The Only Fish in the Sea

By Angie Williams

Financial gap/Class disparity
Friends & Community
Rivals
Small Town Romances
Homecoming
Blue Collar

Crab fishing is in Remy Miller’s blood. Millers have been fishing off the coast of Oregon for three generations, so she’s heartbroken when her dad refuses to give her the chance to prove she can captain her own boat.

When Julia Clayman, the beautiful daughter of a rival crabbing family, offers Remy a chance to run her own boat for the Claymans, she knows the decision could deepen the long-standing rift between their families.

All Remy wants is the chance to live her dream, and the more time she spends with Julia the more her dreams include the chance for a happily ever after. But blood is thicker than the waters lapping the Oregon coastline, and old rivalries may mean Remy loses her career and her heart.

Will love overcome the odds for this modern-day Romeo and Juliet?

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Wildflower

By Cathleen Collins

AnimalsĀ 
Virgins/First Love
Children / Families

Lily Andrews is only eleven years old when she boards a small aircraft with her mother, destined for the beautiful gulf coast of Texas. Tragedy strikes midflight when the plane goes down deep in the wild Ozarks, and Lily must survive in the unforgiving forest. With the help of a gruff mountain man and his dog, along with Lily’s intense grit and determination, she thrives in her private oasis. When a simple mistake forces her to make a life-altering decision, she is ripped from her mountain paradise and thrust into civilization once more.

Jessica Velasquez has never recovered from the death of her father. The only way she can get closure is to find out what really happened when his plane went down. When a stranger races out of the wilderness with her father’s belongings eight years after his plane went down, Jessica hopes the woman will have the answers she’s looking for.

Between Lily’s sheltered life and Jessica’s reservations about letting anyone close, both are ill-equipped for a relationship, but can they deny their true feelings?

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A Second Chance at Life

By Genevieve McCluer

Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship
People of Color
Homecoming
Virgins/First Love
Reunion Romance
Vampires

Dinah Pelletier managed to be a vampire for an entire minute before she was arrested for murder and sent to prison at nineteen. Now, twenty-four years later, she’s about to be up for parole…and is still nineteen.

Dinah has done her best to avoid her once girlfriend (and also a vampire), Rachel Evans. Dinah went to prison to save her that night, but no matter how much she’s pushed Rachel away, she could never force herself to move on. So Dinah’s surprised to be face-to-face with her long-lost love, and the reason for her upcoming parole.

No sooner do they reconnect than a string of vampire killings begin again and evidence seems to be pointing at Dinah. Dinah, with Rachel's help, must prove her innocence while finding out if the two of them are still compatible after all these years. Even if time can heal old wounds, these deaths could destroy any hope for a life together.

Reader advisory: References to addiction

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The Town That Built Us

By Jesse J. Thoma

Second Chance at Love
Reunion Romance
Small Town Romances
Homecoming
Blue Collar

Grace Cook left her small hometown after high school with a free ride to college and a pulverized heart. Now, years later her father’s death brings her back to town. As long as she can settle his affairs quickly and avoid interacting with Bonnie Whitlock, maybe she’ll survive the trip.

Bonnie was at Mr. Cook’s bedside the night he died. She knows Grace Cook,the only woman she’s ever loved, will be back in town for the funeral. Since Bonnie was the cause of Grace leaving all those years ago, the least she can do is let Grace mourn her father in peace.

However, distance is impossible when the will is read and the Cook family house is left jointly to Bonnie and Grace. A cruel joke or a second chance at a love that was always meant to be? To find out, Bonnie and Grace must forgive their past selves and embrace the future together in the town that built them.

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A Talent Within

By Suzanne Lenoir

Financial gap/Class disparity
Other Worlds
The Valmoran Series | Book 1
Young Adult
Magic

Evelyne, born into nobility, and Annika, a peasant girl with a deadly secret, struggle to change their destinies in Valmora, a medieval world controlled by religion, magic, and men.

