Spotlight: Saving Madonna by Kate Bristow

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GENRE: Historical Fiction

Is a painting worth dying for?

Inspired by real events, an unforgettable story of love, courage and sacrifice to save a country’s heritage.

Italy 1943. As the Allies bomb Milan, Elena Marchetti reluctantly gives up her coveted job as an art curator in the city to return to her family farm near Urbino. She takes up a new role assisting Pasquale Rotondi, the Superintendent of Arts in the region, in protecting works of art from all over Italy that have been hidden in the relative safety of the countryside.

At a family celebration, Elena reunites with Luca, a close childhood friend. A shattering event instigated by the occupying Germans deepens their relationship, and they start planning a life together. When rumors surface that Italy’s art is being stolen by the German occupiers, Pasquale hatches an audacious plan to rescue the priceless paintings in his possession. Elena and Luca are forced to make an impossible decision: will they embark on a dangerous mission to save Italy’s cultural heritage?

Excerpt

Marco looked beyond his home to a small wood that stretched out from the rear of the property down to the narrow white road snaking through the valley toward the distant hilltop town of Peglio. His home was called Ca’Boschetto (House of the Copse) because of these trees, and Marco knew it would soon be time for his father and uncle to gather their friends and bloodhounds for the annual truffle hunt. Their small wood was known far and wide as a fruitful location for the illusive and highly sought-after fungi, and the truffle hunt was one of the highlights of the season.

Beyond the wood, a patchwork of fields that had been parched brown after the harvest in the heat of August was beginning to turn into shades of green from recent rain. Marco spotted a couple of deer making the most of the fresh grass. Something else caught his eye as it glinted in the distance. Marco lifted his hands to his brow to deflect the glare of the autumnal sun. Whatever was flashing in the sunlight was moving toward their farm. The ox-drawn carts that often made this journey on the back road couldn’t move that quickly. He squinted. Something was not right.

“Luca! Luca! I can see a car coming. Look at the road!”

His older brother turned away from the flock and walked over to where Marco was standing. Luca stared at the distant vehicle for a minute and his face darkened. “Marco, Gianni, run down to the house and tell Papà that there might be Germans coming. Move!”

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About the Author

Kate Bristow was born in London. She fell in love with reading when she got her first library card at the age of four. Her first attempt at writing and publishing for a wide audience was a local newspaper typed laboriously at home on her mother’s typewriter while at primary (elementary) school in north London. It is surely a loss to cutting-edge journalism that only one issue was ever produced. Kate divides her time between her small-but-perfectly-formed modern home in Los Angeles and her five-hundred-year-old farmhouse just outside Sassocorvaro in Italy.

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Spotlight: Just One Tease by Carly Phillips

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Release Date: November 14

He’s the last single Dare sibling standing.

She’s his lost love who disappeared.

Now she’s back, bringing secrets and danger.

Hadley Stevens is on the run with her younger sister—again—but this time, she’s in control. Zach Dare might hate her, but she knows he’d never turn away someone in need. He’s the only man she trusts. The man she’s never gotten over. Even if she left him without a word.

Zach never expected the girl he once loved to walk into his bar. The last time he saw her, he’d dropped her off after school and promised to pick her up for prom. Except she disappeared.

Now, she’s back with a new name, but the same doe eyes and pouty lips, and she’s asking for the help he would have gladly given her all those years ago.

Zach agrees to protect them, but he refuses to fall for Hadley again. But late nights working side by side give them a tempting glimpse at the life they could have had…and all the reasons he loved her come flooding back.

He’ll have to keep her safe.

Before he can convince her to stay.

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About the Author

Carly Phillips is the NY Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of over eighty sexy contemporary romances featuring hot men, strong women, and emotionally compelling stories her readers have come to expect and love. She is happily married to her college sweetheart and lives in Westchester County, NY. She is the mother of two adult daughters and three crazy dogs who star on her Facebook and Instagram pages. She loves social media and is always around to interact with her readers. Way back in 2002, Carly’s book, The Bachelor, was chosen by Kelly Ripa and was the first romance on a nationally televised book club. Carly loves social media and interacting with her readers. For more information on upcoming releases, sign up for her newsletter (below) and receive two free books!

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To learn more about Carly Phillips & her books, visit here!

Connect with Carly Phillips: https://www.carlyphillips.com/ 

Spotlight: One Pucking Love by Ellie Wade

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Series: Crane Hockey

Author: Ellie Wade

Release Date: November 13, 2023

Genre/Tropes: Contemporary Romance, Sports, Hockey, Brother's Best Friend, Second Chance, Friends to Lovers, Male Virgin, Forced Proximity 

Cover Design: Kate Farlow with Y’All that graphic

From USA Today best-selling author Ellie Wade comes a brother’s best friend and second-chance hockey romance.

