On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — The Du Lac Chronicles (Book 1 of The Du Lac Chronicles) by Mary Anne Yarde #HistoricalFiction #HistoricalFantasy #BlogTour @maryanneyarde

Today I am hosting the fabulous Mary Anne Yarde - just check out the cover of her book, The Du Lac Chronicles, isn't it amazing?! Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for inviting me to be a part of this tour.

The Du Lac Chronicles
(Book 1 of The Du Lac Chronicles)
By Mary Anne Yarde

A generation after Arthur Pendragon ruled, Briton lies fragmented into warring kingdoms and principalities.

Eighteen-year-old Alden du Lac ruled the tiny kingdom of Cerniw. Now he half-hangs from a wooden pole, his back lashed into a mass of bloody welts exposed to the cold of a cruel winter night. He’s to be executed come daybreak—should he survive that long.

When Alden notices the shadowy figure approaching, he assumes death has come to end his pain. Instead, the daughter of his enemy, Cerdic of Wessex, frees and hides him, her motives unclear.

Annis has loved Alden since his ill-fated marriage to her Saxon cousin—a marriage that ended in blood and guilt—and she would give anything to protect him. Annis’s rescue of Alden traps them between a brutal Saxon king and Alden’s remaining allies. Meanwhile, unknown forces are carefully manipulating the ruins of Arthur’s legacy.

Trigger warnings:

Torture, Warfare

I have just bought my copy as this book sounds so amazing. If you would like to grab yours too you can find it on Amazon And get this, it is FREE to read with #KindleUnlimited - so what are you waiting for?!

Mary Anne Yarde

Mary Anne Yarde is a multi-award winning and bestselling author of Historical Fiction, as well as an award-winning blogger. She studied History at Cardiff University and went on to study Equine Science at Warwickshire College.

Mary Anne is a passionate advocate for quality Historical Fiction and founded The Coffee Pot Book Club in 2015 and became a professional Editorial Reviewer in 2016.

Mary Anne's award-winning series, The Du Lac Chronicles, is set a generation after the fall of King Arthur. The Du Lac Chronicles takes you on a journey through Dark Age Britain and Brittany, where you will meet new friends and terrifying foes. Based on legends and historical fact, The Du Lac Chronicles is a series not to be missed

Born in Bath, England, Mary Anne grew up in the southwest of England, surrounded and influenced by centuries of history and mythology. Glastonbury—the fabled Isle of Avalon—was a mere fifteen-minute drive from her home, and tales of King Arthur and his knights were part of her childhood.

Social Media Links:

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Tour Schedule

Love You Again
(Love You, Maine, #2)
By Julia Kent

Set in the woodsy small town of Luview, “Love You,” Maine – a tourist favorite where every day is Valentine’s Day – local police officer and single dad Luke Luview has spent the last two years making his young daughter his priority after his wife’s death. When first-love Kylie Hood comes back into town under bizarre circumstances, he learns that nothing’s a coincidence – and maybe second chances are possible after all.

If you’re looking for a fun read about first kisses, second chances, featuring a hot single dad small town police officer and his accidental nanny, set in a small town in New England, with a golden retriever named Jester, a heroine whose dream in life is to run a fairy camp, and a hero who wants to build a place where everyone belongs – then this is your book.

Grab a cup of coffee, tea, and maybe some edible glitter, and get your happy meter ready as you read the second book in the Love You, Maine series – where love isn’t just a feeling – it’s a way of life.

✓Single Dad
✓Second chance
✓Small town romance
✓Local police officer and his last-minute nanny
…and a Golden Retriever named Jester

EXCERPT

A white puff of air filled the space between him and the steering wheel, and he realized he’d sighed. How long had he been sitting here, mind and memory in the past? Shoving his hands into gloves, he opened the rear door, grabbed the white plastic bag, and made his way to the front of the bin.

Determined, focused, and grim: That was Luke Luview these days. A bad match for a town that existed to make people feel good about love.

