Posted in Book Tours

Had Me At Howdy

Had Me At Howdy
Mary Karlik
(A Hillside * Spring Creek Novel)
Publication date: November 22nd 2025
Genres: Comedy, Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult

Platinum credit card? Deactivated. New car? Sold. Best life ever? Canceled.

Thanks to my dad losing his job, we’ve ditched Chicago for Fumbuck, Texas—population: redneck. Now I’m living on a rundown farm, scrubbing dishes, and driving a rusty pickup. Worst of all? I’m stuck working alongside a cowboy.

But this Cinderella isn’t giving up. I’ll claw my way back to the luxe life I left behind—and no one, not even infuriatingly chill, stupidly handsome Austin McCoy is going to stop me. Even if he does make feeding the chickens weirdly… enjoyable.

She thinks she’s just passing through. I’m hoping she stays.
I kind of feel for the Quinn sisters. City girls don’t belong in Spring Creek—but Kelsey? There’s more to her than designer labels and eye rolls. When she forgets to be angry, I see it—like the way her eyes light up when she feeds the chickens.

Now all I have to do is convince her the guy she really wants is me, not some rich dude taking her to a ball in Chicago.

Content Warning: This work contains a subplot involving death, grief, and an off-page instance of date rape. While these events are not depicted directly, they are referenced and may be distressing to some readers.

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

The universe had completely crapped on Kelsey Quinn’s life.

She dabbed at her eyes, blew her nose, and wadded up the tissue before dropping it to the pile on the seat next to her. Pressing her forehead against the car window, she watched the scenery fly by at seventy miles per hour. They passed Bob’s Stay and Go combination gas station—fast food restaurant—hotel, followed by some weird concrete starship-shaped pizza parlor. Next, three-foot fluorescent letters screamed about redemption across a junkyard fence surrounding rusted pieces of mangled metal. The few words of scripture painted there weren’t going change her fate. Her dad was in the driver’s seat and they were heading straight for the armpit of Texas.

With a sigh she slumped against the seat and tried not to think about the boyfriend who’d been ripped from her life, or the best friend she’d been forced to leave behind. But it wasn’t just her forced exile from Drew and Zoe. She’d lost her identity. At St. Monica’s, she knew who she was and where she fit in. It was her senior year, the year she’d looked forward to for as long as she was in school. They had taken it away with less thought than the car they’d sold one afternoon while she and Zoe were shopping. None of it was her fault. She was a victim of her dad’s incompetence on one hand and her sister’s immorality on the other.

Her dad exited onto a two-lane highway where they were greeted by a faded, Welcome to Hillside Texas, Population 5000, sign. They slowed to a crawl as they entered the town. At a four-way stop her mom screeched, “Oh my God Tom, look at the cute little diner. We’re all starving, let’s stop before we go to the house.”

“Sounds good to me. Jack’s not expecting us for another couple of hours anyway.” Dad angled the Infinity between two pickup trucks and turned off the engine.

The diner was nestled in the center of a row of dilapidated two story buildings. Early Bird Café was painted in bright blue letters across the glass. Kelsey pulled her compact mirror from her purse and studied her reflection. She’d been crying for two days, no amount of makeup magic would fix her swollen red eyes. It didn’t matter. She didn’t care about this place or these people. She sure as heck didn’t care what they thought about her. She shoved the mirror back into her purse.

Her younger sister, Ryan, looked all wide-eyed and curious. And worse, she actually looked excited to investigate this hick little town. Why not? It was her fault they were in this mess in the first place. Her parents would have been justified to ship Ryan off to some kind of school for troubled kids. But no—Quinns don’t give up on their own. Everybody had to suffer because Ryan couldn’t say no to drugs or boys.

Mackenzie, Kelsey’s youngest sister, flipped her compact gymnast’s body from the third seat to the back seat nailing Ryan in the shoulder with her foot.

“Watch it!” Ryan drew her fist back, but before she could get the hit off Mackenzie flashed a cherub smile and released a powder sugar apology. Yeah. That wasn’t an accident. Kelsey almost smiled when she saw foot impact with shoulder. Mackenzie had been fairly silent about the ruin Ryan’s exploits had done to her life. Apparently, she had her limits too.

Author Bio:

Join Mary’s newsletter: https://maryjwilson.com/contact/

Mary Karlik (also writing as Mary J. Wilson) combines her Texas roots with her Scottish heritage to write happily-ever-afters from Texas to Scotland.

Mary has five indie-published contemporary young adult romance novels and two fantasy novels.

Mary earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University, has a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University, and is currently studying Scottish Gaelic at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Skye, Scotland. She is also a certified, professional ski instructor and a Registered Nurse.

