On Samhain night, with treachery seated beside the throne and the dead stirring beneath the House of Faces, Macha felt him at her back—steady, lethal, far too close. She was meant to hold Ulaid together, not crave the man sworn to protect her. But desire turned every choice into something dangerous.
Ruairi had already crossed death once. Macha was far more dangerous.
Macha stood before him with fire in her eyes while Ulaid cracked apart around her, and every vow he’d sworn strained toward breaking. He was her blade, her shield, the last thing standing between her and the darkness rising through the court. He was never meant to want her like this.
The dead had always spoken to Breda. She never expected them to speak his name.
As the House of Faces began to fracture, the whispers pulled her toward truths long buried within Ulaid—and toward a shadowed man who felt more like a warning than salvation. The dead were no longer content to whisper.
Cian lived with the damage he helped create—and the woman he could not save.
Old magic bound him to grief, guilt, and a past that refused to stay buried. Love had failed them before. It might fail them again.
As Samhain descends, loyalties fracture, the dead grow restless, and Ulaid begins to unravel.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cover Art: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I've enjoyed Hanna Park's books before, so this was always going to be one I picked up.
The thing that kept me turning the pages was the mystery. Every time I thought I had a handle on what was going on, something else would be revealed, and I needed to know more. There was always that feeling that something wasn't quite right beneath the surface.
I also loved the setting. Castle Rock has such a strong presence in the story that it almost felt like another character. The House of Faces was probably my favourite part of the entire book. Every scene involving it grabbed my attention.
Macha and Ruairi were easy characters to become invested in. I found myself rooting for them from quite early on, and I liked that the romance was given room to develop rather than being rushed.
The reason this ended up being a four-star read for me rather than a five-star one is simply that there were a few points where I felt I was missing something in the mythology. That's probably more down to me than the book. I suspect readers who are more familiar with Celtic folklore will get even more out of it than I did.
That said, I was never tempted to put the book down. In fact, I stayed up far later than I intended more than once because I kept telling myself I'd stop at the next chapter.
I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.
I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!
In the beginning, there was an empty page.
I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.
Voices on the Wind (A Novel of Malta in WWII, Part I — Assault) By Helena P. Schrader
Publication Date: 11th June 2026
Publisher: Cross Seas Press
Pages: 448
Genre: Historical Fiction
Early 1942: the fate of the Suez Canal and access to Middle East oil hangs on the fate of an island just 17 miles long by 9 miles wide: Malta.
Determined to destroy the British forces threatening Rommel’s supply lines, the Axis powers drop more bombs on Malta than London endured throughout the Blitz. The population is forced underground, while the RAF struggles with inadequate resources to fend off defeat. Meanwhile, Britain’s Atlantic lifeline is fraying....
Voices on the Wind follows the fate of four of Malta’s defenders: Senior Intelligence Officer and former Battle of Britain ace, W/Cdr “Robin” Priestman; WAAF SigInt Officer Candice Weld, sent out from Bletchley Park to “man” the only X-machine outside the UK; F/O “Ned” Nettleton, a Beaufort torpedo bomber pilot engaged in suicidal attacks against enemy shipping; and Chief Officer Stevie Mackay of the British Merchant Navy, fighting to keep Britain’s own lines of supply open.
Praise
What emerges from these pages is more than a story of military operations. It is a portrait of service, endurance, and sacrifice viewed through multiple perspectives, each contributing to a richer understanding of a critical moment in history.
Yarde Book Promotions
Through a collective of narrators working in different areas of the war effort, mainly in and around Malta, "Voices on the Wind" by Helena P. Schrader explores a frequently overlooked aspect of history, delving into the defence of Malta during the Second World War.
Helena P. Schrader is the author of 21 historical novels and six non-fiction history books. She earned a PhD in History from the University of Hamburg and served as a U.S. diplomat in Europe and Africa. She has won numerous literary awards, and two of her titles—Cold Peace, the first book in the Bridge to Tomorrow series on the Berlin Airlift, and her Battle of Britain novel, Where Eagles Never Flew—achieved Amazon #1 Bestseller status in aviation and military historical fiction.
