A Not So Meet Cute from USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn is NOW LIVE!!!
This brand new romantic comedy about a desperate billionaire seeking to find a fiancée is MUST READ! This modern day take on Pretty Woman is brilliantly clever and hilariously page-turning.
The quintessential question asked to every couple. And the answer is usually some bubbly, lovey dovey tale of being struck in the bum by Cupid’s arrow.
My meet cute (well not so meet cute) is slightly different. I was trolling a wealthy neighborhood in Beverly Hills, searching for someone to take me as their bride, you know, to make my arch nemesis jealous who consequently just fired me.
He was stomping around the block like some sort of gorgeous ogre, mumbling about a business deal gone wrong and attempting to finagle his way out of it.
And that’s when we bumped into each other.
There were no sparks.
Not even a hint of blossoming love.
But next thing I knew, I was scarfing down free chips and guac, listening to this man lay out all of his problems which led to his big ask . . . he wanted me to be his Vivian Ward, you know, from Pretty Woman–minus the frisky behavior.
We’re talking about living in a mansion, intimate double dates, and pretending we were head over heels in love . . . and engaged. Can you imagine?
The absolute audacity.
But people do crazy things when they’re desperate. And I reeked of desperation. So, I struck up a deal.
My one big mistake, though . . . big . . . HUGE? I accidentally fell for the incomparable Huxley Cane.
About the Author:
USA Today Bestselling Author, wife, adoptive mother, and peanut butter lover. Author of romantic comedies and contemporary romance, Meghan Quinn brings readers the perfect combination of heart, humor, and heat in every book.
Leigh D’Alessandro is a fighter. She fought to escape her dysfunctional family, to end a soul-killing marriage, and to build a new life in a small Tennessee town. When the fate of the community hospital she works for is threatened, she’s primed and ready for battle. What she can’t fight any longer is her unshakable attraction to her best friend’s brother, who has a notorious reputation and triggers all her worst fears about trust and betrayal.
Walker Leffersbee is a lover. At least that’s the reputation he’s built in his hometown. Scion of a prosperous Tennessee banking family, he’s a known ladies’ man and a confirmed bachelor. His hands are full as he juggles competing demands from his family’s bank and his growing property renovation business. The last thing he needs is to give in to his long-standing craving for his sister’s headstrong and hot-tempered best friend. Especially because she’s the only one who knows the secret that threatens to upend his life.
When a home renovation project brings them too close for comfort, they both struggle to withstand the growing heat. As they grow closer helping each other navigate family minefields, Walker learns that love is not a four-letter word, and Leigh realizes that some battles are meant to be lost.
But Walker’s secret is the one thing that could keep them apart, unless they both decide to fight for the love they never looked for but now can’t live without.
‘Before and After You’ is a contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #2 in the Leffersbee series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.
I stopped in my tracks, my breath catching in my throat.
Walker Leffersbee.
Damn it.
Indecision glued my feet to the floor, halting my progress as I stared at his frozen profile. I briefly considered turning the opposite way and retracing the same route I’d used coming down.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him.
That wasn’t the case.
Well, not exactly.
But there were several reasons why his sudden appearance was damned inconvenient.
First, Walker was the older brother of my best friend in the world, Zora Leffersbee. But I didn’t consider Walker to be my brother, not by any stretch of the imagination. Through all the years we’d known each other, our relationship had continually evolved. He was as supportive of me as he was of Zora. But we both knew he didn’t think of me as a sister.
Which led to the second problem.
Walker Leffersbee was sexy. Sexy as hell. The kind of sexy that always took my brain captive with the grimy bass line of a 90s R&B song and thickened my blood for the heat of inevitable battle. We were always locked in some kind of mental combat, our traded barbs and jabs never quite masking the powerful current of attraction between us. He would have been easy to ignore if my attraction to him were based solely on his physicality. I’d bounced on more than one pretty man in my day and managed to keep my brain cells unscrambled. But he was hot as hell with all those intriguing layers. Damn it. I didn’t have brain space to deal with Walker right now.
“Leigh?”
