Today's Featured Books

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on the work of author David Crosby, creator of the Will Harper Mysteries—a series in the grand tradition of marina-living private investigators like John D. McDonald’s Travis McGee and Randy Wayne White’s Doc Ford. 

Sanibel Wind (new release!): the calm before the storm...and an island's fate hangs in the balance...

Will Harper Florida Thrillers: Vol. 1-4 (FREE!): 4.6 stars, 1800+ ratings

Sanibel Wind

In the explosive tenth chapter of the Will Harper Mystery Series, the tranquil retreat of Florida sleuth Will Harper and his love, Luna, turns into a tempest's epicenter when fugitives Birdie and Rufus unwittingly enter the eye of the storm.

As Hurricane Ian wreaks havoc on Sanibel Island, Harper must navigate treacherous waters to rescue the stranded. For fans of John D. MacDonald and aficionados of crime mysteries by Dawn McKenna and Wayne Stinnett, Sanibel Wind is a seafaring odyssey where Harper races against time, unraveling the unpredictable currents of love, deception, and Florida's tumultuous underworld.

In this electrifying adventure, the winds of justice and chaos converge, testing Harper's resilience and determining the fate of an island. Can Will weather this storm, or will the secrets of Sanibel be forever lost to the winds? Dive into this tropical thriller, where suspense surges like a tidal wave, and the pulse of danger beats with every turn of the page.

Will Harper Florida Thrillers: Vol. 1-4

“Start the boat. We've gotta get rid of this body!"

The Will Harper Mystery Series opens with a bang and never stops thanks to the protagonist, a semi-retired reporter and burgeoning sleuth who lives aboard his yacht in the Florida Keys when he’s not solving hard-boiled murder mysteries. This box set includes four complete novels: 

• Million Dollar Staircase: Will thinks fast when he discovers his girlfriend is the victim of a frame-up. He sees instantly why they can’t go to the cops—the mayor, the city manager, and for all Will knows, every official in town could be in on it.
• Guilty Money: The Grove County police department is arresting citizens for minor charges and then driving up their bail when a search of the citizen’s home too conveniently turns up drugs. When Will finds out crooked cops are behind the scam, it seems every cop in town is out to get him.
• Florida Burning: A toxic algae bloom in Lake Okeechobee... a deadly pollutant from a cane field...and a dead environmentalist. Coincidence? Florida PI Will Harper knows damn well it’s not.
• The Florida Shuffle: A Florida "sober" home has lost three of its patients to “accidental” overdoses in the past four months. When WiIl investigates, he finds it's just the tip of the iceberg.

        

Free online: The Back Room. Join authors Jeff Ayers, Allison Brennan, Amanda Jayatissa, and Abbott Kahler for an evening of great conversation! Sunday, February 18, 7-9 PM EST.

"A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on, you are enriched threefold." ~Henry Miller, The Books in My Life

The Starship Freedom is just a museum ship. Until the aliens attack! From the USA Today bestselling author of Earthrise and for fans of Battlestar Galactica and Starship Troopers, the Starship Freedom super box set includes four complete novels of military science fiction and space opera. "I love the storyline and the writing in Starship Freedom... There is nonstop action!" -Modupe Hendricks, Vine Voice reviewer. 4.3 stars, 500+ reviews. From $0.99. Free via KU. SHOP NOW / 

Love and heartbreak interlace this “powerful and moving" coming-of-age story about clashing cultures and complicated relationships. "Supremely readable..." Abroad follows three twentysomethings as they explore new experiences and navigate romantic loves and friendships during the cultural upheaval and sexual revolution of the 1960s and 70s. Bittersweet stories for fans of Sally Rooney. 4.1 stars, 66 ratings. From $0.99. Free via KU. SHOP NOW / 

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on two young adult fiction titles from author Rebecca Rook: 

False Haven (new release!) - a chilling YA horror novel where Holes meets The Haunting of Hill House

The Penance of Valentine Cash - Neil Gaiman’s American Gods meets Jennifer Mason-Black’s Devil and the Bluebird in this modern adaptation of the Greek legend The Twelve Labors of Hercules for YA fantasy readers

False Haven

A young adult horror novel for fans of Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake, Asylum by Madeleine Roux, and Fiendish by Brenna Yovanoff.

Seventeen-year-old Vivienne Barston’s life has fallen apart.

With her mother recently dead, her father disappears into his grief – leaving Viv to deal with her sadness and anger alone. Viv turns to destructive behaviors like petty vandalism, but after a disturbing stint in a juvenile detention center frightens her, Viv agrees to a court mandated service opportunity designed to expunge her record. The deal: work for six weeks with a trail conservation crew in the rural woods of southern Oregon, and she’ll be free with a clean slate.

