Book Tour: A Forced Bond by Ann D. Lang

 

Title: A Forced Bond

Series: Dark Pack Series Book 1

Author: Ann D. Lang

Release Date: May 15, 2026

Forced together. Fated forever.

She was supposed to find her fated mate under the full moon.

Instead, she is ordered to bond with a stranger.

The full moon after Rhia’s twentieth birthday was meant to be the happiest night of her life. Among wolf shifters, it is the first full moon after turning twenty when a wolf might finally recognize the mate chosen by the Moon Goddess.

Rhia has always hoped that mate would be Caleb, the boy she has loved for years.

But when an entire neighboring pack is brutally wiped out, everything changes.

Fearing they could be next, the Red Moon Pack forms a desperate alliance with the powerful Silver Lake Pack. And alliances between alpha families require one thing above all else: a mating bond.

As the only unmated alpha daughter of Red Moon, Rhia’s future is decided for her. Instead of discovering her fated mate under the coming full moon, she is ordered to form a bond with Jalen, the future alpha of Silver Lake.

Leaving her home, her family, and the life she thought she would have.

Jalen never wanted a forced bond any more than Rhia did. But protecting their packs comes before everything. What neither of them expected was the instant pull between them, a connection that feels far too real to be political.

But if the Moon Goddess had a plan for their bond all along, it may be because the Dark Pack is not finished yet—and their own may be the next target.

"Race you to the rocks?" Rhia points to the little collection of rocks well off the shoreline.

"They are further away than you think," I try to warn her from experience, but she has already taken off.

As I soon realize, she is not only an excellent fighter but also a very good swimmer. I love it. I am a decent swimmer myself, but it is not exactly my strongest form of movement. Plus, I am still a little slower than usual. At least that is what I am telling myself as I try hard to keep up with Rhia.

I am right behind her, but there is no hiding my labored breathing when we reach the rocks. On warm days, my friends and I love to climb onto the smooth stones and sunbathe. Unfortunately, it's not quite warm enough for that yet.

Unlike me, Rhia is not even a little winded, and I admire her strength. "You're an amazing athlete. I can't wait to see what you can do without the necklace," I grin at her.

'Oooh, well she's hot!' Hunter's voice comes through the mind link, and I let out a growl. Turning to the tree line behind me, I easily spot his wolf in the bushes.

'Leave now, or I will end you! This is your future luna!'

'Jealous, huh? Relax, man, I was just going for a quick hunt. I'll leave you two lovebirds to it.' His wolf actually gives me a wink before he turns around.

"Are you coming in?" As I turn back around, Rhia is already swimming away from the shore.

We head back at a slower pace, leisurely swimming next to each other.

"Do you think they would mind if we skipped the communal dinner tonight?" Rhia asks.

"Not in the mood for a crowd?"

"Not really. It's just all a little much," she shrugs, then adds quickly: "I'm sorry, I don't want you to get the wrong impression. I am looking forward to spending more time with your pack. Just not quite yet."

"You need some time to process everything, I get it."

She gives me a questioning look when I reach for her hand before I get up, pulling her with me. The contact sends tingles up my arm. "We need to head back and talk to our parents if we want to avoid dinner. They might whip us and throw us in the dungeon, and I don't think I could take that." I wink at her to make sure she knows I am joking about that last part.

She chuckles, gripping my hand a little tighter. We are silent on our way to the packhouse, and it feels good to be walking with her like this. Her smaller hand fits into mine just right.

When Ann D. Lang isn’t writing, she can be found with her family and her cats — who treat everyone in the house as their personal servants and are entirely unbothered by deadlines. A lifelong lover of paranormal romance in all its forms, from vampire courts and fae kingdoms to witch covens and wolf pack politics, she has spent years falling in love with other people’s worlds — and one day simply decided to open the doors to a world of her own.

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Book Tour: The Road Home and Other Stories by Gene Altman

 

Short fiction collection

Date Published: March 4, 2026 

Publisher: Manhattan Book Group 

The Road Home is a powerful and emotionally rich literary fiction short story collection that explores the universal search for identity, belonging, and meaning in life.

From a chance encounter that propels a young mother into the glamorous world of high fashion… to an elderly widower rediscovering hope through an unexpected bond… to a troubled young man battling inner demons—these stories highlight the resilience of the human spirit.

