Today's Featured Books
The Murder Next Door by Sarah Bell
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
10 Mentors Of Mental Toughness by Wisdom University
Abroad by Greyson Bryan
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 /
FREE - The Skull Keeper by Mariëtte Whitcomb
Mystery Thriller Crime and Horror
Six by Tamsen Schultz
Spotlight on YA Fiction from Rebecca Rook
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
NEW RELEASE: February 13, 2024Genres: Teen & Young Adult Horror, Teen & Young Adult Ghost Stories, Teen & Young Adult Fantasy & Supernatural Mystery
Ebook: $4.99
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
Recent Release: January 16, 2024Genres: Teen & Young Adult Fantasy, Teen & Young Adult Mythical Creatures, Teen & Young Adult Greek & Roman Myths & Legends
Paperback: $16.00
Ebook: $4.99 (Free via Kindle Unlimited)
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
About the Author
Rebecca Rook is a hard of hearing person who designs tabletop games, manages a little free library dedicated to sequential art and comics, and lives in the Pacific Northwest with two wonderful dogs. A 2021-2022 Hugo House Fellow in Seattle, WA, she also attended the 2021 Tin House YA Fiction Workshop in Portland, OR. Prior to this, she completed the wonderful Yearlong Workshop for Young Adult and Middle Grade Fiction at Hugo House. She writes young adult fiction in the fantasy, thriller, and horror genres. Learn more at byrebeccarook.com, and follow Rebecca online:
Free online: Visit the Louvre on Valentine's Day!
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
The Way of Water by Toni Cabell
Violet Archer and the Case of The Purple Martin by Matt Naylor
God's Eyes by Rev. Dr. Anne Hays Egan
Memoir and Creative Nonfiction
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 /
The Meaning Of Mischief Night by R. Van Brabant
Snowed In on Valentine's Day by Alana Highbury
Dragonfire Rain by Daniel Arenson
The Invisible Red String by Peter Berlin and Ann Zachariah
Of Courage And Sacrifice by Matt Hartle
Boss's Surprise Baby by Josie Hart
Baby Makes 7 by Kai Lesy
New Release: Study in Hysteria from Kathleen Collins and Vine Leaves Press
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
NEW RELEASE: February 13, 2024Genre: Literary Fiction
Paperback: $17.99
Ebook: $5.99
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
About the Author
Kathleen Collins’s nonfiction books include Watching What We Eat: The Evolution of Television Cooking Shows, Dr. Joyce Brothers: The Founding Mother of TV Psychology, and a memoir, From Rabbit Ears to the Rabbit Hole: A Life with Television. Study in Hysteria is her first novel. She is a professor and librarian at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and lives with her husband near the forest in the northernmost tip of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Learn more at katcoindustries.com.
About the Publisher
Vine Leaves Press likes to blur the line between commercial and experimental works. They publish book-length vignette collections, writing reference books, short story collections, memoir/autobiography, and character-driven novels with a literary bent. Subscribe to the Vine Leaves Press newsletter to receive FREE advanced review copies of upcoming new releases, news about their authors and subscribers, and/or to read the monthly opinion column, SPILL IT! or a daily dose of 50-word stories. Learn more at VineLeavesPress.com.
Free online: Galena LitFest
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
Loden's Children by Paul Chandler
FREE - Heart-Dreamer by Cheryl Melody Baskin
FREE - Keva Meets a Kitty by Eva and Keva Myrick
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 /
Brett Wilson and De Leon's Well by John V Suter
FREE - Emotional Beauty and the Limits of Human Intelligence by Thomas L. Atwood
Free online: Reading Love Letters
Free online: Reading Love Letters. Hear famous (and some not-so-famous) love poetry and prose, discuss writing about love, and write love letters! No writing experience is required; participants do not need to share their work (unless you want to!) Sunday, February 11, 10-11 AM CST.
“You are so busy being you that you have no idea how utterly unprecedented you are.” ~John Green, The Fault in Our Stars