Friday, January 31, 2025
Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Change of Heart by Dr. Cristina LePort @CristinaLeport @XpressoTours
Week Blast + #Giveaway: Life Lessons From Mom by Amy Tan @RABTBookTours
Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Harleigh Sinclair and the Kingdom of the Bristol Skull by Tamara Grantham @TamaraGrantham @XpressoTours
Review: Luck Runs Out (Pine Grove Mysteries #8) by Daisy Landish @daisy_landish
Luck Runs Out
Pine Grove Mysteries #8
by Daisy Landish
Published: January 25, 2025
Publisher: Beaches and Trails Publishing
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mysteries, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mysteries, Short Stories
Cover Reveal: The Garden of Before by Ryan Leslie @ryan_in_austin @XpressoTours
Release Blitz + #Giveaway: A MERRY MURDEROUS MIDWINTER by Dahlia Donovan @DahliaDonovan @HotTreePromos @hottreepubs
Release Date: January 31, 2025
Thursday, January 30, 2025
Review: Farmer's Wife (Star Farmer #6 by Jaxon Reed @AuthorJaxonReed
Farmer's Wife
Star Farmer #6
by Jaxon Reed
Published: January 30, 2025
Genre: Space Opera, Science Fiction
Review: Frozen with Fear (Pine Grove Mysteries #7) by Daisy Landish @daisy_landish
Frozen with Fear
Pine Grove Mysteries #7
by Daisy Landish
Published: January 18, 2025
Publisher: Beaches and Trails Publishing
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mysteries, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mysteries, Short Stories
Review: Brush with Death (Pine Grove Mysteries #6) by Daisy Landish @daisy_landish
Brush with Death
Pine Grove Mysteries #6
by Daisy Landish
Published: January 4, 2025
Publisher: Beaches and Trails Publishing
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense, Cozy Mysteries, Cozy Mystery, Fiction, Mysteries, Short Stories
Review: Murder at the Museum (A Darcy and Mozart Cozy Culinary Mystery #4) by Greta Sinclair
Murder at the Museum
A Darcy and Mozart Cozy Culinary Mystery #4
by Greta Sinclair
Published: January 26, 2025
Genre: Cozy Culinary Mysteries, International, Mystery, Crime, Amateur Sleuth, Cozy Mystery
Book Blitz: Ominous Odyssey by J.T. Kelly @jtkelly123 @RABTBookTours
Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: SHOCKTOBER: THE BIGGEST UPSETS IN WORLD SERIES HISTORY by Jonathan Weeks @GoddessFish
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Twice A Target by Susan Vaughan @shvaughan @XpressoTours
Book Blitz + #Giveaway: Chasing Headlines by J Rose Black @J_RoseBlack @XpressoTours
Cover Reveal: Lost by LM Preston @LM_Preston @RABTBookTours
The Mistfits Series, Book 1
Fantasy
Date Published: October 1, 2025
Publisher: Phenomenal One Press
Penelope Pawn had an addiction. She liked candy, sword-fighting shadows, and boys. Still, something was seriously wrong and she couldn’t put her finger on it. Being homeless wasn’t as bad for her as it was for most. She had a way of collecting kids that turned into family, like brothers and sisters. Unfortunately, every time another kid agreed to come with her to the hiding place she’d created, a rush of power would surge through her like she’d consumed a drug, sealed a deal, or done something wrong. There was one guy, though, who wouldn’t come. When Terek showed up at her doorstep, a place well hidden from most others, and demanded she heed his warning, it was the first time she feared an enemy's strength. Was he a challenge that could become her savior, revealing the truth of her past to her? Could this boy show her how to repair the fiber of the world she’d unknowingly ripped apart, causing a catastrophic end to the home she’d built for herself and the lost ones?
About the Author
L.M. Preston, a native of Washington, DC. An avid reader, she loved to create poetry and short-stories as a young girl. She is an author, an engineer, a professor, a mother and a wife. Her passion for writing and helping others to see their potential through her stories and encouragement has been her life’s greatest adventures.She loves to write while on the porch watching her kids play or when she is traveling, which is another passion that encouraged her writing.
