A Talent Ignited

By Suzanne Lenoir

Financial gap/Class disparity
Other Worlds
The Valmoran Series | Book 2
Magic

Evelyne, a disowned noblewoman, and Annika, a peasant girl with unusual powers, made the choice to be together in a kingdom where men make the rules. Now the Temple elders want Annika for murder and mercenaries want Evelyne for theft. But when Evelyne is abducted and Annika believes she has been abandoned, they must risk everything to find each other again.

Annika discovers the Temple has imprisoned children with abilities like hers, and she alone stands between them and death. She’s forced to face her fear of her own powers and soon learns to use them with the help of Zuri, a former slave who is also gifted with magic. Evelyne, no longer entitled to the favors and respect bestowed on the nobility, must convince her beautiful captor to help her return to Annika. 

Doubt and questions plague them both, but one thing is for certain. The Temple has a long memory, and a familiar foe is coming for them.

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Buried Secrets

By Sheri Lewis Wohl

Tuesday Johnson spent her career helping the Spokane, WA, community as a probation officer and a search and rescue K9 handler. After suffering a career-ending gunshot wound, all she wants is to heal and spend quiet time with her mother during her last days of battling cancer. Instead, visions of murder disrupt her hopes for peace, and family secrets shake up everything she thought she knew.

After twenty-five years of searching, private detective Addie Caine has all but given up hope of finding her brother alive. When the last known sighting brings her to Spokane and a routine search uncovers a decades-old burial ground, the hunt for her brother means pursuing a serial killer. Tuesday and Addie, along with Tuesday’s dog, Tripper, struggle to solve a twenty-five-year-old mystery while searching for love and redemption along the way.

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Death on the Water

By CJ Birch

A body count is never a good vacation selling point.

In a world of luxury and relaxation, the Ocean Summit stands out during its inaugural cruise, but not for reasons the cruise director would like. 

Forced by her agent and publisher to take a much-needed cruise vacation, investigative journalist Claire Mills finds work harder to forget than she anticipated when the cleaning staff discover her neighbor dead on the first day of sailing. The ship’s authorities have ruled it a suicide, but Claire suspects murder. With the help of the delightful assistant cruise director Moira, Claire conducts her own investigation. 

But the deeper they get, the more clues they collect, and the danger escalates. With the killer on their trail, Claire and Moira must decide what’s more important, finding the killer or surviving eight days together at sea.

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Living for You

By Jenny Frame

A Wild for You Novel | Book 4
Magic

In the final installment of Jenny Frame’s Wild For You series, danger and desire are impossible to avoid in the end game of good versus evil. 

Eternity is a long time, but for Serenity Debrek, immortality has been one long party. As little sister to Byron Debrek, the leader of the Debrek vampire clan, Serenity has never wanted for anything. If only she could be useful to her sister and be taken seriously, especially as she accidentally endangered the clan during their last encounter with the dark witch Anka.

Bhal has lived all eternity serving the Debreks. She has only one rule to avoid inevitable tragedy: never fall in love again. But Serenity haunts her dreams. Bhal shouldn’t love, and Serenity hates her it seems.

When Serenity falls into a path of self-destruction, only Bhal can save her and show her she has everything to live for. But in the end game of good versus evil, will they be able to find reasons to live, and love?

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Ride with Me

By Jenna Jarvis

Close Quarters
Financial gap/Class disparity
Music
New Orleans 
Las Vegas
Friends & Community
Lawyers
Bisexual
California

Returning home after years of living as far from her wealthy family as she can, Lucy wants her great American road trip before she settles down. The vintage VW bus her arrogant older brother Jordan is selling off seems like the perfect vehicle for it.

But the bus in question is fiercely beloved by its real owner, Emma, Jordan’s wife. She’s not ready to let the bus go, but she is ready to get out of her marriage—and isn’t above hijacking her own bus to make that happen.

When Lucy’s vacation to find herself becomes Emma’s chance to remember herself, they realize that everything they’re looking for might already be sitting right next to them—if they’re willing to reach for it.

