Spotlight: The Ridders by Lisa Towles

Genre: Political Action Thriller 

Brock “BJ” Janoff and his older brother Jonas run a private investigation firm in Venice, CA. BJ is randomly approached by a stranger on the street with a proposition he can’t refuse – one million dollars to deliver a single envelope to a hotel lobby. They pay him up front, which sounds good on the surface, but now BJ’s life is in danger if he doesn’t deliver the envelope in time. Obsessed with the envelope’s contents and the “why me”, BJ follows clues to investigate the players behind what he believes is an organized crime scam. When an act of brilliance changes the balance of power, the safety of everyone he loves is in jeopardy. And the more he digs, the closer he gets to truths he can’t bear to face – about the elusive Bilderberg Group, his missing father, and about the fate of everyone he loves. 

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About the Author 

Lisa Towles is an award-winning crime novelist and a passionate speaker on the topics of fiction writing, creativity, and Strategic Self Care. Lisa has eight crime novels in print, including Hot House, Ninety-Five, The Unseen, Choke, and under the name Lisa Polisar Escape, The Ghost of Mary Prairie, Blackwater Tango, and Knee Deep. Her next title, Salt Island, is the second book in her E&A thriller series and will be forthcoming in late 2022. Her thriller, Ninety-Five, was released in November 2021 and won a Literary Titan Award for Fiction. Her 2019 thriller, The Unseen, was the Winner of the 2020 NYC Big Book Award in Crime Fiction, and a Finalist in the Thriller category of the Best Book Awards by American Book Fest. Her 2017 thriller, Choke, won a 2017 IPA Award and a 2018 NYC Big Book Award for Thriller. Lisa is an active member and frequent panelist/speaker of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and International Thriller Writers. She has an MBA in IT Management and works fulltime in the tech industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

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Spotlight: Grinch Girl by Michelle Dayton

Jane Zielinski has her hands full this December. The last thing she needs is to be upstaged by her former childhood BFF, Bella Bradley, who blows into town with handfuls of cash and a sexy business partner, Nate Wright. But a little competition never hurt anyone, and Jane’s ready to do whatever it takes-- including flirting with Nate--to get Bella to pack up and leave. Fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne will love Grinch Girl, a spicy and humorous Christmas Romance from Michelle Dayton.

Sometimes, the real story isn't the beautiful city girl returning to her small town to save Christmas—it’s the townie chick who never left.

Jane Zielinski has her hands full this December, working three jobs and directing a homemade reality dating web series, Single Bells, as a stunt to keep her small town competitive with the ritzy resort towns luring tourists. Then the gorgeous Bella Bradley, Jane’s childhood BFF who had no qualms about skipping town when times got tough, returns with handfuls of cash and her smoking-hot business partner Nate Wright on her arm.

Jane can’t believe she’s being upstaged again, especially when Bella uses the Single Bells activities to rekindle a romance with her high school boyfriend—the man Jane had envisioned her future with. So if a little competition could convince Bella to leave town—again—Jane is ready to take the mittens off. And she’s not above sabotage, cheating, or flirting with Nate to win. Let the reindeer games begin...

Excerpt 

Copyright 2022 Michelle Dayton

The stranger had a British accent, dark hair, funky glasses, and wore both an expensive cashmere sweater and a bored expression. He couldn’t have looked less local if he’d tattooed "I’m from away" on his forehead. “Do you know the Wi-Fi password, by any chance?”

Of course I did; I’d installed it. “Nope.”

OK, that was unnecessary. Don’t piss off the tourists, Jane. Jim’s pub couldn’t handle a one-star Yelp review from some asshole.

He threw up his hands. “No sign posted with the Wi-Fi info. Nobody pouring drinks.” He let out an exasperated huff. “No wonder this place is a dying shithole, right? The bar, the whole town.”

Strong words, stranger. Maybe I agreed, but I was allowed to think so because I lived here. He, however, could take his opinion and shove it straight up his ass.

