Here are this week’s new ebook and audio releases.

To have your new release in an upcoming edition, please click on this link for how to submit books (ebook and audio). IHS will not include books unless they receive a submission form from either the author or publisher.

Happy reading and listening,

TB, Em, Faith, & Miranda

ROMANCE

A Game Of Two Hearts

by Iona Kane

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Tess Kennedy isn’t where she thought she’d be at forty-six. She’s focusing on keeping things together as a single parent as she returns to a town that holds mixed memories. As she tries to build a new life for her family, she’s relieved that she’s finally in control of her own destiny. The last thing she’s looking for is a relationship.

Rowan Russell is living her regular, predictable life. She works hard and plays harder, to drown out the voice in her head reminding her of all the bad choices she’s made. When Tess’s return stirs up old, complicated feelings, she has to question whether she’s happy letting life happen to her.

When Rowan and Tess end up working together, they both need to decide how much they’re willing to risk for happiness.

Content warning: mention of domestic abuse.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Single Parent

Where Love Leads

by KC Luck

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Sometimes love leads where you least expect it.

When socialite Melanie Sotheby finds herself abandoned on the wrong side of Los Angeles, she has few options. With no phone, credit cards, or identification, the means to get back home to New York seem slim. Not until she is rescued by a tall, dark stranger in the middle of the night does Melanie think of a plan.

With a felony on her record, Milo’s life seems hopeless. She works a dead-end job, lives in a rundown apartment, and has no clear prospects on how to make things better. When she hears a woman screaming for help in the night, a series of events unfold that might give Milo an opportunity to start over. All she has to do is drive Melanie across the country.

What sounds like an easy prospect turns out to have more twists and turns than either Melanie or Milo could have imagined. Only one thing is certain, by the end of the journey, both women will be changed forever.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Grumpy / Sunshine; Rich Girl / Poor Girl

Back in the Saddle

by Toni Draper

Deep in the heart of Texas ranch and rodeo lands, freelance writer and barrel racer Kendall Greer, a woman with a heart of a poet, finds it broken and herself in a loveless relationship. As soon as she decides to put all thoughts of romance aside and focus on rodeo instead, she crosses paths with roper Deb Mueller. And they soon find themselves falling cowgirl hat over boots, hard and fast, for each other but together learn it takes time to trust and love again.

2022 Reading Challenge Category: Friends to Lovers

Bringing Me Dreams

by KG MacGregor

Reeling from her brother’s senseless death, Gianna Del Vecchio finds comfort in an online forum from a woman who suffered a similar loss. Theirs is a club no one wants to join—survivors of a loved one’s suicide. Photos posted to the forum of the woman’s cute therapy dog bring cheer when nothing else can, and Gianna is compelled to reach out to say thanks.

After two years, Keenan McEvoy is still fighting her way back from despair after losing her partner, Annabel. She’s surprised when she connects with Gianna, whose kindness and compassion ignite a spark she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel again.

Their fledgling romance is jeopardized by Jaz, Gianna’s ex-girlfriend and current best friend, who’ll stop at nothing to keep them apart.

Content Warning: Suicide

2022 Reading Challenge Category: Loss / Grieving; Cute Animal

ROMANTIC COMEDY

Pivot

Love Where You Work: Book 2

by Anna Pulley

Available in Kindle Unlimited

A laugh-out-loud queer rom-com like no other!

After a disastrous and publicly humiliating rejection at a cosplay convention, naive yet hopeful romantic Paula Suarez is left with another crushing failure in her quest for love – and her dream of becoming a costume designer. But when she stumbles upon feisty mixed-race journalist Nita Funmaker, a friendship blossoms which may soon grow into something much more.

Embroiled in a bitter divorce and immersed in pursuing her latest scoop, Nita isn’t sure if she’s ready for another try at love. But with her father’s paper on the ropes and her ex still hounding her, maybe a bit of fun and relaxation is exactly what she needs.

Drawn together by a series of increasingly amusing and absurd events – from Paula joining an underground drag wrestling show to Nita’s secret passion for ice skating – Paula and Nita must navigate their increasingly tumultuous emotions, help each other face their deepest fears, and maybe even find true love along the way.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Character w/ Disability; POC Character

ROMANCE: EROTIC / EROTICA 

Blackmailed by my Gorgeous Stepmother

by Judy Ramsook

Things haven’t been the same for Shelly since Felicia, her stepmother found out her secret that she’s a lesbian. And when Felicia tells Shelly what she wants in return for keeping this bit of information from her homophobic father, feelings take over.

Buried feelings Shelly and Felicia thought they kept hidden.