Living in Love You, Maine–heck, being a Luview–was never harder than when you had a broken heart.

Time to let go of some of the pain.

“AAAAAAooooooooo,” called out a band of coyotes in the distance, making Luke jolt. His personal weapon was at home. He didn’t carry it in the glove compartment or on his body when he was off duty, but as the coyote population grew in the area, maybe he should.

A few feet from the donation bin’s front, he looked at the lever to pull down, squeezing the bag slightly. A whiff of Amber’s perfume caught his nose, so faint he almost imagined it.

Colleen had washed all the clothes a few weeks ago, so he knew he imagined Amber’s scent. Didn’t matter. He’d take the illusion. That was how much he hurt.

A skitter inside the box made him frown.

Damn animals. They got in those bins all the time. He felt sorry for the poor sap who emptied these metal boxes, carting all the goods to the warehouse in Manchester where they cleaned and sorted, getting it all ready for the second-hand retail stores.

Just do this, he thought, swallowing hard as the coyotes mated in the distance. The sound was violent and creepy, but for whatever reason, it felt fitting.

Throwing the tangible reminders of that terrible day into the donation box felt dangerous, too.

“I love you, Amber,” he murmured. “But I have to let you go. Have to let that day go. Harriet needs a daddy who isn’t tied down by grief. Just because I’m doing this doesn’t mean I love you any less, though.”

Tears pricked his eyes. “Why is this so hard? Because it’s hard,” he said with a huff. “That’s what you would say if you were here. You’d hug me and comfort me and tell me feelings are meant to be felt or they’d be called something else. You’d have all the right words. I don’t have any. I just have a big hole in my life, Amber. And you’re never going to fill it. Colleen says I can’t feel guilty for moving on. I don’t. But I sure do feel weird.”

And then he reached for the handle, pulled it down, and threw the bag in while calling out loudly, “I love you.”

To his utter shock, she replied from the darkness of the box, “I’m in here!”

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If this book tickles your fancy then you can find it over on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo, Google Play

Julia Kent

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.

Social Media Links: 

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — The Girl from Bologna (Girls from the Italian Resistance) by Siobhan Daiko @siobhandaiko @maryanneyarde

 

The Girl from Bologna 
(Girls from the Italian Resistance)
By Siobhan Daiko

Bologna, Italy, 1944, and the streets are crawling with German soldiers. Nineteen-year-old Leila Venturi is shocked into joining the Resistance after her beloved best friend Rebecca, the daughter of a prominent Jewish businessman, is ruthlessly deported to a concentration camp.

In February 1981, exchange student Rhiannon Hughes arrives in Bologna to study at the university. There, she rents a room from Leila, who is now middle-aged and infirm. Leila’s nephew, Gianluca, offers to show Rhiannon around but Leila warns her off him.

Soon Rhiannon finds herself being drawn into a web of intrigue. What is Gianluca’s interest in a far-right group? And how is the nefarious head of this group connected to Leila? As dark secrets emerge from the past, Rhiannon is faced with a terrible choice. Will she take her courage into both hands and risk everything?

An evocative, compelling read, “The Girl from Bologna” is a story of love lost, daring exploits, and heart wrenching redemption.

By this point, I don’t need to be tempted by pretty covers, or the prospect of reading a book set in Italy for me to agree to read it. I just need to see this author’s name to get overly excited about reading the book. I impatiently awaited the arrival of my copy, and absolutely could not wait to get started.

Leila has decided to take an exchange student, Rhiannon, into her home, while she dictates her memoirs and records them. Little does she know, the things she talks about, what she experienced during the 1940s in Bologna, are still massively important to what is happening in Italy. She might think that she is simply making sure her story does not end up lost and forgotten, but there is so much more to it when the past resurfaces. 

