I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Bobbi Smith. Today, Bobbi shares her new release, Pirate’s Promise.

Blurb

Tall and strikingly handsome, Adam Trent could tempt any woman, especially in his secret disguise as the swashbuckling Captain Spectre. But when this daring buccaneer wagers a seductive campaign against a beauty whose passion matches his own, he’s not prepared for what awaits him…

WINNING HER HOME WAS EASY…

Throwing a young woman out of her home is hardly decent behavior—even for a pirate. But when Adam Trent wins the Ducharme plantation in a card game, he knows it’s the perfect base for a covert scheme of revenge in which he sails the bayous as Captain Spectre. Adam agrees to let Lianne Ducharme stay until she comes of age—a decision he soon regrets. For Lianne fascinates him, and Adam cannot afford the distraction…

WINNING HER LOVE COULD COST HIM EVERYTHING

Too bad that the most virile man Lianne Ducharme has ever met is also the most infuriating. With no choice but to stay at Belle Arbor as his ‘guest’, Lianne gradually yields to her own desires. But there is far more to Adam than Lianne knows. And succumbing to a pirate’s promise of bliss could be the surest path to heartbreak…

Excerpt

Adam determinedly immersed himself in plantation business. He gave strict orders that he was not to be interrupted. He continued his work on the ledgers until his eyes grew tired, and when he checked the time, he was pleased to find it was near midnight.

Only then, when he was too exhausted to continue, did he allow his thoughts to dwell on his real reason for staying locked in the study for so long. Lianne… Adam’s gaze drifted to the loveseat where they’d lain together in a passionate embrace the night before, and he felt the heat rise in his body again in remembrance. In frustration, he wondered what it would take to make him immune to her. Here he was, bone-weary and worn out, and yet just the thought of having her filled him with desire.

Adam shook his head in confusion. She’d made it clear the night before how she felt about him. He knew the best thing to do was to avoid her. Out of sight, out of mind – he hoped.

Adam fought down the need to go to his marriage bed. Instead, he sought out the barren comfort of the loveseat for his night’s rest. It seemed an eternity to him before dawn lightened the eastern sky. He rose from his broken sleep, eager to leave the house before Lianne awoke.

Adam tread softly upstairs to their bedroom to get the clothing he needed. He entered the room quietly and was glad to find Lianne was asleep. He gathered what he needed and made an effort not to look at her, but when his gaze fell upon her, he froze. His breathing grew ragged as he took in her gentle beauty. He almost reached out to touch her, but stopped in time, silently cursing himself. He backed from the room and a short while later he left the house. He didn’t know how much longer he could remain in such close quarters with Lianne and keep from making love to her. Resolved to working out his restlessness through hard physical labor, Adam rode out to the fields, intending to spend the entire day there.

Author Bio and Links

After working as a department manager for Famous-Barr, and briefly as a clerk at a bookstore, Bobbi Smith gave up on career security and began writing. She sold her first book to Zebra in 1982. Since then, Bobbi has written over 40 books and several short stories. To date, there are more than five million of her novels in print. She has been awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Storyteller of the Year Award and two Career Achievement Awards. Her books have appeared on numerous bestseller lists. When she's not working on her novels, she is frequently a guest speaker for writer's groups. Bobbi is mother of two sons and resides in St. Charles, Missouri with her husband and three dogs.

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Giveaway

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

Follow Bobbi on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here

I’m happy to welcome Canadian author Don Butler. Today, Don shares his creative journey and new release, Norman’s Conquest.

Here’s Don!

When I was a lad, I always imagined that someday, I’d be a novelist. Teachers regularly asked me to read my youthful compositions aloud, presumably to inspire – or amuse – classmates with my comedic touches.

To refine my skills, I enrolled in journalism school at university. Then a funny thing happened. I got sidetracked into newspapers for several decades. It paid the bills, and I enjoyed the work. But I never forgot my boyish ambition.

Several years ago, I drafted my first novel, A Life of Bliss. I submitted it to a list of publishers in Canada and waited for their offers to roll in. Spoiler alert: they didn’t. But one of Canada’s smaller publishing houses advised that they’d had three people read my manuscript before deciding to take a pass.

