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Romance - Updated February 2026
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When a very public breakup becomes a PR nightmare for Ian Chase's team, he hopes to focus on his game, but that suddenly seem less likely than a hat trick. With his career and the team's image in jeopardy, Ian is surprised to find a solution through none other than Delilah Baker, his best friend and teammate's little sister...who isn't so little anymore. Delilah Baker is known as the darling of baking on her local cable show, and being in the public eye is her bread and butter. But with her numbers dwindling and her producers turning up the heat, Delilah offers up the half-baked idea to collaborate with her brother's team to entice the hockey fans of Boston to tune in to her show. Delilah thinks it will be a piece of cake--until the team sends Ian Chase, her brother's best friend and the object of a decade-long crush that she's never quite gotten over. Delilah's and Ian's teams think it's a true win-win situation--gaining higher numbers for Delilah's show and casting Ian in a more positive light. And viewers are eating them up like a cupcake, sparking the idea to play up their relationship for the goal of good press. With more than just their careers on thin ice, the line between what's real and what's for show begins to blur, but one thing's for certain: This PR stunt will either be a total game changer--or leave them both totally pucked.
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The Sea Child by Linda WilgusEngland, early 1800s: Destitute and forced to leave her home in London, Isabel, a young widow of the Napoleonic Wars, returns to the village on the rugged Cornish coast where she was found as a small child, dripping wet and alone. Hoping to learn more about her enigmatic origins, she's shocked to find herself at the center of a local legend claiming that she is the daughter of a sea spirit. As Isabel adjusts to life in her rented cottage, the coast is rife with smugglers and the Revenue Officers who hunt them. One evening, a group of dangerous raiders arrives at her door, carrying their wounded captain, Jack. Remembering her late husband's fatal injuries, Isabel decides to care for Jack and soon feels a powerful connection to him. Even after Jack recovers, Isabel finds herself unable to forget him. Meanwhile, the sea calls to her, and a Revenue Officer who likes to hang smugglers poses a threat in more ways than one. Before long, Isabel finds herself caught on the wrong side of the law, with violence and heartbreak looming. From the coves of Cornwall to the wild coast of Brittany, during perilous raids at sea and society dinner parties, Isabel fights to understand her kinship with the ocean while seeking answers about her past. But when the threat catches up with them and Jack's life hangs in the balance, she must draw on all her courage and delve deep into the mythical heart of the Cornish coast. For only a sea child can turn the tide . . .
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Next Time Will Be Our Turn
by Jesse Q. Sutanto
Izzy Chen is dreading her family's annual Chinese New Year celebration, where they all come together at a Michelin-starred restaurant to flaunt their status and successes in hopes to one up each other. So when her seventy-three-year-old glamorous and formidable grandmother walks in with a stunning woman on her arm and kisses her in front of everyone, it shakes Izzy to her core. She'd always considered herself the black sheep of the family for harboring similar feelings to the ones her Nainai just displayed. Seeing herself in her teenage granddaughter's struggles with identity and acceptance, Magnolia Chen tells Izzy her own story, of how as a teen she was sent by her Indo-Chinese parents from Jakarta to Los Angeles for her education and fell in love with someone completely forbidden to her by both culture and gender norms--
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Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah AdamsAnnie Walker is on a quest to find her perfect match-someone who nicely compliments her happy, quiet life running her flower shop in Rome, Kentucky. Unfortunately, she worries her goal might be too far out of reach when she overhears her date saying she is "so unbelievably boring." Is it too late to become flirtatious and fun like the leading ladies in her favorite romance movies? Maybe she only needs a little practice...and Annie has the perfect person in mind to become her tutor: Will Griffin. Will-the flirtatious, tattooed, and absolutely gorgeous bodyguard-is temporarily back in Rome, providing security for Amelia Rose as excitement grows for her upcoming marriage to Noah Walker. He has one personal objective during his time in town: stay away from Annie Walker. But no sooner than he gets settled, Will soon finds himself not only breaking his rule, but tasked with far more than simply providing security. Will wants no part in changing the sweet and lovely Annie, but he can't bring himself to say no to her request, so he officially agrees to teach her how to be the next leading lady of Rome, Kentucky, and find the love of her life-even if he doesn't believe in love himself. Between faking a relationship so the meddling town doesn't catch on to what's really happening on their practice dates, and tutoring lessons that convince Annie to add passion to her list of must-haves in a mate, it doesn't take long for the lines of their friendship to blur
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Told in alternating timelines, THE THINGS WE LEAVE UNFINISHED examines the risks we take for love, the scars too deep to heal, and the endings we can't bring ourselves to see coming. Twenty-eight-year-old Georgia Stanton has to start over after she gave up almost everything in a brutal divorce: the New York house, the friends, and her pride. Now back home at her late great-grandmother's estate in Colorado, she finds herself face-to-face with Noah Harrison, the bestselling author of a million books where the cover is always people nearly kissing. He's just as arrogant in person as in interviews, and she'll be damned if the good-looking writer of love stories thinks he's the one to finish her grandmother's final novel...even if the publisher swears he's the perfect fit. Noah is at the pinnacle of his career. With book and movie deals galore, there isn't much the golden boy of modern fiction hasn't accomplished. But he can't walk away from what might be the best book of the centurythe one his idol, Scarlett Stanton, left unfinished. Coming up with a fitting ending for the legendary author is one thing, but dealing with her beautiful, stubborn, cynical great-granddaughter, Georgia, is quite another. But as they read Scarlett's words in both the manuscript and her box of letters, they start to realize why Scarlett never finished the book - it's based on her real-life romance with a World War II pilot, and the ending isn't a happy one. Georgia knows all too well that love never works out, and while the chemistry and connection between her and Noah is undeniable, she's as determined as ever to learn from her great-grandmother's mistakes - even if it means destroying Noah's career.
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| Slaying the Vampire Conqueror by Carissa BroadbentIn this compelling standalone set within the world of the Crowns of Nyaxia series, seer-assassin Sylina is tasked with infiltrating the army of the villainous vampire Atrius and killing him, but a vision makes her reconsider everything. For another enemies-to-lovers romantasy set in a vampiric realm, try We Who Will Die by Stacia Stark. |
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| The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLeanAila Macbhairan, head phoenix keeper at the San Tamculo Zoo for magical creatures, fights to restart the zoo's dormant phoenix breeding program, a project that forces her to work alongside her rival, the intimidating griffin keeper Luciana. For fans of: queer cozies like Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree or The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune. |
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| The Courting of Bristol Keats by Mary E. PearsonBristol Keats struggles to keep herself and her sisters alive after the tragic disappearance of their parents. When she receives a letter from a mysterious aunt she didn't know existed, everything she thought she knew about her family crumbles and she must carefully navigate a world of monstrous intrigue to rescue her father. For fans of: slow-burn faerie-centric fantasy with well-developed characters and steamy romance, such as Sarah J. Maas' Crescent City series or Lyra Selene's A Feather So Black. |
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| Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh SbranaIn exchange for aid and supplies for her earthquake-ravaged village, human Lore Alemeyu of Duskmere agrees to work for the Fae, cataloging the contents of an enchanted library. This "spellbinding romantic fantasy debut" (Publishers Weekly), the 1st in a duology, boasts a courageous heroine, a love triangle, and an atmospheric setting. Try this next: Lexi Ryan's These Hollow Vows series. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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