Ice storm advice [meteo]

Jan. 23rd, 2026 11:11 pm
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For those of you in the parts of the US for whom an ice storm is predicted and who have no idea of what that is except that it means it will be cold:

1) If you have an ice scraper to clean the ice off your car, have it inside with you, not in the car. Because at a sufficient level of ice coating, leaving your ice scraper in the car is like leaving your car keys in the car.

1a) Honestly, at a certain level of ice coating, it's more like having one's car coated in concrete, and you shouldn't waste your energy and body warmth whaling futilely at it. One of the failure modes is you succeed in getting the ice off but take the windshield with it.

2) You probably associate winter storms and coldness with grey-overcast skies and darkness. But once it is done coming down, often the arctic winds that drove the storm will blow the clouds away, the skies clear and the sun will come up. I cannot begin to describe how bright it gets when the sun is shining and the whole world is made of glass. If you packed your sunglasses away for the winter, go get them out. If you store them in your glove compartment of your car, again, maybe go get them and have them inside with you so you can see what you're doing when you are trying to get the ice off the car.

3) All that said, maybe just don't be worrying about leaving home. A fundamental clue is that an ice storm is not done when the storm is done raging. For as long as there's a thick glaze of ice on everything, the crisis is not over. Your life experience has given you an intuition of physics that says ice forms where water pools and is therefore mostly something flat. But in an ice storm, you get ice coating absolutely everything including sloped and vertical surfaces. YouTube is willing to show you endless videos of people attempting and failing to walk up quite gentle slopes covered with ice and cars slowly and majestically sliding down hills. Driving and walking can be unbelievably dangerous after an ice storm. Try to ride it out by sheltering in place and don't try to go out in it if you can at all avoid it. Remember, it's not about how good a driver you are, it's about how good a driver everybody else on the road isn't.

4) Snow and ice falling off buildings can kill you. Yes, I know snow looks fluffy, but it is made of water and can compact to be quite solid and if it attains free fall it can build up quite a bit of momentum. Icicles are basically spears. If you endeavor to try to knock snow or ice off from a roof or other high structure, be real careful how you position yourself relative to it.

5) Now and until this is over is absolutely not the time to do anything that entails any unnecessary risk. Any activity that is at all discretionary that has even a remote likelihood of occasioning an ER trip is to be avoided. Boredom, I know, makes people find their own fun. Resist the urge.
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Posted by Amanda

Butcher & Blackbird

Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weaver is $1.49! This is book one in The Ruinous Love series. I read this one and these are my thoughts from my Goodreads review:

This one started off really promising. Unfortunately, the pacing started to falter about about a third of the way into it. The last quarter was suspenseful and I appreciated the twist, but yeah…the middle of the book felt mostly like filler. I also didn’t feel a ton of romantic progression between the leads.

One thing that really confounded me was that Sloane is described as being in her early twenties. She’s an accomplished serial killer and quotes Zoolander (which came out in 2001). Look, I love Zoolander as much as the next person, but it’s not exactly the Criterion Collection. It really took me out and had me wondering when exactly did this story take place.

Overall, I enjoyed the tone and dark humor. It’s a unique romance, but needed some refinement.

Every serial killer needs a friend.
Every game must have a winner.

When a chance encounter sparks an unlikely bond between rival murderers Sloane and Rowan, the two find something elusive—the friendship of a like-minded, pitch-black soul. From small town West Virginia to upscale California, from downtown Boston to rural Texas, the two hunters collide in an annual game of blood and suffering, one that pits them against the most dangerous monsters in the country. But as their friendship develops into something more, the restless ghosts left in their wake are only a few steps behind, ready to claim more than just their newfound love. Can Rowan and Sloane dig themselves out of a game of graves? Or have they finally met their match?

Butcher & Blackbird is the first book in the Ruinous Love Dark Romance trilogy of interconnected stand-alone dark romantic comedies. This dual POV novel ends on a HEA.

***Butcher & Blackbird is a DARK ROMANCE intended for an adult audience – please see Brynne’s website for a comprehensive list of CWs***

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Do Your Worst

Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan is $2.99! Lara was middling on this paranormal romance and gave it a C-. I enjoyed Danan’s contemporaries so I remember looking forward to this one. Did you read it?

Riley Rhodes finally has the chance to turn her family’s knack for the supernatural into a legitimate business when she’s hired to break the curse on an infamous Scottish castle. Used to working alone in her alienating occupation, she’s pleasantly surprised to meet a handsome stranger upon arrival—until he tries to get her fired.

Fresh off a professional scandal, Clark Edgeware can’t allow a self-proclaimed “curse breaker” to threaten his last chance for redemption. After he fails to get Riley kicked off his survey site, he vows to avoid her. Unfortunately for him, she vows to get even.

Riley expects the curse to do her dirty work by driving Clark away, but instead, they keep finding themselves in close proximity. Too close. Turns out, the only thing they do better than fight is fool around. If they’re not careful, by the end of all this, more than the castle will end up in ruins.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Other Princess

The Other Princess by Denny S. Bryce is $1.99! This one was featured in a previous Book Beat post. We’ve also had Bryce’s debut Wild Women and the Blues on sale before.

A stunning portrait of an African princess raised in Queen Victoria’s court and adapting to life in Victorian England—based on the real-life story of a recently rediscovered historical figure, Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

With a brilliant mind and a fierce will to survive, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a kidnapped African princess, is rescued from enslavement at seven years old and presented to Queen Victoria as a “gift.” To the Queen, the girl is an exotic trophy to be trotted out for the entertainment of the royal court and to showcase Victoria’s magnanimity. Sarah charms most of the people she meets, even those who would cast her aside. Her keen intelligence and her aptitude for languages and musical composition helps Sarah navigate the Victorian era as an outsider given insider privileges.

But embedded in Sarah’s past is her destiny. Haunted by visions of destruction and decapitations, she desperately seeks a place, a home she will never run from, never fear, a refuge from nightmares and memories of death.

From West Africa to Windsor Castle to Sierra Leone, to St. James’s Palace, and the Lagos Colony, Sarah juggles the power and pitfalls of a royal upbringing as she battles racism and systematic oppression on her way to living a life worthy of a Yoruba princess.

Based on the real life of Queen Victoria’s Black goddaughter, Sarah Forbes Bonetta’s story is a sweeping saga of an African princess in Victorian England and West Africa, as she searches for a home, family, love, and identity.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Rebellious Desire

Rebellious Desire by Julie Garwood is $1.99! This is a Regency romance that was first released in the 80s. Garwood fans say this isn’t their favorite book of hers, while others enjoyed the mystery element added to the romance. Have you read this one? What did you think?

Before there was Downton Abbey, there was Rebellious Desire…in this classic Regency romance from bestselling author Julie Garwood, an American heiress must land a titled lord.

Of all the dukes in England, Jered Marcus Benton, the Duke of Bradford, was the wealthiest, most handsome—and most arrogant. And of all London’s ladies, he wanted the tender obedience of only one—Caroline Richmond.

