Blog Archives
Lucky Storm: A Romantic Suspense Thriller
Lucky Storm by E.K. Rose is a romantic suspense thriller about Stormé LaChance, a successful woman in her 50s whose life is shaken by a calculated fraud scheme, old betrayals, and dangerous romantic entanglements. What begins with a chance encounter with Emile quickly becomes part of a larger con involving identity theft, corporate sabotage, revenge, and secrets tied to Stormé’s past. As the plot widens, private investigator Maurice Constantine enters the story, bringing both investigative skill and a second-chance romantic current that gives the book its emotional center.
The book doesn’t treat romance as something reserved for the young or untouched by history. Stormé is grown, accomplished, guarded, lonely, sensual, and still figuring herself out. That felt refreshing. The romantic suspense genre can sometimes lean into danger to the point where the characters start to feel like chess pieces, but here the author keeps returning to Stormé’s inner weather: her doubt, her desire, her need to trust, and her fear of being fooled again. It gave the thriller pieces more weight because the threat was not just money or reputation. It was dignity. It was the awful feeling of realizing someone got close enough to use your softness against you.
The author makes bold choices, especially in shifting between romance, crime, family drama, and steamy intimacy. The book moves fast and goes big. The villains are tangled in personal motives, the betrayals stack up, and the emotional temperature stays high. I found that entertaining. Rose clearly knows the kind of story she’s telling. This isn’t a cold procedural. It’s a romantic suspense thriller with heat in the room, secrets in the walls, and a heroine who has to reclaim the story people keep trying to write over her. The writing is direct and accessible, with a soap-opera pull that makes it easy to keep turning pages.
I would recommend Lucky Storm to readers who enjoy romantic suspense with mature characters, high-stakes betrayal, second chances, and a strong blend of passion and crime. It will especially appeal to readers who want a heroine in midlife who is still desirable, complicated, and capable of starting over. If you want a story with romance, danger, family secrets, and emotional payoff, this book has plenty to offer.
Pages: 264 | ASIN : B0FLTPFKGW
Every Place Held A Story
Question: Whispers of Blue Ridge follows a young woman tied to her family’s wealth and their North Georgia winery as she finds a connection with a charming rodeo rider. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Nina’s Answer: The inspiration for Whispers of Blue Ridge began during my time as an author-in-residence in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Spending two months there allowed me to fully absorb the rhythm of the area, the landscape, the community, and the feeling that something was always just beneath the surface, as if every place held a story.
Being surrounded by vineyards, local history, and the strong presence of the annual rodeo sparked the idea of bringing two very different worlds together. The vineyard represents legacy, tradition, and the weight of family expectations, while the rodeo embodies independence, discipline, and a life constantly in motion. That contrast became the foundation for the relationship at the heart of the novel.
From there, the story grew into an exploration of how the past shapes us, especially when it’s tied to secrets, and what happens when those truths can no longer stay hidden.
Question: What drew you to Blue Ridge as the setting for this story?
Nina’s Answer: What drew me to Blue Ridge as the setting was, in many ways, the idea of contrast. After writing five internationally set novels filled with diverse cultures and far-reaching landscapes, I felt a strong pull to bring the story home, to the United States, but in a place that still felt distinctly different from my own everyday life by the sea.
Blue Ridge offered that shift. The mountains carry a different rhythm, a different pace, and a sense of rooted history that contrasts beautifully with coastal living. It allowed me to explore a new kind of atmosphere while still grounding the story in something familiar.
That change in setting also signaled a new direction. While my previous books traveled across the world, Whispers of Blue Ridge begins a story that is more contained, more intimate, and deeply connected to place… where the landscape and the community become as integral to the story as the characters themselves.
Question: Do you think love in this book is more about attraction or about healing?
Nina’s Answer: I think the romantic love in Whispers of Blue Ridge begins with attraction, but it ultimately becomes something much deeper rooted in healing. There’s an element of opposites attracting… Jake lives a more transient, independent life, while Savannah is deeply tied to her home and her family’s legacy.
What draws them together at first is that contrast, that sense of curiosity about someone so different. But as they begin to peel back the layers, it becomes clear that their differences are exactly what allow them to connect. Because they’ve built such different ways of protecting themselves, they don’t trigger each other’s defenses in the usual ways. Instead, they’re able to see past them.
