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NEW REVIEW + RECOMMENDATION
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NEW EXCERPT + GIVEAWAY
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NEW RELEASES
Stand by A.L. Jackson (Available Now)
Zachary Kennedy has never been known as a fighter, but he’ll never regret fighting for her…
I’m Zee Kennedy.
Quiet. Reserved. Predictable.
When my brother died, everyone thought I was just the good guy who stepped up to take his place in the band.
No one knew what I was hiding. The one thing I’ve been fighting for.
For seven years, I’ve never lost focus.
Not until one chance encounter with Alexis Kensington.
Now she’s become my greatest temptation.
I knew better than to touch her, but now that I’ve had a taste, I can’t get enough.
Her kiss becomes my air. Her body my salvation.
She needed a savior and somehow she became mine.
Taking her was a betrayal. But keeping her means risking everything.
One look at Alexis Kensington, and I know she’s worth the fight.
Will my past continue to keep me down or will I finally find the strength to pull myself up and Stand…
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All for You by Melody Grace (Available Now)
Summer Bloom lives for adventure — and buttercream bourbon frosting. As a high-end pastry chef, she spends her days (and nights, and weekends) whipping up sweet treats, but when an unexpected detour leads her to the dilapidated bakery on Blackberry Lane, she decides to take a chance on her dreams and leave it all behind for a new life in Sweetbriar Cove. She has everything she needs for baking bliss — she just isn’t expecting her new landlord to melt her heart, as well as her chocolate truffles…
Grayson Reid knows better than to fall for his impulsive new tenant. He keeps his life quiet and drama-free, but there’s something about Summer he just can’t resist. He’s learned the hard way that a woman can turn your whole world upside down, but her kisses – and those croissants – are too tempting to ignore. He’s determined to keep the lid on their romance, but soon, their chemistry is heating up the kitchen – and he doesn’t want to play it safe any more.
Can this headstrong pair mix the right ingredients for love? Or will their passion burn out before they can find their happily-ever-after?
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Just A Little Junk by Stylo Fantome (Available Now)
…. if anyone asks, that’s all that’s in your trunk. Definitely don’t say anything about the dead guy you just found back there!
Jodi Morgan is having a bad weekend.
After partying a little too hard, she wakes up with a monster hangover and almost no recollection of the night before. So imagine her surprise when she looks in her trunk and instead of finding a spare tire, she finds the last guy she’d danced with before blacking out.
Who is he? How did he get in there? How did he die? And oh dear lord, did she kill him!?
When her older brother’s best friend offers to help, things start looking up. They’ve known each other since she was thirteen, and ten years later, he still treats her like a little kid – surely, committing felonies has to trigger some sort of spark. Together, they wind up going on an adventure that takes them all over Los Angeles. From raves to penthouses to strip clubs. All in the search for the answer to her question.
Who is the dead guy in my trunk!?
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Somebody Else’s Sky by Jessica Hawkins (Available Now)
If I closed my eyes, I could still see them—all blonde sunshine, ocean-blue eyes, and long limbs. The glint of Lake’s gold bracelet. Pink cotton candy on Tiffany’s tongue. My scenery may have changed from heaven to hell, but some things never would: my struggle to do right by both sisters. To let Lake soar. To lift Tiffany up. The sacrifices I made for them, I made willingly.
A better man would’ve walked away by now, but I never claimed to be any good. I only promised myself I’d keep enough distance. If I’d learned one thing from my past, it was that love came in different forms. You could love passionately, hurt deep, die young. Or you could provide the kind of firm, steady support someone else could lean on.
Lake was everything I wanted, and nothing I could ever have. I was nobody before I knew her and a criminal after. The way to love her was to let her shine—even if it would be for somebody else.
