Book Blitz of Offside and Off-Limits by Kate O'keeffe (#contests- enter to win Amazon gift card.)

Offside and Off-Limits
Kate O’Keeffe
(Love in Maple Falls)
Publication date: August 20th 2025
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Sports

I survived chronic illness and a cheating ex. Surely I can resist one charming hockey player…right?

Clara
Working as the social media manager for a pro hockey team is all fun and games—until you trip into the arms of their biggest flirt during a livestream. Now the fans are shipping us, my boss is thrilled with the engagement, and I’m stuck dodging feelings for Cade Lennox, aka the certified charmer. The problem? My contract says he’s off-limits. My heart, unfortunately, didn’t get the memo.

Cade
I came to this small town to turn over a new leaf. But you know what they say about the best laid plans. All bets are off the second Clara Johnson literally stumbles into my arms and straight into my heart. She’s focused, loyal, and the most beautiful challenge I’ve ever met. All I have to do is prove I’m worth the risk.

Offside and Off-Limits is part of the Love in Maple Falls sweet hockey romcom multi-author series. It’s a forbidden love story between one flirty hockey player and the team’s social media manager in this small town romance with all the sizzle and chemistry, but none of the spice.

Welcome back to Maple Falls—the small town where hockey players fall in love! This is a multi-author series of seven full-length books that could be read as standalones, but we think you’ll enjoy them best in order.

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EXCERPT:

Clara falls into Cade’s arms on the ice

“Oh, man, this is awesome!” Joel declares, holding my phone in his hands. “You guys look sick! Even you, Clara.”

I let out a surprised laugh at Joel’s comment when Asher calls, “And now turn!” and as I do my legs fly from underneath me, and my breath wooshes out as I scrunch my eyes shut, bracing for the impact of cold, hard ice against my poor, under-protected butt.

But the ice-cold contact fails to happen, and when my eyes spring open I see Cade, his eyes wide with alarm as large, strong arms pull me against his firm body.

He grins down at me as my heart beats out of my chest.

I tell myself it’s because I almost fell, but being in Cade’s arms feels…well, it feels pretty dang amazing.

Not that I’m going to tell him that.

“Thanks,” I mumble, the heat rising in my cheeks as I gaze up at him, at total odds with the cold of the arena.

“My pleasure,” he replies, and the way he says those two words sends a flash of something hot through me that I’ve got to work hard at resisting.

But resist it I must, no matter how good this feels.

I haven’t been held by a man since Dwayne left me for my friend. And that was years ago.

I heave out a breath as I drag my gaze from his. I need to remember that this guy is a total player, and I don’t mean just on the ice. He probably catches falling women in his big, strong arms every day of the week—and I bet most of them don’t even bother to resist the heat this feeling elicits.

But I’m not one of those women, and I refuse to act on my physical attraction for this man. There are so many reasons, the non-fraternization clause in my employment contract being right at the top of that list.

Throwing away my new job because I’m attracted to one of the players? Not going to happen.

“You guys, I’m getting so many likes on this!” Joel calls out.

Wait. Likes?

I snap my attention to Joel, who’s still holding up my phone, pointing it straight at Cade and me. “Cade, would you mind putting me down? Like now.”

“I’ll do you one better,” he replies as he glides me smoothly back toward the bench, still holding me close in his arms. Holding me in one arm, he pulls open the door, and returns me to my feet—which I note are now trembling.

Author Bio:

Kate O’Keeffe is a USA Today bestselling author known for her fun, feel-good romantic comedies brimming with humor, heart, and happily ever afters. A native of New Zealand, Kate has crafted numerous popular series, garnering a devoted international readership.

With a flair for witty banter and irresistible heroines navigating the ups and downs of modern dating, Kate’s novels showcase strong friendships, comedic entanglements, and the of course sometimes bumpy but always hopeful road to love.

