Try not to wonder what secret darkness your neighbors or classmates hold in
their hearts for you.
It’s about the hidden dark thoughts that all of us think every day.
Most of us would never act on them, we’re not sociopaths, but what if
there was a circumstance where through supernatural intervention, you
couldn’t help but act on those hidden desires? That’s what IN
DARKNESS is about, the lethality in those hidden, benign shadows that some
of our thoughts live inside.
Dark thoughts, like cream, will always rise to the top at the wrong
moment.
About the Author:
Russell Rothberg has worked in television as a writer and Executive
Producer for the Peacock series, Long Bright River, based on the bestselling
novel, as well as for the Paramount+ series The Offer. Before
returning to his roots as a writer, Russell was the Executive VP of Drama
Development at Universal Television, where he developed series such as Bates
Motel, Chicago Fire, Shades of Blue and Emerald City. Russell started
his career as an actor-writer-director with an original play, Life After
Death, at the Intar Theatre in NYC. Born and raised in New York City,
Russell currently lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Vera. In Darkness is
his first novel.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s Emma, this joyful Christmas romp tells the story of a woman who can’t stop trying to help everyone around her find their happily-ever-after—even when her help leads to disaster.
Title: The Merry Matchmaker
Author: Sheila Roberts
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Pages: 336
Genre: Women's Fiction/Romance/Holiday
About the Book:
Frankie Lane knows what’s best for just about everyone but herself. Her divorced sister, Stef, who is too young to give up on love; her shy employee, Elinor; and her daughter, Natalie, who works in Frankie’s shop, Holiday Happiness, and really needs to start her own business selling the delectable chocolates she makes at home; even her best friend, Viola, who is trying to renovate her old Victorian. Frankie knows she could help all of them, if they’d just let her—and if all of her help didn’t end in utter disaster.
Then there’s Mitch Howard, the owner of the local hardware store. They’ve been friends ever since Frankie opened her store, nine years earlier. He got her through the nightmare when she lost her husband in a freak accident, and he’s her favorite shoulder to cry on. He’s been divorced for years, and it’s such a waste of man! Mitch is the fittest, finest man Frankie knows. He’s easygoing, wise and kindhearted. Mitch needs someone. And she’s determined to help him find that someone—whether he likes it or not.
My Review:
The Merry Matchmaker is a wonderful women's fiction novel. I loved the multi-faceted story about several women in different phases of their lives. Frankie is a widow, small business owner, and busybody who wants nothing more than to help those around her find love, that is, except for herself. Stef is divorced but looking for love. When Brock enters the picture as a new employee at the hardware store nearby, Frankie is certain he's for Stef. Brock only has eyes for someone else, though. Adele is a widow who isn't opposed to finding love again, but only if Frankie doesn't try to help. Elinor is Frankie's employee and very shy around men. When Frankie offers to help with a makeover, she discovers she's created a monster. A monster that forces Frankie to finally do what's best for herself, before it's too late. Frankie's inability to look beyond her past almost cost her her future.
Each character in The Merry Matchmaker is fantastic. I loved Frankie. Her heart was in the right place even if her matchmakings skills weren't. Stef was a bit bratty at the beginning but she rounded out nicely. Adele is a great character. I loved how she was written. Mitch is swoonworthy. Any woman would be lucky to have him. I loved how the author created and molded him.
The author did a fantastic job creating and developing the characters and story. The world-building was exceptional and I felt like I was right in the middle of their lives. I love the author's writing style. It's conversational, uplifting, realistic, and full of emotion. If you are looking for a captivating women's fiction novel with romance and wonderful holiday setting, grab a copy of The Merry Matchmaker.
WHO KNEW THAT THE WORD HELP COULD TURN INTO A whole other four-letter word?
Not Frankie Lane, that was for sure.
Although it wasn’t help that her friend Viola muttered when the two women stood looking at the pile of wallpaper that had slid down the wall and onto the floor in the dining room of Viola’s fixer-upper Victorian. The section Frankie had put up, not Viola’s.
“I don’t understand what happened,” Frankie said, gaping at it.
Viola heaved a sigh.
Everything had looked fine before they’d stepped into the kitchen in search of wine to celebrate the completed job. By the time they were back in the dining room to toast, the wallpaper was toast. Soggy toast. Frankie had to get back to her shop, and here was…this. Obviously, she couldn’t leave her friend with such a mess.
“I’ll just put this back up again,” Frankie said, hurrying over to the sodden pile.
Viola rushed after her. “No! Don’t touch anything. I know you want to help.”
“I do!”
“But please don’t.”
Ouch. That hurt.
