Thief of Fate

The final installment in a time-travel romance trilogy about an Irish rogue and thief from 1844 Ireland who, in order to gain eternal life for his troubled soul, is tasked (a century later) with devising a plan to bring two people together in love.

Life doesn’t always turn out according to plan…and in the case of Liam O’Connor, choices he made in 1844 Ireland continue to haunt him. When Liam fell in love with Cora McLeod over 100 years ago, their intense romance changed both of their destinies in tragic ways.

But time marches on…or does it?

In order for Liam to save his soul, he sent back to earth to alter the course of Cora’s current romantic destiny. In 1844, Cora was never supposed to fall in love with Liam. And 100 years later, she doesn’t remember her Ireland life or the brief, yet intense, romance she and Liam once shared. Back then--as now--she was/is destined to end up with Finley Walsh—her always intended soul mate.

Cora is a head-strong, independent police officer in Providence Falls, North Carolina—a far cry from the woman Liam fell in love with a century before. She works with Finley, who is also a cop. Finley loves Cora, but Cora is taken and falling hard (again) for Liam, whose covert job (in this century) is to finally bring Cora and Finn together. As Cora, Finn and Liam all work to together to solve a murder case, old romantic feelings stir between Liam and Cora. Will Liam repeat history and make the same mistakes that interfere with destiny? Or will he stick to his quest, do the right thing and fulfill what fate always designed for Cora and Finn?

Each book in this spellbinding, mystical epic by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets (Chance of a Lifetime, An Impossible Promise) delivers well-plotted mystery and suspense—and stunning cliff-hangers. In Thief of Fate, fans of romance, historical fiction and time-travel stories will be treated to an exciting, passionate conclusion to this inventive, imaginative series.

Thief of Fate by Jude Deveraux and Tara Sheets (Book 3 of 3: Providence Falls)

MIRA (Harlequin), $16.99 paperback, 9780778386551, 320 pages

Publication Date: October 25, 2022

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Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls and Other Lies

A collection of powerful essays--filtered through the traditions of a Judaic perspective--that shed light into the life of a writer/journalist and her complicated relationship to family.

Departure Stories by Elisa Bernick--a writer/journalist from Minnesota--is an inviting, deeply poignant first memoir that offers an intergenerational smorgasbord of well-balanced, well-portioned personal stories, anecdotes, jokes, Jewish history and heritage—and insight.

Growing up in white, Christian, New Hope, Minn.--a suburb of St. Paul--during the tumultuous 1960 and 1970s, Bernick was basically well-assimilated, but always felt “different.” It’s these glimpses of alienation--along with episodes of "Midwestern antisemitism" and a striving to be like others--that set the foundation of this memory-driven narrative. Short chapters weave together fascinating personal stories peppered with remembrances of her ancestors, grandparents and parents. Spiritual aspects of Judaism are largely absent from the book. However, traditions of Jewishness--along with humor--pervade the entirety of the literary landscape. Her mother, Arlene, with blazing red hair, was a fiery--dynamic, yet difficult--presence. Stricken by mental illness, Arlene’s abusive volatility pervaded the folds of family—along with Bernick’s own experiences and rebellions. The emotions generated from such incidents--however sad and burdensome--ground Bernick. They ultimately shape her personality, her sensibilities, her fate and how she has thus, lived a life trying always to understand.

Identity--and Bernick’s search for it--is forefront. There are many telling stories, but the most pivotal stems from Bernick as a rebellious five-year-old: she ran away from home (rode a bus for hours) and upon her return, faced a harsh berating from her mother. This incident becomes a larger metaphor—Bernick continually trying to escape “home,” to keep an emotional distance from the deep-rooted tendrils of family, yet always being drawn back beyond the boundaries of its angering influence.

The story of her relationship to her family eventually comes full circle delivering a poignant conclusion. Older, wiser and more deeply enlightened Bernick (The Family Sabbatical Handbook) and her easy-going narrative style--her regaling readers with evolved consciousness and reinterpreting memories 50-years in the making--ultimately coalesce, granting Bernick enlightenment, while also making the world, via Departure Stories, a better place.

Departure Stories: Betty Crocker Made Matzoh Balls by Elisa Bernick

Indiana University Press, $22.00 paperback, 9780253064073, 246 pages

Publication Date: October 4, 2022

To order this book on INDIEBOUND, link HERE