Cover Reveal: Just Scoring with Love by Lauren Blakely

 

When she's practice dating her hockey star best friend, but it starts to feel like the real thing...

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely, comes the next standalone hockey romance in her Hockey Ever After series, JUST SCORING WITH LOVE! This spicy, childhood best friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, it’s always been you hockey romance about the cinnamon roll hero who’s secretly pining over his best friend releases January 13th in all formats, and will be free to read in Kindle Unlimited. Check out the cover and blurb below and pre-order your copy today!

✦ Amazon ➜ https://blkly.pub/JustScoringAMZ
✦ Audible ➜ https://blkly.pub/JSWLAudible

Cover Illustration and Design: Qamber Designs & Media

About JUST SCORING WITH LOVE (Coming 1/13/2027):

Confession - I've been secretly fake dating my hockey-playing best friend.

I went to his house for dinner and walked straight into a matchmaking trap!

Miller’s teenage siblings have decided he’s been off the dating market long enough raising them, so it’s time for him to get back out there. And as his childhood best friend, they appoint me to “practice date” him.

Even though it’s walking a dangerous line, the forbidden goalie with the sexy smirk supported me when an injury shattered my own hockey dreams, so I say yes. 

To writing his profile. Taking photos of him. Going on “trial” dates.

Huge mistake.

Looking at my best friend through a new lens becomes pure torture. 

I can’t stop imagining his talented hands gripping my hips, his tempting mouth coasting across my skin.

Until a desperate kiss late one night at the rink changes everything. 

But I’m a sports broadcaster trying to break barriers in a male-dominated industry. I don’t have time for romance, especially since I cover his team now.

So we make a new deal: a temporary arrangement to get it out of our systems.

Only the way Miller touches me after dark suggests he’s playing to win, and has been for years. And I want more. 

But can I risk the one relationship I can’t live without? 

This is Miller and Anna’s romance. Tropes include: hockey romance, single guardian, childhood best friends to lovers, it’s always been you, secret pining, practice dates and fake dating, forced proximity, workplace romance, he has a dog.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

✦ Amazon ➜ https://blkly.pub/JustScoringAMZ
✦ Audible ➜ https://blkly.pub/JSWLAudible

ABOUT LAUREN BLAKELY:

A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s sexy, feel-good and witty. Her books have been featured in US Weekly and People. Lauren likes dogs, cake and show tunes and she is the vegetarian at your dinner party. 

Connect w/ Lauren:

Website: laurenblakely.com 

NL Signup: http://laurenblakely.com/newsletter  

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LaurenBlakelyBooks

Instagram: http://instagram.com/laurenblakelybooks

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenblakelybooks

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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ALTERNATE COVER PAPERBACK

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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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Trope Reveal: Just Scoring With Love by Lauren Blakely

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely, comes the next standalone hockey romance in her Hockey Ever After series, JUST SCORING WITH LOVE! This sexy, childhood best friends-to-lovers, forced proximity, it’s always been you hockey romance about the cinnamon roll hero who’s secretly pining over his best friend is filled with practice dates, spicy rooftop shenanigans, and all the heart, heat, and humor you’ve come to love from Lauren’s sports romances! Releasing January 13th in all formats, and free to read in Kindle Unlimited, check out the tropes below and pre-order your copy today!

🏒Hockey Romance
💜Childhood Best Friends-to-Lovers
💋It's Always Been You
💕He's A Single Guardian
🛏️Forced Proximity
😍Secret Pining
❤️Fake Dating
🥅Hockey Net Makeout Session
🫶Practice Dates
💻Workplace Romance
🌶️Spicy Rooftop Shenanigans
💛Cinnamon Roll Hero
🫰Naughty "Fingerpainting"

THE GAMES CONTINUE JANUARY 13th!

✦ Amazon ➜ https://blkly.pub/JustScoringAMZ
✦ Audible ➜ https://blkly.pub/JSWLAudible

Cover and Blurb to be Revealed September 18th

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

✦ Amazon ➜ https://blkly.pub/JustScoringAMZ
✦ Audible ➜ https://blkly.pub/JSWLAudible

ABOUT LAUREN BLAKELY:

A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s sexy, feel-good and witty. Her books have been featured in US Weekly and People. Lauren likes dogs, cake and show tunes and she is the vegetarian at your dinner party. 

