The Passenger by Joie Lesin

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Joie Lesin will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

She’s a 1940s ghost whisperer.

Burdened with her empathic gift, Elizabeth Reilly wants to be free of it and fit in with normal people. Nevertheless, when the spirit of an old man asks for her help, she travels across the country to help him return home.

He’s the son of a ghost.

Gio Clemente is still angry with his father who abandoned him as a child. To help the father pass on, Elizabeth must persuade Gio to let go of his anger. Though he resents her intrusion, they are both stunned to find themselves fighting a profound attraction.

Elizabeth can accept his headstrong brand of love, but can Gio accept her gift—and believe in her?

The Passenger, a 1940s ghost story set in the California wine country, tells a tale of family connections, life-changing choices, and love—lost and found.

Read an Excerpt

When her husband was on his way to her to say goodbye, she’d sweated through the cries of soldiers falling into the mud around her and the deafening noise of battle.

Don’t go there, Elizabeth. You couldn’t help him.

She’d known the only help she could provide was to help him pass on in peace.

Elizabeth had expected Patrick’s ghost to visit her. For weeks, she braved the early spring chill to await his arrival. Bundled in layers, she waited on the beach for him. Their special place. When he finally came, he met her there. Patrick sat next to her on the blanket he’d given her as a birthday present when they were younger. The one with the purple daffodils. When she thought of his final goodbye, she thought of the daffodils she’d stared down at while he talked—as if the color of the flowers were the most important detail of the day.

Yet the broken dead man who sat beside her was.

Patrick’s once handsome face wore sadness like a caul. He’d wished she would remember him as the whole and healthy man who she clung to and kissed before he shipped off to war. When she pictured the delicate purple flowers imprinted on the fabric, she overlooked the bloodied gash in his side where he’d taken the bullet.

About the Author:

Award-winning, Minnesota-based author, Joie Lesin is a life-long fiction writer and poet. She is most recently the author of The Passenger (The Wild Rose Press, 2024) and her work is also featured in Scribeworth Magazine. She has long been fascinated by anything otherworldly including mermaids and ghosts. Joie writes character-driven, emotional, atmospheric tales about heartache and hope.

Website: https://www.jlesin.com
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/joielesin.bsky.social
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorjoielesin
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoieLesin
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@joie.lesin
Goodreads BookPage: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/214564853-the-passenger

The Wild Rose Press Book Page: https://wildrosepress.com/product/the-passenger/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D6WBVJB9
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/the-passenger/id6504288982
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-passenger-joie-lesin/1008401528?ean=2940185717905
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-passenger-48

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The Rebellious Countess by Helene Matheson

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Helene Matheson will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Society may be run by the men of the ton, but six scandalous sisters are determined to take it by storm one gentleman at a time.

Máira Blair married for love, her honeymoon trip with the Earl of Dorset is a dream come true—until reality turns it into a nightmare. Máira wakes up to discover her husband isn’t an earl, but the captain of a pirate ship and what was supposed to be her honeymoon, is a voyage bound for war-torn France. If that isn’t enough to disparage her husband’s character, he abandons her in the middle of a French port where she must find a way to survive as she defends her virtue and her life. Just when she’s convinced of what kind of rogue she married, the pirate transforms into a hero on a quest to save her and the missing Earl of Astley.

Sir Elias Drake married for convenience, he needed a Scottish bride to complete his mission. He can resist his desire for his beautiful wife, especially after she discovers his true identity. Except Máira Blair was more than he bargained for. He needs her skills, cherishes her compassion, and is tormented by her passion, which only makes him want her and the life their marriage represents more.

It will require both of their talents to rescue the Earl of Astley, and it will take more than a war to defeat their hard-won love—if they can escape.

Read an Excerpt

“Máira…” He took a step toward her, wanting to take her into his arms and erase the horrors she’d experienced in the hours since he saw her last. The way she quickly moved to keep distance between them, nearly gutted him and he stopped before he made her run out the door she’d just entered.

“You look as if you fought off the demons of hell and somehow won. Are you alright?” He asked.

The noise she made was decidedly unfeminine and nothing like the woman he knew. Somewhere between a snort and a growl, it was attached to a sneer that only hatred could form. “I’m breathing, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“Breathing?” Holy, bloody hell. What had he done? He was going to kill Peter and every one of his crew for not looking out for her. “I meant, do we need to fetch a surgeon?” He spoke softly, as if that would keep their conversation private in the middle of a tavern with every eye and ear observing them with avid curiosity. If he were lucky, only the barkeep and her henchman, and spoke English.

“Are you worried about my reputation? My virtue? My life? Or are you worried that I still stand on this green Earth?” Her hand rose to her chest in a display of mock distress. It succeeded in drawing every eye in the place to her damned feminine curves.

He glared at the men around him, some looked away sheepishly, others didn’t care. They would look their fill unless he challenged each and every one of them.