She was a ravishing beauty from Boston, with a mysterious past and a fiery spirit. Drawn to the powerful duke, undeterred by his presumptuous airs, Caroline was determined to win his lasting love. But Bradford would bend to no woman—until a deadly intrigue drew them enticingly close. Now, united against a common enemy, they would discover the power of the magnificent attraction that brought them together…a desire born in danger, but destined to flame into love!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Spam Poetry

Jan. 23rd, 2026 02:00 pm
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Posted by Jen

Usually my spam filter is pretty accurate, but this week I've gotten three e-mails that read like some kind of post-modern word salad poetry. I'm assuming they're spam, but then again, maybe they're really some hip new literary project by postmodern word salad poets. Eh? 

So in the spirit of artistic discovery, I've decided to illustrate these literary feats with the most appropriate cakes I could find. ENJOY.

Subject linehey! :) My name is Margarito!

Artillery fray, 


I must articulate smoothly, it is a terrible wise of many enemy, 

this godson of tormenting children,

 

...and children cheerful.

èḥῥộ_ ḣûῂ?ṕẹvќћ (??) 

[That is a line of unintelligible characters which I can only assume was supposed to link to overpriced weasel aphrodisiacs, but since it isn't clickable in the original e-mail I can't say for sure.]

And painting it I soothe said to exception: 

"it is the riverside of the disadvantage 

and He has sent it to flit my shipboard crustacean."

::flit flit flit::

Alternatively, here's a shoe board crustacean:

[bowing] Ah thank you, thankyouverramuch.

 

 Subject lineGood day, my name is Nathanial :)

One notwithstanding 

he did with more sincerity bluff so strange in Moscow,

 a life of astounding but salutation,

(C'mon, what are the odds I'd find a cake of a butt salutation?

(Oh, sorry was that just one "t"? My bad.)

 

Piping and plating, he was degenerating.

(You know what they say about small pens, right?)

(Smaller pocket protectors.) 

Subject line: hey!! My name is Broderick!

The amass had feigned, 

but coldly was some embody thereon.

Cuttlefish assureed merrily as jersey began talking, 

amiably bashful, 

with drowsy one sponge emerge at her foresight to unify its broth on her.

Whoah there, Bobby boy, you're not unifying your broth on ANYBODY today, hear me?

 

Thanks to Steve B., Shannon P., Candi F., Alexis I., Heitha B., Rachael E., Anony M., Kylie S., & Audra B. for the wreckiest cakes in all the 'verse.

*****

P.S. I see you appreciate poetry. Might I recommend...?

I Could Pee On This, And Other Poems By Cats

This hardcover gift book costs less than $10 and will have your friends feline fine.

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

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Posted by SB Sarah

I talk a lot about how SBTB feels like a piece of vintage internet sometimes. I mean, we’re a book blog, albeit a large one with a podcast and a bunch of social media accounts, and every now and again I’m reminded that we’re one of the classic pieces of the internet. (Also: STILL HERE!)

YouTube was founded the 14th of February 2005, a few weeks after this here website, in fact. Yup, both YouTube and SBTB are turning 21 this year. Hoo, boy.

I tried to think of the oldest video I remember seeing on the internet – and I first went online at my now-husband’s college in the mid-90s because mine didn’t have the internet at all. I scared the crap out of myself reading the section of Yahoo that housed all the ghost stories. This was back when, to quote someone whose name I cannot recall (sorry) “you could have any colors you wanted on your web page as long as it was black on grey.”

The most memorable vintage YouTube videos for me seem to be songs, or performances of songs.

For example:

“Chocolate Rain” by Tay Zonday, posted in 2008, aka 18 years ago.

Gary Brolsma’s “Numa Numa” dance, to O-ZONE’s “Dragoste din Tei” which is on my snowboarding playlist. If you see a slow-moving snowboarder singing, “Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma nu ma iei, nu ma nu ma iei, nu ma nu ma nu ma iei,” it’s probably me.

This was originally published on a site called Newgrounds in 2004, and then on YouTube in 2006.

And probably the song I most remember because Candy sent it to me and I started playing it at work. I still sing this to people – who are familiar with the video itself, not just randomly.

This is from 19 years ago, originally uploaded on Valentine’s Day 2007. HA! I also learned from Wiki that Samwell performed it in April 2008 on the BBC show Lily Allen and Friends

And there’s a making-of behind the scenes video, too. You’ll never believe which sections have the highest views.

Wait – no, I think this is the oldest. It’s from 2003. TWO THOUSAND AND THREE.

And I still say, “But I am le tired” all the time. (Jesus’ Trucknuts I didn’t expect that video to hit me so hard in the current anxieties – proceed with caution with this silly video.)

Happy Friday, y’all!

What’s the oldest video you remember seeing online?

 

 

 

702. Heated Rivalry with Candy Tan

Jan. 23rd, 2026 07:00 am
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Posted by SB Sarah

The show poster with shirtless Ilya and Shane in hockey pants and no shirts leaning in and about to kiss each otherCandy recapped Heated Rivalry, and is that enough? No, of course not. We had MANY things we wanted to exclaim at each other about, so why not podcast about it?

We’re going to talk about the show, the acting, the adaptation, and the fact that this show could never have been made in the US. Jacob Tierney is a genius, and we have many a rabbit hole of research to explore.

If you’ve been thinking about this show nonstop, come hang out.

Listen to the podcast →
Read the transcript →

Here are the books we discuss in this podcast:

You can find Candy Tan @beautifulduckweed on Bluesky and on Tumblr.

We also mentioned:

If you like the podcast, you can subscribe to our feed, or find us at iTunes. You can also find us on Stitcher, and Spotify, too. We also have a cool page for the podcast on iTunes.

More ways to sponsor:

Sponsor us through Patreon! (What is Patreon?)

What did you think of today's episode? Got ideas? Suggestions? You can talk to us on the blog entries for the podcast or talk to us on Facebook if that's where you hang out online. You can email us at sbjpodcast@gmail.com or you can call and leave us a message at our Google voice number: 201-371-3272. Please don't forget to give us a name and where you're calling from so we can work your message into an upcoming podcast.

Thanks for listening!

Remember to subscribe to our podcast feed, find us on iTunes or on Stitcher.

Historical Romance, the Moon, & More

Jan. 22nd, 2026 04:30 pm
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Posted by Amanda

Libro.fm is launching an annual membership for audiobook fans looking for alternatives. The annual plan offers 12 credits up front, plus 30% off additional purchases including sales titles, and access to members-only sales, too. For a limited time, if you sign up now, you’ll receive a 13th credit free!

Big plus: when you register for Libro.fm, you can direct a portion of your purchase to a local independent bookshop.

The Roommate

RECOMMENDED: The Roommate by Rosie Danan is $2.99! I liked this one and gave it a B+. Ellen also read the follow-up and gave that on a similar grade.

House Rules:
Do your own dishes
Knock before entering the bathroom
Never look up your roommate online

The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.

After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet…

Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

When the Moon Hits Your Eye

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi is $2.99! This came out last March and was mentioned in Hide Your Wallet. Scalzi always comes up with some fun plots. Did any of you read this one?

From the New York Times bestselling author of Starter Villain comes an entirely serious take on a distinctly unserious subject: what would really happen if suddenly the moon were replaced by a giant wheel of cheese.

It’s a whole new moooooon.

