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2025 NEW RELEASES IN ROMANCE
What's on Your 2025 TBR Romance List and Are You "Judging Books by Their Covers?"
Get ready to swoon! Are you looking for your next book boyfriend? 2025 is shaping up to be an amazing year for romance readers, with new releases from bestselling authors and long-awaited continuations of beloved series. 😍 Whether you're craving a heartwarming contemporary romance, second-chance romance, or love triangle drama, we've got the inside scoop on the hottest new releases and there's something for everyone.
Join us as we dish on all things romance! Stay tuned for future reviews, recommendations, and all the latest news on the romance front!
The below list was compiled from my personal TBR list, friends and family, Goodreads, and multiple internet articles. Leave a comment below your most excited read for 2025.
*Check Out our Book Talk page for any book descriptions you may need help on. Just click the description in red and it will take you directly to the page.
*Check out our "Spice Level-IMO" page for a breakdown of how we rate the steaminess in each story. We'll give you the inside scoop on what to expect, so you can choose the perfect level of heat for your reading pleasure. 🌶️
If IMO Book Lover has read any of the books you will see
We love to hear from you as well. Leave a comment below our book review on your opinions on the book!
JANUARY
Happy After All
by Maisey Yates
Release Date: January 01, 2025
-
contemporary romance
-
second chance romance
-
forced-proximity
-
opposites attract
-
grumpy-sunshine
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Happy After All
A city girl leaves her life behind in LA to start over in a small town…
It’s a cliché, but it’s also Amelia Taylor’s life. And her new life as a romance novelist and motelier is going great—until Nathan Hart checks in.
Of course he’s disastrously handsome, thoroughly disagreeable, and seems to be set against Amelia on sight. Of course there’s smoldering tension between them that can’t be ignored. They’d make the perfect enemies to lovers story. It’s one of Amelia’s favorite tropes.
But the man in room 32 seems genuinely broken, and it’s going to take more than romance tropes and wishful thinking to get past his wounds. As a tentative friendship grows into a deeper connection, Amelia and Nathan both realize that facing each other’s painful secrets takes courage.
Do they dare take the risk and hope it ends happily after all?
CONTENT WARNING: This book contains a plot line involving a wildfire that ravages a community. This may be upsetting or triggering for some readers, especially those who have been affected by recent wildfires.
Stealing Sunshine
Cherry Peak, Book 4
by Hannah Cowan
Release Date: January 3, 2025
LGBT&Q Romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Stealing Sunshine
It was always the plan to come back home to Cherry Peak. But after being gone for four years, it’s apparently not as easy as I expected for things to go back to the way they used to be.
Instead, they get beyond complicated the moment I realize my brother’s house has paper thin walls and a general lack of privacy. Desperate for someplace else to stay, I move in with one of my brother’s friends. The only problem with that? Bryce can’t stand me.
Everyone in town calls her the Ice Queen, and over the first few days of living with her, I begin to understand why. She’s blunt, broody, and even cruel at times. But when I learn she could use some help in the dating department, I offer mine without a second thought.
It’s supposed to be a harmless favour, but somewhere along the line, Bryce stops being the woman who barely tolerates me, and starts becoming the one person who understands me best. The walls of ice she’s built up around herself start to crack, and the more I get to know what lies behind it, the more I realize how wrong I’ve been about her this entire time.
She might be frosty to everyone else, but to me . . . I think she’s the warmest person I’ve ever known.
Deserving Ryleigh
The Refuge Series, Book 7 (final book)
by Susan Stoker
Release Date: January 5, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Spice
Military Romance
Romantic Suspense
Tropes:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Deserving Ryleigh
Ryleigh Lodge has secrets. Her new friends, the men and women at The Refuge, already know that for months she lied about her name, her hacking skills, and how she got the job in the first place. But there’s one last secret. One so explosive, it could cost her everything…her friends, her new home…the man she’s been falling for since the day she arrived at The Refuge. Not that she hasn’t already ruined any chance with Tiny. Fact is, she should have left a long time ago. Now Ry’s brought evil to their door—and she’s the only one who can stop it. Leaving is no longer an option.
Spencer “Tiny” Denny has trust issues. And no one can blame him; even if he hadn’t seen his fair share of hell as a former Navy SEAL, the last time he loved a woman, he barely escaped the relationship with his heart intact—figuratively and literally. He should’ve known the pull he felt toward Ryleigh was too good to be true. So the second he heard about her lies, he put her on lockdown, watching her like a hawk and treating her like the enemy…until he discovered her actions were borne of deep fear. Now Tiny’s keeping her close for different reasons. Partly to keep her safe…and partly because his feelings for her have only grown stronger.
The Forever Rule
The Cage Family, Book 1
by Carrie Ann Ryan
Release Date: Jan 06, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Forever Rule
What happens when the man you’d thought could be the one turns out to be your new boss?
Blakely
The moment I met Aston Cage, I knew my life had changed. A single dance later, we’re both all in. Until he ghosted me.
Then my boss fires me for dancing with the enemy.
Three months later, working for the Cages is my last resort. Now I’ll work beside him day by day, trying not to let my feelings take control. It’s heaven and hell. Except I’m starting to think there’s a part of this story I’m missing…
Aston
I made myself walk away from Blakely after my family’s dirty laundry hit the news. My father’s secret family complicates everything. In order to keep our inheritance intact, we’re forced to do monthly dinners with both sides of the family—the brothers I grew up with and the new set of siblings we never knew about.
An additional obstacle: Blakely is my new sister’s best friend.
Meaning the moment I give into temptation, I not only risk the woman I’m falling for, but the family legacy just starting to reveal itself.
But Blakley is worth it. I just have to prove I am as well.
All the Missing Pieces
by Catherine Cowles
Release Date: Jan 07, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: All the Missing Pieces
Sometimes the last thing you expect is exactly what you need, the final missing piece. And sometimes it comes in the form of a towering, broody sheriff, determined to get in your way at every step.
Ridley Sawyer knows what it's like to miss someone, to feel like a piece of her vanished―because it happened to her the night her twin sister disappeared.
Now, Ridley channels that loss into hope, traveling the country covering cold cases for her true crime podcast. She might not have found justice for her sister but that doesn't stop her from finding it for others.
Until Sheriff Colter Brooks gets in her way.
Colt knows what it's like to have reporters descend on his town in the wake of a tragedy, and he's not about to let a fiery podcaster stir up trouble. It doesn't matter that her haunting blue eyes tell him there's more to Ridley's story or that he can't stop imagining what it would be like to touch her.
But when Ridley's cold case turns hot and she's thrust into the crosshairs, Colt has no choice but to step in. Suddenly, Ridley's living at his house, drinking his whiskey, and stealing his dog's affections. But she's also proving that she's so much more than his first impression.
And as they get closer to the truth, the game they've been playing might just turn deadly…
bad little bride
by Meagan Brandy
Sub Genre:
Romantic Suspense
Tropes:
-Enemies to Lovers Romance
-Mafia Romance
-Contract marriage
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: bad little bride
Degradation of the Desperate Daughter. That could be the theme song to my life. Always second choice. Second best. Second born. Maybe that’s what possessed me to track down my father’s most formidable enemy, the infamous Enzo Fikile. He’s the nation’s most eligible bachelor, and the crime world I was born into’s biggest threat, but not because he wants to tear it down.
