Home Cooking and Homicide – #SupernaturalMystery #BlackCat #Giveaway

Blurb

Beluga Stein is taking a cooking class and it's a real killer. This time she's traded her signature loud muumuus for ill-fitting chef attire, including a toque the size of her ego.

A well-liked chef is found dead and it's up to Beluga and her feline familiar, Planchette, to investigate. There's no recipe to follow, only the hope that her erratic psychic ability will hit the spot. Is a supernatural entity stirring up trouble, or something far more dangerous?

Beluga and Planchette can't stand the heat, but there's no way out of this kitchen while murder is the main dish.

Excerpt

Beluga Stein’s Diary

The evil smell lingers.

Even with all the windows in the house open, the doors cracked a notch, the attic fan going full blast, and Planchette’s tail fanning his face like he was Egyptian royalty preparing for personal delivery of a peeled grape, the odor of exploded eggs clings to everything like a sock stuck to the back of a shirt by static cling.

Alas, there is no magic laundry cloth to separate one thing from another. So for now I’ll have to live with sulfuric fumes and pretend I like them. Or at least pretend they weren’t there even after the water long since boiled out of the pot and left the eggs all alone. My choices are severely limited.

Not that I didn’t consider Tanya’s suggestion to move into a hotel room for the night. I did. Briefly. But my reputation in this small town precedes me, so the various housing entrepreneurs said. In rather unkind tones, I should add.

So what if my reservation for three included a surly goat, a cat with an attitude, and myself? Emerson, while a gifted goat in many ways, has not yet mastered opening a mini bar. Planchette has little interest in watching expensive in-room movies unless there’s a female cat in the leading role, and I’ve been housebroken for months now. So why not take us for the night?

Honestly, people can be so rigid.

To: Food-Co

From: Culinary Program

Re: Weekly Purchase Order

—Wheat flour, 100 lbs.

—All purpose flour, 100 lbs.

—Sugar, 50 lbs.

—Butter, 50 lbs.

—Eggs, 4 cases

—Body bag, 1

About the Author

Wendy W Webb (aka one of the many Wendy Webbs) has published dark fantasy short stories and novels, co-edited anthologies, and has had productions of stage and radio plays. After a hiatus as a doctoral student of emergency management and as a disaster responder, she welcomed the return to fiction with The Wild Rose Press writing the gothic Widow’s Walk, and two updated books in the Beluga Stein supernatural-humor-murder mystery series, Bee Movie and Mean Cuisine. Sunbury Press under the Milford House imprint published the paranormal, travel, “memoir,” Eye of the Gargoyle. She adores her husband; two dogs, one of which turns on iTunes whenever Wendy leaves her office; dry red wine; theatre; and travel as long as she doesn’t see anymore ghosts!

Barnes & Noble

Paperback

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mean-cuisine-wendy-w-webb/1007879485?ean=97815092592

eBook

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mean-cuisine-wendy-w-webb/1007879485?ean=2940184304267

Amazon

Paperback

https://www.amazon.com/Mean-Cuisine-Beluga-Stein-Mystery/dp/1509259279

eBook

https://www.amazon.com/Mean-Cuisine-Beluga-Stein-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0DM2NYQHZ

Wendy will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

One man’s righteous battle against impossible odds – #Memoir #Whistleblower #Giveaway

Blurb

This is the incredible true story of railroad worker and union official Mike Elliottt, targeted by his railroad employer, BNSF Railway Company, for his safety-related activities. As the union's state legislative board chair, Elliottt was the top safety official in the state, and the voice for over 900 rank & file locomotive engineers operating trains around the clock, every day of the year.

When his members reported a plethora of trackside signal malfunctions on the BNSF Seattle subdivision, Elliottt went to the railroad first, asking that they fix the problems. When the BNSF failed to act, he contacted the government's regulatory authority, the Federal Railroad Administration. That led to an FRA inspection of over 130 miles of the railroad's track and signal systems turning up hundreds of federal defects – all with potential to put workers and the public at risk.

What followed was a retaliation plot reminiscent of the Nineteenth Century Robber Barons: A management-staged conflict at work, police called in, arrest, jail, criminal charges, and termination from his job – not once but twice.

The wrath, influence and power of North America's largest freight railroad is unleasehd in full force and in an all-out attack on a whistleblower's life, liberties, and career. An amazing journey of one man's righteous battle against impossible odds and the nearly unlimited resources of a multi-billion-dollar corporation.

