Books with category 💘 Romance
Displaying 32 books

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

2024

by TJ Klune

Somewhere Beyond the Sea is the highly anticipated sequel to TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, a beloved and best-selling fantasy novel.

Arthur Parnassus has created a good life from the remnants of a difficult past. As the caretaker of an extraordinary orphanage on a remote and unique island, he aspires to become the adoptive father to the six enchanted and powerful children in his care.

Arthur dedicates himself fully, ensuring that the children never endure the neglect and suffering he experienced as an orphan on the same island. He's not alone in his efforts; his life partner, Linus Baker, a former employee of the Department In Charge of Magical Youth, stands with him. Alongside them are the island's sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will go to any lengths to safeguard the children.

When Arthur is compelled to confront his shadowy history publicly, he leads a battle for a future that his family and all magical beings are entitled to. The arrival of a new magical child, who embraces the term 'monster'—a label Arthur fought to shield his children from—indicates a pivotal moment for their family. They must either unite more robustly than before or risk disintegration.

Return to Marsyas Island for Arthur's tale—a narrative of perseverance and love, about the challenging journey to fight for the life you choose and the effort required to maintain it.

Rise And Divine

2024

by Lana Harper

Rise And Divine is the next magical romance in the Witches of Thistle Grove series by New York Times bestselling author Lana Harper. The story centers on Daria "Dasha" Avramov, a witch haunted by loss who must reckon with her turbulent past to save both her town and the woman she loves against all odds.

Dasha is an outlier even in her family of chaotic necromancers. An event planner at the Arcane Emporium occult megastore, she is also a devil eater: a rare necromantic witch with a natural affinity for banishing demons and traversing the veil, the filmy boundary between our world and the next. Still grieving the loss of both beloved parents years ago, and plagued by a dangerous obsession with what lies beyond the other side of the veil, Dasha is both fiery and guarded, an expert at dodging commitment.

Her one real regret is a devastating breakup with the wise, empathetic, and deeply sensual Ivy Thorn, her Honeycake Orchards event-planning counterpart and probably the love of Dasha's life. But Dasha has managed to break Ivy's heart not once, but twice, so things are more than a little tense between the two of them. When they are forced to work together to plan the Cavalcade—a month-long festival celebrating Thistle Grove's ceremonial founding, with dazzling spectacles held by the town's four magical families—Dasha hopes that the third time might be the charm, while Ivy staunchly refuses to let herself be hurt again.

As they confront the fault lines and passion lingering between them, Dasha and Ivy must also stand against an otherworldly threat unlike anything Thistle Grove has faced before.

The Housekeeper's Secret

2024

by Iona Grey

Duty, desire, and deception reside under one roof.

Standing in the remote windswept moors of Northern England, Coldwell Hall is the perfect place to hide. For the past five years, Kate Furniss has maintained her professional mask so carefully that she almost believes she is the character she has Coldwell's respectable housekeeper.

It is the summer of 1911 that brings new faces above and below the stairs of Coldwell Hall—including the handsome and mysterious new footman, Jem Arden. Just as the house's shuttered rooms open, so does Kate's guarded heart to a love affair that is as intense as it is forbidden. But Kate can feel her control slipping as Jem harbors secrets of his own.

Told in alternating timelines from the last sun-drenched summer of the Edwardian Age to the mud-filled trenches of WWI, The Housekeeper's Secret opens its door to a world of romance, the truths we hold onto, and the past we must let go.

The Wedding People

2024

by Alison Espach

The Wedding People is a propulsive and uncommonly wise novel about one unexpected wedding guest and the surprising people who help her start anew.

It’s a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamed of coming for years—she hoped to shuck oysters and take sunset sails with her husband, only now she’s here without him, at rock bottom, and determined to have one last decadent splurge on herself.

Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail and every possible disaster the weekend might yield except for, well, Phoebe and Phoebe's plan—which makes it that much more surprising when the two women can’t stop confiding in each other. In turns absurdly funny and devastatingly tender, Alison Espach’s The Wedding People is ultimately an incredibly nuanced and resonant look at the winding paths we can take to places we never imagined—and the chance encounters it sometimes takes to reroute us.

Slow Dance

2024

by Rainbow Rowell

A bright, beaming power ballad of a novel from Rainbow Rowell—the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Landline, Fangirl, and Eleanor & ParkSlow Dance tells the humorous and heartbreaking love story of best friends Shiloh and Cary from their inseparable teen years to their far-flung adulthoods as they try to figure out what their relationship is, where it went wrong, and how to finally make it right.

Growing up on the wrong side of Omaha, all Shiloh could think about was getting away. At least she had Cary in the meantime. Cary to put up with her, Cary to make her laugh. Cary at sixteen, built like a stick of gum and driving his mom’s beat-up station wagon. He had it worse than Shiloh did. Only their friendship got Cary through high school and when Shiloh went off to college, he joined the Navy.

That was fourteen years ago. Now Shiloh’s thirty-three and feeling like she never did get away. She’s back living in the same house she grew up in. She’s working in a theater, but not onstage like she’d planned. And she’s divorced, a single mom just like her own mother (minus the revolving door of boyfriends).

When a high school friend invites Shiloh to his wedding, the last thing she wants is to catch up with the old gang. But she buys a new dress, puts on some makeup, and pins a silk flower over her heart, hoping—and also worrying— that she might see Cary, the boy she never realized she loved until he was lost.

A Novel Love Story

2024

by Ashley Poston

Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don't leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book. At home. Which might be why she's so set on going her annual book club retreat this year—she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures—no matter what.

But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it's right out of a novel… Because it is. This place can't be real, and yet… she's here, in Eloraton, the town of her favorite romance series, where the candy store's honey taffy is always sweet, the local bar's burgers are always a little burnt, and rain always comes in the afternoon. It feels like home. It's perfect—and perfectly frozen, trapped in the late author's last unfinished story.

Elsy is sure that's why she must be here: to help bring the town to its storybook ending. Except there is a character in Eloraton that she can't place—a grumpy bookstore owner with mint-green eyes, an irritatingly sexy mouth and impeccable taste in novels. And he does not want her finishing this book. Which is a problem because Elsy is beginning to think the town's happily-ever-after might just be intertwined with her own.

Husbands and Lovers

Two women—separated by decades and continents, and united by a mysterious family heirloom—discover second chances at love in this sweeping novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Wives.

A sprawling and exciting new novel from Beatriz Williams, the acclaimed author of A Hundred Summers and The Summer Wives.

Not in Love

2024

by Ali Hazelwood

A forbidden, secret affair proves that all's fair in love and science—from New York Times bestselling author Ali Hazelwood.

Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive front man threatens to bring it all crumbling down.

Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through—and he's a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can't stop thinking about. The woman who's off-limits to him.

Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business—one that plays for keeps.

The Paris Widow

2024

by Kimberly Belle

A dream vacation turns deadly when secrets from the past catch up to a married couple in Paris in this new edge-of-your-seat thriller from USA Today bestselling author, Kimberly Belle.

When Stella met Adam, she thought she had finally found a nice, normal guy—a welcome change from her previous boyfriend and her precarious jetsetter lifestyle with him. But her secure world comes crashing down when Adam goes missing after an explosion in the city square. Unable to reach him, she panics.

As the French police investigate, it’s revealed that Adam was on their radar as a dealer of rare and stolen antiquities with a long roster of criminal clients. Reeling from this news, Stella is determined not to leave Paris until she has the full story. Was Adam a random victim or the target of the explosion? And why is someone following her through the streets of Paris?

An irresistible, fast-paced read set in some of Europe’s most inviting locales, The Paris Widow explores how sinister secrets of the past stay with us—no matter how far we travel.

The Rom-Commers

She’s rewriting his love story. But can she rewrite her own?

Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies—good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates—The Charlie Yates! Her personal writing god!—it’s a break too big to pass up.

Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone—much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script—it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.

But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself. She will convince him that love stories matter—even if she has to kiss him senseless to do it. But . . . what if that kiss is accidentally amazing? What if real life turns out to be so much . . . more real than fiction? What if the love story they’re writing breaks all Emma’s rules—and comes true?

The Winner

2024

by Teddy Wayne

The Winner, a propulsive literary thriller from Whiting Award winner Teddy Wayne, delves into the life of Conor O'Toole, a young law student who finds himself teaching tennis in a posh gated community near Cape Cod. Amid the casually glamorous surroundings of Cutters Neck, Conor is living in a guest cottage, a world away from the cramped Yonkers apartment he shares with his diabetic mother.

Despite being surrounded by oceanfront luxury, Conor and his mother have bills to pay, and attracting new clients for tennis lessons is harder than he anticipated. That's until he crosses paths with a sharp-tongued divorcée named Catherine, who offers to pay him double his rate, with the expectation of some additional, more intimate services.

As Conor becomes entangled in a secret, erotic affair, he also finds himself romantically drawn to a quirky, outspoken girl he met on the beach—who happens to be Catherine's daughter. Caught in a tangled web of desire and deception, Conor believes he's found a way to balance everything, until he makes a disastrous, irreversible mistake. This darkly comedic thriller skewers the elite with wit and delivers an unputdownable, cinematic, and psychologically astute narrative.

Exhibit

2024

by R. O. Kwon

Exhibit, penned by bestselling author R. O. Kwon, is an exhilarating novel that delves into the complexities of desire and identity. Set against the backdrop of a lavish party in the hills outside of San Francisco, two women cross paths and find their lives altered in unforeseen ways.

Jin Han, a brilliant young photographer, meets Lidija Jung, a captivating, injured world-class ballerina on hiatus from her ballet company under mysterious circumstances. Throughout a night of intense conversation driven by their shared artistic fervor, Jin reveals a deep-seated familial curse to Lidija, breaking a vow of secrecy she has maintained her entire life.

Their burgeoning connection and shared ambitions lead them to discover and explore hidden desires, igniting Jin's art, body, and sense of self. As their entanglement deepens, Jin is faced with the possibility of the curse's ominous threat. Exhibit poses a stirring question: how brightly can you burn before you light your life on fire?

Lies and Weddings,

2024

by Kevin Kwan

From the iconic internationally bestselling author of the Crazy Rich Asians comes a story where a forbidden affair erupts amid a decadent tropical wedding. This outrageous comedy of manners is penned by the iconic author of Crazy Rich Asians.

Rufus Leung Gresham, future Duke of Greshambury and son of a former Hong Kong supermodel, finds that the legendary Gresham Trust has been depleted by decades of profligate spending. Beneath the magazine covers and Instagram stories of manors and yachts lies nothing but a gargantuan mountain of debt. The proposed solution by Rufus's scheming mother is for Rufus to seduce a wealthy woman at his sister's wedding, which is a gathering of sultans, barons, and oligarchs at a luxury eco-resort.

Should Rufus marry Solène de Courcy, a French hotel heiress, or pursue Martha Dung, the tattooed venture capital genius? Or will he betray his family, squander his legacy, and confess his love to Eden Tong, the girl next door?

When a volcanic eruption disrupts the wedding and a hot mic exposes a secret tryst, the Gresham family's plans—and their reputation—are at risk. Can the once-great dukedom rise from the ashes, or will a secret tragedy, hidden for decades, reveal a shocking twist?

In this globetrotting tale, Kevin Kwan takes us from the black sand beaches of Hawaii to the skies of Marrakech, from the glitzy bachelor pads of Los Angeles to the inner sanctums of England's oldest family estates, delivering a juicy, hilarious, sophisticated, and thrillingly plotted story of love, money, murder, sex, and the many lies we tell about them all.

