Archive for August 27, 2023

Reading, Read, Peaceful, Woman, Dusk, Outside, Outdoors

This is my own version of a weekly book haul and all things new on fuonlyknew.

Sunday Post

I’m also linking up with The Sunday Post hosted by Kimberly @Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

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Some chit chat.

I spy with my little eye….. Christmas decorations. Yep. Can you believe it. They don’t even have Halloween or Thanksgiving out yet and there’s the holly jolly stuff. The mad dash has begun. Sure doesn’t feel Christmas like here. 100+ and so humid it’s hard to breathe. Many people think September is the end of summer on the Gulf Coast. Hold those horses peeps. It gets even hotter and then the hurricane season ramps up. Crossing my fingers, toes and eyes we don’t get hit by one this year.

I have some exciting reviews and giveaways to share. And some free books! Check it all below.

Looking forward to chatting with you and have a great new week!

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Book News.

What I just finished. I’ll be sharing my reviews soon.

   

What I’m reading now.

   

What I’ll be reading next.

   

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Newly added to my pile of books.

   

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This week’s reviews.

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Here are some FREEBIES for ya.

Click on the covers to get your copies. Remember to make sure they’re still free before you hit that buy button.

Cyclone: A Protective Hero Romantic Suspense (Linear Tactical Book 1) by [Janie Crouch]  The Darkness We Keep Close: A Novel by [Reyna Starlette]  The Hangman Box Set by [WL Knightly]

Cheeky Royal (Winston Isles Royals Book 1) by [Nana Malone]  Bride for the Innkeeper (Mail Order Brides of Christmas Mountain Book 1) by [Jovie Grace]  Daring the Duke (The Debutante Dares Book 1) by [Charlie Lane]

You Can Lead a Horse to Murder (Secrets of Sanctuary Cozy Mysteries Book 1) by [Tara Meyers]  Cold Case No. 99-5219 (A Samantha Church Mystery Book 4) by [Betta Ferrendelli]  Girl Without a Chance (A Tara Strong Mystery—Book 1) by [Rylie Dark]

THE FLOWER ARRANGER AT ALL SAINTS a gripping cozy murder mystery full of twists (Suzy Spencer Mysteries Book 1) by [LIS HOWELL]  A Flytrap Fiasco: A witchy cozy mystery (Trouble Down Under) by [P.A. Mason]  The Witch who Couldn't Spell: Felix and Penzi's First Paranormal Mystery (French Country Murders Book 1) by [Katie Penryn]

The Afterlife Series (Books 1-3) by [Willow Rose]  Snow-Kissed Love Complete Box Set: Books 1-5 by [Violet Vaughn, V. Vaughn]

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Other posts on my blog this week.

Her Own Revolution ~ The Chateau de Verzat Series by Debra Borchert

Deadly Manor ~ A World War II Mystery by Kate Parker

And Then I Met You by MacKezie Lee ~ Peek Inside And Giveaway

Cinderella’s Crimes by Kelsey Josund ~ Cover Reveal And Giveaway

Peek Inside And Giveaway ~ Hungry Is The Night by Robin Jeffrey

Haunted Inns And Hotels Of Virginia by Susan Schwartz ~ Excerpt And Giveaway

Books From The Back Log #84 ~ Suckerville by Chris Sorensen

The IX by Andrew P. Weston ~ Review And Giveaway

The Friday 56 #251 ~ Horror Library

Peek Inside And Giveaway ~ Rise Of Dresca by Tim McKay

The Kandesky Vampire Chronicles by Michele Drier ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

A Good Man by P.J. McIlvaine ~ Excerpt And Giveaway

Coming Home To Magnolia Bay by Babette De Jongh ~ Guest Post And Giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.

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People and pets find their forever homes in this charming small-town romance.

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Coming Home to Magnolia Bay

Welcome to Magnolia Bay Book 3

by Babette De Jongh

Genre: Small Town Contemporary Romance

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People and pets find their forever homes in this charming small-town romance from Babette de Jongh featuring:

*A single mom doing her best

*Her young son who needs a helping hand

*An animal trainer who might be the answer to their troubles

*A bustling animal rescue where everyone gets a second chance

*The magic of humans who know how to communicate with animals

Sara Prescott’s eight-year-old son Max wants a dog. But their apartment doesn’t allow pets, and the divorced single mom can’t afford the certified seizure-alert dog Max needs. Instead, she and Max volunteer at the Furever Love Animal Shelter. Max forms a special bond with Jett, a big black bully breed and three-time loser who keeps getting dumped.

