Daisy’s Creature by M.L. Knight – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 9, 2026 By 1 Comment

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

Ashmore was like any other town.

It held secrets.

Legend says…only the blood of a Sanderson can revive it.

And it’s been sleeping for centuries.

Until Daisy.

When Creature awakens, the residents of Ashmore get more than they bargained for.

And he gets more than he can chew.

With every bite, he’s changing.

Into what?

The only thing he craves to be.

Daisy’s.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Lucas waved a hand in a distinct direction she didn’t glance at. “Is it true, then? Y’all are the guardians or some shit over a petrified demon, and that’s why your mom needs to oversee the sale?” He tilted his blonde head. “You know, we used to come out here and dare each other to go up and touch it. The thing’s creepy as fuck.”

Sidney let out a nervous giggle, but she avoided looking where Lucas had gestured as well. “Very creepy. I don’t know how y’all sleep in the house knowing it’s in your yard.”

Daisy feigned nonchalance and shrugged, refusing to admit to herself or them that she found the thing fascinating in a macabre way.

It truly looked like a demon from hell—minus the horns and tail. It possessed big, leathery wings that lay flush against its back, blending in with the black tattered clothes draping over its lean body, absent of any fat. Claws adorned its bird-like feet, the heels coming to a point that also had a claw.

Feet meant for grabbing prey off the ground.

She shook the thought off. Under the low moonlight, it would be hard to see the thing with its grey-black skin, arms tied and looped around the back of a twelve-foot-tall stake.

According to Mom, the thing had been there for generations, never moving and never changing. The townspeople knew all about it, and, obviously, the kids made a game out of approaching it.

About the Author: M.L. Knight is a self-published author who enjoys things that go bump in the night. Her favorite horror movie is Evil Dead 2 and her favorite holiday is Halloween. She channels her love for the strange and unusual by writing erotic, horror-inspired stories. When she’s not cooking up something dark and depraved, she’s tackling her never ending TBR, studying for her nursing degree or lifting heavy weights. And she’s got one question to ask you. What’s your favorite scary movie?

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Filed Under: Erotic Romance, Guest Blogs, Horror Tagged With: , , ,

Moccasin Trace by Hawk MacKinney – Exclusive Excerpt and Giveaway

June 3, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

…it was about the land.

It is July of 1859, a month of sweltering dog days and feverish emotional bombast. Life is good for widower Rundell Ingram and his hazel-eyed, roan-haired son, Hamilton. Between the two of them, they take care of Moccasin Hollow, their sprawling ancestral plantation home in the rolling farming country outside Queensborough Towne in east Georgia. Adjoining Ingram lands is Wisteria Bend, the vast slave-holding plantation of Andrew and Corinthia Greer, their daughter Sarah, and son Benjamin. Both families share generations of long-accepted traditions, and childhood playmates are no longer children. The rangy, even-tempered Norman-Scottish young Hamilton is smitten with Sarah, who has become an enticing capricious beauty—the young lovers more in love with each passing day, and only pleasant times ahead of them.

…but a blood tide of war is sweeping across the South, a tide that will forever change everyone and everything.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Wisteria Bends, the Greer Plantation—thousands of acres of cake-icing cotton rolling over the gentle foothills of east Georgia that bordered the somewhat lesser acreage of Moccasin Hollows. The Hollows and its vested lands weren’t extensive by cotton standards. Hard work by Rundell and Hamilton, and jealously guarded with the usual Southroner passion for land. Ingrams and Greers were bred, borne and nurtured on old family crown grant lands. Money was vulgar. All that mattered was the land.

About the Author: With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. His professional writing includes articles on chordate neuroembryology, and aerospace research on muscle metabolic behavior in multi-orbital environments.

In addition, Hawk has authored several works of fiction including a historical romance Moccasin Trace which was nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. His Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series and his Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have received national and international attention. He is currently working on a series of horror/suspense novels.

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What Remains After by Pauline J. Grabia – Spotlight and Giveaway

June 3, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Pauline J. Grabia 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.

SOME STORIES DO NOT END WHEN THE DANGER PASSES.

Beth Clark has not returned to her hometown in decades, since the childhood she survived there nearly destroyed her.

