Today's Featured Books

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on The Year of Rejection, an unflinchingly honest memoir from Lithuanian-Irish writer Hope Mills.

The Year of Rejection

A new voice debuts with an unflinchingly honest memoir: the story of a desperate return to the self after decades of depression.

Hope Mills is an immigrant overachiever until an unexpected eviction leaves her homeless. She descends into psychosis for the next year, bleeding depression onto the corners of her sociology textbooks. Hope digs into atypical anorexia and avoidant attachment, deflating her passions into passive suicide. But it didn't start with the eviction.

Hope Mills is twelve years old when she moves from Ireland to Lithuania. In one swoop, she loses her father, brother, and Catholic schoolgirl identity, landing in a town of 900 people where everyone knows her name. She battles a generational, cultural, and language barrier at home and at school, quickly collapsing into a hostile teenager. On this shaky foundation, Hope attempts suicide twice in six years. But when she graduates, she returns to Ireland to begin her life. By her third year of college, Hope seems to have everything figured out—until her new world crumbles beneath her feet.

    

Free online: A New Year Celebration of Poetry. Join poets Joseph Fasano, Alessandra Lynch, and Matthew Nienow for this online celebration, presented by ELJ Editions & Redacted Books. Thursday, January 2, 7-8 PM EST. 

"And now we welcome the new year, full of things that have never been." ~Rainer Maria Rilke

The Children of Earthrise series includes six novels...2,000 pages of epic science fiction! "We hide in shadows. Our planet is lost. We are the last humans, and we must go home." This is a story of exodus...of humanity lost among the stars...of one man rising to lead our people home. In 2016, the Earthrise series became a surprise bestseller with hundreds of thousands of readers around the world. Set two thousand years later, Children of Earthrise begins a new story, one for new readers and old fans alike. 4.4 stars, 600+ ratings. From $0.99 SHOP NOW / 

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on Kapardi from author Kolhapur Ramamurthy. Read on to learn more about this environmental thriller set in the Himalayan Mountains. 

Kapardi

A spine-chilling tale set in a realm where ancient Indian philosophy intersects with modern science.

Kapardi is a thrilling narrative centered around environmental themes. Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), is secretly searching the Himalayan Mountains for an antediluvian temple that is believed to hold the key to environmental preservation. A group known as The Sarvagni Crusade reawakens to oppose the ISI in the search for the temple, and a game of death ensues.

A young officer of India's top investigative agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), gets caught up in the game, and struggles to reconcile the events unfolding around her in a story that delves into ancient Indian worships and Hymns envisioned by the great sages of the land for the purpose of safeguarding the environment.

Free online: NYE Meditation. Got big plans for NYE? Or maybe something more low-key at home? Either way, take a moment earlier in the day for yourself with 30 minutes of guided meditation to express gratitude for 2024 and to welcome 2025. Tuesday, December 31, 2:00 - 2:30 PM EST. 

“For last year's words belong to last year's language. And next year's words await another voice.” ~T.S. Eliot

• Cursed by Fate: Between Ruin and Salvation Series Book 1
• Wild in Spirit: Between Fear and Obsession Book 1
• Wrecked by Chance: A Second Chance Shifter Romance

Cursed by Fate

Abandoned by her parents. Forced to betray her mate. Pushed to battle her vicious Alpha.

Stranded at ten years old with no memory of her childhood, Ava spent the past ten years training to be a fierce fighter whose skills rival any wolf shifter in the pack.

Her idyllic life is thrown into chaos when she realizes her power-hungry Alpha intends to overthrow the Supernatural Council, making himself the Wolf King. But her uncle’s secrets stand in the way, and they are in danger of discovery.

When the Alpha’s son, Derek, shows up for private lessons, her world is shaken by the threat his presence poses and his obsessive pursuit of her. Struggling between her inexplicable attraction to him and her fear of losing everything, she feels cursed to lose her heart, as well as her life.

Can she resist Derek’s charms and keep their secrets safe, or will she be able to turn him against his own father?

★★★★★ "Fantasy with a dash of romance and a hefty dose of intrigue." ~Goodreads Review

Wild in Spirit

Darling party girl of the wolf shifter world, Bailey Easton's fun-loving ways disguise a handful of secrets that no one would suspect.

