Love on the Shelf

 

A fast-paced rom-com that offers a thought-provoking cultural commentary on love—most notably, the virtues of romance novels.

With 60 books under her belt, Sheila Roberts (The Man Next Door) once again tackles the genre she knows best--romantic comedy. Love on the Shelf is a wry send-up that cleverly pits a hopefully romantic bookseller against a jaded, romance-averse, radio shock-jock.

Shy, single, bookish Alice Willoughby believes in love and happy endings. She and her mother own and operate HEA Books, a fun, “haven and happy place” bookstore in Seattle, Washington. Since Alice graduated college and became a local merchant, she has taken pride in promoting romance titles--even successfully serving as a ‘book matchmaker’ for readers hungry to find the perfect literary love story escapes.

Enter Parker Black, who is bitter from a soured, broken relationship with a romance writer who later poison-penned their story, casting him as a villain. Parker uses his popular radio platform and machismo to take-down all things romance—including ‘evil’ romance novels. His outspokenness ultimately stirs up trouble for Alice and HEA until an on-air debate sends sparks flying between the two that not only incite a public protest about the nature of love and happy endings but suddenly shifts the perspectives of the two disparate souls.

Nobody does the charm of witty romance better than Sheila Roberts!  Love on the Shelf is a thought-provoking cultural commentary on the romance book industry, offering well-defined characters in whom readers will root to fall in love.

The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts

MIRA Books (HarperCollins, Harlequin), 18.99 paperback, 9780778305828, 336 pages

Publishing Date: May 26,2026

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Sheila Roberts HERE

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

Pickleballers

A flirtatious romcom about a jilted divorcée, a craft artist, who takes up the sport of Pickleball enroute to carving out a brand-new life. 

A craft artist recovering from an abruptly severed marriage takes consolation via the sport of Pickleball in the competitively spirited romcom, Pickleballers, an amusing first novel by Ilana Long.

 

Meg Bloomberg--a 30something Seattle, Wash. native--is struggling after her dentist husband of two years walked out on her. Unmoored, Meg is emotionally cast adrift. But when her bestie from college encourages Meg to take up pickleball as a “mental distraction from her loneliness,” Meg soon finds meaning and purpose for her life again.

 

Meg crosses paths with a diversity of players—each with personal problems of his/her own. But as she sets out to competitively master the game, Meg learns her local pickleball courts are facing closure—environmentalists are intent to restore the area to a nature preserve. This sends Meg to practice with her partner on nearby Bainbridge Island. Via the 35-minute ferry crossing from Seattle, Meg is drawn to a charming stranger with “dreamy eyes” whom, she learns, also plays pickleball. As the two strike up a romance, Meg discovers that her new beau is the very conservationist intent on closing her local Seattle courts. This sets up a host of complications for Meg--both on and off the court.

 

Pickleball history and lore--as well as nuances about the game--flesh out this amusing, flirty romcom. Long serves up witty volleys of banter and clever plot twists that play out with winning aplomb.

 

Pickleballers by Ilana Long

Berkley, $19.00 paperback, 9780593642238, 368 pages

Publication Date: November 12, 2024

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 as originally published on Shelf Awareness (November 15, 2024), link 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

A Wish for Winter

An enchanting, fun romance about a single, 40-year-old bookstore owner in search of finding her Mr. Right—a nameless man in a Santa suit.

Viola Shipman (pen name of Wade Rouse) delights readers with A Wish for Winter, an unforgettable, heartwarming story about a never-married bookstore owner from Petoskey, Mich. who goes in search of rekindling Christmas joy and finding true love.

 

Christmas was always special for Susan Norcross. Both her mother and her grandmother met their future husbands when they were dressed up as Santa Claus. But when Susan was in fifth grade, her parents were killed in a Christmastime car crash that snuffed out hope from the holidays.

 

Susan is “girlishly youthful looking” and now the successful owner of “Sleigh By the Bay,” a thriving community bookstore. As she nears her 40^th birthday, those who love her--especially the grandparents who raised her, a dear friend of her late mother’s and Holly, Susan’s best friend--want her to settle down. When Susan dresses up like Mrs. Claus and attends the famed “10k Santa Run” in Chicago, she meets an appealing Kris Kringle who sparks her fancy. The two make plans to meet up after the race. However, Susan is later stood up—and she never got Santa’s name. This disappointment encourages determined friend Holly to take to social media to find him. Three men--three Kris Kringles from the run--step up claiming to be the ‘mystery’ Santa. Might one of them be Susan’s romantic destiny?

