Monday, 2 November 2026

Home for a Hat Trick: A Sweet Christmas Hockey Romance by Kathryn LeBlanc


 

Home for a Hat Trick: 
A Sweet Christmas Hockey Romance 
By Kathryn LeBlanc 


Publication Date: 11th November 2025
Publisher: Independently Published
Print Length: 115 Pages
Genre: Christmas Holiday Romance 

A sweet, small-town holiday hockey romance about second chances, unexpected family, and finding your way back to what matters most.

Former NHL star Logan Calloway returns to his Massachusetts hometown with a busted shoulder and no plans to stay. The last person he expects to find at the old rink? Eliza Martin—the girl he left behind.

Eliza has enough on her plate. Between raising her daughter and holding the town’s crumbling ice arena together with duct tape and grit, the last thing she needs is her charming ex skating back into her life.

But when a little white lie, a big-hearted kid, and a runaway holiday fundraiser throw them together, old feelings resurface—and new sparks fly.

Can a hometown hero trade the roar of the crowd for the quiet pull of love, community, and the family he never saw coming?

Curl up with Home for a Hat Trick—a second-chance holiday romance where old flames, found family, and holiday magic collide on and off the ice.



Pick up your copy of Home for a Hat Trick HERE

Read with #Kindle+


Kathryn LeBlanc



Kathryn LeBlanc, author of award-winning Quilting Cozy Mysteries under the pen name Kathryn Mykel is an avid quilter and full-time author in both the cozy mystery and romance genres.

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The Queen's Tears by Elizabeth St.John




 The Queen's Tears
By Elizabeth St.John


Publication Date: October 15th, 2026
Publisher: Falcon Historical Press
Print Length: 428 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual-Timeline

A stolen crown jewel and an enigmatic portrait force two women to confront the devastating choices they made for love—and summon the courage to live with the truth.

1619: Barbara, Lady Villiers, at the bidding of her brother-in-law, the Duke of Buckingham, has stolen the dying Queen Anna’s jewels—and kept the greatest prize for herself. The Queen’s Tears, a brooch of extraordinary value, torments her: too dangerous to sell, too priceless to discard, and possibly her only means of securing her children’s future. When the family fortunes are shattered, Barbara faces an impossible choice: remain loyal to Buckingham—or betray him by confessing the theft to King Charles.

Present Day: Julia Darke opens her Cotswolds bookshop to start life over peacefully. Instead, she stumbles across a Van Dyck portrait of Barbara’s daughter, with tantalising signs of the missing Queen’s Tears hidden in plain sight. The discovery also brings her face-to-face with the last person she wants to see again. Oliver Villiers, the Oxford art conservator she once loved and walked away from, holds the cipher to the painting—and to Julia’s own unresolved history.

Reluctantly drawn together by a shared obsession to uncover Barbara’s secret, Julia and Oliver follow the trail of the Queen’s Tears—and the closer Julia comes to Barbara’s truth, the harder it becomes to hide from her own.

Inspired by the true stories of Queen Anna of Denmark’s stolen jewels and a missing Van Dyck painting, The Queen’s Tears weaves history, fiction, and family research across the centuries. Readers of The Lady of the Tower will find old favourites—and a new heroine following in their footsteps.

Pick up your copy of The Queen's Tears HERE


Elizabeth St. John


Elizabeth St.John's acclaimed historical fiction brings to life her ancestors—remarkable women linked to England's royalty—offering unique insights into Medieval, Tudor, and Stuart times. Her novels unfold not just as traditional series, but as an interlocking web of lives: The Lydiard Chronicles—including the celebrated The Lady of the Tower—The Godmother's Secret, and The King's Intelligencer explore everything from the English Civil War to the mystery of the Princes in the Tower. Her newest novel, The Queen’s Tears, a dual timeline pursuing a stolen crown jewel, reunites favourite characters from the seventeenth-century with a present-day bookstore owner heroine.

At the heart of her writing is the transformation of real ancestral histories into narratives of historical continuity. She follows threads of legacy through generations, guided as much by wills, letters, portraits, country churches, ruined castles, manor houses, and lost gardens as by imagination.

Locations become constant companions through time, while characters whisper across centuries—their decisions resonating in the lives of their descendants to reveal how choices shape legacies. Grounded in historic sites like Lydiard Park and the Tower of London, her work creates a living archival flow that continues to flourish as the past yields its secrets.

