For Love or Money

By Jesse J. Thoma

A Hot Hires Novella

Short-seller Frances “Frankie” Sender has always been good at picking winners, but her skills might make her the ultimate loser when a company she is researching frames her for a crime. Her only chance at staying alive is Dakota “Oz” Osborne, a woman with a million-dollar reason to toss her in jail. They’ll have to trust each other and avoid the easy cash out if they want the stock to rise on a chance at love.

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Kaleidoscope

By Georgia Beers

Dr. Madeline Bishop has built her life with surgical precision, from her successful dental clinic to the daughter, Zoe, she raised mostly alone. She did everything right, and yet somewhere along the way, she stopped having fun. With her birthday looming, Maddie can’t ignore the truth anymore: She’s lonely and hasn’t let herself want anything, or anyone, in years.

Then a so-so-hot encounter with a younger woman brings Maddie back to life in a stunning kaleidoscope of color.

Evan Dawson doesn’t do complicated relationships. She pours her energy into helping others through her therapy practice as well as Hope and Harvest, where she helps feed the people who need it most. Romance will just have to wait. That's why exchanging numbers with a gorgeous older woman was a lapse in judgment. Falling into intense, flirtatious texting with her? Even worse.

What starts as fun quickly turns into a romance neither of them planned, and both of them desperately need. But when Zoe's career aspirations and awkward crush come between them, their love story may not survive the collision with real life.

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On Location

By Sara Radley

After rising movie star Avery Mitchell’s very public breakup and round of tabloid damage control, she escapes to New Hampshire to keep her head down. El Walsh’s life in the mountains is far removed from the spotlight. Avery is impossible to ignore and the last complication she needs. And yet, shared hikes turn into something more than friendship.

When Avery lands the lead in the film adaptation of a novel, the last person she expects to see at the table read is El, the anonymous author behind it all. Suddenly, they’re working together in an industry that thrives on image, control, and messaging. And Avery’s publicist pushes her toward a safer romance with her costar. Avery convinces herself it’s the right move. But when El risks everything to be honest about her feelings, Avery worries her feelings for El will cost her the career she’s spent her whole life building.

From the quiet New Hampshire mountains to the glare of Hollywood, <i>On Location</i> is an emotionally charged sapphic romance about choosing what matters most when the cameras stop rolling.

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The Last Good City

By Ashley Bartlett

In the last city left on Earth, humanity survives by one rule: Don’t be an asshole. In a future where natural water is toxic, the wilderness is dangerous, and humans have finally put aside their differences in order to thrive, apprentice philosopher Ellas Harding thinks that rule is aces.

Benevolence is their greatest achievement, and Wargames—a weeklong festival that parodies humanity’s violent past—is the culmination of that peace. There’s no better way to reject brutality than to drink and dance and weave flowers in your hair.

The fun is just getting started when Ellas witnesses a shocking act of real violence. Worse, Jones McCoy, her enigmatic new paramour, may have something to do with it. Wargames is a time to be frivolous and fall in love with a girl, not reckon with danger, but Ellas is going to do it all. She reluctantly digs for the truth, uncovering secrets that could shatter the city. As her peaceful world falls apart, Ellas will have to decide what it means to be good.

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Art of the Deal

By Morgan Adams

Perpetual player Stella Torres couldn’t care less about climbing the corporate ladder. Her priorities include providing for her grandmother, being a loyal friend, and meeting as many beautiful women as possible. So, when her law firm sends her on a trip to London to win over a new artist, Stella assumes this will just be another deal. That is until she meets the competition.

Gallery curator Leila Ahuja loves art, history, and everything about what she does. Leila can’t wait to prove herself with her upcoming exhibit featuring one of London’s most popular artists. Everything is going according to plan until an obnoxious New Yorker shows up at her gallery to steal her biggest client.

Tension and romantic chemistry mount as Leila and Stella are forced to work together at the artist’s request. Will one of them master the art of the deal, or will love prove an even bigger prize?

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Pretty Girl

By Taylor J. Brown

Quinn Lawton thought she had the perfect life: steady job, loving family, great boyfriend, and a proposal just around the corner. Instead, a breakup shatters everything she thought she wanted. But in the wreckage, Quinn meets a woman she can’t stop thinking about.

Whitley Birds is fierce in a fight and absolutely uninterested in forever. Between running a bar and caring for her ailing father figure, she doesn’t have time for love. Not that those she loves stay anyway.

Their undeniable chemistry turns into an attraction neither of them is prepared for. Quinn is finding her feet as a queer woman, but she’s ready to risk it all for a chance at real love. Too bad Whitley is already bracing for the inevitable heartbreak.

When loss and fear tear them apart, Quinn must prove she won’t walk away. But loving Whitley means convincing her that some people are worth staying for.

