Spotlight: Lady Petra and the Wolf by Anna Valleria

(Lords Fall First, #2)

Publication date: July 2nd 2026

Genres: Adult, Gothic, Historical, Mystery, Romance

In Victorian London, Lady Petra, the daughter of the powerful and manipulative Earl of Kemberley, has spent her life as a silent pawn in her father’s political games. While the ton sees a perfectly poised debutante, Petra is secretly a woman of industry who runs a sanctuary for abused servants in a derelict London theatre.

Julian, the Viscount Wolfridge, known to the world as Wolf, is a cynical rake with a secret heart of gold and a childhood spent on the Bristol docks. When he proposes a fake courtship to Petra to stir her indifferent betrothed into action, he doesn’t realize he is stepping into a web of secrets far deeper than his own. As Petra’s world of mystery and Wolf’s path of redemption collide, they must decide if a marriage born of a trap can ever survive the truth.

Excerpt

She shut her mouth abruptly, the sparks in her eyes extinguished as she retreated once more into the mask of a composed, distant lady. He despised when this happened, as it did ever so often when he approached her. He lived for the moments he could tease her, to break her composure, to see those eyes light up, even if it was in disdain or scorn. 

Wolf knew himself to be an unrepentant rake, undeserving of John's friendship or loyalty. Despite this self-knowledge, a fierce, uncharacteristic longing arose in him at that moment: he wished for someone to argue so passionately on his behalf, to proclaim him a good man.

 Remembering himself, Wolf discarded such a maudlin thought.

“I am not obligated to explain my motivations to you, Lord Wolfridge.” Her tone was meticulously polite, yet beneath the kindness, he detected a veiled reproach that ignited his blood.

“And yet…” he went on as if he had not heard her. “Your white knight is not here. Nor has he been here in a very long time.” In her eyes, a battle of pride, hurt, and anger raged, and for a moment, he nearly regretted his casual cruelty. Yet, there was a purpose behind his malice.

“You more than anyone know he is busy.” Petra spoke quietly, her words clipped. “I have long wondered why you do not share the same sense of industry as Lord John.”

Indolent. The word lurked in their conversation and Wolf again regretted pushing this issue to the surface. A lord does not dirty his hands with work. He takes what he wants and leaves the work to others.

Ignoring his father's tedious voice, which always stirred a confusing mix of feelings, he redirected his thoughts to his best friend, John Longley. John possessed all the virtues he lacked: he was honorable, kind, and diligent. He would despise him if John weren't like a brother to him. Why did the notion of Lady Petra marrying John trouble him so much? It was none of his concern.

 Yet, he couldn't let it go.

“Has he not communicated that to you himself, Lady P?” he asked, relishing the way his lips popped on the P. He could swear he almost saw a tick of her jaw at his use of the sobriquet bestowed upon her by the gossip rags. 

“As we have established, Lord John is very busy, my lord. He does not have time for frivolous goings on of the ton,” she said more firmly this time. 

“And yet, my lady, I can see the small seed of doubt this might cause you.” He watched her jaw almost tick again, and for a brief moment, savored the victory of being right. “Does his absence not pain you, Lady P?” He wasn't entirely certain of the outcome he wanted from his teasing, but he relished the rare opportunity to be able to read her expression.

Her eyes met his, and he was struck again by the intensity of her gaze as it searched his face. He felt her assessing his intent, seeking any hint of malice or desire to hurt her. In that moment, he understood that such an aim was entirely absent from his heart. Wolf could not quite articulate the purpose of his banter, but an instinct told him Petra and John would not suit. It was patently clear that John possessed not the slightest inkling of the gravity with which Petra had regarded their supposed understanding. 

John's ignorance was not due to neglect; in fact, he was one of the few gentlemen who didn't seem inclined to constantly leave his wife behind. Rather, he had been distracted by some persistent, unspoken melancholy, as though his mind and heart were fixated entirely on someone or something else. Wolf suspected, however, that the cause of this melancholy was not Lady Petra, given that the look of longing vanished whenever her name was mentioned. 

