A new one from yours truly this week!
As always, I recommend sampling before you buy! I have not read most of the new releases listed (although I always end up one-clicking a bunch as I prepare these posts LOL).
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TIMTUR: THE TEACHER’S ALIEN HEALER (BADARI WARRIORS): IN THE STARS ROMANCE by ME!!!
VS Note: The events in TIMTUR actually come right after book 2 of the numbered series, so I was thrilled to offer this book under the In the Stars Romance banner and will resume my normal covers and numbering next month with GABE (book 5 of the series). So this book would be book 2.5 in the numbering sequence. A bit of a flashback to how Timtur and Lily came to be mates. 65K words. Sorry to be confusing! All the books can be read as standalones.
Far from her home in the human Sectors after the mass kidnapping, teacher Lily Garrison is making a niche for herself in the valley by running a school for the Badari young. Although she yearns for Timtur, the pack’s healer, another Badari male has his eye on her and won’t take no for an answer.
Timtur feels the weight and responsibility of being the pack’s only healer, constantly on call as the soldiers fight ferocious battles against the alien scientists and their troops. With scarcely a moment to himself, he’s drawn to the gentle Lily but worries he won’t be able to juggle his duties, his loyalty to the pack and a relationship with a human woman.
When Lily’s stalker takes direct action to kidnap her and steal her from the safety of the valley, she’s forced to reach deep inside to find the strength to battle for her life. Timtur realizes too late how foolish he’s been to resist the bond with his fated mate and leads the rescue effort.
Before this situation can be resolved both will have to put their lives on the line and decide what really matters in a dangerous world ruled by the enemy.
Amazon Apple Books Nook Kobo Google
RELEASING THE DRAGON (BRIDES OF THE KINDRED) by Evangeline Anderson
VS Note: I always enjoy her steamy scifi!
Back in high school, Annie Michaels was an outcast. Too short and plump with frizzy red hair, glasses, and braces, she was the poster child for unpopular. But now, ten years later, things have changed. Annie is still plus-sized but she’s ditched the glasses and braces and pays to have her hair straightened. She just wants to go to her high school reunion in peace and try to hook up with her old crush—the elusive Christian Wentworth.
Too bad a tall, dark Kindred warrior has other ideas for her.
Drugair of the Drake Kindred is annoyed when he starts Dream-Sharing with the luscious little redhead. He doesn’t have time to call a bride and besides, as a member of the Kindred Elite Espionage Corps, his job is too difficult and dangerous to complicate matters with a helpless Earth female. It also doesn’t help that he has a Darker Side—the Drake who lives inside him wants to claim Annie as theirs but Dru does everything he can to suppress it’s fiery desires. He tries to ignore the dreams and finds he can’t…he has to go to Annie.
But just because she’s been dreaming of Dru doesn’t mean Annie’s willing to drop everything and be his bride. It’s only after he rescues her from the reunion gone wrong that she begins to feel for him—enough that she stows away on his ship and gets caught up in his latest mission, tracking a terrorist to the Shadow Palace in the Maw Cluster millions of light years away.
While in the Shadow Palace, Annie has to pose as Dru’s x’aan-chow or “sex pet.” This new twist in their relationship brings them closer together but when Annie is threatened, Dru’s Darker Half takes over. When the Drake comes out, will it bring them closer together? Or will they both die as a result?
Amazon Apple Books
ASCENSION SAGA 1 (INTERSTELLAR BRIDES ASCENSION SAGA) by Grace Goodwin
VS Note: I really enjoy her sexy scifi. This is on my TBR list. She also put out the second book in the series at the same time. This blurb is from book one.
Leoron of Alera returns home from the Hive wars determined to protect the capital city—and last bastion of a vanished Queen’s reign—from civil war. Loyal to the bone, Leo answers the call from Prime Nial and vows to protect at any cost three unknown females arriving from Earth.
But the simple soldier is unprepared for the shock of desire that brings him to his knees at first sight of Trinity Jones. Nothing makes sense as Leo fights friend and foe alike, and discovers the woman stealing his heart has a destiny beyond anything he could have imagined.
Welcome to the Interstellar Brides® all new Ascension Saga and the planet Alera, where women from Earth not only find their mates, but fight to rule the world.
DARK SOUL (FROM THE STARS BOOK 2) by G Bailey
While trying to get used to the new world Ura has found herself thrown into, protecting those she cares about seems impossible. With the threat of losing her mother, Ura has no choice but to do as she is told, and hope that Maxx will help her.
The clans are at war, and it is said only the True Light can stop it before it destroys another planet…and nothing will be left.
The prophecy is awakening…and only one soul can stop it.
BETH AND THE BARBARIAN (ALIEN ABDUCTION BOOK 2) by Honey Phillips
Hypersensitive to the emotions of others, Beth is resigned to spending her life alone – until she is attacked by savage aliens. Rescued by a massive scarred warrior, she feels a connection for the first time. With a chance to finally escape her loneliness, she doesn’t hesitate when he informs her she must accompany him.