About the Author:

Helene Matheson writes steamy regency historical romance novels with intelligent, unstoppable heroines who don’t require an alpha male to save them—having one in their bed is another story.

Helene moved south for fun in the sun after she retired from public service and began pursuing her life-long dream of writing. She wrote the Amazon best-selling mystery series The Book Barn Mysteries for Lyrical Press and has written multiple award-winning romantic suspense novels under Kym Roberts.

In her spare time she can be found woodcarving by the pool or blogging for The Cozy Corner on Fresh Fiction. To contact her on social media, you can find her under KymRoberts911 on FaceBook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. Her books can also be found on her websites.

Helene Matheson: http://www.HeleneMatheson.com
Kym Roberts: http://www.KymRoberts.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DRDM5CSH
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rebellious-countess-helene-matheson/1147883832
Books a Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Rebellious-Countess/Helene-Matheson/9781648399787

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Only in September by Cynthia Flowers

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Cynthia Flowers will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Welcome to It's Raining Books. Why do you write in your genre?
I didn’t pick the genre it chose me. The story came to me through a patchwork of experiences (mine, others), pieces of conversation or experiences shared.

What draws you to it?
It was a ‘what if moment’ I had after an encounter several years ago and then the idea for the story took flight.

What research was required?
None, just my imagination for this one.

Name one thing you learned from your hero/heroine.
Survivorship. Resiliency. Positive attitude helps. Be open to new experiences.

Do you have any odd or interesting writing quirks, habits or superstitions?
Not yet. My habit is to write in the early part of the day or when I need to escape from the real world, which seems more often these days.

Are you a plotter or pantser?
Somewhere in between. The plotter part is when I let the story marinate in my head for a while (months) and then when I feel there’s enough there I start clanking away on my laptop. The joy comes while writing and new things suddenly pop up that give the story twists and turns I had not considered. That’s the pantser part.

Look to your right – what’s sitting there?
A wall with my ‘to do list’ posted for both my fictional and grant writing assignments.

Anything new coming up from you?
Yes. About 4,000 words written for the sequel to Only In September.

Do you have a question for our readers?
What do you look for in a good read? Is it the characters, the plot, the genre, style of writing?

When Jacqueline follows her trusty Labrador Bailey down a hidden path to the beach, she's unaware that her vacation plans on a small island off the New England coast has already taken her life in a new direction. Running into an unassuming local beach comber stirs new thoughts, desires, and a self-determination she never knew she possessed. Jacqueline will need to trust her instincts and make the most of what fate has in store if she wants the future that, until now, she has only dared to dream of.

Read an Excerpt

With the sun barely over the horizon, Jacqueline awoke to Bailey licking her face and the best morning smell ever. Michael had the coffee pot simmering over the fire pit.

Jacqueline wasn’t ready to give up the warmth of her sleeping bag, so she managed to sit up while still inside it.

“Looks like you’re in a cocoon. Did you sleep well?” he asked.

“Surprisingly, yes. I was snug as a bug,” she said with a yawn.

“Well, one of the other reasons for camping out is to see the first rays of the sunrise, so let’s get you up so you don’t miss it.” He helped Jacqueline to her feet while she was still inside the sleeping bag. To remain steady, Michael had to hold her. She was all right with that.

I hope this sunrise viewing lasts a while.

Consumed by the beauty of the moment, Jacqueline felt a swelling from inside that took her nearly to the brink of tears as she looked out at the bright yellow rays that made the ocean glisten.

“We have a few clouds, which is a good thing,” he said. “It helps make the sunrise a bit more dramatic.”

“I bet you’ve seen lots of these,” Jacqueline replied while trying to compose herself.

“Yes, but I never get tired of it. It’s like seeing it for the first time every time,” he shared.

They both grew silent and took in the beauty of the early morning sky, and the warm connection of being so physically close to one another.

About the Author: Cynthia Flowers, a recently retired advertising professional, now grant writer, resides with her husband and four-year old Labrador named Eddie, at their “sanctuary” in Upstate New York, Although previously published, this is Cynthia's first book of fiction. Early on in grade school, Cynthia looked forward to creative writing class and enjoyed reading her stories aloud to her eager classmates.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Only-September-Cynthia-Flowers-ebook/dp/B0DWT79L6N/ref=sr_1_1

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Ghosted by Lori Matsourani

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Lori Matsourani will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour. Also, the author has organized a Goodreads giveaway for the book: https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/418301-ghosted.

When her fiancé’s infidelity prompts Bethany Hendren to map out a new path forward, her plans are disrupted by an unexpected encounter with Nick Dorsey, who convinces her to help search for the remains of a troubled eighteenth-century ghost. Nick is the handsome summer boyfriend who ghosted her years ago, and now he wants to rekindle their relationship.