I was encouraged by this. When I finally left a successful journalism career, I got serious about getting A Life of Bliss published. I did some polishing and rewriting and approached a regional publisher, Ottawa Press and Publishing, in March of 2020. You may remember that something else was happening then: the Covid-19 pandemic. OPP’s owner, author Ron Corbett, liked my book but said my timing sucked. He suggested I try again in six months.

When I did, he agreed to publish my novel as an e-book and print-on-demand paperback on Amazon. A humble beginning, but I was over the moon. When the book came out in 2021, it got a positive review in newspapers across Canada and was featured on CBC. It was far from a bestseller, but sales were brisk enough that OPP upgraded it to a full print run in 2022.

After that, I began my second novel, a murder mystery called Norman’s Conquest, featuring some of the same odd but lovable characters from my début. OPP published the paperback version in May. Reader reviews have been strong and sales at store signings have far exceeded expectations.

There’s no denying it: I’m now a novelist. One acquaintance insists on addressing me as “Famous Author Don Butler.” That’s a kind exaggeration, but I like it. I’m just starting to think about book three. A trilogy – or maybe more – sounds good.

Blurb – Norman’s Conquest

After narrowly surviving a heart attack in Greece, Norman Pugsley, the grizzled managing editor of the Ottawa Daily Advocate, anticipates a quiet retirement. But fate has other plans as he becomes entangled in a decades-old murder mystery. As he delves deeper into the investigation, sparks fly with his former boss, a woman he once couldn’t stand.

In this witty and heartfelt follow-up to Don Butler’s well-received début novel, A Life of Bliss, readers are whisked into a world of eccentric journalists, travel adventures, and a protagonist who unexpectedly discovers his inner feminist. The tale unfolds against the backdrop of unlikely romance and unforgettable encounters—from a spirit bear to a former prime minister. Join Norman Pugsley’s journey, where the past collides with the present, and every twist and turn brings him closer to solving the murder.

Excerpt

Reporter Norman Pugsley tossed the City section of the Advocate aside, rose from his chair and strode purposefully across the newsroom to city editor Morgan J. Peck’s office. He didn’t have a lot of time for Peck, who’d come to the Advocate after failing his probation at the Globe and Mail, a fact Peck had neglected to mention when he applied to the Advocate. The Ottawa newspaper’s editors, giddy at snagging a recruit from the prestigious Toronto newspaper, hadn’t bothered to ask for references.

“Got a minute, Morgan J.?” Pugsley began. Peck preferred to be known by his full name, including middle initial. Privately, though, female journalists at the paper called him Morgan the Muppet while their male colleagues favoured Little Pecker.

Peck glanced up from the story he was editing. “What’s up, Norm?”

“I was just reading our latest story about the Birchmount homicide,” Pugsley began.

“Awful case,” Peck said, shaking his head.

“Yes, it is. Body found in a woodlot in the Greenbelt. It’s been more than a month, and the cops don’t seem to have the first clue who did it.”

“So it appears.”

Pugsley frowned. “I know she was a whore, and most people don’t give a damn when bad things happen to them. But Jesus, Morgan J., she was 19 years old! She had her whole life ahead of her. She turned to prostitution because her so-called father was abusing her. And now she’s dead. Strangled and dumped in the bush like garbage by some sick psychopath.”

“A sad story,” Peck agreed.

Pugsley drew several slow, measured breaths. “When Jenny started selling her body, she was about the same age as my daughter Barbara is now,” he said. “I can’t help thinking how I’d feel if something like this happened to her.”

Morgan J. Peck waited patiently for Pugsley to get to the point. He hadn’t yet developed any chemistry with Pugsley. Found him to be an irritating know-it-all, truth be told. But he’d learned that Pugsley liked to talk things through before committing to a course of action.

“Her death feels personal to me,” Pugsley continued. “I’d like to get involved in the story. I still have great contacts from my days on the police beat. And I’m our investigative reporter now. This story could use some investigation. I have the skills to do that.”

