Weekly Book Recs 36-2025: Love After Loss, New Beginnings
- Apollo Imperium
- Sep 5
- 9 min read
WEEKLY BOOK RECS: 12 book suggestions every week
This week, we're diving into contemporary romance, women's fiction, second chances and some historical fiction! The theme of these book recs––love after loss, new beginnings––is one that mixes the sweet, the bittersweet and the bitter. So if you feel like crying, smiling, grieving or like falling madly, deeply in love, you're with the right edition of our book recs.
“Unbreak You” by Michaela Kuntzmann
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Women’s Fiction, Second Chances
If she stayed she would be dead...
Starting over is never easy. Starting over in a place where no one knows who you are is even harder. In a place like St. Barnabas Sound, second chances are the way of life. Audrey Delaney stepped off the train in the seaside village ready to start fresh. Armed with nothing more than frail hope, thirty-six cents and a determination to survive. Audrey and her infant son make this seaside Maine village their home. Haunted by a past that left its mark, Audrey learns to trust again.
Benjamin Brewer had the worst year of his life. All he wants is to run his family’s resturant and raise his daughter in the safety of his large extended family. He was unprepared for this girl to enter his life and turn it upside down. Ben doesn’t know what to think of the girl his sister brought home. He sees in Audrey the same demons he’s faced. Together they find that love doesn’t hurt. Love is unbreakable.
“When You Returned” by Havelah McLat
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Second Chance, Small Town
Once a renowned skater, Jaclyn is now a single mother, working at the beloved skating rink in a small town in Colorado that has been in her family for generations. When the rink is at risk of being lost, she looks for help from professionals.
The last person she expects to help them get back on their feet is Lavern, an old flame from high school. After running from grief over the loss of his brother eight years ago, Lavern is back in town on assignment from a company that helps struggling businesses. Assigned to help the rink recover, he now must face the girl he once loved and left behind.
Together, Lavern and Jaclyn are the only hope to save her family’s rink. But confronting the pain of the past might be more than they can imagine.
“The Next Chapter” by Leigh Jack
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Fake Dating, Found Family
Haley Bronze is a bestselling romance author who’d rather write about love than live it. An anxious introvert, she’s most at peace with a pen in her hand and the sound of the waves outside her cozy cottage in Avalon, New Jersey. But everything changes when she finds a mysterious note tucked inside a special edition of her favorite book.
The trail of notes leads her to Mike Moon, a charming fellow romance writer who’s juggling deadlines and raising his two younger sisters, Maddie and Luna, while his mother sits behind bars for a crime she swears she didn’t commit. When the pair decides to fake-date to satisfy the cryptic demands of whoever is leaving the notes, neither expects to fall into a story of their own.
As they piece together the literary puzzle, Haley starts to open up in ways she never imagined, with Mike helping her step beyond the pages of her carefully structured world. Inspired by the notes, the two decide to co-write their next novel together... but just as they think the story has reached its happily-ever-after, one final message changes everything.
“Wandering in the Dark” by Etta Lane
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Grumpy/Sunshine, Emotional Healing
Amber:
Desperate to gain some control of my spiraling life, I made a reckless decision in the form of a 6’4 grumpy, tattooed man. A man that buys the storefront next door to mine three weeks later. Jake is infuriating, cocky, and burrowing his way under my skin. As tensions fly, so does a connection that surprises and terrifies me - one that might help us both. The more I see behind his broody persona, the more I feel my restraint slipping. Our growing feelings could heal us both, but how do I keep the pain of my past from holding me back?
Jake:
Watching my best friend marry the love of his life only reminded me how empty mine feels. Everyone wants something from the quiet guy covered in ink - but no one stays long enough to see what’s underneath.
When Amber storms into my world, all fire and sharp edges, I realize she’s exactly what I didn’t know I needed. Working side by side forces us into each other’s orbit, and despite our differences, I see the pain behind her guarded eyes and the strength holding her together. I’m falling for her, but how do I make her see she doesn’t have to wander in the dark alone?
“The Next Round” by Eva Frances
Tropes/Genre: Spicy Contemporary Romance, Second Chance, Friends to Lovers
Shaken and stirred. Five years is a long time between drinks for old friends.
Shaken by a series of heartbreaks, Andie Herrera’s fear of jumping into new relationships leads her to run away and keep her distance from the possibilities of love, even with restaurant and bar entrepreneur, Chris Vaughn. After five years apart, Andie and Chris are unexpectedly thrown together in a mix of professional and personal circumstances, as they work on the launch of a new bar establishment. Is it their chance to re-ignite their friendship and heal the rupture from the last time they saw each other?
The heady cocktail of familiar warmth, heated conversation, and undeniable chemistry in their shared moments has Andie questioning what she really wants: friendship—or maybe even more, this time around. Can Andie move beyond her deep-seated fears to finally take the leap of faith and meet Chris halfway? Is it possible that the person who knows her best might be the love she’s been missing?
“Drowning” by Jasmine Enjel
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Trauma & Healing, Family Drama
Jasmine has finally achieved her wildest dreams, but will her past come back to haunt her like a reoccurring nightmare? Will success be enough of a life jacket to keep her from drowning in the ocean of her traumas? With her viewpoint on life and love tainted, she finds herself just going through the motions, until her life is turned upside down in a way that she never imagined. This is a story of love, healing, happiness, heartbreak, and family.
