First up is my friend Ben English with his first fiction novel- Destiny’s Way
As always, click on the covers for the link!
The blurb-
A Novel of the Big Bend
Kate Blanchard woke up one morning in a dream home she could no longer afford, a young son who needed a man’s influence and not a friend among those who had claimed to be prior to her husband’s mysterious disappearance. About all she could lay claim to was a ramshackle ranch along Terlingua Creek, sitting forlornly in the desolate reaches of the lower Big Bend in Texas. It was the only place left she could go. There she finds a home, and a presence of something strange yet comforting that she can’t fully put her finger on or understand. With that ethereal presence comes Solomon Zacatecas, a loner with his own past and a knowledge of her land near uncanny in nature. He helps her when no one else can and is honest when no one else will be, but she suspicions that he is not completely so. Yet her quiet, unassuming neighbor proves to be more than capable in whatever situation arises. That includes when standing alone against those who would take everything else that Kate had, including her life as well as her son’s.
Ben grew up in that part of the country, and his descriptions are real and accurate on the land, the animals, and the people! Highly recommended!
Next up is Alma Boykin with the sixth book in her Shikari series- Called to the Council
The blurb-
Wife, Mother—Councilor, Spy?
Auriga “Rigi” Bernardi-Prananda wants only to do her duty as wife and mother. The Staré natives of Shikhari call her guardian, Healer, and one of the Wise. With the leaders of the people divided, more and more lower Stamm Staré look to her for guidance.
A hunting trip turned war forces her hand. Trapped by Shikhari’s ancient enemy, Rigi must lead her people to safety. But who are her people? And how can she protect her children, both Human and Staré, from an enemy that hunts from shadow?
Rigi must call on all her resources as secrets in high places combine with low treachery to endanger the world she calls home. Artist, mother, huntress, Wise, Rigi navigates interstellar intrigue (and sibling spats, and wildlife with a dreadful sense of timing.)
Excellently written characters and twists and turns enough to keep you reading LONG after you should have been in bed… 🙂
And last, but not least, Sam Shall with book six in the Honor and Duty series- Risen from the Ashes
The blurb-
As a Marine, Ashlyn Shaw knew the day would come when she might not return from a mission. As an officer in the Fuerconese Marine Corps, all too often she faced the difficult duty of sending the men and women under her command to their deaths. Both were nightmares she, and so many like her, lived with. War was a cruel and costly endeavor, but one well worth the cost if it meant keeping their homeworld free.
What Ash hadn’t been prepared for was betrayal. Betrayal by members of her own government. Betrayal by certain members of the military. Betrayal by supposed allies. Betrayals that had cost the lives of too many she cared for.
Unluckily for her enemies, that betrayal has cut too deeply to be allowed to go unpunished. The berserker she’s held in close check has been let out. As a Marine, it was her duty to protect her homeworld and its citizens. Now she has a new duty: to find and deal with those who betrayed Fuercon and her beloved Corps.
Honor and duty. Death before dishonor.
And vengeance for the fallen.
Time to get down and dirty… Never piss off a Marine… Just sayin.
