Snow Kissed

A tender-hearted novel of women’s fiction about broken hearts mended by love during the Christmas season.

Strong women who face and overcome obstacles--familial and romantic--have come to define the heartwarming novels of Rae Anne Thayne (The Lost Book of First Loves, 15 Summers Later).

 

In Snow Kissed, she returns readers to Shelter Springs, a picturesque mountain town near Boise, Idaho. At the heart of this story--the third in the series after Christmas at the Shelter Inn and The December Market--is divorced, single mother, Holly Goodwin Moore, who is raising her neurodivergent daughter, Lydia, on her own while running the local flower shop. Holly was once enamored of all-things-Christmas, but since her divorce and the looming wedding of a family member of her ex’s--Lydia is excited to serve as flower girl--Holly is dreading seeing her ex, his new wife, and their new baby at the holiday wedding.

 

A meet-cute case of mistaken identity at the flower shop changes those feelings. Holly crosses paths with Ryan Caldwell, the uncle of 13-year-old, Audrey, who helps out at the flower shop. Ryan, on leave from his career as a Navy pilot, returns to Shelter Springs to help his infirm, troubled sister with Audrey for the holidays. Ryan carries as many scars from the past as does Holly. And as the two get to know each other, Holly asks Ryan a favor: will he agree to be her pretend ‘plus-one’ at the wedding? As their relationship grows, so do a host of complications that ultimately test their willingness to risk love again.

 

Readers familiar with the Shelter Springs books--and those new to the town and its inhabitants--will savor this moving and tender-hearted story about wounded hearts mended by love.

 

Snow Kissed by RaeAnne Thayne

Canary Street Press (Harlequin/HarperCollinsPublishers), $18.99 paperback, 978335013170, 320 pages

Publishing Date: October 7, 2025

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

Learn more about author RaeAnne Thayne HERE

Friends to Lovers

A strong, spirited first novel, a romcom, where friends turn into lovers and then turn into friends again until…Well, that’s to be determined!

Summertime takes a starring role in Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely, a fun, spirited romcom sure to add sunshine to reader’s lives.

Joni and Ren are long-time friends who met as children in their hometown of Portland, Oregon. The two share a long history. Still single, they are both closing in on their 30s. And while Joni set off to take a dream job New York City, the two made a pact kept throughout their 20s: they’d always serve as each other’s “plus ones” (dates) every wedding season. That was, until the last wedding they attended together suddenly transformed friendship into romantic love. Uh-oh!

 

When Joni comes back home to attend her sister’s wedding, she and Ren awkwardly reunite, pretending to pick up as if their rendezvous never happened. In reality, the pair struggle to reconcile their actions and feelings; while also trying to gauge the prospect of what they really want for the future.

 

Short chapters and a staggered time-line narrated by the pull-and-tug of romantic dilemmas faced by these two, endearing characters offer a perfect summer escape. This first novel by Blakely delivers a strong start, sure to develop into a long-term relationship with romcom readers!

 

Friends to Lovers by Sally Blakely

Canary Street Press (HarperCollins/MIRA/Harlequin), $18.99 paperback, 9781335014245, 352 pages

Publication Date: July 22, 2025

To order this book on Bookshop.org link HERE

Link HERE to learn more about Sally Blakely

Beach Vibes

An emotionally thought-provoking novel about two entangled couples who face a betrayal that tests their love and loyalty.

Susan Mallery takes a surprisingly deep dive into the complicated dynamics of family and friendship in her emotionally resonant novel, Beach Vibes.
 
Two sets of adult siblings--two women and their two brothers--anchor the story, which centers on Beth Nield, a recently divorced, 38-year-old who owns and operates Surf Sandwiches, an eatery in Malibu, Calif.
 
Workaholic Beth now lives with her 67-year-old, widowed Aunt Agatha who took in Beth and Rick, her younger brother by three years, when they were just children. Protective, self-sacrificing Beth always looked out for Rick—proudly rooting on her smart, good-looking, charmingly single brother, who is now a “big-shot surgeon.” When Beth starts to volunteer at a local food bank, she meets Jana Mead, a hard-working medical billing clerk who dreams of becoming a nurse. Jana is a single mother to a precocious four-year-old and lives with her widowed brother, Teddy, and his four children. As Beth and Jana strike up a friendship, Beth realizes that Jana is actually dating her brother, Rick. The lives of these four people intersect and overlap, and Beth starts a romance with Teddy. Problems arise, however, when a betrayal amidst the quartet raises questions surrounding love and loyalty, while also testing the bonds of family and friendship.

A welcome wave of thought-provoking dilemmas washes over what initially appears a breezy beach read. First-rate storyteller Mallery (One Big Happy Family) intimately plumbs the depths of perception and self-discovery.

Beach Vibes by Susan Mallery

Canary Street Press, $30.00 hardcover, 9781335402530, 384 pages

Publication Date: March 18, 2025

Learn more about Susan Mallery HERE

 

 

 

The December Market

A tender, small-town holiday romance where the unexpected power of love melts the hardened hearts of two, grief-stricken locals.

 

The spirit of Christmas mends broken hearts in The December Market, a tender holiday romance by RaeAnne Thayne.

