Rosie’s Book Review Team (RBRT) – Booklist

What authors are saying about Rosie Amber’s Review Team:

‘I rely on Rosie’s review team for honest and thoughtful reviews. I know they love reading and the reviews they post express both that love and their opinions of my (and other writers’) novels. Long may they continue. Their support has been invaluable.’  Carol Hedges, author of Victorian murder mysteries and YA

‘As well as introducing me to talented authors in other genres, I’m grateful to Rosie’s review team for helping raise awareness of my books to new readers.’  Tony Riches, Amazon best-selling historical fiction author.

‘Without doubt the best book review service I’ve used. Always a quick turnaround, always honest reviews, and as an author you can’t ask for more than that.’  Dylan J. Morgan, author of horror, Sci-Fi, dystopian and post apocalyptic fiction.

‘Rosie Amber and her team of reviewers/bloggers are professional, dedicated and fair minded. As an author, I know that I will receive a fair critique of my novels from them. I am happy to use them as go-to reviewers for any new novel I publish. I am also happy to recommend them to other authors.’  Lizzie Lamb, author of romantic comedies

‘Rosie’s team bring authors and readers together in the nicest possible way.  Reviewers who care about books – what more can an author ask for?  David Ahern, mystery author

“Smaller authors don’t have the same publicity budget as the big publishers and it is a struggle to reach potential readers. Rosie and her team provide an invaluable service not only with providing good quality reviews but also with sharing those reviews on social media to reach a larger audience.” Diane Febry thriller author

 

 

Book Review Team Booklist

Below will be a list of books team members can request for review. Please read and write a review for any chosen book within a month of receipt. Reviews should be posted on at least 2 sites, these can be your own blogs, Amazon, Goodreads, Smashwords etc.  Plus a copy of the review should be e-mailed to me and I will post it here on my blog with full recognition going to the reviewer.  I shall endeavour to keep this page as up to date as possible and match book requests to reviewers on a first come first served basis.

Members of the book review team and authors are spread across the world and it’s time zones so a little patience may be required at times.

All books will be in e-formats.

Team members should contact me via my e-mail to request their choice of book/ books and FORMAT. I will pass on their request to the author. Do check spam and contact me if you think you haven’t received your book after a reasonable 48 hour wait.

Once you’ve written your book review please send a copy to me via e-mail and also tell me where you will be posting the review. I will post the review on my blog as soon as is reasonably possible with full credit to the reviewer. Please provide a link to your blog if you intend posting the review there as I will pass this on to the authors.

New Book review Team members are always welcome, please make initial contact via the Book Review Team Tab at the top of the blog.

Twitter Hashtag #RBRT

The Book List

Kill Code by Clive Fleury (220 pages)

WHEN THE OCEANS RISE…THE TRUTH DROWNS
It’s the year 2031. Our future. Their present. A world decimated by climate catastrophe, where the sun’s heat is deadly and the ocean rises higher every day. A world ruled by the rich, powerful, and corrupt. A world where a good man can’t survive for long.
Hogan Duran was a good man once. He was a cop, forced to resign in disgrace when he couldn’t save his partner from a bullet. Now Hogan lives on the fraying edges of society, serving cruel masters and scavenging trash dumps just to survive.
But after four years of living in poverty, Hogan finally gets a chance to get back on his feet. He’s invited to join the National Security Council, the powerful paramilitary organization responsible for protecting the rich and powerful from the more unsavory elements of society. All he needs to do is pass their deadly entrance exam, and he’ll be rewarded with wealth and opportunity beyond his wildest dreams.
But this ex-cop’s path to redemption won’t be easy. The NSC are hiding something, and as Hogan descends deeper and deeper into their world, he starts to uncover the terrible truth of how the powerful in this new world maintain their power…and just how far they will go to protect their secrets.
In a world gone wrong, can one man actually make a difference, or will he die trying?

Genre: Dystopia

Format: Mobi / epub

By the Feet of Men by Grant Price (ARC now for Sept publication) 344 pages

WANTED: Men and women willing to drive through the valley of the shadow of death.

The world’s population has been decimated by the Change, a chain reaction of events triggered by global warming. In Europe, governments have fallen, cities have crumbled and the wheels of production have ground to a halt. The Alps region, containing most of the continent’s remaining fresh water, has become a closed state with heavily fortified borders. Survivors cling on by trading through the Runners, truck drivers who deliver cargo and take a percentage. Amid the ruins of central Germany, two Runners, Cassady and Ghazi, are called on to deliver medical supplies to a research base deep in the Italian desert, where scientists claim to be building a machine that could reverse the effects of the Change. Joining the pair is a ragtag collection of drivers, all of whom have something to prove. Standing in their way are starving nomads, crumbling cities, hostile weather and a rogue state hell-bent on the convoy’s destruction. And there’s another problem: Cassady is close to losing his nerve.

