Jul 14 2026 -Netgalley/ Killer Vibes The First Peter Key Mystery by Jack Friday

  Netgalley link

 KINDLE 

Part of Peter Key Mystery Series

Pub Date Jul 14 2026 | Archive Date Jul 28 2026

St. Martin's Press | Minotaur Books

You Like Them

General Fiction (Adult) | Mystery & Thrillers

 A wild and wickedly funny series debut, introducing readers to the irresistible and irrepressible private investigator, Peter Key.

"Everything you want in a great mystery."—Steven Rowley

"Peter Key is my new favorite amateur sleuth."—Elle Cosimano

Meet Peter Key: self-proclaimed “laziest private investigator in Texas” (it’s harder than it looks), unapologetic bisexual, dedicated stoner, and the surprised recipient of a windfall inheritance from an uncle he barely knew. Peter’s life was a mess before, but now— as the owner of a dilapidated house in one of the most desirable neighborhoods in Austin—he has a mountain of debt to deal with and pressure to sell from every side.

But Peter doesn’t like to be pushed around. And when he discovers a bag full of cash, he starts to suspect his uncle’s death wasn’t an accident. He soon finds himself pulled into a lethal game where not everybody plays by the rules.

Fortunately, Peter’s never been good at following rules.

Sexy, suspenseful, and packed with Austin’s quirks, Killer Vibes is a wild and wickedly funny romp that introduces us to the irresistible and irrepressible PI, Peter Key.

 My review Notes 3.5 Stars TITLED: I had mixed feelings on this one

What a dismal life Peter (Petey) has been living.  He can't even decide whether he likes women or men better when it comes to spicy actions personally. That I didn't like so much.  But then it seems like his life is starting to turn around.  

I had a hard time getting into this story and wasn't sure I was going to make it all the way through to be honest.  

 I was given a copy of this book through Netgalley and this is my honest feelings about it. 

ARCJul 9-Bksprout/ The Bratva Sinner by Clara Dunn

  Booksprout

 clara@claradunnromance.com

I was sold to a monster… then claimed by his Bratva enemy.

I know better than to trust dangerous men.

Especially men like Maksim Sokolov.

Rich. Ruthless. Tattooed. Miami's most notorious playboy. Bratva by blood, outlaw by choice.

When he finds me, he doesn't offer mercy.

He puts me behind locked doors and tells me I'm his to protect.

I want to hate him for it — his smooth smile, the possessive rules, the way he calls me princess like I'm already his.

But Maksim isn't the monster who bought me.

He's the one standing between me and the man who thinks I still belong to him.

I keep waiting for the mask to slip.

A monster shouldn't make me feel this safe.

He doesn't just want to save me.

He wants to keep me.

And when the men hunting me come to collect, Maksim will have to decide how much of his empire he's willing to burn.

For the girl he was never supposed to keep.

This a standalone Bratva romance for an HEA.

Explicit

412 pages

English

Contemporary Romance Romantic Suspense Dark Romance dark mafia romance Russian bratva romance forced marriage romance age gap romance touch her and die alpha male romance mafia romance possessive alpha male age gap mafia romance forced proximity romance

Hosted by Clara Dunn Review Team

Note from the Author

Thank you so much for reading my book and for your support! The Bratva Sinner can be read as a standalone and includes a guaranteed HEA. If you notice any grammatical errors, please message me directly and I'll get them fixed right away! -- Much love, Clara

Review on at least 1:

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MY 5 STAR Review TITLED:   She's a fighter. He's a rescuer. 

I'm probably going to ramble a bit because I really loved this book so much! The main characters are broken in their own way. But Maksim is so gentle and patient when he needs to be. But he also knows how to be violent when he needs to be!  People misunderstand that about him. Cinder is a woman who is his right hand. Lila & Cinder butt heads right off the bat! Cinder is tough and gentle also with the women of the different houses. The Albanians keep coming for Lila & they are brutal & relentless. 

I loved Lila. She's not used gentleness or  to be hugged. She knows how to throw a mean punch which Maksim learns the hard way. Lila & Maksim together made me laugh more than once! 

I loved how tender Maksim was with Lila even when her hair trigger temper erupted !  There's betyals right & left. I kept yelling internally, " give that woman a hand gun!!!

This is a deep, emotional story with tender, sometimes rough hot scenes between Maksim & Lila. But love is underneath it all. It just takes them awhile to understand it !

