Can't Wait Wednesday!

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Tressa at Wishful Endings that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

I am combining CWW with Books From the Backlog hosted by Carole at Carole's Random Life in Books. This will allow me to feature some newly "rediscovered" books, which I plan on reading, alongside a new release.

This week I can't wait for

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Friends Don't Fall in Love by Erin Hahn
Published by St. Martin's Griffin on October 17, 2023
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads

Erin Hahn’s Friends Don’t Fall in Love is about long-time friends, taking chances, and finding out that, sometimes, your perfect person was right there in your corner all along.

Lorelai Jones had it a thriving country music career and a superstar fiancé. Then she played one teenie tiny protest song at a concert and ruined her entire future, including her impending celebrity marriage. But five years later, she refuses to be done with her dreams and calls up the one person who stuck by her, her dear friend and her former fiancé’s co-writer and bandmate, Craig.

Craig Boseman’s held a torch for Lorelai for years, but even he knows the backup bass player never gets the girl. Things are different now, though. Craig owns his own indie record label and his songwriting career is taking off. If he can confront his past and embrace his gifts, he might just be able to help Lorelai earn the comeback she deserves―and maybe win her heart in the process.

But when the two reunite to rebuild her career and finally scratch that itch that’s been building between them for years, Lorelai realizes a lot about what friends don’t do. For one, friends don’t have scratch-that-itch sex. They also don’t almost-kiss on street corners, publish secret erotic poetry about each other, have counter-top sex, write songs for each other, have no-strings motorcycle sex, or go on dates. And they sure as heck don't fall in love... right?

At this point, Erin Hahn is an auto-read for me. I have read and adored all her YA and adult books. Aside from that, it's a fact that friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes. I like the idea that the hero stood by the heroine while her career was tanking, and he was who she turned to when she wanted to wage her comeback. I already know I will be rooting this couple on, and I cannot wait to read their story. 

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Perfect Distraction by Allison Ashley
Published by Entangled: Amara on March 23, 2020
Age/Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Goodreads

Lauren Taylor isn't thinking about love, especially not with the impossibly attractive man she accidentally spilled coffee all over. He's out of her league and she's focused on finishing her oncology pharmacy residency. She's sworn off men who are too handsome for their own good, anyway.

Andrew Bishop can't stop thinking about the gorgeous redhead who crashed into him and then disappeared, even though he should have way more on his mind - like dealing with his Hodgkin Lymphoma diagnosis and finishing out his last year in law school. When Andrew and Lauren run into each other at the cancer center where she's working and he's being treated, they try to keep it professional. They can be friends, and nothing more.

But sometimes life has other plans…

I just read my second Allison Ashley book, The Roommate Pact. I loved it so much, that I resolved to read Ashley's backlist. This is one of her books that came out a few years ago. The characters first crash into each other, and they seem to find their paths crossing again. The encounters happen in a hospital where the heroine works and the hero is being treated. I anticipate some push and pull as they try to resist each other, but also a layer of emotion due to the hero's illness. No doubt it will delight me, as Ashley always does. 

What are you waiting on?
Let us know in the comments!