The true villain here is Shelly’s guilty conscience…

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Age Gap; Erotic Romance; POC Character

ACTION & ADVENTURE

The Lady Adventurers Club

by Karen Frost

A barnstormer. A Wild West trick shooter. A mathematician.

When archaeologist Anna Baring announces the founding of the Lady Adventurers Club in May 1923, none of the other three members expect to ever meet again. After all, they live halfway around the world from each other. What could possibly bring them together once more? Then they each receive an unexpected letter. Anna has found a tomb that promises to be even grander than that of King Tutankhamun, and she wants them to come to Egypt for the opening.

It’s the find of the century. The tomb will make old Tut look like a pauper. But will the women of the Lady Adventurers Club get to see it? Egypt is a political powder keg. Unscrupulous criminals keep shooting at them. And weird, unnerving things seem to happen wherever they go. As the women race across Egypt, their friendship will be tested as they fall deeper into danger. They’re not the only ones after a pharaoh’s treasure.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: POC Character, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Neurodiverse Character, Historical Romance, Asexual

MYSTERY / THRILLER

Blind Suspicion

Falling Castle Series: Book 2

by Stacy Lynn Miller

Justice should never be rushed.

Just when life with Tyler Falling takes shape and Alex Castle decides she is ready to be free of her controlling father, she learns that he has been killed. The news sends her world into a tailspin.

When someone close to the Castle family leaks information that makes Alex look guilty, the police arrest her. Now out on bail, she scrambles to clear her name.

Facing decades of imprisonment has Alex doubting the people she should trust the most—including Tyler. With pressure mounting, Alex fears it will drive Tyler back to the husband who still loves her. Will the actual killer be found before Alex loses her freedom, or will blind suspicion rule the day?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Thriller; Mystery; Age Gap; Rich Girl / Poor Girl

The Long Con

An El Gardener Omnibus

by T C Parker

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Grifter, con-artist, inside-woman… call her what you want, El’s never said no to a heist.

But when an old friend and a new crew come calling with an offer she can’t refuse, El finds herself stalking her most ruthless mark yet – one vicious and corrupt enough to test her skills to the limit and plunge her headlong into a world of violence, corruption and murder.

A fast-paced crime cocktail blending elements of Widows, Ocean’s 11 and The Usual Suspects with the 90s nostalgia of The Place Beyond The Pines, THE LONG CON will wrap its hand around your throat from the very first page – and won’t let go until you’re gasping for breath.

Content warnings: graphic violence; murder; blackmail; death of child (offscreen); domestic violence/abuse; serial killers; abortion; allusions to homophobia, racism, sexism

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Loss / Grieving; POC Character

FANTASY / FANTASY ROMANCE

Pride and Pestilence

The Evie Chester Files: Case Four

by Nita Round

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Rich man, poor man, freeman, or slave. When red fever comes calling, no one is safe.

Captain Ezra Burton brings a ship load of problems to Bristelle and seeks Godwyn Bethwood’s help to soothe the way. If he thought he had problems when he docked, it soon gets worse. Godwyn is dead and now he must deal with his sister and the indomitable Evie Chester.

Burton’s problems seep out on to the streets of the city. Sickness and infection spread unchecked whilst the medics and city men don’t even think there is a problem. Evie and Hesta know better. They cannot ignore the danger and must act to overcome the perils that threaten to overwhelm the city.

When the city is overwhelmed and all feels lost, more extreme magical measures are needed to save them. It takes a summoner, a killer, a healer and a cleanser to attempt what no one has ever tried before. Yet there is a price to pay for this immense outflow of power. Which one of them will pay the price?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy; Friends to Lovers; Sweet Romance; Mystery; Speculative Fiction

Heliacle Rising

The Wytchling Chronicles: Book 1

by C.C Davie

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Raised to be a wife. Taught to be obedient. Expected to submit.

Taken in as ward of Lord Drakon after her parents’ slaughter. Forced to navigate a new life, trying to become what is required of her in a world so vastly different than what she had known.

Then Attica, Kingdom of the Wytchlings, moves to rise again. Territories long alienated are forced to unite. Secrets begin to unravel. Secrets that make her question everything.
She is Amylia Sylvers.

And she is about to show the world that even the most unexpected… can burn the brightest.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy; Coming Out; Forced Proximity; Slow Burn

Fury

by Jen Lawrence

When Shayla Aja comes back to the small town of Nyx to visit her grandma Ellie, she finds a lot has changed on the beekeeping farm—not only the house she spent endless summers in as a child, but Ellie herself has changed. And the reason seems to center entirely around Ellie’s new Apiary Manager, August.