Genre: Dystopia set in Germany

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Jennifer Brown Moving On by Angie Langley (290 pages)

She’s back!
Five feet one and full of fizz, Jennifer Brown has learned to roll with the punches and adapt to whatever life throws at her. It’s thrown plenty in the past and she’s had to use her steely core to reinvent herself, first as cook and housekeeper to a saucy sexagenarian, then as manager of a tumbledown country estate with sensitive secrets. In Jennifer Brown On The Move, this Bridget Jones with knobs on is taking charge of her life again, showing the world she can move in the most exalted, high-power circles and lose not an ounce of her gutsy, down-to-earth charm. Her hilarious cross-dressing confidant Will is on hand once again, with pearls of caustic widsom, and her old boss Jonathan Dashwood-Silk breezes in and out of her life, still dripping charisma but still needing our heroine to dig him out of the odd hole. As she crosses continents and breaks bread with the world’s movers and shakers, Jennifer Brown finds her mind still troubled by thoughts of the quiet man with the warm eyes and the velvet vowels. Then that daydream is torpedoed when she’s invited to his wedding.
But you know Jennifer. She never gives up!

Genre: ChickLit

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Murder beyond the Precipice by Penny Goetjen (277 pages)

An old New England inn in a sleepy harbor town on the coast of Maine may seem like an ideal spot for a summer wedding, but the inn’s dark side resurfaces as no one could have predicted….

The Livingston family is no stranger to tragedy. Losing both parents at a young age in what authorities ruled an accident, Lucretia Livingston, the sole heir to the estate, is left to pick up the pieces. But many locals question the circumstances surrounding their deaths and if the family’s wealth was an irresistibly seductive motive for crossing the line.

Elizabeth Pennington returns to her home state of Maine after receiving an unexpected wedding invitation. Hoping to surprise her friend, she arrives unannounced at the Livingston Estate-turned-inn, only to discover no one knows her whereabouts. Just as disconcerting is the disappearance of the innkeeper’s young bride, Lucretia. Frantic, Elizabeth digs for answers and becomes tangled in a tortured trail of deception, betrayal, love lost and murder.

Genre: Mystery

Format: Mobi / e-pub

The Work Of Art by Mimi Matthews (495 pages)

An Uncommon Beauty…
Hidden away in rural Devonshire, Phyllida Satterthwaite has always been considered more odd than beautiful. But in London, her oddity has made her a sensation. Far worse, it’s caught the eye of the sinister Duke of Moreland—a notorious art collector obsessed with acquiring one-of-a-kind treasures. To escape the duke’s clutches, she’s going to need a little help.

An Unlikely Hero…
Captain Arthur Heywood’s days of heroism are long past. Grievously injured in the Peninsular War, he can no longer walk unaided, let alone shoot a pistol. What use can he possibly be to a damsel in distress? He has nothing left to offer except his good name.

Can a marriage of convenience save Philly from the vengeful duke? Or will life with Arthur put her—and her heart—in more danger than ever?

Genre: Historical Romance

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Picasso’s Revenge Ray Foulk (392 pages) Arc now for September publication

In the early 1920’s, immaculate gentleman, Jacques Doucet descends into the world of anarchist art, the occult and the dark turmoil of his past – involving the death of his beloved Madame R.
A disastrous journey leads the couturier and patron of the arts to confront the celebrated bohemians of the city, including Max Jacob, Andr� Breton and Pablo Picasso. When troubled Doucet acquires the world’s most dangerous painting, it causes him to hack at the root of Picasso’s darkest secrets. Doucet showcases a fabulous art collection with such frenzied energy he destroys himself. Unwittingly in the process he discovers modern art’s incredible genesis.

Genre: Art themed historical fiction

Format: Mobi

 

There She Goes by Lynne Shelby (406 pages)

When aspiring actress Julie Farrell meets actor Zac Diaz, she is instantly attracted to him, but he shows no interest in her. Julie, who has yet to land her first professional acting role, can’t help wishing that her life was more like a musical, and that she could meet a handsome man who’d sweep her into his arms and tap-dance her along the street…
After early success on the stage, Zac has spent the last three years in Hollywood, but has failed to forge a film career. Now back in London, he is determined to re-establish himself as a theatre actor. Focused solely on his work, he has no time for distractions, and certainly no intention of getting entangled in a committed relationship…
Auditioning for a new West End show, Julie and Zac act out a love scene, but will they ever share more than a stage kiss?

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Format: Mobi

Winter Flower by Charles Sheehan-Miles (430 pages)

A shocking and poignant story of a family on the brink of destruction and the transformational events that could bring them back together—or tear them apart.

Every day, Cole Roberts reminds himself that life wasn’t always this bleak. He was once passionately in love with Erin. Sam used to be an artistic and lively kid. They hadn’t always lived in a shabby two-room house in rural Alabama, where he runs a mediocre restaurant in the middle of nowhere.

That was before Brenna disappeared. It was before Cole lost his job and they lost their home.

Every day it gets worse. Erin drinks wine out of the bottle and spends her days with a tormented expression, searching the web for signs of their daughter. Sam hides in his room and rarely speaks. And Cole works himself to a stupor for a paycheck a fraction of the size of his old salary.

Until one day a phone call changes everything.

