Then There Was You by S.L. Scott is AVAILABLE NOW

Synopsis:

I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to smile, to laugh, and to really live. Until I met him.

Heart-stoppingly handsome.
Totally forbidden.
Keats Matthews looked at me like I was something special.

He was escaping his past. I wanted to escape my present. Together, we fell hard and fast and knew we had found forever. Or so we thought …

Six years later, his shoulders are broader than I remembered, his charming smile thaws my frozen heart, and it’s so tempting to run my fingers through his hair like I did years ago. But it’s the tenderness and warmth in his brown eyes that remind me of the forever we almost shared.

It’s magic when we’re together again. Our chemistry has only magnified. Seeing him, confident and more irresistible than ever, has me falling for him all over again and hoping for a second chance.

But he still believes our timing was off before. He’s wrong. It was the secret I kept hidden that was our undoing. Time hasn’t healed old wounds, and not everything hidden has come to light. When it does, we’ll stand together or fall apart. Either way, we must find out.

Then There Was You is NOW AVAILABLE

Amazon & KU: https://geni.us/TTWYAm

Audio is live on Audible: https://geni.us/TTWYAudible

Right Person Wrong Time

Forbidden Romance

Star-Crossed Lovers

Narrated by Erin Mallon & Tor Thom

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

Then There Was You was full of angsty goodness.

Keats and Sosie are the quintessential opposites attract story: She’s a society princess, raised in a gilded cage by parents who parade her around like an accessory, and he’s a struggling student, raised by a single mom who didn’t quite know what she was doing and he’s had to fight for every scrap he has. They meet one night when he’s a cater waiter working her parents’ annual holiday party, and the connection between them is off the charts. They spend one beautiful night together before her father intervenes, and they are torn apart.

This book has a six-year time jump, and during that time, neither one of them has ever truly moved past their one night together. So when they reconnect, will they still have the same combustible chemistry?

If you love star-crossed lovers, forbidden romance, it’s always been you, the one that got away, etc. — then this story is definitely one worth getting lost in!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

BEYOND THE PAGES by K.H. Oakes is AVAILABLE NOW

Blurb:

He found me during the best time of my life.

Okay, it wasn’t exactly the best time of my life. I was on the side of the road, a flat tire on my

truck, but I digress…

He was the man I never saw coming.

Which explains why I aimed my pepper spray at him when he approached. Honestly, a girl can

never be too careful, especially when her daughter’s involved. Still…

He was everywhere in my new hometown.

No, he wasn’t a stalker. Just my knight in denim-clad armor, full of Southern charm, with rugged good looks…he even called me ma’am.

And, when it mattered most, Cameron Brown was there on the worst day of my life. But

will my pain bring back the trauma of his past?

Please check the author’s trigger warnings. Your mental health matters.

Buy Link:

https://a.co/d/5BzGb89

Available in KU

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars

Beyond the Pages by K.H. Oakes was an impressive debut novel!

Rosalie and Cameron are both single parents, and they have the cutest meet-cute when she gets a flat tire as she and her young daughter are moving to a new town. This book is slow-burn perfection! The banter between the characters was amazing. I loved the supporting cast of characters, the cozy feel of this small town, the growth between Cameron and Rosalie (especially Cameron, a widower), the connections with their kids, and the range of emotions (especially grief and healing) in this story.

Beyond the Pages is definitely a book I am placing on my re-read list. I can’t wait to see what this author gives to us next!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review

Meet K.H. Oakes:

K.H. Oakes lives in Northwest Arkansas with her husband and two kids. She is an occupational therapist by day, a parent by night, and an author in her “free” time. She enjoys hanging out with her family, traveling, reading a variety of romance books, playing tennis, and anything to do with animals. Sarcasm is her love language.

Connect with K.H. Oakes:

https://linktr.ee/authorkhoakes

The Last Great Almost by Quintana McConnell is now available on Amazon and KU!

What to expect:

Childhood Friends to Strangers to Lovers

Second Chance

Small Town

Found Family

Mental Health Rep

Second Coming-of-Age

Black Cat x Golden Retriever

BLURB

Phases fade. Eras echo.

You don’t always know you’re in one, until it’s gone.

When thirty-three year old Nora Lowe unexpectedly returns to her small Midwestern hometown, she must confront the ghost of her past: Elliott Ashby, the best friend and secret love she abandoned fifteen years ago. Nora never intended to go back to the boy who knew her better than she knew herself, but now the old feelings—and old secrets—are clawing their way out of the shadows.

Face-to-face for the first time since she fled, Nora and Elliott must decide if they can move beyond their troubled backgrounds, rumor mills, and wounds to embrace a future they never named. The alternative is the unraveling of everything they’ve built in the interim, and Nora’s continued struggle to break free from her past and find the love she feels worthy of.

