I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Maria Imbalzano. Today, Maria shares her new release, Sworn to Collide.

Blurb

After devoting eleven years of marriage to Ben, her high school sweetheart, and stepping off the corporate ladder to raise their three children, Denise is ready to seize the reins of the career she always dreamed of. But as soon as she commits to step back into the professional world, Ben drops a bombshell that disrupts everything. Suddenly, this once rock-solid couple finds themselves in a battle over ambition, identity, and whose turn it is to shine. As personal choices draw them further and further apart, they must confront their widening rift—a threat to the love they thought was unshakeable. Can they rediscover the passion they once shared, or will their divergent paths pull them apart for good?

Excerpt

My sleepless night had produced tons of ammunition to shoot at Ben this morning. He hadn’t been able to sneak many words in since I started.

“So what do you think?”

Nothing. I had clearly silenced him.

He twisted his neck as if to ease the tension. “We’re a family, Denise. I want my family with me. I don’t want to live hundreds of miles apart and commute on the weekends. That’s not a life. That’s not what we signed up for.”

Anger kicked up a storm. “You’re right. We are a family. And you made a decision without even speaking to me. I know a promotion is what you wanted, but we never talked about moving out of Princeton. This is all new. And scary. And unwanted. I want my family with me too. I want my family here, and I want to work with my father. As we’d always planned. I don’t want to move to Boston.”

The exact words finally spewed out of my mouth with anger instead of appeasement—demanding instead of persuasive. The words Nicki had convinced me to say were irrevocably out there.

I had found the voice that had gotten lost among the carpools, laundry, playdates, and cold dinners. But it was much too loud.

Author Bio and Links

Maria Imbalzano is an award-winning contemporary author who writes about strong, independent women and the men who fall in love with them. She recently retired from the practice of law, but legal issues have a way of showing up in many of her novels. When not writing, she loves to travel both abroad and in the states. Maria lives in central New Jersey with her husband–not far from her two daughters. For more information about her books, please visit her website at http://mariaimbalzano.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter.

Maria is a member of New Jersey Romance Writers and has received many honors and awards for her work including the ACRA Readers’ Choice Heart of Excellence Award, the Wisconsin Romance Writers Write Touch Readers Award, The NEST (National Excellence In Story Telling) Award, the Carolyn Award, Book Buyers Best Award, The Stiletto Reader’s Choice Award, Long & Short Reviews Book of the Month Award (3rd Place for Book of the Year), and Still Moments Magazine Reader’s Choice Award.

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Giveaway

Maria Imbalzano will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Maria on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

Riveted from the first page, I struggled to put down this well-plotted, character-driven novel. I immediately connected with Denise and felt deeply invested in her emotional journey as she navigated a painful period in her marriage. At the same time, I found myself empathizing with her husband, Ben, whose impulsive decision sent shockwaves through their family and forced everyone to confront difficult truths.

What impressed me most was the author’s ability to present both perspectives with honesty and compassion. As the story unfolded, I often found myself questioning what I would do in Denise’s position and whether a marriage can withstand the cumulative weight of betrayal, disappointment, and unmet expectations. The never-ending roller coaster of events—a father’s heart attack, a child’s defiance, a possible affair, and long-buried resentments—kept me reading well into the night.

Ms. Imbalzano has crafted a powerful novel that explores the choices, compromises, sacrifices, and unspoken needs that shape contemporary marriages. A must-read for fans of emotional women’s fiction!

I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Alix Nichols. Today, Alix shares her creative journey and new release, A Duchess with a Secret.

Here’s Alix!

What is the best part of being an author? The worst?

The best part is having permission to make things up—and actually getting paid for it! I get to create entire worlds, develop larger-than-life characters, and shape their destinies however I want. It’s pure creative freedom, and there’s nothing quite like the thrill of typing “The End” on a story that only existed in my head a few months earlier.

The worst part? It’s a solitary occupation. While I genuinely enjoy the quiet focus, there are days when the silence feels a little too loud. That’s when I miss the casual chat of a busy office or the energy of working alongside other people. It can get lonely every once in a while, which is probably why I’ve developed such a strong café habit!

