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A book cover image for the title, 'Only One Survives'
Photo provided by Hannah McKinnon

Q&A & book excerpt: Hannah McKinnon’s ‘Only One Survives’

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Internationally bestselling author Hannah Mary McKinnon was born in the UK, grew up in Switzerland, and moved to Canada in 2010. Her seven suspense novels include ‘NEVER COMING HOME,’ ‘THE REVENGE LIST,’ and ‘ONLY ONE SURVIVES,’ and her work has been optioned for the screen. She also writes holiday romantic comedies as Holly Cassidy. Hannah Mary lives with her husband and three sons in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. You’ll find her on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Threads, such as @hannahmarymckinnon. 

Photo of author Hannah Mary McKinnon

Author Hannah Mary McKinnon – photo by Robert McKinnon

ABOUT THE BOOK: 
Becoming the star is easier when the rest of your band is dead…

All drummer Vienna Taylor ever wanted was to make music. If that came with fame, she’d take it—as long as her best friend, guitarist Madison Pierce, was sharing the spotlight and singing lead. And with their new all-female pop rock band gaining traction, soon everyone would hear their songs…

Except, on the way to an event, the Bittersweet’s van careened off an icy mountain road during a blizzard—leaving one member dead and another severely injured.

The rest took shelter in a nearby abandoned cabin to survive the frigid night. But Vienna’s dreams devolved into a terrifying nightmare as, one by one, her fellow band members met a gruesome end…and Madison vanished in the night.

What really happened to the Bittersweet? Did Vienna’s closest friend finally decide to take center stage on her own terms?

She doesn’t want to believe it.

But guilty people run.

Purchase ‘Only One Survives’ at BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Amazon

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A book cover image featuring animated female and male sitting on a drawn clock with a reddish-orange background
Photo provided by Canary Street Press

Book excerpt: ‘The Backtrack’ by Erin La Rosa

ABOUT THE BOOK:

From the author of FOR BUTTER OR WORSE and PLOT TWIST comes a new speculative contemporary romance. One woman is sucked into the past—and shown glimpses of what her life could have been—as she listens to nostalgic hits on her old CD player. For fans of Rebecca Serle and Allison Winn Scotch.

When pilot Sam Leto jet-setted out of small town Georgia, she promised she’d never be back—even though it meant leaving behind her best friend, Damon Rocha. Now on a forced vacation home to pack up her childhood house (and help her injured grandmother), Sam is unexpectedly hit with nostalgia from her teens–especially her bedroom, perfectly preserved from the time she left all those years ago. Sam discovers an old CD player among her teenage possessions, and in listening to the burned disc inside, she receives flashbacks from her past life–senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them. They show an alternate past. What could have been. If she never left Georgia all those years ago, would she now have the life (and love) she always wanted for herself?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ERIN LA ROSA is the author of ‘For Butter or Worse’ and ‘Plot Twist.’ On her way to writing romance, she’s also published two humorous nonfiction books, ‘Womanskills’ and ‘The Big Redhead Book.’ She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and four daughters (two humans and two felines). Find her on Twitter and Instagram @erinlarosalit and TikTok @erinlarosawrites.

An image of author, Erin La Rosa, standing in front of a bluish-tinted background, smiling

Author Erin La Rosa – photo by Cathryn Farnsworth

Purchase ‘The Backtrack’ at Ripped Bodice, BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon

Read an exclusive prologue excerpt from ‘The Backtrack’

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An image of a female with an outline of bright red hair with blue-tinted sunglasses and red-stained lipstick, with the title text, 'Made For You,' in yellow-colored, bright letters.
Photo provided by MIRA Books

Book excerpt: ‘Made For You’ by Jenna Satterthwaite

Author Bio: 

Born in the Midwest, Jenna Satterthwaite grew up in Spain, lived briefly in France, and is now happily settled in Chicago with her husband and three kids. Jenna studied classical guitar, English Literature, and French and once was a singer-songwriter in the folk band Thornfield. She loves sushi, reading in her natural habitat (her bed), and women taking back their power. Made For You is her debut novel.

 

An image of a woman looking over her right shoulder with a shawl draped around her lower arms, and a black halter top dress, with a belt buckle in the middle

Author Jenna Satterthwaite – Photo by Anna Ilagen

 

Book Summary:

Hi. My name is Julia. I’m a Synth. And I’m here to find love…

Synthetic woman Julia Walden was designed for one reason: to compete on The Proposal and claim the heart of bachelor Josh LaSala. Her casting is controversial, but Julia seems to get her fairy-tale ending when Josh gets down on one knee.

