When she was twelve, Winifred fell in love with a boy. When she was eighteen, he broke her heart. Now, widowed at three and thirty, she has decided that her days of love are gone. She wants only peace with her children, with nothing to disturb it. Fifteen years ago, Percy made the biggest mistake of his life. But when a cousin's untimely demise takes him to the tiny town of Impling, he finds himself living with the woman he left behind. A second chance is close at hand, he knows...if only Winifred will grant it to him. Tropes: Childhood love Hurt/comfort Second chance Quiet heroine Scientist hero Set at midsummer, with some traditional celebrations. Trigger Warnings: Explicit, on-page domestic violence Child abuse Description of a house fire Racism against an Indian character

Theodore Bancroft is intelligent, despite what some may think, but he has never had the respectability that an investor needs. He needs a wife to bolster his rakish image. A perfect wife. Adelaide Kingsley is perfect. Her one imperfection - getting caught in the Haversham gardens with Theodore Bancroft - is entirely by design. Not only does it get her out of her impending engagement to the odious Lord Greeling, but it also wins her the only thing she has never known: freedom. Her marriage to Theodore is more than convenient. It is a space for her to find herself for the first time in her life. Somewhere along the way, she starts to wonder if convenience has turned into love. Then, she finds her husband in a passionate embrace with another woman. NOTE: HEA between OG couple. Trigger Warnings: Dark themes surrounding sexuality, cheating, revenge cheating, questions of sexuality during an oppressive era, some domestic violence, and scenes of BDSM/control in a sexual context, depictions of disordered eating.

Disabled by a dog attack in her childhood, Beatrice Lockwood knows what it is like to become friends with loneliness. After years of hard work to cement herself into the small Yorkshire community of Impling, she has managed to create a meaningful, simple life with people who actually care about her. So when James Bancroft, an outsider, makes his disdain for her clear in front of everyone in town, she knows that keeping her distance is the only option. She cannot afford to lose the crucial support she has garnered. The only problem is that the damned man can't seem to stay away from her now. James Bancroft - stoic, chaste, and looking for nothing but peace - is not trying to make friends in Impling. Still, he had not intended to make enemies, either. After badmouthing a beloved pillar of the community at a dance, he knows he must make amends, and quickly. But the more he tries to make things right with the morbid Miss Lockwood, the more she pulls away. As his passion toward her grows, he finds himself unable to cope with his newfound feelings. After all, he knows quite well what it looks like when a man does not control himself. Vibes: Foggy moors, folklore, small rural community Tropes: *Overheard *Grovel *Cynical hero Trigger Warnings: Scenes of domestic violence, scenes of dog attacks, scenes of animal slaughtering/death *Though this book is set in the same universe as the Gentleman's Proposal series, it is largely unrelated to the other books. Therefore, I have chosen to list it as a standalone.*

*Book Three in the Gentleman's Proposal Series* Ginny Greene is only one London season away from spinsterhood. Having spent all of her seasons thus far pining after the wildly uninterested (and emotionally stunted) William Bancroft, it is now time to focus on marrying a man who might reasonably have her. There is only one problem - William Bancroft has suddenly taken notice of her. William Bancroft has known that he would marry Ginny Greene from the moment he set eyes on her. Now, finally ready for the chase, he finds himself in the unique position of courting a woman for the first time in his life. But Ginny does not merely want courting. No, she wants love. Affection. Easy intimacy. All things that Bancroft knows he cannot offer her. But, bastard that he is, it does not keep him from trying. Content Warnings: This book contains themes of religious trauma, CSA, scenes containing self-harm, and some violence. Note that while Books One and Two in this series can be read separately, this book requires having read both of the others (unless you don't mind being a little confused).

*PREVIEW ONLY* AVAILABLE ON AMAZON, KU, AND PAPERBACK US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GJFKTCGK UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0GJFKTCGK CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0GJFKTCGK AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0GJFKTCGK cor·ner·stone /ˈkôrnərˌstōn/ noun an important quality or feature on which a particular thing depends or is based. Wendy has loved her husband, Atlas, since she was twelve years old. He was her first kiss. Her first love. Her forever. Together, they built what everyone else called a perfect life. They married young, raised two beautiful boys, and were still deeply in love. Until Atlas pulled away. Wendy does everything she can to save their marriage, carrying the weight of the house, the kids, and all the invisible labor no one ever sees. But when Atlas doesn't show up to their final resort, marriage counseling, Wendy makes a choice that breaks her heart. She stops waiting for him. As Wendy rebuilds her life and rediscovers the woman she was before she became a wife and mother, Atlas begins to unravel. Watching his sons look at him like a stranger, and the woman he's loved his entire life slip through his fingers, forces him to confront the truth he's been running from. But to heal their fractured marriage, Atlas will have to face the real reason he pulled away. And what does it have to do with his brother's late wife, Carrie? A deeply emotional, marriage-in-trouble second chance romance about the damage silence can do, mental health, forgiveness, and finding your way back to the person who has always been home.

