Spotlight: Pity Prank by Whitney Dineen

(Pity Series)

Publication date: March 30th 2026

Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

What happens when a quirkier than normal girl meets a hunky doctor from New York?

It’s not that I have subpar intelligence, or that I’m a total weirdo. In fact, I would consider myself kind, creative, and an all-in-all great catch—if you can get past a few peculiarities.

I love soft things. ALL soft things, and I surround myself with them to help self-sooth my way through the day. I have very particular opinions about sand, aluminum foil, and gum snappers. You wouldn’t believe how many men find this odd. In short, being on the spectrum has not exactly done wonders for my love life.

Enter Dr. Thomas Culpepper. Never in a million years would I have predicted someone like him would move to tiny little Elk Lake, Wisconsin. Then he gets sent to my photography studio to have his picture taken. I misunderstood the assignment, and instead of taking a boring old headshot like the hospital wanted, I forced him to take sexy pirate photos.

As far as meet cutes go, it was awkward. I won’t even mention the baby oil …

Pity Prank is a laugh-out-loud, small town romantic comedy featuring misunderstandings galore, a tiny bit of fake dating, a lot of fuzzy sweaters and socks, and oh, yeah, some sexy pirate photos.

Perfect for fans of Hallmark vibes. Book eight in a feel-good series of standalones.

*** For fans of The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Excerpt

Finley

As soon as I enter, I notice a man sitting on one of the two overstuffed shabby chic chairs by the window. He looks up and makes direct eye contact which causes every thought in my brain to pour out like sand in a sieve. Holy. Hot stuff. Batman. This man is extraordinarily handsome, but his appeal is more than just physical. He emanates a kind of golden energy that’s positively intoxicating.

“Hi there.” As soon as he stands up, I can feel the room start to sway. I stagger to the counter, so I don’t fall over. He’s well over six feet and from what I can tell he’s built like he spends hours at the gym every day.

“H…h…hi, yourself. Thomas Culpepper?” I ask, both hoping he is and isn’t at the same time. How in the world will I be able to take sexy pictures of this man and keep my wits about me? I can’t even look at him fully clothed without stuttering.

“That’s me.” He flashes a brilliant smile which makes me wonder if he’s ever starred in toothpaste commercials. His hair is the softest looking wavy chocolate brown I’ve ever seen. My hand lifts of its own accord like it’s trying to reach out and touch it. Which of course I know I can’t do. At least until it’s time for me to style his hair for the shoot. I practically drool at the thought.

Thomas looks at my hand suspended in mid-air before copying the gesture and waving at me. “He-llo.” He breaks the word into two syllables like I’m new to the English language and might not understand otherwise.

I drop my hand immediately and try to regain my composure. “Constance is very excited about these shots.”

“Really?” He looks confused, like he doesn't know who I'm talking about.

“Really,” I assure him. “She’s ordered the basic package to start but if she likes what she sees…” In lieu of finishing my sentence, I give him an exaggerated wink.

“I didn’t realize this was such a big deal to her,” he says. I wonder if I got it wrong and they aren't a couple? Darn it, that's the thing with me, I have an awful time reading people. 

“Oh, it's a very big deal.”

Thomas’s hazel eyes narrow in confusion before he bends down to pick up the bag he brought with him. “I brought some different shirts.”

“Oh, we won’t need shirts.” There’s no way, I’m covering up this man in unnecessary clothing. No way. Unless of course it’s a pirate shirt, wide open, and billowing in the wind. Lucky for him, I have such an item in my costume collection.

Thomas’s gorgeous brow furrows, drawing my attention to the golden flecks in his eyes. “I brought a doctor's coat too, if you prefer that.”

“A doctor’s coat?” I love the idea of turning him into a sexy doctor. It’s decided then, we’ll do a pirate look and a doctor one. Constance is going to love these.

Motioning to Thomas, I tell him, “Follow me into the backroom and you can get ready there.”

