Sunday, April 6, 2025

This Week's TBR (UPDATED)

 

Hoping to continue with my reading momentum from last week, I am going to aim a bit medium-ish for this one! I've got a few books on my TBR for this week and hopefully I'll get through them!


They goes as such:





According to Goodreads I'm a few behind, so I'm really hoping to at least catch up! Sunday-Thursday I'll be trying to read as much as my eyes and brain can handle. Friday-Sunday I will be distracted, my son is going to be over here and it's the weekend before his birthday so I will be celebrating! 

What are ya'll reading? 


UPDATED: 
Because I am the way that I am and my book ADD kicked in hard, I actually started 

The Hunger Games (book 1) as a re-read. After my two HG related books, I wanted to go back to the main series. 

Saturday, April 5, 2025

Readathon Update

 

So I am concluding my personal Readathon as of now. It's 7pm (ish) on Sunday and I started on Thursday morning. I clocked my time on a timer and was aiming for 24 hours total but I was being a bit casual about  it. I stopped at:  
Not 24 hours but I'm gonna say it's close enough. During this time I managed to read these: 


  • Sunrise on the Reaping
  • The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
  • The Lost Queen

I also have started on I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew. So I'm going to count this as a great success! 




Wednesday, April 2, 2025

(Teaser) Warrior Queen by Mikala Ash



LGBTQ+ Steampunk Romance

Date Published: April 4, 2025


 

A volatile cauldron of magic, love, and the empire may be on the edge of a precipice, but witches, humans, and automatons indulge in pleasures of the flesh.

 

Victoria has been dubbed by her adoring public as their Warrior Queen. Destroying her Continental enemies is nothing to the challenge she faces now. For years, the Lunarians, goblins from the moon, led by the powerful witch Mon Ilson, have been murdering humans and stealing the bodies for his followers to “adopt.”

Beautiful witch Selena Whiteheart, Mon Ilson’s human agent on Earth, is closely watched by Home Office Agent Harry Kincaid, whose loyalty to the Queen suppresses his ability to show Selena his true feelings. Spiritualist Miss Cordelia Warrington has been exploring the carnal attributes and mechanical stamina of Adam, her automaton butler. Now Selena needs Cordelia’s help, and allows herself to be entertained by the amorous pair in a steamy ménage à trois.

Meanwhile, Agent of the Queen Rachel Clayton is instantly attracted to the hauntingly handsome Major Guy Tremayne, hero of the Coronation Island disaster. Can he be trusted? She throws all caution to the wind to find out. At a crucial moment the Queen is cruelly betrayed and threatened with assassination. Selena, Rachel, and Victoria all face difficult choices as love and lust compete with their duty to the Empire.

 

Author’s Note: Enjoy Warrior Queen as a standalone tale or as part of a continuing narrative.

 

 

EXCERPT

 

Thwack!

Thwack!

The sound of two cane sticks striking each other reminded me of how a scant two hours ago the Home Secretary had slapped my posterior as he ravaged me. Pressed for time he’d unceremoniously bent me over his Whitehall desk, pulled down my culottes and drawers, grabbed my shoulders for leverage, and drove his prodigious erection into me with frightful force. A few minutes later he flooded my quivering cunt with his lava hot seed. It had been a perfunctory fuck, short and sharp, and my climax perversely satisfying.

My cunny still retained a fair quantity of his ejaculation, and I shifted in my seat contriving to put pressure on my fleshy nether lips to keep it from escaping. My apparently not-so-subtle contortions did not escape the notice of the fine-looking man sitting opposite me. I’d quite forgotten about him as I relived the morning’s carnal adventure. He cleared his throat which brought me back to the here and now.

I was sitting in a Buckingham Palace anteroom, and I felt my cheeks warm under the scrutiny of this ruggedly handsome and smartly uniformed officer. When I’d first arrived, he’d introduced himself as Guy Tremayne. He was in fact the famous Major of the Southern Royal Air Corps who’d distinguished himself by leading the survivors of an airship crash on Coronation Island, a frozen rock midway between Tierra Del Fuego and Antarctica. Their inspirational struggle for survival on the barren island was a true Boys Own Adventure. I’d read his file during my recent convalescence and believed Major Tremayne to be a brave and resourceful officer, respected by his men and superiors alike.

He had given me an elegant bow, took my proffered hand, and lightly brushed his lips against my knuckles. To say I was instantly attracted would be an understatement. He was the epitome of masculinity: well over six feet tall, slim, and long legged. His hips were narrow, his chest deep, and his shoulders broad. His sharply chiselled face was suntanned, and above a thin black moustache his nose was pleasantly symmetrical. The palest of blue eyes gave his countenance a strikingly mysterious and yet desirable aspect.

My cunny throbbed.

He was sitting as if he was on parade with his back straight as a board. He’d started his career in the cavalry, and I couldn’t help but imagine him in the saddle riding into battle, his sabre held high, its razor edge glinting in the sun. He’d actually seen combat, and his curly hair disguised the missing left ear, lost during a bloody skirmish in the Punjab.

Thwack! Thwack!

“Do you singlestick?” I asked him, my mouth dry, and my voice husky.

Thwack! Thwack!

The corners of his mouth curled into a smile. “Indeed, I do. The sabre is my weapon of choice.”

Singlestick fighting had been a feature of English martial life for centuries and cavalry men used it for practicing sabre strokes from horseback. Though the sport had become highly regimented, it required fast reflexes and strict discipline. I found it useful for developing forearm and wrist strength.

Thwack! Thwack!

