Sometimes the love of your life has been standing right in front of you the entire time. For practical, ambitious heroine Mia, navigating the high-stress demands of city life has left her with little energy for dating, especially after suffering a painful heartbreak that left her emotional defenses on high alert. The only constant anchor in her bustling world is Ryan—her fiercely loyal, incredibly protective best friend who has stood beside her through every career triumph and personal catastrophe.
Ryan, however, is tired of hiding behind the best-friend title. Handsome, steady, and utterly devoted, Ryan has loved Mia for years, patiently keeping his feelings under wraps to protect their bond. But when an unexpected shift in their relationship—spurred by a moment of raw vulnerability and an unforgettable, chemistry-charged kiss—shatters the boundary between friendship and passion, there is no going back. As they try to navigate the exhilarating, terrifying transition from lifelong confidantes to passionate lovers, old insecurities and outside pressures threaten to derail their fragile new beginning.
Steph Nuss delivers an emotionally touching, beautifully paced friends-to-lovers contemporary romance filled with genuine tenderness, realistic relationship drama, and heartfelt chemistry. The deep history and mutual respect between Mia and Ryan make their romance feel deeply earned and profoundly moving.
Why this delights: Steph Nuss crafts a sweet, emotionally rich contemporary romance packed with authentic emotional depth, swoon-worthy friends-to-lovers pining, and believable urban relationship drama. Essential reading for fans of Colleen Hoover, Kendall Ryan, and Lauren Layne.
Tyler Gallagher is an ambitious entrepreneur and co-owner of Flatiron Five Fitness, Manhattan’s trendiest luxury fitness club. Laser-focused on expanding their brand and keeping business thriving, Tyler has no interest in romantic entanglements. However, when an upcoming high-profile industry gala requires him to show up with a polished date to impress crucial investors and silence nosy family members, Tyler needs a no-strings-attached solution fast.
Enter Shannyn, a smart, independent graphic designer who handles branding for the fitness club. When Tyler approaches her with a straightforward business proposition—pose as his glamorous, adoring girlfriend for just one evening—Shannyn agrees, figuring it’s a harmless favor for a valued business partner. But when the night of the gala arrives, their staged public affection sparks an undeniable, scorching attraction that neither anticipated. What was supposed to be a single night of harmless deception explodes into a passionate, complicated affair that challenges Tyler’s bachelor rules and forces both to confront their deepest emotional fears.
Deborah Cooke kicks off her popular fitness-romance series with brisk urban pacing, sharp verbal sparring, and sizzling romantic chemistry. Tyler is an irresistible hero—driven, charming, and protective—while Shannyn’s wit and confidence make her the perfect match to keep him on his toes.
What makes this unputdownable: Deborah Cooke delivers a stylish, high-heat contemporary romance loaded with delicious fake-dating tension, snappy Manhattan banter, and irresistible chemistry. A fantastic read for fans of Carly Phillips, Jill Shalvis, and Lauren Blakely.
Against the rugged, sweeping backdrop of the Montana mountains, the Calhoun family ranch is a place of hard work, family loyalty, and deep cowboy traditions. For rancher Cade Calhoun, duty comes first. Carrying the weight of running the expansive family spread and dealing with past romantic betrayals that left him cynical, Cade prefers the solitary routine of herding cattle and working the land, determined never to leave his heart exposed again.
His quiet frontier existence is turned upside down when a determined young woman arrives in town carrying a secret that will change the Calhoun family forever: an infant child connected to their family ranch. Forced into close proximity to manage the unexpected arrival and protect the vulnerable child from looming family scandals and outside threats, Cade finds himself drawn to her fierce maternal courage and quiet grace. As wide-open Montana skies and daily ranch chores bring them closer together, Cade’s protective alpha instincts ignite into a deep, passionate bond, showing him that opening his heart to family might be his greatest triumph.
Juanita Kees crafts a rich, atmospheric Western romance filled with authentic ranching detail, emotional family drama, and swoon-worthy cowboy chivalry. The story balances heartfelt tenderness with rugged frontier charm, delivering pure satisfaction for contemporary western romance lovers.
Why this warms the heart: Juanita Kees weaves a passionate, emotionally stirring small-town Western romance packed with rugged cowboy honor, sweet baby-rescue warmth, and irresistible second chances. Essential reading for admirers of Diana Palmer, Linda Lael Miller, and B.J. Daniels.
Ladies’ Man: The Careless Heart of John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy was a born leader—bold, charismatic, and able to charm the world with nothing more than a witty phrase and a winning smile. Yet behind the dazzling Camelot public persona, JFK lived a reckless, deeply complicated private life, driven by a restless obsession to collect remarkable women on his rise to the White House. He pursued them voraciously, only to dismiss them summarily when they no longer suited his political needs. In this groundbreaking, deeply intimate biography, bestselling historian Laurence Leamer reveals the harrowing, definitive life of JFK through the lens of the diverse, fascinating women who were often the only witnesses to the private man outside the glare of the spotlight.
