I’m happy to welcome poet Regina Louise. Today, Regina shares her writing journey and debut poetry collection, Spotlight on Unladylike.

Here’s Regina!

What was your inspiration for this book?

Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love is my answer to leaving a toxic relationship. After I left, I began recognizing the pattern and disengaging from it. But I also wanted to put something back into my life. To understand what that could be, I needed to understand what I was taking out.

What had I taken in as love? What toxic love language had I learned to speak, accept, and organize my life around?

This book became the provocateur. Poetry allowed me to question that language, to name what I was purging, and to imagine what I wanted to create in its place. I wanted a language of love in which I could remain present, whole, and recognizable to myself.

The poems became coordinates that would lead me back to myself again and again and again.

Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love also grew from a question I could no longer postpone: What would it mean to stop waiting for someone else to prove that I was worthy of love?

I know how to make things work. I know how to survive, adapt, and find possibility in difficult circumstances. But I began to wonder what it would feel like for love to hold me, too. Writing these poems gave me a place to hear my own longing without abandoning myself to it.

The book became an act of self-mothering. Through image, rhythm, and memory, I began reclaiming parts of myself that had learned to go quiet. Each poem (again) became a coordinate back to me.

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

The best part is when something deeply personal finds a home in another person. A reader recognizes herself in a sentence, and suddenly an experience she thought was hers alone has language. That connection means a great deal to me.

The hardest part is releasing work that matters to me and accepting that I cannot govern how it will be received. I can be careful, honest, and devoted to the writing, and someone may still misunderstand it. There is vulnerability in that. I’m learning to let the work have its life while continuing to live mine.

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

I would want to help people see themselves before they learned to believe they were unworthy.

I think about the child who begins arranging herself around someone else’s inability to love her. I would want to reach her in that moment and say, “You get to remain yourself. Their inability to recognize your worth does not erase it.”

Perhaps writing is one way I keep reaching for that superpower.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Pay attention to the language you use when you aren’t trying to sound like a writer. Your voice may already be there—in the way you tell a story, ask a question, or name something that everyone else walks past.

Give yourself permission to write before you understand everything you’re writing about. Sometimes the image arrives before the meaning. Stay curious long enough to discover what it holds.

Then return and do the work of shaping it. Read aloud. Listen. Revise. Your experience deserves care, and so does the reader who will meet it on the page.

What are you working on next?

I’m developing workshops that invite people to write their wounds into myth.
This grows directly from my experience of writing Unladylike . Poetry helped me stay in relationship with myself through change and loss. I want to create spaces where others can explore that possibility, too.

The question guiding me is: How can writing help us remain ourselves while our lives are changing?

Blurb

Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love is a lyrical collection of poetry and prose exploring love, survival, embodiment, and the journey of returning to the self. Blending literary poetry with personal reflection, Regina Louise examines relationships, identity, trauma, healing, and the process of reclaiming one’s voice after loss and betrayal.

Through intimate poems and essays, Unladylike maps the emotional terrain between heartbreak and self-discovery, inviting readers into a deeply human exploration of resilience, self-love, and personal transformation. Her work speaks to readers interested in emotional healing, spiritual growth, women’s voices, and the reclamation of dignity through storytelling and creative expression.

Rooted in mythopoetic inquiry and lived experience, this collection moves through memory, desire, grief, and repair, offering language for those navigating change, recovery, and the search for meaning. Unladylike is both an artistic work and an invitation-to witness oneself honestly and to return to what was always there.

Excerpt

Teeth Jewelry

I didn’t take it lying down—
my legs spread eagle, leaking,
like a broke-back Aphrodite,
or Erzulie Freda dispossessed of her longing.

The way you uninvited me
to the wedding—
I’d planned for two months to attend.

Fresh out of a group home,
I was certain I would arrive.
I showed up at your front door.
My hair set in Jada curls—
edges swooped in,
baby hairs laid down—
two hours under a hot-ass dryer
to get them right.

Your brother answered,
fraudulence jutting from his eyes,
said you weren’t home. Yet.
What about the black and champagne
Bentley in your driveway?
Your hubcapped feet, your only wheels.
It belonged to the girl from Baldwin Hills.
Eyes same color as mine.
Her daddy was a doctor.
Yours ran a dojo.

I took my financial aid money,
got myself a crepe de chine
Norma Kamali mini dress—
on sale, sale, sale at I. Magnin.
Fishnet pantyhose.

My first manicure—
to dig desolation from beneath
my dirty fingernails,
just to look respectable.

In pointed-toe flats,

I kicked and scratched my way
through the door,
two stairs at a time.

I followed my knowing into your lair.
My right hook, a javelin.
I threw a punch at your face—
a black belt trophy, barely missed.
You were fifth degree.

My jaw dislocated instantly
from the butt of your palm.