The need for caffeine was real. I stood, put my palms on the bar, and boosted myself over it.

The stranger put his phone on the bar with an angry slap. “Are you kidding? Are you the bartender? You’ve just been sitting there ignoring me the whole time I’ve been here?”

I almost wanted to say yes. Because that haughty, entitled tone in his prettily accented voice made his face a prime candidate for a fist.

“I don’t work here,” I said flatly, although I did pick up shifts in the summers sometimes. “I just know the owner.”

The stranger cocked his head and considered me. Changed tactics. “Do you know him well enough to grab me a beer?” He smiled, and it changed his whole damn face. He went from haughty and bored to…zing! There was a teasing tone in his wry voice now, complimented by curved lips and a flash of white teeth. A knowing, flirtatious glint in his dark eyes.

Hmm. This was a person used to getting everything he wanted.

Too bad for him that I hated people like that.

Maybe I didn’t want a soda after all. Maybe I wanted something else. I slowly took a pint glass from the shelf and pulled a draft of Spotted Cow, all while making extreme eye contact with the stranger’s amused gaze.

But instead of sliding the beer over the bar, I walked around it, grabbed my laptop, and strolled slowly to the back office, enjoying an enormous gulp of the beer on my walk. I ignored his "what the hell" and called over my shoulder, “Enjoy your stay in our shithole town.” 

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About Michelle Dayton 

There are only three things Michelle Dayton loves more than sexy and suspenseful novels: her family, the city of Chicago, and Mr. Darcy. Michelle dreams of a year of world travel – as long as the trip would include weeks and weeks of beach time. As a bourbon lover and unabashed wine snob, Michelle thinks heaven is discussing a good book over an adult beverage.

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Spotlight: Eve Bites Back by Anna Beer

Warned not to write – and certainly not to bite – these women put pen to paper anyway and wrote themselves into history.

From the fourteenth century through to the present day, women who write have been understood as mad, undisciplined or dangerous. Female writers have always had to find ways to overcome or challenge these beliefs. Some were cautious and discreet, some didn’t give a damn, but all lived complex, eventful and often controversial lives.

Eve Bites Back: An Alternative History of English Literature (releasing November 8th from Oneworld Publications) by Anna Beer places the female contemporaries of Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton centre stage in the history of literature in English, uncovering stories of dangerous liaisons and daring adventures. From Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Aemilia Lanyer and Anne Bradstreet, to Aphra Behn, Mary Wortley Montagu, Jane Austen and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, these are the women who dared to write.

Excerpt

I started by seeking out a different Bible. I felt I knew more than enough about Eve bringing sin and death into the world (‘she gave me of the tree and I did eat’) and the more punitive bits of the Book of Genesis: 

I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.

 I was aware of Eve’s successors, the bloodthirsty Old Testament women (think Artemisia Gentileschi’s graphic, disturbing painting of Judith slaying Holofernes) or the sexy New Testament ones (think Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code’s portrayal of Mary Magdalene, sex worker turned Mrs Jesus). And I thought I knew the redemptive Second Eve, the Virgin Mary. 

I was looking for something different, a biblical text written by a woman. So I seized on the Book of Esther, excised by the Church Fathers from the biblical canon. It was a mistake. No one has any idea who actually wrote the book, and, if we are being academic, the concepts of a single author or even a definitive text are both pretty useless when considering the murky, complicated origins and transmission of the texts that make up the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. When an author has been suggested, it has been a man, Mordecai, the ‘main’ character. It might have saved me some time in the remoter corners of biblical scholarship if they had called it the Book of Mordecai. 

Looking for Esther the author was a foolish mistake, but thinking about the erasure of women’s lives and words in the far distant past was not. How that erasure was achieved, what was said, done and written then, matters now. When the patriarchs (literally, they were patriarchs) wrote their histories of the early Church, two archetypal women were left standing in the ruins. They would dominate literature in English for the next two millennia: Eve and the Virgin Mary. To be honest, if the two hadn’t existed, then the patriarchy would have had to invent them. Do be Mary. Don’t be Eve. 

