Reviews!

To any authors/publishers/ tour companies that are looking for the reviews that I signed up for please know this is very hard to do. I will be stopping reviews temporarily. My husband passed away February 1st and my new normal is a bit scary right now and I am unable to concentrate on a book to do justice to the book and authors. I will still do spotlight posts if you wish it is just the reviews at this time. I apologize for this, but it isn't fair to you if I signed up to do a review and haven't been able to because I can't concentrate on any books. Thank you for your understanding during this difficult time. I appreciate all of you. Kathleen Kelly April 2nd 2024

23 January 2023

Cusp of Darkness by Olivia Preya Blog Tour! @olivia_preya #XpressoTours⁣⁣ @XpressoTours

 

Cusp of Darkness
Olivia Preya


(The Cusp Series, #1)
Publication date: January 20th 2023
Genres: Adult, Mafia, Romance

Valerius Cafarelli
In my world, we live and die for our family. We brand our skin with symbols of loyalty and rank that bind us together. It’s time to step from behind the scenes and claim my birthright, leader of the Cafarelli family. But the mafia is nothing if not set in tradition. Marriage is the only way to claim what’s rightfully mine.
When the angel I’ve protected from a distance suddenly needs me as much as I need her, I make an offer she can’t refuse.

She is a candle in the night.
She is a prayer to the gods.
She is the knife that brings me to my knees.

Adaliya Solarin
I took an oath to save lives, trying to redeem myself from a bloody night where I played judge, jury, and executioner. I worked hard to erase all traces of the night I claimed revenge, but my mind can’t forget the man who ensured I’d never be put away for my crime.

Now I need someone to help me save my father from himself. When I’m left desperate and defeated, the man who saved me once offers one last chance at survival. What can I do but make a deal with the devil?

He is the bump in the night.
He is my darkest temptations come to life.
He is my salvation.

Cusp of Darkness is book one of the Cusp series but can be read as a standalone. It has a guaranteed HEA, swoon-worthy anti-hero, and badass heroine. This is an interracial mafia romance containing explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, and is recommended for readers 18+. Please check the author’s website for the full list of content warnings on the author’s website.

Goodreads / Amazon


“What is on your mind, angelo?”

“The fact we are in a metal death trap,” I said through gritted teeth.

“You’ve been off all morning.” He ignored my comment. Anger flitted in my chest again. “What’s bothering you?”

I shook my head and gave a tight smile, bringing my eyes to his briefly. “Nothing.”

The leather groaned as he got out of his seat and rested his hands on either side of my armrests. He leaned his face in close and I looked up at him through my lashes. I wetted my lips, and his gaze followed the movement before holding mine again. His proximity was making me a little lightheaded.

“I’m going to have to do something about your bad habit of lying. Tell me what’s wrong.” He demanded. His breath was warm across my face. I wanted to break the intense eye contact, but I was trapped by his emerald gaze. Valerius looked surly. Oh, that was rich. Who did he think he was, getting to order me around right after calling me a liar?

I steeled my expression. “I won’t stand for you fucking other people while we are married.” I realized the hypocrisy in my statement; if I wasn’t doing him and I wouldn’t let him do anyone else, then I was demanding a pretty tall order. Especially for a man who oozed sex appeal and likely had a different woman in his bed each night.

His eyebrows shot up. “Such dirty words for an angel.” He eased back into his seat and casually rested an ankle on his thigh. “Where is this coming from?”

I kissed my teeth. I could use bad words, although even my referring to them as ‘bad words’ was kind of childish. “You and Salvatore went out last night, you didn’t come back until early in the morning, and I won’t put out. I can put the pieces together.”

Valerius’s expression morphed one of consideration. He cocked his head and I squirmed as he watched me. He was silent for a moment. “You’re jealous.”

“No,” I spluttered. “I don’t want to play the pathetic wife who sits pretty and is the laughingstock as her husband has sex with anyone and everyone.”

Valerius smirked and I wanted to wipe the cockiness off his face. I backtracked. “You know what? I actually don’t care if you want to sleep around. I guess because we aren’t truly together, I can’t make any rules. Ignore what I just said; I’ll have my own fun as well.”

He narrowed his eyes and a dark look passed over his face, but his body remained lax. “Have your fun?”

I nodded enthusiastically. “Yes. Why can’t we have one of those marriages where it’s totally open and each of us has multiple sexual partners? It would be a win-win for both of us. We are in a rather particular situation so maybe it would make sense. We both have needs,” But even as I said it, my stomach churned. I couldn’t have meaningless sex; I wasn’t wired to have multiple casual partners. And if Valerius called my bluff, I would be gutted. But it was out there, and I wasn’t backing down.

