KCBR Blog

COVER REVEAL — The Challenge by Penelope Ward.  Penelope revealed these gorgeous covers today! I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek earlier this week, and honestly, I couldn’t decide which one was my favorite. August 30th release on Kindle Unlimited.  Check out both covers and don’t forget to read the synopsis. I have a feeling this book is going to be another favorite from one of my all-time favorite authors.

Title: The Challenge: A Single Dad Romance

Author: Penelope Ward

Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance

Tropes: Single Dad, Second Chance, Forced Proximity,

Friends to Lovers, Small Town, Found Family

Cover Design: Letitia Hasser, RBA Designs

Photographer: Robert Dahey Photography

Model: Beau Carrillo

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.

GOODREADS LINK: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/255464908-the-challenge

PRE-ORDER LINKS – Special pre-order price of $3.99 (price will go up after release)

Amazon US: https://a.co/d/0fHCrUkV

Amazon UK: https://amzn.eu/d/0ifzve22

Amazon CA: https://a.co/d/0ebTpmgl

Amazon AU: https://amzn.asia/d/0dTpVF1N

Will be FREE to read in Kindle Unlimited

Special Edition Paperback: https://a.co/d/0gyOQgHR

Audio Preorder will go live in mid-August. The current paperback preorder is for the alternate cover only. A model-cover paperback will be live on release day.

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.

AUTHOR LINKS

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/penelopewardauthor 

Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PenelopesPeeps 

Instagram: http://instagram.com/PenelopeWardAuthor 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@penelopewardofficial 

X: https://twitter.com/PenelopeAuthor 

OTHER BOOKS BY PENELOPE WARD

See all books here: http://www.penelopewardauthor.com/books 

Rising Waters by Aleatha Romig is live and ready to binge read using Kindle Unlimited.  This dark psychological thriller is not to be missed.  Read my spoiler-free review below.  

Buy Now on Kindle Unlimited https://a.co/d/08MGDxDa

#affiliatelink 

A dark atmospheric psychological thriller packed with small-town secrets, buried trauma, and shocking twists.

She escaped her past—and the man she never forgot.

Now with two girls gone missing, she's pulled back into a deadly game she may not survive.

Jillian Thorne built her career making the unreal feel real.

On Hollywood soundstages, she stages murder, kidnapping, and violent crime with chilling authenticity—turning fiction into gripping entertainment.

But nothing she’s created compares to the truth waiting in Blue Gil.

Nearly six years after escaping her small hometown, Jillian is drawn back by the suspicious death of the town’s beloved high school football coach. What first appears to be a tragic loss quickly unravels into something far more sinister—a dark mystery no one is willing to confront.

Because in Blue Gil, secrets aren’t just buried… they’re protected.

As disturbing clues surface and a brutal tragedy strikes dangerously close to home, Jillian finds herself trapped inside a real-life psychological thriller. The instincts that made her successful in Hollywood may be the key to solving the crime—or the very thing clouding her judgment.

Everyone in this small town is hiding something.

Including Jillian.

To uncover the truth, she must break through an unspoken code of silence, deception, and loyalty—and face the past she thought she left behind. Because some secrets refuse to stay buried.

And in this twisted game of suspense, trusting the wrong person could be deadly.

Have you been Aleatha’d?

*Perfect for fans of Sharp Objects, All Good People Here, and The Last House Guest, Rising Waters is a dark and addictive psychological thriller filled with buried secrets, small-town corruption, twisted family loyalties, and devastating betrayals.

This is a complete 80K stand-alone psychological thriller with a STEM FMC who needs to learn secrets before it’s too late. The only connection to Aleatha’s FEAR OF FLAMES is that our favorite podcasters from Crime Daily Podcast are back, showing the readers another perspective.

*You do not need to read Crime Daily Podcast book one, FEAR OF FLAMES before RISING WATERS.

Review of Rising Waters:

Check out my spoiler-free review of My Forever Girl by Laura Pavlov.  This is the first book in the all-new Blue Sky Bay series.  Get it now on Kindle Unlimited. 

A Small Town, Friends-to-Lovers, Forbidden Love Standalone Romance from USA Today and Amazon #1 Bestselling Author, Laura Pavlov.

Gracie Reynolds and I have been best friends since we were kids.

She’s smart, kind, funny, beautiful—and one of the best parts of my life.

When Gracie walks into a room, people notice.

I always notice.

But when she moved across the world with a guy I despised, it felt like I’d lost a piece of myself.

I missed her in ways I still can’t explain.

Now she’s back— and she’s crashing at my place for a couple of months while she figures things out.

She’s single and ready for a fresh start.

I’ve always had her back, and that hasn’t changed.

What has changed?

The way that she looks at me.

The way I can’t stop looking at her.

So, when Gracie makes me a once in a lifetime proposition--obviously, I'm all in.

But this isn't your average gray area--it's a full-on, sweat-inducing, five chili pepper detour we never meant to take.

Gracie has big dreams though, and I’d never be the guy to hold her back.

Even if all I want…is to be the reason that she stays.

