Spotlight: Every Scar Tells a Story by Rayna York

/

Publication date: June 15th 2024
Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Synopsis:

They say time heals all wounds, but they never mention the scars left behind.

Serena McNeal, outgoing and ambitious, is ready to escape her small town as soon as she graduates high school. Knox prefers to live in the shadows, finding comfort in his anonymity. As their worlds collide and the ghosts of Knox’s troubled past resurface, more than their newly-created bond will be tested. Because now, every decision made could be the difference between sharing a future together or facing a reality where neither one survives.

Excerpt

“Are you listening to me?” Rowan grips me by the shoulder, stopping me in the middle of the hallway as students continue around us like water around a boulder.

“What did you say?” I’m only half listening because my mind is racing through all the things I need to get done after I finish work today. Her mouth falls open. “Kidding,” I say. “I’m kidding. I don’t have an opinion either way.”

“But you have to,” she says half-hysterically, throwing her hands in the air. “It’s prom! The theme is everything. And I just think ‘A Night Under the Stars’ is absurdly unoriginal. They should have had a vote with the entire school, not just the student council. They’re all a bunch of geeks, anyway.” 

I scrunch up my face in distaste. “No, they’re not.”

“She didn’t mean it like that.” Tish gives Rowan a dirty look, concerned for everyone’s feelings, as usual. 

“Yes. She did,” I snap. “Just because someone is intelligent or doesn’t conform to social norms doesn’t make them a geek. And why are you just commenting about this now? They announced it months ago.”

Rowan shrugs, the messy top knot of black coils bobbing on top of her head as she does. “I just noticed the posters.”

“A student vote would have been better,” Tish throws out, probably to stop an argument from unfolding. “The student council could have picked four theme ideas, and the students could have voted.”

At the ridiculousness of this conversation, I roll my eyes away from her and see an unmistakable figure in a dark-hooded sweatshirt and jeans walking past us. Seeing him this close, I realize the guy is not only huge but seriously muscular.

“It’s him!” I smack Rowan’s arm several times in excitement.

“Ow.” She bats my hand away, annoyed. “Why are you hitting me? It’s who?”

“The guy.”

“What guy?” Tish follows my line of sight.

“I’ll be right back.” I can’t believe he goes to our school and I’ve never seen him before. Maybe he’s new to town. It would explain why he suddenly appeared on my radar. 

Why do I even care? He’s just another guy with his head downcast, hands jammed into his front pockets, trying to be invisible. 

No, there’s something vaguely familiar about him, which doesn’t make sense. I’ve never even seen his face.

“Hey,” I say, coming up beside him. 

He doesn’t respond. Just continues walking. 

Maybe he’s shy? 

He could have impaired hearing. 

I try again, this time, gripping his forearm. “Have you been following me?” I tease, thinking he’d recognize me from the other day. When he stops short and glacier-blue eyes bore into mine, I quickly realize my mistake and drop my hand immediately. “Sorry,” I say, my heart beating double time. 

A loud noise causes both our heads to turn down the hall. Two guys are pushing each other—a fight is ready to explode. When I turn back, the guy has disappeared into the crowd.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Rayna York grew up with hippie parents who liked to adventure. Where change was the norm, books were her constant—a way to escape. As an adult, many careers came and went, but writing has always been her passion. Her contemporary, coming-of-age love stories are often inspired by dreams, which she captures in her notebook with barely an eye open. When she’s not hidden away in her writing shack, Rayna enjoys playing pickleball, losing herself in a good book, or watching a movie. 

Connect:

https://www.raynayork.com/

https://www.instagram.com/raynayorkauthor

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100046401952882

https://www.tiktok.com/@raynayorkauthor

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19177616.Rayna_York

Spotlight: A Collection of Lies by Connie Berry

/

In USA Today bestselling author Connie Berry’s fifth Kate Hamilton mystery, American antiques dealer Kate Hamilton follows bloodstained clues to discover the truth about the murder of a modern-day Victorian gentleman.