Despite her reluctance to trust him, Bethany discovers he’s still the funny, caring person who captured her heart as a teen, but giving him a second chance is risky—it could lead to love and happiness or result in another devastating heartache.

Although Bethany wants a happily ever after with Nick, does she have the courage to trust him with her future?

Read an Excerpt

As they walked back to the inn, Bethany counted on the shadows from the street lamps to mask Nick’s probing gaze and boost her courage to ask him what happened all those years ago. His reason might help her find closure and make peace with the past. And then, maybe, they could part as friends.

But what if his explanation inflicted a fresh wound instead?

She hesitated, and Nick broke the silence. “There’s something captivating about this town at night. It gives me a sense of anticipation, like something exciting is just ahead.”

“It’s the same for me, too,” she replied, relieved her question remained unasked. “Like anything is possible, as though the darkness dismantles all the barriers we erect during the day.”

He turned his head. “Are there specific barriers you’re referring to?”

Fear. She was afraid to find out what happened that summer. And truth. Did she really want to know why he’d ghosted her?

As she contemplated a reply, his fingers brushed against hers. She stiffened, surprised by his touch and flustered by the warmth of his skin. Immediately, her mind went blank, his question and her reply obliterated by the rapid thudding inside her chest.

Be strong.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled, moving her hand away from his to scratch her cheek, then fidget with her purse strap. “What did you say?”

About the Author:

Author Lori Matsourani is a romance addict. Give her stories with a touch of heartbreak and a spark of joy, and she’s happy. Throw in characters with a huge helping of heart and soul, and she’s up reading all night in romance heaven! While currently a Texas resident, Lori grew up near Baltimore and often draws on the historical flavor of Annapolis and Maryland’s Eastern Shore to inspire her story settings. She authored her first fiction story at twelve and has been hooked on writing ever since. Early on, her writing career focused on articles for magazines and newspapers before shifting to her first writing love—fiction. For Lori, connecting words to tell a story is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, and she loves the challenge of creating every piece.

Website: https://lorimatsourani.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lori.matsourani
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lori.matsourani/
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/lori_matsourani
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/lori-matsourani.bsky.social
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@lori.matsourani
X: https://x.com/LoriMatsourani
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@alloriannam

Buy Links:

https://books2read.com/lorimatsourani
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F9XCPLYD/thewildrosepr-20
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/ghosted-lori-matsourani/1147463084
https://books.apple.com/us/book/ghosted/id6746414091
https://wildrosepress.com/product/ghosted/

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Father of One by Jani Anttola

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. The author will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

Maka, a young Bosnian soldier, has survived three years under siege. When the enemy forces launch their final attack on his hometown, he must escape to the hills. But traversing the vast woods is a task against all odds: to stay alive, and to find his infant son and his wife, he is soon forced to make a desperate move.

Set against the harrowing background of raging guerrilla warfare and the genocide in Srebrenica, Father of One is, at heart, a story of deep humanity, compassion and love. It is the account of one man’s desire to reunite his family, separated by war, and of bonds unbroken by trauma, sustained by loyalty and tenacity. Writing in a voice that rings with clarity and authenticity, Jani Anttola lays open a dark moment in Europe’s recent history.

Read an Excerpt

The old man they called Dedo died in September after a two-day storm. The wind blew from the south, bringing sea clouds, grey and ragged like used steel wool, that poured down on the valley and the gusts drove rain against the window planks, making them wet and dripping, with pooling water on the floor of the cell. Outside the camp the trees bent in the heavy wind and the hayfields were flat in the rain. It was a summer storm but it wasn’t warm: the police stayed holed up in their house and grey smoke puffed from the stovepipe and was ripped away flatly in the wind. The cops had reduced their perimeter to a few that huddled in the far corners. In their olive-green ponchos the guards looked like some strange, dark-glistening mushrooms behind the rain. Then, after the storm broke, the drizzle continued for a day and the hills were deep green and misty, and the rusty old silos of the batching factory stood out brightly in their crumbling yellow paint. There were pools of water on the paths between the barracks and tree branches blown across the yard and everything was washed out, fresh and silent.

That afternoon they were corralled into the third barrack. The hundreds of inmates stood waiting, packed in the hall now, happily surprised by the announcement of an additional tea portion. The previous police crew had repurposed the building as a prison canteen. On the low counter the inmates had built, a gas stove was alight. On its grate sat a fifty-litre, boiling aluminium kettle. Maka stood behind the cauldron with another inmate, a ladle in hand, feeling the heat from the little blue flames that flickered underneath.

About the Author

Jani Anttola is a Finnish novelist and a medical doctor. In the 1990s he served in Rwanda with the French military and fought in Bosnia as a soldier of the Bosnian army. His works have been published in the UK and Finland. He has spent most of his adult life abroad, working in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific.

