Duke of Enveigh (Seven Dukes of Sin #5) #REVIEW

 

Duke of Enveigh (Seven Dukes of Sin #5)

by

Mariah Stone 

BLURB:

He wants revenge. She wants freedom. Neither expected to want each other.

Archibald, Duke of Enveigh, is England’s most elegant predator. When his former friend the Duke of Eccess stole the woman Archibald wanted, he vowed revenge. The perfect weapon? Octavius’s innocent sister. Seduce her, ruin her, walk away.

Lady Mercy Everard has spent twenty years in French exile, studying stars and vowing never to marry for anything less than love. Now she’s thrust into London’s season as the talk of the ton: the Duke of Eccess’s long-lost sister, perfect prey for fortune hunters.

But Mercy isn’t like other debutantes. She sees through his practiced charm to the wounded man beneath. And she’s not afraid of him. When she challenges him to prove he’s more than another rake playing games, their secret alliance begins: he’ll teach her to survive the ton’s dangers.

As stolen moments in moonlit gardens turn into whispered confessions, Archibald realizes his fatal miscalculation—he’s falling for his mark.

When their forbidden attraction threatens to consume them both, only one choice remains: a desperate flight to Gretna Green with all of London in pursuit. But can a man who destroys everything he touches learn to love without destroying the woman who might save his soul?

Sometimes the deadliest sin is the one that redeems us.

REVIEW: 5*

Another sinful romance with scandal, beauty and entertaining banter. I really enjoyed the Duke of envy. Having the Duke of Vanity as a reject deadly sin really tickled me.

Archibald has fallen on desperate times. He’s walking a tight rope where he could loose everything at any moment. When Vanity offers him a wager, he puts his most prized possession on the line and agrees to do something hideous.

Mercy is protected by her brother (a previous deadly sin Duke) but she has dreams. She wants to use her knowledge to advance in the world.

Archibald is willing to help Mercy get what she wants but will the Prince of trust be more than either of them can afford?

The Forgotten Bruja Reveal

 

The Forgotten Bruja
Johanny Ortega
Publication date: March 16 2027
Genres: Gothic, Horror

Freedom has always meant leaving.

For Isadora Espinal, escape was the only way to survive the life her mother tried to force upon her—a legacy built on silence, blind obedience, and a responsibility Isadora never agreed to carry. So she left Willowshade behind and built a future far beyond her mother’s reach.

Twelve years later, Altagracia Espinal is dead, and Isadora has been summoned home.

What awaits her is not an explanation but a trail of unfinished warnings, fractured family histories, and whispers that seem to seep from the walls themselves, blurring the line between guidance and manipulation. The deeper Isadora searches, the more she suspects her mother’s secrets were never meant to protect the family. They were meant to bind it.

Now the house remembers her. The land is watching her. And the inheritance Isadora once rejected may not allow her to leave a second time.

Set in late-1960s Ohio, The Forgotten Bruja is a slow-burn gothic horror novel steeped in Dominican folklore, Spanglish dread, and magical realism. It is a story of inherited obligation, buried history, queer love, and the devastating cost of deciding which parts of a legacy deserve to survive.

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Author Bio:

Johanny Ortega is a Dominican American author who writes across genres—blending psychological horror, literary fiction, magical realism, and thrillers that punch you right in the gut. Whether writing about haunted hills, generational trauma, or the quiet unraveling of everyday life, her stories center marginalized voices, morally complex women, and the messy truth about survival.

She is the founder of Have a Cup of Johanny, a creative platform where she blogs, podcasts, and advocates for inclusive storytelling. Her award-winning middle-grade and adult fiction has resonated with readers who crave depth, grit, and emotional honesty.

When she’s not writing, she’s raising kids in a blended military family, reading books that wreck her soul in the best way, and saying what others are afraid to.

Website / Instagram / TikTok / Goodreads

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The Station Blitz

 

Memoirs / Humor

Date Published: August 15, 2025

 

 

 The Station is an extraordinary true story—an elegy of childhood alienation, social dysfunction, and psychological terrorism. Narrated by the foul-mouthed antihero himself, this filthy account will have you washing your hands with the turn of every page.

After being expelled from middle school, a young boy must find his way through the struggles of the working class. After not looking very far, he finds employment at a small gas station in a dangerous part of town. There, beyond pumping gas, slinging cigarettes, and wrestling with hoboes, he finds himself working for a man who has a fetish for mayhem. Falling prey to the influences of his surroundings, laughing hysterically, and cursing as if he invented it, the boy embarks on a journey into senseless chaos and the macabre. But just as he becomes confident of his abilities, he’s accused of a crime. And without support or witnesses to his character, he’s left waiting for his fate to unfold.