I stiffened, surfacing from my thoughts. Walker straightened and ambled closer. He moved with the lumbering grace exclusive to big men, a very slight bowleggedness lending his walk a kind of deliberate, sexy swagger. Advancing, he squinted slightly as if trying to make me out in the muted lighting of the hospital’s basement floor. He stopped only three feet away from me.
I disciplined my eyes, sternly instructed them away from the just-right fit of Walker’s huge shoulders in his white broadcloth shirt. I did not allow my eyes to notice how the tip of his conservative navy tie arrowed the path to his tapered waist and the slightest imprint of powerful thighs just visible in his dark slacks. I refused to dwell on how beautifully his perfectly sculpted dark goatee contrasted with the deep mahogany of his skin.
My fingers clenched against the empty wish for a cigarette.
He wasn’t nearly as circumspect, making no effort to disguise the frank assessment in the gaze that slowly crawled upwards from my clogs in slow degrees. I didn’t miss the banked heat in his eyes when his stare finally met mine.
“Golden Boy,” I said, feeling a perverse pleasure at having launched the opening salvo and earning the answering curl at the corner of his lip. He hated that name, I knew. Hated it whenever I reminded of him of who he was. Son of the richest man in the county, heir apparent to a growing banking empire in Tennessee. Why this bothered him, I’d never know. It was hardly a secret, not with him and his father on billboards advertising his family’s bank around Knoxville and Nashville. But that didn’t make it any less fun to pick at him.
“Umbridge.”
I feigned surprise. “What, have you exhausted all the Disney villains? We’re into the Harry Potter lexicon now?”
His answering smile was sharp and wicked. “You know, there are just so many names for the devil. I don’t think I’ll ever come up empty-handed when it comes to you.”
“Good to know. What are you doing here?” I flicked a pointed glance at the doorway to Radiology he’d evidently just come through, and I noticed the orange paper had somehow disappeared into his pocket by the time he greeted me.
And … cue the third complication.
Walker Leffersbee and I shared a secret, and seeing him here had just made it much more, well, complicated.
About Hope Ellis
USA Today bestselling author Hope Ellis is a health outcomes researcher by day and writes romances featuring sexy nerds by night. She hopes to one day conquer her habit of compulsively binge-watching The Office.
P. Dangelico’s newest story, Out of the Blue, is an emotional juggernaut about choice, the choice to love a person just as they are. Her story centers around a young woman, Blue, who has left her life in Los Angeles behind to run an animal rescue in Ojai. She loves her life on a property where she spends her days working hard to care for the animals and their surroundings. One day, her best friend, Jess, shows up and asks her if one of her clients, a Hollywood movie star, can complete his home arrest and community service with their rescue program. Blue is not excited about that prospect since she understands the world of Hollywood, but the woman who owns the rescue program, Mona, agrees to it. The day before the movie star is due to arrive, a different man shows up, one to who Blue feels an instant tether. Shane is the brother of Aidan Hughes, the movie star. He has tasked himself with overseeing his brother’s behavior, and he asks for a space on the property. Mona, Blue’s boss, offers up Blue’s residence, the guest house on the property. Put out of her home, she isn’t a fan of Shane’s, even though she finds herself attracted to him. As their story progresses, Blue is drawn to Shane, yet his behavior towards her vacillates between hot and cold. One night, when she attempts to find a date, Shane finally decides to accept his attraction, and they have a hot, steamy night together. This progresses into more days of this, and Blue finds herself falling for Shane. However, the problem is Shane is a nomad. He doesn’t like to stay in one place for too long. Unfortunately, Blue has found her home, and she has no interest in following him. Even more, with her past, she needs to be someone’s first choice. Is it possible for Blue and Shane to find their happy ending?
