@joanneguidoccio
A member of Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, and Women's Fiction Writers Association, Joanne Guidoccio writes cozy mysteries, paranormal romances, and inspirational literature. Website: https://www.joanneguidoccio.com
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is LAUGH. A saleswoman and a Catholic priest are unexpected allies: how to get past the AI guardians in a swish gated community to the humans behind them? #bookqw #ai www.benjeapes.com/index.php/wr...
Hear me read a longer extract at benjeapes.substack.com.
Cover art by Ben Baldwin shows a goblin-like creature peering through weeds underwater. Its teeth are needle-sharp and its dark eyes glitter with malice. Book extract reads: The nurse slid her stethoscope under his well-worn striped pyjamas. His eyes opened at the touch of the metal on his fleshless breastbone. ‘What have you seen?’ ‘Nothing—’ She broke off as he glared at her. ‘What have you heard?’ ‘Old houses make strange noises.’ She glanced up at the ceiling. ‘I thought I heard footsteps once or twice. I even went upstairs to look.’ She managed a brittle laugh. ‘There was only the usual dust and cobwebs. It must have been some trick of the wind in the chimneys.’ ‘At dusk and dawn?’ His faded eyes fixed upon hers. ‘What have you dreamed?’ She looked at the mantelpiece. ‘Clocks. Chimes. It doesn’t mean anything though. My gran had a silver carriage clock—’ ‘You’re safe inside.’ The old man’s voice was the merest thread. ‘The woods and the flowing waters are the boundaries. Tell the boys—’ Car tyres crunched on the gravel outside the window.
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'laugh' #BookQW #Booksky
A lot of people think stories of the supernatural are just a joke. Dan Mackmain knows better. That's why the Green Man sends him to step in, when the uncanny and the everyday collide.
Contemporary fantasy rooted in British myths and folklore.
Quote from Cursed Under London. Quote reads: Something about the way Nell and Fang interacted was bothering Lazare. He decided to take that particular bull by the horns as soon as possible. He hoped that the answer would give him another reason not to look at Fang’s chest. He lowered his voice. ‘Are you and he… amorous?’ Nell laughed a disconcertingly loud laugh. ‘What gave you that idea?’ ‘You’re always quarrelling.’ ‘I quarrel with him because he’s quarrelous, Monsieur.’ Fang sighed a loud, passive aggressive sigh from the wash basin. ‘See?’ Nell continued. ‘No, while I personally am a very amorous individual, Fang and I are not a love match. We’re friends.’ ‘We’re associates,’ grumbled Fang. ‘We’re best friends,’ Nell said, emphatically. ‘I put her in touch with traders I met on my travels, she stitches me up and gives me coffee,’ Fang told them, finishing up with his wash.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & the word is LAUGH. In Cursed Under London, Apothecary Nell laughs a lot, especially if you ask whether she & her best friend Fang are lovers. #BookQW #BookSky Buying links: farragobooks.com/book-series/...
‘Nay, what I remember,’ he went on, ‘is that he liked to joke you were mine. I can’t have been but twelve when you were conceived, and I wasn’t that forward a lad, but my father wasn’t one to let that get in the way of a good laugh. And he always reckoned I judged him – and I did. He’d have liked it very well to believe me a hypocrite who got children before I was old enough to shave.’ He remembered the day he met Louise. Have you brought your son? she’d said, asking if he was single, and he’d had to answer the question without crushing Franklin’s hopeful heart. ‘I liked you much better than he liked me, after all. He couldn’t think of many reasons a man might be fond of a child. But he could see I was fond of you.’
#booksky #bookqw word: LAUGH
Fairy-smith Jedediah had a bad father. So did his little neighbour Franklin, which is why Jedediah took Franklin under his wing at a young age.
Now much older, they talk over the found family they've become.
