Tag Archives: Book Reviews

The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens #Mystery @chevystevens #Review The Hitchhikers by Chevy Stevens #Mystery @chevystevens #Review @StMartinsPress

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 The open road beckons.

A chance for them to reconnect.

Then they make a fatal mistake.

It’s the summer of 1976 and Alice and Tom set out on the remote Canadian highways in their new RV, hoping to heal their broken hearts after a devastating tragedy.

They’ve planned the trip perfectly, taken care of every detail. Then they meet two young hitchhikers down on their luck and offer them a ride. But Simon and Jenny aren’t what they seem. They’ve left a trail of blood, destruction, and madness behind them.

Now Alice and Tom are trapped, prisoners in a deadly game, with nowhere to turn. As the tension builds, the lines blur, and the question becomes, In whose heart does evil truly lie? What secrets are Jenny and Simon hiding? And who will live another day?

A chilling, twist-laden ride to the final page, THE HITCHHIKERS is that rare novel that will break your heart as well as hold you in suspense. The author of the classic thrillers STILL MISSING and THOSE GIRLS has delivered her next breathtaking novel.


I read this book pretty fast — partly because I couldn’t put it down, and partly because I wanted to get through the terrifying parts before my imagination got the best of me. At several points, I actually had to pause and catch my breath, but that’s what made it so captivating. The author does an incredible job building suspense while making the characters feel real, especially Simon. His development was so well-written that I found myself completely invested in what happened to him.

What really impressed me was how quickly the story took off — the “all hell breaks loose” moment hits early, and by about 20% in, you already know you’re in for a wild, chaotic ride that doesn’t slow down. The pacing was perfect, keeping me hooked from the first page all the way to the end.

From page one, it grabbed me and never let go. If you’re looking for something intense, fast-paced, and filled with unforgettable moments, this is a must-read.





Chevy Stevens

Website http://www.chevystevens.com

Twitter ChevyStevens

Genre Mystery & Thrillers, Crime, Fiction

Amazon 


CHEVY STEVENS lives on Vancouver Island with her husband and daughter. When she’s not working on her next book, she’s spending time with her family and their two dogs. Chevy’s debut novel, STILL MISSING, was a New York Times bestseller and won the International Thriller Writers Award for Best First Novel. Her books, including THOSE GIRLS which Stephen King called “incredibly scary” have been published in more than thirty countries. Her eighth novel is THE HITCHHIKERS 

Ugly Duckling by Lani Lynn Vale @GiveMeBooksPR @LaniLynnVale

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Title: Ugly Duckling
Series: Content Advisory #6
Author: Lani Lynn Vale
Genre: Mafia Romance
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Cinnamon Roll Hero
Single Dad/Nanny
Release Date: October 7, 2025


BLURB

It wasn’t easy being considered the ugly friend.

She’s known since she was young that life wouldn’t be easy, and that she would have to work hard for everything she got. Life was tough when you had a face that only a mother could love.

For years, Sutton Sway goes through life knowing that she’s never going to have a happily ever after that she’s always dreamed of. So she settles. She marries not for love, but for companionship, choosing a man that she never should’ve looked twice at, all so she could have a family of her own.

That family never happens, and within a year, she’s divorced and right back where she started.

Just when she’s at her all-time low, thinking life couldn’t get much worse, in walks Gunner Penn.

Gunner Penn, her protector. The man that saved her from all her high school bullies and proved to her that there were good men in this world.

He was the man that she’d compared all other men to, and probably always would.

But he’s not the Gunner she remembers. He’s harder, less forgiving, and a whole lot less happy.
He hates everyone and everything and doesn’t care who he offends.

That hate and anger for the world and its occupants doesn’t seem to include her, though.
No, Gunner Penn doesn’t hate her at all.

In fact, he’s loved her since high school. She was just too traumatized by life to see it.
But she sees it now. She feels it. She lives and breathes it.

Gunner Penn lost her once. But he won’t lose her a second time.

Not if there’s breath left in his body.

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AUTHOR BIO

Lani Lynn Vale is an American author of humorous romantic suspense novels. Born in the Great State of Texas, she has lived the majority of her adult life in East Texas where most of her novels are based. She’s married to her high school sweetheart whom her readers refer to as “LLV’s Bearded Half.” She published her first novel, Boomtown. in the summer of 2013 after the birth of her third child. She’s gone on to publish over 100 novels, with most of them going on to become USA Today Bestsellers.