 

Shipman’s (The Charm Bracelet; The Recipe Box; The Secret of Snow) sensitive storytelling is enlivened by offbeat, well-meaning characters and an enchantingly fun, romantic plot.

A Wish for Winter by Viola Shipman

Graydon House (Harper Collins), $17.99 paperback, 9781525804847, 416 pages

Publishing Date: November 15, 2022

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

Earth's the Right Place for Love

An emotionally evocative romance set in 1947 that explores the bonds of family and how young love might ultimately take root and grow.

 

In Earth’s the Right Place for Love, Elizabeth Berg has written a poignant, emotionally powerful novel about the formative years in the life of 16-year-old Arthur Moses in the late 1940s.

 

Arthur--and those in his orbit--has been featured in three other Berg novels set in Mason, Missouri: The Story of Arthur Truluv, Night of Miracles and The Confession Club. In this novel, 85-year-old Arthur looks back on his life as a high school sophomore. Back then, in 1947, he was greatly influenced by--and looked up to--his dashing older brother, Frank, a charming heartthrob who often locked horns with their father, a brash man with a drinking problem. Young Arthur--kind, gentle and shy--had a crush on his cheerleader classmate, Nola McCollum, who actually had romantic designs on Frank. When Arthur learned of this, he secretly settled on building a friendship with Nola instead. However, when a sudden, devastating tragedy befalls the Moses family, Arthur and Nola become confidantes who help each other to grow through changes and challenges into young adulthood. Will Nola ever realize how much Arthur truly loves her? And will she ever love him back?

 

Love stories that probe the human condition are what Berg (I’ll Be Seeing You) does best, and this stand-alone story of Arthur’s early life shines with a refreshingly wholesome, 20th-century sensibility. Well-drawn characters and sensitively drawn scenes are what consistently endear readers to Berg’s exquisite storytelling. This novel adds to--and further deepens--the enriching appeal of that continuum.

 

Earth’s the Right Place for Love by Elizabeth Berg

Random House, $27.99 hardcover, 9780593446799, 288 pages

Publishing Date: March 21, 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 (March 24, 2023), link HERE

 

Varina Palladino's Jersey Italian Love Story

 

A lively, fun-loving novel about the exploits of a large, unwieldy and passionate Italian-American family on the brink of rebirth and change.

 

A big, bold, brash Italian-American family is at the heart of Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story. This fun-loving, bittersweet novel by Terri-Lynne DeFino orbits around Varina Palladino, a hard-working, widow. Now happily-single, the 70-year-old manages the family’s local Italian food specialty shop in Wyldale, New Jersey.

 

Many characters and plotlines are threaded through Varina’s life. This includes Varina’s spry, 92-year-old mother, Sylvia, whose is determined to find a romantic match for Varina. With the help of Donatella--Varina’s n’er do well daughter; Sylvia’s granddaughter--the two Palladino women secretly advertise Varina’s singlehood. The boldness of their plan backfires at the same time Varina’s three adult children face their own life challenges. This includes Dante, running the family construction business and flirting with divorce, and Davide, a hair salon owner, who is at odds with his erratic, younger sister, Donatella, who just can’t seem to get her life on track. There’s also good-natured, reliable Paulie, once the Palladino’s neighbor, now their border, who was pseudo-adopted by Varina after he came out as gay and his own family disowned him. When Varina, on her birthday, decides to celebrate by fulfilling her lifelong dream to travel, her decision becomes just one of many life-changing transitions made by each member of the family.

 

From the passions of love and family fireworks, to authentic recipes, Italian superstitions and expressions, DeFino (The Bar Harbor Retirement Home for Famous Writers) serves up a hilariously colorful, contemporary epic where lovably flawed characters and lively Italian details will wholeheartedly charm readers.

 

Varina Palladino’s Jersey Italian Love Story by Terri-Lynne DeFino

William Morrow & Company, $27.99 hardcover, 9780063228436, 416 pages

Publishing Date: February 14, 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 (March 3, 2023), link HERE