For me, the brilliance of this Dangelico’s Out of the Blue is the idea behind it: the ability for people to choose a person just as they are, to be someone’s choice. Dangelico creates a parallel of this issue between Blue’s parents’ story and her own struggles to accept Shane’s spirit. One of the most profound parts of the story comes in a conversation between Blue and her father. Blue resents her mother because she left when Blue was young to ‘save the world’ while forgoing raising her own daughter. She has never understood how her mother could choose the problems of other people over her. She has also struggled with her father’s acceptance of it. In the face of her choices, her father tells her, “No. You can’t blame someone for being who they are, Blue. I knew she was not the type to stay home and raise a family and I ignored the signs…[…] I can’t blame her for her nature any more than she can condemn me for mine.” In this moment, it’s clear that Blue will eventually need to choose to love Shane and let him go or accept him and live within the boundaries they decide for their relationship. The beauty of this reality especially as Dangelico metes it out through the different animals on the farm and their temperaments provides the backbone of Out of the Blue. As a reader, you understand Blue’s struggle, the pain of her childhood, and all the ways it’s tinged her life, and you need a happy ending for her. However, while you want Shane to be that happy ending, until the very end of the story, you’re never quite sure if he is. He is definitely physically compatible with her, and Dangelico brilliantly writes their physical chemistry, burning up the pages of her book. Yet, there is a struggle within this book for Blue and Shane to be well-matched. You aren’t quite sure even though you hope for it. That question drives you forward into the pages of Dangelico’s beautiful story.
My one criticism of this book, though, is the resolution of Blue’s trauma. This is a woman who has lived with the trauma of assault, and it’s caused her to live a protected, carefully constructed life. Yes, it’s spurned on her love for abused animals, one of the best parts of this book. Yet, the way in which Dangelico resolves Blue’s issues is too easy. I won’t share the details of it, but I think Dangelico might have put more development into it.
P. Dangelico’s Out of the Blue has so many qualities that grow your adoration for it. I personally loved its characters and their development. From Blue to Mona to Shane to Aidan, there are journeys to be walked and happy endings to be found, and Dangelico’s impressive storytelling easily helps you find them by its final page.
If you read Laurelin Paige’s Man in Charge series, then there is a part of you that fell in love with Brett Sebastian, the man that Tessa, the heroine of that duet, looked past to Scott Sebastian, that series’s hero. And thank goodness because Tessa and Scott were destined (sorry, Brett). Thankfully, though, Paige recognized that Brett needed a story. I mean, he’s all hero and deserves his own space in Paige’s universe of stories. What is shocking, however, is Paige’s choice of heroine for him: Eden, the woman of the Man in Charge series who is caught by Tessa with Scott at its beginning.
At the start of Man for Me, I wasn’t a fan of Eden. Honestly, it took almost half of this novella for me to understand her. In fact, that seems to be Paige’s superpower: taking seemingly unloveable characters and finding them a place to be loved. Eden is self-absorbed through this story, not fully recognizing the gift of Brett Sebastian. Once, however, she begins to see him after a night of unrivaled bedroom antics. When she acknowledges her latent feelings for him, she can’t unsee him anymore. Unfortunately, after years of being “passed over”, Brett isn’t accepting of Eden’s interest. It’s there where the story takes on a more serious tone. Eden must find a way to win Brett’s heart again. However, in order to humanize her, Paige intelligently makes her face her truth. For me, that’s when Man for Me finds its power.
Eden and Brett are indeed suited for each other. Paige has crafted a deep chemistry between these two that runs as hot as her other couple in this world. If you think you’ll be disappointed, by comparison, you won’t. Instead, you’ll probably say that you’d wish Eden and Brett had more space to develop more of their physical relationship. But that isn’t the case, and the space they are given is an inferno.
Just as Laurelin Paige did with Celia in her Slay series, in Man for Me, she asks us to see the vulnerability of Eden. In doing so, she crafts a heroine for Brett that is worthy of his love. From the start to its finish, Man for Me is a great afternoon read.
I’m intrigued with Christina Hovland. Each writer has a fingerprint in the writing world, a voice that is their own. Rom-com writers especially tend to have a type of quirk that intrigues their readers. This is Christina Hovland. I first discovered it in her Rachel, Out of Office, and I found myself drawn to it. In her newest story, April May Fall, there is definitely more of this unique voice. Page after page, you find quirky auxiliary characters, a hero who needs a heroine to make his life messy, and a heroine who needs him to help her blossom again. It makes for a story that tugs at your heartstrings, while also making you laugh at the decidedly crazy antics of its characters.