Perfume And Pain

2024

by Anna Dorn

A controversial LA author attempts to revive her career and finally find true love in this hilarious nod to 1950s lesbian pulp fiction. Having recently moved both herself and her formidable perfume bottle collection into a tiny bungalow in Los Angeles, mid-list author Astrid Dahl finds herself back in the Zoom writer's group she cofounded, Sapphic Scribes, after an incident that leaves her and her career lightly canceled. But she temporarily forgets all that by throwing herself into a few sexy distractions—like Ivy, a grad student researching 1950s lesbian pulp who smells like metallic orchids, or her new neighbor, Penelope, who smells like patchouli.

Penelope, a painter living off Urban Outfitters settlement money, immediately ingratiates herself in Astrid's life, bonding with her best friends and family, just as Astrid and Ivy begin to date in person. Astrid feels judged and threatened by Penelope, a responsible older vegan, but also finds her irresistibly sexy. When Astrid receives an unexpected call from her agent with the news that actress and influencer Kat Gold wants to adapt her previous novel for TV, Astrid finally has a chance to resurrect her waning career. But the pressure causes Astrid's worst vice to rear its head—the Patricia Highsmith, a blend of Adderall, alcohol, and cigarettes—and results in blackouts and a disturbing series of events.

Unapologetically feminine yet ribald, steamy yet hilarious, Anna Dorn has crafted an exquisite homage to the lesbian pulp of yore, reclaiming it for our internet and celebrity-obsessed world. With notes of Southern California citrus and sultry smokiness, Perfume and Pain is a satirical romp through Hollywood and lesbian melodrama.

April May June July

2024

by Alison B. Hart

A triumphant family story and sharply observed exploration of privilege, identity, and love in all its forms, following four estranged siblings whose lives collide in the lead-up to a family wedding, when new clues surface about their long-missing father.

April, May, June, and July Barber don’t have much in common anymore. An upcoming family wedding will place the four siblings in the same room for the first time in years. But shortly before, when April spots their father, who went missing while serving overseas a decade ago, their reunion becomes entirely more complicated.

While the siblings’ search for the truth about their father forces them back into each other’s lives, it also intensifies their private dramas. April loves her husband, but seeks excitement outside their marriage. May had big dreams for the future, but she’s still stuck living at home. June is eager to marry her girlfriend, so why does she need a drink at every wedding-related event? And then there’s baby brother July, whose unrequited love for his straight roommate has him more confused than ever.

Confronting the past together, April, May, June, and July will find not only answers about their father, but new romance, hope, and understanding as they learn to embrace the beauty of their shared history.

Lovers and Liars

Three wildly different sisters reunite for a destination wedding at an English castle in this heartfelt and rollicking novel from the New York Times bestselling author of The Jetsetters.

Once upon a time, the Peacock sisters were little girls who combed each other's tangled hair. But decades of secrets have led them to separate lives—and to telling lies, to themselves and to one another.

Sylvie is getting married. Again. A librarian and widow who soothes her grief by escaping into books (and shelving them perfectly), Sylvie has caught the attention of an unlikely match: Simon Rampling, a mysterious, wealthy man from Northern England. Sylvie allows herself to imagine a life beside him—one filled with the written word, kindness, and companionship. She's ready to love again... or is she?

Cleo is the golden child. A successful criminal defense lawyer with the perfect boyfriend, she is immediately suspicious of Simon. Is he really who he says he is? Cleo heads to Mumberton Castle with a case of investigative files, telling herself she will expose Simon and save her sister from more heartbreak... but who is she really trying to save?

Emma is living a lie. She can't afford this fancy trip—and she definitely can't tell her husband and sons why. She once dreamt of a line of her own perfumes. Fragrances allowed her to speak in silence. Now, that tendency for silence only worsens her situation. Will she emerge with her dignity and family intact?

When their toxic mother shows up, the sisters assume the roles they fell into to survive their childhood... but they just might find the courage to make new choices.

