Good googly moogly! It's been 16 years.
Answer the question on the form to be entered for $20 Amazon gift card.
Love and sheep kisses,
Katie and Sharon
Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Sunday, March 29, 2026
Standalone Romantasy: Between Tides & Thunder by Leena Kazak
We're celebrating the release of Between Tides & Thunder all week long with a tour and an international giveaway! Be sure to grab a copy today!
by Leena Kazak
March 31, 2026
Genre: Standalone Romantasy
- Enemies to lovers
- Forced proximity
- Arranged marriage
- Slow burn
- One bed / one horse / one tent
- Elemental powers
- He falls first (and hard)
- Warring kingdoms
- Standalone
She was raised to hate him. Now she shares his bed.
Princess Mayah of Tundrayn isn’t allowed to want. Not freedom. Not love. Not even her own future. Instead, she’s spent her life healing others’ pain and swallowing her own. But when her father strikes a fragile alliance with enemy-kingdom Arbinj to crush a rising rebellion, she is bartered into a marriage she didn’t choose for a crown she doesn’t want.
She expects a prince. She gets the Dark Commander.
Zevayr is ruthless, unyielding, and a stormwielder with a reputation soaked in blood. He is everything Mayah was taught to fear. Yet as they race across rebel-torn lands, the less certain she is of where the monster ends and where the man begins. In Arbinj’s glittering courts, the Rebellion surges and dangerous secrets stir from Mayah’s past—secrets that could shatter her kingdom, and her heart, if she lets them.
The question is not if Mayah will betray, but who: her people, her love, or herself?
About the Author:
website
Leena Kazak has been spinning stories since she was ten years old, when she wrote her first short story and never looked back. A lifelong reader, she’s devoured everything from fantasy and thrillers to historical fiction and contemporary romance—but these days, she’s happily tumbled down the romantasy staircase and shows no sign of climbing out. (Send help).
She writes fantasy romance with fierce heroines, impossible choices, and immersive worldbuilding. When she’s in the thick of drafting, Leena wakes up between 4:30 and 5 a.m. to chase that magical, half-asleep window when words flow freely and the world is still quiet.
Leena lives in the frigid Northeast with her brooding, handsome husband and their two adorable, half-feral sidekicks. (Leena and her husband are actually the sidekicks, but don’t tell her kids that.)
Friday, March 27, 2026
Comic Review: Woodstake - Hippie Vampire Comic Book Series
Writer: Darin S. Cape
Illustrator: Felipe Kroll
April 14, 2026
Publisher: SHP
Genre: Horror, Graphic Novel
ISBN: 979-8-9927499-1-5
Ages 16+
Sink your teeth into Woodstake a brilliant horror/comedy about three days of peace, music, and blood. In the summer of 1969, an old and deadly vampire awakens as hippies unknowingly gather for the historic Woodstock Festival. Amidst the backdrop of peace signs and protest anthems, festival-goers are hunted in a chilling but hilarious adventure filled with music, mayhem, and vampires tripping hard on hippie blood. Woodstake is a must-have series, masterfully blending 1960s counterculture, psychedelic imagery, vampire mythology, and biting humor into something truly special. Prepare for a wild ride of laughs and frights in Woodstake!
Woodstake is as shrewd as Shaun of the Dead and as haunting as a Hendrix solo!
Buy:
Print copy out April 14, 2026
digital copy out on SHP website
Review:
O_O (my face when I was offered a review copy, LOL.) I mean, how could I not? Look at that title! Look at that cover...nom nom nom.
Okay, time to get serious. Let's talk story. Woodstake is Dracula-coded. The main vampire is never named, but it's Dracula. Other characters' names are plays on some of the original book characters. But there is a Van Helsing. The vampire lore is also consistent with the book.
The prologue might smell a little like Dracula but it is an imaginative, fresh take from chapters one to five. It covers the vampire's journey across the ocean to escape Helsing in 1927. He lands in upstate NY and almost dies (again). One groovy page is used to transition the story from 1931 to 1965 and the start of chapter one.
The story picks up with Jonathan Harper and Nina Murray making the cross-country drive to NY for Woodstock with two other friends. Over the course of the five chapters, our crew's story crosses paths with the vamp and the characters' relatives from the prologue. The songs playing in the background of each scene are shown so you can imagine the story's soundtrack while reading.
Does the vamp dress like a hippie and take acid? Does he meet Jimi Hendrix? And if so, does he eat him? You'll have to read it. This is a spoiler-free review.
At the end of chapter five, we are teased with Woodstake '99! How far-out is that sequel idea?
The artwork is a mixed bag. It looks like they used a 3-D model program and digitally painted them. I've seen it used in online comics. The characters look life-like in some panels, but sometimes stiff. In other panels, they look more painted, if that makes sense... Not my favorite style, but once I got into the story, I adjusted to it.
I was born in 1967, so I don't remember much about the '60s, except what I learned from the media (music, TV, movies), and the fashion made a cool Halloween costume "Peace out." Woodstake captures the '60s vibes, the good and the bad.
5 "And that's the way it is." Sheep
OMG! You can get the whole digital series on sale!
The print version is on pre-order.
SHP: A new kind of comics company
Website
SHP was founded by Shawn Hainsworth in 2021. He wanted to bring his thought-provoking screenwriting into the world of comics and enlisted the help of some world class talents. SHP already has 3 acclaimed series coming to comic shops in the fall with a brand new adventure slated for 2025.
The future looks bright. Won't you join us on the edge?
Website
SHP was founded by Shawn Hainsworth in 2021. He wanted to bring his thought-provoking screenwriting into the world of comics and enlisted the help of some world class talents. SHP already has 3 acclaimed series coming to comic shops in the fall with a brand new adventure slated for 2025.
The future looks bright. Won't you join us on the edge?
From https://booksforward.com/ Press Release:
SHP’s unique collection of horror, science fiction, adventure, comedy and reimagined classic stories are distributed by IPG, Lunar via Massive Indies and Diamond, available in comic book stores and at the publisher’s website.