As he approaches, I inhale his spicy aftershave. Cloves, cinnamon, and orange, oh my! “You smell great.” The words are out of my mouth before I can stop them. That’s another fun thing about me, I don’t always think before speaking, which can sometimes make other people uncomfortable. Like the time I told a woman in the grocery store that her pants made her butt look amazing. While meant as a compliment, it was clear she wasn’t used to such a forthright comment from a stranger. I figured that out when she walked out of the store, leaving a full cart behind.

The last thing I want to do is make Thomas nervous, so I hurry to tell him, “You smell like my favorite Christmas cookies.”

“Huh. I’ve never heard that one before.”

“It’s a compliment of the highest order,” I assure him. “My mom makes the best orange spice shortbread you’ve ever tried.” Just when I think I’ve saved the moment from getting too awkward, I groan suggestively and declare, “Yummy!” Thomas’s eyes pop open wider in an expression I once again worry is fear.

The backroom of my store is one big unfinished space with a variety of backdrops scattered about. I point toward the barber-style chair in front of a big lighted mirror in the corner and tell him, “Let’s start there. I’ll get your hair and makeup done first and then we’ll settle on wardrobe.”

“Hair and makeup?”

“Yeah, you know, so we can get the look we’re after.”

“I thought I was okay the way I am.”

“You’re fantastic,” I assure him. “Really great! But I want to make sure we capture your character to the fullest.”

“I’m a doctor,” he tells me. I’m starting to think Thomas might be the one new to the English language.

“Doctor, pirate, sexy duke with a superiority complex… you can be anything you want and I’m here to make that happen.”

Thomas sits down in the makeup chair looking highly uneasy. “I really am a doctor.” Then he asks, “Do you get a lot of pirates and nobility in here?”

“Tons,” I assure him.  

Thomas sits down with the same amount of enthusiasm he might have knowing he was about to be electrocuted. “I’m pretty sure I don’t need hair and makeup,” he says again.

“I’m not putting lipstick on you, Thomas.” Picking up a bronzing palate, I tell him, “Just a bit of contrast to sharpen your angles.”

“Why exactly do I need sharper angles?” How is it possible that he’s even sexy when he’s acting stupid?

Turning to look him square in the eye, I ask, “Why do you think you’re here?”

“I’m here to get my picture taken for …”

 “Constance,” I finish his sentence for him. “You’re here for Constance. And you want to make her happy, don’t you?”

“I… suppose?” He isn’t selling it.

“You suppose? She’s paid me four hundred dollars to take very specific pictures of you and that is exactly what I’m going to do. Do you understand?” He nods his head almost imperceptibly, so I tell him, “This is my job, Thomas. My job. It’s what I do for a living. It’s how I pay my bills.”

“Yes, but…”

“Constance came in here herself to tell me what she wants, and as she is my client. I’m not going to let her down.”

Thomas sits as still as a statue while I brush bronzer on his cheeks and jaw. By the time I’m done with him, he could have posed for a Michelangelo statue of a Greek god. I can’t take all the credit for that though; he practically is one on his own.

Once I’m convinced his face couldn’t look any better, I put the makeup brush down and face my model once again. This is the moment I’ve been waiting for. After turning the chair so his back faces the mirror, I lift my hands and run all ten of my fingers through his hair. Holy heck. It’s even softer than it looks. It’s better than all my furry sweaters combined. It’s like running my hands through a litter of baby minks. It’s softer than the Barefoot blanket I spent way too much money on. But only because it lost some of its softness after being washed. Until then, it was worth ten times as much.

Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas is to rub Thomas Culpepper’s head every day of my life until I die.

Reluctantly, I remind myself that Thomas is Constance’s boyfriend, not mine. Yet I don’t understand how that can be because this man is so vital and alive. Constance has the warmth of a vampire bat in winter. But they got together somehow and now it’s my job to give my client the best fantasy material I can.

She never has to know it’s doing the same for me.

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About the Author

Whitney loves to laugh, play with her kids, bake, and eat french fries -- not always in that order.

Whitney is a multi-award-winning author of romcoms, non-fiction humor, and middle reader fiction. Basically, she writes whatever the voices in her head tell her to. 

