The Essence of His Soul Mya Kay Publication date: March 20th 2026 Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
When Essence Taylor, owner of Taylor Made Music Group, steps into Mocha Tea & Trends—a new upscale coffee shop in Old City Philadelphia—she’s focused on business, not romance. But when she overhears the manager scrambling after an artist cancels last minute, Essence seizes the opportunity to showcase her newly signed songstress.
That’s when she meets Shane Bishop.
Philadelphia’s basketball sensation and the shop’s owner, Shane is instantly drawn to Essence. Their eyes meet, sparks fly—and Essence immediately shuts it down. A ball player is the last thing she needs distracting her from her purpose. But Shane can’t ignore the connection he feels as he watches her confidently seal the deal for her artist.
Later, one bold DM changes everything.
What begins as a cautious friendship between two preacher’s kids slowly unfolds into a God-ordained romance neither of them expected. But just as their bond deepens, their lives are shaken by family secrets, resurfacing past relationships, and a devastating incident that threatens to destroy both of their careers.
As rumors swirl and pressure mounts within the entertainment and sports industries, Essence and Shane must decide if their love is strong enough to withstand the weight of old wounds, public scrutiny, and painful truths.
Will they be able to hold on to what God brought together—or will the cost be too great?
I looked at his face, then slowly walked over to him.
“Clayton wants to know when you guys can do dinner.”
My heart dropped in my stomach. I had been ignoring Clayton, literally not responding to any of his messages, but I also hadn’t blocked him.
“Babe, it’s not like that.”
He placed my phone down. “What is it like, Essence?”
I raised an eyebrow. Since we’d been dating, he barely called me by my first name.
I walked over to him, grabbing his hands. He let me. “My father thinks Clayton is the guy I should be dating. I told him I was dating but haven’t told him who, but my mother knows. Clayton and I went on a date four years ago and I haven’t talked to him since. My father thought giving him my number when he ran into him was a good idea.”
He stared at me intently. This was the first time he was looking at me, and I didn’t feel the warmth I usually felt. “Baby, I promise, you have nothing to worry about.”
“You know Rayna DM’d me about a week after we started dating. I blocked her because, even though we weren’t that deep yet, I knew we were on to something.”
I swallowed. I knew he was all in when we were on our third date. Shane was a one-woman type of man. I picked up my phone and blocked Clayton in front of him. Then I showed him the text thread.
“You can see I never even responded.”
“Then why not block him sooner?” he said, scrolling through the texts.
I started chewing on my bottom lip. I brushed my hair behind my ears, trying not to speak too soon.
“If I’m honest, this is scary for me. I’m afraid that this thing with you and I won’t work out. That’s not to say Clayton was a backup, because he knows that even if he was the last man standing, there would never be an us. Trust me.”
He smirked, placing the phone back on the counter. “He’s that bad?”
“Horrible.”
I laughed. He was still staring at me, but his smile faded.
“I don’t always feel safe,” I continued, hoping the rest of this would come out making sense, “and some of it has to do with what happened when I was younger. I also feel like my father’s controlling ways plays into how unsafe I feel. It’s like he would never let anyone else hurt me, yet he does it all the time; and then, there’s what my ex did.”
His face scrunched up. “Dixon?”
Author Bio:
Mya K. Douglas (Mya Kay) is an Amazon bestselling author, dynamic speaker, magazine publisher, and literary leader born and raised in North Philadelphia. Since 2012, she has authored and published fifteen books spanning genres from Christian romance to memoir.
In 2017, she co-authored Before Empire with Andria Mayberry, mother of Empire actor Bryshere “Yazz The Greatest,” featured on The Real. In 2022, she was selected as a semi-finalist for America’s Next Great Author, standing out as one of only 100 from over 800 applicants to pitch to judges including Jason Reynolds, Kwame Alexander, and Victoria Christopher Murray.
