Lady Wolf's Library

I PUNCHED AN ALIEN AND NOW WE’RE IN COUPLES THERAPY

August 6, 2026

By Kimberley Lemming. Pub Date 8/18/26

Genre: SciFi RomCom

Verdict: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖

Spice Level: 🔥🔥🔥 (Howl)

Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Mated, Forced Proximity

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

It’s not in Blair’s nature to just give up. Not when she’s beamed up to a spaceship and then dropped on an alien planet. Not even when she’s in the middle of a forest fire surrounded by dinosaurs. And definitely not when she’s captured by an arrogant alien king. If King Osid thinks he can break her, he’s in for a shock. Blair lives by one motto: If you stay ready, you never have to get ready.

But absolutely nothing could have prepared her for finding out that she’s that arrogant King Osid’s mate.

Despite recent hiccups, the alien researchers are determined to get their breeding program back on track. With that in mind, Blair and Osid are bundled off to the research center for what they’re told is couples counseling. As they face a series of increasingly dangerous challenges, it soon becomes clear the research aliens may have confused an episode of The Bachelor with Survivor. Bonding over their common enemy, and shall we say…encouraged by love darts, Blair and Osid let down their walls (and take off their clothes). When they discover that there are—somehow—even more secret plans in the works, another hilarious, steamy, over-the-top adventure is in store.

REVIEW

I cannot recommend this series enough. Book two is packed full of adventure, spice, and hilarity. Our two morally gray MCs are going through couples therapy that feels more like some kind of wild ass video game than anything that could possibly be constructive. Perhaps it would work with two people having some minor disagreements, but Blair and Osid have LITERALLY 👏TRIED 👏 TO👏 KILL 👏 EACH 👏 OTHER👏!!

But the line between love and hate is thin, right? It might be thin, but it is NOT nonexistent.

I loved reading from their perspective and getting the story from another angle. They are volatile people on their own, but together? EXPLOSIVE. Plus, so much happens in the book that sets us up for at least one more book, though I suspect at least two more. And all I haVe to say is that I AM READY FOR IT, LEMMING!!! BRING IT ON!

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!!
THE IRON HEX

July 21, 2026

By Victoria S Walsh
Pub Date: 8/4/26
Genre: Romantasy

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌖
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥(Howl)
Tropes: Touch Her and ☠️, Curvy FMC, Witchy, Second Chances, Unreliable Narrator

REVIEW

It’s refreshing to have a thick, beautiful queen as the FMC of a Romantasy. I loved the world building and the multiple POVs. The story was fantastic and I can still see the world in my head. It’s just enough to build a beautiful picture, but not so much that it bogs you down in unnecessary details that won’t come up again. I’m not a fan of world building for its own sake.

I loved and hate the characters (respectively) and the twists were wild. You have a low level witch in a world where most witches were wiped out by the Iron Watch rebellion. She has no memories prior to the last three years and you learn first from Eira, whose world seems so small in the beginning, and then you have other characters who fill in the blanks around her. Hugo is also an interesting character. Definitely morally grey. His relationship with Eira is also interesting but also LAYERED and SPICY. Not to mention Sir Rhona’s perspective, a lady knight deeply entrenched in the politics of the Iron Guard who slowly learns the secrets of this kingdom in upheaval.

It was a good book. I’m excited for the next one, especially with that twist that was at the end–very intrigued as to where this is going!

Thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

Eira Eckhart has spent years building a quiet life in a small town at the edge of a recently overthrown kingdom. Her memory is fractured, her past a blur—but with her shop, her loyal rabbit familiar, and practicing only the potions magic still legal under the watchful eye of the Iron Empire, she’s managed to remain unnoticed by the empire’s witch hunters.

Until Hugo Venton walks through her door.

Brash, clever, and infuriatingly handsome, Hugo is searching for something…and seems to know more about Eira than she knows about herself. But when a terrifying encounter with an unnatural, deadly new breed of soldier puts a price on her head, she has no choice but to join Hugo on his quest.