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The Interview by Lesley Jones @GiceMeBooksPR

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Title: The Interview
Series: Carnage #6
Author: Lesley Jones
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Tropes: Rock Star Romance/Love Later in Life
Found Family/Secrets & Lies/Plot Twists
Cover Design: Lou J Stock
Release Date: October 16, 2025


BLURB

HAVE YOU RECOVERED ENOUGH FROM THE TRAUMA OF BOOK ONE, THE STORY OF US?

Because The Highly Anticipated Book 6 In The New York Times Best Selling Carnage Series Is Finally Here!

Brace yourself for some unexpected, emotional, and heartfelt revelations, as cameras follow the fiercely private Georgia McCarthy King.

For years, Georgia has shied away from the spotlight, carefully guarding her personal life.

So why has she finally agreed to a no holds barred interview and documentary that will reveal intimate details about her and her family, including her notorious brother and former Carnage band member, Marley Layton?

As the world eagerly awaits the release of the highly anticipated movie, Carnage: A Band. A Life, Georgia’s change of heart raises questions and stirs up curiosity.

Secrets and past trauma are soon laid bare as Lesley Jones delivers another raw, gritty and emotional read.

The tea is about to be spilled and if you’re a fan of The Emotionally Charged Carnage Series, you will want to be there for every drop!

Books 1-5 In The Carnage Series Should Be Read First.

Please Refer To The Authors Website For Triggers.



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Lesley Jones was born and raised in Essex, England but moved to Australia in 2006 with her family. Her first book, Saviour, was published in 2013 and she quickly gained a reputation as a writer of gritty, down to earth characters, involved in angsty and emotional plot lines. Carnage, her third novel, made a number of lists, and won a number of awards for ‘Best Ugly Cry’. Her readers love the fact that she can switch her stories from hot and steamy, to snot bubble ugly crying, followed by laugh out loud moments, in the space of a few sentences. She has declared that the very best part of her job is meeting her readers and has travelled the world a number of times over the past few years to do exactly that. Lesley is a big fan of wearing pyjamas at any time of day, but not a fan of wearing a bra, unless absolutely necessary.

When not writing, she has admitted to being a prolific reader, getting through around four or five books a week. She is a fan of trashy reality TV, listening to music, watching her son play football, spicy food and enjoys a glass of wine… or three.

Rescuing Dr. Marian by Lucy Lennox @GiveMeBooksPR @lucylennoxMM

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Title: Rescuing Dr. Marian
Series: Made Marian Legacy #1
Author: Lucy Lennox
Genre: Contemporary Gay Romance
Tropes: Opposites Attract/Late Bi-Awakening
Forced Proximity/Only One Cabin/Fake Boyfriend
Release Date: August 19, 2025


BLURB

One kiss changed everything.
As sheriff, I’m the guy people call for help.
But when my solo Hawaii trip gets hijacked by my clingy ex, suddenly I’m the one who needs saving.
My unlikely rescuer?
A gorgeous stranger who plants one breathtaking, reckless kiss on me in the middle of a crowded bar—sending my ex packing… and stealing my carefully guarded heart.
Tommy Marian kissed me like he knew me.
Like he wanted me.
Like I was his.
Like he was mine.
But he’s not.
He’s a straight, ambitious city doctor—here in paradise for his own damn wedding.
And I’m going home alone, as usual.
Six months later, I land a dream search and rescue gig in Legacy, Montana.
One summer. A break from my coupled-up friends. Zero distractions.
Except guess who’s freshly single… and bunking in my tiny cabin? The biggest distraction of my life.
Tommy Marian is still beautiful, still infuriating, and still everything I can’t want.
He says what happens in Legacy stays in Legacy.
I say I’m not even tempted.
At least one of us is lying.
Because when Tommy disappears on the mountain, I realize I’d burn the world to get him back…
And maybe this time, I won’t let him go.



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AUTHOR BIO

Lucy Lennox is a USA Today bestselling author and winner of the A.C. Katt Gay Debut Novel Award.

After enjoying creative writing as a child, Lucy didn’t write her first novel until she was over 40 years old. Her debut novel, Borrowing Blue, was published in the autumn of 2016. Lucy has an English Literature degree from Vanderbilt University, but that doesn’t hold a candle to the years and years of staying up all night reading tantalizing novels on her own. She has three children, plays tennis, and hates folding laundry. While her husband is no shmoopy romance hero, he is very good at math, cooks a mean lasagne, has gorgeous eyes, looks hot in his business clothes, and makes her laugh every single day. She writes gay romance with heart, humor, and heat!