 

As in book one in the series, Christmas at the Shelter Inn, the story is set in Shelter Springs, Idaho—a small town that nourishes a sense of community, especially at Christmas. But for 31-year-old resident Amanda Taylor, the holidays resurrect sad memories of how her father’s alcoholism destroyed many lives and how her fiancé’s drinking problem ended their relationship.  As owner of an eco-friendly, skin care product shop, wounded Amanda buries herself in work and even oversees the Holiday Giving Market, where local merchants and artisans gather to sell their wares during the month of December.

 

Hard-working Amanda keeps crossing paths with Rafe Arredondo, a handsome paramedic and firefighter who tends to the first-aid booth at the market. Amanda learns that Rafe and his lovable six-year-old son, Isaac, live in her neighborhood—Rafe is widowed; his wife died of a drug overdose. When Amanda pays a visit to her plucky grandmother at the local retirement community, she and Rafe meet again and discover they have even more in common: their grandparents, both residents, are dating. As fate brings together Amanda and Rafe, their past heartaches are confronted by the prospect of a budding romance.

 

Prolific Thayne (15 Summers Later) unravels a heartfelt, hopeful story where grief is transcended by the power of love.

The December Market (Book 2 of 2: Shelter Springs) by RaeAnne Thayne

Canary Street Press (HarperCollins/Harlequin Books), $18.99 paperback, 9781335929358, 304 pages

Publication Date: October 8, 2024

To order this book via INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review as originally published on Shelf Awareness (October 11, 2024), link HERE 

15 Summers Later

A moving, thought-provoking story about how a shared, horrific experience from the past resurfaces and upends the lives of two, estranged sisters. 

The different ways individuals process, cope with, and try to move on from trauma marks the central theme of 15 Summers Later, a thought-provoking novel from prolific author, RaeAnne Thayne. 

The past is never past for the Howell sisters of Emerald Creek, Idaho. The two girls suffered a life-changing trauma in their childhoods that became a secret that impacted and forever changed both of their lives…and also estranged them. 

The one sister, Ava, moved away and built a new life for herself via a seemingly happy marriage to Cullen. However, when Ava publishes a memoir that details the private horror from the past--the book becomes a best-seller--Cullen cannot deal with the publicity. He feels Ava, harboring a shocking secret, has betrayed him. Thus, their marriage comes undone. With her ‘perfect’ world in a shambles, Ava returns home to try and make amends with her sister, Madison. 

“Madi” has taken years to overcome and heal. Tenacious, she, too, has struggled to move on. Working hard to establish a “no-kill” shelter for abandoned pets, she finds herself falling in love with her long-time, secret crush—local veterinarian, Dr. Luke Gentry. But when Ava resurfaces in her life and the past again comes calling, questions are raised: If Luke knew the truth about Madi (and her sister)--the horrors faced fifteen years before--would he, too, turn his back on her? 

Readers--especially fans of Debbie Macomber, Susan Wiggs and Robyn Carr--will bask in Thayne’s (The Café at Beach End, Christmas at the Shelter Inn) characteristically sensitive, compassionate storytelling. Readers will not soon forget this suspensefully drawn story--infused with themes of love, forgiveness, and redemption--that maps sibling drama, family loyalty, affection for animals, and two, tender love stories that unfold side-by-side.

15 Summers Later: A Novel by RaeAnne Thayne

Canary Street Press (Harlequin Books/HarperCollins Publishers), $17.99 paperback, 97813350009333, 352 pages

Publishing Date: June 18, 2024

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

The Island Villa

An emotionally probing romance about a mother’s upcoming fourth marriage and how her daughters come to terms with familial dysfunction.

An estranged, dysfunctional family reunites for a summer wedding on Corfu, a rugged island paradise off the coast of Greece, in the engagingly insightful novel, The Island Villa, by prolific British author Sarah Morgan.

 

Family matriarch Catherine Swift is a wildly successful romance novelist. Her own life, however, isn’t so happily-ever-after. Married three times with two daughters conceived from different husbands, she is tying the knot for a fourth time. Might her nuptials this time around offer a chance for mother-daughter reconciliation—and for her two adult children, six years apart, to finally bond?

 

The girls couldn’t be more different. Thirty-year-old Adeline, the older daughter--emotionally buttoned up and self-reliant--is reticent to attend the wedding. She was only eight-years-old when her parents divorced, and she’s skeptical about her mother’s wedded bliss. However, after she breaks up with her beau, Adeline jet-sets to Corfu. There, she’s reunited with her starry-eyed sister and secretly aspiring writer, Cassie, whose father, Catherine’s second husband, died when Cassie was just three-years-old. Cassie is excited about the wedding—until secrets revealed disarm both women. They ultimately find common ground, commiserating about their mother’s choice for a husband. Will the family finally come together or will things, once again, fall apart?

 

Relationships between mothers, daughters and sisters are common to Morgan’s (The Summer Seekers) fiction, and she once again skillfully portrays complex emotional dynamics therein. Readers will be swept up by well-drawn characters, each with her own romantic predicament, and a deft fictional examination of fragile and frayed familial bonds. 

 

The Island Villa by Sarah Morgan

Canary Street Press (HarperCollins/Harlequin), $17.99 paperback, 9781335630957, 384 pages

Publishing Date: May 2, 2023

To order this book on INDIEBOUND/Bookshop.Org, link HERE

 

NOTE: This review is a reprint and is being posted with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (May 5, 2023), link HERE