His Grumpy Childhood Friend


Book Description

He was only supposed to give her dating lessons. And maybe a little kissing practice… It's been five years since Charlotte Tam had to endure a public proposal at a baseball game—literally the stuff of her nightmares—and realized her ex never really knew her. She hasn’t dated since, afraid that no man will understand her cranky, introverted, coffee-obsessed self, but she wants to try again. Her friend suggests she ask a guy to ease her into the dating game and give her some lessons. That night at the cider bar, Charlotte runs into Mike Guo, her childhood best friend who lived in the house next door twenty years ago. Surely easygoing Mike, who is now surprisingly handsome, must do well in the world of love. He’s the perfect candidate for this. But as they go on practice dates around Toronto and even have kissing lessons, Charlotte starts to fall for Mike, and that was never part of the plan. He’s too different from her, just like her ex—how could it work? And she suspects Mike has secrets of his own… Can their childhood friendship really become love? * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters. This is the second book in the Cider Bar Sisters series, a collection of interconnected standalones about friends who regularly meet up at a cider bar in Toronto. 1. Her Big City Neighbor 2. His Grumpy Childhood Friend 2.5 Her Pretend Christmas Date 3. The Professor Next Door 4. Her Favorite Rebound 5. Her Unexpected Roommate Also available in audio. Read by Emily Woo Zeller. KEYWORDS: love lessons, practice kissing, Asian hero, Asian heroine, Asian romance, grumpy heroine, STEM heroine, childhood friends to lovers, Toronto, spicy rom-com, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, foodie romance, Canadian romance, opposites attract, big city romance, happy ending




Her Big City Neighbor


Book Description

She inherits a house in Toronto. He’s her hot next-door neighbor. First in series! When small-town engineer Amy Sharpe inherits a house in Toronto, she decides it’s the perfect opportunity to start over and go back to school. Away from the family that takes her for granted, away from the ex who expected so much and gave little in return. The new Amy enjoys wandering around the city and frequenting bubble tea shops, German beer halls, dim sum restaurants, and coffee bars serving Japanese pastries. She has a roommate with the same name as her favorite fictional character, and a group of friends who meet at a cider bar every couple of weeks. The new Amy is also in lust with her brooding, tattooed next-door neighbor, Victor Choi, who is far from friendly but looks really hot cutting the grass without a shirt. Too bad the grass doesn’t grow faster. As she starts telling him about her daily adventures—and as a little kissing in the garden becomes a regular activity—Amy begins to feel more than lust. But she fears she’s falling into her old patterns in relationships and refuses to let herself be underappreciated again. Is Victor really more than a hot fling? And what’s he hiding behind that grumpy exterior? * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters. This is the first book in the Cider Bar Sisters series, a collection of interconnected standalones about friends who regularly meet up at a cider bar in Toronto. 1. Her Big City Neighbor 2. His Grumpy Childhood Friend 2.5 Her Pretend Christmas Date 3. The Professor Next Door 4. Her Favorite Rebound 5. Her Unexpected Roommate Also available in audio. Read by Emily Woo Zeller. KEYWORDS: interracial romance, Asian hero, Toronto, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, spicy rom-com, grumpy sunshine, opposites attract, neighbors, neighbours, big city romance, Canadian romance, foodie romance, happy ending, no cliffhanger, lighthearted romance, light romance, low angst




The Professor Next Door


Book Description

Friendly neighbors can have their benefits… Nicole Louie-Edwards enjoys the nightlife and bringing men back to her apartment, although lately, she’s gotten tired of the chase. Her quiet new neighbor, David Cho, isn’t her type, but after they get trapped in an elevator together on her birthday, she develops a friendship with the kind geology professor. Then, blushing, he tells her that he can hear her having sex but tries not to listen. Except it’s clear he’d like to, and she’s surprisingly turned on. They embark on a friends-with-benefits arrangement hotter than any she’s had before. She didn’t expect him to be so naughty between the sheets. David becomes a bigger part of her life outside of the bedroom, too, bringing her desserts and going viral on TikTok with her grandmother, but she can’t imagine he wants to be her boyfriend, and it’s not like she wants that, either. She’s convinced she’d lose her identity in a relationship, like she did ten years ago. Yet she can’t help getting more and more attached to the professor next door… * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters. This book is part of the Cider Bar Sisters series, a collection of interconnected standalones about friends who regularly meet up at a cider bar in Toronto. 1. Her Big City Neighbor 2. His Grumpy Childhood Friend 2.5 Her Pretend Christmas Date 3. The Professor Next Door 4. Her Favorite Rebound 5. Her Unexpected Roommate Also available in audio. Read by Emily Woo Zeller. KEYWORDS: friends with benefits, friends to lovers, neighbors, neighbours, thin walls, Asian hero, Asian heroine, nerdy hero, hero looks hotter with glasses, foodie romance, Toronto, spicy rom-com, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, big city romance, Canadian romance, happy ending