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V

Extraction by J.L. Drake @j.l.drake @GiveMeBooksPR

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Title: Extraction
Trilogy: Stonewall #1
Author: J.L. Drake
Genre: Military Romantic Suspense
Tropes: Secret Child/Found Family/Cartel World
Alpha Male/Enemies to Lovers/Forced Proximity
Release Date: June 26, 2025


BLURB

From the author of the bestselling Broken Trilogy and Dark Water Series comes Extraction—the first book in Stonewall, a dangerous suspense series in the World of Mayhem, where brotherhood runs deep, and the fight for what matters most only gets harder when the heart is on the line.

Agent Paul is a soldier of many faces—
a ghost, an undercover operative, a team leader.

But those are just titles.

When a letter lands in his hands, everything changes. The past he buried resurfaces with a single revelation—his son.

Returning to the cartel world he barely escaped is a mission he can’t face alone. His brothers rally behind him, shifting their current operation to follow a trail that leads into the darkest corners of Mexico. What they encounter is far more than intel.

A pawn.
An heir.
A child.

Nicole Winter is a war correspondent with a reputation for chasing the truth. Smart. Relentless. And already three steps ahead. When their paths collide, she’s holding the one document Paul needs—and carrying secrets of her own.

As trust is tested and loyalties blur, the mission spirals. When Paul vanishes mid-operation, Nicole is left with one impossible task—to get the boy out alive.

Even if it costs her everything.

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Author J.L. Drake was born and raised in Nova Scotia, Canada, later moving to Southern California where she lives with her husband and two children. 

When she’s not writing she loves to spend time with her family, traveling or just enjoying a night at home. One thing you might notice in her books is her love for the four seasons. Growing up on the east coast of Canada the change in the seasons is in her blood and is often mentioned in her writing. 

An avid reader of James Patterson, J.L. Drake has often found herself inspired by his many stories of mystery and intrigue.

She hopes you will enjoy her stories as much as she has enjoyed writing them.


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Soft Tissue Damage by Lilith Vincent @GiveMeBooksPR

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Title: Soft Tissue Damage
A Boyfriend’s Dad Dark Romance
Series: Deadly Hearts #2
Author: Lilith Vincent
Genre: Dark Romance
Tropes: Forbidden Romance/Boyfriend’s Dad
Cover Design: Soren Designs
Release Date: September 24, 2025


BLURB

His obsession for me is deadly, and I’m falling prey to his pleasure.

There’s never been any security in my life. After being dumped on indifferent relatives as a child, it hurt when I realized that no one was ever going to protect me.

But Cullan, my boyfriend’s father, makes me feel safer than any man I’ve ever known. He’s twice my age and totally forbidden, but his protective embraces, deep voice, and inked muscles have awoken things in me that I shouldn’t want.

When darkness swallows me, it’s Cullan who pulls me into his strong arms and leads me back into the light. He gives me protection, and a job as a nanny to his very young child. But I suspect that Cullan is drenched in his own darkness. There’s a killer on the loose in the city, and I think I know the identity of the man behind the red mask.

My instincts tell me to run from Cullan as fast as I can, but my boyfriend’s father has stolen my heart with hands that are soaked in blood.

And though it should be impossible, I think I’m having his baby.

Author’s note: Soft Tissue Damage is a standalone boyfriend’s father MF romance with dark themes, a twenty-year age gap, the hero as the other man, breeding, a jealous and possessive alphahole, and a sweet but strong virgin heroine. This book features appearances of characters from Fear Me, Love Me. The story is dark, dirty and delicious, so please read at your discretion.





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EXCERPT

I put my hands on Elena’s waist and slowly back her against a bookcase. “You didn’t tell Leon about our kiss?”

Elena shakes her head. She’s in the circle of my arms with my head bent over her.

“Why didn’t you tell him?”

“We made a mistake because of the intense situation.” But she looks conflicted. Because she doesn’t know what she wants, or because she doesn’t know if she’s allowed to have it?

I bend my head lower toward her lips and whisper, “Was it a mistake?”

Is there a chance she doesn’t want Leon, and she wants me instead? Her mouth is parted, and her eyes are filled with longing. Does she ever look at Leon like this, or is this needy expression just for me? We’re so close that her face is just inches from mine.

“Elena, how attached are you to my son?”

I know what I’d say if she wasn’t dating my son. Be a good girl and tip those pretty lips up for a kiss. But first I have to know how she feels.

“Cullan…” she breathes.