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Rivals for Love

By Ali Vali

New York City
New Orleans 
Friends & Community
Friends to Lovers Romance

Brooks Boseman, born into privilege in an old New Orleans plantation home, could have opted for an easy life just like her siblings, but after a broken heart, she escapes to New York where no one knows her name.

A call from the family matriarch changes everything. Her brother Curtis is getting married, and Brooks needs to be at the engagement party. Only she can’t possibly go, not with Curtis set to marry the secret love of her youth, Fallon Goodwin. Unable to find a way to refuse, Brooks returns to discover the family business is in jeopardy. In the face of her father’s struggles with Alzheimer’s and her brother’s well-intentioned blunders, she’s forced to step in to save the family fortune.

As far as Brooks and Fallon are concerned, romance is for storybooks, but as hard as they try to resist, neither can deny their feelings still linger. Family ties have never been more binding as they fight for the business, and maybe even for each other.

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Whiskey and Wine

By Kelly & Tana Fireside

Close Quarters
Friends & Community
Owen Station Romance Series
Food

Lace Reynolds has a three-month rule for a reason. Long-term romantic relationships get complicated. And Lace doesn’t do complicated. She’s had enough of that in her life. Besides, she’s too busy running Frisky Business, just voted Best Sex Toy Shop in Arizona, and she’s got big expansion plans in the works. If she’s helping others find pleasure and connection, she’s happy. Right? 

Tessa Williams has moved from California to Arizona wine country to escape a cheating ex and launch her own vineyard. When she’s not battling wine snobs and fighting water wars, she’s wrangling a sulky teenage daughter and an Australian Shepard named Bleu. She doesn’t have time to go looking for love. Not that she could hold on to it, even if love found her. 

Lace and Tessa have been friends almost from the moment they met. But when Tessa opens a tasting room right next to Frisky Business, it gets harder to ignore the heat between them. The last thing they need is romance messing up a good thing. Maybe with a little help from their friends and the town’s friskiest ghost, they’ll be able to discover if love is a risk worth taking.

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Mate of Her Own

By Elena Abbott

Bisexual

Heather McKenna has no idea how to be a werewolf. Her wolf might be free from its cursed cage but has shut the door between the two of them, leaving Heather still reeling from the emptiness. When Heather discovers her mother is in the hospital, she is certain that closure from the person who cursed her in the first place will settle her wolf’s grudge and is quick to pack a bag. 

V Raines sees the problems with werewolf society all around them. Despite being a nonbinary outcast in their own pack, they still have the responsibilities of being the Alpha’s only child. When their father attempts to pair them off with a dominant male pack member, V is all but ready to abandon their pack.

When V is called to the hospital to take care of a possible rogue shifter, they aren’t ready for the consequences of finding their true mate in Heather. V’s all in as Heather worries she’s not wolf enough to stand between V’s intense pack and her true mate. Fate just made their lives a lot more difficult.

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Pumpkin Spice

By Tagan Shepard

Blue Collar
Children / Families

Nicki Russell has never been smooth. More like a bumbling, awkward mess always falling short of her dreams. Good college? She never had the money. Post-grad? She’ll get around to it someday. Happy ever after with the perfect woman? One major heartbreak is enough to have her swearing off love forever. Current life plan? Avoid all unnecessary human contact. That goes double for Carter, the hot new butch in town.

Unfortunately, Carter works at the town’s pick-your-own pumpkin patch and Nicki's niece is obsessed with Halloween. So obsessed she ropes her favorite aunt into organizing the school Halloween festival, hosted by Carter Farms. Volunteer weekends are scary enough, but Carter seems to be everywhere Nicki goes, and it’s just a matter of time before she discovers Nicki's more likely to trip over a chair than successfully flirt.

But Carter can’t seem to get enough of her company, and as their accidental encounters slowly simmer into romance, Nicki begins to believe she’s not a complete disaster after all. The date of the festival is fast approaching, and this pumpkin spice season is turning out sweeter than expected.

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Sweat Equity

By Aurora Rey

People of Color
Blue Collar
Friends & Community
Animals 
A Renovation Romance | Book 1
Food

Burned-out chef Sy Travino never expected to wind up on a goat farm in rural Vermont, but that’s exactly where she lands after leaving the restaurant world to become a cheese maker. It’s a great place to flex her muscles and make a name for herself, though. Too bad the house she bought is practically unlivable.

