Happy Cover Reveal Day to Clare Hawken and her new book Happy Days!
Happy Days
Meet Steph Barnacle, an English teacher at a private school, married to Dan. Her son has just left for university, her life is feeling a bit stale … and something weird is going on with the skin on her neck. And then Charles Kurmudge, the man she’s never forgotten, walks back into her world.
Charles’s life has blown up spectacularly – he’s lost his job, his house and his marriage. Determined to get back on track, he’s changed career. He’ll now be working for Steph, whose heart he broke over twenty years ago. He still finds her very attractive. What a shame she’s married.
Her husband, Dan, knows he loves Steph more than she loves him. And now that Charles is back in his wife’s orbit, he’s worried about their marriage. But surely Steph wouldn’t dream of leaving him for Charles, who’d treated her so badly … would she?
Can Steph resist her first love? Or will she give him a second chance?
Publication Date: 3rd February
…and here it is…the cover:
Author Bio Clare Hawken was born in Zambia and has lived in England, France and Australia. She now lives in Wiltshire with her family and a stubborn springer spaniel. She writes about families, relationships, and the blind spots, mistakes and mishaps that can change life in a heartbeat. Apart from writing, she enjoys reading voraciously across a wide range of genres; other people’s gardening efforts; and long walks, if she can persuade the dog to come with her.
“Sophie Sullivan’s writing feels like a warm hug.” —Rachel Lynn Solomon, bestselling author of The Ex Talk Hailey Sharp has a one-track mind. Get By the Cup salad shop off the ground. Do literally everything possible to make it a success. Repeat. With a head full of entrepreneurial ideas and a bad ex in her rearview, her one and only focus is living life the way she wants to. No distractions.
Wes Jansen never did understand the fuss about relationships. With a string of lackluster first dates and the pain from his parents’ angry divorce following him around, he’d much rather find someone who he likes, but won’t love. Companionship, not passion, is the name of the game.
When Hailey and Wes find each other in a disastrous meet cute that wasn’t even intended for them, they embarrassingly go their separate ways. But when Wes finds Hailey to apologize for his behavior, they strike a friendship. Because that’s all this can be. Hailey doesn’t want any distractions. Wes doesn’t want to fall in love.
What could possibly go wrong?
Publisher: St.Martin’s Griffin Publication date: 17/1/23 Purchase link ISBN 9781250624208, 1250624207
My thoughts:
A lovely final book in a delightful series featuring three brothers and their different ways to Happily-ever-after. If you loved 10 Rules For Faking it and How to Love Your Neighbour, you must have been waiting impatiently for this third and final book. If you are new to Sophie Sullivan’s romcoms, don’t worry, it can definitely be read as a standalone.
Hailey Sharp is a ray of sunshine- sweet and independent, Hailey never complains or relies on other people to solve her problems. Instead of wallowing in misery after her emotionally-abusive relationship came to an end, Hailey sold her apartment, moved to a new town and opened a business of her own. Now what she really needs is to focus on making her salad bar successful and …finding friends, becoming a part of this lovely, vibrant community.
Wes Jansen has decided to follow his brothers to California and continue building their cybersecurity/investment business as far as possible from their father. Unlike Chris and Noah he doesn’t want love and family, as they are too difficult to predict and control. He doesn’t even want to date casually. What he needs is a friend, and luckily he already has a perfect candidate for that- Hailey, after their embarrassing meet-cute. All they have to do is set their boundaries and not let their feelings grow in (un)predictably romantic ways….
If friends-to-lovers happens to be your favourite trope, you know how often it is about old childhood friends or schoolmates or a best friend’s brother/sister. Sophie Sullivan explores something else here – two people who maybe perfect for each other, but aren’t ready to date seriously not this specific person, but anyone. Hailey’s just started her business and needs time to forget her ex’s lies, Wes is …very rigid and uptight. They both have parents issues (very different, but with the same outcome)-the author writes about something realistic and relatable, but in a light-hearted, entertaining way. Relationships of all kinds, romantic and otherwise, take time, work, effort, and heart.
Recommended to anyone who likes slow-burn romance, sweet, likeable characters (both main and secondary), and happily-ever-afters. Can’t wait to read Sophie Sullivan’s next book!
Thank you to NetGalley and St.Martin’s Press for the review copy, provided in exchange for an honest opinion.
Happy Publication Day to Mysteries of Thorn Manor by Margaret Rogerson!
From the blurb:
In this delightful sequel novella to the New York Times bestselling Sorcery of Thorns, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas must unravel the magical trap keeping them inside Thorn Manor in time for their Midwinter Ball!
