Bestseller Sage (the Rebel Blue Ranch series) makes an impressive first foray into the paranormal with her Sweetwater Peak series launch. Photographer Collins Cartwright has communicated with ghosts her whole life—but recently, every ghost she sees has been ignoring her. Between jobs and short on cash, she reluctantly heads home to Sweetwater Peak, Wyo., where her twin sister, Clarke, gets her a temporary gig and a place to stay with local upholsterer Brady Cooper. Brady had abandoned a stressful career as a software engineer for a gentler life in Sweetwater Peak using skills taught by his grandfather. He’s attracted to his beautiful new house guest, but worries for her sanity when he hears her talking to herself in her room—until Collins informs him that his house is haunted and he gradually comes to believe her paranormal stories. A subplot about a shady developer circling Collins’s parents’ antique shop brings the budding couple closer as they work together to stop the deal. Ghostly backstories, elements of supernatural mystery, and sensual romance keep the pages flying. Sage proves adept at switching genres. Agent: Jessica Watterson, Sandra Dijkstra Agency. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Kraven, in this delicious forbidden romance, an expanded edition of her previously self-published Dark Fates series debut, dives into the booming subgenre of high-heat retellings of Greek myths. Persephone, Goddess of Spring, is used to her steamroller of a mother, Demeter, running her life, including by arranging a marriage between Persephone and Helios, Titan of the Sun, to shore up her own waning power, even though Helios is secretly in love with Narcissus. But when Persephone meets Hades, God of the Underworld, while walking in the woods, their connection is immediate and intense. After Persephone leaves the Upper Realm to join Hades in the Underworld, a bitter Demeter unleashes her fury, creating a famine that kills innocents and leads several divine factions to the brink of war. Kraven’s world feels dark but lived-in, and both the central romance and the subplot about Helios and Narcissus are passionate and emotional. She makes few changes to the original myth, save for inserting some red hot sex scenes. Fans of Katee Robert and Sav R. Miller will be hooked. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Originally self-published on Wattpad, this simplistically written but emotionally complex new adult romance from Godoy (Through My Window) finds Klara Rodriguez, 19, having developed agoraphobia in response to her mother’s death. She hasn’t left the house in eight months but eases her loneliness by tuning into her favorite college radio show, Follow My Voice, finding comfort in the soothing voice of its host, Kang. On a whim, she sends a message expressing her appreciation, and Kang reads it on air. To her shock, Kang texts back and the pair strike up a pen pal relationship. As texts turn to phone calls, their connection deepens and Klara finds inspiration to start living again. She signs up for classes at the local community college—bringing her and Kang into contact IRL. Godoy over-relies on cliché, and the interpersonal drama often veers into YA territory, but Klara’s anxiety, grief, and depression are handled with care and her path toward healing is satisfying to witness. With a film adaptation forthcoming from Amazon Prime, this angsty tale should please the author’s fans and win her new ones. Agent: Johanna Castillo, Writers House. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bowen (the Brooklyn Bruisers series) launches her New York Legends series with this well-executed hockey romance. Zoe Carson, an Olympic silver medalist in figure skating, desperately needs a new start to get away from her controlling mother and clingy ex-husband. After securing a part-time position as the new skating coach for the N.Y. Legends pro hockey team, Zoe is determined to win a full-time contract—even if the job means working with her first love, star player Chase Merritt. Chase’s performance is down this season and seeing Zoe again after nine years apart doesn’t help his game. Bowen toggles between their time as figure skating camp counselors, where a pairs routine cemented their relationship, and the present, when they must find a way to work together to improve Chase’s game. Add in some light intrigue about who might be sabotaging Zoe at work and a roster of hunky hockey players who will undoubtably look for love in future installments, and the result is a crowd-pleaser. Agent: Mollie Glick, CAA. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Dade returns to quirky Harlot’s Bay (after 2024’s At First Spite) with this amusing rom-com. Molly Dearborn and Karl Dean crushed on each other all throughout high school. Their timing finally seemed right after graduation, but a miscommunication foiled their chance at love and Molly left town heartbroken. Twenty years, one divorce, and a semi-risque career as a monster erotica audiobook narrator later, Molly sees an obituary for Karl in Harlot Bay’s newspaper and returns home for the funeral. But the piece was a misprint; Karl is very much alive and now the foul-mouthed owner of the area’s best bakery. He’s pined for Molly all that time, becoming the number one fan of her audiobooks just to hear her voice. Overjoyed to be reunited at last, Karl is determined clear up past misunderstandings and win her trust with an eye toward forever. Dade peppers the narrative with abundant humor from Harlot Bay’s residents; there’s even a running bit about the town’s dueling sex shops expressing their animosity for each other by commissioning elegant but insulting cakes. Series fans who met Karl as a colorful side character in book one will be especially glad to uncover his hopeless romantic streak. This is a charmer. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Goldbeck (You, Again) takes an empathetic look at the struggles of adulting in this lively contemporary. Twenty-six-year old Sam Pulaski is drowning in student loan debt and living with her mother after Covid decimated her plans to pursue a PhD in art history. She often fantasizes about an alternate timeline where the pandemic never happened, in which “Sam Pulaski 1.0” is doing research in Europe and dating men named Luca. Instead, for five years, Sam’s been bartending at a kitschy bar in Columbus, Ohio, and struggling to figure out what to do next. Enter divorced dad Nick Martino and his precocious nine-year-old daughter, Kira, who move into the condo next door. Sam quickly falls for both of them. It turns out that Nick, pushing 40 and the general manager of a local Chili’s, is extremely good in bed and endearingly devoted to his daughter—but is Sam ready to settle down permanently in a life she never planned? The choice becomes even more high stakes when Sam’s mother and her nonbinary partner Perry get married and announce their plans to become digital nomads—which leaves Sam needing to figure out her life immediately. Through passionate prose, Goldbeck convincingly portrays the turbulence of the world after Covid and the paralyzing perils of indecision. Her lead characters feel raw and real, and their romance sparkles. This fires on all cylinders. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

