Love…It’s Messy is the second book in the Love Explained series but can definitely be read as a stand-alone. It starts out with an amazingly fun opening scene where Jillian is outside of a burning hotel wearing ONLY a bathrobe carrying an ice bucket…asking the fire captain if she could possibly just pop into her room a moment to grab a few things… :0
“I’m tired of pretending my life is perfect. It’s messy, and it’s mine.”
The story is an emotional second chance for single mom event planner Jillian Hathaway and firefighter Luke Incendio. When fate brings them face to face after five years they are still just as drawn to each other but both have really big secrets to reveal.
“Luke Incendio is fire in the flesh, and if I’m not careful, I’ll burn badly.”
I adored this book! It is a perfect blend of sweet, heat, heart and humor!!
-5 Stars- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Blurb:
Second-chance romance only works out in movies. In real life, it’s …messy.
I don’t need a man for anything.
Love and romance? Pfft. No thanks. Never again.
Between my career as a wedding planner and being a single mother, I barely have time to think about men.
I wasn’t looking for a hero when I ended up locked outside a hotel that was engulfed in a blazing inferno, wearing nothing but a robe. I would’ve eventually saved myself. Too bad he didn’t give me a chance.
Yep, you guessed it. Luke Incendio, the sexy firefighter who came to my hotel rescue and the man who had caused me to swear off love years ago is one and the same.
Now, he says he wants to make amends. He says he’s never stopped wanting me. His words are laced in regret as he says he made a mistake.
But talk is cheap—and the tingly feelings he inspires in me are not to be trusted. Because this time around, I’m not the only one who’ll get burned if he proves to be unreliable.
Jeannine Colette combines humor and angst in her sexy, stand-alone romance novels. Her stories feature dynamic heroines, and swoon-worthy heroes, who have to abandon their reality in order to discover themselves . . . and love along the way.
A graduate of Wagner College and the New York Film Academy, Jeannine went on to become a Segment Producer for television shows on CBS and NBC. She left the television industry to focus on her children and pursue a full-time writing career. She lives in New York with her husband, the three tiny people she adores more than life itself, and a rescue pup named Wrigley.
Jeannine and her family are active supporters of The March of Dimes and Strivright The Auditory-Oral School of New York.
Fall for Nash and Maddie in their friends-to-lovers, only one bed, small town romance from USA Today Bestselling Author, Catherine Cowles!
Nash Hartley has always been my everything: Protector. Partner in crime. Best friend. The person who was there for me in my darkest hour.
But my heart wanted so much more. So, when I knew for certain Nash didn’t feel the same about me, I tried to move on. What a mistake that turned out to be.
Now, I’m back in our small town, desperate to escape my living nightmare, and the only person I want to see is him.
As secrets are revealed, and Nash finds out what happened to me, he’ll do anything to keep me safe.
But there are those who will do anything to stop him, and this time neither of us may make out alive…
OUR REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Echoes of You is the second stand-alone book in the Lost and Found series. It’s a brilliant romantic suspense story with a few ‘bad guys’ around each twist and turn 😉
Maddie is back in her small hometown of Cedar Ridge, running from something but trying to get a fresh start.
Her childhood best friend, Nash wants to be there for her and protect her but she is keeping secrets.
“I’d loved Nash Hartley for as long as I could remember. Cedar Ridge was just a place. But Nash would always be home.”
Maddie doesn’t want Nash and her friends to know about what she is running from and what she considers her bad decisions until it catches up to her and she has no choice but to share her story.
I listened to the audiobook and love the narration. It definitely adds to the experience and brings the story to life!
Writer of words. Drinker of Diet Cokes. Lover of all things cute and furry, especially her dog. Catherine has had her nose in a book since the time she could read and finally decided to write down some of her own stories. When she’s not writing she can be found exploring her home state of Oregon, listening to true crime podcasts, or searching for her next book boyfriend.