That same year, Mya made history as the first Christian romance author signed to B. Love Publications. Her work includes The Storms of Love series, Fumbled Your Heart, and The Essence of His Soul. She has earned nominations including Christian Fiction Author of the Year by AAMBC (2023) and Best Christian Book for The Essence of His Soul at the 2024 Literary Gem Awards. She is currently signed to Black Legacy Publishing under B. Love Publications.
Beyond writing, Mya is the founder of Girls Anthem Magazine, a faith-forward media company inspiring girls and women to pursue purpose without compromising their values.
What if one conversation could change your entire life?
In 1979, Jeff Burgess was a 22-year-old college dropout drifting through life in a haze of beer, weed, and dead-end jobs. He was the "town clown" with an undeniable work ethic but no clear direction. Then, on a lazy Sunday afternoon, his father called him home for a talk that would shake him to his core: "You have a gift, and I cannot allow you to waste it anymore. It’s time to get your shit together."
From that moment, everything changed. Armed with a relentless drive, a knack for problem-solving, and a newfound determination to make something of himself, Jeff set out to prove his father right. Within two years, he skyrocketed from warehouse worker to Vice President of Sales at a booming tech company. By the time he retired, he had built a global business supplying surveillance video recording appliances to both the most iconic and the secure sites in the world.
It Worked for Me is the inspiring, no-nonsense story of how an underachiever transformed into an industry leader—one who thrived not by playing it safe, but by embracing risk, trusting his gut, and always finding a way forward.
If you've ever felt stuck, uncertain, or like success was just out of reach, this book will show you how to seize your own turning point.
Are you ready to take charge of your future? Pick up a copy today!
All proceeds for It Worked for Me will go directly to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Praise for It Worked For Me:
"It Worked for Me by Jeff Burgess is a powerful, down-to-earth story about turning life around through hard work and determination. Burgess shares how one tough conversation with his father pushed him to change his path from a drifting 22-year-old to the head of a $100-million company. His writing is straightforward, honest, and full of real lessons about perseverance, courage, and believing in yourself. What makes it even better is that all proceeds go to the Wounded Warrior Project. This is an inspiring read for anyone who feels stuck and needs a reminder that success is always possible." ~ 5-star Library Thing review
"Candid, humorous … He emphasizes the importance of common sense and learning from others. And his integrity is front and center." ~ 5-star review, Audiofile
"This was an interesting account of Jeff Burgess and his incredible journey. He has good advice and anedotes to back it up. Having the author as the narrator adds a special flavor to the audio book. In the very sad parts, it sounds like he gets choked-up, and as a listener, I held back a tear, too. Overall it was a good book." ~ 5-star review, Netgalley
In 1979, I was living in a two-bedroom apartment in my hometown of Skokie, IL with my best friend Gary. I was 22 years old, a few months removed from my sophomore year at Illinois State University--and I say `removed’ literally, since the Dean of Students had strongly pointed out that school wasn’t the best choice for me. Gary and I both had “floater jobs” which basically covered our monthly rent, weed, beer, and food, in that order. The landlord would likely say the rent and weed could be in a reverse order. Basically, I seemed to be following a destiny first noted in my 8th-grade yearbook from Oakview Junior High, where I was dubbed “town clown.” My mom was horrified. Me? I took it as a badge of honor, one that kept wearing through high school and my short stint in college.
It was a typical September Sunday. Gary and I were laying around, recovering from hangovers and planning our next adventure. Around four o’clock, the phone rang. It was my Dad.
“Hey, Jeff, are you busy?”
“Well, a little. Hanging out.”
“I really need to speak with you. Can you come over?”
I was at that age when I didn’t really have anything against my parents. I’d see them for birthdays and holidays and when I wanted to conduct a secret withdrawal from the packed meat freezer they kept in their basement, but I didn’t see the need to spend any time with them. “Is it important?”
His answer was firm. “It’s important enough that I’m asking you to come over—now.”
That was good enough for me. I quickly jumped into the shower to wash off the after-aroma of the previous night’s parties. As the hot water rushed down, my mind began spinning with scenarios. What did he want to talk about? Abruptly it dawned on me that maybe he was going to tell me he was dying. My mind always moved at a mile a minute, and all of a sudden it came to a screeching halt.