She ran for her life.
I ran into your fury.
And then—
my skin tore
you bit my face,
my arms,
the tops of my hands,
my wrists
my neck,
my bicep,

my shoulders,
the soles of my hands.

Clad in a blusa campesina,
a peasant shirt, off-the-shoulder,
in technicolor—my flesh on parade
fresh with the imprint of your
Central, lateral incisors.
Canines.

I returned to my social work theory seminar.

I wore your teeth jewelry
like a queen.

A gypsy skirt sashayed my hips.

I wore ankle bracelets
with fake gold coins
and fabricated seashells.

Everyone heard me coming.

I returned from Spring Break
baptized in a pain so exquisite,
one might mistake it
or all of who I was.

No matter.

I got my licks in, too.
Not just for me—
but for Tina Turner.
And all the rest of us
who stayed—
wired to do so.

Author Bio and Links

Regina Louise is a poet, writer, teacher, speaker, executive coach, whose work explores the intersection of memory, belonging, identity, and emotional liberation. The author of three books—two of which have been adapted for film: Somebody’s Someone, Someone Has Led This Child to Believe and Permission Granted: Kick Ass Strategies to Bootstrap your Way to Unconditional Self-Love—she has spent more than three decades helping people transform adversity into authorship through story, self-inquiry, and radical compassion.

A senior teacher with the Hoffman Process, Regina is known for guiding profound conversations about restoring dignity, resilience, attachment, and the art of becoming fully oneself. Whether on stage, in classrooms, behind a microphone, or in intimate workshop settings, she invites audiences to reimagine the stories that have shaped their lives and discover the freedom that awaits beyond them.

Her forthcoming collection, Unladylike: A Mythopoetic Reclamation of Love (September 2026), marks her debut poetry collection. Blending poetry, lyrical prose, and aphoristic reflections, it is a fearless meditation on love, loss, self-possession, and the sacred work of returning home to oneself.

Regina Louise lives in California, where she continues to write, teach, and create work that honors the transformative power of language to restore dignity, deepen connection, and reclaim what has always belonged to us.

Website | Instagram | Facebook | Amazon | Bookshop.org

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Chris Karlsen. Today, Chris shares her new release, Killer Friends.

Blurb

Henrietta Newell stormed into the detective bureau. She claimed her adult son was missing and feared for his safety. The detectives attempted to reassure her that the absence of a bachelor in his thirties, in a city like London, wasn’t extraordinary. Despite their efforts, she insisted an investigation be conducted, reminding them of her political connections.

Detective Rudyard Bloodstone and his partner were told to look into the matter. Their investigation reveals evidence of suspicious and unusual activity but no clues regarding the man’s disappearance. The few leads they develop take them from the world of wealthy families and into the secret society of sexual peculiarities.

The detectives discover the victim didn’t simply disappear. He was murdered. They have the evidence except for one problem, they’re missing the victim’s body.

Excerpt

Coopersmith and Hamblin had waited for Ruddy and Archie to leave Jameson’s office. “Well?” Hamblin asked.

“He wants us to give it two more nights to see if this mystery man Lacey spoke of shows” Ruddy dropped into his desk chair. Frustrated and fed up with the time already wasted at The Prince’s Hat, he thought Jameson would call off the stakeout. Ruddy had argued against it but the superintendent insisted.

Ruddy dreaded telling Newell’s mother they’d done all they could. “The worst is going to be telling Newell’s mum we’re closing the case as unsolved. She’ll forever hope,” Ruddy said, resigned. “Without a body, she’ll take that hope to her grave.”

“As would mine,” Archie said.

Jameson’s decision delayed having that unhappy conversation. Making them spend another two nights in hope of arresting a drunk who may or may be a possible accomplice was like picking at a scab, in Ruddy’s opinion.

“If we are able to bring this man in, I’ll be sorely tempted to resort to violence. Whatever it takes to get to the truth and settle this bloody case,” Arch said, as peeved at the assignment as Ruddy.

Archie rarely threatened to turn violent. The few times he had, Ruddy enjoyed the thrashing. He jumped in when needed, which wasn’t often. A few suspects had underestimated Archie. Grey had begun to streak Arch’s brown hair and crow’s feet had lightly gathered by his eyes but age hadn’t affected his strength. Before he joined the police force, he’d partnered with his father, a stone mason, lifting, and stacking stones all day. He still helped his dad with the heavier stone work. Clothing hid his powerful arms.

“You may get your chance yet,” Ruddy teased. “Let’s crack on and get this pub business over.”

Author Bio and Links

Chris is a Chicago native who grew up with a love of history and books.

Passionate about traveling her travels have taken her Europe, the Near East, and North Africa, in addition to most of the United States.

Chris spent twenty-five years in law enforcement with two agencies. Harboring a strong desire to write, upon retiring, Chris decided to pursue her desire. She writes three different series. Her Bloodstone series, which is set in Victorian London, features homicide Detective Rudyard Bloodstone.

