#Blog Tour

[wlwbookshelf]

IRIS KELLY DOESN'T DATE - ASHLEY HERRING BLAKE Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ashley Herring Blake has written another sapphic romance that I was barely able to out down until it was finished. Iris and Stevie are incredibly cute. The book is really successful take on fake dating that actually seems like a plausible reason two people could fake date! 

I loved seeing Bright Falls one last time, although I do wish there was two epilogues one for the Iris/Stevie and one for the whole cast! 

Based on this trilogy, any sapphic story Ashley Herring Blake writes will be an auto-buy for me. 

Many thanks to Berkley Publishing Group for an eARC via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Iris Kelly is released today (Oct 24th) in the US!

[yvesdot]

SOMETHING'S NOT RIGHT IS AVAILABLE TO PREORDER!

The debut collection returns in a special fifth anniversary edition, repackaged with three new short stories, a new cover, and additional bonus content. A vampire is forced into a compromising situation; a father fears his child's growing plant collection; the undead go to high school; a butcher contemplates whether or not she can be loved. In a captivating debut, yves. opens the door to our world, slightly askew-- a world where the crows work for witches and the telephone booths serve as secret channels for prophecy; a world where a diverse cast of monsters and humans alike are forced to contend with what the world believes is right.

Something's Not Right, described by GoodReads reviewers as "delicious," "expertly crafted," and "relentlessly queer," may be releasing in a week on October 10, 2023... but did you know you can preorder digital copies on Amazon and itch.io right now? As for physical, you can now preorder SIGNED copies from Bookshop Santa Cruz! There's a virtual launch party day of, an in-person book talk that Thursday (the 12th), and all sorts of surprises to come. (And if you can't afford a copy, ARCs are available for request up to release!)

To celebrate, we're having a little blog tour across several beloved writeblrs, each of whom have their own contributions. I'm so excited to be able to geek out over their posts in public!!

Posting schedule:

October 4th - Emma @lazarusemma (moodboard)

October 5th - Rook @peppermintlark (recipes)

October 6th - Piya @onomatopiya (top 5 stories)

October 7th - שבת קודש

October 8th - Max @goose-books (fan presentation)

October 9th - Yah Yah @fluoresensitive (playlist)

Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered! An extra special thank you to Emma @lazarusemma and Rook @peppermintlark specifically, as they were pinch hitters and rather than signing up they merely, so to speak, had greatness thrust upon them. Please send them many chocolates.

It's a magical world out there, Dear Readers—let's go on tour!

[rrcraft-and-lore]

The Doors of Midnight (from @torbooks and @gollancz) virtual tour kicks off tomorrow!

June 27 & 28 - We've got @FantasyBookCrit dropping a Q&A and The 8 Dragonslayer Myths You Didn't Know About - Listicle

June 29 - Liver interview with @KaysHiddenShelf at 12pm ET.

July 1 - Ch. 1 Excerpt - FanFiAddict, Before We Go Blog, SFF Insiders & Fantasy Book Critic

July 10 - The Essential Hero's Toolkit - Listicle on FanFiAddict

July 11 - Tales from the Bridge Podcast

July 13 - JCM Berne live interview at 3pm ET

July 17 - Text Q&A on JamReads

July 19 - Storyline Sessions Podcast

July 20 - Page Chewing Podcast live interview at 7pm ET

July 24 - People Behind the Pages w/ Nicholas W. Fuller live interview at 9pm ET

July 25 - Text Q&A on SFF Insiders

July 26 - 5 Famous Temptresses Across Myths - Listicle on SFF Insiders

July 30 - Julianna Caro video interview

July 31 - Bald&Balding live interview at 7pm ET

August 2 - A History of Impenetrable Heroes - Essay on Grimdark Magazine

August 5 - Text Q&A on Fiction Fans Podcast Blog

August 6 - Late Night Talk with Stephen Aryan (the Age of Darkness, and the Age of Dread trilogies, The Judas Blossom)

August 7 - Under the Radar SFF Podcast

August 8 - Text Q&A on Before We Go Blog

August 9 5 Comparative Tales of Lovers Lost - Listicle on Before We Go Blog

August 11 - The Fantasy & Sci-Fi Fanatic's Podcast

August 13 - OWWR Pod and Launch Party Livestread feat. Jim Butcher and Michael Mammy on FanFiAddict (Youtube) and SFF Insiders (Twitter/X) at 7pm ET

August 19 - Lisa does Life & Not So Secret Bookaholic live interview at 2pm ET

August 21 - BellTube live interview at 9pm

Want to buy something special:

If you're in the US and would like a signed hardcovers, @Loyaltybooks is running a signed book pre order campaign!

