Carries Book Reviews

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Title: Daughters of Nantucket

Author: Julie Gerstenblatt

Publisher: MIRA

Publication Date: March 14, 2023

Page Count: 425

About the book:

“Gerstenblatt’s distinctive tale, a triumph in storytelling, celebrates the courage and tenacity of women.” —Booklist, starred review

Set against Nantucket’s Great Fire of 1846, this sweeping, emotional novel brings together three courageous women battling to save everything they hold dear.

Nantucket in 1846 is an island set apart not just by its geography but by its unique circumstances. With their menfolk away at sea, often for years at a time, women here know a rare independence—and the challenges that go with it.

Eliza Macy is struggling to conceal her financial trouble as she waits for her whaling captain husband to return from a voyage. In desperation, she turns against her progressive ideals and targets Meg Wright, a pregnant free Black woman trying to relocate her store to Main Street. Meanwhile, astronomer Maria Mitchell loves running Nantucket’s Atheneum and spending her nights observing the stars, yet she fears revealing the secret wishes of her heart.

On a sweltering July night, a massive fire breaks out in town, quickly kindled by the densely packed wooden buildings. With everything they possess now threatened, these three very different women are forced to reevaluate their priorities and decide what to save, what to let go and what kind of life to rebuild from the ashes of the past.

Find this book online:

Goodreads  /  Amazon  / BookShop.org / IndieBound / Barnes & Noble 

Excerpt:

ONE WEEK BEFORE THE FIRE 

Monday, July 6, 1846

ELIZA

IN THE HEAT of summer, gossip spreads through Nantucket town like wildfire.

Everyone on the island knows that, including Eliza Macy. Usually, Eliza enjoys the chatter of the women in town, the way her neighbors walk and talk with baskets of goods on their arms as they exchange tales along the busy, brick-paved and cobbled streets that lead to the harbor, where thousands of kegs of oil wait to be processed and shipped. Usually, she’s very much a part of that very chitchat. On any given Monday, she might lean in close over a barrel of grain at Adams and Parker as so-and-so says such-and-such about you-know-who. And although she’s not proud of it, Eliza has been known to follow a small cluster of ladies out of Hannah Hamblin’s candy store on Petticoat Row just to catch the end of a particularly juicy tidbit about a Starbuck or a Coffin, prominent families on the island, even if she hasn’t yet purchased the black licorice whips she came in for. But today turns out to be anything but an ordinary Monday, which is why Eliza isn’t out socializing in town.

The morning begins with a vexing conversation with her husband Henry in the kitchen of their stately Colonial home on Upper Main Street.

“But, what do you mean, Henry? How can you possibly stay out at sea when we need you here at home?” Eliza asks. There is no answer. Eliza continues. “I just wish you would be clearer in your intentions. Less obtuse. It can be so very frustrating to be married to you!”

Well, not a “conversation,” exactly. How can one possibly be speaking with one’s husband when he has been off at sea for almost four years? Conversations exist mostly in her mind—and when she’s really annoyed, aloud—in a pretend dialogue with an absentee man. In reality, these conversations are monologues, long letters sent back and forth across the globe. Delayed worries and emotions so stale that by the time they get a response, Eliza’s concerns have moved on to something else entirely. In a letter, Henry will present a solution to a problem three months old—the leak in the roof Eliza has since gotten fixed, the seasonal cold that one of their twin daughters Mattie has recovered from—and think he is being helpful! And so Eliza thanks her husband of twenty years for his thoughtful ideas and lets him believe anything he says from the Pacific Ocean is meaningful to her everyday existence. Then she tells him what she really thinks from her kitchen. Alone.

The letter from Henry she receives this morning, by way of a sailor passing through to Nova Scotia, is one such missive. On folded parchment, in his slanting script, Henry informs Eliza of his new plans. She reads the line aloud to herself, imagining Henry’s deep baritone filling their home. “Although I promised to be back on Nantucket this summer, my love, this trip has been delayed due to unforeseen complications,” his letter says.