Thursday, March 26, 2026
Ghost Curse: Blakewell Mages Book Two by Brittany Arden + giveaway
We’re celebrating the release of the next book in the Blakewell Mages series, Ghost Curse by Brittany Arden!
by Brittany Arden
March 20, 2026
Genre: Urban Romantasy
- Morally Gray Love Interest
- Obsessive / Possessive MMC
- “Touch Her and D!e” Energy
- He Fell First (and harder)
- Love Triangle (Shifting Allegiances)
- Slow Burn → To Spice
- Secrets Within Secrets
- Power Awakening
- Urban Romantasy
Sonia never expected her Ghost Whisperer powers to unravel a conspiracy buried beneath the Blakewell Mages—or to bind the ancient being of Death himself to her soul. But the bloodline curse hunting her is accelerating, draining her magic and fraying her mortality thread by thread.
When the mist that shields Blakewell shatters and chaos erupts, Sonia is pulled into a deadly battle: Blakewell is beginning to fracture—its magic failing, its people turning desperate—Sonia uncovers secrets in her mother’s ledger that the Black House would kill to keep buried. Her only allies are the two men she shouldn’t crave.
McDara, the detective who keeps choosing grief over his own heart. And Death—the immortal who would raze worlds rather than lose her. But Death’s price presses her closer to him than she’s ever dared—and surrendering to it might break her in ways even magic can’t fix. As Sonia’s magic burns unstable and a faceless ghost stalks her every step, she discovers a haunting warning: something beneath Blakewell is waking—and it is hungry.
To survive her twenty-fifth birthday, Sonia must face a realm built of shadows, lies, and the dangers that come wrapped in trust… even if doing so costs her the memory of the one person she was never meant to forget. A dark, addictive romantasy full of devastating choices, breathtaking magic, and a love that defies life and death.
Triggers:
On page spice
Brief moments of blood or body horror (mild, not graphic. Think murder mystery moment. The crime scene is found but is not gory.)
Themes of death, sacrifice, and betrayal
website
Brittany Arden lives in Texas with her husband, two tiny adventurers-in-training, and a caffeine addiction that’s probably sentient by now. With a background in literature, history, and a lifelong obsession with fairy tales (the darker the better), she was destined to write magic—and mayhem.
She writes romantasy for readers 18+ who want their magic dangerous, their love interests morally gray, and their romance served with the right amount of spice. Expect shadow-laced worlds, fantastical chaos, and at least one murder mystery she swears she didn’t plan. (The stories have minds of their own, okay?)
When she’s not wrangling plot twists or toddlers, you’ll find her wandering the woods like a witch on her lunch break, daydreaming about curses, closed doors, and enemies who really should’ve kissed sooner.
She hopes her books make you laugh, gasp, ache—and maybe stay up too late whispering “just one more chapter.”
Books by Brittany Arden: where ghosts whisper, tension smolders, and someone’s definitely lying.
🔥SIGNED PAPERBACK + CHARACTER ART (US GIVEAWAY)🔥
TO ENTER:
Go to the author's Instagram post
Like, save, & repost
Follow @_brittanyarden_ @rrbooktours & host
Drop a 👻 in comments and tag 2 friends
Bonus Entry:
Share in your stories for 24 hrs tagging @rrbooktours
TERMS:
Must be 18+
Must be public account for verification
Not affiliated with Instagram/META
CLOSES MARCH 28
BOOK BLITZ ORGANIZED BY: 
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Tuesday, March 24, 2026
The Extraordinary Dreams of Cynthia Peabody: Book One: Arthur by Lynne Marshall
by Lynne Marshall
March 25, 2026
Genre:Women's Fiction, magical realism
A reluctant hero, mysterious portals, inexplicable abilities! She must be off her trolley.
Cynthia Peabody can’t sleep. Recently widowed, her future seems a dreary blur. While practicing meditation techniques to fight insomnia, she discovers a mysterious portal in her backyard through which her dreams are shockingly realistic.
She runs to her neighbor for help after a dream about a dog leads to a real dog in her yard. The next-door teen offers to be the dog walker and a surprising friendship develops. Juniper’s natural sincerity influences Cynthia to reevaluate her grumpiness.
While dealing with complicated grief along with her life turning toward the supernatural, Cynthia’s doctor’s report brings lousy news. What else can go wrong? She’s desperate for answers.
Pouring out her heart to her husband’s memory, she fears the only logical explanation is that she’s gone mad. But people in her hometown need help, especially a certain next-door teenager. Wishing she’d had someone looking out for her when she was young, Cynthia will do whatever it takes to protect the vulnerable, even if it means risking her life.
About the Author:
Website-FB-Instagram
BookBuzz
USA Today Bestselling author Lynne Marshall has penned thirty-seven books. She has written Medical Romance for Mills & Boon, contemporary romance for Harlequin Special Edition and digitally with TULE. Publishing independently, she writes Women's Fiction where she explores the mysteries of life through endearing characters in unexplainable situations. Or, as she likes to call it, fiction for women of a certain age plus everyone who loves their nana.
Website-FB-Instagram
BookBuzz
USA Today Bestselling author Lynne Marshall has penned thirty-seven books. She has written Medical Romance for Mills & Boon, contemporary romance for Harlequin Special Edition and digitally with TULE. Publishing independently, she writes Women's Fiction where she explores the mysteries of life through endearing characters in unexplainable situations. Or, as she likes to call it, fiction for women of a certain age plus everyone who loves their nana.
Monday, March 23, 2026
Cursed Love : A Paranormal Romance Charity Anthology
February 14, 2026
770 pages
This collection is bursting with beasts ready to curl their claws around your darkest fantasies.
Inside, you’ll find monsters who seduce with shadows, charm with danger, and worship with anatomy that defies every rule of nature.
If human lovers fail to keep up with your desires… perhaps it’s time to indulge in something forbidden and cursed.
This collection is bursting with beasts ready to curl their claws around your darkest fantasies.
Inside, you’ll find monsters who seduce with shadows, charm with danger, and worship with anatomy that defies every rule of nature.
If human lovers fail to keep up with your desires… perhaps it’s time to indulge in something forbidden and cursed.
All profits from this charity anthology are being donated to the National Immigration Justice Center.
