Posted on by Maureen

Last First Kiss by Julian Winters 

Book Description 

parks fly in this second chance m/m rom com when an unlucky-in-love event planner realizes the man-of-honor at the high profile wedding he’s planning is the same man who broke his heart.

They say you never forget your first kiss. But Jordan Carter wishes he could forget the one he shared with Jamie Peters as teens. And the one they almost shared again last year before Jamie made it clear he wasn’t the “right” man for Jordan to be with while he’s figuring himself out.

Now, Jordan’s fully focused on his career at 24 Carter Gold, his family’s event planning company, and ready to move on – until his boss assigns him to plan a new client’s high-profile wedding. The bride’s man-of-honor? None other than Jamie.

As things ramp up the closer they get to the wedding, so does Jordan’s relationship with Jamie, with sarcastic asides turning into steamy hook-ups. But can Jordan afford to pursue Jamie if he’s still unsure of who he is? Or is knowing who he loves enough? Venue shopping, cake-tastings, and dress fittings with the man he can’t forget just might change the man Jordan Carter is meant to become.

Last First Kiss by Julian Winters is a second chance romance about finding yourself–and the love of your life.

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Posted on by Maureen

Like In Love With You by Emma R. Alban 

Book Description 

Mean Girls meets Northanger Abbey in this sharp and sexy Regency Romance that begs the question: what if Cady and Regina just… kissed?

When Catherine Pine relocates to Bath in 1817, she comes face-to-face with her mother’s arch nemesis and her daughter—the wildly popular Lady Rosalie. Twenty-five years after a horrible betrayal, Catherine’s mother sees the perfect opportunity for revenge: Catherine must win the favor of Lady Rosalie’s suitor and unofficial betrothed, the most eligible Mr. Dean.

Only Catherine soon discovers that Lady Rosalie is by far the wittiest, cleverest, most intriguing young woman Catherine’s ever met, and she’s instantly smitten. Which is a problem.

Meanwhile, Lady Rosalie feels trapped in her relationship with Mr. Dean and in her role as Bath’s resident mean girl. But when she notices newcomer Catherine gunning for her spot as queen bee, Rosalie finally feels a spark again–something she absolutely doesn’t want to extinguish.

As Rosalie and Catherine circle Mr. Dean, and their mothers force them into increasingly absurd contests of wit and feminine charms, the two women somehow find themselves falling for each other, scheme, by barb, by catty jab…

Is it possible that their sizzling rivalry can become a match to last? 

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Posted on by Maureen

The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski 

Book Description 

The Remains of the Day meets The Royal Tenenbaums in this darkly funny debut novel about a wealthy, eccentric family in decline and the secrets held within the walls of their crumbling country manor.

Thornwalk, a once-stately English manor, is on the brink of transformation. Its keys are being handed over to a luxury hotelier who will undertake a complete renovation—but in doing so, what will they erase? Through the keen eyes of an enigmatic neighbor, the reader is taken on a guided tour into rooms filled with secrets and memories, each revealing the story of the five Gilbert siblings.

Spanning the eve of World War II to the early 2000s, this contemporary gothic novel weaves a rich tapestry of English country life. As the story unfolds, the reader is drawn into a world where the echoes of an Edwardian idyll clash with the harsh realities of war, neglect, and changing times. The Gilberts’ tale is one of great loves, lofty ambitions, and profound loss, and Angela Tomaski’s mordantly witty yet loving account is an immersive experience. Reminiscent of the haunting atmospheres in Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and Shirley Jackson’s We Have Always Lived in the Castle, The Infamous Gilberts offers a fresh take on a classic genre, capturing the essence of a troubled but fascinating family.

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Posted on by Maureen

Oxford Blood by Rachael-Davis Featherstone 

Book Description 

The first in a series of compelling and skillful dark academic thrillers from a brilliant new voice in YA fiction.

Love, Lies, Legacy…

Eva has one dream: to study English at Oxford University. Not only will she receive a world-class education – getting into Oxford is a path to freedom.

But when Eva and her best friend George are invited to interview week, they find themselves in the cutthroat ultra-competitive world of elite academia, and at the center of gossip on anonymous student forum Oxford Slays. When Eva finds George dead near the steps of a statue in the college, she knows he’s been murdered – but all eyes are now on her. Can she clear her name, catch the true killer and win her place at Beecham College?

Eva has one week to prove her innocence, and Oxford Slays will be watching.

Oxford Blood is a riveting murder mystery thriller, packed with narrative twists and turns, complex and appealing characters and a captivating, authentic setting in its searing examination of the true cost of privilege.

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Posted on by Maureen

It Should Have Been You by Andrea Mara

Book Description 

You press send and your message disappears. Full of secrets about your neighbors, it’s meant for your sister. But it doesn’t reach her – it goes to the entire local community WhatsApp group instead.

As rumor spreads like wildfire through the picture-perfect neighborhood, you convince yourself that people will move on, that this will quickly be forgotten. But then you receive the first death threat.

The next day, a woman has been murdered. And what’s even more chilling is that she had the same address as you – 26 Oakpark – but in a different part of town. Did the killer get the wrong house? It won’t be long before you find out…

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Posted on by Maureen

The Dogs of Venice by Steven Rowley 

Book Description 

After months of planning a romantic holiday getaway in Venice, Paul is blindsided when his five-year marriage suddenly unravels. Fueled by heartbreak, Paul endeavors to take the trip alone.