Fast-forward fifteen months, and Julia and Josh are married and raising their baby in small-town Indiana. But with haters around every corner, Julia’s life is a far cry from the domestic bliss she imagined. Then her splintering world shatters: Josh goes missing, and she becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

With no one left she can trust, Julia takes the investigation into her own hands. But the explosive truths she uncovers will drive her to her breaking point—and isn’t that where a person’s true nature is revealed? That is…if Julia truly is a person.

Told via dual timelines, Jenna Satterthwaite’s twist-filled debut deftly explores the exhilarating point where artificial intelligence, reality TV, and bone-chilling murder mystery meet.

Purchase ‘Made For You’ at:

BookShop.org

Harlequin 

Barnes & Noble

Amazon

Books-A-Million

Apple Books 

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A cover image of the book title, 'The Paris Widow'
Photo provided by Park Row Books

Book excerpt: ‘The Paris Widow’ by Kimberly Belle

Book Summary: 

From USA Today bestselling author Kimberly Belle comes a deliciously twisty new thriller following a married couple vacationing in Paris whose trip takes a dark turn when the husband goes missing, dredging up secrets from both of their pasts, perfect for fans of THE PARIS APARTMENT.

When Stella met Adam, she felt like she finally landed a nice, normal guy – a welcome change from her previous boyfriend and her precarious jetsetter lifestyle with him. She loves knowing she can always depend on Adam, which is why when he goes missing during a random explosion in Paris, she panics. Right after what is assumed to be a terrorist attack, she’s interviewed live on TV by reporters, begging anyone who knows anything about her husband’s whereabouts to come forward and is quickly dubbed “The Paris Widow.”

As the French police investigate, it’s revealed that Adam was on their radar as a dealer in the black market for priceless antiquities, making deals with very high-profile and dangerous clients. Reeling from this news and growing suspicions about her husband, Stella can’t shake the feeling that she’s being followed. And with Adam assumed dead, she realizes that whoever was responsible for the bombing will come after her next. Everything – and everyone — that Stella has tried to keep in her duplicitous past might be her only means of survival and finding out what really happened to Adam.

An irresistible and fast-paced read set in some of Europe’s most inviting locales, THE PARIS WIDOW explores how sinister secrets of the past stay with us – no matter how far we travel.

A close up headshot image of author, Kimberly Belle

Author Kimberly Belle – photo by Sara Hanna Photography

Author Bio:

Kimberly Belle worked in marketing and nonprofit fundraising before turning to writing fiction. A graduate of Agnes Scott College, Kimberly lived for over a decade in the Netherlands and currently divides her time between Atlanta and Amsterdam. She is the bestselling author of The Marriage Lie, Three Days Missing, Dear Wife, as well as The Last Breath, The Ones We Trust, Stranger in the Lake, My Darling Husband, and The Personal Assistant.

Purchase ‘The Paris Widow’ at HarperCollins, BookShop.org, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble

Read below for an exclusive excerpt:

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A book cover image for title 'The Summer Swap'
Photo provided by Canary Street Press

Book excerpt: The Summer Swap by Sarah Morgan

Author Bio:

Sarah Morgan is a USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She has sold more than 21 million copies of her books and her trademark humour and warmth have gained her fans across the globe. Sarah lives with her family near London, England, where the rain frequently keeps her trapped in her office. Visit her at www.sarahmorgan.com

 

A headshot image of author, Sarah Morgan

Author Sarah Morgan – Photo by Ev Sekkides

Book Summary:

A recent widow’s plan to spend the summer in Cape Cod hiding from her interfering family is upended when she discovers her beach house has an unexpected guest, and the secret she’s been keeping about her marriage threatens to be exposed. Perfect beach reading for fans of Taylor Jenkins Reid and Emily Henry.

70 year old widow Cecilia Lapthorne can’t bear the prospect of a family party to celebrate her birthday and the memory of her husband, famous artist Cameron Lapthorne. They had a toxic marriage but stayed together for the children, and bound by a big secret. She runs away to the Cape Cod seashore cottage she owned with Cameron–it’s where they first fell in love–but she hasn’t returned since she discovered him cheating on her there (for the first time). No one in her family knows about it, so she will be perfectly, delightfully alone for the summer.

Except struggling artist Lily has been secretly crashing on the sofa of the seashore cottage for the last couple of weeks. Unable to make rent after dropping out of medical school to pursue her dreams of becoming an artist and working as a housekeeper in Cecilia’s Cape Cod enclave, she’s been illicitly camping at the cottage. Which isn’t a problem as it’s been unoccupied for years…until Cecilia unexpectedly shows up.

