I am a writer who will never give you a sad ending! I love books that reflect on life (the good and the bad) but that look for the positive in people. My experience has taught me that there is so much good to find—and as I explore in my debut novel, The Keeper of Stories, everyone has a story to tell. My first novel was published when I was 60, so I am also a believer that you should never underestimate anyone. And I love to see that reflected in books.
Of course I was always going to pick one of my daughter’s novels! Two women of very different ages come together to save their local Lido. This is a book about community and the power of friendship. And if you like swimming it is definitely the book for you!
'Feel-good and uplifting, this charming novel is full of heart' LUCY DIAMOND
'Tender, thought-provoking and uplifting' DAILY MAIL
Meet Rosemary, 86, and Kate, 26: dreamers, campaigners, outdoor swimmers...
Rosemary has lived in Brixton all her life, but everything she knows is changing. Only the local lido, where she swims every day, remains a constant reminder of the past and her beloved husband George.
Kate has just moved and feels adrift in a city that is too big for her. She's on the bottom rung of her career as a local journalist, and is determined…
I’m a girl who loves books, bulldogs, and that first hint of summer. I started reading when I was very young – three years old, according to my mother – but even as an alleged child prodigy all I can confirm is that I don’t remember there ever being a time I didn’t love to read. Nancy Drew was my favorite, which probably helps explain why I write books with redheaded heroines in them.
I know Things We Never Got Over, or TWNGO for those of us “in the know”, has gotten all the love, followed by Things We Hide From the Light, but . . . as good as Lucy’s latest releases are, Rock Bottom Girl is still my absolute go-to book by Lucy Score.
While I don’t normally love it when the heroine comes home practically destitute, Lucy makes our main FMC Marley such a loveable screw up that it doesn’t bother me. Essentially, Marley has come home to live with her parents in an effort to kickstart her life. She’s lost her job, her man and essentially all hope.
Even worse is that her blonde, bouffanted (is that a word) high school nemesis now lives next door and seems to have a perfect life. Add to that she’s forced to take a teaching job (and girls soccer coach position)…
From the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of Things We Never Got Over
"You may be faking the relationship, but you're not faking the orgasms."
Downsized, broke, and dumped, 38-year-old Marley sneaks home to her childhood bedroom in the town she couldn't wait to escape twenty years ago. Not much has changed in Culpepper. The cool kids are still cool. Now they just own car dealerships and live in McMansions next door. Oh, and the whole town is still talking about that Homecoming she ruined her senior year.
Desperate for a new start, Marley accepts a temporary…
The Pact is a contemporary fiction novel about Australian sisters, Samantha and Annie, who are doubles tennis champions. This story amplifies the usual sibling issues and explores their professional partnership and personal relationships – similarities, differences, motivation, competition, abandonment, and grief – and how they each respond to the stress…
A TikTok sensation! Sparks fly when a competitive figure skater and hockey team captain are forced to share a rink.
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins.
Nate's focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. Which is tricky when a facilities…
This is a baseball (sports) romance, and I don't even like baseball. I loved the characters and relationships. I really enjoyed the reasons for the characters to be rivals and how the romance and relationship built from there. There was so much good diversity (including: transmasc rep, LGBTQIA+ rep, ADHD and anxiety rep, as well as a side character that was deaf). I literally could not put the book down.
'Tenacious, sexy, effervescent, doggedly hopeful, and endlessly charming, with characters to root hard for and an irresistible voice - I completely adored it' Casey McQuiston, author of Red, White & Royal Blue
'Endearing and tender' New York Times __________
Enemies. Rivals. Teammates. It's going to be a hell of a season.
Gene Ionescu is content to play in the minor leagues. He's seen teammates get their big breaks, but as the first openly trans man in the world of competitive baseball, he has nearly everything he's ever let himself dream of.
When his former teammate and long-time rival, Luis Estrada,…
I didn’t grow up with a close family, but I yearned for one. Which is why I gravitate towards books with a cast of characters who are family, or a found family. I also prefer romantic plots or subplots. Combining romance and amazing side characters that are close automatically hooks me. That’s why I always include these dynamics in the books I write. I write my books for my own entertainment and hope others who love romance with swoony leads and a fun cast of characters will find my book and enjoy it as much as I do.
