Becoming Crone by Lydia M. Hawke: Excerpt & Giveaway!

Today I am so excited to have an excerpt from Linda Poitevin's latest book, and a return to her urban fantasy roots. It's also a shift, as the heroine is older, and that is an urban fantasy trend I love. Anyway, Becoming Crone has a sixty year old heroine, a Chosen One who isn't a teen! And it's inspired by the King Arthur stories but with Linda's own spin on it. There are evil gnomes, a cat, werewolves, witches and mages, a gargoyle, 70's music, a hint of romance, and a lot of action.

Oh, quick note. I've been calling the author Linda, which may have you confused as it's not the name on the cover. I've been following Linda on Twitter and Facebook for years; the Lydia M. Hawke identity is a newish pen name and she's still Linda to me. 

So get comfy, grab a drink, and enjoy this excerpt. Then, enter the giveaway at the end. Oh, and come back on Thursday for my review! Hint - I loved it. 

Meet Author Jeffrey James Higgins and Enter to Win a Copy of His Debut Novel, Furious: Sailing Into Terror

Today it's my pleasure to have an old schoolmate on the blog, Jeffrey James Higgins. We went to high school together and are Facebook friends. He's the, third, I think, of our graduating class to be a published author. Jeff, did I miss someone? You, John Hunt, and Maggie Smith? Plus Tim Baer, who graduated a few years before us.

Jeffrey James Higgins is a former reporter and retired supervisory special agent who writes thriller novels, short stories, creative nonfiction, and essays. He made the first narco-terrorism arrest, convicted the world’s most prolific heroin trafficker, and convicted an Iranian spy. He has wrestled a suicide bomber, fought the Taliban in combat, and chased terrorists across five continents. Jeffrey has appeared on CNN Newsroom, Investigation Discovery, CNN Declassified, New York Times, and Fox News. He was a finalist Adelaide’s 2018 Best Essay Contest and a quarterfinalist in ScreenCraft's 2019 Most Cinematic Book Competition and 2021 Cinematic Short Story Writing Competition.

Review & Giveaway: Lady Rosamund and the Horned God by Barbara Monajem

Series: A Rosie and McBrae Regency Mystery #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes, though not recommended by the author
Publisher: Level Best Books
Source: the pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: April 20th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Google Books |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Widowed Lady Rosamund spends the first months of her mourning in the Lake District, where it’s safe and peaceful, and murders are exceedingly rare. Luckily, she is rescued from this tedium by a house party comprised of playwrights, poets, and actors—an immoral set of persons with whom no respectable lady should associate. Even so, she hardly expected to wake in the wee hours to find one of the guests lying dead.

As if that wasn’t troublesome enough, Gilroy McBrae is at the same party, masquerading as a footman to investigate a series of thefts. Was the sudden death an accident—or murder? Almost everyone had reason to loathe their unpleasant fellow guest. Rosie must set aside her confused emotions about McBrae and work with him to find the culprit before an innocent person is accused of the crime.

Review & Excerpt: The Setup by Carol Ericson

Series: A Kyra and Jake Investigation #1
Publisher: Harlequin Intrigue
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Ebook April 1, 2021 / MMP March 30, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Harlequin | IndieBound | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from publisher:

With a serial killer on the loose… 

Secrets get you killed.

Detective Jake McAllister isn’t aware Kyra Chase is connected to a twenty-year-old unsolved murder. He sees his new case partner only as an unwelcome distraction. But with the body count rising, they’ll need to trust each other to help them catch a killer who seems to know more about Kyra than Jake does.

From Harlequin Intrigue: Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.

For more action-packed stories, check out the other books in the A Kyra and Jake Investigation series by Carol Ericson:

Book 1: The Setup

Heartfelt or thrilling, passionate or uplifting—our romances have it all. Visit TryHarlequin.com to sample FREE books from among 12 different series. It’s just a taste of the new books published each month—every story a journey guaranteed to leave you with That Harlequin Feeling.

Review & Giveaway: Arrowed by Avery Daniels

Series: Resort to Murder Mystery #4
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Blazing Sword Publishing Ltd.
Source: pr firm in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 1st, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

It all began when a dying man with an arrow in his chest grabs her ankle.

