THE NEW YEAR’S MAN by Michael Scott Clifton—LSLL Book Campaign: Review and Giveaway

THE NEW YEAR’S MAN

by Michael Scott Clifton

Romantic Fantasy / Romantic Comedy

Publication Date: September 11, 2026

SYNOPSIS

Landry LeBlanc has everything he wants: a luxury condo, a fast-rising legal career, expensive taste, and an ironclad rule against falling in love. Relationships, to him, come with expiration dates—and New Year’s Eve is his favorite time to end them.

But when Landry takes his latest girlfriend to the mysterious Fairy Lights Brasserie, his perfectly controlled life comes apart in spectacular fashion. One brutal breakup later, he finds himself face-to-face with Stella: a cigar-smoking, wand-wielding fairy godmother with questionable fashion sense, a faulty temper, and a mission to thaw his hardened heart.

Stella has one simple plan: make Landry fall in love.

Landry’s plan is simpler: get rid of Stella.

Then he meets Allie Beck—brilliant, fearless, unpredictable, and every bit his equal. As legal games become personal and magic keeps crashing through his carefully ordered world, Landry must face the past he buried, the heart he protected, and the possibility that love isn’t a weakness after all. Funny, romantic, and touched with fairy-tale chaos, The New Year’s Man is the story of a man who breaks hearts every New Year’s Eve.

This year, magic will break his.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Scott Clifton is an award-winning author celebrated for conjuring tales where magic and mystery collide, including the 2024 Reader’s Favorite Book Award winner Pringle Prawn and the 2026 Reader’s Favorite Bronze Award winner The End Game. His diverse body of work whisks readers into fantastical worlds and across genres, from the enchanting Conquest of the Veil series to gripping stand-alone novels like The Treasure Hunt Club, the haunting The Janus Witch, and the acclaimed sports romance The End Game. Recognized for imaginative plots, compelling characters, and heart-pounding adventure, Clifton invites readers to explore more at michaelscottclifton.com.

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REVIEW

A delightfully comedic romp of a romantic fantasy story, The New Year’s Man by Michael Scott Clifton is a fast read that lightens up the Big Dark of winter.

It’s refreshing to read a romance from the male lead’s point of view. Landry, however, is not your typical Romance hero. He wasn’t a sympathetic figure at the beginning of the story—a cocky, ruthless lawyer with a reputation for ending relationships before the calendar flips to the new year and who holds love in contempt. Readers will hate him before they fall for him, and that credits the author’s talent. A rough backstory alone doesn’t deliver that effect. It must be paired with a massive leap in character growth. Mr. Clifton achieved that in this book.

The chaotic set of fantastical characters and series of events not only affected the change in Landry, but also provided the humor that made this story especially entertaining. Stella, the unconventional fairy godmother, was a total hoot. So were her accomplices, Hank, Brad, and Barnaby. Landry’s exploits in fairyland recall Alice’s adventures in Wonderland.

Allie is an ideal female love interest, with qualities that believably explain Landry’s change of heart. She was bold and capable and made Landry earn her love. A worthy Romance heroine.

The story’s pacing is quick, but effectively controlled. It lends the book an unputdownable quality that encourages readers to finish in one sitting. I did, and I give kudos to Michael Scott Clifton for another entertaining read.

To learn more about the book, look for #LSLLTheNewYear’sMan on your preferred social media platform.

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ELLA LEON – Featured Author

Ella Leon writes historical romantasy with intrigue and suspense. Her debut historical romantasy series will be released in 2025 with Dragonblade Publishing.

During her 9-5 career, she has delved into many different styles of writing: journalism, public relations and marketing. Fiction, however, is where she finds the most freedom to transform the page. Like the Victorians she writes about, she loves all things gothic and supernatural. Unlike the Victorians, she is a feminist who enjoys exploring the precolonial past.

When she’s not writing, you can find her spending time with her family or tending to her rose garden. She lives in the Chicago area.

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THE SAPPHIRE HEIRESS

A pirate who walks amongst the highest circles of society.
A governess desperate to escape servitude.

“Exciting, dramatic, romantic; infused with magic, danger and mystery, The Sapphire Heiress reinvents the historical romance. Wondering what Historical Romantasy looks like? This is it.”
– New York Times Bestselling Author Amanda Quick

In Victorian England, the Silver Order has kept its supernatural discoveries hidden for centuries. Those who seek its secrets must always pay a price …

Mae Blackthorne, the daughter of an English shipbuilder and a Filipina immigrant, has been taught to ride sidesaddle, embroider pillows, and dance the waltz. So when her brother disappears at sea, she hasn’t a clue what to do when the family’s shipbuilding business falls into bankruptcy.

It isn’t long before Mae is penniless. Or so she believes. Forced to accept a post as governess in the very home she was raised in, Mae takes on the challenge in good spirits. Yet she is restless and yearns for the life of adventure her daredevil father and brother once had. That is, until she meets Ethan Locke, a pirate who offers her an enticing opportunity to recover her secret inheritance.

Unbeknownst to Mae, her family used their shipbuilding business to shroud generations of successful piracy. Locke, who was once partners with her father, has an old score to settle. He claims that her father stole from him an object of great value: a sapphire that can stop its wearer from growing old. As her father’s last surviving heir, Mae is Locke’s only hope of finding this supernatural jewel hidden amidst her family’s secret fortune.

Agreeing to work together and split the fortune amongst themselves, they share an instant spark of attraction. But they’re not alone in their search. The original owners of the sapphire, who operate an elite secret society, are far more powerful than Mae and Locke could have ever imagined. As danger closes in and the supernatural proves real, Mae fears she has much more to lose than just a second chance at a new life.

Summarized best as Pirates of the Caribbean meets Jane Eyre, The Sapphire Heiress is a suspense-filled historical romance perfect for fans of Amanda Quick.