Describe your writing space.

I usually write in cafés. Given that I live in France, my writing space is therefore a typical French bistro, with its wicker chairs, marble-topped tables, and the gentle clink of coffee cups. I love the comforting aroma of fresh espresso and buttery croissants, the soft murmur of conversations around me, and the occasional chorus of two or three snoring dogs (pooches are welcome in most French cafés). There’s just the right amount of background energy—enough to feel connected to the world, but not so much that it distracts me. The waiters are charmingly efficient, and I’ve come to think of my favorite corner table as my unofficial office.

What is your favorite quote?

“Everything you ever wanted is on the other side of fear” by George Addair. I love this quote so much that I wrote an entire book around it. Titled “The Devil’s Own Chloe,” it’s part of the Bistro La Bohème series. The idea that fear is often the only thing standing between us and the life (or love) we want really resonates with me. It’s a message I return to again and again, both in my writing and in my own life.

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

I would thrive on just four hours of sleep a night. Why not zero, you might ask? Because I’d get bored being awake while everyone else is asleep. Four hours feels like the perfect compromise.

What are you working on next?

I’m currently working on the next book in the Montevor Royals series. I haven’t decided on the final title yet, but I can tell fans of the series that this one will feature an exciting key chase that takes the characters to some interesting places. It’s shaping up to be full of adventure, secrets, and plenty of royal romance!

Blurb

For sixteen years, they’ve hated each other…
and craved each other.

Widowed and betrayed, Eva Castellane will do anything to protect her daughter’s inheritance.
Standing in her way?
Alex Castellane—her late husband’s steely, magnetic half brother.
The man poised to take it all.
Her worst enemy.
Her forbidden temptation.

Stuck together in the family castle, their legal fight spirals into war…
until a common threat forces a reluctant alliance.
Desire blurs the lines.
Chemistry sizzles.
Rules get broken.

But as the verdict nears, one slip could unravel Eva’s explosive secret…

A Duchess with a Secret stands alone within the Montevor Royals Saga. It is a spicy contemporary enemies-to-lovers romance with forced proximity, family secrets, and a hard-won HEA.

Excerpt

Eva

“He’s here,” Millie whispers.

I don’t look. I don’t need to.

The man she’s warning me about radiates a chill so palpable I can sense which door he entered through. The air in Fort Vauclairt’s reception hall, warmed by hundreds of flickering candles and the breath of mourners grows colder by the second.

Of course, Alex would show up! Nothing like a funeral to size up how much of the estate he can have, just because he happens to share the same father as Geoffroy.

I’m being unfair, I know.

After all, Alex is the old duke’s second son. In neighboring France, the math prodigy would’ve inherited half of the duchy when Rodolphe passed.

Then again, there are no dukes or duchies in the Republic of France, nor are we subject to its laws. We’re old school in Mount Evor. Here, the principles of primogeniture and representation still reign supreme. The firstborn takes it all. The child comes before the sibling. With both Geoffroy and Julian gone, Millie’s birthright ensures that she inherits everything.

The only way Alex Castellane gets a chunk of the estate is if Geoffroy named him in his will. Which I know he didn’t. My late husband and his younger half brother had been estranged long before I met and married Geoffroy Castellane, a dashing widower twice my age.

Alex will get nothing or next to nothing. And Millie will be the next Duchess of Rohinn.

He knows this, of course he does. Yet he carries his tall, infuriatingly well-proportioned form with confidence, which lends an air of legitimacy to his potential claims.

Author Bio and Links

Alix Nichols is a caffeine addict, a longtime fan of Mr. Darcy. She pens sexy romantic comedies and romantasy. Her books have been described as “pure pleasure” (Kirkus Reviews) that “keep fans of romance hanging off the edge of their seat” (Romantic Times).

At the age of six, she released her first book. It featured highly creative spelling on a dozen pages stitched together and bound in velvet paper.

