Thursday, October 17, 2024

BBNYA2024 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ Grave Covenant by Tobias Youngblood

 
Already troubled by his younger brother’s untimely death, Ridley faces hell when his fiancée disappears, leaving only a cryptic note.
On a quest to get her back, Ridley’s fate becomes intertwined with an insectile shapeshifter and an enigmatic, knife-wielding young girl with an agenda of her own. If Ridley is to have a prayer at saving his fiancée, he will need the help of his strange new friends. In a world where dragons still exist, and vampires hide in the shadows, an even greater threat lurks deep beneath the Outskirts … a god-like menace waiting to add Ridley’s bones to its collection. And Ridley’s fists won’t be enough this time … he’ll have to transform into something else entirely.

Monday, October 14, 2024

BBNYA2024 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton

 When the world goes dark, a doctor embarks on a perilous journey.
Doctor Anna Hastings is no stranger to disasters, having spent much of her career as an aid worker in conflict zones around the world. Yet when an electrical phenomenon known as an EMP brings down the power grid, Anna faces catastrophe on a scale she never imagined. She must learn what it means to be a doctor in a world deprived of almost all technology. As the blackout causes planes to fall from the sky, Anna crosses paths with devoted father Mark Ryan in the chaos at the airport. Mark convinces Anna to travel with him and his seven-year-old daughter Lily to their family’s cabin in remote Maine. There Mark hopes to reunite with his wife, and find a safe refuge from a society on the brink of collapse. Journeying across a thousand miles of backcountry trails, they will face a daily struggle against nature. Their biggest peril, though, may come from their fellow survivors. As Anna grows closer to Mark and Lily, she resolves to see them safely home. But can she hold onto her humanity in a world gone mad?

Sunday, October 13, 2024

AVR Weekly News ~ 564th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by 
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. 
~ Recap the past week ~ 
~ Show what's upcoming ~ 
~ Share news ~ 
~ Display book hauls ~

  • Sunday ~ Meme AVR Weekly News ~ 563rd Edition
  • Monday ~ BBNYA SpotlightA Blend of Magic by Kate Kenzie
  • Wednesday ~ Tour SpotlightWelcome to Dorley Hall by Alyson Greaves
  • Thursday ~ BBNYA SpotlightAll In by Russell Isler
  • Friday ~ Meme ~ Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: Looking for Lucie
 
  • Monday ~ BBNYA Spotlight ~ Blackout Trail by Linda Naughton
  • Thursday ~ BBNYA Spotlight ~ Grave Covenant by Tobias Youngblood
  • Friday ~ Meme ~ Friday Featured Spotlight ~ TWR Ultimate Blog Tour: Welcome to Dorley Hall
  • Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 565th Edition

Hello and Happy Sunday!

Present was supposed to be capitalized, but otherwise this was supposedly funny. You only get it if you play a certain video game. It was mostly Trip's idea, but I tweaked it. LOL


On the Home Front:  It was a tiring week. Kyle's 24th birthday was Monday. Tuesday, Anna's boy friend flew in from Alaska (where he's temporarily living for now while he works at Costco-his true home is in Arizona). There were appointments and tests, and the Carolina Hurricanes home opener Friday evening which they lost. *cries* Wednesday I had Duke Energy install a security light outside as it gets so very dark down here in the woods. Not anymore! After his colonoscopy on Thursday, husband went to JD Vance's Hate Rally in Greensboro. How anyone in their right mind could listen to him and vile dementia-riddled tRump and think they are America's saviors is beyond me. They don't care about anyone except white rich men. I'm disgusted. And sick of it. Saturday cleaning with less sleep than I like and Domino's Pizza. I'm so tired. Bone tired. Down to my soul tired. And I'm done being lied to. Finished. The End.

Touching Nature: Weather has been beautifully Fall-like. I and my faithful steed, Backpack Blower, engaged in Battle II of Leafageddon to clear the drive and we reveled in glorious victory. Wait...my faithful steed actually rides on my back. Am I the faithful steed?!

Book News: I finished an audiobook and have nearly finished a paperback that has been languishing on my "currently reading" shelf.

Don't Touch That Dial!:  Criminal Minds.

At the Flicks: Nope

Cyberspace Playground: Wordle, Word Lots, Crossword Jam, Solitaire, jigsaw puzzles, the Finch app - is anyone wants to be friends just let me know.

Randomness:  For the party that keeps saying they're all for "small government" they sure do like making tons of micromanaging laws restricting personal freedoms.



Carol's Nuggets of Wisdom: 
That's it for me. AVR News Update signing off. May all your books enthrall you.


From the library

Nope




Freebies
Free at time of drafting.
Gaze twice, click once.

Nope



Thursday, October 10, 2024

BBNYA2024 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ All In by Russell Isler

 What dies in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
Vampire playboy Eddy Fry has spent years living it up, so to speak, in Las Vegas. In all those decades, not once has he met another of his kind. Until tonight. Eddy learns that, not only are there other vampires out there, the one after him is older and much more powerful than he is. As if that wasn't bad enough, she’s got a small army of supernatural creatures at her beck and call. In a flash, she’s muscled him out of the casino he calls home and left him with an offer he can’t refuse. Out-gunned and out of his depth, Eddy will need to find his own allies, allies who know their way around this whacked-out supernatural world he’s been ignoring for so long. Otherwise, he might just see his first sunrise in years…

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Welcome to Dorley Hall (US Release) ~ Spotlight


What if the only way to fix toxic masculinity were to erase it entirely?

Mark Vogel is like the older brother Stefan never had, but one day he disappears without a trace. A year later, after encountering a woman who looks near-identical to Mark, Stefan becomes obsessed. He finds that dozens of young men have disappeared over the years, many of them students at the Royal College of Saint Almsworth, and most of them troubled or unruly. Why are students going missing? Who are these women who bear striking resemblances to them? And what is their connection to the selective student accommodation on the edge of campus, Dorley Hall?

Stefan starts studying at Saint Almsworth for one reason and one reason only: to find out exactly what happened to the women who live at Dorley Hall, and to get it to happen to him, too.

An electrifying début by Alyson Greaves, Welcome to Dorley Hall is an intense exploration of gender and society that will appeal to readers of Torrey Peters, Imogen Binnie and Gretchen Felker-Martin.

Monday, October 7, 2024

BBNYA2024 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ A Blend of Magic by Kate Kenzie

 
A witch cannot exist on potions and tea alone.
Hiding in the shadows, staunch singleton Willow Anderson is content running her successful business, The Enchanted Emporium. With Christmas days away, she’s eager to exchange selling bespoke tea blends and spells for extended bubble baths and binge-watching festive movies snuggled next to her Maine Coon, Vincent. Nate never usually runs away from his problems, but drunk and disorientated, he finds himself in a small fisherman’s cottage in the Yorkshire coastal town of Whitby. After discovering his girlfriend’s affair, he is in no rush to return to the City. His wish for time alone in a Christmas-free zone comes true until an uninvited feline guest arrives. Neither Nate nor Willow want company, especially from each other, but they have little choice when concussion means they must spend at least twenty-four hours together. Sparks fly and not just the romantic kind. When darkness from Willow’s past returns and threatens to destroy all she has worked for, pursuing a love affair is the last thing she needs. With meddling ghosts and a teenage apprentice with her own matchmaking agenda, love and change are in the air. But can Willow face her fears, and the past, to capture the happiness she deserves?


Sunday, October 6, 2024

AVR Weekly News ~ 563rd Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by 
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. 
~ Recap the past week ~ 
~ Show what's upcoming ~ 
~ Share news ~ 
~ Display book hauls ~