Addison Moore, Bellamy Bloom
FREE
Cozy Animal Mystery
🎄 The holidays have arrived in Cider Cove and so has the owner of the Country Cottage Inn. He’s instructed me to throw a holiday gala to remember in hopes to wow his fancy friends but the festivities come to an abrupt end when a killer joins the party. Christmas is afoot and so is murder.
Bizzy Baker runs the Country Cottage Inn, has the ability to pry into the darkest recesses of both the human and animal mind, and has just stumbled upon a body. With the help of her kitten, Fish, a mutt named Sherlock Bones and an ornery yet dangerously good looking homicide detective, Bizzy is determined to find the killer.
Addison Moore and Bellamy Bloom continue their Country Cottage Mysteries series with a holiday-themed murder at a fancy gala. Fans of Sofie Kelly’s Magical Cats or Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mysteries will appreciate Bizzy’s psychic ability to read both human and animal minds, plus the animal sidekick squad (Fish the kitten and Sherlock Bones the mutt).
Here’s the appeal: This is Book 12, so the series is well-established with a loyal following. The “Christmas to Dismember” pun signals the cozy mystery tone—serious enough for an actual murder investigation but light enough for holiday reading. The psychic element adds a paranormal twist to traditional cozy mystery tropes, and the “ornery yet dangerously good looking” detective suggests romantic tension alongside the investigation.
A. S. McClatchie
FREE
Traditional Detective Mysteries
🔦 Genny is settling into her fresh start on a sleepy island off the south coast of England, two years after her sister’s death in a hit and run, which made her quit her detective job in busy London.
With her bakery being renovated and her new seaside cottage falling apart around her, Genny’s trying to get to grips with the quirky locals and small town life. But when Genny and the islanders attend the re-opening of the beloved lighthouse which has been derelict for twenty years, no one expects to find the lifeless body of local builder—and Genny’s renovator—Mitchell Collins strewn on the steps with the lighthouse’s distinctive red paint splashed across his skin and clothing.
With the clues leading the police on a wild goose chase, the young DI on the case, Remy Cochran, turns to Genny for her expertise, and she soon finds herself swept back into the world she had thought she had left far behind her.
A. S. McClatchie launches a British cozy mystery series with a former London detective trying to escape her past on a quiet island, only to be pulled back into investigating when murder strikes. Fans of Ann Cleeves’s Shetland series or Faith Martin’s cozy mysteries will appreciate the island setting, the ex-detective protagonist, and the classic lighthouse murder scene.
What makes this work: The personal tragedy (sister’s death in hit-and-run) that drove Genny out of police work adds emotional weight, and the distinctive red lighthouse paint on the victim creates a visually striking crime scene with built-in symbolism. The reluctant partnership with young DI Remy Cochran suggests ongoing series dynamics, and the derelict lighthouse reopening provides both atmospheric setting and community event backstory. The bakery-owner-turned-amateur-sleuth is cozy mystery comfort food.
Lexie Quinn
FREE
Polyamory Romance
🎰 When fate has a plan, sometimes you just have to put your trust in Lady Luck.
My steps to a happily ever after: Go to Vegas and accept the perfect proposal. Move to NYC with the love of my life. Enjoy impending motherhood.
Everything was supposed to be perfect. Instead, a weekend in Sin City blew up in my face when I discovered my supposed boyfriend is married with kids—leaving me single, pregnant, and homeless.
As if things couldn’t get worse, the stranger who exposed my ex is my unexpected scent match and he’s determined to make me his. My brother’s best friend (and my childhood crush) has other ideas and wants to introduce me to his pack, swearing to take care of me. Which would be great, if I wanted a pack.
Both men want me, but my taste in alphas is obviously suspect and I can’t take a risk on strangers with a baby on the way, especially men who can’t stand each other. My life and heart were just shattered, and no matter what my omega instincts want, I won’t be fooled twice.
Lexie Quinn delivers an omegaverse romance with a Vegas setting where a pregnancy revelation and cheating boyfriend blow up the heroine’s perfect plan, leaving her caught between two competing alphas—a scent match stranger and her brother’s best friend. Fans of Zoey Draven’s omegaverse or Lola Rock’s pack dynamics will appreciate the pregnancy stakes and the two-alphas-one-omega tension.