Eliza is trying to enjoy a cup of tea, while sitting at the small table tucked under the windows in a corner of their bright kitchen. The tea tastes bland and watery, for she is trying to conserve sugar. And tea leaves. She reaches to the wooden shelf on the wall beside her, locating the dark glass bottle of laudanum, and adds a dash or two of the powder into her china cup. She closes her eyes and holds the bitter liquid in her mouth for a second to let it cool before swallowing. There. The hot tea is surprisingly refreshing as she gulps it down, one quick sip after another, knowing the medicine will do the trick and ease whatever ails her. Nerves. Loneliness. Headache. Heartburn. Three to four times a day, the dosage on the vial suggests. Better to take more than less, to ensure effectiveness. It’s readily available on the island, so Eliza can always get more at the apothecary when she runs out.

She reads the letter again.

“What unforeseen complications, Henry? Please do tell!”

Henry doesn’t specify, leaving her confused. What else is there possibly to do at sea but catch and kill whales, dismantle them by means of stinking, gory masculinity, and turn the massive mammals into profits? Isn’t that what the captain of a whaling ship does, for goodness’ sake? Grow his whiskers long and bark at his crew and risk life and limb in pursuit of oil?

He says only that he’s reached the port of New Orleans and not to worry.

A puzzle. Apart from the obvious annoyances this letter implies—that she and her children, who haven’t seen Henry for forty-plus months, will have to wait even longer for his presence—is the practical impact that delayed return will have. For Eliza Macy, on dry land, is out of household money. And, until Henry’s ship comes in, weighed down with its hundreds of barrels of oil, albeit liquid gold (God willing!), no more money is to be found. She has gotten used to trading candles for goods and services, but now she is even running low on them.

Eliza takes a break from her worries by calling out to her twins, getting ready for the day in their bedroom above the kitchen. “Girls! Breakfast! School!”

“Five more minutes, Mother!” one daughter calls down the stairs.

“Where is my satin hair ribbon?” the other yell-asks.

Sixteen-year-old identical twin girls. Eliza goes to the front hall where the acoustics are better for shouting, and aims her voice up the grand staircase. “Girls, you know I cannot tell your voices apart unless you are standing before me. I found a hair ribbon on the floor last night, but couldn’t see the color. It’s on my nightstand.”

Footfalls above. Then, “I don’t see it. Let’s just go to Jones’s Mercantile after school and buy new bows.” It’s Rachel. The girl peeks her head through the spindles in the banister.

“Oooo, that’s a lovely idea!” Mattie says, right beside her sister. “And then we can shop for summer dresses. Maybe something new for our upcoming birthday?”

“Maybe,” Eliza concedes. Although she knows there’s no way they’ll be doing that. She must keep her entitled daughters away from the mercantile! As the girls finish getting ready upstairs, Eliza heads into the kitchen to avoid hearing them. With a small knife, Eliza cuts an apple into very thin slices and divides them onto two china plates with a slice of buttered bread.

Until Henry’s ship comes in, their wealth is all theoretical, their profits floating in wooden barrels at sea. Eliza has no money on hand with which to pay for flour or cornmeal or music lessons. No coins for bolts of silk and wool to make party dresses for their sixteen-year-old twin daughters about to enter society. Just ink and a quill to write Henry’s name on a black line in a leather-bound book at the dry goods store and the doctor’s office, to record what the Macys owe and what they will pay back when his ship the Ithaca returns.

But when will the Ithaca return?

The rant that follows is also one-sided, as Eliza paces the kitchen alone, letter in hand, responding to Henry, her frustration causing her to speak much louder than she should. Keep your voice down, Eliza, she scolds herself, a reminder that Rachel and Mattie are probably listening in from the grand staircase in the hall.

Eliza takes a last sip of tea, her arms tingling with vague numbness caused by the powder she’s added, as her mind fills with a pleasant fog. She pops the apple core into her mouth and chews. The twin girls enter the kitchen, both starving, not understanding why they can’t have eggs and hash and corn fritters for their breakfast. After all, they have to walk to school, and they can’t very well learn while their stomachs grumble, can they? Eliza does her best to appease their appetites while not arousing their suspicion that something might be amiss.

But one quick glance between the twins—with identical pale blue eyes like their father’s—is all it takes for Eliza to know that they are alert to her every move. It’s probably too late for her to continue pretending all is fine when it isn’t. But keeping the girls calm and happy while their father is Lord Knows Where with a harpoon in his grasp has been her job for their entire lives, and she’s not about to shirk her responsibilities now. Better her girls be left in quiet darkness than to deal with the harsh light of day, that’s Eliza’s parenting motto. There’s only so much a girl needs to know.