At its core, their relationship is shaped by shared loss and unspoken grief. What they begin to recognize in each other isn’t just attraction… it’s something familiar under the surface. That recognition allows them to truly see one another, and in doing so, they begin to find a sense of healing… not just through each other, but within themselves.
Question: What do you hope romance readers take away from Whispers of Blue Ridge?
Nina’s Answer: I hope romance readers are drawn to the connection between Jake and Savannah… the chemistry, the contrast, and the way their relationship unfolds. There is certainly a romantic thread at the heart of the story, and it plays an important role in bringing them together.
At the same time, Whispers of Blue Ridge is very much a work of women’s fiction, where the relationship is part of a larger emotional journey. Their connection is shaped not just by attraction, but by what they’ve each carried… loss, expectations, and the weight of the past.
What I hope readers take away is that love in this story isn’t simply about finding the right person. It’s about what happens when two people see each other clearly, and how that can open the door to healing, growth, and ultimately, truth
Author Links: GoodReads | YouTube | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Of Teeth & Claws
Of Teeth & Claws is a queer Southern horror novel about Alex Burkhart, who returns to Jasper Mill, Tennessee, after being outed and estranged, only to find his hometown stalked by a brutal creature tied to old secrets, witchcraft, and the boy he once loved: David Stone, now a young officer caught in the monster’s path. Around Alex gathers one of the book’s best inventions: Belle, Justine, and Grace, a grandmotherly trio with wine, weed, bite, and real occult weight. The result is part werewolf story, part small-town mystery, part second-chance romance, with blood on the porch boards and tenderness in the underbrush.
The book can be grisly, campy, foul-mouthed, romantic, and sincerely wounded within a few pages, and that volatility gives it a live-wire charm. The opening murder is nasty and theatrical, but the book’s deeper hook is not gore; it is the way shame travels through families, towns, courtrooms, pulp true-crime books, and queer childhoods. Alex’s voice has a sharp, self-protective humor that keeps the story from sinking into misery, even when the pain underneath is unmistakable.
I liked the chosen-family warmth. Belle, Justine, and Grace could easily have become comic-relief eccentrics, but they feel loved into being: funny, meddlesome, occult, occasionally ridiculous, and fiercely protective. The romance between Alex and David also gives the monster plot a pulse beyond survival. The book is not always subtle, but that bluntness fits its appetite. It’s a novel of big feelings, old wounds, and supernatural retribution, and I respected its refusal to be decorous.
This is perfect for readers looking for LGBTQ+ horror, queer romance, paranormal fiction, Southern gothic, and small-town supernatural mystery. Fans of Grady Hendrix’s blend of horror, humor, and regional texture may find familiar pleasures here, though A.J. Grea leans more openly into queer longing and occult melodrama. Of Teeth & Claws is bloody, funny, wounded, and oddly sweet.
Pages: 304 | ASIN : B0GJ8L2B1T
That’s My Style
Scrubby’s PBnJ is a small-town contemporary romance about a sandwich shop owner in learning, through work, faith, friendship, and a tender slow-burn relationship, that she is worthy of love and success. What were some sources that informed this novel’s development?
I remember back in the early 2000s, I think, there was a restaurant that opened in Downtown Chicago that specialized in peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. That always fascinated me, and I wondered how they would have done had everything been homemade, and not essentially store-bought bread, peanut butter, and jelly.
How did you decide to lean so fully into the rhythms of ordinary life instead of pushing for more dramatic plot turns?
That’s my style. This book took place in the same universe as some of my other works, namely Afternoon Rebecca and 14 Hours of Saturn. There was a lot of crossover with this book and the others. Brynn is from Pine City and worked at Anderson’s Steak & Seafood, two places first found in Afternoon Rebecca, along with Dollar Junction Community College and her attorney, Charles Ruckman. Scrubby and Dewey meet Saturn O Syres and Janus Rings at a dance at a civic club in their hometown. Saturn O Syres is the protagonist of 14 Hours of Saturn, and she and Janus went to the dance a few times. Ordinary life is what I write about, and the little things one may not notice before.
