Leaux Cay Marketing

This is Michonne. She works in my marketing department as head of Marketing. 

Sometimes, she sleeps on the job.

Hmm. Maybe I should talk to her about that. 

Take care and happy reading! 

 - Heather 

A sassy bookstore owner - a smokin' hot firefighter - and three flirty septuagenarians. 

What more could you ever need? 

Don’t Call Me Sugar is a slow-burn, Grant’s Crossing Romance - where family and friends mean everything, and happily-ever-afters are guaranteed.

Don't Call Me Sugar is available wherever books are sold online. If it's not already there, you can request it at your local library in paperback and digital for Libby and Hoopla.

Get your copy today!

Add to your Goodreads TBR

Haven’t yet read Wayward Guilt, Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 1? 

No problem. Click here to find it in print and digital on Libby / Hoopla or wherever books are sold online.

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Join my Leaux Cay Readers on Facebook

Feeling Cooped Up?

Feeling cooped up after a cold winter storm? 

How about something good to read?

Video text can be found below

 

1. WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 1

Need a good cry? Grab a box of tissues and a copy of Wayward Guilt

            Three friends leave home to serve their country. 

            Only two make it back. 

            What do you do when your best friend is no longer there? 

2. SAFE NOW - Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 2

Feeling angry? Think of what you’d do to protect your family. 

Discover how far one Marine veteran went in Safe Now

            Some secrets can’t be kept. 

            Some people can’t be protected. 

            Some brothers can’t be stopped. 

Prefer something lighter? Grab a nice hot cuppa to go with this contemporary firefighter romance. 

3. DON’T CALL ME SUGAR - A Grant’s Crossing Fire Romance

Her father’s accident brought her home. Will a cocky first responder keep her there? 

✅ Sassy bookshop owner.    

        ✅ Smokin' hot firefighter.

                ✅ Three flirty septuagenarians.

Grant’s Crossing Novels - available wherever books are sold online. 

 

Take care and happy reading! 

 - Heather 

A sassy bookstore owner - a smokin' hot firefighter - and three flirty septuagenarians. 

What more could you ever need? 

Don’t Call Me Sugar is a slow-burn, Grant’s Crossing Romance - where family and friends mean everything, and happily-ever-afters are guaranteed.

Don't Call Me Sugar is available wherever books are sold online. If it's not already there, you can request it at your local library in paperback and digital for Libby and Hoopla.

Get your copy today!

Add to your Goodreads TBR

Haven’t yet read Wayward Guilt, Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 1? 

No problem. Click here to find it in print and digital on Libby / Hoopla or wherever books are sold online.

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Join my Leaux Cay Readers on Facebook

SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

Paraphrased from a fellow author:

READING. AND. RETURNING. IS. THEFT. FULL. STOP.

Authors do not enjoy waking up OWING Amazon money

*********

Yes - Amazon charges authors a penalty fee when a book is returned. So you’re not getting back at Bezos, you’re deliberately punishing the authors themselves, despite what you may hear on TikTok.

If you want to support authors, support them.

Read their books. Keep their books. Share your thoughts on their books.

Write a quick review - even a few words, but please don’t claim you support indie authors by buying their books long enough to read only to return them immediately after. That’s theft.

Now. Want to read and return them? Great! Here’s how you can do that:

Check books out of the library.

Read books on Kobo Plus. (A subscription service)

Read books on Kindle Unlimited. (Another subscription service)

But do not buy them outright, read them, and then return them. That just hurts the same indie authors you profess to support.

Take care and happy reading! 

 - Heather 

A sassy bookstore owner - a smokin' hot firefighter - and three flirty septuagenarians. 

What more could you ever need? 

Don’t Call Me Sugar is a slow-burn, Grant’s Crossing Romance - where family and friends mean everything, and happily-ever-afters are guaranteed.

Don't Call Me Sugar is available wherever books are sold online. If it's not already there, you can request it at your local library in paperback and digital for Libby and Hoopla.

Get your copy today!

Add to your Goodreads TBR

Haven’t yet read Wayward Guilt, Heroes of Grant’s Crossing Book 1? 

No problem. Click here to find it in print and digital on Libby / Hoopla or wherever books are sold online.