Book two in the Something in the Way series, an epic, 3-book saga of forbidden love…
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Lord of Shadows (Dark Artifices) by Cassandra Clare (May 23)
Recommended Series
Emma Carstairs has finally avenged her parents. She thought she’d be at peace. But she is anything but calm. Torn between her desire for her parabatai Julian and her desire to protect him from the brutal consequences of parabatai relationships, she has begun dating his brother, Mark. But Mark has spent the past five years trapped in Faerie; can he ever truly be a Shadowhunter again?
And the faerie courts are not silent. The Unseelie King is tired of the Cold Peace, and will no longer concede to the Shadowhunters’ demands. Caught between the demands of faerie and the laws of the Clave, Emma, Julian, and Mark must find a way to come together to defend everything they hold dear—before it’s too late.
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Buns by Alice Clayton (May 23) – Read my review
Recommended romance
The third in the hilarious yet sizzling hot Hudson Valley series from New York Time and USA TODAY bestselling author Alice Clayton.
Clara Morgan is living the dream, if you can call rebranding hotels that are desperate for a new life and running any kind of marathon a dream. Which she does. But the career she loves and the endurance races that keep her adrenaline pumping have kept her too busy to put down any roots. Growing up in foster care, she’s never been able to establish traditions of her own, which may be why she’s fascinated by the rituals that generations-old family resorts are known for. She’s especially interested in the Bryant Mountain House, and not just for their secret recipe for the yummy, gooey, can’t-get-enough-of Hot Cross Buns….
Archie Bryant, the man with the Buns, is fifth generation and one-day-owner of the charming yet run-down Bryant Mountain House in Bailey Falls, New York. He’s determined to save his family’s legacy from the wrecking ball the old-fashioned way—by gritting his teeth and doing what needs to be done. There’s no way Archie will be influenced by the new hotel branding expert his father brought in to turn one hundred and fifty years of tradition on its head just to attract a faster, younger, slicker crowd. But when some of Clara’s ideas start bringing in new, paying customers, Archie can’t deny that she may have just given him a shot at keeping his resort open.
It’s sticky, it’s messy, it’s sweet, it’s Buns.
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Grand Slam by Heidi McLaughlin (May 23)
Win the game. Lose your heart.
Everyone knows who I am and that I could have any female fan I want. That’s supposed to be the “perk” of playing left field for the Boston Renegades. But I don’t want just any woman; I want her.
She should be just another face in the crowd, but I can’t stop thinking about the one night we spent together-and her look of regret the morning after.
Because Saylor Blackwell is the kind of woman who haunts a man. Smart, sexy as hell, and one of the best managers in the business. She’s every ballplayer’s dream woman. And I’d do anything to make things right with her.
I’m done sitting on the bench when it comes to Saylor Blackwell. Time to swing for the fences.
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Cheater’s Regret by Rachel Van Dyken (May 23)
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken returns with a smoking-hot story about the satisfaction of plotting revenge on your ex—until he turns your world upside down again.
Austin Rogers’s dreams of domestic bliss involved watching Netflix and eating hot dogs with the love of her life. But then he cheated on her. And dumped her—as if the whole thing was her fault. To maintain her pride and restore her sanity, she decides to get revenge. It feels immensely satisfying to plot her ex’s downfall—but so does kissing him.
Thatch Holloway, a plastic surgeon straight out of residency, knows he ruined the best thing that ever happened to him. But not all cheaters are created equal. He got himself into this messed-up situation—true—but he has his reasons for what happened, and he’d do it all again to protect Austin.
He’s not over her. And she’s not over him.
Austin wants closure, but since Thatch refuses to give it to her, she takes matters into her own hands. She needs to write a human-interest piece for her MBA, so she demands the full plastic-surgery experience. Sparks fly as they’re forced to work together. But Thatch isn’t afraid to play dirty in return. And he’s still hiding something—something that has the power to destroy not only Austin but their second chance at finding forever…
Can be read as a standalone
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Hold Me (1001 Dark Nights) by J.Kenner (May 23)
My life with Damien has never been fuller. Every day is a miracle, and every night I lose myself in the oasis of his arms.
