Thirty Grains of Love by Anette Rosen blitz with giveaway
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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.
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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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If You Were Mine by A. S. Kelly 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.**
If You Were Mine
A.S. Kelly
Publication date: October 14th 2026
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
Levi Anderson has never felt more alone. Since saying goodbye to his husband, he has drifted between long shifts at the hospital and quiet, empty hours in his apartment, surrounded by boxes he can’t bring himself to unpack. He refuses to face the pain — or imagine a life without him.
Shay Miller has never been more furious. In one devastating moment, he lost the man he loved, his job, and the home they shared. He’s barely holding himself together. He’s tried to start over, but deep down, he knows he can’t move on until he lets go of the past — and stops hurting himself.
When fate brings Levi and Shay together, they immediately see how different they are and can’t imagine ever being drawn to one another. Levi is still learning how to live again, while Shay is learning how to forgive.
Yet, with this stranger who’s appeared out of nowhere, Levi slowly begins to open up and trust again. And with this man, terrified of letting himself go, Shay starts to long for someone he can protect and love.
For the first time, the future feels possible for both of them. But Levi doesn’t know Shay has lied about who he is — or that he’s hiding a secret capable of destroying everything, leaving Levi to hate the man he loves for the rest of his life.
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EXCERPT:
After about half an hour, I’m standing outside the cafeteria, peering through the window to make sure he’s really inside, waiting for me. But when I see him, sitting at one of the tables, intent on reading the newspaper, the urge to turn around and run away almost gets the better of the strange, inexplicable desire to sit at that table with him.
He lifts his head from the newspaper and scans the room. Then his eyes land on me, watching him from the other side of the glass, as if he suddenly realises someone is there.
I wave at him like an idiot, take a deep breath, walk to the cafeteria door, pluck up courage, and push it open. I cross the space between us with his eyes still on me, and join him at the table.
He folds the newspaper and sets it aside the moment my hand touches the back of the chair in front of him.
“You didn’t get anything.”
“I was waiting for you.”
I grip the back of the chair without thinking.
“Do you want to…?” He points to the same chair.
I’d like to, yes. To sit here with you. To talk, maybe even smile at you, to understand who you are and why you keep appearing in my life when I least expect anything to happen. And I wish I didn’t feel guilty towards those who are no longer here, just for thinking and wanting all these things.
“Everything okay?” he asks, after realising I’ve been standing in front of him, just staring.
“I don’t know,” I say honestly.
“And do you maybe want to find out?”
“I don’t know that either.”
He nods slowly, as if turning my words over in his mind.
“All I know is that I want to sit down.”
He sketches a half smile.
“With you.” I don’t know if I’m still breathing as I say it. “I want to sit here with you.”
Author Bio:
A. S. Kelly was born in Italy and now lives in Dublin, Ireland, with her husband, two children, two cats, and many plants.
She worked as a literary translator for several years before she began writing full-time. Today, her books are available in English, Italian, and Spanish.
A. S. Kelly writes emotional, heartfelt romantic fiction. Her most popular series are The O’Connor Brothers and From Connemara with Love.
She enjoys yoga, running, and swimming. She also loves gardening, photography, and reading mystery and crime novels.
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Skip Carter: Henchman for Hire by J. Von Swan 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.**
Skip Carter: Henchman for Hire
J. Von Swan
Publication date: October 13th 2026
Genres: Action, Adult, Humor
From the award-winning author of the Wolf of Vanaheim series comes a story about the guy nobody roots for — until now.
Skip Carter isn’t a hero. He’s a former soldier, ex-con, and lifelong screw-up whose only real talent is taking punches and showing up anyway. So when a shady agency offers to rent him out as muscle for supervillains, he figures it’s just another paycheck.
But between ridiculous costumes, insane bosses, and jobs that always end in broken bones, Skip starts to realize the real losers are the guys stuck cleaning up after the chaos. And when a world-ending threat finally hits Skytropolis, he gets one shot to stop being the disposable henchman and start being the man his daughter believes he can be.
Darkly funny, surprisingly heartfelt, and packed with action, Skip Carter, Henchman for Hire is for anyone who’s ever felt like the sidekick in their own story.
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EXCERPT:
Mrs. Fuller glanced down her list. “Okay! Next we have… Mr. Carter.”
Peggy turned around in her chair and locked eyes with me. Her smile wasn’t just excitement. It was encouragement. A silent You can do this.
My chest tightened as I stood, smoothing the front of my suit jacket with sweaty hands. The room stared at me with pure, unfiltered child curiosity. No judgment yet. Just curious attention like they were hoping I might be someone I’m not.
I walked to the front of the classroom, facing a row of small faces that believed adults were all responsible, stable people with their shit together. And I realized, with sudden clarity, that I had no idea what to say.
I opened my mouth but nothing came out.
Awkward, uncomfortable silence stretched. The kind that crawls across your skin and whispers everyone is watching you screw this up.