Animal Trainer Justin Reed comes back home to Magnolia Bay and visits the shelter to find a dog actor for a TV series set in nearby New Orleans. Justin chooses Jett, but the shelter’s director rejects his application because Jett needs a finally-forever home, not a job with an end date. The shelter’s resident animal communicator proposes a win-win. Justin can use Jett as an animal actor if he also trains Jett as a service dog for Max.

Sara and Justin have no business indulging their mutual attraction. Sara is focused on her son, and Justin will be leaving soon. But Max and Jett have other ideas…

**Only .99 cents! **

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

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 Excerpt from Coming Home to Magnolia Bay. The hero’s lost dog, Jett, learns that people can’t be trusted:

Jett reached for the savory-smelling meat, but all he got was a mouthful of air. The man dropped the meat and grabbed Jett’s collar, then whipped the hidden rope around his neck.

Jett tried to back out of the man’s grip, but he held firm, working to tie the rope to Jett’s collar. The big man was strong, but Jett was determined. He had almost backed out of his collar when some instinct told him that the collar was a link between him and his family. He stopped backing up and surged forward instead, knocking the man onto his butt. The light the man held flew through the air, and the rope slipped free.

Jett bolted into the darkness. He struggled through shallow, boggy fields of dark-smelling mud that his paws sank into. Tall plants hid all the landmarks and scent markers and pathways he’d thought he was following. Snakes slid through the marshy watery patches.

Alligators bellowed.

Coyotes howled.

Gunfire cracked.

The quick pop-pop-pop of gunshots happened once, then again. Jett cowered close to the ground until the crickets and frogs started singing again.

He slogged through soggy ground and tall weeds until he saw a light that didn’t come from the sun or the moon. The tall yellow sunburst in the dark sky wasn’t as far up as either of those. The yellow light hung off the side of a tall gray pole. An even bigger light—square and flat with a raised yellow blob and red squiggles in the center—hung between two thick black pillars at the top of the hill where a big white building sat like an upside-down box.

He crept closer, his muddy paws slipping on the steep grassy bank. The air smelled like cars and black roads and the powdery wings of bugs that flew around all the lights. Jett found a shadowed space behind the building where he could hide and rest and decide what to do next.

He closed his eyes and reached out to Max. A shining thread connected them.

But the thread didn’t lie neatly along the paths humans or animals might take to get from one place to another. And while Jett knew a lot about birds, he wasn’t one.

And the line that connected him to Max stretched over a wide, wild, uncrossable river.

Jett closed his eyes and tried to feel his way to Max. But instead, Jett felt Justin reaching out to him. Justin showed him a mixed-up wad of images and emotions and words. It all came at him like a rolled-up ball of twine. None of it made much sense because it was all clouded with fears and thoughts and emotions that Justin still carried from other times that had long since passed.

Humans hung on to those things.

Jett concentrated on unraveling the tangled messages Justin was sending. He came away with only one clear command to hang on to: If Jett would show himself to a trustworthy person and ask for help, they would be able to take him to Justin.

And then what? Jett wondered.

Justin promised that if Jett would come back to him, he would take Jett to see Max.

Jett sat up. He had to find a trustworthy person who was willing to help.

His only problem: There weren’t many of those around.

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Meet the animals that inspired characters in the Welcome to Magnolia Bay Series!

Book Three: Coming Home to Magnolia Bay:

 

This is a picture of my dog Jed, the inspiration for the dog in Coming Home to Magnolia Bay.
All the cats love to snuggle with Jed.

My dog Jed is the inspiration for Jett, the dog character in Coming Home to Magnolia Bay. I
found Jed and his two siblings after they’d been dumped on the side of a country road. I was
driving into town when I saw these little ears popping up over the tall grass as the puppies
bounded toward my car. I could imagine their little voices calling out, “Hey, wait for us!” I pulled
over and got out of the car. At first, I thought, “How cute! They are covered in white spots! I
wonder what kind of dogs they are?” They looked, from a distance, like African Spotted Dogs.
But as they got closer, I realized that those white spots weren’t fur. They were the crusty, smelly
scabs caused by Demodectic mites, also known as mange. I opened the back door of the car
and said, “Get in.” The puppies didn’t hesitate. They boiled into the back seat of my car as fast
as they could. I drove them straight to the vet, hoping they’d take the puppies, since the vet was
(and still is) acting as the local animal shelter. But the vet shook his head. “The mange is too
bad. It takes too long and costs too much to treat. They’ll have to be euthanized.” So, of course,
I had them all vaccinated, bought the first round of mange treatment, and took them home with
me. As soon as the mange cleared up, I found homes for the other two puppies (Jethro and Ellie
May). Ellie looked like a chocolate lab, and Jethro was a handsome two-month-old puppy with a
sleek black coat and a small white blaze on his chest. But Jed had developed a skin infection,
so he was six months old by the time he was ready to adopt-out. By then, he had become just
another solid-black, half-grown dog who nobody wanted. Believe me, I tried. I offered Jed to
everyone I knew. I tried to give him away at least a hundred times. But nobody wanted a big
black dog. So, Jed became my dog. He is, and always has been, a Best Good Boy. But nobody
—not even me—recognized it. Because until I finally fell in love with him after a year of
resistance, he was just another big black dog nobody wanted.

