Patricia Leavy is giving away copies of CINEMATIC DESTINIES, her upcoming romance from She Writes Press. How to get yours? It’s easy… just complete the Rafflecopter below and you’ll receive one from the author! Plus, one lucky entrant will receive a $150 Amazon gift card!

So, what’s the book about? Here’s the info:

For fans of Tessa Bailey and Hannah Grace, Cinematic Destinies is a feel-good, contemporary romance about a trio of adult children searching for love and beauty in the shadow of their parents’ legendary Hollywood fairy-tale romance.

Legendary actor Finn Forrester and his wife philosopher Ella Sinclair Forrester met on the location shoot for Jean Mercier’s film Celebration. The world has been captivated by their fairy-tale romance since Finn famously proposed on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival. As the couple now prepares to celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary, they wonder if their children will ever find love.

Eldest daughter Betty is excelling in a medical residency program in New York City—and has convinced herself that distancing herself from emotions is the path to success. Youngest son Albert, a recent college graduate, is trying to find his footing in Boston as he struggles with his identity. Free-spirited Georgia, her mother’s spitting image and an actress following in her father’s footsteps, has been cast in Jean Mercier’s final film, mysteriously titled Beauty. When she arrives on set in Iceland and meets her costar, sparks fly. Is history repeating itself? How has growing up in the shadow of the world’s most iconic love story affected each of the Forrester children?

Reviews

“If you’re a romantic with a brain and a heart, this is your jam . . . I closed the book with a full heart and a goofy grin.” Literary Titan, 5-star review

“Cinematic Destinies is a stunning and poignant celebration of romance, the magic of movies, and life itself. The exotic Icelandic film set, well-drawn characters, and smart writing make this book impossible to put down . . . This is a gorgeous novel.” —Laurel Richardson, author of Lone Twin

“Overall, the writing, the characters, the little nods of sizzle, and the brilliant family dynamic make this book a winner. Very highly recommended.”—Readers’ Favorite, 5-star review

“Leavy’s latest must-read novel features a trio of romantic storylines about the quest for love and identity in the shadow of a Hollywood fairy tale . . . Cinematic Destinies is a spellbinding ode to love, art, and what it means to live.” —Mary E. Weems, author of Blackeyed

About the Author:

Patricia Leavy is an award-winning, best-selling author. Formerly Associate Professor of Sociology and Founding Director of Gender Studies at Stonehill College, she has published more than fifty books; her work has been translated into many languages, and she has received more than one hundred book honors. Her most recent novel, Shooting Stars Above, was featured on People “10 Romance Books to Read After Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry.” She has also received career awards from the National Art Education Association, the American Creativity Association, the American Educational Research Association, and other organizations. In 2018, she was honored by the National Women’s Hall of Fame and SUNY-New Paltz established the “Patricia Leavy Award for Art and Social Justice.” In 2024 the London Arts-Based Research Centre established “The Patricia Leavy Award for Arts-Based Research.” Patricia lives in Maine. In addition to writing, she enjoys art, reading, and travel.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cinematic-Destinies-Novel-Carpet-Romance-ebook/dp/B0DWNGNM1Z/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0

Patricia Leavy will award a free digital copy of her upcoming book CINEMATIC DESTINIES to the first 7500 people who enter the Rafflecopter and one lucky entrant will receive a $150 Amazon gift card.

Rafflecopter Giveaway: https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f5181/

I’m happy to welcome award-winning mystery author B.T. Polcari. Today, he shares his creative journey and new release, Lucky Secrets.

Interview

Describe your writing space.

In my house I have a downstairs 300-square-foot office 100% dedicated to my writing plus a walk-in closet with a bookcase and shelving attached to the walls. In the office is an 8×12 Turkish rug (reds and blues); a fully-connected desk set lining two walls comprised of a six-foot red-maple desk, a side return, corner computer work desk (with computer and family photos), and side credenza with file drawers (on it sit a TV, printer, and mementos); two red-maple bookcases full of books, awards, and mementos on a far wall; and two red-maple visitor chairs with black fabric. On the walls my desk unit spans are two white boards with scrawled notes and reminders plus framed awards and mementos.