When she’s not writing, Kate can often be found reading romcoms, binging her favourite shows, or spending time with her friends and family in the beautiful Hawke’s Bay region of New Zealand.

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Offside and Off-Limits Blitz

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Book Blitz of Protopia by John Calia (#Contests-Enter to win an Amazon gift card.)

Protopia
John Calia
Publication date: May 15th 2025
Genres: Adult, Dystopian, Thriller

 

America’s cultural divide turns deadly.

When lifelong friends Olivia and Alexandra find themselves in opposing camps, the bonds of their friendship are tested like never before.

Olivia seeks solace in a socialist utopia that promises protection and belonging, but at what cost?

Meanwhile, Alexandra chases freedom. But can she survive in a community with few, if any, rules?

As their worlds collide and tensions escalate, secrets and lies threaten to destroy the foundation of their relationship.

Can they bridge the gap between them, or will their differences tear them apart forever?

In this gripping tale of loyalty, adventure, and human connection, the stakes are higher than ever. Protopia is a thought-provoking thrill ride that explores the power of friendship in a world on the brink.

If you devour the complex characters of Emily St. John Mandel or the visionary world-building of Octavia Butler, you’ll be captivated by this latest masterpiece by the author of the Amazon best-seller The Awakening of Artemis.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

As she gazed out at the ravaged landscape, Olivia Fletcher felt the weight of her exhaustion like a physical force dragging her down into the dusty earth. Five years of constant strife—of strategizing and problem-solving, of rising and failing—had all taken its toll. She longed for a life of quiet contemplation, of peaceful days spent in a garden or a library, free from the constant din of conflict. But that life seemed as distant as a dream. The struggle between Cygnus and Elyria showed no signs of abating, and Olivia’s skills as a mediator and leader were still desperately needed. She felt like a worn-out tool, perpetually called upon to fix the unfixable, to bridge the unbridgeable gaps between sworn enemies.

And yet, despite her fatigue, Olivia couldn’t shake the feeling of inadequacy that had haunted her for so long. Was she truly making a difference, or was she just a band-aid on a bullet wound? Did she have the strength and wisdom to bring peace to this shattered world, or was she just a fraud waiting to be exposed? The doubts swirled in her mind like a toxic fog, threatening to consume her at any moment.

As the war drums beat louder, Olivia knew she couldn’t afford to indulge in her uncertainty. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and stepped forward into the fray once more. But the questions lingered, echoing in her mind like a whispered mantra: What if I’m not enough? What if I fail? What if…?

Author Bio:

A Brooklyn-born, recovering businessman, John Calia has been a naval officer, banker, entrepreneur and consultant. He began writing his blog “Who Will Lead?” in 2010 attracting more than 115,000 readers. The five-star rating of his first book – a business fable titled “The Reluctant CEO: Succeeding Without Losing Your Soul” – inspired him to keep writing. His fascination with artificial intelligence and its impact on society inspired him to write “The Awakening of Artemis.”

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Book Blitz of Stranger Still by George Ochoa (#contests- Enter to win a paperback copy of the book and swag.)

Stranger Still
George Ochoa
Publication date: August 19th 2025
Genres: Adult, Literary Fiction, Thriller

 

Paul Inster, a brilliant, insane Columbia college student majoring in English with an undisclosed minor in knives, is in love with graduate student, Tracy Iridio. Seeing her in the library every day, he mistakenly believes she is in love with him and that she is a goddess, Teresa. In fact, the two have never met, and she does not know who he is. When, for the first time, he sees her with her boyfriend, classical history professor Larry Post, Paul sets out to destroy Larry via a campaign of terror. As the campaign mounts, Larry, mystified, tries to figure out who is attacking him and why. Through a series of surprises and confusions, the campaign escalates to murder.

Stranger Still is both a thriller and a literary novel, combining suspense and violence with rich language, webs of cultural allusions, and themes of love and madness.