Making good use of the grumpy/sunshine trope, Krempholtz's cozy romantasy debut pairs a formerly evil witch on a quest for redemption with the handsome new landlord who tests her ability to stay kind. Once known as the fearsome Thornwitch, Violet Thistlewaite sheds her wicked ways and heads to small-town Dragon’s Rest, where she hopes for a fresh start and to use her plant-based magical abilities to open a flower shop. She finds the perfect spot when she meets Pru Marsh, who offers her retail space, living quarters, and use of half the greenhouse at the back of the property. The catch is that Pru and her twin brother, Nathaniel, an alchemist, live and work in the other half of the building—and Nathaniel didn’t sign off on his sister’s offer for Violet to share his greenhouse. Worried about his own flagging business and reticent to let a stranger into his space, Nathaniel is initially rude to Violet, but she vows to break through his grumpiness. When the pair are forced to work together to rid the town of a terrible blight, an opposites-attract romance blossoms. It’s incredibly satisfying to watch as Nathaniel’s resistance to Violet’s charms crumbles. This is a fun, feel-good romp. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

A demon falls in love with his human captive in this tepid romantasy series launch from Caggiano (Bound and Tide). Brooding Damien Maleficus Bloodthorne, son of Zagadoth the Tempestuous, “Demonic Lord of the Infernal Plane,” is sent to Eirengaard to fulfill the prophecy that he will kill Archibald Lumier, human king of the Eiren realm, and thereby free his father from captivity. He has created a powerful talisman that will serve as the murder weapon, but must steal an artifact to cloak its magic from the Ebon Sanctum Mallor, which houses “some of the most potent, accursed objects in existence.” Enter sunny thief Ammalie “Amma” Avington, who also aims to break into the Sanctum to steal the Scroll of the Army of the Undead for reasons that remain mysterious for much of the book. Damien thwarts Amma’s attempt and, in retaliation, she swipes his talisman, which unluckily embeds itself inside her body. As Damien drags her across the realm looking for ways to retrieve it, a slow-burn romance sparks. The trek to Eirengaard meanders, interspersed with unnecessary side quests that add little to the story, and the romantic tension feels scant until the very end. Caggiano mines some humor from juxtaposing elaborate high fantasy prose with more casual, slang-studded dialogue, but readers will wish for more substance. This disappoints. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Best friends enter a marriage of convenience in Daws’s dreamy third Mountain Men Matchmaker rom-com (after Seven Year Itch). Addison “Roe” Monroe dreams of taking over her “old-fashioned” father’s Colorado lumber company, but he won’t hand over the reins until she’s been married for one year. Roe’s best friend, Luke Fletcher, has loved her since the day they met and proposes a fake marriage, but Roe turns him down, worried about ruining their friendship. Instead, she’ll try to find a suitable hunk of a husband at the local Man of the Mountain lumberjack competition. So Luke, at the urging of his adorable matchmaking nine-year-old niece, Everly, throws his axe into the ring. When he’s injured in the competition, a stricken Roe caves and agrees to marry him. But a marriage license won’t be enough to convince her father of their union—they’ll need to have a full-blown wedding at which they appear legitimately in love. Faking it inevitably gives way to real feelings, but Daws keeps the tension high and the pages flying even as the plot plays out predictably. Along the way, she takes the time to delve into serious themes including grief and regret. The result is a sexy, funny, and ultimately feel-good romp. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/12/2025 | Details & Permalink

Moronova’s gloriously twisted Dark Forces duology launch, focused on the same top-secret military operation that was featured in her standalone Leave Me Behind, places two deeply flawed and complex characters in an untenable situation. Shades of The Hunger Games, “Beauty and the Beast,” and the toxic relationship between Batman’s the Joker and Harley Quinn inflect the plot, which brings together tiny, pink-haired serial murderess Emery and berserker Dark Forces agent Cameron, code-named Mori. Emery is pulled from prison into the Under Trials, a Dark Forces boot camp in which only the strong survive. She’s paired with Mori, the squad’s longest-running “lab rat” who’s undergone many experimental procedures to become the perfect soldier. Unfortunately, side effects include nosebleeds, insomnia, and a tendency to kill his partners in combat. The ensuing dark romance burns hot and wild as both characters wrestle with external threats and inner demons. This foray into dark military romance will certainly appeal to fans of the genre. With its careful plotting, off-the-charts spice, and witty dialog, it will create a legion of newly converted readers as well. Agent: Brent Taylor, Triada US. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/12/2025 | Details & Permalink