I Thought of You by Jewel E. Ann
I wanted to conquer the world.
She wanted to gaze at the stars.
It’s been twelve years since I last saw Scottie Rucker. A grim prognosis has upended my life, and no amount of my hard-earned money can fix it. So, after leaving a note on the nightstand, I search for my first love—I search for life.
When I find her in Austin, working at a quaint general store and living in an RV behind it, those twelve years vanish. She’s exactly how I remember her.
Scottie thinks our reunion is a small-world coincidence, and I’m not ready to tell her the truth. After we rekindle our friendship, she convinces me to work part-time at the store while she pursues her budding relationship with Koen, a welder and the grandson of a customer.
Scottie’s ability to live in the moment is exactly what I need. But how do I convince her new boyfriend that I’m not his competition? And what happens if my heart changes its mind?
The Lies about Forever by Claudia Burgoa
Lightning can strike the same place more than once.
The first time, it robbed me of my high school sweetheart.
Shattering our forever.
I was just sixteen.
Too young to understand the medical jargon that meant she was gone.
Too naïve to see that forever was nothing but a fairytale.
Now, years later, I meet Ameline.
I tried not to fall in love, but it was impossible.
She gathered all my broken pieces and put me back together.
I knew the only way to keep myself intact was never to love again.
But I fell for the illusion of forever once more.
At least until I lost her.
Now I’m left questioning everything.
What does forever mean when it’s built on a foundation of pain and loss?
How do you move on when lightning keeps targeting your heart?
Why bother believing in forever when tomorrow isn’t guaranteed?
The Lies About Forever is book one of the Impossibly Possible duet that ends on a jarring cliffhanger that will break you into a million pieces.
The Pucker Next Door by Sara Ney
When a squirrel chews its way through my bedroom wall, I do the first thing any single girl like me would do: run frantically out of the house to the neighbors, begging for help.
I should mention that the house next door is full of hockey players. And when I lock eyes on rough and rugged Brodie Stockhausen—who happens to be outside brooding on the porch—I’m not exactly impressed.
But I’m desperate, in a bathrobe, and needa bit of rescuing.
Soon I’m begging for his help with more than just squirrel duty and DIY projects. I want his attention and his touch—not just his friendship! I want what every girl wants: him lying in his bed at night, so desperate for me that he’s willing to scale two stories to sneak into my window. Hey, a girl can dream…
But Brodie has a secret; one that leaves me wanting more every time we’re together but has him pulling away…
King of Sloth by Ana Huang
He’d never wanted anyone enough to chase them…until he met her.
Charming, easygoing, and rich beyond belief, Xavier Castillo has the world at his fingertips.
He also has no interest in taking over his family’s empire (much to his father’s chagrin), but that hasn’t stopped women from throwing themselves at him…unless the woman in question is his publicist.
Nothing brings him more joy than riling her up, but when a tragedy forces them closer than ever, he must grapple with the uncertainty of his future—and the realization that the only person immune to his charms is the only one he truly wants.
***
Cool, intelligent, and ambitious, Sloane Kensington is a high-powered publicist who’s used to dealing with difficult clients.
However, none infuriate—or tempt—her more than a certain billionaire heir, with his stupid dimples and laid-back attitude.
She may be forced to work with him, but she’ll never fall for him…no matter how fast he makes her heart beat or how thoughtful he is beneath his party persona.
He’s her client, and that’s all he’ll ever be. Right?
King of Sloth is a steamy forced proximity romance. It’s book four in the Kings of Sin series but can be read as a standalone.
The Accidental Siren by Lexi Blake
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.
Only the Brave by Danielle Steel
Sophia Alexander, the beautiful daughter of a famous surgeon in Berlin, has had to grow up faster than most young women. When her mother falls ill, Sophia must take charge of her younger sister, Theresa, and look after her father and the household, while also volunteering at his hospital after school. Meanwhile, Hitler’s rise to power and the violence in her very own town have Sophia concerned, but only her mother is willing to share her fears openly.
After tragedy strikes and her mother dies, Sophia becomes increasingly involved in the resistance, attending meetings of dissidents and helping however she can. Circumstances become increasingly dangerous and personal when Sophia assists her sister’s daring escape from Germany, as Theresa flees with her young husband and his family. Her father also begins to resist the regime, secretly healing those hiding from persecution, only to have his hospital burned to the ground. When he is arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Sophia is truly on her own, but more determined than ever to help.
While working as a nurse with the convent nuns, the Sisters of Mercy, Sophia continues her harrowing efforts to transport Jewish children to safety and finds herself under surveillance. As the political tensions rise and the brutal oppression continues, Sophia is undeterred, risking it all, even her own freedom, as she rises to the challenge of helping those in need—no matter the cost.
In Only the Brave, Danielle Steel vividly captures the devastating effects of war alongside beautiful moments of compassion and courage.
Grave New World by Gena Showalter & Jill Monroe
Jane Ladling cordially invites you to the world’s most romantic wedding. But first, there’s a few items to check off her to-do list.