When her estranged mother dies, Beth comes back to rural Alberta for a funeral that feels carefully rewritten. The eulogies are tidy. The past is sanitized. But inside the abandoned bungalow where she and her brother once lived, Beth finds objects that shatter the illusion—and awaken memories of abuse, neglect, and the systems that failed to protect her.

When Beth’s younger brother is critically injured in a sudden accident, the present collides with the past. Keeping vigil at his hospital bedside, Beth is drawn back into the summer that changed everything: the violence in their home, the silence of those who should have intervened, and the foster family whose quiet faith offered the first real safety either child had known.

Told across dual timelines, What Remains After is a literary psychological suspense novel about trauma and memory, belief and betrayal, and the long, unfinished work of survival. It asks what it truly means to forgive—and what remains when the truth is finally spoken.

Enjoy an Excerpt

Frigid cold seeped through Beth’s gloves from the steering wheel of her rental car to her fingers; her arthritis flared. The ache in her joints echoed the pain in her heart. Why, after all this time, with her specialized education and training as well as years of personal trauma therapy, couldn’t she shake the anxiety and hatred that still clung to Virgie’s name, and to that of her Uncle Gary?

Otto was composed. Somehow, he’d managed to recover. But she was still a mess. As a trained therapist, she told herself she should be able to work it out, but she couldn’t.

She drove up and down the quiet streets of the town. Except for a new grocery store that had replaced Gordon’s after it burned down about five years earlier, not much had changed. Like the church, the community seemed frozen in time. Truck models were newer, and teens wore different clothes, but the vibe of Coverville stayed the same: slow, conservative, and decaying. Around here, stories were currency, and nothing else. They didn’t step on others’ toes. Mind your own business. Keep moving.

Beth didn’t understand why she paused in front of the small, condemned bungalow with its rotting fence, missing shingles, and boarded-up windows. It looked like the only creatures that had lived there in years were cockroaches and mice. But they had been there long before the human residents moved out. Virgie was the last to leave when, six years before, Alzheimer’s had left her unable to care for herself any longer, and she ended up in a home.

Rebecka told Beth that Otto had thought about taking Virgie in, but Rebecka stood her ground. She wasn’t going to live under the same roof as his mother. Forgiveness was one thing; sharing a home was another. Otto did what he always did—sacrificed. He found a great nursing home, but it was also expensive. Beth suspected her brother had made up the difference out of his own pocket, since Old Age Security and Canada Pension didn’t cover the entire cost.

About the Author Pauline J. Grabia is a Canadian novelist whose work explores trauma, memory, faith, and the moral consequences of silence. Writing under the Stories of Consequence banner, she is drawn to stories that face difficult truths without spectacle and seek light without sentimentality. What Remains After is a literary psychological suspense novel rooted in rural Alberta and shaped by questions of survival, forgiveness, and what endures.

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Advice for New Authors by p.m. terrell – Guest Blog and Giveaway

May 29, 2026 By 2 Comments

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. p.m. terrell 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.

Read our 5 star review here.

Thank you for hosting me here today!

My first nonfiction book was published in 1984, and my first fiction book in 2002. I’ve seen a lot of changes in the publishing industry over the years, including book chain mergers, the rise of digital media, and the mainstreaming of self-publishing.

However, one factor remains constant: write the best story you can.

Before committing to a story, do some market research. This will prevent you from writing a story that nobody will care about. Take classes and learn from everything you read. I often learn the most from terribly written stories, as it shouts to me what not to do. Make the characters multi-layered and complex, even if they are minor characters. Write the setting so the reader feels as if they are there, standing in the middle of it. Make the events that occur resonate with the reader. Create a story that is unforgettable.

The days of a rough manuscript being discovered in a slush pile and polished to perfection by a team of editors are long gone. The largest publishers have replaced the slush pile and interns with third-party literary agents who will only recommend stories that are near-perfect and about which they are passionate. They have become the gatekeepers for the pinnacle of publishers.

There is an ever-growing number of small- to midsize publishers. Do your homework; some are better options than the largest publishers, while others are individuals in a spare bedroom.

Do not rely on family or friends to tell you how great your story is. Get the best editor you can afford. Every punctuation mark and every sentence structure must be perfect. I am comma-challenged; I was taught throughout my school years to place a comma anyplace where I take a breath. Apparently, I breathe at the wrong times. A good editor will catch each one.

