NYT and USA Today bestselling author, Helena Hunting lives outside of Toronto with her amazing family and her adorable, emotional cat, who thinks the best place to sleep is her keyboard. Helena writes everything from emotional contemporary romance to romantic comedies that will have you laughing until you cry.
Caleb Kelly has been my secret weakness since the day I moved to Sugar Brush, Wyoming.
I spend my days among the stacks as the town’s librarian and my nights serving drinks at Joy’s Elbow Room. It’s safe, predictable, and a little boring. The only thing that makes my pulse kick is when Caleb Kelly walks through the door and takes a seat at one of my tables.
Four years of stolen glances, watching him laugh with his family, listening to him talk about his son, and pretending he doesn’t unravel me just by saying my name. Alice.
Then one reckless night, I steal a kiss. And for one perfect, heart-stopping second, he kisses me back.
But the thing is, Caleb doesn’t date. He has his son, his ranch, and no room for anything—or anyone—else.
So I finally stop waiting, stop hoping, stop hiding. It’s way past time to begin living my life on my own terms.
Just as I start to move forward, trouble knocks me back. And when I need someone the most, Caleb is the one by my side again and again, standing between me and the worst of it. His steady, fierce presence is impossible to ignore.
I should know better than to keep falling for a man who told me he can’t give me more. I should walk away before I get hurt again.
It’s just that every time he shows up, every time he really sees me, every time he stays, my heart refuses to listen.
But letting him in might be the one thing I can’t come back from.
I read half of this in one sitting, just couldn’t put it down. I didn’t even get 15% into it before my heart just broke for Alice. She’s so strong, tough, finally to the point of asking for what she wants and … oh honey. Goodness that man can’t see what’s right in front of him. The whole allowing her time to lick her wounds – hahahahahaha, clueless man. But she doesn’t back down and I love love love how she put him in his place. Love her!
When Caleb finally figures his crap out, though, he goes all in and he makes a really great boyfriend. Supportive, sweet, wonderful … until he’s not. But that’s OK because Alice is willing to go after what she wants, speak her mind, and stop taking his crap. And it is awesome. I love that for her and it helps redeem him for some of his more stupid moments.
I will say that I’m not really sure I understand Caleb’s hostility towards Kent. I get that he wants to protect his son but I think that there needed a bit more fleshing out Kent’s potential issues. Otherwise, combined with his inflexibility towards Shelby and Kent’s needs, it just made Caleb look like an jerk. Of course, until proven otherwise.
I think readers are going to love Alice and be a little iffy on Caleb at first. But he does prove himself to her and to us so by the end I was more than rooting for them. And I think that’s where Wolf shines. Like with the other two books in the series, her characters are just so fabulously done you can’t help but love them.
Last Christmas, I made a rookie mistake. I had a one-night stand with the Denver Kodiaks’ new golden boy.
It was hot, reckless, and a play I’ll never make again. At least, that’s what I tell myself.
Because forgetting isn’t so easy when I work at the team’s bar. When I see him twice a week, grinning, flirting, acting like he doesn’t remember.
Now, everyone’s favorite rookie is hosting a team holiday getaway, and guess who’s stuck on the invite list? Me. Their favorite bartender.
Cue: -One secluded cabin -One massive blizzard -One too-gorgeous rookie determined to test my limits
I can handle it. I can keep my distance. I can survive a few festive nights in close quarters without slipping up… Right?
Rookie Season is a steamy, snowed-in holiday romance set in the Denver Kodiaks world. Devour a new couple’s story, plus catch up with all your fave characters! This novella is packed with snowy shenanigans, forced proximity, and enough heat to melt every mountain in Colorado.
Audible: Coming Soon! Narrated by: Simone Lewis & Tim Paige
*****
Review:
I’m not usually a fan of flash backs to show us what happened in the past but I feel like Lawson handled them well. There aren’t very many and they are pretty short & to the point, showing us what happened between them last Christmas.
But I will say that I really wanted more of these two. I want to know what it was like for them in the year since. I want to know more about Sierra’s ex(es) and the scars she carries because of them. I want to know more about her relationship with her dad and their struggles & new dynamic.
And I’d love to get more of Ryan’s history, his relationship with the others. If there is a reason that he’s pushing so hard for a great Christmas with them. And I would have loved for it to be more than 2 days of the group together.
I like them. I like all of them and the family they’ve created together. It’s an enjoyably quick holiday read, they just have so much potential and I wanted more of it.
(Returning readers will like the sweet little tidbits we get from previous couples but this one will stand alone just fine for new readers.)
