Readers asked Gina Robinson for another historical romance novel, and she delivered a dandy this spring. The Union, which tops today’s Buffet, is based on actual historical events in the Pacific Northwest in the late 1800s.
“What I love about The Union is that its hero is a spy of sorts, an undercover private detective, a cowboy detective with a love for danger,” Gina says. “He’s the historical counterpart of my contemporary spies.”
Gina lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and children. She writes humorous romantic suspense, contemporary romance, historical romance, and women’s fiction. She learned storytelling — or perhaps inherited her ability for it — from her Italian Grandma Jennie, who was known among family and friends as the best oral storyteller around. Mainly, she told old Italian fairy tales with moral endings, and family history, particularly about Gina’s great-grandparents immigrating to the United States and the wild Pacific Northwest.
This summer Gina has been hard at work on a brand new college/new-adult series called “The Reckless Series.” Reckless Longing is the first book in the trilogy, and Gina is currently working day and night on Book 2, Reckless Secrets.
As usual, each book listed here has gone FREE within the past 24 hours. Warning: Kindle book promotions can end without notice, so before downloading click the link “See Kindle price at Amazon” to verify that the book is still free. (Prices and availability may differ outside USA.)
The Union
Romance > Historical > Mystery & Suspense
Author: Gina Robinson
Love is a dangerous deception.
Gem, Idaho. 1892
He knew the dangers of going undercover.
After killing Irish union thug McCullough in self-defense and assuming his identity, private detective John Dietz is worried that his cover is blown. Sent to the Silver Valley to infiltrate the miner’s union and uncover their plans to blow up an important mine, he’s ready for anything. Except falling in love with the beautiful fiancée of the man he killed.
But falling in love was never part of the plan.
Keely Byrne fell in love with her fiancé through the mail. Now seeing him in person, he’s even more attractive and sexy than she imagined. But as Keely gets to know him, and falls more deeply in love she wonders if he really is who he claims to be. And as tension and danger explode all around them she hopes their love can survive the union.
Caught in the Crosshair
Romantic Suspense
Author: Barb Han
Lauren James had ignored the recent spate of calls from her brother. After all, he was a big player linked to a major cartel, and he’d been dead to her for nearly a decade. Then she receives the one call she can’t ignore—her brother’s been kidnapped and will be killed if she doesn’t bring money. No matter how far gone her brother is, Lauren can’t turn her back on him completely. Deep down she’s always wanted to save him. Now, she’s forced into action because he’ll die otherwise.
Ex-Special Forces sniper Jaden Dean owns a private security firm and after losing his older brother to gang violence, needs to take down as many scum bags as he can—single-handedly if need be. And he was the best. Until he trusted the wrong woman on his last assignment and ended up nearly dead in the street.
On a tropical island with a hurricane brewing and dangerous men closing in, Lauren and Jaden will need to work together to survive and find her brother. The cartel seems to be one step ahead, and Jaden’s operatives are being killed one-by-one.
Bobblehead Dad: 25 Life Lessons I Forgot I Knew
Memoirs > Self-Help > Motivational
Author: Jim Higley
- $0.99 List Price
- See Kindle Price at Amazon.com
Jim Higley was a forty-year-old bobblehead. Just like those collectible figurines with oversized, bouncy heads, he’d put on a smiling face and bobble through his hectic, overflowing days.
But Higley’s bobbling came to a screeching halt with the diagnosis of cancer, surgery, and a summer of healing. More than a cancer story, however, Bobblehead Dad puts you in a front row seat as the author discovers the illuminating parallels between events in his childhood and his adulthood. Higley unwraps poignant lessons from his family history with rich, vivid detail. His story reveals meaning in simple moments and the people who fill them—including the surprise discovery of his most important lesson, which had been quietly waiting for over thirty years.
Higley’s distinctive storytelling rhythm, combined with a knack for handling heavy topics with an embraceable voice, quickly draws you into his experiences—while launching you on your own journey of self-discovery and reflection.
The Chalice and the Blade
Fantasy > Historical > Sword & Sorcery
Author: Tara Janzen
One woman holds the key to victory in the first clash of war. Ceridwen, a lost priestess of the old religion, escapes the abbey of her youth and her unholy betrothal to an evil lord, only to be led by fate into the castle tower of a sorcerer feared throughout Wales.
Magician, trickster, and a warrior of uncommon skill and deadly grace, Dain Lavrans survived the Lionheart’s Crusade and his captivity in the Holy Land to become the mage of Wydehaw Castle. He’s turned to alchemy to put his dark and bloody past behind him, then risks his last chance at salvation to rescue a runaway hunted by evil forces out for her blood – the liquid key needed to open a gateway through time.
But despite all he’s learned of magic and medicine, he does not behold true enchantment until the mysterious Ceridwen is given into his keeping. Passion and innocence has never woven a more binding spell than in the maid, nor has power and fierceness ever combined in a less likely vessel.
The Dare
Romance > Contemporary
Author: Karin Tabke
I dare you…
Dr. Katrina Winslow has always known who she is: an elite scientist, a certifiable genius and ultra-reserved when it comes to love and relationships. So when a simple game of truth or dare offers the cool doctor the opportunity to shed her lab coat and glasses and put on a pair of sexy stilettos, she accepts the dare. But will shedding her inhibitions fulfill her every desire and help her discover if she can be truly daring or will it cost her everything?
