Brothers of the Vine
Forever Evermore
Women of W.A.R.
Can’t stop listening to Sabrina Carpenter’s new album Short n’ Sweet this week? Me neither!
In the mood for some short, sexy, flirty reads? Check out our book recs based on your fave song from this banger of an album!
Taste
I heard you’re back together and if that’s true
You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you
Read: Romancing Miss Stone by M.C. Vaughan
His perfectly planned life is about to go wild.
By-the-numbers Bo Ferguson has his future all planned. Then his archaeologist fiancée dumps him. Via text. From Belize. Navigating the rainforest to win her back is way out of Bo’s comfort zone, but so is the idea of starting over. Fortunately, he’s secured a tour guide willing to lead him into the unmapped jungle. Unfortunately, she’s annoying, impulsive — and attractive as hell.
Jungle expert Alexandra Stone is in no position to turn down a job after her regrettable ex stole everything from her family business and ran. Sure, Bo might be frustratingly uptight, but Alex needs the money. And besides, there’s something…fun about pushing the guy’s adorably rigid buttons, especially when it clearly gets a rise out of him.
But the close confines of their shared camp make it hard to ignore the tension beneath the bickering, prompting the sweltering heat between them to erupt into sweaty, wild passion. Bo can’t deny his brief time with Alex has been the most exciting of his life. But the journey they’re on still leads to one place — his ex-fiancée — forcing Bo and Alex to confront their pasts, their fears and the question of just where this adventure will take them…
Please Please Please
Please, please, please
Don’t prove I’m right
Read: I See London by Chanel Cleeton
New York Times sensation Chanel Cleeton’s international, angst-fuelled romance is perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Lucy Score.
Maggie Carpenter is a small-town Southern girl who’s never been kissed. She’s ready for a change – and to leave her ordinary life and a failed attempt to get into Harvard behind. She accepts a scholarship to the International School in London, where she’s suddenly mingling with the privileged offspring of diplomats and world leaders.
When Maggie meets Hugh, a twentysomething British guy, she finds herself living the life she has always wanted. Suddenly she’s riding around the city in a Ferrari, wearing borrowed designer clothes and going to the hottest clubs. The only problem? There’s someone else, someone she can’t seem to keep her hands off of.
Half French, half Lebanese and impossibly rich, Samir Khouri has made it clear to Maggie that despite their intense attraction, he doesn’t do relationships. He’s the opposite of everything she thought she wanted – a player with no interest in commitments – but she just can’t keep away. Torn between her dream guy and the one haunting her thoughts, Maggie must fight for her own happy ending. But in a city like London, you never know where you stand, and everything can change in the blink of an eye.
Good Graces
Boy, it’s not that complicated
You should stay in my good graces
Read: Wild River by Laura Pavlov
I may be the lawyer, but she’s the one judging me …
A bad boy small-town lawyer meets his match. Welcome to Magnolia Falls, perfect for fans of Elsie Silver, Lucy Score and B.K. Borison!
***
Ruby Rose declared me the enemy before I had a chance to defend myself. I may be an attorney, but this girl had appointed herself judge and jury. And I’d never minded a good verbal sparring.
But the more we fought – the more I craved her. Until our arguing turned into a bit of a wager. One I was determined to win. One time. Sixty seconds. A secret only we would share.
But from the minute we crossed the line, there was no turning back. Ruby Rose may have given me more than sixty seconds, but she wasn’t offering forever. And now my world doesn’t work without her in it.
But how do I convince her to stay, when she already has one foot out the door?
Sharpest Tool
We were goin’ right, then you took a left
Left me with a lot of shit to second-guess
Guess I’ll waste another year on wonderin’ if
If that was casual, then I’m an idiot
Read: You Had Me At Happy Hour by Timothy Janovsky
In this sexy, emotionally satisfying LGBTQIA+ romance, a grumpy sommelier and a flirty mixologist just might be the perfect pairing…
Rivalry never tasted so good.
O’ little town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania — it may be charming, but Julien Boire can’t wait to get out of there. Soon he’ll be leaving to take an advanced wine course that will put him on track to become a master sommelier. Meantime, his OCD demands he keep clear of distractions, especially the hot new hire at his aunt and uncle’s restaurant, Martin’s Place.
Which should be easy, because Greg Harlow is as ill-suited to Julien as a bold cabernet is to a delicate salmon entrée. Charismatic and confident, Greg is a TikTok mixologist who could charm a paper bag — even one as tightly wound as Julien. One thing they do have in common: neither wants a relationship.
Greg’s history with dating is…complicated. Yet working together isn’t. First, they’re teaming up to launch a series of happy hour events at Martin’s Place. Then they’re agreeing to a no-strings sex pact that involves new worlds of experimentation. Nothing is off-limits. Except a future.
It’s exactly how Julien wants it. Except for the little part of him that wonders if maybe he’s about to lose the kind of happy that could last much longer than an hour…
Coincidence
Palm Springs looks nice, but who’s by your side?
