Friday, 7 August 2026

Branded Mine by Jenika Snow is Out Now! #Review

Branded Mine: A Dark Cowboy Friends-to-Lovers Romance

In the dusty heart of Rootstown Creek, Lila Shaw returned home to settle the ranch she never wanted and finally put the past behind her.

Fourteen years earlier, she had sworn she would never come back. Then her father died and left her the one thing she never wanted: the family ranch and all the painful memories that came with it.

She never expected Ryder Kane to still be there.

Once, he'd been the quiet boy who always appeared when she needed him most. Now, he was a scarred, brooding cowboy with rough hands, haunted eyes, and a devotion so fierce that time had never managed to weaken it.

For years, Ryder had protected the ranch, repaired what was broken, and watched over the life Lila had left behind. While she’d been running from the past, he’d been preserving it for her.

But some secrets refused to stay buried, and the truth about the darkest chapter of Lila's childhood threatened to destroy the fragile future they were building together.

Because the man who had always protected her had been keeping one devastating secret of his own.

And Lila had to decide whether she could trust the cowboy who had loved her enough to sacrifice everything for her.

READ *BRANDED MINE* HERE

REVIEW: 5 *

Branded mine was kinda sweet for a Jenika Snow story or maybe I’m desensitised to the negative stuff. The chemistry was great, the story was addictive and the HEA was satisfying. Dare I say, I may read this one for a second time which is really unlike me.

Lila Shaw left Rootstown Creek to escape her home and thought she’d never return. When her dad dies unexpectedly and leaves her the ranch she expects her visit to be short. A quick get in, sell the ranch and get out.

But Ryder Kane is the neighbour next door who she left behind. He’s been waiting for her return and this time he’s not going to let her walk away.

This does have an essence of overprotective love. He’s in the sidelines waiting for her. It also maybe has a couple of triggers but the romance is so strong it wins through the trauma.

It’s a Jenika Snow short story so it obviously contains spice and a HEA. Great read with all the feels.

Secret Seduction is LIVE #Review

Secret Seduction is LIVE!

by Nikki Ash

From USA Today Bestselling author Nikki Ash comes a single dad, age gap, dark romance ...

She’s too young. Too reckless. And now she’s my wife.
Vanessa Baker is a temptation with a body made for seduction and secrets swirling in her violet eyes.
There’s no denying that she’s a stunning woman, but she’s a wild card.
Irresistible, unpredictable, and unexpected.
Exactly the kind of trouble I’ve vowed to stay away from.
So, imagine my shock when I wake up in the Bahamas with a ring on my finger and Vanessa in my bed—with no memory of how either got there.
She swears she had no choice. That marrying me was the only way to save herself from a dangerous deal she’d never agreed to.
And now I’m torn between protecting her and resenting her … doing the right thing and wishing I’d never met her.
I don’t trust easily. Not with my heart. Not with my son. And I definitely don’t trust her.
But I bring her home anyway—because her life is at risk. And even though she doesn’t deserve my protection, she has it.
Every day she’s here, charming my son, slipping past my walls, she reminds me of what love is supposed to feel like.
So, what happens when she doesn’t need me anymore … and I still want her anyway?

Please note: Secret Seduction is not a mafia romance. The book is a dark romance because of its content. Since dark romance can mean different things to different readers, please check the detailed content warnings on my website. Your mental health matters.

US:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FLM5QJRD

UK:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0FLM5QJRD

CA:https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0FLM5QJRD

Audio: https://www.audible.com/author/Nikki-Ash/B01MSM3Q2G

REVIEW: 5 *

I’m crying, no you’re crying. The temping love series has come to an end in Secret Seduction and what ending it was. This was my favourite book. I loved the fun and games. It had me laughing and loving their connection.

When times are desperate, it calls for desperate measures. Vanessa is about to be sold by her step-father. If he wasn’t so powerful she might be able to go to the police but unfortunately that’s not an option. When away with friends (the other characters from the series) she tricks Lorenzo into marrying her.

This is a marriage like no other. He’s guarded, she’s just trying to save her life. What starts out messy turns into something beautiful and the ride is well worth it!

