She’s hiding in plain sight. He’s disappointed his parents. Will their love grow into a tangled scandal or a beautiful blossom? Christina Dudley poses this question in a Regency romance that takes gender expectations of the era seriously while crafting a relationship that transcends them. Somerset, England, 1808: Alice Hapgood is obsessed with studying flora and fauna in an age when such pursuits are considered deeply unfeminine. Upper-class standards dictate that ladies may appreciate gardens but shouldn’t dirty their hands actually studying nature. They certainly shouldn’t be examining specimens, cataloging species, or contributing to scientific knowledge. But Alice is passionate about natural history in ways that polite society finds incomprehensible, so she does what any determined woman would do: she dons boys’ clothing and pursues her scientific interests in disguise. 🌿
When a position opens as assistant to Joseph Tierney—a handsome member of the Royal Society conducting research in Somerset—Alice makes an impulsive decision that could ruin her socially forever. She applies for the job dressed as a young man, passes the interview, and becomes Joseph’s research assistant. It’s everything she’s dreamed of: actual fieldwork, intellectual engagement, contributing to scientific understanding. There’s just the small problem of her employer never suspecting his brilliant young aide isn’t actually male. As they work together documenting local species and natural phenomena, Alice finds herself developing feelings that are decidedly inconvenient given her disguise. 🔬
Joseph Tierney has his own problems. He’s going against his family’s wishes by becoming a researcher rather than joining the clergy as expected. The disappointment radiates from his parents in every letter. To make matters worse, the locals don’t see him as a serious scientist—they see him as eligible marriage material and keep throwing their daughters at him. All Joseph wants is to focus on his work with his enthusiastic new assistant who asks brilliant questions and has an eye for detail that’s frankly extraordinary. But romantic complications emerge that Joseph definitely didn’t anticipate, and suddenly he’s caught in a jealous triangle not of his making that threatens his career, his social standing, and potentially his freedom. ⚗️
Christina Dudley understands that great historical romance requires both period-accurate constraints and characters willing to push against them. Alice’s cross-dressing isn’t played for comedy—it’s a serious risk with real consequences. Discovery would mean social ruin, potential legal trouble, and the end of any scientific work she might hope to accomplish. The romance develops naturally as Alice’s “masculine” professional relationship with Joseph begins awakening her feminine identity in unexpected ways. She longs to reveal herself as her true self, but the timing is never right and the stakes keep getting higher. This is Regency romance for readers who want both historical accuracy and characters willing to challenge convention. 🌹
What makes this essential: A Regency romance that seriously engages with gender restrictions on women’s education and scientific participation, crafting a cross-dressing romance where the disguise serves character development rather than just plot convenience.
She ran to save her life. Now the man she once betrayed is her only hope. That’s the setup for Josie Jade’s military romance set in Garnet Bend, Montana—a small town that’s home to both the Resting Warrior Ranch and Warrior Security, making it essentially a haven for ex-military men trying to build civilian lives. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows everyone, where heroes are the norm rather than the exception, and where secrets have a way of surfacing no matter how carefully you’ve buried them. Most people would want to live in Garnet Bend. It’s safe, supportive, built on loyalty and brotherhood. Anybody would want to live there—anybody but Piper Matthews. 🏔️
She swore she’d never come back after what her father did to the town and what she did to Sheriff Lachlan Calloway. The specifics of those betrayals haunt her, but desperation has a way of rewriting even the most adamant promises. With a baby in her arms, no money, no options, and danger closing in from her past, Piper returns to the only place that ever felt like home even though she knows her reception will be ice-cold. She’s hoping for refuge. What she gets is Lachlan Calloway’s suspicious glare and the unmistakable sense that her arrival has reopened wounds she thought had healed. 👶
Lachlan never expected to see Piper again—especially not with a child that has his eyes. That detail drops like a bomb into what’s already a tense situation. The woman who disappeared without explanation years ago, who left him with questions and anger that never fully resolved, is now sleeping under his roof because where else is she going to go? Lachlan is sheriff of Garnet Bend, which means protecting people is literally his job even when those people are the last ones he wants to protect. Piper is guarding more secrets than she’s willing to share, and every conversation between them crackles with unresolved history, undeniable attraction, and the massive elephant in the room: that child who looks suspiciously like Lachlan had a hand in making him. 💔
She says she’s done running, but Piper’s past is closing in fast—and it’s darker, more dangerous, and more tangled up in Lachlan’s world than he could ever imagine. Josie Jade writes military romance that understands the appeal of the alpha-male protector archetype while giving her heroines agency and genuine secrets worth protecting. Lachlan isn’t just a hot former soldier with muscles and a badge—he’s a man dealing with betrayal, forced proximity with the woman who hurt him, and the growing suspicion that the child Piper’s protecting might be his son. In a town built on quiet loyalty and buried lies, the truth is about to break everything wide open. 🔥
What makes this essential: Military romance with small-town setting, secret baby reveal, and second-chance love between a betrayed sheriff and the woman who ran from him years ago but now has nowhere else to turn when her dangerous past catches up.
