Behind the Mirror

Behind the Mirror By Bridget Budd
Publication date: July 1, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Summary:

Behind the Mirror is a powerful, character-driven novel about emotional healing, generational trauma, and the courage it takes to stop performing and start living your truth.

Sometimes, the hardest person to face is the one behind the mirror…

Julie Sloan was shaped by abandonment early in life—left behind by the people who were supposed to love her first. In the absence of emotional safety, she became what the world rewarded: high-achieving, self-sacrificing, and always performing. Through four marriages, she searched for stability while suppressing her deepest fears—that she was unworthy of lasting love, and too broken to be fully seen.

But when her fourth marriage nearly collapsed, something shifted. It wasn’t betrayal that broke her—it was the quiet realization that she had never truly lived for herself.

What followed was a reckoning: with her past, with the roles she had played to survive, and with the parts of herself she had long silenced.

Now, years later, a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist named Laura wants to profile Julie’s nonprofit work—an organization devoted to helping women heal from emotional wounds. But what begins as a success story takes a deeper turn as Julie reveals the story behind the story—the one she’s never shared publicly. The one about how she abandoned herself first.

For readers drawn to novels about inner child work, identity, and spiritual awakening, this deeply personal journey will leave you both broken open and quietly restored.

—

EXCERPT:

Julie Sloan had everything she thought she wanted—success, love, stability—but beneath the perfection was an exhaustion she couldn’t name. In this scene from Behind the Mirror, she begins to see the quiet cost of performing her way through life.

I had and have everything I had dreamed of. This gorgeous house, an indoor pool, a home gym, a massage room, and a state-of-the-art kitchen. Plus, I drive a super-fun and sporty Porsche 718 Boxster in Carmine Red … Nothing beats the top down on the glorious sunny days we have here.

But I was perpetually unhappy and had no idea why.

Descendants of the Big House (A Horde of Dead Poets)

Descendants of the Big House (A Horde of Dead Poets) By
C. Vonzale Lewis
Publication date: October 14, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Fantasy, Mystery
Summary:

Beatrice Monroe is still getting used to the knowledge that she was born a champion for Good and Evil. She spends her days combing through her great grandmother’s journals trying to find answers to what this newfound ability means for her as a member of law enforcement.

When a woman walks into her precinct claiming her aunt was murdered, Beatrice discovers a link between their families that may just have the answers she needs. But those answers are not easy to find. Because this mystery’s roots are buried in the past with five young girls and what they gave birth to…in The Big House.

Descendants of the Big House is a standalone installment in A Horde of Dead Poets collection featuring seven authors and their stories inspired by famous literary poems. If you often find yourself steering toward a dark, mysterious, isolated location; if family curses haunt you and unreliable narrators keep you in suspense, you won’t want to miss a single volume in this gripping collection.

Perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Simone St. James, Stephen King, and Shirley Jackson.

—

EXCERPT:

“I think somebody did something,” Mr. Taylor announced suddenly, voice raised. “My wife, my children. Not right. Not right at all.” He started crying. “I can’t convince anybody to listen to me.”

I got up and kneeled by his chair. “I’m listening, Mr. Elijah.” It didn’t dawn on me that I might have overstepped. The pain in his plea just pulled at me. I understood the feeling of being lost so well, growing up in a home filled with abuse and no one listening to my own cries for help.

He looked down at me. “I appreciate that. You find ’em. You find the one that took my Mary. She was the only woman I ever loved. And our children. Godsend. No matter what that man told her at the crossroads.”

Chasing Headlines (Chasing Victory, #1)

Chasing Headlines (Chasing Victory, #1) By J. Rose Black
Publication date: January 2, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, New Adult, Romance
Summary:

They’re chasing the same dream…
Too bad they’re not on the same team.

When Breslin Cooper’s major league dreams go up in flames, he’s left with his backup plan: college baseball at Texas State Tech in Vanquer, Texas. But his public altercation with a reporter saddles him with mandated community service, therapy–and a toxic “Storm Cooper” reputation that no professional baseball scout will touch.