And so Eliza lies. “I’m just so busy with house chores, I haven’t had a moment to get to the grocer. You’ll help me later with the last of the housework after school, won’t you? Then maybe we can talk about the mercantile for another day.”

The girls roll their eyes but nod that yes, they will. Then up and out they go. How Eliza has managed to raise such idle creatures, she’ll never know. At least Alice, the oldest of the three Macy daughters, has some ambition. But then again, Alice isn’t actually hers. She is Henry’s daughter with his first wife.

Eliza gathers together items for a package she’s been planning to send to Henry, adding a new note to the parcel. She tries to be measured in her response, although the point of her quill scratches through the parchment twice. She is frustrated by the miles and miles of time, oceans of time, between his words and her retort.

Eliza then spends the rest of the morning alone, washing dishes, changing and cleaning bed linens, dusting the wooden staircase, darning old stockings, and polishing the silver set that belonged to Henry’s mother in anticipation of having to sell it. It used to sit atop a beautiful mahogany sideboard, but Eliza sold that piece six months ago for cash to run the house. Now she keeps the silver in a cupboard. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. That way, when she sells it soon, she won’t miss it.

A sparse and unfulfilling lunch follows, stale brown bread with thin jam in the silence of her now clean kitchen. In these moments she misses her former housekeeper, Mrs. Charles, terribly. For her elbow grease, certainly, but even more so for the pleasant conversation. Eliza reads Henry’s letter again over a second cup of tea. Then she sees clearly what she must do next, in response to Henry’s delay. She has no choice.

Excerpted from Daughters of Nantucket. Copyright © 2023 by Julie Gerstenblatt. Published by MIRA Books.

About the author:

Julie Gerstenblatt holds a doctorate in education in Curriculum and Instruction from Teachers College, Columbia University. Her essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, Grown & Flown, and Cognoscenti, among others. When not writing, Julie is a college essay coach, as well as a producer and on-air host for A Mighty Blaze. A native New Yorker, Julie now lives in coastal Rhode Island with her family and one very smart shichon poo. Daughters of Nantucket is her first novel.

Author Website / Facebook / Instagram

**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.**

Revenge is Sweet
Felice Stevens
Publication date: March 6th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

What do you do when your best friend runs off with your fiancée on your wedding day?

If you’re me, Lyon Elliot, you don’t get mad.

You get even.

Which means seducing my ex–best friend’s younger brother, Miles Halloran.

The quiet one.

The man I’ve known all my life but never paid attention to.

The one I was told to stay away from because he’s way too nice for someone like me. Maybe they’re right.

But see, this is where it gets a little more complicated.

Because the more time I spend with Miles, the more I like him.

Want him.

Now I need him and his sweet smiles in my life.

If this is still a game I’m playing…who’s fooling whom?

From Lambda-Literary award winning author, Felice Stevens comes a story of finding the love you never dreamed possible, from the person who was right in front of you your whole life…but never noticed.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

“I thought I told you to go away,” I grumbled.

“I’m hungry.” Miles chuckled.

I snorted but turned around to see him leaning that long body next to me, amusement brightening his eyes.

“You invited me to dinner, and I didn’t eat lunch in anticipation of a delicious meal.”

“You heard Uncle Harry. He’s right, you know. You should be long gone by now.”

“I did hear him. I know he loves you and knows you better than almost anyone. And it’s nothing I didn’t already know and say to myself as I was contemplating canceling meeting you tonight.” He folded his arms. “But I also heard you this week. I know you loved Dan and how badly he hurt you. And maybe you didn’t have that swoony type of love for Lindsey, but you knew her a long time. I’m sure you cared for her, and you were friends. It’s like losing a

piece of yourself when you’re blindsided by someone you’ve known and cared about for so long.” He blinked rapidly, his eyes shiny and the brightest blue I’d ever seen.

Was he crying? For me? That rocked me to the core. No one had ever shed a tear over my feelings. Scott, much as he cared, while angry over Dan’s cowardice, was pragmatic and matter-of-fact about the broken engagement. Even Uncle Harry, who I knew loved me, was easily able to put that aside and count my faults out one by one like jelly beans. Only Miles seemed to understand how broken and lost Dan’s behavior had left me. He took it to his own heart and felt my pain.

