Cover Reveal ~ Smash by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland

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 apartment or trip to the basement laundry room turned into another deep conversation neither of us ever wanted to end.

At first, it was innocent.

Then I found myself looking forward to running into him again.

Before long, I was creating opportunities to be around him.

Somehow, Rafe and I made each other feel seen in ways neither of us expected.

I tried to ignore our connection, reminding myself that Calder’s best friend was the last man on Earth I could ever fall for.

But with every stolen moment, that lie became harder to believe.

Maybe some love stories aren't about finding the right person—but what happens when you find them too late.

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PENELOPE WARD

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.

With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over thirty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.

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VI KEELAND

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.

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5 Star Audio Review ~ The Challenge by Penelope Ward

Title: The Challenge

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 ago after his mother died.

The same Evan who used to dare me into ridiculous challenges that somehow always made me stronger—a game we’d dubbed The Challenge.

The same guy who ultimately rejected me before I left for college after I’d finally garnered the courage to shoot my shot.

Now Evan was a rugged single dad with an eight-year-old daughter, a cocky attitude, and a dangerous ability to make me forget every reason I should still hate him.

Sharing a house with him should’ve been unbearable. Instead, it felt dangerously familiar, nearly making me forget that I had a life and a job to get back to in Chicago. I realized the biggest challenge wasn’t surviving living with Evan Ricci.

It was not falling in love with him all over again.

REVIEW

I absolutely loved Evan and Chloe’s second-chance-at-love story! ❤️ Their history made their relationship so much more meaningful. Evan is a single dad doing his best to make a good life for himself and his daughter, Effie, and there was always so much more to him than what was on the surface.

Chloe had always wanted more from Evan, while he believed walking away was the best thing he could do to let her “live.” Years later, Chloe returns home to take care of her mother, and the two reconnect in the strangest way possible. I truly believe it was fate bringing them back together.

I loved that Chloe knew her feelings were real and was willing to take a chance to see where things could go. Watching these two find their way back to each other was sweet, emotional, and everything I wanted from a second-chance romance.

I absolutely loved Evan and Chloe! ❤️ 5 stars!

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DUET AUDIO

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A model-cover paperback will be live on release day

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT

SINGLE DAD

SMALL TOWN

FRIENDS TO LOVERS

SECOND CHANCE

FORCED PROXIMITY

FOUND FAMILY

AUTHOR BIO

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.

With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over forty books. Her novels have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.

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Excerpt Reveal - The Fall Affair by Vi Keeland

Title: The Fall Affair

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 whether I should take another. Then the wine, or maybe the adrenaline, pushed me. Screw it. Send.

My heart raced as I watched the status go from Delivered to Read. The dots on the screen started to bounce around, then stopped and started twice before an incoming text arrived.

Matteo: You’re gorgeous. And that photo just made its way into my private folder.

A shiver ran down my spine.

Allegra: And what exactly are the photos in your private folder used for?

Matteo: I think you know the answer to that.

My thighs pressed together thinking of Matteo pleasuring himself to my picture. I hadn’t intended this conversation to go this way, but now that it had…

Allegra: I think it’s only fair that I have a picture for my private folder, then.

This time a response didn’t come right away. After a minute or two, I thought maybe I’d taken things too far. But then my phone chimed, a photo lit up my screen, and my breath caught.

Oh. My. God.

Matteo was sprawled across his bed, sheet slung low on his hips. His muscular chest was bare, and his beautiful Italian skin was golden and smooth except for the sexy happy trail that led down to where it was covered. One arm was bent behind his head, showing off the cut of his biceps, and his gaze was on me, even through the photo. And God, the sinful smirk on his lips made it impossible to look away.

After a few minutes of staring, I swallowed.

Allegra: I’m speechless, and that’s saying something. LOL. Wow. Just wow. I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep after seeing that. I’m a little riled up.

His near-instant response left no doubt that he’d been waiting for my text.

Matteo: For the record, my door is open if you ever want to come see it in person…

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Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.

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5 Star Audio Review ~ Just For The Plot by Meghan Quinn

BLURB

They're just friends.

At least, that's what she thinks. Him? He has other plans.

Bennett Brinkman is San Francisco baseball's golden boy―focused, disciplined, and very bad at ignoring the one woman he shouldn't want. Falling for his sister's best friend was inevitable, even though she's always seen him as safe, familiar, and firmly off-limits.