Two men, one a sexy stranger, and a night of no holds barred passion.
What would you dare to do?
Nancy’s Theory of Style
Romantic Comedy
Author: Marta Acosta
She’s the girl you love to hate because she has it all–looks, wealth, status, and far too much self-confidence. So when snooty young Nancy Carrington-Chambers flees her hardworking, but “not fabulous enough” husband for a chic San Francisco apartment and starts an event planning company, Froth, everyone is hoping for her to fail.
She hires the perfect assistant–Derek is gorgeous, British, and gay. He listens attentively to her opinions on fashion and people. Together they know they can turn society’s dreariest gala into the most exciting party of the year. Nancy’s quest for a perfectly stylish life is derailed by her growing attraction to Derek and the arrival of her irresponsible cousin’s child on her doorstep. The child insists on wearing capes and can’t understand basic fashion rules such as “Less is more.”
Nancy’s life begins to change in ways she’d never imagined. But she discovers too late that her husband isn’t as complacent as he seemed and her carefully constructed world crashes down all at once. Nancy learns that real style takes risks, but is she willing to give up everything she values for those she’s come to love?
Midnight Brunch at Casa Dracula
Romance > Fantasy & Futuristic
Author: Marta Acosta
Hilarious party girl and writer Milagro De Los Santos is finally in a serious relationship with a fabulous man, Oswald Grant, MD, and living at his wine country ranch with his career-fixated relatives. It’s true that Oswald accidentally infected her with the rare family condition that makes them crave blood cocktails and need protection from the sun, but what family doesn’t have quirks?
She thought they accepted her, so she’s hurt when she’s excluded from a midnight ceremony with special guests including a creepy family elder, Oswald’s hostile parents, and Milagro’s ex-lover, decadent and powerful Ian Ducharme.
When Milagro’s life is threatened, she flees to the desert to hide and work on a screenplay. Instead of solitude, she encounters an egomaniacal actor, a partying socialite, a sly tabloid reporter, and a lavish spa full of dark secrets. It’s all lots of fun until the bwaa-ha-ha laughter and the knives come out. Now all Milagro has to do is finish her screenplay, ambush a world domination movement, and overcome a terrible infection before she can make her way back to Casa Dracula.
The Bride of Casa Dracula
Romance > Paranormal > Vampires
Author: Marta Acosta
In Book 3 of the series, Mil is thrown into crazy new adventures and dangerous intrigues while trying to plan her wedding to her fabulous vampire fiance. He has a “genetic condition” that makes him crave blood and intolerant of direct sunlight. Milagro’s future mother-in-law loathes her, her dog just died, and then her extravagant friend Nancy hijacks the role of wedding coordinator. As if things weren’t bad enough, the Vampire Council assigns conniving Cornelia Ducharme, the sister of Milagro’s ex-lover, to supervise the couple through ancient wedding traditions.
Meanwhile, Milagro’s reduced to ghostwriting the memoirs of a loony little man who claims to be a shapeshifter. A series of accidents interferes with the wedding plans and Milagro fears that someone’s out to get her…again. Is her paranoia justified or is she cracking under the pressure? And why does she keep running into her too attractive ex-lover, dangerously sexy Ian Ducharme?
Chasing Justice
Romance > Mystery & Suspense
Author: Danielle Stewart
Piper Anderson has been given a fresh start in the picturesque town of Edenville, North Carolina. But her plans of settling into a normal life are derailed when she witnesses a prominent judge in her community committing a violent assault. Running from her own past and fueled by a passion to make the judge answer for his crimes, Piper is forced to decide if she’ll play by the rules or achieve justice in her own way.
Complicating things further, Piper finds herself fighting a powerful attraction to rookie cop, Bobby Wright. Although she’s increasingly enamored with Bobby, his staunch belief in the justice system is in stark contrast to her own. She may not share his opinions about the effectiveness of the law, but she certainly can’t deny how safe she feels when she’s in his arms or how every kiss leaves her desperate for more.
In Good Faith
Thrillers > Legal
Author: Scott Pratt
A family of four is slaughtered in rural Tennessee. Two weeks later, a retired high school principal and his wife are brutally slain. Two Satan-worshipping teens stand accused.
It’s up to prosecutor Joe Dillard to convict them. A former defense attorney who spent way too much time defending people he knew were guilty, Joe is determined to win this case to atone for his past. But an evil young woman named Natasha is responsible for the slayings and Joe knows it. Natasha is walking around free because the two boys who have been arrested are too terrified to implicate her. Now Joe must risk everything — including his family’s safety and his own life — to bring an evil murderer to justice.
Rippler
Teen & Young Adult > Science Fiction & Fantasy
Author: Cidney Swanson
- $2.99 List Price
- See Kindle Price at Amazon.com
When Samantha Ruiz turns invisible in front of team mates on a rafting trip, she knows something’s wrong with her. According to her knowledgeable
friend Will, she’s got a rare genetic disorder. Fearing a lifetime sentence as a lab-rat, Sam wants to keep her ability secret. But she also wants to know if there’s a connection between dark Nazi experiments on others like her and her own mother’s death eight years earlier. At the same time that Sam is sleuthing, she’s falling hard for Will. And soon, she’ll have to choose between keeping her secrets hidden and keeping Will safe.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2