Told in dual POV across layered timelines, The Last Great Almost is a slow-burning meditation on emotional imprinting, chosen family, and the quiet ways we carry each other—long after the moment has passed.

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 3.5 Stars

Childhood best friends Nora and Elliott haven’t spoken in a decade; not since everything changed between them and she left town and never looked back. Now, following a breakup, Nora returns home to lick her wounds, and she and Elliott are thrust back into one another’s lives… and the opportunity presents itself to heal some of the old heartbreak.

The story is a sweet, clean, second-chance romance, told in dual POV and in past and present. There was a lot of miscommunication between these characters, and I was kind of surprised at how not-that-big-of-a-deal Nora’s reason for leaving town was. I feel like it could have been settled much sooner had these two actually talked about it. But I did appreciate the always-been-you microtrope, and how Elliott never really moved past Nora’s leaving.

The Last Great Almost is the first book I’ve read by Quintana McConnell. Overall, I liked it; I didn’t *love* it. Will I come back to re-read it? Maybe.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Prepare to fall in love amongst the wildflowers this spring. . .

From the romance superstar author of The Boston Bolts hockey series comes a rivals-to-lovers, grumpy-sunshine romance about a young woman returning to her family’s daffodil farm only to find someone unexpected running her daddy’s business.

They say you can never tame a wildflower…

When aspiring pastry chef, Tally Darling, returns home to her family’s daffodil farm, the last thing she expects to find is a hot—half-naked—farmhand living in her childhood bedroom and running her late daddy’s business.

Jesse Walker might be gorgeous but he’s also infuriatingly grumpy. Walker has no time for Tally and the feeling is mutual.

That is, until Tally hears him moan over one of her signature salted honey cupcakes. And then discovers how good it tastes when they kiss.

As dewy April days turn into warm May evenings, Walker and Tally soon realize that there is a thin line between love and hate. But will their budding connection grow into something that lasts beyond one season?

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars

Darling Daffodils Farm was such a fun story!

After her father passes away, Tally returns home to help run the family’s daffodil farm… and encounters a handsome stranger living in her childhood bedroom and running the farm. Walker and Tally definitely get off on the wrong foot. She definitely doesn’t trust him at first (and with good reason, because he’s keeping secrets on behalf of her mother), but the chemistry between them is electric. The more time they spend together, the more they realize they don’t hate each other after all, and this grumpy cowboy turns out to be a big softie when it comes to Tally.

There are some complications that the couple encounters (See: Secrets), but I thought that the resolution played out nicely. I loved how these two characters complemented each other. Walker was a solid, supportive rock when Tally needed it, and she brought a lightheartedness to him that the grumpy cowboy was missing in his life.

I’ve been a big fan of Brittanee Nicole’s Boston Bolts hockey series, so I was excited to read something different by this author, and Darling Daffodils Farm did not disappoint! I’m looking forward to the rest of this series!

I received a complimentary copy via NetGalley and voluntarily left a review.

GENTRY

Ashley James

Release Date: March 17

Blurb:

I’ve spent my life doing the right thing.

Wanting him is the first thing that’s ever felt impossible to resist.

Remington Buchanan is the golden-boy firefighter everyone in town trusts with their lives. He’s wears a dimply smile that doesn’t seem to dim for anyone and makes me forget that he’s off limits. Because not only is he half my age, he’s also my son’s best friend.

I’ve built my world on responsibility. On early mornings, hard work, and putting my family first. There’s no room in it for reckless desire. And yet, every time he walks into a room smelling like smoke and sunshine and looking at me like I’m more than just his best friend’s dad, my carefully built restraint starts to crack.

When he takes in a thirteen-year-old boy who just lost his whole world, I tell myself I’m only helping because it’s the right thing to do. Nothing more.

But late nights together in secret turn into shared glances and accidental touches that linger too long. The space between us grows heavy with everything I’m pretending not to feel.

Loving him would mean risking my relationship with my son. It would mean admitting that after years of playing it safe, I want something that could burn my whole life to the ground.

Wanting him feels like crossing a line I can’t uncross.

Because if this goes wrong, I don’t just lose him—I lose my son. My family. My quiet, comfortable life I’ve spent decades building.

But when Remington looks at me like I’m not too old, not too closed off—just his—I start to wonder if doing the right thing has kept me safe… Or just kept me alone.

Some things are worth the risk.

And this time, I’m not sure I’m ready to walk away from the life, and the love, taking shape right in front of me.

