September weekly kindle haul #5

Happy Sunday! My 13 book limit started again on Friday but I did buy another book that I thought I already owned and was planning on reading before I decided to finish something else instead. So I bought 16 Kindle books last month which is incredibly good for me since I used to buy that much (or more) in a week sometimes. I have already bought 2 books so far in October so fingers crossed I can keep it to only 11 more the rest of the month. By the time Sunday rolls around some of these books are no longer free but I will try to mention it if they still are.

A safe place to call home…
After escaping her abusive foster parents thirteen years ago, Hailey Donovan thought her nightmare was over. Gatlinburg Tennessee had been a safe place to live, until she’s nearly hit by gunfire while hiking the Smoky Mountains. Her instincts are to avoid law enforcement, especially handsome park ranger Rock Wilson, but when more gunfire echoes around them, they’re forced to work together to escape.

More attempts against Hailey convinces her to leave the city to start over someplace new. Rock talks her into staying and fighting against the unknown assailant. Rock senses Hailey has been traumatized in the past, and is determined to uncover the mystery surrounding her. As Hailey and Rock seek the truth behind the escalating attacks, Rock realizes he’s also in danger of losing his heart. Can Rock provide Hailey the save haven she desperately needs?

It’s Halloween in Hill Haven Creeps, and the All Hallows Eve Midnight Traveling Spook Show has come to town. Empty tents flap in the breeze, but there’s no sign of the carnies. 

For a group of close friends, the festivities have just begun. A masked figure haunts Trevor Sheevis in every reflection. Cole Reagor’s dream of being a stand-up comedian suddenly isn’t so funny, and Tommy Gallaghan’s cell phone makes ominous threats. 

At school, Angela Rayburn is smiling at Mathew Potts, and for Ashley Gifford, the monster he fears most sleeps under his very same roof. 

When their friend, Steven Delhomme, turns up missing, their worst fears come true. 

The smell of autumn leaves is in the air, the first pumpkins are aglow, and the crows are gathering in the cornfields. The moon is full, and something is visible beyond the veil between the living and the dead calling itself the Scarecrow King. 

As Halloween approaches, the dead exchange places with the living, and the All Hallows Eve Midnight Traveling Spook Show opens its doors. 

In Hill Haven Creeps, every fear will come to life, and every dream will turn into a nightmare. 

But will Halloween will have the final say? 

Or is something more ominous on the night wind?

After receiving a most unexpected personal invitation for a weekend of leisure and celebration, Miss Victoria Parker leaves London for the country seat of the Duke of Everton. Although unsure as to why a lowly spinster such as she would be invited anywhere by a duke, Victoria’s trusted assistant, James Kensington, assures her it must concern her late father’s accounting firm, which she secretly runs.

Unfortunately for them both, James is dead wrong.

On the first night of her stay, events take a murderous turn when Victoria discovers her host dead from apparent poisoning. Worse still, the other guests believe Victoria may have played a part in the duke’s untimely death.

With a killer on the loose and her name on the line, Victoria sets out to solve the mystery of His Grace’s murder. But discovering “whodunit” might prove more difficult than she first believed; it seems everyone at Stanting Estate has a motive to want the duke dead.

Knowing that she cannot complete this task alone, Victoria turns to James for help. As the two work closely together, new feelings begin to emerge, yet Victoria attempts to suppress them. After all, it would not do to fall in love with an employee. For each clue she unravels, however, Victoria finds herself not only closer to unmasking the murderer, but closer to James, as well. Can she solve the murder before she loses both her reputation and her heart?

A cozy, romantic Regency murder mystery that will keep you guessing til the end.

A Modern Hades and Persephone Retelling

Persephone is the Goddess of Spring by title only. The truth is, since she was a little girl, flowers have shriveled at her touch. After moving to New Athens, she hopes to lead an unassuming life disguised as a mortal journalist.

Hades, God of the Dead, has built a gambling empire in the mortal world and his favorite bets are rumored to be impossible.

After a chance encounter with Hades, Persephone finds herself in a contract with the God of the Dead and the terms are impossible: Persephone must create life in the Underworld or lose her freedom forever.

The bet does more than expose Persephone’s failure as a goddess, however. As she struggles to sow the seeds of her freedom, love for the God of the Dead grows—and it’s forbidden.

When Chelsea starts working for a stubborn cowboy, what seems like a dead end might really be a new beginning. 

A horrific accident changed everything for Parker Wilson. The beautiful new employee his mom hires is the last thing he needs and he’ll do whatever it takes to make the girl quit and regain the peace and quiet he prefers.

Nothing short of desperation would force Chelsea Blake to work on a local cattle ranch. She may not be cut out for ranch life, but her determination to succeed is stronger than her handsome employer’s efforts at forcing her to leave. 

Unprepared to discover all they have in common, if they set aside their initial dislike, they might find joy beyond measure.

Mascen Wade, star pitcher of the Aldridge University baseball team, is a lot of things. 

Rich. 
Hotter than sin. 
The campus’s reigning bad boy. 

We knew each other once upon a time, but even if I’m named after a princess, it doesn’t mean my life is a fairytale. 

My plan is to keep my head down, get my degree, and leave this town.

But the moment Mascen Wade recognizes me all my carefully laid plans come crumbling down. He’s decided he wants to make my life a living hell. But I’m not so easy to push around and won’t put up with his bully playground antics. Too bad for me I’ve never been able to resist him.

