Firefly Hollow by T.L. Haddix

Book One in the Firefly Hollow Series, Women's Fiction Romances set in Appalachia.

In 1960, a tragic death in the family calls young Sarah Browning back from college to her Appalachian homestead. Unable to return to school and finish her degree, she finds herself facing a future that isn’t what she’d planned. Lost and grieving, she wanders onto her reclusive neighbor’s property where she stumbles across the all-too-attractive Owen Campbell, a man hiding secrets she’d only ever thought were legend.

Owen Campbell was raised on the folklore of Eastern Kentucky, tales of men and women with magical abilities from shape-shifting to healing powers. Rejected by those he loves because of his own abilities, he isolates himself from the world. When he meets Sarah, he’s faced with the tough decision of whether to let her in or stay hidden away to keep his heart safe.

Please note - this book is NOT a typical paranormal romance. No rage-beast shifters or alpha dogs here. It is, however, at its heart a romance, with a few intimate scenes between the hero and heroine, as well as adult situations dealing with tragedy.

"Firefly Hollow" is the first book in the Firefly Hollow series. Other titles include "Butterfly Lane," "Dragonfly Creek," "Cattail Ridge," "Cricket Cove," "Stormking Road," "Fern Valley," and "Snapdragon Way."

This first installment in the Firefly Hollow series begins in the 1950s when Sarah Browning is a lonely high school student and a target for her older sister Kathy to pick on.  The Browning's property borders the Campbell's who live up on the mountain and are rarely seen. It is understood that one does not cross that border and trespass onto the Campbell's land. However Sarah is unable to resist and begins walking there regularly, which is the first time Owen ever lays eyes on her, though she does not know it at the time. A few years later Sarah is called home from college where she is a year shy of graduating and becoming a teacher. A tragedy has befallen her family and again Sarah finds herself drawn to the Campbell's property. Gradually she and Owen find themselves falling in love, but circumstances seem to conspire to keep the young lovers apart and Owen's secrets may be too big to share. This was a story not just of romance, but family relationships, and heartbreaking tragedy.
4 out of 5 stars from me

I received a complimentary copy for review

Almost Missed You by Jessica Strawser

Description
Violet and Finn were “meant to be,” said everyone, always. They ended up together by the hands of fate aligning things just so. Three years into their marriage, they have a wonderful little boy, and as the three of them embark on their first vacation as a family, Violet can’t help thinking that she can’t believe her luck. Life is good.

So no one is more surprised than she when Finn leaves her at the beach—just packs up the hotel room and disappears. And takes their son with him. Violet is suddenly in her own worst nightmare, and faced with the knowledge that the man she’s shared her life with, she never really knew at all.

Caitlin and Finn have been best friends since way back when, but when Finn shows up on Caitlin’s doorstep with the son he’s wanted for kidnapping, demands that she hide them from the authorities, and threatens to reveal a secret that could destroy her own family if she doesn’t, Caitlin faces an impossible choice.

Told through alternating viewpoints of Violet, Finn and Caitlin, Almost Missed You is a powerful story of a mother’s love, a husband’s betrayal, connections that maybe should have been missed, secrets that perhaps shouldn’t have been kept, and spaces between what’s meant to be and what might have been.


A happily married couple take their toddler on a family vacation to the beach, life is good. Until it's bad... very very bad. Now Finn is on the run with their child and Violet is devastated, and wondering why. What did she miss? How could her husband just walk out without a word, stealing their child. Or did she choose to ignore the obvious? Were there questions she should have asked instead of burying her head in the sand and letting it go?
"All the wrong people know all the wrong secrets here." and with that one quote from Catlin I was made to wonder, when is a good time to tell a secret? And when if ever is it just too late to tell?
Caitlin and Finn were the best of friends long before he ever married Violet, and although Caitlin and Violet became very close, secrets always remained between them. Only Violet's Grandmother who raised her after the loss of her parents ever felt that something was just a bit off in Finn and Violet's marriage but she never spoke up about it until it was too late.
This was an emotional read. 4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review.

Curiosity Quills Presents: Darkscapes- by multiple authors

Description
Curiosity Quills Press explores yearning, regret, and fear with the Darkscapes Anthology — a spellbinding collection of dark fantasy, sci-fi, cyberpunk, horror, and detective fiction.

Delve into worlds of terrible family secrets, unexpected doppelgängers, a home invasion on an alien planet, androids and assassins, places and people who aren’t as stable as they seem, frustrated musicians going to desperate lengths — and more.

EXLEY AVENUE: In 1920s upstate New York, a tormented girl learns that her family’s new stone castle was built on a former cemetery, and in 2014, a former police detective uncovers horrible secrets.

LENA’S SONG: In the near future, two frustrated musicians and creative partners get in on the ground floor of neural firestreaming — but an old guitar creates an unexpected effect.

SORRY FOR THE MOUSE: A veteran back from Afghanistan develops a strange hobby to stay sane — but it doesn’t work as well as he had hoped.

