It Started with a Dance by Tinia Montford (Pacific Grove University, #2) Publication date: July 28, 2022 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
WILL THEY PULL OFF THE PERFECT PERFORMANCE?
It’s double time for Cami Clinton…
Dance is in Cami’s blood, but a bombshell diagnosis puts her on the sidelines. Now returning for her senior year of college, she’s determined to prove she is the dancer she once was. Each year, at the end of the semester, the campus hosts a dance festival. Cami knows this is her shot at redemption, but while at a party, things go horribly wrong and Cami suddenly has a new boyfriend: Marsh Lincoln.
Marsh Lincoln has two left feet…
He doesn’t dance. A nasty accident haunts Marsh and he’s just ready to graduate. Until he’s told he’s missing credits. The only class left to fill his missing credits? Ballroom dancing. To make matters worse, his girlfriend breaks up with him in front of everyone at a party, leaving him with a new girlfriend he’s never met before…
It takes two to tango…
Acting like the perfect couple isn’t easy when you’ve just met. When the lines between what’s real and pretend blurs, they have to ask themselves: Can you catch feelings for something that’s all pretend?
Tinia (TUH-NIA) Montford is a Pisces who’s a sap for romance, especially when there’s (tons of) kissing. Loves eighties sitcoms and will consume anything with chocolate. She graduated from the University of San Francisco with a degree in English and Graphic Design.
She is a world traveler having climbed a volcano in Nicaragua, scaled Angkor Wat in the blistering sun, and roamed the Acropolis of Athens. Oh, she also dabbles in short stories occasionally.
If you can’t catch her writing, you can bet she’s overindulging on poke bowls, listening to the same four songs, or chilling with her adorbs doggie. She is currently pursuing her MFA in Fiction.
Monterey King by Claire Marti (California Suits, #3) Publication date: May 19, 2022 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
When former Army Major Cameron Taylor comes home a hero from his deployment in the Middle East his scars run deep – both physically and emotionally. But he’s starting over, running a luxury hotel with his best friends. And Lucy Goodwin, apparently…his high school sweetheart who he’s never quite managed to forget.
There’s only one reason Lucy’s been engaged – and walked away – three times and now he’s standing right in front of her. Cameron Taylor is the man she’s never stopped loving, even when he left her “for her own good” all those years ago. There was nothing good about it, that’s for sure. Just like there’d be nothing good about trying to break down Cameron’s walls now. But that doesn’t mean she’s not tempted to try…
***Monterey King is the third book in award-winning and USA Today bestselling author Claire Marti’s spin-off contemporary romance series, California Suits. The series will follow the adventures of five best friends who are opening a string of luxury boutique hotels from La Jolla to Monterey to Beverly Hills as each one finds true love…usually where he least expects it. Each book is standalone.
Claire Marti is an award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author of swoon-worthy Contemporary Romance novels set in Southern California, including the Pacific Vista Ranch series and the spin-off California Suits series. She lives in San Diego with her husband, silly dog, and two clever cats.
Claire started writing stories as soon as she was old enough to pick up a pencil and paper. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a BA in English Literature, Claire was sidetracked by other careers, including practicing law, selling software for legal publishers, and managing a non-profit animal rescue for a Hollywood actress.
When Claire’s not writing, she’s teaching yoga. You can find her sixty+ online classes on the international website www.yogadownload.com. A breast cancer survivor, Claire is a sought-after speaker on the power of yoga and meditation. She’s been published in numerous magazines with articles on wellness and is the author of a memoir, Come Ride with Me Along the Big C, on her experience beating breast cancer.
Just in time for the centennial celebration of groundbreaking noir fiction writer Patricia Highsmith comes a reissue of her propulsive, engrossing debut, Strangers on a Train, with a new introduction by best-selling author Paula Hawkins. Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno are passengers on the same train. Haines is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno is a mysterious smooth-talker with a sadistic proposal: he’ll murder Haines’s wife if Haines will murder Bruno’s father. As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy finds himself trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, ordinary people are capable of extraordinary crimes. The inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock’s classic 1951 film, Strangers on a Train launched Highsmith’s prolific career, proving her a master at depicting the unsettling forces that tremble beneath the surface of everyday life.
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 Stars
Trains are supposed to take you on an adventure, but this particular train will open a bizarre door of no return. Guy ends up having an unexpecting conversation with a man he meets on the train named Bruno. Bruno comes up with the perfect double murder plot that Guy forgets about when leaving it all behind on the train. But Bruno went through with his brilliant murder plan and now torments Guy to commit his part of the deal that Guy never agreed on.