One day soon, suddenly and without explanation, the moon as we know it is replaced with an orb of cheese with the exact same mass. Through the length of an entire lunar cycle, from new moon to a spectacular and possibly final solar eclipse, we follow multiple characters — schoolkids and scientists, billionaires and workers, preachers and politicians — as they confront the strange new world they live in, and the absurd, impossible moon that now hangs above all their lives.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Heiress Gets a Duke

RECOMMENDED: The Heiress Gets a Duke by Harper St. George is $1.99! Yes, yes, the names have already been debated in the comments of previous sales and the book review. I’m not much of a historical romance reader these days, but enjoyed this one:

I was charmed by this book. Completely.

Even a fortune forged in railroads and steel can’t buy entrance into the upper echelons of Victorian high society—for that you need a marriage of convenience.

American heiress August Crenshaw has aspirations. But unlike her peers, it isn’t some stuffy British Lord she wants wrapped around her finger—it’s Crenshaw Iron Works, the family business. When it’s clear that August’s outrageously progressive ways render her unsuitible for a respectable match, her parents offer up her younger sister to the highest entitled bidder instead. This simply will not do. August refuses to leave her sister to the mercy of a loveless marriage.

Evan Sterling, the Duke of Rothschild, has no intention of walking away from the marriage. He’s recently inherited the title only to find his coffers empty, and with countless lives depending on him, he can’t walk away from the fortune a Crenshaw heiress would bring him. But after meeting her fiery sister, he realizes Violet isn’t the heiress he wants. He wants August, and he always gets what he wants.

But August won’t go peacefully to her fate. She decides to show Rothschild that she’s no typical London wallflower. Little does she realize that every stunt she pulls to make him call off the wedding only makes him like her even more.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Build-a-Boyfriend Project

The Build-a-Boyfriend Project by Mason Deaver is $1.99! Dahlia picked this one for her August 2025 Queer Romance Roundup. She mentioned that this is Deaver’s adult debut.

Bestselling and award-winning author Mason Deaver’s adult romance debut follows a journalist in a dead-end job who agrees to teach his disastrous blind date how to be a better boyfriend. Readers will delight in this sweet and steamy queer romance with trans representation!

Eli Francis is stuck. Stuck in an assistant position at the online magazine Vent when he should be a writer. Stuck with a boss who dangles a promotion but would rather he just fetch the coffee. Stuck working alongside the ex who has had no trouble moving up at work…or moving on.

When Eli’s roommates push him to date so he can get over his ex once and for all, they set him up with Peter Park. Tall, handsome, and unbelievably awkward. The date is a complete disaster, and further proof to Eli that love isn’t for him. But when his boss overhears Eli recounting the catastrophic night, he suggests teaching Peter to be a better boyfriend through a series of simulated dates so he can write an article about it.

But Eli has other ideas…Eli plays along, pretending to write the article, while secretly interviewing Peter about growing up queer in the South and coming-of-age dating wise in adulthood. Eli hopes writing this sort of piece will finally get him the promotion he deserves. And in exchange, he will teach Peter how to be a better boyfriend.

But the more time Eli spends with Peter, the closer they become, and the lines between what’s real and what’s fake begin to blur. Before long Eli is forced to face his greatest fears to become the writer he wants to be and secure the love he’s always needed.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Oooooh...SO CLOSE

Jan. 22nd, 2026 02:00 pm
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Posted by Jen

So do bakers still get points if you can at least tell what their cakes were *supposed* to say?

 

Or...not.

 

The period is how you know that new hairstyle is really working for you, Raquel. Honest.

 

Excellent advice for those pesky potty-training years.

 

Is this like an "I am legion" thing? 'Cuz if so, I'd rather you roar over there, if it's all the same to all of you.

 

And for bonus points, let's see if you can tell what these last two words were supposed to say:

Not sure? Then here's a hint: it's the same thing the last word on THIS cake was supposed to say:

But hey, who's counting?

 

Thanks to Shimon M., Raquel, Rebecca D., Jennifer B., Tom M., & Shane A. for the close falls.

*****

P.S. Here's a (hilarious) reminder that English is almost as confusing as these cakes:

P Is for Pterodactyl: The Worst Alphabet Book Ever

*****

And from my other blog, Epbot:

Which One First: Alice Coldbreath

Jan. 22nd, 2026 07:00 am
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Posted by SB Sarah

A stack of books with an ereader on top with the words Classic Romance Which One First written on the screenBack by popular demand, it’s Which One First,  where we recommend where new readers should start with an author’s considerable backlist.

And also by request: it’s Which One First? Alice Coldbreath Edition!

Alice Coldbreath, if you aren’t familiar, is a massively popular author of historical romances, specifically medievals and some Victorian stories.

I love the entire existence of Coldbreath’s career. In a time where historical romance is not as dominant as it once was, and the more popular genres in romance are contemporary and Rrrrrrrrrromantasy, Alice Coldbreath is killing it writing medievals. Medievals! A subgenre of romance I hadn’t thought of until Coldbreath started dominating Reddit threads. I love this. I love it so much. It’s so great!

I also love her “about” page on her website: a portrait of (I presume) Alice herself with a very handsome dog, done in a medieval style.

And, after a three sentence bio, the page reads:

Alice Coldbreath’s books promise you…

    • A guaranteed Happily Ever After for the hero and heroine.
    • Categorically NO cheating by the central characters within their pages.
    • To be stand-alone romances that will never end on a cliff-hanger or require the purchase of another book to complete the central story.

Reader warning, Alice Coldbreath’s books also contain:

    • ​Jealous heroes
    • Strong language.
    • Scenes of a sexual nature.

 

I kinda like this forthright authorial guarantee. It’s very satisfying!

Lara has reviewed Wed by Proxy and gave it an A, in part because she loved how the book gave her the flavor of “tempestuous novels with slammed doors and groveling and intense feelings” (a la Jilly Cooper) but didn’t “make me cringe or rage because of dubious consent, controlling behaviour, and the like.” Lara also loved An Inconvenient Vow, and gave it an A-.

Love Potion for the Alpha
A | BN | K | AB
But where do you think a new reader should start with Coldbreath’s novels?

She has, if I understand correctly, three main groups of novels:

  • medievals set in the fictional kingdom of Karadok
  • Victorian novels set in the actual-factual Victorian era in England
  • And! A paranormal – it’s a medieval with shifters called Love Potion for the Alpha

Folks who love Coldbreath’s novels like that she writes slow burn love stories that frequently start with arranged marriages, but also feature heroes who become completely besotted with their partners. There also seem to be a lot of Deeply Shitty Parents.

With several series, it makes sense, as Lara advised when we discussed this internally, to start “at the beginning of whatever series you’re interested in. I should have started with the Vaudrey brothers series.”

Amanda says, “My first and only Coldbreath was Her Baseborn Bridegroom and I found it underwhelming, probably because I set my expectations too high. I have friends who squee about her books a lot. I think it’s a fine entry, but I don’t know if it’s the best entry, if that makes sense.”

Claudia agrees: “I started with that one too, Amanda — then never picked up more of her books.”

I personally don’t start at the beginning of a series if I don’t want to. (I realize this is truly unfathomable behavior to many of you!) I’ll start with book 6 if that’s the one I want to read.

His Forsaken Bride
A | BN | K | AB
Kiki agrees: “For the medieval inspired books, I actually think you should skip Her Baseborn Bridegroom and read His Forsaken Bride first—it’s the set up for the rest of the Karadok series and gives a better vision of the whole court, although I know some folks don’t love the hero.

