Genre/Tropes: Small Town; Second Chance; Single Dad; Enemies-to-Lovers
Release Date: August 29, 2024
Single dad, Wade Jenkins, Magnolia Grove’s landscaping hottie who likes to mow lawns without a shirt on is thrown for a loop when his spirited seven-year-old daughter Goldie comes to live with him. While Wade’s thrilled to have his daughter full-time, there’s one little issue . . .
The elementary school principal.
Lemon Walsh is a woman who doesn’t live life to the fullest, despite her best friend urging her to all the time. When someone from her past shows up front and center, she has no choice but to finally reconcile the decision she made in college.
Will one of her students be the catalyst for change?
“Wade . . .” I say his name for the first time, to him, in years. It hurts, hearing my voice call out to him.
He stops and sets his shovel down. I didn’t expect him to walk toward me, but he does. Each step of his is deliberate and forceful, almost like he’s trying to leave his impression in the grass. He’s wearing his khaki cargo pants and from experience I know each pocket has something he’ll need today. A tool, twine, or trimmer line for the weed wacker. I’ve spent countless hours sitting on my parent’s front porch, watching him cut lawn with precision.
I’m out of breath when he comes face to face with me. He stands close. Close enough that we share the same air. Everything in my mind tells me to step back, to put a wall between us, but my heart sings at the closeness. I know I’ll never win the battle of hating him as long as we’re in the same town.
We stare at one another, taking each other in. His dark hair, brown eyes, and scruff all call to me, beg me to get lost in everything that is Wade Jenkins. I have loved this man for most of my life, and yet he’ll never be mine.
🌸Review🌸
Lemon has only loved one man in her life until one night changed everything and she feels like he betrayed her and their love. Years later even though they live in the same town she wants nothing to do with however that decision will be taken out of her hands when his daughter Mari begins living with him and she is the principal at the school where his daughter will attend.
Wade acknowledges that he accepts some responsibility for what happened with Lemon but feels she does as well. As much as he wants a second chance with Lemon, he must put his daughter first but it might also give him the opportunity to show Lemon that what tore them apart doesn’t have to keep them apart.
Even though you can understand how hurt Lemon is, she also needs to make peace with the past and stop punishing Wade for what happened. The feelings between them haven’t diminished over time and I enjoyed seeing them find their way back to each other, angst and all.
In the heart of Alabama, lies a charming little town on the river, where everyone knows your name… and your business.
Follow the intertwined lives of its beloved residents as they navigate first love, second chances, and all the unexpected surprises that their small-town holds.
Welcome to Magnolia Grove, where every neighbor has a story worth unraveling, the roots run deep, and love blossoms around every corner.
Join the Magnolia Grove Reader Group to find out more!
Heidi McLaughlin is a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author of The Beaumont Series, The Boys of Summer, and The Archers. In 2012, Heidi turned her passion for reading into a full-fledged literary career, writing over twenty novels, including the acclaimed Forever My Girl. Heidi’s first novel, Forever My Girl, has been adapted into a motion picture with LD Entertainment and Roadside Attractions, starring Alex Roe and Jessica Rothe, and opened in theaters on January 19, 2018. Don’t miss more books by Heidi McLaughlin! Sign up for her newsletter, or join the fun in her fan group!
The Summer I First Saw You by Elizabeth O’Roark is now live!
An angsty, age gap, forbidden romance from bestselling author, Elizabeth O’ Roark.
Once upon a time, my buddy’s niece was a toddler in a swim diaper following me around the beach. Now Daisy’s twenty-one, the loveliest thing I’ve ever laid eyes on, and blackmailing me into letting her stay for the summer.
If she’s not bent over on my deck in yoga pants, she’s in a bikini that covers far less. She makes me laugh when I want to stay pissed off and forces me to remember all the things I used to love. If only she wasn’t so damn young and so incredibly off-limits.
The sizzling tension between us is getting harder to resist, but giving in would destroy some of my oldest friendships. Worst of all, though?
It might destroy Daisy too.
Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited
Elizabeth O’Roark spent many years as a medical writer before publishing her first novel in 2013. She holds bachelor’s degrees in journalism and arts from the University of Texas, and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from the University of Notre Dame. She is the recipient of the 2017 IBPA gold medal for romance. She lives in Washington DC with her three children.
🌅Review🌅 Daisy has returned home as she and her mother are both going through a difficult time however she realized that living with her is not possible once she learns about the choice that her mother has made. Needing a place to stay she camps out at Harrison’s home believing that he will not be there however not only is he there but the information she uncovers convinces him to let her stay.
Harrison is going through a difficult time of his own and he is conflicted as he remembers Daisy as his best friend’s niece and not the captivating woman that she has become. He is conflicted by these feelings in part because of his best friend but also because there is more than a decade difference in their ages and life experiences.
Daisy has had feelings for Harrison for years and knows exactly what to do and say to get a reaction while even though Harrison is grouchy, she makes him feel alive. Humorous interactions, great chemistry and so many feels will you have invested in their story.
What We Keep by Jennifer Millikin is now available for pre-order in audio!
Narrated by: Victoria Dickson & Wesley Mercer
Releasing: September 5, 2024
Amazon Charts bestselling author Jennifer Millikin delivers an emotional and riveting love story.
Charming and heroic, there’s nothing about Gabriel Woodruff that Avery Burke doesn’t love. His warm brown eyes, his generosity, that small scar above his lip. The newspaper photo of him carrying her from a burning home only adds to the romance of it all.
A fairytale beginning and a picture-perfect marriage practically guarantees Avery and Gabriel a ride into the sunset. But every relationship has flaws, and what they ignored while they were busy being flawless eventually surfaces. The unraveling begins with the smallest tug on the tiniest string.
Their fall is spectacular, the kind that makes the paper.
When the fairytale goes up in smoke, Avery and Gabriel are forced to ask themselves hard questions.
What does for better or worse really mean? Is this their second chance at a once-in-a-lifetime love? What do we keep, when we lose it all?
Jennifer Millikin is a bestselling author of fifteen contemporary romance and women’s fiction novels. She is the two-time recipient of the Readers Favorite Gold Star Award, and readers have called her work “emotionally riveting” and “unputdownable”.
Following a viral TikTok video with over fourteen million views, Jennifer’s third novel, Our Finest Hour, has been optioned for TV/Film. She lives in the Arizona desert with her husband, children, and Liberty, her Labrador retriever.
Lennox Kennedy is beautiful, loud and the love of my life. She’s also my ex-girlfriend.
The first time I saw her again, I slammed into the plexiglass minutes before our game was set to begin. The second time I threw up. But third time’s a charm apparently because as my fiancée and I walked into an appointment to meet the woman hired to plan our nuptials–there she was again.
Obviously, I did what any smart man would do–I called off the wedding.
I don’t have a plan per se, other than winning back the only girl I’ve ever loved.
As a future hall of famer and one of the best centers hockey has ever seen, I know a thing or two about winning, but convincing Lennox Kennedy to give this hockey boy another chance might just be the challenge of a lifetime and this game I’m playing may turn out to be nothing but a pucking disaster.
Why you will love this book… 🔥stepsiblings 🔥forbidden / off-limits 🔥one-night-stand that becomes more 🔥‘no strings attached’ agreement 🔥instalust 🔥small town 🔥romantic comedy 🔥idiots to lovers 🔥pining right next to each other 🔥damaged hero 🔥ADHD rep 🔥he has a cat
She’s the one night stand I never forgot. And now her dad is about to marry my mom.
It has to be some kind of cosmic joke, right? For once, I feel like I’ve got my life together—good job, great friends, a fresh start in a new place. I’ve been on my best behavior for ages. At last, everything’s coming up Javier.
Until the moment I walk into my stepdad’s house and meet his daughter.
I should say: I meet her again. Madeline and I have already met. It was one night, two years ago. A quick, casual hookup that had no right to be as mind-blowing as it was. I haven’t stopped thinking about it–or her–ever since.