Dragar never expected to find the perfect female while tracking one of the saboteurs targeting his people. A former Outcast, he is scarred inside and out, and knows that he is unworthy of a mate. His instincts insist he protect the innocent female from all danger – even his own rampant attraction – but he can’t resist her innocent allure.
Now Beth and Dragar are being pursued across the galaxy. The time on the run is only forcing them closer together. Can Dragar put aside his troubled past and give Beth the love she deserves? Or will they both end up alone again?
THE KRINAR’S INFORMANT: A KRINAR WORLD NOVEL by Charmaine Pauls
Zavir is a guardian. He’s the best the Krinar has. His assigned vocation is to uncover the Resistance movements popping up around the earth, and eliminate them. New information about a fast-growing Resistance camp sends him to Costa Rica, home of the largest Krinar Center. His informant is a human girl. She wants to make a deal–her traitorous family’s lives in exchange for information–but Zavir doesn’t make deals, and he takes no prisoners. When the time comes to wipe out the secret organization, his pretty, innocent little mole will learn the truth. She made a deal with the devil, and the price is something far more tantalizing than information.
UPHEAVAL (RISE OF THE ILIRI BOOK 8) by Auryn Hadley
It’s the dead of winter, and the Terrans hold the line as the Conglomeration is holed-up in a makeshift camp, prickly with nervous excitement, preparing for a massive offensive into wealthy Merriton—the gaudy Conglomerate city in which Sal was enslaved as a child. But the next battle will have to wait. Sometimes, things even more personal than war get in the way—like hormones.
Unimaginably powerful Salryc Luxx, Kaisae of all Iliri and de facto Queen of the Conglomerate forces, is finally brought to her knees—by ovulation. So is Shade, her partbred iliri warrior-sister. To avoid hormonal confusion, and, well, the entire Black Blades from instinctively tearing each other and all other male allies apart with protective rage and sexual prowess, all parties are separated—iliri from humans, men from women, Sal from her pack—stuck in a holding pattern while the battle lines move closer. And nobody is more annoyed by being cooped up with nothing to do than Sal.
When the women finally free themselves from self-imposed quarantine (and and reforge their sexual bonds with their mates), it’s back to work. The allies continue to collaborate, this time enacting a meticulously-laid plan to quietly infiltrate Terric’s diamond of a city as spies. Part of the fun in this volume is the detailed unfolding of the riveting military plot, which has all the thrills of a Russian spy novel.
PHANTOMS (DIVISION ONE BOOK 8) by Stephanie Osborn
VS Note: I had literally NO IDEA what this book was about, from the blurb, so I pulled the following paragraph from the description of Book 1:
…the urban legend of the unique group of men and women who show up at UFO sightings, alien abductions, etc. and make things…disappear…to craft her vision of the universe we don’t know about. Her new series, Division One, chronicles this universe through the eyes of recruit Megan McAllister, aka Omega, and her experienced partner, Echo, as they handle everything from lost alien children to extraterrestrial assassination attempts and more.
Blurb for PHANTOMS (Book 8): Has Alpha One been played?
At long last, Echo and Omega are going on their first real date, and Echo pulls out all the stops.
But when he introduces Omega to a Broadway star, they find art imitating life, as a dangerous nonhuman entity plagues the theater.
Alpha One goes undercover to bring to light what’s really happening. But is the entity after the show’s leads…or have Echo and Omega been played?
STOLEN BY THE ALIEN RAIDER (SILENT EMPIRE) by Leslie Chase
Amy Kelland didn’t believe in aliens, which did nothing to stop them abducting her from a camping trip. Trapped on their spaceship, lightyears from Earth, how can a lone Earthwoman escape?
Her only hope is one of the aliens who captured her. The ripped, blue-skinned warrior claims to be on her side, and Amy can’t afford to doubt him. He’s her only ally. He’s her only hope. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s the hottest man she’s ever laid eyes on!
Kadran knew this undercover assignment was going to be tough. His own experiences with raiders gave him more than enough reason to hate them, and hiding his feelings wouldn’t be easy.
When they capture the human female it only gets harder. Beautiful, intoxicating, and all too helpless, Amy is everything Kadran desires. There’s no way he can let her be sold — not even if freeing her means breaking his cover.
But the man who intended to buy Amy isn’t happy to see his prize snatched away… and he’s more powerful than either of them could have imagined. With the fate of planets hanging in the balance, can Kadran keep Amy safe? Or will duty tear them apart?
BANE by Mira Maxwell
Elena, the lone Earth woman on a diplomatic mission to Kosmora, stumbles upon a secret that has her doubting the motives behind the historic treaty. She’s determined to ferret out the truth before the Earth Ambassador signs the papers. But her dedication is attracting the wrong attention.