If only she’d been born a boy, Evelyne could fight with her brothers and fulfill her dreams of glory. Instead, her father has arranged her marriage. Annika knows she’s different. She has gifts the Valmorans call talents, and she’s waited too long to turn herself over to the Temple for training. If she tells anyone now, she will burn as a heretic.

Their blossoming love changes everything.

Both are forced to confront who they are when saving an innocent life exposes Annika’s talent and she’s held prisoner by the unforgiving Temple Paladin. Saving Annika will cost Evelyne all she’s ever known, but her sacrifice may lead them on a path to love and a destiny that will change Valmora forever.

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Never Kiss a Cowgirl

By Ali Vali

Homecoming
AnimalsĀ 
Second Chance at Love
Las Vegas
New OrleansĀ 
Friends to Lovers Romance
Sports

Asher Evans is living her dreams eight seconds at a time. She’s finally at the top of the rankings and headed for the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, and she owes it all to the man who taught her everything, Silas Wilson.

Reagan Wilson vowed she’d never return to Louisiana. Her father, Silas, had been a world champion rodeo rider until an accident destroyed his career, then killed him. Now she’s interning at a sports clinic in New Orleans, and her first patient is Asher Evans. Seeing her childhood neighbor and teenage crush brings all those painful memories rushing back.

Asher and Reagan are from different worlds, even if they grew up side by side. Reagan doesn’t understand why anyone would risk their life for a title and belt buckle, and Asher doesn’t do safe and predictable. Falling in love makes no sense, but as the spark between them ignites they may have more in common than they think.

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Pantheon Girls

By Jean Copeland

Friends to Lovers Romance
Age Gap
Friends & Community
Asexual/Aromantic
Bisexual

Cassie Burke never believed in second chances. If something didn’t work out, then it was never really meant for her. In the years following two heart-wrenching breakups, she kept her life simple. She’d dated when the opportunity arose but focused her energy on her career and best friends of over thirty years, Jenn and Maggie. Tight since their high school days in the 80s, they’ve weathered many storms. The most tempestuous being Deana, who had briefly joined their “pantheon” and stirred things up as only a beautiful lost soul can, testing their friendship and the strength of Cassie’s heart.

Now as Cassie, Jenn, and Maggie plan a celebration for their fiftieth birthdays, none of them are prepared for the whiplash changes their half-century mark year has in store. Least of all Cassie, who discovers a second chance with Deana might be just what her heart needs.

Reader advisory: References to homophobic violence/sexual assault.

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Roux for Two

By Aurora Rey

Homecoming
Food
Transgender
Celebrity
Small Town Romances

When her celebrity chef boss is taken down in a sexual harassment scandal, Chelsea Boudreaux’s dream of getting her own cooking show comes true. Her hometown of Duchesne, Louisiana, provides the perfect backdrop for her modern takes on traditional Cajun fare. Vindicating herself to the mother who never believed in her is icing on the cake.

Bryce Cormier never left Duchesne and has no regrets, except that falling in love as a trans guy in a tiny town is easier said than done. When Chelsea comes home after more than a decade away, Bryce thinks he may have found the perfect woman. At least until Chelsea’s burgeoning celebrity spills over and turns his world upside down.

It turns out love is like a good gumbo—what seems simple is complex, and the best results require a bit of courage. And like all the recipes say… First, you make a roux.

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Outside the Lines

By Melissa Sky

Virgins/First Love
Dystopian
Financial gap/Class disparity
Good girls/Bad girls
Actors/Artists
Friends to Lovers Romance
California
People of Color

Amara Rodriguez lives in a world divided.

When the Asenescence corporation discovers a cure for aging, the world splits in two. Old Bloods, who’ve taken the Remedy, live out their long lives in luxury within the corporate enclave of Hydra, while New Bloods live out their fleeting lives in poverty outside its borders.

Amara, a New Blood artist, doesn’t think much about politics. Not until her mother joins the ranks of New Blood women disappearing with alarming frequency. To find her mother, Amara must join the resistance movement as a spy.

The stakes rise even higher when she falls in love with stunning but sheltered Old Blood Stella, who happens to be her espionage target’s daughter. Even worse? Amara’s already in love. With her childhood best friend, Rake, a charming rogue from the streets she used to call home. 