Liv Milline’s family name is practically synonymous with IML baseball. Yet despite her love for the game (the tight pants aren’t bad, either) and her dreams of becoming a baseball scout–her father holds one, ironclad rule: No baseball for Olivia (the corollary: no baseball players for Olivia is just downright mean).

Her one loophole? Playing baseball beat reporter for Texas State Tech.

Chasing similar dreams, Liv attempts to befriend Breslin. But the amazingly talented, pain in her aperture has only two words to say whenever she’s around: “No comment”.

Still, she can’t help but notice the troubled ballplayer’s running on overload. Emotionally wounded and reeling from his mother’s death, the only time Breslin seems close to “ok” is on the ballfield. Liv and his new teammates can’t seem to get through.

When a lapse in judgment catches Breslin in a real-world rundown, jeopardizing his probation and his baseball scholarship, his only choice may be to rely on Liv–the aggravating, attractive, and utterly relentless reporter, chasing her latest headline.

[Book one of a series, Chasing Headlines ends with a HFN, no cliffhanger, but lingering / unresolved issues waiting to bite them in the butt in Book 2.]

—

EXCERPT:

Breslin POV

I threw my glove in my locker and grabbed my backpack from the hook. I imagined myself bounding out of the room, but my legs barely managed more than a shuffle.

Still, I must have gotten going a bit too fast because, the next thing I knew, Rally Girl was on the ground, phone skittering across the tile.

And I was the asshole. Shit.

Second Time Charmed (Rendezvous at Midlife, #2)

Second Time Charmed (Rendezvous at Midlife, #2) By Maggie Blake
Publication date: August 28, 2024
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Women’s Fiction
Summary:

Sometimes a second chance is all we need.

When Margot Whitley receives devastating news, she keeps it a secret from everyone, determined to maintain her newfound commitment to herself and her career. Having to overcome obstacles as an independent businesswoman, and not wanting to bother anyone else, she feels she can handle it on her own. 

However, when Margot’s daughter, Callie, and best friend, Susie, sense that something is off and become determined to uncover what Margot is concealing, her secret unravels.

Vaughn Jameson, the love of Margot’s life, currently touring with his rock band, also sensing a change in Margot, decides to head to Los Angeles and check on her between concerts. From the moment Vaughn shows up on that fateful day at Margot’s, a story full of sacrifice, loyalty, and newfound destiny unfolds.

In life, we encounter unexpected twists and turns, surprising opportunities, and occasionally, second chances.

Can also be read as a standalone.

—

EXCERPT:

“Each step Margot took felt heavier than the last.

One foot in front of the other.

Margot’s heels clicked rhythmically on the pavement as she strode through the parking lot. The cacophony of car horns, laughter, and the distant hum of construction seemed to amplify in her ears.

Reaching her car, Margot paused for a moment, leaning against the cold metal and taking in the chaos that surrounded her. She observed the sea of faces that flowed past her on their way toward the tower, each one blissfully unaware of the storm that could meet them there.

The Cat That Played Chess

The Cat That Played Chess By Catarrina Cummings
Publication date: July 10 2023
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Mystery
Summary:

Having received an eviction notice, Zapporah Leverne needs money fast. Her current job as a product tester will not meet the deadline. She believes her extraordinary cat named Rookie can fix this. 

This feline is so good at copying humans that she can move chess pieces on the chessboard.

Zapporah pulls ropes to land Rookie a part in a commercial. Her cat wows the director to the point he thinks she would be good in his reality television series. But Rookie is stolen from Zapporah’s apartment.

Although there are few clues to the thief’s identity, Sloth, Zapporah’s roommate, believes the landlady is the thief and attempts to prove it. 

When Zapporah receives a voice message with a cat meowing in the background from talent agent Gloria Stravos, her suspicions are confirmed. Whoever stole Rookie will put her in show business. 