Friends to lovers is one of the tropes I enjoy when done right, and this book does it right.
Add in the fake dating and the story is elevated to a thoroughly fun time. I loved the tension and secret pining between the two leads almost as much as the dynamic between Nathan (the male lead) and his teammates as well as the teammates with Bree (the female lead).
The scene where the football team helps Nathan make a playbook for getting out of the friend zone was one of my absolute favorites. Everyone’s personality shined and I love when friend groups are loud, fun, and chaotic.
Is it ever too late to leave the friend zone? Discover the heartwarming friends to lovers romance that became a sensation on TikTok—now with a new chapter and a Q&A with the author!
The friend zone is not the end zone for Bree Camden, who is helplessly in love with her longtime best friend and extremely hot NFL legend, Nathan Donelson. The only problem is that she can’t admit her true feelings, because he clearly sees her as a best friend with no romantic potential, and the last thing Bree wants is to ruin their relationship. But those abs .…
I married my high school sweetheart, so I believe strongly in the magic and power of happily ever after. Although I wrote stories for my classmates as early as third grade, becoming a writer felt unattainable at the age of 21. As an elementary teacher, I adored my students, but the writing bug burrowed deep. Finally, I left the classroom and pursued writing full-time. It was a long road, but it has been so rewarding. My goal is to create a character-driven romance that feels real and relatable. One of the nicest comments I ever received was a reviewer who said she wanted to have dinner with my characters.
I have been reading Jill Shalvis for some time now. I love the depth of her characters and the realism of her storylines. But even when she is writing about tough topics, hope wins out.
In this book, the heroine is running from a difficult past, yet she yearns for permanency. Not all birth families are perfect. Jill’s book underscores the value of the families we choose.
And did I mention that the book is funny? From tears to laughter and back again. Gets me every time.
Beloved New York Times bestselling author Jill Shalvis begins a new series - Sunrise Cove - set near beautiful Lake Tahoe, with a heartwarming story of found family and love.
'Perfect, feel-good fiction' Sarah Morgan
'Fall in love with Jill Shalvis! She's my go-to read for humor and heart' Susan Mallery, New York Times bestselling author
Readers are already loving The Family You Make!
'A strong 5 star read! . . . I absolutely adored this book'
'I couldn't put it down and didn't want it to end. I loved it'
'(A) beautiful and heartbreaking love story with a much…
The Pact is a contemporary fiction novel about Australian sisters, Samantha and Annie, who are doubles tennis champions. This story amplifies the usual sibling issues and explores their professional partnership and personal relationships – similarities, differences, motivation, competition, abandonment, and grief – and how they each respond to the stress…
I’m obsessed with obsession; with the nature of intimate relationships. If I could obsess about a topic as easily and naturally as I can about a human, I’d probably have five or six advanced degrees. As a writer I’m most frequently drawn to third-person limited because I love the marriage of intimacy and distance it can create. It's that marriage that confounds me; the dark inner spaces contained by the people we love.
This book was ahead of its time. This YA novel was written in 1978 but I found it on a shelf in my local library in 1992 when I was a queer preteen. An elliptical narrative about the burgeoning romantic relationship between two teenage girls, the novel captures a nameless yearning I understood without knowing why. Though the narrative felt to me illicit, it wasn’t prurient but rather deeply felt and authentic to the experience of a teenager coming to understand her sexuality as it crystalizes around one compelling friend.
Val and Chloe don't fit in at their fancy private school in Manhattan. Together, they ditch school, visit cemeteries and thrift shops and have sleepovers during which they confide all their secret thoughts. Lately, Val has all kinds of questions. Especially about sex. So Val turns to the two people who have always given her the most honest answers possible: her mother and Chloe. Unfortunately, not even Val's mother-an adult!-has all the answers. Val starts to think that maybe she's not "normal" at all. Because she has some other feelings for Chloe. Feelings that she never expected to have. Would…
For as long as I can remember, I’ve yearned to be part of a BFF-ship, like Anne Shirley-Cuthbert searching for her Diana Barry or Nancy Drew seeking her crewmates Bess and George. As I grew, I realized what I really wanted was to be part of something bigger than myself, working toward a common goal and solving problems bravely and creatively. In any given role, I’ve sought to find the best possible team for the job. Now that I’m a full-time creator, I’ve continued to prioritize people and collaborative practice over any given outcome. Sometimes, we win, sometimes we learn. But the important thing is that we try/learn together.