Damn it, she looks kinda like the girl you outgrew
Least that’s what you said (That’s what you said)
Read: Love at First Spite by Anna E. Collins
Falling in love is the ultimate payback in this delightful, breezy romcom about an interior designer who teams up with an enigmatic architect at her firm to get revenge on her ex the only way she knows how: by building a spite house next door.
They say living well is the best revenge. But sometimes, spreading the misery seems a whole lot more satisfying. That’s interior designer Dani Porter’s justification for buying the vacant lot next to her ex-fiance’s house…the house they were supposed to live in together, before he cheated on her with their Realtor. Dani plans to build a vacation rental that will a) mess with his view and his peace of mind and b) prove that Dani is not someone to be stepped on. Welcome to project Spite House.
That plan quickly becomes complicated when Dani is forced to team up with Wyatt Montego, the handsome, haughty architect at her firm, and the only person available to draw up blueprints. Wyatt is terse and stern, the kind of man who eats his sandwich with a knife and fork. But as they spend time together on – and off – site, Dani glimpses something deeper beneath that hard veneer, something surprising, vulnerable, and real. And the closer she gets to her goal, the more she wonders if winning revenge could mean losing something infinitely sweeter…
Bed Chem
But I bеt we’d have really good bеd chem
Read: Body Check by Elle Kennedy
New York Times bestselling author of the Briar U series Elle Kennedy’s first hockey romance, Body Check, is now released in an expanded version, with both new and enhanced scenes by the author! More story, more hockey-and more heat!
After a childhood spent being dragged around the country by her hockey coach father, Hayden Houston intends to take some time to figure out her future. Whether that future will include her currently off-again boyfriend remains to be seen. What it certainly won’t include is the for-one-night-only guy she just met at a bar.
It seems hockey star Brody Croft did not get the memo about being temporary. Big, bold and driven, he’s dedicated in everything he does. Up till now, that’s been his team – the one owned by Hayden’s dad. But his night with Hayden has sparked something he didn’t expect. The two of them are good together. Really good. There’s a connection he’s never experienced before, one he knows they’d be wrong to ignore. Even with a game-fixing scandal testing both their loyalties – to teammates, to friends…to family.
Part of Hayden wants to turn tail and run. A complicated relationship with a bad boy hockey player is exactly what she never wanted. But when it comes to Brody, Hayden is realising that people can be so much more than what they seem.
Espresso
And I got this one boy and he won’t stop calling
When they act this way, I know I got ’em
Read: Going Toe To Toe by Yahrah St. John
After their no-strings fling in paradise, Lyric and Devon never thought they’d see each other again. Until they did. Now they have very different ideas about what the future holds…
Sometimes you just have to take the leap…
What happens in Aruba, stays in Aruba… That’s what former ballerina Lyric Taylor keeps telling herself, at least. After all, now that the curtain has closed on her ballet career, and with the search for her biological parents stalling, she could use a little distraction. So when a lodging mix-up leads to an unexpected fling in paradise with her sexy bunkmate, Devon, Lyric takes the plunge. Seven days of sun, sand and plenty of sizzle — and when it’s time to go home, their no-strings sitch will come to an end… Right?
Single dad Devon Masters spent the last eight years shielding his daughter, Kianna, from life’s disappointments — and he’s gotten pretty good at cutting pain off at the pass. But nothing can prepare him for this latest bombshell: discovering Lyric Taylor is Kianna’s new dance teacher. What happened in Aruba seems to have followed them home, but they’ll have to keep it under wraps for as long as they can. Soon, however, new feelings take hold and old wounds resurface. Will they finally find the rhythm they need to redefine what belonging truly means?
Dumb & Poetic
You’re so dumb and poetic
It’s just what I fall for, I like the aesthetic
Read: A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston
***
Have you ever found yourself lost in a good book … literally?
Eileen Merriweather loves a good love story. The fictional kind, anyway. After all, imaginary men don’t break your heart.
That’s why she’s so excited for her annual book club retreat – instead, when her car breaks down en route, Eileen finds herself in Eloraton. A town where every meet is cute, the rain always comes in the afternoon, and the bookshop is always curated with impeccable taste.
It feels too good to be true … because Eloraton is the setting of her favourite romance series. And Eileen is sure she must be here to bring the town its storybook ending.
But there’s one character she can’t place. The grumpy bookshop owner with mint-green eyes, and an irritatingly sexy mouth. He does not want Eileen to finish this story, but how else can she find her happily-ever-after?
The next magical rom-com from the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip and The Dead Romantics!
Slim Pickins
Oh, it’s slim pickings
If I can’t have the one I love
I guess it’s you that I’ll be kissin’
Just to get my fixings
Read: The Devil In Blue Jeans by Stacey Kennedy
A sharp, emotional novel about a tough-minded bar owner who makes a deal with a devil of a cowboy — and might just get burned…
Moving to Montana to buy a dive bar with her two best friends sounds like a can’t-miss idea to Charly Henwood. The scenery is breathtaking, and the cowboys even more so. Not that Charly’s interested. Her heart is as unmovable as the surrounding mountains, thanks to her cheating ex.