She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and four wild and crazy rescue dogs.

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | KOBO | Audible

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome multi-published author Beth Ford. Today, Beth shares her creative journey and new release, Crimes and Crevices of the Heart.

Here’s Beth!

What was your inspiration for this book?

I think the time period and some of the themes started circulating in my brain as I watched Miss Scarlett and the Duke, a TV series I love. I enjoyed the dynamic between the tour-de-force that is the female lead and the detective who is not quite so gung-ho. But I moved my setting to New York City and had my character be a journalist to tie into my interest with writing. I also wanted Cassie to be like an early Nellie Bly.

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

The creativity is the best part, along with getting to hear from and meet anyone who has enjoyed your books—it’s a delight every time. Like many authors, I think the parts I enjoy less are around the administrative and marketing tasks—the less “fun” stuff.

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

I enjoy flower gardening; I’m very proud of my rose bushes and my peonies. I eagerly anticipate spring every year when I get out all my pots to decorate the front porch. I also enjoy traveling. This year, I made it to Switzerland to celebrate my 40th birthday!

Any advice for aspiring writers?

It takes a lot of work, so keep at it and don’t give up. Don’t be afraid to share your work with others, whether that’s critique groups or publishing and sending your book out into the world. You can’t do this alone—other people’s input is critical although learning what to take and what to leave is an art in itself.

What are you working on next?

My current work in progress is a time travel romance that brings readers back to the earliest days of Hollywood. In Past Productions, an underappreciated female production assistant and a spoiled actor wake up in 1913 Hollywood and must work together to make it home in time to restore the reputation of an early female movie executive, the subject of their present-day biopic.

Blurb

Cassie Woods yearns to be a real journalist. But in 1880s New York City, her only assignments are women’s interest stories. Until, that is, a cookbook author she’s meant to interview goes missing and Cassie finds herself in the midst of a police investigation involving one of the city’s major crime families. Surly but handsome Detective O’Neill threatens repercussions to her career if she continues to interfere. Will Cassie get in over her head or will she save the day and solve the mystery?

This collection contains seven connected stories, each centered on an exciting new case for Cassie to solve while navigating the highs and lows of her relationship with Detective O’Neill.

Excerpt

When Cassie arrived at the factory’s address late that afternoon, the quiet surprised her. At this time of day, a garment factory should be noisy, machines running and girls tending to their work. The factory was a small building on a side street, but still. Something was off.

A man walked out and leaned against the doorjamb. He slowly lit a cigarette, watching her the whole time. It looked suspicious to stand in the street staring back, so Cassie forced her feet into motion. As she neared him, she saw the man had a long, jagged scar crossing one cheek.

Before she reached him, a group of men walking casually down the street surrounded her, dragging her along with them. When they reached an alley, one of the men grabbed her elbow and shoved her down the narrow passage. The rest stood behind her, blocking the exit.

“What are you—” She halted as a man emerged from the shadows. He strode toward her, hands in his pockets. A slice of light fell across his eyes.

She relaxed.

“Detective O’Neill. What on earth is going on? Your men—”

“My men just saved you, Miss Woods. You don’t want to draw the attention of one of the Tiatelli henchmen.” He took another step closer. She smelled a faint waft of cologne. “I thought I told you not to interfere in my investigation.”

“I’m not interfering—”

“What do you call waltzing into the middle of my stakeout, then?”

Author Bio and Links

Beth Ford writes historical and time travel stories that transport you in time. She is the author of the novels In the Times of Spirits, Love Between Times, Love Across Time, and After the Spirits Come: A Continuation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol. She also writes the Cassie Woods, Reporter historical mystery romance novella series. Her work has also appeared in a variety of literary journals. She lives in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.

Website | X | BlueSky | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome back multi-published author Petie McCarty. Today, Petie shares her new release, Duke Du Jour.

Blurb

She’s waiting in the past . . . He belongs in the future.

Jared Langley, present-day Duke of Reston, tumbles into an abandoned fountain on his ducal estate and is pelted back in time to the year 1816. There, Reston servants and local villagers think him a dead ringer for his namesake and rakehell ancestor—the seventh Duke of Reston, gone missing at the Battle of Waterloo. Unfortunately, Seven got mixed up with French spies out to assassinate the Duke of Wellington, and an unwary Jared ends up in their crosshairs.

Lady Ariana Hart has loved Jared Langley, the seventh Duke of Reston, since she was twelve years old, until the night the rogue broke her heart. Given up for dead, her rakish neighbor makes a miraculous return from Waterloo. Only Jared shows up a changed man and reignites all the feelings Ariana had long ago buried.

Jared is in a race against time.

His tasks?