Can Amara unravel the mysteries of the enclave, as well as her own heart?

 

Content advisory: Brief racism and body shaming by a non POV character

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The No Kiss Contract

By Nan Campbell

Close Quarters
Second Chance at Love
Actors/Artists
Marriage of Convenience/Fake Relationship
Children / Families

Despite being the youngest partner at her firm, corporate attorney Davy Dugan is gunning for a recently vacant name partnership—it would mean finally having the power to make a real change in her conservative workplace. But eighty-hour workweeks don’t allow any time with her much younger half-sister, Tally, who doesn’t seem to need Davy in her life anyway.

Davy aims to get back into Tally’s good graces by throwing her a big birthday party, but that means dealing with Tally’s other half sister, Anna. To say Davy and Anna don’t get along is putting it mildly.

When a misunderstanding leads to her boss’s assumption that she and Anna are headed to the altar, Davy sees a way to leapfrog over the competition straight into one of the top spots at her firm. She just has to convince Anna to be her faux fiancée in order to do it and keep her growing attraction in check, of course.

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When It Feels Right

By Tagan Shepard

Close Quarters
Food
Financial gap/Class disparity

Marlene Diggs has her whole life figured out and a ten-year plan for success. You know what’s not on that plan? A one-night stand with a woman who makes her question everything. How could she have spent thirty years not knowing she’s a lesbian? Her first lesbian relationship ends in disaster and leaves her even more confused than before. Of course, the lingering crush on a certain bartender doesn’t help.

Abby McCallister has always felt good in her own skin. It’s everyone else who has a problem. When yet another girlfriend labels her “too much,” another relationship bites the dust, and she winds up sleeping on the couch in her art studio. A cute regular at the bar offers up her spare room in exchange for some tips on fitting into the gay scene, and Abby jumps at the chance. What’s the worst that could happen?

Marlene and Abby know that falling for your roommate is the worst cliché ever, and it’s absolutely not going to happen to them. But resisting their feelings is hard to do when being together feels so right.

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Before She Was Mine

By Emma L McGeown

Children / Families

Dani Raye has finally got her life back on track. After a messy divorce, Dani and her ex-wife, Catriona, have found a way to co-parent successfully. Most of the time. While Catriona has moved on, Dani is in no rush to find love again. She has her work and son, Jonah, and that’s all she needs to be happy.

Lucy Matthews is anything but happy. Her relationship is falling apart, and her son is taking out his frustrations on a boy in school. When Dani and Lucy are thrust together to sort out their children’s squabble, their priorities are clear—family first—despite the attraction neither expected.

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Chasing Cypress

By Ana Hartnett Reichardt and Others

Friends & Community
Virgins/First Love
College Life
The Alder Series | Book 3
Small Town Romances
Children / Families

All Maggie Hyde wants is to graduate from the School of Agriculture at Alder University and settle into her legacy by taking over Hyde Hill Farm, the apple orchard that’s been in her family for four generations. Well, okay, it’s not all she wants. Finding someone who loves her small hometown of East Sparrow, Georgia, is high on her list of priorities, too. Who wouldn’t want to fall in love and settle down?

Olivia Cypress, that’s who. A free-spirited traveler at heart, Olivia is enjoying life way too much to limit her options, especially by settling down in nowheresville East Sparrow. But when Olivia walks into Maggie’s horticulture class, she’s charmed by Maggie’s gorgeous smile. It’s fine, though. They can’t seem to agree on anything, especially farming.

Maggie is sure Olivia will leave, just like her mother did. Olivia is sure Maggie doesn’t need a 30-year life plan. Opposites don’t really attract, right?

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Desires Unleashed

By Renee Roman

BDSM
Workplace Romance
Friends & Community

No-nonsense operations manager Kell Murphy wants to let loose and have some fun. Moonlighting as a bartender provides just enough adventure with strangers who don’t expect anything more than a well-made cocktail.