Welcome to Witchmere, where Elara Hawthorne’s holiday season is shaping up to be a ten-alarm dumpster fire and her Christmas cheer is definitively in the crapper. She’s an unseasoned witch—meaning her magical abilities are about as impressive as a sparkler next to fireworks—and she’s hopelessly in love with Tripp Nightshade, the town’s infuriatingly hot demigod whose mischievous smile attracts her like a moth to an LED porch light. The problem? Tripp seems completely impervious to her lackluster charms. While other witches in Witchmere command respect and wield serious power, Elara’s magical repertoire is embarrassingly underwhelming, which makes competing for a demigod’s attention feel like showing up to a Formula 1 race on a tricycle. 🎄
Then mysterious purple boots appear on her doorstep—because nothing says “Christmas magic” like unexplained footwear from an unknown source. Elara can’t resist trying them on, because obviously when mysterious magical objects show up uninvited, the smart move is to immediately put them on your body. One daring step later, she’s brimming with power, sporting a wicked new attitude, and formulating a reckless plan to catch Tripp’s eye that probably should have included more consideration of potential consequences. The boots are clearly Trickster-induced—meaning some chaos deity thought it would be hilarious to give an inexperienced witch sudden access to massive power—and Elara’s wild streak brings a literal snowstorm of magical chaos that threatens to bury Witchmere. 👢
As the town teeters on the brink of calamity—because Elara’s newfound confidence manifests as spells she can’t quite control and magical mishaps that escalate faster than she can apologize for them—she and Tripp are forced to race together to save their magical haven. Working alongside the demigod she’s been pining for would be romantic if they weren’t actively trying to prevent the destruction of everything they love. But proximity has benefits: Tripp finally sees Elara as something other than the awkward witch who can barely light a candle, and Elara realizes that love isn’t about being perfect or having impressive magical credentials. It’s about courage, a little madness, and embracing your inner weirdo—purple chaos boots and all. ✨
T.M. Cromer delivers paranormal romance with humor, heart, and just enough magical mayhem to keep things interesting without descending into complete absurdity. The title “These Boots Are Made For Witching” signals the playful tone, and the narrative delivers on that promise with self-aware comedy about romantic tropes, magical incompetence, and the universal experience of trying to impress someone while everything goes catastrophically wrong. If Witchmere survives their chemistry—and Elara’s magically-enhanced chaos spiral—it’ll be a Christmas miracle. This is holiday paranormal romance for readers who like their witches flawed, their demigods mischievous, and their magical disasters resolved with equal parts power and personality. 🎁
What makes this essential: A holiday paranormal rom-com where an inexperienced witch gets magical boots that give her wild power and a reckless attitude, leading to chaos, demigod romance, and the discovery that embracing your weird is more powerful than being perfect.
NEW RELEASES
A brand-new Linear Tactical Christmas story—plus two more all-new holiday novellas that disappear when the season ends, so grab them now. 🎄
Read them now—because when the holiday season ends, so do these limited-time stories featuring operators, danger, and Christmas missions that don’t wait for Santa. 🔥
A Very Linear Tactical Christmas by Janie Crouch brings the full force of one Christmas gathering, two generations of tactical operators, secrets that finally get revealed after years of silence, threats handled with precision and violence, and family bonds strengthened through chaos. When Linear Tactical gathers for the holidays, even Christmas dinner comes with tactical considerations and weapons within reach. ⚡
Montana Whiteout by Josie Jade sends operators into a storm where visibility is zero and survival isn’t guaranteed. They went into the blizzard knowing the mission was dangerous, knowing someone might not come back, but going anyway because that’s what operators do when lives are on the line. The Montana wilderness doesn’t care that it’s Christmas, and neither does the enemy they’re hunting. ❄️
Operation Dark Tidings by Dominic Pierce delivers weapons loaded, comms tight, target acquired, and operators executing with lethal precision. Christmas was never supposed to be the mission, but threats don’t take holidays off and neither do the men who stop them. When darkness threatens during the season of light, these operators bring their own brand of Christmas cheer—the kind delivered with extreme prejudice. 🎯
Why this matters: Janie Crouch, Josie Jade, and Dominic Pierce deliver limited-edition military romance featuring Linear Tactical Christmas gathering, Montana survival mission, and holiday operation going dark—essential reading for fans who want their Christmas stories with tactical operators and genuine danger.