Waylay the suspicions of his quirky servants and neighbors
Get to Wellington before the French spies do
Fix his fountain–before Seven shows up–so Jared has a way home
And definitely do not fall in love with the irresistible Lady Ariana . . .

Excerpt

The sound of hoofbeats and wheels churning came from the path to the old stone stable. Seconds later, what looked to be a perfectly restored nineteenth-century curricle pulled up with a magnificent pair of spirited blacks in harness. The young man driving tied off the reins and jumped down, and Jared could only stare in stunned disbelief.

Curricle Man matched Jared’s height and build and wore scuffed knee-high boots, what appeared to be knickers, and a woolen waistcoat over a loose, long-sleeved white shirt with a linen scarf stuffed in the collar. A wave of dizziness struck Jared again. Curricle Man strode over and bowed.

Bowed?

“Chappy said you were back, Master Jared. So I took the liberty of bringing round your curricle, so you could take straight off to see Lady Wilder.”

This tableau had quickly turned into a nightmare.

“I do this often,” Jared said. The words came out sounding like a question, and he received two incredulous looks.

“As soon as you arrive, Mast—uh, Your Grace. At least, you did on the last few visits before you left for the continent,” Curricle Man offered. “I only thought―”

“Well, do not think. Maybe this visit I choose to be different. I can change.”

Jared got the you-must-be-daft look again. Truth be told, he felt a bit daft since he had not known he owned a curricle and had no intention of driving this one until he learned how. Harness-racing sulkies he knew.

Restored curricles, not at all.

“Begging your pardon, Your Grace,” Curricle Man persisted, “but you always said if you did not go there, Lady Wilder would come here. And you hate that.” The man gave him a wary stare. “Of course, that was more than two years ago.”

Jared’s head pounded in earnest, and he fought off a wave of nausea brought on by the accompanying dizziness. He did not know these people, he had no idea what or whom they were talking about, and he feared a climactic ending to this delusional scene.

“Yes, but this year is—” He had meant to say different, but Cook—who had been strangely silent throughout their discourse—beat him to the punch.

“—Eighteen sixteen, of course,” she said, looking worried. “Are ye sure ye didn’t hit yer head back at the fountain, Master Jared?”

“Eighteen sixteen?” he asked weakly.

“Right,” the two strangers agreed in unison.

Oh, dear Lord in heaven! I am not just named after Jared Langley. I am Jared Langley, seventh Duke of Reston.

Then everything went black.

Author Bio and Links

Petie spent a large part of her career working at Walt Disney World—”The Most Magical Place on Earth”—where she enjoyed working in the land of fairy tales by day and creating her own romantic fairy tales by night, including her new series, The Cinderella Romances. She eventually said goodbye to her “day” job to write her stories full-time.

These days, Petie spends her time writing new tales for her Cinderella series, her new The Watchers series, sequels to her Regency time-travel series, Lords in Time, and more contemporary romance standalones, along with her two previous releases—Any Fin For Love and Ambush in the Everglades.

Petie shares her home on the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee with her horticulturist husband and an opinionated Nanday conure named Sassy who makes a cameo appearance in Christmas Watch, Book 2 of The Watchers series.

Visit Petie at her website, http://www.petiemccarty.com, to get to know her, learn about her current projects, and discover her other published works.

Website | Facebook | X | Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon Author Page

Giveaway

Petie McCarty will be awarding a $10 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.
Follow Petie on the rest of her Goddess Fish tour here.

I’m happy to welcome author David Tindell. Today, David shares his new release, The Dance We Shared.

What was your inspiration for this book?

A couple of years ago, my wife Sue and I were watching a documentary about Garth Brooks. He discusses his career and his hit songs, and he talks about “The Dance,” one of his first #1 hits. Then he sings the song. It really hit home for me, because that song came out shortly before Sue and I started dating. I was working in radio at the time and occasionally would play the song on my show. Well, there was a point where I didn’t know if we were going to make it as a couple, and one morning during that low point I played the song, and it really hit me. Fortunately, everything worked out for us—we’ll be married 31 years this fall—but when the song came up in the documentary, it hit me again. I’d come close to losing the love of my life. How could I have gone on?

So, I started thinking about that. What would’ve happened if we hadn’t made it back then? I came up with the story of Ben Fletcher, a guy in his mid-50s, who lost Ronnie, the love of his life, 20 years ago due to a stupid mistake on his part. Ronnie married another man and moved away. Ben has recovered, sort of; he has a good job and makes a decent living, but he’s never fallen in love with another woman. Then one day when he’s cleaning his office, he finds an envelope. Inside is a card, with a phone number and three words in Ronnie’s handwriting: “Please help me.” Ben turns over the envelope and sees that it had been sent five years earlier…just at the time Ronnie disappeared.

