KCBR Blog

SMASH is officially on my All-Time Best Kindle Crack List!  I couldn't put this forbidden romance down! Check out my spoiler-free review of Smash by Penelope Ward and Vi Keeland. You can download Smash for FREE with Kindle Unlimited starting October 25th!

✔️ Boyfriend's best friend

✔️ ALL the angst

✔️ Forced proximity

✔️ Forbidden attraction

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.

Get Ready! 

✔️ Boyfriend's best friend

✔️ ALL the angst

✔️ Forced proximity

✔️ Forbidden attraction

Amazon US ➜ https://a.co/d/008td2M2

Amazon UK ➜ https://amzn.eu/d/0hiiygTb

Amazon CA ➜ https://a.co/d/0fkCmBrw

Amazon AU ➜ https://amzn.asia/d/05aa6brG

Paperback (Alternate cover) ➜  https://amzn.to/4gXezAY

Multi-cast DUET Audio ➜ Andi Arndt, Austin Stone and Lee Samuels https://a.co/d/0iaHhJUd

Add to your Goodreads TBR ➩ https://t.ly/kR0UB

Review of Smash 

In Another Lifetime by Swati M.H. is live and one of my top reads of 2026.  Check out my spoiler-free review below.  This second-chance romance is available to download using Kindle Unlimited. Enter for a chance to win a $10.00 gift card from Swati here.

Download In Another Lifetime on Amazon https://a.co/d/0dui9WbZ

Series: Calla's Pieces #1 

Release Date: October 13, 2026 

Genre: Multicultural Romance Tropes: Age Gap, professor/student, second chance at love, Grumpy/Sunshine, soulmates/fated love, jealous & possessive hero, angst & longing, emotional slow burn, dual timelines 

Cover Design: Cover Me Darling

Synopsis

If I ever believed in soulmates, or fate, or the idea that two people are destined to find each other, I buried that belief twenty years ago, along with everything else I lost that year.

Since then, I've built my life around certainty and routine.

Boundaries and distance.

The quiet knowledge that guilt and grief will always be my companions.

But then she walks into my lecture hall, twenty years old, my student, looking at me like she already knows me.

Like she's been waiting her whole life to find me.

Every instinct tells me to keep my distance.

She's too young. Too outspoken. Too distracting.

Instead, my eyes linger a little longer. My hands itch to touch what they never should. My excuses to stay away continue to lead me back to her.

It's not just her impossible eyes that undo me. It's the impossible coincidences I can't explain away.

It's the unsettling feeling that I should know her, too.

Wanting her could cost us everything—my career, her future, and the little semblance of control I've managed to piece back together.

But walking away from the woman who feels like she's always been mine . . .?

That's the kind of loss I wouldn't survive again.

Spoiler-free review

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.

Crooked by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward needs to be your next book purchase.  Crooked is straight-up addictive. Pure #ViPen magic. I loved it so much that I actually listened to the audiobook — which was a first for me! Check out my spoiler-free review.

Synopsis

A new, sexy standalone from New York Times Bestsellers Vi Keeland & Penelope Ward

The last thing I needed was a live-in bodyguard. And I definitely didn’t want him. Six foot two, with broad shoulders that were impossible to ignore and a talent for getting in my way, Wes Callahan was a walking bad decision.

But when you’re the daughter of a notorious mob boss, apparently your opinions stop mattering the moment your father ignites another war. I’d spent my entire life trying to escape that crooked world—new name, new city, newfound freedom. At least until I was suddenly shacked up with my new bodyguard.

Wes knew exactly how to push my buttons. He was also infuriatingly protective. And smart. And funny. And thoughtful when he thought I wasn’t paying attention. Little by little, the walls I’d built started to crack, and falling for the bodyguard became the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done. Because if my father found out, Wes wouldn’t just lose his job. He’d lose his life.

Getting involved with him was reckless, yet I couldn’t find a way to stop it, no matter how hard I tried. But while I was busy losing my heart, the man who took it was hiding a secret.

And it turned out, the most dangerous man in my life wasn’t my father after all—it was the one who threatened to break my heart.

Crooked features TWO stunning paperback covers, will be available in Kindle Unlimited, and has a simultaneous audiobook release! 

