AJ Nuest tops today’s Buffet with Rowena’s Key, a HarperImpulse fantasy romance novella
Born in northern Wisconsin as the middle child of three girls, AJ now call Northwest Indiana home, along with her husband, two children and several pets.
As a youngster AJ preferred a solitary lifestyle, and would often disappear for hours with either a book or journal, happily content behind her closed bedroom door. She can’t remember a time when she didn’t write–poetry, song lyrics or a daily diary entry, jotting down her thoughts has always come naturally.
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Rowena’s Key (The Golden Key Chronicles, Book 1)
The key would unlock his future and the safety of his kingdom, but he never imagined the sorceress would unlock his heart…
Antiques restorer, Rowena Lindstrom, finds herself the owner of an ancestral armoire containing a hidden key and a magic mirror leading to another realm!
But the handsome warrior prince waiting on the other side is truly the final straw. This must be an elaborate joke, right? As she struggles to discover the truth, Rowena learns Prince Caedmon Austiere needs the key to save his kingdom. In the end, she cannot deny him anything. Including her heart.
Coming to Las Vegas: A true tale of sex, drugs & Sin City in the 70’s
Tells the story how the author arrived in Las Vegas in 1973 to join a circus and then opened the original MGM Grand Hotel, the world’s largest hotel/casino, as a cocktail waitress.
Fresh out of commercial art school, Hamilton moves from Los Angeles to Las Vegas with her boyfriend to join the newly-formed Las Vegas International Circus. When that job doesn’t “fly” she experiences a series of short-term jobs in order to save enough money to move back to LA.
But the MGM Grand Hotel, the world’s largest hotel/casino is scheduled to open, and Hamilton, who was also a former Playboy Bunny, is hired as a cocktail waitress.
She subsequently marries her boyfriend, a former undercover ATF officer now District Court bailiff, who is later revealed to be a bigamist.
Hamilton quickly learns the ways of the casino world. Along with several of her fellow workers, she battles sexual pressure from bartenders and the machinations of unscrupulous casino bosses who resent the tips players give to cocktail waitresses.
Don’t Be A Stranger (Valerie Inkerman Investigates Book 1)
When Valerie Inkerman’s roommate Jerry gets her a waitressing gig at cushy Hamptons party, she has no idea that murder is on the menu.
But when one of the guests is found dead and Jerry is accused of being the killer, Val knows she needs to utilise all her skills as a private investigator to clear his name.
Trying to track down the victim’s possible enemies and find new leads, Val faces distractions in the form of old acquaintances and a hot dinner date. But as Val’s leads all turn into dead ends, the killer seems to stay step ahead of her all the time.
Val knows she’s close to finding out the truth, but will she be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together before time runs out for Jerry or the killer strikes again?
Surface Tension (Seychelle Sullivan Suspense Book 1)
Years ago Seychelle Sullivan had the chance to save a person’s life. But on that summer night in Florida, lost in a world of teenage resentment and loneliness, Seychelle was not able to feel any pain but her own. Today Seychelle captains her father’s forty-six-foot salvage boat out of Fort Lauderdale’s New River. But she’s never escaped that one moment when she could have made a difference and didn’t.
On a steamy Florida morning Seychelle is answering a Mayday call launched from the five-million-dollar Broward yacht called Top Ten. Racing her fiercest competitor for salvage rights, Seychelle has a personal stake in this rescue: Her former lover, Neal Garrett, is the yacht’s hired skipper. But being the first to reach Top Ten leads to a bloody payday. A beautiful woman has been stabbed to death onboard. And Garrett is nowhere to be found.
While the police treat her as the prime suspect, Seychelle begins to unravel a tangled plot centered on a strip club where “all the girls are tens on top.” Seychelle is connecting human predators with innocent victims, and a mystery on land with a mystery buried deep beneath the sea. Now, to find out what really happened to Neal Garrett, Seychelle must retrace his last steps, through two murders and a horrific crime wave, to a final confrontation with someone who may want to kill her . . . or be her salvation.
The Christmas Violin
One Christmas. Three lives. One unforgettable story.
A widower, a grieving mother and a homeless woman have one thing in common – a cemetery.
Willow, a concert violinist, begins each morning by playing her son the lullaby she wrote for him at his tomb. The melody enchants Peter during his daily visit to his wife’s grave. The homeless woman, who finds refuge in the cemetery, is equally drawn to the haunting music.
Like a violin concerto, the story unfolds in three movements, unexpectedly intertwining the fates of these characters.
The Pickwick Papers
Charles Dickens’ first novel, The Pickwick Papers, was first published in 1836. Samuel Pickwick is the founder and perpetual president of the Pickwick Club. He and his fellow Pickwickians travel to the far-flung corners of London in search of adventure – luckily for the gentlemen, amusement and hilarity are never in short supply. Along their way, they encounter plenty of characters – from villains who land them in deep trouble to one woman who sues Pickwick to force him into marriage, providing the Pickwickians with plenty of tales to entertain.