Why else would he need to talk to me? My dad was an ordinary man--52-years old, husband, father of four, CEO of an Envelope Company, recovering alcoholic, and my hero. He really was my rock, and more than made up for my distracted mother. How would I survive without him? We always shared this unspoken bond of my inheriting his OCD gene. And while he never appreciated that I was that town clown and high school fuck-up, he admired my work ethic. When I did put my mind to something, I took it to completion, whether it was shoveling neighbor’s sidewalks in those Chicago winters or moving their lawns in the summer. Even as an eight-year-old. And if I had suddenly kicked the bucket at age 20, that would have been the story of my life—a human oxymoron who had a great work ethic yet couldn’t keep a job.
He hugged me when I came through the door and told my mom to let us be. We went upstairs to my parents’ bedroom, which was decorated with a complete Brady Bunch-era motif: matching avocado and orange bedspread and curtains, beige shag carpeting, large imitation Picasso paintings on the walls. We sat together on the bench seat at the bottom of the bed, connected at the hip. He started to put his arm around my shoulder, and almost instantly I began to cry. “Dad, please don’t die on me!” I began to sob.
Startled, he jumped to his feet, then put his hands on my shoulders. “Listen to me! That’s not what this is about. I’m not dying! But now that you mention it, you are killing me.” I started to say something, but he quickly interrupted, “Seriously, I need you to listen to me.”
He started speaking to me, but it was more of a sermon. The tone in his voice was unlike anything I had heard from him before. I had never heard him in such an authoritative voice. I could already tell that I had either upset or disappointed him, but just did not know how or why. I quickly learned. “You are wasting your life,” he said. “You have always had an outstanding work ethic, he told me, along with an incredible quick wit, which I was just throwing away by being a smart ass, just looking for the laugh. “If you were ever able to use that wit in a more “think on your feet” manner instead of just being a comedian, you could have great value to some company one day.” He looked at me directly in the eye. “I didn’t send you to college to be a fuck-up. You have a gift, and I cannot allow you to waste it. You need to get your collective shit together.”
I was stunned, and very upset. Not so much about what he said, but because I knew it was dead-on.
My mind jumped back to a moment two summers before, when I was working in his company warehouse. The combination of my 17-year-old male hormones and the highly Latina warehouse staff were just too much for me to overcome, and I devoted far more time to chasing skirts than my responsibilities. He sat me down then, too, but instead of giving me a sermon, he fired me. I know that conversation was painful for both him to say and me to hear as well. It wasn’t so much that I embarrassed him as the boss’s son getting canned, but what hurt me most was that I had let him down. Here I was, letting him down again. What most upset me was knowing that he was not proud of me.
I drove back to the apartment. The aroma of cannabis greeted my arrival. Gary passed me the loaded a pipe as I entered, saying something to the extent of “you look like you need one.” But what I needed is what I had just received. My dad was my hero, and I had been confronted with the fact that I was failing him. And really, I had also been confronted with the fact that I was failing myself. “No thanks,” I said to Gary, echoing the words my dad had just said to me, “I really need to start getting my shit together.”
The very next day, I started searching the Help Wanted section in the Chicago Tribune. Some company called Tek Aids two towns over was looking for a warehouse worker. I had never heard of them, but I knew I wanted that job. I’m not sure why, but the ad called out to me. Maybe I just wanted a job quickly so I could get back into my dad’s good favor. For the interview, I put my best foot forward, wearing the blue blazer my mother bought me for high school graduation and borrowing a paisley tie I had bought Dad for Father’s Day.
They were a family business about five years old that had set themselves up as a computer peripherals distributor. They sold printers, monitors, and bins full of internal parts. Jud, the founder and CEO, gave me a tour of the 15,000sf facility. I could tell he had great pride in his operation, and I was impressed that he knew every employee on a first-name basis.
