Cover Reveal: Damiana by Lilly Manning
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Damiana
Lilly Manning
(The Sigils Series, #1)
Publication date: October 22nd 2026
Genres: Adult, Horror, Romance
The retreat promised the other half of her soul.
It was a promise with a waitlist: black-sand beaches, redwood fog, luxury glamping, ceremonial cacao, and a bonfire where every guest casts a sigil for the kind of love she’s been waiting her whole life to find.
Draw the symbol. Feed it to the flames. He’ll come.
Marlowe only attends because her boss pays for her to go. It’s all nonsense, she tells herself. An evening of designer spirituality for women desperate enough to believe the lie.
Then every woman’s wish starts coming true. Including hers.
Damian is everything she asked for—patient, devoted, ruinously handsome—and the only person trying to convince her not to sign up for the next retreat.
Because the fire wasn’t symbolic. The women didn’t manifest anything. Every wish was answered by design.
Now the retreat’s charismatic founder and the secretive sisterhood behind her wellness empire expect Marlowe to honor a bargain she never knew she made.
And walking away has never been part of the program.
The fire doesn’t forget what was promised.
Author Bio:
Lilly Manning writes romance and romantic suspense—stories where the tension isn’t just between the sheets. Her stories are built on sharp heroines, guarded heroes, and worlds where secrets are currency and trust has to be earned.
A ghostwriter for years, Lilly spent a long time putting her words into other people’s names. The Alias Series is her first work published as herself.
Earned, Book I of The Alias Series, is available now on Amazon.
—
Dragon Descending by Jennifer Allis Provost blitz with giveaway
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Dragon Descending
Jennifer Allis Provost
(Fire and Claw, #2)
Publication date: September 1st 2026
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Dragons value family above all else—but when a dragon shifter can’t shift, how will he protect the ones he loves?
Lochlyn Blackmoor, the last dragon shifter in Alessia, has lost his ability to shift. Heartened by a prediction that he will shift again, Lochlyn retreats to Dragon Ridge with his beloved wife, Rosalie. They’re content to enjoy a quiet life, until they receive unsettling news from the capital city.
The king’s seer has been marked for death, all because she helped him free Rosalie’s sister from the king’s clutches.
Despite his current weakness, Lochlyn embarks on a mission to rescue the seer with his brother-in-law and spymaster in tow. Almost immediately, one of their few allies—Arthus Flameborn, Grand Master of the Order of the Phoenix, who also happens to be Rosalie’s grandfather—abandons them. As they run out of time and options, Lochlyn turns to a former foe for assistance: Basilisk, the same rogue shifter he freed from the Order’s dungeon, and nearly killed him.
Basilisk proves himself a worthy ally, and his vast knowledge Alessia’s royal family comes in handy more than once. As more of Basilisk’s past is revealed, Lochlyn learns Alessia’s darkest, most dangerous secret, information so deadly It could unravel everything he’s ever known. To make matters worse, the ruthless Grand Master wants to form a relationship with his granddaughter, Rosalie, and he doesn’t care who he hurts in the process—not even Rosalie.
And only a dragon can overpower the Grand Master.
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo
—
EXCERPT:
Lochlyn Blackmoor hated waiting.
Yet it was all he’d done for months—waiting for blowback from Serpens about their daring rescue of Caterina and Curran. For news of the rampaging basilisk he and Curran had freed from the palace dungeons. Or for the Grand Master to appear in the courtyard demanding to see his family.
Waiting to be able to shift again.
Nothing happened.
Lochlyn set his hands on the balcony’s railing, and watched the early morning activity in the castle’s courtyard. While he appreciated the calm days and nights they’d enjoyed at Dragon Ridge, retribution was inevitable. He’d insulted the king, committed several acts of treason, and set the palace on fire. King Olivar wasn’t a forgiving man; he was more likely to take Lochlyn’s head and mount it on his wall.
Still. Nothing.