 

 

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EXCERPT:

Teresa and I often made love, though never in the flesh. To this day the psychiatrists will scrutinize such a statement as if it meant something other than what it plainly says, as if it were the telltale boil of some rare mental pox that might explain the blood spills photographed by the police. But these doctors do not understand love, optics, metaphysics, error, or even good taste. As far as flesh went, I never touched or even talked to Teresa, not until our moral decline had already begun. Before then, seeing the chaste tables that divided us in the Columbia library less than a decade ago, in the middle years of the 1990s, you might have thought Teresa and I were strangers, that she didn’t know I was alive.

I first saw her early in my junior year, a new female sitting several tables away in the Burgess-Carpenter reading room on the fourth floor of Butler Library. She seemed at first like any other of the pretty women on campus whom I liked to ogle and who regarded me as if I were invisible. But the more I stared at her, the more she particularly interested me. A pile of books rested near her elbow on the blond pine table, her head bent with rapt attention over her open book. Hazy September sunlight from the tall windows bathed her small breasts in her magenta top, made the white skin of her forearms glow. Her dark-brown hair was long and luxuriant, her neck long, her face shaped like that of a Raphael Madonna. But what captured me most were her eyes—large, sad eyes, ringed with mauve circles as if she hadn’t slept well. Why was she sad? Was there something I could do to make her happier?

We sat like that for a long time, she near the east end of a table in the back, never noticing me, while I shot frequent glances at her from near the west end of the second table from the door. About twenty feet diagonally divided us, too far for me to discern her eye color, though I tried. Finally, she got up, gathering her books into a white canvas tote bag and walking toward the door. As her gangly frame passed me, I gave her eyes a good look and saw they were hazel, flickering elusively under their long lashes from green to brown to gold.

The thought of her big, sad, long-lashed hazel eyes kept me happy for the rest of my day at Columbia. Even when I boarded the downtown Number One train, the first of the three trains that every evening buried me back in Jamaica, Queens, I was still thinking of those eyes. But an hour and fifteen minutes in the subways will discourage anyone. By the time I left the second leg, the D train, for the final and longest leg, the F, my thoughts were turning dark. The train was crowded with smelly, loam-colored laborers imported from faraway continents, and me just one of the horde.

Most students at Columbia boarded, but because my family was poorer than that of the standard Ivy Leaguer, I was a commuter. Combined with my natural tendency toward solitude, this meant I had no friends either on campus or anywhere else. I longed to make contact with someone, anyone, but did not know how. Sometimes I just wanted to pet them—the young secretary sitting before me on the subway in vinyl jacket and glittery eyeliner—to touch her shoulder, her pulsing throat, and say, “I am here. I am lonely. Help me.” Sometimes I wanted to hit them—the goon in the Yankees cap. When I felt particularly desperate, I wanted to stab them. I had knives that would have fit that purpose, but I never took them out of the house.

Author Bio:

George Ochoa’s first novel is the thriller Stranger Still. In addition, he has written or cowritten thirty-five nonfiction books, including The Book of Answers, The Writer’s Guide to Creating a Science Fiction Universe, The American Film Institute Desk Reference, and Deformed and Destructive Beings: The Purpose of Horror Films. His short fiction has been published in North American Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, Eunoia Review, Bangalore Review, and elsewhere. He is also the author of published poems and essays.

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Review of Crooks by Lou Berney.

 I want to welcome Lou Berney to Books R Us. Lou is the author of  "Crooks." Check out my review of the novel. I want to thank William Morrow for providing me with a galley of the book. To be published on Sept 9th.

 

About the Book:

You’ve never met a family like the Mercurios.

They say the American dream is going farther in life than your parents ever did. But how does that work if your parents are criminals?

For Buddy, a low-level mob wise guy, and Lillian, a charming pickpocket, the criminal underworld is the only life they’ve ever known. When they’re forced to flee the glittering Babylon of Las Vegas, they end up opening a club in Oklahoma City—a town that quickly feels like a gold mine of fresh marks and easy new money. Along for the ride are their five children, all of them raised into the family business of crime—until the day comes when they each have a chance to make their own way in the world, even if they can never completely escape the family’s long, dark shadow.         

