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✍🏻 Allie Winters’s Can’t Fight It is slow-burn romance at its best. If you haven’t grabbed this Smartypants Romance story, get it NOW! ✍🏻

Can’t Fight It, an all-new friends to lovers college romance from Allie Winters, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!

Mousy bookworm. Psychology nerd. The kind of girl who constantly sticks her foot in her mouth.

The last thing I am is the type to attract the intimidating, motorcycle-riding guy in the apartment next door. Especially when that mouth of mine gets me in trouble and he overhears me talk smack about him…

So no one’s more surprised than me when he shows up as a participant in the psych study I’m running on campus. Or when he generously offers me some much-needed self-defense lessons. Or when we grow closer than I thought possible. It turns out some people aren’t at all what they seem at first glance. They can actually be everything you never knew you wanted in a man.

The thing is, Austin Langford is so far out of my league, it’s laughable. Muscled boxers don’t go for nobodies like me. I need to forget about this one-sided attraction.

Even when it feels like I can’t fight it.

‘Can’t Fight It’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Lessons Learned series, Educated Romance World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/41knDYa

Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3XLC3xr

Amazon CA: https://bit.ly/41agDNn

Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/3xKHdiG

Audible: https://bit.ly/3NzVPKR

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3mcKSTV

Excerpt

An hour and a half later, I’m ahead of schedule as my fifth participant finishes. That only leaves one more.

Austin.

And as I decided last night, it’s not a big deal at all. Just because he makes me sort of… flustered… doesn’t have to mean anything.

I head out into the lobby, my stomach jumping around a bit as the main door opens, but it’s not my guy.

Not that he’s my guy.

Half a minute later, it is him, though.

He runs a hand through his dark blond hair, natural streaks of lighter blond sprinkled throughout, and searches the lobby, looking for…

Me.

Our gazes lock, my belly dipping low for a moment at the way he seems to take me in all at once, his movements slowing, then speeding up as his heavy footfalls sound on the carpeted floor, getting closer, closer…

“Hey, Tessa.”

I bite my lip, containing the unintelligible noise that itches to escape, and hold up a hand instead, waving.

God, why can’t I be normal?

I spin around, silently berating myself as I lead us down the hall. Every time, I forget how much of the room he seems to take up, how my brain goes a little fuzzy, how my lips seem to get looser. I just need a minute to acclimate to him. To remember how to be myself.

“Lexie was telling me last night about the boxing you and Ethan do. She said you’re really good.”

There, that was totally normal. I breathe a sigh of relief, glad that my mouth is at least temporarily in working order.

He tilts his head in acknowledgment, taking off his worn leather jacket to hang on the back of his chair. He’s got a different henley on this week, this time a charcoal color that complements the gray of his eyes. “I do all right.”

“She said you’re undefeated. Twenty wins or something?”

He shrugs, taking a seat. “Yeah, I guess.”

I don’t know why, but the way he says it has me smiling as I sit behind the desk. “You’re awfully humble.” Other guys would brag if they had that kind of skill.

Rubbing at the back of his neck, he says, “I mean, it’s punching people. It’s not important or anything. Not like what you do.”

I stare at him for a moment. “You think my study’s important?” I didn’t get the impression he even thought all that much of it last week.

His mouth opens and closes, then he leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Everything that goes on in this building must be, right?”

“Yeah, you could view it like that. But you shouldn’t sell yourself short. It would be cool if I knew how to do what you can.”

What would it be like to watch him box? To see him in action?

He looks over at me, a small smile on his lips. “You want to box?”

I can’t help the laugh that escapes me. “Can you imagine me in a ring? I’d get pounded flat in about a second.”

His smile grows. “We have some girls that come to the gym and train. Even Mia comes in and punches the heavy bags.”

I shake my head. “No, I’d be ridiculous. Although, I’ve always wanted to learn some self-defense moves.” Maybe it would help me feel better prepared if something were to ever happen again. Maybe if my mom had known…

No. Best not to go down that path.

“I could teach you.”

It takes me a moment to process his words. “You’d teach me self-defense?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, sure.”