Rhiannon only really came to Italy to improve her Italian speaking, but somehow, school is given second priority when things start to happen. Meeting Marie, another exchange student, Rhiannon thinks she has found a friend, but Marie acts strangely, and some of the things she does and says make no sense. On top of that, Leila’s nephew, Gianluca, seems to take an interest in Marie. He is a freelance reporter, and the interest he takes in her seems to be to do with that, rather than in the sense of a relationship. 

I loved the way of showing the past in this book. The past and the present don’t have separate chapters, but you find out about the past through Leila’s recordings, just as Gianluca and, eventually, Rhiannon do. By keeping Leila’s past and present in the same chapters, it really ties in the idea that ‘the past is never past’. The past shouldn’t simply be resigned to being ‘history’, because everything that happened is still always having an effect on everything that is happening. Leila’s past helps Gianluca and Rhiannon understand what is happening, for there is a mystery afoot, and while it starts and ends with Marie, she is not the only person involved.

If you have read any of my reviews for the other books I’ve read by this author, you’ll know that I have a lifelong dream of travelling to Italy, but I have young children and I haven’t been able to start a holiday fund because I keep spending all my money on books. When I told my husband that I had another book by this author, and then re-explained the plot of the previous two books, for he evidently had no idea what author I was talking about, he resigned himself to the fact that we would be eating ‘Italian’ food for the next few days, while I read it. Unfortunately for me, this book goes into wonderful detail about the food Leila makes, and Rhiannon is introduced to. My usual ‘Italian’ food is frozen pizza, or cheesy pasta, but reading about all the amazing food made me want to try piadine, I wanted all the fancy-sounding pasta dishes, I wanted plates of cold meat and salad after my meal… while I haven’t had any of this yet, date night with my husband is rapidly approaching, and he has already agreed that we will be going to an Italian restaurant! I can’t wait!

While I may spend ages gushing about the food, and my desire to go to Italy, there are some heartbreaking moments in this book. Leila spent time with a group of Gappisti, and they worked to try and free prisoners. She does end up picking up a gun as well, and fights for her country, but, in the line of fire, she loses people close to her, and she herself suffers through being captive, and subject to violent questioning. Definitely be prepared for some harrowing scenes.

Once again, this author has rekindled my love for Italian fiction. I haven’t actually read much of it, in general, apart from when a new book comes out in this series and I absolutely have to read it. If you like historical fiction, and you like Italy, this series is the one for you. This has to be one of my favourite authors of all time!

I highly recommend you grab a copy of this book, which you can do over on Amazon And guess what... if you have #KindleUnlimited this novel is free to read. 

Siobhan Daiko

Siobhan Daiko is a British historical fiction author. A lover of all things Italian, she lives in the Veneto region of northern Italy with her husband, a Havanese dog and a rescued cat. After a life of romance and adventure in Hong Kong, Australia and the UK, Siobhan now spends her time indulging her love of writing and enjoying her life near Venice.

Social Media Links:

Website, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads 

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On tour with The Coffee Pot Book Club — More Precious Than Gold (The Hearts of Gold Trilogy, Book 2) by Renee Yancy #BookReview #Historical @YancyRenee @maryanneyarde

More Precious Than Gold
(The Hearts of Gold Trilogy, Book 2)
By Renee Yancy

A young woman refuses to become a pawn in her grandmother’s revenge scheme and forgoes a life of wealth and royalty to pursue a nursing career as America enters WWI and the Pandemic Flu of 1918 wreaks havoc in New York City.

This novel is a poignant story about nursing on the front line during the 1919 flu pandemic. Be sure to have a big book of tissues with you because you are going to need them.

Kitty has all the hallmarks of a first-class nurse. She is kind, compassionate and dedicated to her job - if only her extremely wealthy grandmother could accept her for who she is. Kitty wants to learn, she wants to be the best she can be, she is even toying with the idea of training to become a doctor once she has qualified as a nurse. She goes above and beyond for her patients, and her dedication is noted by her seniors. But nothing could have prepared her for the 1919 pandemic.

