Category Archives: Contemporary

Knotted by Pam Godwin

I try to forget her. It’s impossible. Growing up together, Conor and I shared all our firsts. First love, first kiss, first… Not all our firsts. We were sixteen the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched.
I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering. Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma. Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact. Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets. She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her. I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains. She’s mine.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Graphic rape of a minor (protagonist)
  • Child abuse (physical assault by parent)
  • Graphic murder

Training the Heart by Paisley Hope

Wade Ashby is a closed book. With the weight of the family business on his shoulders, and his ongoing battle to escape a failed marriage, he only has time for one looking after his ranch. Life has dealt Ivy Spencer some tough blows. So when the opportunity to work on the Silver Pines ranch presents itself, she grabs it by the horns. Nothing will stand in the way of her dream of training a racehorse on route to the Kentucky Derby. Wade might be determined to keep his heart under lock and key, but Ivy’s constant presence soon ignites a passion he thought he’d lost long ago… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Emotionally abusive relationship recounted & gaslighting
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Infertility discussed

Protect by Paisley Hope

Imagine coming into the town pub with my crew, dirty and exhausted, only to walk right into my biggest regret. The twin sister of my lost best friend and the one who got away. I haven’t seen Violette Taylor in years but I haven’t forgotten her either. I used to be Rowan to her. Now, I’m just King, the guy who broke her heart, but not for the reasons she thinks. Violette is back in town for good, she’s a single mom and a nurse in the burn unit I accidentally wind up in. Can you call that fate? Maybe, if she wasn’t doing her best to stay far away from anyone who reminded her of her past, especially… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Anxiety & panic attacks
  • Burn injury from fire
  • Grief & loss depiction

Holding the Reins by Paisley Hope

CeCe Ashby is looking for a fresh start after escaping the toxic relationship that has consumed her adult life. Unsure of what the future holds, she returns to the small town of Laurel Creek and her family’s ranch. Nash Carter is the recently retired hockey superstar of the Dallas Stars, Laurel Creek’s hometown hero, and notorious bachelor. He may look good in a cowboy hat, but he is also CeCe’s brother’s best friend… and therefore off limits. When CeCe reappears in her hometown in need of a job, Nash knows he has to have her, and not entirely for business… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity
  • Insomnia & nightmares (protagonist)
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents in a car accident recounted

When Rain Turns to Snow by Jane Godwin

Lissa is home on her own after school one afternoon when a stranger turns up on the doorstep carrying a baby. Reed is on the run – surely people are looking for him? He’s trying to find out who he really is and thinks Lissa’s mum might have some answers. But how could he be connected to Lissa’s family – and why has he been left in charge of a baby? A baby who is sick, and getting sicker… Reed’s appearance stirs up untold histories in Lissa’s family, and suddenly she is having to make sense of her past in a way she would never have imagined. Meanwhile, her brother is dealing with a devastating secret of his own.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Substance addiction mentioned
  • Bullying & cyberbullying

Booted by Pam Godwin

The night I’m released from prison, she’s in my bed. It’s been eight years since I touched a woman, and the Native American beauty is half-dressed, beaten, bruised, and devastatingly exquisite. We’re toxic together, but we want the same things. Blood. Vengeance. Violent relief in a warm body. Beneath her touch, I’m alive. Against her skin, I’m redeemed. Buried inside her, I forget the past. Until the past takes her from me. Prison made me cold, but losing Raina makes me cruel. Ruthless. Unforgiving. I killed before. For her, I’ll kill again. I’ll end this once and for all or die in my boots.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Rape
  • Murder recounted
  • Imprisonment recounted

Dark Notes by Pam Godwin

They call me a slut. Maybe I am. Sometimes I do things I despise. Sometimes men take without asking. But I have a musical gift, only a year left of high school, and a plan.
With one obstacle. Emeric Marceaux doesn’t just take.
He seizes my will power and bangs it like a dark note.
When he commands me to play, I want to give him everything. I kneel for his punishments, tremble for his touch, and risk it all for our stolen moments. He’s my obsession, my master, my music. And my teacher…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sibling abuse (protagonist)
  • Rape of a minor (multiple, protagonist)
  • Underrage sex work mentioned
  • Adult-minor teacher-student relationship (theme) between a 17-year-old high school student and her 27-year-old music teacher & mentor
  • Parent with substance addiction (protagonist)
  • Poverty (protagonist)

If This Is Love by Jewel E. Ann

He’s mine… don’t ever forget that. Milo lives in the barn, a cowboy through and through. I live in a castle, but I’m not a princess. When the only person who loves me dies, Milo’s there. As I get older, I no longer look at Milo like a big brother. I look at him like the man God made just for me. With the first glimpse of freedom from my pathetic excuse for a father, I imagine a future with Milo. I dream of the day when we won’t have to hide our feelings. But Milo has a secret. He is not free. The man I love is marrying the woman I hate…

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Incestuous rape mentioned (off-page)
  • Domestic violence
  • Infidelity*
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Murder
  • Blackmail

*Context: The male protagonist is still married when he is with the heroine.

The Apple Tree by Jewel E. Ann

He’s a single dad starting over in a new town. She’s a relentless flirt with a penchant for trouble, ten years younger than him, and the babysitter. What could go wrong? Eve has just graduated from high school, but she doesn’t know what’s next aside from working at the local motel, spying on Kyle, her neighbor, and stealing apples from his orchard. If she doesn’t figure things out soon, she’ll be stuck at home and treated like a child forever. Kyle is a single dad and the new football coach who needs a babysitter for his adorable son. When he meets Eve, there’s an instant connect… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Alcoholism & forced rehabilitation
  • Overdose

We Could Be Rats by Emily R. Austin

Sigrid hates working at the Dollar Pal but having always resisted the idea of growing up into the trappings of adulthood, she did not graduate high school, preferring to roam the streets of her small town with her best friend Greta, the only person in the world who ever understood her. Her older sister Margit is baffled and frustrated by Sigrid’s inability to conform to the expectations of polite society. But Sigrid’s detachment veils a deeper turmoil and sensitivity. She’s haunted by the pains of her past—from pretending her parents were swamp monsters when they shook the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Depression
  • Substance addiction & drug abuse
  • Suicide & suicidal ideation