I read this story through Booksprout and you can see how much I loved it ! 

 

 

Review by Jul 11, 2026-Bksprout/ Bad Boy I Can't Resist

  Bksprout link

 

Book 6 of Moonrise Bad Boys

I slept with a stranger.

Weeks later...

I found him standing on the land where my daughter is buried.

Galveston was supposed to be one reckless night that didn't count.

No names.

No promises.

Then I came home to Moonrise...

And discovered the stranger from that motel room owns the land where my daughter is buried.

His name is Jax Rowe.

Rough hands. Storm-dark eyes.

He says the land isn't for sale.

I'm not leaving.

He fixes what I didn't ask him to fix.

He shows up before I even know I need him.

The closer I get, the more he looks at me like I've become his to protect.

I should walk away.

Instead, I'm falling for the one man standing between me and losing the last piece of my daughter.

A developer wants the land paved over.

Jax just declared war to stop him.

If he finds out what I've been hiding...

I won't just lose the land.

I'll lose him too.

Explicit

389 pages

English

Contemporary Romance Inspired Romance Small Town Romance Grumpy/Sunshine Forced Proximity Opposites Attract He Falls First one night stand Slow Burn Alpha Protector

Hosted by Mia Amour ARC Team Group

Note from the Author

Welcome to Moonrise! ❤️ Thank you for being part of my ARC team. Jax & Nora's story is especially close to my heart, and I'm so excited to finally share it with you. When you've finished reading, I'd truly appreciate an honest review—whether it's a few words or a longer one. Your support helps independent authors more than you know. I hope you fall in love with Jax, Nora, and the entire Moonrise family. Thank you again! Love, Mia Amour

Review on at least 1:

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My 5 Star Review TITLED: The Bullies won't win 

Nora spent 7 years with the oil rich monster Stanley; the bully. And now he's traced her down and thinks that he can use her to get what he wants. Oh boy, it's so much more comp0licated than he thinks and it's just about to get worse for him.  Especially when he threatens Nora's sick father Arthur !  But Aunt Iris is there now too. She may be small but she is formidable in her own way. I loved her !

When Nora shows up in Moonrise after their one night stand demanding that he sell part of the property tom her; he's furious ! Has it all been a scam?  For awhile, he actually turns into a bully for a while until he starts asking the right questions.  His 5 faithful family of men who are not of his blood are suspicious at first too. They think she is the enemy too. But soon they see that Jax is still gone on Nora and band together to help the both of them . They are unstoppable when they make u0p their minds. 

 The story is emotional and I loved both of the MC's and Jax's team.  And the outcome? Sensationally perfect !

 I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

ARC June 29-bkfunnel/ A Marchioness for the Beast by Elizabeth Everly

   For any other questions, please contact:
Elizabeth Everly <elizabeth@elizabetheverly.com>

 

"They call him the mad marquess. The new neighbour across the stream calls him by his name."

Arabella Thorne is twenty-four, a confirmed spinster, and entirely content to be one. She has spent the best years of her youth at her mother's bedside, and what she wants now is what the world has never quite known what to do with: a country cottage, a sketchbook, and the freedom to spend her afternoons studying the birds along a Derbyshire stream.

She does not expect to find anything else there.

She certainly does not expect the man on horseback who appears on the opposite bank one quiet afternoon, large and dark and visibly haunted, the kind of man the village whispers about and crosses streets to avoid. She knows who he must be. Everyone in Derbyshire knows. The mad marquess of Alendale Manor, returned from the Peninsular War a different man than the one who went, with a leg that no longer works the way it should and nightmares that wake the household.

She does not flinch from him. She does not avoid his gaze. She offers him a small, polite smile across thirty feet of water, the way one ordinary person greets another ordinary person on an ordinary afternoon.

It is the kindest thing anyone has done for Jasper Ainsworth in six long months.

Slowly, against every careful wall he has built since the war, the marquess begins to seek her out. Notes left with a returned sketchbook. The location of a rare bird he thought she would want to see. Quiet, deliberate gestures of a man who does not yet trust himself to ask for what he wants, finding ways to give her something instead.

And Arabella, who has been overlooked her whole life, begins to discover what it means to be seen.

