A heartwarming love story about overcoming loneliness and grief by embracing the power of connection.

Grace Langley needs to make peace with the past to finally be happy. She’s lived her life in relative isolation consumed with the death of her childhood best friend. An artist’s residency in beautiful Cape Cod is an extraordinary opportunity for her to figure out how to have a full and rewarding life.

When an accident stole her memories, Fagan Shaw’s future turned bleak. She lost friends and any motivation to relate to others. Returning to the scene where she almost died may be her only chance to remember what really happened and recapture what she’s lost.

Amid an angry Atlantic storm, Grace and Fagan find comfort in each other while sheltering together, but can they brave the emotional tide that comes with falling in love?

Conner Cody is poised to have it all. Whether on the big screen or a concert stage, she commands adoration, lust, and more money than she can count from millions of fans across the world. Behind the scenes, she keeps people at arm’s length, having learned her lessons from her famous parents—better to hurt them first before they can hurt her.

Her love life is as dramatic as the roles she plays, so Conner fills the void with meaningless hookups, and her infamous parties provide a facade of friendship. But when a few people begin to slip past her defenses and her estranged sister returns, happiness finally appears within reach.

But letting people in is risky and her insecurities take center stage, pushing away everyone she cares about. On the verge of destroying everything she holds dear, Conner must choose: will she stay behind her walls, safe yet alone, or will she risk it all to finally learn what it means to love?

In Eleanor Perry’s life, people always leave. Now a single mother in the mining town of Idaho Springs, Colorado, she vows no one will abandon her again. Closing her door and her heart to the world, she focuses on making a living and keeping food on the table. Eleanor rethinks things, though, when a charming cowgirl rides into town.

Julia Holte grew up running wild on her family’s oil fields in west Texas. She always wanted to be one of the boys, but her brash behavior has recently caused more trouble than good. After following her sister and brother-in-law to a life in the mountains, Julia is taken by the sweet, intriguing Eleanor.

Both yearn desperately for connection but are wary of the consequences. Grappling with the haunting shadows of their pasts, new love is the last thing either of them expects. Will they discover the biggest treasure of all and let love back into their hearts?

In this small-town second chance romance, Melissa Brayden’s Dream a Little Dream explores the pain of betrayal, the courage to face the unexpected, and the longing for a love that’s unforgettable.

Savanna Potter is having an off year. Her aunt died, and the woman of her dreams, who had agreed to meet her on the suspension bridge one year after their first amazing date, stood her up. Then, in news that rocks her, it turns out the dad she knew isn’t her biological father. So, who the hell is?

Savanna, angry and adrift, can’t believe it when Dr. Kyle Remington, the very woman who left her standing on that bridge like a fool, shows up in Dreamer’s Bay.

Not only has Kyle landed in Savanna’s small town, but she’s managed to charm every other person who lives there. Savanna has no plans to forgive and forget. There’s nothing between them anymore, even if Kyle’s sparkling blue eyes and shiny dark hair make Savanna’s pesky knees go weak. Life is too complicated for second chances. Or is it?

Sabrina Doyle doesn’t have time for romance. Working two jobs, she’s resigned herself to having a life only after she’s achieved her goals. The universe has other ideas, as a chance meeting—and a spilled coffee cup—introduces her to Delilah Holte, who seems to be everywhere Sabrina needs to be.

Now Sabrina can’t keep Delilah off her mind, despite how much she tries. As Delilah leads her into the world of BDSM, Sabrina discovers a new submissive side to her sexuality. But Delilah only promises her one night: one night of play, of fun, of pleasure.

Sabrina isn’t sure she can handle just one night. And worse, Delilah isn’t in town for long. Desperate to please her, Sabrina must decide: miss out on the opportunity of a lifetime or pine for the woman who tempts her with such pleasure.

Content advisory: homophobia and transphobia

College freshman Kelly “Razor” Mitchell boldly asked out senior star pitcher Ashton Sharpe and was crushed when Ashton turned her down. Seven years later, Ashton is one of the team’s coaches and shows up on Razor’s doorstep asking her to don her gear once more. Razor is cautious. She hung up her cleats early for a reason. But Ashton is very persuasive and as beautiful as ever, and Razor can’t help but hope the longing in her gaze has nothing to do with softball.

Ashton has few regrets, but one is turning down Razor’s request for a date back in college. Ashton can’t think about what-ifs now, or how great Razor looks, or her dormant feelings stirring. A crisis has left the university softball team without a catcher, and their best solution is the one person Ashton never expected to see again.

Ashton and Razor’s coach-player dynamic gets tricky as the sparks fly faster than a line drive. As they struggle with old feelings and new discoveries, the season seems endless. Plus, Razor is sure Ashton won’t want to explore romantic possibilities once she discovers the real reason Razor abruptly departed the team all those years ago.