Schrader masterfully blends meticulous historical research with compelling storytelling. Her success can best be measured not by the many awards or positive reviews, but by the fact that witnesses of the history she describes praise the authenticity of her works. Battle of Britain ace, W/Cdr Bob Doe enthusiastically declared that Where Eagles Never Flew got it “smack on the way it was for us fighter pilots.” Traitors for the Sake of Humanity: A Novel of the German Resistance won recognition for its extraordinary sensitivity to a complex topic from the survivors of the military conspiracy against Hitler and the widows of some of those executed.
The dramatic siege of Malta in WWII attracted Schrader’s attention years ago, and she has visited the island several times to conduct research, visit the important sites, and gain a greater understanding of the people. As she became drawn deeper into the material, the temptation to combine a novel about the siege of Malta with another of her lifelong loves, the British Merchant Navy, became irresistible. Schrader has been an avid sailor all her life and served as a petty officer in the British Merchant Navy on sail training ships in her youth.
Escape of the Grand Duchess by Susan Appleyard is a gripping historical novel that shatters the notion that royalty is synonymous with privilege and ease. At its heart is Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, the youngest sister of Tsar Nicholas II—a Romanov who defied a doomed destiny and survived.
Unlike her ill-fated brother and his family, Olga’s story is one of resilience, sacrifice, and daring escape. Trapped in a loveless marriage to a reckless gambler—who harbours secrets of his own—she finds hope in the arms of a dashing army lieutenant. But before she can claim her own happiness, she must first endure the brutal realities of World War I, where she serves as a nurse on the frontlines.
As the Russian Empire teeters on the brink of collapse, the infamous Siberian mystic Rasputin tightens his grip on the imperial court, setting the stage for revolution. With the Bolsheviks seizing power and the Romanovs marked for death, Olga faces an impossible choice: risk everything to stay or flee into the unknown with her true love and their children.
Rich in historical detail and driven by an unforgettable heroine, Escape of the Grand Duchess is a sweeping riches-to-rags tale of survival, love, and the strength it takes to forge a new life in the face of unimaginable upheaval.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Cover Art: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I finished Escape of the Grand Duchess completely absorbed by it. I’ve read quite a lot about the Romanovs over the years, but this is one of the few novels that made them feel like real people rather than distant historical figures in jewels and uniforms. Susan Appleyard gives Olga such a warm, honest voice that I felt as though I was living through events alongside her.
What I loved most was Olga’s relationship with her brother, Nicholas II. There’s such genuine affection between them, and you can feel her loyalty to him even when she can clearly see the mistakes being made around him. The tragedy is that he comes across as a decent, gentle man completely out of his depth and increasingly isolated. Olga sees it happening but is powerless to stop it, which makes the story all the more heartbreaking.
I also thought the portrayal of Alexandra Feodorovna was fascinating. The book doesn’t turn her into a villain, but it really captures how detached she became from the rest of the family and from ordinary people. There’s this constant sense that she made very little effort with others and withdrew further and further into herself, relying almost entirely on Rasputin and shutting out anyone who disagreed with her. You can feel the frustration from Olga and the rest of the family as they watch the damage being done but can’t break through to her.
And the sections involving Grigori Rasputin were incredibly well done — unsettling without becoming melodramatic. The atmosphere around him feels claustrophobic and ominous, especially knowing where history is heading. The growing hysteria, gossip and political chaos surrounding him hangs over the whole second half of the novel like a storm cloud.
But honestly, the emotional blow of the book comes later, when Olga learns what has happened to her brothers and the imperial family. Even though we all know the history, those scenes still hit hard. The uncertainty, the rumours, the desperate hope that someone might have survived — it’s written in such a human way. Olga’s grief feels very raw and private, not dramatic for the sake of it. I actually had to put the book down for a bit after those chapters.
