A haunting tale of love, loss and
finding one’s place in the world inspired by The Ghost and Mrs Muir.
The Ghost of Seagull Cottage
The
Guernsey Novels Book 9
by
Anne Allen
Genre:
Supernatural Romance
A haunting tale of love, loss and
finding one’s place in the world
Widowed artist Annabel
returns to Guernsey seeking a fresh start for herself and her young
daughter away from her late husband’s controlling family. Seagull
Cottage appears perfect, by the sea and with a low rent. The
snag is it comes with a resident ghost, Daniel, a sea captain who
died 70 years ago in 1946. He built the cottage and objects
to anyone not family living there. He and Annabel have to come to
terms with sharing what he still considers to be his home.
After
a difficult start they begin to share their pasts and an unlikely
friendship blooms, becoming deeper as they spend more time
together. Annabel realises she’s falling for him but would
she truly prefer a ghost to a real live man?
Blending
elements of romance, mystery and the supernatural into a compelling
tale about the power of human connection which presents a modern
twist on R.A. Dick’s novel The Ghost and Mrs Muir and the
classic movie of the same name.
Anne Allen lives in Devon in the UK
but originates from Rugby, the home of Rugby football. Finding early
on in life that she loved the sea she has spent most of her adult
years moving from one coast to another, the furthest being the
Spanish coast of Costa Blanca. Her happiest time was spent in
Guernsey where she lived for nearly 14 years and her books are all
set on this beautiful island. By profession Anne was a
psychotherapist but has now retired and fills her time with writing
and painting. To date she has published eight standalone stories in
The Guernsey Novels series, focusing on love, mystery, drama and
relationships, and with a touch of historical influence. Some titles
are dual-time or time-slip. The ninth in the series, The Ghost of
Seagull Cottage, is due to be published in May 2024 and was inspired
by the classic movie, “The Ghost and Mrs Muir”, itself based on
the book by R A Dick.
Excerpt from The Secret of Blossom Rise – A Ghost Story – A. L. Butcher
It was all a sham. All of it – civilisation, decency, morality – had been tested, and found wanting. His own father had been killed in Ypres and his mother forced to raise five children on a widow’s pension. He’d gained extra money and food poaching – knew how to use a gun. Eyes closed, he saw his mother’s face as he went to war – the fear, the regrets, and the sadness. Such emotions mirrored in his wife’s younger face.
“It’s my duty,” he’d said. “We cannot let the likes of Herr Hitler control Europe. It will be over soon enough.” He’d believed that then.
Leo laughed. But there was no mirth. Four long and terrifying years of war had proven Hitler was not a man who would give up his wicked machinations easily, and Britain would stand against him, alone if she had to. Neither side would capitulate until the enemy was in the streets and at the door.
The world had gone mad with slaughter in the War to End All Wars a generation past – but that had been a lie as well. Politics, death and lies entwined as the casualties grew. Freedom exacted a terrible price. Leo knew that as the bodies had piled up around him in that small French town – now little more than a shell. He’d led what was left of his men into battle, when their captain had been slain and pushed back the enemy, gaining some useful intelligence for his pains. But it had all been futile when the next regiment of panzers rolled in and he and his men found the landmines as they’d tried to retreat. The blood still flowed when he closed his eyes.
Leo dreamt of the faces of the men he’d shot or bayonetted behind the fluctuating German lines. Men like him. Simple men who had been sent to war or signed up unknowing of the horror. Politicians made war, but soldiers died in it far removed from the seat of their government. In this war, civilians lived in fear of the blitz from the sky. Even the clouds were not safe in a world of madness and blood. Was this the end of days? The final judgement for Man’s sins? Leo did not know, and his faith in a good divinity had bled away on the fields of war.
He longed to be far away, on a picnic blanket in the Cotswolds with Mabel. Home with his wife, Audrey, and his daughters, his conscience said. He’d lost much of that conscience in this war.
What was adultery, when man sinned the ultimate sin for his country, for freedom, every single day?
Ostensibly Blossom Rise had been a private sanatorium for those sons of the wealthy who needed tending in a small country hospital, and then when Europe had been ripped by war it had become half a dozen wards used to treat those who had returned from the Great War broken or insane. After the Great War, the unit had fallen into disrepair – forgotten or ignored like so many of the unfortunate soldiers who’d passed through but left still clinging on to half a life. There had been a few in-patients – usually those persons whose families wished for them to be out of sight and mind, but not actually neglected. It was full of ghosts, so some whispered. And he knew the nurses gossiped. Once he’d have dismissed such talk as nonsense, irreligious and foolish, but he’d seen men he’d known to be dead walk the wards. Men from his dreams.
