2020 New Titles – August 14
My Dear Cousin by Anya Chen
‘What you did not tell him was that you now understood why you had those nightmares in the first place, for the face which had turned back to you in surprise was, in fact, the one you had daily seen reflected in mirrors from another lifetime.’
Disturbed by a string of nightmares, Abby is led to believe that she has recalled about her past life. She starts writing about it, remembering herself as a self-absorbed eight-year-old and her older cousin as a melancholy girl who, despite her striking red hair and good looks, seems almost invisible to the people around her. Lacking attention from her parents, she focuses all her energy on her older cousin, treating her with exceptional kindness and earning all her affections in return.
Meanwhile, Yu Qin/Eugenia, a discontented student in Singapore, reaches out to Abby over an internet forum and strikes up a friendship. Frustrated about her cancelled trip with her best friend, she is inspired to write about her family situation. She continues writing about her life and unknowingly betrays many similarities between herself and the older cousin in her new friend’s private writing. Wanting to escape from her family, she seeks to join Abby on her journey to search for her past in place of her cancelled vacation.
The book weaves together two different accounts, one focusing on the past and the other the present, both told through the characters’ heavily biased perspective. It was written with the intention of encouraging different interpretations depending on the readers’ perspective. There are several ways to interpret the story, to read it just as it is, to trust either one of the characters or neither, or to make things even more complicated—to see Yu Qin as an imaginary character dreamed up by Abby to help herself cope with regaining her memory of a deeply upsetting past.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/My-Dear-Cousin-Anya-Chen-ebook/dp/B085RK8NYY/
Anya’s Website: https://twitter.com/Anyachenanya
Plague by Julie Anderson
There are many ways to die. Plague is just one of them.
Work on a London tube line is halted by the discovery of an ancient plague pit and, within it, a very recent corpse. A day later another body is found, killed in the same way, also in a plague pit. This victim is linked to the Palace of Westminster, where rumours swirl around the Prime Minister and his rivals.
As the number of deaths climbs, the media stokes fear. Government assurances are disbelieved. Everyone feels threatened. This has to be resolved and fast.
The Westminster connection enables Detective Inspector Andrew Rowlands, working alone on a series of rapes and murders of vulnerable young people in central London, to finally persuade his superiors that there is a pattern. He is assigned to lead the case. Cassandra Fortune, a disgraced civil servant, is given the uncomfortable task of investigating the investigation, while joining forces with Rowlands to find the killers before Parliament rises for recess.
Together they navigate the arcane world of the Palace of Westminster as the body count grows. But someone is leaking important details about the case to the press and the media ratchets up the pressure. Misinformation and malice online feeds distrust and panic and the Black Death begins to stalk the streets of London once again.
Meanwhile the commercial and political world focuses on the launch of a huge government Thames-side building programme worth billions. Powerful forces, in Parliament and the City, are competing for its spoils. How, if at all, does this link with the killings? Drawn into the melee, Cassandra Fortune finds herself the object of the attentions of one of the major players, wealthy City broker, Lawrence Delahaye. The attraction is mutual. Fortune and Rowlands discover a shadowy underground network of influence and power as they race against the clock to prevent the death of more innocents and the destruction of the Mother of Parliaments itself. Cassandra will be forced to make a terrible decision as she faces ruin. Time is running out and it’s not clear what, or who, is going to survive.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Plague-Julie-Anderson-ebook/dp/B0884ZHZRP/
Julie’s Website: https://julieandersonwriter.com/
Familiar by T.J. Blake
For as long as she can remember, Arabella has communicated with those who exist only in memory.
Being the centre of attention growing up was uncomfortable, and now, as a renowned psychic medium, it is becoming more of a struggle. Arabella’s ability and reputation always made it impossible to hold onto lasting relationships, but with those who no longer walk this earth, that’s not the case.
Arabella returns to where it all began fifteen-years before – on the very same stage. After an evening reconnecting loved ones and exposing untold stories, Arabella can’t help but wonder about the one unclaimed ‘friend’, and their cryptic message.
In an unexpected turn of events, Arabella finds herself the subject of morning headlines and at the centre of Detective Barnes’ investigation.
Can Arabella use her ability to prove her innocence and uncover the truth about the past?
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Familiar-T-J-Blake-ebook/dp/B086ZR2BF6/
T.J.’s Website: https://twitter.com/TJBlake93
Reformed by H.L. Burke
Once a villain, always a villain?
Optimistic and idealistic superhero Prism is determined to redeem her father’s legacy by rebooting his supervillain rehabilitation program. To do so, she sets her sights on Fade, the relapsed supervillain who was the reason the government canceled the original program in the first place. However, when she petitions for Fade to be released into her custody, she finds out things might not be as simple as she thought.
Convicted of an unforgivable crime, Fade received a choice: surrender to trial and possible execution or endure a memory erasure so he could start fresh. Now with no recollection of his time before incarceration, Fade doubts he has the ability to be anything but the villain the public believes him to be.
A series of attacks by a mysterious power-swapping villain points back to Fade’s past and the crime that cost him his freedom and memory. With her father’s legacy and her own reputation on the line, even Prism has to wonder: can a villain truly be reformed?
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B085X8N8FL/
H.L.’s Website: https://www.hlburkeauthor.com/
Undying Embrace by K.L. Bone
Death, Christabel thought bitterly. An inescapable fate that, for her,would remain forever elusive.