Maddie Barrow can’t believe anyone would be dumb enough to buy a house sight unseen, but she’s not about to turn down the job of renovating it, especially since her best friend just hired Sy to turn Grumpy Old Goat into the chèvre everyone is talking about. When the estimate on the house exceeds Sy’s budget, Maddie puts her to work. 

It doesn’t take long for Sy and Maddie to admit their chemistry is off the charts, but having fun doesn’t always lead to forever. Could it be a foundation for love or nothing but a teardown?

 

Praise from Publishers Weekly: Rey stresses the importance of building something to last in this torrid home renovation romance....Rey makes the chemistry between Maddie and Sy obvious and immediate, leading naturally to plenty of creative and exciting sex scenes, but tempers the hot-and-heavy goings-on with emotional intelligence that makes the relationship feel as sturdy as a load-bearing wall. Readers will never doubt that a happy ending is on its way, but they’ll love watching it come together.

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Taking the Plunge

By Amanda Radley

When the marketing agency Regina Avery worked for declares bankruptcy, she’s forced to take a temporary position at a women’s fashion brand. She’s never worn anything more fashionable than a polyester suit, but beggars cannot be choosers. She definitely didn’t choose to work with her ex-girlfriend Margot. Margot never got over the whole forgot-her-parents'-names incident more than a decade ago, because she assigns Regina to a marketing campaign within the lingerie department. Not that there’s anything wrong with lingerie exactly, but Regina’s blushing modesty makes her less than ideal for the position.

When Regina meets model Grace Holland—the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen—between rows of fancy knickers, she doesn’t have a clue how to flirt, date, or hold on to a relationship. In fact, she can barely maintain eye contact with Grace, who seems to be going out of her way to bump into Regina.

Never feeling more like a fish out of water, Regina must take the plunge with Grace and hope she manages to swim before Margot or her own shyness sinks her chance at love.

 

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We Met in a Bar

By Claire Forsythe

Wealthy nightclub owner Erica turns undercover bartender on a mission to catch a thief. The ridiculous idea seemed comical when her brother proposed it. After all, Erica has never worked a day in her life. But when her pushy mother plays matchmaker with yet another woman Erica isn’t interested in, she escapes on a train to London, to a club she hasn’t set foot in since inheriting it. There she meets no strings, no commitments Charlie, who couldn’t be further from Erica’s type. Erica has never met anyone who gets under her skin so much, and that’s surely a bad thing, right?

Charlie lives for the thrill of the chase. She loves women a little too much to imagine herself settling down. The very thought of a relationship is a terrifying prospect. It doesn’t matter anyway because she’s never met anyone who has held her interest for anything longer than a quick fling. All that changes when she meets the mysterious new bartender at her local club. Getting to know the obnoxious yet beautiful woman is a challenge she can’t resist. She just hadn’t bargained on her heart getting involved.

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Western Blue

By Suzie Clarke

Coming Out
Bisexual
Friends to Lovers Romance
Multicultural 

In 1868, Caroline Bluebonnet Hutching is forced to leave her Texas home and make a new life in Nevada. But the townsmen are against her, and she can’t get the help she needs. Undaunted, she advertises for female workers, only to find that each woman who answers her ad is as desperate as she is. And she’s entirely unprepared for the one who steals her heart.

When raiders attack Isabel Segura’s horse ranch and slaughter her family, she’s left with nothing—no home, no future, no hope. When she sees Blue’s ad, a new dream sparks to life. Determined to begin again, she sets out on a journey she never could have imagined.

Heroism, loyalty, friendship, and love. The odds are against this unlikely group—but never underestimate women who have nothing to lose.

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Windswept

By Patricia Evans

Close Quarters
Ghosts
International Setting
New Orleans 
Actors/Artists
Friends & Community
Food
Magic
Multicultural 

When Sabine Rowan moves home to New Orleans after a family tragedy, she escapes into her favorite romance novels as she cares for her mother, a pampered former actress with a flair for the dramatic. Thoughts of finding love start to fade until her favorite aunt passes away and leaves Sabine with the equivalent of a ticking time bomb and a nearly impossible choice: to gain her inheritance she must leave home and find her own place in the world. 