 ✔️ Live-in bodyguard

 ✔️ Mob boss’s daughter

 ✔️ Forced proximity

 ✔️ Forbidden attraction

Amazon: https://amzn.to/45Q5CEO

Alt cover: https://amzn.to/4koxCph 

Audio: https://amzn.to/41gbtkh

Crooked by Vi Keeland
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward announced their first mafia romance, I knew I had to get my hands on it. These two have co-written some of my favorite romances, so seeing them step into the “darker” mafia bodyguard world with Crooked immediately had my attention.   I knew this book wasn’t going to be your typical mafia dark romance.  It’s Vi a Penelope, so you know this book is going to be a sexy and fun one-of-a-kind adventure.  

Juliette is the daughter of a notorious mafia boss with a target on her head.  Her father assigns Wes, one of his men, to become her live-in bodyguard to protect her full-time.  Wes has his own secrets and skeletons in his closet to deal with. Juliette wasn’t happy about her new house super hot guest —until she wasn’t.
Crooked delivers that perfect Vi-Pen blend of the feels, tension, humor, and heat, with a dangerous mafia edge that makes everything feel more intense. The chemistry and banter between Wes and Juliette were so addictive. I loved these characters so much that I finally busted my audiobook cherry and WOW. Hearing Wes and Juliette’s characters come to life took this story to a whole new level.  Great, I think I have a new audio book obsession thanks to these two.

Crooked is worthy of date night with a book. Reading Crooked wasn’t just another romance book—it was a full-on reader experience.  Crooked is easily on my top reads of 2026 romance book list. 

 

There Was Yours by S.L. Scott felt like a hug to the soul… and then completely wrecked me before putting me back together again. Then There Was You is set to release on March 27th, and you can download this one-of-a-kind romance via Kindle Unlimited. Check out my spoiler-free book review of Then There Was You by S.L. Scott.  Best of 2026.

Buy Links:

Download this book using Kindle Unlimited!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/4bPr3bl

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

Synopsis: 

The time is now.

New emotional and hopeful standalone novel by New York Times bestselling author S.L. Scott.

I’d almost forgotten what it felt like to smile, to laugh, and to really live. Until I met him.

Heart-stoppingly handsome.

Totally forbidden.

Keats Matthews looked at me like I was something special.

He was escaping his past. I wanted to escape my present. Together, we fell hard and fast and knew we had found forever. Or so we thought …

Six years later, his shoulders are broader than I remembered, his charming smile thaws my frozen heart, and it’s so tempting to run my fingers through his hair like I did years ago. But it’s the tenderness and warmth in his brown eyes that remind me of the forever we almost shared.

It’s magic when we’re together again. Our chemistry has only magnified. Seeing him, confident and more irresistible than ever, has me falling for him all over again and hoping for a second chance.

But he still believes our timing was off before. He’s wrong. It was the secret I kept hidden that was our undoing. Time hasn’t healed old wounds, and not everything hidden has come to light. When it does, we’ll stand together or fall apart. Either way, we must find out.

Author's Note: This contemporary standalone packs in the romance, heart-swoons, and love that never dies, but does not contain cheating or love triangles. It's one love in this book. Two souls that are meant for each other who will have to overcome obstacles to be together.

Spoiler-free Review: Then There Was You by S.L. Scott

Never Stopped Loving You by Siobhan Davis is LIVE and ready to binge-read on Kindle Unlimited.  Check out my spoiler-free review below. 

A brand-new emotional, angsty romance from the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the All of Me Series.

When Callan Hunt arrived at Ryemont High senior year, I couldn’t have predicted the hot Irish football player would become my everything … and end up breaking my heart.

College and dreams of a career in interior design were my sole focus until my new neighbor bulldozed his way into my life.

Callan had ambitions too. He planned to leave Vermont after graduation to pursue his dream of playing for an English Premier League club.

We weren’t looking for love, but fate had other plans.

When Callan was scouted during our freshman year of college, I couldn’t have been prouder.

Until everything came crashing down in one crippling blow.

I was devastated, and it took years to recover.

After finally moving on from the heartache of my past, I now have a successful career and a billionaire CEO fiancé.

Then my first love reappears.

Callan says it’s time I learned the truth about that night.

He claims he’s never stopped loving me and vows to fight for me in a way he couldn’t before.

He seems determined to keep every promise he ever made me, but how is it possible after everything that’s happened?

Spoiler-free Review: Never Stopped Loving You by Siobhan Davis