- Actually plan the festivities
- Find a way to pay for said festivities
- Avoid finding a dead body. OOPS! Solve a murder
As the owner of a landlocked cemetery and self-proclaimed expert amateur sleuth, Jane knows death inside and out. After receiving an invite to speak at a local writer’s club, she discovers a dead body upon arrival, plus an invitation from the killer.
Player one is ready. Are you?
Now the game is on!
With a newly elected (smoking hot) sheriff who doubles as her overprotective fiancé, a gaggle of enabling best friends, and a lovingly vicious guardcat at her side, the intrepid Jane has no doubt she’ll win. But as clues lead everywhere and nowhere at once, another victim is discovered, and an ancient family curse rears its ugly head. Jane realizes she’s caught in a battle between cat and mouse. To succeed, she’ll have to lay a trap of her own…
Because the Baron Broods by Darcy Burke
Rogue Rules
When a young lady is ruined, her friends vow none of them will ever be ensnared by a scoundrel again. They will resist every gentleman’s charms even—and especially—if it means gaining a reputation for being impossible to woo. It will take extraordinary rogues to break their rules…
Growing up in isolation in Cornwall, Tamsin Penrose looks forward to the one month each year that she spends in an idyllic seaside town with her best friends. She’s shocked to receive a letter from her reclusive father informing her of a potential groom—they’ve never even discussed marriage and she rather expected to be a spinster. But she’s met a charming, if serious, baron and now she’s dreaming of a romantic, wedded life.
During his annual trip to a friend’s seaside estate, broody Isaac Deverell, Baron Droxford finds himself in an objectionable situation: socializing with a group of ladies over several days. He is not prepared for the storm of cheerfulness that is Miss Penrose, nor can he deny that she makes him feel…good.
Because Isaac is an unheroic rogue with a devastatingly sinful secret, he should flee this delightful ray of sunshine. However, he can’t keep his distance, and when her overzealous suitor arrives and won’t take no for an answer, Isaac protects her in a scandalously public fashion. Now he can’t run from her. Can these attracted opposites find a happy ever after, or will the past destroy their chance?
When We Lied by Claire Contreras
Finneas Alexander Barlow is a walking thirst trap. Tall, hot, and broody. Tousled brown hair, chiseled jaw, alluring green eyes, perfect teeth, well-groomed beard, broad shoulders, and lips good enough to bite. He’d look like a Disney prince if the prince was a broody ahole.
Four years ago, a fated meeting led to an inevitable hook-up. Just one. It’s his rule. One-time hook-ups, no information exchanges, and no repeats. I knew that even before he established his boundaries, and he kept his promise. I hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
A year ago, when tragedy struck, he came back to town and sought me out. Gone was the disarming grin and the innuendos he’d once used to make my knees go weak. Unfortunately, his ire was equally debilitating. Now he’s back as the face of Fairview’s brand new professional hockey team and he’s looking for answers I don’t have. Finn won’t accept that, though. He’s as determined to uncover my secrets as I am to keep them. He pushes as hard as I pull. It’s only a matter of time before the rope snaps. Now I can only hope I’m the one left standing.
Almost Pretend by Nicole Snow
Eleanor Lark is an upbeat illustrator plagued by headaches and unruly strawberry blonde hair. After a grueling cross-country flight, she blacks out cold. The brooding stranger who sat next to her grumping his way through the flight catches Elle as she falls. Neither expects the sweet chaos that happens next.
August Marshall is stonehearted, insanely rich, and a master of corporate cleanups with major baggage of his own. The last man alive who needs a media frenzy after his airport heroics steal headlines. But August has a plan—ask Elle to marry him so their trouble disappears.
Elle almost faints again. They just met! But it’s hard to say no when August tells her she might be the key to saving a children’s book series she adores. And it’s even harder to remember it’s only pretend as sparks fly, hearts fall, and two perfect strangers try to remember life before make-believe…
Ravaged Souls by Caroline Peckham & Susanne Valenti
Callie:
The man I love has been poisoned against me, his heart twisted by the gods he served faithfully for so many years.
Running feels like abandoning him but staying can only end in death. Time is slipping by like sand through grasping hands and no matter what choices we make, these wicked deities seem set upon our destruction.
I’ve changed so much from the frightened girl I used to be, but now that I know the most desperate desires of my feral heart, I will do whatever it takes to save the man I claimed for my own.
I only hope I can get to him before the forces at play break him for good.
Montana:
This new life of mine was such a fleeting victory, the tainted love I’d found becoming something unimaginably pure.
The key to the curse seemed so close at hand but now all we had come to rely upon has been scattered to the wind.
Answers evade us like starlight in the clouds but the more we stones we uncover, the clearer our path becomes.
I only hope that we can find a way to follow it before the monster breathing down our necks sinks her ragged claws into us and all chance for salvation is lost.