Soon after arriving in Italy, he notices a small, scruffy, self-assured dog trotting alongside a canal with the confidence he so desperately wants for himself. When their paths cross again, Paul feels compelled to learn how his new four-legged friend thrives on his own. Amid the food, sights, and welcoming people of Venice, Paul’s journey culminates in a magical encounter that leads him to feel real connection—to a dog, to a foreign city and, most importantly, to himself.

Capturing Steven Rowley’s signature wit, insight, and indelible characters, The Dogs of Venice offers another timeless story of love lost, and independence found—a holiday tonic for the soul.

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Posted on by Maureen

After Hours at Dooryard Books by Cat Sebastian 

Book Description

1968 New York City

News about the war might be keeping Patrick up at night–news in general might be keeping Patrick up at night–but he’s doing fine. He’s sure of it. He gets to spend his days selling books in the gayest neighborhood on the East Coast and his nights merrily sleeping his way through the rare book community. But when he takes in a drifter who seems to be hiding something, and his best friend and her newborn move into the apartment upstairs, his life gets turned on its head.

A sleepy little bookstore should be the perfect place for Nathaniel to lie low, waiting for his past to catch up with him, but it turns out Dooryard Books is full of political radicals and anti-war agitators. If the FBI isn’t actively surveilling this place, it will be. Nathaniel should go anywhere else. The last thing he expects is to like these subversives. There’s a grieving folk musician and her baby–a demon of a child who will only sleep if Nathaniel, of all people, holds her. There’s a pair of rabble-rousing teenagers who, upsettingly, seem to be right about everything. And then there’s Patrick, who can’t walk past anyone who needs his help–and who is perplexingly determined to help Nathaniel.

As the world balances on the precipice of something new and scary and maybe even hopeful, Patrick needs to decide what he’s willing to risk for this chaotic new community he’s accidentally created. And Nathaniel needs to figure out whether he has a place in this messy, flawed world–and whether he can believe he deserves it.

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Posted on by Maureen

Fall for Him by Andie Burke 

Book Description 

Dylan Gallagher’s hot neighbor loathed him from the second he moved in, and causing a flood, falling through the floor, and landing directly onto that same neighbor’s bed probably means that’s unlikely to change. The poorly timed “It’s Raining Men” joke didn’t help.

Meanwhile, ER nurse Derek Chang’s life is a literal when-rains-it-pours nightmare. A man he hates dropped into his life along with an astronomically expensive problem originating from Derek’s own apartment’s plumbing. Also, the local HOA tyrant has been sniffing around trying to fine him for his extended, illicit banned breed dog-sitting.

Since Dylan also wants to keep the catastrophe quiet, he offers to fix the damage himself. Dylan’s sure he’s not Derek’s type, so he focuses all his ADHD hyper fixation energy on getting the repair job done as quickly as possible—avoiding doing anything stupid like acting on his very inconvenient crush. Meanwhile Derek tries to ignore that the tattooed nerd sleeping on the couch is surprisingly witty, smart, and kind, despite the long-term grudge Derek’s been holding against him. But will squeezing all their emotional baggage plus a dog into a tiny one-bedroom apartment be a major disaster…or just prove they’re made for each other?

Fall for Him combines banter, hijinks, and heart in a story of finding out what it means to fix things after your life crumbles.

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Posted on by Maureen

Slashed Beauties by A. Rushby 

Book Description 

A gothic feminist body horror in two timelines revolving around three Anatomical Venuses—ultrarealistic wax figures of women—that come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them.

Seoul, present day. Antiques dealer Alys’s task is nearly complete. She has at last secured Elizabeth, the final anatomical Venus in a dangerously intertwined trio. Crafted in eighteenth-century London and modeled after real-life sex workers to entice male medical students to study female anatomy, these eerie wax figures, known as slashed beauties, carry unsavory lore. Legend has it that the figures are bewitched, and come to life at night to murder men who have wronged them. Now Alys embarks for England, where she knows what she must do: sever her cursed connection to the Venuses once and for all.

London, 1763. Abandoned and penniless in Covent Garden, wide-eyed Eleanor and another young woman, Emily, are taken under the wing of beautiful and beguiling Elizabeth, one of the city’s most highly desired courtesans. But as Eleanor is seduced deeper into a web of money, materialism, and men, it seems that Elizabeth may not be the savior she appears to be.

As past and present begin to intersect, it becomes clear that the women’s stories are linked in deeper, darker ways than it initially seems. And that the only method for Alys to end the witchcraft that binds her legacy is to gather all three models in one place and destroy them.

The problem is, Elizabeth is not ready to burn. Far from it. Centuries on, she is determined to rise again, and she will obliterate anything standing in her path. Including Alys herself.

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Posted on by Maureen

Haven’t Killed in Years by Amy K. Green 

Book Description 

No one is supposed to know harmless office worker Gwen Tanner is the vanished daughter of serial killer Abel Haggerty. But a low profile and a new name aren’t going to cut it when an obsessive new killer starts targeting her, in this lively and propulsive thriller with a standout voice.

Marin Haggerty, the daughter of a notorious serial killer, was only a child when they arrested her father. Ripped from her home and given a new identity, Marin disappeared.

Twenty years later, Gwen Tanner keeps everyone at a distance, preferring to satirize the world around her than participate in it. It’s for her safety—and theirs. But when someone starts sending body parts to her front door, the message is clear: I Know Who You Are.

To preserve her secrets, Gwen must hunt down the killer, a journey which immerses her in the twisted world of true crime fandom and makes her confront her past once and for all. Maybe she is capable of deep, human connections, but she’s not the only one keeping secrets. Will opening herself up to others help her find the killer, or remind her why it was necessary she hide her true self in the first place?

The apple never falls too far, after all.

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