Book Link

From Amazon:

Most families have traditions they pass down through the generations. And marriages create new traditions, but they also include the spouse’s family. So for some, the in-laws, especially the mother-in-law, cause anxiety—as was the case for Maya’s Christmas Eve dinner. Gifts from the mother-in-law can be glorious or downright insulting. But, for Maya, it was both terrifying and devastating.

Usually, Santa evokes joy and excitement during the Holiday season. Not this time. Christmas Eve dinner for Maya, her husband, and the dreaded mother-in-law starts a horrific family tradition of paranoia and evil tendencies.

Where one sister, Maya, finds herself serving two life sentences in prison, another, Grace, is spending the rest of her life trying to make up for the evil doings of the other. But then, there’s Jillian, Grace’s daughter. What tradition will she uphold? Will she choose evil or redemption? Only Santa knows the truth—after all, he is a magical being, full of goodness and light. At least that’s what we’ve all been told.

My Review:

Mary Schmidt

5.0 out of 5 stars Creepy

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2025

Format: KindleVerified Purchase

This is a short creepy story about killers and if that trait can be passed down to other generations. The flip side is a creepy Santa doll.

Book Link

From Amazon:

A Sexy Spy Thriller! Two women in a dangerous battle of Cat and Mouse. One is a bitter widow turned Assassin trying to quiet the painful voices in her head, and the other is a rising NSA agent trying to find the Assassin before she commits mass murder for a shadowy group known as the Brotherhood.
This Spy craft story is filled with double agents and Intrigue playing out in Washington D.C. and the backstreets of Paris between these two Fallen Angels. A High Drama Suspenseful Story of Villainy in an Assassin’s World. But who is the Villain? Who is the Hero? You won’t know until the Shocking Ending.

My Review:

This book was a wow to me. The pace was fast and the world of the CIA and other intelligence agencies around the world, in certain areas come into play. The training factor, being able to speak mutiple languages, the sheer terror in places and knowing that any mistake, no matter the size, could have repercussions unthought of.

Book Link

From Amazon:

Millionaire Dax Dawson decides it’s time for his fiercely independent, almost-thirty year old granddaughters to settle down. He wants them to find love and give him great-grandchildren before his lights go out. And he knows how to make it happen.

Prompted by love, guilt, and a desire to own their own business, the Dawson triplets enter into a Christmas contract that will change their lives forever. Finding true love is a unique adventure, so each girl gets their own story. The outcome for all three, however, funnels into one giant happily-ever-after.

Introducing:

Joy – the bookworm and accountant
Noelle – the fashionista who works in a high-end boutique
Christi – the tomboy and fitness trainer

My Review:

A Christmas contract? Who in their right minds would sign one? Three women did just that. That meant they had to up their game in finding the right man, fast, as it was already November. Each of the triplets find their opposite someone at a casino fundraiser night. It’s game on time, and the sisters are in it think now. The dudes? They have their own agenda and secrets.

I received an email from Pencraft letting me know of three, yes, THREE books receiving awards today.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Horace in Space,” as our Children – Nature Books’s 1st Place Winner.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Her Alibi,” as our Nonfiction – Relationships’s 1st Place Winner.

Pencraft Book Awards – October 2025 – “Romance in Evergreen” as our Fiction – Thriller – Terrorist’s 1st Place Winner.

I’m still reeling in shock!

Book Link

From Amazon:

Born to free-spirited, convention-shucking parents, Cassie Newman thirsts for normal. Leaving L.A. with a secret, she finds herself in Woodstock, Vermont – a town rich with Christmas tradition. She’s not big on Christmas, but Woodstock feels like the perfect fit. Landing a job with Stennett’s Hardware, she tries to forget the world she knew but the small-town charm makes her even more aware of the life she never had. To top it off, Luke Stennett has the most amazing blue eyes and a sweet way that draws her to him.

Luke has his hands full with running the hardware store and caring for his dad. Attraction for Cassie comes at him fast, but he doesn’t have time for a relationship. With her there though, things start to go right but he also harbors a secret that has the potential to turn everything upside down.