The warehouse was sloppy and seemed a little disorganized. I knew I could fix that. What surprised me is that they also had a tech area in the warehouse, run by a guy wearing thick lenses a lab coast – he looked like mad scientist. They were building student tech systems for community colleges, based upon Ohio Scientific’s Challenger 1P single-processor computer systems. “A warehouse and tech?” I said to Jud, without reply.
I did find it interesting that he was already introducing me, and after the tour, we went into his wife Lorrayne’s office and they both told be the job responsibilities. I was trying not to jump the gun, but it sure seemed like I was already hired. And I was really hoping they would, and I knew I was looking into a crystal ball and seeing my future. Perhaps I was willing it to happen by confidently adding “I look forward to hearing from you sometime tomorrow.” She gave me a strange look, perhaps due to my presumptuousness. “The blazer and tie won’t be necessary when you come back,” she said. At that point, I knew the job would be mine. I was already reorganizing the sloppy warehouse in my head.
I started two days later. Two years later, I was promoted to Vice President of Sales. Twenty years and three days after my Dad’s sermon, I founded my own IT server-building company, morphing into the video surveillance recording market in 2009. By the time of my retirement on my 66th birthday on July 21, 2023, I had built a company that is the world’s largest supplier of purpose-built surveillance video recording appliances, with over a quarter-million devices recording the video surveillance from over four million cameras in 91 countries around the globe. And all at the most secure sites or coolest companies in the world.
Here's the story of how that happened.
***
Excerpt from It Worked For Me by Jeff Burgess. Copyright 2026 by Jeff Burgess. Reproduced with permission from Jeff Burgess. All rights reserved.
Author Bio:
From outhouse to penthouse.... He’s that guy who started in the embryonic stages of the computer industry way back in 1979 as a non-college graduate warehouse manager, selling his way to the top as the CEO of his own $100M company.
He never cared for the arrogance of the term "rainmaker," since he always thought "mercenary" sounded cooler, especially while selling hundreds of millions of dollars of high-end computer technology to the largest companies and government entities in the world!
His story is about all those bumps and bruises along the way, and the lessons learned honing his uncanny ability to turn opportunities into successes.
My Review:
This is a great book for anyone. It does not matter if you work in the computer industry, sales, have s small business or are involved in politics. There is a lot of good advice in this book. My favorite part is that the author took advice from his dad, and it changed his life. His father reminds me of my dad. Straight forward and always there. If nothing else, then remember this quote "know thy customer and know thy competition" What a great way to approach life! The quotes from famous people also made me think. From retail advice to Covid 19. This book covers all the bases. I am giving this book a 5/5. I was given a copy to review, all opinions are my own.
On her tenth birthday, Marty Oakley expects comfort and celebration, not a city tearing itself apart. As Velarisca trembles and steam-powered defenses spiral out of control, Marty flees through chaos with her father, only to discover he is not who she believed him to be.
With the city collapsing around them, long-buried secrets surface and a hidden legacy awakens. Caught in a conspiracy stretching from the depths below to the skies above, Marty must face truths no child should ever carry, or lose everything she loves.
Broken Wings is a heartfelt steampunk fantasy prequel filled with wonder, danger, and unexpected adventure.
Why the kickstarter collector’s edition is special.
This is not just a book. It’s the beginning.
Broken Wings is a 20,000 word prequel novella and the very first story in the Enchanted Skies universe. It introduces Marty at age ten and her father who tried to protect her from a truth that was always going to catch up.
This edition will never be sold through retailers. It is only available through this Kickstarter, and later Miloa’s direct store. No algorithms. No middlemen. Just readers who chose to be here from the start.
Backers of this campaign will have their names printed in the book as founding readers, permanently recorded as the ones who helped this world take its first breath.
Miloa Scape is a speculative fiction author writing genre-blending stories that combine fantasy, science fiction, and steampunk with a strong emphasis on found family and character-driven storytelling. With an engineering background and extensive gaming experience, she brings a systems-focused approach to worldbuilding and narrative structure. Her debut project, Broken Wings, introduces a steampunk-inflected world that serves as the foundation for a larger speculative fiction series in development.