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

The best part is telling stories that are meaningful, as well as entertaining. My protagonists are people who are trying their best to live a life of honor, which is not an easy thing these days. I happen to think we’ve lost a lot in that area, so if my stories can inspire people, even a little bit, to be better, to care for one another and be willing to fight for a just cause, then I’ve succeeded.

The worst part? Well, I could say that the worst part is not cracking the best-seller lists or seeing my books made into movies or TV series, but let’s get real. Very few authors ever see that level of success. If you get into this because you want to make a lot of money, you’ll be frustrated and disappointed. It’s like any other kind of artist—musician, painter, sculptor, poet, you name it. You’re in it to create art, and if people admire it, want to buy it, all the better. So, I really don’t have a “worst part.”

Describe your writing space.

We’re in the process of building a new house here in southwest Wisconsin, so for the next year or so, my writing space is the kitchen table in our rented cabin. The new house will have a library, which is where I’ll have my “office,” if you will. I’m trying to be patient, but it can’t get here soon enough.

Which authors have inspired you?

I’ve been fortunate to meet and talk with some fine authors: Brad Thor, Mark Greaney, Kyle Mills, Jack Carr, William Kent Krueger, and others. Their work inspires me, but so do their words of encouragement.

What is your favorite quote?

“It is not the critic who counts…but the man who is actually in the arena.”
Theodore Roosevelt

If you had a superpower, what would it be?

Like any husband, I sometimes think that having the ability to read minds would be helpful, but if we’re looking at a Superman-type of power, it would be flying. Definitely flying. Although, to be honest, super-strength would be handier.

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

I trained in martial arts for about 20 years, earning black belts in taekwondo and Ryukyu kobujutsu, which is the study of Okinawan weaponry. My wife is also a black belt in that art, and we’ve both trained in karate. My own training has been more or less on the shelf the past couple years as I’ve dealt with some podiatry issues, but I intend to resolve those and get back on the mat as soon as possible.

I mentioned that we’re building a house, and we’ve relocated from the lake country of northwest Wisconsin to the Driftless Area of the state’s southwest. It’s a beautiful area and there are so many things to explore, so my wife and I are making that our new hobby.

Any advice for aspiring writers?

Steven Pressfield, author of Gates of Fire, had six words of advice that every writer should follow: “Get your ass in the chair.”

What are you working on next?

I have three series underway. The Dance We Shared is book 3 in the Men of Honor series. My next work will be on book 4 in the Quest series. Quest for Justice will follow the protagonists, Wisconsin brothers Jim and Mark Hayes, and their wives as they go to West Africa to help a group of missionaries who are being threatened by Marxist revolutionaries. Jim is an accomplished martial artist and Mark, his younger brother, is an Army combat veteran. They work for a Chicago-based security firm, and they’ll answer an appeal from a missionary who speaks at their church. It’ll turn out to be a lot more dangerous than just going into the jungle and escorting some folks back to civilization.

My White Vixen series is four books in, and book 5 will be The Black Orca, in which I send my heroine, US Air Force special operator Jo Ann Geary, to Antarctica to uncover the mystery of a sunken WW2 U-boat that may lead to a secret Nazi base that could still be operational, 35 years after the end of the war. (Sue and I are planning a trip to Antarctica for early ’28; I love doing research in the field!)

Finally, book 4 in MoH will be Man on a Mission. I’m still not sure what that’ll be about, but it will take place in Crawford County, here in the Driftless, and feature an appearance by Scott Armstrong, the protagonist in book 2, The Man in the Arena.

Blurb

Ben Fletcher seems to have it all going for him. In his early fifties, he’s in great shape thanks to a disciplined regimen of weight training, swimming and martial arts. He has a job that pays him a good living in the charming Wisconsin city of La Crosse. Divorced a quarter-century earlier, he remains close to his two grown children and grandkids. Ben is content with his life.

But he’s not happy. Twenty years ago, he was, during that glorious year and a half he was dating the glamorous Veronica Starr. They were an “item”: Ben, the city’s highest-rated radio announcer, and Ronnie, an award-winning TV newscaster. They were starting to talk about the future, one that would include marriage and kids. But then, Ben made a stupid mistake, and it all came crashing down. Ronnie broke off the relationship, met an older man and married him.

Within a year she was gone, moving with her new husband to the Twin Cities. Ben had no choice but to move on with his life the best he could.

One day, he’s cleaning out a file cabinet in his office and finds an old catalog. Before throwing it out, he riffles through its pages, and an envelope drops onto his desk. Opening it, he finds a card. In handwriting he immediately recognizes as Ronnie’s are a phone number and the words, “Please help me.” When he looks again at the envelope he sees the postmark: it had been sent five years earlier…just before Veronica Starr left her husband, quit her job and disappeared.

Excerpt

Please help me.