Participating Authors:
- R.K. Pierce
- S.L. Greyback
- RK Munin
- E.J. Powell
- Harper A. Brooks
- B.L. Brown
- Kel Bruem
- Lilith Leana
- Arianna Barton
- Dawn Merie
- Freida Kilmari
- Atley Rion
- E. E. Star
- Miyo Hunter
- Ash Redd
- Dae Storm
This book is one of those that has a bunch of authors who each take about 8-10 chapters and whip up a short story. Some of the stores hit harder on the spice-o-meter than others, which is how it goes. For the most part, each one has something exciting and dark going on.
Hands down, you can consume this one pretty quick. If a story section is not to ye fancy, just skip to the next one. Reminds me of CD (showing my age here), you can just skip to the next one and enjoy!
Overall, I love these kinds of books because you get a nice little tasting sample of each authors characters and writing styles. From books like this, I can jump into other series from these same authors. Absolutely worth a read!
Getting 4 Sheep for the overall bouquet of stories
KD
Sunday, March 22, 2026
Return of Atlantis (Atlantis Rising Book 2) by Amy Cip
We're celebrating the March release of Return of Atlantis by Amy Cip! Read on for more details!
by Amy Cip
March 3, 2026
Genre: Fantasy/ Space Pirates/ Dragons
Ember Weathers and her friends successfully returned the lost city of Atlantis to the ground after it was cursed to the sky – you’d think that meant their troubles were over.
While Atlantis is a city built on magic and love, not everyone was happy to see it returned. Immediately surrounded by enemies – both from this world and Atlantis - now is their time to fight for peace. That’s not as easy as it sounds. As soon as Atlantis falls from the sky, it’s people are cursed with a sleeping sickness. Queen Aura binds the gates closed with a magical ward, and they’re just as trapped as they were in the sky. In order to break the curse and broker peace, Ember and her boyfriend, Shepherd, will need more than the help of their friends. They must find old and trapped magical beings, and travel through time to unravel the problems from the beginning.
But will this help things, or will it trap them forever?
Fans of Holly Black, Rebecca Ross, Sarah J. Maas, Lauren Roberts, Kiera Cass, Tracy Wolff, and Jennifer L. Armentrout will enjoy Amy Cip.
About the Author:
Amy Cip is the pen name of Amy Bartelloni, a reader, writer, & coffee addict who lives in the northeast US. When she's not playing mom-taxi, you can find her with her nose in a book or her head in the clouds. A people watcher and science fiction junkie, she still believes dreams can come true. Some of her favorite authors include Grady Hendrix, Jasper Fforde, Paulo Coelho, and Riley Sager.
BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:
R&R BOOK TOURS
R&R BOOK TOURS
Book Review: A Death So Lovely (Kissed by Darkness Book 2) by Harper A. Brooks
by Harper A. Brooks
February 5, 2026
I never asked for this.
Lucian Vale stole my life when he gave me his blood. I should hate him for it, but now that I’m a vampire, every day is a battle between loathing him and wanting him. Between freedom and surrender. The pull to him is stronger than anything I’ve ever known.
At first, I despised what I had become—the hunger, the shadows, saying goodbye to my old life. But the more I fight it, the more it owns me.
The more he owns me.
Secrets at VMR run deeper than I imagined, and the answers I’ve been chasing are finally within reach. But Lucian’s past has returned with a vengeance, and an old rival is determined to drag us both into a war I’m not ready to face.
This time, Lucian can’t protect me from what’s coming. But I’m not scared.
Because with him, even death can be a lovely thing.
A Death So Lovely by Harper A. Brooks is the latest edition in this ongoing spicy PNR. It's fast paced at under 200 pages and picks up right after book 1.
Since I did not read the first story, it was a little bit of "huh?" for me until I kinda got the idea of how the first story went down. This book is SPICY though, let me tell ya. Get a fan ready. Was there an actual story? I dunno, it got lost in the whole drama of who hates who and the mafia parts. Kind of threw me. A lot of "inner dialog" which was okay but maybe fleshing out the actual story line a tad more would have gone a long way.
This story came at one of those moments for me where the plot was second to the romance, bondage and attraction between our leading couple. There is of course a story line, I'm messing around some. But the main point of this one is vampire romance.
Hopefully the next installment will add more depth and characters development. I wanted to give this one a stronger rating, but it really is what it is at this point.
Getting 3 Sheep
KD
website
Harper A. Brooks may be a Jersey girl at heart, but now she likes to hideout in the mountains of Virginia with bigfoot and all his little woodland friends. Even though classic authors have always filled her bookshelves, she finds her writing muse drawn to the dark, magical, and romantic. When she isn’t creating entire worlds with sexy shifters or legendary love stories, you can find her either with a good cup of coffee in hand or at home snuggling with her furry, four-legged son, Sammy.
RONE AWARD WINNER
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR
You can get HALFLING FOR HIRE for free now!
http://BookHip.com/MCBDCN
Friday, March 20, 2026
Excerpt: The Broken Crown Saga by Orlan Drake + giveaway
Where loyalty shatters, legends are forged.
by Orlan Drake
Genre: Epic Fantasy
A Gripping Tale of Royal Betrayal and Hidden Romance
When darkness falls on the kingdom of Ardanthia, readers will find themselves caught up in a story where nothing is what it seems. Princess Eloise faces impossible choices as murder and betrayal tear her world apart. Her secret love for the Prince of Caladorn adds another layer of danger to an already deadly situation. This isn't just another royal romance - it's a heart-pounding adventure where love and loyalty clash in the most dangerous ways possible. You'll feel every moment of tension as Eloise walks the razor's edge between duty and desire.
Mystery and Investigation That Keeps You Guessing
Sir Cedric Blackthorn brings detective skills that would make any crime solver jealous. His brilliant mind works to solve puzzles that could save or destroy an entire kingdom. As Ambassador Zafir arrives with hidden motives and Baron Gorgo schemes from the shadows, every character becomes a suspect. The investigation twists and turns through palace halls filled with secrets. You'll find yourself trying to solve the mystery alongside Cedric, picking up clues and second-guessing every revelation. The chase scenes will have you on the edge of your seat as our heroes race against time through a kingdom ready to explode into war.
Fantasy Adventure That Brings Legends to Life
The Broken Crown Saga starts with this incredible first book that mixes political drama with fantasy elements that feel fresh and exciting. Secret groups work behind the scenes, pulling strings that control the fate of nations. The world-building draws you in completely, making you believe in a place where magic and politics dance together in dangerous ways. This story proves that sometimes solving one crime can prevent an entire war - and that the most important battles happen in the shadows.
