Category Archives: Romance

The Christmas Tree Farm by Laurie Gilmore

Kira North hates Christmas. Which is unfortunate since she just bought a Christmas tree farm in a town that’s too cute for its own good. Bennett Ellis is on vacation in Dream Harbor taking a break from his life in California. And most importantly, taking a break from his latest run of disastrous dates. After a run in with Kira in her fields, Ben has no intention of offering to help the grumpy owner set up her tree farm, despite the fact she’s clearly got no idea what she’s doing. Kira knows she should stop being so stubborn, but her farm is not all cute and cozy like people always show… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Abandonment
  • Toxic relationship recounted
  • Sexual harassment
  • Alcohol consumption

Honey and Spice by Bolu Babalola

Sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo has just made a huge mistake. As an expert in relationship-evasion and the host of the popular student radio show Brown Sugar, she’s made it her mission to make sure the women of the African-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University do not fall into the mess of “situationships”, players, and heartbreak. But when the Queen of the Unbothered kisses Malakai Korede, the guy she just publicly denounced as “The Wastemen of Whitewell,” in front of every Blackwellian on campus, she finds her show on the brink. They’re soon embroiled in… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Racism & racial slurs including mentions of racial profiling and police harassment
  • Revenge pornography & blackmail
  • Dubious consent scene recounted*
  • Parental abandonment mentioned
  • Parental infidelity & infidelity mentioned
  • Depression (recovery)
  • Alcohol consumption & drug use (marijuana)
  • Emesis
  • Death of a grandfather mentioned
  • Physical assault

Context : The female protagonist’s ex-partner posts a intimate photo of her on social media without consent, and similarly blackmails other women. The protagonist’s best friend’s boyfriend coerced her to have sex while she was drunk.

Homestead by Claire Kent

After losing the last remaining member of my family, I’m left all alone in a dangerous, uncivilized world. A twenty-year-old woman with no skills, no resources, and no protection can’t make it on her own after Impact, so I’m forced to rely on the charity of strangers to survive. My one chance of safety and security comes from an unexpected offer. Jimmy Morgan needs a partner. He wants help in his house and a woman in his bed, and he’d like that partner to be me. In return I get a place to live, plenty of food, and the protection of a competent man and his larger community. It’s a good deal, so of course I accept. It means I have to live… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted rape
  • Minor physical injury & illness and emesis
  • Unplanned pregnancy mentioned (epilogue)
  • Accidental death of child from gun violence
  • Death of a wife & newborn in childbirth recounted (protagonist)
  • Murder of a grandfather & parents recounted
  • Murder & attempted murder
  • Physical assault
  • Kidnapping

Context : The female protagonist is saved from her assaulter by the male protagonist.

Heavy Hitter by Katie Cotugno

With four chart-topping albums, Lacey Logan is a superstar whose life no longer feels like her own. Her every move is photographed, videoed, and dissected online, and her carefully curated Instagram feed studied by fans worldwide. To maintain her privacy, Lacey skilfully controls her narrative, showing fans and paparazzi what she wants them to see. But when Lacey discovers her boyfriend is hiding two devastating secrets—a bad cocaine habit and a pregnant girlfriend—she begins to lose confidence and control of her own story. Then big-shouldered baseball play… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Infidelity recounted
  • Parental divorce recounted
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Chronic knee, back & shoulder pain (protagonist)
  • Panic attack
  • Parent with alcoholism
  • Death of a brother from a heroin overdose recounted
  • Cyberstalking & stalking discussed
  • Car accident

Context : The protagonist receives minor injuries from paparazzi in a hit-and-run accident chasing her car. The protagonist’s ex-partner cheated and got his mistress pregnant.

Merriment and Mayhem by Alexandria Bellefleur

When Everleigh Dangerfield’s baking disaster necessitates a call to 911, firefighter Griffin Brantley douses the flames in the kitchen, but the ones he stokes in Everleigh are an entirely different story. Unfortunately, Everleigh’s only visiting and doesn’t do casual hookups, no matter how smoldering the temptation. But Everleigh’s holiday mishaps have just begun. And Griffin is seemingly always on call. If Everleigh is game for a change of plans, he can give her the merriest Christmas of her life.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Fire (on-page)
  • Near-drowning incident

The Ever Queen by LJ Andrews

The Songbird: Captive. Challenger. Queen. Enemies took her from the man who holds her heart. They might see her as weak, as a pawn in wicked games, but they’re no match for the first Ever Queen. Let them think they’ve won. Her heart belongs to a beautiful monster, and she will never stop fighting until she’s back in his arms. The Serpent: Captor. Villain. King. His enemies stole the woman who claimed his soul. They betrayed him out of greed and desire for the crown, but they won’t die for that betrayal. No. They’ll die for touching… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault (on-page, secondary character)
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction
  • Emesis
  • Murder
  • Torture & mutilation
  • Kidnapping

Viciously Yours by Jamie Applegate Hunter

When Rennick was thirteen, the gods bestowed upon him the name of his fated mate–a human girl. As the sole heir to the Mountain Kingdom, magic bound him to his kingdom until he ascended the throne on his twenty-fifth birthday, and as a human, she couldn’t cross the magical barrier separating the humans from the fae. Heartsore and consumed with thoughts of her, he did the only thing he could and sent her anonymous letters and gifts. Until he crossed the barrier into her kingdom to claim her as his own… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Death of a parent
  • Murder & torture
  • Stalking

My December Darling by Lauren Asher

Catalina: Playing the part of my sister’s maid of honour is easy even if she’s marrying my ex. But playing nice with the best man? An impossible task given our history. Sure, Luke Darling may be suspiciously kind, incredibly handsome, and stubborn to a fault, but regardless of how hard he tries to make me see otherwise, I’m not interested. It’s on me to remind him that he’s my ex-boyfriend’s best friend. And the one I’m secretly starting to wish I met first. Luke: .My job as the best man is a simple one, except for one minor issue. I’ve spent so much time avoiding my best friend’s ex that I didn’t consider what could happen…. Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Alcohol consumption

Spark of the Everflame by Penn Cole

In a mortal world colonized by the gods and ruled over by the Descended, their cruel offspring, Diem Bellator yearns to escape the insular life of her poor village. Her mother’s sudden disappearance—and the discovery of a dangerous secret about her past—offer Diem an unexpected opportunity to enter the dark world of Descended royalty and unlock the web of mysteries her mother left behind. With the dying King’s handsome, mysterious heir watching her every move, and a ruthless mortal alliance recruiting her to join the growing civil war, Diem will have to navigate the unwritten rules of love, power, and politics in order to save her family—and all of mortalkind.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Blood, gore & injury depiction
  • Murder & explosions

Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek

Raised in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that Magic is monstrous, and its practitioners, monsters. After Liska unleashes her own powers with devastating consequences, she is caught by the demon warden of the wood – the Leszy – who offers her a bargain: one year of servitude in exchange for a wish.Whisked away to his crumbling manor, Liska soon discovers the sinister roots of their bargain. And if she wants to survive the year and return home, she must unravel her host’s spool of secrets and face the ghosts of his past. Those who enter the wood do not always return…

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Adult-minor relationship (17-year old and an ancient being)
  • Domestic violence & child abuse mentioned
  • Graphic blood & gore depiction and body horror
  • Death of a father recounted
  • Fire