Category: No Spice Romance

Before the Bell by Mara Webb

Posted October 5, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Cozy Mystery, Mystery, No Spice Romance, Paranormal Cozy Mystery, Series / 0 Comments

A locked door, a hidden tower, and a cat who happened to be watching. The guild couldn’t have picked a worse witness to overlook.

Monty lives a simple life. He sunbathes, catches mice, and minds his own business. He’s been doing it for centuries, so naturally he’s perfected it. When something threatens to disturb his peace, he’s determined to ignore it, but ultimately his curiosity takes over…

Then someone in a cloak opens a door that’s stayed shut for generations. Monty follows before anyone thinks to check for a shadow at their heels.

It’s probably nothing. Whatever is going on behind the door in the secret space he’s discovered is someone else’s problem. The incantations could be meaningless. The runes on the ground might always glow like that. He notices a tray of moonstones is missing, but they’ll show up. Probably.

Then the magic in the air starts to sputter. It’s failing. Something inside the tower is coming undone, and for once, Monty can’t pretend not to notice.

He should tell somebody. But most of the witches he knows wouldn’t believe a word out of his mouth — and by the time they might, it could already be too late.

Before the Bell is a prequel novella to The Wicked Witches of Whisperwood series, narrated by its least cooperative, least reliable, most immortal witness.

Titles in The Wicked Witches of Whisperwood series include: Before the Bell (prequel) ~ A Whisper of Witchcraft ~

This is a no-spice, Paranormal Cozy Mystery.

Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy by Roselin Brown

Posted October 3, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, No Spice Romance, Series / 0 Comments

“You like the attention, right?” my husband said. I almost laughed. Six years, and he still didn’t know me at all.

BARBARA

Every Thanksgiving for six years, I got it right. Down to the last detail. And on the last one, I watched him comfort his high school sweetheart instead of me. That was the night he called it “attention.”

I used to think it was one bad night that broke us. It wasn’t. It was six years of small cracks, and he just happened to be standing there when the whole thing finally came down.

I told myself it was love — burned hands, shelved dreams, and a little less of me every year so he could shine. He paraded me like his best asset. He never once called me his equal.

Now I’m done playing the supporting cast in my own life.

NOLAN

I was wrong. It just took me far too long to see it. I called myself her partner — and left her to fight alone. I called myself her provider — and never saw what it cost her.

I called myself faithful — and never noticed the line I was standing on. It took another man buying her painting — a stranger who saw her before I ever did — to finally wake me up.

Whatever it costs me, I will fix what I broke. I will become the man worth coming back to.

Titles in the Begging for a Second Chance series include: If You Forget Me ~ Talk to Me ~ Stop Taking Me for Granted ~ Stop Treating Me Like a Footnote ~ Stop Showing Me Off Like a Trophy ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Mistletoe Cottage at Peppermint Falls by Liv Hollis

Posted October 1, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Christmas Romance, Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, Kindle Unlimited, No Spice Romance, Second Chance Romance, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

Merritt Ashby came home to Peppermint Falls for one last Christmas. She has no intention of staying.

At fifty, newly divorced and facing an empty nest, Merritt has a plan: restore the Vermont cottage her grandmother left her, sell it as soon as the will allows, and get back to her life in Hartford.

Then she finds Nate Holloway standing in the driveway.

Nate was Merritt’s first love—the man she left behind when she chose a future outside their tiny hometown. Now he’s fifty-one, frustratingly handsome, and the contractor her grandmother secretly hired before she died to restore the family’s three Christmas cottages.

Nan left one final condition: the cottages must be made whole before Merritt or her sisters can sell. Which means spending the weeks before Christmas repairing Mistletoe Cottage alongside the one man Merritt has spent three decades trying not to remember.

But as Christmas draws closer, old traditions return, and Mistletoe Cottage begins to feel like home again. She came home planning to sell a cottage and return to Hartford. Instead, she may have found the one thing she never expected—a reason to stay.

Titles in the Peppermint Falls series include: Mistletoe Cottage ~ Cocoa Cottage ~ Peppermint Cottage ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

The Widowed Rancher and the Nanny by Jancy Marlowe

Posted October 1, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, Kindle Unlimited, No Spice Romance, Series / 0 Comments

Five years ago, I lost her. Now I have eight weeks to keep her.

Hiring a nanny for the summer seemed like a good idea. Finding out she’s Ivy Sullivan– the woman I never got over? Not so much.