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Magnolia Bay Memories

Welcome to Magnolia Bay Book 2

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Babette de Jongh brings you a bright and hopeful romance filled with:

*People and animals who get a second chance

*A community that makes everyone feel at home

*Friends-to-lovers romance that proves everyone deserves a forever home

Struggling widow Heather Gabriel takes a job at Magnolia Bay’s Animal Shelter to provide for her family. She isn’t ready to be anything more than colleagues with Adrian Crawford, the shelter’s new business consultant. But the shelter’s animal communication expert Reva Curtis knows there’s more attraction between Heather and Adrian than they let on, and she’s determined to bring them together. With the help of Heather’s three children and all the animals at Bayside Barn, Heather and Adrian soon realize they can have a future together…if they can let go of the past.

Small town romance will never look the same once you’ve traveled to Magnolia Bay!

“Charming…a satisfying blend of romance and animal cameos.”—DEBBIE BURNS, bestselling author of the Rescue Me series

“Babette de Jongh’s books are crafted with heart and humor, roaring heat and cuddly love.”—JOANN SKY, author of the Biggest Little Love Story series

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

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Warm Nights in Magnolia Bay

Welcome to Magnolia Bay Book 1

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Welcome to Magnolia Bay where:

*The animals interfere in their owners’ love lives

*Everyone (humans and animals alike) has an opinion about everything

*The neighbor is as infuriating as he is gorgeous

*And a sprinkle of hope is just the right thing to have you believing in love again

Abby Curtis lands on her Aunt Reva’s doorstep at Bayside Barn with nowhere to go but up. Learning animal communication from her aunt while taking care of the motley assortment of rescue animals on the farm is an important part of Abby’s healing process. She is eager to begin a new life on her own, but she isn’t prepared for the magnetism between her and her handsome, stubborn and distracting new neighbor.

Quinn Lockhart snapped up the foreclosed estate next door determined to renovate and flip the beautiful bayou property. It’s all part of a plan to make a financial comeback and reconnect with his estranged son. Definitely not part of the plan is the noisy petting zoo next door dragging down his property value. But getting rid of it becomes more difficult when he falls for the lovely and passionate Abby and bonds with an abandoned wolf dog who’s mournfully waiting for his family to return. For humans and animals alike, it will take all the courage they can muster to learn to love again. But that’s a journey worth taking—with a little help from their furry friends.

You’ll fall in love right along with Abby as animals and humans alike find unexpected ways to connect, nurture each other, and thrive.

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Google * Kobo * Bookbub * Goodreads

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**Celebrate National Black Dog Day on Oct 1 with Hear Them Speak!**

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Hear Them Speak

A Twelve-Week Course in Telepathic Animal Communication

by Babette de Jongh

Genre: Nonfiction, Pets, Animal Communication

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Would you like to know what your animal companion is really thinking? If you’re holding this book, the ability is literally within your grasp. Hear Them Speak is an engaging and easy-to-follow twelve week course that guides you through the process of discovering your own superpowers of telepathic animal communication. With real-life examples to increase understanding and tasks to help you practice your emerging skills, animal communicator Babette de Jongh walks you through every step of the journey to claim your innate ability to hear them speak.

Amazon * Goodreads

Babette de Jongh is a telepathic animal communicator, energy healer, Reiki Master, and award-winning romance writer who has taught ballet, yoga, elementary school, and animal communication. Whether it involves a happy-ending romance, a way of self-nurturing, or help in understanding our companions, the cohesive thread that ties all these things together is a desire to save the world, one happy ending at a time.

Babette’s first romance novel, Angel Falls, won two Readers’ Choice awards. In Hear Them Speak, Babette helps humans better understand their animal companions. In Welcome to Magnolia Bay, a romance series from Sourcebooks Casablanca, a telepathic animal communicator conspires with the human characters’ animal companions to help everyone—humans and animals—find forever love.

All this is only the beginning for a late bloomer who is just getting started. To find out more about Babette, everything she does, and everything she’s up to these days, please visit her website at www.BabettedeJongh.com.

Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

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Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Thanks so much for visiting fuonlyknew and Good Luck!

For a list of my reviews go HERE.

For a list of free eBooks updated daily go HERE

To see all of my giveaways go HERE.