Category: new release

new release

✍🏻 Vi Keeland’s What Happens at the Lake is LIVE across all platforms. If you love a grumpy-sunshine romance, this is your next read. ✍🏻

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Title: What Happens at the Lake
Author: Vi Keeland
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Trope: Grumpy-Sunshine
Release Date: January 15, 2024
BLURB
When life took an unexpected turn, I decided to get out of New York for a while. What better place to go than the idyllic small town my father spoke about so fondly when I was growing up? Laurel Lake held the title America’s Friendliest Town for seventeen years running, and friendly was just what I needed right now.
Unfortunately, friendly wasn’t the welcome I got when I arrived.
Instead, I got Fox Cassidy. My tall, dark, and burly neighbor, who grunted at me instead of saying hello.
Okay, so I might’ve had his mailbox in my hands the first time we met. And it might’ve been a little crushed after removing it from under my tire. And I might’ve needed his help breaking into the place I was staying in after the key broke off in the lock. But still…he didn’t have to be so grumpy.
As time went on though, I started to notice things about Fox other than his glares. Like how he watched me when he thought I wasn’t looking, or how fire ignited in his eyes whenever we bickered. Though I was in Laurel Lake to escape my problems, not create new ones. And getting involved with a man like Fox screamed trouble, even if he was gorgeous and unlike any man I’d ever met.
But alas, problem seemed to be my middle name this year. So why not have some fun while I was here for the summer? It seemed like a good plan. At least until it was time to go home…
They say what happens at the lake, stays at the lake. But it’s not so easy to walk away when what stays behind…is your heart.
PURCHASE LINKS
AUTHOR BIO
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
AUTHOR LINKS
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new release

✍🏻 They say to always be careful around the quiet broody ones. I’m fairly certain J. Saman has saved the very best for last with Irresistibly Dangerous, out NOW! ✍🏻

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Georgia Monroe. Billionaire Heiress. Stunning. My best friends’ cousin. The woman whose heart I broke six years ago. And now my fake wife. 

Irresistibly Dangerous  by J. Saman is now live! 

For the record, I knew I never should have touched her.

She was everything good in this world and I was everything but.

I was too broken to care about how off-limits my best friends’ cousin was.

And I didn’t want to stop.

She was the air I needed while drowning in darkness.

Until I broke her heart and finally forced myself to do the right thing and walk away.

Six years later she’s on my doorstep asking me for a favor I can’t say no to.

Only a marriage of convenience to Georgia Monroe is anything but convenient.

Not with how I still crave her despite the promises I made to never touch her again.

Not with the dangers lurking around us, coming after her in ways she knows nothing about.

I’m the only one who can help her.

Her dark knight. A silent hacker.

The cold, broody man who never felt worthy of her love.

But now everything is different.

I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe and prove I deserve a second chance at owning this irresistibly dangerous woman’s heart.

No matter what comes my way. 

  Download today or read for FREE with #kindleunlimited

Amazon: http://geni.us/IrresistiblyDangerous       

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/46XCeL0 

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Meet J. Saman

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J. Saman is a USA Today and Amazon top 40 bestselling author who writes sassy, swoony, and scorching contemporary romances. She is addicted to Diet Coke, sour candy, and indie rock. She swears way too much (especially after a glass of wine) and has a penchant for sarcasm (or so her husband and children like to tell her).

J. is an admitted lover of second chance romances, enemies to lovers, and the perfect amount of angst. She is best known for writing funny and emotional romances filled with smart, strong women, and sexy alphas who have a softer side—especially for their women.