Set across diverse locations and cultures, these compelling stories examine:

●     Self-discovery, emotional healing and personal transformation

● Connection, friendship and Love.

● Written by retired psychiatrist Gene Altman, this collection offers readers authentic, insightful, and psychologically rich storytelling.

At the heart of the collection is the title story, The Road Home, a moving exploration of what “home” truly means—not a physical place with walls and a roof, but a deeply personal destination where one is fully accepted and finds belonging, comfort and safety.

Perfect for fans of literary fiction, psychological fiction, and character-driven stories, The Road Home invites readers to reflect on their own lives and discover the strength to overcome obstacles by discovering unexpected inner resources within themselves.

Excerpt

The highway stretching through this part of Arizona’s desert country is a naked, two-lane strip of asphalt unadorned with road signs, billboards or vegetation. Bone thin, stripped of all but it’s essential self, it is in this respect very much like the land itself. This is empty country. 

The hard-baked sand here is tinged with red, making it appear like a gigantic wound. Mimbreno Apache legend has it that someday the countryside will shatter the silence by letting out a cry of immortal pain such as the human ear has never heard. For the present though, the only sound is the whine of an occasional vehicle as it speeds on through, a semi-conscious bullet in the hot, still air.

... A man about 40, and a woman a decade or so younger, are standing in the middle of the highway. Hands on hips, they are panting hard after chasing their own ‘98 Chevy pickup down the road, to no avail. 

“Any goddam fool’d know better than to let on to strangers he was carrying whole his life savings,” the man bawls. He is wiry and punctuates his words with wild gestures. “But not you. Oh, Jesus, not you!” 

Kayla stares down the highway, where she sees the Black Spirit, adorned with raven feathers, dancing – toe, toe, left heel, toe, toe right heel, and chanting to the beat of his drum. Tom can’t see him, she knows. She takes a step back and the vision disappears.

About the Author

Gene Altman is an award-worthy literary fiction author, retired psychiatrist, and former professional photographer whose work explores the depth of human emotion, identity, and personal transformation. A graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Medical School, Altman brings a rare blend of psychological rigor and creative insight to his writing.

Before dedicating four decades to clinical psychiatry in Hawaii, Altman worked as a professional photographer in New York City. His candid photography and prose collection, Cityscapes: Intimate Strangers, earned praise for its evocative storytelling and emotional impact.

After retiring from psychiatry, Altman turned his focus to writing literary short fiction inspired by his lifelong passion for helping individuals better understand themselves. His stories explore themes of self-discovery, friendship and love—making his work resonate with readers seeking thoughtful, character-driven narratives.

With a unique perspective shaped by both psychology and art, Gene Altman crafts compelling stories that illuminate the complexities of the human experience.

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Book Blitz: Dan Tesson: A Thriller by Sean I'Leary

 

Dystopian Thriller, Psychological Thriller, Science Fiction Thriller, Supernatural Thriller

They tried to erase this book. That’s why you should read it.

Stamped BANNED — DECREE 2039, wrapped in warnings that say DO NOT READ. DO NOT BELIEVE, Dan Tesson: A Thriller refuses to stay buried.

Written two decades ago and now resurfacing, this dystopian psychological thriller feels less like fiction—and more like a message that arrived early.

In a world shaped by control, perception, and quiet manipulation, Dan Tesson is forced to confront something far more dangerous than power: truth. As reality fractures and the rules governing society begin to reveal their cracks, he’s pulled into a system designed not just to influence behavior—but to redefine belief itself.

What happens when authority decides what is real?

What happens when questioning becomes a crime?

What happens when truth is labeled dangerous?

Blending dystopian fiction, science fiction, supernatural elements, and psychological tension, this novel explores uncomfortable territory—where control isn’t always visible, and freedom may be an illusion people willingly accept.

 

This is not a safe story.

It is not designed to reassure.

It asks questions many would rather avoid.

 

And that may be exactly why it was banned in their time.

 

If you’re drawn to provocative, thought-driven thrillers that challenge perception and push beyond the expected, Dan Tesson will not let you look away.

 

You were told not to read it.

 

Read to believe.

About the Author

Sean O'Leary is a local Utah author whose work moves between dystopian thrillers, science fiction and fantasy, children's stories, photo essays, literary collaborations, and reader-focused projects built around libraries, curiosity, and story.

