Hearth or Heart (The Bowman Girls, #1)

Hearth or Heart (The Bowman Girls, #1) By Emily Lane
Publication date: July 13, 2026
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Historical, Historical Romance, Romance
Summary:

After her father dies, Effie Bowman and her eight sisters are left penniless, homeless, and alone. Salvation comes in the form of the new custodian of the estate, Mr Thornaby. But the more she learns of Mr Thornaby, the more she realises he needs her discretion as much as she needs his security.

In her efforts to moderate the wild Mr Thornaby, she recruits the unlikely aid of ton society’s most determined widower, Sir John Callander.

As the season progresses and Effie pulls Sir John deeper into her desperate schemes to moderate Mr Thornaby, both are forced to wonder if Effie is attempting to tame the wrong gentleman.

—

EXCERPT:

Of all the consequences to befall a clutch of daughters belonging to an entailed estate, this one was quite outside the common.

‘£20 a month in pin money?!’ cried Effie.

‘Each.’

Mrs Thornaby, ensconced in a cream morning gown of twilled French silk that seemed to defy her age, smiled most becomingly upon her niece.

‘That is just for your frills and affects and whatever other small accoutrements you young girls require these days,’ said Mrs Thornaby. ‘Your dresses, gowns, and hats, of course, can be drawn against my son’s account.’

After Dark (The Vampire Next Door, #2)

After Dark (The Vampire Next Door, #2) By Rose Titus
Publication date: February 23, 2018
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Summary:

In Night Home: The Vampire Next Door Volume I, the fact that vampires truly exist was almost accidentally made public when a story presented as fiction seemed all too real to an amateur vampire hunter, who at the end, was made to remain silent about the secrets he discovered

But it doesn’t end there: the tale circulates as far as the west coast, where a small community of vampires have been quietly hiding; and to them, also, this story is too close to reality to be just a fantasy. But while they take the time to decide whether to attempt contact with their own kind so far away, they have their own local problems to deal with.

A savage and barbaric serial killer, suspected of being a vampire, lurks in their own city, stalking the innocent at night. Will the vampires be able to stop the killer before they are blamed for his acts of extreme horror?

And that’s not all. A beautiful yet tragic and suicidal young woman wanders like a lost angel from out of the darkness and into their midst, hoping a vampire will make her end swift and easy.

 

—

EXCERPT:

Alex drifted slowly through the back door to step down into the darkened entrance to the well-kept old building’s lower levels. On the upper floors there was an exclusive restaurant that catered to the wealthy and sophisticated; below, on the ground level there was a dance club, which attracted a completely different crowd of people—many with spiked purple hair. But under the dance floor, underground, there was served another kind of people. This dining area was not well known to many above ground.

He surveyed the area. A few tables were empty, but most tables had one or two people sitting and talking. And there she was, in the corner, alone, waiting for him. His sister Alexandra looked up and nodded to acknowledge him. He went to her table and sat down. “You wanted to see me?”

“Yes,” she put her fine crystal glass down. “Jim Ellison left a message on my answering machine. I was surprised to hear from him after so long a time. He said, ‘I know you’re asleep but I’ve got some shocking news.’“

Children of Eternity: Being the First Part of the Apocalis

Children of Eternity: Being the First Part of the Apocalis
Macaulay Christian
Publication date: March 10th 2026
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Science Fiction
Summary

Thirty years ago, an impossible transmission pierced the cosmos. Hidden within it were instructions for a device no one fully understood—an extragalactic Telegraph built to answer the call.

On a distant world in neutral space, humanity and its former enemies resolved to build the device, a rare moment of unity and a calculated gamble that shared purpose might overcome politics.

The answer is not what anyone expected.

The colony is devastated. Reality fractures. Technology fails. People vanish without a trace—among them soldiers, citizens, and voices no civilization can afford to lose. Aboard the warship Banterra, Captain Heron Agathon is dispatched into the unknown to search for survivors and the truth behind the signal.

Beyond the galaxy’s edge, something older than civilization is observing humanity’s first steps into the uncharted—measuring what it will become when fear, power, and principle collide. The answers lie in the dark between stars. And the truth behind the signal is older—and nearer—than anyone suspects. There is no going back.

The human adventure is about to begin.