Here’s the drama: The heroine is understandably gun-shy after discovering her boyfriend’s secret family, but her omega biology is screaming that these alphas are right for her even as her rational mind says absolutely not. The brother’s best friend trope combined with the fated mates scent match creates competing emotional and biological pulls, and the fact that both alphas hate each other means she can’t just choose both and call it a pack. The Vegas setting and “trust Lady Luck” framing adds playful energy to serious relationship stakes.
Keep It in the Family
John Marrs
Regularly $3.99, Today $1.99
Psychological Thrillers
🏚️ Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls pregnant. But just when they think the house is ready, Mia discovers a shocking message scored into a skirting board: I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC.
Following the clue up into the eaves, the couple make a gruesome discovery: their home was once a real-life murder house, with the evidence still concealed within the four walls.
In the wake of their traumatic discovery, the baby arrives and Mia can’t shake her fixation with the monstrous crimes that happened right above them. Tormented by the terrible things she saw, she is desperate to dig into the past to find answers.
Secrecy shrouds the mystery of the attic, but when shards of a dark truth start to emerge, Mia realises the danger is terrifyingly present. She is prepared to do anything to protect her family—but will the previous tenants stop her from discovering their secret?
John Marrs delivers a psychological thriller where a pregnant couple discovers their renovation project is a murder house—with evidence still hidden in the walls. Fans of Riley Sager’s Home Before Dark or Ruth Ware’s locked-room mysteries will appreciate the house-with-secrets setup, but Marrs adds the vulnerability of new parenthood to the terror.
Here’s what’s chilling: The message “I WILL SAVE THEM FROM THE ATTIC” suggests multiple victims, and the fact that evidence is still concealed means the crimes were never solved or reported. Mia’s obsessive fixation after the baby arrives could be postpartum anxiety or genuine danger, and the “previous tenants” phrasing suggests the people who committed these crimes might still be alive and invested in keeping their secrets buried. The question becomes: are Mia and her baby in danger from the past or from living threats?
Rebecca Yarros
Regularly $4.99, Today $2.49
Military Romance
🩰 Elite ballerina Allie Rousseau is no stranger to pressure. With her mother’s eyes always watching, perfection was expected, no matter the cost. But when an injury jeopardizes all she’s sacrificed for, Allie returns to her summer home to heal and recover.
As a Coast Guard rescue swimmer, Hudson Ellis knows that hesitation can mean the difference between life and death. He’s always prided himself on being in the right place at the right time, especially when it came to Allie Rousseau…until the night he left for basic.
After the biggest regret of his life, the secrets he keeps mean he can never be with the one woman he wants more than his next breath. When Hudson’s niece shows up on Allie’s doorstep, desperate to find her birth mother, Allie finds herself in an unimaginable position.
Rebecca Yarros (bestselling author of Fourth Wing) delivers a second-chance military romance between a ballerina recovering from injury and a Coast Guard rescue swimmer haunted by the night he left her behind. Fans of Brenda Jackson’s military romances or Susan Stoker will appreciate the alpha protector hero and the high-stakes reconnection.
What creates tension: Hudson’s “secrets he keeps” and “biggest regret” suggest he left Allie for reasons beyond just joining the military, and those secrets actively prevent them from being together now. The niece searching for her birth mother creates an unexpected connection that forces them into proximity despite Hudson’s determination to stay away. The ballerina/rescue swimmer pairing creates interesting parallels—both careers demand perfection under pressure, and both are facing crossroads (her injury, his secrets).
Colleen Hoover
Regularly $5.99, Today $2.99
Contemporary Romance
💔 Soon to be a major motion picture starring Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers.
A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover.
After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself.
The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them.
Colleen Hoover delivers an emotional redemption story about a woman fresh from prison trying to reconnect with the daughter she hasn’t seen in five years, with a forbidden romance complicating her already impossible situation. Fans of It Ends with Us or Verity will recognize Hoover’s ability to make readers cry while delivering hope.
Why this destroys you: Kenna served time for a “tragic mistake” (not cold-blooded crime), but the community won’t forgive her, and she has no legal right to see her four-year-old daughter who doesn’t remember her. Ledger Ward is connected to the daughter somehow (guardian? friend of the guardians?), making their growing connection both her only lifeline and a betrayal that could cost both of them everything. The upcoming film adaptation proves the story’s emotional impact translates beyond the page. Hoover specializes in making difficult situations feel earned rather than manipulative.
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