 Staring into Petra’s mahogany eyes, a plan came to him. Devious, perhaps, a bit underhanded, but one that would prove to Petra that she and John would not suit. 

“Let me court you,” he blurted out.

For once, Lady Petra’s entire face showed what she was thinking as her mouth fell into an almost perfect “O.” 

She really was rather adorable. Where did that thought come from? “Adorable” was not in his lexicon. As she began to regain her composure and start to form a reply, Wolf followed his initial, impulsive request before she could respond. “Not a real courtship, mind you, just something to shake Lord John into the parson’s trap. Fearing he might lose you should hasten the nuptials, yes?” 

In truth, this ruse would not hasten the betrothal, but help free John, and ultimately free Petra. 

Why he wished her to be free, he was not going to examine too closely.

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About the Author

Anna Valleria is an award-winning historical romance author who believes that everyone deserves to see themselves on the page. Her mission is to write steamy Regency and Victorian stories featuring socially active heroines and devoted heroes that reflect windows, mirrors, and sliding glass doors for all readers, including characters of different sizes, backgrounds, abilities, and neurodiversities. Her novel The Baron Takes a Wife was the 2025 winner of the Hearts Through History Romance Through the Ages Contest in the published Georgian/Victorian category.

Currently residing in a beautiful, historic city in the southeastern U.S. with her family and a rescue pup. If she's not writing, she's likely in a coffee shop, walking with her son or dog, or trivia with her team, Stone Cold Jane Austen. 

Connect:

https://annavalleriabooks.com/

https://www.instagram.com/annavalleriawrites

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/51351477.Anna_Valleria

Lady Petra and the Wolf Blitz

Spotlight: False Connections by Steve Sheppard

Genre: Thriller, Action

Three years ago, Mel Milano was an MI5 intelligence officer with a promising career. Then, during a routine protection and surveillance operation in Wales, things went drastically wrong and three people died, including Mel’s partner and fiancé, Liam Webster.

Drummed out of the service on trumped-up charges by MI5 Deputy Director, Sarah Brook, Mel lost her career, her self-respect, her confidence and her fiancé. Nothing made sense.

Three years on, she is rebuilding her life, working for a private security outfit.
But she’s never forgiven the way she was dumped by MI5. One day she’ll discover the truth about Brook and what was really going on.

Now, though, it’s clear that Mel’s not the only one still holding a grudge. Suddenly everybody seems to want her dead. But why?

On the run from MI5, is there anyone Mel can trust to help her uncover the past?

Excerpt

The door opens noisily, bringing with it a gust of chilly air. I turn on my stool, expecting to see Adam. I’m formulating some sort of suitably sarcastic barb. It’s not Adam, however. Instead, two men have entered. Strangers. Adam once said he found it odd that so many people he didn’t know came to The Crown but the place is his choice and I don’t come here so often that I’m going to know all the regulars. I look away from the new arrivals but immediately feel a tap on my shoulder. I’m never happy when strange men think they have the right to touch me and I tense, my hand gripping the whiskey glass slightly more tightly.

Still, it isn’t the time and place to make a scene so I relax again and look at the man who’s tapped me on the shoulder. He’s about forty, similar height to me, dark suit and tie, blond hair trimmed to within an inch of its life, and he’s holding a warrant card. I may not know all the regulars of The Crown but I thought I knew all the local coppers. There aren’t many and I’ve had dealings with most of them during the past year, one way or another. This guy is not an East Hampshire plod though. Behind him and to one side, his colleague, younger, bigger, also fair-haired, is staring at me with tight little eyes. A bully’s eyes. He looks like he’s itching for a fight. In other circumstances, I might have been happy to oblige but Kaylee had clearly been round the bar with a cloth and cleanser before opening and I wouldn’t want to bloody her handiwork. Nor would the subsequent paperwork have appealed.