Where my office differs from others is it has a treadmill, an electronic stringing machine for tennis rackets (I have strung my own rackets for the last 25 years), and a battered orange traffic cone that was given to me years ago as an inside joke (no – it wasn’t because I ran over it). Hanging on the other two walls are awards and photos from my pre-writing career.

Most important of all – on the floor in front of the credenza are two dog beds with blankets for our three pups, all rescues. Every morning, they follow me downstairs to work and sleep almost the entire time I am working, and then follow me back upstairs at the end of the day to settle into their big fluffy beds while I go for my walk.

What is your favorite quote?

“Easy reading is damn hard writing.” Nathaniel Hawthorne

I love this quote so much, it is written at the top of one of my whiteboards next to my desk. While I don’t necessarily like Hawthorne, his quote resonates with me because it is very true. During the editing phase of a project, I work so hard to make sure the prose flows and is not continually chopped up by long, complicated sentences or overuse of certain words or dialogue tags. I make sure the dialogue flows with just enough action or dialogue tags to ensure the reader knows who is talking without slowing down the scene. Michael Jordon made playing basketball look easy. But when nobody was watching, he was putting in the work.

Besides writing and reading, what are some of your hobbies?

I enjoy my 3-4 mile walk each day after a full day in the office. It is great to get outside, breathe fresh air, and clear my head. I also enjoy bowling (career-high season average of 226), tennis, and fantasy football. And this past year, I tried my hand at fantasy hockey (I don’t know much about the NHL) and really enjoyed it (finished 4th out of 10 teams), so I’ll be back playing it again this year! I also enjoy watching college and pro football, college basketball, and the grand slam tournaments for tennis and golf.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Write every day, even if for only 30-60 minutes. Writing every day builds momentum, and if you consistently do this, you will improve. “Practice makes perfect” is an adage for a reason.

Speaking of perfect, don’t let perfection get in the way of progress (paraphrasing Winston Churchill). First drafts are all about getting the story out of your head and onto virtual paper. Don’t get caught up trying to make that draft perfect by agonizing over sentence structure, pacing, word choice, etc. Later during the very important editing process these things will be identified and addressed. It is during editing that a book goes from good to great (hopefully).

Find a writer’s critique group. There are plenty online and possibly in your own town. When I started writing in 2013, I honed my skills in critique groups on Wattpad. I learned a lot from some talented people in a certain “by invitation only” group on the site. Accept criticism in these groups for what it is intended to do – make you a better writer. But if the feedback isn’t supportive and instead just mean or rude, then simply find another group.

What are you working on next?

I have several projects in various stages of development. One is a YA mystery for boys after an agent expressed an interest in me giving it a shot. I have the next Sara book fully plotted and ready to write – I just need to decide how I want to go about it (yes, I understand, this is intentionally vague – sly wink). I am in the early stages of fleshing out a spinoff with Mrs. Majelski – she is a huge favorite of my readers, my editors, and myself. The enigmatic old lady is such a blast to write into my stories, so why not write a story with her as the main character?? I also have the first seven chapters of a political satire written, and have been querying agents for a completed police/crime/detective murder mystery and an international historical thriller. So, just a few things going on.

Blurb

College student Sara Donovan is in the homestretch of graduating when a mysterious package arrives with an invitation to an exclusive contest. One that will drastically change the winner’s life. Included are unsettling photographs from forgettable chapters in her life and a threatening note strongly suggesting she participate.

With no good options, Sara enters the contest and finds herself at a fabulous mansion up against eight formidable opponents, each with a dark secret and all racing to solve seven levels of riddles and puzzles.

