All posts by Jo-Anna W

#Review #ExtremeHorror – The Ugly Duckling by Anne Snow

Once upon a time, there was a boy no one wanted. At school, the golden sons of the kingdom taught him his place with fists and sexual assault. At home, a father with a voice like thunder carved shame and violence into his bones.

Dylan learned that some children are not meant to grow into swans. People like him were the birds that got hunted.

Fairytales promise transformation. But when a heart is starved of kindness long enough, it does not sprout wings.
It grows bullets.

This was a short, definitely extreme little read. Poor Dylan has been abused by his father, his mother didn’t help, and he has to face bullies at school. No one seems to care about this poor kid.

One day he finally has enough and takes matters into his own hands.

While this book is short, it is an extreme horror, so it does come with quite a few trigger warnings. Please read with caution.

Read in KU – https://amzn.to/4bCBTRT

#Review #ExtremeHorror – Rabbit Hunt by Wrath James White

A brutal, unflinching extreme horror novel from Wrath James White – master of splatterpunk and psychological terror.

Six college friends head into the woods for a wild, carefree weekend of drugs and sex. But deep in the forest, they’re not alone. Others have come for their own brand of sadistic, murderous fun. And they just pissed off the wrong people. Their carefree weekend becomes a savage battle for survival against a group of deranged killers who see human beings as prey. As darkness falls, every secret, sin, and scream will surface.

When Mooky, Rashad, Steve, and Big Mike reunite for their annual “rabbit hunt,” their lives and the lives of everyone they come across will be brutally and violently altered forever.

Rabbit Hunt is a splatterpunk survival horror novel that takes the “redneck psychopaths in the woods” trope and tears it to pieces. Wrath James White delivers a relentless tale of extreme violence, body horror, and psychological suspense – perfect for fans of Nick Kutter, Aron Beauregard, Elias Witherow, Kristopher Triana, and Clive Barker.

First, please read the trigger warnings. Even if you are a seasoned extreme horror reader, I still suggest reading them.

Now, this book…wow…this book was a lot.

You have four Black guys who are going hunting and I’m not talking about animals. A group of teens anger them and they take out their revenge on this group in the most awful way imaginable.

I don’t even know how to review this. It’s brutal, gory, beyond horrific but at the same time, it was written so well. I truly enjoyed this insane ride.

Wrath James White is quickly becoming a top tier author for me.

One-Click – https://amzn.to/40EnMq6

#NewestRelease – Wishing on a Star in the City (Stars in the City Book 4) by Krysten Lindsay Hager

Everyone thinks Ivy Macomb’s life is perfect as she’s a teen actress on a TV show, part of a well-known family, and has just started college with her football star boyfriend, Ryan. However, as Ryan’s on campus fame grows, the two break up leaving Ivy heartbroken. She makes up a cover story to save face about how they’re taking time apart, but she’s devastated and unsure how to handle things. She ends up having a crying meltdown in front of her great-uncle who is better known in the media as the most ruthless man in business. However, she learns there’s another side to Uncle Alfred as he not only offers advice, but helps her with her podcast.

Her cousin tries to get her to go out and show people she’s doing fine after the breakup. Enter freshman hockey player, Konrad Gorski. Ivy and Konrad become fast friends as he’s a shoulder to cry on for her as she deals with her feelings. He’s also been through a bad breakup and has trust issues. Konrad is selected to go overseas for a hockey opportunity and the two stay in touch daily. They begin to have feelings for each other, but she’s worried about getting hurt. Can Ivy open her heart to love again?

One-Click – https://amzn.to/4loalnR

#NewestRelease – Right Your Wrongs: A Second Chance Hockey Romance (Kings Of Ice) by Kandi Steiner

What happens when the youngest, most successful coach in the NHL comes face-to-face with the woman he never got over — only to find out she’s married to his new General Manager?

Everything I’ve spent my life building is suddenly at risk.

I loved Ariana Ridley long before the world knew my name. Before the NHL. Before the pressure of being one of the youngest coaches in the league. Before I learned how to survive by locking my heart down tight.

Leaving her was the hardest thing I’ve ever done — and the one choice I never made peace with.

Now she’s back.
And she belongs to another man.

My new General Manager.

I tell myself I can handle it. Discipline is my job. Control is my strength. I know how to keep my distance — how to respect the lines that should never be crossed.

But every glance drags the past to the surface. Every quiet moment reminds me the love I buried never died.

I see the cracks she tries to hide, the fear she’s learned to live with, and the way she still looks at me like I’m the one place she can breathe.

I want to protect her.
I want to fight for her.
And I want things I have no right to want.

Because if I cross that line, I don’t just risk my career — I risk shattering the woman I never stopped loving.

Some choices haunt us forever.
Some loves never let go.

And trying to right my wrongs might just ruin us both.

___________________________________________

TROPES:

Pro Hockey Romance
Forbidden
Second Chance
Slow Burn
Found Family
College-to-Adult Romance
Obsessed, Protective Hero
Heroine in Danger
Forced Proximity
___________________________________________

Right Your Wrongs is the final book in the Kings of the Ice series: a series of interconnected standalones following a team of professional hockey players and the women who bring them to their knees. They do not need to be read in order, but you will gain glimpses of future characters/couples in each book.

One-Click – https://geni.us/rightyourwrongs

#NewRelease – King Of Madness by Emma Mountford

I came back to bury my grandmother.

