Thursday, February 5, 2026

Book Amplifier Tour with Guest Post for Katie's Really Bad Day by Kathleen Jeffrey

 

Guest Post from Kathleen Jeffery



My inspiration for writing this book…


I was an anxious child in school. Eventually this anxiety developed into test anxiety that stayed with me through college. It didn’t matter if I knew the answers, the panic still set in!


Many children experience anxiety in school for various reasons. In researching for this book, it was wonderful to learn of the many resources and tools available today for teachers to help their anxious students. Some students are very good at concealing their test anxiety feelings and may suffer needlessly while also thinking they are the only ones. In addition, test anxiety can lead to a pattern of underachievement.


I hope Katie’s story will help children identify their own anxious feelings, know that they are not alone and encourage them to tell their teachers and caregivers what is going on before their anxiety leads to “A Really Bad Day!”


For some children, anxiety appears suddenly, even in familiar places. In Katie’s Really Bad Day: A Story About Test Anxiety by Kathleen Jeffrey, illustrated by Susan Kilmartin, one school activity triggers overwhelming emotions and reveals how guidance and patience can help a child regain balance.


Katie enjoys learning and usually approaches her day with enthusiasm, but test days make her uneasy. When a spelling test begins, her anxious thoughts and physical sensations escalate quickly, leaving her unable to focus or write. Her reaction disrupts the room and leaves her feeling embarrassed and confused about her behavior.

With reassurance from her teacher, Katie begins to talk about what she experienced and why it felt so overwhelming. She is introduced to calming tools designed to help her regulate her breathing and slow her racing thoughts. Through practice, Katie starts to recognize her anxiety and understand that it does not mean she is incapable. The story gently shows how emotional awareness and practical strategies can help children regain confidence, while normalizing the idea that many students feel nervous before tests.

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4qDMemF


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/210447560-katie-s-really-bad-day



Meet the Author: Kathleen Jeffrey is an author of children’s picture books, fulfilling her mission to create stories that shine with love, light, spirit, truth, and joy—helping children navigate life’s challenges, explore big emotions, and grow with courage, kindness, and wonder. 

 

Visit Kathleen at her website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.



Book Review for Free Falling by Jill Shalvis

 Colburn Brothers #2

Free Falling by Jill Shalvis

Published:   February 3, 2026 by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Genre:   Contemporary Romance, Enemies to Lovers

Taken from Goodreads:  College rivals become workplace frenemies-turned-lovers in this warm, sexy contemporary romance from New York Times bestseller Jill Shalvis. First, they were rivals… Now they're stuck with each other…

Retired hockey player Caleb Colburn needs this construction project to prove himself in the family business, but he also needs to recover from the injury that ended his pro career. Too bad Emma Sumner, architect liaison and Caleb's college nemesis, is back in town and assigned to the project. They're going to have to see each other almost every day. Which means once again she'll make his life a living hell.

As for Emma, her job is on the line with this big project, made all the more challenging by the project manager. Caleb was the one who had snagged the scholarship she'd desperately needed to stay in college. She's been living hand to mouth ever since and has no intention of ever forgiving the man.

But the beautiful historic building they're renovating is exactly the kind of project that they both love best. Their surprising common ground and a burning mutual attraction start bringing them closer and closer to a potentially explosive mistake. And that's even before the secrets come out…

My Thoughts:  Hockey romance is my jam. While Caleb is a retired hockey player, this is still a hockey romance.   Jill Shalvis wrote an amazing book with fun characters and a flirty story.  I love that there is history between the two main characters and that history plays such a large part of their present and their future.

Emma is a strong female character, which I really like.   She worked hard to get where she is now and was not willing to let it go.   She knew this was her chance to get ahead in life and nothing was going to get in her way.  I liked that she took the hits and figured out how to make them strong, more sure of herself, and more successful. 