Their hunt for a missing princess pulls Eira across the continent—and deeper into a past she can’t recall. As buried memories, mysteries in the Iron Empire’s capital, forgotten feelings, and the truth behind her identity begin to surface, Eira realizes the forbidden magic simmering in her veins might be the very thing that could save them from the Iron Empire’s forces as they draw ever closer…if she can remember how to control it in time.
DEVOUR ME

July 16, 2026

Devour Me Book 1

By: Emily Rath
Pub Date: 8/4/2026
Genre: Paranormal/Supernatural Romance, Contemporary

Rating (Story):🌕🌕🌕🌕🌖
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥(feral)
Tropes: Shadow Daddy, Touch her and ☠️, Grumpy v Sunshine

REVIEW

It’s been awhile since I’ve read a hidden world fantasy that felt so real and full let alone one this deliciously sexy.

Dainn has been stuck in servitude to a truly evil witch for centuries, bringing her souls and destroying her enemies. He hates it. He hates her. But he’s stuck. Until one night when he is on one of his missions and is stopped in the middle of feeding from a delicious Jasper Prescott, by a young woman with a soul made of color and light. One who has absolutely no clue what she just did or what she just interrupted, and Dainn is OBSESSED.

Jasper almost died, saved by his niece’s friend and his seasonal employee. She’s non-medical, so how the hell did this tempting young woman stop a wraith mid-feed? And why does he feel so tied to her? The last thing he needs is a distraction while he is trying to stop a noisy archeologist from digging up the graves of his covenant ancestors.

Birdie has no idea what she’s up against, but part of her really wants to be up against Jasper. This summer internship woth the local historical society was supposed to be the saving grace of her grad school scholarship, and the part tome apothecary job was a means to an end. But now, she’s being introduced to a whole different world, one she finds herself wanting to save, with people–witch and wraith alike–that she has come to care for.

This was such a spicy and amazing contemporary why choose romance that has an excellent plot and cast of characters. It was also very, very hot. I absolutely loved this book and I am patiently awaiting the next.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS
Dáinn the Devourer has spent the last two hundred years of his undead life reluctantly bonded to a dark witch, doing her dirtiest work. Devouring corrupt souls may not be satisfying for a wraith, but it keeps him fed. Sent on a job to Burr Island, Dáinn is forced to devour the soul of a rival witch.

But Jasper Prescott is no corrupt magical misfit. He’s powerful and beautiful, with a soul worth savoring. Dáinn is eagerly devouring the witch when he’s abruptly stopped. By a human no less. With one word, Birdie Rhodes does what no being has ever done: she takes his breath away. Now the witch, the wraith, and the human are set on a path that could lead to their destiny…or their ruin.

Desperate for his freedom, Dáinn makes a deal with Jasper: kill my mistress, and I’ll let you keep living. But Jasper wants more than just to live. He has a coven to protect. Their secrets are being threatened by magical forces on and off the island. Bound together in this strange new deal, Jasper fights his growing attraction to the wraith, who is far more human than he appears. And Dáinn fights the urge to devour the delectable witch whole.

The only one who can save them is Birdie Rhodes, hapless historian and sometimes shop girl. Birdie only came to Burr Island for summer work. She has no idea magic is even real. She certainly has no idea she’s now the only thing standing between her witch boss and the hungry wraith aching to devour them both.

As magical forces of darkness loom at Burr Island’s shores, Jasper and Dáinn are both determined to keep Birdie close in Devour Me, book one in a dark, spicy paranormal romance trilogy.
OPERATION: TRUE LOVE

July 14, 2026

Vol 1

By: kkokkalee, Dledumb

Pub Date: 7/28/26 (Print)

Genre: Webcomic, Angsty Teen Romance

Rating:🌕🌕🌕🌕

Heat Level: 🔥(Pup love)

Tropes: Will they won’t they, Finding Your Way, Learning What’s Important

REVIEW

I’m such a sucker for Webcomics like this one. The drama, the catching of feelings, the angst! For the first half I just wanted to smack Su-ae in the right direction and punch Minu. Then the betrayal!! But was it betrayal? I don’t know yet. It’s a mystery. But Eunhyeok? He’s the fix, and I’m hanging in for dear life for Su-ae to WAKE THE HECK UP.