Set over a spectacularly dramatic weekend, in the grand halls of a sprawling castle estate—amidst floor-to-ceiling libraries, falconry lessons, and medieval meals—Lovers and Liars is the unforgettable story of a family's ability to forgive and to find joy in one another once again.

Enlightenment

2024

by Sarah Perry

Enlightenment is a dazzling new work of literary fiction from Sarah Perry, the acclaimed author of The Essex Serpent. This story of love and astronomy unfolds over the course of twenty years, following the lives of two improbable best friends, Thomas Hart and Grace Macaulay, who have spent their entire lives in the small Essex town of Aldleigh.

Despite the three-decade age difference, Thomas and Grace are kindred spirits, struggling with their commitment to religion and their yearning to explore the world beyond their small Baptist community. Their friendship faces a severe test as two romantic relationships cause a rift between them. Thomas develops an obsession with a vanished nineteenth-century astronomer rumored to haunt a nearby manor, while Grace escapes Aldleigh for London.

As the years pass, Thomas and Grace's lives are drawn back together, both by chance and by choice, as they unravel the mystery of the absent astronomer. This journey becomes a devastating tale of love and scientific pursuit, prompting them to question the nature of love, the constancy of the universe, the extent of fate's predestination, and whether they can find a path back to one another.

Enlightenment is a thrillingly ambitious novel, rich in symmetry and symbolism, and represents Sarah Perry's finest work to date. It is a story of friendship, faith, and unrequited love, inviting readers to ponder the immutable and the transient, and the written destiny in the stars.

The Ministry of Time

2024

by Kailane Bradley

Welcome to The Ministry of Time, the exhilarating debut novel by Kailane Bradley. This book is a time travel romance, a speculative spy thriller, a workplace comedy, and an ingeniously constructed exploration of the nature of truth and power. It is also a story about the potential for love to change it all.

In the near future, a civil servant is offered the salary of her dreams. Shortly afterward, she is told about the project she'll be working on: a recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible—for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. She is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by concepts such as "washing machine," "Spotify," and "the collapse of the British Empire." But he adjusts quickly; after all, he is an explorer by trade. Soon, what the bridge initially thought would be a seriously uncomfortable housemate dynamic, evolves into something much more. Over the course of an unprecedented year, the bridge will be forced to confront the past that shaped her choices, and the choices that will shape the future.

An exquisitely original and feverishly fun fusion of genres and ideas, The Ministry of Time asks the universal question: What happens if you put a disaffected millennial and a Victorian polar explorer in a house together?

This Summer Will Be Different

2024

by Carley Fortune

A glorious and tantalizing new escape from #1 New York Times bestselling author Carley Fortune.

This summer they'll keep their promise. This summer they won't give into temptation. This summer will be different.

Lucy is the tourist vacationing at a beach house on Prince Edward Island. Felix is the local who shows her a very good time. The only problem: Lucy doesn't know he's her best friend's younger brother. Lucy and Felix's chemistry is unreal, but the list of reasons why they need to stay away from each other is long, and they vow to never repeat that electric night again.

It's easier said than done.

Each year, Lucy escapes to PEI for a big breath of coastal air, fresh oysters and crisp vinho verde with her best friend, Bridget. Every visit begins with a long walk on the beach, beneath soaring red cliffs and a golden sun. And every visit, Lucy promises herself she won't wind up in Felix's bed. Again.

If Lucy can't help being drawn to Felix, at least she's always kept her heart out of it.

When Bridget suddenly flees Toronto a week before her wedding, Lucy drops everything to follow her to the island. Her mission is to help Bridget through her crisis and resist the one man she's never been able to. But Felix's sparkling eyes and flirty quips have been replaced with something new, and Lucy's beginning to wonder just how safe her heart truly is.

The Familiar

2024

by Leigh Bardugo

From the New York Times bestselling author of Ninth House, Hell Bent, and creator of the Grishaverse series comes a highly anticipated historical fantasy set during the Spanish Golden Age.

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.

What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.

Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition's wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santangel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.

