Each Monday the Smashwords store lists the top ten most highly anticipated indie fiction ebooks based on the previous week’s preorder accumulations. Each title on the list is scheduled to release within the next week. To help the talented authors on this list accumulate even more preorders, click the title of the book. The hyperlink will bring you to a Books2Read page where you can order from your preferred ebook retailer. If the preorder is part of a series, click the hyperlinked series title to learn about the other books in the series. Be sure to check back Friday for a list of the Top 25 Bestselling Indie Ebooks.

Irritating, heartbreaking, or Fate being a total jerk. It’s an infinite list. The reaction to disappointment is my focus. According to me, the five stages are sadness, surprise, resignation, avoidance, and anger. I will stay angry forever. Resolution doesn’t enter my vocabulary until much later, if at all. A friend is going through a profound period of disappointment. Many people have been piling up on her since January. Family, on a generational level, boyfriend that has been her ex twice, and endless work are all taking a mounting toll. Her reaction is to super focus on ridiculous things, namely co-workers’ work ethic. Trying to change others’ behavior to conform to her own isn’t going to work. It only draws out the pain. I’ve asked her to take each problem, address it as much as possible or move on. Please note, I’m giving advice I rarely follow. Unfortunately, or reasonably, she wants everyone to stop disappointing her. That’s impossible. Whether it is the grocery store not having your favorite ice cream in stock, catching every red light, or stubbing your big toe twice in one day, life is disappointment. Trying to sort through big and little disappointments is a process I’ve…

What is the title of your latest release?A SPRINKLE OF SWEET SERENDIPITY What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?A sweet story about a struggling chocolate maker, Emmie, who finds herself in the sandwich generation. She’s caring for her young son and her ailing mom, and running her family’s rundown fudge shop in a harbor tourist town in the Pacific Northwest. When Emmie is given a magical chance to see her future, she thinks all her dreams are finally coming true, but as the summer progresses, she begins to suspect that what she saw in her vision might not be what her heart truly desires after all! This book features an adorable small town filled with a cast of heartwarming characters, not one but two hunky love interests, a French bulldog named Mr. Butters, and so much chocolate! How did you decide where your book was going to take place?I live in the Pacific Northwest, and I wanted to set my story in one of the charming harbor towns nearby. I chose Poulsbo, WA, known as “Little Norway” for its adorable look and Norwegian roots. Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?Absolutely! Emmie is a mom AND…

Book Title: SILENT MENACECharacter Name: Hailey Nieland How would you describe your family?Oh, my family is great. I’m the youngest of four and the only one of the sibling group to still live in the area. Growing up on a farm just outside a small town, I never thought their careers would take them elsewhere, but that’s life, I guess. My parents and cousins are still nearby, and I’m so glad they are—I don’t know how I would have managed this last year alone. Do you have a significant other?Um . . . no. Not anymore. Biggest challenge in relationships?Honestly, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to trust a man again. Not after I missed the signs with my late husband. Where do you live?I live just outside Kincaid, Kentucky – about 15 minutes from where I grew up. Close enough to Cincinnati, Ohio, to enjoy the benefits of being near a city, but far enough away to pretend it doesn’t exist during our day to day. Do you have any enemies?If you’d asked me that a few days ago, I would have said no (well, except for the people who think I had something to do with what…

Let me be honest with you: I have been to Paris many times, and every single trip has started with a very important reason. A champagne tour. Dinner at Coco. Shopping at Lacombe, or hunting down the perfect perfume in a tiny boutique near Saint-Germain. My favorite hotel in the world, La Maison Favart, always waiting for me like an old friend. And yes – I’ve walked the streets of Paris more times than I can count, researching every detail for my books, including I KNOW YOU KILLED YOUR HUSBAND, which is out this week. But here’s what I will also admit: the real reason I keep going back is the chocolate. And the cream puffs. And the hot cocoa. And the croissants. And the macarons. And just about everything else the city slides in front of you with that particularly Parisian sense of “well, of course.” On my Paris reader tours, one of the things I love most is introducing people to their first real Parisian sweet – watching someone take a bite of a proper choux pastry or taste their first sip of Angelina’s hot cocoa and just stop walking. You can’t help it. The city does that…

