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A Shroud Of Sorcery
A Shroud of Sorcery plunges the reader into first-century Romano-British Britain, where the fragile balance between tribal independence and Roman occupation teeters on the edge of war. We follow Alba, a mystic of the Cornovii tribe, and his companions as they navigate mounting Roman incursions, tribal politics, and the unsettling emergence of a cunning and ritualistic killer whose methods suggest dark, supernatural forces at work. Griffiths weaves a tale that shifts between tense skirmishes, eerie encounters, and moments of quiet reflection, building a world steeped in ancient magick, folklore, and the gritty realities of survival in a land caught between cultures.
This book was an immersive experience. Griffiths has a knack for painting landscapes that feel both tangible and ominous, from the shadowy forests of Wyre to the fortified hilltops of tribal strongholds. The opening scenes grip you with breathless pursuit and never quite let go. I found the interplay between historical detail and mystical elements especially engaging. Neither overwhelms the other, and both work in tandem to keep the stakes high. The pacing occasionally lingers in dialogue-heavy sections where tempers flare and egos spar. Still, those moments reveal the personal grudges, fragile alliances, and shifting loyalties that underpin the plot, giving weight to every confrontation.
The characters are the heart of the story, and they’re written with a mix of grit, stubborn pride, and surprising vulnerability. Alba’s blend of mystical insight and pragmatic warrior sense kept me invested, while Argyll’s sardonic humor balanced the darker beats. Even minor characters, like the prickly and insecure Duro or the calculating Roman officers, feel distinct. The antagonist’s presence, both human and possibly otherworldly, hangs over the story like a cold mist, and while not all mysteries are resolved, the sense of dread they bring is palpable. There’s a grounded cruelty here, both in Roman tactics and in the killer’s methods, that makes the moments of trust and camaraderie stand out all the more.
This book will appeal to readers who enjoy historical fiction laced with dark fantasy, as well as anyone drawn to stories where political maneuvering, ancient beliefs, and personal vendettas collide. If you like your battles visceral, your landscapes vivid, and your mysteries threaded with the supernatural, A Shroud of Sorcery is worth your time.
Pages: 324 | ASIN : B0F6KLHYQP
Beyond Spoken Words
The Summer Knows is an emotionally layered novel about a single mother who returns to her hometown one sweltering summer to confront buried family trauma, a long-lost love, and the shadows of her past. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
I weaved my childhood experiences, growing up on the Southeast shore of Florida, into The Summer Knows. My eccentric and undiagnosed bipolar grandmother co-raised me alongside my mom and grandfather. I also had two best friends who were brothers, and they came to visit their grandparents, who lived down the street from me, every summer from age six until we all went to college. The Atlantic coast was always a backdrop for my childhood memories. It was fun taking elements from my growing up and creating a new fiction story.
Adrienne is an intriguing character. What were some driving ideals behind her character’s development?
I am always fascinated by coming-of-age stories, and so I wanted Adrienne to have that coming-of-age tale, and then we also get to see her return and face the aftermath of her coming-of-age summers. By running away so young, she never gets to resolve and heal until she is an adult. I wanted to capture that feeling of unfinished business that many of us experience as we transition into adulthood. I also wanted her to come to find some understanding as to why her grandmother was such a bitter and controlling person. This understanding allows Adrienne to free herself from the idea that she caused her grandmother’s misery. So many of us go around thinking we are the cause of other people’s problems, and that is a heavy weight to carry, when most of the time this idea is self-imposed. We see this ideal recur with her relationship with Quinn and Lucas, and her struggle to see herself as a chef.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Communication was a big theme I wanted to explore. None of the characters are very good at it, which is the cause of all the trouble in the novel. I wanted to examine different ways of communicating beyond spoken words, such as cooking meals and feeding each other, as a form of communication. Food becomes a mode for coaxing characters to communicate, to share things they have kept hidden, and ultimately a source of healing.
