Like the ex-husband, serial killer of her FMC, Julia, T.K. Leigh craftily lures her readers into the books of her Temptation Series. Provocation, book 3, provides more of this gripping story in this series of four books. The first two books set the romance between Julia and Lachlan into play, while the other story in parallel to the romance, the one involving Julia’s serial killer ex- and the deaths of young women, has only shadowed their romance. Provocation invites us into more of the romantic suspense, highlighting the sociopathic tendencies of Julia’s ex.
For me, Provocation was a fast read, keeping me engrossed as Julia must confront her ex, Nick. This creates complications for her relationship with Lachlan. One of the best parts of this story comes from Julia’s friend and business partner, Naomi. She clarifies to Julia that she worries over Julia and Lachlan’s relationship as she perceives it to be more physical than emotional and connective. This book highlights the ravine that these two must traverse to truly grab their happy ending. Page after page, I found myself engrossed in their story.
Honestly, I’m ready for book 4, Obsession, because Provocation ends on a major cliffhanger like the first two books of this series. The stage is set with this book. Will Julia and Lachlan finally find their happy ending? It’s about time that they do.
When you enter a Fiona Cole romance, there are several guarantees.
An engaging story
Loveable characters usually with some devastating flaw that will make your heart bleed
More eroticism than you don’t know what to do with
A happy ending that leaves everything as it should be
Cole’s newest book, Blame It on the Vodka, meets those qualifications and grants us access to a heroine who has stolen scenes in her friends’ books. If you’ve read Blame It on the Champagne and Blame It on the Tequila, then you know Rae. She’s bold and ready for a fight. She’s also intelligent, protective, and someone you want in your corner. She’s been a breath of humor in those books when her friends’ stories grow serious. And, at least for this reader, her connection with her best friend, Austin, had piqued my interest, and for a good reason.
In Blame It on the Vodka, the next book of this series, Austin and Rae’s chemistry grabs you instantly. How they have survived a best friendship is anyone’s guess. Their clear attraction to each other creates an undertow of tension throughout the entire story. You pine for Austin and Rae to remain together from start to finish, even when Rae consistently denies Austin. In fact, for as much as I couldn’t wait for Rae’s story, she frustrated me. And this is keen on Cole’s part. It would be easy to love Rae, but her characterization is complicated, that of the three FMC of this series, she’s probably my favorite because her capacity to love and be loved is fraught. Through her story, Cole exposes domestic violence and past trauma as inhibitors of future relationships, further connecting you to her.
And in true Fiona Cole form, this book is dirty and delightful. It’s also harrowing, and it compels you through to the end. Thankfully, Austin and Rae find their happy ending, but it comes with strife. The epilogue more than softens that blow as it brings our favorite three ladies together in a happily ever after. Over and over again, Fiona Cole reminds me why I will gobble her stories in one sitting, and Blame It on the Vodka serves up the biggest reminder of that.
Who knew? Obviously, Gretchen has been the savior of the women in Piper Sheldon’s Scorned Women Society romances. She’s been bold, insightful, a bit quirky, and protective of her fellow scorned women sisters. So it’s no surprise that her story, It Takes a Woman, would proffer up a story worthy of her. But who would have guessed that the seemingly cross/serious Vincent Debono would be handsome and a cinnamon roll hero who steals your heart in Piper Sheldon’s newest book?
I have loved most of the Scorned Women’s Society series books by Sheldon. The first two captivated me as Sheldon crafted stories that mimicked favorite musicals. However, I wasn’t bowled over by Roxy and Sanders’s and Skip and Jack’s stories in the last two books. Don’t get me wrong; I enjoyed them. I liked them, but they didn’t have the same emotional pull, for this reader, as the first two books of this series.
And then Sheldon gifts us with Gretchen and Vincent, and she’s ended this series on heart-string pulls and tears.
Gretchen and Vincent are special because they’ve loved before. Deeply and abundantly. And they’ve endured loss. In the shadow of loss, they’ve lived their lives for others but not for themselves, believing they don’t need love again because it’s already previously visited them. However, Cupid hits hard with their marriage of convenience story, and the depth of love they find between each other makes you weep. Vincent is seemingly serious, hiding behind an emotional wall to protect his broken heart. However, Gretchen breaks it down. Similarly, Gretchen hides behind her care for others, her insertion into the gossip of Green Valley, and her friends. Just as Gretchen obliterates Vincent’s walls, he does the same for her.