Excerpt

I began my railroad career in 1995 on the Burlington Northern Railroad. Within three years, I was certified in two railroad operating crafts: Conductor and Locomotive Engineer. Concurrently, I became involved with the local railroad unions, taking a keen interest in safety, especially crew fatigue. For several years, I held a division level safety position— Legislative Representative—working local safety issues in Pasco and Yakima, Washington. Concurrently, I headed a state-level union safety office, 1st Vice Chair to then-Chair Mark K. Ricci, PhD. But in 2007, I was moved up to Chair of the Washington State Legislative Board when, quite unexpectedly, Mark resigned mid-term. So began six of the most impactful years of my life. My chief responsibilities as Chair were to advocate for the safety and welfare of our 900 members—not only on the two Class I railroads, BNSF and Union Pacific, but also on Amtrak, Sounder commuter trains, and Tacoma Rail. I hoped my work would help improve workplace safety and, ultimately, prevent tragedies.

In the late spring and early summer of 2010, I received complaints about vegetation overgrowth blocking the view of signals on the tracks between Tacoma and Vancouver, Washington—about 133 miles of tracks. Interestingly, most of the complaints were from my Union Pacific membership whose jobs running trains co-exist with BNSF on that segment of railroad track. I knew it wasn’t that UP train crews just liked to complain or that BNSF train crews didn’t care. More likely, BNSF train crews had learned from bitter experience that management retaliation was the reward for those who dared to be the “squeaky wheel.”

When I use the word “complaints,” I’m not talking about petty gripes. Not at all. These were legitimate safety complaints about the signals controlling train movement along “double-track” territory known as the BNSF Seattle Subdivision, a segment of right-of-way where BNSF and UP share track in a joint-use arrangement. The complaints were a straight-up red-flag warning from professional train crews who worked the line on a regular basis. These warnings needed to be heard; their complaints needed to be heeded. And they required immediate action.

About the Author

Mike Elliottt was born and raised in Washington State. He enjoys the great outdoors of the Pacific Northwest, classic rock & roll music, vintage stereo gear, home cooked meals, and Seattle Mariners baseball. He lives in Tacoma, Washington.

https://amazon.com/dp/1779626037

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/224714537-bad-order

 

Mike Elliott will be awarding a $10 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner.

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I absolutely guarantee that you’ll enjoy it – #NewRelease #LGBTQ #MFRWHooks

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Come meet the Bluestocking Belles! – #HistoricalRomance #CooperativeWriting #FBParty

By Rue Allyn (Guest Blogger)

The Bluestocking Belles are celebrating ten years of cooperative writing. Everyone is invited. The event takes place on March 15, 2025 in the Belles Brigade, our FB group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/1645454959073273/. We will be hosting dozens of authors with prizes and fun galore from 10AM to 10PM NYT. Please join us.

Who are the Bluestocking Belles? A group of authors who write historical romance, separately and together, and who help promote one another.
Roughly seven years ago, I was invited to join a group of authors calling themselves ‘the Bluestocking Belles.’ I’d never heard of the Bluestocking Belles—or the Belles as I call them—so I spent a few weeks looking them up online and reading one or two of their books. Boy am I ever glad I did.

What I learned during my research intrigued me enough to accept the invitation. I became the eight Belle. A change in membership had prompted my invitation. I never met the author who left the group, opening a spot for me, but to that author I am extremely grateful, as I am to all the Belles past and present.

One of the things about the Belles that intrigued me most was the collections they published—one per year at that time—we now frequently produce two collections per year. Many of those collections were not mere assemblies of unique stories on a theme—although we have a few of those. Belles’ collections are that and much more; the stories are inter-related. Characters, settings, circumstances from one story appear in another.

Once I joined the group, I learned that the process for creating this kind of intertwined collection involved a great deal of work. I won’t go into the process here. However, I will say that the work involved in creating and promoting the collections made me a much better writer. I’ve learned from each and every Belle, and each Belle is a master of her craft.

Our membership has changed over the years, but the current Belles are Jude Knight, Caroline Warfield, Cerise Duval, Susana Ellis, Elizabeth Ellen Carter, Alina K. Field, Sherry Ewing and myself. Individually, we are VERY different authors—different time periods (though all of us write primarily historical romance), distinct voices, and varied preferences for character types and tropes.

All of my Belles colleagues understand the historical romance reading audience—we are readers first, after all. They recognize heroic behavior and enjoy creating conflict for fictional couples on their way to HEA. We LOVE variety. Yes, we like traditional Regency Romance settings and tropes, but you’ll find in our individual stories and our collections that our writing range extends well beyond London ballrooms and soirees.

