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![Hearth Fires (The Haunted Book 1) by [Bibiana Krall, Veronica Cline Barton]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Ii-1nO9bL._SY346_.jpg)
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Hearth Fires (The Haunted Book 1) Kindle Edition
Bibiana Krall (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Veronica Cline Barton (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
Enjoy an eclectic, and imaginative collection of six, original, short stories that share one central theme, the mysterious Ouija board with a nod to the troubled spirits that guide The Oracle. Take a journey through the Deep South, then head to the American Northeast, Pacific Northwest and end your reading adventure with a flight on a magical witch's broom across the glimmering pond. Indulge your senses and drift over to the spooky side with Hearth Fires.
If you adore “Night Gallery” “Dark Shadows” “Hocus Pocus” and anything Poe, Jackson or DuMaurier, this collection was written especially for you.
Culinary Coterie by Veronica Cline Barton––When Sammie Atherton returns to the family home in Smoky Shoals, Louisiana, she learns of a culinary legacy that has been passed down through generations. Will she be up for the challenge of leading the town’s Culinary Coterie with their mystery ingredients? Herbs and spices will never be the same again!
The Window by Bibiana Krall––Late one night in Savannah, Tabitha sees something odd in a window. A shadow? A ghost? Or is it just her imagination that something is reaching across the great divide? The risk is in finding out the truth and discovering the lengths she might be willing to go to help a stranger…
Vintage Vibrations by Veronica Cline Barton––Allie Michaels’ Salem boutique offers only the second hand best to her chichi clientele. She’s always on the search for unique finds, ready to turn a profit. When an aging actress offers her a deal too good to be true, she jumps at the offer—but will the recipients of these goods live to regret their purchases?
Dark Watchers by Bibiana Krall––Emily doesn’t realize that a surreal, childhood experience in the woods holds the key to a mystery that has haunted her ever since. Betrayal becomes part of a dangerous evening when peril and danger lurks behind the smile of a handsome genius. Will she leave Big Sur with her sanity and safety intact?
Board Whisperers by Veronica Cline Barton—When nanny Bria McEwen takes on her latest assignment in Glasgow, she’s looking forward to a luxurious holiday excursion with a seemingly, charming family touring the Scottish Whisky Trail. When her assignment is abruptly cancelled, she has one important question. Where are the children and their parents?
La Fee Vert by Bibiana Krall––A talented painter in Paris is obsessed with becoming a commercial success. Something in her soul shifts when she’s extremely close to reaching her dreams… Will Camille discover the high price of fame in The City of Lights, a glittering place paved with the broken dreams of artists long departed.
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateSeptember 7, 2020
- File size3302 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
- "Just brilliant! One of the best anthologies I've ever read." -S. Fitzsimmons, Magnolia Book Club
- "Is there such a thing as lady-like horror? I think I'm in love! These short stories would make a binge worthy TV series!"-Gayle via Goodreads
Product details
- ASIN : B08FYQH551
- Publisher : Black Calyx Books (September 7, 2020)
- Publication date : September 7, 2020
- Language : English
- File size : 3302 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 164 pages
- Lending : Not Enabled
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,925,415 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #329 in British Literature Anthologies
- #522 in British Short Stories
- #1,222 in World Literature Short Stories
- Customer Reviews:
About the authors
The Crown for Castlewood Manor “Fans of TV shows like Downton Abbey will no doubt be drawn in by the “everything is new again” escapist fantasy of Gemma’s vivid and entertaining adventures in bucolic England.” – KIRKUS REVIEWS
Mistletoe and Mayhem: Yuletide at Castlewood Manor named "One of the best new Realistic Fiction books of 2020" - BOOK AUTHORITY
Veronica Cline Barton earned graduate degrees in both engineering and business and has had successful careers in the software and technology industries. Her lifelong love affair with British murder mysteries inspired her to embark on a literary career. She loves all things glamorous; royals, acting, fashion (emphasis on boots and crowns) and loads of yummy foods and cocktails.
