Release Day! Return to Marsh Hollow by Ashley Farley ~ My Thoughts #ReturnToMarshHollow @AshleyWFarley

Happy Release Day!

Congrats Ashley

on release today of

Return to Marsh Hollow!

Return to Marsh Hollow by Ashley Farley

(Soul Seekers Series #1)

Southern Fiction, 256 pages

Published June 17, 2025, by AHF Publishing

A mother's death. A daughter’s reckoning. A family's darkest hour.

After her mother’s death, Lydia Meyer returns to Marsh Hollow, her family’s isolated estate on the Chesapeake Bay. She hasn’t been back in over two decades—not since she escaped the suffocating life her mother created. But when she arrives, strange things begin to surface. A vandalized house. A mysterious journal. A graveyard in the woods that haunts her dreams.

As Lydia begins to unravel the secrets buried within Marsh Hollow’s walls, long-suppressed memories rise to the surface—along with questions no one wants answered. What really happened to her father? Why did her sister disappear? And who is behind the powerful force determined to keep the truth hidden?

With the help of Blossom, a mysterious woman who appears just when Lydia needs her most, she must confront the past before it consumes her future. But some secrets don’t stay buried—and with every step closer to the truth, Lydia risks awakening something that was never meant to be found.

Can Lydia escape the shadow of her family’s legacy, or will uncovering the truth cost her everything?

My thoughts about Return to Marsh Hollow ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First lines—"Tears well in my eyes as I raise my glass to toast the only true friends I've ever known."

Ashley has brought to life a well-loved character from another one of her series and has given her her own stories. Blossom is a caring, beautiful, warm women who is always there when you need her and knows exactly what you want and need. 

Lydia doesn't even know she needs help when she arrives back home to tie up loose ends so she can get on with her life. As secrets unfold and memories start to resurface, it all becomes more than she can handle. Blossom to the rescue, right on cue. I really wish there was a Blossom in my life!

I love Return to Marsh Hollow because, just like all of Ashley's stories, it is filled with wonderful, interesting characters, plenty of drama, and heartwarming emotions. I always feel so comfortable in her settings and stories. I want to spend as much time there as I can, surrounded by all the wonderful people. I'm so excited that Blossom will be featured in more stories. 

I highly recommend Return to Marsh Hollow and I'm looking forward to the next stories in this series.  

I received a copy of Return to Marsh Hollow from the author and this is my honest opinion.

Book #2 coming September 2nd!!

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About the author

Ashley Farley writes books about women for women. Her characters are mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives facing real-life issues. Her bestselling Sweeney Sisters series has touched the lives of many.

Ashley is a wife and mother of two young adult children. While she's lived in Richmond, Virginia for the past 21 years, a piece of her heart remains in the salty marshes of the South Carolina Lowcountry, where she still calls home. Through the eyes of her characters, she captures the moss-draped trees, delectable cuisine, and kindhearted folk with lazy drawls that make the area so unique. For more information, visit www.ashleyfarley.com ~ Goodreads

Connect with Ashley

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June 16, 2025 #IMWAYR

    

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! 

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Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

Fog and Fury

(Haven Thriller #1)

Rachel Howzell Hall

print ARC for review

Pub date ~ July 1

The Ice Twins

by S.K. Tremayne

print from my TBR shelf for a challenge

Published January 2015

What I recently finished

Falling for You Again

by Kerry Lonsdale

eARC for review

Pub date ~ July 8

The Bookstore Family

(Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories, #4)

by Alice Hoffman

audiobook from Amazon Prime Reading

Published February 2025

What I am going to read next

Wayward Girls

by Susan Wiggs

print ARC for review

Pub date ~ July 15

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways! 

Release Day Blitz! Shopping for a Highlander’s Elopement by Julia Kent ~ Excerpt & #Giveaway! @jkentauthor #ShoppingForAHighlandersElopement @XpressoTours

 

Shopping for a Highlander’s Elopement by Julia Kent
(Shopping for a Highlander, #3)
Publication date: June 10th 2025
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

I didn’t expect to fall for a Scottish footballer so annoyingly sunny you need shades to be around him.

I didn’t expect to say yes to his heart-felt, if loopy, proposal while he lay injured on the pitch, blathering on about banana pudding and sparkly unicorns.

