I’m back this week with more Christmas romances and some bestsellers that have been on my TBR for awhile. There is also some other goodies that I found and the synopsis sounded interesting. As always, I will be sharing the current price of each book and if you click on the cover it will take you directly to Amazon where you can purchase it using my affiliate link. If you purchase using this link I may make a small commission 🙂

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Life at its simplest is still complicated. 

Reid Bowen is her brother’s best friend and the biggest womanizer on campus. She has no business wanting him. 

Sienna Parker is forbidden and the sweetest fruit he can never taste. But if he can’t have her, no one can. 

Forced together by a road trip home, it will not only test their patience, but also their resolve to stay away from each other. 

Bound by their past, it’s the complicated that changes their lives.

Complicate Me is book one in the HH duet series. A two-part, angst-filled, slow-burn epic love story. Reid and Sienna’s story culminates in book two Complete Me.

Ten years ago, I was the geek with too many ideas and one girl I wanted forever. A billion dollars later, and one night with a soft body is as close to forever as I get. It’s all I want. Or it was. I never thought I’d see her again…

I never thought I’d see her again
Let alone find her in the same spot I left her ten years ago, teaching at the high school where we fell in love.

I should have kept walking
But I wanted that laugh. That smile.
I wanted five minutes before I got back to the life with no room for my past.

One kiss was all I meant to take
But then her fingers were in my hair, her breath hot against my lips.
My hands… everywhere.

Now I want more
I want her, but she only wants the guy I used to be.
And just like the first time… I can’t stay, and she won’t leave.

Jingle your bells this holiday season with a special festive romance bundle from USA Today bestselling author, Lila Monroe!

In SNOWED IN WITH THE BILLIONAIRE, an event planner finds that a sexy rockstar client plus an unexpected blizzard equals a very private party… for two!

In CHRISTMAS WITH THE BILLIONAIRE, wannabe-actress Jill winds up playing girlfriend when she’s stranded with arrogantly hot producer Oliver. But will their romance last when the snow starts melting?

Nobody does Christmas like Miranda Hamilton, and now that she finally has her chance to chair Magnolia Bay’s tree lighting and the cotillion, which benefits her late mother’s breast cancer foundation, this Christmas is shaping up to be the best ever. That is until her childhood nemesis Logan Mauldin buys his way on her committee and starts making plans of his own. 

Logan Mauldin loves to get under Miranda’s very sexy skin, and it’s only fair. She’s been getting under his since long before their first kiss at 13. Logan’s the last man interested in co-chairing a Christmas committee or participating in a sexy bachelor auction, but since that night he interrupted Miranda on a date and cornered her under the mistletoe, he can’t stop thinking about her. Or vying for her attention and bugging the hell out of her. 

Christmas cheer isn’t the only thing that heats up between the Miranda and Logan, but, thanks to a lie that is as much her fault as it is his, he loses the woman he’s loved since forever. Logan will need a Christmas miracle for Miranda to forgive him. A grand gesture to melt her heart and win her back just in time for Christmas. 

Erin Price moves to Eagle Falls a place where everyone knows everyone as well as everyone else’s business, taking over the store left to her by her aunt to start up a gluten-free bakery. The grand opening is marred by just one thing, the death of her business rival, Angela Plaint. It appears that Angela was poisoned by one of Erin’s cupcakes, making her a prime suspect. 

Equipped with cupcakes, her desire for the truth, and new bakery assistant Vicky’s help, Erin goes head-to-head against Detective Terry Piper to solve the murder. Rumors of treasure hunting, drug dealing, and a missing boy swirl around Eagle Falls as Erin tries to sort the clues from the red herrings and find the killer before the killer can take care of her. 

A contemporary love triangle romance in the Wild Men series. 

Leleila 

Brayden Wild was my first kiss. The Montana football star with the cowboy boots and sexy tattoo. He salvaged my heart from a bad choice I wish I never made, on a night I wish I could forget. 

But that was twelve years ago. And since then, I’ve been wise enough to play it safe. Certain. Risk-free. 

Until I go to the store and spill granola all over…Brayden Wild. He’s still rocking a wild mess of blond hair. He’s still sexy as hell. 

My smooth reaction? I trip and fall on him. And then I run off like a frightened deer. 

Because I still WANT him. 

But I’m getting married in a month. 