Once their secrets are revealed, will it kill the chemistry between them and send Cassie back to L.A.? Or will she fight for her happiness with Luke and stay firmly planted in a place big on Christmas?

My Review:

I loved this book and am proud to be the first reviewer. I love Christmas and this book contains the true heart of Christmas. Our female heiress protagonist left LA and the paparazzi behind and escaped to Vermont. Our males protagonist has his hands full running a business and keeping his dad safe as his father is lost within himself after his wife died from cancer. It’s time to bring them together and brings his dad out if his sorrow.

Book Title: Mistress of Dartington Hall

Series: Book 3 – Daughters of Devon

Author Name: Rosemary Griggs

Publication Date: July 10^th, 2025

Publisher: Troubador Publishing

Pages: 292

Genre: Historical Fiction; Women’s Fiction; Historical Biographical Fiction

Twitter Handles: @RAGriggsauthor @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @griggs6176 @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #WomenInHistory #Elizabethan #SpanishArmada #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/09/blog-tour-mistress-of-dartington-hall-by-rosemary-griggs.html

Book Title and Author Name:

Mistress of Dartington Hall

Rosemary Griggs

Blurb:

1587. England is at war with Spain. The people of Devon wait in terror for King Philip of Spain’s mighty armada to unleash untold devastation on their land. 

Roberda, daughter of a French Huguenot leader, has been managing the Dartington estate in her estranged husband Gawen’s absence. She has gained the respect of the staff and tenants who now look to her to lead them through these dark times.

Gawen’s unexpected return from Ireland, where he has been serving Queen Elizabeth, throws her world into turmoil. He joins the men of the west country, including his cousin, Sir Walter Raleigh, and his friend Sir Francis Drake, as they prepare to repel a Spanish invasion. Amidst musters and alarms, determined and resourceful Roberda rallies the women of Dartington. But, after their earlier differences, can she trust Gawen? Or should she heed the advice of her faithful French maid, Clotilde?

Later Roberda will have to fight if she is to remain Mistress of Dartington Hall, and secure her children’s inheritance. Can she ever truly find fulfilment for herself?

Excerpt 4:

West Country Society

Christmas 1594, Somerset

My feet felt like blocks of solid ice as I sat in the country church where Thomas’s sister Jane stood beside her new husband. Bishop John Still, a portly man, looked resplendent in his robes of office. I imagined that he must be wearing plenty of layers to keep warm. As for his bride, she wore a sumptuous gown of scarlet silk trimmed with fur. She gave a brave smile, though she suppressed a shiver, her breath a fine mist hanging like a cloud around her. At last, the ceremony over, the happy couple led the way, stepping out briskly over the uneven floor. In the quaint church of St. Mary at Ston Easton, the pews were packed with people, yet the biting cold air seemed to seep right through my heavy clothes, making me shiver. It was a relief to follow the crowd and make our way along the gravel path, our footsteps sounding loud in the still wintry air.

Carriages waited to whisk us to the Manor House, the home of Jane and Thomas’s sister Dorothy. The smell of roasting meat met us at the door, beckoning me towards a blazing fire, where I hoped to thaw my frozen toes. Tantalising aromas wafted from the kitchens, promising warm food and comfort. But, despite the cosy atmosphere, I perched on the edge of the richly upholstered seat, crossing and uncrossing my legs beneath my skirts. Conscious I was about to meet Thomas’s family and all the high-born people of Somerset, I smoothed my velvet gown and scanned the room. As the moment approached, I felt an anxious trickle of sweat run down the back of my neck.

I waited for Thomas to bring me a warming cup of wine, toes tingling as the warmth found its way to my feet. As I sat by the fire, a towering and portly figure loomed over me. Stern eyes bore into me from a pallid face dominated by a prominent hooked nose. Despite his ashen cheeks and upright bearing, his expansive girth made me wonder if this giant of a man might be overfond of good living.

‘Lady Montgomery, I believe?’

‘Indeed, and you are?’ I asked without rising from my seat.