This story will give you a first-hand account of a murders thought process and how one insane man can make a regular man go mad, delirious, frightened enough to proceed with murdering someone. The reader will be right inside Bruno’s plotting schemes which will feel like the reader agrees to complete the murder with Bruno. You will also get a first-hand glimpse of how manipulation and fear can shape someone to commit a murder. Can this perfect double murder run smoothly, as planned, or will the cops narrow down on the case?
Author Biography
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years. Her first suspense novel ‘Strangers on a Train’ published in 1950 was an immediate success with the public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.
(Out of the Ashes, #1) Publication date: April 14, 2022 Genres: Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Synopsis:
Out of the Ashes will be the best bar in the county. At least that’s what I promised my uncle before he passed away.
With all the changes we’re making, more challenges arise. The crowd seems to get rowdier with every day that passes, and most days I feel like I can’t keep my head above water.
That is until Dylan, the kid I used to babysit, walks in. He’s definitely not a kid anymore. But he might just be what I need to keep the bar running smoothly. Too bad he isn’t staying in town.
Guarding my heart is the least of my problems, but I’m not sure how long I can fight my attraction.
Katrina Marie lives in the Dallas area with her husband, two children, and fur baby. She is a lover of all things geeky and Gryffindor for life. Welcome to Your Life is her debut novel and she hopes you enjoy reading it as much as she enjoyed writing it.
Love You Right by Julia Kent (Love You, Maine, #1) Publication date: April 26, 2022 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
A missed opportunity five years ago makes for an unexpected encounter now between two people meant for each other – but who square off in a very public battle of wills in the small town of Love You, Maine, where every day is Valentine’s Day. Can love conquer all in a town steeped in it?
Kell Luview refuses to be a sucker at love again. Five years ago, he left D.C. with his tail between his legs and his heartbroken. Fiercely protective of his small town in rural Maine, he’s determined to save the family tree business and avoid his feelings at all costs, no matter how much he longs to solve the mystery of what happened in D.C.
L.A. native Rachel Hart hates being underestimated almost as much as she hates this small town. She has two goals on this trip: get out of the cheesy tourist trap of Love You, Maine with a completed business deal, and avoid running into Kell, her old friend from D.C. who never became an old flame because of a huge misunderstanding.
One that still aches.
When her rental car breaks down on a logging road and Kell comes to her rescue, it’s clear he’s a changed man – and not for the good. Grumpy and reserved, he pushes all her buttons, still stubbornly convinced she betrayed him all those years ago. He’s never forgiven her, and she’s never forgiven herself for carrying a torch for him.
An embarrassing incident gets the town gossip mill going when residents wrongly assume Kell and Rachel are the newest couples to find love in the most romantic place on Earth. But the townsfolk aren’t wrong for long…
As Rachel breaks through his defenses and charms the town, he faces his biggest fear: all those pesky feelings he’s been avoiding.
Because they’re all about Rachel now.
And maybe they always were.
Can Kell and Rachel fight their growing attraction in the one place in the world where you can’t avoid love?
If you’re looking for a fun read about enemies to lovers, forced proximity, heroines who get their comeuppance and sworn bachelors felled by unexpected true love, featuring a hot bearded lumberjack impervious to poison ivy, and a city-slicker, jaded career woman with a penchant for great coffee, set in a small town in New England – then this is your book.
Grab a cup of (properly good) coffee, a can of hot cocoa mix, a jar of Fluff and maybe some calamine lotion (just in case), and get your happy meter ready as you read the very first book in New York Times bestselling romantic comedy author Julia Kent’s Love You, Maine series – where love isn’t just a feeling – it’s a way of life.
✓Standalone ✓Enemies to Lovers ✓Small town romance ✓Lumberjack and city slicker outsider … and a cat named Calamine
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 1.5 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 16 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French and German, with more titles releasing soon. From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men’s room toilet (and he isn’t a billionaire). She lives in New England with her husband and three children in a household where the toilet seat is never, ever, down.
Midnight Highlander by Anya Summers (Dungeon Singles Night, #7) Publication date: April 12, 2022 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Synopsis:
Xavier Campbell needs a miracle. If he doesn’t want to lose the life he’s worked so hard to build, he must get married, and quickly. Trouble is, there is no woman in his life. Not even a friend with benefits. As a regular Dom at Eternal Eros, he gets what he needs and goes home. And a wife? Hell, no. This Highlander is single for a reason. So when his entire existence threatens to come crashing down, he realizes he might have to make some adjustments…or a bargain with the she-devil who beguiles him, body and mind, from the first moment he touches her.