Connect with J. Saman

Website: http://jsamanbooks.com

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14923699.J_Saman

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/J.-Saman/author/B01FOIUR46

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/jsamanbooks

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/jsamansradtasticreaders

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Twitter: http://twitter.com/jsamanbooks

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Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jsamanbooks/

Verve: https://ververomance.com/app/jsamanbooks

new release

✍🏻 Two things I LOVE in contemporary romance: a grumpy, emotionally closed-off MMC and his foil, the sunshiney, independent, charming FMC who ROCKS his world. The other thing: small-town antics that add heat to the fire of the couple. You’ll find all of that deliciousness in Vi Keeland’s What Happens At the Lake. Let’s just say that I INHALED this book…and it’s LIVE early on on the ‘Zon. ✍🏻

professorromance
Title: What Happens at the Lake
Author: Vi Keeland
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance
Trope: Grumpy-Sunshine
Release Date: January 15, 2024
BLURB
When life took an unexpected turn, I decided to get out of New York for a while. What better place to go than the idyllic small town my father spoke about so fondly when I was growing up? Laurel Lake held the title America’s Friendliest Town for seventeen years running, and friendly was just what I needed right now.
Unfortunately, friendly wasn’t the welcome I got when I arrived.
Instead, I got Fox Cassidy. My tall, dark, and burly neighbor, who grunted at me instead of saying hello.
Okay, so I might’ve had his mailbox in my hands the first time we met. And it might’ve been a little crushed after removing it from under my tire. And I might’ve needed his help breaking into the place I was staying in after the key broke off in the lock. But still…he didn’t have to be so grumpy.
As time went on though, I started to notice things about Fox other than his glares. Like how he watched me when he thought I wasn’t looking, or how fire ignited in his eyes whenever we bickered. Though I was in Laurel Lake to escape my problems, not create new ones. And getting involved with a man like Fox screamed trouble, even if he was gorgeous and unlike any man I’d ever met.
But alas, problem seemed to be my middle name this year. So why not have some fun while I was here for the summer? It seemed like a good plan. At least until it was time to go home…
They say what happens at the lake, stays at the lake. But it’s not so easy to walk away when what stays behind…is your heart.
PURCHASE LINKS
AUTHOR BIO
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
AUTHOR LINKS
OTHER BOOKS BY VI
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / APPLE BOOKS
GOOGLE PLAY / AUDIOBOOK
PAPERBACK
AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU
B&N / KOBO / APPLE BOOKS
GOOGLE PLAY / AUDIOBOOK
PAPERBACK
new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Max Monroe’s Cluelessly Yours ✍🏻

professorromance

Overall Grade: B

Tropes: single mom FMC; love triangle-ish; he falls first; friends to lovers; doctor MMC; interconnected series of standalones

There are two things about Max Monroe’s Cluelessly Yours that I didn’t realize I needed: a swoon and a nice guy MMC. I think I’ve been sitting with grumpy next-door neighbor MMCs or anti-heroes recently, so a character such as Noah reads like a breath of fresh air in a swamp of cranky male characters. He broke up the doldrums of my reading week, and I love Max Monroe’s thoughtfulness with that. Now, let me get down to my stream-of-consciousness review of this book:

  1. I’ve decided that I approve of a dual POV when the points of view are separated into parts. While I recognize the almost “melody” created with the back and forth of chapters for dual POV, there is also a formula to it that has become a bit staid in my romance reading. I appreciate Max Monroe’s choice to break the POVs into parts. It 1) builds anticipation, 2) makes the narrative journey more tension-filled, ramping up the story, and 3) allows them to hold off on the full reveal of Sammy’s true MMC until almost halfway through it. Again, this builds a narrative tension that drives the reader forward. Smart choice!
  2. Cluelessly Yours is my favorite story thus far in Max Monroe’s It’s A Funny Story series. It may have something to do with my age and life experience that I connect in some ways to Sammy, but I appreciate her journey more than her sister’s and son’s teacher. That being said, this series has such a different flavor from Max Monroe’s earlier stories, the billionaires that steal our hearts. One of the reviews commented on their popular culture references and how she/he/they don’t like it. Honestly, I paid attention to see if Max Monroe’s millennial poked through. And it’s only a little. Instead, Cluelessly Yours reminds us to ask for and receive the best for ourselves. We shouldn’t settle, and we shouldn’t allow others to bully us into relationships. Noah and Sammy together are pure rom-com poetry.
  3. There is a story point near the end that adds a twist to the book. This is my biggest criticism of the book: it made no sense. It was put there to “fix” a story point, but it was underdeveloped in the story, so it felt like Max Monroe “jumped the shark” by enacting it. This is the sole reason for the 4-star/B rating of this book. I’m hoping there is another book for one of the characters in the story who needs a happy ending right now, but I’ll wait and see how Max Monroe’s muse(s) speak to them. 
  4. Precious children in a romance? I love them. If you don’t, well…ignore them. They add flavor to Noah and Sammy’s romance.
  5. Again, Noah…thank you for being the sweetest, most chivalrous Max Monroe MMC.