“You’re not fucking anyone besides me, angelo. If you feel like you need to get your cunt stretched, you come to me.” He snarled. The look on his face was downright murderous. I should have recoiled at his words and been offended but my body betrayed me. My lips parted and I pressed my thighs together in a failed attempt to dull the throbbing in my core. He caught my movement, and a cruel smirk covered his face. “Your body knows who it belongs to. It knows who it wants, so don’t even think about trying to fulfill your needs with someone else. Your curves, your mouth, your pussy, it’s all mine.”

I wanted to be offended but the emotion didn’t come. I just wanted to come.

Oh my god.

I didn’t say anything because I didn’t even know what to say. I was conflicted because I loved what he said, but I wasn’t supposed to. My mind was clouded with lust.

Valerius gave a satisfied nod at my lack of response and his expression turned calm once again. “I didn’t fuck anyone last night and I won’t fuck anyone unless it is you.”


Olivia Preya is a romance fanatic and author living in Toronto, Canada. She writes about what she loves—love, spice, and panty-dropping men with a soft spot for the love of their lives. When life gets a little tough or bland, she finds that fictional men are the best medicine.

Olivia considers herself to have two personas, like Wonder Woman, but with a pen––corporate marketing specialist by day and spicy romance author by night. She also likes to embrace all forms of sensuality, from pole dancing and erotic novels to good food; she believes that sometimes the best things in life are a little sinful.

Website / Twitter / Instagram / TikTok

GIVEAWAY!

$25 Amazon gift card

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Love in Print by Darby Blake Release Blitz!

 

Title: Love in Print 

Author: Darby Blake 

Genre: Contemporary Romance/Valentine Romance/Holiday Romance 

Book Tropes:

Accidental Meeting

 ✔ Insta - attraction 

Single Dad 

Release Date: January 24, 2023 

Hosted by: Buoni Amici Press, LLC.

Maisie Hoffman’s living an ordinary life until her meet cute happens at the grocery store. Before she can muster the courage to introduce herself and find happiness in the cereal aisle, a blunder turns into embarrassment and her one true love disappears.

 Rhys Wainwright III has always felt he’s unlucky in love until he comes across the Missed Encounters section of his local newspaper and reads about a woman looking for the man of her dreams who she lost in the grocery store. Could it be? 

 Is Rhys the man Maisie conked heads with? 

 Is Maisie the frazzled cutie he winked at? 

 There’s only one way for either of them to find out.

Available in Kindle Unlimited

AMAZON

Tweet: #ReleaseBlitz Love in Print By Darby Blake Purchase your copy @Amazon https://ctt.ec/Sy2Yp+ Also available in #KU #BAPpr #ContemporaryRomance #ValentineRomance

Read an excerpt from Love in Print:

Maisie couldn’t take her eyes off him, even if it was his backside, no matter how hard she tried. He had on a darker than royal blue, but not quite navy suit, with a red tie. His presence screamed power and her lady bits begged her to chase after him. 
So she did.
Maisie followed him down the aisle, ditched the junk food and tampons on the closest shelf, and straightened out her clothes. When he stopped, she leaned to the side and took stock of what he had in his cart: apple and orange juice, vegetables for a salad, and a loaf of bread. This man ate healthily. Unlike Maisie and Dorian, who liked to binge on ice cream and whatever sweets they could get their hands on. 
He turned around and smiled at Maisie. She froze and may or may not have smiled back. For all she knew it was a half grin that made her look constipated. She turned and looked at the shelf. They were in the canned veggies section. Maisie reached for a can of creamed corn. It was something she hadn’t eaten since she was a child but in that moment, she found it to be the most interesting can she’d ever seen in her life. 
Out of her peripheral vision, she saw her man move, and she followed, like the stalker she was. Maisie needed a moment or ten to muster up enough courage to speak to him. Her heart was beating wildly as she thought about what she would say and how he would respond.

Darby Blake is a pen name for New York Times Bestselling Author Heidi McLaughlin. Darby’s first novel, EVERYTHING WE ARE, co-written with her best friend, is due to be released in June 2022. Learn more about Darby by visiting darbyblake.com

 

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Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/darby-blake

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@darbyblakeauthor

A Long Way from Clare by Robert W. Smith Blog Tour and Excerpt!