After the drama of discovering she has an unexpected house-guest has faded, Cecilia decides she’ll get along just fine with Lily for the summer. They form a tentative and powerful bond, based on shared love of art, but also the vulnerabilities they both share with each other. And when Todd, Cecilia’s beloved grandson (and the man who broke Lily’s heart in college) tracks her to the cottage, the three of them settle in for a summer of self-discovery, self-belief and second chances.

Purchase “The Summer Swap” at BookShop.org, Harlequin, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Amazon

Read an exclusive book excerpt below:

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A book cover image of the title, Book of Thorns
Photo provided by Graydon House, an imprint of HarperCollins

Book excerpt: ‘Book Of Thorns’ by Hester Fox

Book Summary

An enchanting tale of secrets, betrayal, and magic…

Penniless and stranded in France after a bid to escape her cruel uncle goes awry, Cornelia Shaw is far from the Parisian life of leisure she imagined. Desperate and lacking options, she allows herself to be recruited to Napoleon’s Grande Armée. As a naturalist, her near-magical ability to heal any wound with herbal mixtures invites awe amongst the soldiers…and suspicion. For behind Cornelia’s vast knowledge of the natural world is a secret she keeps hidden—the flowers speak to her through a mysterious connection she has felt since childhood. One that her mother taught her to heed, before she disappeared.

Then, as Napoleon’s army descends on Waterloo, the flowers sing to her of a startling revelation: a girl who bears a striking resemblance to Cornelia. A girl she almost remembers—her sister, lost long ago, who seems to share the same gifts. Determined to reunite with Lijsbeth despite being on opposite sides of the war, Cornelia is drawn into a whirlwind of betrayal, secrets, and lies. Brought together by fate and magic at the peak of the war, the sisters try to uncover the key to the source of the power that connects them as accusations of witchcraft swirl and threaten to destroy the very lives they’ve fought for.

“The Book of Thorns is a gentle, magical tale of hope and healing in the midst of war. Fox does not hide from the fact that for all the romance surrounding Bonaparte’s exploits, nobody who fought at Waterloo came out unscathed, whether they were breathing by battle’s end or not. But Fox also reminds us that, even in fields tilled by cavalry charges and fertilized with gunpowder, flowers can grow.” –BOOKPAGE

A half body head shot of author, Hester Fox

Author Hester Fox – photo by Stephanie Patalano Photography

Author Bio

Hester Fox is a full-time writer and mother, with a background in museum work and historical archaeology. She is the author of such novels as The Witch of Willow Hall, A Lullaby for Witches, and The Last Heir to Blackwood Library. When not writing, Hester can be found exploring old cemeteries, enjoying a pastry and seasonal latte at a café, or scouring antique shops for old photographs to add to her collection. She lives in a small mill town in Massachusetts with her husband and their two children.

Purchase ‘Book of Thorns’ at HarperCollins, BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon

Read below for an exclusive excerpt from ‘The Book of Thorns’:

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A book cover image for title, 'Everyone Is Watching'
Photo by Harlequin Books S.A.

Book excerpt: ‘Everyone Is Watching’ by Heather Gudenkauf

Author Bio: 

Heather Gudenkauf is the critically acclaimed author of several novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Weight of Silence and The Overnight Guest. She lives in Iowa with her husband and children.

An image of author, Heather Gudenkauf

Author Heather Gudenkauf – Photo by Kate Cousins Photography

Book Summary:

The Best Friend. The Confidant. The Senator. The Boyfriend. The Executive.

Five contestants have been chosen to compete for ten million dollars on the game show One Lucky Winner. The catch? None of them knows what (or who) to expect, and it will be live streamed all over the world. Completely secluded in an estate in Northern California, with strict instructions not to leave the property and zero contact with the outside world, the competitors start to feel a little too isolated.

When long-kept secrets begin to rise to the surface, the contestants realize this is no longer just a reality show—someone is out for blood. And the game can’t end until the world knows who the contestants really are…

Check out an exclusive excerpt from “Everyone Is Watching” below:
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A cover image for the book title, 'Maya's Laws of Love'
Photo provided by MIRA Books

Book excerpt: ‘Maya’s Laws Of Love’ by Alina Khawaja

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Maya Mirza’s unlucky-in-love past seems to be turning around when she ends up in an arranged marriage to the on-paper perfect man. But as she heads to her wedding in Pakistan, she finally meets the man of her dreams—and what could be more unlucky than that?