Buy here: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj
On the left is a text excerpt from THE KHELD KING, book 2 of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. “Da!” Dorilian knelt and a young girl, dark curls bouncing above a bright blue shift that danced around her tiny body, propelled her chubby little legs across the room to launch into his arms. The nurse’s young assistant dashed into view from the portico, a stick puppet with yellow frogs in her hand, and stopped when she saw where her charge had gone. “Princess!” Dorilian swept the toddler up. Fahme laughed, round cheeks flushed and mouth open wide. She wasn’t a princess by birth. She was the common-born daughter of Levyathan’s former nurse and a man Dorilian had yet to find and kill, but he would never let the world stop him from treating this child as his own. He owed Noemi that. Right side shows the book cover of THE KHELD KING. Cover is blue and stormy, showing a lone man looking up at a mysterious fantasy city.
It's Book Quote Wednesday and the word is LAUGH.
Dorilian is, among so many other things, a damn good father... though he has yet to sire a child. In this quote from THE KHELD KING he greets Fahme, his adopted daughter. #bookqw #WritingCommunity
Cover of Direct Descendant in lower left corner: young woman with cupcake walking in front of a bakery, tentacles in the background. Expanded cover behind the quote showing the upper corner of the bakery and the afford mentioned tentacles. The BOCKs and KWAAs grew louder and overlapped into a rough wall of sound as I walked quickly down the § driveway, hoping I wasn't about to find myself in a cut- rate Canadian Hitchcock remake. The latest KWAA sounded mocking and the BOCKs sounded like raven laughter. I had just enough time to see the approaching runner before he slammed into me and we both went down.
Today's word is LAUGH. Today's #BookQW from Direct Descendant (@dawbooks.bsky.social 2025) a contemporary fantasy/cosy horror where the eldritch horrors are cuddly, the hellhound is a very good boi, and souvlaki is on the menu because all diners in small Canadian towns were originally owned by...1/2
#BookQW “When I first saw you in the Rose and Rooster you scowled so fiercely, it almost made me LAUGH. I thought you must be a very unpleasant man. But you’re not. You’re lovely.” I'LL BE SEEING YOU https://books2read.com/Ill-Be-Seeing-You-by-Jana-Richards #TimeTravelRomance #newrelease #WW2romance
“You never expected it to be easy when you set off down this road.” Marten jerked his head sideways in disagreement. “You don’t need the sight to know that.” “Marten, the sight raises more questions than it ever answers. I’ve seen you as a great man. You had everything in place before Tresilian betrayed us all. And you can again. You will. But you must stay true to your people.” “What, the people who made me a laughing-stock today?” “They are still your people. You risked everything for them once.” “Never again.” Marten stood up slowly, his eyes on Alwenna. “I’ll see you set back on your throne as queen of all the Peninsular Kingdoms before I’ll treat with them.” He pushed away from the table and the wine in the bottle was stirred by his movement, ripples spreading across the dark surface. Alwenna’s attention was drawn into the darkness beneath the perturbed surface and she could no more resist her sight than she could convince Marten of what he must do. She dived down and down, deeper into darkness, moving through the liquid as if it were nothing more than a breeze. Her hair trailed loose behind her, free and unfettered and her heart pumped blood through her veins with a wicked glee. It was so good to be alive, so good. And revenge would be even better. Ahead of her lay a small cairn. As she drew closer she could see it was composed not of rocks as she had assumed, but of bones. Reposing on the very top of the cairn lay the jewelled dagger.
Cover of Waterborne Exile by Susan Murray. A woman dressed in a blood-spattered white gown moves past the viewer, holding a bowl of blood before her in both hands. A bloodstained dagger is tucked in her belt. Cover art by Paul Young.
Today's #BookQW word is 'laugh'. In this extract from Waterborne Exile (sequel to The Waterborne Blade), Marten's been cast out by the freemerchants. He's turned up at Alwenna's with a bottle of wine, feeling sorry for himself and he's drunk enough to be convinced she and her sight can help him.