Cade Richards is the starting forward of the NHL team the Cranes. He’s at the top of his game and scoring like a champ. On a quick trip home, he runs into Iris, the woman he’s spent his adult life striving to be good enough for, the one who holds his heart.

Iris Feldmore’s life is in shambles. Everything she’s worked for has crumbled. Her brother returns home with his best friend—her first love, Cade—in tow. The hockey team gave Cade the nickname of Heartbreaker, and it’s fitting because he broke hers. If she’s honest with herself, she’s never gotten over it.  

Now Cade’s back and offering to help her in a way only he can. He’s always known what she needed, yet she’s terrified to let him in. She wouldn’t survive his loss again.

This time, though, something feels different. Their chemistry is off the charts, but she’s been fooled before. After all these years, could everything she’s wanted be in reach? 

Or will opening her heart end in another devastating heartbreak?

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About the Author

Ellie Wade resides in southeast Michigan with her husband, three children, and three dogs. She has a Master’s degree in education from Eastern Michigan University and is a huge University of Michigan sports fan. She loves the beauty of her home state, especially the lakes and the gorgeous autumn weather. When she is not writing, you will find her reading, snuggled up with her kiddos, or spending time with family and friends. She loves traveling and exploring new places with her family. 

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Spotlight: Love & Consequences by BJ Harvey

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Series: Truth & Love Series

Author: BJ Harvey

Genre/Tropes: Second chance, law enforcement, Las Vegas crime, hero's redemption, smoke & mirrors, he's still gone for her, angst, heroine & hero in danger, protector, revenge, starting over, tortured hero, kick ass heroine, brother's best friend (can be read as a standalone)

Release Date: November 12, 2023

A year ago, I let my heart overrule my head and I made an error in judgment that cost me everything I’d ever worked for.

Then I screwed up again trying to save my career and lost the last ally I had left.

Just as I'm slowly rebuilding the life I spectacularly destroyed, I’m sent back to the scene of the crime to go undercover in the hottest new club on what seems like an open-shut skimming case. But as always, nothing is as it seems. Especially when I cross paths with the very last person who wants to see me--Marlee Manning.

The biggest distraction and risk to my cover—and hers—just happens to be the girl who enamored me as a kid, who enchanted me as an adult, and who used to be the one constant presence in my life, loving me unconditionally until I broke her heart, her trust, and everything else.

Now we need each other to help bring down a man who could be the most dangerous man on the Strip. The problem is, we don't know what we're up against, and the deeper I get into the life, the more I realize that the stakes are higher than ever. Not just for me, but for her, and any future we might have. 

Because if I'm not careful, this case, this chance, this journey toward redemption, could very well end up being my last.

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About the Author

BJ Harvey is the USA Today Bestselling Author of angsty contemporary romance, romantic comedy, and sometimes a little bit of romance suspense. She regards herself as a smut peddler, suspense conjurer, and a funny romance thinker upper. An avid music fan, you will always find her singing some hit song badly and loving every minute of it. She’s a miner’s wife, a mom to two beautiful teenagers, and was born in New Zealand and currently lives in Perth, Australia. 

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Spotlight: Finding the End Zone by Tam DeRudder Jackson

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Publication date: November 8th 2023

Genres: Adult, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

Never date a player.

Football god Callahan O’Reilly can keep his blazing blue eyes to himself. I have a scholarship to maintain, and I do not have time to babysit a jock through a make-or-break class project. Even if one smoldering glance from him sets my panties on fire.

Time to change her mind.

Jamaica Winslow opens her mouth and spews sass like a volcano. One look at her uptight package and I want to coax the genie from the bottle, unleash all the passion she hides beneath a mop of unruly curls and a smart-ass attitude. She’s not my type, she doesn’t know one damn thing about the game that rules my life, and I can’t stop thinking about her.

Who said anything about love?

Jamaica does her best to keep me at arm’s length, but I’m not a pro prospect because I let the plays come to me. With the game on the line, I always want the ball. When an alum with deep pockets and delusions of grandeur makes demands that threaten my NFL chances and Jamaica’s scholarship, I have no choice but to man up and do the right thing no matter the cost.

It started as fun and games. Now I’m playing for her heart—and my own.

Game Time.

Excerpt

Callahan

In football, timing is everything. When the quarterback does a three-step drop and throws a slant, the receiver needs to shed the defender and hustle his ass to the center of the field to catch the throw that’s coming about two seconds after the center hikes the ball.

The other night, the timing had started moving in the right direction with Jamaica. Then Finn and that bunch of jersey chasers he lets hang around him showed up and blew up the play. Or maybe it was only the one jersey chaser who was the problem. She didn’t react much until Tory opened her whiney mouth.

