Spotlight: Ashes of the Republic by James Chesterton

The year is 2046. Freedom is extinct. Faith is law. And one woman’s impossible pregnancy could ignite a revolution.

The United States has devolved from a thriving democracy into a Christian nationalist surveillance state—where elections are theater, dissent is erased, and women’s bodies are monitored by the government.

Lily Osbourne has learned how to keep her head down. Then, while passing through Colorado Springs airport, everything shatters when a TSA agent informs her she is pregnant and assigns her fetus a Social Security number.

Lily is on a contraception guaranteed to be effective for twenty years, so the only way this is possible is if she took the pill that opens a temporary window of fertility.

But she doesn’t even own one, which means someone chose for her.

As Lily and her partner, Jeff Maslow, search for answers, they are drawn into the orbit of Iwanna Dennison, the president’s ruthless daughter and a larger conspiracy that could unravel the regime itself. Or make it invincible.

As rival forces plot in the shadows, Lily is pulled into the brutal power struggle at the heart of the Dennison regime, where her pursuit of truth threatens to shatter a nation built on lies.

Terrifyingly plausible and razor-sharp, Ashes of the Republic is a gripping series opener that blends the political paranoia of 1984 with the feminist fury of The Handmaid’s Tale.

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About the Author

James Chesterton is the author of Ashes of the Republic and Holding Patterns, a financial crime thriller inspired by his 30 years in the banking industry. A graduate of Hunter College, he began his career teaching high school English before earning an MBA from the University of Connecticut and transitioning into corporate banking. Chesterton’s work confronts the real-world consequences of power exercised at the highest levels. He lives in New England with his wife in their newly empty nest. jameschesterton.com

Spotlight: Morally Black Elopement by Nicole French

Release Date: May 11

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

One night in Vegas. One drunken vow. One surprise husband.

I don’t drink. I don’t date.
And I definitely don’t wake up married.

Ronan Black—A.K.A the stranger in my bed—is everything I don't need.

He’s a morally bankrupt charm offensive with trouble written all over his chiseled face.

I’m the good daughter, the responsible best friend, the person who never makes bad decisions.

Now, one night in Vegas just turned into a lifetime of consequences when I wake up in Ronan’s bed…with his ring on my finger.

Because he wants it to stay there.

Maybe even for good.

It’s a bad idea. The worst.

His plan is simple: stay married long enough for him to take control of his company and for me to keep mine afloat.

It’s not fake…but it’s not exactly legitimate either. 

So why am I starting to think this ridiculous marriage could actually work?

Ronan might be morally gray, but he’s also becoming the only man I trust.

But do these strange feelings go both ways?

When his corrupt world forces him to pick, will Ronan choose his billions?

Or will he choose us?

MORALLY BLACK ELOPEMENT is the second standalone novel in the Morally Black Weddings series. Tropes inside: woke up married, bad boy/good girl, opposites attract, marriage of convenience, and black-hearted hero meets no-nonsense heroine.

Warning: Contains questionable decisions, shameless flirting, and a hero who’ll convince you bad boys are worth the risk.

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About Nicole French

Nicole French is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance. She's also a hopeless romantic, Springsteen fanatic, and total bookworm. When not writing, she is hanging out with her family, playing soccer with the rest of the thirty-plus crowd in Seattle, or going on dates with her husband. In her spare time, she likes to go running or practice the piano, but never seems to do either one of these things as much as she should.

Keep up with Nicole French and receive your FREE copy of one of her books when you subscribe to her newsletter: https://www.nicolefrenchromance.com/

For more information on Nicole and her books visit here

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Spotlight: Storm Breaker by Nisha J. Tuli

For nineteen-year-old Poet Graves, New Manhattan has always promised safety—if she obeys. Raised within the ruling Houses and betrothed to a powerful heir, she enters Amery Academy knowing her future has already been decided.

But Amery is nothing like she imagined. Its trials are brutal, its loyalties conditional, and its rules designed to expose weakness. As Poet struggles to survive, she must hide the truth that could get her executed: the storms don’t fear her—they answer back.

When a dangerous outsider from beyond the city walls enters the academy, Poet is drawn to him despite everything she’s been taught to believe. He threatens the life she’s been promised. And choosing him could cost her not just her future, but her freedom.

A gripping dystopian romance filled with forbidden power, ruthless challenges, and a heroine who refuses to burn quietly—perfect for fans of Divergent and The Hunger Games.

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About the Author

Nisha J. Tuli is a USA Today and international bestselling romance author who loves writing slow burns and plenty of yearning. When she isn’t writing or reading, she can be found in the gym or the kitchen (to eat, not to cook) or maybe knitting scarves to survive a Canadian winter. She lives in Manitoba with her husband, their two kids, and their fluffy Samoyed.

Connect:

Website: https://www.nishajtuli.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nishajtwrites/

Spotlight: Arranged Marriage to a K-Pop Idol by Bianca Rowena

Publication date: April 28th 2026

Genres: Dystopian, Romance, Young Adult

He who controls the media, controls the world.

In a world where a young woman only has two choices, marry by age 18 and procreate naturally, or be thrown into a fertility prison, AnAn finds herself in an arranged marriage to K-Pop Idol Taejung, who is running from the paparazzi and his government.