Vol 1 doesn’t cover much regarding the magic Jellypop phone, but we know by the end that something is up with it and we are left wanting more of all of it! 🔥💗

Thanks to NetGalley and WEBTOON for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

Phones are perfect for sending messages, snapping photos, and most importantly, talking to your friends. One thing Su-ae didn’t account for, however, was that her phone would be able to talk back.

Su-ae discovers that Jellypop, a flip phone stored in her locker, is sentient—and Jellypop has a lot to say about Su-ae’s love life. High school romances are never easy, and Su-ae’s relationship with her nonchalant boyfriend seems to be going nowhere.

Lacking the charisma of her step-sister Ra-im is one thing, but seeing the growing sparks between her and Minu just adds salt to injury. It’s up to Jellypop to help Su-ae navigate the peaks and pits of teenage love, and finally get the high school love story she deserves!

This volume collects episodes 1 to 10 of the sensational WEBTOON comic with over 260 million reads, Operation: True Love.
HOW LUCKY AM I

July 7, 2026

By: Christian Watson

Pub Date: 07-28-2026

Genre: Art, Picture Book, Feelgood

Rating:🌕🌕🌕🌕

Art: 🎨🎨🎨🎨

REVIEW

This was an incredibly beautiful and uplifting picture book with little mental health notes that really made me feel things. Good things. I’ve seen and reposted Christian Watson’s art many times. The juxtaposition of a cute skeleton in everyday places like small town hardware stores, cabins, and quaint fields of flowers paired with words about being kind to yourself or finding your soulmate always made me feel some kinda way. A good, deep feeling.

This is the kind of book you would want prominently displayed on a coffee table for friends and family to look through. It’s like a little literary pickup for the soul.

Thanks to NetGalley and Ten Speed Press for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

Join beloved Mr Skelly, a gentle skeleton wandering across lush landscapes and treacherous terrains, through times of joy, loss, grief and love, to find his family and – ultimately – a safe home.

Along the way, he discovers life lessons which help us remember what to hold onto and what to let go of, to realise how lucky we all are, because this beautifully fragile present moment is truly all we have.

Mr Skelly invites you to shift your lens, make peace with what you can’t control, appreciate what can’t be seen, and live your life to the utmost of your ability.

How Lucky Am I is a simple reminder that, in the end, we’re all made of the same bones. With gentle words and hand-painted imagery, this book hopes to shine a softer light on what’s often overlooked – and maybe, in doing so, help us remember what truly matters.
DOMINION

July 2, 2026

By: Jean Kwok
Pub Date: 07-14-2026
Genre: Romantasy
Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥(Howl)
Tropes: Chosen, Caste System, Enemies to Lovers

REVIEW

I won’t lie, I was expecting something potentially formulaic given how many romantasies share a similar SYNOPSIS, but i really loved how different it felt. There were definitely some themes that seemed borrowed, but it was different enough in the execution to feel new. Yes, you have someone who ends up being chosen, but the WHY and who of this person is a delicious twist. Maybe you see it coming, maybe you don’t. However, the best part of the journey in my opinion is the tension between our MCs.

I enjoyed Dominion and I’m hyped for the next book in the trilogy. I am excited to see this one take off.

Thanks to NetGalley and Putnam for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

In a world divided into four rival Dominions, power is everything—and Rubi Morningtail has almost none. Three years after the Annihilation destroyed her homeland and shattered her memories, she lives as an Azure refugee in the Dominion of the Silver Tyger, scraping by as a ribbon dancer and hiding her little bit of singing magic. When she wounds a massive battle tyger on her doorstep, she draws the notice of Blake Axefire—supreme metal mage, leader of the royal tyger warriors, and the last man an Azure should trust. His sentence? Cast her into the Bonding, a brutal trial where tygers choose their riders and slaughter the rest. Surviving is unthinkable.