Everyone in the tiny village of Nairn, in the Highlands of Scotland, turns to Alden Wallace when they need expert help restoring their historic homes. Still reeling from her latest romantic disaster, Alden barely notices the most recent American tourist to swan into their village. Until she buys an abandoned lighthouse and Alden is the only one who can save the crumbling disaster from disappearing into the sea.

Can the windswept shores of Scotland weave enough magic to bring them together?

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An Epiphany in Flannel

By Meghan O'Brien

An Opposites Attract Butch/Femme Romance Novella

Small-town waitress Maisie Davis resolves the mystery of her sexuality after an unexpected encounter with a handsome stranger seated in the corner booth of Moe’s Fine Diner. Aiden Crane opens Maisie’s mind and body to exciting new possibilities—but can she find the courage to follow her heart?

An Epiphany in Flannel was originally published in Opposites Attract: Butch/Femme Romance Novellas (Bold Strokes Books, 2021).

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An Independent Woman

By Kit Meredith

Disability
Friends & Community

A romance for everyone who has made difficult decisions on the road to their chosen family.

Rebecca Miller’s life is exactly how she wants it. She loves her polyamorous chosen family and her rewarding job as a carer for adults with learning disabilities. Then the Jennings sisters arrive and test her boundaries, turning her carefully balanced life upside down.

Alex Jennings’s move to the middle of nowhere is temporary. Her sister Phoebe has been placed in a care home instead of living independently like she’d prefer, but Alex is determined she’ll be allowed to live life on her own terms.

Alex and Rebecca should be on the same page but keep clashing over what is best for Phoebe. Their attraction won’t stop smoldering, despite their reluctance to act on it and incompatible poly relationship styles. They can barely trust each other enough to do the right thing as far as Phoebe is concerned, so figuring out a way forward together is out of the question.

 

Praise from Publishers Weekly: "Meredith debuts with a polyamorous sapphic romance as sensitive as it is spicy...Meredith’s characters feel whole and real, with lives that are enhanced by their romance rather than railroaded by it, and their thoughtful exploration of the balance between independence and healthy relationships is nourishing but never preachy."

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Cherish

By Kris Bryant

Financial gap/Class disparity
Actors/Artists
Small Town Romances

Josie Lockner scores big when she’s awarded a summer artist-in-residence in the small beach town of Goda, Massachusetts. The Wellingtons are the perfect host family and Revere Estates the best backdrop. She’s more than ready to capture the beauty of nature with her pencils and brushes. Falling for the Wellingtons’ quiet neighbor, Olivia Monteclair isn’t in the picture, but just because it won’t last forever doesn’t mean she can’t have some fun. 

Olivia’s peaceful days are interrupted when Josie, with her infectious grin and sunny disposition, crowds her space. Was Olivia ever that young or that hungry about life? She isn’t in the market, not after her devastating heartbreak, but there’s something about Josie that brings out a lightness she’s missing from her life. 

Both cherish the time spent together, but when the summer ends and their temporary romance melts into the real deal, reality gets complicated.

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Cold Case Heat

By Mary P. Burns

Amateur Sleuths
Big City
Friends to Lovers Romance
Children / Families

Forty years ago, Sydney Hansen’s best friend was murdered. His killer left her a menacing note. Now the man Syd suspected was behind the killing has died—and she receives another threat, attached to a photo of her thirteen-year-old great-niece. Terrified but angry, she turns to the NYPD and Detective Gale Sterling to reopen the case.

Gale has been handling cold cases for over a decade, burying herself in her work and caring for her elderly father, a former detective himself. But this case isn’t like the others. Maybe it’s Sydney Hansen—she finds her beauty captivating. Or maybe it’s the bullet she takes for Syd one night when their date turns into an impromptu stakeout.

Syd and Gayle just want to protect the innocent and bring a killer to justice, but as their feelings for each other grow the once cold case turns dangerously hot.

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