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Join my Leaux Cay Readers on Facebook

Pride 2023 - Books and Authors Day 20 - A Guy Walks Into My Bar

Hello and welcome to Day 20 of 30 Days of Pride - Books and Authors! 

For Pride Month 2023, I’m sharing some of the fabulous books and authors I’ve discovered featuring LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly characters or written by LGBTQ or LGBTQ-friendly authors. 

Today we're crossing the pond to merry ol' England. London is a fabulous city in real life, so if you ever have an opportunity to visit, by all means, please do so. In the meantime, A Guy Walks Into My Bar by Lauren Blakely is far more budget-friendly, and you won't be tired at the end of the day. 

While the title may sound like a lead-in for a joke, I assure you it's not. Well... it may be the start of a story... Ahem. That said, Blakely fills this low-angsty romance full of witty banter and snarky flirtation that'll have you smiling throughout. 

Like many books I consume, I listened to this book that featured Shane East and Joe Arden, along with a full cast that gave us multiple voices throughout by a variety of voice artists.  

It's a cute read that doesn't stress you out the whole time unless you thought it was going to give you a break from hockey. No such change. I can't stop with the hockey romances, but it's far more secondary in this book than some of the others, so that means you get to spend more time enjoying a cozy bar in London. 

Trust me. I would never stear you wrong!

For more about Lauren Blakely's books, visit her official website. 

Take care and happy reading!

- Heather 

As always, my reviews can be found on Goodreads and other retail sites. 

Pre-order your e-Copy of WAYWARD GUILT - Heroes of Grant's Crossing Book 1! (Print version will be available for pre-order in early July.)

AMAZON - KOBO - BARNES & NOBLE - APPLE

Find me online! 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Bookbub - @GrantsCrossing

Follow me on Facebook

Review - Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is the second book I've read by Jenny Bayliss. Like The Twelve Dates of Christmas, which I absolutely loved, it was a delight to read. 

MMUM brings a group of friends together for a wedding at an old castle in Nory's hometown. Nory, the proprietor of a book store in London is a woman who grew up in and around the old castle where her parents worked. Bridging the gap between her well-off friends she made at a high-end boarding school and her working class family, she teetered between the two worlds, though was welcomed by both. 

The romance part of this romance novel was really slow to start, but in its place, we were treated to a wonderful group of friends seeing each other in person for the first time in several years. I didn't really feel the romantic chemistry between Nory and Isaac, but I loved them both. It's as if they rekindled an old friendship and turned it into something more, but the something more was often off-page. 

All in all, a delightful listen. 

Since I ended up listening to this book, I must say that Shakira Shute did a fantastic job and kept me in the story the whole time. I listened at 1.3x speed. 

Side notes: 

* I loved the banter and interaction between the friends and would have loved this book even without the romance. I could easily have read another 100 pages of just all the friends together and in small groups - especially more about their thoughts on their late friend, Tristan. 

* Steam level was low. Any steamy scenes were glossed over in a sentence or two until the scene could be transported to a new locale.

* I was so happy for Guy's ending.

Click here for more about Jenny Bayliss. Find Meet Me Under the Mistletoe on Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Amazon

 

Take care and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Review - The Black Fog

Thanks to some juicy stories available to read via Booksprout, I've been sampling the works of myriad new-to-me authors from around the world. I've also been dipping my toes into genres outside my usual choices of mystery and romance, such as poetry and horror. 

One such story I read is by an English author named Newton Webb. He spins deliciously creepy tales perfect for those looking for a fun horror story that will make them look over their shoulders and question their sanity. 

Who needs to be at work to question their sanity, right?

The Black Fog is a tale about a creepy black fog that rolls in off the sea towards a fishing town seemingly in its decline. People have mysteriously but when it overtakes the entire town... well... you'll just have to read it! 

It's a super quick read, so I hope you'll take a few moments to read it. You'll thank me later! 

On deck with this author are two more short stories, novellas The Platinum Service and The Heir Apparent. 

Read more about Newton Webb and his books on his website. Goodreads - Amazon

Take care and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Follow me on Facebook

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

My NetGalley ARCs

I read a lot of ARCs which are Advanced Reader Copies of books in order to help generate buzz for soon-to-be-released books. I get them from a couple of websites, but mostly via authors directly.

Sometimes, like an extra appetizer on the menu, my eyes get a little hungrier for titles to read than my time allows. Sometimes I also put my name in for books and then start writing my own. 

