Spotlight: A Sleigh Ride For Charlotte by Sarah Lamb

Publication date: August 13th 2024
Genres: Adult, Historical, Historical Romance, Holiday, Romance

Synopsis:

Sometimes the simple choice isn’t easy.

Charlotte Harrison dreams of being part of the winter festival, where romance fills the air and new starts are made. Penniless after her family was swindled, she’s always stayed home, unwilling to be looked at with pity. But this year Charlotte is desperate and willing to do whatever it takes to be there when she hears the most eligible man in town has his eye on her.

New to town, Dr. Justin Davis is in dire need of someone to assist him at his practice. When Charlotte is suggested, it seems like an opportunity for them both. At first, he simply wants to help her financial situation. But against his better judgment, he falls in love with her. Worst of all, the man she desires is someone he can’t stand, and he might have just sent her straight into his arms.

Through a series of surprising events, Charlotte learns that not everyone is as they seem, and when she goes to give her heart away, she’s faced with uncertainty. Who is she going to choose? The man she’s been longing for? Or the man who truly loves her?

Excerpt

“Doctor, I know. I know that you are in love with Charlotte. I also know that the gifts she’s gotten have been from you, not August.”

This wasn’t at all what he’d expected her to say. Justin stiffened, though he tried to remain calm. “I beg your pardon?”

I beg your pardon? That was the best he could do? The only thing he could think of to say?

“Yes,” she told him. “A mother sees things. You need to tell Charlotte how you feel.”

It struck him then. She was twisting her hands and looking anxious because she was upset. Of course she was. Her daughter, one who was both beautiful and of marrying age was working for him. They were alone, and it was likely she suspected him of acting inappropriately.

He had to set things right.

“Mrs. Harrison, I promise you that in no way have I compromised your daughter’s reputation,” he started.

“And why not?” she asked, surprising him.

“Wh-why not?”

“If you had, then we could have married the two of you, been rid of that horrid August Middleton and whatever plan he has for my Charlotte. You care for her, don’t you?”

“I do,” he said, panic rising in him. This wasn’t a conversation he’d thought to have.

“Then why,” she urged, “won’t you tell her? Why do you let her think that scoundrel has sent her those thoughtful gifts? You must say something to her. Especially before it’s too late.”

Justin was silent for a moment. When he looked into Mrs. Harrison’s face, all he saw was compassion. It made him want to tell her. To confess everything in his heart.

“My dear boy,” she said quietly. “You care so much for her. So, why?”

         “I’m not who she wants. It’s him, not me,” he suddenly burst out, pacing. All of his hurt, all of his insecurities and fears and upset rushed out of him. Now that the flood had started, he couldn’t hold it back.

“I’m not rich, I’m not handsome. I have nothing to offer. A doctor with his first practice—a new one at that—in a small town is not wealthy. Why, half of my patients don’t pay me in coin, but in service or food. I couldn’t give her all she deserves.”

         “What does she deserve?” Charlotte’s mother asked, placing her hands in her lap, while her eyes never left his.

         “She deserves someone who loves her. Who can give her what she desires. Who can care for her and protect her and…and I am none of those things.” He gestured wildly, hoping his hands would convey his desperation. “The only way that I can protect her is by staying away.”

         Justin lowered his head and whispered, “If I don’t, he will hurt you both.” 

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About the Author

Sarah is wife to an amazing teacher and mom to two boys who are growing up just a little too fast. Her day job is helping others to become writers, while she squeezes in each spare moment she can on her own books. She spends her days working and writing in the Blue Ridge Mountains and planning her next trip to Disney World. 

Connect:

https://sarahlambbooks.weebly.com/

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Spotlight: Zetas Till We Die by Amber And Danielle Brown

Publication Date: September 10, 2024

Publisher: Graydon House

SISTERS…FOR LIFE.

It’s been ten years since Priscilla and her Zeta Phi Zeta sorority sisters graduated college. Ten years since they were all in the same room together. Ten years since one of them died. And now Lupe’s killer has been released from prison on a technicality, days before their ten-year reunion.

Priscilla decides that the party must go on; Lupe would have wanted it to. And besides, an epic reunion bash might be the perfect distraction. Back together, the Zetas party like it’s 2012, and it’s wild, just the way it used to be. Maybe too wild. At least everyone makes it out alive this time…or so they think.

When one of them doesn’t return home after the party, Priscilla begins to realize that there might be more to Lupe’s murder and that someone is out for blood. With the murderer in their midst circling closer and closer, the Zetas are forced to confront what really happened the night Lupe died—and the secrets each of them swore to keep.