“A Forever Summer” by Havelah McLat
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Grief, Family Secrets
Katherine is an artist struggling with the grief of losing her mother at a young age. When her father dies, she and her sister unexpectedly inherit a house in Westchester Bay—a house she doesn’t remember.
When she finds a strange collection of old letters addressed to her, she starts to question everything. Her dreams and drawings all seem to hold a secret, a hint of who she was before the day her mother died.
While searching for answers, she befriends Janson Caswell: a kindhearted man with a complicated past of his own. The deeper their relationship grows, though, the more they are faced with a darker reality.
Will the truth tear them apart?
“Always-? Forever.” by Sana Asher
Tropes/Genre: Romantic Comedy, Fake Engagement, Enemies to Lovers
Kartik Kapadia is on the verge of losing his inheritance-unless he gets married soon. To make matters worse, the person next in line is his idiot brother, who just so happens to be married to Kartik's ex-girlfriend. It'll be a cold day in hell before Kartik lets them have it. Then he meets Samaira Bhatt. She is everything he is scared of. She is compulsive, she likes things a certain way. She's also a romantic. He has given up on finding love. He realizes she might be the key to getting his inheritance, but what he doesn't realize is that she also might have a key to his heart.
Samaira Bhatt, living her life in NYC, loves romance and romantic comedies, except her life is a comedy with no romance... until she meets Kartik Kapadia. She's looking for a way out from her parents forcing marriage down her throat when she has zero love life and can't find a guy who is good enough for her. And Kartik is just the thing she needs. He needs a fake wife, she needs a fake boyfriend to get her parents off her back for a time being.
What happens when they decide to get "fake" engaged, do they fall in love? Or will they part ways after the time is up? My money is on the former.
“Coffee & Curveballs” by Mika C.C.
Tropes/Genre: Contemporary Romance, Sports Romance, Friends to Lovers, Romcom
A modern-day romcom that ignites passion and blurs the boundaries between two friends. This city-romance gives the essence of How I Met Your Mother brought into the world of baseball. A dual POV, medium-burn romance, filled with comedy, drama and spicy content.
“Paris Scissorhands” by Mia Kim
Tropes/Genre: Romance, Career Ambition, Cross-Cultural Love Story
Disclaimer: Written by the author but translated to English in parts with help of AI
It’s about a Korean hairstylist, a determined young hairstylist from Seoul, as she navigates ambition, art, and adversity in her quest to find success in the high fashion salons of Cheondam-dong and Paris. Trained in the shadow of hardship and personal sacrifice, her journey unfolds with emotional depth, cultural nuance as she faces many temptations in Paris.
“The Keeper of Lost Daughters” by Veronica Leigh
Tropes/Genre: Historical Fiction, Found Family, Motherhood & Sacrifice
The moment Lidia laid eyes on the abandoned baby on her doorstep, she knew she would risk everything to protect her forever.
1941, Krakow. Lidia Sobieska hears a knock on the door and is shocked to find a baby in a basket on her doorstep. Attached to the basket is a letter from the baby’s mother, begging to save her daughter Suzanne from the Nazis. Always wanting children of her own but unable to conceive, Lidia knows there is only one right thing to do. She names the baby Sophie and vows to do everything she can to love and protect her. As living conditions in Krakow worsen and food rations dwindle, Sophie becomes Lidia’s light. Witnessing the inhumane conditions of the nearby ghetto, Lidia is determined to do what she can to save more lives. With help from the local priest, she adopts Eva Diamant, a thirteen-year-old Jewish girl in need of a safe home. As the girls form a new family, Lidia will go to extreme lengths to conceal her daughters’ real identities and get them through the war.
1946. It’s been years since Lidia had to fear for her girls, until a sudden knock on the door threatens to change their lives forever. On her doorstep stands a man who calls himself Adam Altman, claiming to be Sophie’s biological father. His story is full of horror and bravery, and he has gone through hell to retrieve his daughter. But Lidia did not risk everything for a stranger to tear apart her family. She will not give up her daughter without a fight.
The Keeper of Lost Daughters is a poignant story of motherhood, courage, and the power of finding the light during the darkest time in history. Fans of Kelly Rimmer, Ellie Midwood, and Anna Stuart will be captivated by this emotional and inspiring page-turner.
“A Promise” by Amelia Martin
Tropes/Genre: Historical Fiction, Survival, Found Family, Love Against All Odds
In a country defeated by a world war in 1918, a new hate emerges. A hate for all that is not German. A hate that will inflict one of the most heinous atrocities to human life the world has ever seen. Today this hate is on the rise once again. We must ask ourselves …Will we allow one of the darkest times in human history to repeat itself, or will we find a way to stop it this time?
Life in Germany after the loss of WWI has been plagued by devastation and uncertainty. Elisabeth, Adam, and Hannah are a light for each other in these bleak times. As Adolf Hitler rises to power they enter into adulthood. Dreams they once shared will be diminished as they struggle to survive under the new Nazi regime. They promise to stay together, but fate has other plans. Life will take a drastic turn and lead them on their own separate paths to the most unexpected places. Adam and Hannah will be persecuted and hunted as Adolf Hitler implements his Final Solution to the Jewish problem. Elisabeth will find that she has a dangerous enemy lurking in the shadows determined to destroy her. They will struggle to survive one of the darkest times in human history while staying true to a promise that seems impossible to keep.
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