Great book. I’m so sad this series is over and I didn’t want Secret seduced to end.

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The Hero of Pamplona Blitz

And Other Mostly True Stories

Memoir

Date Published: June 12, 2026

Publisher: MindStir Media

What makes a life worth remembering? Is it danger—or joy? Triumph—or deception? Sometimes it’s all of them, tangled together in moments that refuse to fade.

The Hero of Pamplona and Other Mostly True Stories is a memoir told through twenty-two vividly rendered short stories drawn from the extraordinary life of Len Wechsler. Spanning decades and continents, these deeply personal reflections move effortlessly from New York to Los Angeles, Paris to Pamplona, Lisbon to Tangiers—each place leaving its mark, each moment carrying emotional weight.

With the voice of a philosopher, the instincts of a filmmaker, and the honesty of someone who has lived fully, Wechsler explores friendship and betrayal, risk and reinvention, longing and belonging. These are stories shaped by youthful bravado, artistic pursuit, cultural collision, and the quiet reckonings that come with time.

Sometimes humorous, sometimes haunting, and always human, this memoir invites readers into a life lived on the edge of experience—where truth and memory blur, and where the author believes one simple thing: if a story touches him, it may touch you too.

Whether you read it as travel memoir, coming-of-age reflection, or a meditation on identity and chance, The Hero of Pamplona and Other Mostly True Stories is a journey worth taking.

About the Author

Len Wechsler is a writer, filmmaker, and lifelong storyteller whose work spans continents, cultures, and creative disciplines. Raised in New York City and educated in the Midwest, Wechsler studied philosophy at the Sorbonne in Paris before earning a master’s degree from New York University. His early adult years were marked by adventure and movement—from playing professional basketball in France and Italy to traveling across Europe and around the Mediterranean.

In the United States, Wechsler taught in both New York and California before launching a filmmaking career in the mid-1970s. He was among the earliest filmmakers to capture the raw beauty, risk, and exhilaration of surfing and skateboarding on film, later transitioning into screenwriting for feature films. His creative life continued overseas when he lived and worked in Portugal for thirteen years as a teacher and theater director.

More recently, Wechsler co-wrote a stage play exploring the underbelly of Los Angeles, which debuted in New York City. A member of the Writers Guild of America West, he now lives in California, where he continues to write—and still plays basketball when he can, even if the three-pointer no longer falls as easily.

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Thursday, 6 August 2026

Turtle Lake Blitz

Crime Thriller / Suspense

Date Published: 09-07-2026

Publisher: Mission Point Press

Turtle Lake is a gripping tale of revenge, survival, and the intricate interplay between human nature and the natural world. The story follows Jim Peters, the comptroller at Ramsey Motors, who uncovers a corrupt scheme by the company and its insurer, U.S. Underwriters, to defraud employees of their retirement and insurance benefits before moving operations overseas. Infuriated, he devises an elaborate extortion plan to expose their corruption and protect the employees through a spectacular plot that ends up achieving national headlines. To accomplish his plan, Peters uses simple, everyday methods and lessons learned from alpha predators in the natural world.

Excerpt

Life is a dangerous place to be. The woods, skies, lakes, and oceans are filled with creatures bent on killing and eating each other. Nothing in nature dies of old age, as the adage goes.

Prey animals are taken down by predators. It’s as if prey animals are made to be food.

Carnivore predators possess razor-sharp canine-like teeth. Carnivores are the watchers from the shadows. All of them, such as lions, tigers, bobcats, and wolves, are wired the same way. They don’t eat lettuce for lunch. To a carnivore, you simply look like another rabbit in the grass.

There’s another carnivore that is often overlooked – humans. Humans have canine teeth. They are born wired with the same instincts as the alpha predators.

We’re taught to control it. Supposedly.

Birds will tell you when the sun is going to come up. At the faintest glimmer of dawn's early light, they begin to converse with each other, presumably to find out where the bugs are that day. Usually, we don't hear them in their earliness. Our day starts later. Usually.

Frogs and insects do the same during the pre-dawn moments, buzzing and croaking in the woods, fields, and swamps. Presumably they do this to find out where the predators are. It's been said that frogs might be telling each other where the rattlesnakes and blue herons are at any given time. We don't usually hear them croaking away in the early hours of the day. Usually.