Business owner Taylor Simpson wants ultimate control. She might be at the bar every week to check out the sexy bartender, but she only ever orders one drink. Longing for a D/s dynamic that satisfies her need for dominance and her sexual desires, Taylor hopes to find her perfect power exchange in Kell.

As their attraction intensifies, Kell must decide if she’s willing to surrender to Taylor’s control while Taylor struggles to trust her real-life fantasy come true. Neither went looking for love, but as they explore their desires unleashed, their hearts lead them on an unexpected journey.

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Hearts in the Wind

By MJ Williamz

Virgins/First Love
Financial gap/Class disparity
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Children / Families
Small Town Romances

Beth Richards is a thirty-two-year-old virgin married to the family farm that’s been in her family for generations. With her mother battling Alzheimer’s, Beth is struggling to keep the farm afloat and provide for her sister. So of course, she refuses to sell everything when a beautiful businesswoman from Dallas waltzes in expecting to be the answer to her prayers. How can Beth ever let go of her family legacy?

Evelyn Bremer is used to getting what she wants, and what she wants is to build a windmill farm on Beth’s land. As she spends a little time in the small town in West Texas, she wants Beth, too. But even her best efforts at wooing aren’t enough to convince Beth to take a chance on the attraction they can’t deny.

Beth and Evelyn seem destined to remain mortal enemies, as neither is willing to give up their dreams. But love has a way of bringing people together even when their hearts seem destined to float in opposite directions on the wind.

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Hero Complex

By Jesse J. Thoma

Close Quarters
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Other Worlds

Being labeled a mad scientist doesn’t faze Bronte Scales. Accidentally gaining superpowers didn’t even seem that strange. It’s not until she realizes someone is out to get her and her do-it-yourself super tech invention, that she reluctantly becomes one part of a superpowered crime fighting team. Then things really get out of hand. And somewhere along the way she accidentally kidnaps a nurse—a smart, kind, and beautiful sort of nurse. Bronte’s screwed.

Athena Papadaki doesn’t have superpowers, but she’s scary good at squeezing everything she can from each waking minute. That feels heroic until she’s kidnapped by a group of knuckleheads who need more rescuing than she does. Once she’s done saving the day, she’ll walk away and most certainly never think about Bronte Scales ever again. Nothing to see here.

Can Bronte and Athena, and their unlikely friends, work together to defeat Bronte’s archnemesis? The fate of love, humanity, and the world might depend on it. No pressure.

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The Hues of Me and You

By Morgan Lee Miller

Financial gap/Class disparity
Actors/Artists
Friends to Lovers Romance

Arlette Adair has always done what’s right. From the day she was born, she’s lived the life her parents forced upon her. Now, she’s stuck in a sparkless relationship and a job she never wanted. Her father's presidential campaign will forever root her in the world of politics that she’s trying to escape from.

Brooke Dawson has always made her own rules. She’s a struggling freelance artist by day and a catering bartender at night, but her heart is full…almost. When she picks up a bartending shift at a high society party, she hopes to bring home enough money to pay her rent. She never expects to run into Arlette Adair: her former best friend, the girl she spent all of college secretly crushing on, and the one who got away.

Now face-to-face with their unresolved past, Arlette and Brooke quickly fall back into their old ways while dancing around the biggest question: Why hadn’t they fallen in love all those years ago?

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Fire, Water, and Rock

By Alaina Erdell

Coming Out
Women in Uniform
Friends & Community
Age Gap
Bisexual
Small Town Romances

A hot summer fling or true love?

When budding geologist Jessica Sterling arrives to work on her thesis while camping in Washington’s Dry Falls State Park for the summer, she shatters park ranger Clare DeVere’s hope for an uneventful season. Neither can deny their unexpected attraction, but their secrets make romance impossible.

Clare’s best friend since college, Lyn, works as one of the park’s dispatchers, and her long-standing and unrequited crush on Clare grows increasingly obsessive as Clare draws closer to Jess.

While Clare contends with Lyn’s infatuation and unwanted advances from her womanizing boss, and Jess grapples with her unexpected feelings for a woman, their fiery fling challenges them to confront their pasts.

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