Month: May 2026

Blog Tour for The Shadow Appears and The Shadow Grows by Burt Tyson

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Hey there!

I’m shouting it out today for two new titles that are just out from Burt Tyson as part of his new The Devil’s Shadow series that look like great western HF reading!

Here’s the scoop:

What remains when everything a man has built his life on is taken from him without warning? In The Devil’s Shadow series by Burt Tyson, Captain Robert Hester’s journey begins in the aftermath of war and follows the difficult choices that take shape when duty gives way to something far more personal.

Synopsis:
The end of the war leaves Captain Robert Hester in a world that no longer resembles the one he fought to preserve. Wounded, hunted, and without a place in the future taking shape around him, he is forced to confront what remains when everything he relied on has been stripped away. What follows is not simply survival, but a reckoning with loss, memory, and the limits of the code he has tried to live by.

In The Shadow Appears, Hester awakens to the collapse of the Confederacy and the reality that his name has already been marked for death. Once a cavalry officer under Mosby, he returns home expecting what little remains of his former life, only to find devastation that changes everything in a single brutal moment. The war becomes something deeply personal. Riding with his loyal sergeant, he moves through a defeated landscape where former soldiers have become outlaws and survival often comes at the expense of honor, each mile pulling him further from the man he once was.

With vengeance behind him, The Shadow Grows finds Hester without direction. He drifts into unfamiliar territory, carrying the weight of everything he has lost, surviving one day at a time. A chance encounter introduces a different way of living, shaped by patience, discipline, and endurance. When violence reaches a small mountain town, he must decide whether to walk away as he has before or stand and fight, knowing the choice will determine who he becomes.

Author bio:

Burt Tyson writes historical Western fiction rooted in the aftermath of the Civil War, where questions of honor, loss, and survival take center stage. Influenced by classic storytellers like Louis L’Amour, Larry McMurtry, and the Western television heroes he grew up watching, his work explores what happens when the fight is over and a man is left to decide who he is without it.

His Devil’s Shadow series follows Captain Robert Hester through a fractured post-war America and into the unforgiving frontier beyond.

Tyson lives in a small town in South Carolina, where the landscape is quiet—but the stories he tells are anything but. Visit Burt at his website.

Amazon link – not affiliated with BBNB: https://bit.ly/4vTQamj

Goodreads: 

THE SHADOW APPEARS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242866374-the-shadow-appearsTHE SHADOW GROWS: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249546840-the-shadow-grows

Bookouture Blog Tour for The Lady at the Lodging House by Natalie Meg Evans

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I’m so happy to take part in the tour for this historical fiction/WWII novel, which is book 3 of the Wartime Boarding House series by Natalie Meg Evans: The Lady at the Boarding House. This installment focuses on Betony, the wealthy socialite who is living with her friends in London and trying to make her way on her own financially, though her past life has left her with very few skills. Even though Betony is the main character, the other major characters, Grace and Jess, play key roles in the story. As I read each book in the series, I like it even more than the one before – I think this is because each one brings a further depth to the main characters and their trials and tribulations. Okay, I’ll say it: this was my favorite in the series so far!

Thank you for my copy and for having me as part of the tour.

Here’s the scoop:

The Lady at the Lodging House

The Wartime Lodging House Book 3

Natalie Meg Evans

London, 1940. In a Mayfair townhouse behind a wide front door, three women must bond together to make it through the war – no matter their differences.

A world away from the wealth and comfort of her family home, lord’s daughter BetonyStyles has come to love her new life at a London lodging house with Grace and Jess. Selling her beautiful gowns to pay for her rent and rations for the other girls, Betony is determined to do her bit.

By day she works in the factory sewing much-needed uniforms for the Women’s Air Force. At night, air raid sirens blaze – but Betony and the other girls do all they can to help in the hardest hit neighbourhoods, rescuing a precious newborn from the rubble. And she’s head over heels with her beau, brave Canadian pilot Winter Macpherson.

But her father believes duty to her family should come before her duty for her country. He demands she give up playing games and come home once and for all.

To stand up to her father and follow her own path, Betony needs Grace and Jess more than ever. But when Winter disappears, her heart shatters. Together, can the lodging house girls give each other hope even in the darkest times?

A completely unputdownable historical novel, perfect for fans of Jean Grainger, Lisa Wingate and Diney Costeloe. Your heart will break at this beautiful story of love, friendship and courage.

About the Author:

Natalie Meg Evans has been an art student, actor, PR copywriter, book-keeper and bar tender but always wanted to write. A USA Today best-seller and RITA nominee, she is author of four published novels which follow the fortunes of strong-minded women during the 1930s and 40s. Fashion, manners and art are the glass through which her characters’ lives are viewed. Each novel is laced with passion, romance and desire. Mystery is never far away.

