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Rose in Chains by Julie SotoCaptured as her castle is overrun by the enemy, and stripped of her Magic and her freedom, Briony Rosewood and the other survivors are quickly sold off to the highest bidders in an auction -- and as Evermore's princess, she fetches the highest price, but all is not lost as help -- and hope -- may yet arise in the most unlikely of places.
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The Austen Affair by Madeline BellTwo feuding co-stars in a Jane Austen film adaptation accidentally travel back in time to the Regency Era in this delightfully clever and riotously funny debut. Tess Bright just scored her dream role starring in an adaptation of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey. It's not just the role of a lifetime, but it's also her last chance to prove herself as a serious actress (no easy feat after being fired from her last TV gig) and more importantly, it's her opportunity to honor her mom, who was the biggest fan of Jane Austen ever. But one thing is standing in Tess's way--well, one very tall, annoyingly handsome person, actually: Hugh Balfour. A serious British method actor, Hugh wants nothing to do with Tess (whose Teen Choice Awards somehow don't quite compare to his BAFTA nominations). Hugh is a type-A, no-nonsense, Royal Academy prodigy, whereas Tess is big-hearted, a little reckless, and admittedly, kind of a mess. But the film needs chemistry--and Tess's career depends on it. Sparks fly, but not in the way Tess hoped, when an electrical accident sends the two feuding co-stars back in time to Jane Austen's era. 200 years in the past with only each other to rely on, Tess and Hugh need to ad-lib their way through the Regency period in order to make it back home, and hopefully not screw up history along the way. But if a certain someone looks particularly dashing in those 19th century breeches...well, Tess won't be complaining. A wickedly funny, delightfully charming story, The Austen Affair is a tribute to Jane Austen, second chances, and love across the space-time continuum. |
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Sweet Heat by Bolu BabalolaTwenty-eight-year-old Kiki Banjo hosts the popular podcast The HeartBeat, solving romantic conundrums and dishing out life advice. Behind the scenes, though, career setbacks and a devastating breakup have left her hanging on by a thread. As she's preparing to be the maid of honor in her best friend's wedding, everything starts to unravel, and Kiki is left wondering if she ever had the answers. Then Kiki finds herself face-to-face with the best man, her ex-boyfriend, Malakai--the smooth-talking, absurdly handsome, annoyingly perceptive man who stole her heart and then shattered it. While Kiki's approaching rock bottom, Malakai's been on the rise as a filmmaker, and now they have no choice but to play nice until the wedding is over.
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| Conform by Ariel SullivanIn a future ravaged by war, Emmeline, a woman at the lower end of a caste system based on genetics, is unexpectedly chosen to mate with Collin, an Elite who can give her the life she's always dreamed of. Conforming to the rigid expectations of the ruling Illum proves to be a challenge when Emmeline finds herself drawn to Hal, a resistance leader determined to bring down the system. This cinematic 1st in a planned trilogy will appeal to fans of dystopian science fiction romances like Dani Francis' Silver Elite. |
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What Fury Brings by Tricia LevensellerThere's a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.
Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He's the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.
Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.
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It's Me They Follow
by Jeannine A. Cook
The Shopkeeper, a touch-phobic 40-year-old woman who has never been kissed, decides to conquer her fears by opening a bookstore in Philadelphia, where she falls for a fellow touch-starved man, monk-in-training ME. This magical realism-tinged meta debut will appeal to fans of A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston.
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By the Horns by Ruby DixonIn a world of magical artifacts and fantastical beings, a woman with a deadly magic secret needs the help of the minotaur she's trying to forget in the sizzling sequel to Ruby Dixon's New York Times bestseller Bull Moon Rising. Gwenna has always considered herself a normal person. A former servant, she wants nothing more than to land a steady job with the Royal Artifactual Guild so she can make some steady coin to send home to her mother. She's not special. She's certainly not a necromancer. That would be impossible, given how necromancing (or any 'mancing) is forbidden upon penalty of death. So if the dead keep talking to her? Well, she's going to keep on ignoring them. They're not going to stand in the way of her dreams. Also standing in her way? One big, arrogant, far-too-flirty Taurian named Raptor. They slept together once, and now he wants more . . . but she doesn't have time for that. Her focus is on being a fledgling, a trainee for the Royal Artifactual Guild. But Raptor won't go away. He's on a secret mission for the guild to find an artifact thief. Problem is, he thinks the thief is Gwenna. How can she convince Raptor that he's got the wrong girl when all the signs point to her? And how do you tell a Taurian you can't date him because you hear dead people and it might cost you your life? |
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Books you may have missed...