 

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New Releases: Week 4 May

 

 

 

                                                      

 

Here are this week's New Releases for May 24-30:

 Releases May 26:

1. When Sparks Fly by Monica Murphy

2. The Devil We Crave by Jagger Cole

3. Crimson in the Crescent by Heidi McLaughlin

4. Nothing But Friends by Jolie Day

5. Bad Boy Era by Amy Daws

6. Evening the Score by Lexi LaFleur Brown

7. Wilde Flame by Kelly Elliott

8. The Lake House by Lori Foster

9. #Resort Crush by Samantha Chase

Releases May 28:

1. The Muse by Jewel E. Ann

Releases May 29:

1. Cold Silence by Freya Barker

2. His Reckoning by Nicole Baker

Happy Reading!!
Melissa

Week Blast and Giveaway: Eliza Waite by Ashley E. Sweeney

 

Historical Fiction

Date Published: 05-16-2016

Publisher: She Writes Press

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary

After the tragic death of her husband and son on a remote island in Washington’s San Juan Islands, Eliza Waite joins the throng of miners, fortune hunters, business owners, con men, and prostitutes traveling north to the Klondike in the spring of 1898. When Eliza arrives in Skagway, Alaska, she has less than fifty dollars to her name and not a friend in the world—but with some savvy, and with the help of some unsavory characters, Eliza opens a successful bakery on Skagway’s main street and befriends a madam at a neighboring bordello. Occupying this space—a place somewhere between traditional and nontraditional feminine roles—Eliza awakens emotionally and sexually. But when an unprincipled man from her past turns up in Skagway, Eliza is fearful that she will be unable to conceal her identity and move forward with her new life. Using Gold Rush history, diary entries, and authentic pioneer recipes, Eliza Waite transports readers to the sights sounds, smells, and tastes of a raucous and fleeting era of American history.

Excerpt

September 1, 1896

Cloudy, first fall chill. Deer in garden again. Need to mend fences.
 

“Good fences make good neighbors,” her aunt used to say.

Eliza examines her muddied property and stifles a snort. There are no neighbors, no cheery hellos or help at harvest time, no shared secrets or meals offered at the door when grief steals joy clean away. No, her neighbors are all gone from this windswept island plagued with relentless autumn rains that close in on the coming darkness.

Eliza removes her nightclothes and rushes into her undergarments, woolen skirt, muslin blouse, and thick socks. She gathers up her skirt, and pushes out through the cabin’s rickety door, inhaling wood smoke and counting her memories, both blessings and curses.

I do not know if I can endure another winter here, especially after what happened last year.

Before the epidemic there had been a store, and a post office, and a cannery, and a school. And—of course—a church. On those long ago Sundays, Eliza had squirmed each time Jacob mounted the stairs to the simple wooden pulpit at First Methodist on tiny Cypress Island, his pompousness preceding him. Eliza sat stiffly in the front pew with Jonathan close beside her. Jonathan’s delicate hands held hers and his small brown leather boots dangled over the front lip of the wooden bench. If she tries hard enough, Eliza can still hear Jonathan’s warbling voice stumbling over the words of the ancient hymns.

        After Sunday services, Eliza and Ida Lawson had poured weak coffee into china cups at opposite ends of the cloth-covered table in the basement of the church. They adjusted the china cups, filling in spaces when others were served. They checked the sugar bowls. They rearranged the teaspoons, and placed them symmetrically. They exchanged glances and shared private conversations in between parishioners.

Did you hear the foreman killed a Chinaman over at Atlas Cannery?

Another parishioner would interrupt. Pleasantries. Then another interruption. More pleasantries.

Did you see Sly Chapman walking Adelaide Winters home from school on Wednesday?

There was always scuttlebutt about the townsfolk, or the trappers, or the fishermen, or the loggers. And always about the Chinamen. In the kitchen, Eliza and Ida would mimic the Chinamen, taking small steps and bowing to each other. They stifled their laughter. Only once had they had an awkward and guarded conversation about the intimacies of marriage.

IDA’S COFFEE CAKE

This is one of the best of plain cakes, and is very easily made.

Take one teacup of strong coffee infusion, one teacup molasses, one teacup sugar, one-half teacup butter, one egg, and one teaspoonful saleratus. Add pinch of salt.

Add spice and raisins to suit the taste, and enough flour to make a reasonably thick batter.

Bake rather slowly in tin pans lined with buttered paper. Tops with cinnamon sugar and serve warm.