I cup her jaw and slide my thumb over her full lips. Elena closes her eyes and arches her throat as I touch her, and desire pours through me. She shouldn’t say my name like that and respond to my touch like that if she wants me to back off.

I have to know if I have a chance with her. “Tell me. How much do you really want my son?”






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Lilith Vincent is a steamy romance author who believes in living on the wild side! Whether it’s reverse harem or M/F romance, mafia men and bad boys with tattoos are her weakness, and the heroines who bring them to their knees.


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Make the Play by Kaylee Ryan @Author_K_Ryan @GiveMeBooksPR

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Title: Make the Play
Series: Nashville Rampage #1
Author: Kaylee Ryan
Genre: Contemporary Sports Romance
Tropes: Football Romance/Brother’s Best Friend
Teammate’s Sister/Forbidden/Secret Relationship
Release Date: June 24, 2025


BLURB

Corie

Knox Beckett is heartbreak in a helmet. He’s also my brother’s best friend, and so far out of my league, he’s untouchable.

But a few stolen glances turn into a welcome home that blindsides us both.

The rules are clear. We just chose not to follow them.

Now we’re sneaking around like we’re running a trick play, hooking up behind closed doors, and pretending our actions don’t have the power to blow up our lives.

Knox is under my skin and tackling his way into my heart. Ready or not, it’s time we make the play.


Knox

She’s the last girl I’m allowed to want—my best friend’s little sister. She’s all grown up and looking at me in invitation.

The second Corie crashes into me, with her tanned, toned skin, in a barely there bikini, I know I’m in trouble.

I shouldn’t look. And I sure as hell shouldn’t touch. My hands are already on her waist, one second longer, and I’ll do something we both might regret.

What I do is even worse. I help her land a job working for the team. My team.

Now I can’t get her out of my mind, or my way. And keeping my hands to myself is a penalty waiting to happen. Because Corie isn’t just off-limits—she’s one line I swore I’d never cross, yet I’m sprinting toward it.

I’d risk the season—my entire career—for her just to make the play.



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AUTHOR BIO



New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author Kaylee Ryan has been crowned the Queen of Swoon by her readers. With nearly fifty romance books under her belt, she’s known for penning happily ever afters with heart. When she’s not writing, you can find her with a book in her hand or hanging out with her family where she resides in her home state of Ohio.


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Someone Knows by Vi Keeland @vi_keeland #release @GiveMeBooksPR

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Title: Someone Knows
Author: Vi Keeland
Publisher: S&S/Emily Bestler Books
Genre: Standalone Thriller
Release Date: June 17, 2025


BLURB

As a college English professor, Elizabeth looks forward to the start of each new semester teaching her creative writing seminar. At least until she reads chapter one of The Reckoning, a tale about a high school senior who has an affair with her teacher. To anyone else it would be the beginning of a great page-turner, but to Elizabeth it is the beginning of the end.

She knows this story. It’s all familiar because she lived it. The girl in the story was her best friend Jocelyn, and Elizabeth knows exactly how the story will end—with the teacher dead. Because she was the one who killed him.

Someone knows what Elizabeth did twenty years ago and her secret is about to be exposed, but who is the mystery student submitting the chapters? In an effort to find out, Elizabeth returns to her Louisiana hometown where it soon becomes clear that no matter how many years have gone by, she can’t escape her past.








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Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.


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Final Down by Ginger Scott @TheGingerScott @wordsmithpublic

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Years ago, I accepted that football would always be a part of my life. I just didn’t know how.


When I met Wyatt Stone, I figured the game would weave its way into my young heart and become a part of my first real love. When I married him, I assumed my life would follow the same path as my mother’s—the wife of an NFL quarterback, with all the highs and lows that come along with it.


But when Wyatt didn’t get picked in the draft, everything changed. And Wyatt’s light, however hard he fought to keep it alive, dimmed. Football has a funny way of operating in this family, though. It lingers, like the haze that hovers over my family’s ranch fields in the Arizona desert horizon.


For my dad, the game stuck around through coaching, and Wyatt thought maybe that was enough for him too. But football had other plans. A second chance at glory. A renewed spark in his soul, calling him to give the dream one more shot. And as much as I want to keep him close, to start our family and walk a new path—one that football doesn’t get to dictate—I know that when it comes to this game, I’ve never really called the shots. I’ve merely gone along for the ride. I just hope that this time it doesn’t break my heart completely.