His Grumpy Childhood Friend


Book Description

She hasn't dated in five years, afraid no man will understand her cranky, introverted, coffee-obsessed self. But she wants to try again, so he's going to give her dating lessons...




Before We Were Strangers


Book Description

From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Sweet Thing and Nowhere But Here comes a love story about a Craigslist “missed connection” post that gives two people a second chance at love fifteen years after they were separated in New York City. To the Green-eyed Lovebird: We met fifteen years ago, almost to the day, when I moved my stuff into the NYU dorm room next to yours at Senior House. You called us fast friends. I like to think it was more. We lived on nothing but the excitement of finding ourselves through music (you were obsessed with Jeff Buckley), photography (I couldn’t stop taking pictures of you), hanging out in Washington Square Park, and all the weird things we did to make money. I learned more about myself that year than any other. Yet, somehow, it all fell apart. We lost touch the summer after graduation when I went to South America to work for National Geographic. When I came back, you were gone. A part of me still wonders if I pushed you too hard after the wedding… I didn’t see you again until a month ago. It was a Wednesday. You were rocking back on your heels, balancing on that thick yellow line that runs along the subway platform, waiting for the F train. I didn’t know it was you until it was too late, and then you were gone. Again. You said my name; I saw it on your lips. I tried to will the train to stop, just so I could say hello. After seeing you, all of the youthful feelings and memories came flooding back to me, and now I’ve spent the better part of a month wondering what your life is like. I might be totally out of my mind, but would you like to get a drink with me and catch up on the last decade and a half? M




Maigret's Childhood Friend


Book Description

“A writer as comfortable with reality as with fiction, with passion as with reason.” —John Le Carré When a familiar face from Maigret's past brings him word of a mysterious killing, the Inspector jumps on the case When a long lost friend pays a visit to Maigret's office, he is shocked to learn that the man's roommate has been murdered. With the help of his old friend, Maigret delves into the life of the victim and finds a complex web of relationships that leads him to the culprit. Absorbing and impossible to predict, Maigret's Childhood Friend is a riveting mystery that reveals a new shade to the iconic detective.




Not Another Family Wedding


Book Description

Weddings are always disasters in her family. This one is no exception. Natalie Chin-Williams might be a cranky professor of climatology who thinks the world is doomed, but she believes in lasting love…just not for herself. She has a long history of failed relationships, plus the men she dates inevitably want children and she doesn’t. Now thirty-six and single, Natalie expects endless comments about her love life when she attends her baby sister's wedding. Worse, weddings are always drama-filled disasters in her family. She needs emotional support to get through the weekend, so she enlists the help of her friend Connor Douglas, the dependable family doctor. The wedding reception goes south when a drunk aunt announces a family secret that sends Natalie reeling and shakes her faith in love. Luckily, she has her long-time friend to lean on—a man she somehow ends up kissing. But there’s no way this could turn into anything lasting, is there? That’s impossible for her, especially now… * * * KEYWORDS: family drama, interracial romance, friends to lovers, rom-com, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, Canadian romance, happy ending, child-free romance