A Good Happy Girl

2024

by Marissa Higgins

A Good Happy Girl is a poignant, surprising, and immersive novel that delves into the complexities of relationships and the human psyche. We meet Helen, a jittery attorney with a self-destructive streak, who is grappling with the aftermath of a crime of neglect committed by her parents. She has historically coped by compartmentalizing her life—engaging in casual hookups with lesbian couples, caring for her grandmother, and flirting with a young administrative assistant.

Everything changes when Helen encounters Catherine and Katrina, a married lesbian couple whose sexual and emotional intensity begins to unravel the tightly wound fabric of her life. As they prod into Helen's past, they unearth a childhood tragedy she has long been repressing. Facing her father's pleas for help with parole, Helen seizes an opportunity to confront her history and seek answers she has long avoided.

Author Marissa Higgins explores themes of queer domesticity, the effects of incarceration on families, and intergenerational poverty, extending empathy to characters often deprived of it, leading to unsettling and thought-provoking results.

Just for the Summer

2024

by Abby Jimenez

A sharp and scintillating summer novel that will make readers laugh out loud and cry happy tears from the New York Times bestselling author of Yours Truly.

Justin has a curse, and thanks to a Reddit thread, it's now all over the internet. Every woman he dates goes on to find their soul mate the second they break up. When a woman slides into his DMs with the same problem, they come up with a plan: They'll date each other and break up. Their curses will cancel each other's out, and they'll both go on to find the love of their lives. It's a bonkers idea... and it just might work.

Emma hadn't planned that her next assignment as a traveling nurse would be in Minnesota, but she and her best friend agree that dating Justin is too good of an opportunity to pass up, especially when they get to rent an adorable cottage on a private island on Lake Minnetonka.

It's supposed to be a quick fling, just for the summer. But when Emma's toxic mother shows up and Justin has to assume guardianship of his three siblings, they're suddenly navigating a lot more than they expected–including catching real feelings for each other. What if this time Fate has actually brought the perfect pair together?

All The World Beside

2024

by Garrard Conley

From the New York Times bestselling author of Boy Erased, an electrifying, deeply moving novel about the love story between two men in Puritan New England.

Cana, Massachusetts: a utopian vision of 18th-century Puritan New England. To the outside world, Reverend Nathaniel Whitfield and his family stand as godly pillars of their small-town community, drawing Christians from across the New World into their fold. One such Christian, physician Arthur Lyman, discovers in the minister's words a love so captivating it transcends language.

As the bond between these two men grows more and more passionate, their families must contend with a tangled web of secrets, lies, and judgments which threaten to destroy them in this world and the next. And when the religious ecstasies of the Great Awakening begin to take hold, igniting a new era of zealotry, Nathaniel and Arthur search for a path out of an impossible situation, imagining a future for themselves which has no name. Their wives and children must do the same, looking beyond the known world for a new kind of wilderness, both physical and spiritual.

Set during the turbulent historical upheavals which shaped America's destiny and following in the tradition of Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, All the World Beside reveals the very human lives just beneath the surface of dogmatic belief.

Annie Bot

2024

by Sierra Greer

For fans of Never Let Me Go and My Dark Vanessa, Annie Bot is a powerful, provocative novel about the relationship between a female robot and her human owner, exploring questions of intimacy, power, autonomy, and control.

Annie Bot was created to be the perfect girlfriend for her human owner Doug. Designed to satisfy his emotional and physical needs, she has dinner ready for him every night, wears the pert outfits he orders for her, and adjusts her libido to suit his moods. True, she’s not the greatest at keeping Doug’s place spotless, but she’s trying to please him. She’s trying hard. She’s learning, too.

Doug says he loves that Annie’s AI makes her seem more like a real woman, so Annie explores human traits such as curiosity, secrecy, and longing. But becoming more human also means becoming less perfect, and as Annie’s relationship with Doug grows more intricate and difficult, she starts to wonder: Does Doug really desire what he says he wants? And in such an impossible paradox, what does Annie owe herself?

