Best Friends Don’t Kiss, an all new friend zoned bestfriend rom com from New York Times bestselling author Max Monroe available now!

Read my 5 ⭐️ review HERE.

Goal: Find a boyfriend, get married, buy a house in the suburbs with a white picket fence, and pop out 2.5 kids.

Deadline: Sixty days.

That’s possible, right?

HAHAHA. *Faints*

I’m kidding. Well, kind of. I mean, I’m not going to attempt a shotgun wedding or try to get knocked up by some guy I met on the internet, but there is no doubt that, this year, home for the holidaystakes on a whole new, terrifying meaning.

I have to travel from New York City—my home and safe haven for the last fifteen years—to my tiny hometown in Vermont for Christmas, my baby sister’s wedding, and my high school reunion.

Talk about a trifecta of single-doom.

Throw in Callie Camden—aka my high school class’s version of Regina George—and it’s a recipe for certified disaster.

Especially since my mouth ran away from me when she asked me if I’d be bringing someone to our reunion, and I told her to put me down for two.
Gah. Now I can’t go alone.

But the online dating world is a cesspool of bad manners, speedy hookups, and outright weirdos.

Handsome, single, successful—that’s what I’m looking for.
And it just so happens that my best friend Luke London fits all of the criteria.

The only problem is best friends don’t kiss…

But maybe it doesn’t count if it’s pretend?

Pre-order your copy today!
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Excerpt

Ava

I only get two steps toward my door when my phone starts ringing from inside my purse. I dig it back out again to find an unknown number with a Vermont area code flashing on the screen.

   I know I should let it roll to voice mail, but Aunt Poppy called me from jail one time, and I never heard the end of how I wasted her one phone call by not answering.

   Reluctantly, I hit the green button and put it to my ear.

   “Ava! It’s Callie!”

   Damn Aunt Poppy and her fascination with streaking!

   “Oh, uh…hi, Callie…”

   “Sorry to bother you, but I had one more question to ask, and since I now have your number, I figured I’d just call you really quick!”

   Greattt. “Sure thing,” I say with saccharine sweetness.

   “Since I have to finalize the head count for the venue by tomorrow, I need to know if I should just put you down as a single,” she begins. “Pretty sure your mom told me you weren’t married or engaged or dating anyone, but I just want to double-check that you’re still single. Honestly, I think you’re one of only ten people from our high school that isn’t married yet!” she exclaims through an amused giggle.

   I put my phone on speaker, drop it down on my entry table, and give it the double finger with as much gusto as I can manage.

   Obviously unaware of my display, she continues. “So crazy that most of us have reached the age where we’re married, and some with kids now. Which, by the way, I can’t believe your baby sister Kate is getting married before you. Soon, you’re going to be the only single Lucie left!”

   My tongue is tied by an imaginary angry fist, but it doesn’t matter. One of the only positive qualities Callie possesses is the ability to carry on an entire conversation herself.

   “By the way, you’re the best for helping me plan the reunion!”

   “That’s me.” The best people-pleasing lunatic in NYC who really should look into finding a good therapist to help me work through all of this before I have to head home to Vermont to watch my baby sister get married in the same week I get to attend a fifteen-year high school reunion I somehow got roped into helping plan. With the Regina George of my high school class. In less than two short months from now.

   Okay. So, I don’t need to find a therapist; I need to find Jesus. I just hope he lives in Manhattan.

   “So…one or two?” Callie asks, pulling me from the deep recesses of my thoughts.

   “One or two?”

   She giggles again. It’s like nails on a chalkboard to my ears. “How many people should I put you down for, silly?”

   This is a remake of Nightmare on Elm Street; it has to be. A new Halloween movie or something. Michael Myers himself must be right outside my freaking door. That’s the only way the universe would be cruel enough to add Callie’s interest into the swirling, boiling pot my family already has roasting over the Ava’s Relationship Status fire.

   Just like that, it hits me. I cannot go to this reunion and attend my baby sister’s wedding alone in the same damn week. I just…can’t.

   I completely break under the fucking pressure of it all, and the words blurt from my lips before I can stop them. “Two.”

   “Two?”

   “Uh…yeah… I’ll be bringing my…boyfriend.”

   You’ll be…what? You don’t have a boyfriend, Looney Tunes!

   “Your boyfriend? Oh, how exciting! Your mom didn’t tell me you were seeing someone!”

   “It’s…uh…fairly new.”