And somehow, despite my outburst, my plan hadn’t gone awry. It wouldn’t take much to get Miles in my bed, and I grew hard, imagining what I could do to him. How I would wreck him for anyone else. I brushed at my lashes, surprised to find them wet. Damn, I was a better actor than I thought.

“It’s so hard. Thank you for understanding. I don’t like how angry this has left me.”

“I believe you. And I didn’t want to leave you, knowing how alone you must feel right now.” He hung his head. “I-I know what it’s like to be used.”

His words cut through my dirty fantasy of having him naked in my bed. Curious, I tipped up his chin. “What happened?”

He pushed away from my touch. “It doesn’t matter. It was in college. A long time ago.”

My lips thinned. “My parents fucked Scott and me over left and right while we were kids. If it’s Tuesday, it must be home with Mother. If it’s Saturday, it’s time to be with Father. Oh, wait. He didn’t show. Back to Mother’s, but she’d already gone away with her new husband, so off to Uncle Harry’s we go. It was long ago, and yet I still think about coming home to find it empty, no one there, not even the housekeeper.”

It struck me then that all my life, the people who should’ve stayed had left me. Over and over again.

And Dan’s leaving me was the hardest to take of all.

“That must’ve been hard on you and Scott.”

Sympathetic big blue eyes met mine, and I wanted to kiss him. Not because of any plan of revenge or to make him fall for me. I wanted to kiss him because he was sweet and caring and understanding.

He was Miles, and I wanted to kiss him, but I shocked myself by not following through because it didn’t feel like it would be right for him. I wanted him to want me.

Steadier now, I managed to insert the key and open the door. “About that dinner. They can send it here. If you still want to eat with me.”

His smile transformed the sadness in his face into shy happiness. I guessed it was a rare occurrence because in all the years I’d known Miles, I’d never seen it. It beamed from him like a torch lighting the darkness. And I liked it.

“Yes. I do.”

“Good. Come on in.”

He gazed around my spacious office that had a large sectional couch, a big flat-screen television, and a dining table in the far corner. It was set up like a studio apartment, and there were many late nights before the wedding when I’d fallen asleep on the couch.

“So is this what people mean when they say they’re entering the lion’s den?” Miles joked. “Should I be afraid?”

I grinned. “I guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

 

Author Bio:

Felice Stevens has always been a romantic at heart. She believes that while life is tough, there is always a happy ending around the corner. Her characters have to work for it, because just like life in NYC, nothing comes easy and that includes love.

Felice is the 2020 Lambda Literary Award winning author in best Gay Romance. She lives in New York City and has way too much black in her wardrobe. If she’s not writing, you’ll probably find her watching reality TV or procrastinating on FB in her reader group, Felice’s Breakfast Club.

 

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Pinterest / Amazon

 

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One Bossy Offer
Nicole Snow
Publication date: March 10th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

Inheriting a bad-tempered boss brings the sweetest insanity in this roaring funny and shamelessly steamy grumpy-sunshine romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Nicole Snow.

Grandma left me the life of my dreams with one ginormous catch.

Miles flipping Cromwell.

Workaholic king of grumps. Control freak. Older billionaire next door.

We didn’t exactly hit it off when he showed up with an offer to buy my land and my hyperactive dogs yanked my robe open right in front of him.

I wish running him off my porch totally mortified was the worst part.

But re-opening Washington’s cutest inn gets crazy expensive.

When Seattle’s hottest crankyface bachelor comes knocking again, he has me cornered.

This time with a high-paid job offer I can’t refuse.

I thought I was strong.

I thought I could force a smile, work, and laugh off his rude demands.

I thought I could ignore his obscenely good looks, his innuendo, his incendiary glares.

Never once did I think he’d ambush me on a date with another man and take my soul with one jealous kiss.

He’s a walking contradiction.

Hating him is easy.

But falling recklessly in love with Miles and his heart-wrenching secrets?

Oh, God.

Will his final offer claim my heart or demolish me?

A breath-stealing enemies-to-lovers epic! Feel your heart soar when a scowling suit remembers how to be human again as he goes all-in for the woman who stands her ground and two adorable big dogs.

 

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

“But I have to say, you’re scaring me, Cromwell.”

I cock my head, searching her eyes.

“You’re making me think you might have a heart bigger than a raisin.”

I raise a brow. “Why would you say that? We were doing so well.”

“Because you’re still a liar. You obviously loved Gram’s cheesecake. Why can’t you just admit it?”

