Romance Books

If you had the chance to grab on to happiness and not let go, would you?

Kathryn Hawthorne, local Chicago celebrity, thinks everything in her life is just fine. She has friends, money, a job—everything she needs to survive. Except, of course, love, which, after getting her heart broken, she avoids like the plague. Pam Phillips, on the other hand, just buried the love of her life—her husband of twenty-one years. The last thing she wants is a new friend, let alone a new love interest. When the two women meet and swap witty banter, things start to change. Kathryn can feel that familiar tug of desire in her chest as she suggests—in a smooth as silk way—that they meet up again someday. In a moment of pure insanity—or desperation—Pam decides to take a chance. What happens next changes Pam’s life forever

Leah Davis has just been dumped by her partner of five years. The reason? Leah is no good in bed. She decides to learn to be a better lover by meeting women on a lesbian hookup site. Dillon Franklin is Leah’s best friend and co-owner of their bar. She is also secretly in love with Leah. She is adamantly against Leah’s idea to hook up with numerous women in an attempt to learn to be a better lover. She knows she could teach her but is afraid of ruining their friendship. Eventually, Dillon gives up on Leah and starts dating Stephanie. This causes Leah to grow insanely jealous, but she can’t understand why. Will Leah stop her string of meaningless encounters to pursue Dillon? Or will they grow apart and never find true love?

When a world-class thief runs into a bounty hunter just days before the biggest deal of her life, a payday to retire on becomes a game of cat and mouse that could change everything. 

Cassandra Marinos, a thief who has never run from a challenge or met a painting she couldn’t steal, finds herself in a precarious position when in possession of not only a Rembrandt worth a small fortune, but a long-lost work of art worth untold millions. Bounty hunter Finnegan Starkweather finds herself in a unique position as well. While recovering a stolen Rembrandt would be a sweet bounty, settling an old score is worth even more. And while Finn is a brand new handsome distraction for Casey—despite the danger she represents—Finn has been looking for Casey for far longer than she’s been looking for revenge.

Lucy severed the connection to her first love when the seduction of college life pulled at her desires. Now in their thirties, Lucy returns home to cover a story where Detective Erica Chance plays a central character. Erica has spent a decade trying to banish the memory of Lucy, and on the surface, she has succeeded. Now, the reporter is back in her life, insisting she is a valued resource in the search for their hometown’s first serial killer. Old wounds are opened and new enemies are discovered as Lucy tries to take her chance.

Accountant and financial advisor Lacey Chamberlain doesn’t consider herself a control freak. She’s merely a planner—orderly, neat, and content in her tidy little life. When a marketing firm moves into the empty office next door, the loud-music-playing, stinky-food-ordering, kickball-in-the-hall staff make Lacey crazy.

Marketing expert Alicia Wright is spontaneous, flies by the seat of her pants, and lives in the moment—all the things Lacey is not. She’s also gorgeous, thoughtful, and seems determined to make Lacey like her.

They say opposites attract, but for how long? And is that really a good idea?

When covert operator Maji Rios returns to her sleepy Long Island refuge after years of being anyone the Army needs her to be, all she wants is a quiet summer. Saving a gorgeous stranger from Russian mobsters on her first night home was not in her plans. Nor was waking up with her the next day, inside the notorious Benedetti family’s estate, already on the clock for her next mission.

One brush with danger can't scare Rose diStephano away from her last weeks with her favorite cousin, Angelo Benedetti. How hard could tagging along to Maji's martial arts camp be? Even if it means pretending that Maji is Angelo's girlfriend, rather than the woman she is falling in love with.

Maji will do whatever she must to complete her mission. Infiltrate enemy territory? Check. Protect civilians from blowback? Check. Keep Rose from getting too close? Ouch. 

Before Grace Henderson began working as a tailor in her father’s bespoke suit shop in Wiliamsburg, Brooklyn, she established a hard and fast rule about not dating clients. The edict is an easy one for her to follow, considering the overwhelming majority of the shop’s clients are men. But when Dakota Lane contacts her to commission a suit to wear to her sister’s wedding, Grace finds herself tempted to throw all the rules out the window.