What I definitely didn’t expect?

For our engagement to explode into a paparazzi circus, our mothers to turn into wedding bulldozers, and for our wedding protector’s perfectly reasonable elopement plan to spiral into a road trip escape.

So here we are.

In Love You, Maine, a town that celebrates Valentine’s Day every single day. We’re here to get married. Quietly. No drama. In disguise.

Although good luck hiding a 6’4” ginger Scottish striker wearing a knee brace and a perpetual extrovert smile.

Instead of being subtle and blending in? Our quiet escape is vibrating heart-shaped beds, mirrors on the ceilings, secret identities, interfering mothers, and one suspiciously enthusiastic moose that humps dumpsters.

This was supposed to be a simple wedding. Just me and Hamish. No fuss.

But nothing about us has ever been simple with us.

Still, this is what love is, right? It’s chaos. It’s compromise. It’s crying in a wedding planner’s office, then kissing in a hot spring.

It’s choosing each other again and again, even when everything goes sideways.

No matter what comes next… this is our comeback story, in more ways than one.

And no – that’s not a euphemism. 🙂

Shopping for a Highlander’s Elopement is a romantic comedy that blends the worlds of four bestselling series by New York Times bestselling romantic comedy author Julia Kent:

– Shopping for a Billionaire

– Shopping for a Highlander

– Whatever It Takes

– Love You, Maine

If you love sports romance, surprise proposals, grand gestures, chaotic weddings, Scottish footballers, golden retriever/black cat energy, and characters who love too hard, mess up spectacularly, and always find their way back to each other with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (and lovingly-used scrunchies) along the way, then this is your book.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

iBooks | Kobo | Google Play

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EXCERPT

Love isn’t a football game.

It’s a feeling.

A feeling that uses instinct as a tool.

I’m smarter than this. When everything felt off, I should have known that it was off for a reason.

“Jody,” I say softly, “I canna do this.”

“Of course you can. You just have the jitters. Amy’s a wonderful woman and–”

“I dinna mean the proposin’ part. That’s fine. I can do that. I mean doin’ it on the pitch.”

His turn to go green.

“You want to cancel the proposal?”

“Aye. Nae. No’ the proposin’. The doin’ it in public part. I love Amy wi’ all ma body and soul.” I frown. “She’d hate to hear me say it that way. Soul and body.” I wink at Jody. “But it’s really the other way around. Ma body knows more than ma mind.”

“I don’t need to hear every thought that pops into your head, Hamish.”

“I only tell ye the important ones.”

“Like not wanting the big spectacle we arranged for you?”

“I’m tellin’ ye now, aren’t I?”

“We have extra cameramen here for this. Your parents and siblings are in the crowd. Declan and Andrew McCormick are here. We doubled the security.”

“Is this about money? I can pay for all that.”

“It’s not–well, yes, some of it is about the money. But it’s more about publicity and planning. A lot of people put forth a huge effort to make today special for you and Amy.”

“And forty thousand of ma closest fans.”

He closes his eyes and sighs through his nose. “A better time to realize this would have been weeks ago. Not a huge US exhibition game.”

“Ma instincts told me then that this was right. Now ma gut says something else. It all feels off.”

“Your gut.”

I pat my flat stomach. “It’s gotten me this far in life. Good gut.”

He’s right. I know how much work all the coaches, teammates, stadium staff and administrators, sponsors–hell, even the car park attendants–have put into helping me today. I don’t have cold feet, and I love Amy to the moon and back, but something feels wrong.

As Amy says, hinky.

I can’t explain it. If I had words for it, I’d use them. It’s a feeling, and those don’t always line up nice and neat in words that make sense.

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About the author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 2 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 21 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French, German, and Italian, with more titles releasing in the future.

From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men's room toilet (and he isn't a billionaire she met in a romantic comedy).

She lives in New England with her husband and three children where she is the only person in the household with the gene required to change empty toilet paper rolls.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com, on Twitter @jkentauthor, on Facebook at @jkentauthor, and on Instagram @jkentauthor. Visit her at http://jkentauthor.com

Connect with Julia

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Instagram

Twitter | Amazon | Bookbub | Newsletter

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June 9, 2025 #IMWAYR

        

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! 