I write this next sentence about Max Monroe’s stories quite often, but it continues to ring true: Max Monroe’s Cluelessly Yours is the read you want for this weekend to escape the seriousness of your world. It’s sweet and spicy and funny and charming, and it’s not really a love triangle (thank God!), but there’s enough tension around two men pursuing Sammy that you might be annoyed with Max Monroe; it’ll be transitory when you realize the true stars of the book.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Laney Hatcher’s Last on the List, the final book in the Bartholomew series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A-

Tropes: surprise pregnancy; best friend’s brother; sister’s best friend; banter; enemies to lovers to vibes; found family

Laney Hatcher has definitely saved her best for last. Last on the List, the final story of her Bartholomew series, offers an apt end to this touchingly irreverent historical romance series. The Bartholomew siblings have definitely captured my heart, and Silas and Mary are the cherry on the hot fudge of this delicious romantic sundae. 

Whenever you write a couple with the type of fiery banter that Mary and Silas engage in, you know the story will be engaging. Hatcher deftly carries us through their “hate to love,” fiery attraction, friends with benefits, and angsty romance. I loved the pacing of their journey even though Mary’s secrecy and want to protect Silas would frustrate any reader. Yet, this is the crux of the surprise pregnancy trope, and Hatcher allows us to rest in that tension for much of the book. She needs this space, however, to help Silas recognize his love for Mary (no surprise!), but even more, understand her background and its impact on Mary’s sense of self so he can love her the best. Even more, Hatcher grants them the space to learn to “see” the other better than anyone else. This takes a careful hand and decided storytelling to do it well, and Hatcher, in my opinion, has done it in Last on the List. 

The ending of this story is poetry as we say goodbye to the Bartholomew siblings while also celebrating who Mary and Silas have become as a couple and parents. Laney Hatcher has done nothing more than make me fall deeper in love with her brand of historical romance. Hoping for more stories from her soon.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Jolie Vines’s Save Her from Me, book 2 of the McRae Bodyguards series ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B

Tropes: bodyguard MMC; close proximity; romantic suspense; brother’s best friend; band of brothers; found family

Jolie Vines’s Save Her from Me provides another exciting story in her McRae Bodyguards series. Jackson, her bodyguard MMC, and Ariel, the FMC with a streak of moxie and independence, create a combustible romance from its very first chapter. Vines has deftly and consciously progressed in her capacity to write an erotic story. In her journey as a romance writer, she has developed a distinct writing voice: creating reticent heroes who fall deeply for their heroines at almost first glance and heroines who find themselves under the protection and love of their partner. 

What I loved:

*The chemistry and reticent connection between Ariel and Jackson. This provides the energy of Vines’s romance.

*the connections between current and past characters in the world of the McRaes. Getting peeks of former McRae heroes and heroines reminds us of this intricately woven universe that Vines has carefully crafted. This is one of the many reasons Vines’s star has risen in romancelandia.

*the forward motion of this narrative. There is a resolution to the issue of Ariel’s father and the shadow who threatens her for most of the story.