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars

So usually, the best-friend’s-dad trope is not one I generally enjoy, but since I liked the other books in this series (and the breadcrumbs that were dropped of what was to come in the last book, knowing Remi was crushing on Gentry), I wanted to check out this story, especially since it was going to be a high-stakes, risky romance.

Remi is kind of an over-the-top character, and I enjoyed the contrast in his golden retriever energy to Gentry’s grumpy personality. Both characters showed so much vulnerability with one another, and those were some of my favorite scenes in this book.

Overall, I enjoyed this story, but I felt it was lacking some oomph that the previous books had. Parts of the story felt rushed, and other parts felt glossed over. I think I would have liked to have seen how Gentry bonded with Lukas more, and more of Remi and Gentry being an actual couple. So much was in secret — which I get, because of the forbidden factors of their age gap and Gentry being the father of Remi’s best friend. I liked the emotional layer that gave their story, and I thought the characters navigated those obstacles well, but I just really wanted to see more than what we got of them out and about together, and navigating that aspect of their relationship after spending so much time together in secret. But this story really delivered on the high emotional stakes, so that was a win for me.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Meet Ashley James:

Ashley James is a romance author who enjoys writing (and reading) LGBTQIA+ books. She is from Washington State—and no, not Seattle—and currently resides in South Carolina with her two kids and hairless kitties, Goose, Maverick, and Houston. Ashley is introverted and slightly (okay, majorly) awkward. She refuses to make this section sound like a tacky dating app profile, so she won’t be telling you how much she enjoys music, how she thoroughly enjoys dancing and singing in her kitchen, despite not being able to carry a tune, and she won’t be telling you about her love of toxic and broken fictional men.

Connect with Ashley James:

https://authorashleyjames.com/links/

Rule Breaker is NOW LIVE on Kindle Unlimited download it here: https://geni.us/ctRtqj

BLURB:You could say Jesse Winters and I got off on the wrong foot. The first time I laid eyes on him, I let him know exactly where he could shove that smug grin on his face.

I’ve met plenty of guys like Jesse—handsome, charming, infuriating. He skates through life on good looks and charisma, leaving a trail of broken hearts along the way. It’s clear that most girls find him impossible to ignore, but then, most girls haven’t been raised with a powerful political family legacy resting squarely on their shoulders. My parents taught me to be poised, polished, and perfect. And to stay far away from men like Jesse Winters.

Unfortunately, he’s one of the owners of the company I now work for and seeing as I uprooted my entire life and moved to Deep Cove for this job, I tell myself to just do my best to avoid him.

That is, until an out-of-town gala I’m pressured to attend forces us together. An airplane ride away from the office and the town we both call home, we’re stuck sharing one hotel room. And one bed. Suddenly, Jesse is my fake date for the weekend—only nothing about it feels like we’re pretending.

Especially not the possessive way he looks at me.

Or how much I like it.

It doesn’t take long to realize that underneath that bad boy charm is a heart I didn’t expect and a softness I didn’t see coming, and it threatens to break through every carefully constructed piece of who I’m supposed to be. 

As Jesse and I grow closer, my parents begin to see him as a threat to the legacy they expect me to uphold. So, they do what they’ve always done when something gets in the way of their plans: lie, manipulate, and play dirty to get what they want. And what they want now is to keep us apart.

I was raised to follow the rules. Jesse has spent his entire life breaking them. But the more we collide, the harder it becomes to deny what’s between us or how much it could cost me if I choose him.

What to Expect:

• Spicy small-town
• Enemies to lovers
• West coast Playboy x Poised Political Princess
• One bed
• Millionaire
• Workplace
• Opposites attract
• Protective hero 

.

.Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

After getting to know the Winters brothers in Deal Breaker, I couldn’t wait to get to the next book. Jesse and Madeline had an instant connection from the moment they first crossed paths at the local bar. I loved the way she sassed him and didn’t fawn over him the way most women did — the fact that he was her soon-to-be-boss had a lot to do with that, but Jesse didn’t know it!

The characters developed a wonderful rapport as they began working together, and the slow burn between them exploded when Jesse accompanied Mads to a gala event her parents demanded she attend as her fake date. (Seriously, I hated her parents!) But while their relationship began as a fake one, it wasn’t long before it became something very real for both of them.

Both characters have complicated parental situations — she faces an extreme amount of pressure from her political family, whereas his father essentially abandoned the boys after their mother passed — and it was interesting to see not only how they each handled that, but how they supported one another in those matters.

I really enjoyed Jesse & Madeline’s story, and I can’t wait to see what comes next for the Winters boys! (Wes and Lottie, fingers crossed!)

I received a complimentary copy and voluntarily left a review.