Eve whose God-given punishment for bringing sin and death into the world was to be placed under Adam’s rule and to experience pain in childbirth. Eve who was responsible for Adam’s sin as well as her own. Eve who gave authority to patriarchal commentators to tell women, over and over again, that their essential nature was vile and disgusting, that any attempt to conceal let alone challenge the fundamental truths of their bodies was fraudulent and blasphemous. Put bluntly, as Tertullian the early Christian Father did: women ‘are Eve’.

Sometimes, though, Eve fights back. She does so in unexpected ways that don’t necessarily fit with our modern ideas of what a woman, let alone a feminist, should do. But simply by putting words together on the page, she takes up battle. And she does so, knowing – in one form or another – every reason why she should not write, and certainly should not bite.

Here are some of them.

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About the Author

Anna Beer is a cultural historian and biographer. She is author of Sounds and Sweet Airs: The Forgotten Women of Classical Music and Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Ralegh, as well as biographies of Bess Throckmorton, William Shakespeare and John Milton. She is a Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, University of Oxford.

Spotlight: Ex Appeal by Cathy Yardley

(Ponto Beach Reunion, #3)
Publication date: November 1st 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

A hacker and a fixer—who just happen to be high school exes—reunite to help each other out in this witty second-chance romance from the author of Love, Comment, Subscribe.

Vinh Doan has a problem. Ten million of them, in fact. He’s a high-level fixer for global conglomerates, which means big money…and big troubles. When ten million dollars go missing from one of his accounts, he needs a top-notch hacker to find it. His first thought? Emily MacDonald, his high school ex.

While Vinh has been taking the financial world by storm, Emily has been struggling. After her dad died, she dropped out of college and put her dreams aside. Her job in tech support has seriously tested her sunny disposition and her finances. Now, there’s an unexpected solution: Vinh, the guy who dumped her when she needed him most.

When Emily finally lets herself listen to Vinh’s request, she realizes that this is a desperately needed chance to get paid…and get payback. But the more time they spend together, the more they recognize that even though they’re not the same people they were a decade ago, their off the charts attraction is just as strong as ever. As they give in to their simmering chemistry, can Emily and Vinh let go of their past, figure out their futures—and hack a second chance at love?

Excerpt

“Guess I’d better get back to it,” she said, feeling oddly nervous. She reached for the laptop, and then yelped, wincing.

He’d also gone to the sink, but now he was at her side in a flash. “What? What happened? Are you okay?”

“Neck,” she said. “I should’ve known better. Bad ergonomics. Stayed in the same place for too long. Damn it.”

“You need to learn to take breaks,” Vinh said, but before she could snark at him, he put his hands on her neck and shoulders. Then his thumbs pushed, gently but firmly.

She groaned, her head automatically falling forward as she let out a long, low moan. “Ohmygodthatfeelssogood,” she slurred.

She felt more than heard the chuckle that was deep in his chest. He was giving off heat like a furnace, and she suddenly, inexplicably shivered.

That means I’m cold, right? How she could be cold next to that much heat, she had no idea. Maybe if she just moved a little closer, she could warm up.

Let’s hear it for justifications!

She scooted forward, just a millimeter. He kept rubbing circles, slow, soothing, drugging drags of his hands on her tight muscles. And she collapsed against him.

She felt his breath on her hair. And maybe…

Did he just kiss the crown of her head?

She pulled back enough to tilt her head up and look at him. He looked down at her, smiling, that gentle, fond, gorgeous smile that she knew was hers alone.

And her heart hurt.

Here he was, standing in front of her after all this time, looking at her the way he used to, the way she still sometimes dreamed he did. Part of her wanted to curse him, for teasing her with this.

The other part of her…

His eyes studied her mouth, and that hunger, that glow, seemed to imbue all his features. He leaned forward, just a tiny bit. Leaned down, closer to her.

She stretched, ever so slightly, up. She thought about closing her eyes, but it was a train wreck – she couldn’t look away. She didn’t want to.