About the Author

 

 The GwaK, author of the writing on the wall—the stall wall that is, an unfiltered, unrestricted, uncompromising voice of self-preservation. Born a bastard somewhere in the 1970’s at a high elevation, among a-holes gaslighting him into their slave fallacies, he’s unleashed himself upon the page. His work is derived from personal experience, bringing the macabre into focus with ruthless phraseology leaving his readers with pink eye. With that, The Station is the first volume in an upcoming series entitled Resumé of my Discontent. These memoirs of angst, strife, and hilarious introspection weave the author’s bio leaving no stone unturned and no wallet untapped.

 

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Thanks Be To Bob Teaser

 

 

(Holiday Hanky Panky 1)

A Searchlight Paranormal Romance

Date Published: October 30, 2026

Publisher: Changeling Press

Meet Bob/Birdie: the source of bi-awakening for a closeted SearchLight agent.

Agent Nick Pierce is known as an effective tracker with a caustic wit and unparalleled paranoia. He’s harassed or insulted more magical creatures than most people have ever met. He’s hidden his bisexuality for fifteen plus years and is content to take that secret to his grave until he meets a police detective moonlighting as a dancer at a gay club.

Bob White is protective of this newbie who’s followed a friend into Ravencrest, at least until his full-time gig as a police detective makes him think Nick might be a suspect.

As their attraction grows, Nick’s virginity and his terror of one specific vampire are thrown into the light. Nick must defend himself from Bob’s suspicion and the vampire’s next attack. But can he quell SearchLight’s desire to wipe Bob’s memory?

Excerpt

Copyright ©2026 Emily Carrington

The crowd was a little ugly tonight. Not because of their glitter or makeup but because of their forced smiles. Bob White, who went by Birdie when he was performing, read the signs. Most of the drag queens were being protective of their dates and of anyone who looked fragile. Bob approved. Maybe he could lighten the mood. Tonight was his show. He wasn’t dancing every song on stage, but he got to couple with many of the drag kings and queens. Being androgynous as well as good at disguises meant only a few knew him with all his costuming in place.

Now, though, he was stripped to the waist and clad in jeans. Because it was his show, he’d chosen most of the night’s music. However, when he strode onto the stage, the music that began to play wasn’t what he’d picked. He caught CJ’s eye, saw the wicked gleam in it, and inwardly sighed. He had a choice. He could either dance to this country song or he could raise a stink.

He chose to dance to the het-suggestive song. He’d heard this one a few times. The other officers at the station listened to just about everything at one time or another. He did his best to turn the heterosexual-focused song into a gay anthem through the movement of his body and his facial expressions.

The Ravencrest Club, which was mostly a gay bar although all were welcome, seemed hotter tonight than usual, and Bob turned a swipe of his forehead into part of the dance. Considering it was November in New York, it really was warm in here.

He quit worrying about the heat when he caught sight of three men standing close to the edge of the stage. Two of them, a Native American and a Caucasian man with black hair, had their arms around each other. The third stood close to them but he looked distinctly uncomfortable. He had lovely light brown eyes and hair like wet sand’s deepest hue swept back from his forehead. He was tanned and fit and although he didn’t wear a skintight T-shirt, the leather jacket that he kept zipped showed off his physique. He was sweating. It gleamed on his forehead. Bob wondered why he didn’t show whatever he was wearing underneath. Maybe it was offensive. Or maybe he was embarrassed by it. Or maybe he just wanted to feel protected. His anxiety was almost palpable.

Bob didn’t examine the other two quite as closely. For one, they were obviously together. For another, they seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Bob danced right up to the discomfited man, presenting his ass for either a smack or nothing depending on the guy’s nervousness level. After he’d danced there for five seconds, he faced his intended target again. To his surprise, the man was holding up a five-dollar bill and looked intimidated. Bob took pity on him and took the money with a bow and a smile.

The object of his attention flushed but didn’t drop his eyes, even when the Native American half of the couple nudged him. He gave off a general air of confidence despite the way he chewed at his lip for a moment.

The music ended then and Bob came back to himself. He hadn’t meant to spend so much time with this unknown person. He retreated a few steps and bowed to the cheering, whistling crowd.

 

About the Author

Emily Carrington is a multipublished author of male/male and transgender women’s speculative fiction. Seeking a world made of equality, she created SearchLight to live out her dreams. But even SearchLight has its problems, and Emily is looking forward to working all of these out with a host of characters from dragons and genies to psychic vampires. And in the contemporary world she’s named “Sticks & Stones,” Emily has vowed to create small towns where prejudice is challenged by a passionate quest for equality. Find her on Facebook at Shapeshifter Central or on her website.

 

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Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress

 

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A Hidden Fate

 

 

A hidden past.

An uncertain future.

An impossible choice.