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Specifically, You

By Jeanine Henning

Taylor Thomas has her life under control. She’s a dedicated personal trainer, loves her clients, adores her nosy landlady Myrtle, and dotes shamelessly on her rescue cat, Chicken. She’s got zero room for chaos—until a luxury SUV almost turns her into a speed bump.

Behind the wheel? Her brand-new client.

Sam Fairchild doesn’t do distractions. Between running a high-profile creative agency, countering a manipulative ex-husband, and navigating family tension, she just wants a trainer to help her reclaim her health. She doesn’t want Taylor—the relentless, magnetic blonde who’s immune to Sam’s CEO voice. Yet sparks fly.

When Sam’s sister receives a life-changing diagnosis, boundaries blur and Taylor offers strength without asking for anything in return. As family drama, old wounds, and outside pressures mount, Sam and Taylor must decide—play it safe or risk their hearts.

Specifically, You is a steamy, heartfelt sapphic romance about healing, resilience, and finding home in each other.

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This Spells Forever

By Melissa Sky

She cast a love spell to summon her soulmate. The universe sent her worst enemy instead.

Nova Wilde is a TikTok influencer, dripping in glitter and bravado, posting viral videos and thirst traps for Gen Z witches. But off-camera, she’s longing for the one thing she can’t seem to conjure: someone who stays. On a whim, she performs a sex-magick ritual…and accidentally summons the one woman who knows exactly how to get under her skin.

Dr. Delphine Desrosiers is everything Nova can’t stand. Serious. Controlled. Annoyingly unreadable. She’s an ice-queen academic with impeccable mystical credentials and a long history of throwing shade at Nova.

Their heated rivalry is the tea of Witchtok. Their searing attraction is the bane of their existence. When the signs begin stacking up, the two have to consider the unthinkable: that the universe knows what it’s doing.

This Spells Forever is a witty and whimsical enemies-to-lovers romance about power, performance, and the terrifying possibility of being truly chosen.

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Two Women, Two Weddings

By Alaina Erdell

A Hot Hires Novella

Aarti Singh’s brilliance in cardiology hasn’t diminished her longing to be an event planner, even if familial expectations demand a career in medicine. Meanwhile, Jo Samuels’s love life has taken a back seat to her demanding chef career and her desire to keep her life simple. When Aarti hires Jo to cater a wedding, their attraction is undeniable, but how can they fall in love when they’re struggling to be true to themselves?

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Curveball

By Cassandra Bell

When life throws the unexpected, sometimes the best thing to do is catch it. 

Addison and Kaiden arrive at a campground in Maine each with their own set of emotional baggage. Addison, fresh off a forced retirement, feels the weighty loss of identity and sense of purpose. Kaiden, trading life as a high-powered executive for something she can’t yet define, wants desperately to shed life in the spotlight. 

Neither woman wants connection. Yet, as they navigate their own troubled pasts and unknown futures, that’s exactly what they get. As old wounds surface, together they learn to find joy in places least expected and trust the unpredictable nature of this new season of life. 

Set against the rugged backdrop of the Maine coastline, Curveball is a story of finding love later in life, leaning into vulnerability, and the renewed courage it takes to write a new story when the old one no longer fits. It’s a celebration of second chances, redefining family, and an intimacy born from slowing down long enough to hear your own heart.

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Faking It

By Ashley Soren

Ellie Knox is country music’s rising star. She’s topping charts, winning awards, and selling out stadiums. The only thing missing is a love life that actually feels like hers. Her manager insists authenticity can wait; the brand comes first, including a parade of fake boyfriends to keep rumors quiet.

Her latest stand-in, smug heartthrob Tom Watson, seems like just another dude, until “he” confesses the truth. Tom is really Jane, a talented musician forced to masquerade as a man to get ahead in the industry.

Thrilled to have a queer confidante, Ellie keeps Jane close. But while the boy might be fake, Ellie's feelings become real. As their connection deepens, Ellie must choose: protect the dream career she’s built on illusion, or risk everything for a love that refuses to stay hidden.

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Find Me Love

By Kimberly Cooper Griffin

Wishes are spells of unmanageable power, especially if wished by an unknowing witch.

During the summer solstice, Jane and Linda make a wish that their daughters will find deep emotional connections and never struggle to be loved.

Twenty-five years later, their wish has become a curse.

Louvre and Desiree have lived lives of isolation, haunted by powers they don’t understand. Attraction turns into a dangerous obsession for anyone who gets too close. So, they’ve learned to live lives of isolation. Until the summer solstice draws them together.

For the first time, their connection doesn’t spiral into madness. The sparks are undeniable, and they finally experience true desire, real love, and balance that brings peace. But their love is destabilizing something deeply mystical, and it could destroy them.