—

EXCERPT:

P R O L O G U E

holindrian returns

A shimmering light fell all around Holindrian, hoisting him high into the sky, his feet dangling beneath. First, he could see just the top of the palace as he rose through the dense black smoke. A little higher and he could see the city itself. Fires burning, consuming whole wards at a time. The sounds were muffled, but he knew there would be the clanging of swords, the whizzing of arrows, and the miserable, painful screams of wretched, dying souls. Higher, Holindrian continued to rise. Boats had sunken in the harbor. The fighting on the rocky hills surrounding the town seemed to have calmed. A haboob traveled in a northeasterly direction, a transitory wall of brown, choking death.

The light continued to shine. All the colors of the rainbow streamed down, carrying him up, up into the clouds. He was higher than the mountains! There seemed to be no limits to his ascent. The definitions, the contours, the distinctive features of the land blurred together. Muted, people vanished into minute dark specks, fields became strokes of green, the clouds white wisps overlaying the canvas. He could see the whole of the blue world from up here….

Lady Petra and the Wolf (Lords Fall First, #2)

Lady Petra and the Wolf (Lords Fall First, #2) By Anna Valleria
Publication date: July 2, 2026
Buy Link: Amazon

Summary:

In Victorian London, Lady Petra, the daughter of the powerful and manipulative Earl of Kemberley, has spent her life as a silent pawn in her father’s political games. 

While the ton sees a perfectly poised debutante, Petra is secretly a woman of industry who runs a sanctuary for abused servants in a derelict London theatre.

Julian, the Viscount Wolfridge, known to the world as Wolf, is a cynical rake with a secret heart of gold and a childhood spent on the Bristol docks. When he proposes a fake courtship to Petra to stir her indifferent betrothed into action, he doesn’t realize he is stepping into a web of secrets far deeper than his own. 

As Petra’s world of mystery and Wolf’s path of redemption collide, they must decide if a marriage born of a trap can ever survive the truth.

—

EXCERPT:

She shut her mouth abruptly, the sparks in her eyes extinguished as she retreated once more into the mask of a composed, distant lady. He despised when this happened, as it did ever so often when he approached her. He lived for the moments he could tease her, to break her composure, to see those eyes light up, even if it was in disdain or scorn.

Wolf knew himself to be an unrepentant rake, undeserving of John’s friendship or loyalty. Despite this self-knowledge, a fierce, uncharacteristic longing arose in him at that moment: he wished for someone to argue so passionately on his behalf, to proclaim him a good man.

Remembering himself, Wolf discarded such a maudlin thought.

“I am not obligated to explain my motivations to you, Lord Wolfridge.” Her tone was meticulously polite, yet beneath the kindness, he detected a veiled reproach that ignited his blood.

Wicked Temptation: The Lost Treasure (The Paladin League, #8)

Wicked Temptation: The Lost Treasure (The Paladin League, #8) By Patti O’Shea
Publication date: July 1, 2026
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Suspense
Summary:

He’s always been a protector. She’s strong enough to fight on her own. This time, survival depends on each other.

Special Forces Sgt. Cal “Baggs” Baggnell walked away from Iona Desmond. Carving out his own heart hurt—but watching the woman he loves charge headfirst into danger hurt even more.

Iona loves Cal with her whole being, but she couldn’t change the core of who she is to fit his protective nature. He knew exactly who she was when they met—the need for adventure is in her DNA.

Now, their paths collide in Puerto Jardin, where Iona has talked her way into Cal’s op. And he’s been assigned to work with her.

Their bait: the Lost Treasure of Trujillo. Their target: arms dealer Jorge Torres. Their problem: Torres isn’t the only predator closing in.

With ruthless drug lords, rival treasure hunters, and a powerful Russian mob lieutenant obsessed with finding the billion-dollar fortune, Cal and Iona must put their past aside. The deeper they dig, the deadlier the game becomes.

As betrayals mount and enemies tighten their grip, survival depends on one thing: Trust. If they fail, they won’t just lose their second chance—they’ll lose everything.

Wicked Temptation is a stand-alone romance with a HEA. There are references to events that happened in earlier books, but it’s not necessary to read them to enjoy this story.

Indulge in a protective Special Forces hero and a heroine who works undercover for the Paladin League as a photojournalist. This story features a second-chance romance, identical twins, and a kick-butt heroine.

—

EXCERPT:

“Baggs,” BD said somewhere behind them, “how do you know our guest?”

Cal inhaled sharply and his muscles tensed.

“Io is my wife.”

The words hit her like a jolt. Of course he’d say it like that—direct, unvarnished, a fact dropped into the room like a grenade. Her stomach twisted. She kept her eyes closed for one more heartbeat, wishing she could stay in the place where she felt safe and not the place where reality waited. She hated that part of her still wanted the title he’d walked away from.