If you're still not convinced, see what other authors have said about The First Binding and The Doors of Midnight!

[thebookmarketingnook]

Welcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves

A Captivating Novel Worthy of Your Time I’m excited to feature a book spotlight for Welcome to Dorley Hall, by Alyson Greaves. Many thanks to @The_WriteReads, @NeemTreePress, and the author for including me in this blog tour.  Title: Welcome to Dorley Hall Author: Alyson Greaves Publisher: Neem Tree Press Genre: Queer, Transgender, Mystery, LGBT, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult,…

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour and Arc Review: The Muse of Maiden Lane by Mimi Matthews

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Publication Date: November 19, 2024

Welcome to The Muse of Maiden Lane book tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This blog tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

A silver-haired equestrienne and a charismatic artist turn a scandalous bargain into a vibrant portrait of love.

Stella Hobhouse is a brilliant rider, stalwart friend, skilled sketch artist—and completely overlooked. Her outmodish gray hair makes her invisible to London society. Combined with her brother’s pious restrictions and her dwindling inheritance, Stella is on the verge of a lifetime marooned in Derbyshire as a spinster. Unless she does something drastic…like posing for a daring new style of portrait by the only man who’s ever really seen her. Aspiring painter Edward “Teddy” Hayes knows true beauty when he sees it. He would never ask Stella to risk her reputation as an artist’s model but in the five years since a virulent bout of scarlet fever left him partially paralyzed, Teddy has learned to heed good fortune when he finds it. He’ll do anything to persuade his muse to pose for him, even if he must offer her a marriage of convenience.   After all, though Teddy has yearned to trace Stella’s luminous beauty on canvas since their chance meeting, her heart is what he truly aches to capture….

About the Author:

USA Today bestselling author Mimi Matthews writes both historical nonfiction and award-winning Victorian romances. Her novels have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist, Kirkus, and Shelf Awareness, and her articles have been featured on the Victorian Web, the Journal of Victorian Culture, and in syndication at BUST Magazine. In her other life, Mimi is an attorney. She resides in California with her family, which includes a retired Andalusian dressage horse, a Sheltie, and two Siamese cats. Learn more online at www.mimimatthews.com.

Author Photo Credit: Vicki Hahn

My Rating: ★★★★

*My Review below the cut.

My Review:

This was less about Stella and Teddy falling in love with each other and more about giving each of them the courage and opportunity to step out of their suffocating lives and live freely, not caring what other people thought. Falling in love came as a bit of an afterthought.

That said, I really enjoyed this, maybe more than the other Belles of London books. It has some pacing issues, especially when Matthews spends so much time showing us how happy each of the previous couples are, but not enough to sour my view of it.

I really like the way she treats Teddy's disability. I could feel his frustration at being hovered over constantly, and his desire to do things for himself. I also like that falling in love doesn't cure his disability and that he is also more capable than people tend to think he is.

I also really liked his passion for his painting and also for Stella as his muse.

I could also feel Stella's frustration at being constantly forced into the background when she has so much passion. Her family were infuriating - although perhaps a bit cartoon-y in their villainy.

The only real issue I had with this book was that I have never heard of Scarlet Fever causing either paralysis or a lung condition. I couldn't dig up any reference to it either. Maybe Matthews got her diseases mixed up?

Aside from that, though, this was an excellent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

*Thanks to Berkley for providing an early copy for review & blog tour.

[suzannerogersonfantasyauthor]

Book Tour for A Christmas Wish #bookreviews #shortstories

[sleepygetou]

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[alexsfictionaddiction]

Review: High Vaultage by Chris and Jen Sugden

I am not a big sci-fi reader but I do really enjoy funny sci-fi. Douglas Adams, Becky Chambers and Red Dwarf never fail to make me laugh, so I was excited to dive into a new kooky, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi and I was even more intrigued when I learned about the added mystery element. Thank you to the lovely people at Gollancz for allowing me to be a part of the blog tour.

