Book & Author Details: Awakening by Poppy Williams Publication date: April 28th 2021 Genres: Suspense, Thriller, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Every Hero Has a Beginning
Raised by parents who work deep within the U.S. intelligence agency, Zoe Dixon has picked up a few skills along the way.
When her family moves to a new town, Zoe thinks it’s business as usual. But that all changes when a student turns up dead at her new school. Now, after years of keeping a low profile, Zoe has to decide whether she’ll step out of the shadows and use her skills for good.
As she digs deeper, she’ll uncover shocking truths that will change the course of her life forever.
Awakening is book one in the Zoe Dixon Saga. Fans of Marvel’s Black Widow, J.J. Abrams Alias, and Hit-Girl from Kick-Ass, will love this young adult action-packed suspense thriller.
Poppy grew up in Cleveland Ohio, where books played an enormous role in her upbringing. She started writing when she realized she had a few stories of her own to tell. When she’s not typing away at her keyboard, you’ll find her playing video games, or listening to K-Pop!
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about which we have yet to read. Generally they’re books that have yet to be released. It’s based on Waiting on Wednesday, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
The book I’m waiting for this Wednesday is….
Once There Were Wolves
Description:
From bestselling author Charlotte McConaghy, Once There Were Wolves is a novel about a scientist reintroducing wolves to the Scottish Highlands, and the secrets that begin to catch up to her when a local farmer goes missing.
Inti Flynn arrives in Scotland with her twin sister, Aggie, to lead a team of biologists tasked with reintroducing fourteen gray wolves into the remote Highlands. She hopes to heal not only the dying landscape, but Aggie, too, unmade by the terrible secrets that drove the sisters out of Alaska.
Inti is not the woman she once was, either, changed by the harm she’s witnessed—inflicted by humans on both the wild and each other. Yet as the wolves surprise everyone by thriving, Inti begins to let her guard down, even opening herself up to the possibility of love. But when a farmer is mauled to death, Inti knows where the town will lay blame. Unable to accept her wolves could be responsible, Inti makes a reckless decision to protect them. But if the wolves didn’t make the kill, then is something more sinister at play?
Once There Were Wolves is the unforgettable story of a woman desperate to save the creatures she loves—if she isn’t consumed by a wild that was once her refuge.
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: August 3, 2021
About the author:
Charlotte McConaghy is an author based in Sydney, Australia. Her U.S. debut novel, Migrations, was a national bestseller and is being translated into over twenty languages.
Have you read Migrations, Charlotte McGonaghy’s previous book? If yes, what did you think of it?
Have you read Once There Were Wolves or is it on your tbr?
Book & Author Details: It’s a Curse Thing by Lisa Wells (Singles Town, #2) Publication date: April 27th 2021 Genres: Adult, Comedy, Paranormal, Romance
Synopsis:
It’s not forever. It’s not freaking forever.
What’s a witch to do when her magic’s been hacked and her tongue wickedly cursed! No matter how hard Eloise Redd concentrates on keeping her thoughts to herself, she blurts them. The only option is to lie low and wait for the hacker’s ransom note —and hope the demands aren’t too steep. In the meantime, she hides out in a haunted town as a palm reader. What could possibly go wrong reading palms?
Jeffrey Bales, Chief Operating Officer of Think Tank Innovations, is excellent at peopling. What he’s not good at is fending off a multitude of women convinced he’s their souls’ missing puzzle piece. This thanks to the town’s magical palm reader. A woman whose mouth should come with a hazard warning. He has no choice but to turn his charms on her to silence those wayward words. Just a tiny, fake relationship should work…
Unless it takes place under the roof of a bewitched house. One determined to bind them together eternally. That ransom demand can’t arrive soon enough.
Lisa Wells writes romantic comedy with enough steam to fog your eyeglasses, your brain, and sometimes your Kindle screen. On the other hands, her eighty-year-old mother-in-law has read Lisa’s steamiest book and lived to offer her commentary. Which went something like this: You used words I’ve never heard of…
She lives in Missouri with her husband and slightly-chunky rescue dog. Lisa loves dark chocolate, red wine, and those rare mornings when her skinny jeans fit. Which isn’t often, considering the first two entries on her love-it list.
