Category Archives: Contemporary

Darling Venom by Parker Huntington

Darling Venom by Parker S. Huntington

My first love ended in tragedy. My second began with his brother. I wasn’t supposed to be on that roof on Valentine’s Day. Neither was Kellan Marchetti, the school’s designated freak. We met on the verge of ending our lives. Somehow, the tattered strings of our tragedies tangled and tightened into an unlikely bond. We decided not to take the plunge and agreed to check on each other every Valentine’s Day until school ended. Same time. One roof. Two restless souls. We kept our promise for three years. On the fourth, Kellan made a decision, and I was left to deal with the… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a brother from suicide

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how… Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to inter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Parental abandonment & child neglect recounted
  • Boss-employee relationship
  • Physical injury (concussion)
  • Car accident

Fighting for Everything by Laura Kaye

Fighting for Everything by Laura Kaye

Home from the Marines, Noah Cortez has a secret he doesn’t want his oldest friend, Kristina Moore, to know. It kills him to push her away, especially when he’s noticing just how sexy and confident she’s become in his absence. But, angry and full of fight, he’s not the same man anymore either. Which is why Warrior Fight Club sounds so good. Kristina loves teaching, but she wants more out of life. She wants Noah—the boy she’s crushed on and waited for. Except Noah is all man now—in ways both oh so good and troubling, too. Still, she wants who he’s become—every war-hard… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Depression
  • Suicide

Moonlight on Nightingale Way by Samantha Young

Moonlight on Nightingale Way by Samantha Young

Logan spent two years paying for the mistakes he made. Now, he’s ready to start over. He has a great apartment, a good job, and plenty of women to distract him from his past. And one woman who is driving him to distraction. Grace escaped her manipulative family by moving to a new city. Her new life, made to suit her own needs, is almost perfect. All she needs to do is find her Mr. Right—or at least figure out a way to ignore her irresistible yet annoying womanizer of a neighbour. Grace is determined to have nothing to do with Logan until a life-changing surprise slowly begins turning the wild heartbreaker into exactly the kind of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Incarceration recounted

Bound to Fate by Kiru Taye

Bound to Fate by Kiru Taye

Lara Johnson is coping with the emotional scars of losing both parents in a tragic incident and facing the challenges of starting a new school. Getting involved in a relationship isn’t on her priority list. Certainly not this illicit desire for a man, who demands the best from her, yet leaves her breathless in his presence. All Ike Thomas wants to do is to keep out of trouble and get through the one year internship required for his degree program. But trouble finds him, in the form of an intelligent and brave girl who turns his world upside down. Falling in love is forbidden. So why does it feel so right?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Graphic rape recounted
  • Teacher-student relationship
  • PTSD & trauma

Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky and Jen Sternick

Snowsisters by Tom Wilinsky & Jen Sternick

High school students—Soph, who attends private school in Manhattan, and Tess, a public school student who lives on a dairy farm in New Hampshire—are thrown together as roommates at a week-long writing conference. As they get to know each other and the other young women, both Soph and Tess discover unexpected truths and about friendship, their craft, and how to hold fast to their convictions while opening their hearts to love.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Homomisia
  • Transmisia
  • Misgendering
  • Child abuse
  • Bullying

The Love Connection by Denise Williams

The Love Connection by Denise Williams

Ollie Wright loves the thrill of taking chances, like opening a pet grooming salon in an airport where every day is a little unpredictable. The one thing she won’t risk is her heart, so catching glimpses of a cute stranger from afar is enough romantic entanglement for her. Bennett Baker is a professional risk assessor by day while writing popular romance novels at night, except he finds himself facing writer’s block. His life of carefully planned stability comes crashing down when he rescues a slippery pup in the airport and returns it to the enchanting pet groomer whose laugh inspires him to start writing again. Their chance encount… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Cheating recounted

Chef’s Kiss by Jarrett Melendez

Chef’s Kiss by Jarrett Melendez

Now that college is over, English graduate Ben Cook is on the job hunt looking for something…anything…related to his passion for reading and writing. But interview after interview, hiring committee after hiring committee, Ben soon learns getting the dream job won’t be as easy as he thought. Proofreading? Journalism? Copywriting? Not enough experience. It turns out he doesn’t even have enough experience to be a garbage collector! But when Ben stumbles upon a “Now Hiring—No Experience Necessary” sign outside a restaurant, he jumps at the chance to land his first job. Plus, he can keep looking for a writing job in the mean… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis

Giving Chase by Lauren Dane

Giving Chase by Lauren Dane

When landscaper Kyle Chase takes notice of Maggie Wright, all of Petal, Georgia, wonders what the quiet schoolteacher is hiding underneath her tight bun and boring blouses. Even Maggie doesn’t quite get it, but after a failed relationship and a disastrous attempt to get back out there, she’s no match against the famous Chase charm, and Kyle has it in spades. Kyle wants Maggie in his life—and in his bed—and he doesn’t mind getting down and dirty to prove it. For years he’s avoided the kind of trouble that comes with “good girls” like her, but Maggie’s the best trouble he’s ever been in. He craves more of it. And more of her…. Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Abusive relationship recounted
  • Attempted rape
  • Physical assault
  • Stalking

The Hitman’s Guide to Tying the Knot Without Getting Shot by Alice Winters

The Hitman’s Guide to Tying the Knot Without Getting Shot by Alice Winters

Is a nice little wedding with Blow-up Randy and Jackson My Love too much to ask for? Clearly, because someone’s trying to kill one of us… again. Generally, this would be my thing and I would jump right in singing my murder song, but they want Jackson dead and I will do anything (and I mean anything) to keep him alive—including and not limited to: ten Dobermans, bulletproof glass, and dragging Cassel in with the promise of more Jerebear. These people have no idea what they’ve done targeting the man I love because I’m coming after them. But when it feels like everything might be lost, I start to understand that I have a family now who… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Murder mentioned