Perfectly Ernest
From a distance, Ernie’s life seems perfect—he’s a star college baseball player adored by the student body and coveted by professional teams. Up close, he is a disaster. Since the death of his mother, he’s been trapped by a promise he made and forced to live her dream instead of his own. He reaches his breaking point in the biggest game of his young career and sets off a chain of events that will either define or destroy the rest of his life.
Ernie grudgingly joins a quirky campus counseling group that empowers him to heal himself and right his wrongs. By testing old friendships, forging unlikely new ones, and exploring an exciting romance, he begins to unravel the jumbled knot his tangled inner-psyche has become. But old rivals, mental illness, and the risk of a forbidden relationship soon threaten his progress. Will Ernie’s new direction and friends be his salvation, or confirmation that he is forever doomed by his imperfections?
Wrecked (Iron Seas)
Elizabeth has spent the past five years running from her father; her father’s huntsman, Caius, has spent the past five years pursuing her. But when he finally catches up to her on an airship flying above Europe’s zombie-infested cities, Elizabeth discovers that Caius isn’t the only danger she has to fear—and now that he’s found her, Caius doesn’t intend to let her go…
Ricochet: A Novel
From the bestselling author of Hello, Darkness and Smash Cut comes another steamy thriller of murder, love, and betrayal featuring a Savannah homicide detective fighting attraction in the heat of the South.
When Detective Sergeant Duncan Hatcher is summoned to the home of Judge Cato Laird in the middle of the night to investigate a fatal shooting, he knows discretion and kid-glove treatment will be key to staying in the judge’s good graces and keeping his job.
It’s an open-and-shut case: Elise, the judge’s beautiful trophy wife, interrupted a burglary and killed the intruder in self-defense. Yet Duncan is suspicious of the beautiful woman’s story of innocence and his gut tells him her account of the shooting is only partially true.
Determined to learn the dead man’s connection to the Lairds, Duncan investigates further but soon finds his career, and integrity, in jeopardy. Despite his suspicions, Duncan is increasingly drawn to Elise―even if she is a married woman, a proven liar, and a murder suspect.
When Elise seeks Duncan out privately, he initially dismisses her incredible allegation as the manipulative lie of a guilty woman. But if she’s telling the truth, then that single fatal gunshot at her home takes on even more sinister significance, possibly involving Duncan’s nemesis, the brutal crime lord Robert Savich.
And then Elise goes missing…
Unfinished Business (Silhouette Intimate Moments)
What was she doing here? Hyattown had changed very little in the years Vanessa Sexton had been away. In some ways her high school sweetheart, Brady Tucker, hadn’t changed much either—he was still lean, athletic, rugged…But the once reckless boy had become a solid, dependable man. He’d stood her up on the most important night of her life; could she ever trust him again?
So Vanessa had finally come home, Brady thought. She could still turn him inside out with one of her sultry looks. He couldn’t believe she hadn’t forgiven him for that night twelve years ago—but he’d had his reasons for not showing up. He’d let her leave town then—but he wasn’t going to let her get away this time…
The Bullet-Catcher’s Daughter: The Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire, Book 1
Elizabeth Barnabus lives a double life – as herself and as her brother, the private detective. She is trying to solve the mystery of a disappearing aristocrat and a hoard of arcane machines. In her way stand the rogues, freaks and self-proclaimed alchemists of a travelling circus.
But when she comes up against an agent of the all-powerful Patent Office, her life and the course of history will begin to change. And not necessarily for the better…
Delancey: A Man, a Woman, a Restaurant, a Marriage
In this funny, frank, tender memoir and New York Times bestseller, the author of A Homemade Life and the blog Orangette recounts how opening a restaurant sparked the first crisis of her young marriage.
When Molly Wizenberg married Brandon Pettit, he was a trained composer with a handful of offbeat interests: espresso machines, wooden boats, violin-building, and ice cream–making. So when Brandon decided to open a pizza restaurant, Molly was supportive—not because she wanted him to do it, but because the idea was so far-fetched that she didn’t think he would. Before she knew it, he’d signed a lease on a space. The restaurant, Delancey, was going to be a reality, and all of Molly’s assumptions about her marriage were about to change.
Together they built Delancey: gutting and renovating the space on a cobbled-together budget, developing a menu, hiring staff, and passing inspections. Delancey became a success, and Molly tried to convince herself that she was happy in their new life until—in the heat and pressure of the restaurant kitchen—she realized that she hadn’t been honest with herself or Brandon.
With evocative photos by Molly and twenty new recipes for the kind of simple, delicious food that chefs eat at home, Delancey is a moving and honest account of two young people learning to give in and let go in order to grow together.
The Selkie Enchantress (Seal Island Trilogy Book 2)
Irish islander Caitlin Conner has been in love with professor of Irish folklore Liam O’Sullivan for as long as she can remember. But just when he is starting to look at her as more than a friend, a mysterious woman arrives on Seal Island and captures his heart. As Caitlin discovers the truth behind the woman’s lies, she realizes Liam is trapped in a dangerous enchantment and the only way to break the spell is to uncover a secret Irish fairy tale that has remained hidden for hundreds of years. But when the petals of a white rose grown in winter start to fall, the legend is set in motion, and Caitlin must find a way to change the ending before the last petal falls.
… See the rest of today’s Editor’s Picks here on page 2