A Hidden Fate

by Carol Efron

Genre: Women’s Fiction

A poignant novel of love under fire about a woman who must find the courage to face an uncertain future—and an impossible choice.

Baltimore, 1986. Julia and Matt are newlyweds, in love and eager to begin graduate school. Julia longs to leave behind haunting memories of her mother’s devastating decline in Maryland, but she unexpectedly learns the truth her father has hidden: Her mother died of a fatal genetic illness. Julia now faces a 50 percent chance of inheriting the same fate, and every child she longs to have will carry the same risk.

When an unplanned pregnancy rocks their careful plans, Julia and Matt face agonizing uncertainty and impossible choices. Desires and convictions pull them toward starkly different paths, each possibly leading to misery.

As the couple struggles to protect the fragile, fierce love that first bound them together, they face the cost of secrets and the ache of betrayal—but they also discover the hope of forgiveness.

 

What readers are saying:

“…the richly drawn characters and the emotional depth of Julia’s journey make for a deeply affecting novel whose moral questions linger long after the story’s end.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

 

“This moving novel will appeal to fans of intimate, issue-driven fiction about women’s choices, inherited trauma, and the hidden costs of love. Great for fans of: Lisa Genova’s Inside the O’Briens, Abraham Verghese’s The Covenant of Water” —Publisher’s Weekly Booklife Review

 

“Family secrets, the rights of parents, maternal love and the importance of living one’s life to the fullest all come into play as Julia, the protagonist in Carol Efron’s intriguing novel, faces an excruciating and fateful decision.” —Jerry Burger PhD  author of Shadows of 1915: A Novel

 

Amazon * B&N * Bookshop.org * Bookbub * Goodreads

 

A whiff of garlic and a smoky odor Julia couldn’t place enticed her as she and Matt entered a favorite Chinese restaurant

the night before their much-debated move from Manhattan. She inhaled deeply. Would there be a Szechuan restaurant half as good in Baltimore?

Probably not, she thought, and tried to push away a swarm of negative feelings about Maryland.

The hostess seated them at a narrow table. When Matt rested his calf against Julia’s, she appreciated the warmth of the love he conveyed in this familiar gesture. They’d dined here frequently when they started dating. She let herself feel nostalgic about meeting each other in a freshman astronomy class, stealing kisses in the NYU library, visiting iconic New York sites as they were falling in love. She wouldn’t have chosen to move from the Village if Matt didn’t believe—reasonably—that they needed to settle in Baltimore to further his career. But she adored him; she’d follow him where he had to go if it didn’t ruin her chance to become a historian.

“Just one more push on the packing and we’ll finish well before midnight,” he said after they placed their order.

The meal turned out to be even more delicious than usual. They ate quickly. When they requested the check, the waitress asked if they’d like fortune cookies.

“Skip them,” Matt said. “We don’t have time.”

“Oh, but they’re fresh today,” the waitress said. “And maybe you’ll get good tidings.”

“Do you believe the fortunes?” Julia asked. They’d often chatted with this invariably upbeat waitress and Julia was curious about her views.

The woman shrugged. “No, but a fortune can be an opportunity to reflect on where we want to go. Perhaps especially useful since you’re newly married.”

“Good point,” Julia said. “Besides, I feel like something sweet.” She nudged Matt under the table as the waitress bustled off. “I know you don’t have any patience for superstition, but would you want to know your future? If you could?”

“Learning his future didn’t work

out so well for Oedipus.”

She laughed. “You’re awfully literary tonight. Has something rubbed off on you from helping me pack all my novels?”

“Come on, I’m far more than a stodgy physicist.”

“I know you are, so stop teasing. I’d like an answer.” Maybe it was the weight of the move bearing down on her, but Julia’s question wasn’t casual. Given her mother’s fate, sometimes she worried about her own health. She lacked the almost reflex optimism she’d observed in most of her friends, none of whom had lost a parent in their childhood.

“Okay,” he said, “seriously, being a scientist, I like predicting things. But as to knowing my own fate . . . I’m not sure. How ’bout you?”

“It depends on the answers. I’d be thrilled to shed my concerns about getting my mother’s mentalillness.”

He reached for her hand. “Oh Jule, her doctors said her psy-chosis was due to multiple sclerosis. And the articles you found in the library confirmed what your own doctor told you: that there isn’t much chance you’ll get MS.”

“I know, but—”

The waitress returned with the cookies. “I’ll miss seeing you,” she said. “I wish you all the best.”

They wished her the same. Matt cracked one cookie open and pulled out the slip. “Embrace uncertainty—it’s where the magic begins,” he read. “I’m not sold on that.”

“It might be good advice,” Julia said. “Perhaps.”

She took a cookie and extracted her fortune: “Seek not the future but the wisdom to shape it.” She handed him the slip. “Wise since I can’t know what life will bring.”

