Her hockey star ex. A snowy cabin escape. A fake dating scheme to fool their families.
Carson
A family tragedy caused Ayla and I to stop skating in the same direction. I’m burying my head in hockey practice and finding my way back to myself. Now she wants me to pretend we never fell apart for one snowy weekend in the mountains. I tell myself it’s just a favor. But sharing a cabin with the woman I once called home? That’s dangerous ice.
Ayla
Carson and I loved each other, but grief rewrote the rules, and neither of us knew how to play anymore. However, our relationship status isn’t public knowledge and I need him to help keep the illusion intact. Just temporarily for my Nonna’s birthday. Pretending brings back the easy banter, the familiar heat, the moments that once made us a team. The problem? None of it feels fake. But can we get past this one weekend and confront what we have been too scared to talk about and maybe find our way back to each other?
Wrangling lumberjacks for Star Lake’s Fall Fest has wedding and event planner Annabelle Franklin ready to saw some serious wood. When her best friend suggests a staycation, she’s all in. Too bad the cabin she books is already occupied—by a brawny Scot who just won’t budge.
The good news? Callum “Maverick” McBride has abs to spare and a voice that could fell trees (and drop panties). Did I mention he owns two kilts? Recuperating from surgery, the Arizona linebacker just wants privacy. And since he was there first, he refuses to give an inch.
As sparks start melting the ice between them, they concede to sharing the cabin. But after crashing a wedding—and waking up hungover with matching gold rings—any boundaries established are quickly forgotten.
Turns out Annabelle and Callum’s marriage is legit. And fate has another wee surprise in store. They discover that sometimes the best mistakes in life are the ones you choose to keep.
In his world, power isn’t negotiated—it’s taken. Kept. Owned.
I learned that too late. Men like him don’t see women the way others do. They see leverage. Risk. Weakness. And somehow, I became all three.
Years ago, I closed a door he intended to walk through without resistance. Cost him ground he doesn’t lose. I told myself it was business. It wasn’t. Now his company owns Prescott Vantage, and his condition is simple: I stay.
I should walk away. I should know better. But walking away from men like him isn’t simple—it’s dangerous. He watches me like I’m a problem he’s already solved. Like he knows my routines. My tells. The exact moment my control slips.
I tell myself I can handle him. That staying is strategy. Survival. But the longer I’m here, the clearer it becomes.
I’m not managing him. I’m contained by him. He isn’t losing interest. He’s closing in. And the worst part? I think I was marked long before I ever realized I was his.
When Jenna’s husband fails to return from work one evening, she’s painfully aware what it might mean. Yet another woman.
This time, though, Jenna won’t sit and wait for Joel to come back to her. It’s the summer holidays and she wants to make sure her seven-year-old twins have fun. So, they head for the beautiful coastal village of Kelsea Sands, where her mum’s thrilled to have them stay.
At the village’s North Star inn, Sam is struggling with his reclusive father, pub landlord Seb, and is short-staffed for the summer. Jenna steps in; working evenings at the inn is the distraction she needs right now.
As the summer passes, Jenna opens up to Sam about her marriage, while he shares his own worries. With the twins gently working their magic on the grieving Seb, Jenna and Sam grow ever closer. But Joel hasn’t finished with her yet…
Life at the Seahaven Bay Retreat is flourishing, but Rita Jory’s second chance at happiness is about to face its biggest test yet. When Jago’s glamorous French ex-wife appears on the doorstep with a five-year-old daughter in tow, their blossoming relationship hangs by a thread.
Between juggling retreat guests seeking healing, her daughter Sennen’s desperate need for a last-minute wedding venue, and dealing with Elodie’s impossible demands, Rita’s already stretched to breaking point.
Then some very unexpected news forces her to reconsider everything she thought she wanted. But can she trust Jago with her secret, and embrace the new life ahead?
Rita must decide whether to protect her heart or fight for her future.
Her daughter has just flown the nest and her pensioner mum has dived headlong into internet dating – can Hattie hold on to her sanity?
Hattie is a 47-year-old mother whose daughter, Layla, is just about to head off to university. She’s not coping terribly well (Hattie that is – Layla seems to be coping admirably),bursting into tears at the drop of a hat.
To add to the angst, Hattie’s mother, Meredith, has started online dating -unfortunately it’s Hattie who has to pick up the pieces when it all goes wrong.