‘My name is John Popham. I believe you know my daughter, Elizabeth?’ Flustered, I hastened to rise and make my curtsey. Richard Champernowne’s famous father-in-law, the Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench, a man said to deliver harsh judgements, studied me. I held his eyes, willing myself not to flinch from his searching gaze. I’d heard that neither recusants nor felons could expect quarter from Judge Popham.

‘Yes, sir, I know her well,’ I said, noticing a family resemblance. Elizabeth Champernowne’s pinched mouth was very like her father’s.

‘Going to marry Horner, I hear? He was wed to my daughter Amy. She’s gone to her grave now. Gave him plenty of sons, but I suppose a man needs a wife. You’re Montgomery’s daughter, aren’t you? How does your family fare in France? Got their lands back from the Catholics, have they?’ He rapped the questions out at me as fast as an archer looses arrows at the target. Before I had time to reply, a matronly woman took my arm. Dressed from head to foot in opulent fur-trimmed velvet, she was an imposing sight, with her steel-grey hair peeping from beneath a dark hood. Jewels caught the light as she turned to the judge. A warm smile spread across her round face, right up to her blue eyes. As I saw the warmth in those bright eyes, crinkling with mirth, I felt the tension leave me.

‘Leave the girl be, John Popham,’ she said, giving him a shove. ‘I’m Amy, married to this one, for my sins. Now come, let me introduce you. We’ve heard all about you. It’s terrible how they’ve persecuted you Huguenots over in France. My John will make sure we don’t allow any Catholics to hold sway here in Somerset. Have no fear of that.’

‘It’s true, my family has suffered in the wars that have divided my homeland for so long.’ Encouraged by her smile I went on. ‘Our fiercest enemies, the Catholic house of Guise, fought in the name of religion, though it was the quest for power that drove them on.’ For a moment I thought I had annoyed Judge Popham. But his thin lips stretched into a smile.

’Ah, I see you are a sensible woman. Wars are always a struggle for power,’ he said with a sage nod of his balding head.

‘I left my people in Devon in fear of another attack from the Spanish,’ I said.

‘That’s why we need to keep the Jesuits out.’ His eyes, keen as a hawk’s, never left my face. I could understand how those who came before him accused of some crime might wilt under such intense scrutiny.

‘Well, sir, I hope that will never lead to such divisions as we’ve seen in France. For my family’s sake, I hope Henri of France’s more pragmatic approach will secure lasting peace.’ That set off a long diatribe from the judge about the Jesuits, Spanish spies, and the dangers of compromise. The broadside of words left me no time to respond.

Amy Popham intervened, taking my arm to whirl me round the assembled gentry of Somerset.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jjOZk

Author Bio:

Author and speaker Rosemary Griggs has been researching Devon’s sixteenth-century history for years. She has discovered a cast of fascinating characters and an intriguing network of families whose influence stretched far beyond the West Country. She loves telling the stories of the forgotten women of history — the women beyond the royal court; wives, sisters, daughters and mothers who played their part during those tumultuous Tudor years: the Daughters of Devon.

Her novel, A Woman of Noble Wit, set in Tudor Devon, is the story of the life of Katherine Champernowne, Sir Walter Raleigh’s mother. The Dartington Bride, follows Lady Gabrielle Roberda Montgomery, a young Huguenot noblewoman, as she travels from war-torn France to Elizabethan England to marry into the prominent Champernowne family. Mistress of Dartington Hall, set in the time of the Spanish Armada, continues Roberda’s story. 

Rosemary is currently working on her first work of non-fiction — a biography of Kate Astley, childhood governess to Queen Elizabeth I, due for publication in 2026.

Rosemary creates and wears sixteenth-century clothing, and brings the past to life through a unique blend of theatre, history and re-enactment at events all over the West Country. Out of costume, Rosemary leads heritage tours at Dartington Hall, a fourteenth-century manor house that was home of the Champernowne family for 366 years.

Author Links:

Website: https://rosemarygriggs.co.uk/

Twitter / X: https://x.com/ragriggsauthor

Facebook: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ladykatherinesfarthingale

Instagram: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/griggs6176/

Threads: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@griggs6176

Bluesky: BlueSky:  https://bsky.app/profile/ragriggsauthor.bsky.social

Amazon Author Page:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21850977.Rosemary_Griggs

Michael and I did a thing on Sunday. We went to a children’s book signing at Red Fern Bookstore.