She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband, Jimmy, where they raise children, chickens, and organic vegetables.

Gold Medal winner at the International Readers' Favorite Awards, 2017.

Silver medal winner at the International Readers' Favorite Awards, 2015, 2016.

Finalist RONE Awards, 2016.

Finalist at the IRFA 2016, 2017.

Finalist at the Book Excellence Awards, 2017

Finalist Top Shelf Indie Book Awards, 2017

Connect:
https://whitneydineen.com/
https://twitter.com/whitneydineen
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8145525.Whitney_Dineen
https://www.instagram.com/whitneydineenauthor/
https://www.facebook.com/Whitney-Dineen-Author-11687019412/

Pity Prank Blitz

Spotlight: Verity Guild by Mai Corland

Secrets built this republic; one truth could burn it down.

High Priestess Kerasea Vestal has spent her life hiding the truth—that she’s the last surviving heir of the magical bloodline the republic slaughtered. One wrong step could be fatal. But when a senator is brutally killed and a temple blade is found at the scene, all eyes turn to her.

Praetorian Torren Morvane has made a career of dragging liars into the light, and Kerasea is the one person he’s vowed to ruin. But locked on a mountain with a murderer, scheming senators, and a prophecy of death, he’s forced to work at her side. The closer he gets, the more dangerous the truth—and their attraction—becomes.

With traitors closing in and a nation on the verge of shattering, Kerasea and Torren must risk everything to uncover the real killer…even if it means trusting their sworn enemy

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

About the Author

Mai Corland is a New York Times and international bestselling author, born in Seoul and adopted into New York. She studied at Rollins College and the University of Miami. Due to a variety of questionable decisions, she currently lives in the cold again with her partner, children, and a goldfish who will outlive them all. When not writing, you can find her asleep or clutching her latte machine.

Giveaway

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Spotlight: Stockbroken by Billy Hemby and Jan Hemby

Bo Parrott has spent a lifetime studying the stock market. After forty years as a respected investment advisor, he believes he knows how markets behave—their patterns, their warning signs, and the subtle signals that reveal when something is about to break. As retirement approaches, Bo is ready to leave Wall Street behind and return to North Carolina with his wife, Selby. But the numbers refuse to cooperate. Beneath the optimism of a roaring market, Bo sees troubling patterns forming, the kind that history remembers only after the damage is done.

When a sudden death pulls him into the orbit of powerful international players who thrive on economic chaos, Bo discovers that the threat isn’t just a financial downturn. A hidden network is quietly positioning itself to profit from a massive collapse, and Bo’s decades of insight make him both valuable and dangerously inconvenient. As pressure mounts and the markets begin to tremble, Bo must decide whether to protect the life he’s built—or risk everything to expose a scheme that could shake the global economy.

Buy on Amazon

About the Author

Billy Hemby is a managing director with Level Four Financial, a division of CRI Advisors, PLLC, and has over thirty years of experience in the financial services business.

With multiple books in publication, Jan Hemby is an award-winning fiction novelist and a regional featured speaker.

The two are native North Carolinians with deep roots in Southern culture. Their goal is to bring to life money dynamics, global events, and local culture in story form that engages both experienced investment enthusiasts and casual readers alike. 

Visit them at their website.

Spotlight: Radical Radiance by Lewis K. Schrager

David Nichols is a man who trusts reason above all else. A disciplined medical researcher, he has built his life on logic, restraint, and emotional distance. But when his older brother Larry survives a brutal battle with cancer, the fragile balance between them begins to shift. Larry, who endured months of treatment by tying intricate fishing flies and imagining Alaska’s wild rivers, is determined to take the wilderness journey he promised himself he would make if he lived. Reluctantly, David agrees to join him.

Deep in the remote Alaskan wilderness, surrounded by obsessive fly fishermen, volatile weather, and unforgiving waters, the brothers are forced into a closeness neither is prepared for. Old resentments surface as the trip unfolds, and David finds himself unexpectedly drawn to Kathy Sands, a psychologist quietly carrying the weight of her own loss after 9/11. As tensions build toward a strange and unforgettable night on the river, David must confront the emotional barriers he has spent his life constructing—and the possibility that healing may come from the most unlikely places.