Free Falling is book two of the Colburn Brothers series.   They are both stand alone books, with the same small town setting, and characters that are found in both books.    Nothing was missed if you have not read book one.  I did read book one and it was fun catching up with that couple.

Thank you Hambright PR for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.


Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon

 

Meet the author(taken from her website):  Jill Shalvis is a New York TimesUSA Today, and Amazon Top 100 bestselling author of more than 20 million books sold worldwide. Known for writing sexy, funny, and full-of-heart romances, her stories are filled with small-town charm, adventures, shenanigans, and swoony moments that keep readers coming back for more. When she isn’t writing, Jill can usually be found with iced tea in hnd, chocolate within reach, and new happily-ever-afters on her mind. She lives in a quirky little mountain town near Lake Tahoe, surrounded by colorful characters (though any resemblance to the ones in her books are totally “coincidental)

Book Review for Just for the Cameras by Meghan Quinn

 

Bay Area Players #1

Just for the Cameras by Meghan Quinn

Published:  February 3, 2026 by Bloom Books

Genre:  Sports Romance, Fake Dating, Contemporary Romance

 


Taken from Goodreads:  From New York Times bestselling author Meghan Quinn comes a sizzling sports romance full of flamingo feathers, slow-burn heat, and one grump-meets-sunshine love story that's anything but fake.


They're faking it for the cameras. But what if the sparks are real?

Graydon St. John doesn't do drama―or public appearances. The brooding defensive end for the San Francisco Foghorns prefers silence, solitude, and avoiding headlines. But when a league-wide PR scandal forces him into a media stunt at the city zoo, he's suddenly face-to-face with squawking birds, nosy fans, and the zookeeper who seems to hate his guts on sight.

Maple Baker loves her flamingos. Loud, pink, messy? Sure. But they're hers. And the last thing she needs is a grumpy football player stomping into her sanctuary with a bad attitude and a bigger ego. Unfortunately, they've been paired for the zoo's new public outreach program, and the cameras are already rolling.

The banter is sharp. The tension is electric. And the more they pretend to play nice for the press, the more their fake flirtation starts to feel like something dangerously real.

But when family secrets, viral fame, and a PR romance gone off-script threaten everything Maple's worked for, Graydon must decide if he's willing to fight for love―or let it slip away to protect her.

 

My Thoughts:  Sports romance with fake dating…sign me up!  AND Meghan Quinn wrote it, I know that I am going to love this book!  Spoiler…I did love it!  Football is my least favorite sport so I almost passed but I am so glad that I did not.  Graydon is a jock jerk, Maple is a sweet geek.   They are perfect for each other.  They challenge each other, push each other’s buttons, and call each other out all while keeping to their PR relationship.

 

There are a lot of pages in this book, but I devoured it.  I could not wait to find time to read Just for the Cameras, sneaking time and staying up late.  The characters are fun, quirky, and so perfect for each other. I enjoyed seeing them fall for each other while fighting it at every turn.

 

Thank you to the author for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

 

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon



Meet the Author (taken from her website):  New York Times, #1 Amazon and USA Today Bestselling Author, wife, adoptive mother, and peanut butter lover. Author of romantic comedies and contemporary romance, Meghan Quinn brings readers the perfect combination of heart, humor, and heat in every book.

 

Never miss another new release! text “read” to 474747

Wednesday, February 4, 2026

Book Amplifier Tour with an Excerpt for One Alpen Day by Michele Davenport-Dutton


 

Built around a single, unexpected connection, One Alpen Day by Michele Davenport-Dutton follows two people whose lives intersect at a moment shaped by grief, responsibility, and the quiet hope that something better might still be possible.


After her marriage ends and her dreams of motherhood remain unfulfilled, Angela Sutton steps away from her former life to assist her aunt in running the family bakery. Her days are steady until Mason Glade, a famous actor, unexpectedly arrives.