Usually, I catch Jamaica sneaking peeks at me several times during the hour we’re in class together. I won’t lie, catching her looking at me makes my pickle puffy, as my buddy Wyatt Baxter likes to say. Yesterday in class, I didn’t catch her glancing my way even once. Didn’t take a genius to figure out she thinks I have something going with that spoiled little sorority chick—and she’s not impressed. Right when I dispel one of her stereotypes about me as a football player, something comes along to reinforce a different one. In this case, that football players only date jersey chasers.

I shoved my gear into my over-sized duffel bag, slung it over my shoulder, and headed out of the locker room. As I made my way up the tunnel to the exit into the parking lot, Finn fell into step beside me.

“Hey, what put that Debbie Downer expression on your pretty-boy face, ’Han? You can’t look like that when we’re playing the Trojans this weekend. We are going to mess. Them. Up.” A joyful laugh accompanied his words as he punctuated them with three not-so-easy punches to my shoulder.

“Dude, do you get any school work done when you ‘study’ in the library with that pack of freshman and sophomore hyenas you let hang around?”

We stepped out the doors of the sports complex and headed across the parking lot to the bus.

“Wait, is that what’s bugging you?” A feral grin slid over his features. “It’s that curly-haired hottie you were with. Now that I think about it, you were sitting with her in the library one night last week too.”

“Knock it off, Finn. She’s my partner for my lit class project.” I slung my bag into the compartment in the undercarriage of the bus, resituated my backpack over my shoulder, and headed for the doors.

“You won’t mind then if I make a run at her the next time you’re studying with her in the library.” He tossed his duffel in beside mine and followed me onto the bus. “What’s her name?”

“Don’t even think about it, asshole.”

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About the Author

Tam DeRudder Jackson's love of all things Celtic led her to write the Talisman Series. Steeped in Celtic mythology, these steamy, fated mates, paranormal romance adventures are set in the mountains of Tam’s native Montana and the Highlands of Scotland. Rogue, the most recent book in the series, was named a best romance of 2022 by the Independent Book Review.

An avid fan of rock music, Tam never misses a chance to see a live show, especially if it’s Shinedown, one of her favorite bands. Her love of rock music inspired her contemporary rock star Balefire Series, a sexy fun ride following the lives and loves of the members of a fictional mega-band. Readers of this series consistently give the books five-star reviews.

Tam earned her BA in English from Montana State University and her M.Ed. in literacy from Lesley University. After a short teaching stint in Bath, England, she settled in the wilds of Wyoming where she taught adolescents all about the Celts and a bit about writing before she stepped out of the classroom to pursue her writing career full time. 

When she’s not writing, you can find her working her way through her mountainous TBR piles, alpine skiing, or traveling to some new place on her ever-expanding bucket list. To stay up to date on her adventures, connect with Tam on her website www.tamderudderjackson where you can subscribe to her newsletter.

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Spotlight: Death in Dutch Harbor by D. MacNeill Parker

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When two murders strain the police force of a remote Alaskan fishing port, veterinarian Maureen McMurtry is tapped by Dutch Harbor’s police chief for forensic assistance. The doctor’s got a past she’d rather not discuss, a gun in her closet, and a retired police dog that hasn’t lost her chops. All come in handy as she deciphers the cause and time of death of a local drug addict washed ashore with dead sea lions and an environmentalist found in a crab pot hauled from the sea in the net of a fishing vessel. 

When her romantic relationship with a boat captain is swamped by mounting evidence that he’s the prime suspect in one of the murders, McMurtry struggles with her own doubts to prove his innocence. But can she? McMurtry’s pals, a manager of the Bering Sea crab fishery and another who tends Alaska’s most dangerous bar assist in unraveling the sinister truth.

Excerpt

By the time Police Chief St. George and his two deputies, Chet and Michele, drove out the gravel road and located them on the beach, the two women had thoroughly examined both sea lions.

Maureen held up the lead slug she’d extracted and offered it to the chief. “I found bullet wounds in both the animals. Looks like it might be a .30-06.”

The chief wore a bulky police parka over jeans. He held out a gloved hand.

She dropped the bullet in his palm and watched him roll it around there.

“Yeah, looks like a .30-06 or maybe a .308. Bag it,” he said, passing it to Chet “And get the GPS readings on the carcass locations before we move them.”

“So, you know something about ballistics?” he said, turning again to Maureen.

“Brothers,” she said. “Dad took us deer hunting.”

“Really?”

Maureen could tell the chief was still trying to size her up. “Nothing worth talking about,” she said, knowing it was nothing she wanted to talk about.