At first, we’re just trying to survive sharing the same ranch. Then Ivy starts helping my six-year-old daughter create a memory book to honor her mother, winning over my grandmother, and turning family dinners into my favorite part of the day.

The more time we spend together, the harder it becomes to ignore the feelings we left behind years ago.
Especially when my daughter is convinced we’re in love and keeps collecting “evidence.”

For the first time in a long time, Hartwell Ranch feels whole again.

Then Ivy gets accepted into the Nashville program she’s dreamed about for years.
Suddenly, the woman who feels like home has an expiration date.

Now I have eight weeks to convince Ivy that the best things in life aren’t always the ones you plan for.

Titles in The Hartwell Ranch series include: The Widowed Rancher and the Nanny ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Planting Roots by Ava Donato

Posted September 29, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, Kindle Unlimited, No Spice Romance, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

I came to Willow Creek to decide whether Nash Cordero’s struggling farm was worth saving. I never expected him to make me question the life I’d built in Seattle.

Nash is stubborn, guarded, and determined to save the land his father left him, even if it means doing everything alone.

Unfortunately, I’m the consultant who could determine his future.

A devastating frost forces us to work side by side, and three professional days become muddy fields, late-night conversations, and a guest cottage I’m finding increasingly difficult to leave.

The closer we get, the more dangerous it becomes. Nash is terrified I’ll choose Seattle and leave him behind.

I’m terrified getting close to him could cost me the career I’ve spent years building. Then my boss discovers the truth and forces me to choose between the future I planned and the man I never saw coming.

I came to Willow Creek to decide whether Nash’s farm was worth the risk. Now I have to decide if love is.

Titles in the Harvest Hearts series include: Planting Roots ~ Wild Harvest ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Publication Date: October 1, 2026

Stop Treating Me Like a Footnote by Roselin Brown

Posted September 21, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, No Spice Romance, Series, Women's Romance Fiction / 0 Comments

One reckless night. One hasty marriage. One devastating truth.
“I don’t want children,” my husband said. “Especially not with Ava.”

Ava

All I ever wanted was a family—a real one, built with a man I loved. I thought my love could thaw the Koch family’s cold, calculating arrogance. I thought Johansen was different from the father who raised him.

I was wrong.

By day, he was my boss. By night, he was my husband—a secret neither of us was allowed to speak of at the office. To him, our marriage was a secret he savored keeping—a thrill locked behind closed doors. With one careless sentence, he stripped me down to an asset: a convenient wife, easily dismissed, easily replaced. I didn’t cry. I didn’t beg. Instead, I handed in my resignation, filed for divorce, and erased every trace of him from my life. The Koch family didn’t get to decide what I was worth—I did.

Johansen

Our story started at a Halloween masquerade—a woman in a spider costume who made me forget every rule I’d ever lived by. It nearly ended with the coldest words I’ve ever spoken. My father raised me to believe love was a weakness. For a long time, I believed him. Now I have one chance—maybe my last—to prove I’m nothing like the man who made me.

Trigger Warning: A note from the author: this book includes pregnancy loss.

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

The Maplewood Inn by Kimberly Van Meter

Posted September 4, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Contemporary Romance, No Spice Romance, Small Town Romance, Standalone, Women's Romance Fiction / 0 Comments

Three estranged sisters. One crumbling Vermont inn. One last chance to become a family again.

When their grandmother dies, the Harper sisters are drawn back to the picturesque small town of Maplewood Hollow—the place they once called home and the place they’ve spent years trying to forget.

Waiting for them is an unexpected inheritance: the beloved Maplewood Inn.

There’s just one catch.

To claim it, Margot, Nina, and Sadie must live together under its roof for three months. If they can’t make it work, they lose the inn—and the last piece of their family history—forever.

For practical, career-driven Margot, the inn is nothing but another responsibility. For selfless Nina, who’s spent years putting everyone else first, returning home stirs dreams she buried long ago. And for free-spirited Sadie, whose answer to every problem is to keep moving, staying in one place may be the hardest challenge she’s ever faced.

Then they uncover a long-forgotten letter hidden among their grandmother’s belongings—a secret that finally explains the heartbreaking rift between the women who came before them.

As old heartbreaks reopen and buried truths come to light, the sisters must decide whether to hold on to the anger that drove them apart… or risk everything to rebuild the family they thought was lost.