April May Fall is a story about a woman who has lost her sense of self after a devastating divorce. With an ex-husband who has “checked out” of his former life, the “Calm Mom” no longer has her chill. She’s struggling to raise her three children while growing her influencer brand, the Calm Mom. Unfortunately, the cracks show, and she finds herself in an embarrassing situation. Her management, namely Jack, the brother of Rachel from Hovland’s first book, steps in to assist her in “finding herself” again while protecting her brand. He helps her breathe again, he helps her remember her inner strength, and he watches her bloom again, while also falling in love with her and her three children. The man who likes a structured, buttoned-up life, realizes that life is better when it feels lived in. And he finds a new home in April over the course of Hovland’s story.
What I loved the best about this story isn’t Jack’s guidance. It would be reductive to think he is the only impetus for helping April remember what makes her her. Instead, Jack simply listens and reminds her of who she was before. Even more, Hovland has creatively written a cavalcade of women who also inject support and love into April’s life. From her crazy, out-of-control neighbor, Kitty who acts as a matchmaker to April’s next-door neighbors, Simone and Yelena, to Jack’s sister and April’s friend, Rachel, each woman provides April with something she needs to help her find herself again. When these women are together in the story, it feels both out of control and supportive, and the community of women is honestly my favorite part of April May Fall.
Ultimately, though, it’s the interrogation of motherhood and womanhood that makes this story special. We live in a world where mothers are supposed to “act” a certain way, and there is so much judgment in mommy communities. April has a great monologue at the end of this story that speaks the truth as it relates to the roles of women and motherhood, and this is the piece de resistance of the book.
If I’d have any criticism of the book, it would be the comedy aspects of it. At times, the funny feels forced, and the “jokes” of the story don’t always land as I imagine Christina Hovland expects them to. However, that seems minute in contrast to the bigger lessons of April May Fall. As Jack struggles to accept a different life for himself than was his initial plan, he accepts that he just has to “fall,” fall into love with April, fall into a different plan for his life. And it’s a great reminder for readers who might be curious about Christina Hovland’s April May Fall to simply fall into the chemistry and quirkiness of her newest story.
Once upon a time, the Vlasta Vipers hockey team was so incredible — on and off the ice — they were almost mythical.
All the other college athletes across the country wanted to be them.
All the chicks who glided into their gazes were excited to bang them.
Their reputation was that of Gods who wore skates instead of sandals.
And thanks to a certain center’s constant leadership on the ice, they are true champions once again.
Captain Patrick Peck lives and breathes hockey, yet one glimpse at his head coach’s loud-mouth, full of life niece who has just moved to Vlasta, and suddenly, he wants more.
More days of watching old TV shows and less days of listening to hockey podcasts.
More nights of hearing her scream his name and less nights of scheduling extra practices.
More memories out of the rink and less memories of only being loved in it.
Will this overly focused center be able to balance hockey and love, or will he be forced to abandon one for the other?
About the Author:
Xavier Neal is a best-selling romance author who enjoys hopping from sub genre to sub genre like a game of Hopscotch she can’t resist.
In between writing, she loves to read (everything from romance to self improvement books), watch movies (old and new), eat too much Tex-Mex (her Chuy’s t-shirt collection is out of control), and watch AHL hockey games LIVE (preferably against the glass whenever possible).
She currently resides happily in Texas with her bearded husband “Lumberjack” and their two fur babies.
I’m certain that anyone reading Rebecca Jenshak’s Campus Nights series was ready for Johnny Maverick’s story. As the women of their friend group were whittled down in pairings to the guys in the friend group, it was clear that Dakota would be the last woman standing for Maverick. Anyone ready for Wild Love was anticipatory for their pairing because (1) Maverick didn’t seem like the “settling down type,” happy to continue his extracurricular activities and (2) Dakota, a challenge to Maverick, but also incredibly sensible wouldn’t be bowled over by all that is Johnny Maverick.
So Jenshak had a task ahead of her: to make Maverick and Dakota more than friends. In Wild Love, she does this brilliantly, isolating them, turning them into roommates, and creating a secret wedding in Vegas to help them fall in love. Even more, it introduces new characters into Jenshak’s romance universe, igniting a brand new hockey romance series, one that this reader is excited for, especially in the promise of one Jack Wylde.