Previously published as Must Love Wieners.

She’s in the doghouse. He’s in the penthouse. When their worlds collide, can their lonely hearts become one?

Aspiring veterinarian Piper Summers has worked herself to the bone to graduate. But after she loses two of her three jobs, Piper worries she and her dachshund will be tossed out on the street. So when a hunky, cash-rich CEO offers her a lucrative gig as his dog walker, she swallows her pride and takes the position.

Billionaire Aiden Caldwell buried his fun behind a firm handshake and a sharp suit. But when the fetching woman of his dreams accidentally mauls him, he’s determined to break his leash and retrieve her heart. And after hiring her to walk his rescue hound, he’s willing to jump through every hoop to win her affection.

Though Piper is falling head over tail with Aiden, when her precious rescue center is vandalized and the wealthy man offers help, she fears he only sees her as a charity case. And as Aiden tries to prove his intentions are true, he struggles when business and pleasure start to blur into a serious case of puppy love.

Can they shed all their doubts and let passion bark up the perfect tree?

Revenge. 
I race to finance it. 
I evade to protect it. 
I kill to attain it. 
I planned everything. 

Except her. 
The alluring, curvaceous blonde at the finish line. 
With sapphire eyes that cheat and lie. 
Whose powerful family murdered mine. 

I hate her. 
I want her. 

I know she’s hiding something. 
But so am I.

Premier business consultant Simon West can turn around any struggling billion dollar corporation in New York City, but he can’t get what he wants most: revenge against Mark DuFord. The slick investment banker’s shady dealing led to Simon’s best friend’s suicide. Wealthy, and well-protected by the political influence he’s been able to purchase, DuFord has become untouchable—or so he thinks. But when DuFord’s former girlfriend asks Simon for help, he knows that Grace Bell is the weapon he needs to finally destroy his enemy completely. All Simon has to do is pretend to love her. 

Grace Bell knows that approaching hot-shot Simon West to save her business is a long shot, but she’s desperate. After growing up with a family that expected her to be a happy housewife, she’d proved them all wrong when she became the go-to event-coordinator in New York City. But after the tabloids took a completely innocent picture of her with a married senator and misinterpreted the situation, she’s losing clients left and right. When she approaches Simon and begs for his help to resuscitate the business she put her heart and soul into, she never expects him to agree. Or that the payment would be posing as his lover as an excuse to get close to her ex. 

Simon knows if he goes forward with his plan, it’s only a matter of time before Mark realizes what they’re up to and Mark’s enemies have a way ending up broke, in jail or six feet under. As Simon and Grace grow closer, Simon must decide if putting her in the line of fire is worth avenging the past. 

When her favorite true crime podcast host goes missing, an adrift young woman plunges headfirst into the wild backcountry of Northern California and her own dangerous obsession.

Sera loves true crime podcasts. They make her feel empowered in a world where women just like her disappear daily. She’s sure they are preparing her for something. So when Rachel, her favorite podcast host, goes missing, Sera knows it’s time to act. Rachel has always taught her to trust her instincts.

Sera follows the clues hidden in the episodes to an isolated ranch outside Rachel’s small hometown to begin her search. She’s convinced her investigation will make Rachel so proud. But the more Sera digs into this unfamiliar world, the more off things start to feel. Because Rachel is not the first woman to vanish from the ranch, and she won’t be the last…

Rachel did try to warn her.

A gripping psychological thriller from the bestselling author of I Am Watching You. The perfect family? Or the perfect lie?

It’s their daughter’s graduation and Rachel and Ed Hartley are expecting it to be one of their family’s happiest days. But when she stumbles and falls on stage during the ceremony, a beautiful moment turns to chaos: Gemma has been shot, and just like that, she’s fighting for her life.

PI Matthew Hill is one of the first on the scene. A cryptic message Gemma received earlier in the day suggests someone close to her was about to be exposed. But who? As Matthew starts to investigate, he finds more and more layers obscuring the truth. He even begins to suspect the Hartleys are hiding something big—from him and from each other.

While Gemma lies in hospital in a coma, her would-be killer is still out there. Can Matthew unravel the family’s secrets before the attacker strikes again?

Lights, camera…passion.

She has no time for love…
Katie Simon, 26, has one goal: to make a success of the small-town bakery she inherited from her grandmother. The combination of a disastrous dating history and endless work hours equal a distinct lack of romance in Katie’s life, and she relies mainly on the company of her two best friends, Tess and Jax. Try as they might to get her to date, Katie’s having none of it.

He wasn’t looking for love…
Mason Scott, 30, one of Hollywood’s hottest actors, is in Mountain Valley on a two-week location shoot for his latest movie. Early one morning he stumbles into Katie’s bakery, drawn by the familiar scent of his own grandmother’s cinnamon buns. When he meets Katie, it’s clear she has no idea who he is. The attraction is immediate, and he’s so delighted with his newfound anonymity that he finds every excuse to be with her.

But sometimes, things are beyond our control.
The more time they spend together, the hotter things get. When the truth comes out about Mason’s identity and Katie realizes what’s at stake, she quickly backs away from a life she’d never coveted. But the dual promise of a chance with Mason and the one shot at realizing her life-long dream make her reconsider everything she’s ever believed to be true.

Can a small-town girl make it work with Hollywood’s leading man?

Acting out of Love is the first installment in the Mountain Valley Romance series.

~Cassie