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Finding Zaide
Kim Deister
Publication date: October 19th 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
Life had gotten comfortable for Amara Addison, maybe too comfortable. Fabulous job, great friends, even an amazing ex-boyfriend who was her ride or die for life. Then Zaide Rossi sauntered into her life and suddenly everything changed. But no matter how crazy life became, finding Zaide made every last moment of chaos worth it.
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This book, from concept to edit to design, was created without the use of generative AI.
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EXCERPT:
I found the new photographer wandering around the top floor, occasionally lifting her hands and moving them around in what looked like a rather lame fight with a ghost. My own skills in photography started and ended with my phone’s camera, but I’d been doing this job long enough to know exactly what she was doing and that I shouldn’t interrupt. She was framing shots in her mind’s eye to find interesting plays of light, good angles, unique backgrounds.
A stepstool stood nearby, so I sat on it to wait for her, watching her as she moved around the open space. She’s younger than I expected. Even though I’d known when I hired her that she was younger than the more established photographers we usually used, I’d still somehow had it in my head that she’d be older than she clearly was. But now that I saw her in person, I realized that she had to be about my age, give or take a year or two.
Young or not, however, she looked the part of a creative type. Her chocolate brown hair was pulled up into a messy bun, skewered into place by three jewel-toned chopsticks. The sunlight filtering through the dirty windows glittered off the one ear I could see from where I sat, the cartilage armored by a stack of tiny silver hoops, a bigger one threaded through her nostril. She wore a pair of olive green Army-esque cargo pants with a black camisole left loose over them. On her feet were a pair of purple Chucks that had probably seen better days. More silver encircled her fingers, her wrists, her neck. Tattoos encircled both arms from wrist to shoulder. Another tattoo, a peacock, nestled its head just beneath her ear, the rest of it disappearing beneath her top. What I could see of it was beautiful. Then she turned toward me, and I realized she was beautiful.
My mouth went dry as our eyes met. The world instantly dropped away, and I forgot how to breathe. Then she smiled brightly, and the world settled back into its rightful place. My breath
stuttered, and I fervently hoped she hadn’t noticed the effect she’d had on me. What the hell is wrong with you, Mara? Get your shit together. She crossed the room toward me, dust motes flying up in her wake. When she stopped in front of me, I almost lost my ability to breathe all over again.
Zaide Rossi was even more beautiful up close.

Author Bio:
My name is Kim and my last name, Deister, is pronounced “Die-ster.” I always tell my husband I should have kept my married name, Ingram. So much easier to to pronounce!
I am a writer thoroughly in love with words. Reading them, writing them… I love that words can take you outside of your world and let the unimaginable become imaginable. I love them so much that I decided I needed to create some worlds and stories of my own!
Besides being a writer, I am an Army veteran (and Army wife) and a mom to four sons. I grew up in northern New York in a tiny college town called Potsdam. Over the years, our Army life has taken us all over the place and I have been lucky enough to work and live in some pretty amazing places. Right now we live in Hawaii on the island of O’ahu, minutes from the North Shore.
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Safe Haven
Hazel St. Lewis
(Fury Verse: Volume 1, #3)
Publication date: December 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Dark Romance, Romance
He knows my name.
He knows I loved Blackwood.
But he still knows nothing at all.
For ten years, I’ve hunted the monsters who destroyed my life. For ten years, I was the Ghost men feared in the dark. But now my world is caving in. Because if Severin didn’t betray me, then everything I thought I knew is a lie.
I am unraveling. Piece by piece. But I will not break.
⸻
She’s alive.
My little dandelion. Moy oduvanchik.
She’s alive.
And I betrayed her.
I slept with another woman. I’m engaged to that woman. But worst of all, I never came for her. I never rescued her.
And that is my biggest sin.
So now, I will hunt down every last man who ever laid a hand on her. I will destroy them all.
I lost her once, but I will never lose her again.

Author Bio:
Hazel St. Lewis is a Romantasy author. Diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, she struggled to read and write, but fantasy stories inspired her to start storytelling. Unfortunately, now, she is a little too obsessed with morally gray characters. When she isn’t writing, she can be found playing with her hoard of cats (too many to count…it’s a problem), singing songs to said cats, or painting.
Website / Instagram / TikTok / Goodreads / Newsletter
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Dead Man’s Trigger: A Max Maguire Vampire Novel
Kat Huddleston
Publication date: October 5th 2026
Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy
Who Knew Immortality Could Be So Short?