What stayed with me afterwards was the sense of everything being slowly stripped away: power, home, security, family, identity. Yet somehow Olga survives with her compassion intact. By the end, her quiet resilience felt far more impressive than all the imperial splendour at the beginning.
A beautifully written, deeply moving novel that feels both intimate and epic at the same time. One of the best historical novels I’ve read in ages. Easily five stars.
Susan was born in England, which is where she learned to love English history, and now lives in Canada in the summer. In winter she and her husband flee the cold for their second home in Mexico. Susan divides her time between writing and her hobby, oil painting, although writing will always be her first love. She was fortunate in having had two books published traditionally. Since joining the ebook crowd, she has published nine books, some of which have won various awards.
Firevein: The Awakening (Firevein Saga Book 1) By Hanna Park
Publication Date: 14th April 2026
Publisher: Baisong Press
Print Length: 246 Pages
Genre: Fantasy Romance
I went to Røros for a wedding—not to fall for a man
who looked at me like he had already mourned me once.
From the first moment Rurik touched me, something beneath my skin burned. Every kiss felt inevitable. Every glance pressed at the edge of memory. He says I’ve lived before, that I’ve died before, that he has loved me through it all. I don’t remember him—but the mountain does.
The tunnels beneath Røros hum when I pass. Runes flare in the stone. The deeper I fall into his arms, the more something inside me begins to awaken—hot, wild, and impossible to ignore. I was never meant to survive what should have killed me. Now something ancient is stirring, and I can’t shake the feeling that it’s because I did.
I have buried Cristabel in every lifetime—though she has worn different names.
Across centuries, I have found her and lost her to the curse my bloodline was sworn to guard. She was never meant to live this time—but she did. Now the fire in her veins is awakening too soon. The balance beneath the mountain is shifting, and the oath I have carried for generations is beginning to fracture.
I waited lifetimes to hold her again. This time, I will not let her go—even if saving her means unleashing what should have remained buried.
A steamy Nordic fantasy romance of reincarnation, fate, and fire.
Triggers: Female cancer survivor. Steamy open-door scenes.
Snow, Christmas lights, a wedding in Norway… honestly, what could be better? That’s exactly the sort of cosy atmosphere Firevein: The Awakening starts with, before things gradually become far stranger and far more emotional than I expected.
Cristabel Johnson arrives for her friend’s wedding and almost immediately meets Rurik, who looks at her as though he already knows her somehow. From there, things escalate fairly quickly.
I ended up becoming surprisingly attached to Cristabel as the story went on. She talks constantly, jokes about everything, and comes across as someone trying very hard to stay cheerful. Then you slowly realise how much hurt she’s carrying underneath all of that. The parts about her cancer and being abandoned during it genuinely upset me because the book handles it quite quietly, which somehow makes it hit harder.
The romance is immediate and very physical, so this is definitely not a slow-burn sort of romantasy . But the connection between them feels emotional as well as physical, like there’s something much older tying them together.
I also really enjoyed the mythical side of the story. The gradual realisation that not everyone in this world is actually human gave the book a really immersive atmosphere. By the end, the snowy town felt just as important as the characters themselves.
Very romantic, very spicy — and much more emotional than I expected it to be.
I began my writing career in the pre-dawn of a winter morning while my husband snored like a train. We could call my husband the catalyst. If it weren’t for him, I would never have gone to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee, feed the cat, and sit on the loveseat in front of the fire. It was there, in those moments of wondrous quiet, that I did something I had never thought possible. I opened my laptop, and while the coffee went cold, I wrote a story. My husband had no idea that these sojourns to the loveseat in front of the fire would become a daily occurrence, that writing would become an obsession, but the cat knew. She knows everything.
I write stories that make you laugh, make you cry, and make you love. Thank you, friends, for reading!
In the beginning, there was an empty page.
I am a writer who lives in Muskoka, Canada, with a husband who snores, a hungry cat, and an almost perfect canine––he’s an adorable little shit.
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