Genre: Literary Fiction

Format: Mobi / epub

Severed Knot by Cryssa Bazos (440 pages)

Barbados 1652. In the aftermath of the English Civil War, the vanquished are uprooted and scattered to the ends of the earth.
When marauding English soldiers descend on Mairead O’Coneill’s family farm, she is sold into slavery. After surviving a harrowing voyage, the young Irish woman is auctioned off to a Barbados sugar plantation where she is thrust into a hostile world of depravation and heartbreak. Though stripped of her freedom, Mairead refuses to surrender her dignity.
Scottish prisoner of war Iain Johnstone has descended into hell. Under a blazing sun thousands of miles from home, he endures forced indentured labour in the unforgiving cane fields. As Iain plots his escape to save his men, his loyalties are tested by his yearning for Mairead and his desire to protect her.
With their future stolen, Mairead and Iain discover passion and freedom in each other’s arms. Until one fateful night, a dramatic chain of events turns them into fugitives.
Together they fight to survive; together they are determined to escape.

Genre: HistFic

Format: Mobi

Mahoney by Andrew Joyce (495 pages)

In this compelling, richly researched novel, author Andrew Joyce tells a story of determination and grit as the Mahoney clan fights to gain a foothold in America. From the first page to the last, fans of Edward Rutherford and W. Michael Gear will enjoy this riveting, historically accurate tale of adventure, endurance, and hope.

In the second year of an Gorta Mhór—the Great Famine—nineteen-year-old Devin Mahoney lies on the dirt floor of his small, dark cabin. He has not eaten in five days. His only hope of survival is to get to America, the land of milk and honey. After surviving disease and storms at sea that decimate crew and passengers alike, Devin’s ship limps into New York Harbor three days before Christmas, 1849. Thus starts an epic journey that will take him and his descendants through one hundred and fourteen years of American history, including the Civil War, the Wild West, and the Great Depression.

Genre: Hist Fic

Format: Mobi

Not Knowing by Donna Dechen Birdwell (Arc now, book due out July 20th)

When Meg was a little girl, Abuela María predicted she would travel to the moon. Now she’s an archaeologist digging up Mayan ruins in Belize while trying to keep her own past buried beneath hard work and pro­fessional responsibility. It isn’t working. The summer of 2022 seems destined to push all of Meg’s buttons—her deep-seated aversion to marijuana and guns and the unwanted pres­ence of a boy who reminds her of a certain horrific summer in Mexico. Digging deeper only unearths more questions. And then her husband buys a lottery ticket for the first tourist flight to the moon. What Meg doesn’t want to know may yet be her redemption.

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Format: Mobi

Suspicion by Brenda Guiton (224 pages)

A lightning romance and hastily arranged marriage takes Holly up north to live at the heart of Nathan’s family business – a luxurious log-cabin park on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. She has everything to look forward to, but within days of her arrival she falls prey to a series of unsettling events. It is obvious that someone doesn’t want her there.
It all points to Kyle, Nathan’s surrogate brother, a deeply manipulative individual who shares a complex relationship with her husband. Suspicious of his motives and desperate for some answers, she starts delving into his past. An accidental discovery, concerning a mysterious disappearance, alerts Holly’s suspicions further and she is determined to find the key to it all. But things are not so straightforward and she is unprepared for the chilling revelations in store.

Genre: Suspense Mystery

Format: Mobi

Blood And Ballet by Melissa Mitchell (334 pages)

“If only ballerinas knew what vampire blood could do for their dancing.”

In Anghor Manor, there is always a choice. When ex-ballet dancer Celine sees something she shouldn’t in the alleyway outside of Vienna’s hottest nightclub, Fluxx, owned and frequented by vampires, she is offered three choices. Each choice is as frightening as the next. Unable to make up her mind, Cece bides her time. She wrestles with memories of her old life, a life she was forced to abandon when a devastating injury ended her ballet career. Now she must pick up the broken pieces and move on, but moving on offers its own challenges, especially when Caius, lord of Anghor Manor, offers her something more precious than gold. Blood and Ballet is a young adult novel with a fresh take on vampires, blending together the world of ballet with age old ideas, while adding a dash of Roman history. Transport yourself to Anghor Manor nestled in the countryside just outside of Vienna, where vampires lurk, blood rules, and romance awaits.

Genre: NA Paranormal romance

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Henry’s Tale by David Pipe (220 pages)

Henry Ford, the cutest Border terrier puppy, lives with his papa Alan and mama Jenny. Alan loves his job, playing golf and above all, Henry. Jenny loves designer clothes, handbags and shoes. She doesn’t love Henry. When Jenny insists on a week of high life on Majorca, Henry’s world takes a nosedive.

An attempted dognap and a traumatic stay in the veterinary clinic leave Henry a sad and confused puppy. Desperately lonely he sets off on an adventure with his friend Bully, a streetwise Essex bulldog, where he meets the beautiful Paula and for the first time experiences the heartbreak of puppy love.

Back at home, his mama and papa’s marriage is on the rocks – will Alan agree to Jenny’s ultimatum? Will he choose Jenny or Henry?

This story is about Henry, a freshly licked behind the ears Border terrier puppy. It’s about growing up; friendship, loyalty, a first love, his mama’s obsession with stuff and surviving. And Henry’s got it all to do. Life would be much simpler if humans would behave like dogs.