No. This man wants to claim his place within it and if the whispers working their way around are anything to go by, he’s well on his way. And I just offered him a golden ticket, one he accepted with an unexpected spark in his eye. We signed our marriage contract that night, and the deal with the devil was done.
I’m engaged to the man the rest of the world fears and there’s no going back. I expect to be tossed in a tower and left there, but my future husband has other plans. Dangerous ones.
He wants the world to believe our love is real and not bargained, but he says even that’s not enough.
He wants me to convince him.
What was supposed to be a simple arrangement spirals into something more, and before I know it, I’m caught in his web, secrets spinning all around me.
I hate him as much as I crave him, but as enemies close in from the most unlikely of places, I realize something.
No one is allowed to hurt my husband.
Except, of course … me.
Release Date: January 07, 2025
Beg, Borrow, or Steal
by Sarah Adams
Release Date: January 07, 2025
Sub Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Beg, Borrow, or Steal
Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year with his fiancée.
The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.
Jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.
With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees.
Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?
Bite the Bullet
Bell Buckle, Book 4
by Karley Brenna
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Sub Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Bite the Bullet
Emily Walker hates having her carefully crafted world disrupted by anyone, most of all her legendary nemesis, Jack Bennett. He’s the opposite of the wonderful heroes she dreams up in her double life as a romance writer, which is why Emily was perfectly happy when Jack left Rome, Kentucky, mid-school year with his fiancée.
The last thing Emily saw coming was Jack’s return at the start of the summer after calling off the wedding and ending his relationship, but he’s here to stay—as her colleague and her neighbor.
Jack is glad to be back, eager to renovate his house and work on the next mystery novel under his bestselling pen name. But when he realizes he’s now neighbors with the one woman who has always pushed his buttons, he discovers something he’s even more excited about—thwarting Emily and her petty plans to sabotage his return.
With their chemistry-fueled animosity at an all-time high, Emily accidentally sends an email to their school’s principal that could reveal her secret literary side hustle. She needs to steal back her manuscript, and Jack—she hates to admit—is just the man to help her. Surprisingly, he agrees.
Will their unlikely alliance put an end to their rivalry? Or could it lead to a steamy plot twist they never saw coming?
Devoted Enough
by Kelly Elliott
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Sub Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Devoted Enough
Nathan Shaw has been keeping a secret since high school. It was so tightly intertwined with someone else’s that exposing the darkest facts meant he couldn’t keep the other to himself.
He’s had years of holding onto those truths. This also means he's had to push away the one person who means more to him than anything—and in the process, all it does is make her think that he despises her like all of the other people in her life.
But that's so far from the truth about his feelings that he holds so close to his heart.
Haven Larson has had an awful childhood growing up with an abusive father and a mother who tries her best, but sometimes the best can't protect you from the monsters that hide in darkness.
One night, protecting her from those monsters, fell on the one boy she had loved for as long as she could remember. And now she knows that he can't stand to be around her after discovering her secrets—or can he, because every time they are together, the sparks ignite and threaten to combust.
But it will take their darkest secrets being exposed in order for their feelings to come to light.
For One Night Only
by Jessica James
Release Date: January 07, 2025
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: For One Night Only
After her recurring role in tabloid headlines, Valerie Quinn’s musical TV show is on the network chopping block. Desperate for good press, she hastily reassembles her wildly beloved pop punk band, Glitter Bats. A reunion concert could be the former lead vocalist’s ticket to a media makeover, especially if it renews public speculation around her iconic situationship with bassist Caleb Sloane.
The only problem? They haven’t spoken in six years.
Caleb had the makings of a rock god, but fallout from the messy Glitter Bats breakup left him broke, anxious, and resentful of the industry. But when Valerie shows up at Caleb’s doorstep with that devastating smile and a plea for help, he reluctantly agrees to put on one last show.
So what if the fandom assumes the two of them are back together too? They’ll play along. You know...for the press.
Making music together not only revives the harmony between them, but also the discord that led to the band’s downfall. With their futures—and the Glitter Bats—in the balance, can they survive a romantic reprise?
Single Player
by Tara Tai
Release Date: January 07, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Tropes:
Two video game creators go head-to-head in this delightful, queer enemies-to-lovers workplace romance debut, perfect for fans of TJ Alexander and Helen Hoang.
Cat Li cares about two things: video games and swoony romances. The former means there hasn’t been much of the latter in her (real) life, but when she lands her dream job writing the love storylines for Compass Hollow—the next big thing in games—she knows it’s all been worth it. Then she meets her boss: the infamous Andi Zhang, who’s not only an arrogant hater of happily-ever-afters determined to keep Cat from doing her job but also impossibly, annoyingly hot.
As Compass Hollow’s narrative director, Andi couldn’t care less about love—in-game or out. After getting doxxed by internet trolls three years ago, Andi’s been trying to prove to the gaming world that they’re a serious gamedev. Their plan includes writing the best game possible, with zero lovey-dovey stuff. That is, until the man funding the game’s development insists Andi add romance in order to make the story “more appealing to female gamers.”
Forced to give Cat a chance, Andi begrudgingly realizes there’s more to Cat than romantic idealism and, okay, a cute smile. But admitting that would mean giving up the single-player life that has kept their heart safe for years. And when Cat uncovers a behind-the-scenes plot to destroy Andi’s career, the two will have to put their differences aside and find a way to work together before it’s game over.
This One Life
by Amanda Prowse
Release Date: January 07, 2025
She wants it all. But life has other plans…
After years of hard work, Madeleine’s life is very nearly perfect. She’s about to move to LA to pursue her dream job―and there’s a new man on the scene too. But when her mother falls ill, pulling her back to the world she’s tried so hard to leave behind, the repercussions of a life-changing decision Madeleine made seven years ago resurface, threatening to jeopardise everything she’s worked for.
Faced with the promise of her new life, and the pull of her old, she has to ask herself some tough questions: was what she did then right for her family? How do you know when it’s okay to put yourself first? And what’s the cost of happiness?
Heartfelt, provocative and emotional, this is a gripping look at the choices women have to make, and whether we really can have it all…
The Path To Loving Him
by Meghan Quinn
Release Date: January 07, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Contemporary Romance
- Rom-Com
Trope:
- Enemies-to-lovers
- Forced proximity
- Grumpy-sunshine
- Single Dad
What does one do when they completely blow an interview?
If you're me, you pick up a one-night stand with the most gorgeous man you've ever seen..
That's right, after a lousy interview that could have changed everything for me, I headed over to the local small town bar to sulk when the one man I shouldn't want walked in.
And when my friend convinced me to take him back to my hotel room, I didn't think about it, I just did it . . . well, I did him.
It was an unforgettable night, but I didn't stay for breakfast. Instead, I got out of there and tried not to think about him again
Everything was fine until I received a call from the interviewer saying I got the job as the assistant baseball coach at Almond Bay High.
I'd be working directly under the one and only Ryland Rowley--my one-night stand.