Arriving at Gloria’s office, Zapporah discovers Gloria has been murdered. Things don’t look good for Zapporah when the homicide detective learns she and Gloria had a history of fighting.

Will Zapporah’s intuition and tech-savvy help find Rookie and save her from a cunning murderer hiding behind the cloak of a white nationalist organization?

—

Apex Predator (The Game, #11)

Apex Predator (The Game, #11) By Cara Dee
Publication date: January 24, 2023
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Romance
Summary:

Ring in the new year with Lane, Macklin, Walker, and Ty as a group of Mclean members head down to Florida for some fun. More info to come.

Dear Isobel

Dear Isobel By Jinny Alexander
Publication date: March 15th 2022
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Summary:

Two marriages, a bucket full of dreams and a pile of broken hearts.

She’s not sharing her name. She’s been judged enough.

Once, she had it all: a supportive husband, lovely children, and a prestigious career revitalising failing businesses in the wake of Ireland’s recession.

When her friend Isobel suggested she take on a new job in their tiny rural community, she didn’t expect to fall in love.

Now she has become the other woman, the marriage wrecker, the cheat, and the betrayer.

When the illicit relationship ends, she’s stuck between the ruined affair and a crumbling marriage. Jobless and bereft, she must try to salvage what remains.

Will talking to Isobel help pick up the pieces or shatter their lives forever?

—

EXCERPT:

I wonder whether Isobel would be sympathetic to me if it were anyone else I had fallen in love with. Either way, I feel a need to say to her, however far she runs or wherever she runs to, it will always be the same. Even across the sea, even in her own safe homeland, someone somewhere is sleeping with their friend’s husband, or their wife’s friend. She can’t hide from this. It is strange how I am still so shocked to hear of every other story.

As the friend I used to be to her, before I wanted to take her husband for my own, I want to warn her:

Dear Isobel,

Even over there in your homeland, in America, Land of the Free, you are not safe from cheats and liars. They are in every corner of the world. Even there, even where you feel safe on your home ground, there will be men who ‘take up’ with their wife’s friend, and break hearts, and make promises and break them as quickly. For when one promise is kept, another is broken.

Nefarious

Nefarious By Mary Ann Marlowe
Publication date: July 13 2021
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Summary:

Warning: What you’re about to read is not a romance . . .

Diabolical Wall Street traders, Dane Russ and Val Montgomery, vaulted into fame and fortune as the power duo of financial technology. But after they lost the internet trading company they built from the ground up to ruthless Geraldo Valencia, they had to tuck tail and run to a Midwestern firm. 

Dane deals with the boredom by leaning into his playboy ways. Meanwhile Val plays the role of a scrupulous mentor, while secretly playing mind games with everyone at the office.

When Geraldo’s daughter shows up as an intern in Val’s summer training program, Val sees the perfect opportunity for her longed-for revenge—she’ll teach the girl nefarious business practices and send her home ethically compromised. 

But Dane’s not interested because he’s stumbled across his own opportunity for vengeance—a chance to seduce Noelle, the new CEO, and the woman who spurned him years ago.

As Val and Dane play cat-and-mouse with everyone else, their long-simmering history of unresolved romantic injuries with one another begins to burn beyond their control. While Dane doesn’t notice that a jealous Val has set him on a path to ruin Noelle, Val’s blind to the traps Dane has laid to bring her down. 

Although they’re adept at using everyone around them like chess pieces, their interpersonal game has no rules and can only end with their mutual destruction. If they don’t agree to a cease fire, Val’s reputation will be destroyed and Dane will lose his heart before he even realizes he’s risked it

—

EXCERPT:

Val scanned the other interns, chess pieces on her board, sizing up their value to her. So far, the only one with the chutzpah to approach her sat at the far corner of the table. Anthony. He stood out in the way he sat. Leaning back in his chair, one foot crossed on his knee. Val raised an eyebrow at him, and he straightened up and put his forearms on the table. Now they were all a neat row of matching pawns.