Dewey and Brynn’s romance feels intentionally gentle and old-fashioned. What kind of love story were you hoping to write between them?
Christians with pasts. Also, I prefer true romance – boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy tries to woo girl – over boy and girl meet, then immediately jump into physical relations
How much of the restaurant world, menus, cleanup, staffing, and daily routines, came from observation or personal experience?
Very little, if I’m honest. I have worked at restaurants in the past, and some of that did inform this, but it was more just my imagination over anything else.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Alongside her lively best friend Sabrina, Brynn pours everything she has into her business, determined to make her vision succeed. But when an injury leads her to Dewey Huckleberry, a thoughtful EMT with a gentle heart, Scrubby’s carefully ordered world begins to shift. As her business grows and her personal life becomes more complicated, Brynn must confront old insecurities, trust the people who care about her, and decide whether she is ready to open her heart to a future she never imagined.
Filled with warmth, humor, romance, and small-town charm, Scrubby’s PBnJ is a feel-good novel about faith, healing, community, and finding love in the most unexpected places.
Bondwitch: Hybrid
Hybrid, book two in Chelsey M. Ortega’s Bondwitch series, is a paranormal fantasy romance about two sisters, Marianna and Annamaria Lyons, trying to find safety, family, and a place in a magical world that keeps redefining them. The book brings together witches, vampires, shifters, familiars, coven politics, arranged betrothals, old grief, and new romance, all while centering the sisters’ bond as they arrive in Concordia and face the consequences of Marianna’s transformation into a vampire and Annamaria’s role in the Lyons succession.
I liked how Ortega cares about the emotional cost of belonging. Marianna’s story, especially, has that ache of wanting to be accepted while knowing the room has already decided what you are. The early scenes in Concordia make that clear right away. She is welcomed, inspected, pitied, and judged almost in the same breath. I also liked how the book uses its genre elements without letting them sit there as decoration. Vampirism isn’t just cool teeth and night air. Witch politics are not just pretty spells. Shifters are not just muscle and mystery. The supernatural pieces carry real social weight, and that gives the paranormal fantasy side of the novel a stronger pulse.
There is a lot happening: family secrets, romantic tension, coven leadership, vampire ethics, magical law, trauma recovery, and threats still waiting in the shadows. Sometimes that abundance is fun, like opening a drawer full of strange, glittering objects. Still, Ortega’s choices kept me curious. I appreciated that Annamaria is allowed to be angry, messy, and blunt, while Marianna often moves through the story with a softer kind of fear and hope. Their differences make the sister relationship feel lived-in. I also found Libby frustrating in a productive way. She isn’t simply a villain, but she is absolutely someone whose love comes wrapped in control, tradition, and prejudice. That tension gives the book some of its best bite.
Bondwitch: Hybrid will work best for readers who enjoy character-driven paranormal fantasy romance with family drama at its center. I would recommend it to someone who likes witches, vampires, shifters, complicated sister bonds, magical communities, and romance threaded through larger questions about choice and identity. It’s dramatic, emotional, and busy in a way that suits its world. Readers who enjoy supernatural stories with heart, tension, and a strong “found and fought-for belonging” theme will probably have the best time with it.
Pages: 350 | ASIN : B0GP23FLMY
Literary Titan Gold Book Award: Fiction
The Literary Titan Book Award honors books that exhibit exceptional storytelling and creativity. This award celebrates novelists who craft compelling narratives, create memorable characters, and weave stories that captivate readers. The recipients are writers who excel in their ability to blend imagination with literary skill, creating worlds that enchant and narratives that linger long after the final page is turned.
Award Recipients
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
Literary Titan Silver Book Award
Celebrating the brilliance of outstanding authors who have captivated us with their skillful prose, engaging narratives, and compelling real and imagined characters. We recognize books that stand out for their innovative storytelling and insightful exploration of truth and fiction. Join us in honoring the dedication and skill of these remarkable authors as we celebrate the diverse and rich worlds they’ve brought to life, whether through the realm of imagination or the lens of reality.
Award Recipients
God’s Salvation Manifesto by James Hales
SANJIVANI SCROLLS by Harshad Bhatt
Y by J.D.M. Sullivan
Visit the Literary Titan Book Awards page to see award information.