In Even Greater London, the Tower powers every intricate mechanism while engineers demolish and rebuild whatever they want to. In an alternate 1887, Even Greater London is also the home of Fleet-Entwhistle Private Investigations, made up of veteran, semi-retired (sort of) police inspector Archibald Fleet and the tenacious journalist Clara Entwhistle. When the police are stumped by a series of bank robberies, a kidnapping isn't really something that they have time to investigate. This is the perfect crime for the Fleet-Entwhistle collaboration to finally show everyone what they can do.

In Even Greater London, healthcare basically consists of replacing faulty body parts with machinery. This means that humans with mechanical parts are extremely common and in fact, Queen Victoria is one of them. This steampunky element to the book conjured up such a silly, fun atmosphere and I loved how we occasionally got reminders that several characters in the story were not exactly flesh and blood.

I found it hilarious that even in a London that is seemingly so different to the one that we know, etiquette still dictates that eye contact with strangers must be avoided. Some things are so ingrained that they can never be erased, no matter how many madcap ideas you throw at it.

The language, dialogue and humour is also wonderfully British and while as a Brit, I adore this, I'm always wary that it might not translate well to other cultures. In short, British humour is satire of often very trivial matters and it is perhaps not for everyone. It is definitely for me though!

Clara was definitely my favourite character and I felt like a fangirl following her favourite superhero around this crazy city, which I definitely got lost in multiple times. In fact, my biggest criticism of the book was the complex setting. I struggled to picture Even Greater London as it almost certainly was supposed to look because I couldn't get my head around the mechanics and landscape. Perhaps it doesn't matter and the city can look however you want it to look but I can't help feeling that I was missing out on becoming fully immersed in the setting.

High Vaultage is a fast-paced, intriguing mystery with some really interesting, unique steampunk influences. If you love a Victorian mystery with automatons, ridiculousness and constant innovation, it's a must read for you.

[inabooknook]

The Wildes by Louis Bayard

As someone who greatly enjoys historical fiction, especially surrounding this period in time, it is hard to believe that I havent read anything by Oscar Wilde, or anything about him either. However, that changed with this book. So beautifully written and clearly well-researched, it follows his life from right before he is imprisoned for homosexuality, and the effect that has on his family, as well as his wife and sons' lives for years afterward. Such an interesting concept, I was very eager to read it and I was not disappointed. I had not read anything by this author previously, but based on the amazing writing in this book, clear meticulous research, and bringing such well-known characters to life, I will be picking up others from Louis Bayard as well. If you love a good historical fiction book, please do yourself a favor and read this. You won't be disappointed, I promise.

This ebook was provided by the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[thepenmuse]

Book Blitz: Snoodles in Space

  The Zoodles Strike Back   Children’s Books Date Published: August 13, 2023 Publisher: Enigami Publishing     In the award-winning book “Snoodles in Space”, Steven Joseph and Andy Case brought us further adventures of Herbie Snoodleman and Sour Croodle-man exploring the universe and battling the Zoodle Kidoodles for the Earth’s entire supply of noodles. In this third instalment of the Snoodles…

[roesolo]

Blog Tour: Willow and Bunny, by Anitra Rowe Schulte/Illustrated by Christopher Denise

A bunny who needs a home, a welcoming willow tree, and the power of kindness. This is the moving story of Willow and Bunny. Willow and Bunny, by Anitra Rowe Schulte/Illustrated by Christopher Denise, (Oct. 2023, Two Lions), $17.99, ISBN: 9781542025690 Ages 4-7   A Bunny finds home in the loving branches of a willow tree, who keeps him warm and safe. When a stormy spiral tears through the forest,…

[lovebooksgroup]

COMING SOON - #Virtualbooktour |A Journey of the Mind by Brenda Benning| Proudly organised by @lovebookstours #BookTour #LBTCrew #Bookreviews #Authorservices #Bookblogtours

COMING SOON - #Virtualbooktour |A Journey of the Mind by Brenda Benning| Proudly organised by @lovebookstours #BookTour #LBTCrew #Bookreviews #Authorservices #Bookblogtours

X Mail Print Facebook Pinterest Print Like Loading… Coming soon from Love Books Tours. Follow our book promotion campaigns on Instagram. Where you can support the authors by liking, sharing and commenting on the posts. A Journey of the Mind by Brenda Benning22nd – 30th AprilGenre: Cozy MysteryPages: 422Publisher: ‎ Fulton Books, Inc. Lovebookstours.com Blurb Sally Jo Hughes has always…

[larissareinhart]

(via 19 CRIMINALS by Larissa Reinhart - Book Tour and Giveaway)

[annarellix]