As Kate Hamilton and her new husband, DI Tom Mallory, honeymoon in Devon, a local history museum asks them to trace the provenance of a bloodstained dress said to belong to a Victorian lacemaker accused of murder. If genuine, the dress and its puzzling connections to a nineteenth-century Romani family who camped on Dartmoor will be the centerpiece of a new historic crimes exhibit—exactly Kate’s kind of mystery. But matters turn deadly when a shot is fired during a fundraising gala, injuring the man who donated the dress.

The injured donor, Gideon Littlejohn, is a cybersecurity expert who lives and dresses as a Victorian gentleman, but everyone believes the real target of the attack to be another attendee—a controversial politician intent on rooting out local corruption. This belief is overturned when Gideon is found dead in a pool of blood. But then the politician receives a death threat.

Who was the real target? Who would want to kill both a man with an obsession for history and a tough-on-crime politician? When asked to assist in the investigation, Kate races to discover the truth, as it becomes clear the killer isn’t going to come quietly.

Excerpt

Thursday, January 2 

The Old Bell Inn, Devon, England 

“Murderers can be perfectly ordinary people.” Tom was stretched out atop the duvet, bare chested and wearing his navy sweatpants. He looked at me over his reading glasses. “I’m serious, Kate. They’re often people you’d never suspect. Small irritations build up, and then one day they just snap. I once arrested a pensioner for stabbing her neighbor to death with a garden trowel because she was sure some of the weed killer he was spraying had drifted onto her prize roses.”

I started to laugh, and my coffee went down the wrong way. 

“That’s not funny.” He looked slightly hurt.

I thumped my chest, trying to breathe. “I’m sorry, but do you think all newlyweds chat about murder on their honeymoon?” 

To be fair, the topic was hardly surprising. Tom was a detective inspector in the Suffolk Constabulary. But I was an antiques dealer and appraiser. Not a particularly treacherous profession. 

“I was leading up to something.” Tom reached over and placed his mug of coffee on the bedside table. He picked up a blue folder. “We’ll be on Dartmoor tomorrow. It’s time to think about our investigation. Listen to this: ‘Of all the crimes in Devon’s history, the most mysterious may be the case of Nancy Thorne, a thirty-year-old lacemaker from the lost Dartmoor village of Widdecombe Throop.’”

“Wait a minute,” I interrupted him. “What do you mean by ‘lost village’? How can an entire village be lost?” 

“Lots of reasons. Climate change, for one. Settlements that thrived during the Medieval Warm Period were abandoned as the climate cooled. And during World War II, there were villages that—” 

I gave him a playful shove. “In other words, you don’t know. Keep reading.” 

Tom grinned at me. “‘At one AM on the night of seventh September 1885, Nancy returned to the cottage she shared with her sister, a seamstress, in a state of incoherence. Her hair was disheveled. Her dress was torn and soaked with what appeared to be blood. For reasons never explained, neither the village doctor nor the local constable was called.’”

 “This happened in 1885?” I propped myself on one elbow. “When was the piece written?” 

“Nineteen forty-two. It’s the script of a radio documentary on crimes in Devon.” 

“Hardly an eyewitness account, then. Go on.” I kissed his shoulder. 

“‘Witnesses testified that Nancy arrived as usual for the six o’clock service at the village church but left soon afterwards. The vicar, Edward Quick, assumed she had been taken ill. Later, concerned for Nancy’s well-being, he called at the cottage, where her sister, Sally, told him Nancy had not returned home. She wasn’t concerned, however, as Nancy often stopped after evening service to visit a friend, a local widow who’d been housebound. The widow, when questioned later, said she had indeed been home but had not seen Nancy Thorne in several days. When Nancy finally did appear, she claimed to have no memory of the events of that night and could offer no explanation for the blood on her frock. The police launched an investigation, but as no person in the surrounding area had gone missing and no body, human or animal, was ever discovered, the case was closed. Nancy died at the age of forty-six without ever speaking of the events that occurred that night.’” Tom closed the folder. “Well, that’s the case.” 