Three words. The first from her in…how long? They were definitely hers, though. Not in an email but real ink on paper, and not typed, but written, in her distinct, precise and very feminine cursive, with a phone number below. On the inside of a card, otherwise blank. On the face of the card, the Minneapolis skyline.

The square envelope, empty now, lay there on my desk, its face staring up at me. My office address, also in her hand. No return address, though. And the kicker: the postmark. The card had been sent from the Twin Cities almost exactly five years ago.

It was the start of a new week, and my first order of business for the morning was to clean out a filing cabinet that was due to be taken away, destined for a homeless shelter. The athletic director had emailed the staff, asking us to consider donating little-used office furniture to the cause. Today was the deadline to have stuff ready for a crew of students to haul away. The cabinet was an easy choice. As the media relations director for athletics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, I had a lot of records, and since most of them now were electronic, I really had no use for this old gray clunker. What paper there was inside, I thought, could be sorted through, most of it discarded, the important stuff filed in the one remaining cabinet.

I’d pulled a catalog out of the bottom drawer, from some long-forgotten and probably shuttered sporting goods supplier and was just about to toss it into the trash bin when something—that’s all I can call it, something—prompted me to riffle through the pages. You never knew. And the envelope dropped out and onto my desk.

Getting something from the Twin Cities wasn’t out of the ordinary. Here in La Crosse, everybody was familiar with the Minnesota metropolis ninety minutes away. People listened to its radio stations and watched its TV channels, and went there for the shopping, college and pro sports, the theaters, and of course the airport. I went there only when work demanded it, and if I flew anywhere, it was usually out of the smaller airport in La Crosse, where I’d lived for the past quarter-century. I avoided the Cities because she worked there. Or used to, until she left. And it wasn’t as if she’d resigned from her high-visibility job as morning news anchor on the market’s highest-rated TV station and went somewhere else, maybe the network’s morning show in New York, which is where I always assumed she’d wind up.

No. It was five years ago, right after the date on the postmark, that Veronica Starr, the love of my life, vanished.

– Excerpted from The Dance We Shared by David Tindell, KDP, 2026. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

David Tindell was born in Germany and grew up in southwest Wisconsin. Together with his wife Sue, he’s traveled the world, seeking new locales for his novels. He trains in the martial arts, dabbles in radio and joins Sue in the never-ending search for the perfect chai tea latte.

His latest book is The Dance We Shared (Book 3 in Men of Honor). Other books include The Heights of Valor (Book 1 in Men of Honor) and The Man In the Arena (Book 3 in Men of Honor).

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I’m happy to welcome award-winning author Meg Benjamin. Today, Meg shares her new release, The Carrot Marmalade Murder.

Blurb

Roxy and Nate are finally getting married, but murder wasn’t on the program. In the midst of her wedding prep, Roxy has to deal with Nate’s trouble-making ex who thinks she can rekindle their romance. But things get serious when the ex ends up dead in a Shavano back alley. Now Roxy needs to clear Nate’s name, sell her customers on her carrot marmalade, and find herself a wedding dress. All before it’s time to take a deep breath and confront her own wedding jitters.

Excerpt

I headed back to the kitchen to get the next bunch of trays and platters ready to go.

Nate and Kevin picked up the hotel pans with meatballs and filo packets to place on the hot trays they already had in place. I followed with the artichoke dip and crostini. We were making good time, and the waitress for the night, Evie, had just arrived. Everything seemed to be falling into place. I felt like patting someone on the back.

“Nathan?”

I heard the woman’s voice as I stepped through the door behind Kevin. Ahead of us, Nate stopped dead in his tracks, which made it sort of difficult for Kevin and me to get around him and put our food on the table.

“Nathan? That is you, isn’t it?”

I turned toward the woman’s voice, noticing that Nate was staring rigidly toward the side of the room near the posters. As I watched, a tall blonde stepped forward with a brilliant smile.

Calling her a tall blonde doesn’t really do her justice, though. In her stocking feet, she was probably about my height, but she wasn’t in stocking feet at all. She wore bright green three-inch spike heels with open toes that showed purple toenails. The skirt of her vividly green minidress ended a good two inches above her knees, while the neckline dipped low across her considerable cleavage. Her tumble of curly hair was a kind of honey gold that I doubted very much was natural but looked terrific.

She was spectacular, and apparently, she knew Nate.

Author Bio and Links

Meg Benjamin is an award-winning author of romance and cozy mysteries. Meg’s cozy mystery series, Luscious Delights from Wild Rose Press, concerns a jam-making sleuth based in the mythical small town of Shavano, Colorado. Her contemporary romance Konigsburg series is set in the Texas Hill Country and her Salt Box and Brewing Love trilogies are set in the Colorado Rockies (all are available from Entangled Publishing and from Meg’s indie line). Along with romance and cozies, Meg is also the author of the paranormal Ramos Family trilogy from Berkley InterMix and the Folk trilogy from Meg’s indie line. Meg’s books have won numerous awards, including an EPIC Award, a Romantic Times Reviewers’ Choice Award, the Holt Medallion from Virginia Romance Writers, the Beanpot Award from the New England Romance Writers, the Carly Crown Jewel of Books from the Mid-America Romance Authors, and the Award of Excellence from Colorado Romance Writers.