The simple and best part of It Takes A Woman is Vincent and Gretchen’s eventual realization that they can find love again. Their developing chemistry and their slow devolvement into love make for a story that grips your soul, and I think it’s the best story of this series, hands down. I’m really sure what I’ll do without the gorgeous covers of this series…
Ann Whynot’s sophomore SmartyPants Romance tome, Checking You Out, returns us to the world of Magecraft. What I love about this story and its predecessor, Dewey Belong Together, is its insistence on highlighting nerdy, gender-fluid characters.
In this story, we meet Lois, the best friend of her FMC in DBT, Max, and a single mother who has moved to Green Valley, hoping to create a better life for her daughter away from the busyness of New York City. In Dewey Belong Together, we meet Norman, the best friend and business partner of that book’s MMC. Jonathan and Norman are also relocating to Green Valley, so that Jonathan and Max can be together. Interestingly enough, Norman and Lois have a past. As teens, they met through a gaming platform and fell in love. They made plans to move to New York City together; however, Norman broke off their relationship. It’s been a decade since they’ve talked or seen each other, and they reconnect in Green Valley, to find out that they are still madly attracted to each other. Norman and Lois waste no time in falling for each other. However, Lois’s life is complicated by an ex-husband/father of her child who lives in France. Additionally, Norman isn’t sure about taking on the role of parenting Lois’s precious daughter. When a tragedy causes her life to hang in the balance, their priorities right themselves, and they find their eventual happy ending.
It’s rather easy to like Lois and Norman. They are likable characters, albeit they are rather mild. Both of them have suffered past traumas, which cause them to both cling to each other AND push each other away. My struggle with Checking You Out is the almost inauspicious nature of their journey. There are clearly plot points that raise the tenor of their coupling, moments when you fear for their happy ending. Yet, for the most part, Whynot lays out their story so staidly that I found myself losing interest in them from time to time. Thankfully, the ancillary characters of Max and Jonathan or Elsa and Max’s mother or David, Lois’s ex-husband, insert themselves to add other dimensions to Norman and Lois’s story. But what I think I like and what saves this book a bit is its deviation from typical romance, namely in the development of the characters.
If you’ve enjoyed the SmartyPants Romance books, if you enjoy Penny Reid’s Green Valley, if you’re a fan of atypical people, you will like Ann Whynot’s Checking You Out. It may, however, take you a bit to move through Lois and Norman’s story.
That’s what I tell the social worker when my pre-k student and his baby brother need an emergency foster placement. I’ll do anything to keep the brothers from being split up. But my apartment’s flooded and there’s only one house I can take them to on such short notice…his.
Knox Daniels, my older brother’s best friend, offers his new place without hesitation. He’s not moving back to our tiny town until next month—that’s when all our hotshot firefighters are returning for their one and only chance to rebuild our fathers’ fallen, iconic crew.
It doesn’t matter that I’ve been silently in love with Knox since we were kids. It can’t matter that we pretend that reckless prom night kiss never happened. It won’t matter that my feelings for him could destroy his lifelong friendship with my brother and threaten the certification of their hotshot crew. Because I’ll be out of his house long before he gets back.
Except Knox just walked in…a month early. And the icing on this awkward cake? He’s gorgeous as always and I’m covered in baby puke. He takes one look at the boys and tells me we can make this work—
We can temporarily fake a relationship to keep them from being separated by the system.
Suddenly, everything matters.
About the Author:
Rebecca Yarros is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestselling author of over fifteen novels, including Great and Precious Things and The Last Letter. “A gifted storyteller” (Kirkus), she is also the recipient of the Colorado Romance Writer’s Award of Excellence for Eyes Turned Skyward from her Flight and Glory series.
Rebecca loves military heroes and has been blissfully married to hers for almost twenty years. She’s the mother of six children, ranging from kindergarten to law school, and is currently surviving the teenage years with three of her four hockey-playing sons. When she’s not writing, you can find her at the hockey rink or sneaking in some guitar time while guzzling coffee. She and her family live in Colorado with their stubborn English bulldogs, two feisty chinchillas, and a Maine Coon kitten named Artemis, who rules them all.