RESTING WITCH FACE is finally here! Book 5 in the STAY A SPELL series is the love story of our Enforcer of New Orleans, Jules, and the Vampire Overlord, Ruben. Get ready for #RULES! There will be biting…
Second chance romance
Forced proximity
Only one bed
Vampire Masquerade
Mutual pining
OUR REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Resting Witch Face is book five in the Stay A Spell series. Each book tells the story of one of the Savoie sisters and while they are all stand-alones, you get a richer story when all are read in order.
I have been waiting with bated breath for Jules and Rubin’s story since first reading book one and getting glimpses of their chemistry throughout the series and I was not disappointed at all.
“…telling her that she was my true mate—my soulmate, my bloodmate—would’ve terrified her even more and sent her running even farther from me.”
RWF delivers with all the swoon and emotion, add in the angst, danger, suspense and an exciting storyline … I didn’t want to put the book down from the moment I started reading!
-5+ Stars!- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Diane-
Twelve years ago, Jules Savoie ended her relationship with the vampire overlord of New Orleans, Ruben Dubois. For good reasons. A woman in power must often make sacrifices to protect others. She knows the truth of it down to her aching heart.
When Ruben watches his best friend Devraj get married, a stinging realization hits him hard…he’s done waiting. They say time heals all wounds. In this case, it merely sharpened the pain and made one fact crystal clear. Jules Savoie is his soulmate, and nothing would keep her from him. Not anymore.
Forced to work side by side to fight for the werewolf cause, they campaign together at covens from New Orleans to London. The reignited spark burns hotter than ever before. But when a power-hungry vampire sets his predatory sights on Jules, will their love be strong enough against black magic? Or will he lose her again? And this time, maybe…for good.
Worth the Wait, an all-new second chance small town romance from Karla Sorensen, is available now in Kindle Unlimited!
You know what I don’t have time for? The brooding, dark-eyed former love of my life showing up when my life is finally settling down.
I don’t have time for Hunter Buchanan and that intense look in his eyes. The way he loved me so perfectly all those years ago.
I’m the one who asked him to leave back then, my attempt at saving him from the chaos of my screwed up family.
I didn’t expect him back in Green Valley, looking better than before and with an empty ring finger. And I definitely didn’t expect him to still be in love with me.
I don’t have time for the things I feel around him, or how amazing it is when he touches me.
Most of all, for the broken heart I’ll have if I have to say goodbye again. I survived him leaving once before, but I don’t think I can do it again.
So there’s only one thing I can make time for… staying away from Hunter Buchanan.
‘Worth the Wait’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #4 in the Love At First Sight series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
OUR REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I loved everything about this story! Worth The Wait is a second chance, swoony, small town romance with a quiet, broody hero and a heroine who has taken on the role of single parent to her little brother.
“Where some men were loud and pushy, where they thought taking up space meant to dominate everything around them, Hunter had always been the opposite. His strength wasn’t like a bomb. It was the steel foundation that held everything up around it.”
When the Buchanan “Love at first sight” curse hit for Hunter, he and Iris were too young to know how to handle such powerful emotions. After 12 years apart, things don’t seem to have gotten any easier. Iris has her hands full now and feels she has no time or energy to devote to figuring things out until a couple of meddling women help her get priorities sorted.
“We can think all night, and all day, about how it’ll be when something big rolls up on us. But once it’s there, no amount of thinking can prepare us for how we’ll feel at that moment.”
Wonderful story. Theo and Maxine pretty much steal the show in this one 😉
Worth The Wait is a stand-alone in the Smartypants Love At First Sight series.
“I’m not your teacher,” I said. “Right now, I’m just the guy who’s supposed to make sure you don’t have to go back to fourth grade. And that means honesty from both of us. And trust.” I stood from the bench and held out my hand again. “You can trust me, Theo. But only make a deal with me right now if I can trust you the same way.”
It never occurred to me, as a teacher and then later as an administrator, to talk to kids like they didn’t have the same struggles as adults. They understood stress and fear and anxiety, albeit on a different scale, with different language behind it.
That scale changed as you grew up. Your responsibilities took on a different face, and you knew how to label those struggles. But to them—at their age—the responsibilities still felt like the whole world was pressing down on their shoulders. It didn’t help if the adults in their life pretended otherwise.
So I knew I’d won something big when Theo Rossman stuck his skinny arm out toward me.