Buy Links

Amazon CA | Amazon US | Indigo

Bio

Don Butler spent his career at the Ottawa Citizen, including six years as the newspaper’s executive editor. He’s the author of two novels: A Life of Bliss (2021) and Norman’s Conquest (2024), both featuring some of the same journalist characters. He’s married to journalist Christina Spencer and has two grown children and two grandchildren. He lives in Canada’s capital, Ottawa.

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Photo Caption: Author Don Butler hosts a book launch for his latest novel, “Norman’s Conquest” at Perfect Books on Elgin Street in Ottawa on June 3, 2024. Photo by Wayne Cuddington, cuddingtonphoto@gmail.com

I’m happy to welcome author Kate Ellington. Today, Kate shares her new release, The Secret Cottage.

Blurb

Isabel Tate yearns for the simple pleasures she took for granted before scandal rocked her family two years ago. On May Day, she’s determined to forget her troubles and enjoy herself at the Claremont family’s annual festival.

Meanwhile, Robert Claremont steels himself to begin courting the haughty heiress next door, but his bashfulness is only one obstacle to winning her hand. Despite a deep sense of family obligation, he dreams of choosing his own bride.

Captivated by each other from the moment they meet, Robert and Isabel are kept apart by a misunderstanding until a chance encounter leads to friendship and more.

With opposition on all sides, they must overcome inconceivable odds to claim happiness.

Excerpt

Isabel turned her horse into the woods, directing him to a gurgling stream under a canopy of trees. The forest was quiet but for the splashing of the water, bird songs and the rustle of branches. They hadn’t been there long when Isabel heard a new sound. Hoofbeats and muffled voices. She urged her horse closer to the road, and easily heard the riders’ conversation.

“What makes you think she came this way?” a man asked.

A deeper voice answered, “Merely a guess. It seemed as good a place as any to look, but I’m thwarted again.”

“Let’s turn back, we can look for her tomorrow.”

“I’m sitting for the portrait tomorrow.”

Isabel’s pulse quickened as she recognized the deeper voice. Robert Claremont. So he’d been looking for her. Why hadn’t he come to the house? She started back toward the stream, but suddenly reason left her and she guided her horse through the trees, emerging just as Robert and his companion rounded the bend going in the opposite direction. They hadn’t seen her.

Isabel paused for a moment, thinking what to do. Go back home and hope he came to the house soon? Or seek him out for herself? Her reckless side won. Spurring her horse to a gallop, she chased after them. Robert turned in his saddle and Isabel was delighted with the look of shock on his face as she sped past him and who she could now see was Mr. Kensington.

Author Bio and Links

Kate grew up in a woodsy New England town where summer days at the lake seemed to last forever. She read her first historical romance at age eleven when a teacher challenged her to find a book in the library written by an author she’d never heard of. Thus began a life-long love of love stories.

After graduating from college with an art degree she settled in the Pacific Northwest, where she currently resides with her family.

Kate wrote her first romance when she was sixteen, then set her pen down for years until another story floated into her head out of the clear blue sky. She jotted it down, just for fun, but soon it took on a life of its own.

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Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome back Wild Rose Press author Alana Lorens. Today, Alana shares her creative journey and her new release, Cruel Charade.

Here’s Alana

I knew I would be an author from the time I was eight years old.

My first story was a more journalistic-leaning adventure called, “My Cat Moonbeam Caught and Ate a Rabbit.” Apparently in gory, step by step detail. I don’t have a copy of it, but I do remember my mother carrying on about it at great length. She even told my teacher, who made me read it to the whole class.

Jump forward five years, and I am all of 14 and my writing tastes graduated from Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time (one of my all-time favorite books) and The Island of the Blue Dolphins to romantic suspense. I read everything by Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Jane Aiken Hodge, and Dorothy Eden. Back in those days, romantic suspense was more about the mystery and danger than it was about sex. I knew in my heart I could write stories like this, and I wrote my first, a terribly Gothic time travel story about a young woman who enters an old house and is mysteriously transported back a hundred years, becomes the governess, falls in love with the young master of the house…you know. Pretty formula stuff. I DO have a copy of that. Oh boy. What the heck? I was 14.

