The Hotshot by: Piper Rayne

 The Hotshot (The Dugout #1)
Author: Piper Rayne
Published: February 2026
Publisher: Piper Rayne Inc
Format: Audio
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:
Raising my cousin’s three kids wasn’t in my five-year plan.

Actually, it wasn’t in any plan.

One minute I’m a single labor and delivery nurse living a quiet life and the next, I’m navigating guardianship hearings, meltdowns, and homework I’m pretty sure requires a math degree.

Enter Hayes Carlisle.

My best friend’s older brother.

Chicago Colts newest catcher.

And the man I once kissed and immediately pretended I didn’t.

So, when the custody battle I’ve been dreading becomes a reality, I shouldn’t be surprised that Hayes swoops in with a wild idea—a fake relationship. According to him, pretending we’re together will polish his image and prove to the court I’m not taking on an instant family alone.

But pretending to be Hayes’ girlfriend is a terrible idea.

Because he remembers how to make me laugh.

Because he looks at me like our kiss wasn’t a one-time mistake.

Because the kids start asking him to read bedtime stories.

Because my heart starts wanting things my life doesn’t have room for.

I can manage the chaos. I can fight for these kids.

But pretending not to fall for Hayes Carlisle?

That might be the one thing I can’t do.

When You Stayed by: Ashley Muñoz

When You Stayed (Rose Ridge Second Generation #1)
Author: Ashley Muñoz
Published: May 2026
Publisher: Ashley Muñoz
Format: ARC eBook
Pages: 312
Rating: 5/5
Summary:

I was never meant to stay in Rose Ridge.

My father was the president of a notorious motorcycle club, so if something rattled him enough to request that I go, I should have listened.

In my defense, at the time, it seemed more terrifying to give up the only dream I ever had than to leave like everyone else.

I should have known that chasing that dream would lead back to the club, because everything in this town eventually did.

I wasn’t expecting to see a familiar face, glaring as usual, amidst the chaos surrounding the Stone Riders. For years, I had endured scowls, glares, and scoffs from Ford Ryan. However, there was something new and different about his heated stare, and even that oddly protective touch.

Something dangerous and addictive.

I should have left when I had the chance, because my proximity to Ford and the club meant I was close to danger. Even worse would be discovering exactly why Ford chose to stay when, out of all of us, he had every reason not to.

The Auction by: Sadie Kincaid

The Auction (Wages of Sin #1)
Author: Sadie Kincaid
Published: April 2026
Publisher: Mira
Pages: 384
Format: ARC Ebook/ARC Audiobook
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:
I was trained to be a pawn, but I will rise as a queen.

My life has never been my own. After the death of my parents, I was saved by my grandfather, with the promise that he would turn me over to the Brotherhood on my twenty-first birthday.

I was kept away from the outside world so I could one day be sold to the highest bidder—pure and unsullied. Penance for my parents’ alleged crimes.

That’s how I come to be sold at an auction.

And who buys me but the reclusive billionaire, Lincoln Knight?

Some say that he’s a monster, more dangerous than any of the evil men from the Brotherhood. That he wears a mask to cover his scars. But I believe he’s hiding more than just his face behind his mask.

My fate is sealed when he takes me to his crumbling mansion deep in the woods. I’m trapped. Entirely at his mercy.

I have to escape.

But something here isn’t what it seems.

Lincoln isn’t what he seems. Maybe he’s not a monster at all. I’m drawn to him in a way that I can’t explain. Until I discover that his secrets go far beyond his mask.

He’s everything I’ve been taught to fear, but what if everything I’ve ever known has been a lie?

Love and Other Side Effects by: Deidra Duncan

Love and Other Side Effects
Author: Deidra Duncan
Published: April 2026
Publisher: Mira
Format: ARC eBook/ARC Audiobook
Pages: 400
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
Asher Foley is an imposter. Or rather, he feels that way sometimes. The "MD" after his name should mean he's got his life together, that people take him seriously, but as a lover of practical jokes, he can't shake the feeling he'll never lose his reputation as a jokester.

Jocelyn Maddox is a paradox - a confident, affectionate woman who refuses to love. After losing almost everyone she loves to tragedy, she's unwilling to open her heart and risk being hurt again. An anesthesiologist with zero pain tolerance. Who'd have thought? But that's why Asher's the perfect best friend. He's far too lighthearted to be a threat to her walls.

When a surgical complication compels Asher to confide his insecurities to Joss, she uncovers a whole new side to him. A deeper, more fascinating side. In soothing him through his self-doubt, Joss realizes Asher has struck a crack in her walls. With a storm brewing in the Caribbean and their friendship evolving into something else, she must face her demons head on, but the fortress around her heart may be too sturdy for even a hurricane to break.

Love Overboard by: Kandi Steiner

Love Overboard
Author: Kandi Steiner
Published: April 2026
Publisher: Arndell
Pages: 444
Format: ARC eBook/ Paperback
Rating: 5/5
Summary:

Ember Reed is finally living her chief stew on a Mediterranean superyacht, sun-kissed days at sea, and the star of Close Quarters, the hottest new reality TV show. But just as she finds her stride, the producers throw her a curveball—by hiring the one man who nearly sank her.

Finn Pearson was the one that got away. The boy who kissed her like they had forever, then left without a word. But now he’s the chef in her new crew, and the cameras are watching their every move, innocent, or not.

Even on a superyacht, there's nowhere to hide from the past. Every stolen glance, every whispered argument, every lingering memory threatens to ignite what never fully burned out. And as the tension spills into their day jobs, even the dinner service is spiralling into disaster.

They’ve crashed before… but could eight weeks at sea be their second chance to get it right? Or will it be the storm that finally sinks them for good?

Come What May by: Corinne Michaels

Come What May (Ember Falls #4)
Author: Corinne Michaels
Published: January 2026
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Format: ARC eBook/Paperback
Pages: 336
Rating: 5/5
Summary:

Sleeping with your client is bad, but what I did is even worse.

When I’m sent to Ember Falls to handle a PR nightmare, I have no idea I am creating a crisis of my own. Killian Thorn is everything I know to resist—older, rugged and handsome with mesmerizing green eyes and a wicked smile—which is why instead of running from him, I end up in his bed.

Forced to work together, our stolen kisses are the least of our worries because the scandal on Killian’s ranch continues to grow.

My job is to fix the issue, but our secret is only making it worse.

My best friend convinces me that being with my client isn’t really such a faux pas. In fact, she thinks I should go for it since I’ve always guarded my heart.

Trouble is, neither of us realize we’re talking about her dad.

Tell Me Softly by: Mercedes Ron

Tell Me Softly (Dímelo #1)
Author: Mercedes Ron
Published: September 2025 (First published Jan 2020)
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: ARC Paperback/Audio
Pages: 272
Rating: 4/5
Summary:
From New York Times bestselling author and Wattpad sensation Mercedes Ron comes the English translation of the first in the Tell Me series, where Kamila Hamilton is caught between the two Di Bianco brothers after they burst back into her life.