But not everyone in the marquess's life is pleased to see him return to the world. Someone has been watching the two of them from the edges of the wood, with a smile too pleasant and eyes too still. And when the danger Jasper survived in the Peninsula finds him again, much closer to home, it will not be the marquess who saves them both.

My Review Notes 5 Stars TITLED:   Arabella & Jasper; friendship first

Arabella is a quite, kind, loving woman who keeps her family going.  Her sister Phoebe is beautiful, sweet and kind also. She sometimes comes out with unexpected insights. Their father is kind of like an absent minded professor who9 is deeply entrenched as a scholar of history and other similar things.  He loves his girls but only as time goes on does he come out of his fog and notices what's doing on with them and their attractions. Arabella is a scholar herself of sorts especially when it comes to birds.  And her drawings are exceptional; almost like a scientist.  I really loved her easy going manner and how she quietly notices everything.   Her sister has meets the new pastor and they are immediately smitten with each other. 

Jasper is such a lovely bunch of contradictions. He's so lonely but also afraid. And his charming cousin Victor often slides in like a snake making seemingly innocent remarks. They are like a blade against Jasper's growing confidence.  I loved Jasper's mother who lets him be for a while like he asked but then says Okay that's enough ! She begins to see what Victor is doing and doesn't like it a bit ! She loves her son so much and quickly sees Arabella's worth. 

This is an emotional story, with a sweet slower romance, and danger does come for Victor !  Great ending though.

I received an ARC from the author and really enjoyed it ! 

bkfunnel/ Lights Out by Carly Gain

   For any other questions, please contact:
Carly Gain <info@carlygainauthor.com>

The Founders Lantern Festival didn’t go as planned. Instead of canapes and hobknobbing, the gala is riddled with a leak, a lantern, and the festival’s biggest donor face-down in the rosemary.

Welcome to the Harborview Inn. 

Ruby Bradshaw is back in Gull Harbor to take over the inn from her parents after fifteen years away. The festival was supposed to double as the inn’s grand reopening gala. Instead, Ruby finds herself a suspect in a murder investigation.

Sixteen-year-old Emmy is her mom’s sidekick and the level-headed one in the mother/daughter amateur sleuth duo. She carries a notebook and notices everything.

As clues pile up, the evidence points more and more toward Ruby. Ruby knows she’s being framed. Emmy knows they’re running out of time. 

If they can’t solve the mystery quickly, the next light to go out might be theirs.

My 4 Star Review TITLED: Cute Mystery

I liked Ruby the ho9nest but overworked owner of the Inn. At the opening o9f the grand opening of the Inn for the Festival, she goe4s out into the herb part of their garden and stumbles across the dead body of Calvin Hargrove.  Chief Tolland gets called to the scene. But Ruby's very sharp, efficent 16 year old daughter, Emma has been keeping notes throughout the evening and hasn't liked what she's noticed. And she notices EVERYTHING ! I l loved that girl !  She always had a small spiral notepad on her person all the time. 

Many people look to Nate Pike as the person who killed Calvin. But not so fast ! There are several other people to take a closer look at. I really liked how it was all solved. 

 I was given a copy of this book by the author through Bookfunnel. 

June 28/ Bksprt/ The Don's Requiem Book 3 by Jasmin Song

  Bksprt

amazon 

I just learned that my estranged wife had a secret sister… the woman I shared one night with the day before I buried my wife.  

She’s now in my home because she needs protection from my wife’s killer.  

Touching her again is dangerous and forbidden. 

So I make the rule: no physical contact.  

She doesn’t know what she’s part of. That her sister’s murder is tangled with her secret origins. That being with me puts a target on her back.  

So of course, she’s dancing in front of me half naked. Trying to get me to break my own rule. Because she still wants me. And damnit, I want her too. 

I’m a man known for extraordinary willpower. 

But she’s a siren, a songbird, a soprano who breathes music into my soul…  until she… breaks… me. 

When I surrender, my enemies will come. 

To eliminate me, they’ll try to get to her first.

They can try. I dare them. 

But I'll burn the world down before anyone silences her voice. 