“For the Victorian series, I LOVED A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter (again, the second book in the series).”

So please help your fellow readers, Alice Coldbreath fans!  Between the Brides of Karadok series and the Victorian Prizefighter and Victorian Reversal of Fortune series, which books do you recommend a new reader start with?

And if possible, please try to explain why you’re recommending that book as a starting place. Y’all make wonderful recommendations.

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Posted by Amanda

Workspace with computer, journal, books, coffee, and glasses.Welcome back!

Firstly, thank you all for your flu commiserations! Breathing is better, but definitely not at 100%, plus a little cough as started to make an appearance.

I’m full steam ahead on cozy activities, like gaming in bed, nudging my partner to help figure out how our propane fireplace works, making warm salads like this one. (Highly recommend this whole channel for easy meals that are packed with veggies and protein.)

But my biggest gripe is that there aren’t enough hours in the day for maximum lounging and loafing. What do you mean I have to go to work and can’t just play my Switch amidst a nest of blankets?!

This link comes from EC Spurlock. It’s a pay-what-you-can fundraiser for cross stitch patterns that supports Minnesota nonprofits and mutual aid organizations.

Are you in the New England area and have no plans on February 25th? I’ll be talking with Amy Spalding about her latest release, In Her Spotlight at All She Wrote Books. Come say hi!

Lore Olympus is getting an animated show through Prime Video and the Jim Henson Company. I’m curious!

Any Dropout fans in the audience? I remember back when it was CollegeHumor and how founder Sam Reich pivoted to a wildly successful subscription model for Dropout.

Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!

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Posted by Amanda

Partners in Crime

RECOMMENDED: Partners in Crime by Alisha Rai is $1.99! Lara read this one and gave it an A- in a Lightning Review:

Because of my absolute abhorrence of a Big Misunderstanding plot, I nearly didn’t come back to this book, so if that turns you off, too, don’t make my mistake. You’ll be rewarded with a fun, emotionally nuanced, and surprising heist adventure – a very memorable one!

Indian Matchmaking meets Date Night in this fun, romantic adventure by Alisha Rai — “One of the very brightest romance writers working right now.” (Entertainment Weekly)

Mira Patel’s got a solid accounting career, good friends, and a whole lot of distance between her and her dysfunctional family. All that’s missing is a stable romantic relationship. Armed with a spreadsheet and professional help, she sets out to find her partner in only legal activities, but much to her matchmaker’s dismay, no one is quite right.

Including Naveen Desai, the very first match she unceremoniously rejected.

Lately Naveen’s been too focused on keeping his sick grandfather’s law firm afloat to think about love, and he’s stunned when Mira walks back into his life to settle her aunt’s affairs. He’s determined to keep things professional…though it’s impossible not to be intrigued by all of the secrets piling up around Mira.

If getting back together with an ex is a bad idea, getting kidnapped with one is even worse.

Suddenly, Naveen and Mira find themselves in a mad dash through Las Vegas to escape jewel thieves, evade crime bosses, and follow the clues to untangle the mess her family left behind. As her past comes back to haunt her, Mira despairs of ever finding someone who might understand her…but maybe, over the course of one wild night, she’ll find that he’s right by her side.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Conventionally Yours

Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert is 99c and a KDD! This is a gay and geeky romance set at a convention (I miss those!). It was also a summer release that Elyse picked for Hide Your Wallet. Have you read this one?

When two “big name fans” go head-to-head at a convention, love isn’t the only thing at stake.

Charming, charismatic, and effortlessly popular, Conrad Stewart seems to have it all…but in reality, he’s scrambling to keep his life from tumbling out of control.

Brilliant, guarded, and endlessly driven, Alden Roth may as well be the poster boy for perfection…but even he can’t help but feel a little broken inside.

When these mortal enemies are stuck together on a cross-country road trip to the biggest fan convention of their lives, their infamous rivalry takes a backseat as an unexpected connection is forged. Yet each has a reason why they have to win the upcoming Odyssey gaming tournament and neither is willing to let emotion get in the way—even if it means giving up their one chance at something truly magical.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon

Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon by Mizuki Tsujimura is $1.99! I mentioned this on Get Rec’d for those who like magical realism, or who have been enjoying books like Before the Coffee Gets Cold.

A suspenseful magical realism novel about a mysterious teenage “Go-Between” who arranges meetings between the living and the dead, from multimillion copy Japanese bestselling author Mizuki Tsujimura.

I bring together the living and the departed. I am the Go-Between.

When a young woman from Tokyo contacts the Go-Between to request a meeting with a deceased TV star who once helped her, she doesn’t expect a teenage boy to show up. Dressed in a designer duffel coat and carrying a tattered notebook, Ayumi Shibuya, our mysterious intermediary, offers an extraordinary he reunites the living with their dearly departed. Meeting his clients at a luxury hotel, Ayumi lays down the ground each reunion is a one-time arrangement that the dead can refuse; the service is entirely free, and the meeting must take place during a full moon.

As Ayumi arranges these reunions, we encounter a resentful eldest son who wants to ask his mother to unearth the deeds to a plot of land; a teenage girl who blames herself for her best friend’s death; and a weary businessman seeking answers about his fiancée’s disappearance days after he proposed. With each rendezvous, clues begin to surface, leading readers to unravel the mystery of the boy in the duffel coat, whose own story is eventually revealed.

A runaway, multimillion copy bestseller in Japan, Lost Souls Meet Under a Full Moon is storytelling at its finest, from an international sensation whose work has been hailed as “strange and beautiful” (The Guardian). With an artful balance of heart and mystery, Mizuki Tsujimura creates an unforgettable page-turner in which the living and the dead are given one last chance for closure.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Next Year in Havana

Next Year in Havana by Chanel Cleeton is $1.99! This book has dual timelines: 2017 Miami and 1958 Havana and was mentioned in a Rec League for Dual Timeline books. Have you read this one?

After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity–and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution…

Havana, 1958. The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba’s high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country’s growing political unrest–until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary…

Miami, 2017. Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa’s last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.

Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba’s tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate. When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she’ll need the lessons of her grandmother’s past to help her understand the true meaning of courage.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

[syndicated profile] cakewrecks_feed

Posted by Jen

If Cake Wrecks has taught us anything, it's that you have to be really careful what you say to a baker:

Houston, we have a problem.

 

Insert snarky comment here: ...........

 

This one I'm actually Ok with - but only because the baker included some this time.

 

Ah, the perils of buying a cake and picking it up later:

(Do you think the baker write5 all hi5/her Ss like thi5?)

 

"So, whaddaya want?"

"Hang on, where?"

Wow. That is SO...well, you know.

 

I guess we should be glad these mistakes are on cake, though, which is easily disposed of. I hear tanker trucks are way more difficult:

Well, maybe not if you have a match, but still.

 

And what does it say when this pops up in front of your kids' school?

I get the feeling this "shold read" something else.

 

So the next time you see a literal LOL iced on a cake, just remember:

Somewhere there are people with this frame on their mantels. 

(Although I bet they got it for cheap!)