But those days are long past. Now all Eliza has is a heap of gravestones to visit.
 

 

About the Author

 

 Multi award-winning author Ashley E. Sweeney’s fourth novel, The Irish Girl, released December 2024. Her previous novels, Eliza Waite, Answer Creek, and Hardland, have won a total of 20 awards, including the Nancy Pearl Book Award, Independent Press Award, WILLA Literary Award, and New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Sweeney, a native New Yorker and graduate of Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, spends winters in Tucson and summers in the Pacific Northwest.

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Book Tour: Living Soul-Full by L.B. Richardson

 

 

Renewing the Mind, Restoring the Soul: A Small Group Study for Christian Spiritual Formation

Nonfiction / Religion / Spirituality / Christian

Date Published: February 27, 2026

Living Soul-Full invites you to a 26-week sacred journey of deepened intimacy with the Holy Spirit, rooted in Romans 12:1-2 and the call to "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Within a trusted small group, you will explore time-honored spiritual disciplines, discern the obstacles hindering your spiritual growth, and discover the rhythms that nourish your soul. Along the way, we will learn to identify and rewire harmful patterns of thought while opening our hearts and bodies to Christ's restorative love. We do his, in community, for the purpose of living as a healed and healing presence in a fractured world.

 

Excerpt

A couple of decades ago, my life hit a wall I never saw coming. Relentless anxiety appeared without warning, quickly escalating into repeated panic attacks, and the many roles I had carried pridefully, and often frantically, throughout my lifetime grew impossibly heavy.

Sleepless nights and a rising desperation pulled me into a spiritual and mental health crisis that began to fracture the carefully constructed self I presented to the world. I felt cut off from even the presence of the God I had loved since childhood.

From my earliest memories, I had lived for the approval of others, auditioning for acceptance in my family and community. I had finally, and later realized, mercifully, reached the limits of my human capacity for energy and emotional engagement. I was unprepared for the truth that my “strength” was far more fragile than I had believed. Afraid of being seen as incompetent, needy, or not enough, I hid my struggle from even my closest friends who could have been trusted to care for me.

I was forced to tend to my exhausted body, mind, and spirit to regain my life. Unsure where to begin, I first visited a doctor (a good start!) and registered to attend a Christian group spiritual direction retreat, with no clear idea of what I was signing up for. In a safe and holy space, compassionate and spiritually grounded strangers helped me see my breaking point, not as failure, but as a necessary part of the divine journey toward wholeness. (Who knew?) 

I began to experience for the first time the resilient truth of 2 Corinthians 12:9, “But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.”

I would eventually express deep gratitude for the desolation that propelled me into the healing presence of Christ. I entered a season of unlearning, rewiring, and remembering how to breathe again. A new path opened, leading to seminary, Clinical Pastoral Education, and a mid-life calling as a hospital chaplain, where I could bear witness to the pain and joy of others with the same healing I had received.

My companions on that first retreat introduced me to authors, living and long gone, who mentored me through their writings about the essential role of spiritual formation and sacred practices in the life of faith, and I read hungrily. I began to realize that much of my Christian upbringing focused on who God is, yet seldom invited me to explore who I was becoming in Christ. It emphasized serving God but rarely simply being with God.

One book, Sacred Companions by David Benner, stirred my longing for relationships marked by trust, vulnerability, and the courage to be seen (shadow and all). He writes, “If you are making significant progress on the transformational journey of Christian spirituality, you have one or more friendships that support that journey. If you do not, you are not. It’s that simple.”

Courageous people are willing to be fully seen because they have already learned to offer compassion to the unlovely parts of themselves-no small feat. We cannot genuinely give to others what we withhold from ourselves.

When we can extend love and grace inward, we are then fit to become someone’s sacred companion. We will have eyes to see the whole individual, ears to hear their truth without judgment, and compassionate space to surround them in love. 

This curriculum was born from an invitation from church leadership who identified the need for a safe haven to experience spiritual transformation within our community. 

Our first small group included six Christian servants who needed rest and reconnection. We met weekly, sharing from our journals, practicing spiritual disciplines, reading together, and often simply sitting in silence.

We bonded through a shared willingness to be vulnerable, which is derived from the Latin “vulnerabilis,” meaning “susceptible to being wounded.” True vulnerability risks rejection for the sake of connection, and authentic connection heals.