During a heat wave at a Santa Fe resort, Julienne has the resort owner pressuring her to solve the murder. The victim is a high profile business man who made enemies rather than friends, leaving Julienne with a roster of suspects. She was supposed to be training the staff and spending quality time with Mason rather than investigating a murder. The heat turns up when an old girlfriend of Mason's checks in and is determined to get back together.

Arrowed is the fourth book in Avery Daniel's Resort to Murder series and is an exciting contemporary cozy mystery. If you like Cleo Coyle, Maddy Hunter, Duffy Brown, Lynn Cahoon, and Annette Dashofy, then you'll love this series with a strong intelligent sleuth, lavish settings, and tantalizing mysteries.

Buy this spunky clean cozy mystery and start enjoying Julienne's adventures today!

Review & Excerpt: Flight by Laura Griffin

Series: The Texas Murder Files #2
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Berkley
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: March 30th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

When former forensic photographer Miranda Rhoads moves to the seaside town of Lost Beach, she's decided to make her living as a wildlife photographer and put crime scenes behind her. But her plans are quickly upended when one morning, she comes across a couple sleeping in a canoe, entwined in an embrace. Looking closer, she realizes the man and woman aren't asleep – they've been murdered.

Detective Joel Breda sets out to find answers – not only about the unidentified victims in the marshy death scene, but also about the aloof and beautiful photographer who seems to know more about his investigation than he does.

As they begin to unravel the motivation of a merciless serial killer, Miranda and Joel must race against the clock to make an arrest before the killer can find them first.

Bea Reviews A Wild Legacy by Celeste de Blasis

Series: Wild Swan Trilogy
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes but not recommended
Publisher: Bookouture
Source: the publisher in exchange for an honest review
Release Date: Feb. 15th, 2021
Buying Links: Amazon* | Apple Books* | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Google Books | Kobo |
* affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from Amazon:

Lexy Culhane follows in stunned silence as her father bundles her younger brothers onto the train in a midnight flight away from the only life they have ever known. It seems impossible to her that her gentle, loving mother could have shot a man.

Despite the shock, Lexy soon grows to love her new home at Wild Swan, the grand horse farm in Maryland run by her formidable grandmother, Alexandria Falconer. It is from Alex that Lexy has inherited her fiery and rebellious spirit, and which eventually leads her headlong into a career as a crusading reporter during the final days of the frontier wars.

When Lexy meets enigmatic fellow reporter Hawk MacKenna, she feels she has finally found her soulmate. But Hawk’s life is shadowed by a mistake from his youth, and still haunted by her mother’s actions, Lexy struggles to trust him. When her relentless curiosity about his hidden past comes between them, Hawk leaves for the battlefields in the West and Lexy accepts an invitation from distant relations in England. But when she is offered a chance to stay, she faces a test—can she choose between building a new life in this foreign land, or returning to face the pain, and the love, that she left behind?

A stunning, dramatic and heartfelt story by beloved storyteller Celeste De Blasis, set against the backdrop of the most turbulent age of American history. Perfect for readers who love Poldark, Outlander and Daphne du Maurier.

A Wild Legacy was originally published as A Season of Swans.

Bea and A Voracious Reader Review A Spelling Mistake by Nancy Warren

Series: Vampire Book Club #3
Read As A Stand Alone: Yes
Publisher: Ambleside Publishing
Source: Kindle Unlimited
Release Date: Nov. 6th, 2020
Buying Links: Amazon* * affiliate links; the blog receives a small commission from purchases made through these links.

Blurb from goodreads:

Oops...

With great power comes...great big trouble when you make a mistake. Between managing a book shop in a postcard-pretty village in County Cork, Ireland, running a book club made up of vampires, and solving murders, my life is pretty full. Throw in that I'm a middle-aged witch with some powerful magic, if I do say so myself, and sometimes my brain hits overload. Is that what happened? I don't know, but when magic goes wrong in a town as quirky as Ballydehag, hold onto your broomsticks. You're in for a crazy ride.

A Spelling Mistake is book 3 in the Vampire Book Club series of cozy paranormal mysteries. Each can be read alone and there is no bad language or gore. There is humor, murder solving and a touch of romance from the best-selling author of the Vampire Knitting Club series.