The door swung open, and Dane waltzed in. Fifteen intern heads swiveled away from Val and gawked at him. Anthony vacated his chair with alacrity, as though he feared someone else might beat him to it. He gestured for Dane to sit, but Dane’s lip curled up on one side in disdain, and he simply leaned against the back wall, languidly pushing a stir stick around his Styrofoam coffee cup. Dane never sat at meetings. These kids will learn.

Book Blitz: What We Do For Love

What We Do For Love By Anne Pfeffer
Publication date: May 21, 2019
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary
Summary:

Thirty-eight year old Nicole Adams has given up on finding love. Instead, the single mother focuses on the things she cherishes most—her sixteen-year old son Justin, her friends, and her art. 

When she convinces a prominent Los Angeles museum to feature a piece of her work, a large-scale installation, she thinks her life has finally turned a corner. 

Then Justin brings a girl, Daniela, home to live with them. Daniela’s angry parents have thrown her out of the house, because she’s pregnant with Justin’s child. Shattered, Nicole takes Daniela in and, in so doing, is drawn into the inner circle of Daniela’s family—a frightening world of deceit and violence. 

Nicole struggles to keep life going as normal. Forced to deal with people she doesn’t trust or like, fearful for the future of both her son and the grandchild they’re expecting, Nicole wonders if she can do what she tells Justin to do: always have faith in yourself and do the right thing.
— 

What We Do for Love won the Chick Lit category of the 2019 Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and finalist for Best Cover Design/Fiction!

—

EXCERPT:

From Chapter Four. Justin and Daniela have told Nicole that Daniela cannot return to her own home, but Nicole is nonetheless trying to reach Daniela’s parents.


By nine o’clock, Daniela’s parents still hadn’t called back.
Justin gave me a pointed look. Told you so.

Shocked by the apparent indifference of these people, I asked, “How do they know you’re safe? You could be camping under the freeway right now.”

Book Blitz: Hope In Every Raindrop

Hope In Every Raindrop by Wesley Banks
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: May 26, 2015
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ B & N

Book Description:

“Small towns have big stories.” That was a lesson Katie’s father taught her years ago. A lesson she’s taken to heart. And right now, Katie is desperate for a big story. Reeling from the recent loss of her father and with her agent breathing down her neck for the next book, the twenty-one-year-old writer picks a spot on the map and finds herself bound for a middle-of-nowhere town called Bishopville, South Carolina.

Taking a chance on the words of a local grocer, Katie stumbles upon a rare breed of dogs raised by the town doctor and his nephew Kyle. The only problem? Kyle isn’t interested in telling stories—especially not to a big-city girl who can’t seem to sit still. In an attempt to win him over as the clock winds down, Katie finds herself immersed in Kyle’s world, doing everything but writing.

When inspiration finally strikes, Katie is faced with an unforeseen catastrophe and a truth she can no longer ignore. While she has come to love the dogs, the real story may be about Kyle Walker.

♥ ♥ ♥
Excerpt:

From where Katie stood, they looked down on what appeared to be an empty pasture. A myriad of different trees surrounded it. The land was flat, and quiet. Yet, it almost felt as if all of nature were crowded in around it just waiting for something to happen.

Review: Chaysing Dreams (Chaysing #1)

Chaysing Dreams (Chaysing #1) by Jalpa Williby
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
Release Date: August 9, 2013
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Barnes and Noble

Book Description:

Life…secrecy, deceit, danger…No, no! Run, escape! 

“Run!” Her inner voice is shouting. She has to run faster! She’s about to get caught! No, no! She has to get away. Please, she must escape! “Run faster!”

As long as Tess Sanoby can remember, she has always had the same nightmares, where the girl in her dreams is running for her life with an unknown force chasing her. Each time, right before the girl is caught, Tess awakens, shaken with fear and confusion. Who is the girl? What do these dreams mean?

