Posted on by Maureen

Lady Like by Mackenzi Lee 

Book Description 

Harriet Lockhart never planned to marry. She has spent her life defying expectations, playing male roles on London’s seediest stages, and doing whatever she pleases. When Harry is contacted by her hitherto anonymous father, she finds herself at risk of losing the trust fund that’s subsidized her lifestyle—unless she begins to lead a more respectable life, starting with finding a husband.

Emily Sergeant, the picture of modesty, has only ever wanted to marry. And were it not for one mistake in her youth that rendered her a social pariah, she would be appropriately betrothed. Instead, she’s due to wed the only willing—and most abominable—man in her small town. Desperate for an alternative, Emily flees to London to snag a less lecherous fiancé.

Worlds collide, dramatically and hilariously, when both women decide on the very same duke as their best possible chance at a tolerable husband and a secure future. A tongue-in-cheek romp through London’s summer season, from balls to brothels, horseraces to duels, Harry and Emily compete for the duke’s favor, only to find their true hearts’ desires may be more compatible than they could have ever predicted.

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Posted on by Maureen

Here for a Good Time by Pyae Moe Thet War

Book Description 

Poe Myat Sabei has the publishing career that any writer would kill for: her first novel sold at auction, became an international number one bestseller, and is being turned into a Netflix film. But now on deadline for her second book, Poe is facing a catastrophic case of writer’s block. The solution? Book a two-week getaway to an exclusive island resort for her and her best friend Zwe where she’ll undoubtedly be inspired to write her next bestseller.

But the vacation of their dreams disintegrates in a flash when the resort is taken over by a group of masked women who are very armed and very angry. As they try to leave the island before the group can track them down, Poe and Zwe suddenly find themselves facing the kinds of conflicts that only come up when, well, you’re trapped in a life or death situation on a remote island with your (hot) best friend.

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Posted on by Maureen

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian 

Book Description 

An emotional, slow-burn, grumpy/sunshine, queer mid-century romance for fans of Evvie Drake Starts Over, about grief and found family, between the new star shortstop stuck in a batting slump and the reporter assigned to (reluctantly) cover his first season—set in the same universe as We Could Be So Good.

The 1960 baseball season is shaping up to be the worst year of Eddie O’Leary’s life. He can’t manage to hit the ball, his new teammates hate him, he’s living out of a suitcase, and he’s homesick. When the team’s owner orders him to give a bunch of interviews to some snobby reporter, he’s ready to call it quits. He can barely manage to behave himself for the length of a game, let alone an entire season. But he’s already on thin ice, so he has no choice but to agree.

Mark Bailey is not a sports reporter. He writes for the arts page, and these days he’s barely even managing to do that much. He’s had a rough year and just wants to be left alone in his too-empty apartment, mourning a partner he’d never been able to be public about. The last thing he needs is to spend a season writing about New York’s obnoxious new shortstop in a stunt to get the struggling newspaper more readers.

Isolated together within the crush of an anonymous city, these two lonely souls orbit each other as they slowly give in to the inevitable gravity of their attraction. But Mark has vowed that he’ll never be someone’s secret ever again, and Eddie can’t be out as a professional athlete. It’s just them against the world, and they’ll both have to decide if that’s enough.

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Posted on by Maureen

When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein

Book Description

A steamy, opposites-attract romance with undeniable chemistry between a grumpy retired footballer and his fabulous and very sunshine-y ghostwriter.

When grumpy ex-footballer Alfie Harding gets badgered into selling his memoirs, he knows he’s never going to be able to write them. He hates revealing a single thing about himself, is allergic to most emotions, and can’t imagine doing a good job of putting pen to paper.

And so in walks curvy, cheery, cute as heck ghostwriter Mabel Willicker, who knows just how to sunshine and sass her way into getting every little detail out of Alfie. They banter and bicker their way to writing his life story, both of them sure they’ll never be anything other than at odds.

But after their business arrangement is mistaken for a budding romance, the pair have to pretend to be an item for a public who’s ravenous for more of this Cinderella story. Or at least, it feels like it’s pretend—until each slow burn step in their fake relationship sparks a heat neither can control. Now they just have to decide: is this sizzling chemistry just for show? Or something so real it might just give them their fairytale ending?

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Posted on by Maureen

Love, Just In by Natalie Murray

Book Description

In the vein of Emily Henry’s You and Me On Vacation, Love, Just In is a friends-to-lovers romance with just enough spice to heat up the summer.

Sydney TV news reporter Josephine “Josie” Larsen is approaching 30 and coming dangerously close to failing at life. Lost in a vortex of other people’s career milestones, engagement parties, and baby showers, Josie is perennially single, abandoned by her globetrotting family, and invisible to her boss – except for the one time he tuned in while she was mid-panic attack on live TV. As a punishment, Josie is shipped off to cover another reporter’s six-month leave at a regional bureau in Newcastle.

But Josie has more waiting for her in Newcastle than yawn-inducing stories about bicycle lane protests. The city is also the domain of Zac Jameson – her best friend since high school. This should be a happy turn of events, but Zac has barely spoken to Josie for the past two years. Not since his fiancée tragically died in his arms in a car accident and he left Sydney to try and cope with his grief.

Now thrown back into each other’s lives, Josie and Zac have to navigate their neglected friendship and secret attraction to each other while struggling with their careers and mental health.

Hilarious, sexy and heart-warming, this is the perfect romcom to sit on the shelves alongside Emily Henry, Sally Thorne and Ali Hazelwood.

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Posted on by Maureen

Make Up Break Up by Lily Menon

Annika Dev is the founder of Make Up, a dating app to help couples with relationship problems. She’s horrified to find out that her company is going to be in the same building as Break Up, an app that helps people end relationships. Ani had a summer fling with Hudson Craft—Break Up’s founder—and she’s pretty sure that he stole the idea for his app from her. Needless to say, she’s less than thrilled to see him again, especially since he’s so different from the man she met over the summer.

And of course, all of a sudden, Hudson is *everywhere* and Ani can’t avoid him. Not only does she run into him at the office, but she also finds him at her yoga class and at the same restaurant—the man is practically omnipresent, but not in a creepy way.

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Posted on by Maureen

Here to Stay by Adriana Herrera

Julia hasn’t been living in Dallas very long, but she’s getting used to it. She loves her job, and she has a whole crew of NYC-to-Dallas exiles to hang out with.

And then Rocco shows up. He’s also from NYC, and he’s been hired as a consultant to advise on Julia’s job going from a privately owned corporation to publicly traded. Julia wants to hate him, since his opinion might mean her position (and the entire charitable foundation) being eliminated, but as they start hanging out, it gets harder for her to resist his charming ways.

Given that I love everything that Adriana Herrera writes, it’s no surprise that I loved this book. The banter between Julia and Rocco is top-notch, and there’s a lot of banter because it takes them a long time to finally hook up. So, attention all fans of the slow burn trope: we’ve got a winner here. But yeah, the banter is hilarious, and I was grinning throughout the entire book.

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