I cleared my throat and glanced at Dr. Ramirez. He studied me like he was trying to place how he knew me from his emergency room.
“Uh. Hi, kids.”
A few of them waved like I was a minor celebrity. Someone whispered something and giggled.
“My name is Skip Carter. I’m Peggy’s dad.”
Peggy sat up straighter at that. Pride radiated off her like a heat lamp.
“I, uh… I used to be in the military.” That part was safe and true. Technically documented despite the dishonorable discharge. “And now I work in… private security.”
That sounded boring enough to pass. Mrs. Fuller nodded approvingly.
Jayden, the dog lover, raised his hand immediately. “Do you protect people?”
Every instinct screamed at me to lie. To say yes. To let that be the end of it. Protecting people was clean. Simple. Noble.
Instead, honesty slipped out like a bad habit.
“Not really,” I said.
Jayden frowned with confusion. “So then what do you do?”
I choked a little. “I… help make sure certain situations go the way they’re supposed to.”
That felt vague enough to dodge the truth while still being technically accurate. I had spent years perfecting that skill.
A girl with neat, black braids and a pink sweater raised her hand. “Do you stop bad guys?”
“No,” I said, and immediately regretted it. “I mean, sometimes other people stop them.”
She also frowned like I’d just told her Santa wasn’t real.
Another hand shot up. “Do you stop burglars from stealing stuff?”
I shook my head. “No.”
The kids started exchanging confused looks. The magic was leaking out of the room.
From the back, a voice cut through the air. “My mom says he’s a henchman.”
Some of the kids immediately giggled.
I looked toward the sound. It was Billy from next door. He was wearing a Captain Justice T-shirt and a smug expression. The kind of kid who repeated adult conversations without understanding why they hurt.
Peggy whipped around in her seat. “Shut up, Billy!”
Mrs. Fuller stepped forward. “Billy, that’s not appropriate–”
Billy wasn’t done. “She says henchmen work for supervillains and help them hurt people.”
Every pair of eyes swung back to me.
I felt heat crawl up my neck, into my face. The suit suddenly felt too tight.
Peggy stood up in her seat. “My dad knows all the superheroes!”
That part was technically true. Unfortunately.
Billy smirked. “Then does he know Captain Justice?”
I exhaled slowly. “Yeah,” I said. “I know Captain Justice.”
Billy’s eyes lit up. “Is he awesome in real life?”
I thought about Captain Justice and all the times he had knocked out my friends. About him swooping in to stop us even when the jobs were small. About the time he punched a henchman who was injured and trying to surrender.
“He’s kind of a blowhard,” I said.
Author Bio:
J. Von Swan is the award-winning author of the Wolf of Vanaheim series. He retired from law enforcement as a Sergeant in 2024 after the birth of his first daughter. During his career, he served on both the SWAT team and the mental health unit, experiences that now influence his writing and dark sense of humor. He now writes full-time and instructs law enforcement part-time at the community college.
J. Von Swan lives in Colorado with his family, where he spends his time enjoying the outdoors and imagining dragons that still need slaying.
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Skip Carter: Henchman for Hire Blitz
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After the Fall by Wendy Roberts 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.**
After the Fall
Wendy Roberts
Publication date: October 9th 2026
Genres: Adult, Thriller
“This is an excellent read for those who want true psychological crime built around family secrets. Very highly recommended.”
Asher Syed for Readers’ Favorite
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Amber clings to the wreckage of a shattered life; a hermit drowning in the ghosts of what used to be.
When someone dumps a mutilated body on her wilderness property, a cryptic clue makes her the prime suspect. To clear her name, she must confront the dark secrets of her tragic past while a shadowy executioner is closing in.
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EXCERPT:
When the blade of death whittled my family of three down to only me, I ran. Grief had scraped me empty, so fourteen months ago I fled to a shack in the northeastern Washington wilderness. I was seeking sanctuary and hoping the pines would mend my shattered soul. Maybe that was too much to expect of the trees. At least they didn’t judge the monument to my failure; a recycling bin overflowing with wine bottles.
The morning light struggled through my grimy windows and poked at my hangover. I took my coffee mug outside and stood on the splintered porch of the small cabin. The air was deceptively still and heavy, carrying the sharp scent of sunbaked pine needles and the silent, shimmering threat of an approaching scorcher of a day. My cabin sat at the dusty elbow of two dirt roads. Between my door and the ditch was half an acre of thigh-high, dewless grass that stood stiff and dry alongside leggy wildflowers and a single tree.
The western hemlock tried for the heavens at nearly two hundred feet, and it was the area under the tree that drew my critical gaze. A woman sat in the tall grass, back against the tree. What was someone doing way the hell out here?
With an eye roll I left the house and stormed toward her.
“Hey!” I shouted.
