Passions

Passions By Sheritta Bitikofer
Publication date: January 10, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, New Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Summary:

His world was dark until she brought the light…

Chloe Kaspin has two dreams. Find a quiet place to recover from an abusive ex-boyfriend, and to make a living as a writer. The first dream is fulfilled when she inherits her beloved aunt’s cabin in the Georgia mountains. Now the second dream is up to her. Then she finds mysterious notes critiquing her work. Has a dangerous stranger managed to invade her refuge? Or is her cabin as haunted as the townsfolk say it is?

Gavin Caras immigrated from England to Georgia in 1733. While pursuing his dream of being a writer, his entire family is wiped out by a mysterious infection. Only Gavin survives, not only alone, but with a hunger that can only be satisfied by blood. For generations, he’s managed to hide in the basement of the cabin he built. But now his cabin is occupied by a woman who shares at least one of his passions: the world of the written word. Late one night, he finally reveals himself to her, not a ghost, but a man driven by an unholy hunger, a passion he would die to end if he could.

The autumn winds may be chilly but Gavin warms Chloe’s heart. Then children go missing in the nearby town. Has Gavin been lying to Chloe? She’s willing to help him find a way to end his blood-lust, but the cost may be too high. Chloe and Gavin can’t rewrite the past. Can they survive to write a new future together?

—

EXCERPT:

Her eyes shifted toward her desk on her way to the kitchen, and her heart jumped against her ribcage as she saw more writing on her notepad.

Another letter. This one was longer.

Chloe was jolted awake once more, just as she had been the day before. The disquieting thought rammed through her sleepy head that the locks hadn’t worked. Without taking the time yet to read the letter, she checked the windows and the doors. Again, there was no sign of forced entry.

Chloe’s eyebrows furrowed as she thought it over. With the locks on the two doors, there was no way the intruder could have broken in, written that note, and then returned the locks to their original positions on their way out. The same went for the windows. How were they getting inside?

Daring Destiny (Charming Irish, #2)

Daring Destiny (Charming Irish, #2) By Kaylene Winter
Publication date: January 13, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Summary:

Daring Destiny is a sweltering saga of billionaire intrigue, opposites-attract, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers with an unexpected life-changing twist.

Before I founded my AI tech company, I spent my high school years silently pining over Astrid Gustafsson, the unattainable ice-blonde beauty. Fast forward a decade and I’m shocked when she asks to collaborate on a secret project. The opportunity is too enticing to pass up.

Our newfound friendship quickly ignites into a wildfire of desire, and my passion for Astrid intensifies, leaving me eager to risk everything for our future. The challenge is, relentless demands of my high-stakes empire threaten to smother the flames of our burgeoning romance.

When fate dramatically intervenes, will a life-changing twist dare us to embrace our destiny?

—

EXCERPT:

“So…” she says quietly. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah.” I brace myself for what’s coming next.

The end. This is probably the last time I’ll ever see Astrid. My heart is breaking into a million pieces and I’m not sure how to stop her from…

Without thinking, I reach out and take her hand, comforted by how natural it feels. She doesn’t pull away, just flicks her eyes up to me and blinks rapidly. As if she’s trying to stop from crying. My heart thunders in my chest. She moves in closer.

Where the Road Ends

Where the Road Ends By Kathryn Beck
Publication date: January 13, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Women’s Fiction
Summary:

Bartender Mara Sawyer has sixty days to turn her life around. If she can’t, Mara will lose the chance to regain custody of her daughter. 

Never having envisioned her life as a living, breathing, public service announcement for the Wyoming judicial system, Mara embraces the judge’s harsh rebuke. Finding a steady job will be easy, finishing school will be easy. Eluding the distraction of the new swaggering Texan, Luke Whitten, will be anything but easy.

With all her cards on the table, Luke and Mara build a strong friendship and along the way, she gives herself permission to fall in love again. When Mara’s ex offers up full custody in exchange for betraying Luke, Mara must choose — her daughter’s happiness, or her own.

—

EXCERPT:

New guy held up his finger for the fourth time in an hour.

She swept his plate and silverware into the dirty dishes bucket and pulled the handle to deliver him another beer. “Are you sure you don’t want a shot of something?” She waved at the collection of liquor bottles behind her. “Your something unpleasant is going to get expensive at some point.”

He ran his finger along the grain of the wood, up the condensation of the glass. His hands were large and calloused. Workingman’s hands.

Refusing to bite, or speak apparently, he looked up and smiled.