   Yeah, it sure is. It hasn’t even fucking started yet…

   Thinking better of my answer, I add to it quickly before Callie can undercut it. “But serious. Really serious, actually. We’ve just been keeping it private so we can enjoy the perfectness by ourselves for a while.”

   Dear God, Ava.

   “That’s so awesome! What’s his name?”

   Yeah, Ava! Tell your old archnemesis all about your imaginary boyfriend!

   Panic sets in when I realize there is absolutely no way I can talk myself out of this conversation. So, I do what anyone in my situation would do—avoid it.

   Three bangs of my fist to my own freaking door, I end the call in a rush, “Oh shoot, Callie! I have to go. My boyfriend just got here, and we’re already late for a big, fancy Halloween party in SoHo. Talk soon! Bye!” Click.

   It’s official. I’m pathetic.

   I might as well be Debra Messing’s character in The Wedding Date.

   Sure, my sister didn’t have an affair with my ex while I was still dating him, but she is my baby sister whose impending nuptials will make me the oldest and last single Lucie sister. And now, because I let Callie fucking Camden get the best of me with her backhanded bullshit, I told the snooty biotch that I have a boyfriend and I’d help plan the reunion.

   Oy vey.

   Call me crazy, but I highly doubt I can find a hot, Dermot-Mulroney-looking escort in under sixty days.

   You know, you could just be an adult about this and tell Callie how you really feel—that you don’t have a boyfriend and you don’t want to help plan that stupid reunion with someone who was a total bitch to you in high school…

   That would certainly be the easy way out, wouldn’t it?

   Too bad my damn pride is making that feel like an impossible option.

   On a heavy sigh, I drop my phone back in my purse, sling my bag over my shoulder, snag the stupid invitation off the counter, head straight out of my apartment, and stride right across the hall, barging through my best friend’s unlocked front door.

   I swear, one of the best things Luke and I ever did was rent apartments in the same building—and on the same floor—from his rich uncle Gary. It makes freak-out moments like this a heck of a lot easier to handle.

   My go-go boots pound across the hardwood floors as I make a beeline past Luke—who is standing in his living room—dump my purse, and head straight for the kitchen.

   “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Where’s the fire?” he says on a laugh. “Please tell me you haven’t gone old-school and brought a hot plate into your apartment.”

“Funny ha-ha, Luke,” I retort but keep it moving to the fridge. “The fire is my life. Everything is shit, I need a drink, and I’m pretty sure we’re already late to the party!”

About Max Monroe
A duo of romance authors team up under the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling pseudonym Max Monroe to bring you sexy, laugh-out-loud reads.

Max Monroe is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling author of more than ten contemporary romance titles. Favorite writing partners and long time friends, Max and Monroe strive to live and write all the fun, sexy swoon so often missing from their Facebook newsfeed. Sarcastic by nature, their two writing souls feel like they’ve found their other half. This is their most favorite adventure thus far.

Connect with Max Monroe
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Website: https://www.authormaxmonroe.com/

Overall Grade: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

This year has found us quarantining due to a pandemic. One of the highlights of my pandemic sheltering at home was falling in love with Sarina Bowen. Through much of April, May, June, and July  (I believe), I pillaged my way through her Brooklyn Bruisers, True North, Ivy Years, Him & Us, WAGS, and most recently, Man Hands and Hush Note series. There is something incredibly addicting about Sarina Bowen’s brand of romance. I believe it’s a combination of sweetness, sass, and seriousness that bowls you over with each new story. Even more, her characters feel like you and me even her professional hockey players. That relatability invests you in Sarina Bowen’s storytelling, and before you know it, you’ve binge read a series or two or three, and you simply want more. Which leads us to her newest book, Loverboy. 

Now, I am a huge fan of romantic suspense or stories with intrigue and suspense. Moonlighter, a crossover story between Bowen’s Brooklyn Bruisers and newest series, The Company, introduces us to the world of Loverboy. We know that The Company (not really its name…that’s a secret that only a handful of people now, and they’d have to kill you if they found out) is a top security agency headed by Max Bayer, the brother of Eric Bayer from Moonlighter. We know in that book that The Company has identified corporate espionage that seeks to undermine various industries around the world, and they believe the culprit, the villain behind all of this, is Xian Smith. When we leave that book, nothing has been settled, the case is ongoing, and The Company must bring in additional resources to work to undermine Xian Smith. 

