Spotlight: When We Were Enemies by Emily Bleeker

Two women, generations apart, in the spotlight. A powerful novel about family secrets, devastating choices, and hope for the future.

Camera-shy Elise Branson is different from the other women in her matriline. Her mother is an award-winning actress. Her late grandmother, Vivian Snow, is a beloved Hollywood icon. But when Elise’s upcoming wedding coincides with a documentary being made about Vivian, Elise can’t escape the camera’s gaze. And even in death, neither can her grandmother.

It’s 1943 when Vivian, a small-town Indiana girl, lends her home front support to the war effort. As a translator in the nearby Italian POW camp, she’s invaluable. As a celebrated singer for the USO, she lifts men’s spirits and falls in love with a soldier. But behind this all-American love story is a shocking secret—one vital to keep buried if Vivian is to achieve the fame and fortune, she covets.

For Elise and Vivian, what’s hidden—and what’s exposed—threatens to unravel their lives. The heart-wrenching choices they must make will change them both forever.

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About the Author

Emily Bleeker is the bestselling author of six novels. Combined, her books have reached more than two million readers. She is a two-time Whitney Award finalist as well as being on the Amazon Charts and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. 

Emily lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her husband, their kids, and her kitten-muse, Hazel. Along with writing and being a mom, she performs with a local improv troupe, sings karaoke like no one is watching, and embraces her newfound addiction to running. Connect with her or request virtual visit with your book club at www.emilybleeker.com.

CONNECT WITH EMILY ONLINE
Official Website: EmilyBleeker.com
Facebook: /emilybleekerauthor
Twitter: @Emily_Bleeker
Instagram: @emilybleekerauthor

Spotlight: Once Persuaded, Twice Shy: A Modern Reimagining of Persuasion by Melodie Edwards

This modern reimagining of Persuasion is full of witty banter, romantic angst, and compelling characters as it captures the heart of the classic Jane Austen novel.

When Anne Elliott broke up with Ben Wentworth, it seemed like the right thing to do . . . but now, eight years later, she’s not so sure.

In her scenic hometown of Niagara-on-the-Lake, Anne is comfortable focusing on her successful career: filling her late mother’s shoes as town councilor and executive director of her theater company. She certainly keeps busy as the all-around wrangler of eccentric locals, self-centered family members, elaborate festivals, and the occasional attacking goose. But the more she tries to convince herself that her life is fine as is, the more it all feels like a show—and not nearly as good as the ones put on by her theater company. She’s the always responsible Anne, always taken for granted and cleaning up after other people, and the memories of happier times with Ben Wentworth still haunt her.

So when the nearby Kellynch Winery is bought by Ben’s aunt and uncle, Anne’s world is set ablaze as her old flame crashes back into her life—and it’s clear he hasn’t forgiven her for breaking his heart. A joint project between the winery and Anne’s theater forces both Ben and Anne to confront their complicated history, and as they spend more time together, Anne can’t help but wonder if there might be hope for their future after all.

Buy on Amazon | Audible | Bookshop.org

About the Author

Melodie Edwards is the author of Jane & Edward (Mar. 21, 2023) and Once Persuaded, Twice Shy (Feb. 27, 2024). She has a BA in English literature from the University of Toronto, a Master’s degree in communications from McMaster University and Syracuse University and studied comedy writing at the Second City Training Centre.

Her writing has been featured in Writer’s Digest, G160 Theatre Festival, the Austin Film Festival Playwright Competition, and the Hart House Drama Festival.

Connect:

Official Website: MelodieEdwards.com
Instagram: @melodiewritesedwards
X (Formerly Twitter): @melodie_edward

Cover Reveal: Walking in Circles by Amy Matayo

“When you’ve been hurt the worst by the one who should love you most, trusting anyone is a dangerous game.”

Emma Lee was four the first time her dad hit her, eight when he left without a word, and nine by the time she’d developed a serious case of Male Trust Issues. So, when her mom moves her from their beloved California city to a small South Carolina town, the last person she wants to get to know is her elderly male neighbor. But the man won’t stop talking to her. And it isn’t like she can avoid him. She passes his house twice a day on her walk to and from school.

Old Will knows a fractured soul when he sees one, and his young new neighbor is certainly that. Emma wears a cautious demeanor like an old sweater, and it tugs at his heartstrings. His late wife would have his hide if he didn’t welcome the girl onto their front porch and treat her like one of their own. And if his grandson Shane happened to come by and meet her…well, that wouldn’t be his fault, would it?

Shane Michaels is the school jock, prom king, all-around popular kid, and miserable. He’s already lost so much in his eighteen years, more than his classmates could ever understand. And he is lonely. So, when Emma moves into the house next to Old Will, Shane makes it his mission to meet her. He invites her on a walk. He joins her on Old Will’s front porch. He asks her to dinner and to prom and eventually spills the secret he’s been keeping for years, the secret only his parents and Old Will know about.

That is, until a tragic accident brings everything into the open and throws their newly formed bond into chaos. A bond Emma hadn’t seen coming until she’d already learned to depend on it. But isn’t that how life works?

Sometimes learning to trust people is only a matter of meeting the right ones. 

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Meet Amy Matayo

Amy Matayo is an award winning author of  The Wedding Game, Love Gone Wild, Sway, In Tune with Love, A Painted Summer, The End of the World, The Thirteenth Chance, The Whys Have It, Christmas at Gate 18, and the upcoming Lies We Tell Ourselves.

She graduated with barely passing grades from John Brown University with a degree in Journalism. But don’t feel sorry for her–she’s super proud of that degree and all the ways she hasn’t put it to good use.

She laughs often, cries easily, feels deeply, and loves hard. She lives in Arkansas with her husband and four kids and is always working on her next novel, whichever one that may be.

Connect with Amy Matayo

➜ Website:  https://amymatayo.com/

➜ Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/amymatayoauthor

➜ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amymatayo.author/

➜ Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/amymatayo

➜ Amazon: https://bit.ly/3NHbPKR

Spotlight: Wings of Ink by Angelina J. Steffort

Genre: NA Fantasy Romance

Cover Designer: Fantastical Ink

Publication Date: Feb. 28th, 2024

The seductive and thrilling first book in the Wings of Ink epic romantic fantasy series from award-winning author Angelina J. Steffort.

Stuck in prison, pirate Wolayna Milevishja is waiting to be dealt her punishment—one worse than death, her captors promised when they closed the door of her cell over nine months ago.

Now that punishment has come to collect her.

Wolayna is taken to the mystical fairylands as this year’s bride for the Crow King, and that, even the humans in this world know, means there is no hope.

As Wolayna quarrels with her fate, frosty disdain melts into heart-stopping attraction, and she realizes that, maybe, King Myron, has just as little choice as she has. Something ancient and vengeful is at work in the Crow realm, and the intrigue at court is just the surface of the looming danger closing in on them.

Will Wolayna outsmart fate and find the freedom she’s owed, or will this new world of winged horror and surprising beauty be the death of her?

If you like witty, independent heroines and morally-grey, tormented heroes, you will devour this sizzling, addictive fantasy adventure.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Hardcover | Paperback | Bookshop.org

About the Author

"Chocolate fanatic, milk-foam enthusiast and huge friend of the southern sting-ray. Writing is an unexpected career-path for me."

Angelina J. Steffort is an Austrian novelist, best known for her Wings Trilogy, a young adult paranormal romance series about the impossible love between a girl and an angel. The bestselling Wings Trilogy has been ranked among calibers such as the Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer, The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, and Lauren Kate’s Fallen, and has been top listed among angel books for teens by bloggers and readers. Her young adult fantasy series Shattered Kingdom is already being compared to Sarah J. Maas’s Throne of Glass series by readers and fans.

Angelina has multiple educational backgrounds including engineering, business, music, and acting, and lives in Vienna, Austria with her husband and her son.

Connect:

Amazon: https://amzn.to/41XILSP

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/16604778.Angelina_J_Steffort

Web: https://www.ajsteffort.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ajsteffort/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ajsteffort/

Reader Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/angelinasvipreaders/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/angelina-j-steffort

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ajsteffort/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ajsteffort

Newsletter: https://www.subscribepage.com/ajs_zon_nl

Spotlight: Heal With Words by Allison Vandrak

Self-Help / Body, Mind and Spirit / Health and Wellness

Date Published: October 2023

Single daily entries of insight to inspire, empower, and expand your perspective and shift your internal world. At the end of the day, you are the expert of your own life. Your meaning and takeaway from this book is uniquely yours. Let each page guide your mind into a more shifted and positive one. Spark your truth.

Excerpt

Live your life as if everything you want to go well is going well, because either way even if it isn’t, you still have to make sure YOU are well with your own self and what you have control in navigating.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperhack

About the Author

I’m here to guide and aid in healing with my writings through my therapist lens, and help expand your insight and perspective. This is my passion and I desire to help people see their true potential through their own eyes.

Connect:

Amazon Author Profile: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Allison-Vandrak/author/B0CL5284CX

Cover Reveal: Not Quite a Scandal by Bliss Bennet

Genre: Historical Regency Romance 

An inheritance lost. A betrothal threatened. A scandal brewing…

Outspoken Quaker Bathsheba Honeychurch knows how difficult it is for an unmarried woman to successfully champion political change. Her solution? Wed best friend Ash Griffin as soon as he comes of age and begin remaking the world. But when Ash’s urbane, aloof cousin arrives with inconceivable news, Sheba’s future dreams are suddenly at risk…

The death of the Earl of Silliman reveals an appalling lie: it is not Noel Griffin, but his long-lost cousin Ash, who is the true heir to their grandfather’s title. Raised to place family above all, Noel accepts his grandmother’s bitter charge: find Ash, disentangle him from his religious community, and train him to take on the responsibilities and privileges of a title that Noel had been raised to believe was his. Noel certainly won’t allow a presumptuous, irritating Quakeress to thwart him in doing his duty—no matter how fascinating he finds her...

When scandal threaten

s both their reputations, can Sheba and Noel look beyond past dreams and imagine a new world—together?

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Bliss Bennet writes smart, edgy novels for readers who love history as much as they love romance. Despite being born and bred in New England, Bliss has always been fascinated by the history of that country across the pond, particularly the politically-volatile period known as the English Regency. Though she's visited Britain several times, Bliss continues to make her home in the States, along with her spouse and an ever-multiplying collection of historical reference books.

Bliss's Regency-set historical romances have been praised as "savvy, sensual, and engrossing" by  USA Today, "catnip for the Historical Romance reader" by Bookworlder, "romantic, funny, touching, and extremely well-researched" by All About Romance, and "everything you want in a great historical romance" by The Reading Wench. Bliss's latest book is Not Quite a Scandal, the second book in The Audacious Ladies of Audley series.

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