When high school history teacher Max Maguire begins to suspect one of his brightest students is in trouble, he ends up walking down the wrong alley. Suddenly, he’s staring down the fangs of a beautiful, powerful, and utterly merciless vampire named Jade.
As Max’s life takes a dark turn he’s forced to learn how to survive in Jade’s twisted world. But if Jade thinks her hostage is going to play nice, she really should have read his resume. This former Special Forces sniper might just have to dust off some very lethal muscle memory.
While Max plots exactly how to kill the most dangerous predator on the planet, he discovers there’s another group of vampires that have their own plans for Jade. Before he knows it, Max is caught in the crosshairs of a vampire war that neither side can afford to lose.
And there’s one thing neither side knows… Max has a secret of his own.
CONTENT WARNING: This is NOT a romance. The novel contains mature content intended for readers 18 and older. This is a gritty, fast-paced genre hybrid combining vampires with dark urban fantasy, tactical military thriller action, and sarcastic humor, with a wisecracking protagonist at its center. There is explicit sexual material, including non-consensual sex, graphic violence, torture, adult themes, and visceral horror elements. In other words, my vampires don’t sparkle.
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EXCERPT:
Max Maguire just got a brutal lesson from his captor, Jade, after his arm was exposed to the sun. He’s left burned and sick. The only one who can help him is the vampire who hurt him.
Max faded in and out of consciousness for hours, as the pain from his arm and the demands from his hunger took turns pounding through him like two enormous drums vying for attention. When he felt the sun leave the sky, the hunger reared up.
He tried to sit up, but his body started to shake. He felt like he was going to die, even though he figured a vampire wouldn’t die from a little sunburn. But he didn’t have any control over his
body and every time he moved or touched his arm, pain seared through him. Eventually he stopped trying to get up or move and decided to wait it out. And suddenly there she was, Jade, looking down on him like an angel… or at least an angel from hell.
“What’s wrong with me?” Max asked.
“It’s sun poisoning. You’ll feel better after a bite.”
He closed his eyes as his body began to shake again. Max knew that she could bring him one of his former students at that moment and he’d kill them. His body would take over, the desire ripping right through his heart. And just as Max was focusing every ounce of his being on hating Jade, she sat down on the bed next to him and pulled him into her arms. Tenderly, almost lovingly, she rocked him like a mother would a sick child.
“It’s going to be okay. Drink me, Max,” she said.
He looked up at her surprised. Jade laughed.
She leaned down to kiss him on the forehead and then turned her head to the side, exposing her neck for him. Max’s body took over and in an instant he wrapped his hands around her and crushed her into his body, his fangs sinking into her neck. His mind went blank as he drank her deep and hard, extreme pain mingling with intense pleasure driving his senses to places he’d never been before. Better yet, he could feel her pleasure in his act.
When his mind came back to him, Max kept waiting for her to push him away, but she didn’t. When he finally stopped, he lay back wiping the blood from his mouth. She watched him with her cobalt blue eyes, like a curious cat wondering what he might do next. She’d gone from being pink and warm to pale and cool.
“Do you feel better?” she asked.
Max nodded. “Thank you.” It was a kind of twisted logic that would have him thank her for helping him considering she hurt him in the first place. Regardless he’d go with it. He had to make Jade believe she owned him body and soul, and there was no time to start like the present.
He was still in some pain, but Max felt much, much better. He rolled over to look at her, resting his head on his good arm. “You’re beautiful.”
“And you’re an idiot.”
“Okay,” he said.
“When I was holding your hand, you could have twisted out of the sun. You could have screamed, begged me to stop. Any number of things. But you didn’t. You just endured the pain. Why?”
“If I had done those things, would you have stopped sooner?”
“Probably not,” Jade said.
“Maybe I was trying to impress you.”
“I don’t think so.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think… you weren’t going to let me beat you.”
“You’ve already beaten me,” Max said as he played with her long, blonde hair rubbing a strand over his lips.
Jade laughed and shook her head. “Not yet. But I will… Do you want to continue with lessons on the Saracen Lance?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“Why is more like it.”
“I don’t think learning how to handle myself in this environment will hurt me.”
“It might not help you either… You’re a very interesting former human. Not always too bright though.”
“Somehow I don’t think being bright is a requirement for this job.” Max let his eyes run down the length of her body. She was wearing the T-shirt and jeans from earlier. He really wanted to take them off.
Jade touched his chest and her power flowed through him like an electric current. “I suppose not.” Jade pushed him onto his back and Max stopped talking. He didn’t want to think any more. He just wanted to let the feeling of her power flow through him. At that moment he didn’t even have the energy to hate her.