Dakota Lane works as a bicycle messenger by day and moonlights as a male model. Her high-profile career, gender-bending looks, and hard-partying ways garner her plenty of romantic attention, but she would rather play the field than settle down. When she meets sexy tailor Grace Henderson, however, she suddenly finds herself in the market for much more than a custom suit.

What would you do if you could go back in time and change your past? 

For Eva Caldwell that question is a no-brainer. After her parents were murdered while she was away at summer camp, Eva was placed into the custody of her abusive uncle and bullied in school. She’d gladly go back and change it all. When her uncle passes, Eva discovers he created a time machine. The problem with the once-hypothetical question becomes clear: changing the course of her past would mean giving up Casey McClellan, her best friend and the girl her heart has belonged to since she was twelve years old. 

Will Eva choose to save her parents’ lives or take a chance on the love of a lifetime?

Carrie Longmire loves life with a passion—whether it’s her job as a hospital CEO’s admin, star pitcher for the hospital’s softball team, or her latest romantic possibility, she gives 110 percent and won’t take less from anyone else. Maybe that’s why she’s still single. She’s never met anyone who could convince her they wanted anything more than a fling. Friendly was fun, but not where she wanted to hang her heart.

Gina Antonelli had big dreams once, of riding her athletic achievements all the way to West Point and being the first in a long family line of soldiers to serve as an officer. When that dream died along with the girl she’d planned to marry one day, she’d vowed to forget about happily ever afters. Love hadn’t gotten her anything but a broken heart and a ruined body.

When Gina agrees to renovate Carrie’s soon-to-be new house as a favor to her brother’s boss, she doesn’t welcome Carrie’s overtures at friendship or her own unexpected attraction.

A Rivers Community Romance

Praise from RT Book Reviews: "Love After Hours, the fourth in Radclyffe's Rivers Community series, evokes the sense of a continuing drama as Gina and Carrie's slow-burning romance intertwines with details of other Rivers residents. They become part of a greater picture where friends and family support each other in personal and recreational endeavors. Vivid settings and characters draw in the reader..."

Maggie Jordan can’t wait to convert an historic Nantucket home into a B&B and move on to her next project. However, her intention to flip it for a sizeable profit is something she must keep to herself if she hopes to win the acceptance of islanders and popularize the business. She can’t afford to grow attached to the house, or succumb to Nantucket’s quaint charms, and definitely must not fall in love.

But neither can Maggie resist the conundrum that is Ellis Chilton, a reserved, solitary islander and mariner since childhood. Seemingly content being attached only to her boat and the ocean, Ellis projects a refreshing air of independence, an aura of conviction and grit that tugs Maggie ever closer to a decision that will alter both their lives.

Two rivals. One competition. Winner takes all.

Olive spends her days taking awkward family photos. Her dreams of being a travel photographer are thwarted by a debilitating phobia. Ready to face her fears, Olive enters the Catalina Isle of Love contest where the winner will tour the world as staff photographer for a popular travel magazine. Olive’s biggest opponent is Gabby, who wins the competition every year and has a reputation for doing anything to succeed. Gabby manages her Italian family’s chain of pizza restaurants. She’s ready to break free from her large, overbearing family and live her secret dream of being a photographer. 

For Gabby and Olive, nothing will stand in their way of winning…except maybe love.

Emilie Danvers wins a place in the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s company and gets a second chance to launch her acting career. She’s vowed never to repeat the mistakes she made the first time: no following her heart, no putting herself second to someone else, no relationship drama. She won’t let any woman keep her from reconnecting with her dreams.

Arden Philips has stood on the outskirts of the festival for years, tending the gardens of nearby Lithia Park. She’s seen actresses come and go and only allows herself the occasional dalliance. But when she comes across Emilie rehearsing on a mossy riverbank, Arden realizes her heart might not listen to her head.