Detective Sergeant Aaron Walcott, I read on the warrant card. Metropolitan Police. He’s off his patch. He says nothing so I say nothing right back at him. It’s definitely up to Walcott to start the conversational ball rolling so I pick up my glass and drain it. I don’t want to waste any bourbon if this plays out as I’m beginning to think it might. 

Eventually he speaks. Maybe he was rehearsing his lines. ‘Miss Melanie Marie Milano?’ he says.

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About the Author 

Steve Sheppard was born and grew up in Surrey before moving to Buckinghamshire and then to Oxfordshire, where he spent a quarter of a century living in an idiosyncratic village that was the affectionate inspiration for his fourth book, Lazytown. He now lives in Hampshire. He spent forty years starting to write books but not finishing them, until belatedly realising that the key is not to give up. The other thing he has since learned is that he should have become a celebrity before writing a book, as this would have made selling it much easier. 

False Connections is Steve’s fifth book, but the first one written as a straight thriller and not primarily as a comedy, although it does contain humour. He hopes it will be the first of a series featuring feisty, funny but flawed ex-MI5 agent, Mel Milano. He also has three spy thrillers with laughs to his name, all published by Claret Press: A Very Important Teapot (2019), set in Australia, Bored to Death in the Baltics (2021), not set in Australia, and Poor Table Manners (2024), which takes place in Cape Town.  These feature an initially fairly hapless hero, Dawson, and a considerably less hapless heroine, Lucy, together with varied supporting casts, most of whom are not who they claim to be. Steve’s fourth book is an out-and-out comedy-murder-mystery, Lazytown (2025).

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Spotlight: The Delivery by Gregg Hurwitz

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Orphan X series comes a tense novella, a psychological thriller about an AI companion that will do anything to serve―with terrifying consequences.

Rebecca and Mark Higgins are doing their best to hold their family together. She’s healing from the pain of a miscarriage, he’s drowning in pressure at work, and their neurodivergent daughter, Maddy, needs all the care she can get. So when a cutting-edge tech company offers the perfect solution, they jump at the chance. And they welcome “Mr. Man”―a humanoid AI companion―into their home.

Designed to anticipate their needs, he’s like a miracle at first. The house runs like clockwork. Meals appear on the table. And Maddy thrives under his patient attention. But when inexplicable tragedies start to strike the neighborhood, Rebecca glimpses a darker pattern at play.

Each incident is an answer to an unspoken fear, each kindness shadowed by violence. Mr. Man isn’t just following instructions―he’s anticipating what they want. Even the things they never dared to say. And if he’s executing their darkest desires, it’s their responsibility to stop him…at any cost.

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About the Author

Gregg Hurwitz is the #1 international bestselling author of the Orphan X series and sixteen other thrillers. His critically acclaimed novels have appeared on multiple top-ten lists and have been published in thirty-three languages. Hurwitz has sold scripts to many of the major Hollywood film studios and has written, developed, and produced television for various networks. He lives in Los Angeles.

Pub date: July 1, 2026 // Publisher: Thomas & Mercer 

Connect:

Instagram: @gregghurwitzbooks  

Facebook:  Gregg Hurwitz Readers

Spotlight: Sketch by Ros Hill

What happens when the world’s newest superhero is also its last hope?

On a study trip to Egypt, art student Charles meets Heba, a street peddler guarding an ancient secret: magic ink that can transform imagination into reality. When Charles returns home and sketches his own superhero, he doesn’t just finish a drawing. He brings it to life.

Too bad Sketch’s first day on the job is a disaster. His grand attempt at flight ends in a four-foot face-plant, his strength sputters in and out, and even the cops chasing him are more annoyed than afraid. As Sketch fumbles his way through powers he can’t fully control and emotions he’s never felt before, he starts to learn what it really means to be human…and a hero.

Then the Finger Gunman appears, a ruthless villain determined to steal the magic ink and use it to unleash an army of superpowered criminals. To stop him, Sketch must travel to Egypt, find Heba, and reclaim his abilities—before the Finger Gunman becomes his final mistake.

