She's afraid she's too much. He's convinced he'll never be enough.
Maplemoor is Jess Harper's fresh start. A quiet place to rebuild after a future that never happened. Now she has a book club that feels like family, a coffee shop that knows her order, and a life that finally feels steady again.
What she doesn't have is a date to her best friend's wedding—the one where her ex and his brand-new fiancée will also be there.
Enter Caleb Ward. Dependable. Steady. The kind of man who shows up before you even have to ask—for everyone except himself. He's got a life in Maplemoor that works for him, but when it comes to love, he keeps his walls firmly in place—and exactly where he wants them.
Agreeing to be Jess's date to the wedding is just a favor. Nothing more.
Until it isn't.
One weekend together. One very convincing performance.
Turns out the line between pretending and real is thinner than either of them thought. The hard part is knowing which side they're on.
They were supposed to spend the Fourth of July weekend with their closest friends—fireworks, laughter, traditions. Instead, Merritt Sullivan and Ben Samuels broke up on the drive to the lake, before the first spark lit the sky.
But after a strange accident on the dock, they wake up to find that everything’s changed. It’s five years later. They’re no longer a couple. Their friends’ lives have shifted in ways they never saw coming. Careers, relationships, even loyalties have rearranged—some for the better, some painfully worse. And neither of them remembers the years in between.
Forced to navigate a future they don’t recall, Merritt and Ben must work together to understand what fractured not only their relationship, but their entire friend group. The only way back—if going back is even possible—is to face the heartbreak they once tried to outrun.
As old feelings resurface and new truths come to light, they’ll have to decide: is the future worth keeping…or worth rewriting?
They were supposed to spend the Fourth of July weekend with their closest friends—fireworks, laughter, traditions. Instead, Merritt Sullivan and Ben Samuels broke up on the drive to the lake, before the first spark lit the sky.
But after a strange accident on the dock, they wake up to find that everything’s changed. It’s five years later. They’re no longer a couple. Their friends’ lives have shifted in ways they never saw coming. Careers, relationships, even loyalties have rearranged—some for the better, some painfully worse. And neither of them remembers the years in between.
Forced to navigate a future they don’t recall, Merritt and Ben must work together to understand what fractured not only their relationship, but their entire friend group. The only way back—if going back is even possible—is to face the heartbreak they once tried to outrun.
As old feelings resurface and new truths come to light, they’ll have to decide: is the future worth keeping…or worth rewriting?
When a threat puts her life in danger, there’s only one man capable of protecting her—a ruthless bodyguard with a fearsome reputation and loyalty carved into his bones. The problem? His family and hers are sworn enemies. And he learned to hate her last name long before he ever knew her.
This is duty.
A contract.
Nothing more.
Shared space. Constant protection.
No attachment. No temptation.
Forced proximity turns restraint into tension. Hatred softens. Awareness sharpens. Desire becomes impossible to ignore.
She’s a damsel in distress who refuses to be fragile. He’s a possessive protector bound by duty, fighting feelings he has no right to claim. Every glance is forbidden. Every moment together is a betrayal written in silence.
As enemies close in and pressure mounts, distance becomes impossible.
Because the longer he stands between her and danger, the harder it is to remember where duty ends—and desire begins.
He was sworn to keep her alive.
He just wasn’t prepared for what it would cost him.
Join us for this exciting spotlight featuring the covers for Fake It Until It’s Real and Fight It Until We Can’t by Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca. Fans who love forced proximity romances will sink their teeth into these sexy, small-town romances. Keep scrolling for more details about these sexy covers.
Title: Fake It Until It’s Real
Authors: Tina Gallagher & Cissy Mecca
Release Date: 04/28/2026
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Word Count: 58,000
Trope: Small-Town, Fake Dating, Forced Proximity, Cinnamon Roll Hero, Friend’s Brother, Blue Collar Hero, Matchmaking Dog, Found Family
She's afraid she's too much. He's convinced he'll never be enough.