**This is Book 1in the Blue Sky Bay Series. Each can be read as a complete standalone. A HEA is guaranteed!**

Blue Sky Bay Series:

My Forever Girl

The Last Goodbye

My First Promise

The Best Part of Me

My Way Back to You

Spoiler Free Review

My Forever Girl by Laura Pavlov
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Forever Girl by Laura Pavlov is the first book in the Blue Sky Bay series, and I LOVED it. Honestly, I felt like a proud parent reading this after "watching" Cutler (aka Beef Cake ) and Gracie grow up over the years through Laura's books. Now they're in their late twenties, and let me tell you, this story was everything I hoped it would be.

I've been waiting FOREVER for Cutler to get his own book, and Laura absolutely delivered. While this is technically a standalone, longtime Laura readers are going to eat this up on another level. I loved meeting new characters, and revisiting some of my old favorites felt like coming home, which really gave me next-generation "Ride or Die" vibes. That said, new readers won't feel lost jumping in here.

The best friends-to-lovers tension, the chemistry, banter, and the small-town swoon made this book unputdownable. Laura’s books are basically my catnip. Give me the charming town, protective men, chaotic families, loyal friends, and the feels, and I'm all-in every single time.

My Forever Girl was small-town romance gold and the perfect escape. I can’t wait to read The Last Goodbye when it releases in October.

The Muse by Jewel E. Ann is LIVE.  Check out my spoiler-free review and get ready to one-click your new favorite book from Jewel. 

Flynn Morley has spent his life getting by with as little as possible. No girlfriend. No real home. No money to speak of. Raised in the system, he learned early not to trust people who seemed to have everything. So when he takes a job as a “muse” for a wealthy Minneapolis couple, it feels like crossing a line he never thought he would.

Then he meets June.

June is a bike tour guide with a quick smile, a calm confidence, and a way of making Flynn feel seen without being judged. Their connection is immediate and playful, built on shared humor, quiet moments, and a mutual longing for a simple life.

As Flynn adjusts to his bizarre new job, he starts encountering something he never planned for: kindness without strings attached. It challenges everything he believes about money, power, and who gets to be comfortable in the world. And falling for June only complicates things, especially when it turns out she’s carrying secrets of her own.

When June’s past surfaces, Flynn has to decide what scares him more: becoming someone he’s always sworn he’d never be or letting her see his darkest secrets. If he can’t let go of his fears, he might lose the one person who finally feels like home.

Download today or read for FREE with Kindle Unlimited. https://a.co/d/0edEnp72

Audible: https://bit.ly/4toxJUB

Amazon Audiobook: https://bit.ly/48JaNrF

Narrated by: Tim Paige & Charlotte North

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/4aE7PG1

Spoiler-free review of The Muse

No, Don't Ever Stop by Marni Mann is LIVE! Check out my spoiler-free review of No, Don't Stop by Marni Mann.  Marni serves up all the spicy goodness you didn’t know you needed.   Get it now on Kindle Unlimited. 

Kindle: https://amzn.to/4cpTPkq

Audio: https://amzn.to/4e11GpQ

Paperback: https://amzn.to/4mIMik8

Spoiler-free Review: 

Pieces of the Night by Jennifer Hartmann is LIVE and ready to binge-read. Check out my spoiler-free review below of this rockstar romance and one-click Pieces of Night on Kindle Unlimited. 

Available now:

Kindle: https://amzn.to/41yO1Pa

Audio: https://amzn.to/4tJL7TA

Blurb:

From USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Hartmann comes a new angsty, standalone contemporary romance.

I already had a life. A future. A man I'd promised forever to.

But the night I found Chase Rhodes—bleeding, broken, and more lost than I was—everything changed.

I wasn't supposed to let him in. Wasn't supposed to write music with him in secret beneath the moon.

What started as a quiet escape became something unstoppable. Our songs caught fire, and now the whole world knows our names.

Music has a way of pulling the broken together, even when the timing is impossible and the fallout inevitable.

But some hearts don't settle. Some songs were never meant to stay quiet.

Because the night I saved him was only the beginning.

And loving me might be the last risk he'll ever take.

Spoiler-free Review of Pieces of Night

Burning Blood, book two in the Darkest Destiny Trilogy by Pepper Winters, is here.  Check out my spoiler-free review.  Download this book on Kindle Unlimited. 

Burning Blood Buy Link:  https://amzn.to/4lWSXXs

Blurb: 

The second book in the Darkest Destiny Trilogy by New York Times Bestseller, Pepper Winters.

Lucien has three goals.

Escape Cinderkeep.

Ignore his feelings for Rook.

And drown in a sea of his enemies’ blood.

Rook only has one goal.

Stay alive.

But if she gives him what he wants…one of them will die.

And if one dies…the other follows.

Dark. Obsessive. Fated.

Perfect for readers who love morally grey villains, forced proximity, touch-her-and-die energy, and romance that becomes elemental.

Tropes:

Fated Mates

Elemental Magic

High Stakes

Secrets & Lies

The Burn is REAL

Power Play

Corruption

Soul Bonds

Modern to Epic Fantasy

Morally grey antihero

Touch-her-and-die energy

Spoiler-free Review of Burning Blood