Perhaps Olivar was taking his time so Lochlyn would slowly descend into madness.
Laughter floated toward him, a bright sound that Lochlyn would know anywhere. He turned toward the gardens, and saw Rosalie walking with her sister, Caterina. They both carried baskets of flowers, but behind Rosalie’s basket was her rounded belly, and inside her belly was their child.
Their child’s birth was something else Lochlyn was waiting for, and for that he was most impatient of all.
He and Rosalie already had three adopted children, and he loved them and his nephew, Jonathan, dearly. Somehow, he found yet another measure of love in his heart for this child he’d yet to meet, a babe who would be a dragon, like him.
As the strongest of the Otherworldly creatures, Lochlyn’s own dragon blood meant the child would definitely take after him, but they wouldn’t know if the child would be able to shift until he was around a year old. While Lochlyn could attain both dragon and warrior forms, his eldest brother could only shift to warrior, and his middle brothers couldn’t shift at all.
Whether the child could shift or not didn’t matter to Lochlyn. Either way, he couldn’t wait to meet their baby. Before Rosalie fell pregnant, Lochlyn had been the last living dragon in Alessia. Now both his kind and his name would live on, thanks to his beautiful wife.
“Lochlyn,” Rosalie called from the courtyard, waving to get his attention as if he hadn’t already been entranced by her every move. “There were some daisies in bloom, and the birds spared us some blackberries.”
“And elderberries,” Caterina added, holding up her basket. “Madchen can make more of her famous wine.”
Lochlyn laughed softly; there were enough casks of Madchen’s elderberry wine in the castle’s cellar to get half of Alessia drunk. “Are you two coming in for lunch?”
Rosalie opened her mouth to reply, but whatever she said was drowned out by the thunder of a dozen hooves. Lochlyn looked toward the gate and saw three gigantic stags enter the courtyard. The central and largest stag approached Rosalie and bowed.
“Hello, Cervus,” Rosalie said as the stag’s antlers scraped the ground near her feet. “And you really don’t need to be so dramatic. Will you join us for lunch?”
Cervus raised his head, and after he glanced at the balcony, he and his two companions went toward the stables. Lochlyn watched them depart, then he returned his gaze to his wife. His leisurely afternoon with Rosalie would have to wait. As Lochlyn’s spymaster, Cervus had been in Serpens for the past three weeks, gathering information. For him to personally return to Dragon Ridge instead of sending one of his messengers, he must have learned something especially dire.
Author Bio:
Jennifer Allis Provost writes books about faeries, orcs and elves. Zombies, too. She grew up in the wilds of Western Massachusetts and had read every book in the local library by age twelve. (It was a small library.) An early love of mythology and folklore led to her romantic fantasy series, Fire and Claw, and her degree in environmental science helped shape her urban fantasy, Poison Garden. When she’s not writing about murderous plants or sexy dragon shifters she’s working on her MFA in Creative Nonfiction.
Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Newsletter
GIVEAWAY!
—
Love Next Door: A ‘90s Anthem Duet by Eve Kasey & Melanie A. Smith blitz with giveaway
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Love Next Door: A ‘90s Anthem Duet
Eve Kasey & Melanie A. Smith
Publication date: September 1st 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
One volume, two steamy interconnected romances set in 1995 Seattle
Come to My Window
Hazel Bell has lost everything — her job, her apartment, and her future in Seattle. Now her whole world is a thrift-store wardrobe, a family of houseplants, and a stranger in the opposite window who knows exactly what to say.
They exchange notes instead of names. Confessions instead of introductions. And somehow, the man she’s never met becomes the one person she can’t live without.
Gideon Sarkis knows the truth would end them before they ever begin.
He knows exactly who Hazel is. But she doesn’t know him — or how badly he once hurt her. The more notes they write, the harder he falls. But with his obligations pressing in and her options disappearing, their time is running out.
Some windows are meant to be opened.
But some secrets can shatter everything.
Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
Ben Pedersen is a ghostwriter stuck crafting someone else’s thrillers when a misdelivered package introduces him to the mystery of unit 203 — and its elusive occupant, Heaven Lee.
Lee is a software engineer burning the candle at every possible end, helping build one of the first online bookstores. She doesn’t have time for nosy neighbors. She barely has time for sleep. But the guy upstairs keeps getting her mail, and he’s funny, patient, and her dog likes him more than the UPS guy. So maybe one coffee not-date won’t kill her.
The neighborly arrangement that follows becomes something neither of them planned. But Lee won’t admit what’s in the misdelivered packages, and Ben’s writer brain won’t let a mystery rest. When curiosity crosses a line, both must decide what matters more: protecting their secrets or fighting for what they’ve found.
Love Next Door is two warm, witty nostalgic love stories about the secrets we keep, the walls we build, and the people worth tearing them down for.
—
EXCERPT:
Hazel is parked in a chair in front of her window, arms around her knees as if she needs the extra support. Our gazes collide across the space between us. Even with the tiny smile she offers, she looks small and lonely, and it breaks my heart.
There is no note. Just her.
After a long moment in which we just share space, she unwinds her arms and turns to her kitchen table. Her hair falls across her face as she scribbles out a note. I watch as she tucks long locks behind her ear, and wish it’s my fingers instead.
Coffee shop? her note says. She’s drawn a steaming mug beside the words.
I nod.
And wait.
Her next note is unexpected. I saw you at the grocery store yesterday.
My stomach flips. Seriously? In the same building twice in as many days? I wonder how often that’s happened without our knowledge. Maybe we’ve been circling around each other for months, just out of reach.
And? She’d seen me and done nothing about it. Why?
A bit of her sparkle returns as she shares a small, sly smile. And I still think you’re incredibly handsome.
I chuckle softly, but I won’t let her slide. Talk to me, Picasso.
Her smile fades. Nodding, she turns her attention back to her art supplies. Her words against the glass are navy blue and stark. It’s been an invisible day. Ever feel invisible?
I don’t. My size and coloring make me stand out. I’ve never felt invisible, but I’ve never truly felt seen, either. Not until eye contact with my neighbor was all I had.
I shake my head before bending down to write the next note. I may not have seen you, but I see you. I make the last three words bold, going over the letters several times. Then I make a second sign. You shine, Hazel. Even in the dark.
Thank you, she doodles out, including leaves and buds around the letters. Then another. You have a way of helping me heal. A broken heart held together by stitches.
“Killing me, Picasso,” I breathe. That is the greatest compliment she can give me, especially knowing what I do.
You get me through the day, Hazel. Even before I knew you, you were the reason I smiled.
She puts her hand on her heart, and I swear I feel myself fall.
Smiling, Hazel writes another note and holds it up to the window. Do I get to know your name?
With those words, I hit the earth.
I refuse to let my panic show on my face. Thinking quickly, I scrawl out a desperate reply. If you’ve named all your plants, I know you’ve named me, too. What do you call me?
She visibly cringes, and heaves an exaggerated sigh I can see across the alley and holds her confession up to the window.
Fred.
I blink. As in Flintstone? Why?
Hazel is slow to reply, but I don’t mind because I have her pursed lips and another peek of her clavicle to focus on. Because you’re too sexy for your shirt.
It takes a few seconds to process her words. Then I burst out laughing, harder than I have in weeks. Not Flintstone, then. Right Said Fred. The guy with the truly obnoxious song.
Still chuckling, I glance down at my exposed abs, loving that she appreciates my hard work, loving even more that “too sexy” is how she thinks of me.
Despite the crazy day, despite the secret I’m holding in my heart, I make sure that Hazel knows that the feeling is mutual.
I let desire take over every part of me, slowly, like a trickle of light rain. I allow heat into my gaze. Leaning forward on the shelf, I let my muscles pop and eyes roam. I take her in as I share my more lascivious thoughts through body language.