Maplemoor is Jess Harper's fresh start. A quiet place to rebuild after a future that never happened. Now she has a book club that feels like family, a coffee shop that knows her order, and a life that finally feels steady again.
What she doesn't have is a date to her best friend's wedding—the one where her ex and his brand-new fiancée will also be there.
Enter Caleb Ward. Dependable. Steady. The kind of man who shows up before you even have to ask—for everyone except himself. He's got a life in Maplemoor that works for him, but when it comes to love, he keeps his walls firmly in place—and exactly where he wants them.
Agreeing to be Jess's date to the wedding is just a favor. Nothing more.
Until it isn't.
One weekend together. One very convincing performance.
Turns out the line between pretending and real is thinner than either of them thought. The hard part is knowing which side they're on.
Operations Manager Carli Porter runs The Lochwell as if it were her own and is fiercely protective of the community she’s built within its walls. But when the building's owner sends in his best friend to evaluate its future, Caril finds herself fighting to keep everything she loves from slipping away. Left with no other option, she’s forced to team up with Alexander Grassi, the very man who could decide the building's fate. Pre-order this he-falls-first romance with small-town and rivals-to-lovers tropes from Cissy Mecca & Tina Gallagher.
Title: Fight It Until We Can’t
Author: Cissy Mecca & Tina Gallagher
Release Date: 05/12/2026
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 280 pages
Tropes: Small-Town, Rivals-to-Lovers, Forced Proximity, He Falls First, Found Family, Competence Kink
Blurb
He's a property analyst hired to find the cracks.
She's the operations manager who will make sure he doesn't.
Carli Porter runs The Lochwell like it's hers. The coffee shop is her living room. Its book club members are her family. The residents are her friends. The pub is her Friday night. The only problem? The building belongs to someone else, and that someone just sent his best friend to decide its fate.
Alexander Grassi is smart and annoyingly hard to hate. He also has the kind of forearms that make it very difficult to stay mad at him. (She's tried. It hasn't worked.) He's supposed to write a report, hand it over to his friend and leave. He wasn't supposed to start showing up to trivia night. Or turning her coffee cup so the handle faces her. Or looking at her like she's the best thing in a building full of things worth saving.
She says his report could ruin her life.
He says she's not wrong.
She says that's makes him the last person she should want around.
He says he's staying anyway.
Because some legacies (and people) are worth fighting for.
Natalie Dugan thought starting a cleaning business would bring freedom, not danger. Between caring for her sick mother and juggling new clients, she has no time for romance—until she meets Aaron Marino, a scarred ex-firefighter who makes her question everything. When a series of suspicious fires spreads through their Virginia town, suspicion falls on every man around her, leaving Natalie to unravel a deadly mystery before vengeance consumes them all. Readers who enjoy high-stakes and forced proximity romances will devour Burning Vengeance by Tricia T. LaRochelle, a small-town, fireman romantic suspense.
When Natalie Dugan trades spreadsheets for scrub brushes, she hopes her new cleaning business will give her independence—and the chance to care for her ailing mother. Love isn’t on her agenda, but everything changes when she meets Aaron Marino, a reclusive ex-firefighter scarred by the blaze that nearly claimed his life.
As a string of suspicious fires threatens their quaint Virginia town, every man in Natalie’s orbit becomes a suspect: her hard-working new boyfriend, her mother’s unfairly maligned partner, her unsettling neighbor, and even Aaron himself. But the closer Natalie gets to Aaron, the harder it is to ignore the spark that refuses to extinguish.
When the truth behind the fires finally ignites, Natalie will have to confront betrayal, vengeance, and danger that hits far too close to home. Survival—and love—depend on whether she can brave the flames of the past … before they consume her.