Buy Link: Amazon

THE CRYSTAL ALCHEMIST

She wanted nothing to do with the supernatural … until him.

In Victorian England, the Silver Order has kept its supernatural discoveries hidden for centuries. Those who seek its secrets must always pay a price…

When her father’s death puts his estate in her hands, Hazel Grey must return to the home she ran away from as a child. Tucked away in the mystical landscape of the Malvern Hills, notorious for its ancient pagan past, Whitestone Manor is the headquarters of the Silver Order, the enigmatic secret society Hazel has both hated and feared. She’s never believed the Silver Order’s claim to power: an ability to see into the future. But when the property becomes so sought-after that a young stranger, Theo Pierce, offers a small fortune and a lifelong friend offers her his hand, all to obtain it, Hazel begins to reconsider…

Years ago, Theo Pierce’s family was forced to sell Whitestone Manor to Miss Grey’s father. Ever since, he’s dedicated his life to winning it back and redeeming his family’s honor—no matter the cost. When a snowstorm traps him and Miss Grey within the manor, it becomes the perfect opportunity to win her trust and, more importantly, the estate. But the deeper Theo pulls her into his world of secret laboratories, botanical mysteries, and crystal alchemy, the more he begins to want something other than redemption.

Soon, everything Hazel once believed is called into question. A crude and shocking vision reveals that a romantic tryst with Mr. Pierce is inevitable. Rather than fight it, she finally decides to put aside her cynicism and give into fate. But as she starts to uncover the truth behind her father’s death and the secret society’s darkest secrets, secrets about herself unravel too, secrets that threaten to keep her a prisoner of the Silver Order for good.

The Crystal Alchemist is a Gothic romance perfect for fans of Amanda Quick and Adalyn Grace.

Preorder Link: Amazon

PRINGLE PRAWN by Michael Scott Clifton – Book Blog Tour: Review and Giveaway

PRINGLE PRAWN

Michael Scott Clifton

Contemporary Urban Fantasy / Fairies / Humor

Publisher: Book Liftoff

Date of Publication: September 19, 2023

Number of Pages: 310 pages

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Move over Tinker Bell. There’s a new fairy in town!

Ben’s luck is changing. He has his iconic VW bus, a hot, wealthy girlfriend, and he’s managed to buy an old fixer-upper in an upscale neighborhood—just the thing to convince his girlfriend’s influential father that he’s husband material. But his new home has a secret, and when Ben opens a mysterious grandfather clock, he finds himself dropped into a magical land. There he meets Pringle, a six-inch prawn with a supercharged attitude and a pouchful of fairy dust. She saves his life, and when Ben returns to his world, Pringle returns with him.

Pringle’s adjustment to the modern world is a hilarious series of incidents that completely disrupt Ben’s life. When Russian mobsters and a vengeful HOA president attempt to hijack Ben’s life, Pringle zooms to the rescue—a pinch here, a pinch there, nothing a little fairy dust can’t fix.

But it’s when Pringle begins to grow that things really get interesting, because as Pringle’s size increases, so do her feelings for Ben. Ultimately, Pringle must decide whether to return to her world—or follow her heart and stay with Ben.

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Dear Reader, seat yourself in a comfortable chair, grab a can of Pringles, fasten your imaginary seatbelt, and enjoy this fantastically entertaining amusement ride of a fairy tale story.

With a cinematic flair, Michael Scott Clifton plunges Pringle Prawn‘s hero Ben Hastings (and its readers) smack in the middle of the action on the very first page. His spectacular description of Ben’s desperate plight and frantic flight engaged all my senses, making me feel as if I were part of the scene.

The exhilaration continues throughout the book, even more so when the scenes involve the adorable title character Pringle. She brought the fun, the humor, the sweetness, the magic, and the romance to the story. Her declaration at the end legit made me tear up. So did Ben’s. The romance in this story is so significant, that I’m tempted to tag it as a romantasy.

Whatever genre this book belongs to, it’s undoubtedly a great work of fiction. There’s a fascinating mix of secondary characters, some supporting, others villainous, all diverse. I especially adore Archie and relate well to him having also worked in insurance and dreaming of owning a bookshop someday. I also like Hank and the Enchanted Door. As for HOA President Maude, I understand her role in the story and enjoyed her over-the-top shenanigans for the comic relief they provided.

Comedy is necessary to balance the horrific subject of human trafficking which is a major plot point in the book. While the presentation is light, the seriousness of this societal woe is communicated clearly through the descriptions of the victims’ deplorable conditions and the lack of solutions offered to combat the problem.

Pringle Prawn is pure entertainment with depth. I give this book my highest rating and I thank Lone Star Lit for including my blog in the tour that aims to introduce it to more readers. Easily one of my top 23 books for 2023.

Multi-award-winning author Michael Scott Clifton lives in Mount Pleasant, Texas with his wife, Melanie. An avid gardener, rapacious reader, and movie junkie, his books contain facets of all the genres he enjoys—action, adventure, magic, fantasy, and romance. His fantasy novels, The Janus Witch, and the Conquest of the Veil series, (The Open Portal, Escape from Wheel, A Witch’s Brew, and Cavern of the Veil Queen) all received 5-Stars from the prestigious Readers Favorite Book Reviews. The Open Portal has been honored with a Feathered Quill Book Finalist Award. In addition, his YA novel Edison Jones and The Anti-Grav Elevator received a Feathered Quill Book Award Bronze Medal. Two of his short stories have earned Gold Medals, with “Edges of Gray” winning the Texas Authors Contest, and “The End Game” winning the Northeast Texas Writer’s Organization Contest. Professional credits include published articles in the Texas Study of Secondary Education Magazine.

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