New Adult

Letting Go (The De4iant Sisters Duet-Book 1)

Jacquie Biggar

Renee and Izzy are sisters who lose both their parents. Renee has returned home in the wake of her mom’s passing to help, but it seems the only one who wants her there is her little brother, Benjamin. Izzy is still hurt from the Oirst time Renee left, and Simon, her one true love, has found love with someone else and is engaged. Renee is determined to stick it out and be there for her family – even though all she wants to do is run. But running is what she did in the past, and she knows it isn’t going to work this time. No one can heal unless they all start being honest and trusting one another.

**Trigger warning: this story deals with suicide and mental health.** The night Renee’s father committed suicide, she also lost trust in her true love, Simon, and ran away. When Renee returns upon her mother’s death, she is faced with so many feelings and the heartaches revolving around the people she loved and left. Renee, through therapy, has gained coping skills, but Oinds her sister, Izzy, has grown and found her own strengths while working to keep the family together in Renee’s absence. Simon and Renee’s instant chemistry when they reunite leaps off the page and straight to the heart. The story moves quickly, with the viewpoint switching between the different characters, making it harder to connect to the characters and invest in the story. A gripping plot with complex characters, the only thing missing is more—more of the story, more time with each character, and more of the chemistry when Renee and Simon collide.

Cara Cieslak

The Gentleman in the Ash Tree (Allen Abbey Romances #1)

Rosanne E. Lortz

the side characters is easily handled and explained while providing enough momentum to move the story along. Readers looking for a complete and simple romance with a bit of adventure thrown in should look no further than this book and its secret passages for a fun afternoon read!

Sarah E Bradley

help, and perhaps the love she has always dreamed of.

Eloise Blackburn little expects to Oind a stranger up the old ash tree when she climbs it to rescue her sister’s kite – especially a suspicious man who claims a relationship with the neighboring Allen family, a relationship they’ve never mentioned. Except then the Allen’s come hunting down the stranger and her family instead of ousting the interloper, claiming Crispin Allen’s story is entirely plausible. Helping Crispin track down and claim his missing inheritance is just the sort of adventure Eloise never thought she’d embark on, but something about the cheeky man from the West Indies sparks something inside her that just might help them Oind something more than a missing trunk.

A sweet little novella, “The Gentleman in the Ash Tree” brings adventure, family drama, and a ton of delightful romance together in this short tale. While the story does not have the room to give any major character development, it does set the stage for Eloise to fall for Crispin, and for the pair to solve the mystery of Crispin’s missing inheritance in a realistic way. The conOlict with

The Dream of Love (The Book of Love)

Meara Platt

Lady Remi is a delightful heroine! She is a spitOire with a genius for getting into one scrape after another. Her exuberant innocence and penchant for trouble are the perfect juxtaposition to Vicar Adam’s patience and calm demeanor. This is a novella, which doesn’t allow enough pages to Olesh out the setting and all characters, which may leave readers wishing for a longer book. Remi did tend to repeat the unfair situation with her father to Adam, which slowed down the action. Timing is also hard to follow occasionally. Otherwise, this is a creative, organic story, with good conOlict and characterization! Readers will absolutely want to spend a few hours with Remi and Adam, read their clean, humorous romance, and leave with a feeling of joy in their hearts!

Emerson Matthews

HISTORICAL: Lady Remington, “Remi” HartOield has been sent away by her self-absorbed mother and dismissed by her demanding father. She has never known love in her life. It’s the one thing she dreams of feeling. If only there were someone—just one person—willing to show her real love. Meanwhile, Vicar Adam Carstairs is trying to avoid his past. Love hurt him seriously when he experienced his brother dying in his arms on the battleOield. Filled with guilt and hurt, Adam leaves his native Scotland home and travels to Wellesford, England, to be their vicar. Then Lady Remi’s overbearing father arranges a new—and unwanted—future for Remi, and she turns to Adam for

Seven Swans a SwimmingTwelve Days of Christmas, Book 6

Emily E. K. Murdoch

HISTORICAL: Arabella Fitzroy is beside herself with the unfairness of it all! Her father insists she spends the Christmas holiday with the family of her intended, the man she's been promised to almost since birth! The man she's never met, corresponded with, or even heard rumors about. Once she arrives at his family's estate, he shows himself to be rude, insufferable, secretive, and unwelcoming. Nathaniel Cartier has led a reclusive life on his family's estate, and isn't happy to have it disrupted by the talkative, nosy, red-headed city girl his father has chosen to be his bride. Hopefully his off-putting silent manner will encourage her to plead for release from their engagement. Swans, stolen kisses, and secret rendezvous swiftly set aside both their initial judgment of one another!

"Seven Swans a Swimming" is an enchanting holiday tale of love and romance. Not quite an enemies to lovers tale since the two main characters are complete strangers, but close. Readers may Oind the story either refreshingly sweet or remarkably oldfashioned. The main characters have an undeniable chemistry that gifts readers with the classic will they or won't they? The secondary characters, both human and fowl, wrap the story in a familiar plot with a small twist. Although there is no outright enemy to hate, readers will deOinitely feel the character's frustrations with having their choices taken or limited. Ms. Murdoch manages to give readers a singularly sweet story set during the holidays that is nicely wrapped with the shy sensibility of innocence, and tied up with a bow of enjoyable sensuality.