The Crown for Castlewood Manor is the first book in the My American Almost Royal Cousin series, followed by Cast, Crew, & Carnage; the Filming of Castlewood Manor; Deadly Receptions, the Debut of Castlewood Manor; Mistletoe and Mayhem, Yuletide at Castlewood Manor; Double Trouble, Showtime at Castlewood Manor; Twins in the City: Playtime at Castlewood Manor; and coming soon, Blood on the Vines: Harvest at Castlewood Manor.
Christmas Bizarre is the first book in the Rikkhe St. Claire Hygge & Bisous Holiday Mystery series--a collection of holiday, cozy mystery short stories.
When not traveling and spinning mystery yarns, she lives in California with her husband, Bruce, and her two cats, Daisy and Ebbie.
Please visit my website. Thank you! https://www.veronicaclinebarton.com
Bibiana Krall is an award-winning, American novelist, poet and short story writer. "All heroines, all the time."
She's a world traveler, mother, wife, and wildheart who writes edgy and suspenseful fiction with a nod to life experience. Nature magic is a central focus, as the author imagines the universe in a dew drop and where a star goes after it shoots across a midnight sky.
OMG! Halloween is coming! WICKED MIST is almost here! (The Haunted Series, #3)
Mint: A Short Story About the Future is here! #NewRelease written for the smart and savvy reader who speculates on where the future (Techology, AI, VR, Dystopian) will take us. "Haunted mansions dream in the machine." #Free on #KindleUnlimited
2022 Firebird Book Award winner in three categories! Order HEARTH FIRES now! (The Haunted Series, #1)
2022 Firebird Book Award winner in five categories! Order TANGLED WEBS now! (The Haunted Series, #2
Have you had the pleasure of the Irish Phantom Series? These novellas are closely linked and a bit experimental. Bibiana hopes you love these wild and haunting stories as much as she does!
Bibiana shares her private time with a brilliant husband, two excellent Gen-Z's, and a rescue cat named Stirfry Beauregard. She earned an M.A .in Fiction, and M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Wilkes University CW. She is honored to be a member of The Society of Midland Authors and a Deep Center Writing Fellow.
Follow the author on Amazon and add Bibiana's story titles to your TBR: Book Bub, and Goodreads.
Visit her website www.bibianakrall.com Subscribe to her creative blog and become The Literati!
Be the first to know about new releases, creative collaborations, readings and enjoy special offers.
(If you're worried about spam, don't be!) Bibiana is too busy working on the next story to fill your inbox with tons of emails, they drive her crazy too! Thank you for being an integral part of her author journey.
Customer reviews
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Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2020
Top reviews from the United States
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Culinary Coterie (Veronica Cline Barton): Ancestral secrets, legacies, and a special blend of herbs comes with a caveat when not headed, breeding frightful repercussions.
The Window (Bibiana Krall): A beautiful ghost rises at Prickleberry Pond Plantation, a mystery as sinister as the owners of the property, beseeching release from her watery grave, a quest that may provoke the killer (s) to strike anew.
Vintage Vibrations (Veronica Cline Barton): Allie, the owner of a secondhand boutique meets with Veda, an illustrious film star close to a hundred years old but she doesn’t appear so. Veda donates valuables to the shop at no cost but with a strange request − she receives all the buyer’s information and the items sell solely to Salem-born men. Soon, Allie realizes the evil in Veda’s objects when purchasers meet sinister ends.
Dark Watchers (Bibiana Krall): When a man Emily hardly knows invites her to a group outing, her drink is spiked, and she believes she’s a sacrifice to devil worshipers when they don animal masks and strip naked. An ancient power (the Dark Watchers) that rescued her as a child, whispers again. Will the ancient power save her from this perverse group?
Board Whispers (Veronica Cline Barton): Bria McEwen just took a nanny assignment at the Dunwood House, where the children believe in a make-believe place called Nevermore, and the parents are neglectful and belligerent. The children are closed mouth about a Ouija Board she’d stumbled on that tugged at her essence. After only a short period at the home, Bria wakes to an empty house with only the strange Ouija board left, circled by footprints. Does Nevermore truly exist?