Because sometimes going home is the bravest thing you can do.

~Standalone~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

The Beachside Rental by Jennifer Faye

Posted August 26, 2026 by Marsha in Booksprout ARC, Closed Doors/ Fade to Black, Contemporary Romance, No Spice Romance, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

Bluestar’s latest matchmaker is of the four-footed variety. Gus, the golden retriever, has found the perfect mate for his human—if only they’d listen to him.

Jenna Adams is the front-end supervisor at the Island Market. She feels as though she’s at a crossroads in her life: remain a part of the family business or strike out on her own. Her mind tells her to move on, but her heart tells her to remain on the island.

Simon Bennett is a bestselling author with a major motion picture deal. But money and fame can come with serious drawbacks. When his agent finds him a quiet beachside rental on Bluestar Island to lie low and write his next book, he thinks all of his problems are solved…until he meets his beautiful neighbor.

Jenna’s new neighbor has a habit of stepping on her last nerve. However, when push comes to shove, they’ve got each other’s backs. Will these neighbors find they have more in common than they ever imagined?

Titles in The Adams Family of Bluestar Island series include: The Art of Seashells ~ The Beachside Rental ~

A connection to the Bluestar Island universe through another island family. The entire world includes (so far): Love Blooms ~ Harvest Dance ~ A Lighthouse Café Christmas ~ Rising Star ~ Summer by the Beach ~ Brass Anchor Inn ~ Summer Refresh ~ A Seaside Bookshop Christmas ~ A Lighthouse Snapshot ~ Inheriting Her Island House ~ A Brass Anchor Inn Christmas ~ Race to the Beach ~ The Art of Seashells ~ The Beachside Rental ~

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

Escape to Lighthouse Cove by Kate Hewitt

Posted August 24, 2026 by Marsha in Contemporary Romance, No Spice Romance, Series, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

Grace longs only to hide away. Fleeing both a traumatic marriage and a scandal-laden divorce, she needs to disappear somewhere safe with her six-year-old son Jacob.

Finding the job running a small nature reserve on the remote, beautiful island of Lighthouse Cove off the rugged Maine coast feels like a miracle. It’s a tiny slice of land with a population of exactly twelve—about as much peace and solitude as a person could possibly dream of. But Grace isn’t the only one looking to hide away.

No sooner has she arrived than she has a run-in with Noah Lawrence, the reclusive, fiercely unfriendly but dangerously attractive billionaire owner of the island, when she attempts to rescue a seal on the desolate shoreline of his magnificent gated property.

Noah ends up having to rescue her and Jacob, but his arrogant remoteness infuriates Grace because it reminds her so much of her ex-husband— privileged, wealthy, and without morals. Even if Noah is totally gorgeous, there’s no way she wants to get involved with a man like that.

But Noah has just as many secrets as she does, and he has reasons to want to hide away, too. Grace is about to find out that even when you try to hide from the world, you can’t hide from your feelings…

Trigger Warning: Sensitive Subject, Grief

Titles in the Lighthouse Cove series include: Escape to Lighthouse Cove ~ A Second Chance at Lighthouse Cove (2/27)

This is a no-spice romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes. Tension and kisses might be involved.

An Unexpected Companion by Mindy Obenhaus

Posted August 6, 2026 by Marsha in Connection to another series, Contemporary Romance, Harlequin, Kindle Unlimited, Love Inspired (Harlequin), No Spice Romance, Series/Duet, Small Town Romance / 0 Comments

With his dog by his side… Is a second chance within reach?

After losing his family and his leg in a car crash, widower Dirk Matthews dedicates his solitary life to woodworking and his mobility service dog, Molly.

That is, until a troubled kid steals from his truck. Desperate to reach her grieving oldest son, widow Tessa Wagner agrees to have the boy help Dirk work on her family’s ranch.

Only she doesn’t expect her own connection with the carpenter. Soon they’re feeling more than the shared loss of loved ones.

But will past heartbreak stand in the way of their future?

Titles in the Legacy Ranch series include: An Unexpected Companion ~ Their Texas Christmas Redemption ~ A Texas Easter Blessing ~ The Pastor’s Christmas Prayer ~

(An Unexpected Companion is also part of K-9 Companions #31)

This is a no-spice, sweet, inspirational romance, perhaps with closed-door or fade-to-black scenes (rarely). But awareness, tension, and kisses might be involved.