Visions of Darkness
by A.L. Jackson
Release Date: January 7, 2025
Sub-Genre:
dark romantasy
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Visions of Darkness
Aria Rialta is a girl of two realities. One she was born to. The other she was chosen for. Both are a threat.
Every night when Aria falls asleep, she enters the nightmare world of Faydor to fight a war. It’s her calling to help destroy the Kruen, who feed sin and chaos to our everyday world of vulnerable humans. It would be a lonely realm in which to do battle if not for Pax, Aria’s dangerously irresistible soulmate whose mere touch can kill. It’s also a realm that’s getting harder to escape.
Aria’s hallucinations are seeping into her waking world. And the Kruen are coming for her. To help Aria, Pax must do what no one in Faydor has dared to do before―join his soulmate in the light of day. Giving in to their forbidden attraction could be the death of them, but they might not be able to stop themselves as they embark on a cross-country journey to fight the evils hunting them.
As their desire grows, so do Aria’s untapped powers, and a menacing new force far darker than the Kruen.
Poetry On Ice
Totally Pucked Series, Book 1
by Jesse H Reign
Release Date: January 9, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Hockey romance
Trope:
- MM
- Enemies to lovers
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Poetry On Ice
I can’t tell if we’re fighting…or flirting? Being traded to the Seattle Vipers has left me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, they’re my team, the team I’ve loved and supported since I was a kid, but on the other hand, he’s here. Him. Ant Decker. Infamous NHL bad boy. Right wing to my left. A man who’s made it his sole purpose in life to be better than me.
Well, the joke’s on him because I’m faster and my stats are better than his. Not that I’m competing with him. Of course not. I wouldn’t stoop to his level. He’s the most infuriating person I’ve ever met. A dark, chaotic presence that distracts me. When we’re not coming to blows on the ice, he tries to provoke me by calling me Princess. And Pretty Boy...and Babygirl. I hate it. Obviously, I do. It makes me so angry I can hardly see straight. So why does my body react as if I like it?
The Other Brother
London Heart Series, Book 1
by Tierney Page
Release Date: January 13, 2025
- Contemporary romance
-Ex-fiance's brother
- Forbidden love
- Musician MMC
- Spice
- Banter
- Found family
- Slow burn
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Other Brother
She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family’s support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating—and each other—to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship.
Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end.
As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the “real story” through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can’t stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy.
So, after a decade of silence, she’s telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.
Flirting with Disaster
by Naina Kumar
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
- Second- chance-Romance
- Slow burn
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Flirting with Diaster
She needs a divorce from her husband—but a hurricane threatens to dredge up their stormy, passionate past in this sizzling reimagining of Sweet Home Alabama from the bestselling author of Say You'll Be Mine.
It's been years since Meena has seen her husband, Nikhil . . . years since they first laid eyes on each other back home in Texas, years since they eloped in Las Vegas and she felt true happiness. A high-powered lawyer on Capitol Hill, ready to move on (or at least, she thinks so) with another successful lawyer, Shake, Meena has returned home. This time, finally, to obtain a divorce.
But there's one thing Meena couldn't have accounted for: a hurricane forming in the Gulf, veering right toward them, giving them no choice but to hunker down in the home they had built together. Suddenly, she finds herself trapped amid gale-force winds and pelting rain with the man she once loved.
As they spend more time together, Meena begins to remember everything that drew her to Nikhil: His small-town charm, his thoughtful nature. . . his absurdly good looks. But things make sense with Shake. He’s steady and ambitious and wants exactly what she wants. She’ll stick to her plan, come hell or high water. But will her windswept heart make the right choice, when the storm settles and the eye passes over?
With sharp observations about second chances at love, ambition and Indian American identity, and with characters who share an undeniable chemistry, Flirting with Disaster is a modern romance with the sensibility of a classic.
Steal My Heart
Rosewood River Series, Book 1
by Laura Pavlov
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
- Small Town
- Enemies to lovers
- Workplace Romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Steal My Heart
Henley Holloway is my boss’s daughter and I’ve been assigned to mentor her.
The problem is, I’m not looking to babysit anyone.
But I’m determined to make partner at the firm, and this is the final obstacle in my way.
So, I agree to take the little princess under my wing. I’ll work her so hard, she’ll beg me to leave her alone.
But from the first day she walks into the office and spills scalding hot coffee on my chest―I’m intrigued. She’s a Harvard grad. Her work ethic rivals mine. She’s witty and funny and beautiful all at the same time. I don’t want to like her. I have a hard and fast rule about relationships, and I will not break it with my boss’s daughter. That’s a hard no. But she’s everywhere I turn, and I can’t seem to get enough.
Weren’t rules meant to be broken anyway? From the moment we cross the line―I’m done for.
Henley Holloway has seeped her way into my heart, one that I didn’t even know still worked.
But sometimes loving someone isn’t enough. I’m living proof of that.
Work in Progress
An Enchanting Witty Scottish Romance, Perfect for Winter 2025, Join Alice on Her Literary Adventure Today!
by Kat Mackenzie
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Rom-Com
Trope:
ABOUT: Work in Progress
UK Bus Trip Goals:
Crawl out of pajamas. Get over cheating bastard and his stupid ironed jeans. Have my first real adventure!
Achieve stability, strength, and growth. Definitely do NOT kiss any British men.
Alice loves a good list. But careful planning didn’t stop her from losing her job and her fiance in one fell swoop. With her dreaded 30th birthday looming on the horizon, Alice makes the first impulsive decision of her life - booking a flight to the UK for a three-week, all-female, literary bus tour.
What could possibly go wrong? Turns out - everything.
Alice arrives to discover that this tour isn’t what she expected. At all. Instead of cool, globe-trotting thirtysomethings with meaningful tattoos, she finds a rickety, antique bus full of fluffy-haired octogenarians.
And to make matters infinitely worse, the tour guide makes her blood boil! And that devilish grin of his tells her he’s dead set on making her trip a misery.
But as they travel from castle ruins to cozy pubs, Alice may just find that she’s got it all wrong. The ladies are vivacious. The book club chat is on fire.
And damn if that mischievous smile doesn't threaten to turn her world upside down - and her beloved list right along with it!
The Butcher
Fifth Republic Series, Book 1
by Penelope Sky
Release Date: January 17, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Dark romance
Trope:
- Spicy
- Dominant
- Mafia
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Butcher
It should have been, except the plan falls apart when my shower breaks, and night after night I have to slip into his house to use the bathroom only to find him in the kitchen, staring me down with those hungry, single dad eyes.
I found out my husband of three years had cheated on me and his mistress is the one who told me—because he didn’t have the balls to do it himself.
I move out and get a new apartment, a job as a bartender, and try to move on with a broken heart. I wonder where it all went wrong, if I hadn’t been enough for him, if Id been stupid for marrying him in the first place.
I’m at work one night when he walks inside—the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen. He sits at the bar and a forest fire burns between us. I was depressed the moment before he entered, but the second I look at his blue eyes, I forget the dumpster fire that my life has become. I invite him back to my place and it’s the most passionate night of my life. I expect to never see him again.