I hooked up with Santa at a Christmas charity party, and now he’s my son’s doctor with a tattoo I recognize intimately. 🎅
Okay—not the real Santa, obviously, but a sexy, older silver fox in a tailored Santa suit at a Christmas charity party where the champagne was flowing and inhibitions were low. We were locked out together on a freezing rooftop because apparently rich people’s holiday parties have terrible emergency exit planning. It was cold enough to see our breath. He kissed me under the mistletoe with the kind of skill that comes from experience, and then did so much more in ways I still dream about five years later. 🔥
But I ran before he could even ask my name, disappearing into the night like Cinderella but with significantly more sexual satisfaction and significantly less glass footwear. Five years later, I’m a single mom with a sick little boy, just praying for a holiday miracle while sitting in the ER terrified about what the doctors will find. 💔
Then the ER curtain pulls back dramatically—and there he is. Silver fox. Millionaire according to the hospital wing named after his family. My son’s new doctor who’s about to examine my child and possibly recognize me. He studies me intensely like he knows me from somewhere but can’t quite place me, those same eyes that looked at me with heat now looking at me with professional concern. But I recognize his tattoo immediately—the exact distinctive ink I kissed under twinkling Christmas lights five years ago while making the best mistake of my life. ⚡
He can never know that our five-year-old boy is the result of that magical rooftop night when I was young, reckless, and didn’t think about consequences. But when he starts connecting the dots about timing, my son’s age, the familiarity he can’t quite shake, my secret doesn’t stand a chance of surviving his brilliant doctor brain putting two and two together. 😱
And when my son whispers during his medical exam, looking up at this kind, capable doctor with desperate hope in his sick eyes, “All I want for Christmas is a dad who won’t leave us,” my carefully constructed walls of secrecy crumble faster than my resistance to those silver fox good looks. Because apparently five years and one secret child later, my body still remembers Santa intimately, my heart wants what it can’t have, and my son just asked for the one Christmas gift I can’t give him without destroying everything. 🎁
What makes this delicious: Mia Mara delivers holiday romance featuring a one-night stand with Santa creating a secret baby, a silver fox doctor discovering he’s accidentally a daddy, and a single mom learning that some Christmas miracles involve owning your past—perfect for readers who love their holiday romance with second chances and adorable kids asking Santa for dads.
Ken and company find that with the introduction of the Threadspawn, the whole dungeon becomes far less friendly and significantly more deadly. 🕷️
Even the populace on Earth is spooked by creatures that shouldn’t exist suddenly showing up in places they shouldn’t be, turning safe zones into kill zones without warning. Which is why the UG and Haylon sends Ken and a few others on the press tour to calm public panic, answer questions with strategic lies, and generally pretend everything’s under control when it absolutely isn’t. Though even a propaganda tour can’t keep Ken from the action for long because danger follows him like a loyal pet. 💥
The Threadspawn invade Earth in increasing numbers while Ken is doing media appearances, making his press tour efforts feel increasingly pointless as the threat he’s downplaying becomes the crisis he warned about. Meanwhile Ken is recruited fully into the demon hierarchy with all the politics, power plays, and deadly responsibilities that come with ascending the ranks of literal hell. Congratulations on the promotion, here’s your new enemies list and impossible expectations. 😈
Now he has to balance loyalties to the UG who recruited him, the demon hierarchy who owns him, and Haylon who needs him, all while the Threadspawn threat grows exponentially closer to consuming everything. Ken’s juggling allegiances, fighting monsters, managing demon politics, and trying to prevent Earth’s destruction—basically a normal Tuesday for someone in way over their head. 🔥
Here’s what you’re getting: Bruce Sentar continues the Dungeon Diving series with Ken balancing UG loyalty and demon hierarchy obligations while Threadspawn invade Earth, press tours failing to contain panic, and discovering that sometimes saving the world requires serving multiple masters who want different outcomes—perfect for readers who love their dungeon fantasy with political complexity and escalating threats.