Jeremy, the family’s Golden Boy, will throw himself into the glittering excesses of a drug-fueled Hollywood in the roaring 1980s. 

Tallulah, the daredevil, will find herself in the deadly Wild West of post-communist Moscow.

Ray, the dope, the dumb muscle since he was a kid, wants nothing more than to put down his gun, but following orders is all he’s ever known.  

Alice, the genius who renounced her life of crime long ago, now sees her white-shoe law firm being blackmailed and must tap into old skills to save both the company and her own life.

And Piggy, a civilian always on the outside looking in on his crime family, desperate to be part of the gang.

Crooks is an epic novel about a truly unforgettable family–forty years of peril as each Mercurio has to grapple, in their own way, with the family’s powerful criminal legacy.

 

My Thoughts:

"Crooks" is an excellent novel. Each section of the book is written like a novella, following the lives of the Mercurio family as they navigate life's challenges. The novel is fast-paced, descriptive, engaging, and well-developed. Each member of the family's life is explored in depth, showcasing their individual experiences and struggles. The ending was rushed but enjoyable. I look forward to reading the other books that the author has written. 5/5 stars.

 

Purchase Book:

Amazon. 

Barnes and Noble. 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book for my honest review, and I was not compensated for my review.

 

Book Blitz of Dot Slash Magic by Liz Shipton (#contests- Enter to win an Amazon gift card.)

Dot Slash Magic
Liz Shipton
Publication date: August 19th 2025
Genres: New Adult, Urban Fantasy

A new, spicy urban fantasy from TikTokker Liz Shipton, perfect for fans of I am Number Four, Wreck it Ralph and ACOTAR.

What if you wrote a magic computer program? What if that magic computer program started summoning monsters?

When twenty-something coder Seven Jones goes back to school at a community college in San Diego, the last thing she wants is to join some stupid club. And the last thing she expects is to walk into an underground magic club. Like, actual wizards and shit.

Seven reluctantly joins the motley crew of magic weirdos and discovers her own power. But she struggles to control it…until she figures out how to channel her magic through an artificially intelligent computer program.

Unfortunately, there is literally nothing Seven’s new friends hate more than AI, and when a student mysteriously turns up dead, blame falls on Seven. Is her “creepy artificial magic” summoning terrifying creatures to hunt students? Or is someone trying to frame her?

With only one person – cute ex-Navy seal Logan – on her side, Seven fights monsters (Dragon? Check. Kraken? Check) while struggling to convince everyone that her AI has nothing to do with them.

But how can she convince her peers when she isn’t totally convinced herself?

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Author Bio:

Hi! I'm Liz. I'm a freelance writer, indie author, and full-time, off-grid, live-aboard sailor. I’m currently sailing around the world with my boyfriend and my dog, turning my real-life adventures into speculative fiction.

I feel extremely grateful to be able to explore the world as I do, and I love incorporating the experiences, places, and people I encounter on my travels into my work.

I also use my books as a means to explore themes of mental health, addiction, technology, climate change, and the looming collapse of society (but, like...in a fun way.)

When I'm not penning novels about the impending apocalypse, I work as a freelance content writer specializing in articles about code, music theory, and off-grid living. On the rare occasion I'm not writing, you can find me swimming, hiking, telling my dog I love her for the bazillionth time today, or watching Taskmaster.

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Link: https://gleam.io/h6C13/dot-slash-magic-blitz

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Book Blitz of Wolfsbane Hall by Hazel St. Lewis (#contests- Enter to Win a paperback copy of Wolfsbane Hall.)

Wolfsbane Hall
Hazel St. Lewis
Publication date: August 13th 2025
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Thriller

 

Phantom meets Clue:

She’s forced to murder to survive—until it’s her turn to die.