THE BEACH HUT MURDERS (The Charity Shop Detective Agency Mysteries Book 2) by Peter Boland

My Review: I fall hard for this series when I read The Charity Shop Detective Agency: I loved the solid and well plotted mystery, the quirky characters and the compelling plot. I had high expectations for this book and couldn’t wait to catch with Fiona, Sue and Daisy, the ladies of the Dogs Need Nice Homes, and read about their squabbles with the Cat Alliance. This book is all I loved in the first instalment and something more as the ladies investigates another complex series of murder and use their brain to solve it. I read it in one sitting as I couldn’t stop turning pages as I was having a lot of fun and wanted to know the solution. If you want to read a well plotted and highly entertaining cozy mystery, if you like Richard Osman or Richard Cole novels, go and read this series. Highly recommended. Many thanks to Joffe Books and Books 'n' all Promotions for this digital copy, all opinions are mine

The Book:

It’s almost summer in Southbourne and the ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency are ready for another season of sun, sea and . . . murder.

Amongst the rows of charming brightly painted cabins, an elderly man’s beach hut is set on fire in the middle of the night — while he slept inside. By day, Fiona, Sue and Daisy volunteer at the Dogs Need Nice Homes charity shop. But, by night, they investigate crimes. And they’re determined to get to the bottom of this murder. Malcolm Crainey was a bit of an eccentric, but he was harmless really. Who would want to kill him?

The ladies soon uncover a long list of possible suspects. Neighbours who hated Malcolm for refusing to swap huts. Members of the snobby beach hut association who took umbrage with Malcom’s quirky beachcombed cabin decorations. Then another hut is burned down in the dead of night. Thankfully there was no one asleep inside this time. But the pressure is on — can Fiona, Sue and Daisy find the culprit before the beach hut murderer strikes again

THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVES Level-headed Fiona has found a quiet sanctuary volunteering at the local charity shop, Dogs Need Nice Homes. A charity shop that raises money for, well, dogs that need nice homes. And she’s found firm friendship with the strong-willed Partial Sue (she’s ever so partial to a cup of tea) and the kindly and surprisingly tech-savvy Daisy. Together, these ladies, with Simon Le Bon, Fiona’s scruffy-haired terrier cross, investigate murders as the Charity Shop Detective Agency.

THE SETTING The lovely coastal town of Southbourne is, on paper, little more than a small suburb hemmed in by Bournemouth to the west and Christchurch to the north. But it’s home to the prettiest avenues lined with gorgeous Georgian homes which lead to a grass-topped cliff standing guard over a sweeping bay of blond sand, soft as Demerara sugar. Some say it’s also home to the best charity shops in the country. The ladies of the Charity Shop Detective Agency maintain that Dogs Need Nice Homes — though musty and more than a little cramped — is certainly number one. Well, they definitely help solve the most crimes at least!

ALSO BY PETER BOLAND THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVE AGENCY MYSTERIES Book 1: THE CHARITY SHOP DETECTIVE AGENCY Book 2: THE BEACH HUT MURDERS

The Author: PETER BOLAND After studying to be an architect, Pete realised he wasn’t very good at it. He liked designing buildings, he just couldn’t make them stand up — a big handicap in an industry that’s partial to keeping things upright. So he became an advertising copywriter, the highlight of which was creating an ad featuring Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman. He then tried his hand at writing his own stories and quickly realised there’s no magic formula. You just have to put one word in front of the other (and keep doing that for about six months). It also helps if you can resist the lure of surfing and drinking beer in a garden chair. The first book in his Charity Shop Detective Agency series will publish in late 2022.

FOLLOW PETER ON: GOODREADS FACEBOOK TWITTER Joffe Books page

[whimsicaldragonette]

Blog Tour: Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places by Claire Kann

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Publication Date: May 21, 2024

Welcome to the Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places Blog Tour with Berkley Publishing Group. (This Blog Tour post is also posted on my Wordpress book blog Whimsical Dragonette.)

Synopsis:

Lucky Hart has an affinity for the supernatural, but almost no one takes parapsychology seriously. She’s estranged from her family, has lost her friends, and has been rejected from graduate school—twice. But her big break finally arrives when she gets insider info about a troubled production company. Every actor on their new show mysteriously quits after spending three nights inside Hennessee House, an old Victorian with a notorious reputation.