Excerpt

TRANSCRIPT OF JURY TRIAL—DAY 16

Conducted on May 20, 2015

Case: California v. Wolfe

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Can you please remind the jury what you saw the night of May 7, 2012, as you returned home?

PRISCILLA: I was just getting home. Walking into the house and I saw him. Travis. His shirt was covered in her blood. Like soaked all the way through. At first I couldn’t tell what it was. It was dark. But when he got closer, I could tell it was blood. There was some on the tops of his pants too. He didn’t run or anything when he saw me. He just stared at me and then took off. I didn’t see him after that. I ran in to see what happened, where the blood was… Sorry. This is my first time seeing him again…after… Can I have some water, please?

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And what did you see when you entered the house?

PRISCILLA: I remember…blood. Just a lot of blood. That’s all I could see at first. Just so much blood. I froze… I just…couldn’t believe it was Lupé…lying there like that. She wasn’t moving, her neck was… The way it was twisted, I could barely look. My mind was racing so fast. Everything just slowed down. I was there but not there.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Understandable. Now, is it fair to say you may be misremembering some details due to your state of shock?

PRISCILLA: No. Not at all. I know what I saw. He came from inside the house covered in Lupé’s blood. I saw what I saw.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Tell me what else you saw as you walked into the house. Was anyone else present?

PRISCILLA: Dionne and Alexis first. They were at the bottom of the stairs, kneeling down at Lupé’s side, trying to get her to breathe, to wake up, something. Zoë and Chanel were also there. Somewhere. Someone was on the phone with the police. I think it was her.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Were they also covered in blood?

PRISCILLA: They took turns trying to give her CPR. They all had touched her by the time I got there.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And you never saw Mr. Wolfe physically harm Lupé that night, correct?

PRISCILLA: No, but he was the only one who just left when I showed up. Everyone else tried to save her. Tried to do something. Why would he run away if he didn’t do it?

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Based on the little you actually saw, it could have been anyone else who was present when you arrived who pushed her down the stairs. Is that fair to say?

PRISCILLA: No one else had any reason to kill Lupé.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: What makes you so certain? Had you ever witnessed Mr. Wolfe threaten Lupé before?

PRISCILLA: No. But Travis—sorry, Mr. Wolfe—was constantly stalking her. I was worried for her. This guy always seemed to be around her and none of us knew anything about him or why he was so obsessed.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And when you say none of “us,” who exactly are you referring to?

PRISCILLA: My sorority sisters. Her best friends. Me, Chanel, Zoë, Alexis, Dionne and Val.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That night, were the doors locked?

PRISCILLA: We always lock the doors after eleven.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: So there was no way Travis could have entered the premises on his own? If the doors were locked?

PRISCILLA: We figured he broke in through her window. He was always staring up at her room like he was trying to figure out a way to get into it.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: And if he was there that night—

PRISCILLA: He was there.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: If he was there that night, someone could have let him in, right? That is possible, correct?

PRISCILLA: Lupé would have never let him in. None of us would have. We were all worried for her.

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Lupé’s bedroom was on the second floor, was it not?

PRISCILLA: Yes, but—

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It would have been nearly impossible for him to scale the building and break in through the window without anyone hearing or seeing anything, right?

PRISCILLA: I…

DEFENSE ATTORNEY: No further questions, Your Honor.

Excerpted from ZETAS TILL WE DIE by Amber Brown and Danielle Brown, Copyright © 2024 by Amber Brown and Danielle Brown. Published by arrangement with HTP Books, a Division of HarperCollins.

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About the Author

Amber and Danielle Brown both graduated from Rider University where they studied Communications/Journalism and sat on the editorial staff for the On Fire!! literary journal. They then pursued a career in fashion and spent five years in NYC working their way up, eventually managing their own popular fashion and lifestyle blog. Amber is also a screenwriter, so they live in LA, which works out perfectly so Danielle can spoil her plant babies with copious amounts of sunshine.

Connect:

Author Website

X: @ambersharelle

Instagram: amberanddanielle 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22021571.Amber_Brown

Spotlight: Negative Girl by Libby Cudmore

A whiskey-soaked mystery introducing the dynamic duo of Martin Wade and Valerie Jacks—the grizzled vet and the determined newcomer, joining forces to crack a case that  is deliciously noir. 

What happens when the past is buried for too long? 

Upstate New York. Former rock star, recovering addict and now private investigator, Martin Wade, and his assistant, Valerie Jacks, are hired by a young woman who wants them to deliver a warning to her overbearing father. But neither realize their new client’s father is an old bandmate of Martin’s. A man still burdened with regret at being thrown out of Martin’s group, The French Letters, almost two decades before.