But our parents are getting married, so under no circumstances should we sleep together again.
Or… again. Or one more time after that, just to get it out of our systems.
Madeline’s funny, fiery, and so gorgeous with her pink hair and nerdy tattoos that I can barely look at her without breaking into a sweat. But she has too much going on to be interested in commitment, and God knows I’m a bad boyfriend candidate.
Once the wedding’s over, we’ll be normal stepsiblings who don’t have sex with each other, and Thanksgiving won’t be awkward at all.
Love doesn’t break us; it makes us whole, my nana used to say.
However, one minute, my world is set on fire, literally. The next, I am raising a six-year-old as a single mom without a clear path ahead of us. No place to live. No job. No money.
I’m returning to Sterling Falls to claim what’s mine, then there will be no looking back on this beloved small town, a place I consider a handful of sand in the hourglass of my life.
Then again, Clay Sylver has shaken up that ancient time clock. The silver fox in his forties is a bit cocky, but solid in every way that matters. He loves his siblings. He works hard. He owns an honest business. Honest, the emphasis here. He also suffers from damsel-in-distress syndrome with a savior complex for lost causes, like stray animals and down-and-out women.
And I have a secret crush on him.
When I see Clay stranded on the side of the road one dark, stormy night, I stop to offer assistance. Burning with fever, Clay is sick, and my mom-instincts kick in to give him comfort. That decision throws me off course again. While my past lurks everywhere, I find myself falling in love with Sterling Falls once more and falling harder for the man giving my son and me a safe haven.
Love is a risk, according to Clay, but he’s slowly rescuing my heart while I’m saving his.
I’ve always been the feisty sidekick who’s up for anything. I don’t need to be the main attraction. I’m fine being the fun girl who always has a hot take on a good time.
For instance, the night I sneak into the Chicago Racketeers New Year’s Eve Party, I find myself trapped in an elevator with a gorgeous grump of a hockey player, before we’re rescued by a sexy fireman who catches Mr. Hockey’s hand in my . . . shapewear.
Talk about hot.
But the temperature only rises from there.
Turns out, the grouchy goalie needs a fake fiancée to earn his inheritance. I’m not real girlfriend material (my ex was clear about that), but I agree to help him out with the temporary farce.
Then I run into my ex-boss—the one I shared a steamy kiss with just before I quit. I’d forgotten how devastatingly dirty and charming the British golden retriever billionaire can be. And that cinnamon roll firefighter? He wants me too.
Did I mention he and my billionaire are also into each other?
Each of them makes me feel desired and adored, but when it’s all four of us together we’re absolutely on fire.
Good thing this is only until the inheritance is finalized and my billionaire goes back to London. This could never last for long without someone getting burned.
You’ve met both Elise and Racketeers goalie, Blake Wilder in previous books, and now it’s their turn to heat things up (with two other sexy, charming heroes, of course!) If you like your romance with extra spice and lots of laughs, then Why Choose with Emma Foxx!
Adriana Locke has revealed the gorgeous cover for The Invitation!
Releasing: September 23, 2024
Cover Design: Kari March Designs
Photographer: Ren Saliba
I hate Ripley Brewer.
So, why am I fake dating him while being trailed by cameras recording our every move?
My best friend was in a pinch, and she’s the only person in the world I would do anything for. Helping her by pretending to be in love with a stranger for a few weeks would net me good karma, a few bucks, and a bit of exposure—all of which I need desperately right now—to help secure my dream job.
Pretty straightforward, right?
What could go wrong?
Ripley. He’s what always goes wrong.
I’m surprised the producers hired Ripley and me for the reality show after we realized we would be working together and not with strangers, and we almost came to blows in the conference room. But they did. Now I’m stuck pretending to be in love with the biggest, cockiest, most gorgeous billionaire playboy in all of Tennessee.
I’m even more shocked at Ripley’s acting skills.