SKELETON JIM: A skeleton detective who leads a double life as an Internet sensation takes a beautiful woman on as a client — and gets more than he bargained for.

OF LUSHER AND SLEEP: In this modern, alternative imagining of Romeo and Juliet, a veteran from an old-money family returns to London for his mother’s funeral and is confronted with a toxic history of two warring families — and a lost love.

ROOMIES: Housemates experience something deeply unsettling during an earthquake.

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SONG: An American’s car is rear-ended by a lost Muslim traveler with diplomatic immunity; the traveler sings in the American’s place at his daughter’s school recital — with surprising results.

THE GIOVANNI EFFECT: A man who lives alone with his family on a terraformed wind turbine farm receives a disturbing visitor.

FOUR HUNDRED EYES, SIXTY-FOUR HUNDRED TEETH: An existentially anxious former star of a London goth rock band, missing fame and creativity, regains something he thought was lost.

CIRCULAR ARGUMENT: A severely dehydrated man is trapped in an endless loop on an external tram-shuttle around his base — and his patience with the on-board AI is fraying.

MOSES AND THE TALKING BUSH THAT WAS INCONVENIENTLY ON FIRE: An exhausted Moses herds sheep for his father-in-law until a burning bush gives him a holy quest he’s rather reluctant to do.

FAIL HOUSE: On the night the Chinese land the first mission to Mars, unemployed roommates in a crumbling American city navigate through riots to their government-subsidized housing — but is it the safe place they thought it would be?

ICU: A workaholic lawyer wakes up in an intensive care unit with painful regrets.

BOOTHEEL: An aged German soldier returns to the Missouri Bootheel where he picked cotton as a POW, digs up an old mirror — and dares to look at his reflection.

SECOND SENTIENCE: In this New Weird goat fantasy, two caprifauns explore a lost city — and their possible past lives.

LANDING A JOB IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR: When an Imperial assassin’s Keeper betrays the Empire, the assassin goes off-planet — to transition out of government work as fast as possible.

TRAPPED: A woman is trapped inside a body with Alzheimer’s disease.

OUT OF SIGHT: Unwanted kids wake up in an escape pod after years in stasis, and an AI bracelet is their only chance to make sense of a wild uncharted planet.  

Darkscapes is an eclectic mix of stories touching on horror, sci-fi, religion, and fantasy. All were enjoyable, some were truly exceptional. My favorites in this collection were "Skeleton Jim" by J.R. Rain in which a skeleton hanging in a classroom has somehow come to life.
"Roomies" by B.C. Johnson was a chilling tale of friends suddenly finding themselves trapped in their apartment. Nobody can get in or out until the blood curdling conclusion.
"In the Shadow of the Song" by Piers Anthony sounds almost like the start of an off color joke to say that a Christian and a Muslim get into a car accident but in light of recent events this story takes on a life of it's own.
"Moses and the Talking Bush That Was Inconveniently On Fire" by Andrew Buckley was the much needed satirical comedy relief in the midst of so many dark stories.
"Trapped" by Ann M. Noser was both frightening and heartbreaking, and if you should read the author's notes at the end you will probably not be surprised to find the reason it was  so well written is because the subject matter is sadly well known to her.

I received a complimentary copy for review

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

Description
"Roanoke girls never last long around here. In the end, we either run or we die.
After her mother's suicide, fifteen year-old Lane Roanoke came to live with her grandparents and fireball cousin, Allegra, on their vast estate in rural Kansas. Lane knew little of her mother's mysterious family, but she quickly embraced life as one of the rich and beautiful Roanoke girls. But when she discovered the dark truth at the heart of the family, she ran fast and far away.
Eleven years later, Lane is adrift in Los Angeles when her grandfather calls to tell her Allegra has gone missing. Did she run too? Or something worse? Unable to resist his pleas, Lane returns to help search, and to ease her guilt at having left Allegra behind. Her homecoming may mean a second chance with the boyfriend whose heart she broke that long ago summer. But it also means facing the devastating secret that made her flee, one she may not be strong enough to run from again.
As it weaves between Lane s first Roanoke summer and her return, " The Roanoke Girls" shocks and tantalizes, twisting its way through revelation after mesmerizing revelation, exploring the secrets families keep and the fierce and terrible love that both binds them together and rips them apart."

Lane never understood her mother's depression, or hatred of her childhood home, until it was too late. She had never met any of her mother's family. They never wrote, or called. She always thought maybe they were dead, until her mother's suicide when she was told her grandparents wanted her to come and live with them. What at first seemed to be the first time Lane would ever have a normal family life turned out to be anything but normal. When Lane ran like hell after that summer in her grandparents home, she never expected to come back.
I liked the way it was told in alternating time periods of "Then" and "Now" as we learn what Lane ran from, and how it came to shape every aspect of her life and relationships.
Although a bit too predictable to hold any truly shocking moments it did hold my interest.
4 out of 5 stars from me.

I received an advance copy for review