Decades later, she lives in France and still writes. Her spelling has improved (somewhat), she has become a Kindle Scout winner, Chanticleer First Place winner, USA Today bestseller, Book Riot’s Top 100 Must-Read International Romance author, and Amazon All-Star for being one of the 100 most-read authors in Kindle Unlimited.

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Giveaway

Alix Nichols will be awarding a digital box set of her bestselling series The Darcy Brothers to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Alix on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Hawk MacKinney. Today, Hawk shares his new release, Moccasin Trace.

Blurb

…it was about the land.

It is July of 1859, a month of sweltering dog days and feverish emotional bombast. Life is good for widower Rundell Ingram and his hazel-eyed, roan-haired son, Hamilton. Between the two of them, they take care of Moccasin Hollow, their sprawling ancestral plantation home in the rolling farming country outside Queensborough Towne in east Georgia. Adjoining Ingram lands is Wisteria Bend, the vast slave-holding plantation of Andrew and Corinthia Greer, their daughter Sarah, and son Benjamin. Both families share generations of long-accepted traditions, and childhood playmates are no longer children. The rangy, even-tempered Norman-Scottish young Hamilton is smitten with Sarah, who has become an enticing capricious beauty—the young lovers more in love with each passing day, and only pleasant times ahead of them.

…but a blood tide of war is sweeping across the South, a tide that will forever change everyone and everything.

Excerpt

Ben paced back and forth on the porch with worried glances in the direction of the corduroy Milledgeville Road. At first the sound was faint, the muffled clank and rattle of harness and teams breaking the heavy stillness. Shuffling ones and twos were the first to appear, then slogging lines emerged through the murk, followed by sleek prancing mounts, bulging saddlebags, silver candlesticks poking out of more than a few. Behind them were the creaking wagons, clanking artillery and ammunition caissons pulled by well-fed hefty teams. Teamsters on ordnance wagons, confiscated farm wagons filled with pillaged spoils, war booty for a wife, a sweetheart, sold or bartered for ready poker ante or whorehouse favors. The more they stole, the more they wanted, locust scouring across fields, lanes, roads. Tents set up here and there, cooking fires fed with fences, sidings from barns and outbuildings, fruit trees, hundred-year-old oaks and elms…part of the old order going up in smoke, part left in the ashes.

Author Bio and Links

With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. His professional writing includes articles on chordate neuroembryology, and aerospace research on muscle metabolic behavior in multi-orbital environments.

In addition, Hawk has authored several works of fiction including a historical romance Moccasin Trace which was nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. His Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series and his Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have received national and international attention. He is currently working on a series of horror/suspense novels.

Website | Amazon

Giveaway

Hawk MacKinney will award a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly selected winner. Find out more here.

Follow Hawk on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Lynn Crandall. Today, Lynn shares her new release, Move Me.

Blurb

An Aeon by birth, Diane Butler knew when she walked away from her fellow Aeons that she wanted certain things: wealth, power, acceptance. But she’d come to realize she didn’t belong with Dark Sides and joined in the battle to save Auralia from darkness. But when her past comes after her, she understand that she can’t escape it with a simple name change.

A surprise encounter that turns ugly pits lone Emmett Forrest against thugs determined to hurt Cassie. With each threat out cold on the ground, he believes he’s done. But when the men report the incident to the Auralia Police Department, he can’t avoid the drama or the intrigue surrounding her.

Excerpt

“Anyone else bored as sin? We stopped the Irish mob and Dark Sides from taking over Auralia in December. January and February, we took some time to recover from Dark Sides’ Project Reckoning. I know you all have been tending to your personal lives, your relationships, and your careers, but for me, those two months were the epitome of boredom. Now March is almost over, and still boredom reigns.”

“Diane—” Braden started.

“Cassie,” she interrupted. “Try to remember, Braden. I’ve told you so many times that I’m using my middle name now. I’m not Diane anymore.” She pouted her lips.
Braden nodded. “Yes, sorry. You’re Cassandra Butler now, not Diane Butler.”