I just want him as an anti-depressant—but he wants me all to himself. I just got my heart ripped out of my chest so I want something easy and no-strings-attached, but he wants all the strings because he’s hooked.
I don’t get much of a say in the matter, and that’s not surprising when I learn why—because he’s the Butcher. The crime lord of all crime lords, the boss that overshadows all of Paris, that makes everyone abide by his rules—or pay.
And now I’m his.
Let's Call A Truce
by Amy Buchanan
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Rom-Com
Trope:
- Enemies-to-lovers, - Forbidden romance
- Spicy
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Let's Call A Truce
LET’S CALL A TRUCE is a sexy contemporary romance about second chances at life and love, bursting with humor and a touch of angst from debut author, Amy Buchanan.
After Juliana Ryan's husband dies unexpectedly, leaving her with two grieving kids and a stunted career from years as a stay-at-home mom, she has no choice but to make it work all on her own. But her confidence crashes around her when she overhears her condescending but infuriatingly attractive new colleague, Ben Thomas, talking about how her kids and inexperience are a liability the company can’t afford. This sets off a feud between the two, as Juliana vows to prove him wrong.
Two years later, their feud rages on, but it may be charged with something they aren't willing to admit. When they are forced onto a career-making project together, Juliana has no choice but to call a truce. As their lives become more intertwined in and out of the office, Juliana finds it hard to ignore Ben’s perpetual smile and charming determination. What started as a truce grows into more, as boardroom-clearing arguments turn to desk-clearing kisses. Could the man she deemed her nemesis understand her life–her stress and responsibilities–better than anyone?
But just when Juliana decides to open her heart again, Ben’s past threatens their newfound bliss, and she has to figure out whether this second chance at love is worth it after all.
Playing Flirty
by Shameez Patel
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Contemporary Romance
- Nerdy Rom-Com
Trope:
- Slow-burn
- Geeky rivals-to-lovers
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Playing Flirty
The game is on for two nerds who love to outplay each other . . . even when their hearts are on the line, in this charming and geeky romantic comedy perfect for fans of Olivia Dade and Jen DeLuca.
For Rose Marie Jones, risks are a hard no–except for Game Night. For one precious evening a week, Rose can forget about her demanding boss and her lackluster love life and focus on beating the pants off her friends. But none of them brings out her hyper-competitive side quite like William Ashdern.
Her best friend’s half-brother, William is the paragon of a sexy nerd. The tall, dorky, and handsome game designer is Rose’s playing nemesis. But when Rose decides to enter a contest with the board game she’s secretly invented, there’s only one person who can help her win.
Now what has always been a game between Rose and William is getting a lot more serious. And after spending her entire life trying not to lose, Rose might finally be ready to risk it all–and play to win.
Unromance
by Erin Connor
Release Date: January 14, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Spicy
- Rom-Com
Trope:
- Celebrity Romance
- Meet Disaster
- One night stand
- He falls first
- Opposites-attract
- Grumpy -sunshine
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Playing Flirty
The game is on for two nerds who love to outplay each other . . . even when their hearts are on the line, in this charming and geeky romantic comedy perfect for fans of Olivia Dade and Jen DeLuca.
For Rose Marie Jones, risks are a hard no–except for Game Night. For one precious evening a week, Rose can forget about her demanding boss and her lackluster love life and focus on beating the pants off her friends. But none of them brings out her hyper-competitive side quite like William Ashdern.
Her best friend’s half-brother, William is the paragon of a sexy nerd. The tall, dorky, and handsome game designer is Rose’s playing nemesis. But when Rose decides to enter a contest with the board game she’s secretly invented, there’s only one person who can help her win.
Now what has always been a game between Rose and William is getting a lot more serious. And after spending her entire life trying not to lose, Rose might finally be ready to risk it all–and play to win.
Prequel to Haunted Adeline. Grandma and her stalker.
Phantom
by H.D. Carlton
Available 21 on Audible /Free on KU Jan 14
Release Date: Jan 16, 2025
Sub-Genre:
historical romance
Trope:
mafia
stalker romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Phantom
The married woman of the manor. The stranger outside.
November 12, 1944.
This house holds onto souls for a lifetime.
I thought I had given it to my husband when I vowed to love him until the end of time. I lied. Nothing could have prepared me for the day my phantom appeared outside my window. He was terrifying, yet hypnotizing, and I couldn’t deny my intrigue.
I never intended to fall into a whirlwind romance with my stalker. Especially because he’s so much more than that. A criminal. A mobster. The man who offers me solace from the monster in Parsons Manor.
There are many that haunt these halls, yet it’s only my husband I fear.
Bad Seed
Rosewood River Series, Book 1
by Sharon Sala
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
romantic suspense
Trope:
small Town
enemies to lovers, workplace
suspenseful romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Bad Seed
It's love at first sight when head pastry chef Brendan Pope meets private investigator Harley Banks at the Serenity Inn in Jubilee, KY. Harley is staying there for her latest investigation. But unknown to them both, Harley has a hitman after her, courtesy of the wrong-doer she put behind bars on her last case.
The FBI gets involved to clean up the loose ends so Harley can continue the investigation at the inn. But after nearly losing her, Brendan will stop at nothing to make sure Harley is safe and the criminals get their comeuppance.
Just Like That
The Kings Series, Book 4
by Lena Hendrix
Available 21 on Audible /Free on KU Jan 14
Release Date: January 18, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Spicy
single-dad
friends-to-lovers
small-town romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Just Like That
He’s my sister’s ex, a stubborn jerk, and completely off-limits.
Getting a man to give up custody of a son he didn’t know existed should have been easy. Trouble is, nothing with JP King is ever easy. Suave, grumpy billionaires aren’t supposed to have strong hands or filthy mouths, and I never expected our snippy banter to be so much fun.
JP regards me as something he scraped off the bottom of his dress shoe, but when this reluctant single dad looks at my nephew, there’s a softness there he struggles to keep hidden. He may be gruff and uptight, but something simmers beneath his controlled, polished exterior. Sure, I’m wild and reckless, but when we’re forced together as guardians, everything changes. His cold and calculated exterior melts into hushed conversations and lingering stares. The more we fight, the harder we fall.
I’m scatterbrained, unconventional, and everything he’s been missing. The closer we get, the less we understand why we were ever at odds.
. . . until just like that our lives are turned upside down.
When You Had Me Adapting:
A Romance Rehab, Book 2
by Jess Christine
Release Date: January 18, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
second chance romance
cinnamon roll
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: When You Had Me Adapting
At eighteen, I thought she was my future. Hell, at eight, I thought she was my forever and then it all came crashing down.”
For the past decade, Lacey Sims has tried to forget the boy who shattered her heart into a million pieces. Never one to commit and always a little dramatic, her dating history is a long list of mediocre one-night stands and terrible first dates. Now, the boy she tried to forget is back and by a twist of fate she never saw coming, is friends with her best friend’s boyfriend.
After the love of his life walked away, Jace Jackson threw himself into school and work, trying to distract from his pain and heartbreak. Over the last ten years, he’s seen some of the most beautiful places in the world and photographed some of the most fascinating animals, but, none of it ever made him as happy as he was with Lacey. After an incredible discovery and at a bit of a career crossroads, Jace is home and wants nothing more than to be a part of her world.
