also an advocate for literacy and believes deeply in the transformative power of stories to inspire confidence, connection, and change—especially for women. When she’s not writing, she’s often riding horses or chasing the next story idea demanding to be told.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With:

Five Summers from Now by Michelle Dayton – Spotlight

April 30, 2026 By 1 Comment

A breakup on the way to a Fourth of July getaway was supposed to be the end for Merritt and Ben until a strange accident sends them five years into a future neither of them remembers. No longer together and surrounded by lives that have shifted in unexpected ways, Merritt and Ben must piece together what went wrong between them and their once-tight friend group. As old feelings reignite and hidden truths are exposed, the past and present collide in ways they never anticipated. Readers who enjoy heartfelt second-chance romances, stories with emotional time slips, and a love that refuses to fade will devour Five Summers from Now, a steamy new romance from Michelle Dayton.

They were supposed to spend the Fourth of July weekend with their closest friends—fireworks, laughter, traditions. Instead, Merritt Sullivan and Ben Samuels broke up on the drive to the lake, before the first spark lit the sky.

But after a strange accident on the dock, they wake up to find that everything’s changed. It’s five years later. They’re no longer a couple. Their friends’ lives have shifted in ways they never saw coming. Careers, relationships, even loyalties have rearranged—some for the better, some painfully worse. And neither of them remembers the years in between.

Forced to navigate a future they don’t recall, Merritt and Ben must work together to understand what fractured not only their relationship, but their entire friend group. The only way back—if going back is even possible—is to face the heartbreak they once tried to outrun.

As old feelings resurface and new truths come to light, they’ll have to decide: is the future worth keeping…or worth rewriting?

Enjoy an Excerpt

Tears formed and slid down my cheeks. I dashed them away with one hand, silent, not wanting to break the spell. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ben’s right hand jerk in my direction as if he wanted to touch me, needed to touch me, but then realized he shouldn’t.

Oh, to hell with it.

I reached over, grabbed his hand, and pulled it to my heart. I bent my head and pressed my lips to it. He’d said his brother’s name to me, for the first time ever.

A broken sound escaped his mouth at the feel of my lips on his skin. The next thing I knew, he was pulling me into his arms, the tight confines of the car be damned.

He pushed the driver’s side seat back, settled me onto his lap sideways, and held on to me for dear life, panting into my neck.

“It’s okay,” I murmured, winding my arms around his neck and stroking through the hair on the back of his head. “It’s okay.”

I closed my eyes and breathed him in, the Downy fabric softener and chlorine scent of my Ben. His arms tightened around my waist, and I let myself luxuriate in his embrace. God, I hadn’t felt this safe in ages. I’d been so angry with him for so long. Even when we hugged, it was perfunctory and quick. I hadn’t let myself cling or need him. Hadn’t let him hold me or need me.

I’d taken his hand because he needed comfort. We both did. This was his body’s response to my earlier apology. He didn’t have the words, so holding me like this was his way of showing me he forgave me.

But now, the embrace was changing for me. It was becoming about need. All about need. I needed to feel his chest expand and contract, needed to feel his breath against my bare neck, needed his hands tugging on the strands of my hair.

I was suddenly hot all over, despite the air-conditioning. It’d been so many months since he’d touched me, and even if this embrace was simply in the spirit of forgiveness and comfort, my body was responding in a very not-PG way.

“Merritt,” Ben whispered.

I pulled my face back, brushing my cheek against his on my way to eye contact.

He stared up at me, at my mouth, his pupils expanding and obliterating the blue. When I sucked in my bottom lip, he groaned in the back of his throat. “If you don’t want to be kissed, you better get the hell off my lap.”

Instead, I gripped the seat behind his shoulders and used it as a brace as I twisted my body upright and carefully brought my right leg over to straddle him.

Later, I’d probably kick myself for this. Escalating things with Ben at this moment made about as much sense as the defeat of the aliens in Independence Day, but common sense didn’t stand a chance against the desire in Ben’s eyes, my racing heart, and the singing sense of rightness in my veins every time his mouth was on mine.

Ben’s body was taut with restraint as he waited for my right knee to find purchase on the seat cushion between him and the door. The very instant my weight stabilized, he cupped the back of my neck and drew my face to his, claiming my mouth.

About the Author: There are only three things Michelle Dayton loves more than sexy and suspenseful novels: her family, the city of Chicago, and Mr. Darcy. Michelle dreams of a year of world travel – as long as the trip would include weeks and weeks of beach time. As a bourbon lover and unabashed wine snob, Michelle thinks heaven is discussing a good book over an adult beverage.

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10 Things Most People Don’t Know About Me by Jenna Jaxon – Guest Blog and Giveaway

April 28, 2026 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Jenna Jaxon will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

10 Things Most People Don’t Know About Me

I think this is such an interesting post topic because we all want to know more of the nitty gritty details about our favorite authors’ lives, right? Well, here are some of the little known facts about Jenna Jaxon. (Some of these things you may know if you’ve read my blog over the years, but several of them are things I don’t think I’ve EVER told my readers.)