Author website: https://www.jani- anttola.com/

Buy links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-One-Jani-Anttola/dp/1915603986

https://www.amazon.com/Father-of-One/dp/1915603986

https://bookguild.co.uk/bookshop/historical/father-of-one/



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Blood in the Shadows by Hawk MacKinney

This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Hawk MacKinney will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.

When marine buddy, Gulfport, Mississippi Sheriff asks Craige Ingram for help, Ingram and Buckingham Parish patrolman ‘Badger’ Thomas Boback find themselves in the summertime dogdays of the humid Gulf Coast. With crowded beaches and an undermanned staff, a routine investigation soon becomes anything but routine when indescribable body parts start showing up along the surf, in beachfront cabins, half-buried in bayou wetlands, stashed under freeway bridges, and across county lines. Craige’s search for answers to identifying victims and killer among the crowds of tourists and skin-and-sun partygoers soon makes it obvious the victims have no connection with one another—until conflicting DNA results and haunting premonitions resembling the warnings Craige’s grannie often had become part of the investigation. The jigsaw of abandoned cross-kin offspring begin a horrifying Gordian Knot tangle that threatens anyone who approaches the shadowy ancient wreck of an old mansion - an asylum from a lost time.

Read an Excerpt

Craige grabbed a gloved handful of matted briers; pried away the snags off his camo field pants, “County maps show a road once came through here to the main house.” Fletch said, “The only time I was ever out here to Chateau Bois was with my dad; the paths and roads were clear-cut with none of this scrum growth. We could be standing in the middle of the dirt and gravel buggy lane and never know it. From what I can see of the house, it looks about the same. Except for that big oak near the porch in the front yard, there were no trees. Yard stayed clean cut. There was a fancy wrought iron fence. You’d think there’d be what’s left of a gate or fence in here somewhere.”

“Don’t take long in this humidity for rust to take hold of iron and all manner of critters digging and chewing. Mold and big black carpenter ants, wood bees, powder-puff beetles, pesky Argentine ants—untreated fence posts and any wood don’t last long.” Craige shoved against the twist of honeysuckle runners dangling from the scrub oak and sweet gum trees. Yellow Jackets buzzed out from a jostled nest. Craige froze. “Stand still.” Only his eyes moved, “Don’t run. Somewhere in these blackberries we’ve stirred us a Yellow Jacket nest. You run; the whole nest will swarm your butt. Keep still and they’ll buzz around; go on off.” He braced himself for stings that never came. Angry buzzes cleared out; a few hung around, then were gone. After a few more shoves through the overgrowth the house emerged from its leafy shroud and towered in front of them. Fletch stopped, “I don’t remember it being so big. It’s been more than twenty years, maybe longer, since I last saw this place.”

“Must have been quite a showplace in its day.” Craige let his eyes roam the shuttered windows on the upper floors, several loose panels dangled from attic gables. Most of the upper windows were shuttered or boarded. Leaning back, he looked to the roof eaves and overhangs.

“Considerable mildew and wood-rot around the window frames, but it doesn’t look too bad for being empty all these years. Always struck me odd how a house not lived in pines away to rack and ruin as though it knows no one cares about it.” Fletch walked around one side. “Looks the same over this way, too. No sign St. Jacques drove out here, no tracks, none of the weeds and scrub growth knocked down.”

“He would likely have left the car back at the highway. No way he could get a car in here. If he’d tried, the vehicle would still be stuck in that drainage washout we jumped.”

Craige eased a step up onto the boards of the porch. Gingerly added his full weight; felt the rotted boards crackle, but they held. He wasn’t about to let rotten boards set him straddling a ball-busting floor support. Took another step; his boots echoed leaded thuds on the long unused wood.

From the corner window on the second-floor suspicious eyes peeked between the dust-covered spider-webbed slatted shutters. The eyes grew wide, breathing quickened when Craige disappeared from view beneath the rusty tin porch roof. He glanced toward Jeffus, finger held straight against his pursed lips to be still. It was too late to get Jeffus downstairs. Jeffus shuffled slowly into a corner; retreated into the shadows and hunkered. Hardly any daylight peeked through the heavy, age-rotted drapes with only a dim reflection in the smudged broken mirror in the once-upon-a-time stuffy shuttered bedroom.

About the Author:

Hawk MacKinney has authored several award-winning works of fiction that include THE MOCCASIN HOLLOW MYSTERY SERIES and THE CAIRNS OF SAINCTUARIE SCIENCE FICTION SERIES. His historical romance MOCCASIN TRACE was nominated for the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award.

Cross-genre character-driven plots reflect Hawk MacKinney’s southwest upbringing along the Texas and Oklahoma borders. With postgraduate faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem.

Website: http://www.hawkmackinneyauthor.com

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Shadows-Hawk-MacKinney/dp/B0FG47PDSV/ref=sr_1_1

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