He gave me a firm handshake, his cheeks turning pink when I returned it.
“You sound like Iris,” he said quietly.
My heart skipped unsteadily in my chest at his use of that name.
“Who’s Iris?” I asked calmly. So very, very calmly. I’d only met one person in Green Valley with that name. And as far as I knew, she’d never come back. Not that anyone had told me, at least.
“My sister. I live with her.” He tucked his hand back in his pocket, his face softening as he answered. His love for her, even if it wasn’t my Iris, was immediately clear.
Behind my ribs, I felt a hot squeeze of pressure while my mind absolutely fucking raced.
“I knew an Iris once.” I watched his face as I said it. “She’d probably be about thirty-two now.”
His eyes narrowed, mental calculations evident in his face. “I think that’s how old my sister is.”
My breathing was choppy, my lungs struggling to pull in enough oxygen. “The Iris I knew … her last name wasn’t Rossman.”
He kicked at a stick, so blissfully unaware that all my insides were jolting with unchecked pulses of electricity at the mere thought of it being her.
“Yeah, she’s my half-sister. She had a different dad, so she has a different last name.”
“What’s your sister’s last name?” I asked, fighting the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake the truth from his mouth.
At the sound of a car, Theo’s attention was pulled to the parking lot. In an instant, he transformed. Wide smile and happy, bright eyes as he waved at the driver of a beat-up-looking SUV. “That’s her. Iris Black.”
I swiped a hand over my face and tried to check my breathing.
Check my pulse.
My ability to stay fucking conscious.
This was it. All the sleepless nights I’d wondered if I’d ever see her again. Wondered how I’d ever walked away from her, why I believed her when she said she didn’t have room for us in her life. If respecting her choice would damn me to a life that would always feel a little empty. Where every day held a slight edge of grief, something that might have worn down over the years but could still damage me if I caught it in the right way.
The last time I saw Iris Black, she wept as she told me to leave. That she couldn’t—wouldn’t—make room in her life for some great big destined romance. That she couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe that it was true.
The last time I saw her, I told her I’d love her for the rest of my life, whether she was in it or not. And I walked away all the same.
And there it was.
A gentle snap, a whisper-soft snick of something sliding back into place underneath my ribs. The shift of something that had been out of place since the last time I saw her. The realization came as quick as a thunderbolt and just as powerful. As I slowly turned toward the parking lot and she stepped out of the car, I knew this was the reason I’d come back to Green Valley.
It was her.
The one I’d loved since the moment I saw her.
Who I hadn’t seen in twelve years.
The one staring at me like she’d just seen a ghost.
About Karla Sorensen
Karla Sorensen has been an avid reader her entire life, preferring stories with a happily-ever-after over just about any other kind. And considering she has an entire line item in her budget for books, she realized it might just be cheaper to write her own stories. It doesn’t take much to keep her happy…a book, a really big glass of wine, and at least thirty minutes of complete silence every day. She still keeps her toes in the world of health care marketing, where she made her living pre-babies. Now she stays home, writing and mommy-ing full time (this translates to almost every day being a ‘pajama day’ at the Sorensen household…don’t judge). She lives in West Michigan with her husband, two exceptionally adorable sons and big, shaggy rescue dog.
Worth the Wait, an all-new second chance small town romance from Karla Sorensen, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
You know what I don’t have time for? The brooding, dark-eyed former love of my life showing up when my life is finally settling down.
I don’t have time for Hunter Buchanan and that intense look in his eyes. The way he loved me so perfectly all those years ago.
I’m the one who asked him to leave back then, my attempt at saving him from the chaos of my screwed up family.
I didn’t expect him back in Green Valley, looking better than before and with an empty ring finger. And I definitely didn’t expect him to still be in love with me.
I don’t have time for the things I feel around him, or how amazing it is when he touches me.
Most of all, for the broken heart I’ll have if I have to say goodbye again. I survived him leaving once before, but I don’t think I can do it again.
So there’s only one thing I can make time for… staying away from Hunter Buchanan.
‘Worth the Wait’ is a full-length contemporary romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #4 in the Love At First Sight series, Green Valley World, Penny Reid Book Universe.