Mary is an active member of Contemporary Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, and Dallas Area Romance Authors. Married to a Scott, Mary lives in both and Scotland and Texas.

Website / Goodreads / Instagram / Facebook / Newsletter / Bookbub


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Posted in Book Tours

The Fall of Summer


This isn’t a fairytale. 

It’s a reckoning.

The Fall of Summer

The Reckoning Duet Book 1

by Rebecca Dale

Genre: Dark Romantic Thriller



When her father locks away a powerful man, Summer Miller becomes the one marked to pay the price.

The sheriff, Jacob Darnell, swears he’ll protect her. But he has always blurred the line between duty and desire. His badge is her shield. His house, her prison. His touch, the most dangerous risk of all.

In Rosefield, every promise hides a lie. Every smile conceals a weapon.
And the closer Summer comes to escape, the deeper betrayal cuts.

Because love isn’t salvation.
It’s obsession.

And vengeance isn’t the only thing waiting in the dark.

This isn’t a fairytale. It’s a reckoning.

 

What readers are saying:

“..my first time reading Rebecca Dale, and wow… what a read. The writing is smooth, addictive, and flows so effortlessly that it pulls you in from the very first chapter. Add in the constant suspense, and I genuinely couldn’t put this book down…..The plot and the angst are so well done. I was racing through the pages desperate to know what would happen next, while also dreading it at the same time. And that cliffhanger… absolutely brutal. I need book two now!

– MW Booklover

 

I was thoroughly immersed into this world! At first I didn’t know how this story was going to go with it being a dark romance but saying that, this is not your typical dark romance book!
This story had me wanting to keep reading late into the night purely because the story was intense, you got to see the different sides of characters and it all just gelled together into one amazing story!  The second half of the book for me was when the intensity picked up, it was making my heart rate go up purely because I wanted the happy ending the characters deserved!
I love the setting of the story and overall everything was written extremely well for this debut author. I NEED BOOK 2 NOW!! – @katielouisepage

 

**Only .99 cents!**

Amazon * Author’s Site * Bookbub * Goodreads

 





Jacob

 

They think I’m smiling.

      That’s the part that always gets me—how fucking easy it is.

      A tilt of the mouth. A nod. A badge pressed to my chest like a holy relic. People will believe anything if the devil’s wearing a uniform. I could blow a man’s brains out in this bar and half of them would call it justice. The other half would thank me for keeping the peace.

      But I’m not thinking about them. I’m thinking about her.

      Summer.

      Out there, with another man like she’s forgotten the name I carved into her life. The woman I dragged from the dark and put under my roof. The woman I told myself I would keep.

      The woman I have been in love with for two years and have taken into my home to protect from the monsters that lurk in the dark. But she’s dancing with that fucker for all to see.

      That singing stray with hands too familiar and eyes that don’t understand what it means to touch something sacred.

      And she’s smiling. Not the smile she gives me. Not the one she wears when she thanks me through her teeth for the silk I buy or the food I put on the table. This one’s real. Soft. Lit from inside.

      Unforgivable.

      “She’s got moves,” some idiot mutters nearby. “Didn’t think the sheriff would let her off the leash.”

      My head turns slow. Wouldn’t want anyone to think I’m the kind of man who loses control. Yet.

      I find the voice. Lock eyes. Some oil-rig rat with beer on his breath and death behind his teeth.

      “You want to repeat yourself?” I say, calm as a storm gathering under skin.

      He chuckles. Weak. Backpedals. Good.

      I’m not in the mood to bury another one behind the diner.

      Haywood says something beside me—laughing about blood on a porch turning out to be barbecue sauce. I nod. Smile. Pretend I give a shit.

      I don’t.

      I’m too busy watching her. Still swaying. Still glowing. Still fucking mine.

He touches her waist. My hand twitches, the urge to pull out my gun and shoot the fucker burns through me like lava.

      If she were smart, she’d be crying right now. Begging me to make it stop. Begging me to get him to take his hands off her. But she doesn’t⁠—

      She’s gotten stupid. Or brave. Or both.

      From the first second, she was mine. Not a passing obsession—an inevitability carved into me. I’ve memorized every shiver, every tear, every defiance. She’s always belonged to me, even when she thought she was running. She still looks at me like I’m the danger. Maybe I am. But I’m also the only thing standing between her and the monsters who wanted her. Who planned her destruction. And if she knew what they had planned, what I had really saved her from, she would never lead a normal life again.

      Every road she takes will always lead back to me. Every breath she takes is already inside my hands. She can fight, she can hate, but she’ll never escape. I won’t let her. Not now. Not ever.