Although this was a children’s book signing we brought along three adult books as one never knows who will show up. Of all things, I sold out of all copies of Her Alibi and Christmas in Evergreen – both adult books. It was loads of fun. We had candy for the kids and author bling.

Just a glance at some of the bling.

See you next time!

Book Title: Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City

Author Name: Janet Tamaren

Publication Date: September 2, 2025

Publisher: Historium Press

Pages: 334

Genre: Historical Fiction

 

Any Triggers: battle scenes

Twitter Handles: @JTamaren @cathiedunn @marylschmidt

Instagram Handles: @drtamaren @thecoffeepotbookclub

Hashtags: #HistoricalFiction #AncientNearEast #BronzeAge #Ugarit #BlogTour #TheCoffeePotBookClub

Tour Schedule Page: https://thecoffeepotbookclub.blogspot.com/2025/09/blog-tour-ugarit-by-janet-tamaren.html

Book Title and Author Name:

Ugarit: Tales of a Lost City

by Janet Tamaren

Blurb:

A captivating tale of bravery in the face of heartbreak and upheaval.

IN THE SPRING OF 1190 BC, on the sun-drenched shores of the eastern Mediterranean, the thriving city of Ugarit pulses with life, trade, and courtly intrigues. But danger brews beyond its walls.

Yoninah, a gifted healer, offers herbs and amulets to ease her neighbours’ suffering. When a Mycenaean – an ex-soldier from the Trojan War—stumbles into her life, he reawakens memories she thought long buried. Just as whispers of war echo ever closer.

Meanwhile, in the royal court, Thut-Moses is a scribe who was trained in the temples of Egypt. The king is paralyzed by ominous messages: foreign invaders are razing one coastal city after another. As the tide of destruction nears, Ugarit’s fate hangs in the balance.

Torn between loyalty and survival, love and duty, Yoninah and Thut-Moses must each decide: what will they risk to protect what the hold most dear?

Rich with historical detail and inspired by newly-translated cuneiform tablets unearthed form Ugarit’s ashes, UGARIT brings to life the final days of a cosmopolitan world on the brink of collapse – a sweeping tale of courage and resilience at the twilight of the Bronze Age.

Praise for Ugarit:

“A masterfully told tale-rich, riveting, and utterly transporting. I couldn’t put it down.”

★★★★★ – Historical Fiction Review

Excerpt 1:

CHAPTER 1: ATTACK ON THE SUN

At the Healer’s House

IT was early morning at the house on Palace Street. In Yoninah’s workroom, sunlight from the window slits fell onto her tables and shelves.

Yoninah enjoyed this time of day, the quiet time before any clients appeared. She was a healer in the lower city. Her clientele were the sailors wanting ginger to protect against sea sickness or amulets to protect them from the hazards of crossing the Great Sea. And the dockworkers from the harbor, who had aches and pains from lifting heavy storage jars full of grain or ingots of copper. She also saw the young girls seeking love potions to snare a lover, as well as the older women seeking to prevent another pregnancy when they already had several children.

Frequently, Yoninah’s clients would be prostitutes. The women of the night would often have a child or two and would be seeking a way to prevent another pregnancy. Yoninah was invariably kind to these unfortunate women.

Yoninah was a handsome woman in her early thirties. She wore a fine wool tunic, with a bronze pin at one shoulder. Her hair fell in a jumble of soft black waves, setting off her light brown eyes. She was young enough to be sympathetic to the young lovelorn girls and old enough to understand the plight of the women struggling to raise children.

Yoninah arranged her potions and shelves in their jars on her shelves. Then she ground up fresh Valerian roots, for the sleeping draughts her clients invariably sought. She said a quiet prayer to Asherah. A bronze figure of the Goddess stood on a pedestal near her shelves: “Queen of Heaven, give me strength to face the coming day. Give me wisdom in dealing with my clients. Give me patience with those who try my patience.”