They’ve adapted to life without each other, but now that their worlds are colliding, can they put the past behind them for the sake of their friends and their hearts?
The Broposal
by Sonora Reyes –
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
new adult romance
Trope:
MM
fake marriage
spicy
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Broposal
From the author of The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School, two best bros fake an engagement–but will their friendship survive?
It’s about time roommates Alejandro and Kenny get married. Or at least, that’s what all their close friends and family think when they announce their engagement. The kicker? The two are faking their whole relationship so Alejandro can get a green card. But if Han was going to marry anyone, it would be his ride or die since second grade.
Han has never been able to put down roots, and the only one who truly breaks through his walls is Kenny. Sweet, sensitive Kenny is newly single, and what better distraction from his soul-sucking relationship than proposing marriage to Han? Kenny can’t think of anything more fun than spending his life with his best friend, even if it’s just for a piece of paper. But as Kenny keeps up the charade, he’s soon struggling to resist their sizzling chemistry.
The line between fact and fiction begins to blur the closer they get to their wedding date. With all eyes on Han and Kenny—including a meddling ex and immigration officers—will these two bros make it down the altar for real?
Brewing Up a Bad Boy:
WiCKed Sisters, Book 3
by Katherine Garbera
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
spicy
small town
second chance romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Brewing Up A Bad Boy
Sometimes the second sip is sweetest.
In the cozy town of Birch Lake, tea shop owner Poppy Kitchener thought she’d left her mistakes, and her failed marriage, in the past. But when her ex-husband, Alistair Miller, turns up—as charming and irritatingly handsome as ever—those old feelings float to the surface. To top it off, he has a puzzling proposition: pretend they’re still married for his cousin’s wedding in exchange for a lucrative business deal with his family.
Easy enough, right? After all, this could be Poppy’s last chance to get closure, grow her business and use Alistair’s knowledge of microbrewing to help her finish that winning recipe for the tea competition.
But even after all this time, he still knows how to make her laugh. And he’s changed in ways that make Poppy wonder about the man he’s become… Can she trust this new Alistair with her heart, or will a second chance brew up disaster?
From showing up to glowing up, the characters in Afterglow Books are on the path to leading their best lives and finding sizzling romance along the way. Don’t miss any of these other fun titles…
Earl Crush
by Alexandra Vasti
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
regency/historical
rom-com
Trope:
spicy
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Earl Crush
For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets―and for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the reclusive Earl of Strathrannoch. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of: a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself.
But the real earl has no idea who she is. When a bewitching stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned. And when he learns that his traitorous brother has been writing to her under Arthur’s name, he’s bloody furious. He’s content to live alone in his moldering castle, and he has no desire for a radical wife. (Or at least, he shouldn’t.)
But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe―even his heart
Give Me Butterflies:
Oaks Sisters, Book 1
by Jillian Meadows
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
spicy
grumpy-sunshine
stem
nerdy banter
slow-burn
romance with lots of tension
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Earl Crush
For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets―and for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the reclusive Earl of Strathrannoch. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of: a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself.
But the real earl has no idea who she is. When a bewitching stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned. And when he learns that his traitorous brother has been writing to her under Arthur’s name, he’s bloody furious. He’s content to live alone in his moldering castle, and he has no desire for a radical wife. (Or at least, he shouldn’t.)
But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe―even his heart
She Doesn't Have A Clue
by Jenny Elder Moke
Release Date: January 21, 2025
Sub-Genre:
rom-com, cozy mystery romance
Trope:
spicy
second chance romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: She Doesn't Have a Clue
A high-end wedding on a private island off the coast of Seattle sounds like something out of a magazine. But for bestselling mystery author Kate Valentine, it’s more like a nightmare.
Why Kate agreed to attend her ex-fiancé’s wedding is its own enigma, but she’ll plaster on a fake smile for two nights, with the aid of free champagne, naturally. And because the groom happens to be her editor, she’ll try to finish a draft of her latest Loretta Starling mystery as a wedding gift.
When the bride is poisoned and Kate stumbles across a dead body, she finds herself in a real-life mystery that eerily echoes the plot of her latest novel. And the only person who seems willing to help Kate catch the killer is Jake Hawkins, aka: the Hostralian; aka: Kate’s biggest romantic regret.
As the wine flows and the weather threatens to hold every guest hostage, bitter resentments and long-held grudges surface amongst the colorful crowd. Anyone could be capable of murder, it seems. What would Loretta do? Unfortunately, Kate doesn’t have a clue.
The Apple Tree
by Jewel E. Ann
Release Date: January 23, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Contemporary Romance
New Adult Romance
Trope:
Small Town Romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Apple Tree
He’s a single dad starting over in a new town. She’s a relentless flirt with a penchant for trouble, ten years younger than him, and the babysitter. What could go wrong?
Eve has just graduated from high school, but she doesn’t know what’s next aside from working at the local motel, spying on Kyle, her neighbor, and stealing apples from his orchard. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’ll be stuck at home and treated like a child forever.
Kyle is a single dad and the new football coach who needs a babysitter for his adorable son. When he meets Eve, there’s an instant connection because she reminds him of someone—himself. But Eve is the preacher’s daughter, off-limits, and Kyle has already had his heart trampled by his ex.
After earning his son’s affection with her homemade apple sauce and youthful spirit, Eve asks Kyle to teach her things like driving his fishing boat and shooting his hunting bow. Despite his better judgment, he agrees, but swears Eve to secrecy so no one gets the wrong idea about them.
Their playful banter and innocent flirting crosses a line, and Kyle misses the heartbreaking secret Eve’s hidden in plain sight.
When tragedy strikes, can they find their way back to each other?
If the Ring Fits
Funny Feelings, Book 2
by Camilla Isley
Release Date: January 25, 2025
Sub-Genre:
contemporary Romance
Romantic Comedy
Trope:
age gap
Fake an Engagement
marriage of convenience
rom-com
multi-millionaire MMC & FMC
STEM FMC
ABOUT: If the Ring Fits
When Life Gives You Lemons, Fake an Engagement
When investment banker Adrian and software engineer Rowena started the day, they didn’t expect to end it engaged! But Adrian has invented a fake fiancée to impress his CEO, regretting the lie almost immediately, and now he is in hot water. Meanwhile, Rowena's career has just gone up in flames, leaving her unemployed, unexpectedly expecting with no father in the picture, and short of options. When fate throws these two hot messes into a meet-cute of epic proportions, it's a match made in rock-bottom heaven. They say love is blind, and with nothing to lose, Adrian gets down on one knee… and Rowena says yes!
The rules of engagement are simple:
Pretend to be madly in love, Keep their real lives separate, Absolutely, positively do NOT catch feelings.
However, faking it is harder than they thought, especially when every overnight stay comes with only one bed and zero personal space—blurring that imaginary line between ‘just business’ and ‘definitely personal.’
Soon, their carefully constructed charade starts to feel alarmingly... real. Can Adrian and Rowena stick to their engagement pact, or will their fake relationship graduate to something authentically messy, complicated, and wonderful?