“Benson. Not me,” I bite off, turning away as my face heats behind my shadow of a beard.

“I’m grateful for the heart-to-heart. Really. But all of this could have waited until tomorrow. You didn’t have to drag yourself over here so late,” she says.

“The hell I didn’t.” The conviction in my voice surprises me. “I’m just glad I got here before Ace started working on your wiring.”

I know I’m risking her throwing me out.

I don’t care.

When her eyes soften, I’m surprised. She scrapes her teeth against her bottom lip and moves closer. “And what if he does?”

Her chin tilts up.

Her face is already red as it comes as close to mine as it was on my boat that night I should have taken her lip with my teeth.

I missed my chance once.

Never again.

Before I can ground myself, I grab her and throw her against the wall.

My lips chase hers like a hunter.

My tongue flicks against her soft lips ravenously, forcing her mouth open.

I don’t have to try hard.

She melts like her grandmother’s honey, all willing sweetness.

Fuck, I’ve never tasted anything so sweet.

And if I could ignore the hurt in my cock, the braising sting to take more, to take everything, I might never come up for air.

I’m sure she’s caught in the same delicious pain.

Her arms curl around my neck, pleading for more.

I kiss her until I can’t, tearing myself away with a scorched breath.

“Tell Ace to fuck off, kitten. No one—no one but me—ever touches you.”

Every word makes me more delirious.

I don’t recognize who or what the fuck I am saying this, spouting jealous demands I’ve never made to any other woman.

But her eyes burn back into mine, green witchfire enchanting my soul.

She nods, her nails dragging through my hair, urging my mouth back to hers.

This time, it’s incandescent, a slow burn with a building hunger.

Her tongue explores mine, and I meet her urgency, groaning into her mouth, filling her with the voice of my need because I can’t fill her with anything else.

Not fucking yet.

 

Author Bio:

Nicole Snow is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author. She found her love of writing by hashing out love scenes on lunch breaks and plotting her great escape from boardrooms. Her work roared onto the indie romance scene in 2014 with her Grizzlies MC series.

Since then Snow aims for the very best in growly, heart-of-gold alpha heroes, unbelievable suspense, and swoon storms aplenty. With over a million books sold, she lives for the joy of making two people fight with every bit of their soul for a Happily Ever After.

Current fan favorites include her Enguard Protectors series, accidental love novels, plus long beloved MC romance thrillers like the Grizzlies and Deadly Pistols.

 

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub

 

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Well it’s another week of not sticking to my goal number. The good news this week is I didn’t absolutely destroy my limit and only missed sticking to it by one book making ten new books to share with everyone this week. 😄

As always clicking the covers will take you to the book on Amazon!**

New additions from Netgalley Mar 5th – Mar 12th

For fans of Debbie Macomber and Susan Wiggs, an emotional story of starting over and reclaiming happiness.

When Meredith Collins was a child, the little beach town of Cape Sanctuary lived up to its name. Spending summers there with her grandmother, Meredith finally felt safe and loved.

Now she’s returning in disgrace. Her late ex-husband swindled investors out of millions of dollars and made Meredith a figure of scorn—though she knew nothing about his scheme. But she still has the beach cottage she inherited from her grandmother and half ownership of the local café. It’s a place to work and earn a little money. That’s if her cousin, Tori, will let her through the door. Once, Tori and Meredith were as close as sisters—until Meredith chose her neglectful parents’ expectations over their bond. Now widowed with a teenage daughter, Tori isn’t setting out a welcome mat for the woman who let her down so badly.

While Meredith tries to make a fresh start, she is drawn to a mysterious writer renting the cottage next door. Liam Byrne’s kindness is a balm, though she worries he might not be so friendly if he knew who she was. But Liam has his own secret and a mission that will help Meredith confront her past—and maybe, claim a surprising future…

Welcome to Sunshine Bay, where the joys of summer last all year round.  
Lila Rosetti Sinclair returns to Sunshine Bay a bundle of nerves. After being gone for years, sharing the news that she’s engaged—to a man her mother has never met—is going to be difficult to navigate. But when her fiancé David surprises her with an engagement party at Windemere, the upscale inn his parents recently purchased and that just may put her family’s restaurant, La Dolce Vita, out of business, Lila’s got a whole new set of problems.
     Eva Rosetti is so ecstatic to finally have her daughter home that she pushes aside her misgivings about having to come face-to-face with Lila’s father again. That is until he sweeps into town and feelings Eva thought far behind her resurface….
     With a family business to save and a wedding to plan, Eva and Lila’s reunion is more than either bargained for, but with a little luck and a whole lot of support from friends and family, it may just turn out to be the best summer of their lives.