Mason is dealing with the fallout of a strained marriage to Camila, whose alcoholism has placed their family under constant public scrutiny. With Camila entering rehab, Mason travels with his two young children and their nanny, seeking space and stability. As Angela spends time with the family, her kindness toward the children leaves a strong impression on Mason. He begins to imagine a life built around warmth and care rather than chaos. Still, unresolved ties and lingering responsibilities complicate his feelings.

Amazon: https://amzn.to/460BAhC


Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/206186582-one-alpen-day


EXCERPT:  Angela moved back to Grainau last year after Uncle Karl died from a massive heart attack at the age of seventy-six, leaving Aunt Terese to tend to their forty-year-old bakery alone. Around the same time, Angela had gone through a bitter divorce from her husband, Nick Sutton Jr. after three years of marriage. He had carried on his father’s legacy as a business mogul in L.A. Nick Jr. was in the Garmisch/Grainau area for business and it was there he met Angela at the bakery four years ago. He had swept her off her feet and dragged her to L.A where they were married a few short months later.


The Alpen Bakery, as named by Aunt Terese and Uncle Karl, carried an assortment of breads, rolls, sheet cakes and pastries. Bread is to Germans what cheese is to the French. There are more than four hundred types of bread in Germany. And, a good bakery such as Angela's aunt and uncle's, stocked at least ten to twenty kinds of breads, ten kinds of rolls and an assorted variety of sheet cakes and various pastries, including Aunt Terese's delectable Apple Strudel. Plus, it was said by locals that they made the best cappuccino in town. 


Angela was cleaning and dusting all the pictures and paintings displayed in the bakery, over the empty tables when she heard Aunt Terese yell.


“Oh, dear! Somebody left their wallet on the counter!” She looked inside to see if she could find identification. She peered sideways at Angela and batted her eyelashes. “Mason Glade,” she said. Angela's stomach turned in knots. Just hearing his name made her break out in goosebumps. 


“He'll be back soon enough,” and with that, Aunt Terese closed the wallet. “He won’t get far without his wallet,” she quipped enthusiastically.


Angela went back to spritzing glass cleaner on the glass covering the Neuschwanstein picture which had smudges all over from people, mainly kids, touching it. It's King Ludwig's most beautiful and prized castle. The rest of the walls displayed photos of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the ski jump, where the 1936 Winter Olympics were held. Both Aunt Terese and Uncle Karl's parents attended, as it was a huge event. Uncle Karl was just a baby at the time. Next to the Olympic pictures were framed news articles and interviews from that event. 


After she dusted the painting of the Zugspitze, Germany's tallest and most glorious mountain, which has her town of Grainau at its base, she went back into the kitchen and washed her hands. 


Aunt Terese saw Mason walking outside the front window and quickly shouted, “There he is, Angela!” 


Mason opened the door and walked up to the counter. “Hello, excuse me, but I believe I left my wallet here, or I'm really hoping it's here.” Aunt Terese picked it up from behind the counter and handed it to him. Mason was grateful he didn't lose it. “Oh, you don't know how scared I was, thinking I had lost it. Thank you so much,” he said, a nervous relief in his tone. At that moment, Angela walked out from the back and Mason said, “Wait, aren't you Angela?” He pointed over to the rear corner where he remembered seeing her choking. 


Angela’s insides did a cartwheel. She couldn’t believe he remembered her name from when Aunt Terese shouted it earlier, asking if she was okay. 


Angela cleared her throat. “Yes, Hi, I'm Angela.” She reached out her hand and Mason shook it. 


“Hello Angela. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Mason, by the way. You work here?” 


Her hands were clammy and sweaty from her nerves. “Yes, this is my Aunt Terese and Uncle Karl's bakery. They've owned it for forty years now.”  



Michele Davenport-Dutton has loved reading since childhood and was once the top reader at her Montessori school in Garmisch, Germany. A lifelong fan of heartfelt love stories with happy endings, she finally brought her own story to the page with this debut novel. Michele earned her bachelor’s degree in Business Management from CSUB before putting her career on hold to raise her family, spending nearly 30 years as a stay-at-home mom. Now fulfilling a long-held dream of becoming an author, she lives in Shafter, California, with her husband, Chris. Together they have eight adult children and seven grandchildren, with hopes for many more. Visit Michele on
Instagram.






