Book Blitz & Giveaway - The Magical Christmas Cottage by Aimee O’Brian

The Magical Christmas Cottage

(Charmed Love, #3)

Author: Aimee O’Brian

Publication Date: October 23rd, 2025

Genre: Adult Holiday Romance

Book Description:

In the small town of Hazard, sometimes love is the greatest Christmas miracle.

Alina McAllister is starting fresh in the charming town of Hazard, Rhode Island, with a simple plan: take a docent job at the Historical Society and embrace the magic of the season. But when her landlady Hazel suffers a stroke, everything changes. Hazel’s grumpy yet undeniably handsome grandson, Carter Bestwick, swoops into town determined to sell the cottage and move on with his corporate life. He needs Alina to leave—immediately.

With nowhere to go and a snowstorm trapping them together, Alina and Carter are forced into close quarters. What starts as a tense, begrudging arrangement soon sparks undeniable chemistry. As they clear out the attic, they discover Hazel’s magical wedding bands—heirlooms passed down through generations since the Revolutionary War—and find that sometimes, the magic of love is closer than they think.

In this heartwarming, opposites-attract holiday romance, Alina and Carter may just find that the greatest gift of all is an unexpected love.

Buy Links:

Amazon US | UK | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Kobo

Blog Tour Spotlight - The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry

A heartwarming, magical novel, which follows Isabel Bliss, a primary school teacher with an invisible power over emotional energy, as she discovers, explores and comes to terms with her ability and her potential.

 

THE ESSENCE OF BLISS

Author: Emily Astillberry

Publisher: Blossom Spring Publishing

Pages: 615

Genre: Speculative Fiction/Romance

Format: Paperback, Kindle

Book Description:

Isabel Bliss is a reception class teacher. She experiences other people’s emotions and can influence how they feel but she doesn’t truly understand her gift and has been encouraged, by her mum, to hide it from others. She often feels lost and alone.

When a child in her class experiences chronic distress that only she can perceive, Isabel uses her ability to relieve his suffering, but his situation continues to worsen. Eventually she is forced to take matters into her own hands, escorting him home where she finds horrific signs of abuse. She saves his mum’s life and his father is arrested for the brutal torture he has inflicted upon his family. 

A wealthy family moves to town and Isabel meets the two sons. She recoils from Daniel, who is hateful, rude and emotionally deficient but is inexorably drawn to Scott, who awakens something magical, deep inside her. They are like her. They are fluencers and have the ability to sense, read and willfully manipulate emotional energies. Isabel confronts her mum and uncovers hurtful lies and deceit within her own family. 

She falls deeply in love and ultimately discovers the untold potential of her gift and the passion and power that dwells within.

Read a sample here.

The Essence of Bliss is available at Amazon UK and Amazon US.

Book Excerpt

The next few moments occurred in painful slow motion. As I tugged my arm sharply out of Donna’s grasp, I was jostled by a stranger on the other side. I felt myself falling off balance and reached out to grab onto something, anything, to keep me upright. The something that I grabbed onto was a jacket slung over an arm and the owner of the jacket pulled back on it hard, tipping me further off balance and sending me sprawling to the floor on my knees. I let out a pained cry as my still bruised knee struck the hard floor.

I ended up on my knees in front of a strong, long set of masculine legs in blue denim. I didn’t know for certain to whom the legs belonged, but I could make an educated guess from the pitch of the gasp and giggle from Donna and the murmuring of the onlookers. I really didn’t want to look up, but I knew that it was inevitable. I couldn’t stay on the floor forever. My knee was painful, and I wasn’t even certain that I could get up by myself. Slowly, grudgingly, I raised my eyes to find Daniel Callahan looking down at me with distasteful recognition and an unpleasant, disdainful smile. I looked him in the eye with as much dignity as I could muster. He continued to stare rudely. He didn’t utter a word.

