Baited by Jessica BussMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
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Sunday, April 13, 2025
Friday, April 11, 2025
The First Lost Boy
Title: The First Lost Boy
Series: The Shadows of Neverland Duology
Author: Casey L. Bond
Genre: New Adult Fantasy Romance (Peter Pan Retelling)
Dust Jacket/ Paperback Cover by Melissa Stevens of @TheIllustratedAuthor
Hard Case / Naked Hardback
Cover by @TheFairyFinn
Edited by Stacy Sanford/ The
Girl with the Red Pen
Publication Date: May 2nd, 2025
Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR
Blurb:
Stars see everything and forget nothing. And sometimes they meddle far too much.
Ava has no idea who she is or how she got on the unfamiliar island Peter Pan keeps insisting is her home, the place she’s safest. But there are shadows in his cunning eyes and something within her screams out a warning that he can’t be trusted.
When Belle learns that her sister is alive, she leaps at the chance to work with Hook, his crew, and their siren ally to free Ava from Pan’s grasp. She thought that with their help, she’d have time to save Ava before her secret was discovered…
She was wrong.
When the sinister truth slithers its way between the tentative truces formed, some friendships and alliances buckle while others break. But if everyone doesn’t work together to accomplish the seemingly impossible, and fast, all those trapped in Neverland’s gravity will be lost to an insidious darkness forever.
Can Hook and Ava find one another and manage an escape? Or will they be consumed by the malicious shadow and forget one another forever?
Casey Bond lives on a rural farm in West Virginia with her husband and their two beautiful daughters. She writes phoenixes – gloriously flawed and morally gray characters that fiercely rise from the ashes of their circumstances. World building is one of her favorite hobbies, along with stamping metal jewelry, swimming, and enjoying the beauty of nature. She thinks thunderstorms are better than coffee and that watching a meteor shower is the closest thing to magic you might ever see. She’s a firm believer that every amazing book needs a world you want to wrap yourself in, a character you want to win, and a love you would fight for.
Casey is the award-winning author of When Wishes Bleed, Gravebriar, and House of Eclipses.
Author Links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Pinterest | Amazon | Bookbub | Bond-Tourage | Newsletter
Peter beams when we reach a broad tree proudly standing in the middle of another clearing. It’s been stripped of wood from its wide roots to its lowest branch, which is high enough off the ground that I wouldn’t be able to reach it even if he boosted me up. In the smooth, pale grain, names have been carved. There are so many I can’t count them all.
I circle the trunk, reading as many as I can make out. Some are barely visible, having been carved too shallowly. Others have been slashed through. “Whose names are these?”
Peter begins circling the trunk opposite me, but he stays in step with mine so I can only see his face every time he moves forward, losing sight of him again when I move away. My heart beats faster at the look he gives me.
I can’t decipher it, or him, for that matter.
His motives, intentions, and whims still aren’t clear. Like the murky way he answers a question that only displaces the truth’s surface.
“They’re the names of the Lost,” he finally answers.
“Who are the Lost?” I glance at him, waiting for him to explain.
“Everyone who’s called Neverland their home at one time or another has carved their name in the bark.”
There are so many, yet I’ve only seen a handful. Where are all the others? “Why do you call them ‘Lost’?”
“Because that’s what anyone who steps foot on Neverland becomes,” he says cryptically.
“So… I’m Lost?” I ask, pressing a hand to my chest.
He grins and nods. “Of course you are.”
“Should I carve my name here with the others, then?” I tease.
“You already have,” he replies, eyes glittering with mischief.
“Where is it?” I ask. “I don’t see Six.”
“Perhaps you’ll recognize it when you see it.”
His challenge sparks my curiosity and the air between us. I let my thumb trace one of the gouged-out names. “Why are some of the names damaged?”
Peter smiles at the question the way he smiled at the corpse yesterday and I fight to suppress a shudder when he tells me, “We strike through the names of the dead.” He pulls a long blade from his waistband. “I thought you might want to do the honors.”
He lightly drags the tip of the knife around the tree and I follow, stopping when the tip of the blade touches the first of [REDACTED] haunting letters.
Red Hot Roaster
Title: Red Hot Roaster
A Small Town Romance Perfect
for Lovers of Growly Guys and Smouchy Pups
Series: Tales from the Chocolate Lab Café #1
Author: Kristin Jeffries
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Tropes: Small Town/Meddling Friends & Fur Babies
OTT Protective MMC/Later in Life Love
Release Date: May 2, 2025
BLURB
What happens when an over-protective coffee roaster rubs up against an uber-independent café owner?
Watch the sparks fly in this strangers to friends to lovers romantic comedy.