This had all been Frankie’s great idea. “You have to have wallpaper in an old Victorian,” she’d said. “It will look so cute with the wainscoting,” she’d said as she showed her friend what she’d found online.
“I don’t think wallpapering is your forte,” Viola said in an attempt to remove the sting. “Anyway, you should get back to the shop. We can drink our wine this evening. Terrill won’t be home until the wee hours.”
“Are you sure? I can get it right this time, and I hate to leave you with this mess. It won’t work for your blog.”
“Sure, it will. Every home improvement project has set-backs. This will make my finished project look more impressive. Anyway, your mom’s probably ready to throttle you by now for leaving her in charge for so long.”
“Are you kidding? Mom loves being in charge, and I haven’t been gone that long. But you’re right. I should get back. How about I make this up to you by picking up a pizza for us?”
“Excellent idea,” Viola approved. “And ask Adele not to hate me for stealing you on Small Business Saturday. I forgot about that when Terrill deserted me to go to work.”
“It’s okay. We weren’t that busy. Yesterday was our big day.”
But Viola was right. Frankie had a business to run, and she needed to get back to it.
She got into her Prius and headed off to beautiful downtown Carol, where she had her shop, Holiday Happiness.
Thanksgiving was over, and the shop, which featured all manner of Christmas decor, had done a whopping business the day before with customers crowding in to take advantage of the Black Friday sale, check out the latest Christopher Radko ornament or pick up an Advent calendar. Or simply chat.
Downtown was now decorated for Christmas, thanks to all the shop owners and the chamber of commerce getting busy Friday morning. The lampposts were ringed with red plastic ribbon tied in bows. Swags of greenery and fat old-fashioned lights hung over shop windows, and the big banner strung across Main Street announced A Carol Christmas—Santa Walk December 21.
The Santa Walk had been Frankie’s brainchild, and this would be its third year. All the downtown shops would be offering coupons and special discounts and passing out treats.
Santa would come to town and set up in the town square gazebo. Mrs. Claus would be on hand to accompany him during the Santa parade and to help greet the children who were excited to see him as well as their parents.
Frankie had been Mrs. Claus both previous years and was looking forward to a repeat performance. After all, she was Mrs. Holiday Happiness.
She didn’t go right into her shop. Instead, she walked next door to Handy’s Hardware, which would be the perfect place to get an apology prezzie for Viola. With all the work she and her policeman husband, Terrill, were doing on their house, the hardware store had become their home away from home.
Terrill happened to be cruising by in his patrol car. He stopped and let down his window and called, “How’d it go?
Am I still Mr. DooDoo?”
Frankie snickered. “Maybe. She wound up calling me to help her finish.”
“Did you?”
“Sort of but not really. I’m on pizza patrol.”
“All the works?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied. “If you’re lucky, we’ll save you some.”
He gave her a thumbs-up and cruised on down the street. Pizza would go a long way in making up for the wallpaper mess she’d left her friend with. Hopefully a Handy’s Hardware gift card would do the rest.
The hardware store was ready for Christmas. Someone had made fresh popcorn in the circus popcorn cart, and the aroma made her mouth water. No popcorn for her today, though.
She was on a mission.
She moved past the display of artificial trees and the shelves of Christmas lights and garlands and went straight to the checkout, where she selected a card with a hammer on it and Handy Holidays written above it in red. She spotted her pal Mitch Howard in the paint section and, after purchasing the card, went over to say a quick hi.
A hefty fifty something man in Carhartts ogled her as she walked past. She wasn’t dressed to inspire ogles in her jeans and boots and the old letterman jacket that had belonged to her husband, Ike, but she was still good-looking enough to attract attention. And she appreciated an occasional ogle (as long as it didn’t turn into a leer).
Fifty had been a hard birthday. Even though she was fit and her hair was still a rich auburn thanks to her hairdresser, she felt the passing of time like an insult with those tiny wrinkles
digging into her face and the gray hairs that were constantly multiplying and kept her going to the salon. When it came to aging, Mother Nature was not very nice to her daughters.
But oh well. What did it matter, really? Frankie wasn’t in the market for anyone to replace Ike. He was irreplaceable, and it had broken her heart and shredded her world when she lost him four years earlier. The kid who’d taken him out had been texting and driving and had felt terrible, but feeling terrible after you’ve killed someone wasn’t enough to bring the person back.
The community had come alongside her, offering sympathy, hugs, meals and cards, and her family and friends had checked in on her often. She’d felt their love, but nothing could replace the love she’d lost. She soldiered on, keeping the shop going, keeping her life going, reminding herself to be thankful for the people she still had left—her mother, her sister, her
daughter, Natalie, and Natalie’s little family.
