There’s only one course of action when your dad wants you to marry a clammy-handed wimp to make one of his board members happy—you get yourself stuck in an elevator with a hot stranger and have the steamiest make-out session of your life. Years of etiquette lessons went out the window thanks to Cameron Wilder, who managed to unleash my hidden bad girl with naught but his talented mouth and deliciously rough hands.
Afterwards, he went back to his small-town life, and I marched home to inform my dad there would be no business-centric nuptials. As punishment, he shipped me off to Sisters, Oregon and demanded I turn a healthy profit on a not-so-healthy property.
You see where I’m going with this—the buttoned-up city girl stuck in a small town hires a local builder to help her … and he’s the hot stranger from the elevator. Turns out, I have a weakness for the broad-shouldered nice guy who’s not so nice behind closed doors. Keeping things professional gets harder the longer I’m in town, until the only lesson I have left to learn is how to keep both our hearts from getting broken.
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.
Tropes: next door neighbor; single mom; divorcee; small-town romance; Christmas romance
To be honest, I am not a huge fan of Christmas romances. I will only read the Christmas romances of my favorite authors, L.B. Dunbar being one of them. And her Naughty-ish did not disappoint. Given her background as an English teacher, Dunbar’s intentionality in providing a meaningful structure to her stories impresses me. For this story, she organizes her FMC’s story around statements: “be youthful,” “be present,” and “be the future you want,” all admonishments illustrated through the growth of Holliday, the FMC. As she takes steps to live that out in her life, we, the reader, can ponder how we can do the same in our own. While it might feel prescriptive, I think we could consider it inspiring.
As she usually does, Dunbar gifts us with an older FMC and MMC (Holliday and Nick). Next door neighbors, these two fall fast and hard for each other, even though it takes each of them a bit to accept it. There is a nice blend of spicy romance with the sweetness of a holiday one, and Dunbar’s finished product is one that will put a smile on your face. L.B. Dunbar’s Naughy-ish is a romance meant not only to entertain but to also encourage. At this time of year, it’s everything you need in a Christmas romance.
A Sizzling, Small-town, Grumpy/Sunshine, Single Dad Romance.
Jackson Corbett is a gorgeous single dad who doesn’t want complications at his family winery. And I’m the messy tornado who just offered to be his new nanny.
Jackson Corbett is not impressed when I show up for an interview in my pajamas at the wrong time. But I need this job working in the tasting room at Buttercup Hill Vineyards and I’ll do anything to get it. Years of sommelier courses and amateur wine-making have landed me here, at the best winery in Napa Valley, and I’m here to stay.
So I make him a deal.
He’s overworked and stretched thin with parenting and a stressful job. I tell him that if I’m hired by the winery, I’ll work a second job as his nanny.
I can endure the world’s grouchiest dad and entertain his feisty seven-year-old if it means career advancement, paying off my debts, while taking care of my younger sister.
I also know there’s no risk of romantic entanglement because Jackson is a grade-A grump—albeit a hot and chiseled one—who’s been burned by love. The weight of the world sits on his muscular shoulders, and he spends most of his time worrying about his daughter and looking at spreadsheets.
The last thing I’m concerned about is how he looks at me.
Until he does.
I catch him sneaking glances, and I can’t help staring right back. And noticing how sweet he is with his daughter, how his chilly façade starts to melt, and how he lingers longer than necessary when I’m around.
I find myself wanting to help him even if it means spending more time away from my sister, right when she needs me the most. I’m terrified of letting down the only real family I have left.
Falling for him could ruin my carefully-wrought plans.
But what if I love him more?
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Stacy Travis writes spicy small-town romance about bookish, sassy women and the hot heroes 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 two sons and a poorly-trained rescue dog who hoards socks. And she’s serious about the Thanksgiving thing.
Tropes: brother’s best friend/best friend’s little sister; small-town romance; hate to love; second chance at love; romantic suspense; forced proximity
“Kissing Grae was like downing a shot of whiskey set on fire. She burned through my system in a way that would leave scars in its wake.”