1. When I was a senior in high school, I was on the fencing team (even then I loved the romance of swordplay). The coach was technically not an associate of the school (he taught fencing at the local YMCA and all of us took lessons from him there) and so rather innocently I flirted with him and right after my 18th birthday, started dating him. He was ten years older than me (not a problem in my book as historical heroes are often much older than the heroine) and was very intelligent and good looking. We dated for about three or four months before he broke it off to date a woman closer to his age. I wasn’t really crushed, but it did sting a little.

2. This is related to number one above: after taking lessons from my fencing coach for almost a year, I qualified for and actually competed in the USA Fencing National Championship.

3. Also related to number one above: Because I was the only girl on our high school fencing team, I ended up as a contestant for Homecoming Queen that year! I’m still amazed when I look at that yearbook and I’m in the pictures with all the other contestants. (I was SO not that girl.)

4. The very first live theater production I ever saw was my high school’s production of Oklahoma! when I was about thirteen years old. A friend of mine was playing Will and I still remember the scene where Will was trying to get his $50 back so he could marry Ado Annie. Fast forward 10 years and I saw my first Broadway musical, Sweeney Todd with the original cast. It’s still my favorite musical.

5. The first time I went to Ireland, I kissed the Blarney Stone (which may have given me mono!).

6. The first story I ever wrote was a six-page masterpiece called Miss Priss Finds a Kitten. They say write what you know and I’d grown up with cats all my life. So, in the third grade, I wrote and illustrated my very own story about cats.

7. I cannot stand beer. Cannot drink it. It tastes like what I imagine swamp water tastes like. Even when I was going to England (a college class for 3 weeks in May my senior year) for the first time and the tour director made all of us try lager and lime (mine ended up half lager, half lime) I still couldn’t drink it.

8. I met my husband when I was hired to do a show with him for the Army. We fell in love working on the production and playing Space Invaders together.

9. In 2015 the university I work for did a production of Little Shop of Horrors, one of my favorite musicals. I wanted to be in the chorus, just so I could sing the song “Skid Row” but my boss, who was the director, told me I could be on Skid Row as a bag lady ONLY if I also played the role of the first customer at the flower shop—a character who had lines. I am not an actor, I don’t like being on stage at all usually, but I wanted to be in the show so badly I said yes. I had fun with it—but I was terrified every night when I went on and had to say lines.

10. This is one that actually a lot of people know: I began writing romance because I became gluten-intolerant. And when I went on a gluten-free diet, it gave me so much creative energy I had to put it somewhere. I read Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Everlasting about that time and when I finished the book I said to myself, “I could write something like this,” and sat down and started writing my first book. And the rest, as they say, is history.

A scandalous mistake…or a wicked way to happiness?

Hoping to compromise herself, Lady Amantha Easton sneaks into the bedroom of her would-be suitor only to find a total stranger there—a totally handsome, charming stranger to be sure—but not at all the man she plans to marry. She leaves his room with her reputation intact—barely—only to fall victim to the gentleman’s charms in a public place. Now Amantha must face the fate she’s tried to avoid—marriage to a man who will never love her.

All Rafael Beauregard wanted was a warm bed and a good night’s sleep…but what he got was an unexpected romp with a beautiful vixen and a fiery kiss that left him wanting more. An excellent trade, except now he’s got to marry Lady Amantha, one of the most willful women he’s ever met. So Rafe’s challenge is to persuade her that marriage to him might be the best thing for them both…once he convinces himself.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“What is it, love? What’s wrong?”

“Father,” was all she could get out at first.

“You went to see him? He didn’t agree to grant your request?”

Amantha nodded and sniffed. Rafe reached into his breast pocket and produced a handkerchief. “He g…gave me a choice. Marry you or…or be put in p…prison.”

“Prison!” What kind of monster would threaten his own daughter with prison? And what kind of power did such a man wield? “He’s going to send you to Newgate? On whose authority?”

“His own authority.” She wiped her eyes and nose then clenched the square of linen in her fist. “And not Newgate. Not a real prison. But he will turn his northernmost property, Woolston Lodge in Northumberland, into a prison. He will send me there tomorrow, with no clothes and no friends, just a jailor and armed guards for the rest of my life.” Tears threatened again and Rafe pulled her head back to his shoulder.

“Shh, love. Don’t think about it. We won’t let that happen, will we?” She shook her head and nestled deeper. The small movement of acquiescence shot straight to his heart. He could fix this. “I am afraid, though, that I’m going to have to change my mind about our marriage.”

She sat bolt upright, terror widening her eyes as she stared at him.

Damn. He hadn’t meant to frighten her even more. His own fault for drinking that second brandy.

“Shhh.” He ran a gentle thumb down her delicate jaw line, cupping her chin and pulling her face close enough that she had to look into his eyes. “Amantha, I just meant I now want to marry you more than anything in the world.”

About the Author: Jenna Jaxon is a best-selling author of historical romance, writing in a variety of time periods because she believes that passion is timeless. She has been reading and writing historical romance since she was a teenager. A romantic herself, Jenna has always loved a dark side to the genre, a twist, suspense, a surprise. She tries to incorporate all these elements into her own stories.

She lives in Virginia with her family and a small menagerie of pets–including Olive, an almost silent cat, Earl Grey, a very curious bunny, and a Shar-pei mix dog named Frenchie.

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