Category Archives: BOOKS

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | June 12, 2021 · 5:00 am

Sailing to Byzantium Blitz

Literary LGBTQ

Date Published: 5/29/21

Publisher: Blue Fortune Enterprises, LLC

Three friends, one life-changing summer.

Vana, the math prodigy with a voice that is 85% Sarah Vaughan, 10% Billie Holiday, and 5% Aretha Franklin and an attitude to match. Desperate to leave her chaotic family and become the independent woman of her imagination, she lands a summer job on an aging Greek cruise ship as a member of the house band.

Marko, who failed his university entrance exams, is on the trail of bouzouki god Markos Vamvakaris, in hopes of claiming his own artistic identity.

Stepan, agronomist, accordionist, occasional mystic, has spent the last ten years hopelessly, secretly in love with his only friend.

Stranded in the surreal microcosm of a cruise ship, the three friends stumble across a series of dark and dissolving frontiers: between love and friendship, memory and forgetfulness, sacrifice and redemption. On this voyage to the heart of an ancient world, can the bonds of a friendship forged in childhood survive the tests of tragedy and self-discovery?

About the Author

Lori Frey Ranner is a New Orleans native and Oxford-trained Byzantinist. For the past twenty years she has taught history, theology, and Classics in various New Orleans institutions. Married and mother to three children, Sailing to Byzantium is her first novel.

Contact Link

Purchase Links

Comments Off on Sailing to Byzantium Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Literary LGBTQ, Lori Frey Ranner, Sailing to Byzantium

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | June 11, 2021 · 5:00 am

Mushroom Honeymoon Blitz

Book Two in the Psychedelic Love Series

Magical Romance

Date Published: May 2021

Publisher: Ocean Flower Press

Magical, sexy, tropical, and terrifying — Mushroom Honeymoon follows a couple’s quest for harmony and love, despite physical and mental obstacles.

Newly married, Saman wants to be a wonderful husband, but serious health concerns are affecting his daily life and marriage. To improve his situation, he undergoes a kidney transplant, but the procedure leads to as many complications as solutions to his problems.

After the operation, Saman’s wife, Thelma, plans a belated honeymoon to Hawaii, hoping it will help her troubled husband relax. Before they leave, a friend gives Thelma the contact of a wealthy entrepreneur who hosts transcendental magic mushroom (psilocybin) and psilohuasca (ayahuasca component + magic mushrooms) ceremonies on his secluded Hawaiian estate. Based on her own visions and transformative experiences with psychedelics, Thelma believes the ceremony may benefit Saman, and she books the psychedelic retreat.

As the couple explores the lush landscape of Hawaii, the trip reveals the strengths and weaknesses of their bond. Saman grows hesitant to attend the mushroom ceremony, while Thelma becomes convinced that it’s exactly what her husband needs. What she doesn’t realize is that Saman harbors a secret that could threaten more than just their marriage.

Is the honeymoon of their love only beginning? Or will Saman’s dishonesty lead to the destruction of their relationship?

In Mushroom Honeymoon, Charlotte Dune creates an emotional and supernatural romance, teaming with visionary energy and surreal hallucinations, taking the reader deep into the psyches of two incomplete individuals seeking to emerge together in wholeness and love.

Mushroom Honeymoon, is book two in The Psychedelic Love Series and can be read as a standalone or in sequence. It picks up where Cactus Friends: A Psychedelic Love Story leaves off and delves into the challenges of marriage, plant medicine culture, and the joys of Hawaii.

Cactus Friends

Book One in the Psychedelic Love Series

Published: April 2020

Publisher: Ocean Flower Press

Plant medicine plus passion in this non-stop, steamy, and tropical adventure.

A struggling photographer, Thelma searches for direction in her life. The universe draws her to a group conducting secret plant medicine ceremonies on a farm in Florida’s southern Everglades. After drinking a mescaline tea made from the San Pedro, wachuma cactus with the group, she receives an unusual message and meets a young Persian man suffering from kidney failure named Saman. Together, they try to unravel the hidden meaning of Thelma’s prophetic visions — a path that leads directly to Thelma’s past and to Saman’s future.