I Think They Love You
by Julian Winters
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Sub-Genre:
rom com
Trope:
MM
spicy
fake dating
second chance romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: I Think They Love You
When Denzel “Denz” Carter’s workaholic father and CEO of 24 Carter Gold unexpectedly announces his retirement, the competition is on for who will become his successor. To convince his family members that he’s capable of commitment, Denz impulsively lies about being in a serious relationship.
Now Denz needs to find a fake boyfriend to seal the deal on the CEO position. Denz is forced to turn to the last person he wants to be in a pretend (or any) relationship with: Braylon, the man who broke his heart.
Braylon’s sudden reappearance in Denz’s life turns everything upside down. But, apparently, he needs Denz’s connections to the mayor to win his own promotion. So, they strike a deal. It’s all business until the funny texts and the confusing kisses leave Denz struggling to separate this temporary arrangement from the affairs of his heart.
Out Of The Woods
by Hannah Bonam-Young
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Out Of The Woods
High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs.
But Sarah has begun to wonder . . . who is she without her other half?
When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memory of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter after all, independent and capable.
That is, until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.
The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances and doubts. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?
In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to get out of their comfort zones and join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.
What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.
Yin Yang Love Song
By Lauren Kung Jessen
Release Date: January 28, 2025
Sub-Genre:
rom com
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Yin Yang Love Song
Chinese herbalist Chryssy Hua Williams never actually believed in the Hua family curse. But after Break-Up #9, Chryssy stopped laughing. Now she and her aunties run a special healing retreat center for the broken-hearted. After all, there’s nothing a proper cup of herbal tea can’t fix...but Chryssy’s innocent run-in with celebrity cellist and bad boy Vin Chao has everyone brewing about a different kind of tea. So he offers her a deal: they’ll fake-date, he’ll “break” her heart (and increase ticket sales), and in return, he’ll promote her business.
It’s like Chryssy’s whole cursed love life has been leading up to this moment. But all it takes is one kiss—and a whole lot of unexpected chemistry—to land both of them in hot water . . .
FEBRUARY
A story about one couple's hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce.
A Forty Year Kiss
by Nickolas Butler
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
rom com
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: A Forty Year Kiss
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing -- he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets.
A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It's a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.
Deep End
by Ali Hazelwood
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
sports, steamy romance
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: This Deep End
Scarlett Vandermeer is swimming upstream. A Junior at Stanford and a student-athlete who specializes in platform diving, Scarlett prefers to keep her head down, concentrating on getting into med school and on recovering from the injury that almost ended her career. She has no time for relationships—at least, that’s what she tells herself.
Swim captain, world champion, all-around aquatics golden boy Lukas Blomqvist thrives on discipline. It’s how he wins gold medals and breaks records: complete focus, with every stroke. On the surface, Lukas and Scarlett have nothing in common. Until a well-guarded secret slips out, and everything changes.
So they start an arrangement. And as the pressure leading to the Olympics heats up, so does their relationship. It was supposed to be just a temporary, mutually satisfying fling. But when staying away from Lukas becomes impossible, Scarlett realizes that her heart might be treading into dangerous water…
Dream Girl Drama
Big Shots Series, Book 3
by Tessa Bailey
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Dream Girl Drama
When professional hockey player Sig Gauthier’s car breaks down and his phone dies, he treks into a posh private country club to call a tow truck, where he encounters the alluring Chloe Clifford, the manic pixie dream girl who captivates him immediately with her sense of adventure and penchant for stealing champagne.
Sparks fly during a moonlight kiss and the enamored pair can’t wait to see each other again, but when Sig finally arrives to meet his dad’s new girlfriend over dinner, Chloe is confusingly also there. Turns out the girlfriend is Chloe’s mother. Oh, and they’re engaged.
Sig’s dream girl is his future stepsister.
Though the pair is now wary of being involved romantically, Chloe, a sheltered harp prodigy, yearns to escape her controlling mother. Sig promises to teach her the ins and outs of independence in Boston—but not inside his bedroom. They both know there can never be more than friendship between a famous hockey player and his high-society, soon-to-be stepsister. But keeping their relationship platonic grows harder amid the developing family drama, especially knowing they were meant for so much more…
I Am Salvation
Steel Legends Series, Book 2
by Helen Hardt
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: I Am Salvation
He’s not looking for salvation. She’s not looking for love.
Dragon Locke is a haunted man. Every day is a relentless battle against the demons of his past. A recovering addict, he wears the scars of a history so brutal, he’s convinced it will destroy anyone who dares to get too close.
Diana Steel is everything Dragon doesn’t deserve. She’s strong and beautiful, and the harder he falls for her, the more he fights to push her away. She deserves a life untouched by his sin, and he’s sworn he won’t subject her to that.
When pieces of his history resurface, dangling the promise of something he lost long ago, Dragon knows he must confront what he’s spent years running from. Diana, freshly wounded by the loss of her own dreams, offers to accompany him. He knows it’s reckless, but he can’t deny her…or the solace she represents.
The search spirals into a journey filled with dark secrets. As danger closes in, Dragon must decide if love can truly be his salvation or if, in the end, he will lose everything.
Never Gamble Your Heart
by Lindsay Lovise
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Never Gamble Your Heart
When the genteelly born, impoverished Frankie Turner's impulsive younger sister goes missing, Frankie has no idea where to begin the search to find her. But when she discovers hasty marriages materializing between “troublemaking” women and men who don’t deserve them, she knows her sister is somehow involved. The only thread connecting the groomsmen is a membership to Rockford’s, an exclusive gambling hell owned by the devilish Jasper Jones. And it just so happens that Jasper has recently become the guardian of a sullen fifteen-year-old.
Jasper suspects his new governess has an ulterior motive for being in his household, but he can hardly find the time to uncover it when his life is in a constant uproar. First, Frankie teaches his niece how to count cards and then she tries to break into his study. When he finally learns Frankie’s true reason for being there, he agrees to help the brilliant mathematician find her missing sister, even if it means giving her a fake dowry and watching men trip over themselves in her presence. As he and Frankie work together to dismantle a nefarious scheme, Jasper realizes that for the first time in his life, he’s gambled his heart—and possibly lost it.
This Is a Love Story
by Jessica Soffer
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Sub-Genre:
Trope:
ABOUT: This is a Love Story
An intimate and lyrical celebration of great love, great art, and the sacrifices we make for both
For fifty years, Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now.
Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew—their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives—and the parts they didn’t always want to know—the determined young student of Abe’s looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. Told in various points of view, even in conversation with Central Park itself, these voices weave in and out to paint a portrait as complicated and essential as love itself.
An homage to New York City, to romance, and even to loss, This Is a Love Story tenderly and suspensefully captures deep truths about life and marriage in radiant prose. It is about love that endures despite what life throws at us, or perhaps even because of it.
My Dark Prince
Book 3 in the Dark Prince Road series
by L.J. Shen & Parker S. Huntington
Release Date: February 4, 2025
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: My Dark Prince
Oliver
I don’t usually trap women with amnesia into marriage.