Genre: Humour

Format: Mobi

Love, Loss, and Moving On by Lorie Kleiner Eckert (344 pages)

“Love, Loss, and Moving On” captures the universal truths about the risks and rewards of relationships when you’re a woman of a certain age. With a relatable style both hilarious and heart-rending, Lorie Kleiner Eckert shares her grief, loneliness, and curiosity as she processes her past to create a rich, fulfilling future for herself. Lorie comes to terms with the death of her longtime partner, coping with her uncertainties by connecting with good friends, writing to work through her emotions, searching the Internet, and eating her fair share of ice cream. (Oh, and there’s also the matter of falling head over heels for a certain handsome British actor known for his bespoke navy suits.) “Love, Loss, and Moving On” will have readers laughing, crying, and above all, nodding in recognition as they travel Lorie’s path with her, gaining strength and inspiration for their own journeys into what comes next.

Genre: Memoir / Self-help

Format: Mobi or gift from AmazonUS

Party Glass Kezia Cole

Twenty poems from summers falling into autumns: long evenings lit by candles in colored glass, bricks still warm from the sunlight, wind-scorched beaches, and rain-washed asphalt painted by city lights.

party glass presents glimpses of soft nights and rain puddles splashed with neon; the tangles of friends, lovers, and changing hearts captured in one strange, small, breathless snapshot that seems to last forever.

Genre: Poetry

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Chills & Creeps by Nick Clausen (200 pages)

In this collection, you’ll meet …
Peter, who meets an upholsterer who really likes his skin,
Mary, who gets a pet fish that will only eat human flesh,
Daniel, who plays a game which becomes a little too real,
Eagle, who has a disease that make birds attack him wherever he goes,
Joseph, who plays tennis with a ghost,
Nadia, who gets trapped in a house slowly filling up with water,
Calvin, whose sister visits a hypnotist and becomes someone else,
and Noah, who attains the power to control lights with his mind.

Eight stories spanning horror, dark fantasy and science fiction, all set in everyday life while exploring the dark, the evil and the supernatural, Chills & Creeps has everything for fans of horror, mystery and thrills. It’s direct, funny, surprising, scary and atmospheric.

Genre: Ya horror short stories

Format: Mobi / e-pub

A Woman Of Valor by Gary Corbin (496 pages) (ARC now for June 27th publication)

For Valorie Dawes, #metoo means #fightback.

Rookie policewoman Valorie Dawes has a mission: take men like Richard Harkins, a serial child molester, off the streets of her small hometown of Clayton, CT—for good. Things start off well as Val’s trusted senior partner and mentor, Gil, shows her the ropes and helps her survive the nastiness they encounter on the streets–and in the chauvinistic office politics at the precinct.

Despite Gil’s support, Val becomes increasingly isolated within the department and vilified in the public eye as reckless and incompetent. In response, she devotes all of her time and energy to chasing Harkins, but he proves to be both elusive and cruel, continuing to victimize young girls and pressing his threats closer and closer to Val’s own inner circle.

Can Valorie overcome the trauma she suffered as a child and stop Harkins from hurting others like her—or will her bottled-up anger lead her to take reckless risks that put the people she loves in greater danger?

Genre: Crime Fiction

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Curses of Scale by S.D. Reeves (295 pages)

Sixteen-year-old Niena wants nothing more than to attend an elite bardic college, but when the dragon that shattered the empire awakens again she finds herself on the run, through the fey realm of Fairhome, to the city where she was born. On her trail are her army veteran grandfather, thrown into a commander’s role he doesn’t want, the lord of the fairies, trying to steer her to his own ends, and the husband she won’t meet for fifteen years. If she kills the dragon, she’ll save everyone she holds dear. But if she kills the dragon, she’s cursed instead to become it.

Genre: Ya Fantasy written in an experimental style

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Marked for Revenge: An Art Heist thriller by Jennifer S. Alderson (280 pages)

An adrenaline-fueled adventure set in the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, and Turkey about stolen art, the mafia, and a father’s vengeance.

When researcher Zelda Richardson begins working at a local museum, she doesn’t expect to get entangled with an art theft, knocked unconscious by a forger, threatened by the mob, or stalked by drug dealers.

To make matters worse, a Croatian gangster is convinced Zelda knows where a cache of recently pilfered paintings is. She must track down an international gang of art thieves and recover the stolen artwork in order to save those she loves most.

The trouble is, Zelda doesn’t know where to look. Teaming up with art detective Vincent de Graaf may be her only hope at salvation.

The trail of clues leads Zelda and Vincent on a pulse-pounding race across Europe to a dramatic showdown in Turkey that may cost them their lives.

Genre: Thriller

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Bella Toscana by Nanette Littlestone (372 pages)

An explosive yearning that can’t be denied
Disturbing visions from an ancient past
A mysterious stranger that somehow feels familiar

On the night of her fiftieth birthday, the comfortable ride of Toscana’s life takes an alarming plunge. Haunted by seductive visions, she tries to push aside the desire and focus on the husband who adores her. Then she falls for Flynn, a younger man with an eye for adventure and a heart full of romance, who leaves her doubting everything she’s believed about love and passion.