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
How it works:
Jana from That Artsy Girl assigns each Tuesday a topic and then posts her top ten list that fits that topic. Anybody is welcome to join and create their own top ten (or 2, 5, 20, etc.) list as well. You can put a unique spin on the topic to make it work for you!
The topic for this Tuesday is…
April 27: Animals from Books (these could be mythical, real, main characters, sidekicks, companions/pets, shifters, etc.) (Submitted by Paige @paigesquared and Jennifer Y. @ Never Too Many to Read)
Book & Author Details: Crossing the Touchline by Jay Hogan (Auckland Med. #2) Publication date: December 30th 2020 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance, Sports
Synopsis:
What if you’ve worked your whole life for a dream, to play rugby for the most successful sports team on the planet, the New Zealand All Blacks? What if that dream is so close you can smell it? What if you meet someone? What if you fall in love? What if your dream will cost the man who’s stolen your heart? And what if the dream changes? Reuben Taylor has a choice to make. Cameron Wano is that choice.
Headphones on black leather desk table. Music concept. Top view with copy space
AUTHOR BIO:
I am a New Zealand author writing in m/m romance, and romantic suspense. I have traveled extensively and lived in the US, Canada, France, Australia and South Korea. In a past life I have been an Intensive Care Nurse, Counselor, and a Nursing Lecturer.
I’m a cat aficionado especially of Maine Coons, and an avid dog lover (but don’t tell the cat). I love to cook, pretty damn good, love to sing, pretty damn average, and as for loving full-time writing, absolutely… depending of course on the day, the word count, the deadline, how obliging my characters are, the ambient temperature in the Western Sahara, whether Jupiter is rising, the size of the ozone hole over New Zealand and how much coffee I’ve had.
Thank you to Rachel from rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Janey Trelawney’s Year of Suprising Triumphs.
Janey Trelawney’s Year of Surprising Triumphs
Janey’s life becomes more disaster movie than romcom when the ruthless Becca steams in to manage Cheney House. Her job as head gardener in peril and her self-confidence in tatters, Janey must fight back. Finding an ally in Will, who’s more Clark Kent than Superman, it’s up to them to save the day while owner Clare is away having her Shirley Valentine moment. It doesn’t help that everyone is in love with the wrong people! Why can’t people love the one who loves them back? Will Cheney House survive – and will Janey ever get her When Harry Met Sally happy ending?
Find out in this warm-hearted romance from the author of the best-selling Millie Vanilla’s Cupcake Café, full of Gregory Peck look-a-likes, snowdrops, cake, and a cocker spaniel called Camilla.
Quirky and uplifting are the two words that describe Giorgia Hill’s latest novel the best. Gardeners and galantophiles (in case you aren’t familiar with the term-I wasn’t!- galantophiles are people who love everything to do with snowdrop flowers) are going to be delighted with the book and all the tips they’d get from it.
Janey Trelawney reminded me a bit of Nina Hill. She is passionate about plants and nature, she is quirky in a lovable way, willing to wade in freezing water to save a dog’s life, she dances under trees and complains about having to spend a day inside her office, she’s flawed, but impossible not to like and respect. Janey goes through a lot of growth in this book,defending her job of the head gardener at Cheney House Gardening Centre, suffers from unrequited love, faces her enemy, overcomes her fears and finds real love.
I really enjoyed the setting of Cheney House from the word go. This is a family oriented business with heart and soul, so when the center owner Claire hires Becca, a new manager to oversee the business in her absence, and this manager starts destroying everything Cheney House stands for, you know whose side you are on. Luckily for Janey and the staff,they have a staunch alley- Will, with his heart of gold, understanding, patience, and loyalty. The book is full of sweet and adorable characters, both main and secondary, and you will quickly get immersed into the story with its fascinating plotlines.
My first book by Georgia Hill and I couldn’t have chosen a better book to get an introduction to this talented author- it is sweet, romantic, and entertaining. Janey’s blog posts were so beautifully-written and enticing, I just couldn’t resist doing more Internet research (a perfect book for a lockdown). Recommended to anyone who enjoys gardening, quirky main characters, and a lovely happily-ever-after.
Thank you to Rachel and the author for the review copy. All opinions are my own and were not influenced in any way.