The strap of her checkered sundress had fallen from one shoulder and as I reached her, I lifted a hand to tap her arm. As my finger got close, a cloud of flies lifted and re-settled into gaping, torn flesh. The wind shifted direction and a thick miasma of putrid decay stung my nostrils. I stumbled backward as my stomach lurched.
Dead!
I couldn’t stop the tremor in my jaw; my teeth clattered together as I whispered broken words, “I-I should check to be sure . . .”
But my voice trailed off because nothing that smelled like that could be anything but gone.
Author Bio:
Wendy Roberts is an armchair sleuth, fan of all things mysterious but a huge chicken at heart. Her mind is often in the secretive, cloak and dagger world of intrigue while her physical presence is usually at home or on the road in her camper van. Wendy resides in Vancouver, Canada where she happily writes about murder and is always at work on her next novel.
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Death Hits the High Notes by GG Calpo 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.**
Death Hits the High Notes
GG Calpo
(The Sweet TOOTH Murder Mystery Series)
Publication date: October 7th 2026
Genres: Adult, Cozy Mystery, Mystery
Trouble is brewing at Whitman’s Port Choral Society as choir members drop dead and Detective Jonathan Storm raises more questions than answers in his investigation. When Stefan, the choir’s soloist, gets weaker by the day, Meg and her friends take matters into their own hands. And if a murder investigation was not enough to elevate anyone’s blood pressure, Meg finds herself in danger tied to her past that she’s struggling to understand.
Will Meg and her friends stop the killer before Stefan becomes the next victim—and before Meg’s past catches up with her?
Join these golden-age sleuths as they follow the clues, protect their own, and prove that friendship is the strongest weapon against a killer.
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EXCERPT:
There were two new faces I didn’t recognize from last year’s concert. They looked familiar, though I couldn’t place where I had seen them before. The conductor stood in front, his back to us as he summoned the choir’s eyes to him with a few taps of his baton. He took a deep breath, synchronizing the choir’s breathing to his own. Gesturing with his baton, he released the soprano’s voice—rich, powerful, and throbbing with emotion. The beginning strains of the solo filled the auditorium. Holding his right hand at waist level, the conductor flicked his right index finger left, then right, counting the beats.
“That’s Amanda, in case you didn’t know,” Liz told me behind her raised hand.
I nodded and tried to stop my giggles when Liz’s shoulder hit mine.
“Will…you…shut…up?” Barbara widened her eyes more with each word.
Liz waved her hands in surrender, twitched her body deeper into the chair, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. If it weren’t for the trembling of her shoulders, Liz could have fooled us with her pose of deep listening. But we knew her, and all she got from Barbara was another shove. Despite her unfailingly put-together appearance—manicured nails and hair
always expertly cut and dyed—Liz hadn’t left her teen years behind. We must have been making a racket because a woman three rows down turned around and glared at us.
Liz and I looked at each other and decided to settle down and listen. I swayed, imagining my soul lifting in prayer, soaring past the lights of the auditorium and ever more upwards into the wide open sky beyond the school building. Then it happened. One minute I was up in the heavens, one with the song; the next minute I was crashing without a parachute.
The glorious voice stopped, leaving echoes of the high note ringing in the auditorium. A harsh cough sounded, jarring and unexpected. The accompanist stopped. The conductor jerked forward while the soprano toppled gracelessly to the floor, face down. Music scores fluttered in the air before landing gently around the stricken woman. A choir member huddled over her while the rest stared in shock.
“She’s not breathing!” The grief-stricken wail rattled my bones.
Barbara jumped up from her chair, her eyes fixed on Stefan, who stood frozen in his place, his eyes fixed on Amanda.
Amanda…who wasn’t moving.
I whipped my phone out of my bag and dialed nine-one-one. How long would help take to get here? Stefan moved to where Amanda was, kneeling to touch her on her shoulder. What was Stefan waiting for? Why was he not giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation? A few other choir members crept nearer but then backed away when Stefan waved them off. Start CPR, I wanted to shout, but couldn’t because the 911 operator had picked up my call.
Then the door to the auditorium opened, and in walked Edna, former third-grade teacher of Post Elementary School and the last of our group. One look at the stage and the woman laid out on the floor had Edna gasping, loud enough for everyone to hear, “Oh no, not another murder?”
Author Bio:
GG Calpo is a retired lawyer and accountant who traded contracts and numbers for the far more enjoyable chaos of fictional crime. Now she writes cozy whodunits featuring warm-hearted golden-aged sleuths who’ve seen it all, heard it all and will investigate a murder with zero hesitation. She loves stories where the stakes are personal, family and friendships are paramount, with characters who refuse to follow the outline and endings that pull the rug out. When not plotting twisty crimes—on paper only, of course—she spends her time reading, crocheting blankets and sweaters for her five grandchildren, watching mystery TV shows and taking long walks in her neighborhood. She lives in Central New Jersey with her husband and two corgis, Whiskey and Nugget.
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Death Hits the High Notes Blitz
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