Brayden 

Leleila Wills. The bookish, teenage girl with the sad, beautiful eyes and killer body who electrified me at first sight—is now a grown woman living here in Mountainview. I finally know her name. I finally have a second chance to ask her out. But I can’t. 

Because I DON’T go after women who are taken. Ever. 

I try to focus on coaching my football team and on taking care of things at the ranch. So why can’t I get her the hell out of my head? 

I tell myself it’s because she needs a friend. I mean, what kind of tool stands up his wife-to-be before their wedding dance class? But the truth is… 

I like Leleila’s awkward, quirky personality. And I can’t deny how my body’s on fire whenever she’s nearby. 

I’ve got one month to get to know her the way I wanted to twelve years ago, even if it’s only as her friend. That will have to be enough. 

So what the hell will I do if it’s not?

Indulge in two delicious holiday novellas from Lauren Blakely!
Special Delivery…

All I want for Christmas is the secret potion that’ll help me resist my brother’s new business partner. You know, the super hot, super sweet, super smart guy I now have to plan the holiday party with.
I mean, really. Who thought THAT was a good idea?
Oh, me. Yep, brilliant, strategic me who raised her hand and said yes I’d love to hang mistletoe with that sexy former sports star. I’d love to taste test spiked hot chocolate with that charming, flirty man. I’d love to get snowed in with the one guy I shouldn’t fall for.
As long as I can make it through the holidays I’ll be on my merry way, fa la la la la. But the holidays have a surprise for me.
…
Nobody Does It Better…

Some women are just forbidden.
Like—off the top of my head—MY SISTER’S LIFE-LONG BEST FRIEND.
Sis has made it patently clear that Vanessa is hands-off, as in keep my ladies’ man paws far away from her clever, go-getter best friend who’s ready for the real deal. That should be an easy guideline to follow, except Vanessa is deliciously flirty, easy to talk to, and laughs at my jokes. Translation – my libido has been craving her many, many years. So many that we might have stolen a kiss or two.
Can you say pent-up, crazy, raw desire?
That’s exactly what we’re both feeling when the storm of the century hits and it’s 10 inches of snow with Vanessa and me trapped in a cabin all night long…
The trouble is—Vanessa isn’t interested in my playboy ways, and I have one night to convince her that I’m the real deal.


$0.99

Residential-home caterer Connie has had one online-dating disaster too many. Hurt in the past and with her son to consider, now she’s feeling hesitant. Then one of Connie’s residents sets her up on a date at a beautiful German Christmas market – with the promise she’ll take a mini-bus full of pensioners along with her…

Amongst the twinkling lights and smell of warm gingerbread in the old market square, Connie heads off on her date with a checklist of potential partner must-haves. Baker Henrich ticks all the boxes, but when Connie meets Henrich’s rival William, she starts to wonder if ticking boxes is the answer.

Will Connie’s wish for love this Christmas come true, and if so – with who?

Penelope Carter has won the “wild child” award for years. Determined to bring joy instead of irritation over the holidays, she’s arrived at River Rock to stay at her cousins brewery during the holidays, ready to earn her way off the naughty list. But when a few too many Christmas cocktails and a devilishly sexy cop from her past derail her plans, the nice list looks unreachable. 

The last time Darryl Wilson saw Penelope, he was seventeen years old and had given her a hot first kiss. Ten years later, Penelope is a sweet distraction after his divorce, but she’s also the sexiest trouble he’s ever known. And when she becomes his trouble during the Christmas festivities that are meant to lead to his long-awaited promotion, he realizes that Christmas is about to get complicated.  

But holiday wishes are sweeping through the snowy small town in Colorado, and if Darryl and Penelope survive the season, they’ll see a little bit naughty is more than a little bit nice. And this Christmas might be the best one of all.

Joanne Haynes has a secret: that is not her real name. 

And there’s more. Her flat’s not hers. Her cats aren’t hers. Even her hair isn’t really hers.
 
Nor is she any of the other women she pretends to be. Not the bestselling romance novelist who gets her morning snack from the doughnut van on the seafront. Nor the pregnant woman in the dental surgery. Nor the chemo patient in the supermarket for whom the cashier feels ever so sorry. They’re all just alibis.
 
In fact, the only thing that’s real about Joanne is that nobody can know who she really is.
 
But someone has got too close. It looks like her alibis have begun to run out….

A new stand alone enemies-to-lovers romance by USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde…

I spent six weeks screwing Austin Wright’s brains out and all I got was this broken heart.

