Live Through Books

Title: Smash Authors: Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland Genre: Standalone Contemporary Forbidden Romance Release Date: October 25, 2026 BLURB A new, shockingly forbidden standalone from New York Times bestselling authors Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland… Sometimes one floor is all that separates the life you planned from the life you never saw coming… Moving to New York with my boyfriend, Calder, was supposed to be a fresh start. A new city. A new job. A beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn we'd call home. The beginning of our forever. There was just one catch: Calder’s best friend lived in the apartment downstairs. Rafe—a gifted artist who smashed glass into masterpieces. With his unruly blond hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through me, he was impossible to ignore. He was also completely off-limits. Yet somehow, every walk past his apartment or trip to the basement laundry room turned into another deep conversation neither of us ever wanted to end. At first...

Title: Smash Authors: Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland Genre: Standalone Contemporary Forbidden Romance Release Date: October 25, 2026 Take a sneak peek at SMASH You know you want to... Copyright © 2026 by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland There was a beat of silence. For some reason I continued to stand there. Rafe looked at me for a few more seconds, like he was deciding something. Then he lifted his chin, gesturing toward the hallway. “You just got back from a run?” I nodded. “First one since I left Montana.” “How was it?” “Definitely different. There are so many people out on the streets.” He smiled. “There’s an art to dodging the slow walkers and people glued to their phone. You’ll pick it up.” “I’m guessing I’ll also learn to stop apologizing to people I cut around. I think I said ‘I’m sorry’ a hundred times on an hour-long run.” “Dead giveaway you’re from out of town.” I laughed. “That and the fact that I’m wearing purple. What is it with everyone wearing black in N...

Title: Smash Authors: Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland Genre: Standalone Contemporary Forbidden Romance Cover Design: Sommer Stein, Perfect Pear Creative Photographer: Michelle Lancaster, @lanefotograf Model: Callum Arnold Release Date: October 25, 2026 BLURB A new, shockingly forbidden standalone from New York Times bestselling authors Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland… Sometimes one floor is all that separates the life you planned from the life you never saw coming… Moving to New York with my boyfriend, Calder, was supposed to be a fresh start. A new city. A new job. A beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn we'd call home. The beginning of our forever. There was just one catch: Calder’s best friend lived in the apartment downstairs. Rafe—a gifted artist who smashed glass into masterpieces. With his unruly blond hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through me, he was impossible to ignore. He was also completely off-limits. Yet somehow, every walk past his apart...

Title: The Challenge: A Single Dad Romance Author: Penelope Ward Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Tropes: Single Dad, Second Chance, Forced Proximity Friends to Lovers, Small Town, Found Family Release Date: August 30, 2026 BLURB From New York Times bestselling author Penelope Ward comes a new, STANDALONE contemporary romance… Nothing says welcome home like accidentally moving in with your first heartbreak…and his little girl. Coming back to my small Wyoming hometown was supposed to be temporary. I only planned to stay long enough to help my ailing mother and sort through the mess of my family’s old belongings. Instead, I somehow ended up living in Evan Ricci’s house. The single dad now owned a bunch of properties and one of them was the place I’d rented. He’d taken it off the market and moved in before I got there. I just never got the memo. Unfortunately, there was no other place in town available, so Evan let me stay. Evan—the guy my parents took in years a...

Author: Vi Keeland Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Tropes: Opposites Attract/Found Family Release Date: August 18, 2026 BLURB She’s counting down the days until she leaves Tuscany. He’s counting on making her stay. Some people go to Tuscany to find themselves. I went to escape—New York, my ex’s new relationship, and a career that derailed the moment I was passed over for partner. My plan was simple: settle my eccentric Italian grandmother’s estate, sell whatever wasn’t nailed down, and return to the life I’d worked too hard to lose. Instead, I walked into a mess—a crumbling antique shop, two hundred acres of leased vineyard land, and one infuriating clause in the will: Live and work in the shop for three months, or inherit nothing. Then there’s the neighbor I clash with instantly. Matteo Lucchese is the infuriatingly handsome winemaker who leases my family’s land and refuses to be impressed by my credentials—or my attitude. He’s rugged and stubborn, stuck living i...

Author: Vi Keeland Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance Tropes: Opposites Attract/Found Family Release Date: August 18, 2026 Take a sneak peek of THE FALL AFFAIR. You know you want to... Allegra: I think you’re pretty amazing. I’m going to bed smiling on the eve of what might turn out to be one of the worst days of my life. Thank you for coming here with me. The reply came almost instantly. Matteo: I think you’re pretty amazing, too. And I love your smile. That made my already-big grin grow wider. Rather than text back, I decided to take a selfie of me beaming to show him I wasn’t kidding. I held my phone out, tilted it down for a good angle, and snapped a photo of me lying in bed. Only when I checked the picture, I realized the camera had caught a lot more than I’d intended. Yes, I was smiling, but I was also wearing a black slip nightgown, the top of which was lace and showed a lot of cleavage. I hadn’t been going for sexy, but damn, it was. I bit my lip, debating...

Title: Beyond the Spotlight Series: Green River #1 Author: Megan O’Brien Genre: Contemporary Romance Tropes: Small Town/Obsessed Alpha Hero Release Date: June 30, 2026 BLURB What if the life you’ve built isn’t the one you truly want? Hudson Carter has everything: chart-topping hits, sold-out arenas, and a reputation as country music’s golden boy. But behind the spotlight, he’s burned out and craving something real beyond the fame. Lucy Kincaid is starting over in Green River, Colorado, determined to build a life that finally belongs to her. No expectations. No looking back. Until Hudson walks into it. The connection between them is instant, intense, and impossible to ignore. Hudson knows what he wants the moment he meets her. But can Lucy risk her heart when she's fought so hard to reclaim her life on her own terms? When Lucy’s past resurfaces and the dark side of Hudson's fame threatens the life they’re building, they’ll have to decide: play it safe… or fight ...