“Cassie. I told you, Cassie for short.” She swept her gaze around the living room at Braden and Payson’s house and flung her hands up. “I swear, it’s not that hard to remember my name. I made a change, I’m not Diane. I’m not that woman any more. I’m aligned with light and love. I’m Cassie. Cassie. Cassie Butler. Gauzy, gossamer, and open, not rigid, harsh, or angry Cassie.” The rock lodged in her gut weighed her down. Was she different? Truly? She’d been putting in the work with her counselor, Claire Eve Kelly, to make the change permanent. But with the chaos of the past not far behind, she ached for the excitement of the life she had. The parties, the conniving to get what she wanted. It had all been so mesmerizing.

Author Bio and Links

After cutting her writing teeth as a feature writer for commercial and trade magazines, a reporter for newspapers and radio, and an executive editor for a communications company, award-winning author Lynn Crandall tuned her voracious appetite for stories to writing contemporary and paranormal romance, women’s fiction, and romantic suspense. In her books, she enjoys taking readers on emotional journeys with relatable characters who refuse to back down, and face challenges and tribulations with heart and soul. She believes every love has a story, and hers is with one handsome husband and a large, beautiful circle of family, including her cat Winter.

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Giveaway

Lynn Crandall will be awarding a $25 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Lynn on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Pamela Gibson. Today, Pamela shares her new release, Unmasking the Marquess.

Blurb

He was a licentious rogue, or was he?

Aubrey St. Clair, Marquess of Leisterbridge, a notorious rake and society fribble, abandons his bride on their wedding night to spite his father, the man who coerced him into the marriage. When his intrepid bride turns up at his personal estate to quash the scandal, they call a truce and finally get to know each other.

Lady Catherine Sturbridge considered ending her betrothal. But a threatening letter sent to her by a convicted criminal whom she chanced upon in London, changed her mind. Marrying the powerful Duke of Gresham’s heir would keep her loved ones safe, even if she must tie herself to a frivolous rogue.

When, despite her silence, her enemy abducts her godchild, Catherine is forced to confide in her husband who agrees to help her. But can she trust him to know what to do when a child’s life is at stake and they’ve been warned not to go to go the authorities?

As they work closely together, they succumb to the passionate side of their marriage. But Catherine is wary, despite finding a different man under the guise of a society dandy, and when Aubrey reveals a long-held secret, she must protect her heart because betrayal is the enemy of trust and their fragile, new-found love is about to shatter.

Excerpt

Why would a stranger in the village be asking about his lady wife? When they spoke of it before, Catherine had said she didn’t have any unrequited suitors. Would she tell him if she did? Perhaps he should ask her again.

Aubrey hurried back to his study and found Catherine still seated in front of his bookshelf.

“Remember our conversation about a lovelorn swain who may have followed you here?”

“Yes. Why are you bringing this to my attention again? I told you, there are none.”

“What other reason could there be for someone to be looking for you? Apparently the man is still here and has been staying in the village somewhere. If I knew his whereabouts, I would ask him myself.”

She stilled and peered directly into his eyes. He caught a flicker of fear before she masked her expression. “I cannot imagine anyone following me here for any reason.” She rose. “I didn’t even know I would be traveling here until I discovered you had…”

“Abandoned you on our wedding night?”

“Yes.” She lowered her eyes. “Am I such a—? No need to respond. I believe I shall read in my bedchamber and take a dinner tray there later.” She hurried out of the room.

Aubrey, who’d told many falsehoods in his lifetime, knew exactly when someone was not being truthful.

My dear lady wife is afraid of something, and I am going to find out who or what it is.

Author Bio and Links

Author of eight books on California history and twenty-three romance novels, Pamela Gibson is a former City Manager who lives in Southern Nevada. Having spent several years messing about in boats, a hobby that included a five-thousand-mile trip in a 32-foot Nordic Tug, she now spends most of her time indoors happily reading, writing, cooking and keeping up with the antics of her latest rescue cat, Lady Diana, a dignified senior. She loves red wine, all kinds of chocolate, old Jimmy Buffett sailing songs, and curling up with a good book.

Thank you for reading. If you are so inclined, we would love for you to leave a review or rating.

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Giveaway

Pamela Gibson will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Follow Pamela on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.