Place was also a theme I wanted to work with. I feel that the town and the natural world surrounding the story are almost characters. Harbor Point, South Road, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Back Bay are all deeply connected to each moment of the story, shaping how we perceive and understand the actions of the plot.
What do you hope readers carry with them after finishing The Summer Knows?
Not everyone is redeemed, and the girl sometimes does not end up with the guy, but we can get what we need when we realize the guilt and shame we have held onto is nothing but our own invention. That food and feeding people is an ancient form of communication with powerful healing properties.
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Adrienne’s world is upended again when she gets the call that her eccentric grandmother has nearly burned down the family cottage. Adrienne has no choice but to return, and the town wastes no time in thrusting her back into the harsh limelight. When local fishmonger Christopher Crane offers Adrienne a chance to be the chef at the fish market her grandfather once owned, Adrienne might just figure out how to face the past and forge a new future.
Friendship and Responsibility
The Tralls of Maruchus follows a spirited young trall who befriends a water sprite and promises not to reveal their existence, yet after a devastating fire, she is forced to break that promise. What was the inspiration for the set up of your story?
There were two important issues I wanted this story to cover.
Firstly, I wanted to show my young readers that even if someone is very different from them, they can become friends. I firmly believe that, as Australia and indeed the whole world become more multicultural, this is an important concept for children to understand.
Secondly, children quickly learn that promises must be kept, and this can sometimes cause them worry and concern, and even lead to dire consequences. I wanted to demonstrate through this story that there are good promises and bad promises. Promises that make you feel happy and excited are good promises and can be kept, but promises that make you feel unhappy, sad, or worried are bad promises and they can be broken, and should be shared with others.
In many contemporary coming-of-age fiction novels, authors often add their own life experiences to the story. Are there any bits of you in this story?
When I was teaching, I would read a chapter of a book to my class each morning, and the stories, although wonderful and exciting, were always about the lifestyle of children living in other countries. By the time I retired, I had three grandchildren, and I wanted to leave them a legacy that would remind them of our family and the close bonds we shared, so I decided to write a portal fantasy, and set it in Queensland so it would showcase an Australian lifestyle.
I included many of the good times we’d shared as a family and the valuable lessons we’d learned along the way. I also included some childhood memories of happy times spent with my own grandparents.
Then, just after the first book was released, my mother and my husband passed away, so I included many of the maxims they loved to pass on. Sadly, a lot of today’s children don’t live near their grandparents, and consequently, they miss out on these nuggets of wisdom.
As more grandchildren arrived, more books were added, and gradually, The Trall Series developed into a stylised biography of our extended family. The tralldoms, for instance, were influenced by the happy carefree existence we had when we lived on Badu Island in the Torres Strait, and the personalities and traits of the various characters are an amalgamation of several family members. There are always a few chuckles when someone is recognized or an event is recalled.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Each book in the series covers issues that I feel strongly about; namely empathy, inclusiveness, fairness, and responsibility.
In The Tralls of Maruchus, I focused on friendship and responsibility. I hope this story encourages young readers to realise that true friendship should be based on shared beliefs, shared interests, a strong commitment to understanding each other, standing by each other in times of need, and embracing differences as well as similarities.
I’m also very committed to preserving the environment and its native flora and fauna. Each book in The Trall Series is based on a different environmental problem that the characters work together to overcome. I truly believe that if we can introduce young people to the beauty of their local environment early enough, they will develop into adults who will take positive steps to care for it.
I hope the series continues in other books. If so, where will the story take the readers?
The series now consists of five books: The Tralls of Nindarry, The Tralls of Mundi, The Tralls of Maruchus, The Tralls of Colum, and The Tralls of Nosa. As previously stated, each story includes an environmental issue (mining, misuse of water, fracking, plastic waste, and local fauna and flora being displaced by introduced species).
They also deal with many of the issues that have an impact on children as they develop their own character and personality.
