Today's Featured Books

I agreed to do all I could to clean up the image of the grandson of the presidential candidate—including becoming fake engaged. It’s a business arrangement, right? But between annoyance and verbal sparring, a single kiss ignited sparks of mutual lust. 4.8 stars, 18 ratings. From $0.99. Free via KU. SHOP NOW / 

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on the work of New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Susan Hatler.

If you like sweet and funny contemporary romance and young adult novels, you're going to love Susan's writing. Get started with the three books featured in today's special edition newsletter: The Christmas Compromise, A Sugar Plum Christmas, and Million Dollar Date. Each book is the first in a series—and each of the Christmas books are available in audiobook format with narration by Andrea Kummer. 
 

Tip: Audiobook editions of many of Susan's books are available FREE via her YouTube Channel!

The Christmas Compromise

A sweet holiday mix-up that will make you smile and inspire you to believe in happily ever after.

Morgan Reed is excited to return to her hometown of Christmas Mountain, Montana, and open her beauty salon. But when she arrives to her rented business space she’s shocked to find it already occupied by Dallas Parker—her brother’s best friend, the guy she had a childhood crush on, and the one her mom blames for their family’s greatest tragedy.

With their landlord out of the country and unreachable, Morgan and Dallas must open their businesses together. But, no worries, all small towns need a combo furniture store/beauty salon, right? Ugh. As they work together, Morgan tries to keep her emotional distance, but time and off-the-charts chemistry soon turn a childhood friendship into a blossoming romance.

Unfortunately, just when their relationship develops into something deeper, an unexpected crisis re-opens her family’s old wounds and the blame is on Dallas once again. Will Morgan’s sadness and fear pull them apart, or make her realize Dallas has always been her heart’s true safe harbor?

Christmas Mountain Romance Series, Book 1. 

A Sugar Plum Christmas

City girl and former foster child Lacey Lane arrives in Christmas Mountain to do research for a hit reality dating show she produces.

If the location gets approved for filming, she’ll receive a bonus that will allow her to buy her own house—a forever home after a lifetime of moving from place to place.

Jacob Curtis is a small-town guy who doesn’t want his hometown exploited for ratings. Lacey might think he’s her tour guide, showing her all the best places to film her show, but he has a different agenda: show her all the reasons the town wouldn’t appeal to her TV audience.

Lacey catches on quickly to Jacob’s goal to undermine her research, and soon they’re engaging in a dance that takes them from one end of Christmas Mountain to the other. Before long, she’s charmed by the town and its people, including Jacob, who is funny, heartfelt, and honest. For once in her life, she’s slowing down long enough to focus on things other than her career.

But when it’s clear Lacey and Jacob have developed feelings for one another, Lacey is torn. Regardless of where the show is filmed, will she return to the city to buy her dream house? Or will she stay in Christmas Mountain and make a home with the man of her dreams?

The Mistletoe Book Club Series, Book 1.

Million Dollar Date

A lighthearted tale that will make you smile and let you believe that dreams really do come true.

Abigail Apple is running late to meet her blind date when she’s pulled over for speeding. Unfortunately, the follow-the-rules cop doesn’t care that she’s late, let alone that she’s heartbroken because her favorite dog rescue is in danger of being closed. Now she has to meet her date with mud drying on her heels, dog hair covering her dress, and the smell of a barn perfuming her hair. But when she arrives, Abigail learns her handsome blind date is none other than the cop who pulled her over.

Abigail has no intention of staying until she learns Cooper Hill is heading a committee for the city that will award a six-figure donation to a charity of their choice. So, what’s a girl to do? Abigail decides a second date is the perfect way to convince Cooper to vote for the dog rescue. But soon, Abigail is less interested in Cooper’s vote than she is in his deep voice, kind heart, and tender touch.

Will this follow-the-rules cop and this follows-her-heart animal lover learn that despite poor first impressions, second chances can lead to love?

The Do-Over Date Series, Book 1.

About the Author

              

Free online: Book Buzz. Librarians from the Santa Clara (California) Library will share the adult fiction and nonfiction titles they are most excited to read during the next few months. Attendees will have the chance to win free advance copies of some of the upcoming season's most anticipated books. Tuesday, August 29, 8 PM CDT. 

"Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one." ~Neil Gaiman

Free online: Join Able Muse Press for a book launch reading with critically acclaimed authors William Baer, Daniel Galef, and Katie Hartsock. Saturday, August 26, 3 PM - 4:30 PM EDT. 