“Sorry,” I muttered, and my hand flew to my mouth in instant regret. Had I seriously just apologised to him, again, for falling over, again? I was a total idiot, and I was more embarrassed than ever. What was it about this man that made me fall at his feet and behave like a stuttering moron with an apology tic?

“It seems like you’re making a habit of falling on your knees in front of my brother. Here, let me help you.” 

In an instant, everything changed. My whole life turned upside down. Something inside me roared to life and I suddenly felt different, stronger, more alive. It came from the source of the humming, that place deep inside of me. Those simple words, that simple offer of a hand to my feet, the smooth, velvety voice. It was the sort of voice that could make a person weak at the knees with its deep resonance and gentle tone, but it was so much more than that. I didn’t just like the sound of his voice. Something about the owner of that voice had just changed something fundamental about me, and somehow I knew, in that fraction of a second, that nothing was ever going to be the same again.

I wasn’t sure if I could move or if I wanted to look into the face that belonged to those words, that voice. I was frightened about what I might find and what it might do to me, what I might become. However, I was still on the floor on my knees, so I put my hand out, took his and let him pull me to my feet. 

Our eyes met, and without warning, a multitude of sensations overwhelmed me. I saw him, I felt him, I sensed him. I experienced things that I couldn’t understand or explain, but it was like a fire had been lit in my soul, like fireworks exploding in the deepest recess of my mind. I couldn’t just feel his emotions in the way that I normally do. This experience went further, deeper. It felt like in that single second, he was actually inside my mind, or I was inside his. I wasn’t sure whether it was one or the other or if it were both. I couldn’t process what was happening to me. It was happening too fast and exercising too many of my senses. 

He looked at me with bewitching eyes that reached into my very core. Eyes a deep, rich brown, like swirling chocolate, shimmering with a layer of warmth. They glistened with a flame that matched the fire that had ignited inside me, as if his eyes understood and reflected the very essence of me. We saw each other in a way that I had never known before, a way that I had never even dreamed of, and as we looked into each other’s eyes, the flames in his eyes grew larger, hotter. I took everything in, every minute detail. The dark hair swept back from his face, the healthy tan to his skin, the perfect line of his nose leading to full, rich lips surrounded by laughter lines, indicating a happy man: a joyful, confident, beautiful, magical creature.

The intensity of the moment wasn’t limited to the visual. The way that he looked wasn’t what captivated and thrilled my senses. When I sensed a person through their emotions, I usually felt that they were happy or sad, angry or hurt, but this was something new. This was a cacophony of feelings so loud that I felt as if my head might burst with the joy of it. Emotions that lifted me into the sky, swirling around me and through me — through my mind, through my heart, through my body — until I felt dizzy with the power of it. All that I could see were those eyes, those lips. All that I could hear was that voice, and yet I could feel and see and hear everything all at once, like I was awake for the first time in my life, like I had found the answer to a question that I hadn’t known I’d been asking.

– Excerpted from The Essence of Bliss by Emily Astillberry, Blossom Spring Publishing, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

 

Emily Astillberry is an author and RSPCA Inspector from Norfolk, England. She has a degree in English Literature and Linguistics from York University and has been investigating animal cruelty and neglect and rescuing sick and injured animals for 20 years. In her day job, Emily deals with very difficult and often emotional situations and meets all sorts of people from all sorts of backgrounds. Her career provides some of the inspiration for themes and characters that can be found in her fictional work.

At home, in a very old cottage in the country, Emily has a husband, 5 children, a dog, a cat, an axolotl, 2 giant African land snails and a varying number of rescue hens, so finding time to write can be a challenge. She is happiest outdoors, growing fruit and vegetables in the garden, walking the dog and family holidays usually involve walking up mountains in summer, skiing down them in winter and sleeping in a tent whenever possible.

Emily loves spending time with her large, noisy, chaotic family, cooking meals for friends and playing board games. She always has at least one book on the go and has always dreamed of writing her own novel. She now dreams of writing more. 

Visit her website at https://emilyastillberry.com. 

You can also find her on Facebook and Instagram.

The Essence of Bliss is her latest book.

 

Sponsored By:

Blog Tour Spotlight - The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts

Trouble ensues when a mother and daughter spy on their hunky and mysterious new neighbor in this re-imagined telling of the classic movie Rear Window.

 

THE MAN NEXT DOOR

Author: Sheila Roberts

Publisher: MIRA

Pages: 368

Genre: Fiction/Romance

Format: Hardcover, Paperback, Kindle, Audiobook

Book Description:

Love in the Time of Serial Killers meets The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window in this delightful romp about a recently broke divorcee who moves in with her house-bound mother only to spend their days spying on her grumpy, mysterious, and sexy new neighbor.

Zona never thought her life was headed this way, but here she is, newly divorced and moving back in with her mom, Louise. After her gambling addicted ex-husband lost all of their savings, including their daughter’s college fund, she doesn’t really have a choice. She’s cutting every coupon she can and she’s going to help put her daughter through nursing school, even if it kills her. 

This wasn’t Louise’s plan, either, laid up at home with a broken leg after one unfortunate tumble on the senior singles cruise she’d been looking forward to for months. But if she’s going to spend all her time at home, at least she’s got her daughter there with her. And there’s some hot new eye candy next door to distract them both from their troubles. He appears to be single and just around Zona’s age. Could his arrival be the universe making amends for everything it’s put her through? 

Maybe the universe isn’t feeling as generous as Louise hoped. There’s something lurking under that mans surface charm, something…dangerous? And who’s the woman they can hear him in all-out shouting matches with on the other side of the fence? When the woman seems to disappear without a trace, imaginations run wild. Or at least, Zona hopes it’s just her mother’s imagination… 

The Man Next Door is available at

Buy Links:

Amazon US | UK

Book Excerpt

  

The House

The house on Glenwood Avenue had taken on an air of darkness. Not simply because the previous owners had painted its adobe outside dark gray and trimmed it with black, although that hadn't helped. It was what had happened inside the house even before they moved in. 

Elder abuse. Louise Hartman, who lived next door, had been the first to spot it. The single man rarely let his grandmother out, and he never let anyone in, no matter how many cookies they came with. He was the only unsociable person on the whole street. Louise had known early on that he was hiding secrets.

But there are things you can’t hide from people who pay attention. And Louise paid attention. The curtains were always drawn, and the son rarely left the house. Neither did the old woman who had arrived with him, not even to care for the roses which were starting to wither from lack of attention. Lawn service had been stopped and weeds were popping up everywhere. Neglect! cried the house. Often old cars with nefarious looking drivers showed up after dark. Drugs, for sure. The place sent off keep away vibes and the neighbors all did. Including Louise. A woman living alone had to be careful.

One day the old woman in the house next door got out. Louise had been checking her mail and saw the poor soul. She was skinny as a wraith, wearing dirty women’s pajama bottoms and an equally dirty men’s t-shirt. Her hair hung in greasy, gray strands, and when Louise hurried over to say hello she saw the woman had bruises on her arms. Yes, older people had thin skin, and they tended to bruise easily, but this woman had too many to have just bumped against a counter. When Louise asked about them the woman had looked mildly puzzled for a moment, then replied that little Sammy was strong. 

Louise had seen little Sammy. He was a mammoth. And obviously brutal. Louise had called the authorities, and it wasn’t long before Sammy was no longer around, and neither was the old woman. According to the rumor mill, a relative had stepped in and moved her across the country and put the house up for sale. 

Then had come the middle-aged couple with the dog. Happily married, both working, but with time for a chat by the mailbox. One daughter, married, about to give birth to the first grandchild. Perfect. They would bring back the happiness that had lived in the house when Louise’s daughter Zona was growing up and laughing children had run back and forth between the two homes. 