An avid absorber of history – for her sixth birthday she got a toy Arthurian castle with plastic knights – Natalie views historical fiction as theatre for the imagination. Her novels delve behind the scenes of a prestige industry: high fashion, millinery, theatre, wine making. Rich arenas for love and conflict. Most at home in the English countryside, Natalie lives in rural Suffolk. She has one son.

Voted Most Likely to Murder by Lacey Moone

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My friends at Crooked Lane Books sent me several options of cozies to read this spring and one I chose was Voted Most Likely to Murder by Lacey Moone. Loved this fun read about a murder at a high school reunion. Who doesn’t like a good reunion story where chaos ensues? So much fun and well-written, too!

Thank you for my copy!!

Here’s the scoop:

A high school reunion comes to an abrupt end when the dead body of the class jock shocks the school’s gymnasium in this cozy mystery debut, perfect for fans of Ellery Adams and Eva Gates.

Belinda Bishop is unemployed and single. At thirty-two, her journalism career feels stuck, and let’s not even speak about her love life, which isn’t helping her look forward to her upcoming high school reunion. Stuck working at her parents’ seaside cottage and RV park in Nova Scotia for the time being, she needs time to regroup and come up with a killer story to get her career and her life back on track.

When she literally stumbles across the dead body of the philandering class jock at the reunion, the party quickly comes to a stop. At first, it seems like the perfect opportunity for Belinda to channel her inner Christianne Amanpour, until her childhood-best-friend-turned-nemesis, Jolene Dexter, is declared the prime suspect. Despite their falling out, Belinda is convinced the former pageant queen is innocent.

As the two women struggle to put aside their differences, they have to work together to catch the real murderer before this sleepy coastal town is rocked to its foundations. 

This romp of a mystery is perfect for fans of Jenn McKinlay and Benjamin Stevenson.

Bookouture Blog Tour for: The Afternoon Tea Murders by Helena Dixon

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I’m so happy to be part of this tour for Book 4 of the Secret Detective Agency series The Afternoon Tea Murders by Helena Dixon. I just love this series, which is WWII historical mystery. It probably can count as a cozy as it’s not graphic or violent, but it’s more like a Maggie Hope mystery or an Agatha Christie novel, than a true cozy. Always well-plotted, this one focuses on Jane and Arthur in the countryside when a local tea shop owner is found dead. No one is as they seem and Jane needs to get to the bottom of it all. I love that she takes her cranky cat Marmaduke everywhere with her, too!

Thank you for my copy and for having me as part of the tour!

Here’s the scoop:

London, 1942. Miss Jane Treen is at her desk in Whitehall sipping a strong coffee when she receives an urgent message about her colleague, codebreaker Arthur Cilento. He’s in danger in Devon, and Jane needs to get there sharpish. But before her bags are properly unpacked, the local teashop owner in Arthur’s village is found lying amidst the scones and teacakes… and she’s dead.

When Jane arrives, it quickly becomes clear that the murder is a half-baked attempt to curdle Arthur’s current codebreaking mission – but how? There seem to be suspects at every turn. Is Arthur’s boss be going to extremes to cover up his incompetence? Can the teashop customers be trusted? And what about the secretary, who seems to have secret links to the village teashop…

Spurred on by scones and clotted cream, Jane and Arthur start to whip up a theory as to who the killer could be. But just they begin to make progress, someone else is murdered – and it looks like Arthur could be next. It’s clear they need to solve this case quickly, before teatime is over and Arthur meets a sticky end…

If you love twisty crime novels, top-secret intrigue and the very best of Golden Age mysteries, then you will adore Helena Dixon’s utterly gripping cozy novel, perfect for fans of Agatha Christie, T.E. Kinsey and Verity Bright!

About the Author:

Helena Dixon is the author of the internationally bestselling Miss Underhay cozy mystery series. She is a Black Country girl living in Devon. Married to the same man for over thirty-five years she has three daughters, a cactus called Spike, and a crazy cockapoo. She was the winner of the RNA Romance Prize in 2007 and the RNA Love Story of the Year 2010.

Bookouture Tour for The Hopeful Hearts Bookshop by Debbie Johnson

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I’m here today for the tour of The Hopeful Hearts Bookshop by Debbie Johnson. This is the start of the new “Bonnie Bay” book series. If you read me, you know I don’t read too many romances, but I do like a gentle, happy story/romance occasionally. I loved the premise of this story, where folks mysteriously find an invitation in a book and they are drawn together. I am thankful to Bookouture who sent me the audio of this book as my ARC never arrived. It was ably narrated by Josh Wichard and Lucy Paterson. I was in the middle of enjoying it during my commute when it must have archived due to Pub Day as it disappeared from my NG shelf and I was unable to finish it. I trust there is a happy ending!!