After a contestant’s body is discovered, Sara contemplates dropping out when another package arrives, its chilling contents making clear she’s at the center of a dangerous game with deadly consequences if she quits. But what it doesn’t say is—what happens if she wins?

Excerpt

Winston forced a smile. “The founder imparted to me that every contestant was personally selected because each of you has a secret that absolutely must remain—a secret. Especially from law enforcement.” He glanced at me and raised an eyebrow. “Since the winner of the contest will become fabulously wealthy, it would seem, everyone is here because of a potentially—lucky secret.”

Zoe’s head whipped toward me. With eyes wide, she mouthed law enforcement. I threw her a little headshake, even as my body exploded in tingles. I have no such secrets—anymore. I think. A picture popped in my head of the open safe-deposit box with the gold artifact, gold bar, and emeralds. With my name on the signature card. Somebody obviously manufactured a secret for me. But why? And is it the same for all the contestants? Were they also blackmailed into coming for something they didn’t do? Or were they…

Buy Links

Amazon | Apple Books | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop | Signed Copies

Author Bio and Links

B.T. Polcari is a graduate of Rutgers College of Rutgers University, an award-winning mystery author, and a proud father of two wonderful children. He’s a champion of rescue pups (Mauzzy is a rescue), craves watching football and basketball, and, of course, loves reading mysteries. Among his favorite authors are Richard Osman, D.P. Lyle, Frederick Forsyth, and Michael Connelly. He is also an unapologetic fantasy football addict. He lives with his wife in scenic Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Website | Facebook Page | Instagram | X (Twitter) | Goodreads Profile

Giveaway

B.T. Polcari will be awarding a $20 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

Visit the author on the rest of his Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome Wild Rose Press Susan Dalessandro. Today, Susan shares her new release, A Whisper in the Trees.

Blurb

For Gabby Patterson, a dedicated, but sometimes obsessive, cross-country runner, junior year is her time to shine. She has to start thinking about tomorrow: the future college recruiters and scholarship offers. But today means beating her impossibly skinny rivals any way she can.

Then eerie encounters in the woods and a cute secretive guy with the same quirky musical tastes interfere in Gabby’s plans. Sweet CJ is connected to the forest mystery… and to what’s happening to Gabby. But hard truths aren’t that easy to run from…

Excerpt

My stomach groans and I brace my hand on the trunk of a small tree, a sudden bout of dizziness overwhelming me.

I can’t stand here all day, so I proceed into the woods, beneath the canopy of tall, sturdy oaks and sheltering pine trees. Fallen leaves crunch underfoot as I follow the dirt path, narrowing as it skirts the edge of the cliff. Hurrying, I push deeper into the heart of the forest before I steel myself and take the plunge into the clearing, the place that’s caused me such angst these last few weeks.

I pause as a breeze splays loose strands of my ponytail across my face. The cool air refreshes as it passes through my nose and my mouth, filling my lungs. Okay, this isn’t so bad. But as I shuffle to the other side, a fog descends upon me like damp, heavy drapes. Dizziness slams me and I lose my balance, my vision blurring. I slump to the ground, fatigue sinking into my bones. That’s when the music cues and the song streams through me. An ache throbs in my head. My empty stomach groans as I rise off the grass and brush myself off. Just leave me alone.

Author Bio and Links

I’m a lifelong lover of books and storytelling and hold an M.A. In Applied Math, a subject which finds its way into many of my stories.

I live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania with my husband, two sons and two dogs. I gather story ideas as I run in the early mornings with my dogs. Running is the perfect environment for me to think and create.

My debut novel, Complex Solutions, a YA coming of age thriller, released March 16, 2021. Strong Enough, a YA novel, part of the Play Like A Girl series, came out on August 8, 2023. My latest novel, A Whisper In The Trees, a YA romance with paranormal elements, releases on June 30, 2025 with The Wild Rose Press.