Book Blitz for When Time Flies by Jennifer Moreno with a GIVEAWAY

 

When Time Flies
Jennifer Moreno
Publication date: February 3rd 2026
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Romance, Time-Travel

She was just a flight attendant…until she landed in her past.

Indy Kash is a corporate flight attendant, jet-setting with the rich and famous in a world most only glimpse through glossy magazine covers. But beneath the polished service and designer luggage lies a past she’s spent years trying to forget. When a mysterious time-slip yanks her mid- flight into the trauma that derailed her life thirteen years ago, Indy is forced to face the crime that destroyed her future—and the man who made sure she took the fall.

Back in the present, he’s suddenly on board her jet, and Indy’s thrown into a battle across time to stop him from destroying the world. With a reluctant spirit guide, a crash course in time travel, and a love she never saw coming, Indy must untangle the past to rewrite her future.

Can she finally clear her name, save the world, and discover if time really does heal all wounds?

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

The old rage from my liver rose, and my intestines churned like an electric whisk on the lowest speed. I was a cliché of both Chinese medicine and Ayurveda. The fact that my shame, anger, and fear culminated into Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) really made me textbook. As the spiritual experts would say: You keep holding onto old crap.

I’d tried everything to let go of the past. I talked about my feelings to numerous therapists—some good, some not. I even attempted the “woo-woo” including:

Inner child work.

A soul retrieval from a Native American shaman (Apparently my soul couldn’t be retrieved).

Good ole fashioned journaling.

Cry therapy.

Ayahuasca in the Amazon jungle (The result? Shitting and vomiting at the same time).

Exploring my “shadow side.”

Breath work while a didgeridoo played in the background (One word: painful).

Shrooms.

Trauma workshops.

Belief coding.

Vision boarding (I was desperate).

Transcendental Meditation.

Ketamine.

Visits to psychics, mediums, astrologers, and tarot readers, who all agreed…

I was pretty fucked.

Then I returned to the Western approach and did a one-week stint each with Lexapro and Zoloft, which only gave me migraines. I freakin’ loved the I-can’t-even-get-anxious-if-I-wanted-to feeling of Xanax…but alas, it wasn’t enough.

Nothing worked.

I let out a sigh from my belly, as a multitude of yoga teachers had taught me. As I expelled the air, I felt strange…odd…not dizzy, not nauseous, but weird. I checked the monitor that displayed the airshow. Time To Destination, or TTD, was three hours to go until we landed in Teterboro, New Jersey.

The words and numbers on the monitor blurred into an astigmatism.

I rounded the corner into the crew rest and then plopped onto the club seat. Exhaustion crawled through my veins like slow lightning. My vision pulsed. The feeling was jetlag times infinity. I tried to stay centered and think through what was happening. I had been flying, almost nonstop to save money to buy a house. Crossing all those time zones and the constant fatigue combined with the IBD did not make for a healthy lifestyle.

I’d let myself get that run down. Damn.

My body felt weightless. It was like the moment before a fall, that breathless pause—only it never ended. A newfound hum in my ears grew until it swallowed my every thought. My eyes darted over my lap to the khaki fabric wall and finally to the window. The sky brightened to an angelic white, nearly blinding me. I wasn’t dizzy. I had the urge to stare straight ahead, yet I could not focus.

Am I vaporizing?

I stretched out my fingers. They were disappearing! I felt so airy, as if I could levitate off the seat. I grasped the armrests until…

I couldn’t grasp them anymore.

The outline of my body began to blur. I lost the solidity of flesh. Tiny sparks of light flickered along my arms, breaking apart into floating specks, like dust in the sun. These particles—that were once me—scattered outward. Where I had sat, I was now only a swirl of luminous dust, leaving me somewhere between confused and terrified.