In Cactus Friends, Charlotte Dune creates a story rich with supernatural energy and imagery, taking the reader inside the world of underground shamans, psychedelic encounters, and wachuma, or huachuma, and ayahuasca ceremonies.

Cactus Friends: A Psychedelic Love Story uncovers the power of romances old and new, and traverses the unbreakable threads that connect lovers across space and time.

Praised for its unusual setting, Cactus Friends is a fast and magical romance book that keeps the reader turning the pages from beginning to end.

Amazon

Excerpt

As their lips parted, a hush fell over the crowd and Bāne Kama strolled out from the living room. Bare-chested, he wore white linen pants with a belt of braided plant fibers and a necklace of golf-ball-sized black beads with a large Hawaiian fishhook dangling above his navel.

As he passed, Thelma got a better view of his tattoos, including a detailed drawing of an octopus on his spinal column, with tentacles wrapping around his sides, creating the effect of the creature riding on his back. He faced the crowd with his arms outstretched and palms lifted. The ocean shimmered in the distance beyond his sculpted physique.

Nervous energy sparked through Thelma and she shifted her legs to release the tension. Bāne opened his mouth and, in a deep, clear voice, bellowed a melody of fluid Hawaiian words.

Who was this man? The more Thelma saw him, the more she grew convinced they’d met before.

The song finished and the audience applauded. Bāne pressed his enormous hands together in prayer and tipped his head. He scanned the crowd. “We’ll now hike to the sacred ceremony space and begin our journey.”

With the rest of the guests, they trailed behind Bāne’s hulking form as he led them around the guest houses and up a hill; via a stone path, they entered the jungle.

About the Author

A former U.S. Diplomat and award-winning documentary filmmaker, Charlotte Dune writes romance, travel, and adventure stories from her home base in South Florida. Her writing explores self-discovery, love, and exotic locations. The author of The Psychedelic Love Series, she has a passion for travel, reading, nature, and entheogenic practices.

Charlotte Dune’s books include Cactus Friends: A Psychedelic Love Story and Mushroom Honeymoon. Her essays and articles have appeared in print magazines and in many online publications, including POV Magazine and The Temper.

She is also passionate about creative recovery and sharing her own story of recovery from battered women’s syndrome and PTSD. Her memoir about marrying into Ugandan high-society, and working in Africa for the U.S. Government, called Kampala Sunsets, is under current publisher review.

Contact Links

Purchase Link

Comments Off on Mushroom Honeymoon Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Charlotte Dune, Magical Romance, Mushroom Honeymoon

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | June 10, 2021 · 5:00 am

Darkness Within Blitz

Light Divided, Book 1

Dark Fantasy Romance

Date Published: May 2021

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

SECOND SKIN

Aideen Duffy’s job is hunting down the dark creatures who are trying to overthrow human society and bring the world back to how it used to be when vampires, werewolves, and their ilk were in charge.

The culmination of two years’ work, she’s closing in on Costecu, the vampire responsible for the most deadly cell in her city. When the op goes sideways, instead capturing the elusive bastard, she ends up with second prize: his right-hand man, Druain Lindberg.

What happens next, she couldn’t have planned for in a thousand years.

Deep undercover, Drew is swimming in the blood of Costecu’s treachery, but he’d do anything and everything to destroy the heinous vampire who’d ruined his life.

With the stink of evil ground into his pores, he’s ordered to kidnap Aideen and bring her to Costecu, but this time following orders is not going to happen. The spirited selkie can’t be cowed, and something in her calls to him.

When Drew risks long-held plans to save Aideen, everyone – good and evil – are after them. Keeping them hidden long enough to escape is not as big a problem as her letting him do what his heart compels him is essential – protecting her with his life.

About the Author

Cyprus Hart’s earliest memory of trying to become a writer involves carrying a clipboard around and asking family members if the name “Rock Stone” was a good name for an action hero. Fast-forward three decades and he’s still convinced he can make it work.

When he’s not writing kissing, and other activities along those lines into every book, he’s tries to keep his border collie entertained and keep him and his chihuahua warm in the frozen tundra of Missouri.

Sorry – he doesn’t like coffee or tea.

