#BookReview: Nightfall (Devil's Night #4) by @PenDouglas @BerkleyPub @lexilikestoread

Synopsis: What happens when it's five against one and nowhere to run? The games are back in the thrilling final installment in New York Times bestselling author Penelope Douglas's Devil’s Night series.…
 
They call it Blackchurch. A secluded mansion in a remote, undisclosed location where the wealthy and powerful send their misbehaving sons to cool off away from prying eyes. 
 
Will Grayson has always been reckless, wild, and never been bound by a single rule other than to do exactly what he wanted. He learned long ago that being treated like an animal gives you permission to act like one. Back in high school, he might’ve enjoyed backing Emory into corners when no one was looking, but he could also be warm. And fierce in keeping her safe. 
 
But the truth is, he has a right to hate her. Because it's all her fault. Everything. Devil’s Night. The videos. The arrests. She's to blame—and yet she regrets nothing.
 
He never expected one of his enemies to come straight to him. But now he knows she's here somewhere. And as the security detail leaves and the door to the gilded cage opens, giving Will free reign of the house and grounds for another unsupervised month, he remembers with a smile…

Blackchurch houses five prisoners. And he's only one of her problems.

#BookTour: The Dove That Didn't Return by Yael S. Hacohen @RABTBookTours

Poetry

Date Published: May 21, 2024

Publisher: Holy Cow! Press

 

A poet and female commander in the Israeli Defense Forces creates an original perspective from the war-torn front lines of the Middle East conflict.

The Dove That Didn’t Return tackles the canon of war poetry, an almost exclusively male-penned body of poems. In the book, biblical stories, verses, and fragments are rewritten through the eyes of a female lieutenant in the Israeli Army. It is a contemporary poetics on the revelations of war from an Israeli perspective never before told—a woman, and a soldier at that.

This debut full-length collection follows upon the publication of her critically acclaimed chapbook, Between Sanctity and Sand, from Finishing Line Press.

#BookReview: Looking for a Sign by Susie Dumond

Synopsis: A newly single queer woman moves to New Orleans and sets off on a mission to find her most compatible match by going on a date with someone of each astrological sign in this rom-com from the author of Queerly Beloved. 

With her twenty-ninth birthday approaching, Gray is determined to meet someone, settle down, and build the loving, accepting family she’s always wanted—and didn’t grow up with. But having just moved to New Orleans for a new job working for a demanding boss, and with her last first date a decade in the past, Gray has no idea how to go about finding her future spouse. 

When her best friend Cherry suggests Gray look for answers from Madame Nouvelle Lune, an astrologer, Gray’s skeptical. But she’s also desperate. So when Madame encourages her to look to the stars, she finds herself in Cherry’s kitchen, mapping out a plan: go on a date with someone of each sign before her birthday, when Saturn will make its first return to the same celestial alignment as her birth (a major turning point in every person’s life, she’s learned). As Gray moves through this quintessentially queer dating challenge while juggling her new job, she learns a lot about the Zodiac—and even more about her own needs, desires, and sense of adventure. Even when it begins to threaten everything she thinks she believes, Gray is determined to finish what she started while the planets are still on her side.

#ReviewTour: The Handshake Agreement by A. Akinosho #TheIndiePenPR

He promised her the world,

Then, abandoned her at the altar.

Anne

I’m a realist, cynical about falling in love. Until I met Declan - the rich and powerful player. With his quiet determination, he dismantled my cynicism and made me believe.

Before I know it, I’m flashing a radiant smile, dressed, and eagerly awaiting him at the altar.

Only, I got the text - "I'm not coming" – shattering my world.

Regret is a waste of time; I stand by my original convictions.

Years later, he’s back demanding a second chance, how dare he?

Declan

I shook on the agreement without hesitation because I had zero plans to marry for love. Ever.

Years later, Anne crashed into my life. I find myself craving what I thought I didn't need or want.

Unexpectedly, the agreement I made resurfaced, presenting me with a dilemma:

Marry as agreed or Lose Anne forever.

Deal accepted, regardless of hurting Anne.

When I find Anne again, she’s engaged, far as I’m concerned, she’s still mine.

I’ll cheat, steal, and fight before I let Anne marry another.

All is fair in love and war. And this is war...hope he’s ready to fight?

The Handshake agreement is a contemporary, age gap, second chance romance with a Possessive MMC.

#BookReview: You’re So Vine (Flora Valley #2) by Catherine Robertson

Synopsis: Whoever invented love at first sight should have left instructions for what to do when it only strikes one of you…

…is all Ava Durant can think as she watches the man of her dreams from across the room at her brother’s wedding. Handyman Cam Hollander takes the ‘strong, silent type’ label to new extremes and getting more than four words at a time out of him is Ava’s primary life goal. But when Ava’s health takes a hit it’s Cam who unexpectedly steps in to nurse her, and the dynamic between them is forever changed.

Ava may be impatience personified and Cam may be the steadiest man she’s ever met, but when they’re alone in Cam’s cosy quarters it’s soon not just the fire in the grate that’s burning between them.

#BookBlitz: What Once Was Promised by Louis Trubiano @RABTBookTours

 

Coming of Age Fiction

Date Published: May 6, 2024

Publisher: MindStir Media

 

He came for a better life, but it didn't turn out to be an easy one.

Sixteen-year-old Domenic Bassini sets out alone for America from his small village in Italy in 1914. He falls in love during a brief onboard affair with the beautiful Francesca, the wife of a man with Sicilian Mafia connections. But he loses her and arrives in Boston instead with an orphan stowaway named Ernesto Lentini in tow.

Domenic and Ernesto stay at the home of old family friends in Boston's Italian North End neighborhood, sharing a room with their son, Joe. Domenic becomes like a big brother to Joe and Ernesto, who become inseparable friends.

As the years and decades pass, youthful rivalries and fateful decisions lead to unpredictable and sometimes unsavory outcomes. Between moments of joy and great tragedy, the three friends' lives take very divergent paths amidst the turbulence of factions vying for power in the early 20th century Boston where the lines between politics, crime and policing are blurred.

But after all that has kept them apart, can Domenic, Ernesto, Joe and even Francesca, come together to settle the score with those who have spent a lifetime fighting against them?

One#BookReview: Corkscrew You (Flora Valley #1) by Catherine Robertson

Synopsis: Could the guy she loves to hate turn out to be her perfect pairing? If Shelby Armstrong wants to keep her late father’s beloved Flora Valley Wines in business, she’ll have to listen to Nathan Durant’s advice. But given the fact that Shelby is all heart and Nate is nothing but tough love, bringing the winery back to life quickly becomes a battle of wills.

And yet, Shelby and Nate aren’t incompatible in every way – in fact, an unexpected (and unexpectedly hot) kiss shows Shelby that they’d make a very good team – in the bedroom! But as is always the case when it comes to love and money, things quickly get complicated…