He glanced at it. “Agreed. I hope you enjoyed your cookies. But we should leave.” He smiled. “The movers might actually show up on time.”

“At the crack of dawn? Dream on. Still, we better be ready.” When they stood, Matt drew her to him and kissed her. She delighted in the softness of his lips and the tang of the ginger on his breath.

“We’re headed for a great year,” he said, kissing her again. Here he was, ridiculing fortune-telling but doing it himself.

Julia smiled to herself at his contradictions. She had to acknowledge her own: feeling apprehensive about moving to Baltimore yet eager to get there to start the first chap-ter of their married life.

She straightened her spine. “Let’s go,” she said. They stepped out into the bright lights and quirky sights of the West Village.

Carol earned her MD from Johns Hopkins, served on the faculty at Stanford and John Hopkins, and built a thriving private practice in Silicon Valley. Working on the front lines of genetic testing, she felt an urgent need to write this book, and she would love to talk to you about how these real-world experiences inspired her debut novel, along with the broader implications of genetic testing.

 

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The Gershwin Cutter Blitz

 

 

Thriller, Drama, Suspense, Action, Redemption, Healing

Date Published: July 9, 2026

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group

INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS.

RESCUED FROM A BRUTAL CULT, SHE BELIEVED SHE HAD ESCAPED THE SHADOWS. BUT TEXAS HARBORS EVEN DARKER SECRETS.

Blake is a steely, enigmatic force, fiercely loyal to her one-eyed horse, Ira. As she navigates the patriarchal arena of cutting horse competitions, her steadfast devotion teeters on the brink of danger, unearthing a dark past she had long sought to bury.

Across the scorched Lone Star badlands, retired detective Sonny Harrell hunts the killers who murdered his father. His trail of blood and lies uncovers a ruthless syndicate that would flay you to the bone to guard its empire of corruption.

When Sonny's path collides with Blake's, she is swept into a vortex of violence. Outnumbered and outmatched, they must claw through the chaos-or vanish into oblivion.

 

About the Author

 

 Paul’s debut crime thriller Nannerl’s Symphony—based on Mozart’s history—was published soon after he completed his PhD in Mathematics from Imperial College London. He has since authored over 100 academic papers in top journals. The Gershwin Cutter is his second thriller, with two more on the way. Currently, he holds an endowed professorship at the University of Texas in Austin. A recipient of multiple research awards, Paul was also a finalist for the U.S. National Library of Poetry Award. He has lived on three continents and is fluent in several languages. An animal lover, Paul is the proud pet parent of a blue-eyed Alsatian.

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The Adler Legacy Blitz

 

 

Historical Thriller

Date Published: November 17, 2026

A hidden Nazi fortune. A disgraced Bletchley clerk. A mission no trained agent could survive.

 

In the ruins of post-war Europe, Sophie Faulkner only wants the past to leave her alone.

Once a gifted German-speaking clerk at Bletchley Park, Sophie’s life was destroyed when British intelligence uncovered the truth she had tried to bury: she was born Sophie von Adler, daughter of a wealthy Nazi industrialist. Interrogated, imprisoned, disgraced, and abandoned, she has survived the war with nothing but a ruined reputation and a talent for keeping secrets.

Then MI5 offers her a way back.

Her father’s hidden fortune lies in a Zurich bank account — millions in Swiss francs and bearer bonds intended to finance the escape of senior Nazis fleeing Allied justice. To reach it, Sophie must become the woman Europe’s most dangerous men expect to see: the cold, entitled heiress of a dead Reich loyalist.

But the money is only bait.

Drawn into a shadow war between British intelligence, American pragmatists, Vatican fixers, Swiss bankers, Soviet agents, and the remnants of the SS, Sophie finds herself trapped inside the very network she was sent to expose. Every alliance is temporary. Every identity is a weapon. And if the men around her discover where her loyalties truly lie, she will not live long enough to choose her own future.

 

About the Author

Award-winning historical fiction from the World Wars to the Cold War.

​Malcolm has spent a lifetime gathering stories, living and working in Australia and the Middle East before returning to the UK. Today, he weaves that global experience into gripping historical novels that explore the intersection of crime, war, and espionage.

​The Manchester Noir Series: Gritty 1990s crime with a unique twist (The Honey Talker, The Fatal Formula).

​The Aviation Collection: High-octane tales of courage and dogfights in WWI and WWII (LMF, The Way Back, Leviathan).

​The Lisbon Series : Follow ex-cop Dinis Lopes through the treacherous, "neutral" streets of 1940s Portugal.

​Cold War Espionage: Revisit the 1950s with the fast-paced adventures of Contrail and Czechmate.

​When he isn’t uncovering the secrets of the 20th century, Malcolm lives and writes in Cheshire, England.

 

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