Kelly Ames for the Stars

BENEATH THE BROKEN OAK By Lori Altebaumer Mystery / Romance Publisher: One Thousand Hills Publishing Pages: 400 Publication Date: February 22, 2025   SYNOPSIS Trees don’t heal. They seal. But Forester Jodee Trevaine isn’t a tree. The wounds of abandonment she’s spent years denying will be ripped open the night she witnesses a child’s abduction. The hardscrabble West Texas town of El Hueso, where keeping secrets is what keeps you alive, is the last place one would expect to find healing. Until her job brings her there for a dying tree.  With new friends and the unexpected reacquaintance with the man she loved and left, Jodee has everything to gain—and just as much to lose—as she races against time to rescue the boy. Could it be that her roots go deeper than she realized into the soil of EL Hueso? CLICK TO PURCHASE Books2Read | Amazon ABOUT THE AUTHOR Award-winning novelist and Amazon Top New Release author Lori Altebaumer is a lifelong Texan whose family roots run deep in th...

  GUNBARREL HIGHWAY By Sean Bridges Suspense / Thriller Wild Rose Press Pages: 264 Publication Date: November 20, 2024 SYNOPSIS Texas trophy wife Claudia Grant dies after she causes an early morning car accident. In the other vehicle, Daniel Morrison, an attorney struggling with a pending divorce and pill addiction, panics and leaves the scene. The victim’s husband, congressional candidate Hayden Grant, is a corrupt politician who seizes the opportunity and places a million-dollar reward on Morrison’s capture. Dead or alive. Daniel is on the run. Roya Navarro, a determined San Antonio police detective, is hot on his trail with local law enforcement, county sheriffs, a hungry journalist, and trigger-happy citizens all across the Lone Star state out on the hunt for the bounty. CLICK TO PURCHASE: Amazon | B&N | Bookshop.org | Wild Rose Press Walmart | Books-A-Million | Audible ABOUT THE AUTHOR Sean Bridges is an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl award-winni...

  THE BORDER BETWEEN US By Rudy Ruiz   Literary Fiction Publisher: Blackstone Publishing Pages: 256 Publication Date: August 27, 2024 SYNOPSIS The Border Between Us is a poignant coming-of-age novel from one of the most exciting voices in fiction. Ramón López was born along the US–Mexico border but is determined to get out and embrace the American dream—and he’s not sure whether his complicated family is a help or a hindrance. As the son of immigrants, as Ramón grows, his admiration for his entrepreneurial father sours as he watches his dad’s dreams of success wither on the vine. Ramón’s mother is constantly preoccupied with his younger brother, who struggles with intellectual disabilities. And the outside world is rife with danger and temptations threatening to distract Ramón from his dreams of making it to New York and succeeding as an artist. As dreams clash with reality and values conflict with desires, Ramón finds the American dream within his reach—but w...

VANISHING INTO THE 100% DARK By Amber Royer Cozy Mystery Publisher: Golden Tip Press Pages: 288 Publication Date: March 4, 2025 SYNOPSIS Bean to chocolate maker Felicity Koerber has been invited to be part of a chocolate festival in Tokyo. It’s a big deal for a Texas gal with a chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand, so a whole group of her friends come along to support her. It’s intimidating enough to be giving a class on chocolate making with the help of a translator – she also stumbles across the scene of a murder, where a quirky group of international actors and stunt performers are making a monster movie. Felicity has already solved half a dozen murders back in Texas, so at this point her friends basically expect her to get involved – even before the young media influencer in Felicity’s group becomes the main suspect. Felicity has taken on the role of chaperone for Chloe, so she can’t imagine how she could explain what went wrong to the girl’s mother. Which gives her even...

  HOME TO COMFORT By Kimberly Fish Women’s Fiction / Contemporary / Cozy Mystery Publisher: Fish Tales Publishing Pages: 382 Publication Date: October 10, 2024 SYNOPSIS Gloria Bachman has pivoted so many times this year she has whiplash. Now, in the middle of winter and drenched in Mexican sunshine at a five-star resort, she has a role to play: Mason Lassiter’s “arm candy” in a sting to nab his not-actually-dead, first wife, Patsy. It didn’t make any sense to her either, but who argues with government officials offering an expense-paid trip and a reason for a new beach wardrobe? With Patsy leading resort security, FBI agents, and Mason on a merry chase, Gloria knows that if you want to catch a woman of a certain age, you have to think like a woman of a certain age. Thankfully, she’s got the credentials. If only she could understand the other people in her life—particularly Gardner Rogers. Gloria returns home to Comfort, Texas with a ring, a pressing need to organize her house, and ...