Karla Sorensen has been an avid reader her entire life, preferring stories with a happily-ever-after over just about any other kind. And considering she has an entire line item in her budget for books, she realized it might just be cheaper to write her own stories. It doesn’t take much to keep her happy…a book, a really big glass of wine, and at least thirty minutes of complete silence every day. She still keeps her toes in the world of health care marketing, where she made her living pre-babies. Now she stays home, writing and mommy-ing full time (this translates to almost every day being a ‘pajama day’ at the Sorensen household…don’t judge). She lives in West Michigan with her husband, two exceptionally adorable sons and big, shaggy rescue dog.
Talia Eden loved Foster Madden for one year, two months and eleven days. It was on day 438 that her love died. The day he chose to marry her best friend. The day she vowed never to think of Foster again.
Until years later when he has the audacity to show up in her small hometown of Quincy, begging for her help.
The ink on his divorce papers is barely dry, yet he comes armed with apologies and promises. She knows it’s all a ploy. Foster is the king of games and secrets. But he’s got delusions the size of Montana if he thinks she’ll help him train for a world championship fight.
Except Talia has forgotten exactly what made Foster famous. The man has dedicated his life to victory. He’s steadfast. He’s determined. And he won’t stop fighting until he’s won her heart.
OUR REVIEW: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Garnet Flats is a small town, second chance romance. Talia Eden is trying to gain respect as a doctor in her hometown of Quincy, Montana and is just marking days… good days and bad days.
Her ex, Foster Madden, a professional fighter who dumped her to marry her best friend, shows up in Quincy. Foster is fighting to win Talia back but he is still keeping secrets.
“Do you feel this?”
Not the chemistry. Not the lust. Not the fireworks. The impossible emotion, buried beneath it all…”
I kind of wanted Talia to make Foster grovel a whole lot more than she did… but really I don’t think I would last too long against the charm of Foster and all he brings with him.
I enjoyed this small town, sweet and swoony story with its touch of danger and suspense.
-4.5 Stars- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Diane-
Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo!
Devney is a USA Today bestselling author who lives in Washington with her husband and two sons. Born and raised in Montana, she loves writing books set in her treasured home state. After working in the technology industry for nearly a decade, she abandoned conference calls and project schedules to enjoy a slower pace at home with her family. Writing one book, let alone many, was not something she ever expected to do. But now that she’s discovered her true passion for writing romance, she has no plans to ever stop.
Parks and Provocation, an all new enemies-to-lovers small town romance from Juliette Cross, is LIVE in Kindle Unlimited!
Lola Landry stares through the window of her locked car with the keys in the ignition and the radio blaring Beck’s “Loser.” While standing there and sweltering in the soupy Tennessee humidity, she wonders how her orderly life had crashed and burned so badly. Then her high school nemesis saunters up in all of his tall, strapping, fireman-to-the-rescue glory, slapping her with the humiliating proof that it can always get worse.
When the uber-confident Jedediah Lawson requests a date in return for popping her lock, a lightbulb goes off. Revenge is sweet. He would make the perfect victim—guest, that is—for her next podcast episode on Kiss and Tell. What shocks her is the casual way he not only agrees to the post-date interview on air, but ends up hijacking her audience and wooing them with his swoony, southern charm. Not even a low score on the date-o-meter can dissuade the man or keep her fans from demanding more of the charismatic Jed.
What’s worse, she secretly wants a second date with this man who is so different from his teenage self. His unwavering patience and dimpled smile erodes her will, until she breaks the Kiss and Tell rules by agreeing to a second…and a third date. It’s a disaster. Not the date. They’re wonderful. The disaster is that she is falling for a man she once dubbed Jockstrap Jed.
‘Parks and Provocation’ is a full-length contemporary romance and can be read as a standalone. Book #2 in the Green Valley Heroes series, Green Valley Chronicles, Penny Reid Book Universe.