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Well, let's talk about the crazy weather. Again. High of 66 today and then 90 tomorrow. Whiplash!! And seriously?

This past week has been a crazy one, reading wise. I've finished a lot of shorter books and short audiobooks. So it looks like a lot but pages 'read', maybe not so much. I'm not sure that it's a whole lot. Plus there have been the books that have sucked me in that I devoured. Looking at you - The Secret Library of Hanna Reeves and Jar of Hearts.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

Falling for You Again

by Kerry Lonsdale

eARC for review

Pub date ~ July 8

The Ice Twins

by S.K. Tremayne

print from my TBR shelf for a challenge

Published January 2015

The Bookstore Family

(Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories, #4)

by Alice Hoffman

audiobook from Amazon Prime Reading

Published February 2025

What I recently finished

The Secret Library of Hanna Reeves

by Christine Nolfi

eARC for review

Pub date ~ June 24

Jar of Hearts

by Jennifer Hillier

print from my TBR for a challenge

Published June 2018

The Bookstore Keepers

(Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories #3)

by Alice Hoffman

audiobook from Amazon Prime Reading

Published February 2025

The Wedding Setup

by Sonali Dev

audiobook from Prime Reading for a challenge

Published January 2022

What I am going to read next

Fog and Fury

(Haven Thriller #1)

Rachel Howzell Hall

print ARC for review

Pub date ~ July 1

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways! 

Recent Release! August Dove by Joanne DeMaio ~ My Thoughts #AugustDove @JoanneDeMaio

 

Congrats Joanne

on the recent release of

August Dove!

August Dove by Joanne DeMaio

Series: The Seaside Saga #24

Women's Saga, 260 pages

Published May 12, 2025 by Joanne DeMaio

From New York Times bestselling author Joanne DeMaio comes August Dove, Book 24 of The Seaside Saga.

Shane Bradford has to make a decision. It won't be easy since there are plenty of consequences either way. He has to gauge the risk, the reward. He also has to act fast—second nature to him as a New England lobsterman. The clock is ticking. Every minute counts. So as the golden beach grasses sway, as Long Island Sound's lazy waves roll in, as the gulls call, as the tides turn, he decides. But at what cost?

And The Seaside Saga continues.

The Seaside Saga on Goodreads

The Seaside Saga on Amazon

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My thoughts about August Dove ~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first lines.)

First lines—"Shane's got to act fast. Think Fast. Move fast. Which is nothing new to him. It's his way of life."

I just love the cover of this book! And these sequined dove wings on denim are such important and meaningful symbols in this series, and in this book in particular. 

I love everything about this series and love going back to Stony Point to hang out with all the people I've become acquainted with over the years. I have to admit, this story one felt a little different to me as I was frustrated with Shane for keeping such vital information from the woman he loves. I just wanted him to be honest with her, but he was looking out for her and didn't want her to be hurt. I get it, but I didn't like it. See how invested I am in all of their lives? 😉

I'm always excited when the next installment comes out so I can catch up. Luckily Joanne keeps producing so I can just keep reading!

I highly recommend August Dove and this entire series. If you haven't read them yet, you need to get started with book one and catch up. Book #25, Hush will be released on August 4th!

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If you're new to The Seaside Saga, the reading order is below. Written like an ongoing TV show, it's a revolutionary series following the same tangled group of beach friends from book-to-book.

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About the author

Joanne DeMaio is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of contemporary fiction. She enjoys writing about friendship, family, love and choices, while setting her stories in New England towns or by the sea.

Joanne’s books include the New York Times Bestseller Blue Jeans and Coffee Beans, the first in her ongoing and groundbreaking Seaside Saga. These eleven (and counting) novels journey with a group of beach friends, much the way a TV series does, continuing with the same cast of characters and their storylines from book-to-book.

Joanne’s winter novels have also received much acclaim. These heartwarming standalones are set in the same snowy New England town. Snowflakes and Coffee Cakes became a USA Today Bestseller, and has been featured in national magazines and Six Flags theme parks.