Emma Morton wants a man. To play with. Watch television with. Cuddle with. And yes, God help her, she wants him hard, naked, and in her bed. More than once. What she doesn’t want is complications. Expectations. She is dedicated to her work, to building her business. She’s worked too long and too hard to change her plans for something as fleeting as love. No matter how much she wishes otherwise, life has repeatedly proven that romance is a myth. Pure fairytale.
But passion? Yes. She could definitely go for a ‘Single’s Night’ of play—and release—at the infamous Eternal Eros.
After one scorching night of pleasure, a reckless bargain is made. Marriage with an expiration date. A business arrangement. Nothing more.
But what starts as a farce becomes a bit too real and Xavier realizes this is no game. Telling Emma the truth would be dangerous…especially when he realizes he is playing for keeps.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Anya grew up listening to Cardinals baseball and reading anything she could get her hands on. She remembers her mother saying if only she would read the right type of books instead binging her way through the romance aisles at the bookstore, she’d have been a doctor. While Anya never did get that doctorate, she graduated cum laude from the University of Missouri-St. Louis with an M.A. in History.
Anya is a bestselling and award-winning author published in multiple fiction genres. She also writes urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and contemporary romance under the name Maggie Mae Gallagher. A total geek at her core, when she is not writing, she adores attending the latest comic con or spending time with her family. She currently lives in the Midwest with her two furry felines.
Title: RED Author: Cambria Hebert Series: House of Misfits #5 Cover by: Cover Me Darling Genre: MM romance, Romantic suspense, contemporary romance, modern fairytale (Red Riding Hood) Tropes: Hurt/Comfort, Obsessive/Possessive, Secrets/Twists, Korean Gangster, Dark Themes, Found Family, Sexy Times, Gay Romance Release Date: March 18, 2022
Synopsis:
Once upon a time…
An orphaned boy runs away, knowing he is better off in solitude than in the company of those with whom he does not belong. However, Little Red is not meant to be alone, his crimson halo a calling card to those far and wide. And so off he goes… into the woods to attract the eye of a wicked wolf.
Better to see you with. Better to hear you with. Better to taste you with.
Astoundingly, the woods are not a frightening place, and Little Red flourishes among the weeds and thorns until he isn’t so little anymore. And the wicked wolf he’s gone to catch? Well, this forest has more than one, and perversely, their snapping teeth and sharp claws make him feel at home. Years after walking into the woods, Red is expected to walk back out, carrying with him the head of the most dangerous predator.
But those who sent him into the forest failed to take into account that not everyone fears the bite of the big bad wolf. Some crave it…
RED is book 5 in the House of Misfits series by Cambria Hebert. RED is a Male/Male romance modern version of Red Riding Hood. RED contains dark themes, a Korean Gangster, Opposites attract, Secrets and Twists, Hurt/Comfort, Possessive/Obsessive and Found Family. Oh, and of course spicy times. Please also note there are mentions of off-page child abuse some readers may find uncomfortable.
RED is the final book in this series and would be a more enjoyable experience if the other books were read first. If you read it on its own previous plots and storylines do come into play in this book and therefore may be spoiled.
Cambria Hebert is an award-winning, bestselling novelist of more than twenty books. She went to college for a bachelor’s degree, couldn’t pick a major, and ended up with a degree in cosmetology. So rest assured her characters will always have good hair.
Besides writing, Cambria loves a caramel latte, staying up late, sleeping in, and watching movies. She considers math human torture and has an irrational fear of chickens (yes, chickens). You can often find her running on the treadmill (she’d rather be eating a donut), painting her toenails (because she bites her fingernails), or walking her chorkie (the real boss of the house).
Cambria has written within the young adult and new adult genres, penning many paranormal and contemporary titles. Her favorite genre to read and write is romantic suspense. A few of her most recognized titles are: The Hashtag Series, Text, Torch, and Tattoo.
Cambria Hebert owns and operates Cambria Hebert Books, LLC.
One of our most iconic childhood games receives a creepy twist as it becomes the gateway to a nightmare world.
I went up the hill, the hill was muddy, stomped my toe and made it bloody, should I wash it?
Justin knows that something is wrong with his best friend. Zee went missing for a year. And when he came back, he was . . . different. Nobody knows what happened to him. At Zee’s welcome home party, Justin and the neighborhood crew play Hide and Seek. But it goes wrong. Very wrong.
One by one, everyone who plays the game disappears, pulled into a world of nightmares come to life. Justin and his friends realize this horrible place is where Zee had been trapped. All they can do now is hide from the Seeker.