The “Soul Care” ministry was born out of that first gathering and grew organically as the Holy Spirit stirred others who were also seeking soul respite and deeper intimacy with Christ. Many who completed the experience felt called to lead new groups, bringing their own renewed joy, freedom, and sense of belonging to others. 

The need for structured lessons became clear as more groups formed. These chapters were created to share the practices and insights that have been most life-giving for us. This is not a traditional Bible study, though a deep love for Scripture will enrich the experience. It is for those who desire more of God’s Spirit, are willing to be truly seen, and can commit to fully participating.

By saying yes to this study, you are responding to an invitation from the Spirit of God to engage in formation for the sake of Christ’s kingdom. It is no small thing to enter a new experience of Christian community without knowing exactly where the journey will lead. Yet you are here!

Engaging with these teachings and practices alongside companions will help you discover, or rediscover, the divine center that has always been within you, where God’s Spirit dwells with your own. In this astonishing place, God’s purpose is fulfilled as you embody Love on earth.

One aim of this curriculum is to awaken your hunger and thirst for the richness that is already yours in Christ. The hope is that your longing for more of the Living Water and Bread of Life will move you to continue pursuing holy practices, both individually and within community. May Living Soul-Full simply be a springboard to dive more deeply into the ever-abiding Presence of our God.

Key teachings are repeated intentionally throughout the book. It is way too easy to lose perspective when life gets complicated, even after years of practice. Many who return to lead new groups say it feels like encountering the material for the first time, a reminder that the work of being formed into the image of Christ lasts for a lifetime.

So, as souls in communion with the saints who have gone before, may we listen for and discern the invitation to accompany Jesus and one another on the way to living from a healthy soul.

Gratefully, 

Your Companion,

Laura Beth Richardson

About the Author

 

 L.B. is a hospital chaplain and ministry leader whose passion is to help guide others towards spiritual regeneration and wholeness.

It has been her honor, through writing the Living Soul-Full curriculum, to help build and nurture a holy space for renewal-where mind, body, and soul are restored through God’s grace- and to partner in community with others who desire to live emboldened, Spirit-led lives marked by vulnerability and compassion.

Over more than a decade, LB has edited this guide as it evolved into a trusted 26-week small group curriculum in spiritual formation, integrating biblical teaching, spiritual disciplines, practical reflection and even neuroscience.

She is deeply indebted to all those quoted within Living Soul-Full, whose timeless writings and teachings have, across the centuries, nurtured both our desires and efforts to cultivate a healthy soul within Christianity.

She also carries immense gratitude for every participant, facilitator, and all those whose vision for the “Soul Care” ministry at Mountain Christian Church surpassed her own, investing wholehearted from the very beginning. This curriculum is possible because of the support, feedback, and genuine partnership across her church community.

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Release Blitz: Sprog by Summer Winters

 

Title: Sprog

Series: Prospects of Black Saints MC

Portland Chapter #1

Author: Summer Winters

Genre: MC Romance

Tropes: Second Chance, Single Dad, He Let Her Go

Childhood Sweethearts, Forced Proximity

Release Date: May 20, 2026

BLURB

He broke her heart to save her future. Ten years later, she's the one who saves his son.

Austin "Sprog" Mitchell made the hardest choice of his life at seventeen. He staged the worst moment Savannah could imagine, put her on the road to medical school, and told himself it was the right thing to do. He's spent a decade trying to believe it.

Now Savannah's back in town, back in her own surgery, and Austin's eight-year-old son EJ has just been brought through her door with a bullet in him.

She doesn't walk away. She never has.

Savannah came home to start over, not to fall back into the arms of the man who destroyed her. But EJ is impossible not to love, Austin is impossible not to want, and the Black Saints MC is not the world she imagined when she was nineteen and furious and leaving.

Second chances don't come with guarantees. But some loves don't give up just because you tell them to.

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COMING SOON

Releasing June 24

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

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Releasing July 29

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AUTHOR BIO

Summer Winters writes steamy, heart-pounding MC romance and romantic suspense full of danger, loyalty, and the kind of passion that leaves scorch marks. Expect fiercely protective heroes, resilient heroines, brotherhood bonds, secrets, revenge arcs, and love stories that rise from the wreckage stronger than before.

Off the page, Summer fuels her writing with late-night playlists, too much coffee, and the unshakeable belief that every tough-as-nails biker deserves a soft place to land.

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