For readers of David Eddings and Terry Brooks, this sweeping tale of betrayal, magic, and destiny will leave you breathless.
Mystery and Investigation That Keeps You Guessing
Sir Cedric Blackthorn brings detective skills that would make any crime solver jealous. His brilliant mind works to solve puzzles that could save or destroy an entire kingdom. As Ambassador Zafir arrives with hidden motives and Baron Gorgo schemes from the shadows, every character becomes a suspect. The investigation twists and turns through palace halls filled with secrets. You'll find yourself trying to solve the mystery alongside Cedric, picking up clues and second-guessing every revelation. The chase scenes will have you on the edge of your seat as our heroes race against time through a kingdom ready to explode into war.
Fantasy Adventure That Brings Legends to Life
The Broken Crown Saga starts with this incredible first book that mixes political drama with fantasy elements that feel fresh and exciting. Secret groups work behind the scenes, pulling strings that control the fate of nations. The world-building draws you in completely, making you believe in a place where magic and politics dance together in dangerous ways. This story proves that sometimes solving one crime can prevent an entire war - and that the most important battles happen in the shadows.
For readers of David Eddings and Terry Brooks, this sweeping tale of betrayal, magic, and destiny will leave you breathless.
The
King's Fall opens not in a throne room, but underground. A secret order
— no names, no titles, only cloaks and the authority of old purpose —
has gathered around a rune-carved table to debate an incident that
should not have happened: a full diplomatic party has been wiped out on
the road between two kingdoms, and neither king ordered it. Someone is
pulling strings that no one can see. The council is about to do
something dangerous. They are going to look.
There
existed beneath the old earth a sanctum kept from all maps and
memories, shielded by corridors that twisted into each other with a
geometry of deliberate confusion. In the deepest of its halls, a chamber
circular and primeval waited in perpetual shadow. The room's
centrepiece, a stone table whose circumference rivalled a city well, had
been carved from a single slab of basalt. Its rim and surface bore
etched runes and ancient sigils, their purpose unclear to any but
initiates of the silent order that convened there.
Around this table, shrouded figures gathered, their cloaks indistinguishable but for subtle variations in the weave — one a blue so dark it drank in the torchlight, another a coarse grey laced with fine metallic thread, a third in deep forest green that shed a dusting of spores with every movement. Even in the heart of stone, the air hung moist and cold, saturated with the scent of burnt tallow and the musk of old water. From sconces in the arched walls, torches spat and guttered, casting orange light that slithered across faces as pale and anonymous as death masks.
No titles were spoken here, only the functional necessity of names earned and worn like invisible crowns. The magister at the head of the table, tall, angular, motionless save for the slow folding of gloved hands, did not need to identify himself. When he spoke, the voice cut through the stillness as though it had been whetted on the stone itself.
"Our watchers are not in agreement." The words were uninflected, carefully measured.
A murmur passed around the circle, not of dissent but of discomfort. The second figure, smaller but with an evident coiled energy, leaned forward. Her hands were bare, fingers long and stained black along the creases, and she tapped the table where the runes formed a broken circle.
"It is a minor border skirmish, Sentinal," she said. "Bloodier than most, but hardly unprecedented. Let the kingdoms squabble among themselves — Ardanthia and Caladorn have always warred at the fringes." She sounded impatient, as though summoned for a lesser concern.
The magister in blue, whose hood cast his face into shadow, spoke with a slight tremor. "The killing was not so minor. An entire diplomatic train vanished — every courier, every retainer, every guard. The ambassador's body was not even left for ransom. That is new. That is calculated."
The Sentinal allowed the words to settle, scanning the circle with a gaze that seemed to fix on each magister, regardless of where his face was aimed. "Six months ago, an envoy of Ardanthia, Lord Marcus Blackbriar, journeyed south with full ceremonial escort. Their course was direct: Eldoria to Delrith, then through the corridor to Mirashar. Before reaching Delrith, they were set upon and destroyed. Only one man survived, and he staggered back to Eldoria."
"Coward's tale," said the woman with the ink-stained hands. "Most witnesses die of their wounds, the lucky ones first."
The Sentinal ignored the snipe. "Our watcher in Eldoria heard the testimony. The survivor told King Leofric himself that the attackers wore the livery of Caladorn. Our watcher in Caladorn, however, tells a different story: they found no evidence of a sanctioned operation. If anything, Caladorn's own patrols have increased since the incident. Their court desires peace. Their king is tired of war."
A rustling of fabrics, the weight of suspicion shifting around the table. The green-cloaked figure finally broke his silence, voice low and gravelly. "If both kings are ignorant, then who profits from the attack? It's no longer a border dispute. It's something else."
A pause, broken only by the hiss of a torch collapsing into itself. The Sentinal's next words fell heavier for the silence.
"Our order exists not to shape events, but to understand them. Yet this affair grows more opaque with every new witness. Either our watchers lie, or we are being lied to. That alone is reason to intervene."
"There's little evidence it threatens the Balance," the woman pressed. "What can it matter if kingdoms grind each other to salt? We have seen worse in the east. Nothing endures but the Pattern."
"Unless the Pattern itself is being rewritten," the blue-hooded man said.
At this, the Sentinal brought his palms flat on the runic table, producing a hollow note that echoed into the stone. "We are not theorists. To maintain the balance we need clarity, not further confusion. We will look. Tonight, we summon the memory of that day and see for ourselves."
The woman's upper lip curled. "The power to see through time is not borrowed lightly, Sentinal. It leaves marks on both the living and the dead."
"We risk more by not knowing," the Sentinal said. "If our council cannot agree on what is, how can we guide what must be?"
The blue-hooded man lifted a hand, uncertain. "If it is as you say, and both sides are being manipulated, then the ritual may be hazardous. Memory is often trapped by the will of those who shaped it."
Around this table, shrouded figures gathered, their cloaks indistinguishable but for subtle variations in the weave — one a blue so dark it drank in the torchlight, another a coarse grey laced with fine metallic thread, a third in deep forest green that shed a dusting of spores with every movement. Even in the heart of stone, the air hung moist and cold, saturated with the scent of burnt tallow and the musk of old water. From sconces in the arched walls, torches spat and guttered, casting orange light that slithered across faces as pale and anonymous as death masks.
