**A raging fire devoured the world of the Ancients.** Where once great cities stood with towers reaching the sky, now there’s nothing but ruins submerged in the sand, monuments to a civilization that thought itself invincible. But even in this endless wasteland where the sun beats down mercilessly and water is more valuable than gold, there’s a place for life and hope. However, those who find new life here value nothing other than strength. The weak don’t survive. The strong don’t apologize. 🏜️
Enjoying his childhood, he paid no attention to the world, its secrets, or to those around him plotting in the shadows. Little did he know that **his ignorance would be his undoing.** Now, as an outcast looked down upon by everyone in his community, he has to endure humiliation as he stares into the eyes of the one who took everything from him—his father, his status, his future. Life had taught him the hard way that the strong wouldn’t hesitate to stab the weak in the back, then smile while doing it. ⚔️
But what if he became one of the strong? **How much power would it take to avenge his father’s death?** How much power would he need to bleed dry the bastard that took everything from him and left him with nothing but rage and determination? Would the others learn their lesson, or would they, too, seek to get their revenge in an endless cycle of violence? Between mastering ancient cultivation techniques, surviving brutal training, climbing the ranks in a world where mercy is weakness, and planning vengeance against those who destroyed his family, he discovers that power comes with a price—and he’s willing to pay it in blood. 🔥
What makes this intense: Raging fire devouring world of Ancients leaving only wasteland ruins, childhood ignorance becoming his undoing as outcast enduring humiliation, staring into eyes of one who took everything including father, life teaching strong stab weak in back, and questioning how much power needed to avenge father’s death and bleed bastards dry.
Life gets complicated for Jane and her Death Diva business when **she’s hired to liberate a gaudy mermaid brooch from the corpse during a wake—on behalf of the rightful owner, supposedly.** Well, a girl’s got to make a living, and this assignment pays better than scattering ashes, placing flowers on graves, or bawling her eyes out as a hired mourner at funerals for people she’s never met. The Death Diva handles all the grief-adjacent tasks that regular people find too morbid, too tedious, or too awkward to handle themselves. 💎
Unfortunately for Jane, **someone else is just as eager to get his hands on that brooch, and he’s even sneakier than she is, not to mention dangerously sexy.** The mysterious rival thief keeps appearing at exactly the wrong moments, complicating her carefully planned heist with his infuriating competence and smoldering good looks. Just when she thinks her biggest problem is grand theft mermaid and avoiding a very attractive competitor, things take a murderous turn that transforms a simple jewelry job into something far more deadly. ⚰️
But hey, when you’ve teamed up with **a neurotic seven-pound poodle named Sexy Beast,** how can you go wrong? Between stealing jewelry from corpses, dodging a dangerously attractive rival thief, solving a murder that nobody else believes happened, and managing a poodle with anxiety issues and impeccable fashion sense, Jane discovers that the Death Diva business is far more complicated than she expected. And far more dangerous. Who knew that death could be this lively? 🐩
What makes this quirky: Jane hired to liberate gaudy mermaid brooch from corpse during wake for Death Diva business, someone else even sneakier and dangerously sexy after same brooch, grand theft mermaid turning murderous, and teaming up with neurotic seven-pound poodle named Sexy Beast to solve mystery.
**Hap Wilkes made a choice to sacrifice his own happiness in order to honor a vow.** Since then he has lived a loveless life caring for the few animals that remain on his isolated Montana ranch while waiting each year for the return of the wild horses that make his land their summer home. The horses come back faithfully, year after year, like clockwork. But everything else—love, joy, the future he once imagined—stayed away. 🐴
Haunted by memories of what could have been while fighting the constant onslaught of old age and regret, Hap suddenly receives **two unexpected visits.** One of them intends to take his land by force, threatening the only thing he has left in this world—his ranch and the wild horses who trust him. The other hopes to give him another chance to know real love, arriving decades late but still carrying the same spark that made him sacrifice everything so long ago. 💔
What happens next is **a journey of loss, heartache, hope and redemption,** as masterfully told by bestselling author D.W. Ulsterman. Between defending his land from those who’d steal it, confronting the ghosts of choices made long ago, and deciding whether a man in his twilight years deserves a second chance at happiness, Hap discovers that some vows can be broken and some loves are worth waiting a lifetime for. In the shadow of Montana’s mountains, where wild horses run free and old cowboys guard their secrets, one man must choose: honor the past or embrace the future. 🌄
What makes this moving: Hap Wilkes sacrificing own happiness to honor vow living loveless life on isolated Montana ranch, haunted by memories while fighting old age and regret, receiving two unexpected visits—one to take land by force and one offering second chance at real love, and journey of loss and redemption in twilight years.
