What We Knew Then by: Rachel LaBerge

What We Knew Then (Great Lakes U #1)
Author: Rachel LaBerge
Published: July 2026
Publisher: Rachel LaBerge
Format: ARC eBook
Pages: 327
Rating: 4.5/5
Summary:

He should know better. She’s the coach’s daughter.

Lane Maxwell has one season left to prove he’s more than the reputation that followed him from his last school. Transferring to Great Lakes U wasn’t a fresh start—it was his last shot at keeping his NHL dream alive.

Cora Banks has built her life on being the one everyone can count on. Between classes, extra research projects, and doing whatever the Great Lakes U hockey team needs behind the scenes, she keeps everything moving—even when it means there’s nothing left for herself.

She’s always known the don’t get involved with hockey players. Not when your dad is the coach. But Lane keeps showing up… on the ice and behind the scenes. The more time they spend around each other, the harder it is to ignore what’s between them.

Until one reckless moment changes everything.

Suddenly, Lane is back in the same spotlight. Same accusations. Same assumptions. Different college.

Only this time, Cora knows the truth—and how much it will cost to prove it.

WHAT WE KNEW THEN is a college hockey romance with forbidden chemistry, a hero with everything to lose, and consequences neither of them can outrun.

Into the Fading Twilight by: Catherine Cowles

Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove #2)
Author: Catherine Cowles
Published: July 2026
Publisher: Bloom Books
Format: ARC eBook
Pages: 416
Rating: 5/5
Summary:

Kol Archer guards the shadows of his past with unshakable control and rules he never dares to break.

Until her.

She’s the person he least expected. Yet here she is, turning his carefully constructed world upside down. Fairy-winged tea parties with his daughter. Dinners with his family. Moving into the apartment over his garage.

Now, Kol can’t escape her. She’s around every corner, filling the empty spaces inside him with her laughter, stealing his damn flannels, and tempting him to shatter the control he vowed to never lose hold of.

But Kol isn’t the only one transfixed by the new woman in Starlight Grove. Someone else is watching, waiting. And Kol has no choice but to act.

For her, he’ll not only break every rule, he’ll burn down the world to save her…

West of Forever by: Corinne Michaels

West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)
Author: Corinne Michaels
Published: June 2026
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Format: ARC eBook/ALC
Pages: 384
Rating: 5/5
Summary:

Tristan Stone is off limits.

It doesn’t matter that the grumpy, single dad did nothing wrong. He’s a cowboy and his last name means I’m bound by blood to hate him. My family would never be okay with me having feelings for our enemy.

When he stops—in the pouring rain—because I have a flat tire, the last thing I expect is for him to help me.

I do my best to ignore the water sliding off his hat and how he fills out those jeans. My best, however, is not good enough. Each night I close my eyes and dream of a future we can never have. And after he defends me at the bar and we share a magical dance? It only gets worse.

I know I should forget about him, but when I find him alone one night, I offer up a no-strings attached relationship that we both promise to keep secret. Sidelong glances across property lines morph into clandestine meetings under the stars wrapped up in each other’s arms.

Never mind that our families will never approve or that he told me he can never love again, I crave him.

Soon our no feelings agreement is in tatters, and my heart belongs to that broken cowboy. Will he break it or will he defy them all and choose us instead?

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.