No titles were spoken here, only the functional necessity of names earned and worn like invisible crowns. The magister at the head of the table, tall, angular, motionless save for the slow folding of gloved hands, did not need to identify himself. When he spoke, the voice cut through the stillness as though it had been whetted on the stone itself.
"Our watchers are not in agreement." The words were uninflected, carefully measured.
A murmur passed around the circle, not of dissent but of discomfort. The second figure, smaller but with an evident coiled energy, leaned forward. Her hands were bare, fingers long and stained black along the creases, and she tapped the table where the runes formed a broken circle.
"It is a minor border skirmish, Sentinal," she said. "Bloodier than most, but hardly unprecedented. Let the kingdoms squabble among themselves — Ardanthia and Caladorn have always warred at the fringes." She sounded impatient, as though summoned for a lesser concern.
The magister in blue, whose hood cast his face into shadow, spoke with a slight tremor. "The killing was not so minor. An entire diplomatic train vanished — every courier, every retainer, every guard. The ambassador's body was not even left for ransom. That is new. That is calculated."
The Sentinal allowed the words to settle, scanning the circle with a gaze that seemed to fix on each magister, regardless of where his face was aimed. "Six months ago, an envoy of Ardanthia, Lord Marcus Blackbriar, journeyed south with full ceremonial escort. Their course was direct: Eldoria to Delrith, then through the corridor to Mirashar. Before reaching Delrith, they were set upon and destroyed. Only one man survived, and he staggered back to Eldoria."
"Coward's tale," said the woman with the ink-stained hands. "Most witnesses die of their wounds, the lucky ones first."
The Sentinal ignored the snipe. "Our watcher in Eldoria heard the testimony. The survivor told King Leofric himself that the attackers wore the livery of Caladorn. Our watcher in Caladorn, however, tells a different story: they found no evidence of a sanctioned operation. If anything, Caladorn's own patrols have increased since the incident. Their court desires peace. Their king is tired of war."
A rustling of fabrics, the weight of suspicion shifting around the table. The green-cloaked figure finally broke his silence, voice low and gravelly. "If both kings are ignorant, then who profits from the attack? It's no longer a border dispute. It's something else."
A pause, broken only by the hiss of a torch collapsing into itself. The Sentinal's next words fell heavier for the silence.
"Our order exists not to shape events, but to understand them. Yet this affair grows more opaque with every new witness. Either our watchers lie, or we are being lied to. That alone is reason to intervene."
"There's little evidence it threatens the Balance," the woman pressed. "What can it matter if kingdoms grind each other to salt? We have seen worse in the east. Nothing endures but the Pattern."
"Unless the Pattern itself is being rewritten," the blue-hooded man said.
At this, the Sentinal brought his palms flat on the runic table, producing a hollow note that echoed into the stone. "We are not theorists. To maintain the balance we need clarity, not further confusion. We will look. Tonight, we summon the memory of that day and see for ourselves."
The woman's upper lip curled. "The power to see through time is not borrowed lightly, Sentinal. It leaves marks on both the living and the dead."
"We risk more by not knowing," the Sentinal said. "If our council cannot agree on what is, how can we guide what must be?"
The blue-hooded man lifted a hand, uncertain. "If it is as you say, and both sides are being manipulated, then the ritual may be hazardous. Memory is often trapped by the will of those who shaped it."
The peace was always a lie. They just didn't know whose.
Queen Eloise of Ardanthia has done everything right. She negotiated the alliance with Caladorn, married the prince, held her court together through blight and borderland attacks and the whispered threat of an ancient secret order. Now, with villages vanishing overnight — crops blackened, livestock dead, people simply gone — she does what any good ruler would do. She sends her best.
Sir Cedric Blackthorn, the precise and principled knight-investigator. Captain Elira, a soldier who has survived too much to flinch at anything. Tomas, a scholar more at home with footnotes than fistfights. Ryn, a street thief from the Saltspire docks whose instincts are worth more than anyone's education. And Auralias — the Court Mage, brilliant and unsettling in equal measure — who brings knowledge of old magic that none of the others possess, and who may be the only thing standing between Ardanthia and the League of the Moon.
Together, they are hunting the League before the League can finish what it started.
What they find will change everything they think they know — about the attacks, the conspiracy, and the true scale of what is being assembled in the dark. There are artifacts, older than any living kingdom, whose power was thought lost to history. There are secrets buried so deep that uncovering them will cost more than anyone is prepared to pay. And there is a question, growing louder with every mile: who, exactly, is the enemy?
Twilight's Dominion is a story about loyalty tested to breaking, courts where every smile hides a calculation, and the particular horror of realising that the enemy has been in the room all along. It is about a queen learning that the peace she built was built for her — and a company of mismatched, battle-worn companions who keep fighting even after the ground gives way beneath them.
Set across mountain fortresses carved from living rock, fog-wrapped port cities, a besieged royal palace, and the treacherous corridors of two kingdoms in collision, this is epic fantasy for readers who like their politics sharp, their magic consequential, and their betrayals earned.
Perfect for readers who love:
*The political intrigue of A Song of Ice and Fire
*The ensemble loyalty of The Lies of Locke Lamora
*The world-building depth of Robin Hobb
*Characters who are competent, scarred, and worth caring about
"There's no certainty in what's ahead. But I'd rather die among friends than watch the world go to monsters."
The Broken Crown Saga:
Book One: The King's Fall
Book Two: Twilight's Dominion
Book Three: Echoes of Kings - coming soon
*The political intrigue of A Song of Ice and Fire
*The ensemble loyalty of The Lies of Locke Lamora
*The world-building depth of Robin Hobb
*Characters who are competent, scarred, and worth caring about
"There's no certainty in what's ahead. But I'd rather die among friends than watch the world go to monsters."