Have I completely misinterpreted all our previous interactions? I thought he was barely tolerating me.

About Allie Winters

Allie is the author of the Suncoast University series, the Bishop Brothers series, and the Lessons Learned series. She lives in sunny Florida with her husband, daughter, and two cats. A librarian by day, she spends her nights writing happily ever afters. She enjoys reading, playing video games, and all things Disney.

Find Allie Winters online

Website: http://bit.ly/357VYOr

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/389mnNO

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Instagram: https://bit.ly/3pOJNhB 

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new release

✍🏻 Single dad, age-gap, and small-town romance. Check. Check. and Check. Grab Chelle Sloan’s The One I Want TODAY! ✍🏻

I shouldn’t want her. My head knows that. My heart doesn’t seem to care.

The One I Want, an all-new single dad, age gap, small town romance from bestselling author Chelle Sloan is available now!

As a professional football player, I had a playbook for everything on the field. 

Then I retired and found out there’s no playbook for life—especially when the one you thought was perfect gets flipped upside down. 

There’s no play for suddenly becoming a divorced, single dad. There’s no plan for moving your family back to the town you grew up in. 

And there is definitely not a play for falling in love with the nanny. 

I didn’t mean to. Betsy Sullivan just has that way about her.

It started with wanting to see her smile. It grew to needing to hear her laugh.

Before I knew it, her red lips and perfect curves were all I could think about. And I started to picture a life together – A perfect life together.

Except nothing is ever perfect. Nothing is how you envision it. I learned that hard lesson once already.

And if I’m not careful, I might find myself learning it again.

I shouldn’t want her. My head knows that. My heart doesn’t seem to care.

Neither does hers.

Start reading today!

FREE in Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: http://bit.ly/theoneiwant

Amazon Worldwide: https://mybook.to/theoneiwant

Learn more about Chelle Sloan and her releases by visiting her websites:

https://www.chellesloan.com

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new release

✍🏻 Kizmet. One word infused beautifully into the pages of Karla Sorensen’s One and Only. If you love opposites attract, fake relationship, sport, and single dad romance, you will ADORE Greer and Beckett. ✍🏻

ONE AND ONLY

Karla Sorensen

Release Date: May 16

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

You are cordially invited to my fake wedding.

Marrying Beckett Coleman is the best idea I’ve had in years. I can grant my sick dad’s wish to walk one of his daughters down the aisle, and Beckett has my help solving a custody situation with his daughter. Our plan is to spend a year together, then part ways. Easy, especially since I’m not his type, and he’s not mine either.

He’s too quiet and too serious. And while he’s distractingly gorgeous, he’s also my brother’s teammate. Beckett is fake husband material, not the real deal. I just have to remember that.

Until I move in with him. Get to know him. Share a bed with him. Turns out, the line between fake and real isn’t just blurry, it’s almost impossible to uphold when he looks at me the way he does.

This marriage is a whole lot more complicated than we bargained for. We’re threatening to destroy everything we’ve built, something neither of us can risk.

Marrying Beckett might’ve been the best idea in years. But falling in love with him would be the worst.

Grab Your Copy!

Meet Karla Sorensen:

Karla Sorensen is an Amazon top 20 bestselling author who refuses to read or write anything without a happily ever after. When she’s not devouring historical romance or avoiding the laundry, you can find her watching football (British AND American), HGTV or listening to Enneagram podcasts so she can psychoanalyze everyone in her life, in no particular order of importance. With a degree in Advertising and Public Relations from Grand Valley State University, she made her living in senior healthcare prior to writing full-time. Karla lives in Michigan with her husband, two boys and a big, shaggy rescue dog named Bear.

Keep up with Karla Sorensen and subscribe to her newsletter: http://www.karlasorensen.com/newsletter

To learn more about Karla Sorensen & her books, visit here!

Connect with Karla Sorensen:

http://www.karlasorensen.com/message

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Cover Reveal

✍🏻 If you’ve been reading the Carmichael Family series, you’ve been WAITING for Banks’s story. It’s coming June 2nd. Check out the cover for Flaunt! ✍🏻

 

FLAUNT BY ADRIANA LOCKE

Release Date: June 2nd

Genre/Tropes: Roommate-to-Lovers / Blue Collar / Small-Town Romance

Cover Designer: Kari March

CHECK OUT THIS SEXY COVER!!

Flaunt by USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke is coming June 2nd!

Pre-order this roommate-to-lovers romance TODAY!

https://geni.us/VE8XNT2

Add to Goodreads

https://geni.us/FlauntGR

Blurb:

Looking for a Fake Fiancé

Have you ever wanted to prove someone wrong so badly that you could taste it?

It doesn’t matter if they’re right. The fact that they had the audacity to say it is what counts.

Hi. It’s me. I’m that person.

The man I’ve been casually seeing told me I’m not “wife material” and should “lower my expectations”. Didn’t he realize I lowered them the moment I met him for dinner?

Obviously not.

Am I petty? Maybe. Annoyed? Of course. Determined? Definitely.

I need someone to help me flaunt my new engagement—my fiancé couldn’t wait to pop the question because I’m that amazing—in his face.

The problem? I don’t have a boyfriend, let alone a husband-to-be.

Which brings us to you.

Are you handsome? Successful? A smooth talker extraordinaire?

Are you willing to do all the things that someone madly in love would do?

Putting your hand on the small of my back. Forehead kissing. Acting like I’m a treasure you can’t live without. I need you to be prepared to do all those things … and maybe more.

What do you get out of this? I’m willing to negotiate terms—especially if they include a job and a place to stay. It’s a long story.

One night. One event. Let’s put on one heck of a show.

From USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author comes a “hot and hilarious!” fake-dating tale between two frenemies that turn into roommates, coworkers, and, ultimately, lovers. Fans of close proximity, one-bed trope, and blue-collar, small-town heroes will fall madly in love with this story.

About the Author:

USA Today Bestselling author, Adriana Locke, writes contemporary romances about the two things she knows best—big families and small towns. Her stories are about ordinary people finding extraordinary love with the perfect combination of heart, heat, and humor.

She loves connecting with readers, fall weather, football, reading alpha heroes, everything pumpkin, and pretending to garden.

Hailing from a tiny town in the Midwest, Adriana spends her free time with her high school sweetheart (who she married over twenty-five years ago) and their four sons (who truly are her best work). Her kitchen may be a perpetual disaster, and if all else fails, there is always pizza.

Learn more at adrianalocke.com.

Connect w/Adriana:

Website: https://adrianalocke.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authoradrianalocke

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authoralocke

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authoradrianalocke

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8379774.Adriana_Locke

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3ivy7xd

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/adriana-locke

Newsletter Signup: http://bit.ly/NewsletterAddy

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new release

✍🏻 It’s Release Day for Lauren Connolly’s Letter Late Than Never, the next Smartypants Romance offering. Grab this one quick! ✍🏻

Letter Late Than Never, a second-chance small-town romance from Lauren Connolly, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited! 

Can a hot paramedic resuscitate this mail woman’s flatlining spirit of adventure?

Gwen Elsmere fell in love with Sebastian Kirkwood when she was sixteen, but a dead frog stole her chance to land the guy of her daydreams. Ten years later, when Gwen makes a desperate 9-1-1 call, Sebastian re-enters her life as the first paramedic on the scene. Unfortunately, she’s smeared in blood, and he’s engaged to another woman. The awkward rescue is far from the passionate reunion she’d secretly hoped for. Still, Gwen’s brief transformation from postal worker to neighborhood hero has her reevaluating her cautious nature.

If she can save a woman’s life, why can’t she change her own?

As Gwen challenges herself with adventures, big and small, she discovers an unlikely sidekick in her former crush. Sebastian reveals glimpses of the goofy teenager who first made her swoon, but there are shadows behind his eyes she wants to shine a light on. When Gwen discovers the sexy EMT is not as spoken for as everyone in Green Valley believes, she dares to hope for a second chance to risk her heart. But even as a chemist cat, drag queens, and glitter beards reward her new outgoing nature, secrets, pain, and fear threaten to snuff out her courageous spirit.

Gwen will have to decide if Sebastian and she are better late than never or better never together.

‘Letter Late Than Never’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #3 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/41hNsYQ

Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3IiPcbv

Amazon CA: https://bit.ly/3Sm0yzT

Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/3kkt0pi

Audible: Coming Soon

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3Y9WaFL

About Lauren Connolly

Lauren Connolly is an award-winning author of contemporary and paranormal romance stories. She’s lived among mountains, next to lakes, and in imaginary worlds. Lauren can never seem to stay in one place for too long, but trust that wherever she’s residing there is a dog who thinks he’s a troll, twin cats hiding in the couch, and bookshelves bursting with stories written by the authors she loves.

Find Lauren online

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenconnollyromance

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenconnollyromance/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenaliciaCon

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Website: https://smartypantsromance.com/

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Cover Reveal

✍🏻 I’m. So. Excited for this one! Meghan Quinn’s Royally In Trouble is coming June 6th. Preorder it NOW! ✍🏻

The royal romp you’ve been waiting for!

ROYALLY IN TROUBLE, a brand new sexy, royal romance from USA Today bestselling author Meghan Quinn, will be releasing on June 6th in all formats! Full of sweltering heat, suspense, and mystery, get ready to be surprised with twists and turns alongside a perfect happily ever after. Check out the cover below, and pre-order your copy today!

https://mybook.to/RoyallyInTrouble

About ROYALLY IN TROUBLE (Coming 6/6/2023):

I have two responsibilities as the new heir to the throne:

1. Get married.
2. Have babies.

Sure, becoming queen one day is part of those new responsibilities, but as long as King Theo is in charge, I don’t have to add a coronation to my list.

That’s why I find myself in the throes of wedding planning, pre-wedding classes with my broody, over-protective fiancé, and counting down the days until we can finally say I do.

But with every day we grow closer to our wedding, we seem to grow apart.

Our commonalities are tested.
Our faith in each other is questioned.
And our safety is threatened.
The only thing working? The command he has over me in the bedroom.

I keep telling myself, it’ll all work out. We just need to make it to the wedding day. Except, when the day finally comes, everything falls apart.

We might have made it through the last few months together, but now I’m not sure we’re going to make it out of this alive.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

https://mybook.to/RoyallyInTrouble

Can’t wait to get ROYALLY IN TROUBLE in your hands and earsMark your calendars for June 6th and text “READ” to (719) 223-3077 to be alerted when it is LIVE!

Samantha Brentmoor, John Hartley, and James Joseph are narrating in duet this sexy, royal romance with a twist, and you will not want to miss their performances! ROYALLY IN TROUBLE will be released on June 6th in a live release on Audible!

ABOUT MEGHAN QUINN:

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.

Never miss another NEW RELEASE, text READ to 474747.

Connect w/ Meghan:

Website: https://authormeghanquinn.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meghanquinnauthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meghanquinnbooks/  

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorMegQuinn

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✍🏻 Happy Release Day, Lexi Blake. Unexpected Bliss is LIVE! ✍🏻

Unexpected Bliss by Lexi Blake is now live!

Elisa Leal is looking for some joy in her life. Years of tragedy and struggle took their toll, and now she is searching for new connections to raise her spirits. When she discovers proof that her biological father is alive, she decides to find him and make contact. Her quest leads her to the small town of Bliss, Colorado, and the strangest man she’s ever met—Mel Hughes. He believes in aliens and sasquatch conspiracies, but he’s also kind of awesome. And there might be even more in Bliss to make her smile.

Sylvan Dean and Hale Galloway have enjoyed wandering their way through life, always in motion. Always searching for the woman who could make their life complete. Living in Bliss made them realize it’s time to settle down. Van’s finally going to college and has a job lined up with his brother when he finishes. That job is in Dallas, and while Hale is happy for Van, he can’t imagine leaving Bliss behind. It feels like everything is coming apart until they meet Elisa. She’s the one they have been searching for, and she is worth the wait.

The future looks bright until the guys’ past comes back to haunt them. Danger lurks in every corner, but it may not be the biggest threat to their happily ever after. The citizens of Bliss know how to handle a killer, but handling Elisa, Van, and Hale might require some cosmic intervention.

Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo!

Amazon: https://bit.ly/3mytKbl

Apple Books: http://bit.ly/3ZLOwCt

Nook: http://bit.ly/3IOtNHq

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3ZLOJpf

Google Play: https://bit.ly/3L29Uzi

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3kU1HCI

 

Meet Lexi


New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake lives in North Texas with her husband and three kids. Since starting her publishing journey in 2010, she’s sold over three million copies of her books. She began writing at a young age, concentrating on plays and journalism. It wasn’t until she started writing romance that she found success. She likes to find humor in the strangest places and believes in happy endings.

Connect with Lexi

Website: www.lexiblake.net

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5124235.Lexi_Blake

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lexi-Blake/author/B005JVSDJ0

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorlexiblake/

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/526080691345626

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorlexiblake/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/authorlexiblake

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lexiblakeauthor

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lexi-blake

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

Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCORVsrIAcbqMFxp0cHi51nw

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✍🏻 Talia Hunter’s Tough Cookie is one of my favs of the new season of Smartypants Romance. Noah Malone is a treasure of a hero. ✍🏻

Tough Cookie, an all-new heartfelt fake dating small-town romance from Talia Hunter, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!

Noah Malone is back in his hometown for a short break from his stunt work, but his mother’s set on convincing him to settle down in Green Valley so he can give her grandbabies like the good Lord intended. Not only is she pushing him to help out at the Donner Bakery decorating cookies, but her matchmaking is relentless.

To end his mother’s awkward set-ups, Noah needs a no-strings-attached pretend girlfriend. And who better than Carla, a mysterious recluse who seems to have taken an instant dislike to him? When she reveals she’s been isolated by illness, he proposes a fake relationship that’ll stop his momma’s shenanigans and help Carla ease back into the world.

Tech-geek Carla creates a spreadsheet of fake-date challenges. She’s serious and focused on her goal of slowly becoming more social… until daredevil Noah starts messing with her spreadsheet. He’s ridiculously charming, and his sexy additions may be even more appealing than the cookies he brings her, but Carla won’t let her resistance crumble.

Opposites may attract, but can such different people find a recipe for love?

‘Tough Cookie’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #3 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3Ks706P

Amazon UK: https://bit.ly/3kpRSMp

Amazon CA: https://bit.ly/3Y6u8Ln

Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/3ZbVoc5

Audible Audiobook: http://bit.ly/3JHWd6j

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/41ueX1j

Excerpt

Pulling my truck up in front of our old farmhouse, the first thing I noticed was how enormous the old oak tree behind the house had grown, and how far its branches stretched over the roof. I made a mental note to trim it back. 

The house was even prettier than I remembered, mostly because someone had placed potted herbs along the porch rail to soak up the winter sunshine. My mother had said she hadn’t sent anyone over to check on things since her tenant had moved in, yet the place looked well maintained. The vegetable beds had been covered with cold frames, and the plants inside seemed to be thriving. And chickens were scratching around in the large run I built for Momma years ago. 

Who was the mysterious tenant who grew her own food and never asked for anything?

Maybe she was on the run, or in witness protection. She could have stolen a bunch of money before holing herself up in the isolated house and was living in constant fear of being found by the feds. Though in all honesty, that was the plot of the last movie I’d worked on.

Still, when I mounted the steps to the porch with the jar of cookies under my arm—to my credit, it was still more than half full—and knocked on the front door, I was ready for just about anything. 

Anything, that was, except what actually happened.

When the door swung open and I saw the woman in the doorway, my jaw loosened. Momma had called her pretty, and though it was a true statement, it didn’t do her justice.

The woman’s face shape was delicate, but her eyes, cheekbones, and lips were generous, like she’d managed to swipe a little more than her fair share. Her eyes were a rich brown. She had dark, wavy hair that fell past her shoulders and was tucked neatly behind her ears. She was wearing thick, fuzzy socks, sweatpants, and what looked like several layers of warm tops. Despite the layers, her bombshell curves were obvious.

I was struck speechless. But it wasn’t just her beauty that made words dry up. It was the way she was looking at me.

Her gaze traveled up from my boots, over my jeans, and cut a slow path across the jersey I’d worn to keep my mother happy. It brushed over the jar of cookies on its way, and grazed my freshly trimmed beard. Her gaze stopped short of reaching my eyes, however. It jerked back to the cookies. And all the while, a frown creased her brow. 

She didn’t look happy to see me. The opposite, in fact. 

About Talia Hunter

Talia Hunter likes to include her three favorite things in her novels: toe-curling romance, snort-laughs, and heart-warming friendships. She recently moved to Australia’s beautiful Gold Coast, where she’s constantly amazed and not at all freaked out by the weird and wonderful critters. When she’s not writing, you can usually find her with a glass of wine, a good book, at least one of her three cats, and a jumbo-sized can of bug spray.

Find Talia online

Website: www.taliahunter.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/taliahunter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talia.hunter/

TikTok: @talia_hunter_romance

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/taliahunter

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/talia-hunter

Connect with Smartypants Romance

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✍🏻 Wondering what to read this week? Check out Stacy Travis’s second chance romance, Dough You Love Me? ✍🏻

Dough You Love Me?, an all-new second chance small-town romance from Stacy Travis, is now available in Kindle Unlimited!

First rule when returning to your hometown after storming out of sight: don’t fall for the guy who broke your heart.

Julia Browne should know better than to kiss where she bakes. She’s built a bread empire in California, and only plans to stay in Green Valley long enough to sell the family house.

She certainly won’t spend any more time with Shane Meadows than she has to…and she will not let him draw her in with his soft blue eyes or level her with his handsome smirk of a grin. 

The last thing she wants is a temporary gig at Donner Bakery, baking sourdough side-by-side with Shane and clashing with his ego. And he thinks the sassy baker should take her fancy bread and go back where she came from.

But that’s before they take a series of wrong turns on a road trip to look at wheat, leaving them stranded for the night. Out on the open road, neither of them can escape the sizzling attraction and old feelings that feel a lot more real this time around.

But life is complicated, and Julia’s life in California might derail their second chance at love. Will they wake up and smell the sourdough?

They say you should leave the past in the past, but what if it’s the winning recipe for love?

‘Dough You Love Me?’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #2 in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

Grab your copy TODAY!

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3YP7sQU

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3YXzIRu

Amazon CA: https://bit.ly/3YSKJmR

Amazon AU: https://bit.ly/3IsOGrE

Audible: http://bit.ly/3ngSkhk

Goodreads: http://bit.ly/3KFvj0Z

Excerpt

My eyes traveled to one of the musicians who stood out from the others, not just because he was tall and lean with a dark shock of hair hanging over his forehead. He sat playing the French horn, a gleaming gorgeous pretzel of brass with a bell at one end.

The sound was a love language that spoke directly to my heart. 

But an intricately curved, soulful symphony instrument at a country music jam session full of Tennessee local boys . . . WTF?

I didn’t have to be a country music aficionado to know that one of these things was not like the others. 

Every other instrument came from the string family—banjo, guitar, fiddle. An older man with a gray beard stood behind Cletus playing the bass, plucking the strings, and nodding along with the music.

The faces in the room started looking more familiar. Maybe I’d known some of them once. Maybe I wasn’t such a stranger. Not that it mattered, since I had no plans of sticking around afterward to chat. I felt worn out from the funeral and the travel. 

But . . . that horn . . . 

My eyes remained riveted to the instrument and the man playing it. I’d been to a couple of orchestra performances with a full brass section. Those were the types of places people normally found a French horn—with musicians wearing tuxedos and following a conductor. 

This man and his instrument stuck out like a glossy gemstone in a sea of wicker and cardboard. And yet, oddly, it worked. He pursed his lips and blew out notes that had no business sounding so beautiful.

Nodding and stomping one foot, he picked up the rhythm of the other instruments and made his accompaniment sound like it belonged there. 

He kept one hand in the bell-shaped end of the horn and used his other hand to draw out a melodic sound. From the first note, he had me willing to follow him down whatever path he took. For the first time since I’d arrived in town—hell, for the first time in months—I felt a glimmer of happiness. Double-chocolate cupcake happiness.

I wanted to hear more, and at the same time, I knew exactly what I would hear. Something in his beautiful aching call sounded familiar, as though I’d been hearing it my whole life. 

But that was impossible. 

I hadn’t been in town in years. Even if I’d heard this man play before, it had to have been so long ago that surely the sounds wouldn’t be familiar now. 

The music called, and I answered by freeing myself of the funereal black jacket I wore over a white tank top and getting comfortable leaning against the wall. As a spectator, I had  license to gaze at him for as long as I wanted. 

My senses scrambled and competed for which one should win out—the sight of him, the sound of his music, or the touch I felt from him halfway across a crowded room. 

Taking a couple steps closer, I cautiously took in the whole of the man playing the gleaming horn. He looked about my age, early thirties, and the strong cut of his jaw and short beard made things happen to my lady parts that hadn’t happened in a very long time. 

He wore a dark brown corduroy sport coat over a fine-checked plaid flannel shirt and dark blue jeans. His eyes were a pale blue, like an illusion of shallow water that actually runs deep enough to be dangerous. Soulful. Like repositories of hurt or art or knowledge. 

Almost as though he could feel the heat of my stare, his eyes fastened to mine and didn’t let go. 

So I did the only logical thing a person could do when faced with a sexy, soulful stranger’s lingering gaze. 

I ran from the room.

About Stacy Travis

Stacy Travis writes charming, spicy romance about bookish, sassy women and the hot alphas who fall for them. 

Writing makes her infinitely happy, but that might be the coffee talking.  

She’s worked as a journalist, camp counselor, TV writer, SAT tutor, corporate finance researcher, education technology editor, and non-fiction author. When she’s not on a deadline, she’s in running shoes complaining that all roads seem to go uphill. Or on the couch with a margarita. Or fangirling at a soccer game. 

She’s never met a dog she didn’t want to hug. And if you have no plans for Thanksgiving, she’ll probably invite you to dinner. 

Stacy lives in Los Angeles with her very tall sons and a poorly-trained rescue dog who hoards socks. And she’s serious about the Thanksgiving thing.

Find Stacy online

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Review

✍🏻 Professor Romance’s 5 ⭐️ Review: Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love ✍🏻

Overall Grade: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Tropes: runaway bride; single dad; dad of twins; forced proximity; grump/sunshine; opposites attract

“It’s me choosing you —- just you. As you are.”

Thus far, in the month of May, Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love is my favorite romance book. This is part Runaway Bride, Sound of Music, and Notting Hill. Two tropes that instantly grab my attention are found in this book: single dad and grump/sunshine. And Austin, Harlow’s MMC, is drawn as deliciously hot, but a grumpyumpleton to his core. Harlow balances his curmudgeon nature with two precocious twins and a family who humbles him daily. Her FMC, Veronica aka Roni, challenges him, through her sunny disposition, to recognize his self-sacrifice and consider choosing his dreams. Conversely, Austin helps Roni recognize the importance of expecting people to love her on her terms. As they work through their separate issues, Harlow infuses spice and humor, sweetness and challenge to engage her readers’ feelings, and the combination of these things causes the reader to gobble the book. At least, I did. Austin and Roni excited me, and I didn’t realize that I’d been missing the draw of reading until I fell into Austin ad Roni’s story. I felt indignant for Roni’s betrayal, cheered Austin’s sister when she decided to invite Roni to be a nanny for Austin’s children, grew annoyed with Austin’s instant judgment of Roni, became elated when Roni showed her beautiful soul, was titillated by Austin and Roni’s chemistry, and grew emotional as both Austin and Roni recognized that he needed to choose himself and his dreams and she needed to be chosen period. 

Grab Melanie Harlow’s Runaway Love if you need something to read that feeds your soul. This book will make you laugh, become misty-eyed, and fog your glasses all in one pass. This book is a total homerun.

In love and romance,

Professor A