In Atlanta, Rome, and the lush scenery of Tuscany, Toscana searches for answers to the mysteries of her life while she faces her biggest question. If she listens to her feelings will she lose everything she holds dear, or does her heart hold the key to love and joy?

Genre: Contemporary Women’s Fiction

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Junior Paranormal Investigators: The Haunting of Room 909 by Michael James (145 pages ARC now for June publication)

Summer is usually a time of fun and games for most children, but Hanna and Ben Littleton are not your average eleven and twelve-year-old. Their father is Percy Littleton, a famous paranormal investigator, and this summer they are traveling to different locations to investigate unexplained phenomenons. Things are rather boring until they stop at Castleridge Hotel. The hotel is reportedly haunted by more than one ghostly presence and the manager has asked Percy for help.

Though warned by their father not to meddle in his investigation, the brother and sister are convinced they can prove their worth as true investigators. Their eagerness soon turns to terror when Hanna begins having visions about a certain former employee of the hotel, the elevator takes them to the ninth floor on its own, and ghosts interact with them. The building seems to have a mind of its own as Hanna and Ben are forced to figure out what really happened one hundred years ago at Castleridge Hotel, before the spirits trapped inside decide to make them permanent residents.

Genre: Middlegrade Horror

Format: Mobi

Post-molecular Comfort Food by Anton Eine (42 pages)

Public health warning! This story is likely to cause profuse salivation!
Read only on a full stomach!

Michael Turner, the most popular food blogger in the world, has been unable to get his life back on track ever since being overtaken in the ratings by new upstart food designer Amy Williams. And now he is faced with the daunting challenge of taking her on in the annual televised top chef competition and the ignominy of losing his long-held crown to her in front of an audience of millions.

A humorous science fiction tale of delightful dishes and culinary masterpieces that shatters our familiar notions about cooking and explores our relationship with food and each other. Are you still a bit hungry? Good, then dinner is served..!

Genre: Scifi shortstory

Format: Mobi

Will Rise From Ashes by Jean M. Grant (400 pages)

Living is more than mere survival.

Young widow AJ Sinclair has persevered through much heartache. Has she met her match when the Yellowstone supervolcano erupts, leaving her separated from her youngest son and her brother? Tens of thousands are dead or missing in a swath of massive destruction. She and her nine-year-old autistic son, Will, embark on a risky road trip from Maine to the epicenter to find her family. She can’t lose another loved one.

Along the way, they meet Reid Gregory, who travels his own road to perdition looking for his sister. Drawn together by AJ’s fear of driving and Reid’s military and local expertise, their journey to Colorado is fraught with the chaotic aftermath of the eruption. AJ’s anxiety and faith in humanity are put to the test as she heals her past, accepts her family’s present, and embraces uncertainty as Will and Reid show her a world she had almost forgotten.

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Format: Mobi

An Excuse For Murder by Vanessa Westermann (322 pages)

As a former bodyguard, it should be easy for Gary Fenris to kill, especially when the motive is revenge. But Gary has made two mistakes in his life. The first was letting the woman he loved die on his watch. The second was thinking vengeance could bring him peace.

Local bookstore owner and amateur lock pick Kate Rowan loves nothing more than a good mystery. Her curiosity soon leads her down a trail of blackmail, obsession and death. Despite the risk – or maybe because of it – Gary finds himself drawn to Kate. When danger strikes, Gary is forced to face the fact that he used love as an excuse for murder. And he’s got one last score to settle.

Genre: Mystery

Format: Mobi

A Rhyme Of Dark Words by Jeremy Smith (ARC now for October publication)

A Rhyme of Dark Words is the first in a series of contemporary, magical fantasy stories for teens/YA and introduces Tilly Hart who is grieving for her mother when she moves to the ancient village of Witheridge. Finding friendship and love, Tilly also finds a place steeped in witchlore and the legend of a beast that stalks the moor. Supernatural events and a hidden diary guide her to a village lost in time, a place where magic exists and demons walk the land.
With her newfound friends and the deadline of Halloween drawing near, Tilly sets out to prevent an ancient evil destroying all she loves.
Being both the hunter and hunted, she discovers she can control magic. But magic is an addiction that can lead to evil.

Genre: Ya Fantasy

Format: Mobi

A Shifting Of Stars by Kathy Kimbray (ARC now for 28th May publication)

A squandering emperor.
A wicked prince.
A handsome stranger.
And the reluctant girl who’ll capsize a kingdom.

Seventeen-year-old Meadow Sircha watched her mother die from the wilting sickness. Tormented by the knowledge that the emperor failed to import the medicine that would have saved her, she speaks out at a gathering of villagers, inciting them to boycott his prized gladiator tournament.

But doing so comes at a steep cost.

Arrested as punishment for her impulsive tongue, Meadow finds herself caught up in the kind of danger she’s always tried to avoid. After a chance meeting with an enigmatic boy, she’s propelled on a perilous trek across the outer lands. But she soon unearths a staggering secret: one that will shift her world—and the kingdom—forever.