Today's #BookQW word: LAUGH
HER HIGHLAND DECEPTION
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#Mustread #Bestselling #Highland #Historical #Adventure #Romance #Series #romanticreads #HistoricalHighlands #swoonworthyromance #BookSky
#BookQW is from WINDS OF CHANGE (Men of the Double K, Book 2):
Disappointment that she hadn’t seen any signs of cowboys and cattle trying. . . . Continue reading: tinyurl.com/5h4ksxh6
#readingcommunity #newbeginnings #Americanhistoricalromance #bookclub
#KindleUnlimited #readersky
A man emerged, tall and heavily built, his stomach falling to a paunch that suggested he was fond of rich food and ale, and he had a slight limp. Under a drooping moustache, his lips hung in a frown which deepened as he saw the priest. “Brother Gonzaluo, what trash have you brought me this time?” “Bernaldus, you old fraud, would I ever bring you trash?” The priest spread his hands in a supplicating gesture, and the slave dealer burst out laughing, clapping his meaty hands on both of Gonzaluo’s upper arms. “My friend, you bring me nothing but! Can you stay for a drink?” Gonzaluo sighed, shaking his head. “I have to get back. This one,” he shook Asta’s rope, “has caused all manner of chaos. Sister Margoli in her mercy sends her to you to spare her life.” “Margoli the fanatic? She didn’t want to throw them onto a sacrificial knife?” “It would seem not, this time.”
It is Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'laugh'. In this excerpt from The Summer Goddess by Joanne Hall, our heroine, Asta, appears to be in deep trouble. #BookQW
Pre-orders open: wizardstowerpress.co...
Blond man in a blue shirt, laughing. "He laughed, not an amused chuckjle, but a big deep #laugh. It made her smile in response."
"Awesome collection of short stories! There's something here for every reader." ~ E.L. Oakes, author of Ghost in the Brew
Now available at a special pre-order price.
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#BookQW #Novellas #ShortStories
Book covers: Love, Art, and Other Obstacles by Sadira Stone & Book Nirvana Romance Complete Series Collection Text: "Mmm." She giggles and wipes her mouth. "Juicy." Laughing and jostling, we scarf up the rest of the fruit until only one fat, ruby strawberry remains. Grinning like a saucy she-devil, she raises it to my lips. "Come on, Redbeard. You know you want it."
#BookQW LAUGH
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Binge the whole series for just 5.99 😍
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It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: LAUGH. #Excerpt is from HIPPIE MERMAID, a coming-of-age #fantasy. #bookqw #mermaidtransformation
Blurb Blitz: By Chance joanneguidoccio.com/2026/03/09/b... #NewRelease #Giveaway
Happy International Women's Day! joanneguidoccio.com/2026/03/08/h...
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: OPEN. #Excerpt is from BETWEEN LAND AND SEA #bookqw #fantasy #mermaidtransformation
Interview with Jana Richards joanneguidoccio.com/2026/03/02/i... #NewRelease
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: ADMIRE. #Excerpt is from THE COMING OF ARABELLA. #bookqw #Fantasy #Transformation
‘I’m . . . not quite Louise,’ Molly said. She found it went against her conscience to lie. ‘She was my grandmother. So I’m . . . a little bit Louise. A quarter Louise, mixed in with other . . . bloods. But they say her flavour came out strong.’ John looked at Molly in frank admiration, and Molly felt buoyed. ‘Scent of blood and kidney-meat,’ No One confirmed. ‘Dry-throated is Louise-love,’ it then added with sad regret, ‘for never a drop did comfort the gullet of leaf and paper that thirsted. But kind and scent is Louise-girl, and No One must be beloved and good, or what shall the gullet do for empty hearts?’ ‘You are not to bite my granddaughter.’ Jedediah spoke in a tight burst, and Molly took his hand as No One cringed down. ‘But a tree-gall and nothing is the innocent,’ it keened. ‘Iron of hand and thought cannot hurt gall and innocence.’ ‘We can still see you,’ Jedediah said, his voice strangled. ‘You’re the size of a bull.’
