Spotlight: Love Is Ale You Need by Gia Stevens

After becoming a single mom, I vowed never to date a guy in a suit again until the charismatic and charming, Trey Wilson entered my life. I put him in the friend zone instantly, however, the more time we spend together, the more the lines between friends and benefits blur. I know I should end things before we get too deep, but when the white stick shows two pink lines, my world is once again turned upside down. Fans of Meghan Quinn and Tessa Bailey will devour Love Is Ale You Need by Gia Stevens, a steamy friends-to-lovers, surprise pregnancy, romance.

A steamy friends with benefits, surprise pregnancy standalone novel by romantic comedy author Gia Stevens… 

We went from fling to friend-zone. Now I have to tell him he’s going to be a dad.

After my ex-husband left, I became a single mom and vowed never to date a guy in a suit again.

Then Trey Wilson entered my life. The guy who lives in suits. He’s charismatic, good-looking, and charming AF.

Everything that can make any woman swoon, including me. 

What started as a one-night fling turned into a mid-morning office quickie, followed by an afternoon rendezvous in my kitchen. Which ultimately led to the purchase of a new table.

After I told him we can only be friends, he’s determined to be my best friend. The more time we spend together, the boundary between friends and benefits blur.

Deep down, I know he’s exactly like the others. Once they get what they want, they’re out the door, leaving me to pick up the pieces of my broken heart. Been there. Done that. And I have a daughter to prove it. 

So the moment emotions get involved, I quickly suppress them and do what I know is right.

I end whatever this is.

Except now I can’t do that when the white stick shows two pink lines.

Excerpt 

Copyright 2024 Gia Stevens

I peer up at him. “Are benefits still on the table?”

He turns toward me. The pad of his thumb caresses the apple of my cheek. His hand continues to glide across my skin until his fingers thread through my hair. His large palm warms my cheek. “No.”

My stomach falls. It was inevitable this would have to end, but I was hoping it wasn’t tonight. 

With his other hand he grips my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze. “I don’t want benefits. You’re worth more than just benefits. But I’ll take whatever you give me.”

A slow smile spreads over my lips. “Can we go to your house?”

“Absolutely.” 

He opens the passenger door and I slide in. While he rounds the hood, I click my seatbelt into place. We’ve had sex before, but the butterflies are fluttering faster this time. Maybe because it’s not a spontaneous, spur of the moment thing. Instead, I have the entire drive to his house to think about it. Trey climbs in and starts his SUV. He glances over at me while reaching his hand over the center console and intertwining his fingers with mine. It’s the simplest gesture, but one that calms my erratic heartbeat.

The short ride to his house is silent, but the way his thumb brushes over the back of my hand says everything I need to know right now. I want Trey.

His neighborhood is a far cry from my tiny apartment complex. Enormous houses with even bigger lawns line the streets. A pang of guilt hits me as this is something I’ll never be able to give Abby. A neighborhood filled with other kids to run around and play with. Or a backyard to build a fort or play kickball in.

As we approach a navy blue split-level house, he turns left and pulls into the sunken attached garage. I yank myself out of my thoughts. No pity parties tonight. There’s only room for one party, and that’s between my legs.

The garage door closes, and we both step out, but before we reach the door to the house, my heels that I never put back on slip from my fingers, dropping to the floor with a clatter. Trey twists around and I throw myself into his arms, slamming my lips to his. Without breaking our connection, he twists us around and cages me against the front fender. A shiver runs down my spine as he threads his fingers through my hair, cupping my head as he deepens the kiss. I wrap my arms around his waist and tug him to me, wanting to feel all of him. A low moan escapes his throat.

He pulls away, but his lips linger on mine. “Did I tell you this is the best friendship I’ve ever had?”

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About Gia Stevens

Gia Stevens resides in Northern Minnesota with her husband and cat. She lives for the warm, sunny days of summer and dreads the bitter cold of winter. A romantic comedy junkie at heart, she knew she wanted her own stories to encompass those same warm and fuzzy feelings.

When she’s not busy writing your next book boyfriend, Gia can be found binge watching TV shows that aired five years ago, taking pictures of her cat, or curled up with a steamy romance novel.

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Spotlight: Wright Kind of Love by K.A. Linde

The conclusion to the Wright duet age gap romance from USA Today bestselling author K.A. Linde.

Chase Sinclair should be my enemy.

Wrights and Sinclairs don’t mix. Not with years of history and turmoil between our families. A rivalry that only seems to fester and corrode with time.

Except I’m done denying what I want.

We both are.

Just when we think we have it figured out, it all blows up in our faces.

But we’re determined to make this work. Even knowing that the road ahead is uncertain. And everyone wants us to fail. At least we’re doing this together.

Everything is on the line. Our friends, our families, our careers. And we’d give it all up.

He may be from the wrong family, but he’s my Wright person.

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About the Author

K.A. Linde is the USA Today bestselling author of both romance and fantasy novels. She has a Masters degree in political science from the University of Georgia, was a head campaign worker for the 2012 presidential campaign at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and served as the head coach of the Duke University dance team. She loves reading fantasy novels, traveling to far-off destinations, and dancing in her spare time.

She currently lives in Lubbock, Texas, with her husband, son, and super-adorable puppy.

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Spotlight: High Tea at the Beach House Hotel by Judith Keim

The Beach House Hotel, Book 8

Women’s Fiction with Romantic Elements

Date Published: April 15, 2024

Guests can be surprising…

Ann and Rhonda continue their work at The Beach House Hotel, always striving to make their upscale property the best on the Gulf Coast of Florida. As they’ve learned, not all guests are easy. When they receive a request from Hilda Hassel, a member of the Bavarian royal family, for a two-week stay at the hotel in January, demanding the best room and high tea every afternoon, Ann is uneasy. Other Hassel family members cancelled a large, fancy wedding at the last moment leaving a mess behind. But Rhonda convinces Ann that having a royal guest could increase important European business, and Ann agrees.