When their young client is found dead on a riverbank, duty, nostalgia and a lifetime of guilt find Martin and Valerie on the case, searching for the young woman’s killer. As the mystery begins to unravel, Martin struggles to hold onto his sobriety while Valerie becomes increasingly obsessed with their murdered client – finding correlation in the secrets, and the scars they’ve all tried to hide. 

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About the Author

Libby Cudmore is a Shamus and Black Orchid award winner and the author of the acclaimed novel The Big Rewind. Her Wade and Jacks stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Tough and the Anthony nominated anthology Lawyers, Guns & Money: Crime Fiction Inspired by The Music of Warren Zevon (co-edited with Art Taylor). Her other publications include stories in The Dark, Smokelong Quarterly, MonkeyBicycle, HAD and others. She lives in Upstate NY with her husband and cats.

To learn more please visit her at www.libbycudmore.com 

Connect with Libby Cudmore: 

Instagram: @record_saturday 

Twitter: @LibbyCudmore

Spotlight: Going to Maine: All the Ways to Fall on the Appalachian Trail by Sally Chaffin Brooks

From comedian Sally Chaffin Brooks comes a memoir about the thing she can't seem to shut up about— her life changing thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

25-year-old Sally has no reason to upend her comfortable, conventional life to spend 5 months hiking the Appalachian Trail; no reason except that her charismatic best friend, Erin, asked her to come along. A woefully out-of-shape Sally quickly realizes she may not actually be prepared for the realities of thru-hiking— brutal weather, wrong turns, and painful blisters have her wanting to quit almost as soon as she starts. But out of loyalty to Erin, or maybe the sinking realization that her life needed upending, Sally sticks it out. As she and Erin trek from Georgia to Maine, they collect a ragtag band of hikers and together stumble from one hilarious (and sometimes scary) predicament to another. By the time she reaches Maine— accompanied by Erin, their crew, and a guy she's maybe (definitely) falling in love with— readers will cheer for the stronger, more self-assured Sally that has emerged and wish they could start the laugh-out-loud, life-affirming adventure all over again.

Excerpt

JUNE 10, 2006, OREGONIA, OHIO

“Wow,” my mom said again, wiping tears from her eyes. 

We stood with my dad in the empty hallway, taking a beat before we opened the double doors and I walked down the aisle. “I just can’t believe my baby girl….” 

“... farted like a truck driver in her wedding dress?” my dad cut in.

 “A truck driver?!” my mom retorted. “I was going to say earthquake!” Her body shook with laughter. 

“You guys done?” I fixed them both with what I hoped was an annoyed look, but found it near impossible to pull off stern with four feet of tulle attached to the top of my head. “You try wearing shapewear all day and see what happens.” 

My mom hooked her arm through mine. “You’ve always had impeccable timing.” 

“We should go before I pass out,” my dad said as he took his position on my other side. 

“Glad to see you two getting along,” I took a deep breath and squeezed them both close. “Okay, let’s do this.” 

We were still laughing as we walked through the doors, a sweet mandolin tune playing courtesy of a childhood friend’s bluegrass band. I vaguely registered the friends and family, all turned in their chairs to watch me parade to the front. I focused on my fiancé, who, I noted thankfully, looked excited, albeit slightly uncomfortable, in his brand-new Men’s Warehouse suit. I caught the eye of Erin, my maid of honor, who was giving me a “holy shit, this is happening” grin, which I returned with “I know, can you believe it?” crazy wide-eyes. 

It was fitting that Erin was going to be up there with us. I mean, of course she would be, we’d been best friends since the moment we’d met playing light-as-a-feather at a seventh-grade sleepover; but really, she was the reason I was getting married at all. Without Erin, I never would have hiked the Appalachian Trail. And without the Appalachian Trail, I never would have met this wonder of a person that I was about to vow to love “til death do us part.”

March, 2002, Chicago, Illinois

 It all started with a phone call. I was, as I typically was in those days, stuck in Chicago traffic when my best friend, Erin, called from her house in St. Louis.

“Dude, I’m going to hike the fucking AT!” Erin blurted as way of a greeting. By AT, she meant the Appalachian Trail—an almost 2,200-mile hiking trail that runs from Georgia to Maine. 

“What? When?” I asked, mentally screaming “MOOOOOVEEE” to the car in front of me. 

“Next year, probably February or March.” Erin was in the process of studying for the MCATs and was hoping to go to med school the following fall. She would be able to take the five months needed to hike the entire trail in the spring of 2003, assuming everything went as planned. 