Her Pretend Christmas Date


Book Description

She’s home for the holidays with her starchy fake boyfriend… Although she’s the fun and outgoing one, Julie Tam has always lived in the shadow of her older sister, Charlotte. Now Charlotte has a good career and a great boyfriend whom their parents love, and Julie has neither of those things. Her blind date with Tom Yeung is disastrous; however, he’s exactly the sort of guy her parents would like—a methodical, strait-laced pharmacist who even folds his underwear and wears paisley ties. So, she pretends they’re a couple to impress Mom and Dad in their phone conversations. When her mother insists that Julie bring Tom to her hometown for Christmas, Tom, who has no plans for the holidays, agrees. But Julie doesn’t know how she’ll tolerate a whole weekend in his company, especially when they have to share a bed and participate in a gingerbread house competition together. The man is irritatingly proper and set in his ways. Except after hours of baking and skating and opening presents, she’s starting to find Tom annoyingly attractive and even endearing. And now, she doesn’t want this holiday weekend to end… * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters. This novella is part of the Cider Bar Sisters series, a collection of interconnected standalones about friends who regularly meet up at a cider bar in Toronto. 1. Her Big City Neighbor 2. His Grumpy Childhood Friend 2.5 Her Pretend Christmas Date 3. The Professor Next Door 4. Her Favorite Rebound 5. Her Unexpected Roommate Also available in audio. Read by Emily Woo Zeller. KEYWORDS: Christmas romance, holiday romance, fake dating, novella, Asian hero, Asian heroine, Asian romance, rom-com, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, Canadian romance, opposites attract, baking, ice skating, bad first date, happy ending




Grumpy Fake Boyfriend


Book Description

A weekend of socializing at a beach house? Will Stafford's worst nightmare. Yet he's agreed to fake a relationship with his best friend's little sister for a couples' getaway... I'm a pretty simple guy. When I'm not writing a science fiction novel, I'm watching a good movie or reading a book. Alone. I like my reclusive life. That is, until my only friend asks for a favor—pretend to be his baby sister's boyfriend on a couples' vacation. Her ex is going to be there and she needs me as a buffer. I should have said no, but Naomi Kwan is bubbly, energetic, and beautiful. She also means everything to her brother. But now, our fake romance is starting to feel all too real, and I find myself stuck between the promise I made to my friend and risking my heart to the one woman who might actually get me… * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters, all set in Canada. KEYWORDS: interracial romance, grumpy hero, fake dating, fake relationship, best friend's sibling, best friend's little sister, opposites attract, grumpy sunshine, beach vacation, rom-com, contemporary romance, romantic comedy, Asian heroine, steamy romance, spicy rom-com, open door, Canadian romance, happy ending, guaranteed HEA, no cliffhangers, freebie FOR FANS OF: Helen Hoang, Cathy Yardley, Chloe Liese, Olivia Dade, Talia Hibbert, Kate Canterbary, Sarina Bowen, and Pippa Grant




Ice Cream Lover


Book Description

A grumpy man who detests ice cream meets a cheerful woman who owns an ice cream shop. I hate ice cream. Ever since my fiancée left me at the altar and skewered me in her bestseller “Embrace Your Inner Ice Cream Sandwich: Finding the Positive You in a World of Negativity,” I haven’t been able to stomach the stuff. Unfortunately, my five-year-old niece is a budding foodie and her favorite place in the world is Ginger Scoops, a cutesy Asian ice cream shop. Since I’ve been looking after my niece a lot lately, I’ve spent too much time there, sipping black coffee, refusing to eat ice cream, and trying not to look at the owner, Chloe Jenkins. Chloe is obnoxiously cheerful, and I can’t stand her. Naturally, I end up kissing her. But I’ve sworn off women after the fiasco with my ex-fiancée, and I’m convinced I’m no good at relationships. Still, with Chloe I’m tempted to do the impossible: give love and ice cream another chance… * * * Jackie Lau writes soft and steamy romances with Asian characters and lots of food. The Baldwin Village series is set in a Toronto neighborhood, and each book may be read as a standalone. Book 0.5: One Bed for Christmas Book 1: The Ultimate Pi Day Party Book 2: Ice Cream Lover Book 3: Man vs. Durian KEYWORDS: foodie romance, ice cream shop, grumpy sunshine, opposites attract, Asian hero, biracial heroine, grumpy hero, small business owner, rom-com, romantic comedy, contemporary romance, steamy romance, big city romance, Toronto, Canadian romance, happy ending