Josh Hurst was supposed to be my forever. Instead, he became the villain in my origin story.
I gave him my heart. He broke it without flinching. So, I did what any self-respecting, heart-shattered girl would do—I declared war.
Our revenge game? Legendary.
Until I left for college and swore I’d never look back.
But life doesn’t care about vows made in the dark.
When my father dies unexpectedly, I’m dragged back to the hometown I outgrew, handed guardianship of my grieving kid brother, and forced to take over my father’s struggling veterinary clinic.
And waiting for me—like karma with a smirk—is Josh.
Not as a memory.
Not as a ghost.
But as my new business partner.
Avoiding him? Impossible.
Forgetting what we were? Laughable.
He still looks at me like I’m his. Like we’re a story paused instead of over. Like one spark is all it would take.
And God help me, the spark is still there.
But we don’t do soft. We don’t do safe.
We do oil and fire. War and wreckage.
Whatever we once were—
Whatever we still could be—
We’re enemies.
And this time, nobody’s walking away unburned.
I pressed my lips tight to fight the smile dying to break free. “What happened to your face?”
He took off his glasses and shoved them in the white lab coat he wore over a green scrub top and khaki pants. “You’re late.”
“You’re blue.” I bit back a snicker.
His cheeks flushed.
A snort giggle escaped me. “Did you have a Braveheart re-enactment after baseball? I’ve never heard of that kind of kink, but to each his own, right?”
He rolled his eyes. “It’s Blu-Kote.”
“The old fogie wound treatment stuff? Do you use that?”
“No.” He wiped ineffectively at his face. “This morning, a horse owner poured it on the hoof while I was looking at the abscess before I could stop him. The mare kicked it all over me. It won’t come off my skin, and it ruined my shirt.”
“Oh.” I compressed my lips to stop the laughter bubbling. A head duck helped while I threw my oversized purse on the client sofa. I reached for the bottle of alcohol off the shelf above the sink and grabbed a few cotton balls. “Hold still.”
“Stop laughing.” He waved at me when I got close to keep me away.
“I’m going to help you.” I saturated a cotton ball in alcohol and wiped his cheek. It didn’t come off easily since it had set into the skin. I rubbed harder.
“Oww.” He tried to bat me away. “Are you trying to peel off my skin?”
I held up the cotton ball to show the blue coming off. “Stop being a wuss. How many clients did you see like this?”
He put the laptop on the counter and crossed his arms. “A few.”
“You need to come up with a better story than some horse kicking it all over you.” I kept rubbing.
“I’m not going with kink as my story.”
I laughed so hard I had to step away from him and put down the cleaning items. I rubbed my eyes. “You’d have the ladies wondering.”
“I’d rather not be known as the Blue Man of the bedroom.”
Author Bio:
USA Today bestselling author Zoe Forward is a parent, wife, veterinarian, and unapologetic chocolate lover. She writes spicy paranormal and contemporary romances that blend action, adventure, humor, and a touch of magic.
Zoe lives in the South with a lively menagerie of four-legged beasts and two slightly wild kids.
A cozy historical mystery set in the 18th century—perfect for Bridgerton fans!
1787, Bath. Mrs. Tiffany Lathrop has catalogued the entire library at Astwell Palace and is feeling rather dull when Mr. Thomas Montague invites her and her husband Samir to visit Bath. Thomas begs Tiffany to help reconcile his mother Catharine, the Marchioness of Harwood, on his engagement to the famous actress Miss Rosalyn Arden—a beautiful young woman with bright red curls and eyes of mismatched color.
Eager to see his beloved, Thomas stops at the Theatre Royal with Tiffany and they discover a dead body wearing a red wig in Rosalyn’s dressing room. The body is that of Miss Julia Shakespeare, Rosalyn’s understudy and the person who has been blackmailing members of the acting company. Not only are the actors behaving suspiciously, but so are Rosalyn’s newly reconciled relatives that cast her off nine years before when she jilted Sir Frederick Bingham, who then married her younger sister.