Elisabeth Scrivener is finally settling into her new life with sorcerer Nathaniel Thorn. Now that their demon companion Silas has returned, so has scrutiny from nosy reporters hungry for gossip about the city’s most powerful sorcerer and the librarian who stole his heart. But something strange is afoot at Thorn Manor: the estate’s wards, which are meant to keep their home safe, are acting up and forcibly trapping the Manor’’ occupants inside. Surely it must be a coincidence that this happened just as Nathaniel and Elisabeth started getting closer to one another…
With no access to the outside world, Elisabeth, Nathaniel, and Silas—along with their new maid Mercy—will have to work together to discover the source of the magic behind the malfunctioning wards before they’re due to host the city’s Midwinter Ball. Not an easy task when the house is filled with unexpected secrets, and all Elisabeth can think about is kissing Nathaniel in peace. But when it becomes clear that the house, influenced by the magic of Nathaniel’s ancestors, requires a price for its obedience, Elisabeth and Nathaniel will have to lean on their connection like never before to set things right.
Margaret Rogerson is the author of the New York Times bestsellers An Enchantment of Ravens, Sorcery of Thorns, and Vespertine. She has a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from Miami University. When not reading or writing she enjoys sketching, gaming, making pudding, and watching more documentaries than is socially acceptable (according to some). She lives near Cincinnati, Ohio, beside a garden full of hummingbirds and roses. Visit her at MargaretRogerson.com.
It’s Monday! What are you Reading is a weekly meme hosted by Kathryn from Book Date, a place to share and discuss what we’ve read in the past week and what we’re in the middle of or are planning to read this week.
What I read / listened to last week:
Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo
Doc Showmance by Zoe Forward
A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan
What I am reading/listening to now:
Your Place or Mine? by Portia Macintosh
Shadows and Surrender by Deborah Wilde
What I’m reading /listening to next:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
How High We Go in the dark by Sequoia Nagimatsu
Blinded me with Science by Tara September
How did your last week go and what are you reading this week?
Foxed Jay Hogan Publication date: January 12th 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
FOXED: To be thrown into a state of uncertainty—flustered, bamboozled, bewildered, puzzled, vexed.
AKA, me. Jed Marshall. 55-year-old successful classic car mechanic; divorced, mostly closeted, and whose wholly inexperienced bisexuality has suddenly awakened after one smouldering look and said, ‘Damn, who’s the hottie?’ Or words to that effect.
Cue, Nash Collingwood. 53-year-old scarily smart high school principal; out, gay, confident, and sexy as hell. He’s also my daughter’s boss. So, not complicated at all, right? Nash could ignite a bonfire with a single sultry look, comes fully accessorised with a charm offensive Churchill would be proud of, an easy-going flattery that thrills my heart far too effortlessly, and an impressive track record with men many decades my junior.
In short, Nash is everything I’m not, and everything I’ve avoided for roughly my entire life. He’s the hot rod to my sensible family car, that is if you like your family cars with a few dents, creaky suspension, unexpected backfires, and a dodgy stick.
The last thing I need is a relationship—especially with a man. I buried that pipe dream a long time ago and a little loneliness is a small price to pay. The festive season and long summer vacation are on our doorstep. I’m finally getting things right with my family who mean everything to me, and I don’t want to mess that up.
But Nash doesn’t care about my awkward inexperience, or clumsy excuses, or any of my insecurities. Nash only sees me. He wants me. For the first time in years, I feel alive and sexy and a whole lot more than just a good father and grandfather.
I should walk away, but the closer Nash and I become, the more he fills my grey world with colour, and the promise of a second chance at love I never thought possible.
Jay is a 2020 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Gay Romance and her book Off Balance was the 2021 New Zealand Romance Book of the Year.
She is a New Zealand author writing mm romance and romantic suspense, primarily set in New Zealand. She writes character driven romances with lots of humour, a good dose of reality and a splash of angst. She’s travelled extensively, lived in many countries, and in a past life she was a critical care nurse, nurse educator and counsellor. Jay is owned by a huge Maine Coon cat and a gorgeous Cocker Spaniel.
Defy the Stars Cathrina Constantine Publication date: January 13th 2023 Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Circus grunt. Charmer. Fire wrangler. Growing up within the grind of the enchanted Circus Faire, Crew’s unique talents have blossomed. Though, he’s been warned that the King of Hawkswing is determined to eradicate a certain species, and for his own sake Crew must keep his formidable gifts under wraps.
Relations between interspecies caused an imbalance of power and now are strictly forbidden. Dolorans, like Sage and her sister, are being hunted and persecuted because of their intense powers, leaving them no choice but to run to escape the genocide of their kind.
She possesses a forceful energy for good and evil. His untapped powers are growing stronger by the day. Survival will demand they rely on each other.
When Crew learns a dark wizard is holding his brother captive, he enters into a deal with him in hopes of getting close enough to free those he has imprisoned. Yet, what he uncovers is far more sinister than Crew could ever imagine. Can Crew harness the strength within him to save his brother and Sage and all those in the wizard’s clutches? Or will he be trapped by the wizard’s wicked plan?
