Category Archives: short story

Paranormal, Part of a Trilogy, short story, Teen & Young Adult Contemporary, Witches, Writers on the River Attending Author, YA

#WOTR #attendingauthor #shortstory #ya A Snap of Magic (Snap of Magic 1) by Danielle Keil

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Meet Cecilia Chevalier, teen witch. Well, she doesn’t know she’s a witch. But when her powers develop on Halloween night, she does what any teenager who just discovered she has magic would her History grade, because that C- just can’t happen. Get revenge on her cheating ex. Make a table in the cafe disappear Okay, maybe that last one wasn’t on purpose. And the ones before it don’t exactly go according to plan. But learning to control magic is hard! When it’s only a snap snap away, Cecilia’s impulses are harder to control than ever.

Her life gets even more complicated when her best friend Ezra does some research on his family tree, and finds out that his and Cecilia’s families are oddly connected through witch ancestors.

With Ezra looking into the past, especially Cecilia’s mother who left her when she was born, and her magic malfunctioning, what else will go wrong?

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219632347-a-snap-of-magic

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Snap-Magic-Danielle-Keil-ebook/dp/B0DJ1SFGRT?ref_=ast_author_dp&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.YcQRtHta-Cof0yI18HquSpzgiv5kecT3QG5W81q2BPpqrAY8E7ib5EQnQ8XC8h5OH6ts1t1YOyUXTePYY6GYa2UQTq-ks6Px55XGX_QPzS35H_Yeul_kBGn7kAz2P-0xLZsPUurCzet1eBCs6jQeYeiL_gT5uDeweQwLTvwNEl0-ztbJirR9U8kfdFtk4V_0fP-jvT_6yzKKvYimgxQr3TDsJNsF6Zj9Mo6Fozp6XYA.xMYkabBXxJ5iUt9vtJqT0MU_gYDrtVGeavQCDtERS2A&dib_tag=AUTHOR

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

Oh Snap, CC was just your normal high school girl, and loved everything Halloween, the whole town did actually think of it as Halloweentown they went all out carnival the school put on and so much more. Just when she thought it was a normal night CC was having some strange things happening her pool for the duck pond at the carnival one minute it was empty because it fell over and the next its full, she wanted to raise her grade and one snap and the toughest teacher made a mistake on the classes’ grades, and much more. CC was just wanting her bad luck to stop but she got so much more with the help of her bestie Erza, CC was going to get a snap snap reality check. ugh this was so cute and perfect cozy read for spooky season.

Danielle Keil grew up and spent the majority of her life in the Chicagoland area. A recent transplant, she is enjoying the Mississippi life, especially the pool in her backyard.
Danielle is happily married for over 10 years, and has two young children, a daughter and a son, who are exact replicas of her and her husband.

Danielle’s love language is gifts, her Ennegram is a 9w1, and she loves everything purple.
The way to her heart is through coffee, chocolate and tacos (extra guac).

2nd Chance, Contemp. Romance, Review, Romantic Comedy, short story, Writers on the River Attending Author

#WOTR24 #Review – ‘Cherry Burn’ in Rocks: The Complete Series by Tori Ross

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Deep in the sticks of Missouri is a bar called Rocks where the bartenders are only similar in the fact that they’re all unlucky in love…

Cherry Burn – Dylan Wilcox has been gone from Highlight, Missouri for ten years. Nobody has seen him or even received an email as to his location. Worse, he left his high school girlfriend, Cherry Moss, without saying goodbye when he disappeared. When Dylan shows back up in town, clearly changed in the past ten years, Cherry needs to decide if his story is worth her forgiveness and if she can get over her own demons about him leaving.

Blue Balls – Piper Peck loves her life, her friends, and her job. There’s only one problem. The local sheriff, Creed McDuffy, has it in for her over her grandma’s old hot tub that’s considered an eyesore by county enforcement. Unknown to Piper, Creed has had a crush on her since high school and will do anything to get her to look his way. When Creed goes too far and arrests Piper in a last-ditch effort to get her attention, can he ever grovel enough to get in her good graces?

Pistol Fire – Libby Dean is known for being the town pistol. Brock Carpenter is known for being the town’s hero fireman. When a fire at Rocks Tavern throws Libby for a loop, Brock wants to comfort her. Libby’s not used to comfort, though, and runs away from any affection as fast as she can. But when Brock needs his own comfort, will Libby put aside her pride and step up?

Each short is 12-14k words. HEA or HFN guaranteed!