Enter Gunnar Scott, one of Max Bayer’s partners in The Company, and his West Coast leader. Gunnar has been summoned to the New York office to help with identifying the culprit behind some murders as well as working with the New York operatives to connect that terrorist to Xian Smith. Unfortunately, in order to do this, Gunnar must pose as a barista for a pie bakery in SoHo, one owned by a woman from his past who railroaded his plans for the future and forced him to change his path. Posy, the owner of Posy’s Pies, is a taskmaster, precise in all that she does. Her business is fairly successful, but her life is far from perfect. When Gunnar interviews for the job as her barista, she is not enthused with the idea, but he proves himself. As Gunnar and Posy work with each other daily, they draw closer to each other, and they realize that their perceptions of the past might have been skewed. Yet, as they begin to fall for each other, Gunnar’s real job threatens Posy’s life, and his time in New York is really meant to be temporary. Will Gunnar and Posy get their second chance? That is the big question, isn’t it?

So as she has done before, Sarina Bowen captivates you with Loverboy through the chemistry of Gunnar and Posy. I mean, Gunnar’s occupation is basically spy work, so at times it seems incredibly beyond a reasonable person’s experience. Yet, Bowen makes him relatable. To a certain degree, Gunnar has a little bit of Peter Pan syndrome. He’s living the life of a playboy, never needing to settle down and make any long-term commitments. He hates New York and loves his life in California. That is…until he reconnects with Posy. In her, Sarina Bowen crafts a heroine who is incredibly independent, strong, and sees the world with an optimism that is contrary to Gunnar’s worldview (one that is reasonable for him given his past). She cares for her sister and nephew; she’s finally past her need to please her manipulative father; and she’s moved beyond the failure of her marriage even though his new girlfriend frequents her bakery daily. At first glance, these two don’t work in theory. However, in romancelandia, they make for the best type of relationships. And this is definitely the case with Gunnar and Posy. There is a bit of a slow-burn for these two, yet that does nothing more than build another level of suspense in Bowen’s Loverboy. Therefore, as a reader, you have the suspense of Gunnar and Posy recognizing their “rightness” along with the suspense and intrigue of the case that Gunnar, Max, and their other operatives are trying to solve. Each turn of the page brings about a surprise which makes reading this story an experience. 

There is comedy, there is chemistry, and there is corruption. All of these conspire to make Loverboy a compelling read. It’s meant to titillate the reader, drawing them into this new Sarina Bowen world of The Company, and for this reader, I’m intrigued and ready for more. There is a cavalcade of characters to draw from in this book. Max, Scout, Duff, and Pieter have the potential for more, and for a binge reader who fell madly in love with Sarina Bowen as a storyteller, this feels like a treasure load. Now, is everything perfect with Loverboy? No. There are a couple of spots that gave me some whiplash of confusion. Yet, they are negligible in the breadth of the story. Ultimately, Loverboy is edge-of-your-seat fun, giving you butterflies while squeezing your heart and tickling your funny bone all in one. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

Sarina Bowen’s Loverboy, the second book of her The Company series, is LIVE!

Gunnar and Posey will tease you all the way through their story.

Release Day: December 1, 2020

CREDITS: Photo by Wander Aguiar, Design by Hang Le

Purchase Links:

🗝️ Amazon https://geni.us/Amazon-LB 

🗝️ Apple https://geni.us/Apple-LB 

🗝️ Kobo https://geni.us/Kobo-Lb 

🗝️ Nook https://geni.us/Nook-LB 

🗝️ Google https://geni.us/Google-LB

🗝️Audio: https://geni.us/LoverboyAudible

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54585164-loverboy

BLURB

Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.

Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighborhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But I managed to steal only a single kiss before I had to skip town.

Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion dollar security company.

Not that I can tell her.

There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. I can’t let on that I’m here to bring him down before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.

Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.

There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon as I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten…

Excerpt

Earlier, I’d spotted him even before he came into the bar. I watched him get out of that cab and then check the time. I saw him look toward the pub, weighing his choices. 

My heart had thumped along with only one word. Please.

Fine—not my heart. It was other parts of me who were doing all the begging. Silently, of course. Speaking up seems impossible right now. What if he laughs in my face? Or—this might even be worse—what if he says yes? And then we get naked and I can’t satisfy him? 

You’re not very adventurous, Spalding said. You’re not very good in bed.

My ex is the only person I’ve ever been naked with. And thanks to him, I’m afraid to try again with someone else. If another man tells me I’m no fun, I don’t know how I’d come back from that.