#booksky #bookqw word: ADMIRATION
The fairy-smiths try to wheedle help out of a giant fey spider that once befriended John and Molly's late grandmother Louise.
Their grandfather is trying to support them. Elder fairy-smiths aren't supposed to be arachnophobic, though.
Buy: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj
Cover art by Ben Baldwin shows a creature crouching in a low tunnel entrance lined with grey stones and partly hidden by green undergrowth and white flowers. The creature has pale skin covered in sparse black hair and it looks a bit like an ape, a bit like a bear, and completely unlike either of those. Book extract reads: ‘I think these portals link faster and slower bits of time, for want of a better word. They’re routes for creatures, people, whatever, who can’t move from a faster flow to a slower one by themselves.’ ‘Which helps us how?’ I was asking a genuine question, not challenging her logic. ‘I don’t know,’ Fin admitted. ‘I’m simply trying to make sense of it.’ ‘I know what you mean.’ I still had no idea if she was right or wrong about any of this. We walked on in silence. We reached the gap in the hedge where people could stop and admire Fieldfare Long Barrow and wonder who built it. I checked both ways along the footpath in case anyone else was out and about. We were very exposed up here. I remembered reading a theory that burial mounds were often on skylines to make sure the ancestors weren’t forgotten. Whether or not that was true, right now this barrow’s placement was sodding inconvenient.
Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'admire' #BookQW #Booksky
Dan and Fin have learned to value historians and folklorists as they go up against supernatural threats. Even if those scholars don't have all the answers.
February's special offer on The Green Man's Holiday ends this weekend. Links follow.
Quote from Cursed Under London. Quote reads: ‘Good grief. Well, if you want to play the patriotic Welshwoman in spite of living in London these past five years then I suppose I can’t stop you. Even though your life will be at risk. Even though you’ll lose trade with your shop shuttered. Now who’s the “serial self-saboteur”?’ ‘Still you,’ argued Nell. She paused for a moment, before lowering her voice even further. ‘He’s nice, you know. He could be good for you, if you weren’t so… you about it.’ ‘Shut up,’ whispered Fang. ‘What did you say to him?’ ‘Just gave him fair warning for what you might try to pull. I know your method. Getting rid of a lovely admirer by going way too fast to “get it over with”.’ Fang snorted. ‘They only ever want one thing.’ ‘Then why are you always the one who pushes for that “one thing” as quickly as possible, only to show them the door? You just bring it on yourself so that nobody else has the chance to do it to you. But it means they don’t have the chance for anything else, either. It’s selfish. And cowardly.’ ‘Shut up.’
It's Book Quote Wednesday & the word is ADMIRE. In Cursed Under London, Fang has the sort of face that attracts many admirers. His friend Nell has a word with him about how he treats them - especially new admirer Lazare. #BookQW #BookSky buying links: farragobooks.com/book-series/...
‘Took means exactly that. I was taken – by the Svartlord. He saw me and he wanted me. I used to be very beautiful…’ ‘You still are,’ said Rag. ‘Thank you, hen. He wanted me, and he would have me. He took me to his fortress under the mountain, and he took me to his bed. Though one useful thing I discovered - in his castle he had unicorns and while I was there, I found I had inherited the talent to be a unicorn-keeper. Do you know about unicorns?’ Rag nodded… then shook her head. ‘They’re flirty beasts. They can be feisty in a wilful sort of way, but they like to be admired. They like virgins best when it comes to stable-hands, with them they’re obedient – except a unicorn-keeper doesn’t have to be one. The only time they won’t heed her is if the keeper is pregnant.’ ‘Are unicorn-keepers always women, then?’ Rag was fascinated. ‘Those who are born to it.’