She knows it’s her last chance to fix her life.

When Viv arrives at the small town of Hard Luck, Oregon, she meets her motley crewmates, all with troubles of their own. The unusual group travels to Grafton Stake, a remote and derelict former asylum with a haunted history–and now Viv must face the ghosts of the past while fighting for her future.

The Penance of Valentine Cash

The young and the ancient, the tangible and the mythical, collide in this tale of redemption, connection, and the enduring power of the human spirit.

Valentine Cash is dead.

When she dies in an accidental collision she caused on the cusp of musical fame, Valentine is offered a deal: Complete a series of difficult tasks to get her life back. Fail, and she dies a final, everlasting death. Guided by Route 66 the Mother Road of America on her quest, she tackles one herculean task after another, giving up a piece of herself with each trial.

Valentine begins to understand that the fame she once sought won’t bring her happiness or belonging – and if she fulfills the penance, she must decide what’s more important: Her old life or restoring the lives of the strangers who died alongside her.

Praise for The Penance of Valentine Cash

"A unique and wonderful book." ~Amazon Review

"Incredible storytelling." ~Goodreads Review

"The gods would be pleased." ~Amazon Review

    

Free online: Visit the Louvre. Paris is considered by many to be The City of Love, but you don't have to go on a honeymoon to enjoy one of its most famous attractions. The Louvre offers free virtual tours that allow you to visit the museum rooms and galleries, admire the palace architecture, and enjoy the views! (Be sure to also take the tour of the Louvre's Masterpieces.)

"To love another person is to see the face of God." ~Victor Hugo

On sale! Gold Award Book. Get spiritual recharging during these challenging times. Called " captivating," "a profound journey," it shares insights about spiritual experiences that offer guidance. One reader shared that "this book comes alive... giving me greater understanding, helping me on my difficult journey." For comfort, peace, hope, try it. 4.8 stars, 13 ratings. From $4.99. Free via KU. SHOP NOW / 

Congratulations to Kathleen Collins and Vine Leaves Press on the release of Study in Hysteria, a psychological portrait of a woman who senses that there is a better life for her somewhere else.
 
★★★★★ “Compelling, surprising, and witty... an exquisite novel about the painful consequences of repressing emotions, the deep rifts caused by the fear of revealing ourselves, and the unexpected ways the heart finds to heal. A heartbreakingly beautiful debut.” ~Sandra A. Miller, author of Wednesdays at One

Study in Hysteria

In the middle of 1974, Flora is privileged and middle-aged in a liberation-hued America, and feels both compelled by and left out of the women’s movement. She finds it difficult to activate her limited supply of empathy as she contends with a clandestine and unlikely friendship, a worrisome health scare, a domineering and philandering psychiatrist husband, or her own distant daughter.

Flora's secret foray into psychotherapy does nothing to halt the sense that there is a better life for her somewhere else, in some parallel existence. Through the continuum of psychological diagnoses, she is lost in the murky place between contentment and discontentment, normal and abnormal.

Is her state of mind a clinical, diagnosable condition, or common malaise? Perhaps she'll find out if she stops resisting to share herself with those who love her.

Praise for Study in Hysteria
★★★★★ “A nuanced psychological portrait of an indelible character and the complex era that shapes her... [an] intelligent, engrossing book.” ~Heidi Diehl, author of Lifelines

★★★★★ “In shimmering prose, Kathleen Collins gives us Flora, a woman who spends nearly a lifetime meeting–or not meeting–everyone's expectations without ever realizing she has deeply-held expectations of her own.” ~Stephanie Gangi, author of Carry the Dog and The Next

★★★★★ “Collins’s elegantly woven prose reads like a brocade of one woman’s feelings in a sexist world, a woman for whom silence is rebellion. Collins's psychological acuity manages to feel both classic and thoroughly contemporary.” ~Jason Tougaw, author of The Elusive Brain

Free online: Galena LitFest - Indie Author Panel. Hear from five winners of the Soon to be Famous Illinois Indie Author Award about writing, how to market your book, and indie publishing! Tuesday, February 13, 5:30 PM CST.

"Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes us away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere." ~Jean Rhys

Keva meets a Kitty is a whimsical tale about middle-school aged, Keva and her spicy, orange feline, Phineas. The former is an optimistic, bright-eyed adventurer while the latter is cautious and pragmatic. For intermediate and advanced readers. 4.7 stars, 22 ratings. FREE - SHOP NOW /