His friend James Cameron, half his face burned away, and one arm nothing but a stump had succumbed to death after a heroic but futile struggle.
Leo had seen James only last night limping the ward in the half-light – a shell of a man ravaged and hollow. But stalking like he’d once done – searching and alert.
A nurse had tried to usher the bandaged form back to his bed, but James had vanished when she returned with his medication. Disappeared. In some ways it had been a mercy, his friend had been so badly wounded and what life would he have – no face, one arm, partly crippled and more than half-mad? He had not wanted to live like that – a burden for his mother. Later Leo asked himself if James had really been at the hospital or was lying burned and maimed in that awful town. Was he just a memory, a guilty horror?
They’d talked, or at least Leo thought they’d had, in the small hours of the morning when the pain was too much to sleep, and the morphine hadn’t clouded their minds. But it was all so vague, so confused. Reality turned on its head in war, and time in this hospital – fluctuating between pain, medication and sleep was strange.
Synopsis
When a young nurse accepts a job at a former military hospital, she unearths a family secret and finds the spectral occupants a little too familiar.
Werewolf Queen wasn’t on her middle aged bingo card…
In the Midnight Hour
A Midnight Madness Nightcreature Novel Book 3
by Lori Handeland
Genre: Paranormal Women’s Fiction
Just when I thought it was safe to go home…
I’ve been running too long. I’d gotten sloppy. Sloppy gets you captured. But it turns out, the very one I thought I had to hide from, saved me.
I just want to live peacefully. But happy family, er, packreunions don’t seem to be in my future. When my secret is used against me, I’m forced to run again. This time, help comes from the most unexpected source, the greatest werewolf hunter of all time, Edward Mandenauer.
To get what we both want—the end of the sadistic, yet sexy, werewolf Zane—Edward and I join forces. But Zane isn’t working alone. Nor is he who or what he says he is. He’s much, much more…
All I want is the life I believed I’d lost, but at this rate, I’ll end up captured, imprisoned, enslaved . . . or dead.
From the voice of New York Timesbestselling author Lori Handeland, the final installment in the Midnight Madness trilogy takes you deep into her Nightcreature world, complete with the humor, depth of characterization and fast-paced plot lines the author is known for while showcasing her incredible range.
I did what I had to. Try and kill my girl? I will end you faster than you can say have mercy. Sure I broke a cardinal pack rule, which will get me executed by my mate. If they find out. If they find me.
Saved from capture by Zane, the sexiest of sexy werewolves, my rescue comes with a price. Zane wants a favor, one that could cause an all-out pack war. The last thing I need is to make more enemies, but lives are at stake if I don’t make a stand. Not only that, but I have a secret. An impossible secret that is going to turn the entire werewolf world upside down.
From the voice of New York Timesbestselling author Lori Handeland, a new volume in her Nightcreature world, complete with the humor, depth of characterization and fast-paced plot lines she is known for while showcasing the author’s incredible range.
They say a mother will do anything for her child . . . I’m living proof
This nightmare began when I got the call every parent dreads. My daughter, Jenna, was missing from her college campus. Of course, my mind went to the worst place. After all, my late husband was a powerful senator. Was this some political payback?
I call in a favor and soon I’m partnered with an FBI sex trafficking agent. He tells me local girls have been disappearing for some time now, and he finally has a lead. But what we find at that abandoned warehouse is something out of a horror movie.
Werewolves! Two rival packs, their alphas fighting, winner take all––the pack and the trafficked girls. The werewolves must replenish their breeders, recently decimated by a virus that killed only the females.
But Jenna’s been keeping a secret, which only makes two of us. Though I should be angry, I know the lies I’ve told play a huge role in why we’re here. I’ll do anything to make it right. No way is my girl going to become a sacrificial mate for the greater good––even if she is the ‘chosen one.’ So, I do what any mother would do, I take her place, offering myself to Gideon, the winning alpha, as his mate.
Gideon’s goal is to live in harmony with the human world, but there are others who exist for the power, for the violence, and they don’t plan to let peace prevail.
There’s a civil werewolf war brewing and I am right in the middle of it.
From the voice of New York Timesbestselling author Lori Handeland, a new volume in her Nightcreature world, complete with the humor, depth of characterization and fast-paced plot lines she is known for while showcasing the author’s incredible range.