The Broken Crown Saga:
Book One: The King's Fall
Book Two: Twilight's Dominion
Book Three: Echoes of Kings - coming soon
Twilight's
Dominion opens on two stories running in parallel. In the first, Lady
Seraphina D'Argent — a diplomat travelling alone through the unforgiving
Crownspine mountains — has just been surrounded by armed strangers on a
mountain pass. She has been riding for ten weeks on orders she doesn't
fully understand, heading toward coordinates her queen gave her without
explanation. She is about to discover something that will change
everything she thought she knew about the world she serves.
The figures came on in absolute silence, fanning out across the trail with the efficiency of wolves. In a matter of seconds they had closed off her retreat and were sliding, almost bonelessly, down the talus to encircle her.
Their leader wore a helm that entirely concealed his face, its visor painted with a crude snarl of animal fangs. The others carried composite bows at the ready, arrows nocked, but pointed down — a gesture that managed to be both merciful and contemptuous at once. Seraphina drew Cassia to a halt and set her hands openly on the pommel, every muscle rigid with calculation.
"State your business," the leader growled, voice rendered inhuman by the tin of his visor.
Seraphina debated, for perhaps two breaths, whether to attempt bluff or bravado. The bows decided the matter. "I am Lady Seraphina D'Argent, of Armathor," she replied, "on a mission from Her Majesty Queen Evelina."
The leader turned, a lazy gesture that made mockery of her authority, and a snort went up among his lieutenants. "And your escort?"
"Was not permitted." Seraphina kept her gaze level, though the blood pounded furiously in her ears. "I am to meet with a representative of the Riders, if you are such."
The mention of the Riders produced a shift in the circle. The archers exchanged glances, some wary, some almost amused. The leader drew closer, boots crushing the shallow crust of snow.
"You speak too much for a courier," he observed. "But too little for a spy." He swept a gauntleted hand at her pack horse. "Open your satchel."
She untied the travel case from the gelding, working fingers gone numb in the cold, and fished out the scroll tube. It was heavy, made of dark wood and brass, the wax seal untouched. She held it up so they could all see the sigil of Caladorn: a pair of crossed sabres over a seven-pointed star. There was a stillness, then a slow, careful release of tension among the archers as the leader nodded, almost respectful.
"Walk forward. Slowly," he said.
They escorted her up the ridge, off the trail, through a section of scree so loose that even Cassia balked. For an hour, maybe more, they wound through impossible switchbacks and across narrow spines of rock, each step a new exercise in balance and terror. Finally, the leader raised his hand and the party halted at a narrow saddle between peaks.
Seraphina caught her breath, took a long swallow from her water skin, and paused as she noticed what lay beyond the saddle.
The city was carved into the living stone of the mountain's interior, hidden from the world by both geometry and design. Terraced galleries spiralled down the inside face of a gigantic crater, studded with windows and fire-gleaming vents that gave the place an eerie, hive-like vibrance. Slender bridges of bone-white stone spanned the void between rocky spurs, connecting to massive towers whose roofs gaped open to the sky. Far below, at the crater's deepest point, a plaza of blue granite caught the light of a hundred lanterns, transforming it into a pool of shimmering stars.
She had never seen such a thing. She had never heard of such a thing. And yet, as she stood there, wind plucking at her cloak, Seraphina understood instantly, with a sick clarity, that Queen Evelina had always known.
They did not take her down the public steps. Instead, the archers led her along a narrow spiral cut into the stone, half-tunnel, half-balcony, with just enough space for one person and a horse at a time. The air grew colder with every turn, and the hum of unseen machinery — bellows, pulleys, some kind of water-driven elevator — echoed from deep within the walls. At last they emerged onto a flagstoned platform where the leader, visor now up, gestured for her to dismount.
"Wait here," he said, less threatening now. "You will be summoned."
Seraphina did not ask how long. She untethered her gloves, flexed her hands, and tried not to shiver in the thin mountain air. The view from the platform was staggering; across the chasm, the terraces of the city glimmered with what looked like glass or ice, and tiny figures moved between the arcades.
A boy in a grey tunic arrived, bearing a tray of tea and something that looked like bread but tasted of cedar and salt. He smiled at her with a gentleness that belonged to another world. When she asked him his name, he merely gestured for her to drink.
Time stretched, then snapped back when the leader returned, flanked by two more guards in matching visors. "You will come," he said.
The figures came on in absolute silence, fanning out across the trail with the efficiency of wolves. In a matter of seconds they had closed off her retreat and were sliding, almost bonelessly, down the talus to encircle her.
Their leader wore a helm that entirely concealed his face, its visor painted with a crude snarl of animal fangs. The others carried composite bows at the ready, arrows nocked, but pointed down — a gesture that managed to be both merciful and contemptuous at once. Seraphina drew Cassia to a halt and set her hands openly on the pommel, every muscle rigid with calculation.
"State your business," the leader growled, voice rendered inhuman by the tin of his visor.
Seraphina debated, for perhaps two breaths, whether to attempt bluff or bravado. The bows decided the matter. "I am Lady Seraphina D'Argent, of Armathor," she replied, "on a mission from Her Majesty Queen Evelina."
The leader turned, a lazy gesture that made mockery of her authority, and a snort went up among his lieutenants. "And your escort?"
"Was not permitted." Seraphina kept her gaze level, though the blood pounded furiously in her ears. "I am to meet with a representative of the Riders, if you are such."
The mention of the Riders produced a shift in the circle. The archers exchanged glances, some wary, some almost amused. The leader drew closer, boots crushing the shallow crust of snow.
"You speak too much for a courier," he observed. "But too little for a spy." He swept a gauntleted hand at her pack horse. "Open your satchel."
She untied the travel case from the gelding, working fingers gone numb in the cold, and fished out the scroll tube. It was heavy, made of dark wood and brass, the wax seal untouched. She held it up so they could all see the sigil of Caladorn: a pair of crossed sabres over a seven-pointed star. There was a stillness, then a slow, careful release of tension among the archers as the leader nodded, almost respectful.
"Walk forward. Slowly," he said.
They escorted her up the ridge, off the trail, through a section of scree so loose that even Cassia balked. For an hour, maybe more, they wound through impossible switchbacks and across narrow spines of rock, each step a new exercise in balance and terror. Finally, the leader raised his hand and the party halted at a narrow saddle between peaks.
Seraphina caught her breath, took a long swallow from her water skin, and paused as she noticed what lay beyond the saddle.