If you plan to self-publish, you should understand that there is a world of difference between being a writer and being a publisher. Simply uploading your book online won’t sell it. Learn as much as you can about the publishing industry, marketing, and advertising online and off.

Often, traditional publishers and moviemakers will pay attention to self-published books that are rising in various bestseller lists. The more you understand about the industry, the better positioned you will be for success.

Padlocked is an epic historical and visionary novel that follows the lives of a group of ordinary people who find themselves in extraordinary, life-altering circumstances as Nazi Germany invades Poland in 1939.

Two foreign photojournalists, an American and a Spaniard, are trapped between armies at Festungsfront Oder-Warthe-Bogen, along Poland’s western border with Germany. It is Hank’s last overseas assignment, and he’s been counting the days until he can go home to North Carolina to be with his family. Rafe fled Spain after the dictator, Francisco Franco, targeted his family. The experience changed him, and he now sees the rise of fascism in Europe as a battle between good and evil. They will find themselves embedded with the Polish, Nazi, and Soviet forces at varying times, forcing them to face moral and ethical decisions in their struggles to survive.

A young woman is separated from her sister in Warsaw as the Nazis encircle it. Agata made a vow that she would return to take Elsa to safety, but soldiers and barbed wire prevent her from entering the newly established Jewish sector. She is consumed with guilt over their separation, and when she discovers her sister was taken by train to a work camp near Krakow, she navigates her dangerous, war-torn country in search of her. Her quest will force her to confront a Hell on Earth to find her.

A young man joins the Jungdeutsche Partei, or the Young German Party. Once bullied as a child, Max’s new affiliations promote him to a position where he can dictate life or death and settle scores. In order to thrive under Nazi occupation, he makes daily choices that legitimize brutality and erode humanitarian principles and scruples.

While they don’t know one another at the start of their journeys, each will make decisions that have the power to transform them and place them on paths that ultimately converge on January 27, 1945, as the 60th Army of the First Ukrainian Front opened the gates to Auschwitz-Birkenau for all the world to witness.

This is ultimately a story about the strength of love, courage, faith, and resilience in the face of unimaginable hatred and obsession with power, and how every decision we make places us further along specific paths.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The throngs pushed her this way and that, so she felt like she was attempting to run through thick mud. She made slow progress, and yet, something inside her propelled her forward. She reached the end of the block to find cars racing past, ignoring intersection rules, and she hesitated to get her breath. Someone from behind pushed her to the ground, stomping over her dress as she lay prone, scores of feet scuffling over her while she tried vainly to rise.

A hand reached through the crowd. Amidst the shouting, his words were louder and deeper than the others. “Get back!” he shouted as he grasped her by the waist and hauled her to her feet. “Get back!”

As the mob stepped back and then rushed forward in another direction, the man pulled her away from the others. It was easy to see why the crowd had obliged him and given her space. He was a soldier in the Polish Army, his cropped, sandy hair almost hidden beneath a crisp cap bearing the Polish White Eagle. His trim figure was clothed in an olive uniform, and he wore a wide black belt and knee-length black boots.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

“Fine, thank you.” Agata wiped her hair off her forehead and was surprised to find pebbles from the ground in her hair.

“Where were you going?” he asked.

“I—” She hesitated. “I don’t know.”

“The school—”

“No. I need to leave the Jewish sector. I need to be across town.”

“Is that where you live?”

Agata looked around her in impatience. “I am wasting time here. Thank you for assisting me to my feet, but I must go. The Germans—”

“The Germans are coming,” he finished. “And we are digging in. You will be safe if you remain in Warsaw, Jewish sector or no.”

“Then, thank you, and good-bye.” She turned to run, but he held out his hand and stopped her.

“Do you have an address where you are going? I have a motorbike. I can get you there faster than you can run.”

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere right now? Like, fighting the Germans?”

He laughed so unexpectedly that Agata was shocked. “There will be time enough for that, don’t you worry. My name is Piotr. Come. My motorbike is over there, on the opposite corner.”

