A fun and steamy college romance.
To secure campus housing, a student enters a marriage of convenience with her sworn enemy.
Eighteen-year-old Clover Walsh is used to barely getting by, but she’s determined to change that. The first step is getting into her prestigious dream school, Wexley University in Oregon. She earns a full scholarship, but when her housing grant falls through, she’s completely screwed. Wexley doesn’t permit first-years to live off campus, and even if it did, Clover doesn’t have the money for a car. Her only option shows up buried in a housing office newsletter: A new rule allows married students to live in the dorms together, meaning if she can only find a guy to marry her on short notice, she’ll have a place to live for free. Enter Bennett Graves, once her closest friend. Clover’s mother used to work for Bennett’s mother, but a spectacular falling-out led to Clover’s mom getting fired and Clover and Bennett never speaking again. That is, until Clover asks Bennett to marry her and Bennett says yes. Now, the two of them are forced to convincingly act as if they’re in love so they won’t cast suspicion on their housing ruse. Of course, things are quickly complicated by Clover’s slowly building attraction to Bennett and the fact that Bennett’s been in love with her for years. The details of campus life—a grumpy RA, parties, and a girl selling black-market grilled cheese out of her dorm room—are fun and fresh, and Bennett and Clover have strong physical chemistry. Author Murphy takes a chance by giving Bennett a serious flaw—what he did is only slowly revealed, but it’s clear that he betrayed Clover deeply during their falling-out—giving him a satisfying character arc as he grows into a more mature person. As the first entry in Murphy’s The Undergrads trilogy, this book is entertaining and swoony enough to keep readers coming back for more.
A fun and steamy college romance.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781250428226
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2026
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.
A marriage on the rocks gets a second chance—with a science-fiction twist.
Dr. Emery Martín is happily married to her husband Luca…mostly. She’s been madly in love with him since the moment they met, but in the three years they’ve been wed, she hasn’t been able to focus much on him. To the world—including Luca—Emery’s job involves developing medical-grade lasers. In reality, she works at a supersecret San Diego lab that’s engineering a compound to bring mammals back from the dead. Although Emery doesn’t want to admit it, she can tell that Luca feels pushed aside, but she believes so deeply in her work that she has a hard time leaving the lab. When Emery is late for dinner—yet again—on their anniversary, she rushes home only to see Luca get hit by a car. She has the secret compound in her car, and she knows she could get in major trouble if she uses it—but what’s she supposed to do, not save her husband’s life? The compound has only been tested on animals so far, and there’s no guarantee it will even work for humans. It does, though, and Luca comes back to life—with one small caveat. He can’t remember most things, including his marriage to Emery. After almost losing Luca, Emery is now grateful for what she has, and she’s determined to show him that she can be a better, more attentive partner. While Luca may not remember her, their magnetic chemistry is still there. This may be the do-over they needed to save their marriage—that is, if Emery can keep the life-reviving measures she took hidden from everyone around them, including nosy neighbors and her own company. Lauren—the pen name of the duo behind rom-coms like The Paradise Problem (2024)—has created a unique hook that feels genuinely refreshing. Emery and Luca’s unconventional second chance is emotionally compelling, and the slight thriller edge as Emery tries to cover up her actions keeps the pages turning.
An extremely fun, fast-paced, and unusual addition to the marriage-in-trouble romance canon.Pub Date: July 14, 2026
ISBN: 9781668017753
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.
A happily engaged woman is pulled back to her hometown—and her first love—when tragedy strikes.
Billie Wright is living her dream, running a thriving fertility clinic in New York City and engaged to a wonderful trauma surgeon named Dean. Her happily-ever-after meant giving up her life in Wisconsin, where she left behind many friends as well as her high school sweetheart, Mick. Although they’d been deeply in love, when Billie’s ambition pulled her away from home and toward the city, Mick couldn’t handle either the distance or her busy schedule. Billie has finally moved on from that heartbreak—but then she receives a phone call from Mick, the first communication between them in years. Her best friend, Erin, died in a car accident, leaving behind an 11-year-old daughter, Phoebe. Now Billie must return home to help sort Erin’s affairs and provide some kind of comfort to Phoebe while grieving the loss of her best friend. Of course, being back home also means being in close contact with Mick. Their feelings for each other may not have ever gone away, and their proximity leads to big decisions for Billie. Can she ever reconcile her current life in Manhattan with her past in Wisconsin? And which one will be her future? Giffin knows how to do drama, and she ratchets up the stakes with every page as she continues to reveal new obstacles for Billie. The ending wraps up quite neatly, but the nostalgia-filled ride is full of twists and turns that will keep readers flipping the pages.
A deliciously dramatic look at how one woman’s past influences her future.Pub Date: July 7, 2026
ISBN: 9780593600320
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2026
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