Having fostered then adopted their youngest daughter who is nonverbal and on the autism spectrum, Rebecca is passionate about helping children in the foster system through her nonprofit, One October, which she co-founded with her husband in 2019. To learn more about their mission to better the lives of kids in foster care, visitwww.oneoctober.org.
To catch up on Rebecca’s latest releases and upcoming novels, including The Things We Leave Unfinished, which just received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, visitwww.RebeccaYarros.com.
We were supposed to walk away once our time in Hawaii was over.
No matter what.
But that was before I finally decided to take a risk and jump.
And that’s precisely what being involved with Lachlan Hale is… A risk.
Between the complications that go along with dating a celebrity and the real possibility that my ex-husband is still watching my every move, there are times I question whether it’s worth it.
Whether I’m selfishly putting Lachlan’s life at risk, too.
But like he promised… We’ll get through it. Together.
Until the bottom drops in a way I never could have anticipated.
Lines are drawn.
Loyalties are tested.
And I’m stuck in the middle, engaged in a fierce battle between my head and my heart…
T.K. Leigh is the USA Today Bestselling author of romance ranging from fun and flirty to sexy and suspenseful. Originally from New England, she now resides outside of Raleigh with her husband, beautiful daughter, special needs rescue dog, and three cats. When she’s not writing, she can be found training for her next marathon (of which she has run over twenty fulls and far too many halves to recall) or chasing her daughter around the house.
Amanda Pennington’s Book Smart is a surprising addition to the SmartyPants Romance world. Here’s a bit of a warning about Book Smart:
It is the slowest burn romance I’ve ever read. 90% folks…90%.
This book is pretty clean. There is an allusion to $ex, but nothing really goes past kissing in detail.
This is definitely friends to lovers. It’s almost painful how these two hide their feelings for each other for most of the book.
What did I like about Book Smart:
The camaraderie between Mel (FMC), Cameron (MMC), and Ivy. These three legitimately like each other as friends, and Ivy works hard to stay out of the middle of Mel and Cameron’s journey.
I’m a writing professor at a university, so I live in university/academia politics. I too have been a Writing Center tutor, so I saw my academic experience in Mel and Cameron’s stories.
Cameron’s story as a survivor of stroke. As a young man, Cameron has a devastating stroke that has forced him down a different path. This is not a usual story in romancelandia, much less in general experience. Through his journey, he meets and befriends Toby, who becomes the wizened guide to Cameron. I LOVE Toby. In fact, I’d love a Toby/Ivy romance, possibly.
Mel’s story idea. She reads a 50s advice FB post and determines to enact those guidelines to meet a man in the 21st century. It makes for interesting plot points while also adding a bit of ridiculousness to Book Smart.
What I struggled with:
Cameron’s fear and Mel’s shortsightedness. As a reader, I’m sensitive to story pacing. In my opinion, a slow burn should peak around the 70% mark, but Pennington left us to wait until about 90%. Basically, this story ends with them declaring their love for each other after spending much of the story denying it.
It’s a little too clean for my taste. I like a little more steam than Pennington offers her readers,
The addition of a potential love interest for Mel to potentially complicate things for her and Cameron felt a bit too contrived. This simply added another layer of torture to this book. Book Smart felt a bit drawn out.
I’d love more books in Pennington’s world, however. I could see Toby and Ivy in a romance as I mentioned above. Amanda Pennington laid out possibilities, but I’d like to read a story with faster pacing and a bit more steam next time.
Like her first book in the SmartyPants Romance world, Under Pressure, we return to the lab with Lexie, a down-on-her-luck junior, and Ethan, the sunshine to Lexie’s grump. Lexie is low on money since her bar job manager has decided to cut her shifts. When a psychological study offers an opportunity to earn some big cash, she jumps on it. The problem is…it’s a study of couples. Having just met Ethan, a fellow student in her psychology class, she pretends he’s her boyfriend, earning them entry into the study. However, they are anything but a couple. Winters’s newest story, Not Fooling Anyone, invites us into the fake relationship between Ethan and Lexie. Seemingly innocent, in the end, it is anything but.
Ethan is a typical cinnamon roll hero. He’s also the sunshine to Lexie’s grump. Winters uses his character to infuse light into the darkness of Lexie’s world. Additionally, as we find with most SmartyPants Romance series characters, he represents an often underrepresented population in romance: the healthy young adult who finds out he’s a diabetic. The depth of his characterization comes through his diagnosis and journey in living with diabetes. This allows Ethan to be more than Lexie’s paramour. He’s empathic, insightful, and exudes $exiness; yet beyond his exemplification of diabetes, Ethan would have been more one-dimensional.