“That’s really great, dude. I’m excited for you,” I told her. We talked some more about her plans; me, inching along in traffic on my way back to my office in downtown Chicago; her, sitting on her porch in St. Louis getting ready to bike to the hospital where she was working as a nurses’ aid. 

When Erin finally got off the phone so she could get to work, telling me she had to go “wipe old-ass butts,” I was still about five miles from the office, which meant probably another hour in the car. I was working for a non-profit based in down‐ town Chicago called Best Buddies where I would set up programs in area high schools to pair kids with and without intellectual and developmental disabilities in one-on-one friendships. I loved my job, but it required me to routinely travel out to schools in the Chicago suburbs, and I often spent hours at a time in my ‘86 Honda Civic that had no working stereo or air conditioner, driving out of and back into the city. The silence in the car gave me a lot of time to think.

I thought about Erin’s plans. I decided I was jealous. The previous summer, right after I graduated from college, Erin, her older sister Cara, and I spent a month backpacking the Long Trail, a hiking trail that traverses the Green Mountains of Vermont, from the Massachusetts line to the Canadian border. It was my first long-distance hiking trip, and I hadn’t been prepared for how hard it would be. Before that trip I was more of a summer camp counselor, car camping, day-hiking type of outdoorswoman, not a “carry everything I need for a week on my back and hike up and down mountains all day” type. Cara was a for-real outdoorswoman; a “moved to New Hampshire to live with her fiancé that she’d met thru-hiking the AT” kinda gal. I’d grown up idolizing Cara, and the chance to spend a month with her and Erin was a dream. But in the minutes after the three of us had reached the Canadian border and completed the Long Trail, but before I collapsed with exhaustion, I swore I would never do something like that again.

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About the Author

Sally Chaffin Brooks is a writer, stand-up comedian, and podcaster. A reformed lawyer, Sally has released two chart-topping comedy albums (Brooks Was Here, Street Bird) and co-hosts the comedy podcasts The Ridiculist and Dumb Love. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and son, and heads to the mountains as often as possible. Going to Maine is her first book

Spotlight: The Rebound Play by Kate O’Keeffe

(Love on Thin Ice, #2)
Publication date: August 29th 2024
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Sports

Synopsis:

If you get a second chance at love with your hockey star ex, should you take it?

Keira
What do you do when your NHL superstar ex skates back into your small town? Drop to the ground and hide behind the bleachers, hoping he doesn’t see you. But Lady Luck must be in a bad mood today because Dan spots me, my hood over my eyes, pretending I’m not there.

Mature? No.

Necessary? Oh, yes.

Humiliation washes over me, and the wall around my heart stands firm. Dan might be back, but I can’t afford to let him in again. Not after the heartbreak of losing him once before.

When he offers to coach my nephew, I reluctantly agree. Every smile he flashes at me, every kind word, threatens to crack my resolve. But I can’t go through that again. I have to protect my heart.

Dan
I want Keira back. End of story.

The Rebound Play is part of the Love on Thin Ice sweet hockey romcom series. It’s a second chance at love story about a jock and a nerd who get a second chance in this small town romance with all the sizzle and chemistry, but none of the spice.

Excerpt

“I get it. Hockey’s your world right now,” Troy replies. “Which is why coming back to your hometown to play is so perfect for you. I can work things out with your team management to get you the time off, and we’ve got an excellent PT. She’ll get that wrist back into shape before you know it.”

“I’ve got to admit—it’s tempting.”

And besides, there’s another reason for going back home, and it’s kind of a big one. Keira Johnson. My Kiki. Only she hasn’t been my Kiki for ten years now.

Just the thought of my high school girl—the girl I left behind—has my pulse kicking up a notch or ten. 

Keira is the girl I’ve never been able to forget. 

Sure, there’ve been other girls. It’s been a long time and I’m no saint. Women tend to throw themselves at you when you’re an NHL player, particularly when you’re known as the pretty boy of the team. Those puck bunnies, as they’re sometimes called, simply come with the territory—and it’s fun territory, believe me.

Of course, the fact that my kid brother is the current heartthrob on the hit Netflix fantasy show, It Came One Winter, doesn’t exactly hurt, either. 

But here’s the thing: Most of the women I meet are only interested in me because I’m Dan Roberts, center for the Chicago Blizzard, brother to the guy they love to watch on TV. Relationships for me tend to last a few weeks, a month, tops. My lifestyle means it’s hard to hold down a relationship. And besides, those women aren’t interested in plain Dan Roberts, the hockey-obsessed kid from Maple Falls, who worked his butt off to make it to the NHL. 