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Problematic Summer Romance by Ali HazelwoodMaya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life. Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him. It's such a cliché, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother's best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life. But not everything is as it seems--and clichés sometimes become plot twists. When Maya's brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs--even if it's a problematic one.
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Tourist Season by Brynne WeaverWelcome to Cape Carnage! Visit Once, Stay Forever. You can hide in the farthest reaches of the deepest hell, and I will still drag you out. Even the devil can't save you from me. Cape Carnage is a seaside town of colorful houses, quirky shops, and an unusually high body count. With tourists comes trouble, and Harper Starling won't let anyone ruin her picture-perfect home. A skilled gardener with killer instincts, Harper protects her sanctuary--and her aging mentor with a fading memory--at any cost. Troublesome tourists don't check out of Carnage. They compost beneath Harper's award-winning flowerbeds. But Nolan Rhodes isn't your average tourist. Devilishly handsome, disarmingly charming, and skilled with a blade, Nolan is relentless in the pursuit of revenge. On every anniversary of the hit-and-run accident that fractured his life, Nolan slays another target. And he's saved the best for last: the undeniably beautiful Harper Starling. The problem? Harper isn't the monster he expected. And she won't go down without a fight. When an amateur true crime investigator comes to Cape Carnage on the trail of a long-lost serial killer, Harper and Nolan strike an uneasy truce. If Nolan helps Harper protect her town, she'll keep quiet about his hunting habits . . . for now. But their alliance soon spirals into obsession, one that threatens to shatter every secret in Carnage--including their fragile love. Tourist Season is a darkly funny, slow burn, enemies-to-lovers romance where destruction and desire are balanced on the edge of a blade--and where love is the most dangerous battleground of all. Tropes: Small-town romance; fish out of water; grumpy/grumpy; forced proximity; he falls first; touch her/him and die; groveling |
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One Golden Summer
by Carley Fortune
Good things happen at the lake. That's what Alice's grandmother says, and it's true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen--it's where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life. Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she's most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she's been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry's Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it. Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he's all grown up--a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice's soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart. Because Alice sees people--that's why she is so good at what she does--but she's never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
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Story of My Life
by Lucy Score
Plagued by writer's block and evicted from her New York City apartment, romance author Hazel Hart impulsively moves to small town Story Lake, PA for a fresh start. But her new digs' quirks outweigh its charms, and she enlists the help of grouchy contractor Campbell Bishop, who just might end up fixing her heart as well as her home. For fans of: Schitt's Creek; Curves for Days by Laura Moher.
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Great Big Beautiful Life
by Emily Henry
Two writers compete for the chance to tell the larger-than-life story of a woman with more than a couple of plot twists up her sleeve in this dazzling and sweeping new novel from Emily Henry. Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they're both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years-or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the 20th Century. When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she'll choose the person who'll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice's head in the game. One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice-and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over. Two: She's ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication. Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition. But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can't swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they're in the same room. And it's becoming abundantly clear that their story-just like the tale Margaret's spinning-could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad...depending on who's telling it.
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The Favorites
by Layne Fargo
An epic love story set in the sparkling, savage sphere of elite figure skating, starring a woman determined to carve her own path on and off the ice Part Wuthering Heights and part Daisy Jones & The Six, this novel is as brilliantly choreographed as a gold medal performance and will keep you guessing until its last page.--Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name She might not have a famous name, funding, or her family's support, but Katarina Shaw has always known that she was destined to become an Olympic skater. When she meets Heath Rocha, a lonely kid stuck in the foster care system, their instant connection makes them a formidable duo on the ice. Clinging to skating--and each other--to escape their turbulent lives, Kat and Heath go from childhood sweethearts to champion ice dancers, captivating the world with their scorching chemistry, rebellious style, and roller-coaster relationship. Until a shocking incident at the Olympic Games brings their partnership to a sudden end. As the ten-year anniversary of their final skate approaches, an unauthorized documentary reignites the public obsession with Shaw and Rocha, claiming to uncover the real story through interviews with their closest friends and fiercest rivals. Kat wants nothing to do with the documentary, but she can't stand the thought of someone else defining her legacy. So, after a decade of silence, she's telling her story: from the childhood tragedies that created her all-consuming bond with Heath to the clash of desires that tore them apart. Sensational rumors have haunted their every step for years, but the truth may be even more shocking than the headlines.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Michigan City Public Library
100 E. 4th Street
Michigan City, Indiana 46360
219-873-3044mclib.org/ |
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