Friday Finds & Reader Recommendations – 02-21-2025

READER RECOMMENDATION COLLEGE ROMANCE!! SHE HAS A GOOD BOY BOYFRIEND BUT IS FALLING FOR HER NEW BAD BOY CLASSMATE...

"...she found comfort in Travis, apparently the good guy that all mothers—including hers—would like next to their daughter. With him she hopes to be able to build a happiness that she has been missing for too long now. After two years, however, even that love seems to have cracked and only rubble remains in Vanessa's heart.

At least until, in class, she meets new classmate Thomas Collins for the first time. With a body covered in tattoos, green eyes in which it is all too easy to get lost, and a troubled past, Thomas is an explosive mix of charm and arrogance..."

Stacie: Hi Maryse, I have a recommendation I just finished Collision by Carrie Leighton. It was amazing!! 5 star read, college romance, beautiful disaster vibes which is so hard to find! I loved it cause they tried to be friends in parts of it and I just love that when they are fighting the chemistry for each other!! It did end in a cliffhanger of sorts. It is told in only the heroines pov which I love! 

A quote from the book cause I don’t want to give too much of the storyline away:

“But you know what he’s like. You’ve always known. You want hearts and roses, but he’s only got darkness and thorns. No one can change that reality.”

LIVE!! KRISTEN PROBY'S LATEST!!! AGE GAP SINGLE DAD FIREMAN ALERT!!

"...I’ve been in love with Bridger Blackwell for as long as I can remember. He’s a smoke show, kind, and gives the best hugs in the world. But best of all? He’s everything my sorry excuse for a father wasn’t.

Now, I’m back in Bitterroot Valley, living across the street from Bridger and his adorable daughter. It doesn’t take long for all those old feelings to come rushing back, and every cell in my body knows that I belong with them. That they’re mine. Bridger’s arms are where I feel safest. They feel like home.

I’m growing to depend on him, to truly love him and his daughter. But I have deep-rooted baggage, and Bridger’s past has decided to rear its ugly head..."

BOOK #2 IS LIVE!! THEY TARGET HER INSTEAD BECAUSE TECHNICALLY, THEY'RE STILL MARRIED...

"...Adrien continues to challenge my divorce until Bastien gets involved. And like always, that man fixes all my problems. But little do I know, the Aristocrats are out for Adrien. My ex continues to ignore the warnings that Bastien gives, only giving them out of a courtesy to me. It's not my problem, and if Adrien wants to get himself killed, that's his prerogative.

It quickly becomes my problem when the Aristocrats target me instead of Adrien, because technically, we are still married. And I'm still the woman Adrien loves..."

READER RECOMMENDATION!! NANCY LOVED IT! HER BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND IS A FOOTBALL STAR...

"...He’s my brother’s best friend. He’s also a football star on track to win the first wide-receiver MVP in league history.

Good thing I only date golfers… or I did. Good thing he’s only visiting for a month, because the more I see he’s not a player, the harder it is to block him from running away with my heart..."

Nancy: It's like my third, Brother's Best Friend Story, I've read recently. But I'm not complaining as long as they all had good endings.

...It's when he meets the one sister, Dylan Bradford, that he knows he has met the one for him. Dylan feels the same about him, but what about all those overprotective brothers! Logan knows if he keeps going down this road, he'd see only two outcomes..."

LIVE!! HER NEW GRUMPY SPORTS STAR NEIGHBOR ACTS AS HER FAKE DATE!

"...Imagine my surprise when my new neighbor turns out to be one of Scotland’s most famous (and hottest) professional footballers, Callan Keen. I’m even more shocked to discover that the brooding player is still holding a grudge for something that happened (or didn’t happen) between us years ago.

Too busy trying to take my social media management company to the next level, I don’t have time for this gorgeous blast from the past. Or at least I shouldn’t. Yet whenever I see him, I can’t help but engage in a battle of wits with the grump upstairs...

LIVE!! HE'S HER NEW BIKER PREZ NEIGHBOR!!

"...ALL NEW SMALLTOWN MOTORCYCLE CLUB ROMANCE - Enemies to Lovers + Single Mom + Next Door Neighbor 

I crafted a perfectly simple life for myself and my son. It was peaceful and lonely, exactly how I wanted it. Then my new neighbor moved in and ruined everything.

Archer Green. Not just a member of a motorcycle club but the president. The leather jacket on his broad back, along with all its various patches, might as well have been red flags, warning me to stay away all the while his looks dared me not to. Ignoring him was futile. Still, I tried.