Can Taejung and AnAn stop the One World Nation’s plot to use K-pop concerts and fans, to win the world election, or will Taejung be pulled back into the K-pop world he left behind, and AnAn lose her first love?

Excerpt

Taejung studied her silently from his corner of the room and AnAn's face flushed. She looked away, but her eyes kept returning to him even as the Building Families Official continued to talk. He looked like he'd just walked off the set of a Hear4U music video.

"AnAn, let me be direct," the Official said. "Your arrangement to Taylor here is a unique situation. Building Families is expanding its repopulation efforts, globally." The lady gave her a forced smile.

AnAn's reporter instincts told her this was far from the truth. Taejung didn't look like he even wanted to be here, let alone volunteer to repopulate the West, with her.

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About the Author

Bianca Rowena was born in Romania, Transylvania and has enjoyed writing from a young age. She now lives in Canada, which is the setting and inspiration for her novels. Bianca studied Cinema/Television/Stage/Radio at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.

Connect:

https://www.facebook.com/BiancaRowena/

https://www.instagram.com/biancarowena/

https://www.biancarowena.com/

Arranged Marriage to a K-Pop Idol Blitz

Spotlight: Simply Irresistible by Tara September

Release Date: May 5

AVAILABLE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED

They share a duplex. They share a workplace. They should not share anything else.

Beth Henley is a bold volleyball coach focused on her students and keeping her life uncomplicated. Falling for her reserved, anti-sports neighbor was not on her roster.

Colin McClure is an English professor whose perfectly ordered life gets a change-up the moment Beth moves in. She’s confident, disruptive, and impossible to ignore.

He lives by boundaries. She loves to cross them. 

But when the woman next door is simply irresistible, resisting her isn’t an option.

Simply Irresistible is a slow-burning, neighbors-to-lovers university romance with sizzling chemistry, no unnecessary third-act breakup, and two opposites who discover some rules are meant to be broken.

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Meet Tara September

Tara is an award-winning contemporary romance author and former PR executive for The Walt Disney Company and communications manager for WWE. She holds a Master’s degree in journalism & communications from New York University and a B.A. from Wheaton College in Massachusetts. For 19 years, Tara has also penned a popular lifestyle, travel and parenting blog at TaraMetBlog.com. 

An avid romance reader, she has been daydreaming about being a romance author since high school. Now she’s living her dream in sunny Southwest Florida with her identical twin boys and four distractions (I mean cats) underfoot. When the kids are asleep and the cats are not lying on her keyboard, she’s finally writing the happily-ever-after tales she’s been dreaming about.

​Keep up with Tara and subscribe to her newsletter: https://tarametblog.wixsite.com/taraseptember

To learn more about Tara September & her books, visit here!

Connect with Tara September: https://tarametblog.wixsite.com/taraseptember/contact

Spotlight: Summer State of Mind by Kristy Woodson Harvey

“Queen of the beach read,” (Cosmopolitan) New York Times bestselling author Kristy Woodson Harvey returns with a heartfelt escape to coastal Carolina.

After the worst day in her professional life, burnt-out NICU nurse Daisy Stevens runs to Cape Carolina, North Carolina, looking for a new life—and possibly new romance. On her first day at her “simpler” job, high school baseball coach Mason Thaysden discovers an abandoned baby, sending ripples through the entire tight-knit town of Cape Carolina.

Mason is still struggling to reconcile the scars of the injury that kept him out of the big leagues, stuck in his hometown, and searching for a way out. This newcomer and the child they’ve saved together might be just the motivation he needs to stay put. Sparks fly as Mason acquaints Daisy with Cape Carolina, introducing her to his friends and family, including his batty Aunt Tilley, who is looking for relief from long-buried family secrets and her own fresh start.

But as Daisy becomes increasingly attached to this abandoned child, and begins facing her own demons in the process, a startling discovery is made that threatens to rip the entire town of Cape Carolina apart, placing Daisy, Mason, and Tilley in the center of the storm. In a novel that proves that “Kristy Woodson Harvey is (the) go-to for elevated beach reads” (People), they will each learn that with love, understanding—and a community theater production of Hello, Dolly!—sometimes life conspires to bring us just exactly where we belong.

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About the Author

Kristy Woodson Harvey is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of thirteen novels, including Beach House Rules and the Peachtree Bluff series. A Happier Life is in development for film with MGM/Amazon, The Summer of Songbirds is in development for television with Hulu, and many of her other projects are in various stages of option or development for film and television. Her work has received numerous accolades, including Good Morning America’s Buzz Pick, Southern Living’s Most Anticipated Reads, Katie Couric’s Featured Books, and JoAnna Garcia Swisher’s The Happy Place Reads. Kristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing and a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Southern Living, Parade, Traditional Home, USA TODAY, and many more. Kristy is the cocreator and cohost of the hit weekly web show and podcast Friends & Fiction with fellow New York Times bestselling authors Mary Kay Andrews, Kristin Harmel, and Patti Callahan Henry. She is also the cofounder of the award-winning interiors site Design Chic, with her mom, Beth Woodson. She lives on the North Carolina coast with her husband, son, and dog, Salt, where she is (always!) working on her next novel.