Elizabeth divides her time between California, England, and the past, surrounded by books, gardens, and animals, with a slightly bewildered, ever-supportive husband beside her.

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Paris In Ruins by M.K. Tod

 


Paris In Ruins 
By M.K. Tod 


Publication Date: 30th March 2021
Publisher: Heath Street Publishing
Print Length: 372 Pages
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Thriller

Paris 1870. Raised for a life of parties and servants, Camille and Mariele have much in common, but it takes the horrors of war to bring them together to fight for the city and people they love.

The story of two women whose families were caught up in the defense of Paris is deeply moving and suspenseful ~~ Margaret George, author of Splendor Before the Dark: A Novel of the Emperor Nero

Tod is not only a good historian, but also an accomplished writer … a gripping, well-limned picture of a time and a place that provide universal lessons ~~ Kirkus Reviews.

A few weeks after the abdication of Napoleon III, the Prussian army lays siege to Paris. Camille Noisette, the daughter of a wealthy family, volunteers to nurse wounded soldiers and agrees to spy on a group of radicals plotting to overthrow the French government. Her future sister-in-law, Mariele de Crécy, is appalled by the gaps between rich and poor. She volunteers to look after destitute children whose families can barely afford to eat.

Somehow, Camille and Mariele must find the courage and strength to endure months of devastating siege, bloody civil war, and great personal risk. Through it all, an unexpected friendship grows between the two women, as they face the destruction of Paris and discover that in war women have as much to fight for as men.

War has a way of teaching lessons—if only Camille and Mariele can survive long enough to learn them.

M.K. Tod's elegant style and uncanny eye for time and place again shine through in her riveting new tale, Paris in Ruins ~~ Jeffrey K. Walker author of No Hero’s Welcome



Pick up your copy of Paris In Ruins HERE




Discover more of M.K. Tod's historical fiction





M.K. Tod


M.K. (Mary) Tod’s interest in historical fiction began as a teenager immersed in the stories of Rosemary Sutcliff, Jean Plaidy, and Georgette Heyer. In 2004, her husband’s career took them to Hong Kong where, with no job and few prospects, Mary began what became Unravelled, her first novel. The Admiral’s Wife is her fifth novel.

Mary’s award-winning blog, www.awriterofhistory.com, focuses on reading and writing historical fiction. She’s an active member of the historical fiction community and has conducted five unique reader surveys on topics from readers’ habits and preferences to favorite historical fiction authors. Mary is happily married to her high-school sweetheart. They have two adult children and two delightful grandsons.

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The Dutch Muse (A Fabiola Bennett Mystery Book 4) by Heidi Eljarbo



 The Dutch Muse
(A Fabiola Bennett Mystery Book 4)
By Heidi Eljarbo 


Publication Date: 17th June 2025
Publisher: Independently Published
Page Length: 258
Genre: Historical Fiction / Historical Thriller

A ruthless thief leaves a private Dutch gallery with a coveted seventeenth-century painting. The owner lies unconscious on the floor. Art historian Fabiola Bennett is on vacation in Holland and takes on the case.

Amsterdam, 1973

It’s late summer, and Fabiola and Pippa join their friend, Cary, for a few days of sightseeing, museums, and riding bikes around the beautiful city.
For the first time in her life, Fabiola feels a pang of jealousy, and rude comments from a gallerist make her doubt her own abilities.

Then, unexpectedly, Cary’s Dutch client, Lennard van de Hoek, is brutally struck down and a baroque portrait by Ferdinand Bol is stolen. Fabiola pushes aside her problems and jumps into danger without hesitation. The list of suspects is long, and with a cold-blooded criminal at large, they must constantly be on the alert.

Amsterdam, 1641

Ferdinand Bol has completed his five-year training with Master Rembrandt van Rijn and is ready to set up his own studio. The future looks bright, and Ferdinand sets a goal to become a widely sought-after and, hopefully, prosperous master portraitist.
Just when Ferdinand’s career starts to flourish—and patrons and customers discover his exceptional talent—one of his models confesses she’s in deep trouble, and he drops everything to help her.


Pick up your copy of The Dutch Muse HERE.

This title is available to read on #Kindle+


Heidi Eljarbo



Heidi Eljarbo is the bestselling author of historical fiction and mysteries filled with courageous and good characters that are easy to love and others you don't want to go near.

Heidi grew up in a home filled with books and artwork and she never truly imagined she would do anything other than write and paint. She studied art, languages, and history, all of which have come in handy when working as an author, magazine journalist, and painter. 