Excerpt from Charred: A Whipped & Sipped Mystery, GP Gottlieb  (Anamcara Press 2026) It was warming up inside the car. Alene searched for Kacey and Kofi through the car window and the construction fence, but there was a jungle of trees and bushes lining the sidewalk. The post-fire building site was probably soggy and disgusting. If only she’d thought of bringing an old blanket to protect the back seat from burnt wood.  Kacey startled Alene by opening the passenger door and jumping back in. “He doesn’t need my help,” Kacey said as she used her shirt to clean her glasses. “We were looking for a way to get into the site and my glasses got too smudged for me to see. I’ll stay in here with you.”  Kofi had probably circled the tall fence surrounding piles of wet, muddy, and burned wood, trying to get inside. Moments later, they heard an owl hoot, and Kacey whispered it was Kofi letting them know that he’d gotten past the fence. What if tromping through the remains of the fire exposed Kofi to toxic materials? He wore gloves and a mask, but it wasn’t an N95 with protection against particulates. If paper masks…

Each Friday the Smashwords store reports the bestselling indie fiction titles based on the previous week’s sales. If an author has more than one title eligible for the list, only the highest performing title will be included. This ensures high-performing titles receive the accolades they deserve, while providing up-and-coming authors the visibility they have earned. Don’t miss Monday’s Top 10 Hot Preorders List, where Smashwords will provide a list of the most highly anticipated ebook preorders.

Book Title: WINGS OF LIFECharacter Name: Serae of Cavendaffe (a day before WINGS OF LIFE begins) How would you describe your family or your childhood?Normal enough. A bit dull whenever Bale was away at school, but when he used to come home for the summers to celebrate our shared birthday, it was a dream. He’s four years my senior, and this birthday will be the first we’ve ever spent apart. He’s off fighting in the king’s army, no doubt because of some idiot scheme of Father’s to try to stay in the king’s good graces. The king seems to like Bale well enough, probably because they were schooled together, but he doesn’t pay my father, the margrave, much attention. What was your greatest talent?Putting up with my older sister, Merria, without gouging out both my eyes and cutting off my ears. If Gerta heard me say that, she’d give me that look, but I swear…it’s a talent. Merria is insufferable, and I am her favorite target for ridicule. If she understood half my retorts, she’d probably learn to leave me alone. But – pity for me – she’s got nothing but sawdust between her ears. Significant other?Oh, I suppose that…

From Dungeons and Danger by Elizabeth Penney. Copyright © 2026 by the author and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Publishing Group. CHAPTER 1 ALL HALLOWS’ EVE THE MURDER The horned Viking headdress I was wearing slipped as I pushed through the throng on the bluff overlooking the bay. Pausing to nudge the awkward helmet back into place, I took in the scene. Where is she? I was looking for one of our guests, and I couldn’t find her anywhere in this crowd. The one-day Viking Fest my brother put on to promote his mead brand was definitely a huge hit. At least five hundred people, most of them dressed in historic costume, milled around the large, grassy area. The aroma of roasting ox drifted from huge grills and glasses were lifted with toasts in the tavern tent. Melodic yet energetic Viking rock provided an atmospheric accompaniment. A bonfire roared on the bluff and now the evening’s climatic spectacle came into view: a burning longship drifting into the cove, fierce flames leaping into the night sky. Exclamations and cheers rose from the crowd as they pushed closer to the bluff’s edge, caught by the incredibly cinematic sight. In the back…

(In April’s post, I realized I was dealing with demons in my own consciousness and asked for help to get rid of them.) Zula, my emotional body, finally tracked down that second little blob of nothingness. We went through pretty much the same procedure that I described in Part 1 of this bizarre tale. With this addition. I went back into one of my first lives on planet earth. This life is one of the past lives involved in my dark high fantasy series, Stoneslayer. That life was brief. I died as a teenager, bound hand and foot and thrown into a freezing pond to drown. But in water that cold, death took time. My consciousness lingered in my almost dead body. I was desperate, panicked, and felt alone and helpless. Easy pickings for demons, or denial spirits, as some call them. They must have energy from somewhere to keep existing since they have denied the unconditional love-energy from our Creator that sustains the multiverse. That need for energy is what drives demons to infest any living being or thing that has energy. These two gaslighters (my name for them) pounced, promising help if I would just let them into…