He can’t be trusted. Not with my body or my heart. Yet, two years have passed and I still crave him like an addict needing a fix.

The last time we tried this, it nearly ruined me. I know I should run and never look back. But his dark haunted eyes and razor blade smile speak to my soul. His touch sets my body on fire. And we all know what happens when you light gasoline. Someone is bound to get burned.

A second chance might destroy us both.

Because everyone knows two wrongs don’t make a Wright.

My baby girl, I’ll never forget you – your smile, your laugh, the way your hair sparkles in the sun. I cannot comprehend this pain. I cannot breathe through it.

In the middle of the night, Claire wakes up to discover that her beloved daughter, Julia, is dead – and life, as she knows it, is over.

Searching for answers, Claire stumbles upon a pile of letters, hidden under Julia’s bed in an old, battered shoebox, and feels closer to her daughter than ever before. They tell her that Julia was happy, that she was thriving at university, that she was in love. 

But as the letters go on, Claire starts to feel uneasy at something hidden between the lines. Even as she grieves, she must prepare to face a shocking discovery. Because Julia was hiding a terrible secret – and when it’s uncovered, it will devastate a family already torn apart by tragedy.

An emotional, twisty and gripping page turner that will stay with you long after you finish the last page. Perfect for fans of Kerry Fisher, Lisa Wingate and Jodi Picoult

$1.99

Keiko Furukura had always been considered a strange child, and her parents always worried how she would get on in the real world, so when she takes on a job in a convenience store while at university, they are delighted for her. For her part, in the convenience store she finds a predictable world mandated by the store manual, which dictates how the workers should act and what they should say, and she copies her coworkers’ style of dress and speech patterns so that she can play the part of a normal person. However, eighteen years later, at age 36, she is still in the same job, has never had a boyfriend, and has only few friends. She feels comfortable in her life, but is aware that she is not living up to society’s expectations and causing her family to worry about her. When a similarly alienated but cynical and bitter young man comes to work in the store, he will upset Keiko’s contented stasis—but will it be for the better?

Sayaka Murata brilliantly captures the atmosphere of the familiar convenience store that is so much part of life in Japan. With some laugh-out-loud moments prompted by the disconnect between Keiko’s thoughts and those of the people around her, she provides a sharp look at Japanese society and the pressure to conform, as well as penetrating insights into the female mind. Convenience Store Woman is a fresh, charming portrait of an unforgettable heroine that recalls Banana Yoshimoto, Han Kang, and Amélie.

An extraordinary debut novel, Freshwater explores the surreal experience of having a fractured self. It centers around a young Nigerian woman, Ada, who develops separate selves within her as a result of being born “with one foot on the other side.” Unsettling, heartwrenching, dark, and powerful, Freshwater is a sharp evocation of a rare way of experiencing the world, one that illuminates how we all construct our identities.

Ada begins her life in the south of Nigeria as a troubled baby and a source of deep concern to her family. Her parents, Saul and Saachi, successfully prayed her into existence, but as she grows into a volatile and splintered child, it becomes clear that something went terribly awry. When Ada comes of age and moves to America for college, the group of selves within her grows in power and agency. A traumatic assault leads to a crystallization of her alternate selves: Asụghara and Saint Vincent. As Ada fades into the background of her own mind and these selves–now protective, now hedonistic–move into control, Ada’s life spirals in a dark and dangerous direction.

Narrated by the various selves within Ada and based in the author’s realities, Freshwater dazzles with ferocious energy and serpentine grace, heralding the arrival of a fierce new literary voice.

$2.99

At thirty, Claudia’s life is stale and the romance with long-term boyfriend, Seth, has disappeared. Determined to inject some festive spark back into their love life, Claudia and Seth go on their first date in a very long time. But when the night ends in disaster, Claudia suddenly finds herself facing life – and Christmas – alone.

Life alone is exciting, scary and full of soon-forgotten exercise regimes and ill-advised attempts at crafting sexy underwear. It’s also filling up with dates, surprisingly. With best friends Penny and Nick at her side, a surplus of festive markets, mulled wine and Christmas tunes, Claudia attempts to face all this change with gusto. One thing’s for certain: this year, Christmas is going to be very different . . .