In addition, Joanne’s debut novel, Whole Latte Life, won first place in a competition at BookExpo America and was named a Kirkus Reviews Critics’ Pick. Her other novels have appeared in Redbook, First for Women magazine, Southern Living, USA Today and more. ~ Author's website

Connect with Joanne

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Instagram

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Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

Book Blitz! All the Silent Bones by Gregory Funaro ~ Excerpt & #Giveaway #AllTheSilentBones @GregoryFunaro @XpressoTours

 

All the Silent Bones by Gregory Funaro
Publication date: June 9th 2025
Genres: Adult, Horror, Psychological Thriller

When they were boys, Ray Dawley, Eddie Sayers, and Matthew Kauffman were the best of friends. Then new kid Bobby “Bones” Bonetti fell through the ice at Blackamore Pond. The other boys saved Bobby from drowning, but something else came out of the water that day, something dangerous that would tear their friendship apart and set one of them on a dark path.

Forty years after the incident on the ice, Ray, a retired college professor, has moved back into his childhood home. Eddie is a retired homicide detective, and Matthew is a successful investment banker. Bobby, who is on disability from his job as a corrections officer at a juvenile detention center, has a secret: the darkness that found him under the ice when he was a kid has made him do terrible things.

Following a reunion at Ray’s house, Matthew is found murdered in his car beside the old pond. The killer includes a chilling message that only the three remaining friends would recognize. Could one of their own be a murderer?

All the Silent Bones, a tense and disturbing thriller told from alternating perspectives of morally complex characters, explores the lasting impact of childhood trauma and its influence on adult relationships.

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Only $2.99 pre-order price! Grab yours today!

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EXCERPT

Ronnie Matarese felt a darkness descend upon him, even as he understood that it had always been there, pouring out from those eyes behind the sunglasses and into his apartment. A darkness as indifferent and as cold as the one that had greeted him when he’d returned home. A darkness that feared no light and could not be reasoned with. A darkness that was neither happy nor sad but just was.

Bobby “The Machete” Bonetti had not visited Ronnie to warn him or give him a beating. He had come to kill him. Ronnie suddenly knew this as surely as he was sitting there, and he was both terrified and furious that he hadn’t realized it sooner, when he still might have had a chance to escape. More than anything, though, Ronnie was sad. He wasn’t ready to die—he wasn’t even thirty—but there was no turning back from the elves at the bottom of these stairs. That was what this crazy SOB was trying to tell him.

Ronnie began to cry, softly at first then harder as Bobby finished his story.

“So my mother, she lets me go, but I just held on to the door- frame and didn’t dare look back. She was still there. I could hear her breathing. And in my mind, I watched her, mouth open and eyes blinking as she looked around like she usually did when she came out of one of her episodes. A minute later, I hear the sofa springs in the parlor. She’d been sleeping in there for weeks because the elves hid under her bed, she sometimes thought. But still, I didn’t move. I just stood there, staring down at the darkness in silence.”

Ronnie searched Bobby Bonetti’s sunglasses but saw only murder in the smudge of his reflection, light and shadows on a face that looked like a skull. This was not the way he was supposed to go out, sniveling on his bed like a pussy and not knowing why. And thatwas the hardest part. Not knowing why. Not knowing what he had done—no, not had done but would do. And just as quickly as the darkness had descended, Ronnie saw a light. It was faint at first but coming fast, like when he was speeding through the cross-harbor tunnel up in Boston.

“You said you were here because of something I would do,” Ron- nie said, making no attempt to hide the desperate, trembling hope in his voice. “Not because of something I did but because of something I would do. That’s what you said, right? What is it? Tell me what you think I’m gonna do, and I swear on the souls of my dead parents that I won’t do it. Please, I’m begging you, Mr. Bonetti. You have my word.”

“I would give anything to have that kind of silence again,” Bobby said. “A silence so precious that, when it’s broken, it stings you like a box of bees.”

Then Bobby shot him.

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About the author

Gregory Funaro is the NY Times best selling author of Disney-Hyperion's ALISTAIR GRIM'S ODDITORIUM (an Amazon Best Book of the Month for January, 2015) and ALISTAIR GRIM'S ODD AQUATICUM (2016), which received a Kirkus starred review. WATCH HOLLOW (HarperCollins, 2019) received starred reviews from School Library Journal and ALA Booklist, and was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. The exciting sequel, WATCH HOLLOW: THE ALCHEMIST'S SHADOW, was published in February of 2020. He has also written two thrillers, THE SCULPTOR and THE IMPALER, for Kensington/Pinnacle. 