But survive she does. Now she’s stuck on Blake’s elite team racing to reseal the Anchors to the demon realm. With rebels striking, demons rising, and the Dominions at each other’s throats, Rubi must unlock the truth of her magic and her past…while resisting her dangerous attraction to the ruthless warrior who could be her redemption—or her ruin.
AN EDUCATION IN LONGING

June 25, 2026

By: Charlotte Stein
Pub Date: 07-07-2026
Genre: Dark Academia, Dark Romance

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥(Howl)
Tropes: Dark Academia, Witchy, Enemies to Lovers, Supernatural Twists

REVIEW

I love Charlotte Stein books. I liked this one. I did. I have a few criticisms, but they are similar to other reviews. I feel like we didn’t get enough details or world building and I wanted the characters to be a little more fleshed out. I loved the concept, and the animosity that Harper shows toward Mina is kind of delicious, especially because we can tell there’s more to it. Mostly. But that’s how Stein keeps it spicy. And the spice is very good. I love having more fat rep in Romantasy. I’ve noticed the trend and I’m here for it.

I did finish this book very quickly. Despite the moments when I’m wondering what I missed, I really did like the story and the Alice in Wonderland aspect of the underground. The concept and relationship were beautiful, I just wish there were more color.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

When Mina manages to pass The Test and gain entry to a university that reveals a world of magic just beyond ours, she’s determined to go and prove her worth. But Harrowhall is full of dangers untold, and hardships unnumbered. And every one of them seems designed for only the privileged to pass. If she has any hope of becoming the witch she longs to be, she’s going to have to rely on the last person she wants to: Harker St James, the most lethal student to ever walk those haunted halls.

And once she unearths his dark secret, she has the means to persuade him. Not to mention a way to keep him at bay. Because Harker isn’t just the key to her salvation. He’s the deadly snare that daily threatens to drag her down. Desire fires her magic, but any feeling for him is a poison she simply can’t afford.

Even though the fate of Harrowhall, and the magic it was built on, may very well depend on doing all the things she really shouldn’t.
VERA STEIN IS FINE

June 23, 2026

By Julie Murphy

Pub Date: 7/21/26

Genre: Rom Com

LRating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗

Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥 Hunger Howl
Tropes: Second Chance Romance

REVIEW

JULIE. MURPHY. Please keep approving me for your romances, because they are spicy and have me deeply emotionally invested every time. I cannot tell you how much I wish Starlight Palms was a real place in Palm Springs that I could retire to. Everyone felt so real and the descriptions of the place were immaculate and felt so old Hollywood. Also–ELI! OMG–Eli. Vera–Brody?!?!?! ELI, VERA!! ELI!!!! (IYKYK).

I LOVE my lush lady romances, but this one was featured a middle age protagonist having a hard right turn in her life that pretty much flips her off a cliffs edge. Not literally, but it sure as hell feels like it. It was really refreshing to read a middle aged protagonist who is experiencing actual life. Finding yourself and finding epic love (and hot hot spicyness) doesn’t have an age limit. To top it off, this story takes place against the background of a retirement neighborhood, making it a multi-layered story of heartbreak, love, and self discovery.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Harper Voyager for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

Welcome to Starlight Palms, a favorite retirement facility among Hollywood actors and industry professionals tucked away just outside of sunny Palm Springs. Filled with forgotten scream queens, eccentric screenwriters, and heartthrobs of the past, it has a brand-new resident: Vera Stein, age forty.

Vera knows she’s missed her chance at a life worthy of the silver screen, just like she missed her chance at ever finding true love. But Vera isn’t one to take chances. She’s spent most of her adult years caretaking for her dying mother and her movie star boss’s ego. Now abruptly houseless and jobless, Vera has nowhere to land, so to grandmother’s house we go!

The Starlight Palms Senior Living Center is midcentury Hollywood down to its pastel-painted bones. This desert gem isn’t lacking in saucy plot twists (swinging seniors, anyone?) or a leading man: Elias Buckley, the on-site doctor and Vera’s former ill-fated college fling and—for reasons that will stay in Vegas—legally her ex-husband according to the state of Nevada.

It’s not long before Vera falls into a job as the activities coordinator and under the spell of a certain smart-mouthed doctor… Suddenly all those empty years in LA look less like mistakes and a lot more like backstory. With a fresh start at her fingertips, Vera begins to see that even with all the detours she’s taken, there’s still a Hollywood ending (and maybe even a happily ever after) in sight…
WILLING PREY

June 16, 2026

By: Allie Oleander
NOW AVAILABLE
Genre: Dark Romance

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥🔥(feral)
Tropes: Primal Play, Wealthy MMC, Touch Her & ☠️, Obsession

REVIEW

One Month. $30,000.00. Get ready to run.