On the other hand, if I don’t get out of this rut, then Spalding wins. Maybe I sound melodramatic, but I don’t want to die before I experience terrific sex. 

It’s really no surprise that my drink disappears quickly. 

“Look, you don’t have to tell me what’s on your mind,” Gunnar muses, and I realize I’ve been silent for some time. “But something has you deep in thought.”

“Rhubarb,” I blurt. “It’s, uh, something I’ve used in springtime pies. But, um, I wonder if I could do better than strawberry rhubarb—that’s been done, you know?” 

His smile widens. “Is that an occupational hazard? You can’t eat or drink anything without reconfiguring it in your mind?”

“Yep.” I wave at the bartender. “Another round of these if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Are you trying to get me drunk?” Gunnar asks. “Please say yes.”

My pulse picks up, because it’s hard to miss the innuendo there. But I dodge the question, because I’ve never been brave. “As if two cocktails and a beer would put you under my spell.”

“Oh, I’m easy,” Gunnar says, giving me an intentionally sleazy wink. “Besides, your pies have already made me slow and agreeable. That key lime and Thai basil pie was amazing. That stuff is dangerous.”

“You like my key lime and Thai basil?” I ask, hearing pleasure in my own voice. It never gets old when people tell you how much they like the product. “And I guess it figures that you’d be one of those.”

“One of what?”

“You have an adventurous palate.” I prop an elbow on the bar and try to explain. “People fall into two distinct groups. There’re the ones who always order the weird flavors. And the Dutch apple pie crew, who always stick to the basics. They don’t cross over. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.”

Thanks to Spalding. He basically accused me of being a Dutch apple pie in bed. The whole reason I’m reading my sister’s romance novels is to try to learn what the other flavors are like. 

“Huh,” Gunnar says. “So, you can just guess which other pies I’ve tried?”

“Sure, I can. Did you try the pine nut and salted honey?”

“Oh, hell yes.”

My smile grows wide. “How about the matcha green tea tart?”

“Well,” he shakes his head, “I gotta say I haven’t quite gone there yet. But I did enjoy the vinegar date pie.”

“Ah! And the ginger mango cream, right?” I press. 

“Yeah. Does that make me predictable?”

“A little bit,” I say, enjoying myself immensely. “Have you started doing that thing where you try to guess each customer’s guilty pleasure?”

He laughs. “Get out of my head. It’s my new favorite game.”

“How’s your accuracy?”

“Pretty bad. I started off trying to use clothing as a clue. I expected somebody wearing a navy blue suit and boring shoes to order the apple crumble. But that theory bombed. And then I tried to assume that people in workout clothes wouldn’t pick something sugary. But they totally do.”

“You have to look deep inside their souls,” I tease. “If you look at the shell of a person, you’ll never get their pie order right. In fact, you have to look at their auras.”

He snorts. “What color is my aura?”

“Indigo, like tattoo ink. But with a streak of red because you’re contrary.”

He narrows his eyes. “You’re just fucking with me now.”

“Maybe I am.” 

“Okay, lady. But I have an issue with something you said earlier.”

“What?”

“Guilty pleasures.” He lays a hand over my wrist. “I don’t believe in those. I don’t think pleasure should make you feel guilty.”

“Oh.” He’s barely touching me, but goosebumps run up my arm anyway. Now would be a great time to make a joke and diffuse all the tension I’m suddenly feeling. But I feel too tongue-tied to pull it off.

Gunnar removes his hand, which is a disappointment. But the next thing he says stuns me back into goosebump territory. “You know, I always had it bad for you.”

“You … what?” I ask stupidly.

“Back when we were tending bar, I had a big crush on you. And sometimes I thought you were on the same page. I usually have good instincts about these things. But not that time. You ended up with Mr. Pretty Boy Preppy instead.”

My heart is thumping wildly now, and I take a sip of my cocktail to steady my nerves. The truth is that I don’t really trust this little revelation. We used to annoy each other, for one thing. But maybe that didn’t matter to Gunnar’s libido. He was a horny college boy. He probably had it bad for all the girls. 

Still. “What if I’m the one who has terrible instincts? Did you ever think of that? And did you miss the part where I divorced Mr. Preppy?”

“Mmm,” he says thoughtfully. “I suppose that might explain a few things.”

“You’re the one who left, anyway.” 