Contact Links
Review: Pine Grove Mysteries: Volume One (Pine Grove Mysteries #1-5) by Daisy Landish @daisy_landish
Virtual Book Tour + #Giveaway: Secret Plans Vol III by Tami Knight @GoddessFish
Tuesday, January 28, 2025
Virtual Book Tour + Review: A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS by Jean Hackensmith @Author911 @pumpupyourbook
Hired as a nanny to Caleb Wachsmann’s three children, Sarah Bentley finds life in the Wisconsin Territory to be so much more.
Title: A Dream in the Wilderness
Author: Jean Hackensmith
Pages: 285
Genre: Historical Romance
Unable to find a teaching position in the flooded job market that is New York City, twenty-one-year-old Sarah Bentley accepts the position of nanny to Caleb Wachsmann’s three children after the farmer’s wife, parents, and infant son die in the Cholera epidemic of 1834. The twist? The job is in Superior, Wisconsin in the Michigan Territory, an unsettled wilderness located on the northwestern tip of Lake Superior.
Caleb is not looking for love; his heart will always belong to his beloved Annie. What he does need is a woman to watch after the children while he toils in the fields making a living for his family. Sarah turns out to be that woman. She raises his children with a gentle and loving hand and also helps Caleb to overcome an unbearable loss. As Wisconsin vies for statehood, the young couple will face challenge after challenge as they struggle to tame a wilderness that really doesn’t want to be tamed at all.
A Dream in the Wilderness is available at https://www.amazon.com/Dream-Wilderness-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B0DJS19HMH.
Book Excerpt
Superior, Wisconsin
August 21, 1834
Caleb Wachsmann stood before the four open graves, his two eldest children on either side of him and the youngest in his arms. His entire body was numb. It still didn’t seem possible that all four of them could be gone. But they were. Cholera had taken them systematically, one by one. His father. His mother. His beloved wife, Annie, the mother of his children. His gaze settled on the last coffin, no more than three feet long. Inside was his six-month-old son, Danny.
Caleb and the older children got sick first. Caleb’s mother had been through other cholera epidemics and knew exactly what to do. They started boiling the drinking water from the nearby St. Louis River and, between her and Annie, and even his father, had forced tons of the bacteria-free water down their throats to prevent dehydration. At one time, Caleb joked that he thought he was going to float away.
He and the older children recovered. Then the rest of the family got sick. The rapid deterioration in their conditions made it impossible for Caleb to keep up with the hydration on all four of his patients. Danny was the first to succumb to the disease. He lasted only 24-hours after the first symptoms appeared. The others lasted two to three days.
Caleb couldn’t help but blame himself. He was responsible for their care, and he had failed.
“Pa?”
Caleb didn’t hear his son’s voice. He was too lost in his thoughts and his grief.
A yank on his shirt sleeve brought him back to reality.
“Pa!”
“What, Seth?” he asked with exasperation heavy in his tone as he looked down at the carrot-topped, freckle-faced boy before him. In fact, all of the children were the spitting image of their mother, and it made looking at them all the more painful.
“Why did we put Grandpa and Grandma and Ma and Danny in the ground? Grandma and Ma aren’t going to like it at all, cuz they don’t like to get dirty.”
Caleb stooped before his eight-year-old son, placing two-year-old Bethany on his knee, then indicated for the five-year-old Jenny to come closer, also. “Remember how I told you that your ma and Danny and your grandma and grandpa are in Heaven with God now?”
The two older children nodded.
“You see, what we put in the ground wasn’t your Mama and Danny anymore, or your grandma and grandpa. The part of her that made your mama your mama and Danny, Danny already went to Heaven.”
“Like their ghosts, you mean?” Seth asked.
“Their spirits,” Caleb corrected. “What’s in the ground is just what was left over and, in time, that part of them will go back to the ground.”