Goodreads

Amazon

Review by Twinsie Kelly

***Review is for Cherry Burn***

Cherry and Dylan were high school sweethearts 10 years ago. Dylan did the unthinkable. He took Cherry’s virginity and then was abducted by aliens the next day! 10 years later he pops back up and wants to give Cherry an explanation. But a lot has happened to Cherry over these 10 years and she has become cold toward men. She has responsibilities and she doesn’t think Dylan deserves the time of day.

Dylan has had enough and won’t take no for an answer. He finally gets to give his explanation. While it wasn’t as explosive as I thought it would be, it was different.

Next comes the inner turmoil of these two before they can finally get through their own crap to realize they are in love. Their long lost love is super sweet and hawt!

This was a great quickie read with some laughs, witty comments, sweet and swoony, with the mouth of a sailor… this is it!

Tori Ross profile image

Tori Ross is an Amazon bestselling and award-winning author of steamy contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her book, The Cuffing Season Contract, won the National Indie Excellence Award for romantic comedy, and she’s written several shorts, novellas, full-length books, and serials. She lives in Missouri with her family and two rescue dogs.

Novella, Part of a Series, Romantic Comedy, short story, Standalone, Writers on the River Attending Author

#wotr24 #attendingauthor #shortstory Head over Heels in Hawaii (Traveling Calvert Sister 1) by Tori Ross

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First in a new romantic comedy series by Tori Ross! Come along with the Calvert sisters as they find love and laughter far from home…

Cora Calvert is frustrated with her life and still sleeping in her childhood bunk bed. As if living with your parents isn’t bad enough, Cora’s job consists of measuring old women for bras instead of using her college degree in fashion design. When an opportunity for a trip to Hawaii comes about, she’s all over it and can’t pack fast enough. Even better, the tour is only for people in their twenties.

Cora’s excitement for the tour wanes when she learns the tour company assigns seats, and she’s stuck next to an arrogant jerk named Eric. Cora makes other friends and tries to ignore Eric’s green eyes and verbal diarrhea as she explores the islands, but Cora’s about to learn that first impressions can be very wrong.

The Traveling Calvert Sisters series is a series of shorts with 25-35k words. They can be read in any order. HEA or HFN guaranteed!

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59810492-head-over-heels-in-hawaii

Amazon https://amzn.to/3SwpHcx

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

Cora has found herself living back at home with her parents and five of her nine siblings so when her best friend gets the chicken pox Cora jumps at the chance to go to Hawaii in her friends place as long as she as paid half of the total from the trip, and she didn’t think twice about it. Lots of first for Cora first airplane flight, and so much more, but one thing Cora wasn’t expecting to find on this trip was a rude butthole of a guy who she got stuck with as her seat mate on the trip now she has to deal with him more then she wanted to, but once he starts pulling some of his layers away, will she be able to get over how rude he had been to her before she knew him or will his attitude be what ruins her once in a lifetime trip. this is the perfect story for the saying don’t judge a book by its cover. it was a very cute story

Tori Ross is an Amazon bestselling and award-winning author of steamy contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her book, The Cuffing Season Contract, won the National Indie Excellence Award for romantic comedy, and she’s written several shorts, novellas, full-length books, and serials. She lives in Missouri with her family and two rescue dogs.

Friends to Lovers, Novella, Part of a Series, Review, short story, Standalone

#review #shortstory #partofaseries Dear Future Husband (Matchmaker Series) by Angel Devlin

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Dear Future Husband…

Ella Cassidy is looking for love, so when she hears about Grace Graham’s dating service ‘What the Heart Wants’ where you handwrite love letters to your potential suitor, she’s eager to start.

She’s so in, she starts her letter ‘Dear Future Husband’. But there’s an error that leads to Ella getting letters from TWO potential suitors. One’s letters are the romance she’s dreamed of, the other’s letters are, well, just so darn… DIRTY.

Ella’s roommate, Finn, tells her she’s bound to end up on a date with a six-stone, pasty-faced serial killer. But are Finn’s concerns just for Ella’s safety, and are the suitors who she thinks…

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43848306-dear-future-husband

Amazon https://amzn.to/4bJxWsM

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

Ella and her bestie own a boutique and it’s the time of year that woman come into the store to shop for their perfect Valentine’s Day outfit, and as both single ladies Ella and Jodi dread with seeing the way they are all happy in love. Ella is a hopeless romantic and when a customer says she seen an advertisement about a matchmaker that does it old school by sending letters to the other person before getting to see what they looked like. Ella couldn’t help but think how amazing it would be and maybe she could fall in love by the end of the year. Especially since she had not one but two possible matches fighting for her heart.