His eyes narrow. “Do you really think if I’d stuck around, things would have turned out differently? I spent three months giving you the fuck-me eyes, Paxton. But you didn’t take me up on it.”

Oh mother of God. His gaze is turning hot, and I think it might incinerate me. And then I remember why we never hooked up in the first place.

About Sarina Bowen:

Sarina Bowen is the award-winning author of more than thirty contemporary novels. She has hit the USA Today bestseller’s list sixteen times and counting. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.

Sarina is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. She lives with her family on a few wooded acres in New Hampshire.

Sarina’s books are published in a dozen languages on four continents.

Reckless Refuge, an all-new highly emotional standalone romance from Catherine Cowles coming May 18th and we have the stunning cover!

There were shadows I was running from.
Ones that haunted and taunted.
Ones that made it so I had no choice but to disappear.

I’d spent years hiding from the world.
My little island haven, the only assurance of safety.

It all changed the moment he showed up at my door.
The hint of pain in his eyes told me that something haunted him, too.
And I couldn’t help but be drawn closer.

But finding the person I needed most came with risks I never expected.
And when our ghosts find us again, neither of us may make it out this time.

Pre-order your copy today!
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Cover Designer: Hang Le

About Catherine
Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.

Connect with Catherine
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2IEQXSw
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Website: https://www.catherinecowles.com/
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http://bit.ly/2JZE0DH

Corinne Michaels has revealed the cover for Return to Us!

Releasing: February 23, 2021

Cover Design: Perfect Pear Creative

Photographer: Henry Jimenez

Model: Michael Yerger

From New York Times Bestselling author Corinne Michaels comes a new second chance standalone love story.

At eighteen, I walked away from Willow Creek Valley for good.

I was young, scared, and stupid, and it cost me the love of my life—Grayson Parkerson.

Fourteen years later, a crash sends me back home to recover.

Back to where we met, fell in love, and planned a future.

The one he’s now living as a single dad to his daughter.

Working at The Park Inn together gives us a chance to reconnect, and seeing him with his little girl makes me long for the days when he was mine. One look in his gorgeous blue-green eyes, and it’s like I never left. One kiss, and my world is upside down. One night together, and I know without a doubt, in his arms is where I belong.

I’m not the girl I was—intimidated by his wealthy family and desperate to escape our small town. I can imagine a new life for us here.

But he’s learned to guard his heart, and trust won’t come easily.

How can I convince him to give first love a second chance?

Pre-order your copy today!

Amazon: https://geni.us/RTU_Amazon

Apple Books: https://geni.us/ReturnToUsApple

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Google Play: https://geni.us/RTU_GP

Audio Alert: https://geni.us/AudioAlert

Add to Goodreads: https://geni.us/RTU_GR

Meet Corinne

Corinne Michaels is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of romance novels. Her stories are chock full of emotion, humor, and unrelenting love, and she enjoys putting her characters through intense heartbreak before finding a way to heal them through their struggles.

Corinne is a former Navy wife and happily married to the man of her dreams. She began her writing career after spending months away from her husband while he was deployed–reading and writing were her escapes from the loneliness. Corinne now lives in Virginia with her husband and is the emotional, witty, sarcastic, and fun-loving mom of two beautiful children.

Connect with Corinne

Website: http://corinnemichaels.com

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CMBOOKS TO 77948

Emma Renshaw has revealed the cover for Inferno!

Releasing: January 26, 2021

Cover Design: Hang Le

Photography: Wander Aguiar

Models: Ivenize & Andrew Biernat

One night changed an entire town.

I lost everything the night of the Hawk Valley bonfire.

The ghosts of my past kept me inside the town limits, though I dreamed of faraway places.

He was the town golden boy. Son of the mayor. Firefighter and local hero. I was the girl from the wrong side of town and still paying for my father’s sins. I tried to stay away from our local hero, but he kept popping up everywhere. He singed my nerves, but every time we bickered, I only wanted to kiss him.

The unexpected passion between us turned into a blazing inferno. A promise of only one night turned into two. Until we couldn’t stop.

I thought there was nothing left to lose.

But when the past came back to burn us, I realized I never knew what I had…

Pre-order your copy today!

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Meet Emma

Emma loves to write, just don’t ask her to write about herself. If she isn’t writing, you can find her lost in a book or trying to get her doggo to take a selfie with her. He usually refuses. At the end of the day, you can find Emma at the closest Mexican restaurant eating queso and sipping on a margarita. She lives in Texas with her husband and dog.