But there are new challenges, too. Our families. Our careers. And new responsibilities that test us with unrelenting, unexpected trials.
I know we will survive—we have to. Because I cannot live without Damien by my side. But sometimes the darkness seems overwhelming, and I am terrified that the day will come when Damien cannot bring the light. And I will have to find the strength inside myself to find my way back into his arms.
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The Darkest Corner by Liliana Hart (May 23)
The Gravediggers aren’t exactly what they seem. They’re the most elite of the world’s fighting forces—and all they have in common is that they’ve been betrayed by the countries they’ve died for. Because they are dead. To their country, their military, and their families.
Sometimes the dead do rise…
Deacon Tucker is a dead man walking. A former black ops agent, he was disavowed and stripped of all honor before being recruited as a Gravedigger. But his honor and good name no longer matter, because no one knows he’s alive, and he’ll never get the recognition he deserves. His mission is simple: save the world or die trying. And for God’s sake, don’t ever fall in love. That’s a rule punishable by death. The kind of death a man can’t be brought back from.
Tess Sherman is the only mortician in Last Stop, Texas. She has no idea how Deacon Tucker ended up in her funeral home, but she’ll eat her hat if he’s only a funeral home assistant. Deacon is dangerous, deadly, and gorgeous. And she knows her attraction to him can only end in heartache.
Deacon is on a mission to stop the most fatal terror attack the world has ever known—what’s known as The Day of Destiny—a terrorist’s dream. But when he discovers Tess has skills he can use to stop them, he has to decide if he can trust her with secrets worth dying for. And, most important, he has to decide if he can trust her with his heart.
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Sexy Stranger by Kendall Ryan (May 23)
From New York Times Bestselling author Kendall Ryan comes a sexy and sizzling, enemies-to-lovers romp with bite.
He’s rude. Arrogant. And too hot to handle.
And she’s stranded with him for an entire week.
He knows the sexy stranger doesn’t belong in his small town, but he’s determined to keep her there. The second she opens her smart mouth, he wants to swap a whole lot more than insults with her. She’s got a secret. But he’s got his own agenda.
Buckle up.
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Real Sexy by Amy Meghan March (May 23)
Boone Thrasher has never walked away from a fight, and he’s willing to put everything on the line to win the woman he can’t live without in the conclusion to the Real Dirty Duet by USA Today bestselling author Meghan March.
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In Nashville, stars are a dime a dozen.
I swore I’d never get caught up with one, but Boone Thrasher made a liar out of me.
I said I’d never put my heart on the line, but he didn’t ask before he stole it.
Now we’re facing my worst fears, and we’ll see if this country boy is tough enough to see it through.
Girls like me don’t get happily ever afters… but maybe he’ll prove that wrong too.
Real Sexy is the conclusion of the Real Dirty Duet and should be read following Real Dirty.
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A Girl Like Me by Ginger Scott (May 26)
Death has come for me more than once, and each time it’s been a boy who’s stood between me and my final breath.
I called him Christopher when he saved me as a child. When he came into my life again, only months ago, I knew him as Wes. Just as he did the time before, he disappeared the moment he made sure I was out of harm’s way; as if I didn’t need any more saving.
This time, though, death left me with a reminder of how powerful it is. I know it meant to strip me of my spirit again, but it failed.
Even so, I know I need Wes to survive. Our souls are woven together somehow, our every breath in sync. I feel it, even though everyone says I shouldn’t.
The world thinks he’s missing.
His loved ones don’t want to believe he’s dead.
Only I know just how special he is.
I’m going to find him and bring him home, where he belongs. Together, we’ll face impossible—we’ll rewrite our ending.
And when the bad guys come calling, we will always win.
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UPCOMING RELEASES
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♥ indicates books I’ve already read and loved.)
ONGOING RECOMMENDATIONS
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