Natalie Dugan thought starting a cleaning business would bring freedom, not danger. Between caring for her sick mother and juggling new clients, she has no time for romance—until she meets Aaron Marino, a scarred ex-firefighter who makes her question everything. When a series of suspicious fires spreads through their Virginia town, suspicion falls on every man around her, leaving Natalie to unravel a deadly mystery before vengeance consumes them all. Readers who enjoy high-stakes and forced proximity romances will devour Burning Vengeance by Tricia T. LaRochelle, a small-town, fireman romantic suspense.
Blurb
When Natalie Dugan trades spreadsheets for scrub brushes, she hopes her new cleaning business will give her independence—and the chance to care for her ailing mother. Love isn’t on her agenda, but everything changes when she meets Aaron Marino, a reclusive ex-firefighter scarred by the blaze that nearly claimed his life.
As a string of suspicious fires threatens their quaint Virginia town, every man in Natalie’s orbit becomes a suspect: her hard-working new boyfriend, her mother’s unfairly maligned partner, her unsettling neighbor, and even Aaron himself. But the closer Natalie gets to Aaron, the harder it is to ignore the spark that refuses to extinguish.
When the truth behind the fires finally ignites, Natalie will have to confront betrayal, vengeance, and danger that hits far too close to home. Survival—and love—depend on whether she can brave the flames of the past … before they consume her.
Join us for the cover reveal of Etched in Ink by Nadia Han. Fans who love high-stakes, he-falls-first, age-gap romances will sink their teeth into this steamy, billionaire romantic suspense. Keep scrolling for more details about this sexy cover.
Title: Etched in Ink
Author: Nadia Han
Release Date: 05/19/2026
Genres: Billionaire, Romantic Suspense
Page Count: 98K
Tropes: He Falls First, Billionaire Romance, Age-Gap, Love at First Sight, Slow Burn, Morally Gray, Touch Her & Die, Vengeance Driven Angst, Suspense
With dark secrets etched in his soul, Kain Kessler is an astute tattoo artist who does not believe in love. But that belief changes when he meets a beautiful woman who shifts his internal axis, leaving him stunned and determined to make her his even after she rejects him.
Eager and resourceful, Eva Collins is saving up for her own flower shop. Having her heart shattered has left her unavailable for relationships until her grandfather sets her up with an irresistible man much older than her. When she is kidnapped and tossed into a terrifying world, she gathers every ounce of courage to survive.
Eva wants nothing more than to erase the cruelty Kain has suffered, and all he wants is to protect the woman he loves from the darkness that wants them both dead.
The point of magic is not to understand it. The point is not to waste it…
Paige Larsen is riding high on her future when she drops into a bar on New Year’s Eve 2019 for a celebratory drink. Will Weber, too, is excited about his life’s direction. Despite clashing personalities—and unexpected physical attraction—they quickly become friends while grooving to 1970s music in this unique joint.
But when Paige and Will each try to find the bar the following day, they realize the night was even more magical than they believed. It seems this bar appears for only a handful of hours every two years in an abandoned city lot on December 31. What’s more, Paige and Will are living in different timelines two years apart.
Over a span of eight years and a multitude of life changes, Paige and Will connect deeply in a fantasy situation that allows them to be their messy, imperfect, vulnerable selves.
Then suddenly, the enchantment—and the bar—disappear for good. Can love offer the magic they need to create a real-life happy ever after?
Every Other New Year’s Eve is a tender, heartwarming romance with a magical twist, perfect for fans of Rebecca Serle and Ashley Poston.
It started as one night in Paris. It ended with forever on the line.
Not quite a jilted bride,
I still find myself on a first-class flight to Paris—solo.
What was supposed to be a honeymoon has become my Great Parisian Adventure: art, food, and falling in love with the city.
Then I met Lucien.
Tall. Dark. French. Irresistibly artsy.
He taught me how to see the city through his eyes.
Its sounds, its colors, its passion.
And somehow, somewhere between croissants, art galleries, and midnight kisses,
Paris stopped being just a place… and started to feel like him.