Getting through the growing pains of high school with her best friends Jack and Kylie, and then being accepted into her dream college, Tess is excited to start her life of independence. There, she meets the mysterious trainer and mentor, Chris, and she instantly feels a strong connection with him. Unfortunately, Chris wants nothing to do with her. Although Chris continues to give her the cold shoulder, his overprotectiveness and the occasional slips of sensitivity confuse Tess. Not understanding Chris or their relationship, she is on a constant emotional roller coaster with him. Could her best friends be the stable force that she desperately needs? 

Unfortunately for Tess, the more she tries to connect the missing pieces of her life, the more obscure her past and future appear to her. To make matters worse, she realizes she has fallen hard for a man who may be her worst enemy. As passion ignites between the two, she can’t help but surrender her heart and soul to him. 

Tess is unexpectedly exposed to a world of secrecy, deceit, and danger, causing her to be running for her life, chased by the unknown. Can Tess escape and save not only herself, but also her loved ones? Or, will she be caught, leaving her no choice but to face her worst nightmare?

Chaysing Dreams is the ultimate love story, full of suspense, friendship, betrayal, tragedy, and sacrifice. In this epic tale, you will laugh and cry with Tess--a story full of twists and turns, keeping you guessing until the end.


♥ ♥ ♥

"Chaysing Dreams" by Jalpa Williby was a story with a good premise that I really wish I liked more. The writing and idea had a lot of potential, but it took a long time for the story to get moving.

The book is almost 400 pages, but Williby could have told the same story with a lot less. "Chaysing Dreams" could have been a lot shorter since most of it seemed to be filler for me instead of plot points that would actually move the story along.

We first meet our main character, Tess, when she is 15 and by the end of the book, she's graduated college and is in her 20s. That's a lot of time to cover and it could have been condensed. A lot of the scenes seemed like they were just the same thing repeated with slight variations, and could have been cut. There are moments of greatness here, and if the filler was all gone, things would have flowed a lot better.

Cover Reveal: Off Chance (Off Series #5)

Off Chance (Off Series #5) by Sawyer Bennett
Age Group: New Adult
Genre: Contemporary
Release Date: October 21, 2013

Book Description:

He is seeking absolution.

Flynn Caldwell has a hero complex and it’s one of the reasons he joined the New York City Fire Department. He has spent his entire professional career trying to atone for that one person he failed to save. Because, if he can do that, then perhaps he can be worthy of love again.

She is seeking escape.

Rowan Page’s life is nothing short of a disaster. Always immersed in trouble, she has only herself to depend on. She’s determined to pull herself out of this mess and make something of her life, despite the hard years she has lived on the streets of New York.

Book Blast: Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out

Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out by Pandora Poikilos
Age Group: Adult
Genre: Contemporary Drama
Release Date: April 17, 2011
Buy Links:

Amazon ♥ Book Depository

Book Description:

Anya Michaels is having the time of her life. She has the man of her dreams by her side. She has graduated at the top of her class. She has the job others were lining up for. Between late night drinks at her favourite bar and fancy dinners at the most expensive restaurants, she has a string of adoring friends.

Everything changes when she hears the dreaded words, “You are sick.” Being diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder, her world starts to fall apart, one piece at a time. Now dumped, her four year relationship is nothing but a memory filled with pictures, thoughts and a very broken heart. Her job becomes an even further challenge as she tries to hide her condition. 

Her friends suddenly have more important things to do, what is a party without a party girl? Perfect could not crumble any faster. Soon, caught between situations, people and pieces of life that she never dreamed of planning for herself, Anya begins to wonder if her brain condition is all that bad. As she absorbs the changes in her life and realization sets in, she begins to wonder if she is the only one saying: Excuse Me, My Brains Have Stepped Out.

♥ ♥ ♥
Giveaway: $50 Amazon Gift Card or Paypal Cash