Suddenly, there was a loud, rattling wheeze. They both jumped.

“What the hell was that?” Vinh said, looking around.

She sighed, then walked over to the snake enclosure. 

“That would be Herman,” she said. “Looks like his asthma is acting up.”

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About the Author

Cathy Yardley is an award-winning author of romance, chick lit, and urban fantasy, who has sold over 1.2 million copies of books for publishers like St. Martin's, Avon, and Harlequin. She writes fun, geeky, and diverse characters who believe that underdogs can make good and that sometimes being a little wrong is just right.

She likes writing about quirky, crazy adventures, because she's had plenty of her own: she had her own army in the Society of Creative Anachronism; she spent a New Year's on a three-day solitary vision quest in the Mojave Desert; she had VIP access to the Viper Room in Los Angeles.

Now, she spends her time writing in the wilds of East Seattle, trying to prevent her son from learning the truth of any of said adventures, and riding herd on her two dogs (and one husband.)

Connect:

https://www.cathyyardley.com/

https://www.instagram.com/cathyyardley/

https://www.amazon.com/Cathy-Yardley/e/B001ITYMWY

https://www.facebook.com/CathyYardleyAuthor

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cathyyardley

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https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6777.Cathy_Yardley

Cover Reveal: How To Rope A Barbaric Cowboy by Anya Summers

(Silver Springs Ranch, #8)
Publication date: November 29th 2022
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Penelope has always been a ‘good girl’. Never colored outside the lines. Never did anything to rock the boat. But when her ex-boyfriend blows back into town, she decides to take a ride on the wild side with a sexy stranger who has ‘bad boy’ written all over his rock hard body.

He’s dangerous, smoking hot, and more than willing to give her what she wants—a night of uninhibited pleasure. But she could never fall in love with a military man, not with the pain of her past.

Navy SEAL Eli is only too happy to help the gorgeous Penelope make her ex jealous. When he’s not on a black ops mission, he takes his pleasure where he can find it. What he didn’t count on was that a single night would awaken a forbidden craving for a woman and a life that can never be his.

How can they hope for a future together when honor, duty and history work together to tear them apart?

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About the Author

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.

Connect:

Website: www.anyasummers.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AnyaSummersAuthor

Twitter: @AnyaBSummers https://twitter.com/anyabsummers?lang=en

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15183606.Anya_Summers

Amazon Author Page https://www.amazon.com/Anya-Summers/e/B01EGTVRKC/

Bookbub https://www.bookbub.com/authors/anya-summers

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Cover Reveal: An Arranged Christmas by Mary E. Taylor

Publication date: December 6th 2022
Genres: Action, Historical, Holiday, Romance

Can Bain bring forth a Christmas miracle and prove his love to his reluctant bride-to-be? Not if she has anything to say about it.

Her family faces financial ruin, but Lady Adalyn can’t accept that the only way to save them is to marry for money, not love. When her parents arrange for her to wed a stranger despite her objections, she flees her childhood home. Just when she thinks her daring escape has been a resounding success, she finds herself in more trouble than ever.

When her knight in shining armor sweeps in like a fairytale, Adalyn can hardly believe it. He’s charming and dashing, with the most beautiful green eyes she’s ever seen. She’s completely smitten with her handsome stranger. That is, until she realizes who he is…

Viscount Bain Cooke can’t believe his luck. His future bride is witty and beautiful, with a strong mind and delightfully sharp tongue. She’s less than thrilled with their engagement, but he couldn’t imagine a better fit. He only has until Christmas Day to change her mind, and time is running out.

Can Adalyn open her heart to the possibility of love in her arranged marriage?

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About the Author

Mary E. Taylor is a historical romance author and freelance editor who adores anything romance, speculative fiction or horror. She lives in Southwest Florida with the love of her life, her amazing children, and all her furbabies.

To keep up with all her projects and upcoming releases, be sure to subscribe on her website: https://authormaryetaylor.wixsite.com/maryetaylor

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