The world spun ahead of me, leaving no room for panic, no room to understand. In an instant, purple lightning hummed and sounded like the constant static of a bug zapper. The spinning intensified, yet I wasn’t queasy.

What the fuck is going on?

I realized I was spinning through blackness, as if I was on an otherworldly plane. Then the particles of my body snapped back together and returned it to its human shape. I kept rotating and twirling until, out of nowhere, I smelled old wood and cleaning solution. And then…

There I was, sitting on a chair in a—was it a courtroom?

My mouth was so dry it felt like sand had settled on my tongue. A dull ache pulsed behind my temples, the kind that usually came from waking too early and too thirsty. My eyes darted across the courtroom, desperate to anchor on something steady, but every face seemed sharpened against me, a blur of judgement I couldn’t decipher. My chest tightened, heavy as stone, and though I begged my body to move, shift, or raise even a finger, nothing obeyed. It was as if my body had betrayed me; every molecule refused to budge. Before I could get one thought together, I heard:

“Indy, doodoo, what’s wrong?”

Mom.

Where am I?

Author Bio:

Jennifer Moreno has a master’s degree in creative writing from New York University. She was a corporate flight attendant for six years and is the host of the Corporate Flight Attendant podcast.

She is deeply involved in metaphysical practices, including obtaining certificates in trance and advanced mediumship; medical intuition; and psychic detection. She is also a reiki master and hosted a metaphysical podcast called Two Inches Off the Ground.

In her personal life, Jennifer is a proud Colombian adoptee. As a Colombian American, she enjoys improving her Spanish and exploring her roots in her native Colombia. “Jennifer” is her adopted American name, and “Moreno” is her original Colombian surname, thus combining these different…yet magical cultures.


GIVEAWAY!

When Time Flies Blitz


Book Review for Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb

 

In Death #62

Stolen in Death by J.D. Robb

Published:  February 3, 2026 by St. Martin's Press

Genre:  Romantic Suspense, Mystery Thriller

Taken from Goodreads:  A violent death and a vault of stolen treasures has Eve Dallas struggling to solve crimes old and new in the latest thriller in the #1 New York Times-bestselling series.

A blow to the head with a block of amethyst has left multibillionaire Nathan Barrister dead―while nearby, a vault, its door ajar, sits filled with priceless paintings, jewelry, and other treasures. Lieutenant Eve Dallas’s husband, Roarke―who misspent his youth in Ireland as a scrappy thief―recognizes at least two stolen pieces among the hoard. The crime scene suggests a burglar caught in the act. But only one item seems to be missing.

Then it’s revealed that the vault had actually belonged to the victim’s late father―and no one in the household knew it was there until a recent remodeling project exposed it. To protect the family name and business, they explain to Eve, they’d been looking for a way to return the ill-gotten gains anonymously and avoid the police. But now the police are all over their elegant house, and have a bigger, bloodier mystery to solve.

By all accounts, Nathan Barrister was a good man, a generous employer, a devoted husband and father. As for his father―he clearly had secrets. Now it’s up to Eve and her team to find out if those secrets got Nathan killed―and if it was a crime of passion or revenge.

My Thoughts:  I am a fan of J.D. Robb.  I have read most of the In Death series and enjoy them all.   Stolen in Death is #62 in the series.   I like that the characters are familiar, it is like visiting old friends each time I pick up the next book in this series.   Eve and Roarke have an amazing relationship.  Their friends are unique and keep the storyline interesting. 

Stolen in Death is not my favorite.   I felt like the story moved a little slower than some of the other books.  There was not as much social time for Eve and Roarke with their friends as with other books.  With the lack of that time, the entire book concentrated on the murder and solving it.   I felt it was a little repetitive.  The same theories were repeated over and over without moving forward in the solving.   There were areas of the book that I felt were just filling pages to make the word count. 