For her, I strip myself bare, deeper than flesh. I stop hiding how I see her. And I drink down what I witness across the way.
A flower opening in the sun.
Author Bio:
Eve Kasey writes for a design firm by day and reads (and writes!) indie romance novels by night. Her contemporary romances balance swoon and steam while aiming to teach readers something new. She loves romance for the hope the genre conveys as well as the amplification of the simple truth that everyone everywhere deserves a happily ever after – however that looks to them. Eve lives in and loves the Pacific Northwest.Melanie A. Smith is an award-winning, international best-selling author of steamy romance with smart, self-sufficient heroines and strong, swoony book boyfriends with hearts of gold. A former engineer turned stay-at-home mom and author, when Melanie is not lost in the world of books you’ll find her spending time with her husband and son, crafting, or cross-stitching.
GIVEAWAY!
Love Next Door: A ‘90s Anthem Duet Blitz
—
Uprising by J.E. Rizzo blitz with giveaway
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Uprising
J.E. Rizzo
(Fitzjohn Duology, #1)
Publication date: September 1st 2026
Genres: Adult, Historical
England, 1381 AD: Blanche Fitzjohn is an outcast in her small coastal village. Not only is she the illegitimate daughter of John of Gaunt, the man responsible for her neighbors’ over-taxation, but she possesses strange abilities: hearing sound from miles away and smelling people’s emotions.
She takes solace in her studies with the local wisewoman and in her friendship with Geoff, a groom at the local manor. Until the day Henry of Lancaster, Blanche’s half-brother, brings her news of an arranged marriage to Sir Thomas Prescott, Constable of the Tower of London. Although she smells cruelty on him, Blanche agrees to marry Thomas in the hopes that her influence may help better the lives of Geoff and all England’s villeins.
But soon, the peasants’ discontent turns to revolt. Though her heart is of the people, Blanche’s nobility makes her an enemy to the rebels. To save herself and Henry from the executioner’s ax, Blanche must use every power at her disposal, even those she once considered a curse.
—
EXCERPT:
Something shifts, like summer’s green leaves transforming to autumnal gold. Speaking with Geoff about my marriage hurts like I’d never expected, a deep ache. The moon thrums, and an owl, perched in a nearby tree, shifts as she searches for prey. My temples throb.
“It seemed…” he begins again. “It seemed he didn’t want to marry you, after you…” I glare and cross my arms before lifting my face. He continues: “I thought perhaps you could get out of it because…”
“Because of what?”
“Because, ye’re…”
“What, Geoff, what am I?”
His mouth opens like a fish above water, and he doesn’t bother to shut it. In the tree, the owl flaps her wings and leaps into the air.
“Ye’re…” The tips of Geoff’s fingers flutter. “Well, I don’t know what you are, Dandy. Ye’re just…yerself. And I thought—”
“You thought he wouldn’t want me?”
His face falls. “He’s not like you, Dandy. That’s all. He’s not a good man. I heard him talking, when it was just the men…”
He drops his eyes and his cheekbones redden.
Neither of us seems to know what to say next. After a full minute of silence, he lurches forward and grasps my shoulders, crushing me to his chest. “Blanche, just consider.”
I gasp and have to steady myself. But within seconds, tears come to my eyes, along with a calming release of tension. I grip his forearms, inhale his familiar scent. He’s always smelled of horses, with a hint of bread dough and sugar from the manor kitchens he’s constantly raiding. There’s something different tonight. I sniff. It’s crisp, yet soft. Evergreens in winter, covered with fresh snow.
He buries his nose in my hair. “You could refuse,” he says, voice a gentle rumble against my face, “and stay with yer mother. She’d be angry, yes, but she wouldn’t throw you out. They can’t drag you to the church. For a marriage to be real, you must consent.”
Consent. The word ripples through me. It makes me see that I want more, from Maman, from my father, but most of all from Geoff. I need something I can’t identify, something I can’t express.