But I guess there’s a first time for everything.
When the woman of my dreams falls into my lap, I can’t help but wonder what else she can do in that position.
She’s here. In my house. At my mercy.
And she thinks we’ve been lovers the entire decade we spent apart.
Briar and I have always been unfinished business.
Now it’s time to seal the deal.
Briar
I’m marrying a beautiful monster.
A crooked fraud. America’s wealthiest bachelor.
He claims we’re in love, yet all I taste in our kisses is hate and lust.
I don’t remember why or how.
But I do remember he’s the enemy.
Now, I’m stuck inside a nightmare.
And Oliver will do anything to keep me in the dark.
Sub-Genre:
Contemporary Romance
(A Sleeping Beauty retelling)
Trope:
-Enemies-to-Lovers
-MMC-Billionaire
-Second-Chance-Romance
Fake-Engagement
Forced-Proximity
Change of Heart
by Falon Hallard
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Sub-Genre:
-Rom-Com
Trope:
-Spicy Romance
-Small-Town-Romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Change Of Heart
Campbell Andrews despises exactly three things in life: incompetence, tardiness, and love stories. Making partner at her law firm at thirty-four, she has no time for anything or anyone else. And certainly no respect for those who choose love over work.
That is, until she wakes up in Heart Springs—her own personal hell.
The good news? She’s not dead. She’s been magically transported to a small town straight out of the Hallmark channel, complete with a meddling mayor, seasonal festivals, and friendly townsfolk.
Cam can’t stand it, but in order to make it back to her real life, she has to fulfill three tasks . . . foremost among them, experience true love.
It seems impossible.
But anything’s possible with a change of heart.
First-Time Caller
Heartstrings, Book 1
A hopeless romantic meets a jaded radio host in this cozy, Sleepless in Seattle–inspired love story from beloved author B.K. Borison.
by B.K. Borison
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Sub-Genre:
-Contemporary Romance
Trope:
-Spicy Romance
-Small-Town-Romance
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: First-Time Caller
Aiden Valentine has a secret:
He’s fallen out of love with love. And as the host of Baltimore’s romance hotline, that’s a bit of a problem. But when a young girl calls in to the station asking for dating advice for her mom, the interview goes viral, thrusting Aiden and Heartstrings into the limelight.
Lucie Stone thought she was doing just fine. She has a good job; an incredible family; and a smart, slightly devious kid. But when all of Baltimore is suddenly scrutinizing her love life—or lack thereof—she begins to question if she’s as happy as she believed. Maybe a little more romance wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
Everyone wants Lucie to find her happy ending…even the handsome, temperamental man calling the shots. But when sparks start to fly behind the scenes, Lucie must make the final decision between the radio-sponsored happily ever after or the man in the headphones next to her.
Get Lost with You
Rock Bottom Love Series, Book 2
by Sophie Sullivan
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Get Lost with You
Jillian Keller took the long route to her best life, but is now happily settled in her hometown of Smile, raising her little girl alone while helping her brother run Get Lost Lodge. A lover of structure and routine, she doesn’t need anyone disrupting her carefully curated life.
After chasing and achieving his culinary dreams, Levi Bright realizes he’s still missing something he can’t find in a big city. Returning home to Smile, he intends to build a different future for himself, including reconnecting with family and friends, and creating elevated comfort food for a town he loves.
When Levi and Jilly run into each other, past feelings that never had a chance to bloom flare between them… but she’s been hurt before, and falling for her older brother’s best friend seems like a recipe for drama. But sometimes, a second chance at love leads you right where you’re meant to be.
Sub-Genre:
- Rom-Com
Trope:
-Second-Chance-Romance
-Small-Town-Romance
-Slow Burn
The Launch Date:
by Annabelle Slator
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Launch Date
Grace Hastings's dream job at the popular 'true love' dating app, Fate, has turned into a nightmare. Her boss is a leech, her career is stagnating, and her fiancé has just brutally dumped her. Her hope for finding her own love story is waning, and she feels like a fraud for promoting a concept she no longer believes in. When the company's CEO offers her an opportunity to earn a big promotion, she resolves to fight her imposter syndrome to show she deserves a seat at the table.
The opportunity?
To launch a brand-new app focusing on IRL dating and genuine connection.
The problem?
She must develop and test drive a series of 'first dates' with the other person gunning for the job: notorious socialite playboy and Grace's biggest work rival, Eric Bancroft.
During their disastrous hikes, dangerous cooking classes and steamy yoga sessions, they begin to realise their stark differences may just be surface level and Eric might just be the perfect person to challenge Grace’s perceptions of love, dating culture and self-worth.
Sub-Genre:
- Rom-Com
Trope:
- Friends to Enemies to Lovers
- Fake Dating
- Forced Proximity
- A Work Rivalry
Scythe & Sparrow:
The Ruinous Love Trilogy, 3
by Brynne Weaver
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Dark Romantic Comedy
- Romantic Suspense
- New Adult Romance
Trope:
- Friends-with-Benefits
- Spice
- Friends to Lovers
- Forced Proximity
- Small town romance
- Touch her and die
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Scythe & Sparrow
Trilogy―a friends-with-benefits dark romantic comedy packed with murder, mayhem, and spice.
Doctor Fionn Kane is running from a broken heart, one he hopes to mend in small-town Nebraska, far away from his almost-fiancé and his derailed surgical career. It’s a simpler life: head down, hard work, and absolutely no romantic relationships. He wants none of the circus he left behind in Boston.
But then the real circus finds him.
Motorcycle performer Rose Evans has spent a decade on the road with the Silveria Circus, and it suits her just fine, especially when she has the urge to indulge in a little murder when she’s not in the spotlight. But when a kill goes awry and she ends up with a broken leg, Rose finds herself stuck in Nebraska, at the home of the adorably nerdy town doctor.
The problem is, not every broken heart can be sewn back together. And the longer you stay in one place, the more likely your ghosts will catch up.
We All Live Here
by Jojo Moyers
Release Date: February 11, 2025
Sub-Genre:
-
Trope:
-
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-
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: We All Live Here
Lila Kennedy has a lot on her plate. A broken marriage, two wayward daughters, a house that is falling apart, and an elderly stepfather who seems to have quietly moved in.
Her career is in freefall and her love life is . . . complicated. So when her real dad—a man she has barely seen since he ran off to Hollywood thirty-five years ago—suddenly appears on her doorstep, it feels like the final straw.
But it turns out even the family you thought you could never forgive might have something to teach you: about love, and what it actually means to be family.
The Pucking Proposal
Maple Creek Series, Book 2
by Lauren Landish
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Hockey Romance
Trope:
- Spicy
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-
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: The Pucking Proposal
When it comes to hockey, unflappable Maple Creek sports reporter Joy Barlowe is privy to a lot of behind-the-scenes locker room activity. Like stumbling upon Dalton Days in all his unabashed glory. After the muscled goalie goes on to score better than he ever has, he proposes Joy take another peek before his next match. It works, and a provocative pregame tradition is born.