The Kosmorans are desperate to silence her, and they have the perfect man for the job.
Bane, a Kosmoran bounty hunter convicted of an unspeakable crime, has been rotting away in a high security prison for years. His task is simple. Silence the journalist and receive his freedom. The only problem…he wasn’t expecting a woman.
Unexpected passion brings unexpected consequences leaving them both struggling to see how things could ever work out between them. How can he ever finish the job when all he wants is to keep her for himself?
RESISTANT by Rachael Sparks
Rory and her father have survived the antibiotic crisis that has killed millions, including Rory’s mother—but ingenuity and perseverance aren’t their only advantages. When a stoic and scarred young military veteran enters their quiet life, Rory is drawn to him against her better judgment . . . until he exposes the secrets her mother and father kept from her, including the fact that her own blood may hold the cure the world needs, and she is the target of groups fighting to reach it first.
When the government comes after Rory, aiming to use her for a cure it can sell to the highest bidder, she’s forced to flee with her father and their new protector. But can she find the new path of human evolution before the government finds her?
MATED TO THE ALIEN WARRIORS by Corin Cain
Inspector Sandra Bellinks: My job? To avenge 8 billion souls.And I’m not going to let three cocky, arrogant Aurelians derail my investigation.The imperious, seven-foot-tall marble-skinned aliens assigned to my team stare at me with open lust. Behind their slate grey eyes hide tortured pasts and violent pain. Used to treating human women as simple pleasure toys, the three brutal warriors Adrihan, Ryder and Xzavic rankle under my lead.
Will I be able to tame the beasts and take down Rav’nok the planet killer?
THE START OF TIME: SHRINE MAIDENS OF BARSOOM BOOK ONE by Marilyn Foxworthy
VS Note: The cover art was tasteful but a bit bare for my blog.
It was my second day on the ‘Red Planet’. Today I’d better find water. That had been the instructions in the box: learn to walk; find Water; make a weapon; find a nice Martian girl to teach you to speak the language. I figured that finding food would be a good idea too. It wasn’t exactly like I had expected, but how could it be? I had followed an unbelievable path to an unbelievable destination. I had started out with a few expectations, but most of them were very flexible. This wasn’t Mars, but it was Barsoom. On the one hand, I’d expected to find a dead-end and nothing to show but a few boring vacation photos of the Arizona desert. Maybe I’d get an article out of it that I could blog about. On the other hand, I’d hoped to take a one-way ticket journey to a foreign planet that teenage boys of the past century had read about; and knew was just fiction.
THE WITCH’S ENCHANTED ALIEN: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE Story by Fiona Roarke and Kristen Painter (Forward)
Paranormal private investigator and witch Ruby Hart needs a man—specifically, a man with a unique tattoo. Finding him for her anonymous client will put her fledgling business in the supernatural haven town of Nocturne Falls, Georgia in the black for months.
Maximilian Cornelius Vandervere the Fourth was a privileged and respected member of one of Alpha-Prime’s most elite families before the Incident made him a social pariah. An uncomplicated life as Max Vander in the secret alien colony on Earth is the perfect solution.
The double whammy of a love spell and a truth spell is definitely a complication he doesn’t need.
Ruby can’t help but notice the tall, gorgeous blond alien. It’s hard to ignore a man who keeps declaring his love and proposing marriage to a woman he’s just met. And it’s clear he needs help.
Sweet, sexy Max is a puzzle she can’t resist.
HOOKED (FUTURE FAIRY TALES) by Aurelia Skye
Wendy Darling is a disgruntled employee at Lost Boys Clubhouse on planet Neverland and technically involved with Peter Pan, but he’s too busy for her and always flirting with Tink. He’s also totally immature and refuses to grow up, so that’s why she’s leaving him. The arrival of James Hook, in search of something Pan stole from him, derails her plans to return to New London when he kidnaps her and takes her aboard the Jolly Roger. As they set off on an adventure that spans the galaxy while evading Admiral Croc, who’s on James’s tail, Wendy soon realizes she doesn’t need a boy when she can have a man.
THE ALIEN PRINCE’S MERMAID (TRILYN ALIEN FAIRY TALES BOOK 2) by Zara Zenia
Bound by duty and a contract between Trilyn and earth, even a prince has to learn his place. But when it comes to matters of the heart, sometimes there are no rules.
There’s nothing romantic about choosing your mate with the help of technology, and Prince Darbnix, there’s nothing he’s less interested in than using a scanner to find his true love, but he’s also tired of fighting with his older brother about them. A human plot almost tricked the eldest Trilyn prince into marrying the wrong woman, but Darbnix has other plans. He’ll go through the motions of the grand parties, to please his brother, but his heart won’t be in it.
When the pact between the Trilyn and Earth was solidified, Dr. Rose Rand decided that the future of her veterinary career lay in exo-livestock, the care and healing of alien creatures fascinated her. But when she was called upon to examine a royal pet, she never imagined that she would be falling in love with a Trilyn prince intent on giving up his search for a compatible bride.