On a weekend voyage, the power-hungry children of an aging billionaire are unprepared for a storm of deceptions in a novel about ruthless family ambition by USA Today bestselling author Kaira Rouda.

You are cordially invited to an overnight voyage on the Splendid Seas.

An invitation to Catalina Island from billionaire CEO Richard Kingsley. For his sons, Ted and John, and their wives, it’s an opportunity to curry favor, gain control of a real estate empire, and secure their family’s futures. For the controlling patriarch, succession is a contest. He and his newest wife won’t make it an easy win.

Then Richard’s estranged live-wire daughter, Sibley, crashes the party. She’s the least of the night’s surprises. As the stakes for the inheritance of the Kingsley legacy are raised, the beautiful waters of the Pacific look more like a menacing illusion.

Let the games begin for a family who has everything money can buy, and has used lies, deception, and more to keep it. This weekend one of them will be crowned heir. One is in line to lose everything. That’s the plan. But in the coming storm, so much can go dangerously wrong.

A tragic accident or something more sinister? A woman’s buried memories put her life at risk in a novel of shattering psychological suspense by New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.

Lane McCord wakes up in a hospital having survived a near-fatal fall at a North Carolina beach cottage. Her boyfriend, Kyle, wasn’t so lucky. A senseless tragedy on their first romantic getaway. All Lane remembers is lying at the bottom of the stairs in Kyle’s pooling blood.

Confused and grieving, Lane plans to return to the cottage, collect her personal belongings, and get out. Until a winter rainstorm leaves her stranded and vulnerable, but not alone. A concerned neighbor, who claims he heard a violent argument before the accident, has come out of the storm. So has a suspicious detective on the trail of a missing woman, whose diary deepens the mystery—and raises more questions that fill Lane with dread.

How well did she know Kyle? How well does she know herself? What really happened at the cottage on the beach? And when the answers come, who can Lane trust to get out of this waking nightmare alive?

From Catriona Ward, author of The Last House on Needless Street, comes another mind-bending and cleverly crafted tale about the stories that shape us, and how easily they can escape us.

In a cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of a sun-drenched summer of his youth and of the killer that stalked the small New England town. Of the terrible tragedy that forever bonded him with his friends Nat and Harper in unknowable ways. Of a horror that has followed them over the years.

Wilder has returned to the town decades later in an attempt to recount that summer’s events in his memoirs. But as he writes, Wilder begins to fear his grip on the truth is fading, and events in the manuscript start to chime eerily with the present. He’s even started seeing a dark-haired woman down in the icy waters below the cottage, but nobody else can.

No longer able to trust his own eyes, Wilder begins to fear that this will not only be his last book, but the last thing he ever does…

The latest installment in Darci Hannah’s delicious Beacon Bakeshop Mystery series set in small-town Beacon Harbor, Michigan, featuring a baker heroine who lives in the local lighthouse with her beloved Newfoundland dog, Wellington.

Lindsey prefers to keep her bakeshop’s Halloween decor light and autumnal, rather than gruesome and ghoulish. But everyone knows her lighthouse home is haunted. Some intrepid teens have even tried to break in to witness the resident ghost themselves. Dreading Halloween night, Lindsey reluctantly allows her influencer and podcaster best friend, Kennedy, to host a live ghost hunting investigation in the lighthouse, conducted by a professional team. Protective of her ghost, Lyndsey is understandably nervous about what they might uncover . . .

The segment is uneventful—until things take a terrifying turn. The team freaks out. As Kennedy joins the mad dash outside, she bumps into what looks like the prankster teens’ creepy clown costume hanging from a tree. But when Lindsey’s dog, Wellington, begins to whine, they make a grim discovery: the clown is no dummy. It’s a corpse.

Now Lindsey and company will need to keep their cool if they want a ghost of a chance to solve the murder—and see another Halloween . . . 

Katie Collins has barely ever left her tiny Irish village of Ennisbawn. Why would she? With its tightknit community, friendly local pub, surrounded by glistening lakes and perfectly mysterious forests, it’s a place of peaceful beauty.