“But it still kinda looked like Ma when you and Father Hauley put the cover on the box,” Seth argued.
Caleb sighed his resignation. “Yes, it did. I don’t know how to explain it better, Seth. When you get older, you’ll understand.”
“So, who’s gonna take care of us now, Pa?” Jenny asked. “Mama and Grandma always took care of us when you and Grandpa were out in the fields plantin’ stuff.”
“I haven’t figured that out yet, honey, but I will.”
The little girl’s green eyes teared and her face scrunched up with her sadness. “I miss Mama, Pa. I want her to come back.”
The sight of his sister’s anguish brought renewed tears to Seth’s eyes also, and Caleb pulled both of them close. Bethany put pudgy arms around her older brother and sister and joined in the hug.
The traveling priest who had performed the ceremony, the only other person present at the burial, looked on in sympathy when he considered what lay ahead for the young father. It was unheard of for a man to raise three children on his own, especially a farmer who spent ten to twelve hours a day cultivating his fields. Yes, Caleb Wachsmann was going to have to find a woman, and he was going to have to do it soon.
– Excerpted from A Dream in the Wilderness by Jean Hackensmith, Jean Hackensmith, 2024. Reprinted with permission.
My Review:
A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS is the first book in The Wilderness Saga by Jean Hackensmith. After reading the summary, I fell in love with A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS. I knew right away that I wanted to read it. I am so glad I did because it was everything I had expected.
A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS reminded me of many different movies and TV shows like Little House On The Prairie, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Spencer's Mountain, and A Mother's Gift just to name a few. I love shows like these
As I said I absolutely love A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS and the world that was created for it. I love all the characters, especially the three children. They are very well-behaved children and lovable. Sarah was good for Caleb and the children in helping them to grieve for their mother, grandparents, and little brother.
I can’t wait to read more stories in The Wilderness Saga. Once I started reading A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS I couldn’t stop it had me in its grasp from the first page and never let go. A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS will stay with me for many years. It is a story I could read again again.
I recommend grabbing a copy of A DREAM IN THE WILDERNESS today!
I have been writing since the age of twenty. (That’s 47 years and, yes, I’m disclosing my age.) I am the proud mother of three and grandmother to four wonderful grandchildren. After losing who I thought was the love of my life, my late husband Ron, in November of 2011, I met Rick. So, it is definitely possible to have more than one “love of your life.” Rick and I were married in July of 2018 and are still going strong today. He is my soulmate, my confidant, and my biggest fan. He has read every book I have ever written (even the romances!)
Next to writing, my second passion is live theater. I founded a local community theater group back in 1992 and directed upwards of 40 shows, including three that I authored. I also appeared on stage a few times, portraying Anna in The King and I and Miss Hannigan in Annie. I am sad to say that the theater group dropped its final curtain in 2008, but those 16 years will always hold some of my fondest memories.
I moved from Superior 15 years ago, seeking the serenity of country living. I also wanted to get away from the natural air conditioning provided by Lake Superior. We moved only 50 miles south, but the temperature can vary by 20-30 degrees. I guess I’m a country girl at heart. I simply love this area, and am lucky to, once again, have someone to share its beauty. I love the solitude, the picturesque beauty of the sun rising over the water, the strangely calming effect of watching a deer graze outside your kitchen window. Never again, will I live in the city. I am an author, after all, and what better place to be inspired than in God’s own backyard.
Let’s Connect!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/jean-hackensmith-61554012674412/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/32957713?ref=nav_mybooks
Book Tour + #Giveaway: Educational Disobedience by Dr. Annise Mabry @RABTBookTours
Book Tour + #Giveaway: Trifold Mirror by Chidiebere Eze @RABTBookTours
Review: Mike and Maddie Mysteries Volume One (Mike and Maddie Mysteries #1-5) by Daisy Landish @daisy_landish
Mike and Maddie Mysteries #1-5
by Daisy Landish
Published: December 20, 2023
Publisher: Beaches and Trails Publishing
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense