A big-hearted, wise, unceasingly buoyant novel about a woman who, after escaping a bruising marriage, theorizes that happiness is possible solely with the eradication of all romance--only to find a love that could change her life foreverSylvie Broder was taught early to embrace joy. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors who'd developed a system of thought that focused on enjoying the life they'd snatched back from Hitler, Sylvie grew up believing in the tenacious pursuit of pleasure. So, when she finds herself trapped in a suffocating, emotionally abusive marriage, no one is more unmoored than Sylvie herself. With enormous fortitude, Sylvie frees herself and turns to graduate school, determined to prove her new Straight women will find true liberation and happiness only once romance is eradicated.Sylvie uses her new-found freedom to enjoy men, but never to commit to one, priding herself in separating sex from tenderness. She doesn't sleep over, certainly doesn't cuddle, and never hooks up with a man more than once. Then she meets Robbie and Abie...and finds her philosophy sorely tested. A warm and gentle man, Robbie treats Sylvie with patience and enormous kindness, offering her the soft place to land she hasn't had since childhood. Abie, on the other hand, is passionate and dynamic, a man who challenges Sylvie, and with whom she finds herself constantly disarmed. With both men, she feels a deep desire that looks, worryingly, a lot like love.Cleverly constructed, delightfully funny, and beautifully written, The End of Romance is an anti-romance romance novel that charts its fallible heroine's tumultuous journey to love and happiness with erudition and deep feeling—a story for anyone who, despite their very best efforts, has fallen in love, and wondered why.

Sex worker couple Kian Kalu and Jordanne Daye decide to fantasise about their hot, untouchable flatmate and best friend, Luka Prince, just once. Just to scratch the itch. They totally don't want anything else from Luka—not his body, nor his heart. The last thing Luka expects to come home to is his two sexy flatmates and best friends getting frisky underneath their blanket on the living room sofa. And for the first time in a long time, Luka lets himself want. It was supposed to be one video for Jordanne's and Kian's subscribers. One video. No strings attached. Except now, Jordanne and Kian don't know how to let Luka go, not after they know how fucking perfect he feels between them. And Luka feels like maybe he can risk getting his heart broken again, if it means he gets to have Jordanne and Kian forever.

A sapphic contemporary romance with a speculative element in which two high school rivals begrudgingly reunite as adults to investigate the disappearance of their former theater teacher and end up traveling through a series of alternate realities together, forcing them to find the answer to a question they’d never admit to being curious about—in what world would the two of them ever be in love with each other?

Questions linger about Theo, a pleasant but mysterious stranger, after his arrival in the southern city of Golden. Who is he, and why is he here? He arrives early one spring and by chance - or is it? - he visits a coffee shop where 92 framed pencil portraits are on display. Inspired, Theo sets out on a mission of purchasing all the portraits one at a time and quietly bestowing them on their 'rightful owners.' Stories are told; friendships are born; and lives are changed. Theo of Golden is a beautifully crafted story about the power of creative generosity, the importance of wonder to a purposeful life, and the far-reaching possibilities of anonymous kindness.

A warm and uplifting novel about an isolated witch whose opportunity to embrace a quirky new family--and a new love--changes the course of her life. As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules...with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos pretending to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and...Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat. As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for....

A love letter to pop music, American Spirits charts an icon’s fall—and an obsessive fangirl’s rise.Thirty-eight-year-old Blue Velour has finally achieved the critical acclaim she’s long been chasing. Over the last decade, she’s released six studio albums to mixed reviews, landing her somewhere between performance artist and niche legend. But her latest album, Blue’s Beard—a cheeky reference to the subreddit fanatically dedicated to her suspected secret relationship with longtime producer Sasha Harlow—has rocket-launched her reputation. Blue hires nerdy superfan Rose Lutz as her assistant to handle the pressures of the upcoming tour. When the pandemic shuts down the tour, however, Blue decides to hole up in the redwoods with Sasha to make another album. An aspiring singer herself, Rose is frothing at the mouth to be isolated in a cabin with these two legends, but what begins as a creative retreat spirals into a flurry of chaos and betrayal—culminating in a tragic act that changes their lives forever. Smart, entertaining, and edgy, American Spirits is a compelling exploration of the dark side of fame.

Viola Bowen has the chance of a lifetime: to design a video game based on her all-time favorite book series. The only problem? Her co-lead is Jesse F-ing Andrews, a.k.a. her arch-nemesis. Jesse has made it abundantly clear over the years that he wants nothing to do with her–and Viola has no idea why. When their bosses insist a wintery retreat is the perfect team-building exercise, Viola can’t think of anything worse. Being freezing cold in a remote mountain lodge knowing Jesse is right next door? No, thank you. But as the snow piles on, Viola discovers there’s more to Jesse than she knew, and heat builds in more ways than one.

"Pitch-perfect science fiction about linguistics and consequences. This book destroyed me."—Yoon Ha Lee, New York Times bestselling author of Ninefox GambitSpeak another people's language. Know them. Become them.And discover you've destroyed them.In his training as a spy, Ro was you will always be living a lie.Jumping into a Star Eater's mind in the first place requires a moment of perfect psychic connection, and he has studied all his life to comprehend their species. Admires them, respects them, is reverent at the idea of being one of them—the only species physiologically capable of mining the element needed for lightyear-spanning space travel. The species all others crave to know more of, but who have notoriously shared so very little. The species Ro's own small civilization, with its dwindling resources and withering reach, needs to know more about.It will feel real, his elders impressed upon him. It will never be real.But Ro's certainty runs he will be different. Ro will not be an imposter hiding the truth of his past, because his heart will be one of them. He will be one of them.To understand is to become. It never occurs to him that the mere act of understanding can destroy.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A richly glittering debut about the interlocked fates of two women, raised worlds apart, who must join forces on an extraordinary journey, diving leagues beneath the water's surface—and straight into the fathomless heart of fear, forgiveness, and love.    Thirteen years ago, Otta escaped the small town of Steels, intent upon becoming a marine biologist. Now she's returned, having failed to achieve her dream, and carrying the guilt of a friend's death during a deep-sea dive. She thinks she may never dive again, but then a stranger appears at her door.    This stranger, May, says that her daughter has run away, and insists that she's under a nearby lake—alive.    Because it turns out the small-town legend of "the underlake" is three decades ago, an entire valley and the town in it was flooded to make way for a dam, but the people in that town refused to leave.Now, they're still living beneath the lake, self-proclaimed “refugees of a world obsessed with change,” connected—and held apart—by an intricate, airtight system of tubes and sealed buildings. To find May's missing daughter, Otta and May must travel deeper and deeper under the water. Along the way, they'll discover communities that have lived in isolation for decades, fomenting extremes of delusion and nostalgia. As the two women bond in the thrall of their search, they are each forced to confront the layers of fear, control, and uncertainty that drive their quest. Together and alone, they must challenge the laws of love and society—and push their bodies to the mortal limit.    Hypnotic and arresting, Underlake How do we claim our place on the great timeline of history, and who do we erase in the process? It brings a poet's attention to language, gesturing at the evocative and ethereal work of Preeta Samarasan and Marilynne Robinson, while also shrewdly exploring the American obsession with inheritance, property, and race. Finally, Underlake is a powerful meditation on what is possible when women reach through time, space, and memory to relate to one another.

In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn't always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will soon slaughter her whole family when she sees a terrible a young foreign man who appears outside her window.One of these people is a ghost, and one of these stories is a lie.Something is hiding beneath the house of sword ferns, and Lee and Sen will soon wish they never unburied it.

Ally is in it for the fame. Carys is in it to finally find love. They were meant to be competing for the same guy . . . but they can’t ignore the tension building off-screen.Wedded Bliss is everyone’s favourite reality show. Ally is in it for the fame. She was handpicked entirely because of her TikTok where she has built her audience. She doesn’t need a husband, but a partnership launched on international TV could definitely help her brand. And it seems like that’s what she’s found in Instagram model, Warren. Carys is in it for love. That might be a silly reason to go on TV, but she’s never had much luck so far. Perhaps all she needs is the right situation, the right man and it’ll all fall into place. When she meets the handsome doctor Patrick, it seems like she has finally gotten her wish. But then the two women meet behind the scenes and instantly hit it off. As the front runners of the show, the tension between them builds as hot as the competition and they share a kiss the night before the final coupling up. For Carys, it’s an awakening she wants to explore, but Ally freaks out at the idea of everything she’s built going to waste . . .But when the truth is revealed, they have to make a choice, reality TV fame or face the reality of love?