The Mars House

2024

by Natasha Pulley

From the author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, a stunning queer sci-fi novel about the relationship between an Earth refugee and a xenophobic Mars politician.

In the wake of an environmental catastrophe, January, once a principal in London's Royal Ballet, has become a refugee in Tharsis, the terraformed colony on Mars. There, January’s life is dictated by his status as an Earthstronger—a person whose body is not adjusted to lower gravity and so poses a danger to those born on, or naturalized to, Mars. January’s job choices, housing, and even transportation are dictated by this second-class status, and now a xenophobic politician named Aubrey Gale is running on a platform that would make it all worse: Gale wants all Earthstrongers to naturalize, a process that is always disabling and sometimes deadly.

When Gale chooses January for an on-the-spot press junket interview that goes horribly awry, January’s life is thrown into chaos, but Gale’s political fortunes are damaged, too. Gale proposes a solution to both their problems: a five-year made-for-the-press marriage that would secure January’s future without naturalization and ensure Gale’s political success. But when January accepts the offer, he discovers that Gale is not at all like they appear in the press. They're kind, compassionate, and much more difficult to hate than January would prefer.

As their romantic relationship develops, the political situation worsens, and January discovers Gale has an enemy, someone willing to destroy all of Tharsis to make them pay—and January may be the only person standing in the way. Un-put-downably immersive and utterly timely, Natasha Pulley’s new novel is a gripping story about privilege, strength, and life across class divisions, perfect for readers of Sarah Gailey and Tamsyn Muir.

Expiration Dates

2024

by Rebecca Serle

Expiration Dates is a captivating journey through the highs and lows of romantic love, as envisioned by Rebecca Serle, the New York Times bestselling author of In Five Years and One Italian Summer.

Daphne Bell holds a firm belief that the universe has a destined plan for her. Her romantic encounters come with a unique twist: each new man she meets comes with a slip of paper, revealing the precise duration of their relationship. Over the past two decades, Daphne has collected these slips, each with a countdown, yet she yearns for one that promises eternity.

On the evening of a blind date in her beloved Los Angeles eatery, she merely encounters a man named Jake—no expiration date in sight.

As their story unravels, Daphne grapples with the paper's ominous prediction, questioning the very essence of commitment and honesty. She harbors secrets that, if uncovered, could shatter Jake's heart.

With her characteristic blend of warmth and profound insight into the heart's mysteries, Serle has crafted a novel that delves into the nature of being single, finding love, and defining both on one's own terms. Expiration Dates is the poignant, emotional, and fervently passionate tale that fans have eagerly anticipated.

The Book Of Love

2024

by Kelly Link

The Book of Love showcases Kelly Link at the height of her powers, channeling potent magic and attuned to all varieties of love—from friendship to romance to abiding family ties—with her trademark compassion, wit, and literary derring-do. Readers will find joy (and a little terror) and an affirmation that love goes on, even when we cannot.

Late one night, Laura, Daniel, and Mo find themselves beneath the fluorescent lights of a high school classroom, almost a year after disappearing from their hometown, the small seaside community of Lovesend, Massachusetts, having long been presumed dead. Which, in fact, they are.

With them in the room is their previously unremarkable high school music teacher, who seems to know something about their disappearance—and what has brought them back again. Desperate to reclaim their lives, the three agree to the terms of the bargain their music teacher proposes. They will be given a series of magical tasks; while they undertake them, they may return to their families and friends, but they can tell no one where they've been. In the end, there will be winners and there will be losers.

But their resurrection has attracted the notice of other supernatural figures, all with their own agendas. As Laura, Daniel, and Mo grapple with the pieces of the lives they left behind, and Laura's sister, Susannah, attempts to reconcile what she remembers with what she fears, these mysterious others begin to arrive, engulfing their community in danger and chaos, and it becomes imperative that the teens solve the mystery of their deaths to avert a looming disaster.