NetGalley is a great resource for generating buzz on new books. Used primarily by small and large publishers alike, it's a treasure trove of new books of all genres for readers to dive into. The only requirement is that you write a review of the books you take. I currently have 10 books out. According to the NetGalley group I'm in, that's not at all unusual. What's unusual is that I recently went into NetGalley to discover I hadn't read them all. (Don't look at the dates. Really. Don't look. Sigh. Fine. Look.)

I have 10 books out - 8 are cozy mysteries, 1 is a romance, and 1 is a biography on a Pakistani cleric credited with the internationalization of the global jihadist movement. It'll take me a while to get through, but it's quite good so far. It's actually not the first book on that topic that I've read. 

I had 12 books before and have just posted a couple of reviews in my efforts to whittle down my book list. 

Cozy mystery - To the Tome of Murder by Lauren Elliott - Goodreads Review

Romance - Off the Grid by Kay Richard - Goodreads Review

I have high hopes for the balance of the books on my list. Yes - I'm way past due for a bunch since they're almost all already published, but I'm working on it. I take books that intrigue me or that are written by authors I already know I like. 

I hope you'll friend me or follow my reviews on Goodreads. 

I'm in there as H.M.S. Brown which will be my pen name when I start publishing. And yes - those are my real initials, with the addition of my mom's maiden name to add the S. I couldn't resist! And no - I don't use her maiden name of Scribner for passwords. But Yes - Scribner, like the publisher. We're distantly related. Think that'll give me an "in?" 

(Scratches chin) 

Hmm.

Hope you're all having a great weekend! Take care and happy reading!

 - Heather 

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

Review - Red, White & Royal Blue

 A couple of weeks ago I read what has got to be my absolutely favorite book of the year so far: Red, White & Royal Blue, by Casey McQuiston. 

It's the story of a fake friendship turned real romance between the First Son of the United States, Alex Claremont-Diaz and Prince Henry of Wales. 

The story was fabulous and incredibly well-written. It drew me in until I had fallen in love with both these characters the more I read. The writing portrayed a lot of very dynamic, intelligent people all navigating the world of politics and royal life while at the same time helping two young men navigate their own sexuality as they developed and deepened their friendship. 

I wrote the following review in Goodreads: 

No idea why I waited as long as I did to read this book, so please don’t ask. I fell in love with both Alex and Henry - such amazing, rich - as in a lot of depth rich, intelligent, funny, vulnerable, complex, wonderful characters.

This story was incredible. I devoured it and read it through to well past midnight so I could finish it all in one sitting. Yeah - I was tired at work on the 14th, but it was oh so worth it!

I loved this book so much that a couple days after I read it on my nook, I used an audible credit and listened to it all over again. I’m pretty sure I want to listen to it again! Ramon de Ocampo did a fantastic job portraying all the different characters. I was even more afraid of Zahra after listening to him (him = de Ocampo) tell the story.

Read this book. It’s a beautifully woven love story between two young men who, though some self-discovery and a blossoming friendship are discovering it really is ok to be true to themselves.

Pretty sure this is my absolute favorite book that I’ve read so far this year and with the pandemic, working from home, and no kids? I’ve read a lot so far. This book was magnificent!

And it's completely true. It was magnificent. I also listened to it on Audible shortly after I read the actual book! On Audible, the book was narrated by Ramon de Ocampo who did an excellent job of portraying all the various characters and languages in the book. (Book was in English with parts of the dialogue in Spanish. 

Shortly after reading this book, I found a Facebook group devoted to fans of this novel which I recommend you find. The best part is some of the fan art of Alex and Henry which is a spectacular rendition of the two men together, drawn out from various scenes throughout. 

In the Facebook group, I received a recommendation to try Boyfriend Material as well, which shows the fake boyfriend, budding romance between Luc and Oliver. I read and enjoyed that book as well.

Both books told wonderful love stories that included emotional moments combined with humor and snark at times - something to which I can definitely relate! 

Casey McQuiston - Red, White & Royal Blue (Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Amazon)

Alexis Hall - Boyfriend Material (Goodreads - Barnes & Noble - Amazon)

Happy reading! 

 - Heather

Twitter - @GrantsCrossing

Instagram - @GrantsCrossing

Goodreads - H.M.S. Brown

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