This is the story of Claudia and her twelve dates of Christmas. Hilarious, uplifting and romantic, it’s a story about losing love, finding love, and discovering what’s been there all along. Expect Christmas sparkle, butterflies-in-your-stomach romance and a lot of very funny moments in The Twelve Dates of Christmas.

Two brothers meet at the remote fence line separating their cattle ranches in the lonely outback. In an isolated belt of Queensland, they are each other’s nearest neighbor, their homes four hours’ drive apart.

The third brother lies dead at their feet.

Something caused Cam, the middle child who had been in charge of the family homestead, to die alone in the middle of nowhere. 

So the eldest brother returns with his younger sibling to the family property and those left behind. But the fragile balance of the ranch is threatened. Amidst the grief, suspicion starts to take hold, and the eldest brother begins to wonder if more than one among them is at risk of crumbling as the weight of isolation bears down on them all.

Five women reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking along a muddy track.
Only four come out on the other side. 
The hike through the rugged Giralang Ranges is meant to take the office colleagues out of their air-conditioned comfort zone and encourage teamwork and resilience. At least, that’s what the corporate retreat website advertises.
Federal Police investigator Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker, Alice Russell. Because Alice knew secrets, about the company she worked for and the people she worked with.
The four returning women tell Falk a tale of fear, violence and fractured trust during their days in the remote Australian bushland. And as Falk delves into the disappearance of Alice, he begins to suspect some dangers ran far deeper than anyone knew.

A biting satire about a young man’s isolated upbringing and the race trial that sends him to the Supreme Court, Paul Beatty’s The Sellout showcases a comic genius at the top of his game. It challenges the sacred tenets of the United States Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement, the father-son relationship, and the holy grail of racial equality―the black Chinese restaurant.

Born in the “agrarian ghetto” of Dickens―on the southern outskirts of Los Angeles―the narrator of The Sellout resigns himself to the fate of lower-middle-class Californians: “I’d die in the same bedroom I’d grown up in, looking up at the cracks in the stucco ceiling that’ve been there since ’68 quake.” Raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, he spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father’s pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family’s financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. All that’s left is the bill for a drive-thru funeral.

Fueled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens has literally been removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town’s most famous resident―the last surviving Little Rascal, Hominy Jenkins―he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.

In a ruined, nameless city of the future, a woman named Rachel, who makes her living as a scavenger, finds a creature she names “Borne” entangled in the fur of Mord, a gigantic, despotic bear. Mord once prowled the corridors of the biotech organization known as the Company, which lies at the outskirts of the city, until he was experimented on, grew large, learned to fly and broke free. Driven insane by his torture at the Company, Mord terrorizes the city even as he provides sustenance for scavengers like Rachel.

At first, Borne looks like nothing at all—just a green lump that might be a Company discard. The Company, although severely damaged, is rumoured to still make creatures and send them to distant places that have not yet suffered Collapse.

Borne somehow reminds Rachel of the island nation of her birth, now long lost to rising seas. She feels an attachment she resents; attachments are traps, and in this world any weakness can kill you. Yet when she takes Borne to her subterranean sanctuary, the Balcony Cliffs, Rachel convinces her lover, Wick, not to render Borne down to raw genetic material for the drugs he sells—she cannot break that bond.

Wick is a special kind of supplier, because the drug dealers in the city don’t sell the usual things. They sell tiny creatures that can be swallowed or stuck in the ear, and that release powerful memories of other people’s happier times or pull out forgotten memories from the user’s own mind—or just produce beautiful visions that provide escape from the barren, craterous landscapes of the city.

Against his better judgment, out of affection for Rachel or perhaps some other impulse, Wick respects her decision. Rachel, meanwhile, despite her loyalty to Wick, knows he has kept secrets from her. Searching his apartment, she finds a burnt, unreadable journal titled “Mord,” a cryptic reference to the Magician (a rival drug dealer) and evidence that Wick has planned the layout of the Balcony Cliffs to match the blueprint of the Company building. What is he hiding? Why won’t he tell her about what happened when he worked for the Company?

Are you ready to fall in love under the mistletoe?

Join fourteen bestselling authors as they take you back to some of their favorite worlds, with this collection of all-new young and new adult short stories.

‘Tis the season for friendship, family, first love, and FEELS.

In The Aeneid, Vergil’s hero fights to claim the king’s daughter, Lavinia, with whom he is destined to found an empire. Lavinia herself never speaks a word. Now, Ursula K. Le Guin gives Lavinia a voice in a novel that takes us to the half-wild world of ancient Italy, when Rome was a muddy village near seven hills.