Instagram | Bluesky | Buy Links

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome back author Gemma St. Claire. Today, Gemma shares her new release, An Armor of Petals, Book Two of Daughters of the Duchess.

Blurb

Fans of Keira Montclair will love this sweet medieval romance.

She wears a shroud of guilt she didn’t earn. Raised in a tavern, Beverielle is an illegitimate daughter of Duke Philip III. But the Duchess Isabella seeks to right Philip’s sins. When she brings the lass home to the castle to raise as a lady, Bevvie’s hope sparks. Sadly, her life’s choices are not hers to make. The duke weds her to an Italian merchant: a reluctant bride, then soon after, a widow.

Beverielle’s Scottish roots rise to the surface when she meets the brawny Highlander. Her hopes for love renew—until she discovers she may be carrying the Italian’s child. Knight Ròidh Keegan has been called back to Scotland when the flame-haired girl arrives at Germolles Castle.

Can the knight, soon to be laird of his own castle, consider a pregnant widow for his bride? His heart says aye, though a long journey and many obstacles lie in their path.

Excerpt

Lifting her heavy black skirt, Bevvie crouched to peer through the tangle of treacherous, thorned branches beneath the white rose bush. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dimness, but then she saw them.

At first she thought it was a nest of mice, and shrinking back, she nearly landed on her bottom on the path. But then a mouse did appear—swinging dead from the jaws of a striped, gray cat who picked her way along the stone wall lining the garden. The creature dropped its quarry just outside her nest, then hopped in to nuzzle her babies.

Kittens! It had been over a year since Beverielle had seen a cat, since none seemed to reside at either Coudenburg or Germolles. They had been treasured wards of the Beguines in the convent at Antwerp, where the felines kept the complex free from the vermin perpetually creeping up from the docks at port. Bevvie remembered one she favored, a brown tabby and white male she’d named Adam. Sometimes, when the prioress wasn’t watching, she’d snuck the furry bundle up the steps to her sleeping quarters, which she shared with several of the other postulates. Fortunately, none of them paid the cat much mind.

Cats, however, were not widely favored by common folk, especially here in the southern regions. For some reason, the creatures had gotten a bad reputation as being advocates of the devil. She’d heard some of the servants gossiping about the healer who’d come to Coudenburg to treat the ostler’s wife, Eva of Utrecht. Eva had nearly died from a nasty blow to her head. But between the ministrations of the healer and the barber-surgeon from Brussels, she had survived. Some said ‘twas a miracle. Others said such an unlikely outcome ‘twas the work of the devil.

The healer, she’d been told, housed a number of cats in her small hovel at the edge of the village.

Beverielle thought it ridiculous to blame an innocent animal—and one who served a real, useful purpose—for anything. Especially for a miraculous recovery!

“Have ye dropped something?”

The booming voice behind her caused Bevvie to lose her balance, and she landed hard on her bottom in the middle of the path. She peered up to see a giant of a man standing over her. With the brilliant sun directly behind him, she squinted, but no details about him revealed themselves save for the fact that he was huge.

Flustered, embarrassed, and sweating to death under her heavy woolen mourning clothes, Bevvie struggled to her knees before she saw the man’s big paw stretched out in front of her face. Timidly, she placed her hand in his.

‘Twas rough and hard, and unusually warm. Not unnaturally so, as if he were fevered. But warm in an invitingly pleasant sort of way.

The kind of warmth that sent tingles up her arm, little shock waves. By the time she made it to her feet she gazed up into the golden eyes of a man she recognized. ‘Twas Sir Ròidh Keegan.

Buy Link: https://amzn.to/44yhYkG

Author Bio and Links

Gemma St. Claire grew up in upstate New York many moons ago. She achieved her Bachelor of Arts from the New York Institute of Technology, followed by her Master of Fine Arts from Lesley University. She married her very own, HEA husband and raised three beautiful humans before bouncing about the country. She has landed in Florida and is finally able to devote her life to her writing.