This novel is very graphic. The author describes, in great detail, not only what it was like on the wards during this terrible time, but also what it was like in the wider community. Entire families are wiped out and there are bodies left in the street and the morgue is full. There are many similarities between this pandemic to the recent Covid pandemic, the only difference, I guess, is that science was on our side, whereas in 1919 the world was just coming out of a bloody war and antibiotics had yet to be discovered.

But this novel is not all doom and gloom, although be prepared for doom and gloom. There are some lighter moments because this does not just tell the story of Kitty the nurse, but Kitty and her family and friends. And, not forgetting, her problem with peas!!!

I really enjoyed this novel from beginning to end, although I am not sure I enjoyed the scene of the flu-invested wards, but it was certainly informative as well as incredibly upsetting. The only thing I can fault in this novel is the lady on the front of the cover who is dressed in the Regency fashion and not the fashion of 1919. But despite this little faux pas on the cover, the story has an awful lot going for it, but be warned, you are going to need to take out shares in Kleenex by the time you have finished reading this book!

This book is truly amazing. You can grab your copy at your favourite online bookstore - Here!

Renee Yancy

Renee Yancy is a history and archaeology nut who works as an RN when she isn’t writing his-torical fiction or traveling the world to see the exotic places her characters have lived.

A voracious reader as a young girl, she now writes the kind of books she loves to read—stories filled with historical and archaeological detail interwoven with strong characters facing big conflicts. Her goal is to take you on a journey into the past so fascinating that you can’t put the story down. 

When she isn’t writing, Renee can be found in the wilds of Kentucky with her husband and a rescue mutt named Ellie. She loves flea markets and collecting pottery and glass and most any-thing mid-century modern.

Social Media Links:

Website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, BookBub, Amazon Author Page, Goodreads 

Tour Schedule

Thank you to The Coffee Pot Book Club for inviting me to be a part of this tour.

On Tour With Xpresso Book Tours — Heated (Burned, Inc., Book 1) By Naima Simon #Giveaway #Excerpt #Romance #XpressoBookTours @jkentauthor

Heated
(Burned, Inc., Book 1)
By Naima Simone

From USA Today bestselling author Naima Simone comes Heated, a sizzling novel about a breakup professional who embarks on a fake relationship with a client’s ex—the one person she wasn’t supposed to fall for.

Zora

I’m Denver’s unmatchmaker. Every city needs one.

Why? Because people break up—and sometimes they should. But when I learn that entertainment attorney Cyrus Hart is someone else’s mistake, I can’t believe it. He’s smart, successful, and sexy as hell.

When a chance encounter with Cyrus turns into something more, I can’t help but fall for him. Our chemistry is undeniable. But his ex used my company to send him that letter—and that’s a problem. Especially since he doesn’t know I own the company.

How can this possibly work? I know from experience that the riskiest ventures are the worthiest ones…but falling for Cyrus Hart may be my biggest gamble yet.

Cyrus

I’m a man with a plan—college, law school, a great career. So far, so good.

Until a stranger shows up on my doorstep and reads me a breakup letter from my girlfriend. My carefully laid plans unravel.

But then I meet someone new. It’s spontaneous. It’s electric. And it’s not according to plan.

Why are we here?”

“I haven’t quite figured that out yet,” I admit.

It’s not a lie. My hastily thought-of plan drove me here. But part of me hasn’t decided if it also wasn’t simply the desire to see her again. Or an exercise in self-control. Dangling what I shouldn’t take in front of me to see if I possess enough discipline to keep my hands to myself, to walk away. Or tempt myself with this sensual form of edging by embracing what I shouldn’t.

The ambiguous answer seems to be the correct one, though. The tension slowly ebbs out of her body, and she props an elbow on the chair’s arm.

“That makes the two of us, then, because I haven’t figured out yet why I came here.” She huffs out a soft breath. “I’m certain of one thing, though. This isn’t right or smart.”

