Published by Berkley on December 16, 2025
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
A paraplegic bull rider and his new home aide fall in love as they pick up the pieces of their lives in the second book in the popular Griffith Brothers series.
Rule #1 of almost dying: Make sure someone knows your passwords. It’s hard to cancel your phone plan if you’re dead.
Rule #2 of almost dying: Make sure your house is clean before you walk up the steps to the pearly gates. It makes selling off your life easier.
All it took was eight seconds for Ray Griffith to win the biggest competition of his life, and one second to lose everything except that championship buckle. He'd left his family’s cattle ranch at eighteen with no intention of ever coming back for good. Now he's back, learning to navigate life in a wheelchair with a beautiful disaster attempting to burn the house down.
Rule #1 of trying to not get fired: Don’t piss off the grumpy bull rider.
Rule #2 of trying to not get fired: When you do get fired, keep your chin up. The grumpy bull rider was hot.
It was just a little fire. Tiny, even. But that didn’t change the fact that Ray Griffith didn’t want her anywhere near him. But they reached an agreement: if she ignores him, he doesn't fire her. Easy, right? Turns out not so much if they can’t keep their hands off each other.
It was eight seconds that changed his life. Ray spent the last year and a half learning to navigate the world in his new body, but he was still angry at the world. After firing every home aid to grace his doorstep, Brooke arrived and may be the one who finally breaks through.
I am not going to lie, when Ray and Brooke first met, I got Me Before You vibes, but that didn't last long. Ray was very grumpy, and I loved the Brooke was able to break through his defenses because he needed to reconnect with his family who I LOVED.
I am a sucker for the whole big family thing. I loved that they were all together on the ranch and that his brothers did not give up on him. It was nice for Brooke to finally have a "home" too. Her family were all gone, and she was on her own trying to figure life out with little guidance. It was great that circumstances brought her to the ranch, these people, this family who embraced her and were there to support her.
There was a bit of a suspense subplot that was sort of underdeveloped, and I would have liked to have seen a bit more growth for Brooke, but I was entertained and invested. And, then I got TWO epilogues, one a jump-ahead which is my favorite kind making this book end on a hight note for me.
Published by Alcove Press on May 12, 2026
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Rating:
Goodreads
A bookseller with a dream of running her beloved bookstore vs. the owner’s out-of-touch grandson who inherits everything. Game on.
From the author of Not in My Book comes another irresistible, bookish contemporary romance.
Ella has grown up at The Last Page, a charming local bookstore in New York City where she now works. Her first kiss was in the women’s health section. A boyfriend dumped her in comedy. The owner is like a second father to her and has begun training her to take over the store. So when he unexpectedly dies and his estranged grandson is left everything in the will, Ella is devastated.
Henry doesn’t know the first thing about running a bookstore. With his aging mom back in Tennessee, he plans to stay in New York just long enough to ensure things are running smoothly and then head back home. What he never could have counted on was the beautiful, funny bookseller who loves The Last Page more than any place in the world—and who sees him as the villain who’s come to ruin her life.
But when it becomes evident that the store is in deep financial trouble and Henry and Ella are both at risk of losing everything, they have no choice but to put their differences aside and team up—despite the inconvenient chemistry blossoming between them.
Fans of Christina Lauren and Ali Hazelwood will adore this rivals-to-friends-to-lovers bookish romance!
One of Ella's favorite places was The Last Page, and she had been trying to keep it going since one of her favorite people (and the owner) died. She was under the impression that she would inherit the bookshop, but lo and behold! There was a next of kin, Henry, who was an infuriating man wanting to make too many unpopular changes to the store. But as they dug deeper, they discovered that the shop was in financial trouble which prompted Ella and Henry to set aside their differences as they worked towards a plan to save the store.
I feel like I read so many save-the-bookstore books. Of course, I must cheer the characters on because THE BOOKSTORE MUST BE SAVED! I think the charm of this book for me was a combination of all the bookish love and the cast of quirky and lovable characters. I adored Ella's family while getting endless laughs from the rag-tag group running the bookstore. I was delighted when I read the staff recommendations at the beginning of each chapter, and honestly, there was so many things for a bookworm to adore here.
if you worked in a bookshop?
Let us know in the comments!
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