Explicit

370 pages

English

Contemporary Romance Romantic Suspense Dark Romance mafia romance dark romance age gap romance forbidden romance slow burn romance forced proximity

Hosted by Jasmin Song

Review on at least 1:

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File(s) available:

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My 5 Star Review TITLED: 

The Mystery starts out with a bang 

Amina Carter pretends to be a young woman named "Camille" By the way, what a pretty name Amina is. Anyway she is on a date with a young man named Ethan who is mesmerized by her. Even while not understand much as she raves about the opera.  A VERY attractive, distinguished  40 year old man comes into the restaurant and his presence catches everyone's eyes' especially the women. Amina is NOT immune. Leon (the other main character) can't keep his eyes off her either; especially when he hears her speaking flawless French ! Things progress from there !!!

Marguerite Lefevre wants Leon to take Amina under his wings for protection ONLY !  He doesn't want to do it but then he's out for good !  Marguerite is so manipulative,controlling and holding so many dangerous secrets !  Leon has known her for so long and doesn't trust her but does it anyway!  Marguerite is always trying to get her way. It's her way or or the highway ! Often with pain included, fee of charge. All the time Leon keeps look for his "Little songbird" (Camille)  But he also retaliates against Marguerite in his own for Amina's sake. Very creatively ! Marguerite is so good at telling lies and it turns out that Amina is pretty good at that too ! It takes a long time for Leon to sort through all of the lies !

Rene Rendard is as bad guy working for Marguerite but also working his own game. He's a contractor. There are plenty of bad guys to go around. 

This was such an emotional story. with heat and LOTS of surprises. I fell in love with both Amina and Leon and towards the end cried real tears for them.  And the ending with a great Epilogue made my tears even sweeter; totally satisfied. 

 I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Bkfunnel ARC/ Hot Scot Summer (Thistle Glen) by Beatrice Bradshaw

  amazon

 ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0GZ72SKS6

• 301 pages
• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2026

Part of: Thistle Glen (1 books)

 Connect with me:

https://linktr.ee/beatricebradshaw 

Sleeping with your enemy is one thing. Needing him to write is another.

Cleo Sullivan is broke, blocked, and one missed deadline away from tanking her writing career. Her plan: pet-sit in a remote Highland cottage, finish her novel, and get back to the US.

Scottish singer/ songwriter Lucas Kincaid has no address. He also hasn't written a tune in years. But if he doesn't finish an album in three months, his label is going to drop him. So he drives to his late gran's cottage for peace, quiet, and inspiration.

Hard fail.

Cleo is already there. She chases him with a toilet brush. He throws her in the loch. It's hell. But neither of them is willing to leave.

Crammed into the cottage for one summer, their hatred turns into reluctant attraction. Until a night by the bonfire leads to a hormonal error in judgment – and a creative breakthrough. So they make sleeping together a professional arrangement. Just to save their careers. Strict boundaries. No feelings.

But as summer is ending, Cleo and Lucas have to decide: Is this love – or just the best work they've ever produced?

My 5 Star Review TITLED: More than I was expecting !!

26 year old Cleo Camille  Sullivan is totally disillusioned after one failure after another; especially with boyfriends.  Her last one was Epically the Worst yet  ! Enter Lucas Aiden Kincaid, 31 year old rock star in Scotland; a song writer singer who is also not a fan of romance. Even though he writes them and sings them.  Their first meeting at the cottage is hilarious !!! So is may encounters after ! Boy that girl's temper is epic when riled which Lucas does may times ! And her cursing at him is hilariously funny as well as brilliantly creative ! So is there, "solution" to writers/composing blocks ! Hilarious and Hot !

I loved that Lucas calls her, "Hellcat" and "Squatter" many times in anger until it becomes their form of bantering back and forth affectionately. Unfortunately both of them are "runners" when cornered.  But Cleo has friends that just won't let her sit and vegetate when she runs home early.  That causes a hilarious interruption in her home which being kept occupied until her return by Carl.  one of her friends people. Lucas has a person or two who just won't let him as they say, "Sit on his arse about Cleo".  I also loved Lucas's tattoo "Still here: and the reason why it was there. 

The goat and the cat were delicious additions that she was sitting for and the cat had a surprise of it's own.  I loved the conversions that Cleo had with the goat and sometimes called hm, "Satan" in  one form or another.  The cat loved her but the goat not so much !

There are trigger warnings about this book, most probably about the many spicy scenes.  But I adored Cleo, her clumsiness, she spunk and her attitude of "Mess with me and although I'm short, I'm gonna mess with you in your face !" 

 I loved the whole book! Especially how things get figured out !  I'm so glad that I got an ARC from this author !