romance

Coloring Life by Vikki Alexander

Julie is a seemingly normal middle-aged woman who married the man of her dreams, or so she thinks. She had a very difficult childhood being the youngest daughter of a divorced couple. Her mother is an alcoholic, and her father resents her due to questions surrounding her paternity. Julie’s upbringing left her unsure of how to differentiate between love, sex, and power. Her story is told through a series of therapy sessions. The reader learns of her abusive past and its effect on the present day.

Reclaiming Ryda by Rachel Rossano

By Book Lovers Magazine

Reclaiming Ryda by Rachel Rossano

Rydaria lives as a prisoner in a tower library. Captured as a child, her past is a mystery. Maintaining the literary treasures within her care, she studies the world through books that give her a glimpse of the freedom she craves.

A scribe by trade, Crispin has devoted the last three years of his life seeking the lost heir of Avalene. He travels to Worthenave’s famed library in hopes of finding the key. Instead, he discovers a new mystery, a beautiful librarian who is locked in with her books every night.

As the days pass, Crispin must choose. Rydaria’s precarious situation is deteriorating. Meanwhile, his duty demands he leave before the Duke of Worthenave uncovers his quest. Still, the scribe can’t bring himself to abandon the captive in the library tower, even if it costs him his mission.

Inspired by Rapunzel and East of the Sun West of the Moon

When Goodbye Begins: life takes over by Geeta Lal Sahai

By Book Lovers Magazine

When Goodbye Begins: life takes over by Geeta Lal Sahai

In When Goodbye Begins: life takes over, author-filmmaker – Geeta Lal Sahai actively involved in mental health advocacy rips apart the stereotypical existence. These five stories are about mental health, innumerable lanes and layers of memories, childhood abuse, infidelity, betrayal, hopelessness, and hidden emotions. There is pathos, feelings, inner conflict and stoic acceptance.
In the title story – When Goodbye Begins, a middle-aged woman, caught between her dreams and the present reality of being a caregiver to her husband, walks on a tightrope. Through her eyes, we experience the broken and painful world of people with Alzheimer’s and their families. In Walking on Ice Sheet in Pencil Heels, the story captures the protagonist Sheena’s struggle with her identity and the frightening and fascinating world of bipolar disorder. In Death of a Memory, Rashi facing betrayal and infidelity, fights with her memories to face the world. In another story – If Only I Could Tell, the author recounts the painful and traumatic world of the child sexual abuse survivor who keeps running away from love, people and self. Caught in the web of childhood abuse, the author, through her protagonist, poignantly shows the long-term ramifications of broken trust and bruised body.
In all five stories, Geeta exquisitely crafts the inner turmoil of her characters. The world of characters in these stories is gripping, and there’s a world within a world.

A Poor Man’s Supper by Jim Gulledge

By Book Lovers Magazine

A Poor Man’s Supper by Jim Gulledge

In the North Carolina mountains two people, destined to love each other, are doomed to be apart.

Vancie Keller is trying to survive on her mother’s failing farm when her life is forever altered by the arrival of two men, Josiah Buckland and Jagger Hill.

One, she will love, the other she will marry. She has a secret neither of them know.

Orphaned as a teen, Josiah Buckland came down from the rugged mountains of North Carolina to try to find work and possibly a home. He didn’t expect to find the love of his life.

Jagger Hill has secrets of his own. When he comes to town and starts to rebuild, nobody knows him for who he really is, but people will soon learn. Some things cannot be kept hidden forever…

A powerful, heart-breaking tale of the tremendous consequences of our choices and actions, sprinkled with revelry in the natural world, faith, song and myth.

Legacy (Saga of the Bold People 2) by M.D. Grimm

By Book Lovers Magazine

Legacy (Saga of the Bold People 2) by M.D. Grimm

To pursue his future, Leopold must first understand his past.

What does a former assassin do when he’s not out there… well… assassinating? Saving his species from extinction, of course.

At least, that’s what Leopold wants to do with every molecule in his body. But the task won’t be fast or easy, and he can’t do it alone. Enter Mastrodai—a mrrog prince who has absolutely no desire to rule, much to his father’s exasperation. He craves the ability to prove his worth as a mate and to somehow atone for his actions that led to Leopold’s torture at the hands of an enemy. Making humans official would be a good start.

But politics rule no matter what the species, and Mastrodai has to maneuver carefully and risk what he has built to give his mate what he deserves. And when he realizes both he and Leopold have deeper feelings for Alex, one of Mastrodai’s human slave women, he knows his future is out among the stars with his humans, not planet-bound with his kin.

Unfortunately, before they can set their plan into motion, Leopold receives a vision that sends him reeling and questioning everything he knows about himself. A vision he must investigate, back to where he began—Lex, the backwater planet where he spent his early years, and where he swore never to return.

Trigger Warning: Includes violence throughout, PTSD, a scene of graphic torture, and the start of a consensual menage relationship.