Gregory is a professor emeritus and lives with his family in Rhode Island, where he is busy working on his next novel. Please visit his official web site at www.gregoryfunaro.com.

Connect with Gregory

Website | Goodreads | Facebook 

Instagram | Twitter | Amazon

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Release Day! Mary, Mary by D. L. Sletten ~ My Thoughts #MaryMary @DLSlettenAuthor

Happy Release Day!

Congrats Deanna

on the release today of

Mary, Mary!

Mary, Mary by D. L. Sletten

Women's Fiction, Summer, Contemporary, 368 pages

Published June 3, 2025 by Deanna Lynn Sletten

Mary lives a simple life, so why are people dying around her?

Mary Westin is either seeing things or going insane. Her boring life has been turned upside-down by the murders happening around her. And if she doesn’t find a way to prove her innocence soon, she will spend the rest of her life in prison.

What happens when a plain, everyday woman suddenly becomes a murder suspect? Mary finds out soon enough when her ex-husband is murdered, and then her boss. Then, family secrets are revealed to Mary, complicating her life further. Who is the person imitating her, and who’s sending the creepy messages? And why?

When Detective Ryan Hodges comes on the scene to investigate the murders, Mary is thankful that someone finally believes she’s not a killer. But all the evidence points directly at Mary. The scariest thought of all for Mary is that maybe no one else is following her or committing the murders. Maybe Mary has finally lost her mind.

My thoughts about Mary, Mary~~

(I love to note the first lines of the books I'm reading. First lines can really grab a reader's attention and I love seeing where the author takes the reader after their first line.)

First line—"She stood at the top of the stirs, waiting for Abby's automatic stairlift chair to make it all the way up. As usual, the older woman was complaining."

Oh wow! What did I just read? I literally devoured this book in one day! I thought I had it all figured out early on, and then there was a twist and my theory was blown out of the water. And then it twisted again. Oh my, it got me!

I am a huge love of thrillers and I love it when an author can make me gasp or make my brain 'blow up' with the twists and drama. Mary, Mary did just that. Like I said, I thought I had it all figured out—until I didn't anymore. And then the ending! I had to stop to take a breath and think about what I just read. I love when that happens. 

I highly recommend Mary, Mary, especially if you are a thriller lover. I promise you, you will be thinking about this story long after you've finished it. I will definitely be checking out this author's other books. 

I received an ARC of Mary, Mary from the author and this is my honest opinion.

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About the author

D. L. Sletten writes murder mysteries, domestic thrillers, and psychological suspense novels. Sletten lives in Minnesota plotting books in a cabin in the woods.

Connect with Deanna

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Amazon

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Be sure to check the sidebar for my current giveaways!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? June 2, 2025 #IMWAYR

       

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a place to meet up and share what you have been, are and about to be reading over the week. It's an opportunity to visit other blogs and to comment on their reads. And ... you can add to that ever growing TBR pile! So welcome everyone. This meme started with J Kaye's Blog and then was taken up by Sheila from Book Journey. Sheila then passed it on to Kathryn at the Book Date. And here we are! 

**************************************

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you all have a good week. 

Happy reading!

What I'm currently reading

The Secret Library of Hanna Reeves

by Christine Nolfi

eARC for review

Pub date ~ June 24

Jar of Hearts

by Jennifer Hillier

print from my TBR for a challenge

Published June 2018

The Wedding Setup

by Sonali Dev

audiobook from Prime Reading for a challenge

Published January 2022

What I recently finished

Violet is Blue

(The Women of Paradise County #2)

by Anne Shaw Heinrich

print ARC for review

Pub date ~ June 17

August Dove

(The Seaside Saga #24)

by Joanne DeMaio

e-book for review

Published May 12

The Debt Collector: Lirium. Season One

(Debt Collector #1-9)

by Susan Kaye Quinn

audio-book from my collection - this is a reread for me

Published June 2013

What I am going to read next

Maybe this one off of my TBR shelf? I'm not sure.

The Blame Game

by Sandie Jones

print from my TBR shelf

Published August 2022

I really love my reading life!

What are you reading this week?

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Be sure to check the sidebar for all of my current giveaways!