Author Bio
Georgia Hill writes warm-hearted and up-lifting contemporary and timeslip romances about love, the power and joy in being an eccentric oldie and finding yourself and your community. There’s always a dog. It’s usually a naughty spaniel of which, unfortunately, she has had much experience. Her books are firmly rooted in small seaside towns similar to the one she lives in and she loves history especially when it insists on rearing up and battering at the present.
As a child she had an invisible friend called Gonky who lived on the third stair from the bottom. As an adult her invisible friends inhabit her head and refuse to leave until she commits them to paper. Readers of her books can escape into a warm bath of words and, no matter what challenges her characters face they will, ultimately, have a happy ending.
Happy Cover Reveal to BetweenYou and Me by Carol Mason!
Between You and Me
Is her new husband really who she thinks he is?
When young doctor Lauren Matheson meets Joe, an older divorced businessman, at a glittering poolside in California, it’s a chance encounter that seems life-changing for them both. Back home in London, their feelings only strengthen. But Lauren soon discovers that building a happy future with Joe is going to be an uphill struggle…
She’s determined to be a good stepmother to his children, four-year-old Toby and complicated teen Grace. But under the watchful eye of Meredith, Joe’s intimidating ex-wife, Lauren can’t seem to do a thing right. Why won’t Joe ever take her side against Grace? And what really happened between him and Meredith?
As her husband retreats into a cold, secretive version of the dashing man she met in California, Lauren starts to wonder if she’s made a costly mistake. Was Joe ever the man she thought she married?
Author Bio – Carol Mason is the Amazon Charts and Kindle #1 bestselling author After You Left (more than 300,000 copies sold), The Secrets of Married Women, The Last Time We Met, The Shadow Between Us, Send Me A Lover and Little White Secrets which hit the Bookstat digital bestsellers list top 3 in the week of its launch. She was born in the North East of England where most of her novels are set. She now lives in Canada with her Canadian husband, a rescue dog from Kuwait and a three-legged cat. When not writing, Carol loves to read, cook and binge watch Netflix.
Today I’m delighted to participate in the blog tour for Spring on Rendezvous Lane and present a guest post by Angela Britnell, the author of the book.
Spring on Rendezvous Lane
Can even the most seasoned traveller find a home on Rendezvous Lane? ‘Community spirit’ is not a phrase in travel junkie Taran Rossi’s vocabulary. As a former ‘third culture kid’ and now spicy street food connoisseur and social media influencer, he’s never really stayed in one place long enough to feel part of a community. And that’s just the way he likes it. But a springtime stint house sitting for his grandmother on Rendezvous Lane in East Nashville could lead to a long overdue wake-up call. With the help of single mum Sandy Warner and her young son Chip, can Taran come to understand that sometimes it’s not about the place – it’s about the people?
I’ve always considered reading to be the absolute best tonic around – setting aside of course the kind you mix with gin – so it’s lovely to be here and chat about my new book Spring on Rendezvous Lane. I hope readers will finish it with a smile on their faces but they should be warned that according to several reviewers they might also find themselves very hungry!
Food, and in particular spicy food, plays a huge part in the story. I found it amusing when Taran turned out to be an extremely successful food blogger known as the Spice Street Sage, focusing on spicy street food, because I’m something of a wimp when it comes to anything likely to set my mouth on fire. I do enjoy a lot of Indian and Mexican food but only the mild variety, rather like Sandy.
This sums up Taran’s philosophy:
‘Taran discovered his passion for street food as a five-year-old boy when he tasted arancini, delicious Italian fried rice balls, in the back alleys of Palermo. From there he went on to explore everything from Philipino kwek to Australian meat pies and Russian chebureki. Nothing fazed him. He didn’t care what part of the animal or corner of the world his food came from and particularly these days the spicier the better.’
The research into various street foods Taran might’ve come across in his extensive travels was interesting although most of the things he eats and enjoys I wouldn’t go near with the proverbial barge pole! In my research I also picked my daughter-in-law Brita’s brains about the business side of establishing and promoting a successful food blog because she and my oldest son make their living from her awesome Food with Feeling blog, www.foodwithfeeling.com.
One of the funniest food-related scenes to write came when Taran and Sandy go out for dinner at Hattie B’s, the holy grail of Nashville’s famous hot chicken, with her best friend and their boss from the mobile home company where both women work and Harry tries to impress Lashonda by tackling the spiciest level of hot chicken.