 

Thanks to Kelsey C., Bami, Kim L., Kathy R., Tam, Anony M., John O., Jen G., & Robyn S. for literally being my most recent wreckporters.
******

And from my other blog, Epbot:

[syndicated profile] smartbitches_feed

Posted by SB Sarah

We’re only a few weeks into 2026 (?!!) and I’m curious about the books you’re most looking forward to that are releasing between January 1 and June 30, 2026.

There are MANY on our lists, and I limited folks to only a few – which means I know you have titles to suggest, too.

One that I couldn’t format for our database: Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire, Vol. 3 by Priest, translated by Yog and SassyStrawberry. This hardcover will be released in March 2026.

And if you want to mention your own book, please feel welcome!

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter

Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Author: Heather Fawcett
Released: February 17, 2026 by Del Rey
Genre: , , ,

Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life, and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for stray cats.

Now it’s the shelter that needs a new home. And the only landlord who will rent a space to a cat rescue is a mysterious man called Havelock—who also happens to be the world’s most infamous magician, running an illegal magic shop out of his basement. Havelock is cantankerous and eccentric, but not not handsome, and no, Agnes absolutely does not feel anything but disdain for him. After all, rumors swirl about his shadowy past—including whispers that his dark magic once almost brought about the apocalypse.

Then one day a glamorous magician comes looking for Havelock, putting the magic shop—and the cat shelter—in jeopardy. To save the shelter, Agnes will have to team up with the magician who nearly ended the world . . . and may now be trying to steal her heart.

Havelock is everything Agnes thinks she doesn’t need in her life: chaos, mischief, and a little too much adventure. But as she gets to know him, she discovers that he’s more than the dark magician of legend, and that she may be ready for a little intrigue—and romance—in her life. After all, second chances aren’t just for rescue cats. . . .

This book is out February 3, and I want to dive into the cover and roll around in it. I also love everything about this concept, especially the cats.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

The Ex-Perimento

The Ex-Perimento by Maria J. Morillo

Author: Maria J. Morillo
Released: February 17, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: ,

A woman enlists the help of her favorite musician to win her ex-boyfriend back in this sparkling romantic comedy set in Venezuela by debut author Maria J. Morillo.

Maria “Marianto” Camacho is a planner. At twenty-seven, she has her life perfectly mapped out. Her long-term boyfriend, Alejandro, is perfect on paper, and she’s expecting a proposal any day now. She has a stable job as a lifestyle columnist at Ellas, one of Latin America’s biggest digital magazines. Her future is set; she’s sure of it.

Until everything falls apart overnight: Marianto loses her boyfriend and her job. But she’s determined to get them both back with an idea that is either delusional or ingenious—a juicy new article for Ellas that documents a series of romantic experiments to get her ex back. Thus begins The Ex-Perimento. With her bank account dwindling, however, Marianto lands a temporary gig on Venezuela’s hottest new singing competition show. Her job? Personal assistant to Simón Arreaza, the lead singer of her favorite indie band.

It’s only her second day on the job when Simón discovers Marianto’s list of romantic experiments, striking her ideas and replacing them with his own better ones. Out of desperation, she offers a proposition: Help her win back Alejandro, and she’ll give Simón’s band a profile in the magazine once she returns to Ellas. But between the close quarters on set and the blurred lines of a budding friendship, Marianto and Simón find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other, caught in a whirlwind of unexpected romance.

The Ex-Perimento is out on February 17, and takes place in Caracas, Venezuela, which is both a setting for a contemporary romance I’ve not read before, and a little uncanny in the current political mess. This book is a mix of tropes I love, too: celebrity romance, behind-the-scenes, and “I’ll coach you to get your ex back and we all know that will workout exactly as we planned.”

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And Now, Back to You

And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison

Author: B.K. Borison
Released: February 24, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: , ,
Series: Heartstrings #2

Two competing meteorologists are forced to find common ground in this opposites attract, When Harry Met Sally inspired romance, from New York Times bestselling author B.K. Borison.

Jackson Clark and Delilah Stewart have had their fair share of run-ins over the years, often ending in disaster. While Jackson thrives on routine and organization from the comfort of his radio booth, Delilah loves the spontaneity and adventure out in the field. When they’re partnered against their will to cover a historic snowstorm, they find themselves scrambling to figure out how to work together.

Eager to be taken seriously as a journalist, Delilah offers Jackson a deal: If he can help her ace this assignment, she’ll help him rediscover his long-lost fun side. With unexplored chemistry burning beneath their clashes, the unlikely partnership quickly tumbles into an easy and surprising friendship.

But when other feelings start to enter the equation, can Jackson and Delilah withstand the storm? Or does what happens in the mountains stay in the mountains?

February 24th is the day for Borison fans! I have heard so many enthusiastic recommendations for Borison, and I’m starting with this one because I love the idea of rival meterologists.

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A Ghastly Catastrophe

A Ghastly Catastrophe by Deanna Raybourn

Author: Deanna Raybourn
Released: March 3, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: , ,
Series: Veronica Speedwell Mysteries #10

Veronica and Stoker are practically dying for a new adventure, but when their wish is granted, they find themselves up against a secret society and a darkly seductive duo in this landmark historical mystery from beloved New York Times bestselling and Edgar® Award–nominated author Deanna Raybourn.

When the corpse of an entitled young man is found entirely drained of blood in a carriage next to Highgate Cemetery, Veronica’s interest is piqued. And then a second victim is found, his death made to look like a suicide—and Veronica and her intrepid beau Stoker know the hunt is on. The two men share one link: they were both members of a society so secretive that only a singular mention of it can be found anywhere.

Thirsty for more clues, Veronica and Stoker hear that a young Romany boy may know more about their first victim, and the only way to the boy is through an old acquaintance of Stoker’s, Lady Julia Brisbane. Lady Julia and her dashing husband, Nicholas, occasionally track down murderers and are only too happy to help. But as it becomes clear that the secret society is a dangerous sect looking to entice immortality seekers, Veronica and Stoker find themselves ensnared by a decidedly more sinister couple.

The professed leader of the society claims to be a creature of the night; his partner practices witchcraft and they both fancy themselves emissaries of the otherworldly. Just as Veronica and Stoker get closer to learning the true purpose of the society and unraveling this macabre mystery, another body turns up, and they quickly discover they’ve gone from being the hunters to the hunted. . . .

Can you believe this is book 10 in the Veronica Speedwell series? TEN! I’m shocked. I’m also enamored of this series because sometimes mystery series make me tense and anxious before I even start it – bad things keep happening to the protagonists I like! – but not this one. Veronica is so competent, unflappable, and confident that I am more curious to see what absolute bullshit displays itself in front of her, and what she’ll say about it. Release date: March 3.

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The Fox and the Devil

The Fox and the Devil by Kiersten White

Author: Kiersten White
Released: March 10, 2026 by Del Rey
Genre: , , , ,

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to the study of vampires—until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful woman looming over his body. A woman who leaves no trace behind, other than the dreams and nightmares that now plague Anneke every night.

Spurred by her desire for vengeance and armed with the latest forensic and investigatory techniques, Anneke puts together a team of detectives to catch this mysterious serial killer. Because her father isn’t the only inexplicable dead body. There’s a trail of victims across Europe, and Anneke is certain they’re all connected.

But during the years spent relentlessly hunting the killer, Anneke keeps crucial evidence to herself: infuriatingly coy letters, addressed only to her, occasionally soaked in blood, and always signed Diavola.