My hope is that The Trall Series will have a positive effect on young readers and encourage them to make choices that will help them to promote the best facets of themselves. I also hope it will encourage them to become more aware of the environmental problems our world is facing, and that the brave, resourceful young characters that feature throughout the series will motivate them to take an active role in protecting their own environment.
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Eventually, Ellie takes her new friend to her tralldom to meet her kinships and Maya promises the fief that she will never tell anyone about the Tralldom of the Rivers or the water sprites who inhabit it but when their home is destroyed by fire and the lives of the water sprites are put at risk, Maya soon realises that she is unable to help them by herself and that promise becomes a burden too great for her to bear.
Eventually, Maya is forced to break her promise and the story she shares leads to a chain of events that will change the lives of the sprites forever.
Will Ellie, who considers a promise to be a sacred oath be able to forgive Maya or could her betrayal lead to the end of their friendship?
The Tralls of Maruchus is the third book in The Trall Series, a collection of exciting portal fantasies set in Australia. The books may be read as stand-alone books but reading them in sequence opens up the wonderful world of the tralldoms and their inhabitants and uncovers some long-held secrets.
The series has been written for competent readers aged between 9 years and 13 years.
Two Divergent Souls
Land Without Shame follows an iconic film star whose plane crashes on a dormant volcanic island, where he winds up on a mission to rescue children being used as slave laborers in a clandestine gold-mining operation. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Honestly, I have no definitive answer. In book one of this series, Cody Musket, a former Marine and now a famous major league baseball icon, has formed a covert paramilitary organization to rescue trafficked children in third-world countries. The story in Land Without Shame takes place more than twenty years later, with Cody Musket Jr., age 22, at the helm, carrying on the Muskets’ child rescue operations into the next generation. This story was a natural outgrowth of the family’s covert enterprise history. I never intended to write Land Without Shame because I thought the Musket story was finished after book 3. Go figure.
Was the character’s backstory something you always had, or did it develop as you were writing?
This question caused me to reflect deeply upon how I put together this messy, unlikely, but clean love story involving two divergent souls whose relationship defied all odds. Diamond Casper, the spoiled but broken film star whose only ambition was to make movies and live in Malibu, and Cody Musket Jr., a dedicated Christian from a conservative background who repeatedly put himself in harm’s way to rescue kids–somehow this story gripped me from the beginning. To this day, I have no idea exactly why or when the story invaded my mind, but once it came, it grew and grew. After that happened in the middle of the story, I realized that my child trafficking novel had exploded into a tale of redemption, love, and second chances.
How did you balance the action scenes with the story elements and still keep a fast pace in the story?
This is a hard one to answer. Candidly, I seem to do everything at a fast pace, so maybe I just stumbled naturally into this balance that you mentioned. Sometimes I feel like an accidental author who wrote an accidental book series. (smiling)
What is the next book that you’re working on, and when can your fans expect it out?
I am delighted that you asked. The sequel to Land Without Shame is now live on Amazon and Goodreads. The title is Black Pearl. It is the finale of the series and follows Cody Jr. and Diamond as they begin their lives together and rejoin the entire Musket family in this final episode. This one is a political thriller that introduces Cody’s older brother Raymond, a US Marine whose codename is “Ghost,” and who has become the president’s right-hand man. This story is about betrayal, insurrection, high-tech terrorism, and politics in 2041 AD. Maggie and Kennedy, the Muskets’ adoptive daughters, ages 13 and 12, have heroic roles, and you can read a more complete description at this link.
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A clean story of first love, second chances, rescue, and redemption, with futuristic sci-fi in the mix.
The year is 2041. Cody Musket Jr. and iconic film star Diamond Casper, strangers, are marooned on a dormant volcanic island after their commuter flight crashes. The uncharted island is home to a clandestine gold-mining operation which uses child slave laborers. When the volcano suddenly erupts, they must team-up against all odds to rescue 60 captive children and escape the explosive island. A solid romantic thriller!