From USA Today bestselling author Laura Pavlov comes a story about found family and the power of acceptance, all wrapped up in a sizzling romance set in the frozen north.
My new landlord’s a real hard-ass. And I can’t keep my hands off him.
Charlie Huxley’s the best—and grumpiest—general contractor in Blushing, Alaska. He built the venue for the wedding-planning business my bestie and I share. After I accidentally flood my home, he offers me his guesthouse while he handles the repairs. But when he starts to take charge, I feel myself losing control.
Unable to resist, we casually hook up. We both know once will never be enough.
Between us, we carry plenty of baggage. I’ve got the absent father, drunk mother, and estranged sister. He grew up in foster care and is single-handedly raising a daughter whose mom visits just once a year.
But Charlie makes me feel like I belong. And for the first time ever, I picture myself with a real family.
Before I go all in, I need to learn to set some boundaries. Question is: Am I strong enough?
I luh-uhved these characters. I’m not usually into black cat types but I really enjoyed Violet. Thanks to troubles with her family she struggles to connect, finding it difficult to trust others. Charlie also has some issues thanks to his time in foster care, not having a good example of a healthy family or relationships. But he is such an exceptional dad and so patient, raising a delightful little girl. She’s adorable and has such a great connection with Violet.
Pavlov surprised me with how things went, especially their third act issues. Charlie showed so much understanding with Violet and proved what a great partner he is going to be. I just loved it, and him. And the way that Violet was able to bloom with Charlie’s love & support, standing up to her family, was so so sweet.
All the books by Pavlov that I’ve read have had such a fantastic small town vibe, full of charm and sweetness. She’s firmly on my one click list. I don’t even need to know what the story is before I’m standing in line to get my copy 🙂
She’s just jilted my teammate at the altar and I’m the one who helped her escape. We never hit it off, but I’ll still keep her safe … and pray she never learns how I really feel about her.
SUMMER
I can’t marry him.
I have no good reason to jilt my hockey player fiancé, except that the closer we get to the big day, the more I feel myself shrinking to a hollow shell. Two minutes after I slip into the church bathroom to calm my pre-wedding jitters, I jump out the window to make my escape …
… and land on Hatch Kershaw, my fiancé’s teammate on the Chicago Rebels.
This guy has always hated me for reasons I can’t fathom. Half the time he looks right through me, like I’m no better than the ice shavings on his skate blade. The other half? That brooding green gaze strips me bare and sees right into my soul.
Neither option is good for me, so I really shouldn’t want his help … should I?
HATCH
The bride hit me like a ton of bricks.
The last thing I expected was for my teammate’s bride to ask for my help in fleeing her wedding. Make that the second last—even more unexpected is that I said “yes.” Before I know it, I’ve driven her to my family’s vacation home because I’m a nice guy and she needs to catch her breath.
Only now, I can’t breathe around her.
Summer Landry and I have never hit it off, so why the hell am I going along with this madness? Every stolen glance and accidental touch tell me she’s off-limits, while each torturous second with her in our lakeside hideaway has me questioning everything I thought I knew about who she is and what she’s hiding.
No one can know what I did—not my teammate, not my family, not the media—or all hell will break loose. Most of all, Summer can never know why I dislike her so much.
Oh goodness did I love Hatch and Summer together. Granted I got seriously frustrated with both of them – Hatch for his impatience and Summer for her habit of running away – but I embraced the angst and just went with it 🙂 Meader brings the cheese, the banter, the heat, and the heartbreak.
I felt for Hatch and having to hide his feelings and being conflicted about what to do now. I also felt for Summer and how easily she found herself swept away, losing bits of herself along the way, in her relationship with Dash. (And I love love love that Meader had her take that back for herself.)
I’m enjoying this series, and Meader’s writing, so much and as with Sweet Thingthere’s a cliff-hangerish moment at the end for the next story that I am definitely here for!
It was over between Bennett Owens and me—until I had no place to go but back to Willowbrook.
Seven years ago, he walked away, and I built a new life for myself, swearing never to look back. But when my husband is arrested, that life collapses, leaving my daughter and me with nothing but a three-month plan to return to the small ranch town before disappearing again.
Bennett’s a single dad now. Our girls become inseparable on sight, making it impossible to keep him at arm’s length. Especially when I end up working alongside him, where every glance chips away at the walls I’ve built.
The years apart haven’t dulled the pull between us. Bennett remains protective and patient, determined to prove that we deserve a second chance. But he has no idea about the secret I’ve kept since the day he left.
Because once he learns the truth, he may never forgive me. And like it or not, we’ll be bound together forever—by the daughter he never knew was his.