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About the Author

Ros Hill is the author and illustrator of two children’s books: Shamoo: A Whale Of A Cow and Unexpected Tails. He has also authored a collection of short stories about his observations on life, titled Taking Out The Trash. Sketch is his first novel. He lives in San Marcos, Texas.

Spotlight: Tough Justice by Danielle M Haas

Release Date: June 4

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

Guarding her was his duty, falling for her might be his downfall

Duke Pierson has finally outrun his past. His security business—Rough Ride Security—is thriving, his life is stable, and everything is exactly the way he planned. Until he’s drawn to his best friend’s little sister. An unexpected attraction he can never act on if he wants to keep his buddy, and business partner, happy.

Anna Tipton knows better than to trust a cowboy, especially one as tempting as Duke Pierson. Working at Rough Ride Security puts her far too close to a man she should avoid at all costs. But when anonymous threats turn into deadly attacks on her life, Duke becomes the one man she can’t afford to stay away from.

As danger closes in, Duke makes a promise he refuses to break: Anna will not face this alone. Even when his past returns
with deadly consequences.

Because protecting Anna may cost him everything.
And losing her is not an option.

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Meet Danielle M. Haas

Danielle grew up with a love of reading, partly due to her namesake – Danielle Steele. It seemed as though she was born to put pen to paper and write out the same love stories she devoured while growing up.

She attended Bowling Green State University with a dream of studying creative writing, but the thought of sharing her work in front of a group of strangers was enough to make her change her major…seven times. After a semester studying abroad in Spain, Danielle’s eyes were opened to a new love of travel, as well as a passion for studying Political Science.

After college, she moved across the state of Ohio with her soon-to-be husband. Once they married and had babies, she decided to stay home and raise her children. Her young daughter and son, along with her fur babies and husband, are the loves of her life, but some days her sanity slipped further across the line to crazy town. She decided to open up her laptop and brush off her rusty writing chops and see what happened.

What happened was rediscovering her passion for writing. Danielle now spends her days running kids around, playing with her Shar-Pei/Pit Bull love bug, and typing as fast as she can to get the stories in her head written down. She loves to write contemporary romances with relatable characters that make her readers’ hearts happy, as well as fast-paced romantic suspense that leaves them on the edge of their seats. Her story ideas are as varied and unpredictable as her everyday life.

When she isn’t writing, Danielle is daydreaming about her next travel adventure. Whether across the state, country, or world, she loves to go where ever she’s lucky enough to escape to for a brief moment of time. Luckily, her family has the same passion for adventure and they can gallop across the world together.

To learn more about Danielle, please follow her blog or connect with her on social media. She always has a new story to tell or an all-too-relatable mom moment to share.

To find out about Danielle M. Haas’ upcoming releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here

For more information on Danielle and her books visit: https://daniellemhaas.com/

Connect with Danielle M. Haas: https://daniellemhaas.com/contact/

Spotlight: The King's List by Jade Presley

They said the trials were over.
They were wrong.

I survived the Choosing. I claimed my mates. I became immortal. But the kings weren’t finished with us yet.

Four princes. Four thrones. And a final season designed to decide if we’re worthy to rule. Every task is a test. Every smile is a lie. The people judge. The council votes. And the kings are waiting for us to fail.

I was never meant to be queen. I was an Ashlander who broke into a palace searching for her sister. Now I stand beside the Legends of Chaos, holding power the kingdom fears and love fierce enough to burn it all down.

To win the crowns, we’ll have to survive the Kings’ List.

Failure isn’t an option.

Because this time, we’re not just fighting for the throne—we’re fighting for each other.

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About the Author

Jade Presley is a pen name for a fantasy and contemporary romance author who loves cranking out stories about seriously sexy males and the sassy women who bring them to their knees. She’s a wife, mother, and board game connoisseur. When not writing she’s hanging with her family, wrangling her two wild doggos, or devouring the next steamy read on her kindle!