At Wolfsbane Hall, a secretive 1930s San Francisco murder mystery club, actress Celestine Sinclair plays a deadly role: executing victims who can only return to life once their murders are solved. Haunted by guilt yet bound by unwavering loyalty, she obeys the orders of the Specter—the club’s unseen mastermind and source of its magic.

But when his nemesis seizes control and poisons her, the game changes. The only way to survive? Solve the night’s mystery and unmask the Specter—an identity that has remained hidden for centuries. Even worse, the three prime suspects are the men closest to her: her lover, her enemy, and her best friend. One of them has betrayed her, and she has only hours left to uncover the truth.

The clock is ticking, the stakes are fatal, and this time, death will last forever.

Goodreads / Amazon

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EXCERPT:

Celestine stood in the Red Parlor, waiting for her prey. One minute until he was supposed to arrive, and James Ashbrook was always on time, even as his characters. He believed it was never appropriate to keep someone waiting.

As her character, Celestine raised her lips with feline delight, and she leaned against the side of a lounge like a seductress draped in silk and jewels, waiting for a midnight assignation.

James stormed into the room like a cowboy in a Western film about to rescue his damsel in distress. He walked with purpose, and, without hesitation, he cupped the back of Celestine’s neck and kissed her fiercely.

The kiss was beastly and consumed by unfiltered vigor. Almost as if they didn’t do this every week. But that was the nature of their relationship. They were a wildfire that burned until it would eventually flame out and die.

James was not for keeping.

No rich man was. A lesson she’d learned long ago. Poor girls don’t end up with ‘the man’, even if they desperately wanted to.

Yet James was for fucking and, tonight, killing.

Celestine’s back slammed against the wall as their mouths devoured each other, his hands stroking up her legs and bunching the fabric of her dress up to her core with their movement.

James pulled away, his eyes widening with betrayal. “I’m sorry,” Celestine breathed into his hair as his limbs went limp. “You’re the Specter’s victim tonight.”

Celestine had poisoned her lips with a tranquilizer strong enough to sedate a horse. Only a thin layer of plastic and Specter’s magic kept the lipstick from incapacitating her.

“How are you going to do it?” James croaked as his head lolled to the side.

“Stabbing.”

She caught him as his body slid to the floor.

“Ah…I’ve never been stabbed before.” James smiled, lopsided and bright. A sick part of him enjoyed dying over and over again. He once said it made him feel alive every time he died in Wolfsbane Hall. He enjoyed it so much that he volunteered as a victim, choosing to die every other week.

Although he wanted it and enjoyed it, killing still made Celestine’s stomach churn and her arms quiver.

While he was still conscious, she gripped an ornamental knife from above her head, rolled her hand into the stabbing position, and thrust down.

“Thank you,” he said, blood bubbling from his mouth as he stared gleefully down at his wound. She knew he thanked her for starting while he was still awake to experience it. He wanted to see and feel the knife as it slid in.

Celestine pulled the knife out and slammed it in again and again and again. It was a crime of passion, after all. Her character was overcome by rage and vengeful lust. But all of it made vomit snake up Celestine’s esophagus. She continued her job regardless. Celestine Sinclair was loyal—the perfect employee for her Specter.

Author Bio:

Hazel St. Lewis is a Northern California-based Romantasy author. Diagnosed with dyslexia at a young age, she struggled to read and write, but fantasy stories inspired her to start storytelling. Unfortunately, now, she is a little too obsessed with morally gray characters. When she isn’t writing, she can be found playing with her hoard of cats (too many to count…it’s a problem), singing songs to said cats, or painting.

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Wolfsbane Hall Blitz

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Book Blitz of Fake-Off with Fate by Whitney Dineen (#Contests- Enter to Win An Amazon Gift Card- 2 Winners)

Fake-Off with Fate
Whitney Dineen
(Love in Maple Falls)
Publication date: August 13th 2025
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Sports

She’s a closet designer for the rich and famous and he’s a broken-hearted captain of a pro-hockey team. Neither of them is looking for love.