Angel Devlin likes to write about bad boys and billionaires. She lives in Sheffield in the UK with her partner, son, and furbaby.

Angel also writes paranormal romance as Andie M. Long and psychological suspense as Angel Devlin.

Part of a Series, Review, short story, Standalone

#review #shortstory #partofaseries Dear Baby Daddy (Matchmakers Series) by Alexis Adaire

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After years of playing the field, I’m finally ready to settle down. Rather than waste time with the endless aggravation and frustration of dating, I decide to go through the What The Heart Wants matchmaking service.

When the matchmaker pairs me with Scarlett, I’m more than intrigued. She’s smart as hell and incredibly sexy, but too many cheating boyfriends have left her with a singular focus: getting pregnant and raising a child on her own.

I may want a wife and family, but being an absentee baby daddy is a whole different story. Too bad Scarlett is more interested in her pregnancy project than in falling in love.

So now I’m in trouble. I’ve been matched with someone who wants my ability to father a child more than she wants me. And yet I still can’t seem to get her out of my mind.

Valentine’s Day comes once a year, but the Amazon best-selling authors who brought you #ResolutionPact are back at it, and their new The Matchmaker Series is more perfect than a dozen roses! Skip the box of chocolates — it’s time to devour FIFTEEN sweet, sexy, steamy, stand-alone stories set in a shared world.

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43910888-dear-baby-daddy

Amazon https://amzn.to/3Lm0U6V

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

Scarlett sent a letter to a matchmaker but not in hopes of finding a forever love but just to find a sperm donor, without shots, appointments, and everything else that involves a sperm bank. Grace thinks she has the guy for the job and hopes to change Scarletts mind with her views of men in general, and that not all guys are cheaters.

Author Alexis Adaire is a master of scorching-hot romance writing that features strong, intelligent women and breathtakingly sexy men.

Living in the Pacific Northwest, Alexis spends her time indoors wrapped in a blanket at her computer, only emerging periodically to refill her coffee mug. Alexis delights in taking her readers to those unspeakable corners of their fantasies they may not even know exist.

Poem, Review, short story

#review #poetry #quickread Pretty Boys are Poisonous by Megan Fox

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Megan Fox showcases her wicked humor throughout a heartbreaking and dark collection of poetry. Over the course of more than seventy poems Fox chronicles all the ways in which we fit ourselves into the shape of the ones we love, even if it means losing ourselves in the process.

“These poems were written in an attempt to excise the illness that had taken root in me because of my silence. I’ve spent my entire life keeping the secrets of men, my body aches from carrying the weight of their sins. My freedom lives in these pages, and I hope that my words can inspire others to take back their happiness and their identity by using their voice to illuminate what’s been buried, but not forgotten, in the darkness,” says Fox.

Pretty Boys Are Poisonous marks the powerful debut from one of the most well-known women of our time. Turn the page, bite the apple, and sink your teeth into the most deliciously compelling and addictive books you’ll read all year.

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/166177788-pretty-boys-are-poisonous

Amazon https://amzn.to/4ccY7bO

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book here is my honest review

Poems are pulled from the deepest part of your soul. So, when a celebrity releases a poetry book they are letting down a chunk of their wall, pulling away their mask and cracking the door into their soul a tiny bit for people to see what they don’t get to see through a lens that they are always in front of. Megan lets her heart flow and words heal the pain a bit. Eyes opened they really are just normal people.

Megan is a mom, writer, actress

2nd Chance, Holiday Book/Novella, Part of a Series, Review, short story, Standalone

#review #shortstory #partofaseries #christmasread Naughty or Nice (Santa’s Coming Short Stories) by Laney Powell

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The last time I saw Cate Morgan, she called me a name not fit for public consumption and walked away. This time wasn’t much better, since I was dressed in a Santa suit and had a kid reciting her list of wants in my ear.

Of course, the last time, I’d told her to go, but that was beside the point. She was here, now, in front of me – right where I’d always wanted her. Well, there are other places I want her, but in front of me is a good place to start. Now that she’s here – I’m going to do things differently. I don’t want to lose her again.

The challenge is getting her to see that we’re perfect for each other. I’m stuck playing Santa, so maybe I just need to get her to sit on my lap and tell me what she wants for Christmas. Then I can show her how nice it is to be on Santa’s Naughty List.

Santa comes once a year … or does he?

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43232571-naughty-or-nice

Amazon https://amzn.to/3Ve1SrJ

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

the mall at Christmas time is the worst, Cate had just gotten her doctorate degree in marine biology but when she hasn’t heard back from the jobs she applied for after college she moved back in with her parents and got a job in the mall till her applications was accepted. but when she noticed that Santa was a ghost from Christmas past how she will handle it. Will Cate be able to overcome the hurt from her past and if so, will Santa put her on the naughty or nice list this Christmas

I’m a Midwestern lady, a USA Today bestselling author living life in the Rocky Mountains. Cowboys, bad boys, billionaires, demons, shifters, witches, warlocks – I write them because I love them all. Everyone deserves a steamy, happily ever after.

2nd Chance, Part of a Series, Review, short story, Standalone

#review #shortstory #chrsitmasread Santa’s Christmas Cracker (Santa’s Coming Short Stories) by Angel Devlin

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From Ho Ho Ho to Oh Oh Oh…

It’s been six years since Casey last saw her best friend’s brother…

Now her coffee shop is quiet at Christmas and her bestie, Audrina, has recruited Jared to come play Santa. Hot Spiced Pumpkin lattes versus Hot Santa, it’s a no-brainer for the women of NYC.

So Casey has to watch as the crush she’s never forgotten lets woman after woman sit on his lap. Even more humiliating is that she’s dressed in the worst outfit ever – as a British Christmas Cracker.

Can Casey get all she wants for Christmas?

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43284300-santa-s-christmas-cracker?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=gZeRhzDDS0&rank=1

Amazon https://amzn.to/4dUme0I

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book here is my honest review

Casey owned a local coffee shop, and she can’t stand Christmas because really what Christmas flavor is going to beat pumpkin spice. She needed a huge idea to get her costumers back in the shop, and her best friend and employee knew just the person to help bring this Christmas miracle to life. but is this the Christmas wish Casey was wanting or will she get a bigger surprise that she couldn’t ever wish for. this was a cute little story fast read.

Angel Devlin likes to write about bad boys and billionaires. She lives in Sheffield in the UK with her partner, son, and furbaby.

Angel also writes paranormal romance as Andie M. Long and psychological suspense as Angel Devlin.

Kidnapping, Mystery, Review, short story, Suspense

#review #shortstory #short #mystery Red X (Run on Red short) by Noelle W. Ihli

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A short story from RUN ON RED by Noelle W. Ihli.

Learn what happened to Ava Robles.

Fair warning: This short story contains spoilers for RUN ON RED.

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/123892935-red-x

Amazon https://amzn.to/3T0qnaR   (buy run on red and get this short story at the end)

Review by Twinsie Dee

i bought this book and here is my honest review

if you read Run on Red you will know that the girls found the body of the missing girl Ava Robles, they solved the crime but now we get to find out how and why she got in the crawlspace the way she did. Ava was a new recruit to a sorority on campus and at a crazy college bonfire when she takes a breather before leaving one of her new sisters car she was met by a sister’s brother, they start talking and he takes her back to his truck they are drinking and making out, he’s got to be safe right I mean she knows his sister, but Ava couldn’t be more off on her gut feeling.

Noelle’s two great passions are murder and horses (separately, never together).

She lives in Idaho with her husband, two sons, and two cats. When she’s not plotting her next thriller, she’s scaring herself with true-crime documentaries or going for a trail ride in the foothills (with her trusty pepper spray).

Horror, Novella, short story

#Review #Horror #Novella – The Pram (Creature Feature Collection) by Joe Hill

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A husband’s obsessive desire for a child leads to an unexpected manifestation of his yearning in a nightmarish short story about fatherhood dreams by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.

Joe Hill’s The Pram is part of Creature Feature, a collection of devilishly creepy stories that tingle the spine and twist the mind. They can be read or listened to in one petrifying sitting.

I will be honest and say that I was left feeling a little confused by this story, so I’m not too sure how to review but here goes nothing.

I’m giving this book 5 stars based on the fact that I enjoyed the writing and the description of the scenes helped me immerse myself into the story. So kudos to the author for that!

I also enjoyed that this was a different spin on fertility issues. Usually you see it from the woman’s perspective bit this was from the man’s and I liked that. It definitely made me curious if a lot of men felt the same way. 

I knew instantly that of course there would be an issue with the pram. Willy is given it to cart groceries home and ends up bonding with said pram and the happenings surrounding it.

This novella wasn’t as creepy as I hoped. Maybe I should have read it late at night with the lights off. Or I’m desensitized. But I enjoyed it none the less. This review is a little wishy washy, so check the book out for yourself. You may just enjoy it!

Available in Kindle Unlimited – https://amzn.to/48Wd0hd