The closer Anneke gets to her devil, though, the less sense the world makes. Maybe her father wasn’t a madman after all. Diavola might be something much worse than a serial killer . . . and much harder to destroy. Yet as Anneke unearths more of Diavola’s tragic past, she suspects there’s still a heart somewhere in that undead body.

A heart that beats for Anneke alone.

The Fox and the Devil arrives on March 10, and Elyse says, “I love this author and this a sapphic vampire/ vampire hunter Romantasy.” I know many folks here are fans of all of White’s books, so happy new book to all of you!

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Yesteryear

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Author: Caro Claire Burke
Released: April 7, 2026 by Knopf Doubleday
Genre:

A traditional American woman, a beautiful wife and mother who sells her pioneer lifestyle of raw milk and farm-fresh eggs to her millions of social media followers, suddenly awakens cold, filthy, and terrified in the brutal reality of 1855—where she must unravel whether this living nightmare is an elaborate hoax, a twisted reality show, or something far more sinister in this sensational debut novel.

“A bold and biting satire, Yesteryear…will have you cackling and gasping right to the final page.”
—Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid series

My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.

Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.

A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.

Elyse says, “a trad wife influencer wakes up on an actual homestead in the 1800’s” to which I reply with ALL the wide-eye emoji. Yesteryear is out on April 7, and I’m so ready for more fiction skewering the layers of deceit behind trad wife influencers.

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Enemies to Lovers

Enemies to Lovers by Alisha Rai

Author: Alisha Rai
Released: April 7, 2026 by Avon
Genre: ,

From the author of Partners in Crime, comes a sparkling new adventure rom-com where a con woman and a lawman team up on an epic cross-country road trip to save their families…and each other.

Sejal Chaudhary inherited her mama’s calculating brain, her daddy’s quick fingers, and the boatload of trauma that comes with being the eldest daughter of criminals. Although Sejal has never claimed to be a good girl, she’s spent the last couple years laying low and going (mostly) straight. That is, until a con gone wrong sends her into the arms of a handsome stranger who’s set on dragging her back into her messy family drama.

Krish Anand never mastered the fine art of being a bad boy…he would take a book over bullets any day. But when his FBI agent brother goes missing, he has no choice but to suit up for the adventure of a lifetime. Certain that someone in Sejal’s little crime family is behind the disappearance, a desperate Krish manages to convince the beautiful thief that his brother’s badge is actually his.

The deal is simple: help him find his brother, and Krish and the law will leave Sejal be. With an up-to-no-good ex also hot on her trail, Sejal reluctantly agrees. As they wind their way across the country on planes, buses, and automobiles, sparks ignite, and what began as a fragile temporary truce starts to look more and more like a partnership.

Falling for the enemy? So cliche, but so good…if only they can survive long enough to chance a happily ever after.

April 7 is going to be an EXPENSIVE day, y’all: the long-awaited sequel to Partners in Crime is out, and it’s got a nifty Bonus Trope Title: Enemies to Lovers: A Romantic Adventure of a Jewel Thief and a Lawman on a Cross-Country Journey. Also the hero is a pretend lawman, if cop heroes are not your bag right now: he lies and says his brother’s FBI badge is his. It’s in the cover copy.

So maybe that should read: Enemies to Lovers: The title is already a Trope Tag but here are a few more for this Romantic Adventure of a Jewel Thief and a Pretend FBI Agent on a Cross-Country Journey. 

I’ll workshop it.

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More Like Enemigas

More Like Enemigas by Stephanie Hope

Author: Stephanie Hope
Released: April 7, 2026 by Carina Adores
Genre: , ,

“This heartfelt sapphic romance is loaded with laugh-out-loud humor and the high-drama hijinks of a splashy telenovela.” —Camille Perri, author of When Katie Met Cassidy

One wedding, two rivals and a whole lot of secrets…

As the daughter of Cuban immigrants, Isabella Valdes knows three things for certain:
her late father’s restaurant is thriving
she owns lots of designer things
both of those statements are absolute lies to make her mother happy

Isabella would do anything to keep her father’s legacy alive, including attending her estranged cousin’s weeklong wedding extravaganza. Because once Sofia’s wealthy fiancé tastes the recipes Isa prepares from her father’s cherished journal, he’s sure to invest.

To Isa’s annoyance, she’ll be sharing a cabin with Valentina, the former friend turned rival who ruined her quinceañera. But Val is offering an unexpected deal—she’ll help Isa unravel an old family secret found in her father’s journal in return for help sabotaging the wedding and winning the heart of the bride.

Saying yes is a bad idea. Isa’s perfectionism meets its match in Val’s carefree demeanor, but as they work together, the usually responsible Isa can’t seem to say no to Val’s shenanigans. There’s no hiding from Val, no ignoring this complicated but undeniable connection that’s changing Isa’s beliefs about love, loyalty and just how much she owes to her family—and to herself…

Another April 7 title, More Like Enemigas is my favorite title. ENEMIGAS. Perfect word is perfect. And my goodness, the cover copy is offering some incredible messy mess – my favorite kind.

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Platform Decay

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Author: Martha Wells
Released: May 5, 2026 by Tor
Genre: ,
Series: The Murderbot Diaries #8

A most-anticipated title from USA Today, Goodreads, BookPage, BookRiot, Seattle Times, and The Nerd Daily!

Everyone’s favorite lethal SecUnit is back in the next installment of Martha Wells’ bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series.

Having someone else support your bad decision feels kind of good.

After volunteering to run a rescue mission, Murderbot realizes that it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it doesn’t know.

Including human children. Ugh.

This may well call for… eye contact!

(Emotion check: Oh, for f—)

System System: NEW MURDERBOT OUT MAY 5! NEW MURDERBOT OUT MAY 5!

I’m sure I won’t devote myself to a weeks long re-read or disappear into the series again. It’ll be fine.

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The Tapestry of Fate

The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty

Author: Shannon Chakraborty
Released: May 12, 2026 by Harper Voyager
Genre:

New York Times bestselling author Shannon Chakraborty sets sail into the second adventure of pirate Amina al-Sirafi as her quest to track down magical artifacts brings her to the island lair of a sorceress whose woven enchantments are impossible to flee.

Amina al-Sirafi thinks she’s struck gold. Tasked with hunting down arcane artifacts for the council of immortal peris, she can savor the occasional rollicking adventure on the high seas with her cherished criminal companions while still returning home to raise her beloved daughter, Marjana. But when Raksh, the spirit of discord with whom she is reluctantly wed, provokes the council’s wrath, Amina is charged with a seemingly impossible quest: steal a spindle capable of rewriting fate from a mysterious sorceress on an island no one can escape.

Forced to leave Marjana—who is increasingly frustrated at being peddled what are clearly lies about her mother’s life and her own past—Amina finds her mission almost immediately thrown into peril. But deadly storms, an erratic poison mistress, and old enemies are the least of her worries. For the peris’ story is unraveling, hinting at a far deadlier game whose rules Amina must swiftly puzzle out. A game that sets her against an adversary more cunning and powerful than she has ever faced.

A game that not everyone on her crew wants her to win.

Clear your calendars for May 12, because the sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is arriving, and the cover is luscious and many of us are very excited. Elyse says, “I loved the first book so so much.”