Contact Links

Publisher’s Social Media:

Purchase Links

Comments Off on Darkness Within Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as Cyprus Hart, Dark Fantasy Romance, Darkness Within

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | June 9, 2021 · 5:00 am

A Young Man’s Fancy Blitz

Contemporary M/M Romance, M/M Romance, New Adult M/M Romance

Date Published: May 2021

Publisher: Boroughs Publishing Group

Five YA/NA stories about the lives and loves of incredible young men

David – M. Tasia

Dumped and depressed, David flees town to work on remodeling a lake house for the summer without telling his best friend, Jacob. But best friends don’t leave each other hanging, and Jacob’s been missing David. Uninvited, but welcome at the lake house, Jacob engineers a hat-trick of surprises that just might change both their futures.

No Bunny Like You – Susan Mac Nicol

Colin’s neighbor is so freakin’ delicious, he positions himself on his balcony to get a glimpse of Dashiell dancing in his room, his sexy body twisting and turning to the music. Which would’ve made Dash saving Colin from nearly drowning in a bunny suit mortifying in the extreme, except Dash seems to have been spying on Colin as much as he’s been checking out Dash.

Homecoming – Emily Mims

The new guy in Clay’s acting class had way more going from him than swoony singing techniques. Justin clocked Clay the minute he walked into the practice room, and knew they were going to be more than friends. Complicated family dynamics almost scuttle their plans to go to Homecoming, but both guys man up and learn whose people will stand by them no matter what.

Hold The Line – Kitty Bardot

A big defensive lineman in a town where high school football is everything, Terry is harboring a secret that’d ostracize him even more than he already is. His best friend Chris is his saving grace in all the ways that matter, and in ways Terry can’t share with anyone. But when push comes to more than a shove, Chris gives Terry the greatest gift of all.

Shake Me Down – Elle Wright

Everett’s senior year in a new school proves to yield more than he could’ve ever expected. The nerdy genius he’s been secretly crushing on asks him out and their chemistry is so combustible, they have to slow things down or they’ll never get to know each other. And Everett wants to know Zach, inside and out, like no one else ever will.

Boroughs Publishing Group

You never get a second chance to make a first impression. So. Here are our truths: We love Romance. A great story. Compelling characters. A good turn of the written word. A happy ending.

Publisher’s Social Media:

M. Tasia is a M/M romance author who lives in Ontario, Canada. She’s is a dedicated people watcher, lover of romance novels, 80’s rock, and happily-ever-afters (once the MCs are put through their paces, of course), who grew up with a love of reading. She’s a firm believer that everyone deserves to have love, excitement, and crazy hot romance in their lives. Love should be celebrated and shared.

Contact Links

Susan Mac Nicol

The ‘Official’ stuff

Susan writes steamy, sexy, and fun contemporary romance stories, some suspenseful, some gritty and dark, and she hopes, always entertaining. She’s also Editor-in-Chief at Divine Magazine, an online LGBTQ e-zine, and a member of The Society of Authors, the Writers Guild of Great Britain, and the Authors Guild in the U.S.

Susan is also an award-winning screenplay writer, with scripts based on two of her own published works. Sight Unseenhas garnered no less than five awards to date, and her TV pilot, Reel Life, based on her debut novel, Cassandra by Starlight, was also a winner at the Oaxaca Film Fest.

The ‘Unofficial’ stuff

Susan loves going to the theatre, live music concerts (especially if it’s her man-crush Adam Lambert), walks in the countryside, a good G and T, lazing away afternoons reading a good book, and watching re-runs of Silent Witness.

Her chequered past includes stories like being mistaken for a prostitute in the city of Johannesburg, being chased by a rhino on a dusty Kenyan road, getting kicked out of a youth club for being a bad influence (she encouraged free thinking), and having an aunt who was engaged to Cliff Richard.

Contact Links

The author of over forty romance novels, Emily Mims combined her writing career with a career in public education until leaving the classroom to write full time. The mother of two sons, she and her husband split their time between central Texas, eastern Tennessee, and overseas visiting their kids and grandchildren. For relaxation Emily plays the piano, organ, dulcimer, and ukulele for two different performing groups, and even sings a little. She says, “I love to write romances because I believe in them. Romance happened to me and it can happen to any woman—if she’ll just let it.”