I am blessed with a loving family and forever friends. My world revolves around them.
I grew up in the small village of Lancaster, NY, where I married my sweetheart. I’m devoted to raising 5 cherished children, and now my grandchildren.
I love to immerse myself in great books of every kind of genre, which helps me to write purely for entertainment, and hopefully to inspire readers. When not stationed at my computer you can find me in the woods taking long walks with my dog.
Near Miss C.S. Smith Publication date: January 10th 2023 Genres: Adult, Romance, Suspense
He’s hostage to his past. Betrayal and death haunt former British Special Air Service captain Lachlan Mackay after a disastrous mission in the mountains of Afghanistan ends his military career. Now a civilian, his job overseeing security teams in Kabul brings the opportunity to topple a powerful warlord, avenge the dead, and free himself from the crushing guilt of trusting the wrong woman. However, his plans for revenge get derailed when someone from his past targets his beautiful new American colleague.
She has a secret that could destroy him. Sophia Russo wants to make a difference in the lives of the Afghan people. As the new director of Legislative Affairs at Landry Associates International, her job is to lobby Congress to support her company’s development projects in the war-torn country. But when her best friend’s father, a retired four-star admiral, tells her someone may be trafficking weapons to a warlord, she agrees to spy on the prime suspect, LAI’s head of Global Security. Lachlan Mackay is dangerously sexy and full of secrets, but after getting to know the Hot Scot, her heart refuses to believe he’s a criminal.
The past won’t stay dead. When Sophia is caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse between Lachlan and an unknown enemy, she teams up with him to help prove his innocence. The tables are turned when their hunt for the truth makes them the hunted.
To save Lachlan, Sophia may have to betray him, and Lachlan is forced to do the one thing he swore he’d never do again.
C.S. Smith writes steamy romantic suspense and paranormal romance featuring current and former special operations soldiers. She admits to having a thing for alpha males. The bigger and badder they are, the harder they fall!
While earning a Master’s in National Security Studies from Georgetown University, she worked in and around the Pentagon surrounded by good-looking men in uniform, including the one she eventually married.
Her career as a writer took off in 2018 when her youngest child learned to drive and her days of micromanaging a family of five were coming to an end. Now she manages her husband of over thirty years and the family rescue dog – a supposed Golden Retriever that DNA tests revealed is really a lab, chow, boxer mix.
Her debut award-winning romantic suspense series, Dìleas Security Agency, focuses on three former elite special operators in a brotherhood forged by betrayal, blood, and death. If you enjoy hot alpha men and feisty women wrapped up in storylines full of danger and intrigue, be sure to look for Near Miss (Book 1), Missing in Action (Book 2), and Missed Opportunity (Book 3), coming in 2023.
Painted to Death Sarah Vernon Publication date: January 10th 2023 Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery
Sam Green is an art student with some pretty creative habits when it comes to solving mysteries, in this new series from author and artist Sarah Vernon. It’s the coldest part of a Boston winter when her friend Catherine is found dead in the painting studios one evening. The police are quick to rule her death a suicide, but Sam knows that something doesn’t seem right. Despite the protests of her friends Rebecca and Stephanie (although — happily — with the help of her crush Arun), Sam starts to poke around the old art department building. Peering into the dark corners of studios and underneath piles of musty art supplies, Sam soon uncovers some surprising suspects and motives behind Catherine’s death, in an art department simmering with artistic jealousy, resentment, and more relationship drama than a daytime talk show could handle. The only question is, will Sam be able to find out who killed Catherine before that person finds Sam?
Moving On Felice Stevens Publication date: January 2nd 2023 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
When his roof caves in, Sean Lovett thinks things can’t get any worse. Until he loses his job, adding yet another bump in the rocky road of his life. None of his so-called friends can—or will—help. And asking a favor from his abusive ex? Hard pass. Luckily, his sister comes to the rescue and offers him a great apartment—in the city, no less—until he can get back on his feet. Sweet deal. Until a gorgeous man unlocks the front door and strolls right in with a grumpy attitude and a claim that his boss—who happens to be Sean’s brother-in-law—promised him the same apartment.
Former NYPD detective Tristan McDermott hasn’t stopped running since the death of his best friend. After almost two years of living in his own personal hell, he returns home to New York, hoping he can move on, but guilt still follows his every step. He’s grateful to have the perfect apartment until he can settle into a place of his own. But there’s a cute guy already living there. And only one bedroom. And no way is Tristan leaving. He’s staying put. Sharing the space is tough, but Tristan can ignore sweet Sean and his sunshiny smiles. Kind of. Except Sean’s brother-in-law asks Tristan to keep an eye on Sean so he doesn’t make any bad decisions. Uh oh. Keeping an eye on Sean is easy. Keeping his hands off him is much, much harder. And sleeping together…well, that isn’t a bad decision. Not when it feels so good. Right?
