#BookReview: All Our Hidden Gifts (The Gifts #1) by Caroline O'Donoghue

Synopsis: Maeve’s strangely astute tarot readings make her the talk of the school, until a classmate draws a chilling and unfamiliar card—and then disappears. 

After Maeve finds a pack of tarot cards while cleaning out a closet during her in-school suspension, she quickly becomes the most sought-after diviner at St. Bernadette’s Catholic school. But when Maeve’s ex–best friend, Lily, draws an unsettling card called The Housekeeper that Maeve has never seen before, the session devolves into a heated argument that ends with Maeve wishing aloud that Lily would disappear. When Lily isn’t at school the next Monday, Maeve learns her ex-friend has vanished without a trace.

Shunned by her classmates and struggling to preserve a fledgling romance with Lily’s gender-fluid sibling, Roe, Maeve must dig deep into her connection with the cards to search for clues the police cannot find—even if they lead to the terrifying Housekeeper herself. Set in an Irish town where the church’s tight hold has loosened and new freedoms are trying to take root, this sharply contemporary story is witty, gripping, and tinged with mysticism.

#CoverReveal: Love on Thin Ice Series @XpressoTours

 

Breaking the Ice
Whitney Dineen

What do an entitled billionaire and small-town ice-skating coach have in common?

Ellie
My life is not turning out like I thought it would.

My mom’s arthritis has gotten so bad that I had to move in with her. I’m making ends meet by giving ice skating lessons at the arena in Maple Falls. I’d be in serious trouble had the Harts not given me that job.

Which makes it impossible to say no when they ask me to let Troy’s obnoxious billionaire brother stay in the cabin on my mom’s property during the charity hockey event they’re running.

Zach
First the tabloids call me out for being a cheapskate and then Yolanda Simms takes to national television to tell everyone what a vicious heartbreaker I am?

Yeah, my life has been better.

My brother thinks I can fix my bad press by coming to Maple Falls and donating big to his new charity endeavor. Too bad he didn’t mention the woman who owns the cottage I’ll be staying at hates me with a passion.

He also didn’t mention she’s everything I’ve ever looked for in a woman…

#BookReview: Aetherbound by E.K. Johnston

Synopsis: A thought-provoking new YA space adventure from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Star Wars: Ahsoka.

Set on a family-run interstellar freighter called the Harland and a mysterious remote space station, E. K. Johnston's latest is story of survival and self-determination.

Pendt Harland's family sees her as a waste of food on their long-haul space cruiser when her genes reveal an undesirable mutation. But if she plays her cards right she might have a chance to do much more than survive. During a space-station layover, Pendt escapes and forms a lucky bond with the Brannick twins, the teenage heirs of the powerful family that owns the station. Against all odds, the trio hatches a long-shot scheme to take over the station and thwart the destinies they never wished for.

#ReleaseBlitz for In Fine Form by Shannyn Schroeder @GiveMeBooksPR

Title: In Fine Form

Series: The Doyle Family #2

Author: Shannyn Schroeder

Genre: Steamy Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Brother's Best Friend, Fake Wedding Date

Older Woman/Younger Man, Single Mom

Release Date: July 2, 2024

BLURB

He was in fine form until life—and love—threw him for a loop...

Declan Doyle is ready for a change. He’s finally going to put his couch-surfing, job-hopping, responsibility-free days behind him. So, when his best friend’s sister offers room and board in exchange for home repairs, he jumps at the opportunity. Falling for her wasn’t part of his plan. But that’s exactly what he does...

As a divorced single mom with a dilapidated house, Renee Griggs has more responsibility than she can handle. So, even though Declan has always been more charming than reliable, she needs his help. She does not, however, need to fall into bed with him. Or so she keeps telling herself...

One fake wedding date (with only one bed), a ton of chemistry, and a surprisingly intense emotional connection later, Declan’s ready for happily ever after. But can he prove to Renee that he’s a risk worth taking?

There’s only one way to find out...

In Fine Form, book 2 in The Doyle Family series, is a spicy, opposites attract, older woman/younger man, brother’s best friend contemporary romance that can be read as a standalone. Join the Doyles in the Chicago neighborhood full of big, Irish families and happily ever afters.

#BookReview: Illusionary (Hollow Crown #2) by Zoraida Córdova

Synopsis: Reeling from betrayal at the hands of the Whispers, Renata Convida is a girl on the run. With few options and fewer allies, she's reluctantly joined forces with none other than Prince Castian, her most infuriating and intriguing enemy. They're united by lofty goals: find the fabled Knife of Memory, kill the ruthless King Fernando, and bring peace to the nation. Together, Ren and Castian have a chance to save everything, if only they can set aside their complex and intense feelings for each other.

With the king's forces on their heels at every turn, their quest across Puerto Leones and beyond leaves little room for mistakes. But the greatest danger is within Ren. The Gray, her fortress of stolen memories, has begun to crumble, threatening her grip on reality. She'll have to control her magics--and her mind--to unlock her power and protect the Moria people once and for all.

For years, she was wielded as weapon. Now it's her time to fight back.

#Teaser: Taken by the Valkyrie by @MeganSlayer @RABTBookTours @changelingpress

A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novella

 

Taken, Book 6

 

Paranormal Women's Fiction

Date Published: July 5, 2024

 

Kara is tired of her role as a Valkyrie, not that she has much choice. Being a Valkyrie is her identity. It’s in her blood. But she can only witness so much death and destruction. Her faith in humanity has waned. Until she meets Eric.

Eric, a retired Airman, is just as tired. He’s seen things he believes no one else would understand. Then he picks up Kara and his world is turned upside down. She’s the one he never saw coming and the one he can’t live without -- if only she can handle his past.

The past might not be more than they can overcome, but what if these two warriors are exactly what they each need?

 

#BookReview: House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Iris Hollow has always been strange. Something happened to her and her two older sisters when they were children, something they can’t quite remember but that left each of them with an identical half-moon scar at the base of their throats. 

Iris has spent most of her teenage years trying to avoid the weirdness that sticks to her like tar. But when her eldest sister, Grey, goes missing under suspicious circumstances, Iris learns just how weird her life can get: horned men start shadowing her, a corpse falls out of her sister’s ceiling, and ugly, impossible memories start to twist their way to the forefront of her mind. 

As Iris retraces Grey’s last known footsteps and follows the increasingly bizarre trail of breadcrumbs she left behind, it becomes apparent that the only way to save her sister is to decipher the mystery of what happened to them as children. 

The closer Iris gets to the truth, the closer she comes to understanding that the answer is dark and dangerous – and that Grey has been keeping a terrible secret from her for years.