La Fee Vertie (Bibiana Krall): What price would you pay for greatness? Camille, lacking creativity and pressured to produce her next drawing, traipse the streets of Paris, stumbling upon a shop and its strange owner who gives her a potent drink that fires creativity. Locking herself away for days in her apartment, Camille paints passionately, producing twenty paintings. But when a note arrives from the strange shopkeeper, she’s shaken, angry, then stoic, accepting the price she must pay for greatness.
Hearth Fires is the perfect book for an autumn evening by the hearth, accompanied with the author’s special concoctions at the end of the book −A Gemma’s Gin and St. Germain Martini or Blue Angel. Oh, dim the lights for a spellbinding read.
Veronica started the collection off with the spicy magic of Culinary Coterie. I've read mysteries or other books featuring food but this had a twist I certainly did not expect! A brand new way to think of a Kitchen Witch. Vintage Vibrations had the elements that drew me in right away: a vintage shop in Salem, a mysterious aged movie star, and power just waiting to be unleashed. I'll remember to be more cautious when searching for those estate sale treasures. The darker ambiance of Board Whisperers was menacing. Bria's tale is just the kind to be told on a wind-swept, cold night in the Highlands, a glass of whisky in hand.
Bibiana's first story in the collection, The Window, chills the spine even more through the influence of real injustices that have long occurred, and still occur, in our world. The collision between a mundane day of work with the supernatural amped up the tension in a story already taut with the pushiness of a potentially abusive client accustomed to being "above the law." Dark Watchers vividly portrays the terror of an anticipated outing that was supposed to be fun going completely sideways incredibly fast. The ancient and the modern come full circle in this fast-paced story. Camille, the talented painter in La Fee Vert struggles with the pressures of expectations from others. The detrimental effects are heavy on Camille's creativity. Her desperation to resolve the problem produces the answer, but at quite a cost.
Hearth Fires is a pleasantly spooky way to get in the spirit for the dark season ahead. I'm happy to see the "#1" after the title because that means there will be more!
While every story in this collection has merit, I did have my personal favorites. La Fee Vertie (Bibiana Krall) struck me for a number of reasons, most notably that the story speaks to the very real artistic struggle of creatives and the price they are all too often willing to pay in attaining greatness. Vintage Vibrations (Veronica Cline Barton) serves as an intriguing reminder that while revenge may be a dish best served cold, the still-warm version can be satisfying as well.
I give high recommendations for this savvy collection of dark tales, paired with much anticipation for more in the Haunted Book Collection.
Top reviews from other countries

‘Culinary Coterie’ takes place in “the town of Smoky Shoals, one-hundred-three miles southwest of nowhere”, where Sammy Atherton learns of a mysterious gastronomic heritage. In ‘The Window’ the sight of mist through the glass of an old building kicks off a ghostly adventure for tipsy Tabatha. In ‘Vintage Vibrations’ a purveyor of stylish second-hand goods gets an offer she should refuse, while in ‘Dark Watchers’ a childhood experience comes back to haunt the protagonist. ‘Board Whisperers’ takes us on the Scottish Whisky trail, while ‘La Fee Vert’ (which rounds off the collection) explores the dangers and limits of a painter’s obsession in the City of Lights.
All good stuff, and each story is a quick read. Ideal for a quiet, spooky evening in “when the moon shines silver and bright.”
Food plays a not-insignificant part in some of the tales, and the authors have included some recipes at the end of the book for those lucky people blessed with culinary skills. (Incidentally, I do not count myself among that group.)

I really enjoyed these stories, ideal for this time of year when it's getting cold and dark early.
Quite a range of tales, ranging from creepy grannies, things lurking in the shadows, to spells in salem, to a nanny in Scotland.
Well written, wonderful settings from Savannah to Paris, highly recommend this collection, but leave a light on!