Connect with Emma

Website: http://bit.ly/emrenweb

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Today we have the release week blitz of Lea Nolan’s Claim Me Now! Check out this gorgeous new romance and be sure to get your copy today!

Title: Claim Me Now

Author: Lea Nolan

Genre: Contemporary Romance

About Claim Me Now:

Strangers to lovers, who don’t know they’re enemies…

Raven Donovan isn’t looking for a relationship. She’s married to her job and vice president of her company. So she’s blindsided when a corporate takeover leaves her unceremoniously unemployed. Reeling, she retreats to her family’s beach house on Heron Harbor Island and drowns her sorrows in a bottle of tequila. And then a tall, dark, and gorgeous stranger walks through the door…

Jack Baines has it all—money, a good job, and he’s the heir to one of the largest private equity firms on the East Coast. With his latest conquest under his belt, he should be flying high. But as much as he enjoys the thrill of the hunt, firing people takes a toll on him. So he heads to the beach for some alone time, never expecting to find a half-naked, dark-haired beauty in his rental.

With a storm raging outside, Raven and Jack end up sharing more than just the house. A scorching night turns into a red-hot weekend that reveals how much they have in common—including Raven’s ex-company. That revelation threatens everything they’ve found unless they fight to build something new…together.

Get Your Copy:

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About Lea Nolan:

Lea Nolan is a USA Today bestselling author who writes smart, witty contemporary stories filled with head-swooning, heart-throbbing, sweep-you-off your feet romance. She also pens books for young adults featuring bright heroines, crazy-hot heroes, diabolical plot twists, plus a dose of magic, a draft of romance, and a sprinkle of history.

Born and raised on Long Island, New York she loves the water far too much to live inland. With her heroically supportive husband and three brilliant children, she resides in Maryland where she cracks crabs and bakes ugly birthday cakes.

Connect with Lea:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Newsletter

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Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ++

The first time I read William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury I didn’t like it. Quite frankly, I didn’t understand it. Every so many chapters, there would be a chapter of repetition and stream of consciousness that didn’t make sense, and it frustrated me, as I struggled to follow it. Later, while working on my undergraduate degree in English literature, I had to read it for a Modernism class. I remember sighing and procrastinating on starting it because my past experience was clouding my thinking of it. However, as I hit a third of the way through the book, I realized the genius of Faulkner’s book in its use of three points of view. Faulkner doesn’t announce the shift in point of view, so it is confusing at first. Yet, once you realize his intent, you understand his brilliance. You may be curious as to why I am beginning my review of The Not-Outcast by Tijan with a reference to William Faulkner. I worry that readers will start Tijan’s story and miss out on the depth and gravity of her story because the predominant narrator of this book, Cheyenne, can initially feel off-putting. Yet, to stop reading, to reduce Cheyenne’s stream-of-consciousness narration to misunderstanding, will cause you to miss out on the beauty of Cheyenne and Cut’s story. Had I given up a second time on Faulkner, I would have missed the brilliance of his story. In a simple sentence, please read Tijan’s The Not-Outcast, and let it reveal its truths because it will bowl you over.

The emotional gravitas of this book will slay your feelings. Throughout this book, I couldn’t stop crying. To be fair, I cry easily at the hurts of book characters. Yet, Cheyenne’s characterization is complex and thoughtful, and Tijan’s revelation of her truth is profound. Cheyenne is an important character because she represents the aftermath of trauma and abuse. This isn’t in a trigger-warning way, however. This book illustrates mental health issues and the personal struggles associated with them. It is about identity and personal ownership. Cheyenne represents any person who has transcended his/her past and found a future of meaning even when the struggles of the past continue to impede progress. Cheyenne is beautifully drawn in her resilience, tenacity, and humility, and you cannot help but fall in a deep love for her as Cut does. 

Honestly, I felt sorry for Cut because Tijan ascribes so much beauty to Cheyenne’s characterization that he feels fundamentally flat. However, the words that Tijan creates for him wrought some of my heaviest tears. Tijan wisely ascribes the tension of this story to Cheyenne’s journey while allowing Cutler to be a safe space. I inhaled their story because I kept waiting for that moment that we, as romance readers, know comes at the eighty percent mark. Instead, Tijan takes a different course, still emotionally devastating, but she uses Cut to neutralize it, and you are endeared to him.