Sure this was the next great thing, I packed it up (yes, we still sent snail mail submissions then) and mailed it to the Romance Editor at Doubleday. Looking back on that now, I’m flabbergasted. What’s even more amazing is that in 1970, a 14-year-old wannabe author without an agent could be read by a Doubleday editor and receive a polite and encouraging rejection letter, personally written and signed by said editor.

I wrote another novel in high school, and was mentored with one as a senior thesis in college. I got the chance to be a newspaper reporter in south Florida, which gave me a solid writing base over the several years I worked there. I wrote a number of articles and short stories that sold in bits and pieces. I took a break and went to law school, and in 1999 I managed to sell a self-help divorce recovery book to Impact Publishers in California.

But it wasn’t until 2009, when I was over 50, that I found a publisher for my novel-length fiction. As Lyndi Alexander (since I was still practicing law under my own name!) I sold THE ELF QUEEN. The urban fantasy went on into four more books in the series, as well as another sci-fi series and more—16 more.

When I decided to write romance and suspense, I picked the name Alana Lorens. I’ve now got a half- dozen novels under that name, including historical romance, romantic suspense and even a supernatural thriller!

CRUEL CHARADE combines a lot of these pieces of my history all in one. Bet Lenard is a lawyer practicing in Miami, as I did. She is fighting a mysterious disease that causes her chronic pain, as I have. Fortunately, I got my answers because it happened 20 years later. Back in 1996, the answers weren’t there yet. But neither of those is her worst problem right now. Someone wants her dead.

Excerpt

“Did you tell the detectives what Rich said?”

“No. I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he confesses. In full.”

She stayed only an hour, distracted by the creeping pain. Maybe Mela was right. I should recuperate at home. I’ve got more control over my work environment there. She gave Mela the satisfaction of knowing she’d been right, then took her laptop and a briefcase of mail and case files home with her.

At home, she marched swiftly to the door and let herself in, locking up behind her. A quick trip to change into a loose caftan necessitated washing her face and changing the bandages yet again. She stared at the angry red blisters with a mixture of disgust and rage. Who were those people and how dare they? How dare they?

Too uncomfortable and anxious to work, she debated calling Hyacinth, but settled for a thorough meditation with the Five Things. A Vicodin dialed back her pain, and a shot of Jameson’s topped it off. Instead of working, she curled up in her living room chair and watched a TV rerun of Heathers.

She’d always identified with Veronica. Part of the wrestling cheerleader squad, Bet had played the game just long enough to establish it on her high school resume, then she’d left the group. These days, I’d just rip the rug out from under those mean girls. She’d purposely chosen a small school, Muskingum College, and joined a sorority dedicated to serving others rather than being popular.

Bad enough still having to play games as an adult. At least now, I have weapons of my own.

Her first weapon for the evening was a spritz of Joy, by Jean Patou, a perfume Rich had bought her years before. The combination of jasmine and rose was once a favorite of Jackie Kennedy; it certainly was Rich’s favorite, too.

Her second weapon was a short maize-and-navy dress with wide diagonal stripes, a real eyecatcher. If Rich thought he’d shove Bet under the rug—or perhaps the bus?—he had another think coming.

Her most valuable weapon would be the small recorder she slipped into her clutch before she left. If she had the chance to get information that could finally give her the upper hand over Rich, she intended to grab it.

Maybe I’m a Heather after all…

Author Bio

Alana Lorens (aka Barbara Mountjoy) has been a published writer for over 45 years, including seven years as a reporter/editor at the South Dade News Leader in Homestead, Florida, after working as a server, a pizza maker, and a floral designer. She writes non-fiction, romance, adventure, and suspense novels. She is the author of the Pittsburgh Lady Lawyers series, which draws on her years as a family law attorney in the state of Pennsylvania. One of the causes close to her heart came from those years as well–the fight against domestic violence. She volunteered for many years at women’s shelters and provided free legal services to women and children in need. Alana resides in North Carolina, and she loves her time in the smoky blue mountains. She lives with her daughter, who is the youngest of her seven children, and she is ruled by three crotchety old cats, and six kittens of various ages.

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