Connect w/ Lauren:

Website: laurenblakely.com 

NL Signup: http://laurenblakely.com/newsletter  

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LaurenBlakelyBooks

Instagram: http://instagram.com/laurenblakelybooks

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenblakelybooks

Trope Reveal: Mistletoe All the Way by Lauren Blakely

 

Turning a grumpy cowboy vet into Mr. Holiday? Challenge accepted.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely, comes a spicy, standalone holiday romance, MISTLETOE ALL THE WAY! This steamy, small town, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, opposites attract holiday romance features a grinchy cowboy veterinarian and the jolliest publicist as they tackle the town's latest Christmas competition together! Releasing October 6th in all formats, including the stunning paperback with beautiful mistletoe and holly sprayed edges, check out all of the tropes below and pre-order your copy today!

🎁Holiday Romance
⛅Grumpy/Sunshine
🏘️Small Town
🏆Christmas Competition
❄️Snowed In
💝Found Family
🤠Cowboy Veterinarian
🚫Enemies-to-Lovers Vibes Early
🎅Grinch VS. Jolly
🌶️Christmas After Dark
💋Mistletoe Kisses
🎀He Ties Her Up
🎄She Decorates For Him
🥵Whipped Cream Shenanigans
☯️Opposites Attract

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

https://laurenblakely.com/book/mistletoe-all-the-way/ 

About MISTLETOE ALL THE WAY (Coming 10/6/2026):

She wants to make him Mr. Holiday. He wants to stay a certified Grinch. From #1 New York Times bestselling author Lauren Blakely comes a small-town spicy holiday romance about a guarded cowboy veterinarian and a Christmas-loving optimist who team up for a town holiday competition.

Dr. Noah Lennox lives by three holiday rules—avoid his hometown, cheerful people, and Christmas itself.

But when his beloved grandfather announces he’s retiring and handing the cherished sleigh-ride farm to either Noah or his slick cousin Stephen, the first rule goes out the window. Back home in Evergreen Falls, the veterinarian vows to fight for the farm that means everything to him. The problem is, the town doesn’t exactly welcome its resident Scrooge with open arms.

Except for one very charming holiday enthusiast. Eloise Langston, a sunny tourism bureau hopeful, needs a win to land her dream job—and to pay the rent. Her holly jolly plan? Turn the broody, broad-shouldered grump into a festive front-runner to help the town’s Mr. Holiday Competition draw record crowds.

Transforming a camera-shy cowboy vet into a small-town sweetheart isn’t exactly in her job description—but neither is falling for him.

Soon, Noah and Eloise find themselves tangled in twinkle lights, fake kisses, and one very real attraction. But with the farm’s future at stake, Stephen’s scheming, and Eloise’s career on the line, there’s a blizzard of reasons to put their feelings on ice.

Or will they fight to turn their holiday fling into forever under the mistletoe?

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY TODAY!

https://laurenblakely.com/book/mistletoe-all-the-way/ 

ABOUT LAUREN BLAKELY:

A #1 New York Times Bestselling, #1 Wall Street Journal Bestselling, and #1 Audible Bestselling author, Lauren Blakely is known for her contemporary romance style that’s sexy, feel-good and witty. Her books have been featured in US Weekly and People. Lauren likes dogs, cake and show tunes and she is the vegetarian at your dinner party. 

Connect w/ Lauren:

Website: laurenblakely.com 

NL Signup: http://laurenblakely.com/newsletter  

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/LaurenBlakelyBooks

Instagram: http://instagram.com/laurenblakelybooks

Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@laurenblakelybooks

New Release 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.

ADD TO GOODREADS

PURCHASE LINKS

Special release price of $3.99

for a limited time only!

AMAZON US / UK / CA / AU

Free in Kindle Unlimited

DUET AUDIO

SPECIAL EDITION PAPERBACK

A model-cover paperback will be live on release day

My review: 5 stars!

The Challenge was a total binge read for me! I really enjoyed Chloe and Evan's second chance romance. They had such great chemistry and banter and Evan's daughter Effie was just the cutest. I especially loved the epilogue- what a great ending!

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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OTHER BOOKS BY PENELOPE WARD

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