Love-ly Reads for February

Cupcakes and Cupid: A Collection of Six Delicious Romance Novellas by Ann Shankey, ed.

(Ninth and Aries, January 2023) 

Sweeten your Valentine’s Day with this collection of romances and recipes. From a baking contest at Sweet Caroline’s Confectionaries with Mr. Tall, Dark, and Grouchy to finding love at the Cafe Azure with an ex-SEAL turned pastry chef, these stories will set the mood for romance and the recipes included will satisfy your sweet tooth.

The Last Letter from Sicily by Lindsay Marie Morris

(Storm Publishing, January 2025)

Beneath the Sicilian stars they made a promise — but can love survive an ocean, a war, and the secrets in between?

In 1939, 17-year-old Concetta has just received news that will change her life: she’s leaving Sicily. Her family is moving to America, but they don’t realize that Concetta isn’t leaving just her home behind. She’s also leaving her secret love, Gaetano, the son of a fisherman who her father would never accept. After one final night together, they promise to keep their love alive in the written word, by penning letters to one another in hopes of an eventual reunion one day.

Life in America isn’t easy, and Concetta still dreams of returning home to Gaetano. The letters have become her lifeline in a difficult world. But when war tears their countries apart, Gaetano’s letters no longer arrive. Can Concetta let go of her past, or will she finally find her way back across a war-torn world to reunite with her love?

Like a Mom by Raquel Drosos

(Raquel Drosos Publications LLC, October 2024)

“I’ve always wanted to be a mom.”
Twenty-six-year-old Gemma Cimino grew up without her own mother, but she’s learned about motherhood from her warmhearted Italian aunts and the intelligent women she’s befriended at the boutique law firm where she works. Gemma is also pouring her heart into her second novel in the hopes of becoming a published writer. Then she falls in love with Luke Reddin, a rock musician and divorced dad with primary custody of his two sons. Because of Luke, Gemma is thrown headfirst into parenthood, and it’s not what she expected. She and Luke struggle to pursue art while raising kids — and their priorities clash when they hear surprising news from Luke’s ex-wife. Gemma must decide what role she plays in Luke’s life and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to have a family.

Candlewood by Evelyn Ann Casey

(Three Towers Press, February 2025)

Meg Joyce craves the stable life her dysfunctional family denied her. In the St. Croix Valley of the 1970s, a place where women’s opportunities are limited, devout Meg takes a job visiting the elderly for St. Gabriel parish. When the rugged stranger who helped her coax an old woman’s cat out of a tree is assigned there, Meg’s world turns upside down. Fr. Andy, a Catholic priest, is forbidden fruit yet their friendship heats up. She knows the rules and is loath to add another sin to her family’s litany of taboos. Until he is injured in a car accident. The rules no longer make sense. Can she survive in this world of secrets and shadows where the pastor turns a blind eye to the womanizing priest from prayer group but would kick out her true love if they marry? Meg must confront the boys’ club of a Church she once trusted, find a God she can believe in, and reckon with her deepest desires.

The Ghostly Diva by Sandra L. Young

(The Wild Rose Press, May 2024)

Assistant Museum Director Justine Saunders is enticed by the opportunity to sift through vintage treasures from a recently deceased actress. When a snowstorm strands her with the woman’s surly son and the much-too-real ghost, she’s drawn into their unresolved emotional tug-of-war.
Screenwriter Jackson Maddox is eager to wrap up his mother’s affairs and escape the one-horse town where she grew up. Unloading old clothes takes an unwanted turn when the appealing historian discovers a path to identify the “famous” father his mom protected to her death.
With Justine’s beloved museum position in jeopardy, she can’t afford the distractions of a rude / broken / fascinating man or his meddling, ghostly mother. Yet she can’t resist solving the mystery of his paternity, even as a big city job beckons her to shake up her life. 

Sor Juana, My Beloved by MaryAnn Shank

(Dippity Press, October 2024)

Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, the brilliant 17th century Mexican nun, had two passions in life: Poetry and the Viceroy’s wife.
She was a feminist — yes! before the word was even invented.
She was a poet — yes. She dreamed in lush poetry that has aged like fine wine.
She was a nun — yes. Her faith guided her every move.

She also possessed a powerful brilliance that defied definition, and a love so deep that it leapt across oceans. It was a woman with violet eyes, eyes the color of passion flowers, who entered her life. It was the new Vicereine, Maria Luisa. As the two most powerful women in Mexico City, the bond between them crossed politics and wound them in pure ecstasy, a romance that neither had anticipated.

After Maria Luisa had Sor Juana’s work published in Spain, the insanely jealous Archbishop of Mexico threw Sor Juana to the Inquisition, where she stood, alone.

Her Own Revolution by Debra Borchert

(Le Vin Press, July 2023)

Geneviève’s father sentences thousands to death. Undermining him, she risks her life to save Louis, a man she thinks she hates. If Geneviève had the same rights as a man, she wouldn’t have to dress like one, which she does to attend University — forbidden to women. When her crimes are discovered, Louis challenges her to allow herself to be loved and save her own life. Geneviève must accept Louis’ help, yet she denies her attraction to him out of loyalty to Henri, her lover waiting for her in America. She fights for her life and the lives of those she’s come to love, but she must face the truth of her own heart.

The Summer of Second Chances by Miranda Liasson

(Forever, June 2025)

After spending the last few years beating cancer, author Darla Manning is ready for a fresh start — she’s already got a new teaching position in California for the fall. But first, she has some loose ends to tie up over the summer, like finishing her latest novel and selling her oceanfront home. Darla doesn’t expect her ex-husband, contractor Nick Cammareri, to top her list of unfinished business.

While Darla tries to focus on making the most of her last Seashell Harbor summer, she can’t help noticing how much Nick has changed. Her immature-but-seriously-cute high school sweetheart is now a motivated-and-seriously-sexy man who seems determined to make her remember how — and why — they first fell in love. Darla believed moving on meant moving away, but could her hometown hold the key to a new beginning for her … with Nick?

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