Murphy’s Law is simple: anything that can go wrong will go wrong, and no one knows that better than Maya Mirza.

Maya Mirza has always been unlucky in love. When she was in grade one, one of the mean girls told her crush that she liked him and he loudly proclaimed he hated her because she had cooties. When she was in grade six, she wrote her new crush an anonymous love letter, only to realize later she signed her name without realizing it. In grade twelve, she gathered the courage to ask out her crush, only to hurl all over him. Bottom line—romance sucks.

However, it seems like Maya’s luck may finally be turning up when she secures a marriage proposal from Imtiaz Porter. Imtiaz has everything—good family, great job, charming personality; everything, except Maya’s heart. But that’s okay. Love can grow after marriage, right?

Just when Maya thinks she’s finally broken her curse, it all comes crashing down when she gets on a plane to go to Pakistan for her wedding and ends up sitting next to Sarfaraz, a cynical divorce lawyer who clashes with her at every possible turn. When an unexpected storm interrupts her travel plans, Maya finds herself briefly stranded in Switzerland, and despite their initial misstep, she and Sarfaraz agree to stick together until they reach Pakistan.

Over the several days they travel together, disaster after disaster happens, from their bus crashing to having to travel on foot to getting mugged. However, the more time they spend together, the more Maya realizes she and Sarfaraz may have more in common than she thought. But of course, this is when she realizes her unlucky in love curse will always be with her—because how unlucky is it that she may have finally met the man of her dreams while on her way to her own wedding?

An image of book author, Alina Khawaja

An image of book author, Alina Khawaja – photo by Miranda

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Alina Khawaja is an author from Ontario, Canada, who has a never-ending love-hate relationship with the snow. She graduated from the University of Toronto, where she majored in English and double minored in History and Creative Writing and is now pursuing a Master’s degree in the Literacy of Modernity at Ryerson University. Alina can be found studying, writing, or bingeing k-dramas when she is not sleeping.

Purchase “Maya’s Laws Of Love” at HarperCollins, BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com.

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The book cover for title 'Good Half Gone' by author Tarryn Fisher
Cover photo provided by Graydon House

Book excerpt: ‘Good Half Gone’ by Tarryn Fisher

Author Bio:

Tarryn Fisher is the New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author of nine novels. Born a sun hater, she currently makes her home in Seattle, Washington, with her children, husband, and psychotic husky. She loves connecting with her readers on Instagram.

A headshot image of Good Half Gone author, Tarryn Fisher

Author Tarryn Fisher – photo provided by Graydon House

Book Summary:

Iris Walsh saw her twin sister Piper get kidnapped—so why does no one believe her?

Iris narrowly escaped her pretty, popular twin sister’s fate as a teen—kidnapped and trafficked and long gone before the cops agreed to investigate. Months later, Piper’s newborn son Callum was dropped on their estranged mother’s doorstep in the dead of night, with a note in Piper’s handwriting signed simply, Twin.

As an adult, Iris wants one thing—proof. Because she knows exactly who took Piper all those years ago, and she has a pretty good idea of who Callum’s father is. She just has to get close enough to prove it. And if the police won’t help, she’ll just have to do it her own way–by interning at the isolated Shoal Island Hospital for the criminally insane, where her target is kept under lock and key. Iris soon realizes that something sinister is bubbling beneath the surface of the Shoal, and that the patients aren’t the only ones being observed…

Purchase ‘Good Half Gone’ at BookShop.org, Harlequin, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Amazon

Read an exclusive excerpt from ‘Good Half Gone’ below:

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A book cover image for the title, 'The Day Tripper'
Photo provided by MIRA Books

Book excerpt: ‘The Day Tripper’ by James Goodhand

Book Summary: 

What if you lived your days out of order?

It’s 1995, and twenty-year-old Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames.

He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight.

After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river.

Why does his life look nothing like he thought it would? What about Cambridge, and Holly? In this page-turning adventure, Alex must navigate his way through the years to learn that small actions have untold impact, even in a life lived out of order. And that might be all he needs to save the people he loves and, equally importantly, himself.

Purchase ‘The Day Tripper’ at HarperCollins, BookShop.org, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and IndieBound

Author Bio:

James Goodhand has written two YA novels. His YA debut, Last Lesson, was called “a powerfully charged study in empathy,” by the Financial Times. THE DAY TRIPPER is his adult debut. He lives in England with his wife and young son. 

A headshot of author, James Goodhand

Author James Goodhand – photo provided by MIRA Books


Read an exclusive excerpt from ‘The Day Tripper’ below: 

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