It is Book Quote Wednesday and the word is 'admire'. In The Unicorn Keeper by Helen L Brady, Morag gets to meet the lady of the book's title. #BookQW
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Left side is the book cover of SORDANEON, first book of the Triempery Revelations series by L.L. Stephens. Cover is golds and browns and shows a young man looking at a fantastics, mighty city with a glowing core of power. Right side is a text excerpt from SORDANEON, wherein a man admires a horse and comes to a decision to ride: “He’s a demon, sir.” The groom rubbed his upper arm through the thick leather of his sleeve. He was not the first groom Sural had bitten. To a man, the handlers believed Dorilian had given the horse to Prince Jonthan solely to plague them. “Can’t keep him in the pasture because he’s wild to get out again. He jumps the fences to get at the mares, and those fences he can’t jump, he breaks.” “That’s what stallions do. Maybe he needs exercise.” Sural was storming about his mammoth stall. Jonthan admired the horse’s perfection: the powerful ripple of muscles beneath that white skin; the long, combed mane and sweeping tail so regally and precisely trimmed; the pure blue hoofs of his exalted breed. His heart swelled with the deep thrill of owning such an animal. “That may be, Sir. The lads, you know, are afraid to ride him. We’ve been long-lining him.” Jonthan sighed and regretted not having retained the Estol rider while in Kyrbasillon. Sural needed someone to ride him on a regular basis. “Saddle him,” he instructed the groom.
Today is Book Quote Wednesday and the word is ADMIRE
So many things to "admire" in the Triempery books. In SORDANEON, admiration for a horse plays a key role in the overall story. I love horses!
#WritingCommunity #bookqw #WriteSky
Today's word: ADMIRE/ADMIRABLE. Excerpt is from my romantic suspense novella SNOWDROP DREAMS, CHERRY THUMBPRINT SCREAMS.
#bookqw #romanticsuspense #bookstagram #readingcommunity
It's Book Quote Wednesday! Today's word: PAIN. #Excerpt is from HIPPIE MERMAID, a coming-of-age #fantasy. #bookqw #mermaidtransformation
He let his arms drop and they hung loose by his sides, tired under their own weight. With real meaning, he looked up at the crows. This was a difficult whistle, but Mabbie had taken pains with him. He looked at one of his arms, then the other, tautened his mouth, put what he could of his voice behind it and sent out the call: Someone hurt me. Danger to us. Someone hurt me. A crow rattled down from the branches, tipped its head to attend. Then another. Then another. The notions of justice, for men, are difficult and painful. But within the bounds of their understanding – their towering, wind-tipped, starve-edged bounds – there is justice in the crows of the air.
#booksky #bookqw word: PAIN
Fairy-smith Matthew is trying to deal with a fey-courting murderer in his holding. His arms are injured, which makes it more difficult, so his old auntie has taught him how to negotiate with crows.
Buy here: tinyurl.com/nvvetupj
Today's word: PAIN. Excerpt is from my paranormal young adult novel WOULD YOU RATHER... .
#bookqw #yalit #yabooks #excerpt #bookstagram
Quote from Cursed Under London. Quote reads: The darkness was closing in, now. Not the darkness of the alley; a different darkness. A more final darkness. A darkness that silenced sound, and made pain dwindle to nothing. He couldn’t even smell the stench of the alleyway anymore. Here it came. No more running, no more guilt, just the peace of death. And, perhaps, at the other end of the peace, someone would be waiting for him. He was coming! He embraced the absolute darkness. And then, in the darkness, a spark. A spark! Oh no! It hurt. His heart… his lungs… they were working again. Heaving, pumping, painfully. Stop it, you horrible organs, just let me die, he wanted to cry. The darkness fell away from him, insubstantial as a shadow. The alley was still there. The dragon was still there, her mouth open, glistening fangs inches from his face, her expression frozen with guilty embarrassment.
It's Book Quote Wednesday & the word is PAIN. At the start of Cursed Under London, Fang is painfully dying in a filthy alley with only a dragon waiting to scavenge his corpse for company... and then something even worse happens. Buying links: farragobooks.com/book-series/... #BookSky #BookQW
#Bookqw word: PAIN
#writersky #romance #suspense #womensfiction
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