“If I marry Thomas…” My muffled voice breaks. “It will make the duke happy. He’ll…” I tense, regretting my words.
“He’ll what?”
I can’t answer, can’t tell him that by marrying Sir Thomas, I hope to earn my father’s love. To replace…something.
The moon moves behind a cloud and the trees shift, branches releasing a shower of rain. Geoff drops one hand to the small of my back and lifts the other to my cheek. His palms are warm, and I slide my own to clench his upper arms. When my fingertips brush hardened muscles, I almost snatch my hands back. Before tonight, I still thought of Geoff as a child, the lanky villein who could ride any horse, no matter how fierce. Now…my mouth goes dry, but I can’t resist running my hands up the length of his arms, letting them rest on his shoulders. The skin beneath his tunic is damp with sweat.
Corded muscles tense and stretch beneath my fingers, sending little jolts through me. He stoops, chin brushing my temple.
I touch the notch of his throat with my fingertips. He freezes. Tiny curls of dark hair peek above his collar, tickling my fingers. He lets his face linger on mine, and I feel him inhale.
A pleasant warmth spreads through my belly, then down. Something’s happening, something I don’t understand. I should run, should leave. But I don’t. Another breeze drifts through the tree branches, and he pulls me closer, pressing me to him.
I feel him, all of him, from feet to chin, in a way I never have. A tingling, heavy warmth settles on me, and I feel Geoff’s own need pressing against my belly.
It should make me uncomfortable, but I find myself pressing back, wanting more. Wanting it all.
I’m not well-versed in what happens between a woman and a man—that’s one area of my education Maman neglected—but I’m not completely ignorant. I know Geoff and I stand on a cliff, gazing into a deep ravine. One more step, and we’ll both be lost.
I’m still touching his throat, suspended in our odd dance beneath the shuddering tree branches, when he bends further. I close my eyes and focus on the sensation of his stubbly chin against my face. He exhales, and a shiver runs down my spine.
“Dandy…” he murmurs.
The owl swoops to snatch a mouse from the forest floor in sharp talons. Her screech is like a battle horn, ricocheting with painful deliberation in my skull, joined by the mouse’s squeal. My eyelids snap open and I step out of his embrace.
Author Bio:
J.E. Rizzo is a life-long history fanatic and writer of historical fiction whose work can be found in Vanity Fair, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, The Tudor Times, Tudor Life Magazine, Scary Mommy, and Ultrarunning Magazine. Additionally, her article, Past and Precedence: Abortion Law in the Middle Ages and Its Use to Overturn Roe v. Wade, won History Inquiry’s Medieval History Writing Challenge. Rizzo’s debut novel, Uprising, Book One of the Fitzjohn Duology, is forthcoming from Literary Wanderlust, and tells the story of Blanche Fitzjohn, a fourteenth century neurodivergent woman whose perceived disabilities become superpowers during England’s peasant uprising of 1381.
By day, Rizzo works in Human Resources—a field offering more than ample opportunity to observe the follies and fancies of humankind. Before her career in HR, Rizzo worked as an opera singer, a professional baker, and a dog walker. These days, when not writing she can be found running ultramarathons through the forests and mountains of New England, knitting, reading, sewing, baking, or performing any number of (what some might call) old-lady hobbies. She also keeps busing caring for her two children and forty-seven houseplants, making her husband carry heavy things and cook her gourmet meals, and rehabilitating her rescue dog and semi-feral ginger cat.
GIVEAWAY!
—
Reign of Silver & Stardust by Diana A. Hicks blitz with giveaway
**This post contains Amazon affiliate links which will allow me as an associate to earn a small commission on any purchase made through the link of the products I share. This commission in no way changes the pricing of any items for the buyer.**
Reign of Silver & Stardust
Diana A. Hicks
(Stardust Trilogy, #1)
Publication date: August 27th 2026
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult, Romance
My twin sister was murdered. To find her killer, I had to die.