When Prince Darbnix’s match is found in a southern beauty queen, someone he never would have chosen for his bride, his suspicions flare. Can he and Rose discover the truth behind the manipulation of the compatibility scanners and reach their own happily ever after? Or will Darbnix have to turn aside his love for Rose and follow his brother’s command?
THE CONSUMING FIRE (THE INTERDEPENDENCY BOOK 2) by John Scalzi
VS Note: NOT a romance but of note this week. I do enjoy Scalzi’s scifi.
The Interdependency—humanity’s interstellar empire—is on the verge of collapse. The extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible is disappearing, leaving entire systems and human civilizations stranded.
Emperox Grayland II of the Interdependency is ready to take desperate measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But arrayed before her are those who believe the collapse of the Flow is a myth—or at the very least an opportunity to an ascension to power.
While Grayland prepares for disaster, others are prepare for a civil war. A war that will take place in the halls of power, the markets of business and the altars of worship as much as it will between spaceships and battlefields.
The Emperox and her allies are smart and resourceful, as are her enemies. Nothing about this will be easy… and all of humanity will be caught in its consuming fire.
LIONHEART (MOON SHADOW BOOK 3) by Thea Harrison
King Oberon reigned over his Dark Court in Lyonesse for centuries until an assassination attempt laid him low. Now he lies unconscious in his snow-bound palace while his Power battles the enchantment that threatens to end his life.
A skilled trauma surgeon and magic user, Dr. Kathryn Shaw reigns at the top of her profession in New York. Then comes a challenge she can’t resist—she is asked to cure the incurable. Just getting close enough to try healing Oberon is a dangerous proposition. When she does reach him, he awakens too soon.
Roused from darkness by Kathryn’s presence, Oberon confronts the beautiful stranger who claims she wants to save his life. But the enchantment has frozen his emotions. How can he learn to trust her when he can’t feel anything?
Oberon’s desire is icy, devoid of all tenderness. Not only must Kathryn match wits with him, she must also fight her reaction to his touch, because there is so much more at stake than her own endangered heart.
For the Dark Court faces its most deadly peril yet. Its ancient enemy Isabeau, Queen of the Light Court, is obsessed with its annihilation, and Oberon must be brought to remember his loyalty and affection for his people.
Because if he won’t fight for them, Lyonesse itself may very well be destroyed.
OGRE ENCHANTED by Gail Carson Levine
VS Note: The author of Ella Enchanted…
Evie is happiest when she is healing people, diagnosing symptoms and prescribing medications, with the help of her devoted friend (and test subject) Wormy. So when Wormy unexpectedly proposes to her, she kindly turns him down; she has far too much to do to be marrying anyone. And besides, she simply isn’t in love with him.
But a certain meddling fairy named Lucinda has been listening in, and she doesn’t approve of Evie’s rejection. Suddenly, Evie finds herself transformed from a girl into a hideous, hungry ogre!
Stuck in this new and confusing form, Evie now has only sixty-two days to accept another proposal—or else be stuck as an ogre forever.
THE SEEKER: IRIN CHRONICLES BOOK 7 by Elizabeth Hunter
He’s a scribe looking for answers. If only a cagey—and frustratingly attractive—singer will let him help.
Summoned to the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Rhys of Glast, Irin archivist and scribe of Istanbul, must convince a legendary Irina singer to trust him. His success could shift the balance of power all over the Irin world and give singers an important key to their past.
Meera didn’t call for Rhys’s help and she doesn’t need it. The scribe’s mission is to bring more martial magic into the Irin world while Meera has been looking for a path toward peace. She’s convinced that some other motive is at work, and his stubborn arrogance doesn’t pass for charm in her hallowed opinion.
Discovering ancient Irina magic should be something both scholars can agree on, but can these two rivals find any common ground? Neither Rhys nor Meera can ignore the simmering heat between them, but will attraction overcome the caution that has shaped both their lives?
IN THE VANISHERS’ PALACE by Aliette de Boudard
In a ruined, devastated world, where the earth is poisoned and beings of nightmares roam the land…
A woman, betrayed, terrified, sold into indenture to pay her village’s debts and struggling to survive in a spirit world.
A dragon, among the last of her kind, cold and aloof but desperately trying to make a difference.
When failed scholar Yên is sold to Vu Côn, one of the last dragons walking the earth, she expects to be tortured or killed for Vu Côn’s amusement.
But Vu Côn, it turns out, has a use for Yên: she needs a scholar to tutor her two unruly children. She takes Yên back to her home, a vast, vertiginous palace-prison where every door can lead to death. Vu Côn seems stern and unbending, but as the days pass Yên comes to see her kinder and caring side. She finds herself dangerously attracted to the dragon who is her master and jailer. In the end, Yên will have to decide where her own happiness lies—and whether it will survive the revelation of Vu Côn’s dark, unspeakable secrets.