As Agata rushed across the busy street with him and settled behind him on the motorbike, she took a long look at the school down the street. It was difficult to know what was happening as people rushed in all directions at once. Her eyes fell on the top step, at two figures holding one another so tightly they appeared as if they might be one. A tear rolled down her cheek as the motorbike zoomed to life, and she held onto Piotr as they took off. Soon, the people blended behind them while the memory of Ira and Elsa on the step seared into her mind. “I will be back tomorrow,” she thought. “I will be back, just as I promised.”

About the Author: My full name is Patricia McClelland Terrell, and I have been writing under the pen name p.m.terrell ever since a publisher presented me with my first fiction book cover. The graphic designer had also entered my 026/05/author-image-3-239×300.jpg” alt=”” width=”239″ height=”300″ class=”alignleft size-medium wp-image-132842name in lower-case letters; my editor hated it, and I loved it. It’s been p.m.terrell ever since.

I began writing when I was nine years old, inspired by a schoolteacher and elementary school principal. Scott-Foresman published my first book, a computer instructional for universities, in 1984. Scott-Foresman, Dow-Jones (Richard D. Irwin branch), Palari Publishing, Paralee Press, and Drake Valley Press have published 27 books to date.

Before embarking on a full-time writing career, I founded McClelland Enterprises, Inc., in the Washington, D.C., area in 1984, specializing in workplace computer instruction. I opened another business, Continental Software Development Corporation, in 1994, which focused on custom application development, programming, website design and development, and cybersecurity.

I was honored to be the first female President of the Chesterfield County/Colonial Heights Crime Solvers. Since moving to North Carolina, I served on the boards of the Robeson County Friends of the Library and the Robeson County Arts Council.

I launched The Book ‘Em Foundation with Waynesboro, Virginia, Police Officer Mark Kearney, and assisted in Virginia, New Hampshire, and South Carolina events before establishing the Annual Book ‘Em North Carolina Writers Conference and Book Fair, chairing it for several years before turning it over to Robeson Community College in Lumberton, NC.

Padlocked is available in all eBook formats, trade paperback, hardcover, and large print editions.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mainstream Fiction Tagged With: , , ,

The Four Lights and The Sharded Lullaby by Lotte Bluejay – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 27, 2026 By Leave a Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lotte Bluejay will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

An epic K-Pop fantasy adventure series for readers ages 8-12.

Music becomes magic. Friendship becomes power. And every concert could save the world.

When four freshly debuted K-pop idols discover that their songs awaken ancient magic, their rise to fame turns into something far greater than a world tour.

At their first sold-out concert, Hana, Daon, Mira, and Noah expect a night of lights and applause. Instead, they uncover a broken lullaby and fragments of an ancient prophecy. Soon strange things begin to follow them from city to city – whispers in the lights, shadows beneath the rhythm, and a dark force determined to silence their music forever.

Because somewhere in the shadows, a forgotten enemy has been waiting for the music to begin.

To protect their dreams, their fans, and each other, the four must learn to unlock the hidden power within their songs. Because harmony is strongest when no one stands alone. And some melodies were never meant to fade.

Perfect for readers who love:
• magical adventures and epic quests
• powerful friendships and teamwork
• modern fantasy with a pop-culture twist
• stories where music becomes magic

Begin the adventure with Book 1 of The Four Lights. The stage is set. The prophecy has begun. And the world is about to hear their song.

The Four Lights Series
A magical middle-grade adventure about friendship, courage, and the power of music.

Book 1 – The Sharded Lullaby
Book 2 – The Shadow Band
Book 3 – The Crimson Solace
Book 4 – The Syncopated Harmony
Book 5 – The Hollow Beat
Book 6 – The Blinding Crescendo
Book 7 – the epic finale

Enjoy an Excerpt

“Mira, Daon, Noah,” the manager said, pointing in turn. Then, with a small flourish, “That’s Hana. And together … YOU are the band.”

The words dropped like fireworks.

Hana blinked at them. Mira’s mouth formed a tiny oh. Daon stopped tapping, though his foot kept bouncing. Noah didn’t move at all, but his eyes narrowed, studying them.

For a long breath, they just stared at one another. Happy? Absolutely. Excited? Without a doubt. But startled, too. Like their dream had just fast-forwarded from “someday soon” to “right this second.”

It wasn’t fear that filled Hana’s chest. Not exactly. It was … something warm – familiar, even. A weird sense that these three strangers were not strangers at all.