The city was carved into the living stone of the mountain's interior, hidden from the world by both geometry and design. Terraced galleries spiralled down the inside face of a gigantic crater, studded with windows and fire-gleaming vents that gave the place an eerie, hive-like vibrance. Slender bridges of bone-white stone spanned the void between rocky spurs, connecting to massive towers whose roofs gaped open to the sky. Far below, at the crater's deepest point, a plaza of blue granite caught the light of a hundred lanterns, transforming it into a pool of shimmering stars.
She had never seen such a thing. She had never heard of such a thing. And yet, as she stood there, wind plucking at her cloak, Seraphina understood instantly, with a sick clarity, that Queen Evelina had always known.
They did not take her down the public steps. Instead, the archers led her along a narrow spiral cut into the stone, half-tunnel, half-balcony, with just enough space for one person and a horse at a time. The air grew colder with every turn, and the hum of unseen machinery — bellows, pulleys, some kind of water-driven elevator — echoed from deep within the walls. At last they emerged onto a flagstoned platform where the leader, visor now up, gestured for her to dismount.
"Wait here," he said, less threatening now. "You will be summoned."
Seraphina did not ask how long. She untethered her gloves, flexed her hands, and tried not to shiver in the thin mountain air. The view from the platform was staggering; across the chasm, the terraces of the city glimmered with what looked like glass or ice, and tiny figures moved between the arcades.
A boy in a grey tunic arrived, bearing a tray of tea and something that looked like bread but tasted of cedar and salt. He smiled at her with a gentleness that belonged to another world. When she asked him his name, he merely gestured for her to drink.
Time stretched, then snapped back when the leader returned, flanked by two more guards in matching visors. "You will come," he said.
I am a new author writing under the pen name Orlan Drake, my real name is Chris Hills Farrow. I've worked as a freelance writer for magazines in the past but have always wanted to write fiction, and after having more free time during the lockdowns, I have made some progress. I enjoy fantasy because it opens my mind to other worlds or ways of life that do not exist in real life, or have ever existed.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Enter The Broken Crown Saga Giveaway Here
Enter The Broken Crown Saga Giveaway Here
Wednesday, March 18, 2026
Desolate (Assembly Hearts Book 1) by Kelli Storm
Welcome to the tour for Kelli Storm's witchy urban fantasy, Desolate! Read on for more details!
by Kelli Storm
Release Date: October 2025
Genre: YA Urban Fantasy
About the Author:
website
When the 2008 recession hit, KELLI STORM found herself without a job and with too much time on her hands. To fill the void, she began writing fan fiction. She soon developed a following, and her readers encouraged her to write an original story. Kelli’s debut book, HIS SMALL-TOWN CHALLENGE (Harlequin Special Edition, 2025), is an ode to her love of boy bands.
Kelli earned her bachelor’s from Grand Valley State University. She’s the author of the Challenge Accepted series for Harlequin Special Edition and the young adult fantasy series, The Assembly Hearts, which includes DESOLATE (Tiny Fox Press, 2025). She lives in the Great Lake State with three rescue dogs and a fifteen-year-old fish named Henry O’Malley.
- Accidental Time Travel
- Forbidden Love
- Fish Out of Water
- Who Done It
- Neurodivergent Heroine
website
When the 2008 recession hit, KELLI STORM found herself without a job and with too much time on her hands. To fill the void, she began writing fan fiction. She soon developed a following, and her readers encouraged her to write an original story. Kelli’s debut book, HIS SMALL-TOWN CHALLENGE (Harlequin Special Edition, 2025), is an ode to her love of boy bands.
Kelli earned her bachelor’s from Grand Valley State University. She’s the author of the Challenge Accepted series for Harlequin Special Edition and the young adult fantasy series, The Assembly Hearts, which includes DESOLATE (Tiny Fox Press, 2025). She lives in the Great Lake State with three rescue dogs and a fifteen-year-old fish named Henry O’Malley.
Monday, March 16, 2026
The Quiet Light (Sage's Sanctuary Book 1) by Casey Blair
We're celebrating the newest release by Casey Blair -- a cozy fantasy romance with all of your favorite tropes!
by Casey Blair
March 10, 2026
Genre: Cozy Fantasy Romance Spicy cozy fantasy romance
- Dragon shifter mmc
- Only one bed
- Mate bond
- Powerful FMC
- So much ice cream
500 years ago, Yora went into magical stasis to escape her violent life as the Sage of Wrath. Now she’s awoken because a hunted dragon shifter needs help, but the last thing she wants is to go back to war.
She’d much rather stay in her cottage with the dragon, Zan, and eat every kind of ice cream she can imagine. Even if she knows better than to give in to the rush she feels around him… Dragons can’t mate with humans, and soon Zan will have to leave again.
But the dragon’s flight has brought danger to Yora’s doorstep. Dark powers are desperate to claim her destructive powers for themselves, and they’ll stop at nothing to bring her under their control.
Yora knows how to use her wrath to destroy. But if she can harness that same magic to build instead, maybe she can protect her found family in Crystal Hollow—and find a way to stay with Zan for all of their days, too.
The Quiet Light is the first book of an ice cream-filled spicy cozy fantasy romance trilogy in the world of Sage’s Sanctuary, where the most powerful and vulnerable alike find refuge in an isolated mountain cottage with only one bed. Sage’s Sanctuary is full of dragon encounters, tender romance and hilarious banter, building community and having each other’s backs, and finding who you are and what you stand for.
18+
Casey Blair is a bestselling author of hopeful fantasy novels about ambitious women who dare, including the Tea Princess Chronicles, Sundered Realms, and Diamond Universe: Sierra Walker series. Her own adventures have included teaching English in rural Japan, taking a train to Tibet, rappelling down waterfalls in Costa Rica, and practicing capoeira. She now lives in the Pacific Northwest and can be found dancing spontaneously, exploring forests around the world, or trapped under a cat.
For more information, visit her website or follow her on Instagram @CaseyLBlair.
For more information, visit her website or follow her on Instagram @CaseyLBlair.
