Category Archives: Contemporary

White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter

White Whiskey Bargain by Jodie Slaughter

The sudden and tragic death of her mother throws Hannah Hawkins into a position she doesn’t feel at all prepared for. With the duty of leading her family’s decades-long moonshining business weighing heavy on her shoulders, the last thing she needs is something making her transition even harder. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what she gets. A band of vicious new players has arrived in small-town Harlan, Kentucky, and while what they really want remains a mystery, it quickly becomes clear they’re willing to stoop to dark lengths to get it. To fight off a beast, Hannah realizes she needs to join forces with a rival. Javier Meza may be… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Death of a mother
  • Death of an aunt from pancreatic cancer
  • Attempted murder
  • Arson
  • Kidnapping

Just One More by Jodie Slaughter

Just One More by Jodie Slaughter

Tattoo artist Whitney Harris loves Valentine’s Day. The bright colours, giant hearts, and sugary sweet coating that seems to cover the world on February 14th make her feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy inside. She may be more festive than the average person, but her plans for her long weekend off are pretty tame. As long as she gets to stay in her bed, marathon a ton of romantic movies, and eat at least three of her favourite pink heart cupcakes, she’ll count it as a win. The very last thing she expects is for a handsome stranger to get in the way of that. The only thing Victor … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Recreational drug use
  • Death of a grandfather recounted

All Things Burn by Jodie Slaughter

All Things Burn by Jodie Slaughter

A woman forced to take dark, desperate measures for the sake of her safety seeks out a man who deals exclusively in doling out death sentences. What sparks between them is just as unavoidable as it is life-changing. Halle Temple is a good person; she doesn’t know anything as surely as she knows that. A successful black woman who uses her expensive law degree to work full-time at a women’s legal aid centre, she has no doubt that her entire existence is being spent in the service of others. That perfectly normal life takes a deadly turn, however, when she crosses paths with a man who is willing to go to extreme… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Domestic violence mentioned
  • Graphic murder
  • Stalking

To Be Alone With You by Jodie Slaughter

To Be Alone With You by Jodie Slaughter

A decade ago, Naomi Porter confessed her love to the handsome, enigmatic sculptor her artist mother mentored. Ten years her senior and seemingly uninterested, his rejection sent her reeling…then it sent her running as far away from him as possible. Now, he’s more successful than ever, and she’s a burnt-out personal assistant in desperate need of a vacation. Only, she’s too broke to afford a real one. Her mother’s solution? Calling in a favor from an old friend and getting her daughter a week-long stay in the luxe guesthouse of a gorgeous home in the California desert — all for free. The only drawback is that… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • COVID-19

Wave, Listen to Me, Volume One by Hiroaki Samura

Wave, Listen to Me!, Vol. 1 by Hiroaki Samura

The stage is Sapporo, Hokkaido. One night, our heroine, Minare Koda, spills her heartbroken woes to a radio station worker she meets while out drinking one night. The next day, she hears a recording of her pitiful grumbling being played live over the air. Minare storms into the station in a rage, only to then be duped by the station director into doing an impromptu talk show explaining her harsh dialogue. With just one recording, the many eccentric facets of Minare’s life begin to pull every which direction as she falls ever deeper into the world of radio. Wave, listen to me!

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Outing

Fumbled Love by Lila Rose

Fumbled Love by Lila Rose

The one day English teacher Reagan Wild is late for work—and looks like she dressed herself in the dark—she remembers Carter Anthony, a well-known football star, is coming to the school to deliver a talk to her overexcited students. While Reagan knows Carter from her high school days, since he was her past crush, she wasn’t ready to see him again. At the time, she hated being invisible. But right now, she wished she could simply disappear. Carter Anthony is keen to give back to his hometown, but what he doesn’t expect is getting something in return. When a chance … Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Fatmisia & internalised fatmisia

The Pearl by Tiffany Reisz

The Pearl by Tiffany Reisz

When Lord Arthur Godwick learns his younger brother is up to his bollocks in debt to Regan Ferry, owner of The Pearl Hotel, he agrees to work off the tab… in her bed. Soon the handsome but troubled Arthur discovers he’s a pawn in an erotic game of revenge–and nothing, including his lover, is what it seems.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slut shaming recounted
  • Martial rape recounted
  • Incest (accidental, second cousins)
  • Cheating recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drugging
  • Death of a mother from cancer (glioma) recounted
  • Near drowning incident recounted

The Prince by Tiffany Reisz

The Prince by Tiffany Reisz

Wes Railey is the object of Nora’s tamest yet most maddening fantasies, and the one man she can’t forget. He’s young. He’s wonderful. He’s also thoroughbred royalty and, reuniting with him in Kentucky, she’s in his world now. But this infamous New York dominatrix is no simpering Southern belle, and Nora’s dream of fitting into Wesley’s world is perpetually at odds with the relentlessly seductive pull of Søren—her owner, her lover, the forever she cannot have. At least, not completely. Meanwhile Nora’s associate… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Child physical & sexual abuse recounted
  • Suicide recounted
  • Animal death (racehorse, dog)

The Saint by Tiffany Reisz

The Saint by Tiffany Reisz

In the beginning, there was him. Gutsy, green-eyed Eleanor never met a rule she didn’t want to break. She’s sick of her mother’s zealotry and the confines of Catholic school and declares she’ll never go to church again. But her first glimpse of beautiful, magnetic Father Søren Stearns and his lust-worthy Italian motorcycle is an epiphany. Suddenly, daily Mass seems like a reward, and her punishment is the ache she feels when they’re apart. He is intelligent and insightful and he seems to know her intimately at her very core. Eleanor is consumed—and even she knows that can’t be right. But when one desperate mistake… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Incestuous child sexual abuse recounted
  • Child physical abuse
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Abortion recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Gun violence mentioned

One Hot December by Tiffany Reisz

One Hot December by Tiffany Reisz

Never mess with a woman who carries a blowtorch in her backpack. Welder and artist Veronica “Flash” Redding’s playful sense of evil sometimes gets the better of her. Like when her insanely handsome, wealthy, suited-up boss gave her the most sensuously wicked night of her life…then dumped her. Yep, revenge is a dish best served hot. Only Ian Asher isn’t quite letting Flash get away quite so easily. He’s not ready to forget the intensity between them. The searing heat when they touch. And the deliciously demanding control Ian wields in the bedroom. Now he has only the holidays to convince Flash that they… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Death of a mother recounted
  • Attempted blackmail