***This is a dark, fantasy romance series by the authors of Zodiac Academy with all the enemies to lovers vibes – don’t go expecting a sweet vampire with sparkling skin and a tendency to watch you sleeping. These vampires are savage and bloodthirsty, and the slayer who hunts them will stab first and ask questions later. This war-torn fantasy world is a brutal bi*ch and only those 18+ have a chance at surviving the darkness lurking between these pages. There’s no well-meaning vampires snacking on Bambies instead of babies, and if they get their teeth into you, you’ll be damn lucky to escape with your life and panties intact. So grab hold of your slayer blade (wooden stakes have too many splinters) and get ready to defy the gods, because this is going to be one helluva ride***
Their Last Resort by R.S. Grey
Paige Young and Cole Clark are polar opposites. A world traveler since birth, Paige loves to lead activities for guests at a luxury island resort in Turks and Caicos. From bingo nights to cliffside hikes, Paige is up for anything. Cole, meanwhile, prefers his number-crunching desk job. He’s the assistant director at the resort—stiff and meticulous. He’s so by the book that he keeps the book. In his desk drawer.
They’re perfectly aligned in one way, though—their ability to drive each other crazy. Every day brings a fresh battle of wits. They’re rivals, archnemeses…and they’re definitely never going to talk about that one time they kissed. Ha ha. Nope!
But when Paige finds out that Cole has been ordered to fire her on the same day a hurricane threatens their little slice of paradise, it’s clear the game is over.
At odds, in peril, and forced to shelter in place together, these two enemies might finally have to confront their true feelings. (You know, the ones hidden under all those withering looks.)
Crave by Chelle Bliss
Tate Gallo had a type – emotionally unavailable bikers who were more feral than serious relationship material.
The day she turned thirty, she decided to make a change: No more biker boys. She deserved more. She wanted to be someone’s world.
But then he stumbled in bloodied, bruised, and in need of help. One look into his dark eyes, and Tate realized her life would never be the same again.
She wouldn’t fall for him.
She couldn’t, not for her heart’s sake.
But one kiss never hurt anyone…right?
But with one taste of his lips and touch of his hand, Tate knew she couldn’t escape his pull forever.
Pretty Little Tainted by Terri Anne Browning
My secrets were as dark as my soul. From the moment I was born, my purpose was drilled into me—carry out revenge against the woman who had stolen everything from my adoptive family.
One look at Abi and I began to question everything I’d ever been told.
When I saw her smile, I felt alive, the sound of her sweet laughter like a balm to my ravaged soul. Until I met her, I didn’t even think I had a heart, but with each heated glance from those startling blue eyes, I finally understood.
She didn’t know it, but she’d changed everything. Three decades of meticulous planning were wiped away with a simple pout of her lips. Now, I had a new reason for existing. But that put a target on her back.
To protect her, I will turn my back on the only family I’d ever known.
Enemies become allies, and the truth will finally come to light.
- Professor/Student
- Age Gap
- Small College Town
- Obsessed Alpha Stalker
- Rocker Princess
- Mafia Prince
- Dark Secrets
Here for the Cake by Jennifer Millikin
A week on an island sounds like the stuff of beach dreams, but for Paisley Royce, it’s a nightmare. Her little sister is marrying her ex-college sweetheart, and Paisley is serving as maid of honor. To add insult to injury, nobody will let Paisley forget she’s single.
Bachelorette weekend changes everything when she runs into her old college frenemy, Klein Madigan.
Klein is still intelligent and funny, and somehow time has only made him more attractive.
Paisley is Klein’s ‘one that got away’, not that he’d ever admit it to her. A colossal misstep (and one terrible kiss) in college sealed their fate.
Or so they thought.
Klein’s an aspiring author allergic to social media. Paisley owns a digital marketing agency.
A brilliant plan is hatched: A trip across the country for a week of faking out her family in exchange for her firm marketing his work.
One hastily scrawled and signed contract on a bar napkin later, Paisley and Klein embark on a journey of tension, only one bed, and fake dating shenanigans.
Paisley’s goal is to survive the week.
Klein’s plan is to enjoy the sun, sand, and wedding cake.
But then there’s a scorching kiss to make up for that bad one in college.
And another kiss in a lighthouse during a thunderstorm. A gentle palm on Paisley’s lower back, and a reassuring hand squeeze under the table.
Everyone is convinced Klein and Paisley are the real deal, but as the week wears on, they begin to wonder if the only people they’re kidding are themselves.
Don’t Fall for Your Best Friend by Logan Chance
I’ve always lived by one major rule, don’t fall for your best friend, and this is one rule I can’t break.
I’m supposed to write an article about a topic so scandalous, I can’t even say it. Starts with B, followed by DSM.
I know nothing about the lifestyle, so I’m committed to learning the ropes—pun intended.
When my best guy friend offers his help, I happily accept.
Paxton Atwood might be ridiculously handsome, but we’re platonic and there will be rules to follow.
#1 No kissing.
#2 Keep our undies on
#3 No actual boinking!
We start out easy, but exploring this new world is hard. The public play ends with me getting shocked in the local restaurant by the machinery, and our foray into restraints ends with Paxton in the emergency room.
We try a few other scenarios but they all end in disaster. Until I accidentally set my place on fire, and move in with Paxton.
Now we’re sharing one bed, and forced to spend time alone together, perfecting our “scenes.”
What do they say about rules? They’re made to be broken, and once we break one rule…we break them all.
But how do I walk away from him once this assignment is over?