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Score

Score by Kennedy Ryan

Author: Kennedy Ryan
Released: May 19, 2026 by Forever
Genre: ,
Series: Hollywood Renaissance #2

​You never forget your first love. Isn’t that what they say? Verity Hill knows this truth intimately. She didn’t simply miss Wright “Monk” Bellamy when they parted ways in college. She’s haunted by his touch. Every kiss, any lover since—it’s a shadow of what they had.

Time heals all wounds. Isn’t that what they say? Monk doesn’t believe that for a second. He wasn’t simply betrayed when he and Verity split. He was devastated, with parts of him left behind in the ruins of all that was destroyed.

More than a decade after their disastrous breakup, Verity and Monk must work together on the set of an epic Harlem Renaissance biopic. With Monk, now a world-class musician, creating the score, and Verity, an award-winning screenwriter, penning the script, there’s Oscar buzz before shooting even begins. This once-in-a-lifetime project could catapult them both to new heights, but can they can put the past behind them for the sake of the film…for the sake of something more?

The only thing better than a new Kennedy Ryan book (out May 19) is watching how media outlets and book people react to a new Kennedy Ryan book. She’s such a powerhouse, and it’s so fun to watch more people discover that.

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Game of Rogues

Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long

Author: Julie Anne Long
Released: June 2, 2026 by Avon
Genre: ,
Series: The Palace of Rogues #9

In this sexy regency romance by USA Today bestselling author Julie Anne Long, a lady on the edge of ruin must plead with the king of London’s underworld to save her family, only to find herself instead caught in his web…and unable to resist him.

One disastrous night. One devastating man. One diabolical proposition.
Gabriel Marchand ruthlessly fought his way up from the gutters of St. Giles to preside over London’s most exclusive gaming hell. Few dare cross him. But when a young earl gambles away his inheritance, Marchand makes an enemy: a woman with wit like a dagger and the softest eyes he’s ever seen.

Spend a night in his bed, and he’ll call off the debt. This is the offer he makes Guinevere Woodville, the earl’s sister, when she blames him for her brother’s disaster. She’d rather die, of course. But when their seething enmity gives way to sizzling attraction at The Grand Palace on the Thames, his offer haunts them. Soon it seems a matter of not if, but when.
It’s not long before Ginny is facing two stark truths: the so-called worst man in London is the best man she’s ever known….and keeping him would mean losing everything and everyone else she loves. But Marchand has one final card to play…and losing everything is a risk he’s willing to take if it means a chance to love her forever.

A sexy, witty, and heartwarming tale, Game of Rogues has everything readers love about Julie Anne Long.

Considering we just snarked on earlier covers in this series, this new cover is jaw-dropping gorgeous. Game of Rogues is book 9 of the Palace of Rogues series, it’s out on June 2, AND the title is kind of a pun. Maybe. Either way, Lara cannot wait for this one.

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Romantic Hero

Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood

Author: Kirsty Greenwood
Released: June 16, 2026 by Berkley
Genre: , , ,

A heartbroken romance novelist is forced to address her writer’s block when the villainous cowboy character from her books shows up in the real world, desperately in need of his own Happily Ever After. . . from the bestselling author of GMA book club pick The Love of My Afterlife.

Gertie Bickerstaff writes happily-ever-afters for a living. . . . Or she did, until her own love life fell apart. Now her ex is thriving, her deadline is looming, and she can’t write a single word.

The last thing Gertie needs is more drama—like waking up to find a confused and rugged cowboy on her sofa. And not just any cowboy, but River Oakley, the villain from her unfinished novel. Somehow very real . . . and very shirtless.

River wants to go home. Gertie wants her life back. So they strike a deal: he’ll use his cunning ways to help her win back her ex, she’ll finish the novel, and, surely, he’ll return to whatever world he rode in from.

But as River Oakley proves to be so much more than just the bad guy, Gertie has to choose: the ending she thought she wanted . . . or the plot twist she never saw coming.

Since I read The Love of My Afterlife, and interviewed the author in Episode 622, I’ve been curious to see what Greenwood’s next book would be. I was not expecting a story about a romance novelist whose villain comes to life and agrees to help her scheme to get her ex back (never a great idea in real life, but fun to read about) if she will help him return to his book/world. I’m in!

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Scandal of the Summer

Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti

Author: Alexandra Vasti
Released: June 23, 2026 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: ,

A desperate debutante meets a ragtag smuggler in this sexy Regency romp by USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti.

Eccentric heiress Lady Ruby Ballimore has had enough of the Marriage Mart. After offending yet another Very Important Marquess―and imperiling her father’s diplomatic career―Ruby flees London for the holiday house of a glamorous (and better yet, absent) princess. Armed with a forged invitation and accompanied by her like-minded friends, Ruby arrives at the Cornwall estate expecting a summer of blissful freedom.

Instead, she discovers a derelict mansion and the most suspiciously charming man she’s ever met.

Former privateer and current con artist Captain Malcolm Archer has dragged his ramshackle crew into a new life. Posing as staff at a princess’s abandoned estate provides the perfect cover for Archer’s smuggling scheme (not to mention free rent). Everything’s going according to plan―until an unorthodox London heiress crashes the party.

But when Archer and his crew attempt to frighten off their uninvited guests, Ruby’s unfazed by insect invasions and sham sea monsters. Harder to ignore? The scorching heat between the rakish pirate and the debutante who can see right through him. As sparks fly, deceptions run wild―because in this Great Cornish Fake Off, the only thing riskier than telling the truth is falling in love.

Several of us are looking forward to this one, including Claudia, Lara, and me, and alas we have to wait until June 23.

I cannot get over her shoe, though. What is happening with her shoe. Since titles don’t tend to hang out in my brain, this book is now “the purple shoe book” in my head. Sorry.

What books are you most looking forward to from now until June 30? And yes, you can mention your own if you wish. 

It’s TBR Destruction Time!

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[personal profile] siderea
Hey, Americans! Do you live around or south of the Mason-Dixon line? If so, your weather report for later this week is shaping up to be a bit exciting. Looks like Actual Winter will be visiting places that historically have been poorly prepared for this sort of thing, i.e. TX, the South, and the mid-Atlantic.

(Also eventually the NE, but a forecast of a few feet of snow is threatening us with a good time.)

H/t to the RyanHallYall YT channel. He's a well-reputed amateur, but his report is congruent with what I'm seeing in conventional weather reports:


https://youtube.com/shorts/nh4JEVGWfFU

Good luck and remember running a charcoal grill in your living room is a dumb way to die.
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[personal profile] siderea
I found this intriguing. YouTuber KnittingCultLady, who is an Air Force veteran and author about two books on military culture from the standpoint of cults(!), put out this rather frustrated video clarifying how members of the military respond to illegal orders. The tl;dr is they will follow orders of ambiguous legality, and refuse to follow orders of obvious illegality, and what is obviously illegal may not be what civilians think.

2026 Jan 18: KnittingCultLady on YT: Some Examples of Recent Malicious Compliance from the Military, ALSO Listen Carefully To My Words:


She doesn't put it this way, but it sounds from what she says that what makes something obviously illegal is that it resulted in a courtmartial or other nigh-universal condemnation when tried previously. Orders that are for doing things that are war crimes by the letter of the law but which did not result in prosecution or other negative consequences for the perpetrators when done in the past do not trigger the sense that they are illegal, e.g. if it was okay for Bush to seize Noriega, then clearly it must be legal for Trump to seize Maduro.

