• Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Summer at the Lake by Linda Barrett

    Flying Solo — single parents, second chances and the power of love…

    Veteran NY cop, Rick Cooper, heads to his family’s lake house after losing a hostage negotiation, resulting in the death a child. He brings only his dog and his saxophone for company. Single mom, Kristin McCarthy hears the sound of the saxophone gliding through the night air…a healing sound for her daughter.

     An attractive widow with a damaged kid are the last people Rick needs in his life, and he tries hard to remain aloof. The ladies, however, knock down his barriers simply by being themselves. Fearful but brave, smart but silly. Before long, warm feelings grow between him and Kristin. Feelings that spark potential for a future together. However, before Kristin allows herself to dream, Rick must prove he’s a man she and her daughter can trust. Can they count on him forever? 

    Awards Linda Barrett has received for this book:

    Award of Excellence, Wisconsin Romance Writers of America
    Write Touch Readers’ Award, Colorado Romance Writers of America
    Award of Merit–Holt Medallion, Virginia Romance Writers

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Meant to Be by Melody Grace

    A gorgeously romantic feel-good beach read about a runaway bride searching for true love on Cape Cod…

    Poppy Somerville believes in happily-ever-after. It’s the reason her romance novels have won devoted readers all over the world – and why she’s broken off her engagement just weeks before the wedding instead of settling for less than true love. Escaping to her aunt’s beach cottage in Sweetbriar Cove, Poppy is looking for inspiration to end her writer’s block and finish her new book.


    Cooper Nicholson doesn’t believe in soul-mates. He thought he’d found his forever once, and the world proved him wrong, so when the cute brunette comes storming over and demands he keep the noise down, romance is the last thing on his mind. As they grow closer, will Cooper find a way to let go of the past and risk his heart again? And can Poppy find her happy ending – on and off the page?

    Melody Grace writes in her novel:


    “Sharing something real, revealing your heart . . . that always matters, whether it’s for a week or a year.” 

    Melody Grace, Meant to Be

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Rainy Day Friends by Jill Shalvis

    A moving story of heart, loss, betrayal, and friendship.

    Six months after Lanie Jacobs’ husband’s death, it’s hard to imagine anything could deepen her sense of pain and loss. But then Lanie discovers she isn’t the only one grieving his sudden passing. A serial adulterer, he left behind several other women who, like Lanie, each believe she was his legally wedded wife. 


    Desperate to make a fresh start, Lanie impulsively takes a job at the family-run Capriotti Winery. At first, she feels like an outsider among the boisterous Capriottis. With no real family of her own, she’s bewildered by how quickly they all take her under their wing and make her feel like she belongs. Especially Mark Capriotti, a gruffly handsome Air Force veteran turned deputy sheriff…

    In Jill Shalvis’ words, in an excerpt from the book:


    Sometimes the best thing in life is finding that one person who knows all your mistakes and weaknesses and still thinks you’re completely amazing.

    Jill Shalvis

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Maid for Love by Marie Force

    She’s a single mom with no patience for a playboy until he proves he’s playing for keeps.


    The Gansett Island Series: Book 1 (Free)

    Maddie Chester is determined to leave her hometown of Gansett Island, a place that has brought her only bad memories and ugly rumors. Then she’s knocked off her bike on the way to her housekeeping job at McCarthy’s Resort Hotel by Gansett’s “favorite son,” Mac McCarthy.

    He’s back in town to help his father with preparations to sell the family resort and has no intention of staying long. When Mac accidentally sends Maddie flying over the handlebars, badly injuring her, he moves in to nurse her back to health and help care for her young son. He soon realizes his plans for a hit-and-run visit to the island are in serious jeopardy, and he just may be “maid” for love. 

    With over 2,300 reviews on Amazon, this book, and this series, is a reader favorite. The Romance Reviews gives this contemporary romance Five Stars. 🙂 

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Trails of Love by Melissa Foster

    In a recent interview at the Under the Covers Book Blog, Melissa Foster describes Trails of Love as:


    the ultimate feel-good romance.

    Melissa Foster

    When Graham Braden travels to Oak Falls, Virginia to attend the wedding of his buddy Reed Cross to Grace Montgomery, he sticks around to help with renovations to Reed’s new theater. The last thing he expects is to be asked to assess and possibly invest in Grace’s sister Morgyn’s business endeavor. Graham is a careful, keen businessman, and Morgyn is impulsive, disorganized, and more interested in the energy flow in her eclectic retail shop than in the accuracy of her records. While Graham isn’t ready to open his pockets to the sassy, sexy business owner, he may be ready to open his heart.

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Bark! The Herald Angels Sing by Roxanne St. Claire

    It will take the luck of the Irish, a love story from long ago, and a whole lot of help from the angels to make this holiday merry and bright.

    With Christmas and a family wedding fast approaching, there’s happy chaos in the air at Waterford Farm. However, not everyone in the Kilcannon clan is caught up in the magic of the moment. Matriarch, octogenarian, and beloved blogger Gramma Finnie hears the clock of her long life ticking far too fast, while her great-granddaughter, teenager Pru, feels squeezed out of planning her mother’s nuptials.

    But when this unlikely duo is tasked with the project of producing the “Somethings” for the wedding – and only have Christmas Eve to get the job done – Gramma Finnie and Pru have a purpose and a plan. They set off to find the perfect old, new, borrowed, and blue treasures, but it doesn’t take long for things to spin out of control faster than Gramma’s Toyota in a snowstorm. Detoured by a stray border collie, thwarted by nature and an elf parade, and trapped by a rifle-toting mountain man, it will take more than the power of the Kilcannon clan to save these two from a Christmas catastrophe.

    Roxanne St. Claire shares more about the Dogfather series on her website, including news about the first book in the series:


    Haven’t read the Dogfather series yet? Well, the first book in the Dogfather Series is FREE FOR A LIMITED TIME! Check out any retailer and download Sit…Stay…Beg for free!

    Roxanne St. Claire

  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Season of Wonder by RaeAnne Thayne

    He's giving her children a season of wonder...

    He’s giving her children a season of wonder…

    Dani Capelli seized a chance to start over in a small town with her daughters. Now, facing her first Christmas in Haven Point, she wonders if leaving New York was a mistake. Dani loves working alongside veterinarian Dr. Morales, but her two children aren’t adjusting to small-town life. And then there’s Dr. Morales’s son, Ruben—Dani’s next-door neighbor. Gorgeous, muscled and dependable, the deputy sheriff is everything she secretly craves and can’t bear to risk loving…and losing.

    On her website, RaeAnne shares why she loves romance novels so much. Please visit her site to read more from her wonderful post.


    When my heart feels worn and battered and the world seems a dark, scary place, romance novels still sustain and lift me and fill me with hope.

    RaeAnne Thayne
  • Best Contemporary Romance Novels

    Alaskan Holiday by Debbie Macomber

    Debbie Macomber brings us to the Alaskan wilderness for a magical Christmas tale about finding love where it’s least expected.

    Before beginning her dream job as sous chef in one of Seattle’s hottest new restaurants, Josie Avery takes a summer position cooking at a lakeside lodge in the remote Alaskan town of Ponder. Josie falls for the rustic charms of the local community—including Jack Corcoran, the crotchety keeper of Ponder’s famed sourdough starter, and, in particular, the quiet and intense Palmer Saxon, a famed master swordsmith.

    Debbie Macomber shares with us what sparked the idea for this holiday romance novel on her website. She says,

    …it was from my work on the cookbook, DEBBIE MACOMBER’S TABLE, that inspired the idea of creating a sous chef with big dreams….

    Debbie Macomber