The manager clapped his hands once. “Alright, rehearsals tonight. You hit Seoul tomorrow. Then Tokyo. Then Bangkok. Posters are already printed. Contracts signed. From now on, you are The Four Lights. Hooray!”

Hana’s head spun. She had imagined this moment a thousand times, singing into a hairbrush, standing on her balcony pretending the city lights were her crowd. But she had never ever pictured three unfamiliar faces beside her.

Mira leaned in first, breaking the silence. “So … we’re really doing this?” Her voice carried a ripple of laughter and nerves.

“Guess so,” Daon grinned, twirling his headphones like he was already halfway into a new beat. “Hope you like traveling. And dancing. And late-night ramen.”

Noah gave a small nod, the corner of his mouth almost – almost – turning into a smile. “If we’re a band, we’d better sound like one.”

About the Author: Lotte Bluejay creates magical middle-grade adventures where music becomes power and friendship saves the day. Her Four Lights series blends the sparkle of K-Pop with the wonder of fantasy, giving young readers stories filled with rhythm, courage, and hope. Every book is written to light up imaginations, celebrate teamwork, and remind kids that even in the darkest moments, their own voices can shine the brightest.

TikTok | Website | Soundtrack | Instagram | YouTube | BookBub

Filed Under: Guest Blogs, YA/Middle Grade/Children's Tagged With: , , ,

The Flames of Soulflare by La Kayshal – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 27, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. La Kayshal will be awarding $10 PayPal gift to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Dragons fear prophecy, and love may be the final weapon in this dark, multi-POV Romantasy perfect for fans of Fourth Wing and From Blood and Ash.

Feared as the harbinger of doom, Everin Haydon is stolen, broken, and reforged by magic into a living weapon bound to a Dragon Council that calls its tyranny justice.

Across the realms, Lord Tynan, the Demon of Darkness and Chaos, returns. His awakening marks the coming of the three days of darkness, and he tears through realms to reclaim what fate binds to him, the Hell’s Fire Dragon.

But one question remains. If the demon rises, where is the immortal meant to stop him?

As the dragon world waits for divine intervention, Everin must decide whether she remains a weapon or becomes the fate of the realms.

Enjoy an Excerpt

The moon hung quietly above Helldreth Fort, its pale glow spilling through the tall windows and brushing the chamber with soft silver. A cool breeze drifted in and stirred the white curtains, their edges sweeping lightly across Everin’s skin. She pulled her silk gown closer, grateful for the warmth of the room. It felt comforting, far more so than the terrible, dark place she had left behind.

Her steps carried her to the mirror in the corner. The reflection staring back looked thinner, as if her body had been carved down to something she hardly recognized. The neckline of her nightie dipped too low to her liking, drawing her eye to the faint scars across her chest. The lamp light traced their uneven lines, pale and unsettling.

She touched them gently. Everin barely remembered how or when she got the scars. She pulled the outer robe around her until it covered more of her chest. At least the scars were low enough to stay hidden unless she wore something too revealing.

A sound of footsteps behind her made her turn.

Tariel Fenwick, her first love, stood at the doorway.

Everin froze for a moment. He looked different—stronger, more defined, more man than the boy she remembered. His dark hair rested just above his shoulders with two thin braids at the sides of his head, framing a face sharpened by a faint stubble. His amber eyes, once so warm, now carried a deeper, shadowed intensity. His shirt hung open across his chest, revealing sculpted muscle that rose with each slow breath, and a leather gauntlet, more like an open finger glove, hugged his left hand like a seamless extension of his skin.

Her gaze lingered longer than she meant it to. He saw that. A slow, knowing smirk touched his lips.

She straightened quickly. “We need to talk, Tariel.”

“Yes,” he replied, approaching her, “but not now.”

“There is a lot I want to understand,” she said quietly. “So much I don’t remember.”

“Later.” He reached her, lowering his voice. “I’ve long waited for this moment with you.”

He stepped closer.

She stepped back.

“You waited for me?” she whispered, searching his face.

“I did,” he said. “More than you know.”

He brushed a fingertip along her arm. She stiffened but felt a flicker of the old pull toward him, a warm memory trying to surface. Her eyes drifted briefly to his lips, those that she had kissed in the past, before she forced herself to look away.