Newsletter Update: We’re Back!

Jan. 20th, 2026 05:48 pm
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Posted by SB Sarah

Misdirected Male by Cassidy Lish. A male torso in jeans. A white mail box, with letters spilling out is positioned right by his crotch and the mail flag is up.THANK YOU to the many of you who emailed me to let me know that the SBTB Daily newsletter wasn’t arriving in your inboxes as expected.

In a nutshell, I’m in a low-key battle with bots that are scraping the site at a high volume and making the server unhappy, and one of the settings that we changed to try to keep the site online inadvertently blocked the newsletter – OOPS.

So that’s all fixed, and today at or shortly after 1pm ET, you should be receiving a newsletter.

Will it contain five days of content? IT MIGHT. But that will be the only behemoth email this week. After today it’ll go back to being the past 24 hours.

Again – sorry about the delay, and THANK YOU for alerting me to let me know. It really means a lot to me that you care enough about the site and your connection to it that you’d email me when something isn’t right.  (Also: this is how you know I’m not AI.)

And if you’d like to have the latest content delivered to your inbox each day, you can sign up right here:

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Posted by Amanda

Spells for Forgetting

Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young is $2.99! This is Young’s adult debut and is a fantastical and dark, small town mystery with a hint of romance. Have any of you read this one?

A rural island community steeped in the mystical superstitions of its founders and haunted by an unsolved murder is upended by the return of the suspected killer in this deeply atmospheric novel.

Emery Blackwood’s life was forever changed on the eve of her high school graduation, when the love of her life, August Salt, was accused of murdering her best friend, Lily. Now, she is doing what her teenage self swore she never would: living a quiet existence among the community that fractured her world in two. She’d once longed to run away with August, eager to escape the misty, remote shores of Saiorse Island and chase new dreams; now, she maintains her late mother’s tea shop and cares for her ailing father. But just as the island, rooted in folklore and tradition, begins to show signs of strange happenings, August returns for the first time in fourteen years and unearths the past that no one wants to remember.

August Salt knows he is not welcome on Saiorse, not after the night that changed everything. As a fire raged on at the Salt family orchard, Lily Morgan was found dead in the dark woods, shaking the bedrock of their tight-knit community and branding August a murderer. When he returns to bury his mother’s ashes, he must confront the people who turned their backs on him and face the one wound from the past that has never healed—Emery. But the town has more than one reason to want August gone, and the emergence of deep betrayals and hidden promises that span generations threatens to reveal the truth behind Lily’s death once and for all.

Evocative and compelling, Spells for Forgetting is a vivid exploration of lost love and the unraveling of a small town and its many secrets.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe

The Pumpkin Spice Cafe by Laurie Gilmore is 99c! This is book one in the small town romance Dream Harbor series. Have you read any of the books?

A spicy small-town romance and TikTok phenomenon, perfect for fans of Hannah Grace and Stephanie Archer.

When Jeanie’s aunt gifts her the beloved Pumpkin Spice Café in the small town of Dream Harbor, Jeanie jumps at the chance for a fresh start away from her very dull desk job.

Logan is a local farmer who avoids Dream Harbor’s gossip at all costs. But Jeanie’s arrival disrupts Logan’s routine and he wants nothing to do with the irritatingly upbeat new girl, except that he finds himself inexplicably drawn to her.

Will Jeanie’s happy-go-lucky attitude win over the grumpy-but-gorgeous Logan, or has this city girl found the one person in town who won’t fall for her charm, or her pumpkin spice lattes…

The Pumpkin Spice Café is a cozy romantic mystery for fans of Gilmore Girls, with a grumpy x sunshine dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

A Forgery of Fate

A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim is $1.99! This is a YA fantasy romance with Beauty and the Beast vibes. I feel like Lim always gets beautiful covers.

Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.

Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms…

A breathtaking romantic fantasy inspired by Beauty and the Beast about a girl who paints the future and a cursed dragon lord, bound by love and deception in a plot to bring down the gods.

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You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

Made in Manhattan

Made in Manhattan by Lauren Layne is $1.99! This is a standalone contemporary romance. My Fair Lady/Pygmalion elements are some of my favorite tropes, so I might pick this one up for myself.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Central Park Pact comes a reverse My Fair Lady for the modern era about a pampered and privileged Manhattan socialite who must teach an unpolished and denim-loving nobody from the Louisiana Bayou how to fit in with the upper crust of New York City. Perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Sally Thorne.

Violet Townsend has always been a people pleaser. Raised in the privileged world of Upper East Side Manhattan, she always says the right things, wears the right clothes, and never rocks the boat. Violet would do anything for the people closest to her, especially her beloved grandmother. So when she asks Violet to teach the newly-discovered grandson of her friend how to fit in with New York City’s elite, Violet immediately agrees. Her goal? To get Cain Stone ready to take his place as heir to his family company…but to say he’s not exactly an eager student is an understatement.

Born and raised in rural Louisiana and now making his own way in New Orleans, Cain Stone is only playing along for the paycheck at the end. He has no use for the grandmother he didn’t know existed and no patience for the uppity Violet’s attempts to turn him into a suit-wearing, museum-attending gentleman.

But somewhere amidst antagonistic dinner parties and tortured tux fittings, Cain and Violet come to a begrudging understanding—and the uptight Violet realizes she’s not the only one doing the teaching. As she and Cain begin to find mutual respect for one another (and maybe even something more), Violet learns that blindly following society’s rules doesn’t lead to happiness…and that sometimes the best things in life come from the most unexpected places.

Add to Goodreads To-Read List →

You can find ordering info for this book here.

 

 

 

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Posted by Amanda

This HaBO comes from Diksha, who wants to find this historical-ish romance:

It’s an English novel.

It’s a historical romance (but could also be called fantasy — I don’t remember the exact setting, but it had kings ruling kingdoms and fighting, so maybe medieval).

The heroine was originally supposed to marry the hero’s brother, but he had already gone into a secret marriage, so she is now forced by circumstance to marry the hero instead.

Why is she marrying the hero? Her father doesn’t have a son, so they need a male who can take over the kingdom.

Why is the hero marrying her? His brother already has a claim to their paternal kingdom, so he needs a new kingdom of his own.

The heroine’s father had always been abusive toward her and was also a terrible ruler. Because of that, the heroine had to act as the head of her father’s army — but now the hero bans her from being on the battlefield, which makes her angry.

The hero now has to convince the general public and the army of the FMC’s kingdom that he is a good ruler. They’re very skeptical of him because of their loyalty to the previous king’s lineage, and since the hero carries a different surname, they don’t see him as their rightful king.

The hero also has a backstory involving betrayal: his former lover turned out to be an agent of an enemy kingdom and caused a major attack on his homeland. Because of that, he swore he would never fall in love again.

There’s an enemy kingdom that has long-standing issues with the hero’s kingdom. Later, they join forces with the heroine’s father, and the hero is almost killed — but the heroine pretends she supports the enemy kingdom and ends up saving him.

Another detail: the heroine almost dies later but survives, and she eventually gives birth to a child. The hero decides to give their child her surname.

Very curious about this one because I think I want to read it!

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