Gemma is passionate about history, particularly the Middle Ages. She’s been to Belgium once and is set to travel back there in August of 2025, where she hopes to discover even more stories to spin and share with her readers.

She loves to hear from her readers, so drop her a note! You can find her here:

Substack | Website | Facebook | Twitter/X | Instagram | TikTok

I’m happy to welcome author Amanda Capper. Today, Amanda shares her creative journey and the anthology Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers.

In 2014 my first (and only, to date) novel was published by Divertir Publishing. It’s out of print now, which is just as well. I rushed the ending and wasn’t all that thrilled with the beginning, but in the middle was some of my best writing (again, to date) so I took the advice of my new writer friend, Judy Penz Sheluk and I’m re-writing it. “Why not?” said Judy. “It’s your book.”

I’ve written all my life but rarely submit. Early on, when I did, I received back a rejection letter that was very emphatic about how horrible the main character was, especially because she was female. Well, yes. That was the point, but I put the story away, and probably burned the letter because I can’t find it.

Judy, once again, gave me good advice. “Not everyone is going to like that one story. But someone will.” I’m paraphrasing but that was the gist. She also yells at me with exclamation marks. “PUNCTUATION GOES INSIDE THE QUOTES!!!”

I’m learning a lot from Judy. Some things new, some not but forgotten for lack of use. That’s about to change.

My story, “A Time to Tell” was accepted by Judy for her fifth anthology, Midnight Schemers and Daydream Believers. The story is all about secrets. Everyone has them, and how some are told, and some are best kept for later. There are twenty-one other short stories and I’m excited to see my name included with those authors.

Until this acceptance, my only recent submissions were for our local University’s semi-annual e-zine and then only at the urging of my creative writing instructor.

One last quick story. It’s hard to shut me up once I start. It’s about Fate.

In 2012 I went to Bloody Words in Toronto, Ontario. I went alone and during a break between speakers I went to forage for food. I don’t remember where or how I struck up a conversation with a lady, who was, I believe, also looking for something to eat, but I did and mentioned my hometown. She replied she was familiar with the city, she and her husband were looking for waterfront property in the area. After polite chitchat, where I mentioned I was a bookkeeper, we parted ways.

Twelve years later, as I’m sure you’ve already guessed, our paths crossed again, only neither of us remembered the earlier meeting. Judy had moved to my hometown and was getting involved with the Northern arts community, and I asked to meet. I’d read her step-by-step guide, Self-Publishing; The Ins and Outs of Going Indie and had a few questions. We met then and a few times after as we had more in common than writing, but it wasn’t until we talked about how we both were at Bloody Words that Judy emailed me later and asked what I did for a living back in 2012. I told her I’d been a bookkeeper at a local business. Then it twigged, and here we are.

Fate. Always a surprise visitor.

Author Bio

Amanda Capper is the author of A Bother of Bodies (as A. J. Capper) and her short stories can be found in Every Day Fiction, Painted Words, and The Algomian. When she is not reading, writing, or roaming the woods, she volunteers at the Royal Canadian Legion as their treasurer. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Find her at http://www.amandacapper.com.

About Midnight Schemers & Daydream Believers: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense

Desire or desperation, revenge or retribution—how far would you go to realize a dream? The twenty-two authors in this collection explore the possibilities, with predictably unpredictable results.

Featuring stories by Pam Barnsley, Linda Bennett, Clark Boyd, C.W. Blackwell, Amanda Capper, Susan Daly, James Patrick Focarile, Rand Gaynor, Gina X. Grant, Julie Hastrup, Beth Irish, Charlie Kondek, Edward Lodi, Bethany Maines, Jim McDonald, donalee Moulton, Michael Penncavage, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Peggy Rothschild, Debra Bliss Saenger, and Joseph S. Walker.

Find it at http://www.books2read.com/midnight-schemers.