“Take a leap of faith and visit our perfect little bookshop by the sea.” Bookshop owner Moira writes the first of many invitations she’ll send out into the world. They’ll find the right people, she’s certain…

Single and in a dead-end job, Kate feels hope spring when an anonymous invitation falls from the pages of a book. Now, she’s standing in a charming Scottish village and trying to ignore the six-four silver fox by her side. He’s got an invitation too, a husky Chicago accent, and dangerously gorgeous sea-blue eyes…

Widowed ex-police officer Brody never expected to be stranded in Scotland with a cute British lady. Her smile might be bewitching… but her attitude? Way too cheerful. And eccentric bookshop owner Moira says they can stay for free, as long as they don’t mind sharing one very cozy little cottage.

That’s the least of their problems. Turns out Moira’s bookshop needs them just as much as Kate and Brody need a fresh start. And with a twinkle in Moira’s mischievous matchmaking eye, things are soon hotting up in surprising ways!

But as they string fairy lights over snug reading nooks and rally the whole community to buy their favourite reads, can Kate and Brody save the bookshop and heal their hearts? Or will their fresh start come crashing down?

From the million-copy bestselling author of the Comfort Food Café series comes a brand-new, totally addictive and feel-good escapist romance with delicious steam and spice. Perfect for anyone who loves getting lost in a book – in more ways than one! Fans of Susan Mallery, Phillipa Ashley and Laurie Gilmore won’t be able to put this down.

About the Author:

Debbie Johnson is an award-winning author who lives and works in Liverpool, England, where she divides her time between writing, caring for a small tribe of children and animals, and not doing the housework. She writes feel-good emotional women’s fiction, and has sold more than 1 million books worldwide. She is published globally in many different languages, and her books include the best-selling Comfort Food Cafe series, the popular Starshine Cove series, Maybe One Day , The Moment I Met You and Forever Yours . Her publishers include One More Chapter (HarperCollins), Orion (Hachette), Storm, and Bookouture (Hachette).

Bookouture Tour for The Tuscan Villa by Ella Carey

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I’m dishing today about a new historical fiction book that I really enjoyed: The Tuscan Villa by Ella Carey. Fran leaves her life in the US to return to Italy to try to find out what happened to her beloved Vivi who disappeared during the war (WWII). I really liked this storyline and Carey’s writing. As you know if you read me, I love a good WWII story!

Thanks for my copy and for having me on the tour!

Here’s the scoop:

Italy, 1945. As war rages through Europe, a crumbling family villa that becomes a vital safe space for the people of Cortona during the war. But that sanctuary is lost the day its owner, Vivi, mysteriously vanishes…

Manhattan, 1953. Francesca feels smothered by lace as she tries on wedding dresses in an uptown boutique. Can she really start a new life with her fiancé without first answering the questions she has about her childhood in Italy? Confronted with the news that the bougainvillea-covered villa she grew up in is for sale, and the lavish gardens her father designed and cultivated are destined to be razed, she buys a plane ticket and doesn’t look back. She can’t stand by and watch it all turn to rubble.

Fran chokes back a sob as she finds the gardens wild and overgrown and the once-pristine follies crumbling under the baking sun. But the lingering scent of the Italian basil from the kitchen garden brings Fran closer to the father she lost. To save this sacred space she must uncover what really happened when Vivi disappeared.

But while standoffish locals treat Fran like an outsider, she knows she is closing in on a secret at the very heart of the gardens she ran barefoot through as a young girl; a tragic love triangle that plagued the villa, defied the authorities, and might change everything Fran thinks she knows about who she is. One thing is certain: what happened to Vivi was no accident.

And just when Fran thinks she’s uncovered a truth that will shake the little village of Cortona to its foundations, she discovers a letter that changes everything once again. Can Fran find a way to save the gardens before they are destroyed? Or will she be forced to return home to a future in New York that no longer fits?

From bestselling author Ella Carey comes an utterly heart-wrenching and gripping World War Two historical novel that will transport you straight to the Tuscan countryside. Fans of Kathryn Hughes, Fiona Valpy and Victoria Hislop will be utterly enchanted.

About the Author:

Ella Carey is the international bestselling author of The Things We Don’t Say, Secret Shores, From a Paris Balcony, The House by the Lake, and Paris Time Capsule. Her books have been published in over fourteen languages, in twelve countries, and have been shortlisted for ARRA awards. A Francophile who has long been fascinated by secret histories set in Europe’s entrancing past, Ella has degrees in music, nineteenth-century women’s fiction, and modern European history. She lives in Melbourne with her two children and two Italian greyhounds who are constantly mistaken for whippets.

Ella loves to connect with her readers regularly through her facebook page and on her website.