Red Hot Roaster is a sweet and spicy small town romance featuring meddling fur babies and besties, a blind chocolate-truffle-tasting—clothing optional, holiday hijinks, and all the slow burn to roasting hot feels.
Rose is struggling to keep her café afloat while sad about her mom’s passing and her son leaving for college. Sure, Pirate, her lummox of a Chocolate Lab, keeps her company. Plus, she couldn’t ask for a better found family in her cozy neighborhood of Dogwood. So why is she so drawn to Rafe, her mysterious, muscly—and temporary—coffee roaster?
With her café on the line, Rose doesn’t have time for love. And she’s been burned once too often—she doesn’t trust men to stick around. Will she settle for a no-strings-attached fling or fight for forever love?
Rafe prefers his life as a roaming coffee roaster, going from gig to gig. That way, he’s only responsible for himself and for being a good girl-dad to his dainty rescue dog, Princess. So why can’t he resist trying to help Rose, his gorgeous and sad-eyed new boss, solve all her problems?
After his tough years in the army and his rough youth, Rafe fears he’s not worthy of love. Besides, he’s always been a loner with no home—and no woman—to call his own. Will he leave town with his secrets or stay to claim his true love?
Grab a table at the Chocolate Lab Café, where Dogwood denizens, canine and otherwise, help Rose and Rafe chase their happily-ever-after. And where, even later in life, love can find a way to rescue your heart.
HEA guaranteed. Dual POV. Intended for 18+ readers.
PRE-ORDER LINKS
EXCERPT
“Here are your shirts, nice and clean and blood-free.” Rose thrust the bag at me.
I stood frozen for a second before grabbing it. And another second before I pushed out “thanks” from my too-tight throat.
Why was I so surprised? Rose was a woman of her word, and she’d done something nice for me. When you’re on your own, you get used to taking care of yourself, taking care of everything yourself.
So this one time, I should enjoy it. Just don’t get used to it.
“Oh, and I stashed one of our private-label chocolate bars in there too,” she went on. “A new local shop makes them for us. I went pretty vanilla with our rich milk chocolate version since I don’t know what you like. Hope you’re not allergic or anything.”
I opened the bag and looked in. I saw a big-ass chocolate bar sitting on top of my folded—and ironed?—tee and flannel button-down.
What was the woman trying to do here—give me a heart attack? I rubbed the center of my chest where it’d started to ache. Calm down, man. Obviously, it wasn’t a big deal to her, but it was a big fucking deal to me.
This was my first gift since…well, since I was little, real little. So, a big fucking deal.
AUTHOR BIO
Kristin Jeffries writes about her favorite escapes—romcoms and dogs—from her home in Portland, Oregon. After years in health care marketing, she decided to prescribe a dose of healthy escape from daily stress for romance readers like her. Kristin draws her inspiration from her family’s past Chocolate Lab Café in a small Midwest town. Plus, she’s married to the original red hot roaster who advises her on all things coffee. And she injects her affection for a long line of smouchy pups, including an IRL Pirate, into her tales.
AUTHOR LINKS
The Rescuer
Title: The Rescuer
Series: Fall River #3
Author: G.K. Brady
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Protector Hero/Unrequited Love
Vegas Wedding Gone Wrong/Forced Proximity
Release Date: April 10, 2025
BLURB
She’s moving on. He’s running out of time. One reckless night changes everything.
Reece Hunnicutt has spent his life helping others—whether pulling climbers from peril or stringing the town’s Christmas lights. But after walking away from the elite search and rescue squad that gave him purpose, he’s adrift, dodging questions about a future that’s taking him far from home. The one constant? His quiet devotion to his small mountain town and the brothers who don’t yet know he’s leaving.
Town veterinarian Neve Embry has loved Reece since childhood, but she’s done waiting for him to see her as more than a kid sister. Between running her struggling clinic and dating a charming billionaire, she’s ready to move on. But one impulsive night in Vegas changes everything—she wakes up married to Reece. And when her clinic is vandalized, he refuses to walk away until the culprit is caught.
Forced to live under the same roof while trying to untangle their accidental vows, Reece and Neve find their shaky truce cracking under the weight of undeniable chemistry. As danger closes in and secrets surface, they must confront the truth about their desires—and decide if this love can be rescued.
PURCHASE LINKS
Free in Kindle Unlimited
PLAYLIST
ALSO AVAILABLE
99c for a limited time!
AUTHOR BIO
Since childhood, all sorts of stories and characters have lived in G.K. Brady’s imagination, elbowing one another for attention, so she’s finally giving them their voice on the written page.