Today, however, as the woods came to life with this early morning serenade, Jim Peters could hear them very clearly. It was August of 1990. He was in his cabin in mid-Michigan, situated on the edge of a quiet, deep-woods nature refuge known as Turtle Lake. Peters was lyingin bed backwards, that is, with his feet at the head of the bed and his head at the foot of the bed, chin resting on his wrists as he looked at a model train set.

The train set, an ancient Lionel from the 1940s, included buildings, roads, bridges, cars, trucks, a shopping center, and a train running through it. The set looked ordinary enough to the casual passerby or rare visitor to the cabin. But in fact, it was window dressing, a model of the crime scene that was to come. The train had nothing to do with it.

In a short while, when the birds, frogs, and bugs had quieted down, Peters would push a button and Mozart's opera The Magic Flute would float from the speakers connected to his compact disc machine. Peters liked Mozart. The music was pure and uncluttered. It flowed from one section into another so smoothly that it was hard to tell a transition had taken place. The complexities of its composition flowed as smoothly as pouring oil.

As smoothly as the diabolical scam he was planning.

About the Author

Bob Milne has been hailed throughout his 60-year career as one of the best ragtime/boogie-woogie piano players of all time. A solo concert performer, he traveled all over the world playing for dignitaries and celebrities as well as small town audiences. He was given the title of National Treasure by the Library of Congress and deemed an Ambassador of Music by the U.S. Department of State.

Bob’s extraordinary musical abilities were the subject of numerous brain studies, which have inspired a popular RadioLab podcast.

Little did they know that Bob was also a talented writer.

For years he wrote articles about his saloon-playing days for music publications. Many of these stories were compiled into a book called The Journeyman Piano Player: Adventures in Gracious Dining. Bob has written reams of poetry, some of which became lyrics to songs that he composed. The longest piece of poetry he ever wrote was the lyric book for The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a grand opera he composed and orchestrated.

Mr. Milne has been fascinated by nature his entire life. At a young age he realized that instincts are present in all species of birds, mammals (including humans), and literally every living thing in nature. He has used this information countless times over his lifetime to predict what the human species will do in future situations.

Bob is now retired from the long piano tours and is enjoying his woodland home. Today he spends his time studying nature in the woods. Signed copies of his book may be purchased through his website.

Contact Links

Website

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Purchase Link

https://mybook.to/TurtleLake

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The Baal of Shangisha Blitz

Middle-grade fantasy Adventure, fantasy

Date Published: January 6, 2026

Publisher: MindStir Media

One boy. One impossible dream. One journey that could change his world forever.

When a mysterious force hurls young Chetanna into the home of an enigmatic old bird, he arrives carrying an extraordinary dream: to bring peace to the wicked and divided world around him.

Even Chetanna is unsure such peace is possible.

But when his mother tells him of a distant land of possibilities—a place where hidden answers may be found—Chetanna finally sees a path forward. As darkness spreads across the island he calls home, he begins a dangerous quest armed with only a slingshot, a mysterious name whispered by his mother, and the ancient power of the Eight.

Chetanna believes that courage, hope, and determination will be enough to complete his mission.

He is wrong.

Halfway through the journey, betrayal changes everything. The companions he trusted most abandon him, convinced that the quest is doomed. Left for dead and stranded in an unforgiving wilderness, Chetanna loses nearly everything he depended upon.

He should turn back.

He should surrender.

Instead, he holds tightly to the one thing no enemy can take from him: his dream of creating a better world.

Driven by resilience, courage, kindness, and an unshakable belief in what might still be possible, Chetanna presses forward. But when he finally reaches the legendary land he has risked everything to find, a devastating truth awaits—one powerful enough to destroy his mission and shatter everything he believes.

The Baal of Shangisha is a lyrical middle-grade fantasy adventure filled with mystery, ancient power, dangerous choices, unexpected betrayal, and unforgettable lessons about hope, sacrifice, selflessness, and perseverance.