“Please don’t tell me we’re expected to solve a hundred-and-forty year-old murder.” 

“No.”

“Well, then, what does Grahame Nash expect us to do?” 

Nash, Tom’s friend from his early days in the Suffolk Constabulary, ran an international private investigations firm based in Toronto. He’d been trying for at least a year to convince Tom to take early retirement from the police force and join his firm—an idea that appealed to me no end. When I weighed the dangers of discreet private investigations against drugs, domestic violence, organized crime, and terrorism, there was no contest. I had a new husband, and I didn’t want to lose him.

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

About the Author

Connie Berry is the author of the Kate Hamilton mysteries, set in the UK and featuring an American antiques dealer with a gift for solving crimes. Like her protagonist, Connie was raised by antiques dealers who instilled in her a passion for history, fine art, and travel. During college she studied at the University of Freiburg in Germany and St. Clare's College, Oxford, where she fell under the spell of the British Isles. In 2019 Connie won the IPPY Gold Medal for Mystery and was a finalist for the Agatha Award's Best Debut. She's a member of Mystery Writers of America and is on the board of the Guppies and her local Sisters in Crime chapter. Besides reading and writing mysteries, Connie loves history, foreign travel, cute animals, and all things British. She lives in Ohio with her husband and adorable Shih Tzu, Emmie.

Spotlight: Dark and Lovely Mermaids by Julie Catherine

/

(Broken Mermaids, #2)
Publication date: June 11th 2024
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance

Synopsis:

Mermen. Monsters. And a lot of Manipulation. An at-odds prisoner (merman) and warden (mermaid) are about to set off to cross the deep ocean and end up running for their lives. Dive into the twisted waters of Dark and Lovely Mermaids, a forced proximity, enemies to lovers paranormal romance where the love is deep and the ocean is wild.

Ellara Merme made a bad deal. To save her friends and human sweetheart, she agreed to become a sea-slave, the lowest class in the mermaid world. It’s hell on earth, at the bottom of the ocean. A terrible choice. The only decision that’s worse, is the choice she’s about to make.

The leader of the mermaids has offered her an out: Deliver the merman prisoner to Neptune’s army and all will be forgiven. No problem. Should be an easy mission. Except…

… the deep ocean is full of sea monsters itching to make the mermaid their next meal.

… plus she might be catching feelings for the merman she’s supposed to be delivering. Could he possibly be so charming? Or are there other manipulations at play?

With danger crashing with every wave, Ellara has to decide: should she stick to the plan and save herself from sea-slavery? Or dive headfirst into the waters of romance? Can she outsmart the ocean and resist the merman’s charms? Or will she end up making an even worse bargain to survive?

Dark and Lovely Mermaids is a thrilling, loyalty-testing, romantic underwater adventure full of monsters, natural disasters and an army of mermen—an underwater story so enchanting you ­won’t want to come up for air!

Excerpt

“Who should go? Among us, there is a mermaid brave enough, wise enough, and strong enough to do this task? To journey alone. To finish what must be done. To save our kingdom from Poseidon’s spy work. Ellara Merme.” 

Petra thrust me forward and lifted the hand she still held in a victorious pose. 

All of Merme erupted in whoops and cries. 

I plastered a foolish smile upon my cheeks. 

All this adoration was for me? What a joke. 

I was a hoax standing here, paraded out to the town, in my new silver hair. They were acting like I was some sort of savior, but in reality I was just a jerk they could blackmail into completing the task. So desperate to become a Fert, I’d risk my life. 

“Smile,” Petra hissed. 

“I am smiling.” 

“Bigger.” 

A hollow grin pushed up the corners of my lips. I tried to hide the terror behind my eyes. Petra swooped me forward ’til I was side-by-side with Quinn. The leader held up my other arm. I tried not to faint. 

