Romance
April 2026

Recent Releases
West of Wicked by Nikki St Crowe
West of Wicked
by Nikki St Crowe

No one is safe on the Yellow Brick Road. Dorothy Gale doesn't know where she came from. At the age of five, she was dropped on Em and Henry's doorstep while a terrible storm rolled across the Kansas prairie. Now as an adult, Dorothy has made the most of her life on the farm. But when a cyclone tears through the night, ripping her, her dog, and the farmhouse away, Dorothy wakes to find herself far from home in the strange, cursed land of Oz. Desperate to find her way back, Dorothy takes the advice of the Witch of the North and sets off on the yellow brick road to find a wizard...with a warning to avoid forest monsters, heartless mercenaries, and wicked witches. It isn't long before Dorothy encounters the dark side of Oz, stumbling on a man beaten and bloody, tied to a pole in a cornfield. Not unlike the scarecrows on the Kansas farm. With no memories, the mysterious stranger joins Dorothy. Rook is ridiculously handsome, endlessly charming, and somehow understands Dorothy in a way no one ever has. But when they cross paths with the infamous Tinman and his axe, Rook proves he may be hiding his own secrets. Nothing and no one is what they seem in the cursed land of Oz...maybe even Dorothy herself.
Meet Me in Italy by Brenda Novak
Meet Me in Italy
by Brenda Novak

A sun-soaked trip to the Amalfi Coast promises a fresh start--and reveals secrets never imagined in New York Times bestselling author Brenda Novak's tender new novel.In the wake of her debut novel's breakout success--and a very painful public divorce--Charlotte Williams-Jackson has something to prove. With her second novel overdue, she's scrambling to hold it together. But her focus is rocked when she discovers that her childhood wasn't as it seemed--and she has a tween half-sister who's been orphaned in Italy.Alongside her best friend, Sloane, and Sloane's charming brother, Julian, Charlotte ventures to the Amalfi Coast to meet her sister. She would never turn her back on family, especially since this girl doesn't have anyone else, but between her looming deadline and her entire identity being flipped upside down, it's a lot. Determined to rebuild her life, Charlotte must confront the relationships she's held dear--and the loss of those she thought she had but didn't--forcing her to question everything she understood about herself and the bonds that shape a family.More from Brenda Novak: The Summer that Changed Everything The Banned Books Club Tourist Season The Bookstore on the Beach The Messy Life of Jane Tanner
The Sapphire Sea by Davis Bunn
The Sapphire Sea
by Davis Bunn

When it comes to the bittersweet memories of his late mother, Colin Eames is a relatable boy, recalling her tales of a faraway place called the Sapphire Sea where happiness forever is a way of life. Other than that, Colin is different. To Child Services, he is a prodigy to be nurtured. To his classmates, he's an outsider. To his father, a man of political ambitions and unchecked rage, Colin is a trial, defying the narrowed path his father demands. When Colin is accepted into the Outer Banks Academy for the Gifted, it's his chance to slip out from under his father's control, to chart his own course, and to embark on a quest for the one thing that eludes him: love. Understanding himself is a wonder . . . As the years pass and Colin's freedom offers dream opportunities, his yearning to make a connection grows stronger. It's a difficult longing for an awkward teenager for whom the simplest interactions are a mystery. Then he meets Mira, an empathic girl weathering tragic losses of her own. She's there for him, supporting each new step he takes. Even those with Tiana, a history student from Hawaii who ushers Colin into a new world of first kisses, belonging, and trust--far from the confusion and loneliness of his childhood days. For Colin, maybe the promise of the Sapphire Sea wasn't a bedtime story after all, but rather a true and genuine place in the heart--one worth searching and waiting for.
To Cage a Wild Bird (Deluxe Limited Edition): A Fast-Paced Dystopian Romance by Brooke Fast
To Cage a Wild Bird
by Brooke Fast

Enter the brutal world of Endlock, a prison where the wealthy hunt the inmates for sport. In the city of Dividium, the law is simple: commit a crime, and your punishment is a life sentence in Endlock.Raven Thorne is Dividium's most notorious bounty hunter, living on the edge of society. But when her younger brother, Jed, is sentenced to Endlock, Raven will do anything to save him--even if it means getting herself arrested.Now trapped in a prison where danger lurks around every corner, Raven must use all her cunning and strength to protect Jed--and herself if she is to complete her perilous mission. But there's one obstacle she never expected: the prison guard who stirs something deep inside her. The man she should hate. The man whose true motives seem impossible to pin down.In a world where trust is a weapon and love is a liability, Raven must decide if she will risk everything to tear down a vicious system.
No Matter What by Cara Bastone
No Matter What
by Cara Bastone

