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

The Man Next Door

A fun, suspenseful novel where three familial females all fall under the intrigue of an enigmatic new neighbor, a "hottie.” 

Author Sheila Roberts (The Best Life Book Club) brings together three California-based women in the same family, each in different stages of life in The Man Next Door.

Zona Hartman loses everything when her husband-turned-ex, “an overflowing septic tank of a human being” gambled away all of their savings—including the funds earmarked for their daughter, Bree, whose dreams of attending nursing school are now deferred.

Zona--a financially destitute, now twice-divorced 44-year-old--is forced to move in with her mother, Louise, a once-happily-married, now widowed, 68-year-old. Spry Louise has aspirations to finally write a mystery novel and is determined to find unlucky-in-love-Zona a good man.

When Louise falls and breaks her leg during a Hawaiian cruise, she returns home to convalesce and finally has the time to pursue both of her dreams in the form of a handsome newcomer to the neighborhood--a real “hottie”--about the same age as Zona. However, while Louise, ever the imaginative writer, tries to script the story of who the enigmatic man is--keeping tabs on his comings and goings--things take intriguing turns when, on the other side of the fence, shouting matches resound on a regular basis. Maybe the “hottie” is not such a good catch for Zona after all? But boy, what a story Louise might have to tell!  

“Fun” should be Sheila Roberts’ middle name as she charms readers with spunky characters, snappy dialogue, and a spirited, cleverly plotted storyline that successfully blends elements of rom-com, cozy mystery, and suspense.

The Man Next Door by Sheila Roberts

MIRA Books (HarperCollins, Harlequin), 18.99 paperback, 9780778360285, 368 pages

Publishing Date: October 14, 2025

To order this book on Bookshop.org, link HERE

Learn more about Sheila Roberts HERE

Christmas Romances to Melt the Heart

FROM MY SHELF

Christmas--the season known to foster peace, love and good tidings of joy--is on the way. Sometimes, however, the sparkly cheer of intended amorous bliss sours at the most wonderful time of the year. Several new novels--stand-alones and additional installments of well-established series--offer feel-good stories of romantic dilemmas.

Elin Hilderbrand has expanded her trilogy of Christmas novels into a quartet with Winter Solstice, which reunites the extended Quinn family of Nantucket. This year, everyone is finally celebrating together under the same roof of the family-owned and -operated Winter Street Inn. But can the welcoming familial nest help resolve festering romantic entanglements, amid long-held traditions, heartfelt reunions and farewells?

A host of clever complications ensues in Merry and Bright by Debbie Macomber, where a single, 20-something office temp reluctantly pursues a new relationship after her well-meaning, but meddling mother and special needs brother set up an online dating profile for her during the holidays.

Ugly Christmas trees upend a whole community in Christmas in Icicle Falls by Sheila Roberts, where one resident in particular, a successful writer, learns that everything and everyone has potential--including an old, overlooked friend who just might hold the key to unexpected romance.

Sugar Pine Trail by RaeAnne Thayne centers on a kindhearted, single, small-town librarian who longs to create a sense of family for herself during Christmas. Her plans go awry when she falls for her tenant--a handsome, sexy, commitment-phobic pilot who has a notorious reputation with women.

In Sugarplum Way by Debbie Mason, the future of true love is tested. A surprising, passionate kiss under the mistletoe at the town Christmas party turns the life of a romance writer--in search of her own happily-ever-after--completely upside down.

NOTE: This column previously appeared in Shelf Awareness for Readers (11/3/17) and is being reprinted with their permission. Link HERE to read the column as originally published.