What I thought could use a bit more work:

*There was an inconsistency in Jackson and Ariel’s progression at times. One minute, there appeared to be a path forward which becomes erased by the overthinking of the other one. 

*The resolution to the story felt rushed. It seemed like an easy resolution that could have been meted out sooner. Ariel held the power all along, meaning she could have resolved her confinement sooner. Granted, we would not have been gifted Jackson and Ariel’s story, but this underscores the quick remedy to the issue of her father.

Jolie Vines continues to wow her readers crafting romances in a beloved world. This newest series offers reticent MMCs who can’t help but fall hard for their FMCs. Her Save Her from Me ties together a swoony romance, a community of people who fight for each other, and an edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense into one. I have been honored to read her since almost the beginning, and she continues to grab my attention with her storytelling.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 K.A. Tucker’s newest addition to her wildly addictive series, The Wolf Hotel series, is HERE. Run and grab Own Me for more Abbi and Henry. ✍🏻

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Own Me by K.A. Tucker is now live! 

Own Me is Book Five in the highly addictive forbidden romance The Wolf Hotel series.

Eight months ago, I was a naive, small-town farm girl nursing a shattered heart. Then hotel billionaire Henry Wolf picked me up off the ground (literally), and my entire life changed.
Now, I live in a luxurious Manhattan penthouse, and I’m starting my first company while planning a beautiful wedding to the man of my dreams.
I knew these first months would bring plenty of drama. I expected the savage media attention surrounding our engagement, and I braced myself for Mama’s theatrics about the wedding.
But nothing could have prepared me for the big secret that just stormed through our front door, altering the course of our future.

Own Me should be read after Tempt Me, Break Me, Teach Me, and Surrender to Me.

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited

https://geni.us/OwnMezon

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3rZuSrD

Meet K.A. Tucker

K.A. Tucker writes captivating stories with an edge.

She is the internationally bestselling author of over thirty books, including Ten Tiny Breaths, The Simple Wild, and the Fate & Flame series, Until It Fades, Say You Still Love Me, and Keep Her Safe. Her books have been featured in national publications including USA Today, Globe & Mail, Suspense Magazine, Publisher’s Weekly, Oprah Mag, and First for Women.

K.A. Tucker lives outside of Toronto. Learn more about K.A. Tucker and her books at https://www.katuckerbooks.com/

Connect with Kathleen

Website: https://www.katuckerbooks.com/

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new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Devney Perry’s Sable Peak, the final The Edens series romance ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A

Tropes: unrequited love; small town romance; found family

Without a doubt, Devney Perry’s Sable Peak, the final book of her The Edens series, is phenomenal. In totality, this series has been a breath of fresh air in romance reading over the past year as it focuses on a generational family, the central focus of a small town in Montana. But Sable Peak did something that the other books in the series, even more than the other books in Perry’s booklist, don’t: change her formula.

For the most part, Perry follows a pretty standard 3 act structure with some type of separation of her MMC and FMC at the 80% mark. Many romance authors follow this narrative structure, and we, the readers, love it…except that it can be tiresome. With Sable Peak, Perry’s structure still follows a 3 act structure, but the packaging looks a bit different. Add to it the unrequited love of Vera, an exceptionally complex character in her stable of characters, and it makes for emotional peaks and valleys between Mateo, her MMC, and Vera. Perry first creates the tension through Vera’s point of view when she realizes Mateo only sees her as a friend or sister-figure. Perry stays away, at the beginning of the story, from flipping between Vera’s and Mateo’s points of view, instead building the tension of her story solely through Vera’s point of view. I found it compelling. Once the inciting incident begins, the story between Vera and Mateo ignites and turns into the type of story we love from Perry. Adding in the complication of Vera’s relationship with her father simply adds another layer of tension to the story, actually drawing Vera and Mateo closer together. 