Influencer signup: Link in bio @wordsmithpublicity 


#Finaldown #Football #Soulmates #sportsromance #sportsromancebooks #Smalltown #Gingerscott  #Wordsmithpublicity


Ginger Scott is an Amazon-bestselling and Goodreads Choice Award-nominated author of several young and new adult romances, including Waiting on the Sidelines, Going Long, Blindness, How We Deal With Gravity, This Is Falling, You and Everything After, The Girl I Was Before, Wild Reckless, Wicked Restless, In Your Dreams, The Hard Count, Hold My Breath, and A Boy Like You.

A sucker for a good romance, Ginger’s other passion is sports, and she often blends the two in her stories. (She’s also a sucker for a hot quarterback, catcher, pitcher, point guard…the list goes on.) Ginger has been writing and editing for newspapers, magazines and blogs for more than 15 years. She has told the stories of Olympians, politicians, actors, scientists, cowboys, criminals and towns. For more on her and her work, visit her website at http://www.littlemisswrite.com.

When she’s not writing, the odds are high that she’s somewhere near a baseball diamond, either watching her son field pop flies like Bryce Harper or cheering on her favorite baseball team, the Arizona Diamondbacks. Ginger lives in Arizona and is married to her college sweetheart whom she met at ASU (fork ’em, Devils).

Social Media Links:

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Twitter: @TheGingerScott

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YouTube: Youtube

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Find more books by Ginger Scott here: https://www.littlemisswrite.com

WE DON’T TALK ABOUT CAROL by Kristen L. Berry #review @kristenlberry @randomhouse

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A dedicated journalist unearths a generations-old family secret—and a connection to a string of missing girls that hits way too close to home—in this gripping debut novel.

In the wake of her grandmother’s passing, Sydney Singleton finds a hidden photograph of a little girl who looks more like Sydney than her own sister or mother. She soon discovers the mystery girl in the photograph is her aunt, Carol, who was one of six North Carolina Black girls to go missing in the 1960s. For the last several decades, not a soul has talked about Carol or what really happened to her. But now, with her grandmother gone and Sydney looking to start a family of her own, she is determined to unravel the truth behind her long-lost aunt’s disappearance, and the sinister silence that surrounds her.

Unfortunately, this is familiar territory for Sydney: Years earlier, while she worked the crime beat as a journalist, her obsession with the case of another missing girl led to a psychotic break. And now, in the suffocating grip of fertility treatments and a marriage that’s beginning to crumble, Sydney’s relentless pursuit for answers might just lead her down the same path of self-destruction. As she delves deeper into Carol’s fate, her own troubled past reemerges, clawing its way to the surface with a vengeance. The web of secrets and lies entangling her family leaves Sydney questioning everything—her fixation on the missing girls, her future as a mom, and her trust in those she knows and loves.

Delving into family, community, secrets, and motherhood, We Don’t Talk About Carol is a gripping and deeply emotional story about overcoming the rot at the roots of our family trees—and what we’ll do for those we love.






Excellent Read from Page One

This book hooked me from the start. Though it’s a fictional story, it felt deeply personal—likely because I’ve been a longtime listener of the Black Girl Gone podcast, which made me especially excited for this read.

The story doesn’t waste time with a slow build—it dives in with purpose. We follow the intelligent and determined Sydney as she searches for girls who went missing 60 years ago. Her main focus? Aunt Carol, who vanished at just 16. Was she murdered like the six other girls believed to be? Through Carol’s story, we uncover a tale of young love, rebellion, and a mysterious man named Michael.

Beyond the mystery, the book explores rich emotional territory. There’s Sydney’s complex relationship with her sister Sasha—strained by an age gap—and their distant, emotionally unavailable mother, which adds even more depth to the narrative.

Sydney’s fertility struggles were especially moving. Her emotional and physical journey through treatments added a layer of vulnerability that made me root for her even more.

I genuinely want more from this author—this was an incredible debut. Bravo! Big thanks to NetGalley and the author for the ARC.

Amazon 



Kristen L. Berry is a writer and communications executive. Born and raised in Metro Detroit, Kristen graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor’s Degree in English Language & Literature. She has provided PR and communications expertise to leading consumer brands for nearly 20 years, all while writing in her spare time. Kristen co-founded a critique group that has gathered monthly since 2019. When she isn’t reading or writing, Kristen can be found lifting heavy at the gym, hiking in Malibu, eating her way through Los Angeles with her partner, or shouting at the latest Formula 1 race. WE DON’T TALK ABOUT CAROL is her debut novel.

https://www.kristenlberry.com/