Bower knows exactly why wanting Bennett is a terrible idea. She's fiercely loyal to her best friend and well aware that crossing this particular line could blow everything up. But when she moves into Bennett's apartment building, that "just friends" boundary begins to blur in the most tempting ways.

The banter comes fast.

The sparks come faster.

And pretending it's "no big deal" is getting ridiculous.

As feelings get messier and attraction turns undeniable, Bennett and Bower must decide if risking their family ties is worth chasing the love that's been in front of them all along.

Duet Narration Audiobook

Narrated by: Teddy Hamilton & Samantha Brentmoor

with a full cast, including; Emma Wilder, Connor Crais, J.F. Harding, Jason Clarke and Stella Hunter.

Review:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I absolutely loved the audiobook for Just for the Plot! The narrators did such an amazing job bringing these characters to life and making their chemistry feel so natural. I especially loved watching Bennett slowly and smoothly get Bower to see just how good they could be together. 😍

Bower was such a great character because, even though her feelings for Bennett were clearly real, she genuinely tried to make sure they didn’t cross any lines. He was her best friend’s brother, after all, and she knew there were boundaries she probably shouldn’t be crossing. Watching her struggle between what she should do and what her heart actually wanted made their relationship so much more fun to experience.

The narration really added to the whole experience, bringing out the personalities, emotions, and chemistry between the characters. Bennett and Bower were such a fun pair to listen to, and I loved every minute of their story!

Definitely a 5-star listen! 🎧❤️

Buy now: https://a.co/d/0byxtJOf

5 Star Audio Review ~ Grizz: An Enemies to Lovers Hockey Romance (New York Vipers Book 1)

Synopsis:

Grizz McAvoy is the most electrifying player in professional hockey…and the most volatile. He’s got a wicked shot, a hair-trigger temper, and spent his childhood surviving his father's cruelty. Off the ice, he's a PR catastrophe, racking up fines, burning through handlers, and daring the New York Vipers organization to do something about it. He’s built his entire identity around one principle: winning solves everything.

But winning can’t silence the past trauma that haunts him when the arena lights go dark.

Daisy Turner was fired from a top style magazine for asking questions powerful men didn't want to answer and exposing hypocrisy in the world of high-fashion. She's looking to salvage her career as a journalist by scraping together a second chance as Grizz's new media handler. Fearless in her own right, she carries scars from a betrayal that taught her trust is a currency she can't afford to spend freely.

From their first combustible meeting, Grizz and Daisy collide in a battle of wills neither is prepared to lose. She challenges him, and he can't look away. What begins as mutual provocation becomes far more dangerous when the walls between professional and personal start to crumble, and the wreckage of Grizz's past threatens to destroy the one person brave enough to see through his rock-solid armor.

Grizz is a scorching, emotionally charged hockey romance about two people who were never supposed to fall for each other, and the bruising, tender, inevitable collision that happens when they do.

Order Now:  https://geni.us/Grizz

Review:

The narrators for Grizz did an amazing job! Lucy Rivers and Lance Greenfield brought these characters to life. Grizz is great playing hockey and he honestly just doesn't care about his aggressive behavior and his temper.  It gets him in trouble but he knows the team needs him.  Changes have to be made to reel him in.  

Daisy is a reporter that really believes in giving the people the truth, even if if a particular truth cost her the job she loved.  Unemployment is not what she wants so becoming the PR rep for a hockey player who just can't keep it together keeps money in her pocket and she gets to use her skills to make things better.  

Grizz and Daisy's attraction to each other is sizzling.  She makes Grizz think and doesn't give into him.  She doesn't back down and honestly she likes that he doesn't either.  Their friendship grows but the passion behind the friendship is more than they expected.  They really start to trust each other more allowing Grizz to open up and share things with her.  

Grizz and Daisy's story was so good and I can't wait for more!

Chasing Red (Beautiful Delusions #2) by Maggie Cole

Title: Chasing Red

Duet: Beautiful Delusions #2

Author: Maggie Cole

Genre: Psychological Romance

Tropes: Stalker/Therapist, Morally Grey Romance

Release Date: April 8, 2026

BLURB

From International bestselling author Maggie Cole comes the next descent into a morally gray psychological romance, where love is a liability, distance is survival, and obsession refuses to be left behind.

I fell in love with Blue Ivanov long before I admitted it.

That’s the part no one was supposed to know.

Not her family or the men who would destroy me if they ever realized how deeply she owns me.