From Lambda Literary award winning author Felice Stevens comes the story of a grumpy, green juice-drinking ex-detective running from the past and a sunshiney singing waiter who can’t catch a break. It features a meet-cute, only one bed, learning to trust, and a surprise lap dance.
Felice Stevens has always been a romantic at heart. She believes that while life is tough, there is always a happy ending around the corner. Her characters have to work for it, because just like life in NYC, nothing comes easy and that includes love.
Felice is the 2020 Lambda Literary Award winning author in best Gay Romance. She lives in New York City and has way too much black in her wardrobe. If she’s not writing, you’ll probably find her watching reality TV or procrastinating on FB in her reader group, Felice’s Breakfast Club.
Thank you to Rachel from Rachel’s Random Resources for inviting me to participate in the blog tour for Blood on the Tyne and thank you to Colin Garrow for his guest post today!
About the book:
Blood on the Tyne: Red Snow (book 3 in the Rosie Robson series).
A dead body. A hoard of forged banknotes. A gangster out for blood.
Newcastle, December 1955. Returning home after a weekend away, singer and amateur sleuth Rosie Robson discovers a man lying on a baggage trolley with his throat cut. After the police get involved, an attack on Rosie and her boss prompts Inspector Vic Walton to find a safe house for the pair. But the bad guys seem to be one step ahead of them and Rosie is forced to track down a possible witness to the murder in a bid to learn the truth. Can the canny crooner solve the mystery before a Newcastle gang boss catches up with her?
Set on Tyneside, Blood on the Tyne: Red Snow is book #3 in the Rosie Robson Murder Mysteries series.
Most novels have a hero or heroine, or in some cases, a pair of heroes or heroines. In creating what I hoped would be a new thriller series, I realised I’d gone a bit overboard in character-creation mode and for a while, hadn’t a clue what to do about it.
And it wasn’t the first time. Back in 2016, I wrote The Hounds of Hellerby Hall, the first book in my children’s series, The Christie McKinnon Adventures. Although I knew very well that my heroic pair, Christie McKinnon and her slightly less intelligent pal, Donal, were the main characters, as I wrote, lots of other characters seemed to be screaming out for attention, too. The result was that before I’d got even quarter of the way through, I suddenly had way too many characters. For a while I ummd and ahhd about whether to cut some of them out completely or just make them minor characters who only appeared in one scene, but try as I might, they kept popping back into the action. Eventually, I accepted them and got on with the story, recognising that although all these other folk were still minor characters, they were also vitally important to the story.
As it turned out, it wasn’t a big problem and my two heroes remained in charge of the action. However, when I started writing the aforementioned thriller series, it began to happen again.
The Relic Black series currently stands as one book – Terminal Black – with book two – Crucial Black – due out in a month or so. The book began with a completely different title – Ariadne 7 – with a vague plot around the idea of an escort service that catered to a group of villains. Luckily, I recognised that the title made no sense and renamed the book after its central character and completely changed the plot in the process.
Then the trouble started.
By the time I reached the 30,000-word mark, I had so many characters I began to think I’d created a monster that would evade capture for the rest of time. I re-wrote chapters, rearranged everything, wrote new beginnings (several times) and still couldn’t get a handle on how to take it forward.
And then it hit me. I had created a story with an ensemble cast.
Once I realised this simple fact, the rest was easy. All I had to do was make sure the main character kept his head above the rising ensembling waters and everything would be fine.
The problem, of course, was how to keep the plot moving and not make it seem like I’d gone off at a tangent with each new chapter. With that in mind, I avoided traditional chapters and started the book from a point close to what I thought would probably be the end. Then I moved the action to a week earlier and began to introduce the other characters who would all gradually converge towards a similar goal when everything would make sense. At least, I hoped that’s what would happen.
The book took seven years to write and what I ended up with is very different to my original idea. But having created this ensemble cast, the sensible thing would be to continue in this vein, a challenge that excites and horrifies me in equal measures. To misquote a popular song lyric, See that thing coming over the hill? It’s a monster.
Author Bio:
True-born Geordie Colin Garrow grew up in a former mining town in Northumberland and has worked in a plethora of professions including taxi driver, antiques dealer, drama facilitator, theatre director and fish processor. He has also occasionally masqueraded as a pirate. Colin’s published books include the Watson Letters series, the Terry Bell Mysteries and the Rosie Robson Murder Mysteries. His short stories have appeared in several literary mags, including: SN Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, The Grind, A3 Review, Inkapture and Scribble Magazine. These days he lives in a humble cottage in Northeast Scotland.
Thank you to Colin Garrow for his post!
If you would like to know what other bloggers thought of Blood on the Tyne: Red Snow or would like to read excerpts and other guest posts by Colin, here is the full blog tour schedule:
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