 

I haven’t owned her in the bedroom yet. I was never going to be the man to tie her down and take her against her will. Hell, that’s the men I’m saving her from. But right now, the idea of her in chains, taking every inch of my cock and staring into my eyes sounds like heaven. Maybe that’s what she needs. Maybe then she’ll stop eyeing bar rats and thinking it’s alright to let them put their hands on her.

      I’m a fucking monster. But a rapist?

      No.

      It takes every ounce of strength I have to walk back to the table and sit, to hide the storm clawing at my insides and let the room think I’m calm.

      “I’m waiting for you baby,” I mutter under my breath.

 

      The song ends and he finally takes his greasy fucking hands off her.

      I want to stomp on his fucking throat—but I won’t. I’ll play the long game. I’ll find out everything there is to know about that son of a bitch.

      She heads back over. Eyes down at the ground. She knows. She fucking knows. She has the audacity to sit there like nothing happened. Like she didn’t just look at another man like he could save her. Like he could take her home and fuck her into forgetting I ever existed.

      I saw it—that flicker. That spark she thought she could hide. She wanted him to look at her, to see her. To know she was interested. And now she sits there, all wide eyes and trembling lips, pretending she’s innocent?

No

“Had fun with your boyfriend?” The words come out smooth, almost playful, but they taste like rust on my tongue.

      What I really want to do is drag her out by the hair and make her confess how far she would’ve let him go if I wasn’t here.

 





I was born and raised in Hull, England, where I still live today with my four incredible children, two mischievous dogs, and a cat who thinks she’s the boss of us all. Life in my house is busy, loud, and wonderfully chaotic—but through it all, I’ve always had one constant: my love for stories.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been reading and writing. I was the kid who snuck books under the covers with a torch, the teenager scribbling down half-finished stories in notebooks, and now the woman whose imagination simply refuses to switch off. Stories have always been my way of making sense of the world, and I’ve carried that passion into writing books that dig into the messy, complicated sides of love, obsession, and survival.

When I’m not writing, you’ll usually find me surrounded by my family, walking the dogs, or curling up with a book and a cup of coffee (probably cold by the time I get to it). I’ve always had a soft spot for anything furry, and our house is very much a mix of kids, pets, and chaos—in the best possible way.

My debut novel, The Fall of Summer, is the first in The Reckoning Duet, and it’s the story that’s been tugging at my heart for years. It’s dark, it’s emotional, and it explores what happens when love and danger collide. My hope is that these books make you feel something real—whether it’s your pulse racing, your heart aching, or that little shiver down your spine when a line sticks with you long after you’ve read it.

Thank you for being here and for supporting my journey as an indie author. I can’t wait to share these stories with you, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

With love,

Rebecca Dale

 

Website * Facebook * Instagram * TikTok * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads

 

Follow the tour HERE for special content and a $20 giveaway!


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Posted in #LGTBQ+

Ness’s Wait (Arrowtown Book 9)

There are times when being a legendary shifter is a plain pain in the butt, and this is one of those times…

Farness Duncan, more commonly known as Ness or Nessie, had lived his life quite happily for more than three thousand years. An extremely rare kind of shifter, he lives simply, helping others through his funding foundation and traveling the world whenever he needed too. But at his heart, he called Arrowtown home. However in recent months Ness had been getting increasingly restless and even Doc couldn’t help, although it was him who suggested Ness’s beastie was getting ready to mate. The problem was, to who?

This has to be the most ridiculous version of winging it I’ve ever done.

Cyrus Marinus, gangster and great white shark shifter knew who Ness was to him the moment he saw him striding through the airport in Las Vegas. Fueled by his shark, he hunts the man down in Scotland, witnessing the most amazing transformation he’d ever seen. But while the claiming part was easy, once Ness got over his shock, settling down and building a life together wasn’t without it’s problems, especially when Ness learns early on the type of life Cyrus was used to living.

Everyone can change if they have the right incentive.

While Cyrus and Ness are happy with each other, other family members are not as pleased with their mating. There was also the little issue that Ness’s beastie was aching for something more, but if Ness and Cryus gave into their instincts, then one of them was going to end up pregnant. For two accomplished businessmen with world wide interests, was that really the best idea?

Silly question, lol. Cyrus and Ness’s story involves some unusual stains on the carpet, more than a few references to killing someone, family drama, mpreg, and an HEA because with a Lisa Oliver story, that’s guaranteed.

Posted in #LGTBQ+

Hal’s Silence (Arrowtown Book 8)

Determined to do more than hide out in Arrowtown, Lion shifter Hal Lamont decides to head out on a road trip. Armed with his speech app, enough pens and papers to sink a battleship, and a deep desire to find his long lost confidence, he sets out, planning a short stay in Jackson before seeing where the open road will take him. But a random night out in the predominantly human town changes his world in a way he doesn’t imagine – and not necessarily for the better.