JULIETTE is a multi-published author of paranormal and fantasy romance & the co-host of the podcast, Smart Women Read Romance. As a native of Louisiana, she lives in the heart of Cajun land with her husband, four kids, her labs, Kona and Jeaux, and kitty, Betty. When she isn’t working on her next project, she enjoys binge-watching her favorite shows with her husband and a glass (or two) of red wine.
Beard in Hiding, an all-new companion novel to the bestselling Winston Brothers and Solving for Pies series is LIVE! Penny Reid delivers a heartfelt romantic comedy about two lost souls who find love in the most unexpected way.
Propositioning the Iron Wraiths’ money man seemed like a good idea at the time…
Diane Donner—recently divorced pillar of polite society—is craving danger. She’s tired of playing it safe and she knows just the sexy criminal motorcycle man to proposition for a good time. Problem is, she doesn’t actually know his name.
Jason “Repo” Doe never takes risks. So when the queen of local commerce walks into his club, looking to get risky and frisky, Jason knows the smartest thing to do is save himself a headache while saving the new divorcee from her worst impulses.
But then one thing leads to another, and the memory of just-one-night doesn’t feel like enough.
Theirs is a story with no future, because how can a dangerous criminal win (and keep) a queen?
‘Beard In Hiding’ is book #4.5 in the Winston Brothers series, is a full length contemporary romantic comedy about two lost souls in their 40s, and is a companion novel to the Winston Brothers and Solving for Pie series.
If you want to get the full immersive Green Valley world experience, I recommend reading ‘Truth or Beard,’ ‘Beard Science,’ ‘Engagement and Espionage,’ and ‘Marriage and Murder’ beforehand. ‘Beard In Hiding’ contains spoilers for these four books (in specific).
Penny Reid is the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of the Winston Brothers and Knitting in the City series. She used to spend her days writing federal grant proposals as a biomedical researcher, but now she writes kissing books. Penny is an obsessive knitter and manages the #OwnVoices-focused mentorship incubator / publishing imprint, Smartypants Romance. She lives in Seattle Washington with her husband, three kids, and dog named Hazel.
From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward, comes a new standalone novel.
The one that got away. Every girl has one, right?
Mine was a charming, British aristocrat who turned my world upside down one summer.
From the moment I first spotted Leo in the distance through my binoculars, I’d been captivated. I certainly never expected to find a man showering outside of the property across the bay in his birthday suit.
Then I noticed his housemate staring back at me with binoculars of his own—watching me watching Leo.
That made for an interesting conversation starter when I inevitably ran into them.
Turned out, the handsome Brits were only renting that house for the summer in my seaside town.
Leo and I formed an instant connection, even though we were technically opposites by all appearances. I taught him how to dig for clams, and he taught me that not all wealthy and powerful guys are pretentious.
Despite knowing he was totally wrong for me, I couldn’t seem to stay away.
It was a wild and crazy few months. And before I knew it, we’d fallen in love.
We both had one wish: more time together.
But Leo had obligations back home. He lived a life I’d never fit into. And I was going to law school. So, we decided to end it and never look back.
A part of me always felt like I’d let my soulmate walk away.
I believed our story was over.
Until five years later when he sent me a letter that shook me to my core.
I’d thought my world was turned upside down that first summer?
Penelope
Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling
author of contemporary romance.
She grew up
in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a
television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son,
and beautiful daughter with autism.
With over two
million books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author
of over twenty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen
languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
The Aristocrat was not what I was expecting. It was More. It grabbed me and pulled me in with wonderful and interesting characters and kept me there, pulling on my heartstrings and giving me all the feels.
Leo Covington and Felicity Dunleavy come from two very different worlds . Felicity grew up in the foster system with no real family. She is working her way through law school with an eye on a stable life.
Leo (who is Lord Covington and the future Duke of Westfordshire) is traveling for one last chance at some freedom before he needs to settle down with an acceptable wife and the responsibilities of his family.
Leo and Felicity try to stay away from each other but eventually realize that ignoring their mutual attraction just doesn’t seem like a possibility.
“I like you because you’re you. Not just how you look, but how you look at me. You see me as the person I am…”
This story was sweet and swoony, loaded with emotion, had great chemistry, plus lots of fun banter. Definitely worth the read.
Sheila's book Corner 