Romance, Kidnapping, and Murder…
Will a young Irish lawyer unravel the secrets or die trying?

Conor Dolan, a young Irishman, travels to Chicago in 1903 to visit his older brother; instead, he finds a mystery. His journey sparks a quest to peel away secrets and rediscover a dead sibling he idolized but never really knew as he strives to learn the true meaning of brotherhood.

His search reveals an Irish Republican plot to assassinate a visiting British royal. In the process, he is drawn into an alliance with two women: a mesmerizing Jewish widow and a struggling young Irishwoman. Each teaches Conor existential truths of life and love in her own way.

But the brother he finds may not be the brother he remembers. A Long Way from Clare is a story of Chicago's early twentieth century immigrants and one man’s struggle with both bigotry and justice in an unforgiving city where no good deed goes unpunished.

Will Conor find the answers he desperately craves? Or will this trip punch a one-way ticket?

I’m pleased as punch and tickled pink to have landed this gig. But the pressure is on here. I mean you write a book populated by mostly Irish characters, even an off-kilter priest, and one of the first people to see it is named Celticlady. What’s more, I heard a reliable rumor that her husband may be stopping by today because he reads historical fiction. Well, I’d like to thank Celticlady for this opportunity and, fingers crossed, she and her hordes of followers will like the book.

You’ll find plenty of crime and mystery in the pages, but mainly Clare is a story of a great city in its infancy and the immigrants clawing their way up its ladder of vice, corruption, and hardship on their path to a better life. Within that framework comes a young Irish lawyer, Conor Dolan, who arrives in Chicago on a mission to find his beloved older brother, Kevin, to whom he owes so much. Instead, he finds a mystery and two women who tutor the somewhat awkward young man in the ways of life and love.

For an excerpt today I chose a reflective passage, a special one for Celticlady. By this time in the novel young Conor has been beaten, betrayed, and bounced around enough to have acquired the power of insight, maybe even confidence, like a war hero who finally questions the war itself. Could he finally be starting to figure out this thing called life? Let’s listen…

Excerpt

He turned to face her at the piano, the last rays of sunlight beating onto her fair skin and dancing through her hair. For the first time, he could see the natural color of her eyes. His mother had called it “County Leitrim green,” the rare, hypnotic color God himself created only for crimson-haired Irish colleens. Maureen’s Leitrim eyes had won young Conor Dolan’s heart and his soul. This is a remarkable and desirable woman, a woman with enough radiance and strength to fill my life.

She touched his cheek gently and whispered, “Sure we were all damaged, Conor: ye, me, Kevin, Rebecca, even the bloody dog. Lovely Father Brendan, deviant soul he is, told me all about yeer little collie back in Ireland. All of that aside, the next time I see that three-legged mutt of yours, sure he had better be washed and groomed. I’ll not tolerate that smell in my house, Conor Dolan. Am I clear?”

He reflected finally upon his brother, the meaning of brotherhood, and the irreconcilable duality of human nature. It all made him appreciate the three-legged dog more than ever. Dog was immune to all the duplicity and did not understand the concepts of lies or hate or concealed motives. He liked a good steak or rib bone now and again, shared his home with a needy stranger sometimes, and did not give a damn where another dog came from or what color he was. If only Dog could talk. What a conversation they would have over a Schlitz.

Like Father Brendan White, the animal had adapted and evolved to a point of perfect coexistence with a city that loved and laughed and killed without apology or excuse. Conor thought he might do the same if he was not alone. He was coming to love this city as he had this woman, but Maureen needed to know everything…everything.

Bob was raised in Chicago, enlisting in the Air Force at age eighteen during the Vietnam War. Following a year of language training at Syracuse University, he served four years as a Russian Linguist in Security Service Command, a branch of the NSA. He attended DePaul University and The John Marshall Law School in Chicago on the G.I. Bill while working as a Chicago Transit Authority Police Officer. Thirty-odd years as a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago followed. His first book was Immoral Authority (Echelon Press, 2002) followed by Catch a Falling Lawyer (New Leaf Books, 2005) and The Sakhalin Collection (New Leaf Books, 2007, hardcover). In February of 2022, Between the Lines Publishing released Bob’s newest novel, Running with Cannibals, a historical/military thriller based on actual events of the Philippine-American War.  


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Facebook Author Page

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Website


Blog Tour Schedule

January 21 My Vices and Weaknesses

January 23 Celticlady's Reviews

January 24 So Little time…

January 25 Meryton Press Blog

January 26 From Pemberley to Milton

January 27 Elza Reads



Giveaway

Meryton Press will be giving away one eBook for each stop on the Blog Tour, for a total of six eBooks.


