There are two things I know: Adriana Locke can continue to write small-town romance and second-chance romance, and this reader will be content. Her latest book, This Much Is True, showcases her strengths in crafting these types of stories. She invests us in Laina and Luke’s enduring love, fraught with misunderstandings, misgivings, and feelings of inadequacy. At the core, though, Locke has written two characters who mutually respect and love each other. What this gifts her readers is a story to get lost in. As Laina stands in her authority, making choices that benefit her, you cannot help but cheer her on. She is loveable, albeit naive to her father’s management of her life. And Luke is fun-loving, but also serious. He becomes her protector and confidante, drawing them together. Locke sprinkles spice throughout their story, but it never borders on smut or detracts from their evolution. The tension of This Much Is True is mild, never devolving into anything too angsty.
Adriana Locke’s version of romance feels like a warm blanket on a cold day. This Much Is True is a promise, a reminder that romance can be so many different things, but in the end, it leaves us filled with hope. That’s the gift Adriana Locke offers her readers with each of her stories.
Laurelin Paige’s Brutal Arrangement is a romantic interrogation of old-moneyed family dynamics set against the world of popular music. As Paige has so deftly done with the other stories in this series, we are treated to erotic tension between a Sebastian and his brother’s former girlfriend, turned fake relationship. Paige is a queen of spicy romance, making nothing off limits between her characters. The tension between Riah and Alex in Brutal Arrangement engages the reader and draws us into this world of familial machinations. As I read this story, I listened to Alex’s brother’s story, Brutal Secret. What compels me to continue to read about these privileged billionaires is the realization that family trauma is the cornerstone of the Sebastian family. These stories interrogate the older generation’s stilted politics in the face of the younger generation’s message of “can’t we all just get along.” I find this compelling. In Brutal Arrangement, Riah and Alex’s journey ahead against the stricture of Alex’s brother Hunter’s machinations makes for an exciting read. Every step forward for Riah and Alex is met with complications, creating tension throughout most of the story. I love how these Sebastian men fall hard for their FMCs, ameliorating their power and laying it at the feet of an FMC such as Riah or any of the former FMCs in this series. I am most excited for Adly’s story, teased in Brutal Arrangement.
Laurelin Paige proves once again that she writes the “heck” out of a billionaire romance. Whether it’s the guys from Reach, Hudson Pierce, Edward Fasbender, or any of the Sebastians, you know a dirty, difficult road ahead leads to a wallop of a happy ending. What I find the most intriguing of Paige’s newest books is her capacity to write alpha-hole MMCs while testing the autonomy and authority of the women in her books. I’m ready for more of the Sebastian family.
Imagine this: an author with a raging case of writer’s block finds an unexpected source of inspiration in her grumpy, gorgeous new roommate. Sounds amazing, right? Except that new roommate is my childhood best friend. And Ian Wilder has been off-limits since I was five.
It’s been over a decade since I’ve seen him, but when I return to my hometown after years away, Ian’s exactly the man I remembered. The same guy who gave me his coat on a playground when we were kids and promised he’d take care of me forever. I need a quiet place to work with this deadline looming. I need a place where my daughter can unwind. Enter Ian with an offer I can’t refuse: his spare bedroom.
It’s an easy yes. Except now the problem is I can’t stop thinking about him, and these thoughts? They’re wandering out of the friend zone. I keep imagining very creative ways to rip off his clothes. And Ian starts giving me looks of his own, the kind that make my heart race.
One night, we cross a line we can’t uncross. The lines have blurred, and our friendship is hanging by a thread.
Imagine this: a woman falling for her best friend. And she has no idea if he feels the same.
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.
Lexi Blake has revealed the gorgeous cover for The Accidental Siren!
Releasing: April 30, 2024
Cover Design: Books and Moods
Joshua Barnes-Fleetwood is the prince of Willow Fork, Texas, but not all is right with his world. He’s the heir to a multimillion-dollar company, has a family he adores, and his best friend at his side. He can’t figure out what is missing until Nicole takes a job at Christa’s Café. The pretty waitress is a mystery he needs to solve. He’s never been so attracted to a woman, and after one night in her company, he’s sure she can handle his needs. Unfortunately, he’s also sure she’s lying to him.
Jared “Grim” Burch found a home with the Barnes-Fleetwood family when he desperately needed one. With support from his newfound family, Grim beat all the odds and became a veterinarian. In Willow Fork, however, there are still people who are suspicious of him and his past. When he sees Nicole, he knows she’s the perfect woman for him and Josh, but he wonders if he has the right to bring her into his sometimes dangerous circle.
For Nicole Mason, Willow Fork is nothing more than a pit stop. Once she can save up the money to fix her car, she’ll do what she’s been doing for the last several years. Run. Framed for her husband’s murder, she can never stop looking over her shoulder. There’s always someone on her trail, and she can’t let them bring her back to the real killer. Getting to know Josh and Grim makes her dream of the life they could have together. If only she could trust them with her secrets.
When their past catches up to them all, they’ll find out that even a small town can be big trouble.
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.
I’m so thrilled to announce the launch of Take Her from You (McRae Bodyguards, #3) by Jolie Vines.
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A single mom in hiding and the bodyguard roommate she can’t resist
Mia
Hiding out in the Scottish Highlands, I’ve fled my old life. I need a home for my little daughter, a job, and the eyeful of my roommate naked in the shower has me thinking
I might need a hot Scottish boyfriend, too.