Lexie is the emotional center of Not Fooling Anyone. She has been traumatized by people and situations in her past, and she’s erected some serious emotional walls that Ethan must bound. It takes much of this story for her to become more vulnerable. This leads to misunderstandings, and poor Ethan finds himself in the dark for some of the story. Lexie’s ability to lower her walls allows her and Ethan to find their happy ending, but misunderstandings almost derail it. Thankfully, Ethan is patient and assertive in wading through Lexie’s emotional baggage. Through Lexie, Winters works us through divorce, substance abuse, $exual harassment, and bullying. Her story is heavy, but there is a tremendous payoff in the end when she and Ethan find their happily ever after.
Overall, I liked Not Fooling Anyone. I would love to say that given the seriousness of the issues in this story, Winters’s romance struck me emotionally. However, I struggled a bit with Ethan and Lexie’s chemistry. This book is clearly asking us to consider the issues that Winter has drawn through Ethan and Lexie, but the romance between her main characters feels a little lacking to me. All in all, Winters has added another solid book to the SmartyPants Romance universe.
Gossamer in the Darkness, an all-new magical novella in the Fantasyland Series from New York Times bestselling author Kristen Ashley and 1,001 Dark Nights, is available now!
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kristen Ashley brings a new story in her Fantasyland series…
Their engagement was set when they were children. Loren Copeland, the rich and handsome Marquess of Remington, would marry Maxine Dawes, the stunning daughter of the Count of Derryman. It’s a power match. The perfect alliance for each house.
However, the Count has been keeping secret a childhood injury that means Maxine can never marry. He’s done this as he searches for a miracle so this marriage can take place. He needs the influence such an alliance would give him, and he’ll stop at nothing to have it.
The time has come. There could be no more excuses. No more delays. The marriage has to happen, or the contract will be broken.
When all seems lost, the Count finds his miracle: There’s a parallel universe where his daughter has a twin. He must find her, bring her to his world and force her to make the Marquess fall in love with her.
And this, he does.
**Every 1001 Dark Nights novella is a standalone story. For new readers, it’s an introduction to an author’s world. And for fans, it’s a bonus book in the author’s series. We hope you’ll enjoy each one as much as we do.**
She sat across from him at his breakfast table in the conservatory, the beams of the sun gilding her hair, her face aimed to the windows, watching the birds at their bath. He was dressed, but she was wrapped in his dressing gown. It was too big for her. But it was all they had for the now as he refused to button her into a gown she’d worn just the day before. He’d sent word to Corliss to have her maid, her apparel and her toilette directed to his townhome so she could face the day fresh, preparing to do so there. More importantly, this also meant he got to keep her longer. “Stop watching me,” she told the window. “It’s ridiculously romantic. I’m melting in a puddle over here.” He grinned at his coffee cup, his attention remaining on her over the rim as he took a sip. She turned in the midst of this, watched his actions, and her gaze heated yet again. “You’re a walking, talking, eating, drinking-coffee, sex-god hero from a romance novel,” she groused. “I love you think that, though I’m perplexed as to why this seems to put you in a foul mood,” he noted, returning his cup to its saucer. “I can’t jump you over the table due to your injury, that’s why,” she explained. He raised a brow. “Did I not prove my creativity this morning?” “The bit where you were on your knees could have torn your stitches.” The tone of her response communicated she was now being very serious. “Again, darling, I’m fine,” he said in the same tone. “How worried should I be about this bordello woman you’ve angered?” she asked. And there it was. “You shouldn’t worry at all.” “Loren—”
About Kristen Ashley Kristen Ashley is the New York Times bestselling author of over sixty romance novels including the Rock Chick, Colorado Mountain, Dream Man, Chaos, Unfinished Hero, The ’Burg, Magdalene, Fantasyland, The Three, Ghost and Reincarnation, Moonlight and Motor Oil and Honey series along with several standalone novels. She’s a hybrid author, publishing titles both independently and traditionally, her books have been translated in fourteen languages and she’s sold over three million books. Kristen’s novel, Law Man, won the RT Book Reviews Reviewer’s Choice Award for best Romantic Suspense. Her independently published title Hold On was nominated for RT Book Reviews best Independent Contemporary Romance and her traditionally published title Breathe was nominated for best Contemporary Romance. Kristen’s titles Motorcycle Man, The Will, Ride Steady (which won the Reader’s Choice award from Romance Reviews) and The Hookup all made the final rounds for Goodreads Choice Awards in the Romance category.