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde

2024

by Tia Williams

From the New York Times bestselling author of Seven Days in June, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is an epic love story one hundred years in the making...

Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. And for some, even a single February can be life-changing.

Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isn't one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, she's the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where they're long-stemmed roses, she's a dandelion: an adorable bloom that's actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.

When regal nonagenarian Ms. Della invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories, and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.

One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.

Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.

Fifty Beasts To Break Your Heart

From the author of the breakout novel Thistlefoot: a collection of dark fairytales and fractured folklore exploring how our passions can save us—or go monstrously wrong.

The stories in Fifty Beasts To Break Your Heart are about the abomination that resides within us all. That churning, clawing, ravenous yearning: the hunger to be held, and seen, and known. And the terror, too: to be loved too well, or not enough, or for long enough. To be laid bare before your sweetheart, to their horror. To be recognized as the monstrous thing you are.

Two teenage girls working at a sinister roadside attraction called the Eternal Staircase explore its secrets—and their own doomed summer love. A zombie rooster plays detective in a missing persons case. A woman moves into a new house with her acclaimed artist boyfriend—and finds her body slowly shifting into something specially constructed to accommodate his needs and whims. A pack of middle schoolers turn to the occult to rid themselves of a hated new classmate. And a pair of outcasts, a vampire and a goat woman, find solace in each other, even as the world's lack of understanding might bring about its own end.

In these lush, strange, beautifully written stories, GennaRose Nethercott explores human longing in all its diamond-dark facets to create a collection that will redefine what you see as a beast, and make you beg to have your heart broken.

House of Flame and Shadow

2024

by Sarah J. Maas

The stunning third book in the sexy, action-packed Crescent City series, following the global bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath.

Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she's going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.

Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he's in the Asteri's dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce's fate. He's desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri's leash, his hands are quite literally tied.

In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas's Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt's world is brought to the brink of collapse—with its future resting on their shoulders.

Interesting Facts About Space

2024

by Emily R. Austin

Interesting Facts About Space is a journey through the cosmos, guided by the witty and introspective Enid. An aficionado of all things astronomical, Enid can describe the terrifying wonders of black holes with ease, but her own fears are much closer to home—like her inexplicable phobia of bald men, a secret she guards closely.

Between her addiction to true crime podcasts and a carousel of dates with women from dating apps, Enid is trying to navigate the complexities of life, including reconnecting with her estranged half-sisters following their father's death. But life takes a peculiar turn when Enid finds herself in her first serious romantic relationship and starts to suspect that she's being stalked.

As Enid's paranoia escalates, she's forced to face the haunting realization that she can't escape the most persistent follower of all—herself. With a blend of quirky humor, charm, and a touch of heartache, Interesting Facts About Space explores the importance of confronting our hidden fears and the most intimately human aspects of our identity.

Ilium

2024

by Lea Carpenter

Set in the dark world of international espionage, from London to Mallorca, Croatia, Paris, and Cap Ferret: the gripping and suspenseful story of a young woman who unwittingly becomes a perfect asset in the long overdue finale of a covert special op.

The young English narrator of Lea Carpenter's dazzling new novel has grown up unhappily in London, dreaming of escape, pretending to be someone else and obsessed with a locked private garden. On the eve of her twenty-first birthday, at a party near that garden, she meets its charismatic and mysterious new owner, Marcus, thirty-three years older, who sweeps her off her feet. Before long they are married at his finca in Mallorca, and at last she has escaped into a new role – but at what price?

On their honeymoon in Croatia, Marcus reveals there is something she can do for him—a plan is in place and she can help with "a favor." This turns out to be posing as an art advisor to a family on Cap Ferret, where Marcus asks her to simply "listen." A helicopter deposits her at a remote, highly guarded and lavishly appointed compound on a spit of land in the Atlantic. It's presided over by an enigmatic, charming patriarch Edouard, along with his wife Dasha, children Nikki and Felix, and populated by a revolving cast of other guests—some suspicious, some intriguing, perhaps none, like her, what they seem.

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