Nora Palmer’s goal of becoming a photojournalist is almost within her grasp, but her father won’t pay for her tuition unless she completes Firecamp, a demanding summer work program involving fire mitigation in the rugged Colorado national forest. Fallon Monroe spent her precarious youth wishing and waiting. Firecamp is her chance at stability and a meaningful life. Despite getting off to a bumpy start, Nora and Fallon’s relationship deepens, even as they are honest about their incompatible plans for the future. But when it’s Nora’s photography that creates a rift between them, their split is abrupt and painful.

Ten years later, Nora has achieved her dream. So why does that summer still intrude into her memories? When an alert goes out for a major forest fire in the area, Nora covers the Women’s Plus team working in advance of the flames. Fallon is now the unit leader and can’t be distracted by Nora’s unexpected arrival if she’s going to keep her crew safe and help save the forest. But what can she do about the heat between them that has never cooled?

For Peyton Reilly no strings means no heartache. She hasn’t had a relationship since Hanna Choi, her high school girlfriend, broke her heart almost a decade ago. But everything’s great. She has a job she loves, a loyal group of friends, and plenty of time for surfing. At least until Hanna unexpectedly accepts a job at the aquarium where Peyton works.

Their reunion is anything but joyous. Despite Hanna’s cold shoulder, Peyton can’t stop old and familiar feelings from pouring back. When Hanna slowly begins to open up, painful memories Peyton’s worked hard to forget remind her that getting too close could lead to another broken heart.

Peyton quickly learns that sometimes all your heart needs is a second chance, but are the scars of the past too deep to heal?

The glitz and glam of Hollywood are just an illusion, and everyone knows celebrities and paparazzi mix as well as oil and water.

Rylee Callison is one of the best paparazzi in Hollywood. A-List actress McKenzie Gomann hates the press after a series of photos create unwelcome trouble for her. When they meet, the attraction is undeniable, but Rylee is keeping a big secret to protect and provide for her family. When McKenzie finds out that Rylee is not only a member of the paparazzi, but the paparazzo who took the scandalous photographs of her, the heat between them turns ice cold.

Can the magic of Hollywood set the stage that brings them back together, or are happy endings only for the movies?

Explore the angst and excitement of forbidden love few would dare in this heart-stopping novella collection.

In Her Boss's Wife by Gun Brooke, January Wild needs a letter of recommendation to finally move to her dream job. Only she’s caught in the crosshairs of her bosses’ messy divorce and has a dangerous crush on her boss’s wife. Will they risk everything for a chance at forever?

In Her Therapist's Daughter by J.J. Hale, with the help of her therapist, Freya embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads to a serendipitous meeting and an unexpected connection. Unbeknownst to them, Freya’s therapist is the same woman advising her daughter to follow her heart, straight into Freya’s arms.

In Her Brother’s Girlfriend by Aurora Rey, Hadley Devine always knew she’d find her way back to the family restaurant and take over as head chef. She didn’t count on working alongside Brianna Kerns, her brother’s girlfriend, and the woman she’s been in love with since high school.

Eli Thomas is going home for Christmas just like she does every year—only this time it’s different. Her grandmother has died, and she’s forced to reckon with her past, her broken relationships with her remaining family, and Aracely Hernandez, the girl who got away.

A seemingly purposeful error in Grandma’s will keeps Eli in town for longer than she planned and brings all the conversations she’s been avoiding for twenty years to a culmination. While her attraction to Aracely has never faded, Eli remains apprehensive to follow her heart and risk having it broken again.

Now she has to decide if avoiding her hometown forever is worth losing the people who used to mean the most to her.

What if you had to choose between facing your past and finding your future?

Loch Battersby is the kind of famous that everyone in Manhattan wants to be. The first woman in the fashion industry to work exclusively as a men’s fashion model, she’d become internationally ranked and instantly recognizable by the age of twenty-six. Then, in the span of a single day, her life spins out of control, and she winds up in Innis Harbor on the rocky coast of Maine, where she’d spent idyllic summers as a child. As the city smog finally clears, she realizes that not everything in her life was as it seemed.

Amir Farzaneh built her Innis Harbor construction company from the ground up, despite the challenges of being a woman of color in a field dominated by men and ever-present opinions of her conservative Persian community. When she meets and falls in love with Loch, a dark secret lurking in her past reappears, threatening the life she’d managed to build and the happiness she’d just started to believe could be hers. Reprint. 

Suri Daniels, a beautiful and troubled woman, is the descendant of a family of supernaturally gifted women, known as the Blessed, and literally holds keys to gateways between the earthly plane and seven powerful gods. A series of tragic losses and a stipulation in her grandmother’s will has her returning to the family’s home in New Orleans, unaware that she will need to step into the role of Orisha priestess and escape the attention of a powerful demon. To top it all off, she must accept the help of a Cambion—Lyla Jefferies, a dark supernatural being she has spent her life avoiding. What’s worse? She can’t help being drawn to Layla in ways she doesn’t understand.