Lori Handeland is a five-time nominee and two-time winner of the prestigious RITA™ Award from Romance Writers of America, as well as the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over sixty novels spanning the genres of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, contemporary romance, historical romance, historical fantasy and women’s fiction. Her novel Just Once received a coveted, starred review from Library Journal and was optioned as a feature film by Catalyst Global Media.
Lori set her sight on being an author at the age of ten. She remembers sitting at a typewriter before she knew how to type, pecking out a story about a family who went into space. As an only child her summers were spent with that typewriter, television, and, above all, books. As a young adult, she got sidetracked by the need to make a living. She worked as a waitress and later enrolled in college to become a teacher.
Lori lives in Southern Wisconsin with her husband of over thirty-five years. In between writing and reading, she enjoys long walks with their rescue mutt, Arnold, and visits from her two grown sons, awesome daughter-in-law and perfectly adorable grandchildren.
Virginia’s long history and many beauties attract millions of visitors each year;
however, some never leave.
Haunted Inns and Hotels of Virginia
by Susan Schwartz
Genre: Paranormal, Ghost Stories, Travel
Virginia’s long history and many beauties attract millions of visitors each year–and some never leave.
With some of the oldest inns in the country, Virginia has a multitude of options for travelers to sleep among the spirits. The historic Cavalier Hotel is haunted by the ghost of Adolph Coors, the beer magnate. Market Square Tavern is one of the original buildings in Williamsburg, and has some of the oldest haunts–including, possibly, Thomas Jefferson. The spirit of Mary Hooker still watches over her beloved home at King George’s Bell Grove Plantation. The family of the former owner of Natural Bridge Hotel are said to still walk the halls of historic building–after he killed them.
Plan a ghostly journey along Virginia’s byways with author and paranormal expert Susan Schwartz.
I have been an avid writer for around 25+ years doing everything from writing freelance articles to editing manuscripts for other authors. I also love to write horror stories that have a twist at the end.
My alter ego is an Operating Room Nurse/Nurse Educator who loves creating tales from the interesting and weird things I have seen. I am a member of the Horror Writers Association and the Virginia Writers Club where I have served as President of the Richmond Chapter and 1st Vice-President of the state organization. I have two novels in the works, a paranormal romance and a medical thriller. My non-fiction book, Haunted Charlottesville, was released in May 2019. Another paranormal book, Haunted Inns and Hotels in Virginia, will be released August 2023.
Genre: Dark Paranormal Romance, Wonderland Retelling
Mad as hatters, here they all are. To home and from, Rose is very far.
What would you do to claw your way back to the only home you’ve ever known? How far would you go to win?
To save herself, Rose must work with a dangerous, mysterious ally Night, who might just be her greatest threat.
When the rebels attack the small Hearts village, blacksmith Rose is thrown down the forbidden well and down it, she finds the Three Sisters of horror stories and folklore. With half the village down the well, the Sisters open the doors to the Hatterthon–a deadly game of murder and survival. If Rose ever wants to make it out alive, she must be more brutal than any other player and stick with Night–the mysterious player she’s allied with, threatens all she knows with his dangerous smiles and even deadlier eyes. In the Hatterthon, everyone is a little mad… And the only way out is to win. By any means necessary.
HEARTS is a Wonderland retelling, hold the Alice! Set in a medieval Wonderland, this series welcomes old favourites with a dark twist to a beloved story.
Genre: Dark Paranormal Romance, Red Riding Hood Retelling
A Dark Retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
The villagers call her Red. It’s the colour of her lips, her cloak, and the blood that stains her when she returns from the woods. The villagers call her Red for many reasons, but most of all, they’re too afraid to call her what she really is. Witch.But when a wolf stalks the village, Red might be the only one who can save them from the beast…the beast who has his sights set on her already. Red races against the three days until the full moon to uncover the wolf’s identity, find out what he wants from her, and save herself. To hell with the village, Red just wants to save herself. That’s what good witches do.
A dark re-telling of the old tale, where Red Riding Hood isn’t so little, and mightn’t be so good after all.
“A. BLACKBIRD” is a sister penname to “Q. BLACKBIRD”
With “A”, you’ll find all the Blackbird “SOFTER STORIES” – those with less graphic scenes, put simply. Cleaner tales that still explore dark themes, and more YA friendly reads.
With “Q” – the main penname – you’ll find those darker themed tales written in gritty, dark detail. Those books don’t pull their punches!