One other thing unites us, besides the desire to bring great, emotionally intense stories to readers—our love of history. We love it so much that each of us often must force ourselves to stop researching in order to get the book written.

I have been blessed to be a part of this special group of authors. I hope, for all of you reading this, you may find for yourselves a group, a family, of friends who share interests, care deeply about each other’s well-being, work together for a common goal while maintaining their distinct individuality, and love to read 😊

PS: I forgot to mention that we do all of this on-line. We live all over the world, New Zealand, Australia, Central America, and the US. Location is no barrier to creativity. All that requires is a willingness to do the work.

Come hang out at our 10^th anniversary celebration, March 15^th. We’d love to get to know you.

 

Now we’re supposed to hate each other... #EnemiesToLovers #RomCom #OppositesAttract

Who accidentally has a one-night stand with her yoga instructor?

Yep. Me.

How did I accidentally sleep with someone, right? I know what you’re thinking. Whoops! I slipped and inadvertently inserted Tab A into Slot B.

That’s not quite how it went.

But my yoga instructor is really, really skilled with Tab A, if you know what I mean.

Slot B never had it so good.

What am I supposed to do now, as I walk into my yoga class and find the guy I ghosted this morning… there, in front of the class, perfectly aligned and grinning at me like he remembers touching all my chakras.

He's perfect. Too perfect. He's so perfect he's ruining my job.

I'm an investigative reporter, working on spec for an article for a national magazine, and my job is to find all the ways this yoga chain is corrupt.

The only thing criminal here is that I can't have him in Slot B ever again. And I would. I'd turn myself into a paper doll book if that's what it took for more of that action.

I want him. He wants me. Nothing I do will make him back off because the chemistry is off the charts.

Except for one pesky little thing:

We’re at cross-purposes.

I need my exposé to get the job of my dreams. He needs to sell his stake in the yoga chain before I expose the corrupt current owner.

That makes him my enemy. My nemesis. The guy I have to get around to get ahead.

And now we’re supposed to hate each other.

But who ever let that get in the way of love?

Buy Links

Amazon US:  https://www.amazon.com/Night-Hand-Stand-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DBKBCYC9

Amazon UK:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Hand-Stand-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DBKBCYC9

Amazon AZ:  https://www.amazon.com.au/Night-Hand-Stand-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DBKBCYC9/

Amazon Ca:  https://www.amazon.ca/Night-Hand-Stand-Julia-Kent-ebook/dp/B0DBKBCYC9

Apple Books:  https://books.apple.com/gb/book/one-night-hand-stand/id6670284015

Kobo:  https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/one-night-hand-stand

Nook:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-night-hand-stand-julia-kent/1146231975?ean=2940186117087

Google Play:  https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Julia_Kent_One_Night_Hand_Stand?id=i88dEQAAQBAJ

Print: https://www.amazon.com/Night-Hand-Stand-Julia-Kent/dp/1638802181/

Website: https://jkentauthor.com/books/get-what-you-need/one-night-hand-stand/

BookBub:  https://www.bookbub.com/books/one-night-hand-stand-by-julia-kent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/218390915-one-night-hand-stand

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/One-Night-Hand-Stand-Audiobook/B0DKPGFCG5

Amazon Audio: https://www.amazon.com/Audible-One-Night-Hand-Stand/dp/B0DKPHF8MQ

iTunes: COMING SOON

Excerpt

It's 5:44 a.m. and there's a naked man in my bed.

His name is... um...

His name is...

He told me to call him...

Let's just call him by his initials.

N.M. for Naked Man.

Or for Never Mind.

Because in ten minutes, we're going to pretend this never happened.

Pretend I didn't go to a bar last night and have three glasses of pinot grigio, violating my strict two-glass limit.

Pretend I didn't let my friends talk me into jumping up on stage and singing “WAP,” complete with properly choreographed dance moves.

Pretend I did not let N.M. here buy me a drink and kiss him like my tongue had developed magnets that sought out his iron tonsils.

And he most certainly did not kiss me back with a suave, athletic grace that made my body shimmer and my P, indeed, become deeply W.

Oh, no.

While technically, all of that did happen, and I invited him back to my apartment and we did the two-back nasty so many times I am pretty sure we need to invent a new prime number for it, in ten – now, nine – minutes, Mr. N.M. doesn't exist.

My life has firm boundaries.