An award-winning writer of contemporary romance, she loves telling tales of the less-than-perfect hero or heroine who transforms with each turn of a page. She also writes historical fiction under the pen name Griffin Brady.
G.K. is a wife and the proud mom of three grown sons. When she’s not writing, she might be watching hockey, reading, traveling, drinking wine, listening to music, or gardening—sometimes all at once! She currently resides in Colorado with her very patient husband.
One Night with the Biker
๑💥๑NEW RELEASE๑💥๑
இ ☠️One Night with the Biker☠️ இ
Series: Royal Bastards MC
🔥 KANSAS CITY, KS CHAPTER🔥
Author: Kathryn C. Kelly
Cover Designer: Crimson Syn
☠️𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲: https://books2read.com/u/bPkEQd
𝑅𝐸𝐸𝒮𝐸
It’s been six months since Trinity’s death and I still can’t believe she’s gone. She was the closest I ever came to having an old lady. Then those bastards took her from me, snuffed out her life while I was on a run. My brothers want the old me back, but that man’s lost in a haze of guilt and grief. I give in and agree to be set up on a blind date. I don’t expect much. I don’t even want to hear about her. It’s enough knowing Ainsley Hale is the best friend of the RC’s side piece. Once I get the damn date out of the way, they’ll get the hell off my back. What I don’t expect is to hit it off with her and end up in her bed. The morning after gives me the shock of my life when I see my Ainsley standing next to him—Roman Mac—in a photo with a frame that says ‘Best Big Brother’. I dress and hightail my ass out of there, vowing to forget Ainsley’s existence.
𝒜𝐼𝒩𝒮𝐿𝐸𝒴
Roman is the best big brother a girl could ask for, but also the worst. He gives new meaning to overprotectiveness. He has been my guardian since I was ten. To protect me from his enemies, he even made me use our mother’s maiden name as my last name. Roman’s entire life revolves around his club and me. My first date took place at his clubhouse. Needless to say, I haven’t been asked out much since then. My best friend is sneaking around with the Road Captain of the Kansas City Chapter of the Royal Bastards MC.
When my brother goes away for a weekend, Nova convinces me to go on a blind date with RBMC’s SAA. What better way to thumb my nose at all Roman’s stupid rules? I never expected to hit it off with Reese and I especially didn’t expect to fall into bed with him. I fell asleep after amazing sex, thinking it was the start of a great secret romance. But Reese was gone, and I knew he discovered my relation to Roman. Three months later while Roman is on a run, I’m facing a crisis—get rid of the baby I conceived during my one night with the biker or find Reese and confess I’m carrying his child.
Website/Series Links: https://www.royalbastardsmc.com/
Follow the Royal Bastards MC here: https://www.facebook.com/royalbastardsmcbooks/
#RoyalBastards #mcromance #EnemiestoLovers #closeproximity #steamyromance #promotionsignup #aprilrelease #darkmcread #BookObsessed #Bookstagram #booksbooksbooks #indierelease #barbaranolan
Thursday, April 10, 2025
Easton
Title: Easton
Series: A Glacier Hockey Novel
Author: S.R. Grey
Genre: Sports Romance, Romantic Comedy
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Cover Design: Najla Qamber Designs
EastonThey say to marry your best friend. So that’s what I did. But what no one knows is that it’s not even real—it’s a marriage of convenience.
Yeah, I married Claire Weller to fulfill a long-ago promise made back when we were just kids. Problem is, I’ve always had feelings for Claire, and now I’ve gone and fully fallen in love with her.
Too bad she sees me only as a friend.
***
Claire
Easton Sonden was my teenage crush. But then we went our separate ways. He went on to greatness, becoming a star hockey player, while I had my own life. Until we reunited.
Now he’s my husband!
How lucky did I get? Easton is gorgeous, sweet, and has a body made for sin. And now he’s all mine.
Well, not really. Our marriage is a sham.
But I don’t want it to be—I want more. I’m afraid to tell him, though. What if he doesn’t feel the same way?
I don’t think my heart can handle that.
So I guess I’ll just go on pretending.
Until I no longer can.
Easton is the first novel in the new Glacier Hockey series.
*can be read as a standalone*
S.R. Grey is a USA Today Bestselling Author of the Breakaway hockey series, Boys of Winter hockey books, and Men of Fall football novels. Other New Adult and Romantic Suspense works of hers include the Judge Me Not books, the Promises series, the Inevitability duology, A Harbour Falls Mystery trilogy, and the Laid Bare series of novellas.
When not writing Ms. Grey can be found reading, traveling, running, and cheering for her hometown sports teams. Sometimes all at the same time!
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