“Ellara Merme is our courageous warrior, our mighty Merme.” Quinn said. “She brought the terrible merman’s presence to the attention of the Pause. Ellara brought him down in the fight during the storm. She has killed a Portrayan Kingfisher Crab, manipulated human women into becoming her friends, and she has bedded hundreds of men.”

How about one. The day after my transition was over. 

I wanted to vomit in my own mouth. 

At best, these claims were a wild twisting of the truth. At worst, the city of Merme had just been pacified with lies. And promises that couldn’t come true. Somewhere in the crowd, I imagined Blonde craning her neck, rolling her eyes. Quinn was making me out to be some sort of super woman. It couldn’t have been farther from the truth. But the women of Merme didn’t care. They just wanted to be safe. 

“Ellara Merme was blessed by Abigailya, the sea witch. In fact, the sorceress bestowed on her the magical third eye.” 

Which I still didn’t know how to use. 

“She defeated a clever water nymph. All by herself.” 

I couldn’t stand it anymore. My eyes searched for Blonde. I started to shake my head, no. Petra’s fingernails dug into my palm. 

“Play along,” the rainbow-woman hissed. I tightened my smile. 

“Ellara Merme is the perfect woman for this mission. A vital soldier. A master mermaid. A linchpin in the success of Neptune’s war. And we will win.” A less experienced orator might have shouted that from the rafters and beaches, but Quinn knew better than that. “We will win,” she whispered, it came out like a shiver. An ear-worm in the brain of every young mermaid. “We will win.” She repeated. Then, finally, she brought the mighty point home. “We. Will. Win!”

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Paperback

Spotlight: Love Under The Stars by Judith Keim

/

The Lilac Lake Inn Series, Book 3

Romantic Women's Fiction

Date Published: June 17, 2024

Keeping a family promise can be the beginning of a whole new life for everyone in town.

Whitney Gilford is delighted to be called away from Hollywood where her co-star and former lover, Zane Blanchard, is addicted to drugs and blaming her for his unhappiness. News of her beloved grandmother, GG, giving her and her sisters a cottage on the land of The Lilac Lake Inn is a tremendous relief from the negative publicity about her on social media. In Lilac Lake, helping with the renovation of the cottage, Whitney starts to rethink her entire career. Lilac Lake is full of interesting people, including the man she’d once had a crush on. As she struggles to rediscover the woman she wants to be, Whitney and her two sisters become closer. And when danger arises, threatening the life of the man she’s come to love, Whitney realizes what’s she wants out of a new life.

Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings.

Buy on Amazon Kindle | Audible | Hardcover | Paperback

About the Author

Judith Keim, A USA Today Best Selling Author, is a hybrid author who both has a publisher and self-publishes. Ms. Keim writes heart-warming novels about women who face unexpected challenges, meet them with strength, and find love and happiness along the way, stories with heart. Her best-selling books are based, in part, on many of the places she's lived or visited and on the interesting people she's met, creating believable characters and realistic settings her many loyal readers love.

She enjoyed her childhood and young-adult years in Elmira, New York, and now makes her home in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their adorable dachshund, Wally, and other members of her family.

While growing up, she was drawn to the idea of writing stories from a young age. Books were always present, being read, ready to go back to the library, or about to be discovered. All in her family shared information from the books in general conversation, giving them a wealth of knowledge and vivid imaginations.

Ms. Keim loves to hear from her readers and appreciates their enthusiasm for her stories.

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/judith-keim

Website: https://judithkeim.com/

Subscribe to her Newsletter: https://BookHip.com/RRGJKGN

Join my special FB Group - Women with Heart:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1693681604216738

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2999038.Judith_Keim

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100043321043934

Giveaway & Spotlight: She Serves the Realm by Lee Swanson

/

The epic saga of Christina Kohl continues in the fourth novel in the No Man is Her Master series, She Serves the Realm.