Contact Links

Kitty Bardot juggles a life full of excitement and love. By day, she’s a chef with her own catering company, by night she puts ten years of burlesque experience to use in various venues in the Quad Cities. She writes from her country home not far from the Mississippi River, enjoying every moment with her husband and their three children. Currently, she is working on her next Burlesque River story.

Contact Links

Elle Wright has been writing stories since she was a child, which led her to a career in journalism. She enjoys reporting life as much as making up a world she can control. She lives on the east coast of the United States where most of her large, noisy family resides. When she isn’t in front of her computer, she loves to travel, garden, hang out with her dogs, and take in the brisk sea air that she’s told is supposed to help calm her. She’s been testing that theory for a while now.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

Comments Off on A Young Man’s Fancy Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Tagged as A Young Man's Fancy, Contemporary M/M Romance, Elle Wright, Emily Mims, Kitty Bardot, M. Tasia, m/m romance, New Adult M/M Romance, Susan Mac Nicol

by Jennifer Reed/ bookjunkiez | · 5:00 am

No More Secrets Blitz

Women’s Fiction

Date Published: September 16, 2020

Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing

Angelica Delfino takes a special interest in the lives of her three nieces, whom she affectionately calls the daughters of her heart. Sensing that each woman is harboring a troubling, possibly even toxic secret, Angelica decides to share her secrets—secrets she had planned to take to the grave. Spellbound, the nieces listen as Angelica travels back six decades to reveal an incredulous tale of forbidden love, tragic loss, and reinvention. It is the classic immigrant story upended: an Italian widow’s transformative journey amid the most unlikely of circumstances.

Inspired by Angelica’s example, the younger women share their “First World” problems and, in the process, set themselves free.

But one heartbreaking secret remains untold…

***Free ebook of No More Secrets – thru June 10th***

Excerpt

Tupperware in all the pastel shades. Head-to-toe clothing and accessories in the same hues. Who does that? Bellastrega shook her head at the avalanche of plastic that accompanied Velia Russo into the kitchen. She was already on her third trip back from the car, puffing and panting as she placed her food gifts on the kitchen table. Bellastrega could feel her jaw clenching at the thought of all those white devils—heavy sauces and creams and pounds of sugar—contaminating the kitchen.

Velia held one finger. “One more trip,” and then she was gone.

Bellastrega turned her attention back to the hearty vegetable stew that had been simmering on the stove. She sighed contentedly as she breathed in the aroma of the rosemary and Italian seasonings. Angelica’s favorite. As she glanced at the appetizing array of vegetables, she mentally calculated how long it would take to finish cooking. Everything was on schedule, and dinner would be on the table at six o’clock. Why had Velia decided to arrive three hours early?

From the start, Bellastrega had her misgivings about this all-girls weekend. She had listened while Angelica lovingly described each niece and shared her concerns regarding their unhappy lives. At first, Bellastrega had humored her, not realizing Angelica was intending to help her nieces get back on track. Her duty as aunt, she had explained.

Bellastrega had formed her own judgments regarding the three younger women. Usually right on target, Bellastrega had been surprised when this particular incarnation of Velia Russo arrived, laden with her food gifts. From Angelica’s descriptions, Bellastrega had expected a younger version of her mother, Rosetta, a heavy-set hausfrau and gossip, not this glamour-puss who could pass for a younger Martha Stewart. But first impressions could be deceiving.

“Help. I need your help.” The whiny voice interrupted Bellastrega’s thoughts. Sighing, she lowered the heat and made her way to the living room.

Bellastrega resisted the urge to laugh as she took in the comical sight before her. To save herself another trip, Velia had decided to lug in a large Pullman using her left hand, carry a pastry box in her right hand, and use her teeth to hold on to her purse.

All this for a weekend get-together? What would she have packed for a longer trip? Bellastrega forced a smile as she took the pastry box from Velia.

About the Author

In 2008, Joanne Guidoccio took advantage of early retirement and launched a second act as a writer. Her articles and book reviews have been published in newspapers, magazines, and online. When she tried her hand at fiction, she made reinvention a recurring theme in her novels and short stories. A member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Joanne writes paranormal romances, cozy mysteries, and inspirational literature from her home base of Guelph, Ontario.

Contact Links

Purchase Links

***Free ebook of No More Secrets – thru June 10th***

a Rafflecopter giveaway