Author Bio:
Kat Huddleston has never met a perfectly ordinary day she couldn’t improve with a vampire, a monster, or an alien invasion.
The result is Dead Man’s Trigger, the first book in her Max Maguire Vampire series, about a former Special Forces sniper turned high school history teacher turned vampire. He has military training, a talent for sarcasm, and a complicated relationship with being dead. Or is it undead?
Kat likes her supernatural creatures intelligent, her heroes complex, and her humor dark. Her vampires don’t sparkle.
A Chicago-based writer, teacher, and award-winning artist, Kat spent a couple of decades writing about sci-fi TV and movies for the Syfy Channel’s website and Sci Fi Magazine. She’s also written short stories and screenplays, taught fused glass, and created artwork that can be found in several galleries. Occasionally, she pretends she can concentrate on one thing at a time.
When she’s not writing, painting, or melting glass in the name of art, Kat lives with her two cats, Jax and Nicky. They provide moral support, quality control, and unsolicited keyboard supervision. So far, neither has offered to help with marketing.
Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Instagram / Bookbub / Newsletter
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Heartless Beauty
Jennifer Silverwood
(Wylder Tales, #4)
Publication date: March 31 2027
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
A war between queens, gods, and beasts is inevitable.
Enemies gather from all sides, all eager to claim the power of Bitterhelm for themselves. A scarred witch is the key to unlocking the curse of Wylderland, but is the cost too high?
Vynasha defied a prince, and the beasts of Bitterhelm named her queen. Once she claims the power of the mirror, the realm will at last be free. But the magick is too much for her to wield alone. Only with the aid of her enemy, Prince Grendel, do they have any hope of victory.
In the valley below Bitterhelm, Ceddrych journeys with the beast Luanor to seek the sister he betrayed. Together, they must warn Vynasha before the former queen’s army reaches the castle gates. Only by putting aside bitter feuds can Vynasha and Ceddrych avoid the utter destruction of Wylderland.
A slow burn fairy tale retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Heartless Beauty is the fourth and final installment of the epic Wylder Tales series and includes:
🥀rival queens
🥀forced proximity
🥀enemies to lovers
🥀found family
🥀magical bonds
🥀wicked witches
🥀burly beasts

Author Bio:
Jennifer Silverwood lives in the middle of an enchanted forest surrounded by cursed books, nosy spirits, and mischievous goblins she calls her children. After beginning several nonsensical degrees, she found her calling helping other authors bring their books to life. Jennifer is the author of two fairy tale fantasy series: the Borderlands Saga and Wylder Tales. Because she wasn’t satisfied writing in one genre, she also invites you to explore uncharted space with the Heaven’s Edge Novellas—and dare to fall in love again with the standalone romance titles Stay and She Walks in Moonlight.
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Thirty Grains of Love
Anette Rosen
Publication date: August 26th 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Thriller, Women’s Fiction
What if the life you fight to save is the life that keeps you from becoming free?
It is 2001, and renowned artist Isabella unveils a triumphant solo exhibition at Boston’s prestigious modern art gallery. While critics have hailed her talent for creating spectacular color-saturated canvases, her career, marriage, and finances are crumbling.
Determined to save her family’s historical house by the sea as well as her psychiatrist husband’s reputation during his court trial in Europe, Isabella must somehow care for her daughter without a steady income. After she demands that her former lover, Angel, support her passion project, Isabella promises him one night in return. Restoring the house and obtaining financing are both part of the project. This depends on tracking down her missing best friend, Nina, whom she had put forward to a wealthy sponsor for adapting his memoir into a novel.
Now trapped in a love triangle and a deepening financial crisis, Isabella must find a way forward as the conflict between love, legacy, and survival compels her to question her deepest beliefs while her reputation hangs in the balance.
Thirty Grains of Love is the tale of long-time friends who must piece together their broken personal lives while pursuing their dreams, defining their identities, and experiencing authentic love for the very first time. Set against the backdrop of history and generational echoes of secrecy and social limitations, it explores the route to happiness and its price across four marriage models—trad wife, double career, open relationship, and unequal income.
An uplifting story with a dual timeline showing that the hardest yet most rewarding decision in midlife is to embrace one’s true self.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
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EXCERPT:
ISABELLA
The Exhibition
Boston 2001
Here I am on another continent, living my dream—a dream I had forgotten and now need to save. Beau Isabella conquered the art world—only to lose everything she ever had. What a deal. And what a mess. Me, as usual, but this time it’s for real.