Dalton has the best stats in the league, but he’s also superstitious. Now he’s found his good luck charm. Joy is not only game, she’s playing along. She’s also his best buddy’s younger sister and totally off-limits. What happens between them has to be their late-night FaceTime secret. That’s the naked truth. So is the fact that Joy and Dalton are discovering there’s more to each other than meets the eye.
Falling in lust? Easy to hide. Falling in love? Much harder. Now Dalton has one more proposition for Joy. And the fallout could rock Maple Creek.
Yours, Eventually
by Nura Maznavi
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Sub-Genre:
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Trope:
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Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Yours, Eventually
The Ibrahim family is facing a crucial moment: Their patriarch just lost his fortune as the result of a Ponzi scheme, and the family is picking up the pieces. At the family’s core is Asma—successful doctor and the long-suffering middle daughter who stepped into the family center after the death of her beloved mother years ago. Despite what the prying aunties think, Asma is living the life she has always wanted, fulfilling her childhood dream of becoming a doctor . . . or so she thinks.
In walks Farooq Waheed, Asma’s college sweetheart whose proposal was cruelly rejected by Asma’s aunt and father. Now, eight years later, Farooq has made his fortune by selling his Silicon Valley startup and is widely considered one of the most eligible bachelors in California. As he enters Asma’s social orbit, she finds herself navigating a tricky landscape—her pushy sisters, gossiping aunties, and her father’s expectations—on her path to reconciling the past and winning Farooq back in the present. If there is still time.
Yours, Eventually is a story about a young woman finding the courage to follow her heart and coming to the realization that living your life according to what other people think is no life at all.
You Between the Lines
by Katie Naymon
Release Date: February 18, 2025
Sub-Genre:
- Contemporary Romance
Trope:
- Forced Proximity
- He's Her Enemy
- High school crush-turned-nemesis
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: You Between The Lines
No one’s more surprised than Leigh when a prestigious MFA program in North Carolina accepts her. A former sorority girl, Leigh’s the first to admit she knows more about the lyrics of Taylor Swift than T.S. Eliot, and she’s never been able to shake the “all-style-no-substance” feedback her high school crush made in their poetry workshop. Leigh's insecurities become all too real when Will, that same high school crush-turned-nemesis, shows up at orientation.
And now, he’s William, exactly the kind of writer Leigh hates, complete with his pretentious sweater vests and tattered Moleskine. Leigh’s determined to prove herself—and William—wrong by landing the program’s highly-coveted fellowship. But Will’s dead-set on proving himself too, and in a small cohort, they can't keep apart for long.
When Will submits an intimate poem (that's maybe, probably, definitely about Leigh) to workshop, they’re both forced to realize there’s more to the other than what’s on the page. And what’s between the lines may be even more interesting.
When We Burn
The Blackwells of Montana Series, Book 1
by Kristen Proby
Release Date: February 20, 2025
Sub-Genre:
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Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: When We Burn
Bridger
I'm her safe place. I always have been. The torment that Dani Lexington went through at the hands of her father was something no child should have had to endure. But I was the lucky one she turned to. Our age difference and the fact that her brother was my best friend kept her off-limits, even though something was always there, lingering under the surface. But when she was old enough, she left Bitterroot Valley, and I was forced to move on with my life. I got married and had my little girl. Now, I'm a single dad, focused on my job as fire chief and making sure my daughter stays healthy after a mysterious illness has plagued her for the past year.
But after Dani's father dies, she returns to Bitterroot Valley and is now living across the street from my daughter and me. Dani's no longer a child. No longer off limits. This time, I won't let anything or anyone stop me from being her safe place again.
Dani
I've been in love with Bridger Blackwell for as long as I can remember. He's a smoke show, kind, and gives the best hugs in the world. But best of all? He's everything my sorry excuse for a father wasn't. Now, I'm back in Bitterroot Valley, living across the street from Bridger and his adorable daughter.It doesn't take long for all those old feelings to come rushing back, and every cell in my body knows that I belong with them. That they're mine. Bridger's arms are where I feel safest. They feel like home. I'm growing to depend on him, to truly love him and his daughter. But I have deep-rooted baggage, and Bridger's past has decided to rear its ugly head.
Will we survive this, or is our relationship doomed from the start?
Trope:
- Small-town romance
- Single-dad
- Friends-to-lovers
Back After This
by Linda Holmes
Release Date: February 25, 2025
- Rom-Com
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Back After This
Cecily Foster loves to make podcasts. She fiercely protects her colleagues, dearly adores her friends, and never misses dinner with her sister. But after a disastrous relationship with a colleague who stole her heart and her ideas, she’s put romantic love on hold.
When the boss who’s disappointed her again and again finally offers her the chance to host her own show, she wants to be thrilled. But there’s a catch—actually, two catches. First, the show will be about Cecily’s dating life. And second, she has to follow the guidance of influencer and newly minted relationship coach Eliza Cassidy, whose relentlessly upbeat attitude seems ready-made for social media, not real life.
Cecily would rather do anything other than put her singledom on display (ugh) or take advice from the internet (UGH). But when her boss hints that doing the show is the only way to protect a friend’s job, she realizes she has no choice.
To make matters more complicated, once she’s committed to twenty blind dates of Eliza’s choosing, Cecily finds herself unable to stop thinking about Will, a photographer she helped to rescue a very big and very lovable lost dog. Even though there are sparks between the two, Will’s own path is uncertain, and Eliza’s skeptical comments about Cecily’s decision-making aren’t helping. On the one hand, Will seems great. But on the other hand . . . don’t they all?
As Cecily struggles to balance the life she truly desires and the one Eliza wants to create for her, she finds herself at a crossroads. Can Cecily sort through all the advice and find a way to do what she loves without losing herself in the process?
Set in the same world as Off Campus and Briar U.
The Charlie Method
Campus Diaries, Book 3
by Elle Kennedy
Release Date: February 25, 2025
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Book Boyfriend
Devoted fangirl meets hesitant fanboy in this swoony contemporary love letter to readers who adore fantasy worlds, from the beloved authors of The Breakup Tour.
Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection,she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court.
Except the Scott she encounters at the Elytheum Experience, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend.
Happy After All
by Emily Wibberley & Austin Siegemund-Broka
Release Date: February 20, 2025
- Contemporary Romance
- Enemies to Lovers
Publisher Blurb~
ABOUT: Book Boyfriend
Devoted fangirl meets hesitant fanboy in this swoony contemporary love letter to readers who adore fantasy worlds, from the beloved authors of The Breakup Tour.
Jennifer Worth lives to escape into the world of her favorite romantasy series Elytheum Courts, where the romance is sweeping and the men are brave, chivalrous . . . and winged. Newly single and craving connection,she travels to an immersive fan experience celebrating all things Elytheum, only to see the last face she expected—Scott Daniels, her work nemesis, whose disinterest in Jennifer’s favorite series and standoffishness have made their publishing jobs feel like a feuding fae court.
Except the Scott she encounters at the Elytheum Experience, in his secondhand cosplay outfit, is . . . different. Swaggering, flirtatious, confident. Unlucky in romance himself and inspired by Jennifer’s love for the swoonworthy men of Elytheum, Scott is determined to remake himself into the perfect book boyfriend.