Making her bar, The Naked Moose, a success is Charly’s only priority. But it turns out the regulars don’t take kindly to outsiders swapping their craft beer for an extensive cocktail menu. One regular in particular is not happy — The Naked Moose’s previous owner, Jaxon Reed. The last thing Charly needs is a cocky cowboy telling her how to run her bar, or her life. But maybe she can use Jaxon to her advantage. If he’ll agree to be the prize in a charity auction, Charly will make the bar a little more cowboy-friendly.
When that plan backfires, Charly finds herself doing battle with the biggest temptation in Timber Falls. A man who has made it his mission to win her, using every infernal means at his disposal. And if her resolve goes up in flames, her heart is sure to follow.
Juno
You know I just might
Let you lock me down tonight
Read: Swap And Smell The Roses by Karen Booth
In this deliciously tender, steamy romance, a burned-out musician swaps city life for cottage country only to find that slowing down means a racing heart, thanks to the grumpy guy next door…
When Willow Moore’s lifelong dream of music stardom goes bust, she’s burned out enough to need drastic change. As in, she’s trading her Brooklyn apartment for two months in the Connecticut countryside. Soon she’s baking bread, spending Saturdays at the farmer’s market and stopping to smell the roses, but some things in her new #cottagecore life aren’t so pleasant. Like her landlord, former chef Reid Harrell. As grouchy and reserved as Willow is chatty and outgoing, Reid is an annoyingly sexy keep-out sign. If only Willow was good at staying away.
Something about Reid, a sliver of pain poking through that flinty façade, makes her wonder if they’re more alike than she thought. Reid once chased success, too, and found it-at a price. Now all he wants is to be left alone to garden, but Willow’s not giving up so quick, especially when one of their heated arguments sparks an idea for a song. Her renewed creativity awakens them both, hurling them into a passionate vortex neither expects.
As the summer winds down, Willow is forced to confront her needs, wants and desires, not to mention Reid, the hardest puzzle of all to figure out. Maybe it’s time for the city girl to stop dwelling on dreams dashed and start following her heart-no matter where it might take her…
Lie To Girls
All of your best excuses
No, they don’t stand a chance
Against all the chances I give you
Read: Fake Flame by Adele Buck
In this fun, fast-paced romantic comedy, a bookish firefighter who knows his Jane Austen suggests a little fake dating to fend off an ex. What’s a feminist English professor to do — except say yes…
You can’t fake heat like this…
To an observer, hauling a baby grand piano onto a college quad to publicly serenade an ex might seem like a romantic gesture. To literature professor Eva Campbell, it’s the latest manipulative move by a cheating jerk who won’t take a hint. Plus, she never liked that song anyway.
Setting the piano on fire might be an overreaction, but Eva’s at the end of her rope, at least until hot young firefighter Sean Hannigan talks her down. And that’s not all Sean does. Soon he’s offering to be Eva’s fake boyfriend to get her creepy ex off her back. Unexpected, maybe, but there’s something about Sean — beyond the angelic face and take-me-now body — that makes Eva say yes.
Sean battles infernos for a living, reads romance on the side and is a straight-up, family-loving good guy. Eva’s not sure she’s ready for the danger he poses to her jaded heart. Given their differences, a relationship can’t last, right? But the line between fake and real keeps blurring, daring her to take the biggest risk of all…
Don’t Smile
Don’t smile because it happened, baby
Cry because it’s over
Read: The Summer Of Perfect Mistakes by Cynthia St. Aubin
An achingly authentic, emotional summer romance about learning to colour outside the lines.
You can’t have the breakthrough without the breakdown…
No one in Spring Valley recognises Lark Hockney anymore. They only remember who she used to be. Homecoming queen. Valedictorian. And one half of Spring Valley High’s golden couple. But Lark knows that her once-perfect life wasn’t really perfect. Hell, it wasn’t even her. And in one evening, she lost it…and that perfect girl is gone forever.
Now Lark’s trying to put the fragile pieces back together, with no idea of where to start. She’s only a faint sketch of the person she was, with blurry, tentative lines — and under the constant scrutiny of her overbearing parents. The only bright spot in her life is a community art class taught by Nick Hoffman, the esoteric and unreasonably hot guy from high school. And he’s not interested in a ‘perfect’ Lark at all…
Suddenly Lark’s world is taking shape and the colours are growing more vibrant, from afternoon margaritas with Southern-fried divorcées to late-night apple pie with chocolate ice cream and an increasingly spicy situationship with Nick.
But what she’s found comes with a ‘best before summer’s end’ expiration date. And Lark doesn’t know if she can ever truly let go of aiming for perfect…
Happy reading!