Drawing on unprecedented access, private archives, and firsthand interviews—including Leamer’s personal acquaintance with three of Kennedy’s mistresses—this landmark biography traces JFK’s youthful indiscretions at boarding school, his early affairs with aristocratic European women like Inga Arvad and Gunilla von Post, and his complex marriage to the stately Jacqueline Bouvier. Leamer explores his Oval Office interactions with figures like Pamela Turnure, Diana de Vegh, and Mimi Beardsley, as well as his dangerous connections with mafia moll Judith Exner, East German spy Ellen Rometsch, and the legendary Marilyn Monroe shortly before her tragic death. The book exposes the breathtaking chances Kennedy took, and how his rash personal life contrasted sharply with his cautious, calculated public policies.
Written with raw emotional insight, rigorous scholarship, and literary grace, Leamer’s narrative rescues these women from the footnotes of history to provide a revolutionary, multi-dimensional portrait of a president who took bewildering risks that could have destroyed his legacy. It is a stunning, panoramic biography that redefines our understanding of Camelot’s most enigmatic icon.
Why this is essential: Laurence Leamer delivers an explosive, masterfully researched biography that unmasks the private heart of JFK and the courageous, tragic women who lived in his shadow. A must-read for admirers of Doris Kearns Goodwin, Ron Chernow, and Robert Dallek.
Since his literary debut in 1887, Sherlock Holmes has been a global phenomenon—an immortal detective celebrated for his superhuman powers of observation and logic. Yet the man Arthur Conan Doyle credited as Sherlock’s real-life prototype has slipped into the shadows. In this definitive, deeply researched biography, award-winning historian Lindsey Fitzharris brings Joseph Bell, the extraordinary Edinburgh surgeon and pioneering forensic investigator, center stage, recounting his harrowing adventures as a medical detective probing the grisiest murders of the Victorian era.
A university professor with a flair for the theatrical and an eye for clues hidden in the tiniest details, Bell astonished his students with lightning-fast deductions about his patients’ lives, and in 1887, a young medical student named Arthur Conan Doyle took note. In Sleuth-Hound, Fitzharris guides us through the smog-choked alleys and crowded slums of Victorian Edinburgh to recount the untold story of the man who inspired literature’s most iconic sleuth. Bell’s talent was so formidable that he was called upon to investigate criminal cases, and, alongside Edinburgh’s chief police surgeon Henry Duncan Littlejohn, he worked on some of the highest profile murders of the century, including Jack the Ripper. Together, they pioneered a new era of forensic science to crack crimes, scrutinizing a scratch on a desk, a trace of cigar ash, or the slightest peculiarity of a man’s gait to turn the smallest clues into revelations.
Fitzharris, an international bestselling author, writes with her signature, cinematic pacing, rich historical detail, and gothic flair, capturing the sights, sounds, and smells of nineteenth-century medicine and crime. The book remains an extraordinary historical investigation, building an evocative and often grisly portrait of Victorian society that changed detection forever.
Why this is a must-read: Lindsey Fitzharris delivers an enchanting, pulse-pounding historical narrative that brings the real-life Sherlock Holmes to breathtaking life. Mandatory reading for Constant Readers and devotees of David Grann, Erik Larson, and Arthur Conan Doyle.
While the popular myth frames Silicon Valley as a hub of playful innovation and technological liberation, New York Times bestselling author Gil Durán reveals something far more sinister: a decades-long, deliberate campaign by tech billionaires and venture capitalists to replace elected governments with corporate rule. In this fearless and urgent exposé, Durán traces this antidemocratic ideology from its philosophical roots in James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg’s The Sovereign Individual, introducing its modern apostles—Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Balaji Srinivasan, and Elon Musk—and shows how the promise of technological progress has been weaponized as a movement for digital feudalism.
Drawing on insider political experience and new investigations, Durán exposes how the world’s richest men are using technologies like cryptocurrency, artificial intelligence, and the algorithmic propaganda of social media to dismantle democracy in the United States, aiming to establish a new form of governance resembling a corporate dictatorship. The book details the origins, strategies, and ambitions of Silicon Valley’s war on democracy, from weaponized local elections and secret billionaire projects to the White House itself. Rather than merely documenting this hidden history, Durán provides a road map to resistance, suggesting we break up tech monopolies, regulate AI, and ban crypto before code, capital, and the illusion of innovation replace our freedom entirely.
Written with propulsive energy, rigorous scholarship, and sharp investigative grit, Durán’s narrative brings a pressing global crisis into vivid focus. It is an extraordinary, transfixing debut that warns us that our democracy is being dismantled from within, not by coups or tanks, but by the tech industry’s elite.
Why this is essential: Gil Durán delivers a thundering, masterfully researched exposé that reveals the terrifying ambitions of Silicon Valley’s antidemocratic elites and how we can fight back. A must-read for fans of Naomi Klein, Kara Swisher, and Anand Giridharadas.