Category Archives: Romance

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)

The Chemistry of Familiar Objects by Alexandra Vasti

57 Gresham Street is the most incendiary building in London. Upstairs, unconventional chemist Emmeline Starling uses combustion to solve scientific mysteries. Downstairs, buttoned-up children’s book printer Robert Vane tries very hard not to panic when the ceiling catches on fire. And when these two opposing forces are contained within one small building? Explosions are just the beginning. After two years of putting up with Robert Vane’s scowls, his precious rules, and the infuriating cleft in his chin, Emmeline has seized upon a solution to the problem of sharing 57 Gresham: she’s… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Death of a parent recounted
  • Gun violence
  • War themes

In Which Winnie Halifax Is Utterly Ruined by Alexandra Vasti

In 1811, Winifred Wallace told one tiny lie. To secure her future as an independent sheep farmer, she invented an estranged husband named Mr. Spencer Halifax and forged their marriage record. Ten years later, her deception catches up with her: in the form of the disturbingly real, distressingly attractive earl on her doorstep. Spencer Halifax wants to set a good example for his beloved hellion sisters. Ever since their father’s death, he’s tried to play the role of steady, sensible earl—and involving himself with a moderately felonious sheep farmer is decidedly not sensible. But Winnie’s unfettered passion and fierce self-reliance… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Incarceration

In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint by Alexandra Vasti

For seven years, Matilda Halifax and her twin have been the most scandalous ladies in London. But when Matilda accidentally sells erotic drawings of the brooding, reclusive Marquess of Ashford, she has—perhaps—gone a bit too far. Christian de Bord, Lord Ashford, knows what it’s like to be notorious. Ever since he was accused of murdering his wife, prurient gossip has kept him isolated from society, alone and determined to protect his adolescent sister Bea. But when Matilda Halifax’s salacious pamphlet appears—featuring his own damned face!—he’s thrust back into the storm of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of parents recounted
  • Death of a spouse recounted

In Which Margo Halifax Earns Her Shocking Reputation by Alexandra Vasti

The Halifax Hellions are the most scandalous, outrageous, ungovernable ladies in London. From the day of their debut—in which Matilda smoked a cheroot and Margo tied a cherry stem in a knot with her tongue—they’ve turned the ton upside down. But when Matilda elopes with a dangerous aristocrat, Margo must stop her twin before this new misadventure becomes a permanent marriage. For help, Margo turns to her brother’s best friend—because if anyone can get them to Scotland in time, it’s starchy solicitor Henry Mortimer. Henry Mortimer has precisely… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Carriage accident

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti

Peter Kent―newly inherited Duke of Stanhope and recently of New Orleans, Louisiana―must become respectable. Between his radical politics and the time he interrupted a minor royal wedding with a flock of sheep―not his fault!―he’s developed a scandalous reputation at odds with his goal of becoming guardian to his half siblings. For help, he turns to the cleverest and most managing woman of his acquaintance, Lady Selina Ravenscroft. Selina is society’s most proper debutante, save one tiny secret: she runs an erotic circulating library for women. When Peter… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical misogyny
  • Parental abandonment recounted
  • Child with near-fatal illness (on-page)
  • Death of a parent & sibling recounted

The Boy I Love by William Hussey

At just 19, Stephen has already survived a year at the front. Now he is returning to the trenches to lead a platoon, despite his wounds. Broken-hearted from the loss of his first love, Stephen wonders what he’s fighting for. Then he meets Private Danny McCormick, a smart, talented young recruit. From their first meeting, there’s something undeniable between them, something forbidden by both society and the army. Determined to protect Danny, Stephen must face down the prejudices and ignorance of his superiors as well as the onslaught of German shells and sniper fire. As the summer of 1916 ticks down to one big push on the Somme, can Stephen and Danny stay together?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Period-typical homophobia including incarceration for being gay
  • Blood & injury depiction
  • Death of a friend
  • Gun violence
  • Explosions
  • War themes

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