Website | Personal Facebook | Author Facebook | Instagram | Threads | BlueSky | Goodreads | BookBub | YouTube | Amazon Author Page

Giveaway

Meg Benjamin will be awarding a $15 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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

The Carrot Marmalade Murder is the seventh book in Ms. Benjamin’s Luscious Delights Mystery series, and it delivers all the ingredients I’ve come to enjoy in a cozy mystery—intrigue, romance, murder, and a charming Colorado Rockies setting.

Add a trouble-making ex, wedding jitters, and scrumptious food, and you have the perfect recipe for an entertaining read. From the start, I found myself completely immersed in the story. The characters—both delightful and not-so-delightful—pulled me along, and I kept turning pages, eager to uncover what would happen next. I found myself becoming surprisingly invested in their choices, relationships, and tangled lives, which made the twists and turns all the more satisfying.

This is the kind of book that makes you want to put everything else aside and settle in for “just one more chapter”—only to realize that several chapters have disappeared. My advice? Set aside a large block of reading time, because once you begin, you may find it difficult to stop.

Well done!

I’m happy to welcome author Christopher Whittaker. Today, Christopher shares his new release, Heidenröslein: The Little Rose on the Heath

Blurb

Two men. Two worlds.

One war that will remake them both.

Peter Schiller, a disciplined officer from privilege, is trained to lead—but not for what war truly demands.

Günther Klein, a working-class recruit, is thrown into the trenches and forced to learn fast or die.

In the mud and ruin of the Great War, rank and class begin to dissolve. Orders blur into instinct. Honour bends under necessity. What remains is survival—and the thin, unspoken bond forged between two men who should never have met.

But war does not end when the guns fall silent.

Heidenröslein is a powerful, unflinching story of war, brotherhood, and the quiet, irreversible cost of becoming what the battlefield demands.

Excerpt

1914

The kitchen was small, but it carried the quiet dignity of people who owned little and cared for everything.

Against one wall stood a heavy sideboard of dark timber, polished by years of careful hands rather than luxury. Fine China sat arranged behind glass doors, each piece positioned with deliberate precision. The plates were reserved for Sundays, feast days, or visits important enough to justify the risk of using something fragile. Crystal wine glasses hung above them, catching the weak morning light and holding it in muted amber reflections.

Nothing in the room was fashionable.

Everything in it was treasured.

In the center stood a small round table worn smooth at the edges where elbows, plates, and years of conversation had rubbed away the varnish. The stove and icebox stood side by side beneath the far wall, black iron beside chipped white enamel, both old enough to have become part of the family itself. Beneath the kitchen window ran a long washing trough, damp to the touch, carrying the faint scent of soap, starch, and boiled cabbage that seemed to linger permanently in the wood.

At it stood Frau Klein.

She held a cup beneath the water, slowly moving the cloth around its rim although it had already been cleaned twice over. Her hands worked from instinct now, broad and reddened from years of labour, fingers thickened from kneading dough, wringing cloth, hauling water, carrying coal, and doing every invisible task required to keep a household alive.

She had once been handsome in the soft, rosy-cheeked way of country girls.

Now life had settled heavily upon her.

Author Bio and Link

Chris lives in Perth, Western Australia with his wife Dianne.

Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome author Sasha Hopkins. Today, Sasha shares his new release, The Tale of the Prince and the Spider.

Blurb

Prince Alexander is a boy filled with courage, laughter, and light, until a chance encounter with a mysterious new “friend” changes everything. Trapped in a web of fear and silence, he must find the strength to fight back against a dark trickster who wants to steal his voice, his joy, and his future.

The Tale of the Prince and the Spider is a modern fairytale for children, parents, and anyone who has faced fear in silence. Told with warmth, honesty, and hope, it reveals how secrets can poison, how love protects, and how even the smallest voice can grow into a roar.

Through Alexander’s journey, readers discover that pain does not define us—courage does. His story is both a thrilling adventure and a gentle reminder that you are stronger than your fears, your voice matters, and you are never alone.

This is more than a tale of princes and monsters. It is a story for every family who longs for healing, resilience, and light in dark times. Beautifully written to spark conversations between children and adults, it invites readers to talk openly about bravery, truth, and the power of standing tall.