Walking away was the only way to keep her safe.

So I built distance and told myself I could be starved into silence.

I was wrong.

Blue doesn’t chase blindly. She calculates.

I say danger.

She hears devotion.

I say stay away.

She tracks my weakness and hunts me anyway.

Her father would call me a liability, a mistake that needs to be handled.

But Blue doesn’t want protection.

She wants a love that burns, consumes, and leaves you delirious for more.

No matter how far I run, Blue isn’t chasing me to win.

She’s chasing me to make sure I finally stop pretending I don’t want to be caught.

Chasing Red is book two of the Beautiful Delusions Duet. Best if read after Resisting Blue. See Author's Note inside the book for trigger warnings.

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AUTHOR BIO

Maggie Cole is committed to bringing her readers alphalicious book boyfriends and fiercely strong heroines.

She’s been called the literary master of steamy romance. Her books are full of raw emotion, suspense, and will always keep you wanting more. She is a masterful storyteller of contemporary romance and loves writing about broken people who rise above the ashes.

Maggie lives in Florida with her son. She loves tennis, yoga, paddleboarding, boating, other water activities, and everything naughty.

Her current series were written in the order below:

All In (Stand alones with entwined characters)

It's Complicated (Stand alones with entwined characters)

Brooks Family Saga (Read in order)

Behind Closed Doors (Read in order)

Mafia Wars (Stand alones with interconnecting plot and entwined characters)

Mafia Wars New York (Stand alones with interconnecting plot and entwined characters)

Club Indulgence Duet

Mafia Wars Ireland

Wilted Kingdom Duet

Holiday Hoax (Standalone)

Holiday Hire (Standalone)

The Underworld Series 

Beautiful Delusions Duet

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5 Star Audio Review ~ Crooked by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward

Title: Crooked

Authors: Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward

Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Bodyguard, Close Proximity

Mafia Daughter, Forbidden

Release Date: March 29, 2026

BLURB

A new, sexy standalone novel from New York Times Bestsellers, Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward.

The last thing I needed was a live-in bodyguard. And I definitely didn’t want him. Six foot two, with broad shoulders that were impossible to ignore and a talent for getting in my way, Wes Callahan was a walking bad decision.

 

But when you’re the daughter of a notorious mob boss, apparently your opinions stop mattering the moment your father ignites another war. I’d spent my entire life trying to escape that crooked world—new name, new city, newfound freedom. At least until I was suddenly shacked up with my new bodyguard. 

 

Wes knew exactly how to push my buttons. He was also infuriatingly protective. And smart. And funny. And thoughtful when he thought I wasn’t paying attention.  Little by little, the walls I’d built started to crack, and falling for the bodyguard became the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done. Because if my father found out, Wes wouldn’t just lose his job. He’d lose his life. 

 

Getting involved with him was reckless, yet I couldn’t find a way to stop it, no matter how hard I tried.  But while I was busy losing my heart, the man who took it was hiding a secret. 

And it turned out, the most dangerous man in my life wasn’t my father after all—it was the one who threatened to break my heart.

REVIEW

I absolutely loved the audiobook of Crooked. From the storyline to the narration, everything just worked for me.

Juliette is a strong, independent woman who has chosen to live a very private life. Despite being the daughter of a powerful mafia leader, her identity has been kept completely hidden. But as things start to heat up around her, it becomes clear she might need some protection.

Enter Wes—a police officer turned bodyguard (at least, that’s the story we’re sticking with). His assignment is to protect Juliette at all costs while secretly gathering information to take her father down. The tension in that setup alone had me hooked.

Their first meeting is genuinely adorable. You can immediately feel the chemistry between them, and I loved how they noticed little quirks about each other that made them want to dig deeper. The push and pull starts off innocent but gradually builds into something much more intense. And honestly, the book club scenes? Such a fun and unexpected touch that added even more spark to their dynamic.

What I really enjoyed is how the story balances the sweetness of getting to know someone with the inevitable fallout when the truth comes to light. It gives you those feel-good moments while still delivering emotional tension.

The narration by Andi Arndt and Aiden Snow was incredible. They brought both characters to life so naturally and added so much depth to the story. Truly amazing performances, as usual.

Overall, this was a 5-star listen for me—I didn’t want it to end.

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AUDIOBOOK

VI KEELAND

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.

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PENELOPE WARD

Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.

She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.

With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over thirty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.

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