Tonya Mathenia

Castle of Bones: A Medieval Romance (De Wolfe Pack)

Kathyrn Le Veque

tale is dosed with slight romance and some humorous moments, making the book hard to put down, too. Hermes, the pragmatic, logical hero, isn’t perfect and does things that are a bit off-putting but still manages to be a wonderful guy. Catrine, the enigmatic heroine, is tragically misunderstood but not a horrible person. Ms. Le Veque really knows how to write a Gothic medieval tale Oilled with ghosts, curses, spooky places, and realistic characters that readers will absolutely relish in!

Roslynn Ernst

HISTORICAL: Hermes de Norville wakes from a horrible dream where he sees a woman hanging over a cliff. Hermes then wanders aimlessly about, coming upon a village at the foot of a cursed place, known as Castle Draygon. Hermes drinks alone at a tavern until a beautiful woman, Lady Catrine de la Pare, also known as the “Angel of Death”, arrives asking the villagers for help. Hermes saves Catrine from them, and promises to Oind out the real reason why she causes so many to die. Hermes follows her to the keep and attempts to get answers but falls down a hill. When Hermes awakens in a healer’s cottage, hurt yet still willing to go back and Oind out the truth about Catrine and the palace, he ends up risking his life in the process too.

Utterly delightful! A frighteningly scary story that is spine-tingly marvelous! Many elements are jam-packed into this ever-moving story, yet it nonetheless manages to be satisfying and not lacking despite its short length. The instant attraction between the main characters happens very quickly, but amazingly, it does work. The fast-paced, mysterious

Eight Maids a Milking: A Regency Historical Romance Holiday Tale

Emily E K Murdoch

HISTORICAL: Miss Katarina

“Kitty” Fitzroy is bored with all the Christmas season activities her family has planned. Kitty doesn’t want to even spend time with them, preferring to hang out in the cowshed watching the milkmaids milk the cows. When a family friend, Luke, arrives and brings his coachman, Isaac Emmett, Kitty is intrigued by him. Kitty enjoys talking with Isaac despite his arrogance and highhanded attitude. Kitty manages to escape every event her family has planned just to spend time with Isaac. The more Kitty converses with Isaac, the harder she falls for him, and she decides she wants him as her husband. Isaac tries to maintain his distance from Kitty, but is losing the battle. Unfortunately, Isaac also has a secret. When Kitty Oinds out the truth, will it make her rethink everything about him?

What a fun little yuletide novella to deOinitely put even a Grinch into the Christmas spirit! Even though the novellas in the series can be read in any order, everything is happening at once, so there is some confusion about what is going on or what characters are with whom, especially since one of the siblings in the previous book is already with the family friend, so the placement of the stories seems off. The past isn’t really delved into, especially when it concerns the haughty hero, Isaac, making it hard to relate to him. Katarina, the Oiercely independent yet naı̈ve heroine lives in a fantasy land, and never realizes how much her world will change when she pursues Isaac. However, the story is a fanciful, interesting tale that readers will just delight in!

Roslynn Ernst

Nevermore: A Medieval Romance (De Wolfe Pack)

Kathryn Le Veque

HISTORICAL: Mariana de Allerston is a postulate in the infamous Whitby Abbey, not by choice but by her father’s decree. Declaring her willful and disobedient, he has placed her in the care of the Abbess, a woman whose soul is as black as the raven she keeps. Atreus de Norville, a powerful knight from the House of de Norville and kin to the House of de Wolfe, has secretly been meeting Mariana, determined to make her his wife. The time has Oinally come for them to escape. Mariana returns to the Abbey for her last night, but she is brought before the Abbess where she is condemned for being a child of Satan. Nothing Mariana does will dissuade the Abbess from a brutal punishment that will separate her from her beloved Atreus forever. Can Atreus and Mariana Oind happiness or is their love doomed to die in a watery grave?

“Nevermore” ratchets up the chills and thrills to deliver a gothic story with a spooky punch!

From the start, atmosphere pervades the story with a cloistered Abby perched on a cliff, a horriOic storm, ravens, and an evil Mother Abbess. This story was Oirst published in the Halloween anthology, “Upon a Midnight Dreary”.

Characterization is light with an emphasis on plot and pacing. Mariana is not a heroine who waits to be rescued–she Oights for freedom with grit and desperation. Atreus is decisive in his choice and uncaring of the consequences. The ending comes fast, and readers may wish there was more of an epilogue focused on Mariana and Atreus.

“Nevermore” builds the stakes quickly—a spine-tingling tale that can’t be put down!

Tricia Hill

Eleven

Pipers Piping (The Twelve Days of Christmas Book 2)

Emily E K Murdoch

HISTORICAL: Seventeen-year-old Harmony Fitzroy might be shy when it comes to conversations, but when she sits down at a pianoforte her talent shines. So, it is with delight and trepidation that she accepts an invitation to take part in the Christmas Eve concert at the Assembly Rooms in Bath—her Oirst public performance! Visiting her music instructor, she meets David