My Review: Rated 5 out of 5 stars
A debut middle-grade novel about a game of Hide and Seek with a frightening twist. A member of a group of friends goes missing for a year and comes back different. A game of Hide and Seek is played and all the rules are broken by each of the players. What the players don’t know is that a Seeker that is a creature from another world will hunt each one to bring them to his world called Nowhere to trap them and frighten them with their own personal fears. After the Seeker has 400 children, he will be able to roam our world. The group of friends will need to work together to return to their world and defeat the Seeker at his own game.
The horror scenes are scary for a middle scholar but not too frightening. The parallel world the author created will frighten anyone as it looks exactly like our real world, only with dark skies and your worst fears ready to attack you. Nothing is scarier than seeing your family and not being able to talk or touch them. The author did a great job developing the different fears children have and making them scarier.
Author Biography
Daka Hermon was born in Tennessee and spent her childhood huddled under a blanket with a flashlight reading and writing fairy-tale and fantasy stories. She works in the entertainment industry and is an active member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She loves peach sweet tea, chocolate, cupcakes, and collecting superhero toys. Daka lives in California and can be found online at dakahermon.com and on Twitter @dakadh.
The Magi Manifesto by Kale Lawrence (The Magi Menagerie, #2) Publication date: December 13, 2022 Genres: Fantasy, Historical, New Adult, Young Adult
Synopsis:
After the true power of the Tablet of Destinies is revealed, Ezra grapples with the horrors of the night that changed everything. Haunted by the monster who claimed his father’s life, Ezra is determined to see his promise through and become a Magus. But when the Third Order of the Magi has him arrested for crimes he has yet to commit, Ezra is willing to do whatever it takes to prove himself, even if it means going after the very force that terrorizes his dreams.
But there’s more at stake than the Magi realize and major risks must be taken to settle the score. Desperate to stop the Legerdemain Brotherhood from claiming infinite power, Jonas must lead a team into the heart of enemy territory and dismantle the Brotherhood from the inside. Can Ezra and Jonas successfully stop the Legerdemain from ushering in a new era of terror? Or will yet another unlikely foe rise from the deep?
From the early age of 6, Kale Lawrence knew she either wanted to be an astronaut or an author. Obviously, the astronaut gig didn’t work out, so instead, Kale turned to fantastic fictional worlds. When Kale is not writing creatively, she works as a Marketing Manager at a pet product company and pretends she’s an Olympic swimmer at the gym. She has also served as a board member for the South Dakota Writes organization.
In addition to books, Kale has lent her writing prowess to television, and her writing has been featured on nationwide PBS television programming, NBC newscasts, ABC newscasts, and the Travel Channel.
Kale currently lives in Sioux Falls, South Dakota with her feisty tortoiseshell calico cat, Emma Bug, and sassy Siamese, Seattle Bean.
Iron & Ink by Melanie Munton (Brooklyn Brothers, #5) Publication date: March 29, 2022 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Synopsis:
We are the Rossetti’s.
The exiled “sixth family” of the New York mafia. We’re the good guys.
People don’t fear us…much. They respect us.
The five of us? We’re the Brooklyn Brothers.
And we protect what’s ours.
After a gunshot wound to the chest, I died on an operating table. Then I came back to life. Yet the thing that’s going to take me down is a redheaded Irish bartender who has a pension for trouble and drinking me under the table. Ash Donahue is brave, beautiful, and scarily street-wise. In fact, she’s the only woman I’ve ever met who seems remotely capable of handling the kind of baggage a man like me comes with.
Not to mention, she has secrets that could very well rival my own.
I’m a soldier, a warrior. That’s all I’ll ever be. No woman wants to be strapped with that for the rest of her life. But every time we remind ourselves why we’re completely wrong for each other, we end up tangled together in the stock room. Or on top of the bar. Or against a wall.
That all changes when I find out what brought her to my city. How could she not tell me her uncle is the Irish mob boss? And how am I supposed to protect her from him and my family from our countless enemies, all at the same time?
Melanie grew up in the Midwest, but she loves living in the Southeast (where the beaches are!) now with her husband and daughter. Melanie’s other passion is traveling and seeing the world. With anthropology degrees under their belts, she and her husband have made it their goal in life to see as many archaeological sites around the world as possible. She has a horrible food addiction to pasta and candy (not together…ew). And she gets sad when her wine rack is empty. At the end of the day, she is a true romantic at heart. She loves writing the cheesy and corny of romantic comedies, and the sassy and sexy of suspense. She aims to make her readers swoon, laugh out loud, maybe sweat a little, and above all, fall in love. Go visit Melanie’s website and sign up for her newsletter to stay updated on release dates, teasers, and other details for all of her projects!