Ashlyn
An unexpected trip home to Maple Falls gets even more surprising when I inadvertently become acting mayor.
Add a huge crisis and a smoking hot hockey player, and I’m in over my head before I know it.

I’m only here for a short time, so I will not fall for Mr. Tall, dark, and adorable. I don’t care how helpful and kind he is. Long-distance never works, so the answer is no.

Jamie
I’m sick of the press hounding me about my last relationship, so when the opportunity arose to captain a new hockey team in smalltown Washington, I jumped at it.

Too bad I didn’t ask more questions before moving here, like, “Are there bears, and will they be living in my backyard?”

Then there’s Ashlyn. The last thing I expected was to meet a funny, sassy, and good-hearted woman like her. I swore off love after my last heartbreak, but my heart is acting like it missed the memo.

There’s no way I’m going to pursue her. Unless of course, fate has intervened, and we were meant to be…

***
Fake-Off with Fate is a slow-burn, friends to love, fake-dating small town hockey romcom in the Love in Maple Falls series. Add a town conflict, missing mayor, and bear infestation and you will be laughing and cheering your way to a happy ending!

Welcome back to Maple Falls—the small town where hockey players fall in love! This is a multi-author series of seven full-length books that could be read as standalones, but we think you’ll enjoy them best in order.

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble

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EXCERPT:

The mayor is ten minutes late for our dinner meeting. I figure I’ll give him another five and then I’ll go ahead and order my food to go.

I’m about to signal to the waitress when a very pretty woman wearing jeans and an orange sweater approaches my booth. She’s average height but not at all average looking. Her hair is a touch lighter than classic auburn but it’s not what I’d call red. “Hi there,” she says while sitting down across from me. “I’m Ashlyn.”

Well, this is awkward. I wonder if she thinks I’m her blind date or something. “Jamie Hayes,” I say, expecting her to realize her mistake.

“I know. You’re the captain of the Ice Breakers, right?”

“I’m sorry, do I know you?”

“I doubt it, because I don’t know you.” She takes a sip of the water glass the waitress left for the mayor.

“If you don’t know me, then why are you sitting with me?”

The question seems to startle her because she looks up and stares at me like a deer in the headlights of oncoming traffic. “I forgot you didn’t know that I was meeting you instead of my father.”

“You’re Mayor Thompkins ’daughter?” Holy heck, is the mayor trying to set me up with his daughter? I don’t care how pretty she is, that’s not cool.

“My dad got stuck in a meeting and he asked me to come in his place,” she explains.

“So, you’ve been tasked with trying to talk me into co-chairing Maple Fest?” If I had to guess, I’d say this was intentional manipulation on the mayor’s part. Little does he know I have no problem saying no to an attractive woman.

“I couldn’t care less if you co-chaired Maple Fest,” she says. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t do it. My dad is a lunatic about that event.”

Now I’m super confused. “So, you’re here to tell me all about Maple Falls?”

“Nope,” she says, before turning her menu over to look at it.

“Why are you here then?”

Author Bio:

Whitney loves to laugh, play with her kids, bake, and eat french fries -- not always in that order.

Whitney is a multi-award-winning author of romcoms, non-fiction humor, and middle reader fiction. Basically, she writes whatever the voices in her head tell her to.

She lives in the beautiful Pacific Northwest with her husband, Jimmy, where they raise children, chickens, and organic vegetables.

Gold Medal winner at the International Readers' Favorite Awards, 2017.

Silver medal winner at the International Readers' Favorite Awards, 2015, 2016.

Finalist RONE Awards, 2016.

Finalist at the IRFA 2016, 2017.

Finalist at the Book Excellence Awards, 2017

Finalist Top Shelf Indie Book Awards, 2017

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Fake-Off with Fate Blitz

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