Genre: YA Fantasy

Format: Mobi / e-pub

 

The Belly Dancer by Margaret Halliday (168 pages)

Margaret Halliday’s fourth book, The Belly Dancer is a tragicomic romantic thriller set mainly in Istanbul in the early 1990s. Gemma, a young English woman, finds herself involved in more than just teaching English soon after her arrival in Turkey. Her love of belly dancing leads her into a relationship with the beautiful Fatima as well as plunging her into a sinister, Mafia-run drugs operation. Can, the Mafia boss’s handsome son, falls for Fatima and reunites her with her long lost twin sister, Fulya, who can also dance. The story unfolds against the vivid backdrop of Istanbul with its teeming street life, magnificent mosques and busy markets, the ever-present turbulent waters of the Bosphorus and its ferries a constant breath of fresh air.

Genre: Romantic Thriller

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Waltz of the Crows by L. G. Rollins (ARC now for June 4th publication)

Waltz of the Crows is a Victorian Era steampunk bundled up with a cozy mystery and a sweet romance. Though it is Book 3 in the Steam and Shadow Series, all books in this series are stand-alone and can be read in any order.

In Waltz of the Crows, Leila Hale orders are clear: impersonate being a nurse, make contact with her fellow spy, and get London the information it needs without being caught or killed; or worse, tripping up so horribly her superiors deem her incompetent.

Samuel Rowley has returned to find his hometown disease ridden and many people falling mad. Not a man to sit back and merely hope for the best, he determines to explore every resource available until he finds a solution.

Together, Leila and Samuel sort out the relevant from distraction and tease truth from lies. But as they uncover various secrets, it becomes evident that this insanity isn’t a disease at all, but a meticulously infiltrated poisoning; and the perpetrator has them in their sights.

When all is made known, will Leila and Samuel have enough whit and strength to save themselves, their future, and a town full of innocent victims?

Genre: Steampunk

Format: Mobi / epub

Secret Kill by Robin Storey (125 pages)

Businessman Jackson Forbes is at the pinnacle of his career, after leaving a life of crime well and truly behind.
But when a young girl turns up in his office, claiming to be his daughter and threatening him with a gun, his life is suddenly not so rosy.
Frida is on the run and needs his help. But saving her life will mean not only returning to the criminal underworld, but also risking his reputation – and his life.
Not to mention the crime for which he was never caught…
Secret Kill is Book 2 in Noir Nights, a series of stand-alone short novels.

Genre: Crime Fiction

Format: Mobi or e-pub

Undoers One by D.P Davies (191 pages)

“I can’t do magic,” said the boy. “That’s impossible.” He paused. “But I can undo it.”

Sam is a nine-year-old boy who can solve anyone’s spooky problems. He knows there are no such things as ghosts, vampires or aliens, only a mysterious energy that gets attached to stuff. People give Sam their “cursed” things, he applies some school science, and their terrors disappear, all without ever having to leave his bedroom (which is the way he likes it).

But then Lily, a girl in the grade above him, arrives outside his house one night surrounded by this strange energy, and it keeps coming back whatever Sam tries to do to help. Can they work together to find out why? And where in the maze of DC’s streets and monuments will it lead them? Together with a best friend who thinks he’s a Russian hacker and a brother who believes he’s the next baseball All-Star, Sam and Lily can’t give up until they figure it out.

If you can prove that monsters don’t exist, what is there to be scared of?

Genre: Middlegrade

Format: Mobi

The Bledbrooke Works: A Cosmic Horror Story by John F. Leonard (68 pages)

Ever notice how some places don’t feel right? No rhyme or reason, they’re just unsettling, without you being able to pinpoint the cause.
The vaguely suspicious demeanour of the locals. The pewtered quality of light. The old and indefinably alien smell that blows on the breeze …difficult to say for sure, but there’s definitely something.
Bledbrooke is one of those places. It’s always been different to other towns.

Quaint and quiet, a little backwater with a somehow dark charm all of its own. Once you get used to it, you wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.
It’s not all sweetness and light though. There are problems.
A new one has just appeared. The drains on Cinderlake Drive are bubbling unsavoury water onto the street. Even worse, the toilets are blocked and spitting nastiness at some affluent backsides.
The town council reckon it’s a fatberg – one of those awful accumulations of wet wipes, grease and other unmentionables.
There’s only one man to call…

Donald Hobdike, world-weary and well past his prime, this sort of issue inevitably ends up on his chipped desk. When it comes to the sewers in Bledbrooke, he’s seen it all and more besides. Knows them better than he knows the back of his wrinkled hand.
Or so he thinks.
Maybe the labyrinthine warren beneath Bledbrooke still has some surprises in store for him…

Genre: Horror

Format: Mobi

Go Down the Mountain by Meredith Battle (224 pages)

Bee Livingston is a nervy, teenage beauty whose beloved father’s sudden death in a snake charming accident has left her alone with her abusive mother. Her one salvation is Miles, the big-city photographer who promises escape and a life full of the adventure she craves. But when Bee is caught in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a government man who takes her family’s land and won’t stop until he claims her too, it may be Torch, the boy she grew up with on the mountain, who becomes the man she needs.

Based on the true story of the hundreds of families who were forced from their Blue Ridge Mountain homes to make way for Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s, Go Down the Mountain is a tale of dispossession, coming of age, and love.

Genre: Cultural Fiction

Format: Mobi

Passionate Travellers: Around the World on 21 Incredible Journeys in History by Trish Nicholson (356 pages)

Accompanying these 21 passionate travellers on their personal quests, we discover what drove them, and share their incredible journeys through deserts, mountains, jungles and seas to every continent, spanning 2,000 years of history from 480 BCE to the 1930s. These are true stories of daring adventure, courage, cunning, even murder and, above everything, sheer determination against all odds.

Genre: Non-Fiction

Format: Gifted e-book from AmazonUS or Paperback from AmazonUK

Agent 603: The Teddy Files by Tabitha Bell (136 pages)

Agent 603 embarks on his first adventure as a Teddy Seal secret agent. His mission is to locate the whereabouts of his assigned human’s (Amy’s) leopard. Is her closet that messy? Or is something more sinister lurking in the dark? Pirates, donuts, and an insatiable imagination collide in this epic adventure.

Genre: Middlegrade adventure

Format: Mobi

Disorder by Johan Fundin (439 pages)

Cat is a hot multimillionaire supermodel but her life is far from perfect. She suffers from a chronic brain disorder and she is being stalked by a figure in a raincoat. Who is he … or it? In connection with the bizarre death of the founder of a groundbreaking biotechnology institute, Cat is pulled into a sinister corporate plot with a global backwash.

Genre: Thriller

Format: Mobi

The Strap by William Blackwell (289 pages)

When Gray Eagleson remembers the strap, it brings back horrific images of pain, suffering and humiliation in the public school system. Financially strapped and broken-hearted, he decides a trip to Ecuador, the most bio-diverse country on the planet, is exactly what he needs to take his mind off his problems. Before departing, he connects with Adriana Enrique on an internet dating site, promising to meet her on his arrival. He also helps his best friend Derrick Richmond evict some biker tenants involved in a marijuana grow-operation in one of Derrick’s rental properties. One of the bikers, Stuart Treblecoch, aka The Strap, threatens to kill Gray for tossing biker belongings into a blazing backyard inferno.

Arriving in Ecuador, he soon discovers the idyllic vacation has turned into a life-and-death struggle. The Strap is hunting him down, Adriana’s behavior casts a black shadow of doubt over his optimistic expectations, and he meets a Canadian woman, Abby Taylor, who wants his help evicting violent squatters who have overrun a hotel she purchased in the beach town of Atacames.

As the nail-biting tension and violence ratchet up, Gray believes a visit with a shaman and an experience with the mind-altering and spiritually enlightening drug ayuahuasca is his only hope for salvation.

The Strap ushers you full-throttle deep inside the exotic sights and sounds of Ecuador while also exposing the very real dangers that exist. Through Gray’s harrowing journey for personal redemption, survival and sanity, we discover the frailties and insecurities of the human condition and the ever-present need for companionship at the root of human nature.

Genre: Horror/ thriller

Format: Mobi

The Amulet by Effrosyni Moschoudi (239 pages)

Katie has a guardian angel . . . she just doesn’t know it
When Katie loses her office job, a gypsy woman hands her an amulet for good luck. Next, she gets hired as hotel receptionist on the Greek island of Sifnos.
One of the guests, heart-stoppingly handsome Aggelos, saves the day whenever she needs help. Katie is intrigued by him and his quirky friends, unaware that he is a guardian angel that came with the amulet.
As she falls in love, the mysteries continue, driving her crazy. Will Katie get her happily-ever-after? It may take a miracle; but on an island as magical as Sifnos, anything is possible!

Genre: Paranormal romance

Format: Mobi

The Lost Sentinel by Suzanne Rogerson (363 pages)

The magical island of Kalaya is dying, along with its Sentinel.

The Assembly controls Kalaya. Originally set up to govern, they now persecute those with magic and exile them to the Turrak Mountains.

Tei, a tailor’s daughter, has always hidden her magic but when her father’s old friend visits and warns them to flee to the mountains she must leave her old life behind.
On the journey, an attack leaves her father mortally wounded. He entrusts her into the care of the exiles and on his deathbed makes a shocking confession.
Struggling with self doubt, Tei joins the exiles search for the new Sentinel who is the only person capable of restoring the fading magic. But mysterious Masked Riders are hunting the Sentinel too, and time, as well as hope, is running out.

Against mounting odds it will take friendship, heartache and sacrifice for the exiles to succeed in their quest, but is Tei willing to risk everything to save the island magic?

Follow Tei’s journey through the magical land of Kalaya and the Astral Plane in The Lost Sentinel – Book 1 in the Silent Sea Chronicles.

Genre: Fantasy

Format: Mobi

Seagulls Over Westminster by Richard Wade (415 pages)

A political thriller for our time, but with a strand of gentle humour woven through it, making this intriguing story into an entertaining page turner.

Its 2024. Popular TV chat show host, and former MP, Bradley Deakin is the man wanted by the Opposition Party of the day to lead them back to power, breaking the chain of endless hung parliaments and uninspiring political leaders. They just need to get him elected first.