Willing Prey is a wild dark romance with moments of humor and loveable characters. Shane, a partner at the law firm where Claire’s ex worked, is interested in hiring someone for a month of primal play, something Claire herself is more than fine with. Buried in debt and freshly divorced from her asshole ex, Claire is ready to get over it–and under Shane. However, Claire doesn’t expect to get exactly what she craves. Someone willing to chase. Someone willing to catch. Someone willing to get dirty and take his prey exactly like she wants him to. But what Shane doesn’t expect is that Claire also has teeth.

I really enjoyed this book. It was spicy and wild and there are a few reveals that I wasn’t expecting that I found to be very cute. Shane is large and brooding but with a good heart and Claire is fierce. Their relationship growth arc is relatable and their chases are amazing. I also enjoyed the tertiary characters and am very excited to see there is a second book releasing this year! If you want a dark but cute feral romance, this is an excellent pick.

Thanks to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

Divorced and buried in student loan debt, Claire Collins eagerly enters a spicy business agreement with an acquaintance who wants to explore his primal desires. The deal is simple: thirty days as his sexual prey, $30,000 in her bank account. All she has to do is give Shane Underwood the hunt of his life.

Claire’s a physical education teacher and perfectly happy to spend her summer having wild, kinky sex instead of working her usual serving job. But once they cross the tree line, she realizes how little she knows about the corporate lawyer paying her to be his prey.

Shane is different in the woods. Brutal. Devastating. Feral.

That’s okay with Claire—she is, too. And she’s sinking her teeth a little deeper into Shane’s heart every time he catches her.
SILVER & BLOOD

June 11, 2026

By: Jessie Mihalik
NOW AVAILABLE
Genre: Romantasy

Rating: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌗
Heat Level: 🔥🔥🔥(howl)
Tropes: Fae, Magic, Mysterious Past, Grumpy vs Sunshine

REVIEW

I read this last year and it’s was one of those books I enjoyed so much, but it had so many twists and turns and I didn’t really know how to write a review without giving too much away. I loved all of the characters. Riela and Garrick, who seems like such a curmudgeon throughout most the book, but he has his reasons, along with his fiercely protective lupine friend.

The tension in this grows to delicious levels and there is enough going on that the plot does not fall to the wayside in an effort to push forward the romance. There is so much to learn and you want Riela to succeed in figuring out why her powers seem to only break through when she is desperate.

There’s also the mistrust from Garrick’s perspective. Usually it would be a red flag for me, but in this case you learn how warranted it is for him and how dangerous it is for Riela.

It’s a very good book. It gets a little dark at times, like once they figure out how to cross and we discover who Garrick truly is. There’s some court intrigue later in the book and danger around every corner throughout.

I highly recommend it. I’m very excited for the sequel. There is so much left to learn.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for the advanced ebook copy in exchange for a fair and honest review!

PUBLISHER’S SYNOPSIS

“There’s something in the woods…

When a vicious beast begins attacking her fellow villagers, Riela reluctantly agrees to enter the forbidden forest and kill the monster as she’s the only mage available—or so she thought.

Untrained and barely armed, Riela is quickly overwhelmed when one beast turns into two. She fears her death is at hand until the unexpected arrival of a scarred, strikingly handsome man with gleaming moonlit magic changes her fate—and provides a rare opportunity to learn more about her own fickle power.

After being rescued and healed from the beast’s poison, Riela awakens in a magical castle complete with a gorgeous library, a strange wolf, and the surly man who saved her life. She soon learns Garrick is both more powerful and far deadlier than a mere mortal mage—but thanks to a century-long curse, his powers are weakening.

Trapped in his castle and surrounded by the treacherous woods, the spark of attraction between Riela and Garrick slowly ignites into fiery desire. But the more they discover about Riela’s magic, the more suspicious Garrick grows of her identity. As they unravel the secrets and lies connecting Riela’s past to Garrick’s, the tenuous threads of trust between them start to fray.

Because Riela’s life—or her death—might be the key to regaining everything Garrick has lost.”