Wall Street Journal bestselling author Kennedy Ryan is excited to reveal the gorgeous special edition paperback covers for her award-winning HOOPS series! To celebrate this opportunity, Kennedy has bundled the Hoops Series in a limited time digital boxed set and it’s ON SALE NOW for only 99¢ and FREE in Kindle Unlimited!
PRE-ORDER YOUR HOOPS SERIES BOOK BOX NOW featuring special edition paperbacks, dust jacket hardbacks and thoughtfully curated merchandise inspired by the series. Pre-order here >>https://bit.ly/3MyUNLt
“Kennedy Ryan breaks me apart and puts me back together every time with her gorgeous prose and deeply human characters who tear their hearts out for one another.” –Andie J. Christopher, USA Today Bestselling Author
All 3 Books of Kennedy Ryan’s Award-Winning HOOPS Series!
Long Shot: A Forbidden Basketball Romance
Think you know what it’s like being a baller’s girl? You don’t. My fairy tale is upside down. A happily never after. I kissed the prince and he turned into a fraud. I was a fool, and his love – fool’s gold. Now there’s a new player in the game, August West. One of the NBA’s brightest stars. Fine. Forbidden. He wants me. I want him. But my past, my fraudulent prince, just won’t let me go
*Contains intimate partner violence not involving the hero. Read reviews for further guidance.
Block Shot: An Enemies-to-Lovers Second Chance Romance
JARED If I had a dollar for every time Banner Morales made my heart skip a beat… The heart everyone assumes is frozen over. Her anger is . . . arousing. Every glare from those fire-spitting eyes, every time she grits her teeth, gets me . . .well, you know. If I had a dollar for every time she’s put me in my place, I’d be an even richer man. I’m a successful sports agent because I assume “no” means you’ll think about it. I’m sure what you meant to say is “Coming right up.” They say even rich men don’t always get what they want, but those men don’t know how to play the game. The trick is to keep them guessing. Take Banner. She assumes she’s winning, but this game? She doesn’t even know how to play.
BANNER If I had a dollar for every time Jared Foster broke my heart, I’d have exactly one dollar. One night. One epic fail. One dollar . . . and I’m out. I’ve moved on. I’ve found success in a field ruled by men. Anything they can do, I have done better. They can keep the field while I call the shots, blocking them when I have to. And Jared has the nerve to think he gets a second chance? Boy, please. Go sit down. Have several seats. I’ll just be over here ignoring the man carved from my fantasies with a lust-tipped chisel. Oh, I didn’t say the struggle wasn’t real. But I’ve got that one dollar, and Jared won’t have me
HOOK SHOT: An Age Gap Single Dad Romance
A deeply emotional standalone romance set in the worlds of professional basketball and high fashion.
KENAN Divorced. Single dad. Traded to a losing squad. Cheated on, betrayed, exposed. My perfect life blew up in my face and I’m still picking up the pieces. The last thing I need is her. A wildflower. A storm. A woman I can’t resist. Lotus DuPree is a kick to my gut and a wrench in my plans from the moment our eyes meet. I promised myself I wouldn’t trust a woman again, but I’ve never wanted anyone the way I want Lo. She’s not the plan I made, but she’s the risk I have to take.
LOTUS A warrior. A baller. The one they call Gladiator. Kenan Ross charged into my life smelling all good, looking even better and snatching my breath from the moment we met. The last thing I need is him. I’m working on me. Facing my pain and conquering my demons. I’ve seen what trusting a man gets you. I. Don’t. Have. Time. For. This. But he just keeps coming for me. Keeps knocking down my defenses and stealing my excuses one by one. He never gives up, and now…I’m not sure I want him to.
About Kennedy Ryan
A RITA® and Audie® Award winner, USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan writes for women from all walks of life, empowering them and placing them firmly at the center of each story and in charge of their own destinies. Her heroes respect, cherish, and lose their minds for the women who capture their hearts. Kennedy and her writings have been featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, TIME, O magazine, and many others. She is a wife to her lifetime lover and mother to an extraordinary son.
Professor Romance 