"Every time I travel / I meet myself a little more." ~from "coordinates" by Yrsa Daley-Ward

During a weekend getaway in the Canadian wilderness, Rose is attacked out of nowhere. She escapes to a solitary cabin where she hammers on the door in a panic. The door is opened by Damian, a very disconcerted man who only reluctantly lets her in. A snowstorm forces Rose to spend more time in the cabin with Damian than she’d hoped, and she soon learns that Damian is far from normal—and that his presence alone is a mortal danger to her. Book 3 in the Angels of Sin series. Coming September 23. $2.99 PRE-ORDER NOW / 

Today, LitNuts is shining a spotlight on the Oblivion's Galaxy series from author Dylan McFadyen. Oblivion’s Galaxy is set in a distant future dominated by fractious, selfish alien powers. Earth is a barren, self-immolated world, remembered by few, inhabited by none. The last remnants of humanity are an enslaved diaspora, a footnote in galactic history.

First Lieutenant Shaara is one of the few exceptions: a free human, second in command of a mercenary company. Aboard the mysterious AI-powered warship Warden, she and her comrades have fought in dozens of campaigns across the galaxy. But after discovering a derelict human ship lost during Earth’s final days, they will embark upon a mission far more dangerous than anything they’ve taken on before. Follow Shaara as she navigates her way through a future where other beings regard humans as inconsequential. 

"Marries intricate world-building with an engaging plot." ~Two Nerds With Words, Amazon Review

Oblivion's Cloak: Oblivion's Galaxy Book 1

First Lieutenant Shaara was dead this morning.

Her captain is furious at her. She wasted company resources getting herself killed, and it’s coming out of her paycheck. Now, she’s sitting across from the first other human being she’s seen in six years. His name is Adnan. He claims to come from Earth—but that’s impossible. Earth died a long time ago. If Adnan is telling the truth, he and the decaying ship the captain pulled him off are nearly a thousand years old.

Wherever he’s from, he’s Shaara’s responsibility now. Which is the last thing she needs. But it’s either that or the captain sells Adnan into slavery. Shaara knows what that would mean. Most humans do. And something inside her won’t let her abandon Adnan to it: revenant memories, stabbed awake by the look in his eyes.

Facing those memories won’t be easy. It’d be far easier to ignore the feeling driving her forward. Far easier to let it all go to hell and drift back to sleep.

Until a shadowy new faction starts stoking the fires of war. They’re looking for Adnan; Earth’s last survivor holds the key to unleash a terrible, indiscriminate vengeance on the galaxy that wronged them. Who they are is a mystery—to everyone but Shaara. Hard as she’s tried to forget, she knows them all too well. Which means she’s the only one who can stop them.

The question is: does she want to? Maybe the galaxy’s earned a little vengeance.

Oblivion's Blade: Oblivion's Galaxy Book 2

Shaara never asked to be in charge.

Since taking command of the mysterious AI warship Warden and the eccentric mercenary company that calls him home, she’s only accepted jobs that let her conscience sleep at night. The trouble is, those jobs don’t pay too well. After more than a year of fighting for the downtrodden, the exploited, and the oppressed, the Wardens’ coffers are running dry.

So when they get a suspicious but lucrative offer from a pariah republic on the fringe of galactic politics, Shaara ignores the warning voice in her head and accepts. 

The contract takes the Wardens to the edges of explored space; there, in the vast darkness beyond the galactic core, a great and terrible force is gathering—a foe far deadlier than any they’ve ever fought. The galaxy isn't ready to face it. Has Shaara saved them all from Gaeus Nemesis just to die another day?

What’s more, this new enemy holds the key to another mystery. As they fight for their lives, Shaara and Corax are forced to ask themselves a question they hoped they’d never have to: How much do they really know about Warden?

And can they trust him?

Oblivion's Triumph: Oblivion's Galaxy Book 3

Shaara is running out of friends.

The sacrifices she and Warden made two years ago bought the League time, not victory. The war against the Undying has left them exhausted, drained of everything but hope—and precious little of that. The simple fact is that the Undying are going to win. Warden knows it, Shaara knows it. The Undying sure as hell know it.

Until, out of the black, the Eternal comes to Shaara with an offer she can’t refuse, however much she’d like to. The threat he warned her about two years ago is real, and now it’s come calling. It cares nothing for their little war. All life in the galaxy, Undying or not, will end if it spreads unchecked. Shaara and the Eternal have little choice but to work together to destroy it. At least, for now.

But people on both sides are unhappy with an alliance, however temporary. Some of them are willing to risk all life just for a shot at power—and revenge. If Shaara can’t find a way to defeat them, she and the few friends she has left will lose more than their lives.

They’ll lose everything.

About the Author

Win free books from 49thShelf.com. Sponsored by the Association of Canadian Publishers, 49thShelf.com was created to make it easier for readers to discover Canadian books in all genres. One of the ways they do that is via book giveaways. (You'll need to create a member account to be eligible for giveaways, but membership is free.)

"The face has limited space. My mother used to say, 'If you fill your face with laughing, there will be no more room for crying.'" ~Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance