Yes, the former third baseman for the Chicago Bobbies and absolute heart throb of the Windy City. That Ryot Bisley.
The first time I ran into him, he was grumpy, a horrific host, and left me on his sofa with nothing but a nylon baseball flag to use as a blanket.
The second time, he reluctantly bought me dinner, stared at my chest the entire night, and still sported that permanent frown.
The third time . . . well, that was a game changer. His smile captured me, his teasing charmed me, and his touches excited me.
So when he was called up to the majors that didn’t stop us from knocking it out of the park and all the way down the aisle.
Eleven years later…I’d love to say we’re happy as ever but the man who sent me dirty text messages every day is long gone and Mr. Frowny Face is back.
He’s so focused on trying to build a life after baseball that he doesn’t see the life we’ve already created together. . .so I make the hard decision and serve him divorce papers.
Problem is…my husband refuses to accept those papers. Instead, he has a new game plan that makes untying the knot of our marriage a little tricky. And just when I thought I wanted to be traded . . . he’s slowly, tantalizingly roping me back in.
Jason Clarke and Stella Hunter narrate this sexy romance in duet and bring Ryot and Myla to life! You won’t want to miss this audiobook and all the heat and emotions they bring to it. One-click your copy and get your newest eargasm today!
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.
The follow-up to 2020’s USA Today bestselling Duke I’d Like to F… and 2021’s Rake I’d Like to F…, this anthology is bursting with wicked villains, dangerous tales, and the signature high-heat swoons of the Duke I’d Like to F… crew!
Lady Violet “Viper” Hampton is infamous for her ferocity in the ballroom and the bedroom, but her vicious reputation is nearly matched by her rakish rival, Ian “the Bastard” Molineaux. When Violet and Ian are separately hired by families seeking to tear a loving couple apart, the two enemies must work together. The bastard and the viper use every weapon in their seductive arsenal to emerge the victor, yet the passion between them is as explosive as it is dangerous…
Seven Sinful Nights by Nicola Davidson
As the jaded, lowborn owner of London’s most notorious gaming hell, Blake Evans relishes tormenting his aristocratic debtors. When an errant peer offers one night with his sister-in-law Estelle, Dowager Duchess of Tolwick, Blake counters with impossible terms: the oh-so-proper widow must spend a week in his bed, submitting to his every desire. Shockingly, she agrees. But far more surprises are ahead, for this young beauty has a wild heart, a taste for wickedness, and might just be the woman of his dreams. If only she wasn’t promised to another…
The Gangster’s Prize by Joanna Shupe
From a good upstanding family, Isabelle Kelly is dedicated to righting the city’s wrongs. Just like her father, who is one of New York’s most powerful men and currently leading a crusade to rid the city of its violent street gangs. But when her father goes missing, Isabelle knows who is responsible . . . and she will get answers from the devil one way or another.
As the leader of the Hell’s Kitchen Gang, Billy Baxter always gets what he wants. And he’s had his eye on the beautiful Miss Kelly for months. She doesn’t know it yet, but she’s fallen into his world now.
And he has no intention of ever letting her go.
The Bootlegger’s Bounty by Adriana Herrera
Rosalía Ferrer dreams of leaving her island behind and sailing north to sing in a New York City nightclub. The only way to escape her father’s suffocating clutches is to align herself with a man who is as ruthless as he is lawless. Putting her fate in the hands of a villain like the Rogue of Rum Row is a very risky gamble, but Rosalía will do whatever it takes to get what she wants…even if it means striking a deal with the devil himself.
After ten years, Camden McCullough is finally poised to pull off his last rum run. If he can keep the brown-eyed hellion he brought on to his schooner from getting them both killed, he might sail into the sunset with everything he’s ever wanted: the loot and the girl.
The Conquering of Tate the Pious by Sierra Simone
England is burning with Norman fires, and Tate—the youngest ever abbess of Far Hope Abbey—is determined to guard the abbey’s ancient secrets with her very life. Her life may be what it takes, however, for a Norman warlord known only as The Wolf is pillaging his way right to the abbey’s doors. But when The Wolf arrives, Tate finds not the brutal warrior she was expecting, but his even more brutal widow in his place, a cruel and beautiful woman who leads her dead husband’s men with a ferocity to rival that of her Viking ancestors. And after she sets eyes on Tate, it becomes clear that gold and silver aren’t the only things The Wolf wants to carry off into the night…
If you’re not Kennedy Ryan, feel free to check out these words, but this is an open letter via the review route for her. Kennedy, you are a GD wordsmith, a poet, a goddess of the written word. Living in Before I Let Go has been nothing short of a painful reflection. I’ve had your book for some time, and I’ve waited on reading it because I knew it would require an internal fortitude that I haven’t had with books that reflect the real nature of love and marriage. At its core, Before I Let Go is an examination of the difficulties of marriage in the face of external traumas. To face that can be anxiety-inducing and difficult, but frankly, it’s necessary. This fiction you write under the reductive title of romance asks us to face our situations as a means to make better choices; you’re an exacting taskmaster, requiring your readers to experience their lives through the specter of your work. It’s why you’re a brilliant author, why your books are finding themselves on best-of lists. Yes, people want a release from the doldrums of life through fiction, but more importantly, they want to be seen too. And you do this brilliantly with Before I Let Go.
These are the simple, yet complex truths of your book as I see it (for whatever that’s worth).
Mental health has, until recently, been a lower-order priority in our world. People have lived with pain, stuffing down woe out of the shame of appearing weak. Men, especially, as your book suggests. Even more, men of color have borne this struggle more heartily. Before I Let Go illustrates this beautifully through Yas, Josiah, and Kassim. Josiah and Yas process their trauma in very different ways showing the spectrum of grief and depression. In a way, Josiah represents the old guard at first, a former generation that called on both men and women to eat their pain and move forward, planting deep wounds in their psyches. Each forward action was meant to undergird the character of the person. Instead, over the years, it cripples in the face of future trials. New woes push into old bruises, walls become fortresses, and vulnerability is erased, creating difficulties for relationships. We see this represented initially in Josiah.
Yas becomes the in-between. She illustrates the learning of mental health, the investigative process. She’s the sojourner of this journey, testing and failing and trying again. Through this practice, she finds progress and becomes the purveyor of understanding in handling Kassim’s experience.
And Kassim represents the now, the space where generations such as Gen Z feel more comfortable leaning into their mental health difficulties. He represents the promise of future generations asking for help and receiving it. He represents the promise of men, especially men of color, living more vulnerable lives, stating that they aren’t okay, and being comfortable with an imperfect masculinity, one that doesn’t need to fix and protect and explain trauma away.
If readers leave your book, Before I Let Go, and miss all of this, if they get lost in the romance portion of this book (which is okay because, darn it, you craft love stories that transcend time and space), then we’re missing the impact that your book has the power to make on changing attitudes about mental health struggles. It’s essential that our world changes its perspectives and takes action. And this book is a manifesto of that truth.
What I love most about you is how you connect the community. In book after book, women as a community is a common theme. They edify, exhort, and entertain, which is true of Before I Let Go. Yas, Hendrix, and Soledad together are strong. They are newer friends, but an emotional and mental support nonetheless. They become as essential as your main characters because they speak wisdom into their situations. One of my favorite parts comes in the latter part of the book when it’s revealed that Yas has been sleeping with Josiah. When Yas divulges her secrets, it gifts Hen and Sol the space to do so as well. It’s then that they are empowered to feel feelings and make plans for action. You remind us that the female community is necessary for uplifting women.
Even more distinct is you as a BIPOC author. Your books share the experiences of your race and culture. Since you are a masterful storyteller, you invite all readers into this space, educating and illuminating. Your voice is my favorite portion of your stories because it grants me entry on your terms. However, you connect us to a shared experience: infant loss, marriage difficulties, divorce, depression and anxiety, parenthood, etc. You graft your identity as a person of color with others’ identities seamlessly, reminding us that, while our skin might have different shades, we can see our experiences reflected in the experiences of diverse others.
As I was reading Before I Let Go, I felt the pain of Josiah and Yasmen’s broken relationship because I live in a broken relationship. Do we have different experiences, come from different cultures and racial backgrounds? Yes. Yet, am I able to understand the pain of not being understood, of different grief processes? Absolutely! You write viscerally emotive, artfully decadent romance. You feel it in your bones, your heart, your mind, and your spirit. Call me dramatic, but I leave your books altered, enlightened, and challenged. Every. Single.Time.
I hope readers don’t miss on reading Before I Let Go because it’s a difficult subject, because it will put them through their paces, or because it will make readers uncomfortable. The beauty of your books is their promise: romances end in happy endings. After the journey of a thousand tears, the payoff for this newest book is a pot of gold filled with hope.
Before I Let Go, an all-new powerful, soul-gripping second chance romance filled with raw emotion and sizzling steam from USA Today bestselling author Kennedy Ryan, is now available!
Their love was supposed to last forever. But when life delivered blow after devastating blow, Yasmen and Josiah Wade found that love alone couldn’t solve or save everything
It couldn’t save their marriage.
Yasmen wasn’t prepared for how her life fell apart, but she’s is finally starting to find joy again. She and Josiah have found a new rhythm, co-parenting their two kids and running a thriving business together. Yet like magnets, they’re always drawn back to each other, and now they’re beginning to wonder if they’re truly ready to let go of everything they once had.
Soon, one stolen kiss leads to another . . . and then more. It’s hot. It’s illicit. It’s all good—until old wounds reopen. Is it too late for them to find forever? Or could they even be better, the second time around?
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.
Connect with Kennedy
Text KennedyRyan to 797979 for release and sales news by text!
To the world, he’s a sexy soccer superstar. To me, he’s the arrogant jerk who broke my teenage heart–and my new fake fiancé.
He’s A Player, an all-new sexy second chance sports romance from Stacy Travis, is now available!
The last time I saw Tim Cheltenham, he was an eighteen-year-old soccer hottie with an irresistible English accent, a painfully gorgeous face, and an enormous . . . ego.
Fifteen years later, with a medical degree under my belt and a new dream job with The Strikers soccer team—his team—I’m not about to let Tim’s bad attitude and grumpy scowl ruin it for me.
But when my chauvinistic boss implies that he doesn’t trust single women to stay on the job long-term, I panic and tell him I’m engaged. And to my surprise, it’s Tim who comes to my rescue, offering to play my fake fiancé if I’ll do him a favor–cover up the truth about his injury.
The lie could derail both our careers, and I’ve got no desire to spend more time than necessary in Tim’s surly presence. And falling for him again? Ha! That’s never going to happen.
So with my job on the line, I say yes. Now, the more time I spend with Tim, the more I sense a softer side beneath those chiseled muscles and broody exterior. But the more I understand him, the harder it is to pretend that we’re just for show.
And when a rival player threatens to expose our secret, I’m terrified I’ll lose everything.
They say you have to fake it to make it. But what happens when love is the goal?
It’s a rough world out there, and we all sometimes need a good, romantic beach read, even if we can’t make it to the beach. I’ve spent many lazy days walking the streets of Paris and other gorgeous European cities, and if I’m doing it right, I’m bringing you a dash of romance and a vacay fantasy.
I can’t sit still, so when I’m not hiking, biking or running, I’m playing a very average game of tennis. Background music for writing undoubtedly features some U2, Lizzo, Billy Joel, Pink, Taylor Swift, and Led Zeppelin. Not necessarily in that order. And if I could only eat one food group, it would be cheese. Or wine. Or bread. Are those food groups? Whatever.
Emily Rochester rebuilds her life after being on the run. Her husband is gone. Her daughter is safe. The nightmare is behind her… except someone is watching.
Mateo Garza is everything she doesn’t want. Wealthy. Famous. Gorgeous.
He’s also the only man she trusts.
HIDING PLACES is a spin-off full-length novel with Emily and Mateo from the Rochester trilogy—as well as plenty of scenes featuring Beau and Jane as they build their life together.
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, and Kobo!
Skye Warren is the New York Times bestselling author of dangerous romance such as the Endgame trilogy. Her books have been featured in Jezebel, Buzzfeed, USA Today Happily Ever After, Glamour, and Elle Magazine. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.
There are three things you need to know about Lady Eliza Morgan:
1. In addition to being a busy physician, she’s an accomplished seamstress.
2. She’s the victim of a broken heart.
3. The man who shattered it is the one man she can never have.
Some things are better left in the past, but Eliza has spent years running from hers. When the man who upended her life re-enters it in the most unexpected way, Eliza must decide if reacquainting herself with Nicolas is worth the heartache. He’s charming and irritating and makes her realize there is so much more than the life she’s been living. But first she must confront her painful past if she and Nicolas have any hope for a future.
‘Well Acquainted’, a Penny Reid Universe Reimagining, is a full-length historical romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #2 in the London Ladies Embroidery series, Smartypants Romance Out of this World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Awareness came slowly. I didn’t open my eyes just yet. I could feel the sunlight brightly warming my face though. Our limbs were tangled beneath the covers. Nicolas’s body heated my skin where we were anchored to one another. He was awake. I could just tell.
“I can feel you staring at me,” I accused, lids still shut against the morning.
“It’s called gazing. And it’s romantic.”
I smiled before opening my eyes and bringing him into focus. Nicolas was facing me on his side, elbow bent, head propped on his hand. His jade green eyes sparkled with amusement, a brilliant grin gracing his full lips.
“Is it romantic to stare at an unconscious woman? Is it really?” I teased.
And in a rare moment, he abandoned the easy banter he typically favored for honest solemnity. “I just can’t believe you’re really here. I fear that if I take my eyes off of you for even a moment that you’ll disappear like a dream upon waking.”
I swallowed. His admission made guilt rise uncomfortably. I hadn’t stayed the night in his bed after the first time we’d made love. I’d been nervous and worried, so I’d returned home despite Nicolas’s obvious disappointment. Waking up together now and spending the remainder of our busy night in each other’s arms was a revelation. I wanted to sleep with Nicolas every night.
Nicolas leaned forward and dropped a lazy kiss on my shoulder. “Can I kiss you?”
“You already have,” I said, both relishing the sensation of his warm lips and the rough scrape of his morning stubble.
After another sensual kiss to my collarbone, he replied, “Can I kiss you more?”
I nodded my agreement.
Nicolas brought his free arm to my waist and rubbed his thumb against the soft skin there. His mouth descended once more to my neck, my shoulder, my chest. He murmured words of praise between kisses, telling me how soft I was, how sweet. He breathed the compliments into my skin where they heated and ached. I squirmed beneath the bedlinens before bringing my hand to his back, nails scoring and encouraging his attentions.
About Laney Hatcher
Laney Hatcher is a firm believer that there is a spreadsheet for every occasion and pie is always the answer. She is an author of stories that have a past, in a language of love that’s universal. Often too practical for her own good, Laney enjoys her life in the southern United States with her husband, children, and incredibly entitled cat.
“The couple has chemistry to spare and Madden-Mills packs in the feels. Returning readers will be pleased.” —Publishers Weekly
Princess and the Player, an all-new sexy, surprise pregnancy sports romance featuring a meet cute at a masquerade ball from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills, is out now!
A masquerade ball brings together an NFL player and a penniless princess in this smart and sexy romance from Wall Street Journal bestselling author Ilsa Madden-Mills.
Levelheaded Francesca Lane never thought she’d miss her own wedding. But when her fiancé betrays her, she puts on her wedding dress and ditches the altar for a masquerade ball—at an exclusive lifestyle club. There, she meets unknown-to-her NFL star Tuck Avery, dressed as a prince and hiding behind a mask—he’s there to celebrate his birthday. For one night, Francesca and Tuck indulge in a wickedly incognito affair. No names. No strings. And the masks don’t come off.
Unfortunately, Francesca realizes quickly that her masked prince is the wealthy jock who lives in the penthouse of her apartment building. His hobbies include parties and supermodels—or so the tabloids say. Getting tangled up with a shallow jerk is the last thing Francesca needs right now, so she vows to keep Tuck from recognizing her (not that she’s his type anyway).
But fate has a teeny-tiny trick up her sleeve…a plus sign on a pregnancy test. Can this tormented prince accept love, or will he push his princess away forever?
Wall Street Journal, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author Ilsa Madden-Mills is best known for her angsty new adult romances and romantic comedies.
Eight of her eleven novels have placed in the Amazon Top 10 Best-seller List: Dirty English #1; Fake Fiancée and I Dare You #2; I Bet You, Filthy English, and Very Bad Things #6; Boyfriend Bargain #8; The Last Guy, her collaboration with Tia Louise, #4.
A former high school English teacher, she adores all things Pride and Prejudice, and of course, Mr. Darcy is her ultimate hero.
She’s addicted to frothy coffee beverages, cheesy magnets, and any book featuring unicorns and sword-wielding females. Feel free to stalk her online.
She’s about to teach him a lesson he won’t soon forget.
Folk Around and Find out, an opposites attract, single parent contemporary romance set in a small town from New York Times bestselling author Penny Reid is out now!
Hank Weller doesn’t help people. He leaves that do-gooder nonsense to his best friend, Beau Winston. Hank does what he wants, when he wants, with whomever he wants—and Hank does not want to hire Charlotte Mitchell to be an exotic dancer at his club, The Pink Pony. Sure, he can’t help noticing the dips and curves of her, how shrewd, smart, and funny she is, the fire in her hazel eyes. He’s always noticed. She’d probably draw a crowd and entice the regulars. But after Charlotte’s messy, public divorce made Hank’s club out to be the culprit—and made her the single mother of four kids—he doesn’t need or want any additional bad press courtesy of Charlotte Mitchell. Or the distraction. Unfortunately for him, the town’s prettiest charity case doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words nope, no, and never.
Charlotte Mitchell doesn’t much like Hank Weller. Once upon a time, she used to. Years ago, she liked him a whole heckofalot despite other folks in town labeling him as “eccentric” and “nonconformist,” which were polite southern alternatives to “filthy rich” and “self-centered douchebag.” Her opinion of him changed dramatically after he volunteered to be her date to junior prom and then promptly stood her up. They haven’t so much as acknowledged each other in over a decade. But a sudden family emergency means Charlotte needs access to Hank’s club ASAP. Unfortunately for her, the narcissistic fancy-pants doesn’t seem to understand the meaning of the words help, generosity, and compassion.
But he’s about to find himself schooled. Charlotte is going to teach Hank a lesson once and for all about basic human decency, whether he likes it or not.
Keep reading for a look inside Folk Around and Find Out!
My day hadn’t been great even before she walked in.
I’d just returned from the funeral of my longtime bookkeeper. He’d died from old age in his sleep surrounded by his five kids, loving wife, and eighteen grandchildren while leaving me with a reconciliation mess and this month’s payroll to finish.
My newly trained bartender had sent a manifesto via text message, blaming his decision to quit on my unwillingness to build a dedicated meditation room and give him four paid half-hour breaks per shift to use it.
Three Diamond Whiskey bottles out of the six that had shipped from the distributor were broken in the crate. If you’re keeping score, that’s seven hundred dollars in Tennessee Whiskey and a crime against humanity.
On the plus side, the suit I’d worn to my parents’ funerals fit and I still looked damn good in it.
Of course, I didn’t know the newcomer was her at first. The door opened and closed, same sound as normal no matter who was coming or going. It was a Sunday mid-morning, still early yet for any of the dancers or bouncers and way too early for any customers.
But the moment she turned the corner and came into view, I gritted my teeth. Here we go. What could she want? She better not be selling Bibles.