NATIONAL BESTSELLER - Sometimes love sends you back to the drawing board.After a traumatic accident threatens the foundations of their happy marriage, a couple tries to rebuild and find their way back to each other--and themselves--in this tender, slow-burn romance by the bestselling author of Ready or Not and Promise Me Sunshine. Cara Bastone is an absolute master of tender, emotional, soul-charged love stories.--B.K. Borison, New York Times bestselling author of First-Time Caller Roz and Vin can't look each other in the eyes anymore, let alone share a bed. It's been a year since they survived a life-altering accident, and their marriage hasn't been the same. But Roz has held out hope that they can fix things, until she discovers Vin has signed a new lease. So she does what any soon-to-be-divorced Manhattanite would do: sign up for a figure-drawing class. Between Roz's determined attempts to improve her artistic skills and her adventures with her best friend, Raffi, she can almost ignore Vin's impending move-out date and his footsteps in their previously unoccupied guest room. But it would all be a lot easier if Vin wasn't Raffi's older brother, and if she didn't still find him incredibly, debilitatingly attractive and kind. So kind, in fact, that Vin offers to let Roz draw him. What is she supposed to say? It's probably better than her original plan of finding some random male model online, and she needs all the practice she can get. Plus, that's sure to make a separation easier, right? Focus on every detail of your estranged spouse's body while drawing him in the nude? But after the year they've spent avoiding each other, it feels good to see and be seen by one another again. As Roz works to capture the wholeness of the person she fell in love with, will they both be able to draw upon the feelings they buried deep inside to finally heal together?
The Bookstore Diaries: A Novel of Secrets, Drama and Second Chance Love by Susan Mallery
The Bookstore Diaries: A Novel of Secrets, Drama and Second Chance Love
by Susan Mallery

This summer, the town's juiciest secrets are revealed in New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery's joyful and sparkling new novelJax has a slight issue with control--as in, she needs it. Always. Too bad she has power only over the Painted Lady Bookstore, the Victorian mansion turned bookshop she inherited. No one else listens to a word she says. Her ex gets engaged for questionable reasons. Her beloved sister, Ryleigh, wants to move away to find a husband. And the handsome contractor Jax has chosen to convince Ryleigh to stay is only interested in Jax. Still, she's living the bookworm dream--until an unhappy accident erases the names from the bookshop lockboxes where the town keeps their diaries. Which means the only way to find a diary's owner is...to read it. As secrets spill and scandals surface, life at the Painted Lady Bookstore gets a lot more colorful and chaotic. But for a woman who's always had to take charge, Jax will see that losing control--especially with the right wrong guy--can set you free.Don't miss these other great reads from Susan Mallery: Otherwise Engaged Beach Vibes The Boardwalk Bookshop Once Upon a Holidate One Big Happy Family
Better Than a Duke by Suzanne Enoch
Better Than a Duke
by Suzanne Enoch

It takes more than Cupid to arrange a marriage in this sparkling Regency romcom from New York Times best-selling author Suzanne Enoch, where The Parent Trap crashes into Bridgerton as two precocious children decide to play matchmaker for their unsuspecting single parents. Beckett Raines, the Marquis of Hentrose, needs a wife, and he's resigned to participating in the Season to search for a suitable mother for his young daughter Rebecca. Beckett is determined to wed for practicality rather than love--and he thinks he's found the perfect, proper woman for the job. Instead, he's stunned when his new next door neighbor Iris Silbern bursts into his London home in pursuit of her mischievous son Edmund. Her ferocity, sharp wit, and humor charm him, but she is by no means proper. Meanwhile, Iris' relations are trying to set up a match with a wealthy, elderly duke--an answer to her financial troubles, if not her resistant heart. Rebecca and Edmund have no interest in practical plans, not when the perfect father and mother are right in front of them. With only one Season to summon Cupid, they scheme to bring their parents together. But will Beckett realize how perfect a messy life can be? And will Iris open her heart to a man who may not be a duke, but something even better?
Heir of Illusion
by Madeline Taylor

Enslaved by King Baylor of the Seventh Isle since childhood, wraith assassin Iverson "Ivy" Pomeroy strikes up an unlikely alliance with reaper Killian Blackthorne, hoping she can finally escape. As the pair work together to search for the legendary sword that can set her free, the connection between them grows. Fans of the Dearly Beloathed novels by Brigitte Knightley will enjoy this intricately plotted 1st in the Verran Isles romantasy series.
The Moonlight Runner: A Gripping Historical Novel of Survival and Bravery and Romance Set Against the Irish War of Independence by Karen Robards
The Moonlight Runner
by Karen Robards

In the wake of the Great War, a young woman joins the Irish rebellion and risks everything for her country in this sweeping story of love, bravery and the relentless pursuit of freedom from New York Times bestselling author Karen Robards.Ireland, 1918. In a world brutalized by the Great War and devastated by the Spanish flu, twenty-two-year-old Rynn Carmichael is suddenly pulled into the war of independence when Donal O'Reilly, the boy she has loved for most of her life, takes up gunrunning in support of the rebellion.Raised in a small Irish village on the shores of Donegal Bay, Rynn is working as a nurse in a convalescent home for soldiers wounded in the Great War when she overhears a British officer gloating over the trap that has been set for Irish gunrunners bringing a boat full of smuggled arms ashore. Knowing that Donal must be involved, she rushes out at midnight to warn the incoming boat, only to find herself caught up in a terrifying and tragic series of events that take her from the glittering ballrooms of London to the narrow back alleys of Dublin as she and those she loves fight for their lives and their country.Also from Karen Robards: Some Murders in Berlin The Girl from Guernica The Black Swan of Paris
Don't see what you're looking for in our catalog? You can always make a purchase suggestion, or check our Interlibrary Loan system!
Phillipsburg Free Public Library
200 Broubalow Way
Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865
908-454-3712
http://www.pburglib.org/