🎧🎧🎧 Show Me Forever by Jennifer Sucevic is NOW IN AUDIO 🎧🎧🎧

From Top 30 Amazon and USA Today Bestselling Author Jennifer Sucevic comes a steamy, pro hockey romance featuring a one-night stand, surprise pregnancy, forced proximity, and a hero who falls first and harder than he ever expected.

I thought I had Oliver Van Doren all figured out.
The Railers’ star forward with the charm of a devil, the discipline of a toddler, and a talent for creating messes I always get stuck cleaning up. We’re barely friends and definitely better off pretending the sexual tension humming between us isn’t combustible.

It’s the only explanation for how one moment of weakness turns into a night I can’t forget.
And the worst part? I can’t stop.
It’s too damn good.

Two pink lines change everything.

Suddenly I’m living with the one man who knows exactly how to get under my skin. Only Oliver isn’t who I thought he was. He’s patient. Attentive. Protective. And somehow, day by day, he makes it impossible to pretend he’s not everything I’ve been too terrified to want.Now I can’t help wondering if what started as a mistake…
Might just be the beginning of forever.

Show Me Forever is a swoony, boy-obsessed, enemies-to-lovers pro hockey romance packed with off-limits workplace tension, a one-night stand, a surprise pregnancy, and a hero who was all in from page one. It’s book three in the Chicago Railers series and can be read as a standalone.

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 4 Stars

OOH, this was delicious!

After Rena, the PR director of the Chicago Railers hockey team, and Oliver, the team’s top troublemaker, have a one-night stand, she is determined not to go for a repeat, especially since she has a no-fraternization clause in her contract with the players. But for Oliver, one night with Rena wasn’t nearly enough, since he’s had a thing for her for a while, and they begin a casual situationship. Except nothing about it is casual for Oliver, so he sets out to prove to Rena that he is the one for her.

Then, when Rena discovers that she’s pregnant, all bets are off because Oliver has found his way in to show her that they are meant to be together for the long haul. Having been raised by a single mom, Rena has it ingrained in her brain that she needs to be self-sufficient and not depend on a man. So Oliver really has his work cut out for him when it comes to convincing Rena to give them a real chance.

I really loved the connection between these two characters. My one complaint about the story was that it starts when they are already hooking up, so I missed out on the whole how-it-came-to-be between them.

Narrators Jason Clarke and Mollie Stark were a dynamic duo in telling Oliver and Rena’s story.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

A BOOKISH STORY by Heatherly Bell

Blurb:

A female ghostwriter is recruited to be the face of the bestselling

novel in the country, secretly written by a man.

Luci Santana believes in love, especially when it comes to books. Since

being forced to give up her apartment, she’d love to get out of her

over-involved family’s backyard she-shed and resuscitate her life. She’s

given a chance to supercharge her career when she’s recruited to be the

face of the country’s bestselling novel.

The one secretly written by a man.

Years before he wrote the book that changed his life, literary author

Ryan Brady was caught shaming the romance genre in a video. When his

romance book is chosen by a celebrity morning show, a face to face

interview is required. Suddenly his secret pen name desperately needs a

woman’s face.

Enter Luci.

Luci hates the book everyone else raves about but it becomes her job to

defend the book, the genre, and try not to get caught falling in love with the enemy.

Buy Link:

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 3.5 Stars

I loved the premise of this book. Ryan is the author of WWII thrillers, who went viral for a rant against the romance genre, and he’s secretly written a romance book. Now that he needs to go on a press tour, ghostwriter Luci is hired to be the face behind the story. The only problem is that Luci doesn’t see the hype in the book everyone is raving about, and she’s not so keen on Ryan. But pretending to be the face of the book will give her the connections to have her own romance novel published.

This story was fun. The pacing was well done, I loved that Luci’s priorities were more about her career and family than finding love, and there was a wonderful group of supporting characters. I really liked Ryan and how he struggled with his secret. That said, I felt there was a lot of “telling” as the story unfolded, and I wish that there had been more showing as Ryan and Luci fell in love. There were a lot of subplots that I found distracting and not necessarily relevant to the main plot.

Overall, this book was enjoyable, but it just fell short of a four-star read for me.

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

Meet Heatherly Bell:

I’m a USA Today bestselling romance author who’s passionate about fast-paced, emotion-filled romantic suspense and science-fiction romance. I love writing about people overcoming unbeatable odds and achieving seemingly impossible goals. I like to believe it’s possible for all of us to do the same.

My parents are to blame for my insatiable need to mix action, adventure, and romance. When I was young, I raided my mother’s romances and my father’s action adventure thrillers. I love being exhilarated and left just a little breathless. I’m a sucker for that moment when the team is walking in slow motion, shoulder-to-shoulder heading off into battle.

Connect with Heatherly Bell:

https://www.instagram.com/heatherly.bell/