MISS MATED (RAGING FALLS BOOK 4) by Milly Taiden
Kasey Sanchez can’t believe she’s done the unthinkable–slept with a shifter. Oh, but he was so hot and sexy and his tongue…wow! But if he finds out who she really is, he won’t want to see her again. Living a secret life is taking a big toll on her sex life.
Brannon Wolfrik knows Kasey is his mate. It’s only a matter of time before he wiggles his way into her heart with charm and great sex. Strange things have been happening to the children of the mountain, and his Kasey looks very suspicious. He needs to know what she’s hiding before the other alphas hunt her down.
Kasey’s living a lie and trying to solve a mystery, until she’s pulled into the web of dark magic surrounding the pack children. And another male claims her for himself. Brannon will need to figure out who’s controlling the kids and who this false mate is or lose her forever.
RELIC (A BLOOD COURTESAN NOVEL) by TL Reeve
VS Note: Originally published in an anthology.
Cyra Young, daughter of famed treasure hunter Felicia Young, isn’t about to follow in her mother’s footsteps. For years she’s been her mother’s pawn, and now she’s happy being on her own.
Until the vampires showed up.
The Blood Courtesans Series, where vampires are real, rich, powerful–and hungry.
Blood is bought and sold like fine wine, and the best blood goes to the highest bidder.
It’s not supposed to be about love … until it is.
THE GATHERING (THE IVY BLACKWOOD CHRONICLES) by L A Fiore
From the very beginning, Ivy Blackwood was different. She was only a child when she was accused of setting the fire, one she passively watched engulf the small house she had called home. Her fingertips burned and her hair singed. Some who watched her crossed themselves, convinced she was soulless for she showed no emotion at all. Calm and dispassionate, even when the screaming started that quickly turned to bellows of agony before dying into nothing but the roaring of the fire.
She was locked away where she couldn’t bring harm to herself or others. To all involved, they had protected the world from a monster, but sometimes things are not what they seem.
THE DEVIL’S THIEF (THE LAST MAGICIAN BOOK 2) by Lisa Maxwell
Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.
Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, it will rip apart the world to get its revenge, and it will use Esta to do it.
To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.
In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.
As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.
THE IMMORTAL’S GHOST (PHOENIX INSTITUTE BOOK 3) by Corrina Lawson
VS Note: Corrina is in the midst of updating and re-releasing a number of her books, including this title.
The Queen is dying. Her only hope is a prince lost to history and a woman who can walk through walls…
Richard Genet abandoned the Immortal Court decades ago but his Queen’s illness forces him back into service.
Marian Doyle, an antiquities dealer, craves to escape her secret life as a thief but is trapped by her obligation to the family ‘business.’
When Richard offers to cut Marian free of her obligations if she joins him on a dangerous, desperate quest to locate a cure for the Queen, Marian seizes her chance for escape.
As their journey takes them across Europe, Marian is unexpectedly drawn to this loner prince who seems to adore her independent spirit.
But even if they find the cure, they’ll have to confront betrayal at the heart of the Court in order to save each other and their Queen.
CIRCLE OF BLOOD BOOK SIX: LOVERS’ VICTORY by R A Steffan and Jaelynn Woolf
Once upon a time, Menkhef stood up to a powerful pharaoh, and lost. That’s a poor track record for someone acting as the lynchpin in an imminent supernatural war.
Humanity is caught between an absent Angel and a vengeful Demon. The Council of Thirteen still lacks its final two members, and Menkhef—better known to his friends as Snag—is the only vampire whose mate has not returned. Holed up in an underground tomb complex beneath the oldest pyramid in Egypt, he and his comrades must watch as Bael’s forces gather in preparation for the final battle.
Menkhef only has two secrets left. One will overturn the lives of an unsuspecting American couple. The other will change the entire landscape of the clash for humanity’s future.
ALL THE DOGS ARE DANCING by J M Goguen
Burner’s world revolved around three things: protecting the wolf pack of Maine, keeping an eye on his best friend Aaron, and helping prepare enough summer food to take on the long road to Quebec for the winter months. But in the ruins of an old shopping mall on a hot summer night, his world crashes.
Now Burner has to face monsters he thought were just stories told to scare pups, and he must traverse a world he’s only seen in old magazines. Meanwhile, his best friend Aaron is dealing with monsters of his own and Burner will do whatever it takes to keep them both safe, even if it means finally admitting how he really feels.
MAGIC’S CROWN: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by Sela Carson
A wolf with three legs is still a wolf.
Javier Acosta Campos is a wounded warrior and wolf shifter who trains therapy dogs for other veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. He’s just moved to Nocturne Falls to start a training program at a very quirky animal shelter, and he’s fallen stupid in love with the local veterinarian.