His smirk deepened. “Are we shy now, Everin?” he murmured, amusement warm in his voice.

About the Author La Kayshal is an Australian writer of romance, YA, and children’s fantasy novels. She lives with her husband, daughter, and a playful Malshi puppy in the coastal plains of the Sunny State.
Her debut novel, The Lost Crown, is an adventure romance set in the exotic landscapes of India. She also created the much-loved Sylph Series, a whimsical children’s collection that introduces readers to the amazing world of Sylphs, with each book carrying a gentle moral lesson.

A lifelong fan of wizards, magic, dragons, swords, and elementals, she poured all these passions into her YA fantasy Ariston Baker in the Weird Picture Book, a fast-paced journey filled with realms, riddles, action, and adventure.

Her latest project is the Hell’s Fire Dragon duology, a romantasy series filled with dragons, magic, and high-stakes conflict. Book 1, The Flames of Darkness, begins the story, followed by Book 2, The Flames of Soulflare.

Website | TikTok | Instagram | YouTube | Threads | Facebook | Twitter

Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Science Fiction/Fantasy Tagged With: , , ,

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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Buy the book at Amazon, She Writes Press, or Simon & Schuster.

Visit Simon & Schuster to see the series.

Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: , , ,

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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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Romance Tagged With: , , ,

Her Silence by S.T. Ashman – Spotlight and Giveaway

May 21, 2026 By 1 Comment

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. S.T. Ashman 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.

She survived the night. The truth didn’t.

Nicole gets the call at 4 a.m. Her daughter Lacey was found in the woods beside her friend’s dead husband. He was stabbed forty-four times. Lacey is barely alive. Covered in his blood. And completely mute.

She hasn’t said a word since. Not to the police. Not to her husband. Not even to Nicole.

Nicole had Lacey at seventeen and swore her daughter would have a good life. Now Lacey is sitting in a cell, and Nicole’s three grandchildren are left behind with a father who is losing it.

But Nicole knows her daughter. She isn’t a cold-blooded murderer. Guilt didn’t silence her. Fear did. Whatever happened in those woods scared Lacey more than prison.

So Nicole starts digging. But some secrets don’t save people. They destroy them.

Enjoy an Excerpt

I strode past carts and nurses, straight down the hall, and yanked open the door to room 12.
But I wasn’t ready for what was waiting inside. My body jerked back as my hand shot up to my neck. “Dear God.”

Lacey sat upright on the bed, wearing a hospital gown. A doctor stood over her, shining a light into her eyes. Two nurses flanked him.

I almost didn’t recognize her.

Her hair was soaked in dried blood. Matted. Tangled with dirt and leaves. Thick blood streaks ran down her neck and across her temple like Viking war paint. Her face and arms looked like someone had tried to wipe her clean with a wet napkin and given up halfway. Just smears of pink and red everywhere.

The bandage on her forehead was already smudged with red too.

Her eyes met mine. Brown, blank, dull. Nothing behind them.

“Sweetheart!” My voice fell apart. Tears burst out of me as I crossed the room in two desperate strides and grabbed her. Held her. Pressed her to my chest so tight nothing could tear her away again.

Not even the nurse who latched onto my arm.

“Ma’am, you can’t be in here right now.” Her voice was sharp and demanding.

I didn’t move.

The other nurse came at me from the side. Hands on my other arm.

“You need to wait outside,” she said, yanking at me.

“Get off me,” I growled.

About the Author:S. T. Ashman is an American-German author who calls the beautiful U.S. Seacoast home. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, she spent years working as a psychotherapist in the criminal justice system. The work gave her a rare window into the human mind, both the beautiful and the deeply shadowed. It’s no wonder readers often say her characters feel real enough to step off the page.

When she’s not crafting her next twisty tale, you’ll find her chasing after her kids, nose-deep in a book, or curled up late at night with a horror movie and a husband who always falls asleep on the couch before the scary parts.

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Link to ARC on Netgalley

Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mystery/Suspense Tagged With: , , ,

My Writing Process by Jessica Rakus – Guest Post and Giveaway

May 6, 2026 By 2 Comments

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

I started writing as a teenager, the summer before I started high school. It was a magical time where I could write instead of paying attention in class, bring my notebook to my evening job at Walmart and jot some lines when things were quiet in the fabric department, and stay up until three in the morning reworking random scenes. Those were the days!