August is infuriatingly attractive and shamelessly flirts with Shay—for no apparent reason other than to get under her skin. And the more she tries to get to know August, the more Shay is convinced she’s nothing more than a freeloader taking advantage of Ellie’s generous heart.

Their shaky start is layered with both suspicion and attraction, but when Shay experiences a magical incident at the local farmers’ market, something between them starts to shift. As Shay is forced to trust August with her big secret, they begin to open up to each other. As they reveal more about themselves and the life-altering events that brought them both to Ellie’s farm—they realize they might also have been brought to each other.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Fantasy; Sweet Romance

PARANORMAL ROMANCE

How to Get a Girlfriend (When You’re a Terrifying Monster)

Monster Girlfriend: Book 1

by Marie Cardno

Available in Kindle Unlimited

Life is tough when you’re an eldritch abomination.

Trillin isn’t technically a person. She’s a tiny breakaway piece of consciousness from the all-devouring Endless, doomed to eventually rejoin it. But when a human witch stumbles into her world, Trillin suddenly has a new reason to figure out individuality–one shape-shifting tentacle at a time.

Sian is sure important magical discoveries are just around the corner, if she can just get her portals to work reliably. Reaching the dimension of the Endless without being eaten on sight is a dream come true, and Sian is determined to explore every bit of it. For science, of course, not for the strangely adorable life-form who keeps popping up and trying to… flirt?

But Trillin’s world can be a dangerous place, and keeping Sian safe might risk drawing the attention of the Endless itself–which will swallow Trillin up along with all her dreams of humanity. Together, can this unlikely duo escape the Endless, figure out the optimum number of appendages, and maybe even find love?

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Paranormal Romance; Sweet Romance

SCI-FI ROMANCE

Transistor

Heart of Heroes: Book 2

by Molly J. Bragg

When Naomi Woodward’s doctor recommended her for a clinical trial, it seemed like the answer to her prayers. She was finally able to get her gender confirmation surgery and the surgery was a resounding success. She finally looked and felt like the woman she always knew she was.

Her new face and new body finally helped her work up the nerve to ask out Anika, the beautiful nurse that lived across the hall. To her delight Anika said yes, but when they are attacked during their date, Naomi quickly discovers that the experimental procedure she went through had some unexpected side effects, and that when Anika told her things with her family were complicated, she really should have listened.

Now, armed with superpowers she barely understands, a snarky artificial intelligence in her head, and allies that include a Superhero, a Dragon, and the literal Devil, she has to keep Anika safe from the archangel who’s out to kill her while they work desperately to prevent a second civil war in heaven.

2022 Reading Challenge Categories: Sci-Fi Romance; Age Gap; Forced Proximity; Friends to Lovers; POC Character

NEW AUDIOBOOK

Another Stupid Love Song

by Miranda MacLeod & Em Stevens

narrated by Lori Prince

The stage is set for success… and heartbreak.

Maxine Gardner is a rock and roll legend who hasn’t had a hit in years. She’s on a mission to get her old band back together for a once in a lifetime reunion tour that could save her floundering career. The problem? One band member is dead and the other hates her guts. To get this tour off the ground, Max must put her fate in the hands of a younger woman who could easily steal the spotlight from her for good.

Jade Weathers is a gifted musician whose mother and aunt were founding members of one of the hottest girl bands of all time. Following her mother’s untimely death, Jade’s overprotective aunt is determined she choose a stable career with the local symphony. But Jade was born to be a rock star. She’s willing to do whatever it takes to live her dream… even partner with the one person she shouldn’t trust. The woman who ruined her mom’s career.

Their agreement is supposed to be nothing but a means to an end. Yet the more time Max and Jade spend making music together, the harder it becomes to ignore the attraction crackling beneath every note. Is it possible everything they’ve believed about the other is completely wrong? This tour could lead to true love, or it could tear the band apart… along with their hearts.

How much will they be willing to sacrifice for success?

2022 IHS Reading Challenge Categories: Celebrity; Age Gap; Forced Proximity; Enemies to Lovers; Loss / Grieving; Hot & Steamy; Musician; Coming Out

Have a wonderful day!

TB, Em, Faith, & Miranda

BUY US A COFFEE

Running IHS takes the four of us many hours every single week. Also, the costs add up. Last year we setup a Buy Us a Coffee page, which allows people to help cover the expenses. When we first announced the page, we were blown away by the response. Not only were people willing to pitch in, but all of the kind notes and encouragement brought more than a few tears to TB’s eyes. If you’d like to support us, click here. Every cup helps immensely! If you’d like to learn more about TB’s initial response to the outpouring of support, click here.

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