Medina Theron keeps telling herself she shouldn’t be thinking about men. Since her fiancé moved on to blonder pastures, she’s stayed busy as one of the only veterinarians in town who specializes in the treatment of magical creatures. But now that the new trainer at the animal rescue seems to always be around at just the right moment, he’s on her mind a lot.
When the remnants of the family she didn’t know she had drag her into a web of trouble, Medina and her new familiar need help. Thankfully, there’s a three-legged shifter on 
duty, and Javi means to keep her safe. Even from himself.
THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE SECRET GARDEN: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by Larissa Emerald
Quit is not in a lion shifter’s vocabulary.
When a demon demands a ransom for his sister’s life, Rylan Lewis travels to Nocturne Falls to find a magical mirror stone in order to free her. Only Zoe, a beautiful, sensuous witch, is after the same stone. As their paths collide, Zoe teams with Rylan because she can read the magical map he’s given. But it isn’t as easy as either one expects, especially when their hearts and desires get in the way.
THE NYMPH TIES THE KNOT: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by J L Farey
Laurel Barker has every reason to be the happiest wood nymph in Nocturne Falls: She owns a successful business, she lives in a community where she can be herself, and best of all, she’s engaged to marry her soulmate, Deputy Sheriff and bear-shifter, Aiden. Even so, she’s plagued by the thought that something bad is going to happen. When a stranger comes to town and seems to be following her, Laurel is suspicious. When she finds out the stranger has ties to Aiden, she’s certain that her worst fears are about to come true and destroy her dreams for the future.
COURTING THE CAT WHISPERER: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by Wynter Daniels
Telepathic petsitter Jordan Vaughn wishes she could forget her checkered past. Despite her genuine efforts to make amends, she falls short every time. When she meets the guy of her dreams, she’s sure that her bad-luck streak is over.
A head injury erased Harry Hill’s memory. Now, four years later, he’s built a new life in Nocturne Falls, complete with a gorgeous girlfriend.
Everything is falling into place—until someone tries to kill him. But will the past he can’t remember jeopardize his future with Jordan?
THE FALCON’S SECOND CHANCE: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by Candace Colt
After handing over her Fortune 500 company to her grown sons, widowed falcon shifter Solange Ford reluctantly turns to a life of baking cookies for her grandchildren and hosting book clubs with her cronies.
Following a long career battling greedy corporations, retired attorney and wolf shifter Clark Hayworth bought a motorhome and set out on a personal Odyssey. Twenty-five states and two countries later, he’s permanently parked the RV near Nocturne Falls to live in peace.
Forty years ago, the couple fell in love. On the night they planned to elope, Solange stood him up and Clark never saw her again.
When a hostile takeover bid threatens the Ford company, Solange steps back into the boardroom to fight back. But she needs the help of a top-notch lawyer. At first hesitant, Clark accepts one last challenge.
Long hours strategizing brings them closer together but doesn’t answer the one question Clark had about that night. Why? When Solange reveals the truth she’s hidden all these years, will it be enough to rekindle their magic or has time destroyed any second chance on love?
TOUCHED BY HIS VAMPIRE CHARM: A NOCTURNE FALLS UNIVERSE STORY by Kira Nyte
The product of an evil scientist’s mad quest to create a day-walking vampire, Vivian Hawkins revels in her freedom in Nocturne Falls, a haven for supernatural creatures great and small. The one thing she truly desires is to find a soul mate. Too bad such happiness isn’t meant for a monster like her.
Vampire Draven Lourdes chafes under the musty existence forced on him by the Levoire coven. If he didn’t need the stuffy old bones to keep his sister safe, he’d leave the coven behind and focus on his adventures. Instead, he has to chase a lead on one of the coven’s missing Elders to a small Georgia town—and gets the shock of his life when he meets the sweetest, most beautiful creature he’s ever seen.
Vivian is drawn to Draven the instant they meet. Though she knows better, she can’t resist the charming vampire’s pursuit. It won’t last. It can’t.
But for Draven, she’ll risk anything.
SIREN’S BARBARIAN CAPTOR by Amber Ella Monroe
Every full moon a sea maiden is given to the Zaqwar. When the sea king trades Celeste to the Zaqwar in exchange for keeping the peace in the kingdom, she accepts her fate, knowing that it’s the only chance she might have to live a life on land like she’d always wished for.
After spending most of her life as a prisoner in the sea, Celeste vows it’ll be different on land. But when the barbarian prince she was promised to is murdered and she’s taken, she becomes a prisoner yet again. But her captor is unlike any other man she’s known before. The seven-foot-tall warrior is alluring and hot as sin. The reluctant but fearless warrior just might be the man she needs to free her from her obligation.