Excerpt

One sunny morning, Alexander started an adventure. The sun shone bright like a golden bell, lighting up hills covered in green grass, and wildflowers—yellow, purple, red—spread out like a painter’s canvas. The wind carried scents of dirt and sweet clover, tickling his nose as he rode Menace, his brown horse, whose fur coat gleamed like a soldier’s sword. Menace’s hooves thumped the dirt road, kicking up dust that sparkled. Alexander held the reins tight, feeling them rub his hands, the breeze messing up his hair as his saddle creaked along with the swaying trees above.

Bushes shook—a rabbit darted past; a hawk’s shadow soared overhead. The road stretched on, but where trees grew thick, shadows moved, hinting at a forest full of secrets. Menace huffed, ears twitching, and Alexander patted his warm, scratchy neck. “Keep going, boy,” he said quietly, his heart beating with excitement.

Through the kingdom he went, past roads busy with familiar smiling people who stopped to cheer, their voices lifting him up. But farther out, it got quiet, the land wide and free. With a lion’s bravery, a fire’s strength, and a heart full of love, he rode into the unknown.

Author Bio and Links

Sasha Hopkins is a father of five and a storyteller from Melbourne, Australia. His journey has been shaped by both love and hardship. As a child, Sasha endured trauma that left deep scars, yet he chose not to remain silent or let those experiences define him. Instead, he transformed his pain into a story of courage, resilience, and hope.

He wrote The Tale of the Prince and the Spider during a period of recovery in Western Australia, creating it as a gift for his children, Winter, Hunter, Hudson, Navy, and Orion. What began as a father’s offering of love became a timeless fairytale for families everywhere: a reminder that even in life’s darkest moments, light can be found, voices can be heard, and healing is always possible.

Through his writing, Sasha shares a powerful message: your past does not diminish you, and speaking out is an act of bravery that can inspire others. When he isn’t writing, Sasha is adventuring with his kids, encouraging them to embrace adventure, laughter, and the strength within themselves.

Goodreads | Amazon Buy Link

Giveaway

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

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

I’m happy to welcome back author Gail Koger. Today, Gail shares her new release, Cops in Space.

Blurb

Once upon a time, I was a “normal” teenager. Now I’m a galactic cop with a deadly predator as my boss. I get to deal with flesh eating monsters, alien babies, hunky warlords, space battles and not so bright bad guys. Plus, the fate of the universe rests in our hands. What could possibly go wrong? Did I mention the baby? (It’s a boy).

Excerpt

Jaxor let out a hungry wail.

Crap. I pulled his bottle out of my side pocket and held out my arms.

Qa’a plucked the baby out of the bassinet and handed him to me. Jaxor’s tentacles wrapped around my wrist as I popped the bottle of milk in his mouth. “Such a hungry little guy.” I looked up at Kaelen. “We’re gonna need more milk.”

“Xylar will provide for him,” Uncle Zarek said.

I frowned. “Who?”

Uncle Zarek gestured at the glittering blue light blossoming in front of us. “His father.”

The light faded and there stood an enormous Askole warrior in battle armor. His tentacles squirmed wildly about his snakelike features as his gaze locked on Jaxor.

“Your son is unharmed, but very hungry,” I said.

The Askole warrior carefully picked Jaxor up and a short tug of war ensued. The little guy wasn’t going to let go of the bottle or my wrist. I winced when he stung me. “Do not sting Aunty Lexi,” I admonished.

“His mother died with honor.” Kaelen inserted and helped peel off Jaxor’s sticky little tentacles.

Xylar held Jaxor against his chest like he was the most precious thing in the galaxy. “I welcome you to our clan, Lexi. I will accept you as my mate.”

“Uh. What?”

Kaelen pushed me behind him. “Lexi is my mate.”

“She is not wearing your ownership band.”

“Ownership band?” I squawked.

Uncle Zarek suddenly stood toe-to-toe with Xylar. “Lexi is blood of my blood and not yet twenty-one. She has bonded with Kaelen.”

“Jaxor marked this female as his mother. That mark allows me to claim her,” Xylar stated with absolute finality.

Author Bio and Links

I was a 9-1-1 dispatcher for the Glendale Police Department and to keep from going totally bonkers – I mean people have no idea of what a real emergency is. Take this for an example: I answered, “9-1-1 emergency, what’s your emergency?” And this hysterical woman yelled, “My bird is in a tree.” Sometimes I really couldn’t help myself, so I said, “Birds have a tendency to do that, ma’am.” The woman screeched, “No! You don’t understand. My pet parakeet is in the tree. I’ve just got to get him down.” Like I said, not a clue. “I’m sorry ma’am, but we don’t get birds out of trees.” The woman then cried, “But… What about my husband? He’s up there, too.” See what I had to deal with? To keep from hitting myself repeatedly in the head with my phone, I took up writing.

Goodreads | X/Twitter | Facebook | Website | Instagram | BookBub | Amazon Buy Link | Smashwords | BlueSky

Giveaway

Gail Koger will be awarding a $15 Amazon/Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Find out more here.

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