Finding Sutton’s Choice
In Finding Sutton’s Choice, Brenda Haas delivers a heartfelt and layered story about Charlotte Sutton, a young writer who returns to her quaint hometown of Lakeside, Ohio, after ten years away. A mysterious voicemail and concerns about her estranged father’s health, possibly Alzheimer’s, bring her back to a place she swore she’d left behind. As Charlotte steps into the chaos of her father’s declining memory, a struggling family newspaper, and a surprise half-sibling, she’s forced to confront old wounds, unspoken truths, and what it really means to go home again.
This book hit me square in the chest. Haas writes with an intimacy that doesn’t just paint a picture, it lets you walk the streets of Lakeside with Charlotte. Her prose is straightforward, not showy, but rich with emotion and charm. The dialogue felt natural and real, and the pacing kept me invested. I especially loved the way memory and identity were woven through the story without beating me over the head. And Charlotte, who is blunt, flawed, and sharp, was someone I could root for even when she was a mess.
Some of the characters leaned on small-town tropes. Still, Haas balanced it with enough surprises and emotional weight to make those moments work. What really stuck with me was the raw honesty about family. The father-daughter dynamic wasn’t whitewashed, and the complicated layers of resentment, love, and misunderstanding rang painfully true. Watching Charlotte navigate a relationship with a father who might not remember her, and then discovering a brother who took her place, was heartbreaking in the best way.
Finding Sutton’s Choice is a beautiful story about forgiveness, second chances, and finding home in unexpected places. If you’ve ever wrestled with family messes or avoided going back to the town that raised you, you’ll enjoy this one. I’d recommend it to readers who enjoy emotionally driven fiction with depth, especially fans of Ann Patchett or Elizabeth Berg.
Pages: 310 | ISBN : 978-1645382386
The Doc’s Christmas Miracle
S.A. Stolin’s The Doc’s Christmas Miracle is a heartfelt romance set in a snowy mountain town, centering on Dr. Mark Moore, a disgraced Alzheimer’s researcher seeking redemption, and Dr. Susan Pace, a guarded psychiatrist fiercely devoted to her holistic treatment methods. Mark brings with him a controversial memory-repair machine, hoping to prove its worth at the Sam Heard Clinic. What follows is a tender, often tense story of healing, trust, second chances, and the unspoken grief both doctors carry, all under the soft glow of Christmas lights.
What I liked most about the writing was its emotional depth. The author doesn’t rush the romance, which I appreciated. Mark and Susan’s push-pull dynamic felt believable. Their baggage isn’t treated like plot filler; it actually shapes who they are and how they relate to each other. The story touches on serious themes like Alzheimer’s, professional betrayal, and grief, yet never lets the weight of those topics overshadow the spark of hope running through it. The dialogue, while occasionally dramatic, felt natural and kept me emotionally invested. The snowy setting, the warmth of the townsfolk, and the spark between the leads all came together beautifully. I could practically hear the fire crackling in Mark’s cabin and smell the spaghetti sauce in Susan’s kitchen.
I do feel that some of the early exposition took a bit of time to settle into, especially the technical descriptions of Mark’s memory machine. While clearly important to the story, those sections felt slightly more clinical than the emotional tone elsewhere. Susan’s initial aloofness also came across a touch stronger than expected, though it made her gradual softening all the more satisfying. And Dr. King, while serving his role well, occasionally edged close to a familiar “corporate antagonist” mold. These were small moments in an otherwise well-paced, heartfelt narrative that gave its characters room to breathe and grow.
The Doc’s Christmas Miracle is a lovely and warm story with a genuine heart. If you enjoy clean, character-driven romances with medical backdrops and small-town charm, you’ll want to curl up with this one on a snowy night. It’s for readers who believe in second chances, both in love and in life.
Pages: 194
LITERARY TITAN 