And Mitch Howard, who owned Handy’s. He had been there for her both when she first started her business and again during that awful time after Ike died.
“You’ve got this,” he’d said seven years earlier after she’d signed the lease for her shop and then instantly experienced a confidence crisis. He’d said it again when he stopped by Holiday Happiness a month after Ike’s memorial and she’d confessed that she didn’t think she could go on.
“Yes, you can,” he’d assured her. “You’re a strong woman.”
He kept stopping in, often with a latte from The Coffee Stop just a couple doors down from their businesses. Next thing she knew, she was returning the favor.
It was only natural they would become close. They already were friends. She and Ike had known Mitch before she’d opened her shop and become business neighbors with him.
Of course, everyone with a house knew Mitch.
He’d taken over the hardware store after his father retired and his parents moved to Arizona. Mitch himself had moved away for a while, but he returned and settled right back in,
working again in the same store that had employed him as a teenager. Eventually he became the owner.
He was Frankie’s favorite pal, always up for helping her test out a new cop show or watching a Seahawks game together.
Like her, he was single; unlike her, he was divorced with an ex- wife who was ancient history. He was a great guy—fun-loving and kind and easygoing. And handsome—slim but broad-shouldered, with a perfect square jaw and dark hair turning to salt and pepper at the temples. Then there was that lopsided smile that her mother once said made her think of Harrison Ford. When he was young…oh, baby!
(Mom had been in touch with her inner cougar for years.)
Mitch was probably the fittest fifty-eight-year-old man in town. Him being single was a waste of man, if you asked Frankie. Not that he had.
“Leave the poor man alone,” Ike had said whenever she’d talked about finding someone for Mitch. “He’s smart enough to figure out what he wants and go for it.”
Still, she’d persisted in trying to set Mitch up because Frankie was convinced that, when it came to love, very few men were smart.
“You’re a fine one to talk,” her mother had said. This was after Frankie had shared her profound observation a few months earlier, after her latest attempt to help Mitch had failed.
“It’s different for me,” Frankie said.
Unlike Mitch and his ex, there had been no parting by mutual consent. Frankie didn’t need to try again and do better. She’d had a great marriage only to have her man snatched violently from her. One minute Ike had been off to go for a run and the next he was gone. His death had left a hole in her heart that refused to completely close. She doubted it ever would, and even if it did, she had no desire to put herself in a position of facing such a loss again.
“Hey there,” Mitch greeted her as she joined him. “How’s the wallpapering going?”
“Hers or mine?”
He cocked his head, studied her. “Let me guess. Something went wrong.”
“Only on my side of the wall. Doing penance.” She held up the gift card, and he chuckled. “And I’m taking pizza over after I close up.”
“Can’t screw that up,” he said.
She frowned. “I hope not. I suck.”
“Nah, you don’t. It’s not easy to hang wallpaper. Anyway, you have other talents.”
“Like?”
“Helping people.”
The way she’d helped Viola. Frankie gave a snort.
“You’re good at making things happen.” He pointed out the window to where the banner hung. “The Santa Walk’s been a big success. People love you, Frankie. Not everyone can say that.”
“It’s nice of you to say it.”
“Just speakin’ the truth.”
“Thanks for making me feel better.”
“Call it an early Christmas present. We still on for Cop Stop tomorrow night?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “I’ve already got the chips and salsa.”
“Good,” he said with a nod. “I’ll bring the beer.”
A blonde in black leggings, thigh-high boots and a pink wool coat strolled over. “Hi, Mitch,” she purred. “Can you help me pick out some paint for my bedroom?”
Gack, thought Frankie in disgust.
“Be right with you,” Mitch said with a smile.
“You can do better than that,” Frankie said as the woman sashayed away.
“Yeah? How?”
She could tell by that lopsided grin that he was teasing her.
She pointed a finger at him. “You need help.”
“There’s a lot of things I need, Frankie, but you helping my love life isn’t one of them. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d better go help my customer,” he added with a wink. “Try not to be jealous.”
“You should be so lucky,” she said to his retreating back.
“Stubborn man,” she muttered, and left to go next door to her shop.
Honestly, Mitch could have his pick of women. He shouldn’t be living alone, eating takeout and tuna fish sandwiches. Getting hounded by predators in pink coats. What if one of them succeeded? Mitch needed someone special, someone with some depth to her, someone who would see him as more than a big slice of beefcake. He really needed a guiding hand. Hers.
Of course, whoever he wound up with would have to share because Frankie had no intention of giving up her best buddy.
All the more reason to help him find his perfect Mrs. Claus.
USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly best-selling author and fan favorite, Sheila Roberts has over fifty books to her credit. Under different names she’s written Regency romance novels as well as devotionals and personal development books. She has seen her novels made into movies for the Lifetime, Hallmark, and Great American Family channels.
The
Scheme is a must-read because it is the first book in an exciting
new mystery series. This first book introduces a team of private detectives
with one foot in their past lives as spies. A twist on the traditional mystery,
Carson Crime Files invites you into a world where no case is as simple as it
seems and no secret stays hidden for long.
In The Scheme, a
wealthy man hires Katherine Carson and her team to find his missing daughter.
As they dig into her life, they discover her mysterious boyfriend is nowhere to
be found. The case is riddled with conflicting theories, and a sleazy private
detective has been trailing the young woman for reasons that don’t quite add
up. What starts as a simple missing persons case leads the detectives to
navigate a maze of old grudges and race to stop a wicked scheme from taking any
more victims.
For me, this book is about more than just the mystery. Yes,
there’s plenty of intrigue, twists, and turns—readers will definitely be kept
guessing—but it’s also a story about redemption and facing the parts of
ourselves that we try to bury. Katherine has to deal with her own past as she
works through the case, and that struggle, I think, is what makes her
intriguing. She has unique non-romantic relationships with both of the male
protagonists. The camaraderie among these three former spies is one of my favorite
aspects of the story.
My other female protagonist is Sammi, a recent college
graduate with a dream of becoming a detective. She brings this youthful energy
and enthusiasm that I think a lot of readers will connect with. I love Sammi
because she’s idealistic and constantly grappling with the moral gray areas
that come with the job.
Writing this book was a passion project for me. I wanted to
create a story that was both thrilling and emotional, where the characters feel
real and their struggles resonate with readers. If you are intrigued by
mysteries with a touch of spycraft and characters you can truly root for, this
book is for you.
Genre:
Mystery
About the Book:
Katherine Carson, a former intelligence operative turned private detective, has never been in it for the money. But when a desperate CEO offers double her usual fee to find his missing daughter, she can't refuse.
Set in Baltimore, 2009, what begins as a simple missing person inquiry transforms into a complex case of espionage, financial crime, and deep-seated grudges. For Katherine, this case strikes a personal chord, stirring up haunting memories from her own past. As unexpected connections emerge, she must confront her unresolved guilt.
Can Katherine and her team of private detectives solve the case before it's too late, or will the turmoil of her past consume her?
Read Excerpt One:
Katherine slowed down as she closed the final feet between them. Her target was cornered. Marty attempted a final desperate move, grabbing some scaffolding to haul himself up. The cold metal groaned in protest and shook under his weight. Katherine reacted instinctively as the scaffolding began to shudder. She leapt over the scattered debris, snatched Marty by his belt, and pulled with all her strength. She managed to rip Marty away mere moments before the neglected structure top-pled over, sending a billow of dust and debris into the air.
They both covered their faces and waited for the dust to settle. Marty’s chest heaved as he gaped at the place where he had been standing moments before.
He coughed and stammered. “You saved me.”
“Don’t get sentimental on me, Marty, I need information.” Her eyes blazed with intensity. “Why did you run?”
“Are you kidding? The last thing I want is to tangle with you again. I couldn’t believe it when they told me you’d be on the other side of the case.” Marty tried to scramble to his feet.
“What case? And who's they?” Katherine helped Marty up.
“The prosecutors. The stolen pesticide?”
“Marty, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard about stolen pesticide. I’m here to ask for your help,” Katherine gritted her teeth, “as one professional to another.”
“Oh.” Marty looked relieved and straightened his coat. “In that case, sure. Anything you want.”
"Great. I'm looking for a young woman who has gone missing. Tell me why you were following Olivia Ames."
Meet the Author:
Amethyst Drake is a passionate storyteller. She excels at crafting delightful characters and enjoys developing com-plex relationships among them. Mystery has always been her favorite genre to read, making it a natural choice for her writing. She aims to blend her personal experience with mental health and the moral complexities of intricate interpersonal relationships into engaging novels.
Amethyst loves reading all kinds of mysteries, suspense, and thrillers and enjoys watching classic detective and espionage dramas like "Murder, She Wrote," "Perry Mason," and "Mission: Impossible."
She also loves hearing from readers! Connect by signing up for her newsletter at amethystdrake.com or email amethyst@agswordsmiths.com
The author will award a $25 Amazon GC and a signed book to one randomly drawn winner, a $10 Amazon GC and a signed book to a second randomly drawn winner, and a signed book to a third randomly drawn winner.