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**Spoilers ahead, kinda sorta since we know pretty early on what’s going on**
I am very conflicted about this one. I love Piper Rayne’s writing. Their characters are always detailed, the way they relate to each other is so good. The plot always flows well, with the right pacing and dotted with hints that have me intrigued on the next one. And, as I said in Chasing Forever, I adore this family.
Coming into this one, I loved Bennett too and have been looking forward to his story but I’m not really sure I was with him (and especially his family) on how he reacts to Delaney’s return and all that that brings to his door. Early on Bennett was super harsh to her, and that was before he finds out her not so little secret.
(And a smaller issue, but so odd to me, why are we getting their history in the form of letters to Delaney’s HUSBAND IN PRISON? It’s just strange that she would share some of those details in writing to him.)
How can they be OK with what she did? She tries to explain, and I can kiiiiinda understand why she does what she does … but yeah, no. There definitely needed to be more to her why, a little bit of something else for it to be realistic. I get that she was hurt but come on.
I hate hate hate when one of Piper Rayne’s stories doesn’t work for me. It rarely happens and I’m always so conflicted about it because while I can’t get behind the characters actions & reactions, I enjoy the way it feels. I don’t think that makes sense … but they are talented and one of my favs, one of those that are an automatic download for me. Just sometimes they go somewhere I can’t follow, I guess.
When the sexy little brother of Aidan’s best friend suggests a hookup pact, it’s the perfect storm for a bi-awakening . . .
Toronto Thunder quarterback Aidan Flynn always believed he was straight, until his close friend and favorite wide receiver signs with a team across the country. Distance opens his eyes and unlocks a desire he can’t deny. Even if his feelings aren’t returned, Aidan still wants to learn more about this part of himself.
Frustrated and a little heartbroken, the last thing he expects is for his crappy mood to get called out by his best friend’s little brother. Or for Levi to offer, on one drunken night, a pact: if Aidan never gets together with his guy, Levi will show him everything he’s been missing—and wanting—in bed.
It’s a stupid promise, fueled by booze and heartbreak, and Aidan expects that Levi will never call him on it.
Except Levi does. He shows up at Aidan’s house in Toronto less than two months later, not only willing to fulfill his side of the pact, but now signed to the Thunder as Aidan’s new right tackle. Aidan assumes it’ll be easy to get rid of him, but Levi is charming and persistent, and he not only ends up living in Aidan’s house, but sleeping in Aidan’s bed.
It’s easy and fun and the best hookup Aidan’s ever had in his whole life. It’s so good, in fact, Aidan starts to experience feelings he believed were long gone, traded away with his friend. Maybe with Levi in his life, love isn’t such a lost cause, after all.
They’re great on the field and between the sheets.But when Aidan’s past returns, he must decide whether Levi also has a place in his heart.
Tropes: sexual discovery, best friend’s little brother, hookup pact, roommates to friends to lovers
Available on: Amazon, Kindle Unlimited, paperback, and audio narrated by Darcy Stark (est November)
*****
Review:
I adored Aidan and Levi together, as they explore their feelings and the connection that grows between them. This is definitely an opposites attract kind of thing because Levi is pretty free spirited, comfortable in his skin and his sexuality, whereas Aidan struggles a bit about how he’s viewed and letting himself relax. He’s stoic and controlled but his relationship with & feelings for Levi are … nothing like that 🙂
What starts out as something a little fun and flirtatious, turns into something different when Levi unexpectedly joins the Thunder. He lets Aidan set the pace, helping him to come to terms with the change in his sexuality and his new situation. He’s there as a friend, and possibly something more, pushing when it’s needed and stepping back when things get too much. But with patience, honesty, and some self reflection, they’ll figure things out.
I cannot say enough about how much I love Beth Bolden’s books. It makes me so very happy to know that there is a new series (pretty sure I saw that it will end up being 8 books!?!?!) set in the Condors, Piranhas, Riptide universe. This one isn’t as angsty as the last Bolden story I read – which was one of the hockey ones, Breakaway Goals – but it has a good dose of warmth, growth, and heat. And I am so, so ready for the next one!
He’s tough enough to walk through fire. His only weakness? His best friend’s little sister. And now they’re facing danger that could ruin them both…
Rescue squad firefighter Tyler Gates is calm even in the most perilous situations. He knows all too well that emotions only add fuel to the fire when things go sideways—and when emotions are involved, everything goes sideways. Life’s just safer without feelings, period. But when his best friend’s little sister is swept up in a case of arson, extortion, and murder on his watch? Tyler’s going to have to rely on every one of his survival instincts to protect her. Including keeping her at arm’s length, no matter how badly he’s always wanted her.