But the gorgeous bodyguard only offers fun nights between the sheets. While he’s preoccupied worshipping my thick thighs and claiming he doesn’t want commitment, I’m meant to be busy on the dating scene.
For longterm, he’s telling me to look elsewhere, but what if it’s him I fall for?
Valentine
My new roomie is a wet dream come true. With her kind personality and curves for days, I can’t keep my mind off her. A welcome distraction from the broken relationship with my brother and the ex-fiancée who won’t leave me alone.
Except Mia’s looking for more than I can offer. I had my fingers burned by love and won’t ever go there again.
Only when people come looking for her do I realise just how easily she could be taken from me.
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Take Her from You features a plus-sized single mom, her Scottish roommate with golden retriever energy, and an intimate toy she creates using him as a template.
This swoony, friends-to-everything, steamy read is a standalone in the McRae Bodyguards series and set in the gorgeous Scottish Highlands.
Join Mia and Valentine’s adventure in love today!
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In Kindle Unlimited and beautiful paperback with black and white chapter art of the Scottish Highlands.
New York Times bestselling author Skye Warren, delivers the sizzling first book in a brand new trilogy, The Professor, a forbidden, student/professor, ex-boyfriend’s dad romance.
It was supposed to be one night with a handsome stranger. I never thought I would see him again. Until the first day of class.
He’s my new professor.
And my ex-boyfriend’s father.
He has a world of secrets in his eyes and the weight of the world on his shoulders. I should stay away from him, but the more I try, the more consumed he gets.
His possessiveness is rivaled only by his secretive nature. He knows everything about me, but mystery surrounds him. Shadows threaten the entire university…and our forbidden love.
“Every page of THE PROFESSOR shines with poetry and eroticism. If you love forbidden romances, secret societies and age gap, this book is for you!” – USA Today bestselling author Saffron A. Kent
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. Her books have sold over two million copies. She makes her home in Texas with her loving family, sweet dogs, and evil cat.
Tropes: second chances; pro baseball MMC; artist FMC; small town romance; opposites attract
The Echo of Regret is the first book I’ve read from Jillian Liota. Something about the blurb attracted me to this story, even though it’s the final book of her Cedar Point series and I hadn’t read the earlier books of the series. With all of that, I was pleasantly surprised that I chose well with this story. Often when you read a story in a series, you feel as though you missed out on a bigger sense of the story. I never felt this way reading The Echo of Regret. Did it pique my curiosity for the other stories? Of course, but I also didn’t feel compelled to pick them up immediately to read them.
Bishop and Gabi have different intensities throughout the book. At first, Bishop reads as almost indifferent to the reason for their break-up. It is underplayed in contrast to Gabi’s disdain for him. Even more, Liota ameliorates this pretty quickly which is one of my criticisms of this book. Bishop moves from indifference to intense interest in reconciling. At 61%, Bishop and Gabi are already moving towards reconciliation, and I thought they needed more discussion of the past before doing this (my second criticism). I’m certain Liota didn’t want her readers to wait too long for it, given Gabi tended to cycle through her feelings for Bishop quite a bit (almost repetitively – my third criticism). Still, Liota remedies it through Gabi and Bishop moving forward. Bishop recognizes that Gabi will never be more important than baseball, the mindset of a man four years older and wiser.
Jillian Liota’s The Echo of Regret reminded me of Laura Pavlov, Devney Perry, and that ilk. It’s sweet and spicy small-town romance that uplifts after putting you through a juggernaut of emotions first. If this is your jam, you should grab this one!
Tropes: small town romance; marriage of convenience; bad guy/good girl; found family; he falls first; touch her and die
Tia Louise’s Hamiltown Heat series had all the angsty feels mingled with a huge helping of spice. Coming out of that series, I needed some levity, and she didn’t disappoint with her Be Still series. From the first book of the series, A Little Taste, I found myself engaged with Tia Louise’s rendering of small-town couples finding love against the odds. It is a lighter series than her Hamiltown Heat series, but its power lies in the sometimes light-angsty nature of the couplings.
Her final book of the series, A Little Naughty, is the perfect exclamation point to the series. It happens to be my favorite. Jemima and Raif are magical in that they know they want each other from the start, and they don’t allow outside forces to keep them apart. Even more, Tia Louise has drawn Raif as a good man from a “bad” family, and the protectiveness that Jemima shows him draws you into their relationship. The complications of Raif proving to people he isn’t his family makes you fall hard for him, but it’s also how he falls hard for Jemima, protecting her at all costs that really cements it. To me, this is the lightest feeling book of the series, and I believe it’s because Tia Louise brings Raif and Jemima together and keeps them there. A Little Naughty sets out to offer you a marriage of convenience, and she has underscored the found family/community of the special small town of Eureka. That’s really the gem of this story. As the happy ending unfolds, you cannot help but be filled with all the good feelings. Tia Louise’s Be Still series is a feel-good series of special romances that will absolutely steal your heart.
J. Saman is a USA Today and Amazon top 40 bestselling author who writes sassy, swoony, and scorching contemporary romances. She is addicted to Diet Coke, sour candy, and indie rock. She swears way too much (especially after a glass of wine) and has a penchant for sarcasm (or so her husband and children like to tell her).
J. is an admitted lover of second chance romances, enemies to lovers, and the perfect amount of angst. She is best known for writing funny and emotional romances filled with smart, strong women, and sexy alphas who have a softer side—especially for their women.
Professor Romance 