Speaking of firm –

About the Author

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Julia Kent writes romantic comedy with an edge. Since 2013, she has sold more than 2 million books, with 4 New York Times bestsellers and more than 21 appearances on the USA Today bestseller list. Her books have been translated into French, German, and Italian, with more titles releasing in the future.

From billionaires to BBWs to new adult rock stars, Julia finds a sensual, goofy joy in every contemporary romance she writes. Unlike Shannon from Shopping for a Billionaire, she did not meet her husband after dropping her phone in a men's room toilet (and he isn't a billionaire she met in a romantic comedy).

She lives in New England with her husband and three children where she is the only person in the household with the gene required to change empty toilet paper rolls.

She loves to hear from her readers by email at julia@jkentauthor.com, on Twitter @jkentauthor, on Facebook at @jkentauthor, and on Instagram @jkentauthor. Visit her at http://jkentauthor.com

Social Media Links:

Website: http://jkentauthor.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkentauthor/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jkentauthor

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2PIBi9n

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkentauthor/

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/julia-kent

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3238619.Julia_Kent

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Julia-Kent/e/B00A99V268/

 

Release blitz organized by Writer Marketing Services.

Desire and danger are never far away – #UrbanFantasy #SciFiRomance #NewRelease

Blurb

Passion without limit. Carnal hunger that knows no bounds.

Within Earth’s five dimensions, nothing is as it seems…and desire is never far away.

In E4’s jungle, Kuma is the Alpha werewolf, bent on revenge against the hated guards. Swept with them from that dimension to E1, he prowls Seattle at night, stopping the thugs from abducting women for use as sex slaves in E4’s Pleasure Palace.

On her way home from her nursing job, Gwen senses danger in the night’s shadows. A stranger attacks. Clinging to consciousness, she watches the impossible, a wolf fighting him off…protecting her. She wakes in her own bed, convinced it must have been a dream until she sees Kuma in human form. Virile, intense. A man like no other.

Within his powerful embrace, Gwen experiences rapture she didn’t believe existed. His unrestrained lust and burning need end her loneliness, though not the menace they face. The guards are a constant threat in their hunt for women and their determination to see Kuma dead. Together, he and Gwen must fight—for his life, her freedom, their future.

Get your copy today at Amazon!

Excerpt (Adult)

Kuma caught the woman’s scent on the damp breeze. She smelled earthy like the surrounding vegetation, sensual from female musk and spices on this realm, some sweet, others warm. The same as he imagined her breath and skin.

Those fragrances and danger had drawn him here tonight.

He lifted his face to the drizzle and inhaled deeply, savoring her sensual aroma, picturing what she might look like, welcoming the images his mind created: her naked—though not here in Seattle—in the jungle where he’d once lived, her nudity bathed in faint light from dawn breaking through countless leaves. Moisture beaded on her shoulders and throat. The droplets glimmered, much as insects did in his dimension, then grew fat and slipped past her full breasts to her torso and navel. Other beads clung to her nipples, her heightened breathing shaking them free.

He craved to smell her excitement and desire for him.

He pictured her on his plane, facing him without fear despite what he was, her lips tilting in a provocative smile, her voice enticing.

“Can you catch me?” She drew back her shoulders in a surprisingly arrogant stance. “Can you possible satisfy me?”

In his fantasy, he laughed at her audaciousness.

She turned and ran, playing their game, demanding he follow if he intended to have her.

Never was there any doubt, not even in his thoughts. At a full run, he chased her through the foliage. Leaves slapped him, the rain coating them flinging in every direction.

She darted around trees.

He did, too, and broke through plants towering over them.

Insects scattered.

In the distance, a birdlike creature called to its mate, its full-throated cry cutting through the heavy quiet.

Other males in his pack watched from the shadows, waiting for him to fail so they could mount her.

Never.

He’d been alone too long, without a female’s comfort and warmth, her concern for his safety telling him he mattered.

His feet pounded the soil, and his lungs burned. His entire being desired her.

He bolted past her.

She gasped at his unexpected move then pivoted, guessing his intent, and tried to retrace her steps.

Too late.

He was faster than she was and far more determined.

With one arm around her waist, he pulled her against him. Her plush ass nuzzled his cock, making it harder. She smelled like female and animal need.

A submissive purr spilled from her. She turned her face to his, lips parted.

He captured her mouth and thrust his tongue inside. Her wet heat heightened his senses. Warmth burst through him.

Willingly, she suckled his tongue, proving her desire.

Primitive need consumed his every thought. He kissed her deep, long, savagely, the animal part in him freed by passion.

She parted her lips even more, inviting him to take her.