His Next Wife
**His first wife died in an accident. Did he kill her? Am I next?** When she moves in with her new husband Jack, she can’t wait to start their new life together. She tries to forget that he once lived here with his ex-wife, Laura. As she takes in their isolated beachfront home, she sees a face staring at her from an upstairs window. Jack tells her they’re alone, that she’s imagining things… 👻
Then she discovers **Laura’s long ivory wedding gown** in one of the bedrooms. She can’t help but brush the beautiful silk before Jack quickly hurries her out and locks the door behind them. It’s so sad when he talks about the night Laura died—a terrible accident, he says. But she can’t stop thinking about Laura. Traces of her are all over this house. And then she finds **her diary**—and her blood turns to ice as she reads Laura’s last words. 📔
She says that Jack is dangerous. That she feared for her life. Could her perfect new husband be a killer? And could she be next? D.K. Hood delivers classic “Rebecca”-style psychological thriller: new wife in isolated house haunted by predecessor, husband with secrets, diary revealing horrifying truth. The face in the window establishes supernatural ambiguity—is it Laura’s ghost, imagination, or someone else? 💀
The locked bedroom with preserved wedding gown is deeply creepy—shrine to the dead or evidence concealment? Jack’s insistence she’s “imagining things” is classic gaslighting, making her question her own perceptions. The diary as smoking gun creates ticking clock—she’s discovered the truth, but does Jack know she knows? The isolation of the beachfront home means no easy escape. For fans of domestic thrillers where dream marriages become nightmares. 🏚️
What makes this essential: Chilling new release where a bride discovers her husband’s first wife’s diary warning that Jack is dangerous—and she might be his next victim. ⚠️
**She left her husband because love shouldn’t feel like loneliness.** Callie Prescott had enough of being invisible, of competing with endless boardrooms, a manipulative mother-in-law who treated her like an outsider, and the ambitious assistant who wanted Ethan all to herself. When betrayal sends his wife walking out the door, Ethan finally wakes up. 💔
He’ll **burn every bridge** to prove he’s the husband she deserved from the start. But earning back her trust requires more than apologies—it demands sacrifice. As old wounds reopen and new life sparks hope in the darkest moment, Callie must decide if the man who broke her heart can **grovel hard enough** to put it back together. The “new life” hint suggests pregnancy complicating the separation. 👶
Wren Shaw delivers second chance romance with the grovel-heavy arc readers crave. Ethan’s awakening came too late—she’s already gone—so now he must prove transformation through action, not words. The “burn every bridge” promise suggests he’ll prioritize her over career, mother, assistant, everything he chose before. The manipulative mother-in-law and ambitious assistant create clear antagonists beyond just Ethan’s neglect. 💍
The “Betray Me Once” series title establishes this as first in connected romances about betrayal and second chances. Callie’s feeling of invisibility and loneliness within marriage is painfully relatable—she wasn’t abandoned, she was ignored, which can hurt worse. The pregnancy (if that’s the “new life”) adds urgency and complication—they’re tied together permanently now, so resolution becomes essential not optional. For readers who love satisfying grovel arcs. ✨
What makes this special: Second chance romance where a neglected wife walks out—and her workaholic husband must grovel and sacrifice everything to prove he’s changed. 💕
A teenage boy’s body is found on a lonely country road at dawn. By the time police arrive, **it has vanished without trace**. The blanket that covered him remains. The witness is adamant the boy was dead. But when Detective Bob Foreman reaches the scene, there is nothing—no body, no blood, no explanation. With no forensic evidence and conflicting accounts, Foreman is running out of leads. He’s already looking for a second missing boy, last spotted on a moonlit towpath and never seen again. 🌙
At the same time, two children are displaying abilities that defy explanation: **Five-year-old Harry sketches detailed drawings of WWII bomber cockpits with impossible precision**—every dial, every lever exactly right. Eight-year-old Christopher writes in his sleep, leaving behind disturbing warnings and repeated references to **a place called the Eleventh House**. When the investigation stalls, Foreman turns to Ellie McEwan, a healer who can read auras, the colored energy that reveals a person’s true nature. 🎨
As Ellie and her team uncover the truth, connections surface between the vanished body, the gifted children, and **an isolated mansion hidden deep in the Surrey woods**—a place spoken about in whispers, a place no one is meant to find. Joy Ellis blends police procedural with paranormal investigation, creating supernatural mystery where physics-defying events require unconventional solutions. The vanishing body establishes impossibility from page one. 👻
The gifted children suggest reincarnation or psychic connection to the past—Harry’s WWII bomber knowledge and Christopher’s sleep-writing about the Eleventh House imply they’re channeling information they couldn’t possibly know. Ellie’s aura-reading ability represents alternative investigative tool when traditional forensics fail. The isolated Surrey mansion as nexus point promises sinister revelations. For readers who enjoy mysteries that blend the procedural with the paranormal. 🔮
Why I’m including this:
Atmospheric psychic suspense where a detective investigates a vanishing body, mysteriously gifted children, and an isolated mansion no one is meant to find. ✨