Now, in my mid-forties, with two busy kids, finding a single moment to even breathe is special. Hearing my own thoughts, let alone the thoughts of my characters, is a bonus.

This has obviously changed my writing process – I take the chance to write any time I can get it, including jotting down a few lines on my phone or writing on the back of a receipt I dug out of my purse. But since that becomes a disaster, I have to corral myself a bit.

I’m very much a pantser when it comes to writing, so while I have a general idea of where I want the story to end up, I mostly just let the characters get there how they want (or sometimes they end up somewhere completely different, and that’s okay). This means I can’t just write scenes willy nilly as they come to me. This has ended up in so many situations where I write a scene I love, and I can’t make it fit with where the story starts going, and then I have to set that scene aside and just read it by myself and think of what could have been. I have to write the whole story in order, beginning to end. Once that’s done, I can slow down and go back in and find moments that need more and let myself toss random lines in, or remember that I really wanted a scene where two of my characters meet for the first time simply because I think that moment would be funny, even though it doesn’t serve the plot, given that the whole story happened without it.

I do find that I hit a wall around the 75% finished first draft stage, which I think is tied to writing the story start to finish – I would argue the 75% mark of most books is where the book hits a wall. It’s usually a moment of calm before the storm that is the climax of the book. The climax is the fun part! The part where everything is going well for the characters is boring! Let’s ruin their lives, come on! But all in all, this process works for me, and it got me here to Haven Strong. I hope you love the book, and the journey they took me on.

Josephine Grant lives a charmed life – a husband, three perfect children, strong bonds with family and friends in the small town where she’s lived her entire life. She’s the helper, the hostess, the one who always shows up. The person who can do it all.

Then the bus carrying her son’s basketball team crashes, and Jo’s husband and son are among the lives lost. Now she has a new identity. Widow. Single mother. Woman who lost everything. Grief begins to tear apart the place that’s always been her home. Infighting among friends. Gossip and rumors. Wounds that may never heal and bonds that just might.

Now Jo has to rebuild her life, but as the person who thinks of herself as the helper, asking others to help hold her together is impossible. Jo must learn to lean on others as she learns to stand on her own.

Enjoy an Excerpt

“Josephine Grant?”

The grocery bag in my hands threatened to fall. He was here for me.

I’d known it since I first saw him, and praying I was wrong had done nothing.

I swallowed hard before turning. “Yes?”

He didn’t speak again until he’d navigated the driveway and stood in front of me. I set down the bag of groceries; my shaking hands and knees had rendered holding things impossible.

“Could we step inside for a moment to speak?” he asked.

I glanced toward the door. “My daughters are inside.”

He nodded, seeming to understand my concern. Whatever he had to say, he didn’t want them to overhear any more than I did.

“Mrs. Grant, I’m so sorry. There was an accident earlier today involving a bus. Two of the people on the bus were identified as Stephen and Matthew Grant.”

No. No no no.

“We’re still trying to figure out exactly what happened, but emergency personnel at the scene did everything they could for everyone. I’m sorry to tell you they passed away at the scene.”

My legs gave out and I collapsed to the ground. Cold seeped through the knees of my jeans, but I didn’t care. My head dropped, my forehead settling into the gray slush that lined the driveway.

The officer crouched beside me as a sob burst from my throat.

“Is there someone who can come stay with you?”

Crumbled on the ground, I struggled to extract my cell phone from my back pocket, but I lacked the strength to pull myself up. Finally I got it. Through the blur of tears, I fumbled to find the button to make a phone call. Instead I landed on random apps, frustration adding to the crush in my chest.

The officer took my phone gently from my hand. “What name?”

“Esther Franklin,” I replied. “My mother.”

He stepped away, and without someone standing over me, I could no longer stop the tears. I sobbed into the cold gray concrete, praying my daughters wouldn’t come looking for me.

About the Author Jessica Rakus is a debut novelist, after many, many years of writing practice. She currently lives in Louisiana, after living briefly in seven other states.

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Filed Under: Guest Blogs, Mainstream Fiction Tagged With: , , ,
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