Blade Morgan was a shark shifter, but he didn’t see why it should stop him making a success of the casino he had been operating in Jackson. Unfortunately, the local council see things differently. One night, while doing his best to keep patrons happy, he sees the haunted yet amused eyes of a shifter as the man was heading out the door. Blade was compelled to give chase – and got more than he bargained for.

Surprisingly communication was one of the easiest hurdles in Hal’s and Blade’s new mating. But between the local council, a woman hellbent on revenge, and a shooter who missed his target, the start to their new life together wasn’t easy. Keep an eye out for a Jaws-fixated waiter, a Fae who finds Hal’s phone at just the right time, and some grumpiness from Doc among others.

Hal’s Silence is an MM Paranormal Romance story featuring Fated Mates. It was written for mature audiences. Please store your e-content responsibly. This book can be read as a standalone, but you will get more understanding of the secondary characters and more details on how Hal lost his tongue, if you read Liam’s Lament (Book 3) first.


Guardian_angel54
5.0 out of 5 stars.
Shark and lion love.
Reviewed in the United States on March 10, 2025.
Format: Kindle. Verified Purchase.
I think one of the things that I love most about Lisa Oliver's stories is that she tackles real life scenarios and situations in such an amazing and understanding way. She gives her characters real hurdles to overcome - just like in real life - and she shows that love, communication, family, and tenacity are all that is needed to prevail. Hal has been kind of a background character since Liam's book and I loved that he was given a chance to shine in his own story. The trauma that he went through was deeply profound yet Lisa doesn't let him fall into simply being a "rescued victim" but allows him to bloom into a determined survivor. Blake was a great mate for Hal to have been fated to, because he truly wanted to be supportive, without patronizing, and was also tough enough in his own right, to stand next to the lion shifter that the Fates determined was his. I love the veritable variety of shifters that we get to meet - in this case a Great White Shark - and all the fun idiosyncrasies that each one brings! The entire Arrowtown series is just fantastic and I highly recommend each and every one. 5/5*
Posted in #LGTBQ+

Brutus’s Surprise (Arrowtown Book 7)

Brutus had found his groove in Arrowtown. Having traveled with Ra and his friends for years, he was now content to help out Fergus at the local bakery and spend his free time as an uncle to his friend’s children. Finding a mate was one of those “it might be nice one day” scenarios, that Brutus wasn’t chasing too hard. Until he got home one day and was greeted with the alluring scent of strawberries and cream. The man coming down the stairs to greet him was exactly Brutus’s type, but the big bear shifter had never considered having a human as a mate.

Heath’s bad day had been going on for weeks. Escaping his dray was just the first step in a string of bad luck experiences that looked like they were finally turning around when he met up with some friendly shifters in Arrowtown. Being taken to a huge house and quite literally meeting his mate that same day, was amazing. Was it too much to hope that Heath’s luck had finally changed?

But Heath’s ex-alpha was not a forgiving type, and biker squirrels were no joke. Add in a squirrel desperate to shift, and a little girl Fae with a love of all things pink and purple, and Heath and Brutus’s mating seems to be one surprise after another. But even surprises can out live their usefulness and maybe the last surprise is the one that breaks Heath and Brutus both.

Brutus’s Surprise is an MM Paranormal Romance story that can be read as a standalone, although a deeper appreciation of the secondary characters and the world rules can be had, if you read the previous books in the series. As always, some bad language, a spot of violence and intimate situations between adults are included. Please store your ebooks responsibly.


Guardian_angel54
5.0 out of 5 stars.
The baker Bear and the Flying Squirrel.
Reviewed in the United States on February 24, 2022.
Format: Kindle Verified Purchase .
I think one of the things I like best about this series is the diversity in animal forms and human sides. Heath might be a small, twinkish squirrel shifter but he's sassy and caring and tough. Although he is being hunted by his old dray (squirrel pack), he strives to keep a positive attitude and tries to embrace finding his fated mate. Brutus may be an endangered California Grizzly, big and muscled, but inside he's just a sort marshmallow! I like how the apex shifters aren't all portrayed as walking aggressive, testosterone factories. They can be sweet and caring and vulnerable. The smaller prey shifters are allowed to be fierce in spirit and strong in character. It's a nice change from stereotypical roles and makes the characters feel more realistic. Relatable. This was a great addition to the series and I'm very excited to see who finds their fated mate next. As much as I want Nessie to get his HEA, I'm still holding out for Mal and Rocky to discover that they are actually mates - maybe they just need a third to jumpstart things! Fingers crossed! 😁