A Guide to Fake Dating Your Enemy

A Guide to Fake Dating Your Enemy By Nikki Bright
Publication date: January 9, 2025
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance
Summary:

Samuel Warner is rich, charming, the CEO of his family’s business, and the guy I’ve hated since grade school. Now, thanks to one of my more questionable ideas, he’s also my new pretend boyfriend.

Our families have been at each other’s throats for three generations, fighting over the future of our small town. The Warners are all for bulldozing and modernizing every corner of Fox Creek, while my family is determined to preserve our quirky little town and its quaint ways. But even without the family feud, Samuel’s charm and charisma (and his maddening smirk) would still get on my nerves.

Samuel is insufferably smooth, his favorite hobby is teasing me even though he’s able to charm the most cantankerous granny in the county, and he’s spine-tinglingly handsome. Worse yet, he knows it!

But when my brother falls head over heels for a Warner girl, I’m desperate to find a way to unite our families. So, I propose a totally sane, not-at-all-ridiculous plan: Samuel and I will pretend to be in a serious relationship, faking our way to family peace and town harmony with a Romeo-and-Juliet-style performance (minus the tragedy at the end).

First problem with this fantastic idea? Samuel agrees way too quickly, which screams that he’s got a hidden agenda. And yet, he’s so perfect in the role of doting boyfriend, I can’t figure out what his angle is.

Second problem? This relationship might be fake, but my heart didn’t get the memo. Every “date” and impromptu public display of affection Samuel insists on performing stirs up feelings I’m not prepared for. Soon enough, I’m wondering if I can really end this without a total family feud—or losing my heart.

A Guide to Fake Dating Your Enemy is a laugh-out-loud small-town romantic comedy full of swoon-worthy moments, sizzling kisses, and a romance that’s anything but fake. It’s a closed door romance with mild swearing/language.

—

EXCERPT:

Samuel Warner is rich, charming, the CEO of his family’s business, and the guy I’ve hated since grade school. Now, thanks to one of my more questionable ideas, he’s also my new pretend boyfriend.

Our families have been at each other’s throats for three generations, fighting over the future of our small town. The Warners are all for bulldozing and modernizing every corner of Fox Creek, while my family is determined to preserve our quirky little town and its quaint ways. But even without the family feud, Samuel’s charm and charisma (and his maddening smirk) would still get on my nerves.

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver

Tale of the Seasons’ Weaver By D. Wallace Peach
Publication date: January 9, 2024
Buy Link: Amazon
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Summary:

“Already the animals starve. Soon the bonemen will follow, the Moss Folk and woodlings, the watermaids and humans. Then the charmed will fade. And all who will roam a dead world are dead things. Until they too vanish for lack of remembering. Still, Weaver, it is not too late.”

In the frost-kissed cottage where the changing seasons are spun, Erith wears the Weaver’s mantle, a title that tests her mortal, halfling magic. As the equinox looms, her first tapestry nears completion—a breathtaking ode to spring. She journeys to the charmed isle of Innishold to release the beauty of nature’s awakening across the land.

But human hunters have defiled the enchanted forest and slaughtered winter’s white wolves. Enraged by the trespass, the Winter King seizes Erith’s tapestry and locks her within his ice-bound palace. Here, where comfort and warmth are mere glamours, she may weave only winter until every mortal village succumbs to starvation, ice, and the gray wraiths haunting the snow.

With humanity’s fate on a perilous edge, Erith must break free of the king’s grasp and unravel a legacy of secrets. In a charmed court where illusions hold sway, allies matter, foremost among them, the Autumn Prince. Immortal and beguiling, he offers a tantalizing future she has only imagined, one she will never possess—unless she claims her extraordinary power to weave life from the brink of death.

In the lyrical fantasy tradition of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, D. Wallace Peach spins a spellbinding tale of magic, resilience, and the transformative potency of tales—a tapestry woven with peril and hope set against the frigid backdrop of an eternal winter.

—

EXCERPT:

A wicker basket of colorful spools rested at my feet. I picked through the bewitched thread my mother had hand-spun long before my birth. No matter how many seasons passed, the spools unwound and unwound, and I no longer fretted about reaching their ends. There was no end to magic, no end to the seasons, no end to my place on the cusp of two worlds.

A delicate pink caught my eye, a color crafted from the cherry blossoms bordering my garden. I held it against the tapestry, testing its suitability for flowering plum trees and coral bells I’d stitch into the meadows and along the forest’s edge.