So, my heart has been safe, never forgetting my first love. Keira.

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About the Author

USA TODAY Bestselling Author Kate O'Keeffe writes exactly what she loves to read: laugh-out-loud romantic comedies with swoon-worthy heroes and gorgeous feel-good happily ever afters. She lives and loves in beautiful Hawke's Bay, New Zealand with her family. When she's not penning her latest story, Kate can be found hiking up hills (slowly), traveling to different countries, and eating chocolate. A lot of it.

Visit kateokeeffe dot com to sign up to her newsletter and you'll receive a FREE romcom.

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Spotlight: The Sea's Edge by Garth Pettersen

The Atheling Chronicles , Book #4

Historical Fiction

Date Published: 11-12-2023

Publisher: Tirgearr Publishing

In 1030 C.E., Cnute, king of England, Denmark, and Norway, sends Harald, his middle son, to the Kingdom of Dublin to meet with his Norse-Irish allies. Harald’s mission is to coordinate an invasion of the northern Welsh kingdom of Gwynedd, to replace King Rhydderch who is growing too powerful on England’s borders. Harald is reluctant to be involved in affairs of state, but agrees to go, even though his beloved wife, Selia, is unwell. Harald tells Selia he will not have to take part in the fighting.

While she waits for Harald to return, Selia and her friend Gudrun befriend a young and attractive gleeman (poet-minstrel). When the gleeman is accused of a crime, Selia seeks witnesses in his defense.

Harald becomes involved in a conflict with Dublin’s neighbor, and to appease the king of Dublin, he commits to leading their combined forces in the attack on Wales. The plan is to replace King Rhydderch with Iago, the weaker King of Anglesey. The more Harald learns of these monarchs, the more his allegiance leans toward the man he has been sent to kill.

Will Harald unseat a strong and just ruler to carry out his father/king’s commands, or will he tread a more righteous road, which will destroy the life he and Selia have built in England?

Excerpt

The rain beat upon the thatch of Gwyn and Gudrun’s new hall, running off in rivulets that wet-tapped the ground in a thousand places on each side. The evening fire in the hall’s center warmed the occupants where they sat upon benches finishing the evening meal. The woodsmoke rose just well enough to find the smoke hole in the roof. The tang of the smoke was as natural as to them as the smell of the brook trout caught that day. This night all savoured barley-bread hearthcakes and a hearty pottage to which the fish chunks had been added. With Gudrun, Meleri, Selia, and their guest, three hirelings and their small families shared the meal. Two older children sat with Meleri. The housecarls Gunnar and Geir joined the gathering, while Sture acted as wardmann, watching through a watery curtain that dripped relentlessly from the roof of an out-building.

“Tell me, Trygve,” Selia said, scooping the pottage with her chunk of hearthcake, “why are you known as Trygve det Kostbar, ‘Trygva the Precious’?”

The ale-scop finished drinking from the horn of ale that was going round and passed it to another. “It is not always the best names that attach themselves. Whether it was originally a jest, I know not, but where I grew up in Jórvik, there was more than one Trygve. They say I was an attractive and well-behaved child and folk called me “Precious.”

“Not because of self-love?” Selia shot a knowing glance to Gudrun, who stifled a laugh.

“I...” Trygve began to speak but probably decided against defending himself. “No, I think not.”

“And what were the other Trygves called?” Gudrun asked with a barely hidden smile.

“Trygve Bent Nose,” Selia suggested.

“Trygve Small Balls?” said Gudrun.

“Trygve Cat Whiskers?” Selia added. By now the women laughed with abandon and even the children joined in.

“Trygve Dog Shit?” said the young boy, Cerdic.

To his credit, Trygve the Precious laughed along with everyone.

The jibing continued until everyone’s wits became stale and the names less clever.

“Well, Trygve,” said Gudrun. “It is a wise man who can laugh when the jest targets him,” 

“An ale-scop would soon be unwelcome if he took offence at every fire he shared.”

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About the Author

Garth Pettersen is an award-winning Canadian writer living in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, BC, where he and his wife board horses. Pettersen has a BA in History from the University of Victoria and is a retired teacher. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and in journals such as Blank Spaces, The Spadina Literary Review, and The Opening Line Literary 'Zine. Garth Pettersen's historical fiction series, The Atheling Chronicles, is published by Tirgearr Publishing and is available on most online outlets.

Connect:

Website: http://www.garthpettersen.com/

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/garpet011

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/199652360-the-sea-s-edge?ref=nav_sb_ss_1_28