If you are a fan of J.D. Robb I would recommend you pick up this book.   It is always enjoyable to catch up with Eve and Roarke. 

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for a copy of the book via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Add to your MUST-READ list on Goodreads

Purchase your own copy on Amazon


Meet the Author (taken from her website):  With a phenomenal career full of bestsellers, Nora Roberts was ready for a new writing challenge. As her agent put it, like Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, and caffeine-free Pepsi, a pseudonym offered her the opportunity to reach a new and different group of readers. The first futuristic suspense J. D. Robb book, Naked in Death, was published in paperback in 1995, and readers were immediately drawn to Eve Dallas, a tough cop with a dark past, and her even more mysterious love interest, Roarke.

 

The series quickly gained attention, great reviews, and devoted readers. Since the debut of Loyalty in Death (the ninth In Death book) on Halloween 1999 on the New York Times bestseller list, every J. D. Robb title has been a New York Times bestseller. While fans had their suspicions, it wasn’t until the twelfth book in the series, Betrayal in Death (2001), that the publisher fully revealed that J. D. Robb was a pseudonym for bestselling powerhouse Nora Roberts. Unmasked, Nora Roberts fans who hadn’t yet picked up one of the Robb books were quickly playing catch-up.

 

Robb’s peers in the mystery world are fans as well, with accolades for the In Death series from such blockbuster authors as Stephen King, Jonathan Kellerman, Dennis Lehane, Kathy Reichs, Lisa Scottoline, Janet Evanovich, David Baldacci, Harlan Coben, Robert B. Parker, Ridley Pearson, Linda Fairstein, and Andrew Gross.

 

The In Death books are perpetual bestsellers, and frequently share the bestseller list with other Nora Roberts novels. J. D. Robb publishes two hardcover In Death books per year, with the occasional stand-alone original In Death story featured in an anthology.

 

Check out my thoughts on some of the other books in this series:



Framed in Death by J.D. Robb  HERE






Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb HERE






Passions in Death by J.D. Robb HERE






 

 

Tuesday, February 3, 2026

Release Blitz for Satan's Valentine by Isla Stelmark

 



Satan's Valentine by Isla Stelmark is now live!



They warn you not to make a deal with the devil, but I clearly wasn’t listening. It’s just one date. One fake date. On Valentine’s Day. How difficult could being Satan’s Valentine really be?


Damian Edgerton has it all. His penthouse apartment in the city, his thriving business, the authority, respect, and fear of the people he works with and who works for him. Settling down isn’t his style. Relationships are nothing but a weakness, and Damian doesn’t tolerate weakness. But when a potential client assumes Damian is in a relationship and invites him and his girlfriend to a Valentine’s Day dinner to close the deal, Damian doesn’t correct him. Now he needs a date, and fast.


Brielle Collins has no interest in making friends at her new job. She’s been down that road before and all it did was cause drama and damage her reputation. When her new boss, who the office has dubbed Satan, demands her presence at a dinner on Valentine’s Day, her first reaction is to run. But she does need that extra vacation day to fly home for the weekend, and this could be exactly the leverage she needs. And really, what harm could one dinner cause? How difficult could being Satan’s Valentine really be?





 Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://bit.ly/4iHu0xK      


Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4an0kDG 



A black and white sign with white text
 
 Description automatically generated  A black and white sign with white text
 
 Description automatically generated


Meet Isla Stelmark



Isla Stelmark is an author of contemporary romance novels. Born and raised in a coastal town in Massachusetts where she currently resides, Isla has been an avid reader throughout her life. When she's not spending her time writing love stories with untamed hearts and sexy book boyfriends, she can either be found with her nose in a book and a hot cup of coffee (or sometimes iced) or enjoying the nature around her.

 

Connect with Isla 

  Amazon | https://bit.ly/3Qnb360 

Goodreads | https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/53725496.Isla_Stelmark    

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566989366536         

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/islastelmark_author/