This is what Catherine Cowles does: she marries gorgeous prose with the type of romance that burns. Glimmers of You, the third book of her Lost & Found series, envelopes you like a warm blanket while you bear the brunt of the cold. Grae and Caden’s romantic journey is one fraught with unrequited love, familial trauma, and an outside threat. This is what Catherine Cowles does so well: she ingratiates her characters into your soul that you hate to leave her stories. Even more, other than the details of Caden’s wealthy family, her characters are relatable.
The crux of Grae’s story lies in her Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. Cowles deftly shows the impact of this diagnosis throughout the book. It not only affects her physically; diabetes has changed her familial relationships, causing her to strive toward greater independence. Cowles highlights the overprotectiveness of her family and early in the story, Caden’s; yet, she uses Caden’s early awareness of Grae’s frustration to help develop the awareness of the larger group. This is thoughtful in that it cultivates a stronger bond between Grae and Caden.
Additionally, Cowles’s pacing of Caden and Grae’s attraction feels “just right” for this romance. While the reader waits on tenterhooks for Caden to allow his love for Grae, it never feels overly wrought. It blooms under Grae’s empathy and understanding of Caden’s pain derived from the relationships with his father and brother and the death of his sister. Cowles shows us the power of love to heal these hurts as Grae shows she knows Caden better than anyone.
If I have any criticisms of Cowles’s storytelling, it’s the sometimes repetitiveness of her story elements, Her heroines, in general, tend to bear the trauma of her stories which can be predictable. That each of her small towns is rife with a variety of nefarious individuals could be perceived as problematic (I mean, who wants to live in a small town with so many violent individuals?). Lastly, while she does an apt job of disguising her villains, if you’re familiar with her romances, you know where to look to find them.
Even with those thoughts, Catherine Cowles is always a must-read for me. She suspends me in the time of her books, and she makes me fall in love with her characters. I pine for her stories, impatiently waiting for the next book to come.
“Loving people means exposing ourselves to the worst kind of pain […] But it also gives us the greatest beauty we’ll ever experience.”
USA Today bestseller, Catherine Cowles, has a sneak peek of her upcoming fake dating, brother’s best friend, small town romance, Glimmers of You, coming August 1st.
“Why are your lips touching my sister?” Holt growled as he pushed to his feet. Lawson strode out from the kitchen. “This is a joke, right?” But Roan stayed sitting. He simply stared, a thoughtful expression on his face. Caden didn’t seem especially worried and showed no signs of releasing me as three pissed-off guys charged toward him. I, on the other hand, immediately started sweating. “Explain,” Nash growled. Caden rubbed a hand up and down my arm. “Gigi and I are dating.” Lawson’s jaw dropped open, then closed, then opened again. “You two hate each other.” Caden shrugged. “I think that was really just flirting.” Holt’s gaze narrowed on him. “Grae said she was going to murder you. Repeatedly.” My fingers twisted in Caden’s shirt as the panic set in. “Murder is apparently Gigi’s love language,” Caden explained. We were so screwed.
Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.
“What?” I groan and face her again. “Call someone else. Whatever it is, call someone else to help her. I’ll even pay for it. It’ll be cheaper than the therapy I’ll have to endure after seeing her.”
“She needs help.”
I cross my arms over my chest. “Oh, I know that. I rode with her all the way to Orlando and back to pick up someone’s shit when they moved in with Maddox.”
She sighs.
I sigh back at her.
We watch one another. Neither of us says a word. But Sara? Sara says lots of words, many of which can be heard through the phone dangling in Ashley’s hand from across the room.
If Sara had called and asked for my help, I wouldn’t answer. The woman is hell on wheels. She’s headstrong and thinks she knows everything. Her aversion to physical labor is astounding.
If I’m water, she’s oil—oil that hasn’t been changed in a hundred-thousand miles. And I’m basically holy water, so it’s a no-go.
But it’s not Sara who’s asking for my help. It’s Ashley. And Ashley is family.
Oh, fuck my life.
I blow out a long, hasty breath.
“I’ll let you come over for dinner tomorrow, too,” Ashley says, luring me in with her fluttery lashes.
Still, I hold strong and think it through.
Even if I put up an argument and do my best to resist her pleas for help, I’ll give in. Arguing will only delay the inevitable. At worst, Ashley will call Maddox, and he’ll call me, asking me to go. And I can’t say no to Maddox because he never says no to me.
Except for the spiders.