This May, Claire Kann, the author of The Romantic Agenda returns to the page with LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE HAUNTED PLACES (Berkley Trade Paperback Original; May 21, 2024), a heartwarming, fun, and thrilling supernatural romance for fans of scary stories and love stories alike. Kann’s debut was loved for its asexual representation and diversity wrapped in a delightful love story. Her newest features the same things her fans know her for but adds an unforgettable paranormal aspect.

In the book, Lucky Hart falls in love unexpectedly on the set of a paranormal investigation show. But she’s soon forced to choose feelings or career when the mansion she’s examining doesn’t want to share her attention.

LOOKING FOR LOVE IN ALL THE HAUNTED PLACES is a sweet take on a haunted house story, giving readers a charming single-dad, workplace romance setup and highlighting the experiences of an Ace, Black heroine. If you can’t get enough Halloween all year round, or like your romance with some mystery on the side, this is the perfect novel for you.

My Rating: ★★★

*My Review and Favorite Quotes below the cut.

My Review:

I enjoyed this story. It was sweet and wholesome and just a tad spooky, with a plucky protagonist, a super sweet single dad, and an adorable kiddo. Plus some other really great characters I wish we'd gotten to know more about. And Hennessee House of course.

While I for the most part enjoyed reading this, it was far too long and sometimes really dragged. It took me forever to finish reading it. If it had been shorter, I think I would have enjoyed it more. There's not enough substance there to warrant the length imo.

I really liked Georgia and Xander and I wish we'd gotten more of them. They balanced out Lucky and Maverick's intense insta-love thing they had going on.

I liked the asexual representation, although it sometimes got a little preachy and didn't always 100% make sense to me. But I'm willing to chalk that up to "everyone experiences asexuality differently." That's definitely a type of queer rep we don't often get in romance books so kudos to the author for including it as an integral part of Lucky's romantic experience and not just a sidenote.

The supernatural aspect I enjoyed but found to be very confusing at times. There were multiple times while I was reading that I got tripped up and had to stop and go 'wait, what?' because suddenly I had no idea what was going on.

The first time it happened was at the very beginning when Lucky is lying to Xander and team in hopes of getting the job. She tells the reader that she's lying, but not what the truth is or why it's important for her to lie, and I never felt like the lying was necessary. Lucky doesn't always explain herself very clearly, and she sometimes assumes that people will understand things when they (and the reader) definitely don't.

It was a fun story, not too scary, with just enough supernatural elements to be really unique. I think cutting a little of the length and adding in more of Georgia and Xander could have made it even better.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Berkley for providing an early copy for review.

Favorite Quotes:

A year ago, if someone told Lucky her experience being a nanny would inevitably lead to making a ten-year-old her partner-in-crime in a sentient house, she absolutely would've believed it.

[thelittlemars]

𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒆 🤎

My name is Mars, I am 21 years old. My pronouns are she/her.

I am a huge Swiftie! 🪩

My interests include research, reading, watching movies and TV shows, writing poems and novels, and studying. If you want to know more about my interests, feel free to ask!

I am very friendly and generally extroverted. If you ask me anything I'll be very happy to answer!

══.✵.════════ more info under the cut! ═══════.✵.══

Fav novel — The Picture of Dorian Gray 🪞

Fav movie — The Nightmare Before Christmas 🎃

Fav TV show — Good Omens 🕶️🪽

I am VERY fond of cows and bumblebees! 🐄🐝

My favourite season is Autumn and I love Halloween!

I like Formula 1. I know. Weird.

But the thing I love MORE??? My GIRLFRIEND

🕰️ 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒍𝒐𝒈

This is my main blog, where I'll let myself indulge in my obsessions

I will post/reblog about my fav movies, tv shows, books and music (expect a lot of Taylor Swift content!)

These will include fanart, reflections, theories and short essays.

In general, this will be my little trash can on the internet — anything that does not fit my other blogs (more on them in a bit!) will end up here.

I could also post/reblog political reflections. I don't want to do this that often because I want this blog to be a little peaceful corner of the world. But it'll probably happen every now and then since I consider myself a very opinionated person.

✒️ 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒎𝒆

You can also find me on my other blogs!

@marssmellow — my studyblr, where I share my ✨mental breakdowns✨ in an Aesthetically Pleasing Way™

However, you can also send in asks and dm me! Don't be afraid, I don't bite (most of the times)

@antiquariaunt — another dark academia blog, but this time with some medieval spice

@marskald — just a poetry blog

𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒌𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒓𝒅! 🚢