With everyone around her starting new adventures, is it time for Hattie to find one of her own?
The Life I Didn’t Plan By Charlotte Butterfield
Beth didn’t expect to get pregnant at seventeen.
Nor did she think she’d lose the name and address of the father of her child. Swept up in romance on her French exchange, all she remembers is that his hair smelt like mangoes.
Now, in 2026, at her school reunion, she opens the time capsule she wrote to herself at that time. Inside she finds a letter that alters everything Beth thought she knew about her past, and provides an all important clue for finding the father of her 19-year-old daughter, Maisie.
Hit hard by the difference between the life she hoped for and the one she’s living, Beth is faced with a choice: chase the adventures she once dreamed of, or embrace the new opportunities life presents?
Big Apple Farm By Megan Clawson
Beatrice Norton is a country girl. Working on a farm by day and pulling pints at the Big Apple pub by night, her simple life suits her just fine.
Arthur Redgrave is city boy. Raised in luxury by acting royalty, he dreams of conquering the Big Apple – New York – and isn’t afraid to trade off his parents’ name to get there.
But fed up with his entitled attitude, his parents ship him off to his dad’s childhood farm for a reality check. Tasked with showing Arthur the ropes, Beatrice finds herself stuck with man who can’t tell a pitchfork from a salad fork.
Despite their efforts to remain at odds, Arthur finds himself respecting the straight-talking farm girl and Beatrice wonders whether there’s more beneath his polished (and handsome) exterior. Can love bridge the gap between rural roots and big-city dreams, or will their hearts remain worlds apart?
StormClouds Ahead For The Village Midwife By Tilly Tennant
As the sun crests the indigo Lake District hills and blossom froths in the trees, midwife Zoe Padbury reaches for her boyfriend’s hand. Her life, at this moment, feels perfect. She has no idea of the storm clouds that lie ahead…
The villagers of Thimblebury know that midwife Zoe Padbury loves babies and now that she’s settled at Hilltop Farm with her boyfriend Alex, they can’t resist wondering when she’s going to start a family of her own. Yet it doesn’t feel like quite the right time. Alex is so busy and Zoe has her hands full with all her new mums to look after. Still, she has hopes for the future…
But what she doesn’t expect is to walk into her cosy kitchen and find Alex’s glamorous ex-girlfriend sitting at the scrubbed pine kitchen table. Virginia claims to be helping Alex with work but as she looks Zoe up and down and offers her a perfectly manicured hand to shake, Zoe can’t ignore a shiver of foreboding. What will this mean for her and Alex?
Zoe tries to quash the pangs of jealousy that wash over her, but with Virginia around what feels like all hours of the day, she and Alex end up in a devastating argument. And when she receives some news that changes everything, she doesn’t know if she can share her troubles… Can they find their way back to each other? Or will these storm clouds break their bond forever?
The Perkins family has problems. They’re scattered across the globe. Lee, a glamorous reality-TV star, is struggling with her mental health in the spotlight. Regan, her younger sister, has fallen for a romance scammer. Cord, their charming brother, is one drink away from losing it all. And their mother, Charlotte, still longs for the love she let slip away a decade ago, a lover who sailed off with her heart to a remote island in Greece.
When Regan disappears, Lee flies first-class to Athens to save her family—again. There, against the glittering Mediterranean and the shadow of the Acropolis, Lee contends with emotional nieces, relentless paparazzi, and her own fragile heart. Lee is desperately searching—for her sister, and for the hope and joy she thought was gone forever.
Across continents and crises, each member of the Perkins family must face the same question: is it ever too late to choose love?
The Scottish Island Inn By Kennedy Kerr
The Balhennie Inn is surrounded by heather-strewn mountains, with breathtaking views across the wild blue loch. But the cosy B&B is in trouble, and the only woman who can save it left without looking back years ago. Sorrel Balhennie will need to confront her past if the inn has any hope of a future…
The Balhennie family raised their six daughters on the Isle of Skye amongst early breakfast services and fully booked summers. Their inn is never short of gossip – and when eldest daughter Sorrel turns up for the first time in ten years, the island rumour mill begins.