To keep these stories and content separate for the readers, “A” and “Q” BLACKBIRD are not connected on the book pages, but if both themes are to your liking, check out Q BLACKBIRD’s best-selling series, DARK FAE BLACK WORLD!! *all the content warnings apply*
I live in the Rebirth of the Fallen series. I’m summoned by Cinderhorn, in book 1, but you really don’t get to meet me until book 2.
Tell us about yourself:
I’m an over nine centuries old succubus, and I’m tired. I’ve been banished twice, and I don’t think I can endure another century of torture. This recent summoning is my last chance to make a life for myself, and I’ll let nothing stand in my way.
What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?
I spent my second century of banishment mastering several magical schools, including healing. It is quite rare for demons. Being ancient, I know many lost rituals, and approach my illusions and charms with a patience and attention to detail all but lost to younger demons.
Name three important people/creatures/institutions in your world (such as lovers, pets, government institutions, leaders, gods etc).
First, I want to acknowledge my summoner, Cinderhorn. He is an honorable and powerful demon.
I have become quite involved with Derregain’s hospital, the House of Healing. Initially, the sprawling building seemed a perfect place to hide, with the side-benefit of readily available blood and sacrifices, but after essentially taking the place over, I take pride in it.
I have recently taken a lover. Achillion, the Governor of Derregain, and I became somewhat intertwined. He spared my life after I barely survived my battle with Bonewalker, an enormous demon looking to claim the bounty on my head. I saved his life from an angry mob of drugged-up, crazed psycho children. He helped me defeat the moist meat monster… what can I say… we make a good team… and I think his cross dressing is adorable!
What does ‘heroism’ mean to you?
It means not taking the easy way out. It means crawling through the dust, no matter how exhausted, until you somehow make it back to the surface.
What do you think of your ‘creator’?
I have no creator.
Give us your favourite piece of advice:
Never sell yourself short. I’m just a lowly fourth order demon, yet I’ve accomplished things demon lords have failed to do. Don’t ever let someone else define you. You are as weak or as powerful as you want to be.
It’s taken Viking hunter Sven Knutson six frustrating months to find her. To track down the angel responsible for compromising the Forgotten Brotherhood and waking the drakon. She may be clever. Resourceful. But no one ever gets away from Sven. Ever.
All Rivka longed for as an angel was a chance to serve on Earth and help humans. Instead, it all went impossibly, horribly wrong, and she still doesn’t understand how or even why. All she knows is that she’s on the run—not only from Heaven’s dangerous elite guard, but also from the Brotherhood, who want answers.
She might just have to trust the immortal Viking whose icy blue eyes make her feel almost wickedly human. Because someone wants Rivka dead and the Brotherhood eliminated. Someone powerful enough to take on the most dangerous assassins who have ever lived. Someone who could unleash the fury of both Heaven and Hell…and Rivka is the key.
Each book in the Forgotten Brotherhood series is STANDALONE: * Fury Unleashed * Arctic Bite * Burning Ash * Bjorn Cursed * Ancient Desire * Hunter Avenged
Once upon a time N.J. had the idea that she would like to quit her job at the bookstore, sell everything she owned, leave her hometown, and write romance novels in a place where no one knew her. And she did. Two years later, she went back to the bookstore and her hometown and settled in for another seven years.
One day she gave notice at her job on a Friday morning. On Sunday afternoon, she received a tentative acceptance for her first romance novel and life would never be the same.
N.J. Walters is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author who has always been a voracious reader, and now she spends her days writing novels of her own. Vampires, werewolves, dragons, time-travelers, seductive handymen, and next-door neighbors with smoldering good looks–all vie for her attention. It’s a tough life, but someone’s got to live it.
Bio: Alice Quinn lives in York, England. After watching a fire demon kill her mother, she moved in with her aunt, half-brother Julian, and super-hot alpha werewolf, Ethan Jefferies. Before the death of her mother, Sophie Quinn, Alice was your average human, working in a deli and dreaming of a better life. Things have changed, if supernatural creatures aren’t trying to kill her, they’re determined to control her—in the name of keeping her safe.
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Alice Quin, and I am a Vampwitch— half witch and half vampire. Vampwitch—it sounds cool, unless, of course, you’re the one who is the Vampwitch. Life is complicated when you are half of something. An anomaly that shouldn’t exist.
Up until Mum died at the hands of a fire demon, named Arison, I thought I was a regular human. But then I didn’t know monsters of the supernatural kind really existed either. Now I’m stuck with a dad, Nathaniel Quinn, who I wish had stayed dead, not undead, a half-brother, and master vampire, Julian Quinn, who thinks he knows what is best for me, and an aunt, Mum’s sister Dorothy, I disappoint on a regular basis.