IG: @caseylblair @rrbooktours
Tags:
#rrbooktours #thequietlight #cozyfantasy #fantasyromance
Tags:
#rrbooktours #thequietlight #cozyfantasy #fantasyromance
Book Review: Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everett
by Elizabeth Everett
March 10, 2026
Genre: romantasy, witches
When a magical hotel appears smack-dab in the middle of the most unmagical of worlds, the last thing the residents expect is to fall in love.
Manager of the Number Five Wayside Inn and World Travel Hub, Pax Nomen has one of the easiest jobs in all the known universes, unless you count the occasional plumbing disaster. When Number Five Wayside gets stranded on a non-magical world, even Pax's trusty Wayside Handbook can’t help him. How is he going to “reboot” the hotel and keep it on its magical journey?
Josie LaChusia is a single mom experiencing debt, having parenting doubts, and tipping dangerously toward depression when an ad pops up on her phone that an apartment is available in a building she’s never seen before.
Pax needs a new guest to restart his hotel, and Josie needs a nudge to restart her life. In a building occupied by faeries, gargoyles, and a gnome with a bad attitude, two souls from very different places come together to create a home like no other.
Magic and Mischief at the Wayside Hotel by Elizabeth Everette is a magical and heartwarming tale rooted deeply in fantasy and fun. It's a softer tale of love and overcoming all the struggles life can toss your way.
The best word I could use to describe this one is "cozy," it is a light heartened book that doesn't have a larger world ending plot-line. It's focused on the hotel life and all the magical and interesting people who live there. Including a vampire who loves doughnuts!
Some of the chapters felt a bit rushed, moving the story along a smidgen too fast and leading to an ending a bit unfulfilling. Could be a build up for a second story, just not sure. Our leading couple are cute to read about and have some warm moments, but this is not one on the graphic love making.
Overall, this one is sweet and has a very nice hug feeling. A bunch of humor and snark, which I loved!
Getting 4 Sheep
KD
website
USA Today bestselling author Elizabeth Everett lives in Upstate New York with her family. Alongside her critically acclaimed historical romance series, Elizabeth pens essays and articles on the subject of feminist romance. Her novels are inspired by her admiration for rule breakers and belief in the power of love to change the world.
Sunday, March 15, 2026
Summer of Dust and Ash (Stone and Scale Book 2) by Ana Lee
Summer of Dust and Ash (Stone and Scale Book 2)
by Ana Lee
Release Date: April 22nd
Genre: Epic Romantasy/ Dragons
- Multi-POV
- Slow burn
- Fated bonds
- Antagonist turned ally
- Love triangle
- Ultimate good vs evil
- Dragons and ancient magic
- Prophecies
- Corrupt government
- Political intrigue
- Secret high-stakes battles
Welcome to Teir—a shining beacon of hope amidst the ravages of war…or the trappings of a gilded cage?
Following
an unforeseen treason and an unexpected attack on the New Orleans
Council House, Wilder and his friends escape to the safety of Teir. But
secrets, greater still than the ones kept by the people they trusted,
arise just in time for Summer Solstice.
As the Red War builds
between worlds, another—more ancient and more deadly—brews in the
heavens. And its whispers are creeping into the heart of the Eadar.
The
dragons, once believed by most to have never truly existed, begin to
return—and they’re not playing by the rules. The mysterious Jeselle,
born of both dark and dragon magic, takes her place as the first rider.
And the hunt for the stones, all that stands in the way of Markus
claiming control of everything he touches, finally begins.
But
can Wilder and his friends stay alive long enough to find them? Can they
truly trust the Magistrie to protect the Eadar, and the humans, from
the Dahrk and the havoc it’s wrought? And most of all, can Wilder trust
himself?
Triggers: Suitable for 18+
- Reference to graphic violence (brief)
- References to sexual situations (off-page)
- References to mental abuse/manipulation
- Reference to sexual assault (inferred)
Red Summer (Stone and Scale Book 1)
by Ana Lee
Enter the Eadar—where an ancient cosmic war is brewing, and good will struggle to survive.
Seventeen
year old Wilder Ansley is being followed. By who? He hasn’t got a clue.
By people and creatures no one else can see. That’s a good enough place
to start.
To make matters worse, he’s also able to do things that make no sense at all — like unintentionally setting fire to his foster brother's bed. Without the help of a lighter or matches.
Wilder
prides himself that recently, aside from a few unfortunate incidents,
he’s been able to keep whatever happens when he loses his cool mostly
under control. That is until a freak lightning storm alerts the
mysterious New Orleans Council to his whereabouts.
And his burgeoning abilities.
Within
hours, Wilder is thrown headfirst into a whole new world, hidden behind
a Shroud, and it feels more like home than he cares to admit. Despite
his initial hesitations, Wilder finds friendship, and maybe something
more, among these new strangers. But it turns out uncovering his place
in the Eadar might be harder than he thought. Wilder must force himself
to face the truth about who everyone else believes him to be—all while a
decades long war escalates within and beyond the Shroud, threatening
not only the Eadar and his new found friends, but the human world he’s
left behind.
Red Summer blends the high-stakes, coming-of-age
journey of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and Cassandra Clare's The Mortal
Instruments with the blazing romantic tension of Sarah J. Maas' A Court
of Thorns and Roses— all with a distinct gritty and grounded Southern
Gothic, New Orleans kick.
Suitable for older young-adult and adult readers.
Three-time recipient of Readers' Favorite Five-Star Rating
"Ana Lee delivers a brilliant urban fantasy in Red Summer. Characters are described with a depth that surpasses the norm. Descriptions are vivid…Red Summer ticks all the boxes for plot, action, and adventure. I now have another favorite author." — Readers’ Favorite, starred review
“Reminiscent of author Cassandra Clare, Red Summer is engaging and highly readable with a strong emotional core. The world-building is creative and immersive, the writing fluid and believable. And while it begins with a familiar "boy who feels different" trope, this story quickly proves itself to be far more nuanced. Red Summer is a thoughtful, well-crafted novel that stands confidently on its own within the genre." — Readers’ Favorite, starred review
website
Ana Lee is the debut author of Red Summer—the first novel of the upcoming dark, gritty, and fast-paced epic contemporary fantasy series, Stone and Scale.
Ana lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, where she spends her time reading, writing, or dreaming about reading and writing.
Her influences include (but are definitely not limited to) Cassandra Clare, Rebecca Yarros, Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, J.K. Rowling, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.