After deciding to give Hilda the Presidential Suite for two weeks during their high season and welcoming her to the hotel, Ann and Rhonda are left to wonder if they’ve made the biggest mistake of their lives when Hilda arrives with her “nephew” and strange things begin to happen.

Another of Judith Keim’s series books celebrating love and families, strong women meeting challenges, and clean women’s fiction with a touch of romance—beach reads for all ages with a touch of humor, satisfying twists, and happy endings

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About the Author

Judith Keim, A USA Today Best Selling Author, is a hybrid author who both has a publisher and self-publishes. Ms. Keim writes heart-warming novels about women who face unexpected challenges, meet them with strength, and find love and happiness along the way, stories with heart. Her best-selling books are based, in part, on many of the places she's lived or visited and on the interesting people she's met, creating believable characters and realistic settings her many loyal readers love.

She enjoyed her childhood and young-adult years in Elmira, New York, and now makes her home in Boise, Idaho, with her husband and their adorable dachshund, Wally, and other members of her family. While growing up, she was drawn to the idea of writing stories from a young age. Books were always present, being read, ready to go back to the library, or about to be discovered. All in her family shared information from the books in general conversation, giving them a wealth of knowledge and vivid imaginations.

Ms. Keim loves to hear from her readers and appreciates their enthusiasm for her stories.

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Cover Reveal: Painting Celia by Maya Bairey

Genre: Women’s Fiction, Steamy Romance 

"You can live in my pool house, if you'll teach me to paint."

A stunning contemporary romance novel that will leave you breathless, Painting Celia resonates with its relatable story about growth and love.

Living alone in her bare mansion in LA’s Hollywood Hills, gentle Celia takes up art therapy, hoping it will soothe the deep scars of her past. Each failed artwork deepens her fear of losing to depression, like her father.

León, an intense painter struggling with a creative block, empties his savings to move to LA in search of new visions. He needs a cheap studio and some raw, authentic inspiration—his dreams and future as an artist depend on it.

Brought together by their colorful mutual friends, Celia offers León a deal: he can live in her pool house for free if he teaches her to paint. As he becomes her infatuated teacher and she his reluctant muse, both are laid bare by their pursuit of honest art. Could the desperate creativity that drew them together also rip them apart?

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About the Author

Maya Bairey lives on the banks of the Columbia river in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and their old cat, Dory. Turning from corporate writing to storytelling, Maya was surprised to find she had a bunch of passionate stories inside her, where stuck people learn to live out loud.

Her debut novel, Painting Celia, explores the intersection of honest art and intense love, where creativity and passion can heal and change us. Maya invites readers to have a fun escape, but also to look inward, discovering their own creative and emotional depths.

For a deeper dive into the Celia’s world, visit bairey.com. 

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Spotlight: Darling Girls by Sally Hepworth

Get ready for another twisty domestic thriller from the New York Times bestselling author of THE SOULMATE.

From the outside, Alicia, Jessica and Norah might seem like ordinary women you'd meet on the street any day of the week. Sure, Jessica has a little OCD and Norah has some anger issues. And Alicia has low self-esteem that manifests itself in surprising ways. But these three have a bond that no one can fully understand. It's a bond that takes them back decades, to when they were girls, and they lived on a farm with a foster mother named Miss Fairchild. Miss Fairchild had rules. Miss Fairchild could be unpredictable. And Miss Fairchild was never, ever to be crossed.

In a moment of desperation, the three broke away from Miss Fairchild, and they thought they were free. But the reach of someone with such power is long, and even though they never saw her again, she was always somewhere in the shadows of their minds. When bones are discovered buried under the farmhouse of their childhood, they are called in by the police to tell what they know. Against their will, they are brought back to the past, and to Miss Fairchild herself. DARLING GIRLS asks the questions: what are we capable of when in a desperate place? How much can we hide the demons inside us? And can the past ever truly be buried?

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Spotlight: Summer Camp Secret by Kait Nolan

Pretending to be the fiancée of some random guy in a bar isn't the kind of thing Aspen Fairchild would normally do. Ever. But when a medical scare sends her reeling onto a path of "live life to its fullest," and she sees an opportunity to do a good deed, she figures she can use all the good karma she can get.

Pro hockey player Brooks Hennessey was just taking time off, working through his grief, trying to do a good deed. But now his fake engagement has gone viral, and his publicist wants to know what he's going to do about it.

He knows what he'd like to do: spend his week at grown-up summer camp with the woman he can't stop thinking about.

She knows what she'd like to do: spend her week at Camp Firefly Falls with the guy who unexpectedly rocked her world.

But the girl of his dreams is hiding something, keeping him at arm's length. Because the guy who makes her heart beat is oh-so-vulnerable to the last thing she'd want to burden him with. Will she give them a chance, or will she run away before he can learn her summer camp secret?

Grab this steamy contemporary summer romance about a fake engagement, real attraction, and the secrets people keep when they’re trying to protect those they love.

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About the Author

Kait Nolan is a USA Today best selling, RITA® Award-winning Mississippi author who calls everyone sugar, honey, or darlin', and can wield a 'Bless your heart' like a Snuggie or a saber, depending on requirements. She believes in love, laughter, and that tacos are the world's most perfect food. When she's not writing, reading, or wrangling family (both the two-legged and the four-), you can find her obsessively watching The Great British Bake Off. 

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Kait Nolan & her books, visit here!

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