At the conclusion of Her Dangerous Journey Home, Christina Kohl learns of the death of Sir Edgar Baldewyne, the boorish and abusive husband of her beloved Lady Cecily. At last free to marry, Christina and Cecily lack only the permission of the king to fulfill their heart’s fondest desire. This seems only a modest hurdle, as they both enjoy his favor. But in the turbulent times of Edward II’s reign, he is much more concerned with making use of Christina’s considerable talents than in bringing happiness to her life.

In She Serves the Realm, Christina is torn from her merchant trade and the woman she loves to become an officer of the king. She is placed in ever-growing danger as civil war seems all but inevitable; the Lords Ordainers demanding the banishment of the Earl of Cornwall, King Edward just as adamant to retain Gaveston by his side. Complicating matters further is the always present peril of her disguise being discovered, revealing her not to be Sir Frederick Kohl, but in actuality a woman.

With her mentor and friend Herr Ziesolf no longer by her side, Christina finds herself devoid of her staunchest ally. But she is not left to fight alone; the irreverent Reiniken, erstwhile Jost, and noble Sir Giles join her on her adventures, as well as others both old and new to the readers of the series.

Can Christina succeed in the tasks King Edward sets before her, winning the right to claim Lady Cecily as her bride? And what of Piers Gaveston; can Christina somehow save him from his enemies, and even himself? Rein your palfrey beside Christina’s Pearl and join her as She Serves the Realm.

Read an excerpt from the book here.

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

About the Author

Lee Swanson is a retired soldier and teacher who is the author of the No Man is Her Master historical fiction series, including the titles "No Man’s Chattel," "Her Perilous Game," and the recently released "A Dangerous Journey Home."

Lee has enjoyed a lifetime interest in medieval history. Living in both Germany and England for extended periods of his life, he has traveled extensively throughout Europe, seeking out-of-the-way places with little-known stories to tell. Among these are the Scottish Marches that figure prominently in "Her Perilous Game" and the Kattegat shoreline of the Jutland Peninsula that is the setting for much of "Her Dangerous Journey Home."

Holding a Master’s Degree in European History from the University of North Florida, Lee’s thesis centered on the Hansa, a confederation of merchants from primarily northern German cities in the 12th through seventeenth centuries. Many of the colorful characters who populate his novels are drawn from the lives of these resolute wayfarers who traveled the waterways of Europe in search of profit and prestige.

Lee, his wife Karine, and their dog, Banjo now split their time between Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Connect with Lee at https://www.facebook.com/lee.swanson.315080

Lee's website is at www.LeeSwansonAuthor.me

Spotlight: Things Left Unsaid by G.A. Mazurke

/

Release Date: June 14

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

I

Colt’s the town’s golden boy…

…I’m a no-good McAllister

My grandmother summoned me to the family ranch and dropped a contract in my lap. I either marry Pigeon Creek’s resident billionaire and give him a child or we lose the Bar 9. 

Pretty soon, I’m leaving NYC behind and moving onto the 7Cs. 

A long time ago, my last name didn’t matter and his status meant nothing. Now, he hates me and I can’t forgive him.

Forced proximity reminds us of what we once had, but with so many things left unsaid, can we ever be anything more? 

Buy on Amazon

Meet G.A. Mazurke:

G. A. Mazurke is the crazy lady behind Serena Akeroyd, crafter of smexy heroes you just wanna lick. While Serena has us expecting dark romance with lots of twists and turns … G. A. is her more mainstream/contemporary personality. 

She explores her sweeter side while keeping the sexy we love, where the women fall hard but the men fall harder.

Some of G. A.’s books will cross over into Serena’s universes… so expect a cameo or two from beloved characters, while discovering new bands of brothers, with the banter, the laughs and the tears you are used to.

Keep up with G.A. Mazurke and subscribe to her newsletter https://bit.ly/3OutEMd

To learn more about G.A. Mazurke & her books, visit here!