My best friend, Polly Palmer, is the only one of us celebrating my new supernatural powers. But then she thinks I can go around zapping people like superwoman and fly through the sky on a broomstick. Superwoman had it a lot easier, I can tell you.
There is this group of supernatural beings called MAMS (Magic Against Mixed Species – kind of a dumb unoriginal name if you ask me) that want to kill me. They don’t like the fact that Mum and Dad did the nasty and produced me. Apparently, I weaken the whole supernatural species.
Is your life now as you envisioned it? If not – then why?
Before Mum died, I was between jobs. I’m not sure how I envisioned my life to be before I became a Vampwitch. Something regular, I guess. A dog, a house, doing a spot of painting—I like to paint, not that I get the chance now. Maybe having a bit of fun before I got old. I’ve always wanted to travel. Visit far out places. Take a trip to the Amazon, or travel to the North Pole.
Now, with MAMS out there, and having to cram twenty-five years of supernatural knowledge in less than a few weeks, all I want is to make it to twenty-six.
Do you believe in monsters?
I never used to. Before my Vampwitch status, monsters were bad people who got locked up in prison. Now I know monsters exist because I’m one of them.
Do you believe in magic? How do you feel about it?
Even before Mum died, I believed in magic. Maybe not the kind of magic that supernatural’s have, but yeah, I believed. Earth is a magical place, if we open our eyes, and let it sweep through to our very core it can make us whole, removing our woes for a while.
I’ve always had a fascination with folklore. We seemed to appreciate the earth so much more when we believed in the Fae, creatures like the Selkie and Demi Gods then we do now. My Granddad is the Seelie King, so maybe my fascination with folklore stems from him. Not that we get on. For me, he’s just another relative that has come out the woodwork.
Would you die for those you love?
In a beat. There isn’t a day that goes by that I wish Arison had killed me, not Mum. We might not always get along, but Dorothy, Nathaniel, Julian, Oliver, Seberg, Polly, Ethan, Arthur, and Jack, are my family now. I’m not about to let them die because of me. So, if it comes to it, yes, I will die for those I love.
Who is your greatest enemy?
If you had asked me that question when I first learnt about my supernatural heritage, I would have said MAMS. Now, I’d tell you, my greatest enemy is me.
Tell us about your family?
Before, when Mum was alive, there was just the two of us. Now I’ve an aunt, Dorothy, mum’s sister, a Master Vampire for a dad, and half-brother, oh, and a granddad who doesn’t like me. But you know, I’ve also learnt recently, that family isn’t just about blood ties. Jack, who is a ghost, Arthur, an annoying, biscuit stealing gnome, my best friend Polly, and Ethan, who is an alpha werewolf, they are all my family. We don’t always like each other, but I know they’d do anything for me, and I’d do the same for them. But that’s family for you, life is filled with grey areas when it comes to family.
What is your greatest fear?
Being dead. I’m the first of my kind. No one knows if I’ll survive the transition to full vampire, or if I’ll become some crazy killing monster with no conscience. Then they’ll have to kill me for real, and there’s no more Alice Quinn.
I’m twenty-five, I don’t fancy ripping people’s hearts out and calling it fun. I’m not a violent person. When my brother, Julian asked me if I knew any fighting moves, I showed him my warrior two pose, he didn’t find it funny. But that’s as violent as I like to get, so turning into a monster, brings me out in hives. Not literally.
Do you believe you will be successful in your quest?
I hope so. Since embracing my inner Vampwitch I’ve learnt a few tricks. Of course, there is the fact that I’m unpredictable. Supernatural creatures don’t like that. They think magic gives them the ultimate power. A bit of cunning can out whit magic. Well, that’s what I’m hoping.
If I survive the death threat from MAMS, and don’t turn into a blood craving monster, my next quest is for everyone to stop calling me a Vampwitch and start seeing Alice Quinn again. It’s like I’ve lost my own identity. Everyone keeps saying I’m special, I’m not, I’m just a woman who wants to be able to make her own choices and live as normal a life as possible, without it being a big deal.
When the sun has set, when the moon is full, the shapeshifters gather—wolves, cats and totemic creatures, nightmares and revelations.
Seeking answers, seeking revenge, seeking a cure to affliction, seeking blood, seeking answers or seeking love—a gathering of beasts abounds. Dare you walk beneath the moonlight?
Library of Erana 