CATALINA
I was never supposed to exist.
As the mortal spare to an immortal sister, I lived in the shadows
until Ry was murdered by a weapon that shouldn’t exist.
Now, justice is all I want.
To find her killer, I must take her place in the Queen’s Elite Cadre
and become the very monster everyone fears.
But becoming a weapon means losing my humanity…
and losing the one man I can’t resist.
VALOREK
The immortals bleed my world dry while my sister rots from the inside out.
I swore to burn their reign to the ground,
until I met her.
Sterling is the enemy,
a silver-blooded soldier of the regime that destroyed my family.
But the electricity between us is undeniable.
We are on opposite sides of a brewing war,
and falling for the enemy is a dangerous mistake
neither of us can afford.
—
EXCERPT:
The simulation brings me back with a jolt. I land on the floor on all fours, choking on the saltwater burning my throat. Like before, once my brain catches up with reality, all the pain goes away. I hang my head and breathe easy.
If that isn’t a miserable attempt, I don’t know what is. Ry passed this level on her first try. This military stuff came naturally to her. When we were kids, the placement test put Ry and me in the Military Sector, but I never belonged or excelled the way she did.
The sleek white walls shine bright around me. Seconds later, Captain Weston’s boots come into view. When I glance up, he cocks an eyebrow at me with both hands braced on his hips. He blows out a breath, and I swear a tinge of pity flashes across his face.
“I didn’t pass your test.” I sit back on my ankles, shaking uncontrollably.
“Everyone dies in the simulation. You did better than I expected.” He scratches the stubble on his chiseled jaw. “But I do have my work cut out for me.”
“Am I in?” I meet his gaze.
“Have you talked to anyone since the accident?”
The accident? My jaw clenches.
“No.” I assume he means cadets from my unit. To Captain Weston, Valorek and his friends didn’t count.
“Good.” He clears his throat. “Because I have a proposal for you.”
When I open my mouth to speak, he brings his index finger to his lips and shakes his head once. Of course, he doesn’t want to hear about how Ry’s death wasn’t an accident. We have been doing the same song and dance for weeks. This time, I do as he asks and keep quiet, but only because it looks like I am about to get what I want—an opportunity to join the Queen’s immortal army, where I’ll have the ability to look into Ry’s murderer myself.
“You need something from me.” I meet his gaze.
“We need you to take your sister’s place as a lieutenant in the Queen’s army. You still need a lot of training before you can join Ry’s unit, but we have a bit of time.”
“Wait. What?” I gape at him as my heart thrashes in my ears. “That is not what I wanted at all.”
“I gave it some thought.” He swallows. “It’s all I can offer. It’s the only solution, really.”
“Do you have any idea how insane this sounds?” I scoff. “Ry told me everything about the QEC simulator seven years ago. This was the easy part and I still died. How am I supposed to be her when I know nothing about her world? She had her own life outside of me.”
“That’s why I’m here. I’ll be your guide.” His eyes soften.
“So what, Captain Weston? Do I now get to call you Cap or Eli?”
“You can call me whatever you want.” He offers a crooked, sexy smile. “In fact, I think that if you call me Eli in private, the transition will be easier for you.”
“Eli?” I meant to be sarcastic, but he is completely serious with his answer.
Author Bio:
Diana Hicks writes dark, emotional romance where obsession runs deep, secrets cut sharp, and love always comes at a price.
Her books blend steamy billionaire drama with forbidden marriages, high-stakes betrayal, and antiheroes who will burn the world to protect what’s theirs. Best known for The Empire Trilogy, Diana’s stories deliver heart-pounding romance with morally gray men, strong heroines, and just enough heat to leave you breathless.
When she’s not writing about power and passion colliding, she’s probably sipping coffee like it’s a love language, sweating off a plot twist at yoga, or posting angsty book teasers on TikTok.
GIVEAWAY!
Reign of Silver & Stardust Blitz
—
Recent Comments