“Charlotte.” Standing behind the bar, I crossed my arms and sounded unfriendly. She’d caught me restocking paper products and the three surviving bottles of Diamond Whiskey. I was only half finished with my current task, but nowhere near half finished with my task list for the day. I did not have time for pious Charlotte Mitchell.
As a rule, I had time for two types of folks: people I paid, and people who paid me. A small number of exceptions to this rule existed: a few friends from college and in town, like Beau Winston or Patty Lee, and any woman I’d set my mind on seducing, but even then, I made sure the scales remained balanced—give and take, tit for tat, even-steven. Point is, Charlotte was obviously not the former exception, and there was no way she’d ever be interested in becoming the latter.
“Hank.” She didn’t look at me, but she did paste on an obligatory-looking smile that pulled her full lips tight and came nowhere close to her green eyes. Tracking Charlotte Mitchell’s slow approach, I didn’t miss how she took her time and peered around.
I wanted to snark, “Lost? I believe the wallpaper and sanctimony store is closer to downtown.”
Instead, I ground out, “What do you want?”
Meet Penny Reid
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.
Just What I Needed, an all-new swoony and romantic novella in the Stage Dive series from New York Times bestselling author Kylie Scott is out now!
From New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Kylie Scott comes a new story in her Stage Dive series…
When the Stage Dive crew decides to help, they do it in a big way.
Nanny and housekeeper Jude has been going through a dry patch. Getting ready to dip her toes back into the dating pool is a little nerve racking. And the offers of assistance from her boss, David Ferris, and his band are not helping. Right up until music producer Dean Jennings arrives to work on the band’s latest album.
But Dean is more than a little wary of dating anyone with anything to do with the Stage Dive crew after losing Lena to lead singer Jimmy Ferris all those years ago. Can Jude a) Convince the crew to stay out of her business and b) Woo the man of her dreams?
**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.**
Keep reading for a look inside Just What I Needed!
I smile. I have a lot to smile about. He likes me. We’re doing this. How exciting.
He leans forward. “Can I kiss you, Jude?” he whispers.
I feel those words in every part of me. “Yeah.” I lick my lips. “You can.”
As pretty as he was at a distance, he’s even more handsome close up. All of the shadows and lines of his face. It blows my mind how Lena left him for another. What a fool. Though I am kind of deeply grateful that she did. His lips are divine. No other word will do. And the thought of him pressing them against mine is making my stomach do a weird flip-flop thing. His lips are neither thin nor plump, but somewhere in between and perfect. I stare at them as he comes closer until he’s pressing his mouth softly against mine.
A sweet kiss, as if he’s testing his welcome. The man needn’t have bothered. I balance on the balls of my feet and join our lips once more, kissing him more insistently. I mean, we might as well figure out here and now if we have no chemistry. If he has no expertise. Because I kissed this male model once who was a tongue-wrangling disaster. Just a whole lot of wet-faced yuck. Sad, but true. It’s not like I have kissed anyone in ages. Maybe I’ve forgotten how it all works. Perhaps I’ll be the disaster.
Dean’s hands grip my hips, and his tongue slips into my mouth and oh, yeah. Very nice. A lack of chemistry is obviously not going to be a problem between us. He kisses me deep and wet in a way that goes straight to my head. My fingers slide over the smooth warm skin of his shoulders before holding on tight. He is so solid and strong. One of his hands is now cupping the back of my head, holding me to him. As if I had any intention of leaving. Heck no. We kiss until my lips are numb and swollen and my mind is far away. Nothing else matters but this moment.
He leans his forehead against mine, and we both take a moment to catch our breath. As first kisses go, it was stellar. My empty stomach, however, shows no cool and rumbles loudly. Talk about keeping it real.
About Kylie Scott
Kylie is a New York Times and USA Today, best-selling author. She was voted Australian Romance Writer of the year in 2013, 2014 & 2018 by the Australian Romance Witer’s Association and her books have been translated into eleven different languages. She is a long-time fan of romance, rock music, and B-grade horror films. Based in Queensland, Australia, with her two children and husband, she reads, writes, and never dithers around on the internet.