As a former foster child, Chloe Ferguson knows what it’s like to need someone in her corner. When a thirteen-year-old girl in the system witnesses a brutal crime, then finds herself in the crosshairs of the dangerous criminal who committed it, Chloe knows she’ll need to do everything she can to keep her safe. Even if that means setting her emotions aside to ask straight-laced, sexy Tyler for his help.
But Tyler and Chloe can’t fight the sizzling-hot attraction sparking between them, and soon, they’re protecting Chloe’s ward and each other against a killer who wants to silence them all. In order to make it out alive, they’ll need to stand together and put everything on the line. Including their hearts.
USA Today best-selling author Kimberly Kincaid writes romantic suspense that sizzles and contemporary romance with heart and heat. Equal parts action and emotion, her firefighters and first responders always save the day.
When she’s not finding adventure with her husband, three teens, and naughty Whippets, Olive, Daisy, and Jack, she can be found practicing obscene amounts of yoga, whipping up anything from enchiladas to éclairs in her kitchen, or curled up with her nose in a book.
Kimberly’s series include Remington Medical, Station Seventeen, the Line series, Cross Creek, and her brand-new Intelligence Unit series. All titles stand alone for easy reading.
After an annoying, albeit sexy, encounter with Milo Lombardi, he’s the last person I want to see in Windy Harbor, Minnesota. Being in my favorite small town near Lake Superior with my family is my idea of heaven, and after clashing with Milo at an art event, and then kissing his face off right after – I’d be fine if I never saw the man again.
Even though he is sinfully gorgeous, and knows how to use those unforgettable lips.
But my dad has other ideas, and because he’s been dealt a blow that threatens to turn our family’s world upside down, I want to do what’s best and keep the peace.
Which means, I’m stuck working on a project with Milo, all day, every day.
And if I thought we didn’t get along in the beginning, it’s nothing compared to dealing with him on a daily basis. He has a unique way of bringing out the worst in me, while showcasing his annoying smirk in the process.
If only I could forget how his mouth felt on mine, and the way his strong arms felt wrapped around me.
Take this Heart is book one in the brand new, interconnected standalone Windy Harbor series.
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I adore Willow Aster’s stories. The ones I’ve read are full of charm and humor and feels and this one fits right in. There’s a kind of enemies to lovers thing on Goldie’s part and she does give Milo a bit of a hard time. She’s got her reasons but she does run hot and cold. Milo seems to be all in on her sass tho and once they stop fighting it doesn’t take them long to fall in love – maybe not long enough for some, it is a bit of insta love 🙂
As the first of a new series, we’re also given a glimpse into the characters for future stories – Goldie’s siblings and friends – and I cannot wait to see them all fall in love. They are a big loving group with big hearts and big personalities. There are a few characters from other stories that make appearances but it isn’t going to impact new readers, just a touch of fun for returning ones.
There’s also a little family drama that will probably work its way into the rest of the stories. I’m not going to give much away but it does cause some issues for Milo & Goldie and isn’t completely addressed by the end (although I wouldn’t technically call it a cliff hanger). The project the family is working on also isn’t finished so they will likely help tie the series together.
Small town romances are some of my favorites, with their quirky characters and the way everyone knows everyone’s business, and Aster brings it. Take This Heart is a slow burn, fabulous start to a new series and I’m ready for the next book already!
This is book 4 in the Rosewood River Series. Each one can be read as a complete standalone. A HEA is guaranteed! Rosewood River Series: Steal My Heart My Silver Lining Over The Moon Crazy In Love In A Heartbeat Whisper Sweet Nothings
*****
Review:
I was a little nervous about this one because Bridger straight up bullied Emilia over the Taylor Tea stuff but I had faith that Pavlov could turn it around and she did. I came out appreciating Bridger’s grumpy self and how he loves his family, and loves big, but is obviously dealing with a lot. (I originally thought that someone should have pushed him into addressing that earlier but in reality he had to want to before it would actually do any good.)
Emilia is also dealing with a lot, with Bridger but also her own family. And I think that explains a lot about why she reacted to Bridger the way she did. I was there tho for her as she finally found her voice with ALL of them. She deserves so much more from so many people.
Crazy in Love is a slow burn, with an enemies-to-lovers thing going on. That’s not usually my thing but I really liked the way this one played out. The banter is well done (it has a very Pavlov feeling) and the transition of their feelings is organic. I really liked how the third act issues are resolved (although maybe a bit more from Emilia’s mother would have been nice … I mean, ugh, that woman!) and their path to a HEA worked.
Part of a series but can be read on its own. Although you’ll appreciate these people even more for having read the rest 🙂
Romantic Reads and Such 