While most wolf shifters go out on the mating tour excited to find their fated mates, Bailey wears a scent-disguising necklace designed to keep her hidden. She has no desire for a mate or even to live the pack life. Not only does she secretly run the supernatural world's news channel, but she has bigger and better plans beyond what the wolf and witch community can offer. 

Between fear of being trapped in a life she would hate and an obsessive stalker, Bailey finds that she doesn’t even understand what she truly wants, especially when she's forced to meet her mate and break his heart. Will she cave to her own instincts or resist beyond the expectations for every shifter female?

★★★★★ "Great shifter romance." ~Amazon Review

Wrecked by Chance

What happens when your second chance turns into your greatest fear?

Bold, confident, and beautiful, Dina Ryder looks like she has her whole life together. Daughter of a prominent Minnesota Alpha, a well-trained fighter, and an intuitive and aggressive businesswoman, she’s spent years making a name for herself in the supernatural world.

But she’s also 28 years old, unmated, and considered a pack burden by wolf shifter standards—the firstborn passed over for the son. Despite everything, she’s just a female novelty, a prize to be won, and nothing more. After ten unsuccessful years looking for her fated mate and for her place in life, the dormant fears of inadequacy begin to overwhelm her, convincing her she’ll never find happiness or the life she’s dreamed of...until she meets him.

But Alpha Morris shoulders his own burden, a secret passed from generation to generation in his pack. One that will strip Dina of every freedom, of everything she’s ever worked for…and one that will endanger her very life.

★★★★★ "Vampire attacks, two kidnappings, an unexpected fated mate twist, and more than enough spice to fuel the suspense and anticipation." ~Goodreads Review

          

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on Shock Pepper: Part 1 by Blox Widdle Manor, the first book of the new Shock Pepper epic sci-fi/fantasy series.

"I've always been a big fan of stories that intertwine and characters that cross paths throughout the story, and this book is going to give you just that." ~Annalisereads, TikTok Reviewer

Shock Pepper: Part 1

The Shock Pepper realm is a multiverse where there exists a planet very much like our own earth, full of corruption, deceit, and greed, and where storylines intertwine across space and time and across different universes.

Part 1 is set in the Shock Pepper realm and includes mind-bending twists and gray characters. The first part of this series sets the base for how the storylines intertwine and clash, spreading across time and universes.

The multiple storylines of Shock Pepper

• Storyline1: Sam is jobless and leads a sad life. His friend Adrian introduces him to a witch, who provides a magic potion that can put Sam to sleep for ten years. Sam drinks it to escape the tough times. He wakes up in a hospital three months later with a pregnant woman by his side who claims to be his wife and tells Sam that he had a head injury that makes him hallucinate about the witch.
• Storyline 2: Just when Priya is content with life, her loving husband, and a darling child, tragedy strikes. Between her encounter with the witch and an investigation leading into murky part of the world, things become darker every day.
• Storyline 3: Brianna loves Sam but her life goes in a turmoil when something horrible happens. And a baby enters her life. She tries to find what the mysterious yet powerful Miss Revorg and Adrian are up to. She overhears a conversation that she shouldn't have.
• Storyline 4: Laborers and dumpster workers go into a minimum wage protest, demanding a rise in pay. The one-dollar protests kickstart a revolution, something that breaks into a countrywide moment. But things are not what they seem.
• Storyline 5: Jordan Ganathy takes a Witch's help to get back his lost leg. The Witch gives him a deal that he cannot resist. But the deal has catches.
• Storyline 6: Jeff, a bumbling but lovable policeman, has a schizophrenic wife and nasty colleagues. Dead bodies show up randomly in the village. And then comes the monster behind the marsh.

About the Author

Free online: Drawing & Painting for Beginners, Amateurs, and Experts. Interested in drawing or painting? Then this may be the session for you. No experience required! This is a bi-weekly session of 1.5 hours, with different activities for beginners, amateurs, and professionals. Next session is Sunday, December 29, 12:00 - 1:30 PM CST.

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant. There is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe

Kim's magical journey into deep space will blur the line between reality and hallucinations, intertwining her fate with an ancient tribe and alien beings. Will her mission reveal humanity's purpose or prove that humans are nothing but cosmic refuse? Happy New Year to all on Earth and elsewhere. 4.4 stars, 19 ratings. From $3.99 SHOP NOW /