Always the one left to corral her younger siblings, resourceful Sorrel now runs her own successful property business on the mainland. She throws herself into the repairs, praying her curious sisters will stop asking about the real reason she left home…
But Sorrell didn’t count on brooding, blue-eyed Tam Blackwood – the man she thought was her forever – supervising the works. Now they’re thrown together again, Sorrel realises just how much she’s missed him.
And with her secret in danger of tearing her family apart for good, only Tam has a plan to fix the inn and heal the rift between the Balhennie sisters. With his help, can Sorrel finally open up? Or will the inn close its doors forever?
As San Francisco’s top divorce attorney, Justine should know. She’s freed hundreds of couples from their shackles, so she knows better than to fall into that trap.
Until her grandmother hits a hot bicyclist with her car.
When everyone mistakes the victim, Pax, for her boyfriend, Justine does what any lawyer with a healthy fear of liability would do: she proposes a temporary marriage in exchange for a donation to Pax’s collapsing animal shelter. Not only is her grandmother protected, but her bosses have practically promised Justine the senior partner position she covets – if she’s married.
Six months of marriage, just until her promotion is secure, should be easy. But Pax, with his gorgeous face and to-swoon-for physique, is anything but easy to resist. Especially when the for-pretend kisses start to feel genuine and when he starts to throw around the phrase that makes her shiver – “my wife.”
Real feelings in a sham marriage are anything but convenient.
She knows better than to fall for another football player – especially her brother’s best friend…
As a single mother, Annie Quinn knows she should steer clear of football players, if her son’s absent father is anything to go by. Determined to prove she can raise Nelson on her own, she’s decided to go back to school. There’s just one problem: she refuses to rely on her brother Colton for rides into the city.
Tanner Pace has always known Annie Quinn is strictly off limits. Colton is his teammate and best friend, so she’s more like a sister. When he offers to teach her to drive, it’s just to help out a friend. At least, that’s what he tells himself. Because these days, Annie has transformed into a strong and independent woman – one he can’t seem to stay away from.
Somewhere between unpredictable drives and slow Texas sunsets, sparks fly and Annie forgets why she decided never to trust a sports star again.
As much as Tanner wants something to happen, he knows it can’t. Annie is his best friend’s sister. Completely, undeniably out of bounds… but are some rules meant to be broken?
The Grump I Married By Leslie North
Working for Weston Kincaid should come with hazard pay—and maybe a therapist on retainer.The man is a corporate glacier in a designer suit—arrogant, ice cold, and allergic to anything resembling a work-life balance. As his assistant, I basically run his empire, his schedule, and his caffeine supply. Holidays included.
Then his grandfather’s will drops a nuclear-level twist: Weston must get married ASAP to inherit a jaw-dropping Scottish estate straight out of a Highland fairy tale. Who does he choose?
Me.
Qualifications: female, breathing, knows his coffee order. Romance isn’t just dead—Weston buried it six feet under and salted the earth. I quit. Then flee to a café to rage-call my bestie—only to discover (too late) that Weston’s psycho ex is in the booth behind me, listening like she bought tickets.Within hours, every woman who might’ve considered him refuses to touch him—even for a castle.
Oops. My bad.
Cornered, Weston offers me a deal: so much money my bank app would crash, a chance to chase my dream, and (best of all) time away from the biggest bosshole on Earth. All I have to do is live in the Highlands as his wife for a couple months. And I don’t know whether it’s exhaustion or insanity, but I say yes. Naturally, the universe has jokes, because somewhere between the airport and the castle, my brain decided to develop a crush on Satan in a suit.
A Perfect Summer In Starshine Cove By Debbie Johnson
Suzie has always been the wild one. While her siblings settled happily into village life, she roamed the world – chasing adventures, collecting stories and running from that horrible day, sixteen years ago. But when it’s finally time to return to the tiny Dorset village of Starshine Cove, Suzie must face everything – and everyone – she left behind.
There’s her dad George, still the beloved heart of the village at almost ninety. Her sister-in-law Connie, who runs the irresistible Cove Café, where the scent of sugar and vanilla drifts on the sea breeze and the red velvet cake is to die for. And then there’s Guy, a brooding stranger with secrets of his own who arrives in the village on the very same day…
As the summer unfolds and old wounds begin to heal, Suzie discovers that sometimes the bravest adventure isn’t running away – it’s finally coming home.
My Sanctuary 