Life was perfect before he came. The vampire who shattered the world she knew. Handsome, intelligent, and charming, a single taste of Dracula’s touch overrode Christabel’s cautious sensibilities and left her breathless, craving a life beyond traditional expectations. A destiny of knowledge, which could only be found in the creature’s eternal embrace.
Fueled by unquenchable passion, and a desperate belief that the brilliant Christabel might break the curse condemning him to darkness, the vampire prince will do anything to claim her.
As her traitorous heart opens, will Christabel resist the vampire’s dark desires, or become his immortal bride?
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B085S4DXF4
K.L.’s Website: https://klbone.com/
The Watermark by Peyton Landry
Their friend’s wedding is everything Otto Ryerson and Darrius Beck had hoped for, but the day holds a great deal more excitement for Otto because the sexy, spiky-blond wedding photographer hired for the day has captivated him from the first click of the shutter.
But Ty Lansing’s darkroom holds more than just negatives, and although it’s Ty’s camera that’s brought the men together, it’s Ty’s history with it that will bring Otto to his knees in a way he never expected. And it has Otto trying to hold on to the man he loves while that man fights him every step of the way.
The last time Karrie Hayes saw Darrius, he was a mildly handsome teen, just growing into his body. Now, he is a stunningly virile man of thirty-four, every inch of him screaming that his adolescence has passed, as has his innocence.
The last Darrius laid eyes on his friend’s baby sister, she was an awkward child. Now, Karrie is a curvy, bubbly, twenty-four-year old blonde with a fierce mind of her own and an amazing presence.
But Karrie’s brother, Spencer, has a problem, and it has nothing to do with Darrius ebony skin; it’s his eclectic sex life that has the two men brawling since Darrius has always preferred his women petite and blonde, and his men muscular and tall. And Karrie is not the only person Darrius wants in his bed this time.
Although… with a snap of the shutter… Darrius isn’t the only man interested in Karrie’s picture.
With the continuation of the Blurred Lines Series, The Watermark will have you paying attention to not only the pictures, but the video.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B088HHJ8J1
Peyton’s Website: https://www.peytonlandry.ca/
Creative Writer's Master Kit by Zack Bozic
This book is a pragmatic induction to the trade and art of creative writing. You will learn not only how to successfully transform your great ideas into stories, but also how to properly edit your writing material and turn it into a complete work.
Additionally, you will be provided with an important element so many other books on writing are missing – with the very blueprint of creative writing that will make the whole writing process substantially easier for you.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0878ZQ1GW
Zack’s Website: https://twitter.com/ZackBozic
How to Live the Good Life in France by Lorraine Turnbull
Fed up with the rat race? Dreaming of a simpler life? A better life? A GOOD LIFE?
Since the 1990’s hundreds of thousands of people left it all behind and moved to France.
Are you dreaming about moving to France to live a simpler, rural life; perhaps on a smallholding or simply in the countryside? Then THIS is the book for YOU.
This practical and up-to-date book will lead you through the many questions you may have including:
* How Brexit will affect you
* Owning animals or setting up a smallholding in France
* Finding & securing the right property
* Starting a rural business
Benefit from Lorraine Turnbull’s own experience and read the case studies from real people who have moved to live the Good Life in various areas of France. It’s a big step to a brave new world and this timely book aims to help you in your journey to your Good Life in France. Lorraine is an award-winning smallholder and former cider maker who relocated to rural France in 2017.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B086DT7ZS3/
Lorraine’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/LorraineAuthor
Cries to Kill the Corpse Flower by Ronald J. Murphy
Cries to Kill the Corpse Flower is a stomach slit by knives and guts spilled on the pavement. It is the organized chaos of a man on the brink of running, a man gasping for air in those split seconds his head breaks through the surface—a man who’s realized you can’t outrun yourself—told in the narrative arc of a Crow Crowned King and a Corpse Flower Queen in their castle in the suburbs.
Ronald J. Murray’s debut dark poetry collection is a hard look in the mirror through forty poems that examine of one of the most terrifying monsters that could ever exist: the darkness that can bloom inside any one of us, and which can wreak havoc in every shadow-laden corner of our lives. It’s something sinister that can feed on our insides and reign from an unseen throne. Our ears are filled with its insidious, manipulative whispers that it’s those around us stealing our joy, our love, our lives. Our vision is clouded by its tendrils, taking root in our brains. It tells us to take that final plunge into a sea of lost identity. It uses our hands as extensions to enact its will, giving us a false sense of sovereignty.
Will you relinquish your crown?
Buy the Book: https://journalstone.com/bookstore/cries-to-kill-the-corpse-flower/
Ronald’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/RonaldJMurray
Enchanted Knight by Keith W. Willis
Revenge… Dark magic… Murder…
Looks like this time the bad guys really mean business.
A storm is coming, borne on the wings of prophecy, and Morgan and Marissa stand squarely in the path of the tempest.
They should be preparing to celebrate a joyous wedding. Instead, Marissa struggles to master her newfound powers, while Morgan becomes enmeshed in an unwelcome alliance to repay a debt of honor.
As multiple cryptic prophecies unfold, the indomitable pair find themselves facing power-hungry wizards, treasure-hunting pirates, a wrangle of dragons, and an enigmatic woman driven by forbidden magic and revenge.
When Morgan vanishes under suspicious circumstances and Marissa’s power unexpectedly falters, the lines between enemies and allies swirl and blur like deadly Thundermist. With threats closing in from all quarters, Marissa’s only hope to save her enchanted knight lies in taming the wild magic she never wanted.
Buy the Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086XHJRF1
Keith’s Website: https://www.keithwillisauthor.com/