The stage is set, the house lights dimmed. Is true love merely make-believe or can these two women write it into the script of their lives?

Every date that firefighter Sasha McCray has had in the last year has been orchestrated by matchmaker Samantha Monteiro through Perfect Match, Inc., and she still has nothing to show for it. After a series of near matches, Sasha has all but given up on finding that special spark with someone else.

Accountant by day and reluctant millionairess by night, Abby Rossmore wants nothing more than to be the normal girl she reads about in all those romance novels. But the truth is, once people find out about her family, their interest in her flares for all the wrong reasons.

When Samantha tries to help Abby and Sasha discover they have more in common than being unlucky in love, they have to decide if their shared passion will blaze on or burn out. Could they be each other’s perfect match? Or did the notorious Miss Match strike out?

Praise from Publishers Weekly (starred review): "Riley balances romance, wit, and story complexity in this contemporary charmer....Readers of all stripes will enjoy this lyrically phrased, deftly plotted work about opposites attracting."

Kassandra Haden loves working with kids, her quaint condo on the golf course, and most of all, her dog, Lula. She’s happy being alone, having convinced herself that people can’t be trusted. But when Lula gets lost, Kassandra’s thrown into a different world, one that insists she come out of her shell. As allured as she is frightened, Kassandra can’t seem to stay away from the dog shelter, and the devastatingly attractive owner seems to be the cause.  

Jayden Beaumont isn’t used to taking no for an answer. Running a no kill dog shelter isn’t easy, but Jayden embraces it. She lives for her work and saves many lives in the process. But in doing so, she’s neglected her own, and it’s about to cost her big. When Kassandra walks into Jayden’s shelter, two very different personalities collide. Can either woman open and trust in order to embrace the life they could have together?

How to survive that pivotal moment when admiration turns to attraction?

Hélène Dupont, a scientific translator in Brussels, Belgium, cherishes two things: flowers and her cat. She writes bad poetry to help her survive her painful existence with her husband, until she is forced to undergo a radical lifestyle change. Sylvie Routard, a young Greek photographer, enters Hélène’s world as her new private swim coach. During their daily lessons, Hélène’s admiration toward Sylvie turns to attraction. As unsettling feelings hijack Hélène’s mind and body, daydreams featuring Sylvie enter her world—even her poems. While the two athletes increasingly feel underwater vibes in the pool, Hélène questions her relationship at home, and everything else in life.

A romantic evening gone awry turns into a hot interlude when two women refuse to let unavoidable obstacles derail their passion. The story revisits two all-time favorite lovers from Turn Back Time.

Previously published in Love Burns Bright: A Lifetime of Lesbian Romance, ed. Radclyffe (Cleis Press, 2013).

Kay Adler is a hardworking Chicago detective who seeks justice for the victims of murder. She has one close friend, no lovers, and a difficult family. Her life is her work. If she drinks enough on her off hours, it suits her just fine. 

When people she knows start dying, her team works to track down the killer. He’s a master of disguise and impossible to find, and she must look at uncomfortable parts of her past to find a suspect. She finds two. She’s removed from the case because of her personal involvement and is replaced by Detective Jamie Sidwell, a woman with whom she has a troubled relationship. Their uneasy alliance takes them places they never would have guessed, but their bond is tested when the killer turns his sights on Kay.

Kadence Munroe heals her broken heart by painting, and she’s about to have her first big gallery show. The excitement is dampened by the fact that Sheva, the woman who destroyed her last relationship, is also showing at the gallery. Sheva’s bronze figures are amazing, so lifelike and enthralling, but something about them repels Kadence.

Gallery director Mallory Tucker is still struggling to win her mother’s approval, and this new show might just be the key. Her rocky relationship with Sheva is the only aggravation. Mallory knows she should just end it, especially as the new artist, Kadence, has sparked her interest.

Sheva knows she has a gift. It’s undeniable that her bronzes are captivating, imbued with soul. She’s found the perfect way to capture the essence of human emotion, and it’s a secret no one can ever know.