They sank to the ground. He directed her to her hands and knees. Her hair, as he imagined it, fell forward and swept the jungle floor.

She lifted her buttocks to expose her openings for his use. A servile yet shameless position. Her cunt was moist, glistening from her excitement, her soft folds plump from arousal.

He lifted his cock to her opening but didn’t penetrate. Other males in his pack edged closer, smelling his lust and hers. Their eyes glittered in the shadows.

He recognized their need.

His was too great to wait another second. On an assured thrust, he drove his cock into her waiting cunt. Her unimaginable warmth pulled a gasp from him. He trembled then drove his shaft deeply and fully into her until they touched, proving his claim. She belonged to him…always would. Her sheath was snug, a wondrous prison confining him in the best possible way.

Welcomed delight dashed up his chest and arms. His flesh tingled. He pulled back and thrust, his balls so tight they didn’t move. A shudder escaped him. He—

Footfalls sounded, breaking into his thoughts. Voices mingled with the other racket.

Male and female workers exited a tall beige building called a hospital on this plane.

 

 

Other books in the Outlawed Realm series:

BOOK ONE – OUTLAWED REALM

AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/2p8t73s

His hunger for one woman will make him a traitor to his world…

From a portal in his lab on E2, one of the five dimensions of Earth, quantum physicist Nikoli Zorr gazes on everything forbidden to him. Passion. Desire. The exquisite pleasure of running his hands over the lush curves of a young woman he should have stopped watching weeks ago.

His duty is to close the portals that keep the monsters out of E2—and never interfere with the inevitable fate of those on the other side. Yet he can’t bring himself to abandon the woman who has captured his soul.

Psychologist Regina Page is trying to focus on her client, and off the mysterious, unbearable sexual cravings that consume her when she’s alone in her bedroom. The next moment she’s attacked by vampires, then swept into another realm by Nikoli, a stranger whose touch awakens that same raw desire. Whose eyes are already filled with farewell.

Yet beneath their undeniable carnal lust, something else stirs. The beginnings of illicit love. The unexpected need to protect him. Even if it means risking body, blood, and soul to defeat the merciless horde…for a future that was never meant to be.

 

BOOK TWO – OUTLAWED REALM

AMAZON: https://tinyurl.com/yamzv7k9

Pleasure that destroys all thought. Love that shatters all barriers.

Marked for extermination, Lukan has miraculously escaped E4’s Pleasure Palace. There, sex slaves satisfy the cravings of E2’s rulers for voyeurism, bondage, dominance, submission, punishment, and more. However, his freedom is not enough.

He left behind Arez, who once saved his life and captured his heart. Within her fragrant, heated caress, he knew everything denied him…rapture born from yearning, contentment fueled by tenderness and love. Determined to deliver Arez from certain death and have her for his own, Lukan embarks on a rescue he may not survive.

Arez has known only carnal submission and loneliness before Lukan. She aches for his strong arms, his fevered kisses. Upon his return, he offers danger and hope for a future. How can she resist? Never fully tamed, she wants Lukan more than life. But to flee from this twilight dimension to another, to find freedom and their destiny, they must first outwit this plane’s human predators and its monsters.

About the Author

 

Tina’s an Amazon and international bestselling novelist who writes passionate romance for every taste – ‘heat with heart’ – for traditional publishers and indie. Booklist, Publisher’s Weekly, Romantic Times and numerous online sites have praised her work. She’s won Readers’ Choice Awards, was named a finalist in the EPIC competition, received a Book of the Year award, The Golden Nib Award, awards of merit in the RWA Holt Medallion competitions, and second place in the NEC RWA contests. She’s featured in the Novel & Short Story Writer’s Market. Before penning romances, she worked at a major Hollywood production company in Story Direction.

On a less serious note: she’s an admitted and unrepentant chocoholic, brakes for Mexican restaurants, and has been known to moan like Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally while wolfing down tostadas. She’s flown a single-engine airplane (freaking scary), rewired an old house using an ‘electricity for dummies’ book, and is horribly shy despite the hot romances she writes.

MeWe: https://mewe.com/i/tinadonahue

Bluesky: @tinadonauthor.bsky.social

Website/Blog: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/

Newsletter: https://tinadonahuebooks.blogspot.com/p/newsletter.html

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/tina-donahue

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/146988.Tina_Donahue

Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/tinadonahue

Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/1ChWFkO

Sweet ‘n Sexy Divas: https://sweetnsexydivas.blogspot.com/

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/AuthorTinaDonahue