Though this fabulous new addition to the roller derby kidlit genre doesn’t come out until August, I was lucky enough (by nature of my derby community membership) to get a sneak peek, and am proud to say that Holden has taken a “novel” approach to enthusiastically recruiting the next generation of great roller derby players with relatable and nuanced skill.
IMO, tackling timely and relevant topics like social anxiety and family dysfunction along with team dynamics means taking a brave, 360 degree approach to the complex lives of today’s teens, however they roll.
Social anxiety, her parents’ divorce, and messy friendships won’t stop Millie’s pursuit of what she wants—in roller derby or in love. But her own lies might . . .
Sixteen-year-old Millie Novak is stuck in an “if only” rut. If only she were stronger and faster, maybe her roller derby teammates would take her seriously. If only she had the guts to go back to in-person learning, maybe she’d have a social life. If only she weren't such an awkward mess, maybe she could get the attention of that cute girl on the all-star derby team. And don’t get her…
I’m an accidental sports writer. While I played a few sports as a child and went as Sporty Spice for one ill-advised Halloween, I didn’t grow up on a steady diet of sports stories. I just didn’t get it. Sure, I heard stories of triumphant soccer seasons and rag-tag baseball teams, but they didn’t capture my interest. But then I grew up… and books became more diverse. I started revisiting sports novels after writing my debut novel. Seeing authors use sports as a way to explore queerness has changed my understanding of sports stories and given me a new appreciation for the genre. I can’t get enough!
Look, if this book had been around when I was in middle school, it would have been a game changer (pun absolutely intended). This book has it all: lesbian-enemies-to-the-middle-school-equivalent-of-lovers, heart-pounding descriptions of soccer, complex family dynamics, and fraught friendships! Yes, all of those trope-y pieces might feel like a delightful, frothy treat, but this book packs a real emotional punch.
The dual point-of-view gives readers the chance to understand the complex relationship between Mel and Tory—and fall in love with both characters! Becker also sprinkles in some great conversations about self-expression. Beware: this is a read-in-one-sitting kind of book!
From debut author Erin Becker comes an action-packed but tender novel about first romance, queer identity, and learning how to be brave when it matters the most.
On the soccer field, Magic Mel is in her element. She's ready to lead her team to victory at the city championship in her new role as captain. Off the field, however, is a totally different story. Mel can't get a handle on her class presentation, her friend group has completely dissolved, and her ex-friend-current-teammate, Tory, is being the worst. The only place she feels like herself is in her text conversations where…
When I was a teenager, I didn’t have romance in my life. I was so extremely shy that I could barely look at people I thought were cute, let alone talk to them. I lived vicariously through books. Now that I’m older (and way less shy), I still love reliving that time of my life through books. How would I have reacted differently in the same situation? How would things have been different if I had been more outgoing? Only recently, I realized that I was queer, and I’ve been slowly dipping my toes into that world as well.
I love summer camp books, and I was not disappointed. The vibes were excellent in this book and I wanted to attend this camp! (Not in reality; I am NOT an outdoorsy person!)
The poor choices that were made (lying is bad, kids) made me cringe hard, but it made me realize that I was incredibly invested in the characters and didn’t want them to have their relationship explode in their faces. I forgot that I was reading, not inside the book.
The message of self-discovery and exploration of what it means to be queer was incredible and really helped me in my own journey. Great variety of queer rep, too.
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What is this book about?
'The gay summer camp romp of my dreams' - Cale Dietrich, author of The Love Interest
Sixteen-year-old Randy Kapplehoff loves spending the summer at Camp Outland, a camp for queer teens. It's where he met his best friends. It's where he takes to the stage in the big musical. And it's where he fell for Hudson Aaronson-Lim - who's only into straight-acting guys and barely knows not-at-all-straight-acting Randy even exists.
This year, though, it's going to be different. Randy has reinvented himself as 'Del' - buff, masculine and on the market. Even if it means giving up show tunes, nail…