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

About the Author

Lewis K. Schrager is an author and playwright whose short fiction has twice been honored in the F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Contest and has appeared in numerous literary journals, including South Carolina Review, Cottonwood, and Bryant Literary Review. His plays have been produced in Baltimore and St. Paul, and The Radical Radiance of the Fishing Fly is his first published novel. A graduate of Johns Hopkins University and the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Schrager has also spent much of his professional career in global health, serving as an HIV/AIDS researcher at the National Institutes of Health and as a vaccine developer focused on tuberculosis prevention. Visit Lewis at his website.

Spotlight: Forever Laced by Elise Faber

Release Date: March 30

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

I don’t take risks.

Not with my heart—and certainly not with my daughter.

My life is about hockey and being a dad.

Love isn’t part of the plan.

Then I hire Finley to be my daughter’s nanny.

She’s supposed to be temporary. Someone to help me get through the chaos of the season.

Not someone who matters.

Only…she does.

She makes my daughter smile again. Laugh again. Somehow she makes our home feel like a home again.

I know I shouldn’t want her. Know I can’t afford to fall for her—not when she’s going to leave at the end of the season.

Only my heart doesn’t listen.

I find myself in too deep…and wondering if I can risk it all for another shot at forever.

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Meet Elise Faber

USA TODAY bestselling author, Elise Faber, loves chocolate, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and hockey (the order depending on the day and how well her team—the Sharks!—are playing). She and her husband also play as much hockey as they can squeeze into their schedules, so much so that their typical date night is spent on the ice. Elise changes her hair color more often than some people change their socks, loves sparkly things, and is the mom to two exuberant boys. She lives in Northern California. 

To find out about Elise Faber’s  upcoming releases and giveaways, sign up for her newsletter here

For more information on Elise Faber and her books visit: https://www.elisefaber.com/

Connect with Elise Faber: https://www.elisefaber.com/contact

Spotlight: Journey Back Into the Vault by Mario Cartaya

Mario Cartaya was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1951. Eight years later, the turbulent winds of change forced his family to immigrate to the United States in search of a new life lived in freedom. 

Fifty-six years later, Mario returned to Cuba in search of the long-forgotten memories of his childhood. Now a successful American architect, this once “unsung child” of the Cuban diaspora went back to face his old demons (who were no longer there) and to recall his earliest experiences. Mario eventually regained the memories of the first 8 years of his life, repaired the tattered tapestry of his existence, and found an inner peace he never knew he needed.

In Journey Back Into The Vault, Mario confronts the contents of the mental lockbox he had built to protect him from his challenging past. In his journey of self-discovery, each chapter reveals relics deliberately buried by his subconscious mind. 

Mario’s personal story is also a universal one: how love and enlightenment can only begin with our search for self-actualization and peace of mind. More than a memoir of a Cuban refugee, it’s a story that uncovers the psychological forces that help define us, the power of enduring hope, and how—by achieving purity of heart, reconciliation, and a soul at rest—we can evolve into better versions of ourselves.

Excerpt

“The one constant through all the years has been baseball ... baseball has marked the time ... it reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again.”
—Field of Dreams

George, José, and I joined Maidel in his car, waved goodbye to the Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos steel portraits, smiled at the huge Martí monument, and left the Plaza de la Revolución. It was time to visit the place where the Cuban baseball gods of my youth once played. 

Baseball is a bonding agent among families in Cuba as well as in the United States. Parents take their sons and daughters to ball games. They, in turn, eventually take their own sons and daughters to baseball’s cathedrals as well, thus sustaining a tribal ritual continuously repeated through- out generations. Baseball is an ingredient of the chemical composition of many Cuban and American families, including my own. I had the fortune of sharing the love of baseball, first with my father and later with my son. It is an integral part of the family bonds we share. 