Or it was peaceful. Until Callum Dempsey turned up. Part of a hot-shot (and, Katie has to admit, hot is annoyingly apt for him…) development team with zero eye for beauty or charm, he’s not only building a hideous hotel just outside the village, he’s also just announced a plan to knock down Ennisbawn’s only remaining pub. To make way for a view from the golf course.

It’s the final blow to the village and the last straw for Katie, who refuses to let her home-from-home disappear. The pub is her life – her job, but also her last connection to her parents, who had met at Ennisbawn’s once-famous matchmaking festival that was held in the grounds.

But, after being laughed off the building site in her best flannel pyjamas for demanding the builders leave, Katie decides enough is enough and hatches a plan. She’s going to revive the matchmaking festival, save the pub, and single-handedly bring the town back to life again.

She might even help her two best friends find love as well. Since, heck, what’s another project when you’re taking on the world’s hottest, evilest man?

But what Ireland’s newest matchmaker doesn’t know is that even when someone’s really not your type on paper, love might be a little bit more than just a formula…

A gorgeously escapist and utterly hilarious small town romcom perfect for fans of Emily Henry, Sophie Kinsella and Christina Lauren.

People come to the guest house for fresh air and views across the Atlantic. But if they’re lucky, they might just leave with the second chance they didn’t know they needed…

Esme has run the guest house for as long as anyone in Ballycove can remember. But in her declining years, her sight is failing, and when she has a fall on the eve of the summer season, she is forced to take a back seat for the first time in her life.

From her chair in the entry hall, not much passes Esme by. There’s Cora, the wife visiting indefinitely… without her husband; Niamh, the city professional with a life-changing decision to make; and Phyllie, the grandmother whose family is slipping away from her.

Esme’s guests provide the colour that helps her keep her grip on the world. All of them have something they want to escape – or to hold on to. But can Esme help them find their way before the summer is over?

From bestselling Irish writer Faith Hogan comes a new, uplifting story about discovering love, friendship and the healing power of the Irish sea air. It will charm fans of Sheila O’Flanagan, Heidi Swain and Susanne O’Leary.

Three friends set sail on a luxury cruise… will they be able to catch a husband on the open seas?

Leaving behind the heartache, guilt and disappointment of their real lives, three friends decide that now they’re in their sixties, it’s time they finally did something for themselves!

Swapping Christmas turkeys and BBC reruns for crystal waters, white sandy beaches and smooth golden rum, Anne, Jane and Kath throw caution (and tradition) to the wind as they set sail on a luxury two-week Christmas cruise around the Caribbean.

Will the three friends find the comfort and joy they seek aboard the Diamond Star?

Step into gorgeous Indigo Cove on the stunning Cornish coast and be swept off your feet with this totally gripping summer romance about reuniting with your first crush. Perfect for fans of Nicola May, Sarah Morgan and Cathy Bramley.

Thirty-year-old Jessie is broken-hearted after being jilted just before reaching the altar. Humiliated and certain she will never trust anyone again, she runs away to Indigo Cove, the little seaside village on the Cornish coast where she spent so many childhood summers, to bury her head in the sand. Except, on her first night, fate has other ideas and Jessie finds herself face to face with tall and brooding Ashton, the first guy she ever loved.

Determined to protect her fragile emotions, Jessie swears not to get distracted by Ashton’s sea-glass eyes or the way being near him makes her heart hammer against her chest. Instead, she throws herself into the busy community around the little Cornish café by the sea. As she helps her elderly grandfather prepare for the puzzle championships at the beach café, Jessie’s faith in the world is restored as she is welcomed by the quirky locals.

Exploring the beautiful coastline with Ashton, Jessie rediscovers her love of photography. Taking beautiful photos of golden sunsets, picnics on the beach and delicious cakes at the café gives Jessie a new spark for life. With the summer at its peak, Jessie allows herself to grow closer to sexy and mysterious Ashton…

But when she discovers a secret from Ashton’s past, Jessie is left shaken. How much does she really know about him, and can she take a leap of faith and trust Ashton when he asks her to?

Will Jessie’s summer at the beach café in Indigo Cove be the biggest mistake of her life or will it turn out to be the fresh start she needs?