Meanwhile, in Brighton, retired bank manager Harvey Britten is enjoying life with the three things he loves most – his family, the city of his birth and his beloved football team, Brighton and Hove Albion, (known locally as The Seagulls). His support for the team has led to a regular spot on the local radio breakfast show, which has turned him into something of a minor celebrity.

It proves very difficult to find Bradley a suitable by-election until one unexpectedly occurs in Brighton. But Harvey strongly objects to a big shot candidate like Deakin being parachuted into his city and is reluctantly persuaded by his family and radio listeners to stand against him as a protest candidate. But only in the knowledge that he won’t actually win!

Genre: Political thriller

Format: mobi

The Wind Reader by Dorothy Winsor (203 pages)

Stuck in a city far from home, street kid Doniver fakes telling fortunes so he can earn a few coins to feed himself and his friends. Then the divine Powers smile on him when he accidentally delivers a true prediction for the prince.

Concerned about rumors of treason, the prince demands that Doniver use his “magic” to prevent harm from coming to the king, and so Doniver is taken–dragged?–into the castle to be the royal fortune teller.

Now Doniver must decide where the boundaries of honor lie, as he struggles to work convincing magic, fend off whoever is trying to shut him up, and stop an assassin, assuming he can even figure out who the would-be assassin is. All he wants is to survive long enough to go home to the Uplands, but it’s starting to look as if that might be too much to ask.

Genre: Ya fantasy

Format: mobi or epub

Broken Humanity by Karine Vivier (104 pages)

What do a young girl, an ex-convict and a mother have in common? “Broken Humanity” tells the story of three characters who, somewhere along the way, have lost touch with humanity in the eyes of society. Three characters, three parallel stories, a common thread. A debut thriller.
Short extract: The first time was on another beach that looked just like this one. She’d lured another little girl away, younger than her, to have a snack in the van parked near the jetty. The man in the vehicle smiled when the two girls reached him. ‘Oh, what am I thinking?’ he mused, getting out of the van. ‘I left the biscuits in the boot. You get in the front,’ he added harshly.
He opened the boot and pushed the other girl inside. She started screaming at the top of her lungs as the lid slammed shut. Then the van sped away and they drove at breakneck speed for hours. Worn out, the girl finally dropped off, her face pressed up against the window. What had happened next was all a bit of a blur.

Genre: Thriller

Format: Mobi / e-pub

Immortal by Nick Lloyd (324 pages – Arc now, due to be published Feb 28th)

“We’re coming to help.”

That’s the message humanity receives from the depths of space.
The senders, calling themselves the Ankor, claim a colossal gamma ray burst from a supernova will engulf the Earth in less than a year, sterilising all life.

But they provide no proof … only demands that all countries must prepare to build an enormous shield in orbit around the Earth.

Francis MacDonald, industrialist and private owner of the UK’s only satellite launch facility, says there’s no alternative but to mobilise immediately. Tim Boston disagrees – there are always alternatives – but as a senior data analyst in one of MacDonald’s bioengineering start-ups with a desperate need for money, he won’t risk biting the hand that feeds him.

Samantha Turner will. Since smashing her spine in a car crash five years previously, she’s happy to bite anyone and she’s had a close eye on MacDonald’s shady practices for a while.

Genre: Scifi thriller

Format: Mobi

The Unfolding by Jeehan Quijano (216 pages)

Set in San Jacinto, a rural town in the Philippines, the story traces the return from Los Angeles of Benjamin, the son of an indigent farm worker, who realized his dream of gaining an education and escaping the poverty of his hometown. He is drawn back to his roots by the sudden death of his brother, Omar, and the unanswered questions that emerge from that tragedy. Over one week, the story focuses on the revelations that follow one after the other about how his future was actually secured and the deal his father made with the seemingly benevolent figure of Don Rafael. Overtaken by feelings of guilt and questioning all that his education had helped him achieve, Benjamin finds himself led down a deadly path in search of redemption.

Genre: Contemporary

Format: paperback only

The Shadowverse by John-Clement Gallo (346 pages)

Johnny Sparks longs for a greater purpose. After an encounter with a mysterious stranger, he and his friends are imbued with incredible powers—at last giving his life meaning.
But this dream soon disintegrates once one of the friends is taken by an alien warlord named Titan. In a rescue effort, the remaining group is sent across the galaxy in search of the only possible aid—an ancient, immortal warrior missing for centuries.
To succeed, the team must join forces to reclaim their friend and stop a sinister scheme devised against humanity by Titan and his empire. The conflict for the soul of the universe is set in motion, but even if the group prevails, they risk losing what it means to be human.

Genre: Ya scifi

Format: Mobi / epub

Lingering by Melissa Simonson (ARC now, due for publication March 31st)

Death doesn’t have to be the end.

With Lingering, your departed loved ones are only ever a phone call or text message away.*
Say all those things you should have said. Get their advice, hear their comforting words. Let them celebrate your achievements and soothe your fears like they used to.
Everyone is welcome, and consultations are always free.

*Some conditions may apply. Please call our office for details.

Genre: Scifi

Format: Mobi