The Flame Tree By Siobhan Daiko Blog Tour! @siobhandaiko @cathiedunn @siobhandaiko_asolandobooks @thecoffeepotbookclub

 


Book Title: The Flame Tree

Series: The Hong Kong Collection

Author: Siobhan Daiko

Publication Date: January 19th, 2023

Publisher: Asolando Books

Page Length: 300

Genre: Asian Historical Fiction



In the spring of 1939, dashing young William Burton and the beautiful Constance Han set sail from London on the same ocean liner to Hong Kong.

Romance blossoms while they enjoy games of deck quoits and spend sultry tropical evenings dancing under the stars. Connie is intrigued by Will’s talent for writing poetry, and she offers to give him Cantonese lessons to help him with his new job— a cadet in the colonial service.

But once in Hong Kong, Connie is constrained by filial duty towards her Eurasian parents, and their wish for her to marry someone from her own background. She can't forget Will however and arranges to meet him in secret under the magnificent canopy of a flame of the forest tree—where she fulfils her promise to teach him to speak Chinese.

Before too long, trouble looms as Japanese forces gather on the border between Hong Kong and mainland China. Will joins a commando group tasked with operating behind enemy lines, and Connie becomes involved in the fight against local fifth columnists.

When war breaks out, they find themselves drawn into a wider conflict than their battle against prejudice. Can they survive and achieve a future together? Or do forces beyond their control keep them forever apart?


Based on a little-known true story, The Flame Tree is a tale of love and survival against all the odds.


PRAISE FOR SIOBHAN DAIKO

“Siobhan Daiko will tug at your heartstrings, and leave you desperate for more…” 

~ Ellie Yarde, The Coffee Pot Book Club.

“Daiko is an author you’ll want to add to your historical fiction favourites.” 

~ Netgalley Reviewer


Universal Link: https://mybook.to/TFTHK 


Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3VWaWzI 

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3VX4iJy 

Amazon CA: https://amzn.to/3SrD6Qj 

Amazon AU: https://amzn.to/3VWbUMm 




Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and a rescued cat. Siobhan was born of English parents in Hong Kong, attended boarding school in Australia, and then moved to the UK—where she taught modern foreign languages in a Welsh comprehensive school. She now spends her time writing page-turners and enjoying her life near Venice. 

Her novels are compelling, poignant, and deeply moving, with strong characters and evocative settings, but always with romance at their heart. You can find more about her books on her website www.siobhandaiko.org

Website: https://siobhandaiko.org

Twitter: https://twitter.com/siobhandaiko

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AsolandoBooks

https://www.facebook.com/siobhan.daiko

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siobhan-daiko-74993651/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/siobhandaiko_asolandobooks/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.it/SiobhanDaiko/_saved/

Book Bub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/siobhan-daiko

Amazon Author Page: author.to/SiobhanDaiko

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7091256.Siobhan_Daiko


Tour Schedule Page:  https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2022/10/blog-tour-flame-tree-by-siobhan-daiko.html 

Pilot Who Knows the Waters by N.L. Holmes Blog Tour! @nlholmesbooks @cathiedunn @n.l.holmes @thecoffeepotbookclub #HistoricalMystery #AncientEgypt #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

 


Book Title: Pilot Who Knows the Waters

Series: The Lord Hani Mysteries (#6)

Author: N.L. Holmes

Publication Date: June 15, 2022

Publisher: WayBack Press 

Page Length: 330

Genre: Historical mystery, political intrigue



Hani must secretly obtain a Hittite bridegroom for Queen Meryet-amen, but Ay and the faction behind Prince Tut-ankh-aten are opposed--to the point of violence. Does the death of an artisan have anything to do with Ay’s determination to see his grandson on the throne? Then, another death brings Egypt to the brink of war… Hani’s diplomatic skills will be pushed to the limit in this final book in The Lord Hani Mysteries.


Universal Link


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Amazon US:

Amazon CA:

Amazon AU:


Barnes and Noble:

Waterstones:

Kobo:

iBooks:



N.L. Holmes is the pen name of a professional archaeologist who received her doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. She has excavated in Greece and in Israel, and taught ancient history and humanities at the university level for many years. She has always had a passion for books, and in childhood, she and her cousin (also a writer today) used to write stories for fun. Today, she and her husband live in France with their chickens and cats, where she weaves, plays the violin, gardens, and dances.

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