But he’s a world away from my real life.
And I came here to move on, not fall in love.
Still, you can’t have a Great Parisian Adventure without a touch of romance.
Even if it can't last.
One Night in Paris is a jilted bride, friends to lovers, travel romance with a happy ending, steamy open-door scenes and a whole lotta Paris. Features a scorching hot Parisian with sensitive eyes, a gentle soul and hot touch.
When a not-quite-jilted bride turns her would-be honeymoon into a solo adventure, the last thing she expects is to fall for Paris or the broodingly handsome artist who shows her its secrets. As midnight kisses blur into something deeper, she must choose between the life she left behind and the future she never saw coming. One Night in Paris by N.D. Jackson is a heart-mending, spicy travel romance where art, passion, and second chances collide in the world’s most romantic city.
It started as one night in Paris. It ended with forever on the line.
Not quite a jilted bride,
I still find myself on a first-class flight to Paris—solo.
What was supposed to be a honeymoon has become my Great Parisian Adventure: art, food, and falling in love with the city.
Then I met Lucien.
Tall. Dark. French. Irresistibly artsy.
He taught me how to see the city through his eyes.
Its sounds, its colors, its passion.
And somehow, somewhere between croissants, art galleries, and midnight kisses,
Paris stopped being just a place… and started to feel like him.
But he’s a world away from my real life.
And I came here to move on, not fall in love.
Still, you can’t have a Great Parisian Adventure without a touch of romance.
Even if it can't last.
One Night in Paris is a jilted bride, friends to lovers, travel romance with a happy ending, steamy open-door scenes and a whole lotta Paris. Features a scorching hot Parisian with sensitive eyes, a gentle soul and hot touch.
When a bolt of lightning drags bookstore owner Lena Harper into the pages of a centuries-old chronicle, she’s thrust into a love triangle that spans worlds and lifetimes: a devoted medieval knight, a seductive immortal, and the best friend she left behind. As her heart becomes entangled with all three men, Lena uncovers a truth that binds their fates—and hers—in ways she never imagined. Caught between fantasy and reality, she must choose the world she belongs to and the love worth stepping out of her stories for. Readers who enjoy steamy genre-bending romances will want to sink their teeth into Versions of You by Cecelia Mecca, a fated mates, second-chance, forbidden romance.
Blurb
Lena Harper sells love stories in her bookstore. She never expected to fall into one.
When lightning strikes her small-town bookshop, pulling Lena into the pages of a centuries-old chronicle, she finds herself torn between a noble knight, a dark immortal, and her steadfast best friend.
In medieval England, Sir Rowan offers devotion and protection.
In Stone Haven, immortal Riven awakens Lena’s darker cravings.
And back home in Kitchi Falls waits Nolan, the best friend she’s never truly seen.
Three men. Three worlds. One impossible truth … they’re all connected to her in ways she never imagined.
As the boundaries blur between story and reality, Lena must step out of her books and risk everything for the love waiting right in front of her.
It started as one night in Paris. It ended with forever on the line.
Not quite a jilted bride,
I still find myself on a first-class flight to Paris—solo.
What was supposed to be a honeymoon has become my Great Parisian Adventure: art, food, and falling in love with the city.
Then I met Lucien.
Tall. Dark. French. Irresistibly artsy.
He taught me how to see the city through his eyes.
Its sounds, its colors, its passion.
And somehow, somewhere between croissants, art galleries, and midnight kisses,
Paris stopped being just a place… and started to feel like him.
But he’s a world away from my real life.
And I came here to move on, not fall in love.
Still, you can’t have a Great Parisian Adventure without a touch of romance.
Even if it can't last.
One Night in Paris is a jilted bride, friends to lovers, travel romance with a happy ending, steamy open-door scenes and a whole lotta Paris. Features a scorching hot Parisian with sensitive eyes, a gentle soul and hot touch.