Everything you love about a Devney Perry romance is found in Sable Peak: a sweet, yet spicy romance set in a small-town setting, a family that loves beyond its members, and an ending that steals your breath as her FMC and MMC find their way to an epic happily-ever-after. This time, Devney Perry broke her mold a bit, and it worked for her (at least it did for this reader). Here’s to hoping for more story experimentation while offering the type of romances we expect from her.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Rebecca Jenshak’s In Your Wildest Dreams, a Wildcat Hockey series story ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: B/B-

Tropes: pro hockey romance; troubled ex-; he falls first; cinnamon roll hero; found family; band of brothers

Rebecca Jenshak’s next story in her Wildcat Hockey series, In Your Wildest Dreams, is an apt reminder that a golden retriever/cinnamon roll hero who falls first is a pure delight. Jenshak’s newest book focuses on the difficulty of her hero, Ash Kelly, falling for her heroine, Bridget, first. Jenshak deftly takes her readers through Bridget’s story about relationship violence and a manipulative ex. She complicates it for Ash when she makes the ex-boyfriend, the newest assistant GM for Wildcat Hockey. This sets in motion a secreted relationship with tons of spicy. In fact, that’s the failsafe for In Your Wildest Dreams. Ash and Bridget are pure fire. 

Where I think the story finds trouble is the machinations of the ex. Yes, Jenshak highlights the power of relationship abuse to keep a victim silent. Bridget’s eventual willpower and courage are commendable. However, throughout the story, I thought Ash’s inaction was a flaw. He has power through the entirety of the story, and it’s his agent and/or manager. Yes, Ash struggles with understanding his role on the team and the power of his generosity with his teammates. However, it was difficult to accept that he’d readily allow a new assistant GM to harm his professional life. With so many hockey books in the romance market, it’s difficult to accept this narrative flaw. 

That being said, I did enjoy Ash and Bridget’s journey in In Your Wildest Dreams. It’s possible that I loved the band of brothers trope even more, as Rebecca Jenshak has crafted a hockey series that underlines the power of brotherhood.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release, Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s Review: Kristen Ashley’s Sharing the Miracle ✍🏻

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Overall Grade: A+

Tropes: surprise baby; novella; found family

As a novella form goes, Kristen Ashley’s surprise release, Sharing the Miracle, is a treasure. I adore Kristen Ashley as an author in how she mixes the unreality of life through the ways she expounds on designer clothing and extravagant living with the reality of life: messy relationships and situations. In this newest story, she returns us to Hale and Elsa, one of the most profound stories in her beloved River Rain series. In this book, Hale and Elsa receive surprise news: a baby. What Kristen Ashley does with the short space of this novella is inspired. She illustrates the profundity of female relationships in discussing and processing female issues, the largesse of a found family for a character who is seemingly alone but not really, and the reality of the emotional daring required of parents. But it was Sharing the Miracle that truly showed me the underlying and decided detail of the River Rain series: Kristen Ashley’s knowledge and capacity for drawing the unevenness of grief. Kristen Ashley’s talent in storytelling is marrying fiction with the realism of life. I realized as I teared up over Hale’s experiences with grief that she captures so beautifully the complications we encounter as we continue to live after the loss of someone we love. It’s the ups and downs of that grief that make it palpable and ever-present. I reflected on the stories thus far in the River Rain series as I was reading Sharing the Miracle, and I recognized this to be true of every character of the series thus far. Life must be lived with or without Corey, and his absence as life goes on lays heavy on the various characters of this series. That Kristen Ashley can capture that reality without heavy-handedness but with a quietude through the development of her narrative is exquisite and impressive and another important reason to dive into her stories.

Can Sharing the Miracle be read alone? Sure, but you’d be missing the gradient of color that is the prism of the River Rain series. If you have yet to jump into this world, don’t wait. Hale and Elsa’s story in Fighting the Pull will always be my favorite story of this series, and this inspired novella is the frosting on the delectable cake of their romance.

In love and romance,

Professor A