Until Archer showed up in my son’s classroom, ready to read for storytime hour..."

LIVE!! A ONE NIGHT STAND BUT NOW SHE'S HIS MAID...

"...I used to be daddy’s little princess, but I failed out of college and ran away with an older man. Now my father has me cleaning houses to make up for the biggest mistake of my life.

As if that wasn’t punishment enough, it becomes a million times worse when I’m forced to take on Noah Robinson as a client. He was supposed to be a one-night stand. One scorching night with no last names or commitment. Now I’m working for him..."

LIVE!! HER SON'S HOCKEY COACH!!

"...I’ve crafted my new life in Ember Falls with two simple rules: maintain superficial relationships and always be ready to run. But when my son’s incredibly hot hockey coach Miles Anderson walks in, things get very, very complicated.

With his charming smile and our accidental dates, he’s the exact opposite of any man I’ve ever dated. That should make saying yes to being with him simple, but nothing in my life is easy. In fact, it’s a mess..."

LIVE!! HE'LL STOP AT NOTHING TO MAKE HER HIS WIFE!!

"...he’s been living in his personal form of hell. One where the days meld together into a sea of everlasting boredom.

That’s until he catches Anastasia Volkov, disguised as her brother, attempting to steal from the Order of Saints. Shattering every pre-conceived notion he has of the perfect society princess.

She’s like a live wire, shocking his heart back to life..."

LIVE!! FANTASY SERIES ROMANCE CONCLUSION!!

"...Two Thousand Promises is the fifth and final novel in the Kings of Chaos series. This book contains a reluctant vampire who is finally giving in to the thousand-year seduction of a sly fox spirit determined to claim his mate, a nosy family who wants all the spilled tea, snark, angst, magic, found family, brotherly bickering, chaos, cuddles, secrets, and an endless love..."

LIVE!! BIKER ROMANCE!!

"Everything I thought I knew about my woman has been shattered. Now, it’s up to me to collect the pieces and decide if Margot and I are a match made in heaven—or destined for hell.

---> Collect the Pieces needs to be read after Twist the Knife."

LIVE!! SMALL TOWN ROCK STAR & THE CHEESEMAKER ROMANCE!!

"...he’s not just Nick anymore. Now he’s Nick Davies, the tattooed, untouchable drummer for Lover's Knot, with a million-dollar smile, and an air of untouchable charm.

But none of that erases the boy who broke my heart — or the tension that sparks every time our eyes meet. Thanks to a meddling matchmaker, we’re trapped together in a farmhouse..."

SUPER-BARGAIN!! ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES (CRIED LIKE A BABY!!) & THIS IS THE BOOK THAT INSPIRED IT...

"From a New York Times bestselling author, a recent widow falls in love with life again, thanks to the help of her guardian angel–her late husband. Now a feature film starring Hilary Swank and Gerard Butler.

Holly and Gerry were childhood sweethearts–soulmates. And then the unthinkable happens. Gerry's death devastates Holly. But as her 30th birthday looms, Gerry comes back to her, leaving her a bundle of notes signed ‘PS, I Love You’. One for each month of the year. The man who knows her better than anyone is set out to teach her that life goes on..."

FIREMAN SINGLE DAD ALERT!!

"From New York Times Bestselling author Kristen Proby comes When We Burn, a single-dad, friends-to-lovers, small-town romance, and the first in the Blackwells of Montana series, set in Bitterroot Valley!"

LIVE!! HER FAMOUS SPORTS STAR GRUMPY NEIGHBOR!!

"...I require a fake date and Callan needs me to facilitate a meeting with my dad to further his own business interests.

The deal between us should be simple. Except, of course, the blazing chemistry we’ve shared since the moment we met. We can’t deny it, we can’t control it, and soon we’re agreeing to six weeks of no-strings-attached, mind-blowing, steamy shenanigans..."

HER SON'S HOCKEY COACH!!

"...it’s a mess.

Miles makes me smile and treats my son like his own. When we’re together, I forget about my troubles and dream of a life that I will never be able to have with him.

It’s only a matter of time until the past comes knocking and I’ll have to leave, breaking us both in the process..."

FAKE DATING THE HOCKEY STAR ROMANCE!!

"After my divorce, I swore off dating. No commitments, no complications—just a clean, quiet life. So when I’m assigned to fix Kaden Crawford—the grumpy hockey star with a reputation as the league’s biggest PR disaster—I’m determined to keep things strictly professional.

But Kaden has a knack for creating chaos. The solution? Staging a fake relationship to save his reputation...'