When I lived in Cuba, my family rooted for the Almendares Scorpions of the Cuban Professional Baseball League and the Cuban Sugar Kings, Havana’s AAA International League baseball team. I would ritualistically listen to the play-by-play nightly radio broadcasts of their games or watch them on our family’s black-and-white TV set at home. Now and then, my father and I would go see them play at the old Cerro Stadium (the Sugar Kings in the summer and Almendares during the winter months). 

Riding in Maidel’s official-looking black sedan toward the former Cerro Stadium, now called Estadio Latinoamericano, I couldn’t help but reminisce about the many baseball games my father and I once watched there. They were always special times for us. 

My most vivid memory of a game at the stadium was from the fall of 1959, when the Cuban Sugar Kings played the Minneapolis Millers in a dramatic best-of-seven-games series for the Triple-A International League baseball championship crown. 

The teams split the first six games of that most important series, with two going into extra innings and another decided on the final at bat. When an early October snowstorm and frigid weather in Minneapolis shifted the seventh (and deciding) game to Havana, my father wasted no time buying tickets for him and me to attend. 

At eight years of age, game 7 could not arrive soon enough for me. 

The day of game 7 was not the only thing that arrived that championship morning. Unfortunately, I awoke sick that day, having developed a cold with a fever overnight. My mother put me to bed, lathered my chest with Vicks VapoRub, and covered me with heavy wool blankets. She fed me an overdose of orange juice and even made the Cuban cure-all—chicken soup—trying all she could for me to feel better by game time. Nothing she did, however, worked. 

My father, I thought, would have to attend the game without me. 

Later that afternoon, my father arrived home from work, changed into his game clothes, and walked toward my room to check in on me. My mother stopped him just outside my bedroom door and, using the stern maternal voice I knew so well, warned him, “Don’t even think about taking Mayito to the game!” 

“Of course, Chinita,” my father agreed, uncharacteristically sheepish. 

Moments later, he walked into my room and sat on the bed next to me, wanting to talk about the lineups and pitchers announced for the game that night. 

Then everything changed. When my mother, oblivious to our baseball conversation, walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower, my father—buoyed by this unexpected opportunity—flashed his we-are-about-to-do-something-really-crazy-grin and winked at me. He touched my forehead, realized my fever had diminished, and asked if I felt well enough to go to the game. Of course, I said yes! 

What would you expect? 

My father held his index finger in front of his lips, motioned for me to stay quiet, and asked me to dress quickly. I threw on my lucky Sugar Kings clothes, silently followed him out of my Sevillano home bedroom (shielded by the sound of my mother’s shower), and hurriedly climbed down the stairs toward the living room below. With no one around to see us, my father and I ran out the decorative glass and metal-framed front door I once shattered with an errant curveball pretending to be Orlando Peña and soon found ourselves in his blue-and-white 1957 Ford on our way to Cerro Stadium. 

Fever or not, we were going to the Triple-A International League Baseball Championship Game! 

The gloom and doom that clouded my emotions all day had suddenly changed into the excitement and joy of a most unexpected escape! 

This excerpt is from Mario Cartaya's award-winning book, Journey Back Into The Vault: In Search of My Cuban Childhood Footprints. Reprinted with permission from the author, Mario Cartaya.

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

About the Author

Mario Cartaya was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1951. Eight years later, the turbulent winds of political change swept over the land of his birth, leaving his family with little choice but to immigrate toward the United States in search of a new life lived in freedom. There, he realized his earliest Cuban childhood dreams of becoming an architect and started an enduring and highly acclaimed architectural firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His life’s story and award-winning architectural designs were entered into the United States Congressional Record of the House of Representatives in 2019, forever enshrined into the US Library of Congress. An American flag was flown over the US Capitol to celebrate his American legacy in 2022. 

With the same dedication and love that made him an architectural success and iconic designer, Mario has now turned his attention to writing books. His debut, Journey Back Into the Vault: In Search of my Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints, was recently released in new hardcover and paperback editions. The Spanish-language book, La Bóveda: En busca de mi niñez cubana was released in 2026. His fresh voice and humanist values will refresh one’s soul.