But tragedy struck only a few months later. The wife died suddenly. No one knew quite how. The funeral was small and private, the wife cremated, and the man gone almost instantly. The house went on the market again. And sat, waiting, like the neighbors, to see what would happen next. People came and looked at it, but it remained empty. 

Louise didn’t blame them. A miasma enshrouded the place and she could almost feel … a presence hovering over there, peering over the property line, whenever she went up her own front walk. Her daughter insisted Louise was imagining things. A house was just a house. It didn’t have a life of its own. And no, Zona hadn’t felt any creepy vibes since she’d moved in with Louise. Of course, Zona was dealing with so much in her own life she probably wouldn’t recognize a creepy vibe even if it came up to her and rattled her bones. 

Could a house absorb the emotions of the people who lived in them? Did bad vibes linger long after those people had moved out? Once infected, did that house become a magnet for more of the same?

Louise hoped not. She watched as the realtor put a sold sign on the front lawn. Maybe the new owners would dispel the gloom. Maybe she wouldn’t shiver every time she walked past the place.

Or maybe this unsettled feeling she was getting was a premonition.

– Excerpted from The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts, MIRA, 2025. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

Sheila Roberts is a USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestseller – and a fan favorite. She has seen her novels turned into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark, and Great American Family channels. Before settling into her writing career, Sheila owned a singing telegram company and played in a band. She is happily married, and when she’s not traveling, she splits her time between the Pacific Northwest and Southern California. You can visit her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100044180452595 and Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sheilarobertswriter/. 

Her latest book is the romantic comedy, The Man Next Door.

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Book Blitz & Giveaway - You Don’t Belong Here by D.M. Siciliano

You Don’t Belong Here

Author: D.M. Siciliano

Publication Date: October 13th, 2025

Genre: Adult Horror / Paranormal / Suspense

Book Description:

A girl who feels invisible finally faces her worst fear on her sixteenth birthday and hastily makes a dark deal.

An old man returns to the same place every year on the anniversary of his wife’s death, to have one last moonlit dance with her.

A woman’s health concerns are ignored, and it leads to global chaos.

A young woman goes home to bury her father and sell his house but finds that the home is no longer hers.

An old man with Alzheimer’s becomes increasingly lost in his own house, which seems to be doing its own forgetting.

Two young girls find an Ouija board, thinking they’re communicating with a deceased relative, but find something much more cunning.

A woman, grieving the loss of her baby, takes a trip to a remote cabin in Tahoe. Her worried sister goes after her and isn’t prepared for what she finds.

A woman’s drive through California’s winding roads leads her to a perilous and sinister discovery lurking in the woods.

A woman takes a job as a nanny for two troublesome kids, only to find that the children aren’t the problem.

Buy Links:

Amazon US | UK

Book Blitz & Giveaway - Royal Danger by Avishai El

Royal Danger

(The Mystique Series, #2)

Author: Avishai El

Publication Date: October 15th, 2025

Genre: Adult / Mystery / Psychological / Thriller

Book Description:

Something happened to Vaughan.

Those closest to her speak in half-truths and glances. One moment, she was walking among them—intuitive, brave, haunted. The next, she was part of something no one can explain. A fracture in time. A storm no one saw coming. Some believe she stumbled into it. Others believe she was always meant to be its center.

They say she inherited a crown, but no one saw it placed on her head.

They say she vanished during the final seal, but no one witnessed her fall.

And they say the darkness never stopped chasing her… even now.

There were signs. Whispers. Visions. A golden ticket that kept appearing in strange places. A man named Eli who stayed by her side long after others fled. And a mother who saw too much, too late.

Was it destiny? Madness? Or something that lives in the shadows between?

Royal Danger is a slow-burning psychological mystery thriller laced with horror, surreal visions, and eerie spiritual phenomena. It is a story about intuition, unraveling identity, and the thin, terrifying veil between love, legacy, and annihilation.

Buy Links:

Amazon US | UK