Michele was already down the beach taking photographs of the other corpse. They could see the camera’s flash pop in clusters.

The chief turned back to Maureen, his eyes getting a bead on her from beneath a wide-brimmed western hat. . His mouth was pressed shut. Maureen had learned that meant he was thinking and wanted to get it right before he spoke.

“I’d like you to remove all the bullets and give me an estimate on time of death.” He hadn’t asked her to take a scalpel to anything before, so the query was measured. Sure, she was a vet but the question came anyway. “Can you do it, Maureen?”

The city council had hired Ray St. George as its police chief five months earlier. Like most remote Alaskan communities, the town didn’t have a medical examiner. And unless the community was lucky enough to have an appointed coroner to determine cause of death, the state police expected all evidence, including unexamined corpses, to be sent to Anchorage for forensic analysis. Dutch Harbor didn’t have a coroner, and its lone doctor worked at the hectic clinic. Chief St George had learned quickly that once state police took possession of a body, they also took possession of the investigation, often leaving the local police out of the loop. To Ray St. George, a retired Army investigator, this protocol was unacceptable.

“Can you do it?” he asked again, watching her kneeling in the sand to get her medical kit back in order.

Looking up, she stated the obvious. “The cause of death seems pretty clear, Chief.”

The chief waved it off. “I know these are sea lions, but it’s still a  crime I won’t tolerate. I want to know how many shooters were involved. To do that, I need to know if the bullets were fired from the same or multiple weapons. And I can’t begin to investigate properly without knowing if it happened this morning or last week.”

“Well, not this morning.” She lifted the flipper again and let it drop. “They’ve already passed through rigor.”

Maureen closed the kit, stood up, and hung it over her shoulder. “They’re gonna want to do their own necropsies,” she said, nodding down the beach where Kate still knelt, taking notes by the other corpse.

The chief had three inches on Maureen, making him about six feet tall. His face was clean shaven and his graying hair clipped short. His posture made you want to stand up straighter. She could tell by his expectant face that he was waiting for the wheels to turn in her head.

“Let me think about it,” she said.

Chet stood over the corpse, entering its GPS location in his notebook. He looked over at the chief. “What now?” he asked.

 The sea edged closer, and the surf shot foam their way. The chief pointed toward the tideline. “Look for shell casings,” he said. “And there may be more animals washed up on the beach. I want to collect as much as we can before the tide takes it away.”

Chet, young and with a gait that showed he was eager to please, pulled a yellow tide book from his pocket. “High tide’s in less than two hours. We could lose them.”

 “Don’t worry, Chet, we’ll figure it out.”

Michele offered to call the Northward plant and ask that they send out a flatbed truck to pick up the sea lions. An Aleut native, she’d served as the senior deputy for three years. Among her many duties, she penned the police log. Its droll language made it the favorite section of the town’s weekly paper, The Dutch Harbor News. She’d already keyed in the fish plant’s number and looked to the chief..

 “Ask them to send one with a crane,” he said.

Maureen joined Kate, who’d begun to walk the tide line again. They were almost to the river when their roving flashlight beams landed on another mound of seaweed. Kicking away clumps of kelp, a hideous odor rose to scorch their nostrils.

Half buried in the sand lay a sneaker attached to a white foot. It lay turned away from a twisted leg, its bruised skin exposed like a warning. Maureen knelt beside it and began to strip away the seaweed until she uncovered a shoulder. Following its sloping angle, she found strings of long hair that clung to a scalp like seaweed to a rock. The turned head revealed the nose ridge of a man.

Kate moved the flashlight beam to where the nose met the sand. The beam faltered, quaking as if the earth moved beneath it. But it was Kate, unable to quell her shaking hand.

Maureen  hollered down the beach. “Chief, over here. Hurry!”

Their flashlights bobbing, the chief, Chet, and Michele loped their way to the spot where Maureen and Kate shined their lights. The chief knelt down. He reached for the man’s shoulder and rolled him over.

Looking up was someone they all recognized.

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About the Author

D. MacNeill Parker and her family are long time participants in the Alaska fishing industry. In addition to fishing for halibut, salmon, crab, and cod, she’s been a journalist, a fisheries specialist for the State of Alaska, and a seafood company executive. She’s travelled to most ports in Alaska, trekked mountains in the Chugach range, rafted the Chulitna River, worked in hunting camps, and survived a boat that went down off the coast of Kodiak. Parker’s been to Dutch Harbor many times experiencing her share of white knuckler airplane landings and beer at the Elbow Room, famed as Alaska’s most dangerous bar. While the characters in this book leapt from her imagination, they thrive in this authentic setting. She loves Alaska, the sea, a good yarn and her amazing family.

Connect:

Website: https://www.dmparkerauthor.com/