Wild Love is a perfect ending to the Campus Nights series. It brings all of the characters from those stories together (I would still love a novella for Heath and Ginny and Reagan and Adam…we need some marriages). I will say that there were times with Wild Love where I struggled with Dakota and Maverick’s chemistry, and this had more to do with Maverick’s characterization than Dakota’s. Maverick is such a “feel good” kind of hero that emotional gravitas seems to escape him. Even with a past that includes parents who struggle to love him as himself, I wanted a bit more emotionally from Maverick sooner in the story. Jenshak gets us there, but it takes most of the story to do so. Even then, it’s couched in Maverick terms.
Thankfully, Maverick’s want to give Dakota the world creates a story ending that is a true fairytale. I love how he loves her, and Dakota is worth every bit of it. Through Dakota, Jenshak infuses some real-world issues relating to sexual harassment. It adds depth to Dakota and Maverick’s story.
Wild Love is simply the best introduction to Rebecca Jenshak’s forthcoming Wildcat Hockey series. If you read Wild Love, and you don’t fall in love with Maverick and Dakota, then you need to see a heart doctor…because it’s sweet, steamy, and a chef’s kiss ending for the Campus Night’s series.
I am continuously astounded at Devney Perry’s capacity to write romances that slay your soul. I keep waiting to be disappointed, and it never happens. With a new series, you hope you’ll love it. Once an author attaches himself/herself to your spirit, you tend to like what they write, but, in the back of your mind, you wonder when you’ll be disappointed. To date, that hasn’t happened for this reader. And with Perry’s newest series, The Edens, I finished Indigo Ridge rabid for more.
Set in rural Montana, Indigo Ridge is a small-town romantic suspense. For me, it feels like Perry’s Jamison Valley series. It begins with the heroine, Winslow, a detective from the Bozeman PD (yes, the same Bozeman PD where one Cole Goodman works), who has relocated to small-town Quincy, Montana where her grandfather is the mayor. Having been hired to be the Chief of Police, her work is cut out for her. On her first night in town (she has visited throughout her life given that it is her father’s hometown), she meets Griffin, a stranger in a local bar. They have instant chemistry and end their evening in the backseat of his truck. Thinking she will never see him again, she meets him again while having lunch with her grandfather. She learns that he’s an Eden, the founding family of Quincy, and neither of them is pleased to know they will run into each other again. Griffin likes one-night stands with tourists: no romantic entanglements, quick fun. Winslow is a complication he doesn’t need; however, he can’t seem to get her out of his mind. When a dead woman is found on his family’s ranch, he, unfortunately, must deal with Winslow. Fortunately, though, their chemistry ignites. And the rest is history.
Like any of her earlier series, based on Indigo Ridge, The Edens series promises more compelling, entertaining romances. From Chapter 1 of this newest book, I couldn’t stop reading. Every turn of the page illustrates the complication of the relationship between the town cad and the newest member of the Quincy Police Department. Perry is careful in constructing Winslow. She’s an outsider, she’s young, and no one believes she can do the job except for a handful of people. Even Griffin has his doubts about her abilities in the first third of the story. Yet, Devney crafts her as intelligent, insightful, and empathic, and she embodies the best qualities of a romance heroine.
Since Winslow is incredibly capable, she requires a hero such as Griffin. He is an alpha-hero, yet he recognizes her capability. I think what I love most about Griffin is his dedication to loving Winslow once he recognizes she’s “it” for him. With an alpha-male hero, there is always the risk that they will push away the heroine out of some ill attempt at protecting her. Not Griffin. And once you hit the last 10 percent of this book, you need a hero such as him. In fact, I think Indigo Ridge might be one of Perry’s most violent stories.
In terms of the romantic suspense portion of this book, I had an inkling of the villain, but I was reductive in my thinking on it. Devney Perry hides this well, which causes you to turn the page wanting to find out the culprit.
Again, I couldn’t help but inhale Indigo Ridge. The characters, the story, and the potential for more are constant reminders that Devney Perry is the master of her romance domain.