Being the child of a top-tier demon and a human isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. For the past two hundred years, Layla Jefferies has lived a life of quietude. When an unknown force draws her out of seclusion, the pull is too strong to ignore. Layla is tasked to assist with protecting the gateways and saving Suri from becoming a vengeful demon’s avatar. Falling in love with her is definitely not part of the plan.

Layla and Suri are brought together by fate to defeat the darkness threatening to tear their world apart. What they don’t expect to discover is a love that might set them free.

Content advisory: Opening chapter includes a depiction of sexual violence and rape.

Dear Reader,

I wrote The Blessed to honor the resilience, strength, and faith of my community’s ancestors. To tell a story, in my own way, of their survival in a world that treated them as less than the lowest of creatures. A world that continues to methodically strip away our sense of selves as humans and our culture as a people. Layla is the embodiment of all People of Color, particularly Women of Color, in this country and the suffering they have endured, which was violent, painful, and has lasted for generations. I choose to honor all those women like Layla, her mother, and grandmother who survived and rather than turn to violence themselves, chose to stand tall and lift their community up.

The Blessed begins with an act of physical violence to represent how some People of Color were brought into the world. Just as we survived our violent past, so does Layla. Just as we did not allow what was wrought upon us to break us, to take away our capacity to love and cherish others the way we were not, Layla also does not let her circumstances break her. She turns that violence into the resolve to help her community. In the process, she finds a love that strengthens her even more.

You may feel discomfort when reading Layla’s beginnings as it mirrors the pain of the past. Atrocity and its generational impacts should not feel comfortable or easy. But her story is ultimately an uplifting one of family, faith, culture, and love that I believe you will enjoy. I hope you see The Blessed as honoring the struggles of my ancestors and accepting the blessing of life, faith, and love that they have bestowed upon me as a result of their survival.

Forever thankful, always grateful, abundantly blessed,

Anne Shade

It’s Christmastime and everyone is in the holiday spirit at no-kill animal shelter Junebug Farms.

When Junebug sponsors the annual Christmas parade to raise money and awareness for their shelter, the staff have a plan: the king and queen of the parade will spend the holidays filming adorable Christmas vignettes to bring in donations and find forever homes for lovable pups before Santa comes.

What they don’t know is that Mia Sorenson, volunteer dog walker and superior matchmaker, is about to rig the voting so that her granddaughter, Samantha, and Sam’s friend Keegan, win queen and queen of the parade. Sam and Keegan have been dancing around each other for years, and if Mia doesn’t do something, they might never realize they’re meant to be together. But can Sam and Keegan ever forget the Big Embarrassing Thing that makes romance a nope?

It’ll be all paws on deck to bring them a miracle and make this Christmas one to remember.

Actor Davis Hart’s career is in a death spiral after her drunken sleep-and-tell outs the star of their hit television show. Hoping time and distance will offer a new start, Davis returns to her small hometown where it’s Christmas year-round and the community theater where she honed her acting skills draws thousands of tourists every year. Only everything has changed. The theater is struggling to stay open, and its last hope is a mesmerizing hazel-eyed woman with a grant to produce an original holiday play.

Playwright and director Asia du Muir is serious and very focused on her career. She’s finished her education at Columbia University and hopes a fellowship grant to write and produce a play at a community theater will launch her career. She’s not going to let some party girl actress ruin her best chance to get noticed by a Broadway critic.

Neither of them expects the feelings they can’t deny, but everyone knows personal and professional relationships shouldn’t be mixed. Is their love destined to wait in the wings?

Grace can't find a desperately needed roommate, so she takes a gamble and decides to host an exchange student. When the student turns out to be in college and just a few years older than her, not to mention extremely cute, Grace is flustered and withdraws. When an accident forces her to spend time with Lenka, she realizes just how much they have in common.

Lenka is so excited about her year in America. She's going to love New York not only because she wants to work for the UN, but also because it's where her girlfriend lives. She plans to practice her English with a large host family, so when she's matched with a single woman living in Portland, she's crushed. Only it turns out that she loves Portland, things with her girlfriend aren't as they seem, and Grace's house begins to feel like home.

Grace and Lenka never expected to fall in love. Is home really where the heart is if it means giving up your dreams?

While running the dance program at a summer camp for neurodivergent kids, Haley Tyne bumps into the mysterious woman who ghosted her after a life-altering date two years ago, and their connection is undeniable. Cal O’Shea took a job at the camp to watch over her sister. She never anticipated seeing the woman who left a beautiful mark on a terrible night in her past.

When Haley’s dance partner is injured and their end-of-summer show is in jeopardy, Cal steps in, reviving memories from the past better left behind. With passion igniting in stolen moments, their dance becomes more emotional than anticipated. As past and present intertwine, their dance of destiny may bind their hearts or become just another fleeting step in their separate journeys.