I believe in three things: a well-structured Google Calendar, twinkle lights over colored ones, and never going back to an ex. But when the Starlight Bay Town Board pairs me with that ex, the one with charm for days and a smirk to match, to plan the biggest Christmas event of the year, my plan to avoid him begins to unravel.
Danny Love is chaos in a hoodie, yet he’s somehow the only person who ever made me feel seen, when he wasn’t teasing me or driving me absolutely insane. Now we're stuck together planning a Christmas Gala and dodging mistletoe balls, and it turns out, the spark between us never actually fizzled. It just waited for the moment we both might be brave enough to try, again.
Can holiday magic help his ‘winging it’ personality and my ‘google calendar is my bible’ attitude make it work a second time?
Nik Papas is the newest WR for the South Carolina Warriors. Dubbed “Saint Nik” for his squeaky clean persona, he’s polished and perfect and always has the right answer. But underneath all that ‘Saint’ is a secret that could destroy it all.
Noelle Moreno is a reporter for The Falls Press, always determined to get the story that isn’t being told. Fierce and quick-witted, she's got a taste for sweets and an aversion to football players.
In the sports world, where division sells and secrets can ruin careers, sometimes your only hope is an enemy turned lover, or a dangerous man who’s too irresistible. And when that happens, you have to ask …
She fell into a ravine. He caught her—and never let go. Set against the rugged charm of Baren Hill, this heartfelt romance delivers a swoony grumpy sunshine dynamic, a heroine rediscovering herself after divorce, and a cinnamon roll mountain man with a beard—and a bar—to fall for.
Usually it was songbirds and toads that greeted me, not a foul-mouthed woman.
“Hello?” she called again. “Please tell me those are human footsteps crunching on the gravel. Though it would totally be my luck if I met my demise being some bear’s post-hibernation meal.”
“Do you always talk to yourself?” I called into the air.
“Oh, thank god. Hi! I honestly thought I was going to die down here.”
Down. As in the ravine. Hell’s fire, she was in the ravine.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?”
“No, I’m okay. I think I twisted my ankle though. I tried to stand on it a second ago and it was not having it.”
I shot a text off to Emmett to keep him on standby, then climbed down.
Her smile when I got to her exploded in relief.
“Yoga pants and flip flops?” I helped pull her to a stand. “Did you get dropped on your head? What makes you think that is acceptable attire for these trails?”
“Excuse me?” she shoved away, nearly losing her balance until I caught her. “Was I dropped on my head?”
“There are snakes out here,” I pointed at her toes. “You startle them, they’ll be revoking your birth certificate.”
She was already pretty pale, but at the mention of critters her face blanched to near white.
“You miss the mountain signs all over town? Ski in the winter, hike in the summer? What part of the word ‘mountain’ implies you can skip around here in those?”
“We gotta get some ice on that.”
“After you just insulted my intelligence, do you honestly think I would have any inclination to accept help from you?”
I extended my hand. She stood there like a damn flamingo. I lost the last shred of patience I had and scooped her up.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She kicked in my arms like a wet cat. My palm had strict directives from my brain to stay right the fuck where it was tucked beneath her knees. The yoga pants she wore had to have been painted on her body, because every curve brushed against me like she wore nothing at all.
“Are you insane? What kind of a person just picks someone up without their permission?”
She pitched her fit all the way to the top. Thankfully, The Old Lady was less than fifty meters from the ravine. She’d get over it real quick.
Three hitmen who'll stop at nothing to get revenge—until they meet her.
Wren is the sweet barista who always lights up with Elliot, Rhett, and Oliver walk into her shop. All three of the guys are drawn to her, but they know getting closer to Wren would put her life at risk. But after a chance encounter at a masquerade ball and one night together, these men are all forced to face one undeniable fact:
None of them can resist her. And now, they may not have to.
But can they keep her—and each other—safe from their enemies?
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