“Why? Because you’re Val’s friend?” I slice a hand between us. “She’s already seeing someone new. Probably was before she sent you to do her hatchet job. So I don’t care about that.”

“Is that what this is, then?” she murmurs. “Revenge? Payback? You plan to throw”—she twirls a hand in the air—“whatever we’re doing here back in her face one day for breaking up with you and moving on too quickly?”

I almost laugh long and loud at that bullshit.

“There aren’t many things that are a one hundred percent certainty. Weather, election outcomes, the price of gas, Hollywood marriages. But this I can state without a shadow of a doubt. Not happening.”

She studies me, and I can practically read all the questions in those brown eyes. How can you? Why? What happened?

But she lifts her cup and drinks, and instead of asking what she so clearly wants to know, she says, “Not my business.”

“Isn’t it? When you chose to put yourself in the middle of our relationship, it became your business.” The moment comprehension dawns, her eyes widen, then narrow. But I lean forward, a smile curving my mouth. And that smile? It’s possible it isn’t nice. Because nice doesn’t accurately describe this uncomfortable and unwanted gnawing inside of me. I’m feeling hungry. “You owe me.”

I both hear and see the hitch in her breath. The almost nonchalant note in her voice belies the worry in her eyes. Too bad for her; I make a living at reading people. Too bad she’s shit at hiding her emotions. God, I could fucking feast, become a damn glutton on her honesty.

“What?” she whispered.

“You heard me.”

“Yes, I heard you.” My own breath really shouldn’t quicken or my blood pump hotter at the sound of those words coming through clenched teeth. Or the sight of her hand wrapped tighter around her cup. As if only her grip on the cardboard container is preventing her from transferring it to my neck. “But obviously I don’t understand your meaning. I owe you for what?”

For witnessing my weakest moments since leaving my aunt’s house. For reminding me that my life, my world, is not in my control. For throwing me back to that twelve-, fourteen-, sixteen-year-old uncertain boy again.

For refusing to be evicted from my head like a sexy, stubborn squatter.

For being my answer, my salvation, in this moment, when for years I’ve vowed to depend only on myself.

And her most heinous sin? For deviating from my carefully laid-out plans. For stepping outside those lines and hungering for something, someone, I have no business desiring.

But I say none of that because those reasons are mine and mine alone.

She gets, “For not stepping back and letting Val have the guts to do her own dirty work. Instead, you allowed yourself to be her patsy, and I’m pissed with you and her about that. I’m also mad as hell that you both stole the chance for me to have my say.”

A starkness enters her eyes, and she briefly closes them before glancing away, her hair concealing most of her profile. Fisting those curls and moving them out of the way so I can see her expression, her thoughts, is such a fierce urge I shift away from her.

“I didn’t think about that. About stealing your voice. I’m truly sorry for that.”

I believe her. But I’m not letting it go that easily. It isn’t in my interest to.

“Look at me,” I say softly. I order softly. And a coil in my gut draws almost painfully, sweetly tight when she obeys. “You owe me. And I’m offering a form of . . . penance.”

She loses that pained, haunted expression, and anger tautens the skin across her cheekbones, emphasizing their boldness, their strength. As perverse as it might make me, my cock pounds at the sign of her ire. Yeah, I’m turned on, and part of me is hoping she takes it out on me with teeth and nails.

Well shit. When did I become a man who enjoyed an edge of pain with his pleasure?

The answer?

Zora.

Doesn't this book sounds amazing. You can grab your copy over on Amazon. And don't forget to enter the Giveaway!

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Naima Simone

Published since 2009, USA Today Bestselling author Naima Simone loves writing sizzling romances with heart, a touch of humor and snark. Her books have been featured in The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly, and described as balancing “crackling, electric love scenes with exquisitely rendered characters caught in emotional turmoil.”

She is wife to Superman, or his non-Kryptonian, less bullet proof equivalent, and mother to the most awesome kids ever. They all live in perfect, sometimes domestically-challenged bliss in the southern United States.

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