Perfect for readers who enjoy:

• Courageous young heroes and epic quests

• Magical lands inspired by rich cultural traditions

• Fantasy adventures filled with danger and discovery

• Stories about friendship, betrayal, and forgiveness

• Meaningful lessons about resilience, love, kindness, and hope

• Young characters who discover that even the smallest voice can inspire extraordinary change

Blending atmospheric storytelling, African cultural echoes, and timeless themes, O. Mez delivers a powerful debut novel for young readers who believe that courage is not the absence of fear—but the decision to keep moving forward.

How far would you go to save your world when everyone else has stopped believing?

Begin Chetanna’s unforgettable journey in The Baal of Shangisha today.

About the Author

O. Mez is a Nigerian-born author whose storytelling is shaped by the rich oral traditions, cultural rhythms, and imaginative tales that surrounded him while growing up. Inspired by stories passed down through generations, he writes lyrical, atmospheric fantasy that explores courage, resilience, hope, and the quiet strength of those who dare to believe in a better world.

Now based in Colorado, Mez brings together African cultural echoes, timeless life lessons, and immersive fantasy adventure to create meaningful stories for young readers. His debut middle-grade fantasy novel, The Baal of Shangisha, follows a young hero on a dangerous quest filled with mystery, betrayal, ancient power, and the unshakable determination to change his world.

Through his writing, Mez hopes to encourage children to embrace kindness, perseverance, selflessness, and the belief that even the smallest voice can make a lasting difference.

When he is not writing, he enjoys watching football, spending time with his wife and daughters, and reading stories about forgotten lands, brave souls, and extraordinary journeys.

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Rakshasa's Wrath Blitz

The Clawed Chronicles, Book 1

Fantasy

Date Published: February 1, 2026

Shipwrecked on her way to an arranged marriage, Lyliana McKenzie discovers that her rescuers are not the saviours she thought them to be. Amidst the dangers of a pirate coup, she must find a way to keep herself safe with the help of only a pixie and one pirate captain. After a failed escape attempt leads her to discover what she thinks are gems, she begins to realise that the stories she heard as a child might not be all just fantasy.

As Lyliana collects more allies, dark forces rise around her creating yet more enemies, both at home and in the pirate camp. Despite these hardships, her desire to escape becomes marred by newfound power and her mirky path grows complicated. Will she honour her family and friends, or will she accept this new life of hardship and adversity?

About the Author

I was born and grew up in Leicestershire, UK where I have lived my whole life before joining the Merchant Navy at 18. I achieved my dream of becoming a Master Mariner and held the post of captain for more than ten years, working mostly on the West coast of Africa and the North Sea. Since before my sea career I have loved writing. It gives me great pleasure to share my creativeness with the world, but that is just gravy on top of meeting another life goal. During my off hours I write, read and, occasionally do the odd degree by distance learning. To date, I have master's degrees in Creative Writing and Environment, Health and Safety from the Open University and Sunderland University respectively. My other main interest is tropical fishkeeping though I have yet to write a story about them.

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Wednesday, 5 August 2026

Freedom’s End Blitz

Sci-Fi / Fantasy

Date Published: May 5, 2026

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group

Freedom’s End is a mythic sci‑fi/fantasy saga about a reincarnating rebel fighting to break cycles of oppression across lifetimes. Born a slave in the mines of Septra, Paintr rises again and again—across bodies, eras, and worlds—to confront a necromancer who seeks to enslave every sentient mind. Blending science fiction, dark fantasy, and supernatural western elements, the story explores identity, liberation, trauma, and the cost of reclaiming one’s soul. With its emotional depth, genre fusion, and expansive worldbuilding, Freedom’s End speaks to readers who love character‑driven epics, mythic resonance, and stories about resilience in the face of impossible odds.

About the Author

SE Estes is a sci‑fi and fantasy author whose work blends mythic symbolism, emotional depth, and genre fusion. A multicultural military‑brat upbringing and early career in computing shaped SE’s fascination with identity, technology, and transformation. Now based in Indianapolis, SE writes expansive, character‑driven universes—including Freedom’s End, the first book in a multi‑volume saga about liberation and the soul’s long journey across lifetimes.

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