Spotlight: Kiss Me In This Small Town by Willow Winters

Release Date: March 26

From USA Today Bestselling Author Willow Winters comes a sexy, small town romance.

In this small town, everyone talks... and they all know I'm head over heels for my boss.

I didn't know I had a type until he came to town. His charming smile and rough laugh did a number on me. It's the way I found him always looking my way though, with his piercing gaze, that really did me in.

We'd share a glance. I'd blush.
Then we'd pretend there wasn't sexual tension piled high between us.
First it was a look, then it was a touch, then it was late nights after work.

He's the owner; I serve drinks at his bar.
He comes from money; I live paycheck to paycheck.
He told me to kiss him and I did more than that.

It happened so fast and I couldn't stop it even though I know I shouldn't have fallen for him. There's too much he doesn't know, including the very reason I could never be with him.

What we want doesn't matter, there are some secrets that never let go.

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About the Author

I started writing after having my little girl, Evie, December of 2015. All during my pregnancy with her I read. I only wanted to read romance novels and I read everything I could get my hands on. I would read a book a day — sometimes two. In January I was staying up late with her and just thinking of all these stories. They came to me constantly. I finally sat down and just started writing. I always wanted to do it so I figured, why not?

I never thought I would reach this point of success to be honest. It’s insane to me that I have connected with so many readers.

And I love each and every one of them for all of their support. I’ll be honest, some days are HARD. I have my littles during the day and I write at night. Some days are just simply exhausting and then I hear from a reader and it motivates me to push through and keep writing.  I couldn’t be more grateful for this wonderful career. For more information, visit https://www.willowwinterswrites.com/

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Connect with Willow Winters: wwinters@willowwinterswrites.com

Spotlight: A Strange Affinity by Rebecca Rook

Publication date: March 26th 2024
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

Synopsis:

A Strange Affinity is a hypnotizing cross between the television show Deadwood and Tamora Pierce’s renowned Tortall Universe. This young adult fantasy novel, set in an alternate nineteenth century American Wild West, will appeal to fans of Vengeance Road and Retribution Rails by Erin Bowman, Revenge and the Wild by Michelle Modesto, and Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.

In the Wild West, magic is real.

When two strangers arrive in her small town, Gloriana Rue learns that she has the magical ability, or Affinity, to manipulate metal. She also learns that her mother was a renowned magical scholar but had abandoned the world of Affinities. Glory is desperate to know why her mother hid her past, and so agrees to attend an academy for magicians in the hopes of finding answers.

Glory is soon immersed in magic and mystery when she stumbles upon a disturbing discovery: A killer is hunting magicians throughout the American West – and he’s getting closer. Only by seeking out her mother’s secrets can she stop him and save her newfound family.

Excerpt

Glory adored her new magician's studio. 

The space was outfitted as a smith’s shop, furnished with a long workbench, a wall hung with gently worn but serviceable tools, and a small, portable blacksmith’s forge. She was awkward with many of the tools at first but grew better and more proficient by the day. Glory worked long into the evenings, well past the end of her classes. She came to love the feeling of being surrounded by scraps of different metals: gold, silver, copper, and iron. It felt like being surrounded by friends, or family. It was hard for Glory to describe but she felt that each metal had a different personality.

Glory thrived under Jacinda’s tutelage. She went on to master a series of ever-challenging tasks she had set before her: Molding new shapes, melding metals together, and extracting the elements. Soon each new task seemed easier than the last. 

In a recent conversation, Jacinda had warned Glory these new skills were among the easiest for a magician. True transformation of physical properties was much harder, and in some cases, impossible without several years of further study. 

“Lead to gold?” Glory had asked, skepticism and humor in her voice. She remembered reading such silly tales among her father’s library.

Jacinda had chuckled. “Not quite. You’re bound by the chemical properties of the source material. But with study and practice, who knows what’s possible? The magical properties of metal are vastly understudied and largely composed of myths and legends about alchemy. And because there are so few metal magicians, we still don’t know what they — you — are capable of.”

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About the Author

Rebecca Rook designs tabletop games, manages a little free library dedicated to sequential art and comics, and lives in the Pacific Northwest with two wonderful dogs. She writes young adult fiction in the fantasy, thriller, and horror genres.

A 2021-2022 Hugo House Fellow in
Seattle, WA, she also attended the 2021 Tin House YA Fiction Workshop in
Portland, OR. Rebecca was selected as one of the 100 invited writers to participate in the Write Team Mentorship Program’s curated Pitch-a-Thon event before being chosen as a Mentee for the 2021 Program. Prior to this, she completed the wonderful Yearlong Workshop for Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction at Hugo House.

Connect:
https://www.byrebeccarook.com/
https://www.tiktok.com/@byrebeccarook
https://www.instagram.com/byrebeccarook
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/45848659.Rebecca_Rook

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Spotlight: Awaken the Dawn by Ellis K. Popa

A cryptic puzzle. A family secret. A deadly betrayal.

When her dad dies during a trip to Romania, Kat Barrett blames herself for their failed relationship. She's racked with guilt, haunted by strange dreams about the crash that killed him, and she’d do anything to have him back.

Then a package arrives. It’s from her dad and contains a list of clues — one of his classic scavenger hunts. Desperate for answers, she follows the clues to Bucharest and meets Maksim, a local with a dark past who offers to help. Kat doesn't trust him, but when she hits a dead end, she’s left with no other choice.

As they work together, decode the clues and try (unsuccessfully) not to fall for each other, the scavenger hunt reveals a deadly secret the dreams have been pointing to, something Maksim’s old crime ring has been hiding all along, and Kat has walked into their trap. Can she beat them to the final clue — and solve it — before she suffers the same fate as her dad?

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About the Author

When Ellis isn’t moonlighting as a coffee aficionada, you might find her adventuring through Transylvania, doing photoshoots in Old Town Bucharest, or trying to talk to her husband into moving to Easern Europe. She’s a history buff with a passion for World War II, and her favorite places in the world are Wallachia in beautiful Romania and the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. 

(She also happens to be an award-winning writer and budget-minded travel expert.) 

Connect with the Author: Instagram | Facebook | Website

Spotlight: Flirty Little Secret by Jessica Lepe

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Forever

You’ve Got Mail meets Abbott Elementary in this sweet, sexy romantic comedy for fans of Lynn Painter and Lyssa Kay Adams. 

School counselor Lucy Galindo has a secret.

To her coworkers, friends, and even family, she’s shy, sweet, and constantly struggling to hold off disaster (read: manage her anxiety and depression). But online? She’s bold, confident, and always knows what to say—it’s how she’s become the wildly popular @TheMissGuidedCounselor. It’s also why she keeps her identity anonymous. Her followers would never trust the real Lucy with their problems.

History teacher Aldrich Fletcher thought a new job would give him some relief from his drama-filled family. Instead, he’s dodging his ex-girlfriend and pining over his new co-worker—who only ever seems to see him at his worst. Thankfully, he can count on his online confidant for advice . . . until he discovers @TheMissGuidedCounselor is Lucy.

Now Fletcher has a secret too. And while Lucy can’t deny there’s something between them, she’s not sure she can trust him. Can they both find the courage to share the truth and step out from behind their screens?

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Spotlight: A Governess's Guide to Passion and Peril by Manda Collins

Series: Ladies Most Scandalous

Genre: Romance, Fiction, Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Forever

Two friends reunite—and discover hidden feelings—while investigating a murder in this sensual, witty historical romance perfect for fans of Evie Dunmore and Netflix's Bridgerton!

Jane Halliwell once dreamed of a home of her own—but those dreams (and her dowry) died with her father. Now, she works as a governess, preparing her charge for a future no longer within her reach. When her employer is murdered during a house party, however, Jane is forced back into the world of the ton. But stepping in as hostess will require working with the same lord who once broke her girlish heart.

Lord Adrian Fielding was too consumed with his job at the Foreign Office to pay young Jane much heed, but he always considered her a friend. Which is why he’s confounded by her icy demeanor now. More troubling still is his desire to melt the tensions between them. But his mentor’s murder means he must first find the culprit—and ensure Jane’s safety as she manages a house full of foreign dignitaries.

Only Jane insists on joining the investigation, and Adrian, despite all his diplomatic skills, finds himself seduced by her sharp wit and sparkling eyes. But with a vicious killer circling ever closer, will it soon be too late for their chance at forever?

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Spotlight: Wanting the Player by Heather Young-Nichols

Genres: Contemporary Sports Romance

Tropes: Sworn Off Relationships/Afraid to Commit

Release Date: March 25, 2024

Vowing to never sleep with a baseball player might’ve been a curse upon myself.

Given that I suck at relationships, I’m perfectly happy to never be in one again. Men can’t be trusted. Or maybe it’s my heart that can’t be trusted. I don’t know. Either way, especially after the epic fail of a hook up last year with a baseball player that won’t leave me alone, baseball players are no longer an option.

Then Urban Briggs tells me, a stranger, that he’s going to make sure his teammate leaves me alone. Great. I could use the help. Except that player doesn’t leave me alone, and Urban ends up volunteering at the summer camp I’m working at. Of course, he does. His family’s charity runs the camp. Now, I can’t avoid him, and he’s too hard to ignore.

At first, Urban is fine with our arrangement. After all, he’s leaving as soon as the season ends if he has his way. He doesn’t want to leave behind any attachments, either. Sounds perfect, right? Wrong. Can I risk my heart one last time, or am I going to let the best thing in my life walk away?

Wanting the Player is book two in the Rules of the Game series and features a broody baseball player and a woman who isn’t supposed to fall in love who happens to work at his family’s summer camp, where he’s volunteering a little of his time, a standoffish heroine, lots of steam, and it wasn’t supposed to be you vibes.

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About the Author

Heather Young-Nichols is a USA Today Bestselling author of contemporary and paranormal romances. She writes swoony heroes and snarky heroines with a heap of romance.

When she's not writing, she's binging a show with her kids, watching baseball, or snuggling with her cuddly animals.

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