“Perhaps we should have a bout?”

“It would be my pleasure.”

Thwack! Thwack!

My cunt throbbed lustily, and inside my blouse, my nipples ached. I licked my bottom lip, slowly. “Are you residing in London?”

He threw up his hands. “Alas. I exist at the whim of the War Department.”

Thwack! Thwack!

“Then we should arrange a time soon.”

“I believe I am free tomorrow evening.”

“As it happens, so am I.”

Thwack! Thwack!

We’d just concluded arrangements to meet at a restaurant in Chelsea when the door to the anteroom opened, and a footman showed in a slim, elegantly dressed woman. She was about forty years of age, with an attractive oval face and perfect complexion accentuated by challenging hazel eyes and provocatively painted red lips. Her luxurious auburn hair was coiled expertly around her head in such a way that suggested considerable length. The bulk was held in place with gem-tipped pins which glinted in the harsh electric light. I imagined her standing naked, her hair cascading over her ample breasts, reaching and discreetly hiding her mound of Venus. I recognised her as the wife of a member of the House of Lords, and this sensual impression I’d constructed was at odds with her reputation. She was known as a straitlaced prude, active in charitable institutions and a fierce and passionate advocate for women’s suffrage. On one occasion she’d been seen at a rally striking a constable with a placard after she accused him of taking undisclosed liberties.

I curtsied. “Lady Fogerty, I’m Rachel Clayton.”

 

About the Author

Aussie Mikala Ash used to be a mild-mannered training & development consultant by day, and a wild sci-fi and paranormal adventure writer by night. Now she is a brazen full-time writer and nature photographer who is concentrating on having among other things, “… bags, and bags of fun!” Mikala can be found on Facebook and on Twitter.

 

Author on Facebook

Author on Twitter

 

Publisher on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok: @changelingpress

 

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RABT Book Tours & PR

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

Spring Into Horror Event Has Begun!

 


I've joined this month long event and I am delighted! So what goodies am I aiming to get read during this event? 



These two are my top choices but I might toss in a few more. I've always wanted to read Rebecca and I have this lovely ARC of I Am Made Of Death..I figured they fit into the theme of the event. 

Click the event banner to join in with us! 


Monday, March 31, 2025

I'm Doing a 24 hour Readathon!

 

I have found myself somehow off two days in a row this week! I am very excited about this development and what does one do with a couple of days off? A readathon! I am planning on reading a total of 24 hours spread between Thursday the 3rd and Saturday the 5th! I go into work at 6pm on Saturday. So starting at 9am on Thursday until 9am on Saturday morning, I will keep a running timer and aim for 24 hours total reading. 



I might pull an all nighter or I might live in the really real world and sleep some. However, I am very excited about this! 

My possible reading selections:

  • Finish up: Sunrise on the Reaping
  • Finish up: The Shadow of the Gods
  • The Lost Queen
  • Quicksilver
  • The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes
  • Jade City
I might do updates of 4-5 hour blocks but I don't know yet. I think this style of readathon will be great for me, I can take breaks, naps, work out and study a bit in between reading bursts just as long as I hit the 24 hour mark. 


I have caffeine, a few snackos and a strong urge to spend the day reading up a storm! 



Reading Plans This Week


 Ladies and gentlemen, lend me your ears (or eyes) for just a moment! I am thoroughly enjoying a couple of books at the present and plan on hopefully finishing both this week! 

What are these lovely bookies?




Both of the above have been started on. So they should be finished this week. 

So tell me what it is that you are enjoying this week? I love seeing what other people are reading! 

Friday, March 28, 2025

Girl In The Creek Wendy N. Wagner (Review)


 Blurb:

The Clackamas National Forest has always been a sanctuary for evil—human and alien. The shadows of looming trees and long-abandoned mines shelter poachers and serial killers alike. Then there’s the ruined hotel on the outskirts of picturesque small town Faraday, Oregon, nestled in the foothills of Mt. Hood. The one drowning in mushrooms and fungus not even the local expert can identify. Not to mention the stacks of missing persons cases. Freelance writer Erin Harper arrives in Faraday to find out what happened to her brother, whose disappearance in the forest has haunted her for years. But someone else has gone missing. And when Erin finds her in the creek, the girl vanishes again — this time from the morgue, and days later her fingerprints show up at a murder scene. Maybe it’s a serial killer, or maybe it’s the spores infecting the forest and those lost inside. Erin must find answers quickly, before anyone else goes missing. But she might be next…


My Thoughts:

The blurb got me very interested in this book. The cover snatched me right in. I mean look at it! It's creepy and pretty all at once. Isn't it? 

The mix of eco-horror, crime (ish) backstory..there could be so much good stuff in this book, but alas..I thought it was a bit boring. There was so much potential and I really wanted this to hit but it missed (at least for me.) 

It had me in the first few chapters, I had no idea what was going on but it was interesting. The first chapter laid the foundation and it seemed very sturdy but then the characters came in on the scene and they were just..there. I got about 160 or so pages in and just didn't care about any of the characters. The main character Erin, had a backstory that should have had me locked in but it didn't. The rest of the supporting characters were just side pieces that didn't really matter. 

So the last act of the book really tried hard to pull it all together and there were moments of fun, but the ending was supposed to be an AH HA moment, but it just came across as "yeah that's what I expected." 

So in the end, I was disappointed by this one. I really wanted to like it and while it wasn't complete trash it didn't do it for me. Maybe you'll like it? 

If you've read this one, let me know what you think. I'm curious if my take was off in lala land. 

*This was sent to me as an ARC*