Finally, beyond Tijan’s scope on mental health, there is a bigger and more emotionally insightful aspect to her The Not-Outcast, and it’s the idea of the constructed family, or the made to order family. Tijan plays with this idea throughout the course of her story, and for me, it’s the most impactful part of the book. I refuse to give any more away because this book is so special, and I want everyone to read it. However, its secrets remain with its readers. 

I didn’t expect to pick up The Not-Outcast today and read it in practically one sitting. Cheyenne and Cut’s romantic journey is an emotional masterpiece of overcoming the odds. Each turn of the page of their story drew me further and further in, and it reminded me that a first glance never reveals the depth of a story. We must search it out, allowing it to reveal its course on its own. If we do, we are rewarded with stories that touch our hearts and stay with us long after we have finished reading them. 

In love and romance,

Professor A

The Not-Outcast an all-new angst filled sports romance from New York Times bestselling author Tijan is available now!

Cutler Ryder was everything I wasn’t.
He was the hockey star. I was an outcast.
He was best friends with my stepbrother, that same stepbrother who hated me.
His two parents loved him. My mom was a junkie. My dad barely knew me.

Years passed.
I got my life together.
Cut went onto NHL stardom.

Then there was a text.
I was drinking.
There was a party.
Cut was there…

I loved Cutler Ryder since the first moment I saw him.
The only problem? He never knew I existed.

Download your copy today or read FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
Amazon: https://amzn.to/2KJ1q2S
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Celebrate the cover reveal with this amazing giveaway→ https://bit.ly/3llWVrB

About Tijan

Tijan is a New York Times Bestselling author that writes suspenseful and unpredictable novels. Her characters are strong, intense, and gut-wrenchingly real with a little bit of sass on the side. Tijan began writing later in life and once she started, she was hooked. She’s written multi-bestsellers including the Carter Reed Series, the Fallen Crest Series, and the Broken and Screwed Series among others. She is currently writing a new YA series along with so many more from north Minnesota where she lives with a man she couldn’t be without and an English Cocker she adores.

Connect with Tijan

Amazon: https://amzn.to/30oxe0f
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Facebook Reader Page: https://bit.ly/32hsdsq
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Goodreads: http://bit.ly/2EcGBqB

Sarina Bowen’s Loverboy, the second book of her The Company series, is LIVE!

Gunnar and Posey will tease you all the way through their story.

Release Day: December 1, 2020

CREDITS: Photo by Wander Aguiar, Design by Hang Le

Purchase Links:

🗝️ Amazon https://geni.us/Amazon-LB 

🗝️ Apple https://geni.us/Apple-LB 

🗝️ Kobo https://geni.us/Kobo-Lb 

🗝️ Nook https://geni.us/Nook-LB 

🗝️ Google https://geni.us/Google-LB

🗝️Audio: https://geni.us/LoverboyAudible

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54585164-loverboy

BLURB

Secrets, desires, and exquisite pie. It’s all in a day’s work at The Company.

Growing up, I was the rough guy from the wrong neighborhood who couldn’t catch a break. Posy was the pampered girl I tried to impress. But I managed to steal only a single kiss before I had to skip town.

Now I’m back, and the tables are turned. Posy runs a struggling pie shop. I’m the VP of a secretive billion dollar security company.

Not that I can tell her.

There’s a murderer on the loose in New York, and he seems to spend a lot of time at Posy’s shop. I can’t let on that I’m here to bring him down before he can harm a hair on her pretty head.

Going undercover as Posy’s new barista wasn’t my idea. I don’t even drink coffee. But now I have to call her “boss,” and do everything the curvy perfectionist asks of me. I’d forgotten how much we infuriate each other, and that she somehow fills me with both irritation and desire in the same breath.

There’s nobody more skilled at stealth ops than me. I can bring this killer down. Right after I take a cold shower. And just as soon as I figure out how to make a skinny peppermint latte with milk poured in the shape of a kitten…

About Sarina Bowen:

Sarina Bowen is the award-winning author of more than thirty contemporary novels. She has hit the USA Today bestseller’s list sixteen times and counting. Formerly a derivatives trader on Wall Street, Sarina holds a BA in economics from Yale University.

Sarina is a New Englander whose Vermont ancestors cut timber and farmed the north country since the 1760s. Sarina is grateful for the invention of indoor plumbing and wi-fi during the intervening 250 years. She lives with her family on a few wooded acres in New Hampshire.

Sarina’s books are published in a dozen languages on four continents.