I didn’t expect to be watched.

The house I grew up in was meant to be my safe haven.

Quiet, isolated and familiar. Instead it feels like something is watching from within the walls.

Watching me.

Waiting.

Then the apples start appearing.

Doors I swear I locked are open.

An the feeling that I’m not alone becomes impossible to ignore.

He knows my name.

My past.

My secrets.

Gabriel King is danger wrapped in darkness. Scarred, violent and utterly obsessed.

But he doesn’t want my fear, he just wants me.

I know I should run.

i know I should scream.

I know I should run and never look back before it’s too late.

It might already be too late because I’m pretty sure there is no escape from the King of Madness.

One-Click – https://mybook.to/Kingofmadness

#NewRelease – The Pirate Queen by Joy Eileen

♡♡New Release♡♡♡♡

The Pirate Queen ☠️ ❤️

Kidnapped from her wedding by the most feared pirate on the sea, Charlotte Fitzwilliam is torn from a life of rigid rules and cruel obligation and thrust into a world of danger, rebellion, and forbidden freedom.

Hades is everything she was raised to fear: ruthless, lawless, and utterly uninterested in her submission. But aboard the Persephone, Charlotte must face a far greater question than survival.

Without the rules that once defined her, will she finally learn who she is?

Or will the freedom she never asked for destroy her?

One-Click – https://a.co/d/09v54Kfo

#PreOrder – The Analyst and the All-Star: A Love of the Game Sports Romance by Mel Walker

The Analyst and The All-Star – Sports Romance currently in PreOrder, releases on April 9th.

She knows the stats. He knows the game. Together, they’re about to rewrite the rules of love.

Daria Holloway is the baseball world’s best-kept secret. By day, she’s an overlooked analyst in a male-dominated world that refuses to hear her voice. By night, she is “The Oracle”—an anonymous blogger whose predictions are gospel to the very men who ignore her in the daylight.

Enter Isiah “Crush” Crawford, the All-Star of a rival team who is as famous for his intensity as his talent. He’s complicated, private, and the one sports figure Daria knows she must stay far away from. But when his career stumbles, the cheering crowds turn into a suffocating cage. He doesn’t need a fan; he needs someone who sees beyond the superhero cape to the man beneath it.

When Daria risks her anonymity to help Isiah find his swing, a forbidden romance ignites. But as Isiah battles his demons and Daria fights for her place at the table, they realize the hardest pitch to hit isn’t a fastball—it’s the curveball life throws when you fall in love.

Sometimes love means stepping out of the shadows and into the spotlight.

A heart-stopping sports romance about finding your voice, ambition, recognition, breaking the rules, and finding someone who sees the real you – dreams, fears, and all.

Pre-order – https://amzn.to/4lvzOvx

#Promo #Debut – Fighting For Fireflies: Exiled Ink Book 1 by MJ Koons

Cora
When a tall, dark stranger comes to my rescue, I brush it off as an isolated incident. I’ll never see him again, so I leave him with some advice and a parting gift.
Imagine my surprise when I learn he’s one of my new bosses.
All I want to do is work so I can take care of my young brother. I don’t have time for a relationship, but Atlas Nichols doesn’t care. He’s moody, arrogant, and keeps saying I’m his.

The joke’s on him because I don’t belong to anyone.
**
Atlas.
Coming to the aid of a stranger isn’t normally my thing. I don’t get involved in other people’s problems, but fate threw me a curveball. Fate showed me her.

Cora Ashford.
A five-foot-five girl with a smile so bright it lights up the parts of my soul I thought were long dead.
As the product of a broken system, I know I don’t deserve her, but when she smiles at me, and those blue eyes lock on mine, I know she’s it.

Damaged soul or not, I’m keeping her anyway.
Cora belongs to me, and no one will stand in my way.
Not even her.

Fighting for Fireflies is now live on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited.

If you like:

🧡Found Family

🧡Grumpy Tattoo Artists

🧡JP MMC & Strong FMC

🧡 Workplace Romance

https://a.co/d/bKVikMV

#Promo – Pumpkin Spice & Mr. Right Cafe: The Beginning by Roxanna Cross

Salem Springs is no stranger to trouble; it follows her everywhere she runs.

Fleeing has always been her shield, until it leads her back to the one place she swore she’d never return: home.
In Raven’s Point, she must face Thane Stonewell—the man whose heart she shattered—and the humming bond she ignored for far too long. With her magic unraveling, dark thorns coiling within, and the High Council’s judgment looming, Salem may have to trust the only man who might save her.

Thane Stonewell has mastered diplomacy and magic, but nothing prepared him for Salem’s return. She is the chaos in his calm. The wound that never healed.
Now, as old betrayals resurface and dangerous secrets come to light, Thane must walk the razor’s edge between duty and desire—risking everything. Including his heart. To save the woman who’s always undone him.

Pumpkin Spice & Mr. Right Café: The Beginning.
Is the first spellbinding installment in the Raven’s Point series: a fiercely emotional, magical tale of surrender, second chances, and the extraordinary courage it takes to choose to stay.

Return to Raven’s Point in the next installment of Pumpkin Spice and Mr. Right Café: The Ultimatum and discover where the magic leads next.

One-click book 1 – https://a.co/d/0bUjhiDQ

Pre-order book 2 – https://a.co/d/09tDSeQo