Kradr doesn’t trust the little sea minx he stole from a Zaqwar prince. He needs her to get his brother back, but he keeps her at arm’s length, believing that she’ll use her magic to lure him to the bottom of the ocean to a quick demise. She’s just the bounty for his brother’s freedom, but he can’t help but be tempted by her luscious body, childbearing hips, and gentle voice. From the moment he captures her, all he wants to do is claim her. After just one taste, his hunger for her becomes insatiable.
Fate brought them together and sacrifice could tear them apart.
GARGOYLE by J Scott Coatsworth
VS Note: NOT to give spoilers but according to the author the gargoyle here is NOT one of the romantic heroes in this M/M story. (I asked him!) Sorry!
James Matson – Mattie to his friends – has it bad. It’s 1974 in Alabama, not the best time or place for a young gay guy to have a crush on his college football quarterback. But James can’t help himself.
Randy Paxton is a football player with needs. His girlfriend isn’t putting out, so he takes what he can get. A warm mouth is a warm mouth, after all.
And Daniel O’Malley has a crush too… on James. But James hardly gives him a second glance. What’s a guy to do?
It’s Halloween night, the time when the veil between this world and the next thins, and anything can happen. And tonight, something will happen, something that will change all three of their lives forever.
BUM’S RUSH (WHITE LIGHTNING BOOK 2) by Debra Dunbar and J P Sloan
When their moonshine-running enterprise is arbitrarily shut down, Hattie attempts a spectacular illusion to save the business…and fails to pull it off. Now everyone who’s anyone knows that Vincent isn’t the only magic user in the city of Baltimore.
With her cover blown Hattie finds herself targeted by the local mob, with Vincent specifically tasked to bring her in. Can Hattie stay one step ahead of the only man she thought she could trust with her secrets? In a world filled with magic, where every promise can be broken, Hattie will need to gamble on the only thing she can truly count on: herself.
OMEGA’S WOLVES: HELLS WOLVES MC by J L Wilder
The Hell’s Wolves MC are bad, dangerously bad.
They are on the outskirts of the shifter world,
and are known for being wild, reckless, and untrustworthy.
That’s why I know they are the only ones I can hire to protect me from him….
The only ones, that might save me from a life of breeding.
But can I find light in their darkness? Will they betray me?
JUSTIN: FAIRPLAY SHIFTERS by Serena Meadows
Annabelle is tired of other people running her life, tired of them making her decisions, and tired of them using the power of her magic for their own gain, and that includes her fiancé. Determined to change all that, she rejects that life and strikes out on her own in a place so far from her old life she’s sure that everything will be different. And it is at first, but when she falls in love, she realizes that her old life still has a hold on her and always will, that she can’t change who she is only who she loves.
Still wounded from the loss of his wife, Justin is determined not to relive the mistakes of his past, he has a wonderful family and an adorable little girl, more than enough to keep him happy. But then Annabelle walks into his life and he’s forced to question the path he’s chosen and confront the ghosts of his past. Annabelle helps him discover that those ghosts have been laid themselves to rest, leaving him ready for love again. But the secret he’s been keeping from her threatens their love when he must defend not only his territory but the shifters who depend on him.
LONGING FOR HER WOLVES (HUNGRY FOR HER WOLVES BOOK 2) by Tara West
Thrust into a new shifter world without enough time to adjust, Amara made one hasty mistake that could cost her mates their position in the tribe or break their happy family apart forever. But those struggles are eclipsed when demonic wolves threaten to take everything from Amara’s family. She must fight to heal the rift she caused before it’s too late.
COURT OF SECRETS (FORBIDDEN QUEEN BOOK 1) by Dyan Chick
When Cassia’s wedding is ruined by a monster attack, her whole life changes. Destined for the dull and uneventful life of a Baron’s wife, Cassia always dreamed of more. She never thought it would come in the form of three sexy fae princes.
When she accidentally uses magic, Cassia discovers that she’s not human. She’s a changeling, a fae hidden in the human world. She no longer belongs in the human realm, but she won’t survive on her own in Faerie.
Now, her only hope is the three sexy fae princes who saved her life on her wedding day. On the run from the monsters that attacked her, Cassia must help the princes hunt them down. Her life depends on them, and by the time this is over, they might need her as much as she needs them.
QUEEN OF LIGHT (THE CHOSEN BOOK 4) by Meg Anne
Kiri Helena Solene is done burying her loved ones. She is going to put an end to this war, one way or another.
Even if it means she loses herself in the process.
But in matters of war, Rowena has no intention of losing. The Corruptor knows Helena’s greatest strength is also her weakness, and she has every intention of exploiting it.
Especially if that means removing key players from the board.
The path ahead is fraught with betrayal. The only thing that’s certain…
It won’t end until one of them is dead.
BITTEN BY THE VIRGIN by Alexa Riley
Ravana Faith has been learning to live as a vampire while surrounded by her overprotective family. She hasn’t had her chance to shine, and she’s ready to prove to everyone that she’s not made of glass. When the specter of a slayer comes to their city, she wants to be the one to take him out. But what happens when that’s exactly who she falls for?