Now Louvre and Desiree must make an impossible choice: protect their love at the risk of all existence, or maintain the Universal Balance and lose the only love they’ve ever known.

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Magic and Murder

By Sheri Lewis Wohl

Reggie Scot runs a charming magic shop in Spokane, but the crystals and tarot cards hide a deeper purpose: guarding ancient, powerful relics that could unleash hell on earth. As a descendant of Paladins sworn to protect the world from dark magic, Reggie knows danger has arrived in the form of ritualistic murders and cryptic symbols.

Detective Brooklyn Timmons doesn’t believe in spells or omens—until her homicide case collides with Reggie’s secret magical world. A killer is targeting the protectors of seven talismans, each one the key to ultimate power. Reggie knows the stakes. Brooklyn knows the bodies are piling up. They must work together to save the world.

As they race to stop the deadly mage before he reunites the talismans and unleashes chaos, the line between duty and desire begins to blur.

Magic is real. And so is murder.

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New York is Losing Hope

By Nan Campbell

A Hot Hires Novella

With thirty-five on the horizon and still single, Hope Mason is abandoning her beloved New York City to try her luck in bright, shiny Los Angeles. One problem. This New Yorker is terrified of driving, an essential skill for Californians. She hires instructor Val Caceres to teach her how to drive off into the sunset, but Val could be the one thing she doesn’t want to leave behind.

New York is Losing Hope was previously published in Hot Hires: Three Novellas (Bold Strokes Books, 2024).

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Sunny Side Up

By VK Powell and Others

After years of service as a police officer, Sunny Eldrige is ready to trade crime scenes for watercolors and enjoy retirement. But in Merit Bay gossip travels faster than the tide, everyone knows everyone, and trouble knocks on her door. Especially when Nicole Lacy arrives.

Nicole didn’t choose Merit Bay for its charm. She came to disappear. Fleeing the fallout of her brother’s dangerous past, she’s determined to start over with two bags and hope for a better life. But when anonymous threats follow her, it becomes clear that whatever her brother was mixed up in isn’t finished with her yet. How could she know that buried in a small heirloom is a truth worth killing for?

As tensions rise and secrets surface, Sunny’s instincts kick in. With a cast of kookie locals, a tight circle of friends, and a local heartthrob  catching Nicole’s attention, solving this mystery is personal.

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A Streetcar Named Shenanigans

By J.M. Redmann and Others

Award-winning crime writers J.M. Redmann and Rob Byrnes bring together their iconic characters—hard-boiled PI Micky Knight and charming con artists Grant Lambert and Chase LaMarca—in a fast-paced crossover that’s both grit and grift.

Private investigator Micky Knight tries to keep things mostly legal. But that line gets blurry when she crosses paths with Grant and Chase in a swanky French Quarter bar, and on the other side of her barstool two feuding anti-LGBTQ crusaders are trying to work together. They happen to be carrying a large amount of gold that Grant and Chase would like to relieve them of. Micky doesn't like to break the law, but sometimes the cause is just, right? After all, what could go wrong? Actually, can anything go right?

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A World Enough

By Jenny Frame

When Brogan, Werewolf of the Irish Filtiaran pack, is thrown through a portal into a new world, she finds Camber, a young woman being hunted. She risks everything to save her, and all she gets is a curt thanks. Which is a shame, because when Brogan looks in her eyes, her senses explode. Then Camber jumps through a portal and disappears, and Brogan must follow her. Maybe this woman could help her find her way home.

Camber has been running since she was ten years old. Born a Map Keeper, she holds the power to find portals, and this magic is very valuable to many worlds.

When a malevolent group of paranormals, who seem to have inspired the Celtic God myths, band together to destroy her, Camber and Brogan come to an uneasy truce. Brogan will help protect Camber, and Camber will help her find her way back to Earth. But as secrets are shared and their hearts begin to beat as one, will Brogan find she is closer to home than thinks?

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Back to Square One

By Georgia Beers

It's never too late for second chances, even when you're Back to Square One.

Rowan Thomas wakes up after an accident with no memory of the last few years—including the end of her relationship with Evie Price. Evie is hers and everything is soft kisses and inside jokes. Only everyone insists they broke up years ago.

To try to cure her amnesia, Rowan tags along on an annual girls trip she apparently stopped attending (weird). Frozen margaritas and side-splitting laughter sounds like medicine, right?

But when Evie shows up looking gorgeous, and everyone starts acting a bit too cagey, what really happened between her and Evie isn't the only secret in play. And the more Rowan uncovers, the more she's sure of what her heart remembers.

Embrace the quintessential beach read and join award-winning author Georgia Beers for a summer of sun, swimsuits, and so much drama.

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