As we settle into our new roles, it becomes increasingly difficult to separate the real Ripley from the character he’s portraying. His strong hand nestled in the small of my back blurs the line between reality and fiction. His dazzling green eyes and decadent smirk distract me from the man I loathe. I could almost believe his small acts of kindness—bringing me soup when I was sick and threatening to dismantle an overbearing ex—were because he was falling for me.
And that I’m falling for him, too.
This season of The Invitation began as an enemies-to-lovers (pretend) romance. Can we possibly finish it with a real-life happy ending?
From USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author Adriana Locke comes a “sweet and spicy!” new romance between two people who are forbidden from falling in love but must share one bed.
USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author, Adriana Locke, writes contemporary romances about the two things she knows best—big families and small towns. Her stories are about ordinary people finding extraordinary love with the perfect combination of heart, heat, and humor.
She loves connecting with readers, fall weather, football, reading alpha heroes, everything pumpkin, and pretending to garden.
Hailing from a tiny town in the Midwest, Adriana spends her free time with her high school sweetheart (who she married over twenty years ago) and their four sons (who truly are her best work). Her kitchen may be a perpetual disaster, and if all else fails, there is always pizza.
The crew of the deep-sea exploration rig Leaguer discovers oil sweeter, purer, and easier to refine than the fields in Saudi Arabia. To confirm their own analysis of their trillion dollar find, a test barrel is flown from the drill site off the coast of Papua/New Guinea to Houston Analytical Laboratories (HAL).
As the unsuspecting scientists at HAL await the arrival of the oil, they ready their lab for what they know is an important job. They’ve seen the test results from Leaguer; this find could be history.
While the barrel is on its way to Houston, an “infection” breaks out on the far-away rig. As life aboard the ridge ascends into chaos, the scientists at HAL make their own discovery–what Leaguer found isn’t oil.
Trapped in their labs, the scientists must find a way to fight a creature that defies chemistry, physics, and biology.
They don’t go to the brick wall. No one in the village does. Ever since I was a little girl, everyone has warned me not to go or even to look at it. And if you happen to find yourself close to the wall, run as fast and as far away as you can. The magic from the beast creeps beyond the wall, but not by much.
No one who values their life approaches the enchanted area, let alone searches out the gate. Everyone is sure not to provoke the enchanted area. Those who do, don’t come back to tell their tales.
The magic is dark. And it’s all from the beast.
FOR THE LAST 19 YEARS OF MY LIFE, I’ve heard the tales and been warned to stay away. The thing is though, I’m not a very good listener. I got lost in the magic. He scented me. He claimed me with a bite on my neck. And I ran. Quickly and with a new terror racing in my heart.
I swore I would never return. I would not trust the magic and allow it to entrance me again. I would not risk being caught in the hands of the Beast again.
But that was months ago and I miss the magic. Not only that, but I dream of the beast. It’s not a dream I’d admit to out loud, but it’s a dream I’d like to see come true.
Where you can find it!
LIVE LINK!
Meet Willow Winters:
I started writing after having my little girl, Evie, December of 2015. All during my pregnancy with her I read. I only wanted to read romance novels and I read everything I could get my hands on. I would read a book a day — sometimes two. In January I was staying up late with her and just thinking of all these stories. They came to me constantly. I finally sat down and just started writing. I always wanted to do it so I figured, why not?
I never thought I would reach this point of success to be honest. It’s insane to me that I have connected with so many readers.
And I love each and every one of them for all of their support. I’ll be honest, some days are HARD. I have my littles during the day and I write at night. Some days are just simply exhausting and then I hear from a reader and it motivates me to push through and keep writing. I couldn’t be more grateful for this wonderful career. For more information, visit https://www.willowwinterswrites.com/
Keep up with W. Winters and receive your FREE copy of one of her books when you subscribe to her newsletter: https://bit.ly/3KmNQ13
Single dad, Wade Jenkins, Magnolia Grove’s landscaping hottie who likes to mow lawns without a shirt on is thrown for a loop when his spirited seven-year-old daughter Goldie comes to live with him. While Wade’s thrilled to have his daughter full-time, there’s one little issue . . .
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Kari's Book Reviews and Revelations 