After living in Canada, six US states, Japan, Switzerland, and Austria, Heidi now calls Norway home. She and her husband have fifteen grandchildren—so far—in addition to a bouncy Wheaten Terrier.

Their favorite retreat is a mountain cabin, where they hike in the summertime and ski the vast, white terrain during winter.

Heidi’s favorites are family, God's beautiful nature, and the word whimsical.

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Friday, 30 October 2026

A Bachelor's Pledge: A Regency Romance (Gentlemen Book 3) by Penny Hampson

 


A Bachelor's Pledge: A Regency Romance 
(Gentlemen Book 3)
By Penny Hampson 


Publication Date: 24th September 2020
Publisher: PP&M Publishing
Page Length: 306 Pages
Genre: Regency Historical Fiction

Secrets, Scandals, and Spies

Secret agent Phil Cullen is surprised to find the intriguing young lady he rescued from a house of ill-repute is now living as a respectable lady’s companion in Cornwall. This distraction by a captivating female is not welcome when he’s on the trail of a ruthless French spy.

Dismayed at the reappearance of the handsome gentleman who rescued her from a scandalous situation, Sophia Turner is relieved when he promises not to threaten her new-found security. Alarmingly, the brothel-keeper who entrapped her has also tracked her down. Does Sophia’s mysterious past hold the key to this relentless pursuit?

With danger lurking everywhere, Phil decides that a fake betrothal is the solution to keeping Sophia safe. But as the threats to their lives increase, their counterfeit feelings for each other turn into real ones.

Even if Phil and Sophia manage to survive everything that their enemies throw at them, will the revelation of Sophia’s shameful family secrets put an end to any hopes of a happy ever after?

Heart-warming romance combined with action-filled adventure makes this third book in Penny Hampson’s Gentlemen Series a must-read for all lovers of classic Regency fiction


Pick up your copy of A Bachelor's Pledge HERE.
Read with #KindleUnlimited


Penny Hampson


Penny Hampson writes mysteries, and because she has a passion for history, you’ll find her stories also reflect that. A Gentleman’s Promise, a traditional Regency romance, was Penny’s debut novel and the first of her Gentlemen Series. There are now three novels in the series, with the fourth, An Adventurer’s Contract, due to be released by the end of 2024. 

Penny lives with her family in Oxfordshire, and when she is not writing, she enjoys reading, walking, swimming, and the odd gin and tonic (not all at the same time).

Penny’s books are all available on Amazon: viewauthor.at/Pennysbooks


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Secrets of the Penny University by Amanda Roberts

 


Secrets of the Penny University 
By Amanda Roberts


Publication Date: April 22nd, 2025
Publisher: Hickory Press
Pages: 282
Genre: Historical Fiction / Dual-Timeline / Timeslip

Tilly risks everything on a promise. Amy wants the truth.

“I think something terrible happened here”

2025: When Amy and her husband buy an old property on Oxford’s High Street with plans to open a new coffee shop, the discovery of a mural painted on a wall hints at a story that has lain dormant for centuries. Before long, Amy is seeing and hearing echoes of the past, and a young woman who once lived there. As the penny university reveals its secrets, will Amy’s growing obsession with the past lose her everything she has in the present? 

1656: Abandoned by her lover and pregnant, Tilly is sent from the small village of Islip to live with cousins in Oxford where she will work in their coffeehouse. She is soon drawn into the excitement of her new life in the city, until the return of a nightmare from her past changes the course of her future. As the time for her child to arrive draws closer, Tilly is faced with a difficult decision; does she turn her back on everything she has hoped for and settle for a different life? She follows her instincts and gambles.




Pick up your copy of Secrets of the Penny University HERE
Read with #KindleUnlimited.


Amanda Roberts


Author, bookworm and history lover, Amanda grew up in Derbyshire but has lived in Oxfordshire since 1997. A magazine editor by profession, she has published four novels and a short story. Her first novel, The Roots of the Tree, was based on a true family story and is close to her heart, but her real love is historical fiction. She has published two dual timeline books set in Oxfordshire (The Woman in the Painting and its sequel Secrets of the Penny University) and Lady of the Quay, the first in a series of historical crime/suspense novels set in 1560 in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Second book in this, the Isabella Gillhespy series, will follow in 2027.

When not writing or attending bookish events, she can be found exploring crumbling ruins – wherever in the world she happens to be – or relaxing with her two ginger cats.


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