People are gathering outside the exhibit at NAGA, Boston’s prestigious modern art gallery, welcoming the snowflakes on their faces and eager to get in. Above the entrance hangs a banner adorned with vibrant, shimmering purple letters: ISABELLA. I picture the stars skating far above, poised to illuminate the city in pristine white once the clouds clear.
I wish I fit in here. I wish I were free.
My first exhibition in North America. Pressure, a heavy weight, mingles with pride. TV reporters speaking at the entrance about explosions of color, enchanted faces, and innovative art. Behind them, a poster depicts my auburn hair and pale shoulders as I turn around in a sweeping movement. The New York Times featured an extensive review last week, and I keep rereading my favorite part:
It is hard to believe that Boston discovered this incredible talent first. Visitors say they haven’t experienced colors like this since the Impressionist era. Isabella’s compositions spark countless interpretations; the public and the critics have fallen in love with her.
I hope I can keep the palette bright if Nina is still missing. I need her for my project, and I need her as a friend. She always finds the right words. And then Lucy’s school bills arrive, as punctual as a Japanese train. How could Chris be so sure we can afford it all?
Yesterday was different. I stood near the gallery entrance in my burgundy evening dress, trying to appear both graceful and casual amid the camera flashes—I’m not ready for celebrity just yet. My gallery partner, Alicia, took me aside to meet another journalist.
Meanwhile, I handled the press questions with ease. They’ve become routine, even on television. I only make them put on more rouge to hide how pale my skin is from no sleep and daily exhaustion. Some journalists worship me and submit to my presence just to serve the public—even if they haven’t seen my work. Others are looking for a juicy detail that might make me more intriguing, trying to chip away at my “art goddess” halo.
Still, this time, a humble man from a local magazine, at first distracted and absorbed in his notes, brought me out of my shell with his last question:
“How has your talent remained, even after you ignored it for decades? Is there someone in the family from whom you inherited this gift?”
I took a deep breath. The walls started moving, like each time I tried to approach the tripod hiding in a corner at home. We had long sacrificed the atelier. Feeling miserable for not having painted in years, I didn’t need a gray-suited journalist to remind me of that. I’m thirty-eight, not retired. And it’s a question I never answer in public. So, despite the subtle provocation, I responded with a smile.
“It’s not as if I completely ignored it—books with my illustrations flew off the shelves like hotcakes. I enjoy children’s books the most because they encourage kids to give wings to their imagination before they can read longer texts. The most important thing in life is to touch someone with what you do. If you give somebody a lesson, valuable advice, a beautiful song, or a new life, then you’ve been present in this world.” I shook my head, letting my earrings swing, to give him a sign that the interview was over.
After that, I enjoyed the peacefulness of my natural surroundings—an exhibition hall filled with paintings and new ideas. I knew I had one last chance to preserve it all, but it felt good not to think about reality for a while. After all, Nina must still be alive—she left of her own free will—and for the time being, I somehow serve my debt and Chris’ lawyers’ bills. If only he could silence the media… What was his psychiatrist’s training for? He employed the wrong assistant, and now she is destroying his reputation.
However, you need a free heart to create, so instead of diving into accounting, I keep dreaming of restoring the seaside villa. An art object, it would be my perfect retreat.
It was a pleasant surprise when the next visitor entered the room. Maybe he could contribute to achieving my dream. Angel’s height and wavy dark hair seized everyone’s attention. He surveyed the space like a panther, searching for a suitable place to start. I bounded over to him.

Author Bio:
Anette has been writing stories since she could hold a pencil, short after she turned four. What started as an intrinsic love for storytelling has turned into a lifelong passion, only to be subdued for a while by a professional career and the care she took of her two wonderful daughters. There’s nothing Anette likes better than writing (and reading) stories that are both inspiring and humorous, with a touch of romance and a heartwarming streak of truth running through them.Anette is a passionate traveller and a big dreamer who never gives up on anything. When she’s not writing or inventing new stories, you can find her among her friends or in her maisonette in Frankfurt, Germany, watching masterpiece movies or a tennis match with a glass of wine and her fluffy cat, Lia, beside her.Anette has a master’s degree in English and American literature and a PhD in Linguistics. Having worked as a freelance translator and a project manager, her favourite job has been that of a Tour Director, leading North American groups on educational tours throughout Europe.Anette’s stories have found their home in online and printed magazines. Her novella “The Sea Moves On” was published in October 2022 in Sofia to receive a hearty welcome from its readers. Currently, the novel “Thirty Grains of Love” is short before publication.
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