Valley Sterling is from a long line of men who hunt vampires. It’s not the life he dreamed of as a child, but what else is he supposed to do? He has a legacy to continue and nothing will get in his way…until Ravana is the one to block his path. Can he give up everything he’s ever known for the woman who is supposed to be his enemy?
THE LITTLE SHOP OF FOUND THINGS by Paula Brackston
Xanthe and her mother Flora leave London behind for a fresh start, taking over an antique shop in the historic town of Marlborough. Xanthe has always had an affinity with some of the antiques she finds. When she touches them, she can sense something of the past they come from and the stories they hold. When she has an intense connection to a beautiful silver chatelaine she has to know more.
It is while she’s examining the chatelaine that she’s transported back to the seventeenth century where it has its origins. She discovers there is an injustice in its history. The spirit that inhabits her new home confronts her and charges her with saving her daughter’s life, threatening to take Flora’s if she fails.
While Xanthe fights to save the girl amid the turbulent days of 1605, she meets architect Samuel Appleby. He may be the person who can help her succeed. He may also be the reason she can’t bring herself to leave.
SENTINEL OF DARKNESS (DARKNESS SERIES BOOK 8) by Katie Reus
She thought she’d put her past behind her…Local artist Keva might be human, but she knows about the things that go bump in the night. Years ago, a dragon shifter saved her from certain death. Ever since, she’s lived in his clan’s territory and put her life back together. But the feeling of security is only an illusion, because her past has come back to haunt her. A past with claws and fangs, demanding blood.
He’ll do whatever it takes to defend his mate…Dagen has finally met his mate—except he insults her the first time they meet. He’s not too proud to grovel to get back into her good graces. But when a threat from her past emerges, he realizes that he’ll do anything to keep her safe. Even if it means dying—or losing her forever.
THE BARTERED BRIDES (ELEMENTAL MASTERS BOOK 13) by Mercedes Lackey
VS Note: Not a romance but notable this week.
The threat of Moriarty is gone—but so is Sherlock Holmes.
Even as they mourn the loss of their colleague, psychic Nan Killian, medium Sarah Lyon-White, and Elemental Masters John and Mary Watson must be vigilant, for members of Moriarty’s network are still at large. And their troubles are far from over: in a matter of weeks, two headless bodies of young brides wash up in major waterways. A couple who fears for their own recently-wedded daughter hires the group to investigate, but with each new body, the mystery only deepens.
The more bodies emerge, the more the gang suspects that there is dangerous magic at work, and that Moriarty’s associates are somehow involved. But as they race against the clock to uncover the killer, it will take all their talents, Magic, and Psychic Powers—and perhaps some help from a dearly departed friend—to bring the murderer to justice.
RACHEL’S TOTEM (COUGAR FALLS BOOK 1) by Marie Harte
VS Note: A re-release
When Rachel arrives in Cougar Falls for a reading of her aunt’s will, she finds herself in a strange little town. The fantastic tales that the townsfolk tell about a clan of people who can shift into animals are nothing but folklore. Aren’t they?
Burke is taken with sexy Rachel, even more so when she shows signs of possessing Ac-taw blood. But this puts her in more danger than she knows, danger that only increases the urgency to mark her as his own. Rachel comes to realize she’s inherited much more than just property. She has also inherited a destiny to protect her newfound home, and her new love.
For the Ac-taw aren’t just legend-they’re real.
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VS: Just a reminder if you missed PETS IN SPACE somehow last week LOL, it’s still available!
EMBRACE THE ROMANCE: PETS IN SPACE 3 by Various Authors, including ME!
VS note: I’m so excited that our scifi romance anthology is available now! I wrote a 41K Sectors novel for my entry (Star Cruise: Mystery Dancer) and SE Smith also wrote a novel, plus MORE! Can I entice you with a Galactic Gladiators short story? A Mandrake Company tale from Ruby Lionsdrake? Among others…
Pets in Space™ is back! Join us as we unveil eleven original, never-before-published action-filled romances that will heat your blood and warm your heart! New York Times, USA Today and Award-winning authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Ruby Lionsdrake, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Carol Van Natta, Tiffany Roberts, Alexis Glynn Latner, E D Walker, JC Hay, and Kyndra Hatch combine their love for Science Fiction Romance and pets to bring readers sexy, action-packed romances while helping our favorite charity. Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space™ authors have donated over $4,400 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Embrace the Romance: Pets in Space™ 3 today!
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LINKS TO RECENT NEW RELEASES POSTS from Veronica:
The term “new” is generally plus or minus a week or two. I try to catch up on ones I missed in recent months.
I do NOT cover every single new release in SFR/FantasyR/PNR. I never have. That would be an impossible task for any human! I assemble my list every week based on various informal inputs, and I do curate the list to some extent…
I check and verify all the buy links at the time I create the post but after that I’m not responsible.