Lavinia grows up knowing nothing but peace and freedom, until suitors come. Her mother wants her to marry handsome, ambitious Turnus. But omens and prophecies spoken by the sacred springs say she must marry a foreigner—that she will be the cause of a bitter war—and that her husband will not live long. When a fleet of Trojan ships sails up the Tiber, Lavinia decides to take her destiny into her own hands. And so she tells us what Vergil did not: the story of her life, and of the love of her life.

Lavinia is a book of passion and war, generous and austerely beautiful, from a writer working at the height of her powers.

$3.99

Welcome back to Willoughby Close, with four new residents and happy endings to deliver…

Olivia James has always been happy running a tea shop and bakery in the Cotswold village of Wychwood-on-Lea, and helping her friends find their happily-ever-afters, topped by the perfect wedding cake. But as Christmas approaches, Olivia is home alone and questioning her choices while eating too many of her own specialty confections.

When Simon Blacklock, a handsome, whimsical stranger, breezes into her shop and buys a cupcake and then returns the next day and the day after, Olivia begins to dream. Can romance blossom amidst the sugar and flour? And after a lifetime of living on the side lines, is she brave enough to star in her own story?

Simon may be hiding a painful secret, but Olivia harbors secrets of her own. If they can dare to risk their hearts, this Christmas might be the most magical yet!

Tia never harmed anyone. So why does someone want to destroy her?

Tia is walking home with her children, along the lakeside of their quiet, safe town, when she realises something is wrong with her five-year-old daughter, Rosie. She seems troubled, not at all her usual happy self.

But when Tia finally coaxes Rosie to open up, she wishes she hadn’t. Because her sweet daughter asks a question Tia never thought she’d hear.

‘Mummy, why did you kill someone?’

Tia knows how rumours spread around her small town. She just can’t understand who would have shared such a horrible story. Or why.

It can’t have anything to do with what happened. Only her two best friends really remember that…

Tia thought she could trust Fiona and Kelly with her life. They’ve been through so much together. But when she’s sent photos of herself that could tear her whole world apart, she starts to wonder. Someone is determined to punish her. But who? And will her friends stand by her, or will the past destroy all of their lives?

From the million-copy-bestselling author of The Secret Mother and The Perfect Family, this absolutely addictive psychological thriller is guaranteed to make you gasp. If you loved Gone Girl, The Girl on the Train and Big Little Lies this book is for you.

$4.99

Emily thought she was leaving her money troubles behind when she inherited an old house from her great aunt who went missing the previous year. 
When she and her husband Jesse arrive at the house, they discover Aunt Matilda was murdered–and the culprit is still at large. Guided by the ghosts of Matilda and the orphans she raised, Emily and Jesse must catch the criminal and save themselves before it’s too late.

$6.99

A delightful holiday romance about a small-town single dad and an animal rescue owner as they try to find forever homes for a dozen lovable pups before Christmas.

Pine Hollow has everything Ally Gilmore could wish for in a holiday break: gently falling snow in a charming small town and time with her family. Then she learns some Grinch has pulled the funding for her family’s rescue shelter, and now she has only four weeks to find new homes for a dozen dogs! But when she confronts her Scroogey councilman nemesis, Ally finds he’s far more reasonable — and handsome — than she ever expected.

As the guardian of his dog-obsessed ten-year-old niece, Ben West doesn’t have time to build a cuddly reputation. But he does feel guilty about the shelter closing. So he proposes a truce with Ally, agreeing to help her adopt out the pups. As the two spend more time together, the town’s gossip is spreading faster than Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve. And soon Ben is hoping he can convince Ally that Pine Hollow is her home for the holidays. . . and the whole year through. 

$7.99

Mystery crime fiction written in the Golden Age of Murder

Horniman, Birley and Craine is a highly respected legal firm with clients drawn from the highest in the land. When a deed box in the office is opened to reveal a corpse, the threat of scandal promises to wreak havoc on the firm’s reputation—especially as the murder looks like an inside job. The partners and staff of the firm keep a watchful and suspicious eye on their colleagues, as Inspector Hazlerigg sets out to solve the mystery of who Mr. Smallbone was—and why he had to die.

Written with style, pace, and wit, this is a masterpiece by one of the finest writers of traditional British crime novels since the Second World War.

~Cassie