“Three dinners,” I say. “And movie nights with you guys every Saturday for a month.”
She grins and thrusts the phone my way.
I take it, glaring at her. It only makes her giggle.
I sigh again, just to set the stage. Can’t let Sara think I’m happy about this.
“Hi, giant pain in the ass,” I say.
“Thinking about my ass again, I see.”
This is gonna suck.
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.
Tropes: part of an expanded universe; MFM; FMC with past trauma; small-town romance; found family
There is a long list of reasons I enjoy Lexi Blake’s writing as Sophie Oak’s Unexpected Bliss, book 13, in her Nights in Bliss series. I’ll give you the reasons in a moment, but it’s important to underscore the heart of this story: Blake’s own experience infused into her FMC, Elisa’s journey. One of the main reasons I love teaching writing is the promise of learning about the writer through their story-telling. Our filters (past experiences, values, upbringing, etc) find purchase in our writing. When it’s soulful and filled with pain, we, the reader, feel it too, and in many instances, we find the author’s experience reflecting our own. This creates a tether to the story that adds profundity to it. It’s why we cry or laugh or feel butterflies in our stomachs because we find a little bit of ourselves in it. Blake’s bravery in offering bits of her story through Elisa’s journey makes Unexpected Bliss compelling and thoughtful and passionate, and I loved every moment of it. It’s brave. It’s insightful. And it tugs at your heart. That’s just the start. Here are the other reasons I loved this story:
Elisa perfectly balances the literal and sometimes brooding Hale and the charming, stubborn Van. Where Hale and Van struggle, Elisa excels. The three have been crafted to complete each other.
Elisa’s connection to Mel. Mel’s character has challenged the veracity of aliens if you’ve “lived” in Bliss through the pages of Blake’s romances. In this book, Mel and Elisa find something in the other that they didn’t know what missing.
I love a found family trope, and it’s beautifully constructed in this story.
The expanded universe of Bliss is always a treasure. Blake gifts her readers with a trove of past characters, which means you spend a lot of time getting caught up with the various couples. Even more, the next generation infuses the pages of this book.
While Blake follows her usual story pattern (two of the throuple recognize their love for each other while the third believes they don’t have a future together), it doesn’t matter because we know they’re headed for a happy ending, and we’re treated to some delicious spice while they figure it out.
If you love MFM romances and you’ve never been to Bliss, Colorado, today’s the day to start. If you’ve been to Bliss, but you’ve yet to grab Unexpected Bliss, it’s like pulling on your favorite sweater on a chilly day: it leaves you feeling warm and satisfied until the very end
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.
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.
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.
Tropes: friends to lovers; romantic suspense; small-town romance; found family; band of brothers
Catherine Cowles is a supreme wizard when it comes to romantic suspense, although I want to make sure she’s “okay” half the time when her poor heroines encounter so much trauma in her romances. Echoes of You is dramatic and heart-rending and joyful and steamy and sweet and page-turning. From its beginning, Cowles captures her reader’s attention with her heroine’s painful background. While its beginning isn’t as dramatic as the first book of Cowles’s Lost & Found series, it’s serious and emotional as we encounter the painful reality of Maddie’s life. Over and over again, Cowles pummels her reader with the trauma from Maddie’s childhood and her broken relationship with her ex-fiance. Maddie’s journey is redeemed when Nash finally allows himself to love her as he has always wanted.
One minute, Cowles takes us from pain and despair to the summit of love as Maddie and Nash accept their long percolating feelings. But Cowles wouldn’t be her usual genius self unless she puts her MMC and FMC through trials. And poor Nash and Maddie must endure an onslaught of villainy to find their happy ending. Through it all, as a beloved reader, you know that the promise of a happy ending is on the horizon, and Cowles treats us to an especially sweet one with these two. To be fair, they deserve all the happiness in the world given the drama of their journeys.
What should you expect ultimately from Echoes of You? Lots of action that put Maddie and Nash in peril along with sentimental moments filled with Nash’s family protecting and loving Maddie beyond measure. Add to that a tension-filled journey of two friends who fight their feelings before they finally realize that their love is fated and incomparable. You cannot put down Catherine Cowles’s Echoes of You. And you will hope that the next book in the series comes soon.
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.
Professor Romance 