One lesson I learned very early in life was to be cheerful, to be agreeable, to do as I was told and ask for nothing, and to never ever complain. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and maybe they'll love you. I grew into an adult who took care of others and never expected that those I loved would take care of me in return. I gave and never asked, never expected, never demanded. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't make trouble and you'll find someone that will love you. And then one day, a Dragon walked into my workplace and turned my world upside down with a single wink. Having grown up watching his father treat his men like they were disposable, just meat bags to be fed into the grinder, Dragon was determined to be different when he became president of the Dragon's Inferno MC. He cares about his people. He takes care of them. He was upfront with me, taking care of his MC and those he considered to be his would always be his priority. And I agreed to that, I joined him in that mission, throwing myself into becoming the perfect old lady of the prez. Smile Maddie. Act happy Maddie. Take care of them and maybe they'll love you. Smile Maddie. Be happy Maddie. Don't complain and maybe he'll love you. I told myself I was independent. I was strong. And I didn't need my Dragon to take care of me. And I almost believed it. Almost. But now I'm watching him with her. I'm watching him comfort her. I'm watching him listen to her, support her, reassure her. I'm watching him take time from his day to check in with her. I'm watching him worry about her. I'm watching them become closer right in front of my eyes. I'm seeing every thoughtful gesture he does for her. And me? I'm not happy. I'm not smiling. I'm done being agreeable. Fuck not causing trouble. I'm about to set my Dragon's world on fire. And then I'm walking away. She can have him. For the first time in my life, I'm choosing myself.

Olivia was everything to Xander Thorne-his reason to breathe, the center of his world. She was the bright light in his dark empire, the promise of a life he never thought he could have. Their love was all-consuming, fierce and tender, built on whispered dreams of a future they'd both believed in. But when Olivia was framed for a betrayal she never committed, everything they shared was put to the ultimate test. Instead of standing by her side, Xander let doubt and fury blind him. In a single night, he tore apart the life they had built-burning not only her art but the memories that meant everything to her. Now, standing in the wreckage of what they once shared, he sees the truth. And it's enough to break him. Because Olivia wasn't just his wife, wasn't just the woman he'd built his future around-she was the air he breathed, the blood in his veins. And without her, he's nothing. He'll do anything, risk everything to win her back. To prove that what they had wasn't just a dream lost to ash. Because she's still his world. And he won't stop fighting for her, no matter how much she hates him.

I was never a woman who believed in promises. They always felt like wishes, soft things people made when they didn't know how else to hold on. Judas Mercer made them anyway. And somehow, he kept every single one. He waited for me when the world didn't. Built a life while I was still learning how to belong to one. Loved me in a way that I could finally trust. What I didn't realize was how much of our life already existed beyond me. How some bonds didn't begin with us but were already settled and familiar. She was a presence that had always been there. The woman from our past and our present woven into the spaces I thought were ours alone, standing there with us all along. Because Judas kept his promises. He just kept his secrets too. ~S~S~R~A~Y~N~E 🦋Perceived cheating 🦋Possessive MMC 🦋Dark romance themes 🦋high spice content

Sophie believed love was simple, predictable, and safe - until Lucas, her fiancé - the man she had trusted with her heart, started drifting away. Between glittering galas, family pressures, and the return of an old flame, Sophie found herself sidelined from her own life - and even her own wedding. Lucas thought love could survive on desire and loyalty alone. But when Sophie disappears, leaving behind a silence that shatters his world, he realizes the truth: love must be earned every day, with honesty and presence. In the months that follow, both are tested, changed, and haunted by what they lost - until a single, impossible moment offers a chance at redemption. Can love survive the fractures of betrayal and reclaim the hearts it almost lost?

Copyright © 2025 by Bookish Dae After single mom Sophia overhears the love of her life, Grey, call their life "exhausting," her world shatters. She walks away, forcing the tattooed, man who adored her and her son to embark on a relentless journey fighting for a second chance to become the husband and father they deserve.