‘Are you okay?’ Lashonda patted Harry’s back when he couldn’t stop coughing. If the poor man was a cartoon character, puffs of steam would be escaping from his ears and every pore in his body. She encouraged him to eat some of the plain white bread and dill pickles accompanying the chicken but it clearly didn’t help.
‘I give in.’ Harry pushed the plate away. ‘You’re the spice queen. I’m a rank amateur. The “Damn Hot!!” level’s got nothing on this.’ When he finally caught his breath again he picked at his potato salad and gulped down glass after glass of iced tea. ‘My taste buds aren’t gonna function for days now.’
‘Was it worth it?’ Lashonda’s dark eyes sparkled.
‘To finally get a date with you? Yeah, absolutely.’
So when you dig into this trans-Atlantic romance with a distinct twist it’s completely my fault if you end up breaking your diet and I make no apologies for that!
Author Bio –
Angela grew up in Cornwall, England and returns frequently from her new home in Nashville, Tennessee to visit family and friends, drink tea and eat far too many Cornish pasties!
A lifelong love of reading turned into a passion for writing contemporary romance and her novels are usually set in the many places she’s visited or lived on her extensive travels. Thanks to over three decades of marriage to her wonderful American husband she’s a huge fan of transatlantic romance and always makes sure her characters get their own happy-ever-after.
She is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. Her first novel ‘Truth and Consequence’ was published in 2006 and she’s now had over 30 novels published internationally and several short stories in women’s magazines.
Thank to Angela for her mouth-watering post 🙂 Let’s all wish her lovely book lots of success!
Have a wonderful Sunday!
Book & Author Details: Reclaiming Ryda by Rachel Rossano (Once Upon a Duchy, #2) Publication date: April 20th 2021 Genres: Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Romance
Synopsis:
Rydaria lives as a prisoner in a tower library. Captured as a child, her past is a mystery. Maintaining the literary treasures within her care, she studies the world through books that give her a glimpse of the freedom she craves.
A scribe by trade, Crispin has devoted the last three years of his life seeking the lost heir of Avalene. He travels to Worthenave’s famed library in hopes of finding the key. Instead, he discovers a new mystery, a beautiful librarian who is locked in with her books every night.
As the days pass, Crispin must choose. Rydaria’s precarious situation is deteriorating. Meanwhile, his duty demands he leave before the Duke of Worthenave uncovers his quest. Still, the scribe can’t bring himself to abandon the captive in the library tower, even if it costs him his mission.
Inspired by Rapunzel and East of the Sun West of the Moon
Rachel Rossano specializes in clean romantic fiction set in historical-feeling fantasy worlds. She also dabbles in straightforward historical romance and not-so-strict speculative fiction. A happily married mother of three children, she divides her time between mothering, teaching, and writing. She endeavors to enchant, thrill, entertain, and amuse through her work. A constant student, she seeks to improve her skills and loves to hear from readers.
Book & Author Details: Code (Isan, #4) by Mary Ting Published by: Vesuvian Books Publication date: April 20th 2021 Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Young Adult
Synopsis:
Behind enemy lines, new soldiers will emerge, and unexpected heroes will rise.
Ava is a prisoner. And she is not the only rebel held hostage at ISAN’s secret compound. As she plans an escape, the lives of the rebel prisoners are in her hands, along with those she thought were dead.
Rhett and his team desperately search for Ava while one of the Remnant Council joins forces with another network looking for the creator of the Helix serum. And time is running out. Mr. Novak has been secretly creating an army called CODE, and what he plans for Ava will mean a permanent end to the rebels–and her.
International Bestselling, Award-Winning Author Mary Ting writes soulful, spellbinding stories that excite the imagination and captivate readers all over the world. Her books run a wide range of genres: science fiction, fantasy, and swoon worthy stories. Her storytelling talents have won her a devoted legion of fans and garnered critical praise.
Mary was born in Seoul Korea and resides in Southern California with her husband, two children, and two dogs—Mochi and Mocha. She enjoys oil painting and making jewelry. Becoming an author was a way to grieve the death of her beloved grandmother. After realizing she wanted to become a full-time author, she retired from teaching after twenty years.
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