**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.**

Broken Crowns
Empress Chang
(Kingdom of Lies & Truths, #1)
Publication date: March 9th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Mafia, Romance

Leandro was supposed to protect me. He failed me, covered me in blood and broke my innocence.

Leandro was to love me, but in the end, I knew we had no future.

So, I made a decision, and it has been five years since I last saw him. Now he stands before me, not only as my husband but as my Don.

My decision freed me but destroyed the Leandro I knew. This Leandro was covered by darkness and cruelty, and I was drawn to him like a bee to honey.

The more I get to know the man, the more it makes me question everything I know to be right and wrong.

But he is still the boy I knew and even though I needed him to love me, how long before I fall to the unmerciful side of Leandro Scavo, and truly love him?

*Broken Crowns is the first book in the Kingdom of Lies & Truths series and can be read as a standalone. It is a Dark new adult mafia romance that includes scenes that may be disturbing to some. (Mention of human trafficking, discussions of child abuse, graphic murder & torture scenes, strong sexual scenes, strong adult language and talks of blood). Recommended for readers 18+.

 

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EXCERPT:

I gave a soft snicker as we stared each other down. Her eyes blinked with humor. She would not make it easy to get answers. “Why did you leave?”

“I thought that reason would be obvious to you.” She took in every inch of the house, as if avoiding looking at me, then her gaze fell on the balcony as if she could see right through it . . . at someone or something out there. Waiting. Watching. Her eyes lingered there as she said, “I told you back in Florida that I lost my innocence and you that night. I was scared every time I was alone. Every sound had me jumping. The sight of a small cut on my hand along with the blood that beaded gave me panic attacks.”

“I just never got comfortable with blood the way you obviously have. I didn’t want to. I didn’t want the guns around, the men, the knowledge of knowing anyone I married in this life could easily be taken from me in some turf war. That I could be used again to get to the man I would end up marrying one day.”

I waited patiently as she zeroed in on me. “You brought me back to the worst part of my life, and I’m alone in it because my best friend and cousin fear you, while my parents hate me.”

Hearing a tremble in her voice and tears running down her cheek, I took her hand and guided her out of her seat to sit into my lap. She circled her arms around my neck and cried over my shoulders. “They don’t hate you. You hate me. You think your parents could ever feel what you feel toward me?” She shook her head. “Then stop saying that. Give Federico time and the doors of the estate will open to you again.”

Sniffling, her arms tightened around me. “But Faye and Eden . . . they’ll never welcome me again. I’m married to you . . .”

She whispered that last part, but all I could hear was her scheming ways to get me to absolve the girls of their role in her lie.

Unsure if I was more amused by it or annoyed, I threaded my fingers through her hair—pulling just hard enough to get a whimper from her—and forced her to meet my eyes.

“Then it’s a good thing you have me for company.” Sighing in defeat, Emilia loosened her arms around my neck, and before she could stand from my lap, I gripped her hips and kept her there. “Keep patronizing me, Emilia. You haven’t met Leandro the unmerciful yet.”

“I have a good idea who he is . . .” Raising her hand to my face, she sketched my forehead to my temple and over my cheeks and nose. Her right hand brushed my midnight shadow before slowly sliding over my parted lips. “He’ll take what’s his by right. He told me that two nights ago.”

The soft undertone of her voice was entrancing. Her delicate touch aroused me, but her condescending words burned me. “You are testing my affection for you,” I said, cupping her cheek with the hand I freed from her hair. My thumb mimicked her fingers, and when I brushed her smiling lips, she opened them and flicked her tongue against the tip.

“Affection. Is that what you call it now?” she murmured, and I pushed my thumb into her warm mouth and exhaled when my dick pressed against my zipper and her ass. “Mmm.”

 

Author Bio:

Writing under the pen name Empress Chang, she is referred to as an overly dramatic, outgoing yet shy individual by her friends and family. Half Chinese Jamaican, Chang was born and raised in Jamaica. She then migrated to the United States of America, three years ago where she is still scared of driving on the other side of the road!

Writing stories about her dogs and princesses at a young age, Chang discovered romance books in high school and started writing her own believing that romantic happy ever after’s are necessary for a healthy and happy life.

She is a huge believer in the simple things in life, and her life’s main goal is to be happy. This includes sunny beaches and junk food (of course)!

When Chang is not writing, she is usually reading, watching a series that has hooked her attention and demands to be binged, or is spending time with her supportive, loving husband.

 

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