Every other month (or so), our Book Club picks a different trope or theme and we all bring a book that meets the criteria. It’s a fun way to build up our TBR piles and we thought you might enjoy their recommendations too!
This month our topic was outliers. Those books we love from tropes we usually don’t. Here are the books we talked about:
Accidentally Amy by Lynn Painter
IT STARTED WITH A CUP…
Isabella Shay is usually a very honest person.
But when she’s running late for her first day at a dream job and the barista yells for “Amy” 3x with no answer, she does the unthinkable.
Izzy takes that PSL.
It’s the exact drink she ordered and paid for, only waaaay further ahead in the line, so she mutters “I’m Amy” and grabs the cup.
But when she turns around and runs directly into the most attractive man she’s ever seen, spilling the drink all over his GQ shirt and tie, she ends up having the ultimate meet-cute. Sparks fly and things feel beyond promising until he says the words, “See you tomorrow, Amy.”
Uh, oh – she’ll definitely have to straighten him out the following day.
Only when she gets to her new office and meets the VP of her department, it is none other than Blake Phillips – the hottie from Starbucks. And the man might’ve been charming to “Amy,” but he is an arrogant grump to Izzy, an arrogant grump who dos not find her explanation funny at all.
Forever Your Rogue by Erin Langston
He was her last chance. She was his first certainty.
Cora, Lady Dane, gave up her dreams of happily ever after a long time ago. Now newly widowed, the young mother is determined to finally live on her own terms…until a devastating betrayal shatters her hopes for the future. Faced with the prospect of losing her beloved children to overbearing relatives, Cora needs the help of the one thing she swore she’d never have again: a husband.
Nathaniel Travers hasn’t a care—or responsibility—in the world. Content with his wayward lifestyle, the charismatic rogue has no interest in marriage or duty. That is, until the earl cuts off his bank accounts. No stranger to wild escapades, Nate is game for any scheme that keeps him afloat…even a madcap ruse with a stubborn viscountess.
A fake engagement should be a straightforward solution to both of their dilemmas. But a summer at Cora’s estate tests their arrangement, and it isn’t long before their simmering attraction escalates to a feverish crescendo. When they are forced to confront the real complications of their faux betrothal, Nate has to make the first worthy gamble of his life…if only Cora can risk her guarded heart.
Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann
When Cora attends her sister’s birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame. She doesn’t anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on Dean—her arch nemesis and ultimate thorn in her side.
And she really doesn’t anticipate waking up in shackles in a madman’s basement.
To make matters worse, Dean shares the space in his own set of chains.
After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and practical jokes, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they’d end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive.
But Cora and Dean have no idea their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them together with far more than just chains.
Nanny for the Neighbors by Lily Gold
That’s what the note attached to the abandoned baby carrier says. And now my three gorgeous neighbors are in deep trouble. None of them have a clue how to look after the baby that’s been left on their doorstep.
Luckily, there’s a nanny in the building. I can barely believe my eyes when the sizzling boys next door come knocking for my help. The truth is, I’ve been secretly crushing on the guys in 5A for years—and now I finally have an excuse to meet them all.
There’s Jack, the sweet, nerdy game designer with the infectious smile.
Cyrus, the flirty dancer whose smooth moves melt my brain into goo.
And Sebastian, the ripped businessman with the smoldering stare.
Every day, I go to their apartment to take care of the baby.
And every night, they take care of me. It doesn’t take long for our arrangement to get steamy. Soon, I’m falling for all three of them.
It’s a dangerous game. These men are my bosses, not my boyfriends, and I’ve already told them that romance isn’t in the cards—but every molten look and stomach-fluttering kiss makes it harder for me to stay strong. And when work threatens to tear our fragile family apart, one thing becomes very clear:
I’m sick of being the girl next door.
It’s time this nanny got a promotion.
Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young
Winnifred “Win” McNulty has always been wildly independent and not one to be coddled for her limb difference. Win has spent most of her life trying to prove that she can do it all on her own. With some minor adjustments, she’s done just fine.
Hooking up at a costume party with the incredibly charming Bo changes everything. Win finds herself pregnant—and decides to keep the baby. While Bo is surprisingly elated to step up to the plate, Win is unsure of whether she can handle this new challenge.
Together, Win and Bo decide to get to know one another as friends and nothing more while they embark on this parenting journey together. But, as they both should know by now, life rarely goes according to plan.
The Beast Takes a Bride by Julie Anne Long
He would pay any price to possess her. But even though Alexandra Bellamy sacrifices herself to save her family’s fortunes, a shocking betrayal sunders her marriage to a taciturn brute of a war hero, Colonel Magnus Brightwall, before it even begins. Five years of icy separation later, a scandal—with Alexandra at the middle—reunites them, and Magnus issues an edict: they will confront the ton, rescue their reputations, then Magnus will banish her to another continent—forever.
But alone in a suite at the Grand Palace on the Thames, a new battle begins—between pride and the unexpected volcanic passion stirring between them. The danger is real: Magnus rediscovers why Alexandra is the only woman who could ever break him. And even as she lays bare the beautiful heart beating beneath the battered hide of the near-stranger she married, Alexandra knows she may have already lost him—even as she finally falls fatally, irrevocably in love.
For Real by Alexis Hall
Laurence Dalziel is worn down and washed up, and for him, the Scene is all played out. Six years from his last meaningful relationship, he’s pushing forty and tired of pretending nothing has changed. Then he meets Toby Finch. Young. Fearless, fierce, and vulnerable. Everything Laurie can’t remember being. Toby doesn’t know who he wants to be or what he wants to do, but he knows that he wants Laurie. The problem is, while Laurie will surrender his body, he won’t surrender his heart. Because Toby is too young, too intense, too easy to hurt. And what they have―no matter how right it feels―can’t last. It can’t mean anything. It can’t be real.