I’m fairly certain that Griff of Avery Flynn’s Neanderthal is going to be my favorite hero in her Last Man Standing series. What’s not to love about a man who has so many thoughts and feelings, has learned to lock them down because his abusive father mocks his intelligence, which causes him to lack the words to say to the people he loves. In fact, his cousins, Dixon and Nash, consistently mock his inability to provide more than one-word answers to questions. This Lego-loving, wounded warrior of a hero is adorable, and in Flynn’s Neanderthal, he falls fast and hard for its heroine. And that is for good reason.
If Griff is my favorite hero of this series, then his heroine, Kinsey, wins the award for the best heroine. I love complicated characterizations, and Kinsey is this. On the outside, she is a blonde Southern bombshell, evoking every cliche there is about a Southern woman. Yet, she is a genius. She graduates high school early and begins college as a fifteen-year-old. She processes situations at lightning speed, and she offers solutions to remedy problems. Her brain and spirit are more exciting and beautiful than her outer beauty. And Griff wins her heart by loving her brain over her beauty.
Now, Flynn takes the space of this romantic comedy to also spotlight women in STEM and the harassment that occurs for them given it is a male-dominated field. She focuses on a woman’s autonomy. Griff blows it in disrespecting her ability to choose for herself. Flynn shows her readers the double-standard that women, especially women with outer beauty, must endure proving their worth, and this lesson takes the seeming informality of a rom-com and lends it depth.
There are moments of this story that feel a bit manufactured and inconsistent, hence my reason for the 4-star rating. Overall, though, Avery Flynn’s Neanderthal creates a combination of chemistry and candor to win you over to it. If you love misunderstood heroes and heroines, then this should be on your e-reader.
Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward’s newest story, Well Played, takes you on an emotional journey, weaving through forbidden, football, and single-parent romantic tropes. It follows Presley, a single mother, who was returned to her hometown in the south in the wake of her son’s father’s grandfather’s death. He has willed a bed and breakfast to her son. Since he is too young, she has been tasked with managing his stake in this inn. The issue lies with the other stake in this bed and breakfast: Levi, her ex-fiance’s successful professional football-playing brother. Unfortunately, Levi wants to sell his grandfather’s historic inn, given that he lives in Denver where he plays for the Broncos AND the inn needs quite a bit of work. Seeing its potential and wanting to restore a piece of her son’s familial history, Presley fights Levi, offering to make the changes herself and betting him that she can sell out the rooms. If she can, Levi has to stop his idea of selling. Levi pushes back at Presley every step of the way because he believes something about her that isn’t true. When he finds out that his brother, Tanner, is the cause of the split between them, he begins to see her in a different light. Additionally, Presley notices her attraction to Levi. However, given that Levi is her ex’s brother, she works hard to shut down her attraction. Until she can’t. As Levi and Presley do the forbidden romance dance, they start to fall deep in love. Unfortunately, Levi is only in Beaufort for the summer and the situation is messy. Is it possible for Levi and Presley to find a happy ending?
Being that this is a romance, the obvious answer to this is “yes.” Yet, getting to that point is an emotional journey with ups and downs along the way. Keeland and Ward have carefully crafted Levi and Presley with dimension and clear chemistry, although, for me, I’ve read stronger connections between their characters in other books. I was hoping for a bit more emotional gravitas for these two, but it never quite lit for me.
Did I appreciate their initial hate-to-love situation? Absolutely! The banter and connection between Presley and Levi are quite sweet with some serious steam on the side. These two are adventurous with their bedroom activities. The scenes with Levi and Alex, Presley’s son, will melt your heart because Alex is starved for male attention. It’s clear that moving to her small-town home is a great move for Presley and her son, and Levi, being there, adds more to their relationship.
The challenge for Presley and Levi to be together given the messiness of their connection to Tanner engages the reader through the length of the story even when it gets uncomfortable. Yet, Keeland and Ward are careful in presenting Tanner. If he had been a stalwart guy, then this story would be different. Given that Tanner lacks emotional maturity, it’s easy to accept Presley and Levi together. In fact, it just feels right.
Once again, Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward have written a story that, at first glance, might offer lightness and heart. As Well Played goes, the depth of the story unleashes the emotion commonplace to their romances. While there were moments when I struggled to feel the emotional connection between Levi and Presley, overall, this small-town forbidden romance was a perfect weekend read.
Professor Romance 