Yoninah also prayed to her loved ones in the afterlife: her mother who had taught her the skills of the healer and to her husband who had sheltered her and loved her for the years of their marriage. Her mother had died the year before, her husband five years past. She wished each of them a peaceful sojourn in the hereafter and assured them of her ongoing love.

As she paused for a moment in her work, she heard her daughters call out from the courtyard adjacent to her workroom.

“Mother, come see the birds!”

When she joined them in the courtyard, she saw a wondrous sight: thousands of birds filling the sky. Yoninah knew, from the years she had lived in Ugarit, that this was the time for their annual migration, from their winter homes in Africa all the way to their summer homes in the Aegean. Myriads of doves in formation, their gray wings catching the sun, provided a delightful display.

Her daughters Bat-El and Laylah were admiring the blanket of birds passing overhead. Bat-El, at age ten, was enthralled by the overhead display. She had the light brown eyes and curly black hair of the family. Her older sister, Laylah, was equally beguiled. She was fifteen, with the same black hair and brown eyes. She already had the curvaceous figure of their mother.

Then something odd happened. The sunshine dimmed. It seemed a cloud had passed over the sun, but the sky was cloudless. The cheeping of the birds decreased.. And the morning became darker. The day felt like late afternoon. Finally, the birds grew quiet and stopped flying. They settled on trees all over the city.

“The sun is going away!” Bat-El pointed at the sky.

Yoninah snuck a sideways glance at the sun. It was no longer a bright circle. A third of the sun was obscured by a dark shadow.

“My gods!” said Yoninah. “I have heard of such things. My, the birds, they are so quiet.”

The other animals were quiet too. Goats, sheep, donkeys in their quarters in the neighboring houses, they all fell silent. There was a lull over the land. The unnatural darkness of what should have been a bright morning, and the silence of the animals led to an eerie quiet. Everyone was holding their breath, waiting to find out if the world was coming to an end.

“Is the sun going to come back?” asked the girls.

“It should come back,” said their mother. Although she had personally never witnessed such an event before, she was certainly hoping it would come back.

The day grew even darker. By what should have been late morning, the sun was completely  obscured  by whatever shadow was attacking it. It felt like evening. The birds and other animals remained silent.

Finally, the sun started coming back. The unnatural darkness began to dissipate.

After another interval, the day had fully returned. It was a normal spring morning again. Except by now, it was noon. The donkeys were back to braying and the birds were back to flying. However, Yoninah couldn’t shake an unsteady feeling.

“If the sun could disappear, what other ill-omens are in store for the city?” Yoninah thought to herself.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/bxpykq

Author Bio:

Janet Tamaren is a retired physician who practiced for two decades in rural Kentucky. Now living in Denver with her husband, she enjoys writing and is the author of a medical memoir and a guide to Hebrew Bible stories. She began writing UGARIT during the COVID lockdown.

Author Links:

Website: https://jtamaren.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/janet.tamaren

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drtamaren/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B09FFKGWHM

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21709056.  Janet Tamaren MD

Book Link

From Amazon:

Shepherd’s Texas heart belongs to Loretta.

Having met and fallen in love with Loretta in the Empire State, Shepherd has moved beyond the ruins of his past life. And with Michael now his son, the life he always wanted is in his grasp. Following one of the best summers of his life, with it now being October Shepherd receives a phone call from his best friend. At first surprised by Luke’s sudden wedding invitation, only days away, happiness turns to disbelief and frustration when Luke reveals the name of his bride. How could Luke consider marrying such a terrible woman, who along with Shepherd’s ex-wife, made his life in rural Texas a living hell for too many years.

Agreeing to be Luke’s best man at his wedding, Shepherd prepares himself for an anxious return to Texas. With Loretta and Michael at his side, he hopes his personal demons will not spoil his best friend’s wedding. As he considers what he’s about to endure, he understands that this may be what he needs so he can look to a future beyond the Lone Star State.

My Review:

Some women are twisted. Others are sweet. This book has many of each. A sweet romance filled with heartache and treachery, embezzlement, and fake persons. The good outweighs the bad. Justice prevails. Who will it cost in the end?