If all the world is a stage, then someone acting innocent must be the murderer. Can Tiffany solve the mystery before the final curtain?
Samantha Hastings met her husband in a turkey sandwich line. They live in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she spends most of her time reading, having tea parties, and chauffeuring her four kids. She teaches World Literature at Brigham Young University. Her young adult fiction books are Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selections, and her historical romances are published around the world. She also writes murder mysteries under Samantha Larsen that Publisher’s Weekly called “wildly enjoyable.”
Interview:
1.When did you first
realize you wanted to be a writer?
When I was 7 or 8 years old and I watched “Anne of
Green Gables” on PBS. I wanted to be just like Anne Shirley.
2.How long does it take
you to write a book?
I am a very fast drafter and typically finish writing
a book in two or three months. But then I spend just as long or longer
editing it.
3.What is your work
schedule like when you're writing?
I try to write 3,000 words a day when I am drafting.
Sometimes, I can write them in a couple of hours and other times it can
take all day.
4.What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?
When I draft, I often type BLANK in cap locks for
names or things I haven’t decided yet. I draft quickly and then polish
slowly.
5.How do books get
published?
For me the process is: draft, edit, beta critique
readers, more editing, send to my agent, more editing, my agent sends the
manuscript on submission to publishers or directly to the editor if there
is already a deal, more edits, send to the proof reader, more edits,
formatting and an Advanced Reader’s Copy created, final small edits, and
then publication!
6.Where do you get your
information or ideas for your books?
Mostly from reading historical books from the periods
that I am researching. Sometimes from an article that I read in a journal
or a magazine about a specific historical item or trend. I incorporate
that idea into my story.
7.When did you write your
first book and how old were you?
My first finished book was when I was
twelve-years-old. I wrote it in a spiral bound notebook. It was about a
girl basketball player on a really bad team.
8.What do you like to do
when you're not writing?
I love to read and go to the movies. Popcorn is my
favorite! I also love playing board games and card games with my kids.
And walking my dog, Oreo.
9.What does your family
think of your writing?
My parents are a huge support. They come to every one
of my signing events and always buy books! Usually for their friends
because they already own them.
10.What was one of the most
surprising things you learned in creating your books?
I am fascinated by the Dollar Princesses from the
Gilded Age. I had no idea how many American heiresses had come over to
Europe and married into the aristocracy. My novel, A Cash Countess is
a mystery about a Dollar Princess. In my newest novel, Holmes Away
From Home, the hero’s mother is an American Dollar Princess.
11.How many books have you
written? Which is your favorite?
At the end of this year, I will have 30 published
books under Samantha Hastings or Samantha Larsen.
That’s like asking me to pick my favorite child! I
simply couldn’t choose one. But I will admit, whatever project that I am
currently working on is my favorite and that would be Holmes Away From
Home (Severn Book, October 2026).
12.Do you have any
suggestions to help me become a better writer? If so, what are they?
Read books in the genre you want to be published in.
Try to read titles that have been published in the last two or three
years. Often agents or publishing companies will ask for three to five
comparable titles.
13.Do you hear from your
readers much? What kinds of things do they say?
I love hearing from readers. Mostly they ask when
another book in the Lady Librarian series is coming.
14.Do you like to create
books for adults?
Truthfully, I create books just for me and I hope that
other adults enjoy them too.
15.What do you think makes
a good story?
Quirky characters, high stakes, and a twist you don’t
see coming.
16.As a child, what did you
want to do when you grew up?
Become an archeologist. I didn’t quite make it. But I
do write historical mysteries and romances, as well as teaching World
Literature classes at a local university.
17.What Would you like my
readers to know?
I hope that they’ll give Miss Tiffany Woodall and the
Lady Librarian mystery series a chance! Each book is full of mystery,
diversity, books, romance, and humor:
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