Books with MCs over Thirty
Alan Bayles,Double Jeopardy
Genre: Science Fiction Thriller
Description:
Called to the scene of a grisly double murder in a northern English village, Detective Inspector Dave Barnes thinks he's seen everything—until the threads of his investigation unwind an otherworldly secret.
As the Inspector and his team delve deeper into the case, a former history professor, with a personal interest in the crime, steps forward to provide bizarre clues that seem too impossible to be true. And, as Professor Claire Tulley shares her discoveries dating back to a failed military experiment 90 years earlier, DI Barnes realises that he's embroiled in a cover-up that reaches the highest levels of the government and beyond.
On a parallel Earth, Colonel David Barnes observes his doppelgänger with contempt as the detective edges closer to learning the truth about alternate worlds and the multi-dimensional portals that link them. But, as the Colonel seeks to assume control, he will do whatever it takes to overcome those in his way, even if that means assassinating the man reflected in the mirror.
With the fate of his Earth at stake, and realizing that not everyone around him is who they appear to be, Detective Inspector Barnes and his team must battle for their survival. But how can he win the fight when his own reflection is plotting against him?
Caroline Noe, A Wolf So Grim And Mangy
Genre: Humorous Fantasy
Description:
A Land of Darkness drowns in despair.
It’s called My Office.
When I’m not typing manifests, I churn out fantasy books no-one reads.
Less Young Adult, more MAD: Middle Aged Disappointment.
So, when I’m gifted a magic book for Secret Santa, I can’t believe my luck.
One miserable ‘Once Upon a Time’ later and I’m marooned on a frozen mountain,
heaving with weirdos, biting each other’s throats.
The Snake’s oily,
The Eagle’s bald,
The Bear’s accident prone,
My ‘Handsome Prince’ is more cheesed off Wolf, busy scratching,
and
I’ve no idea who the Villain is (unless it’s me).
Worst of all…
I’ve no way home and the Mangy Wolf’s got the hots for me.
D. W. Brooks, Homecoming Chaos
Genre: Romantic Suspense (BIPOC)
Description:
A dead body in the parking lot of her family’s business, a killer on the loose, and a handsome detective asking a lot of questions…
Jamie Scott’s life fell apart four years ago when she broke off her engagement, turned down a dream job, and went overseas to run away from her life. Now she’s back, but the reunion is not without problems. She arrives home just in time to attend the soiree her mother planned, but she’s not prepared for what she finds—a dead employee in the parking lot.
Detective Nick Marshall is assigned to the murder case at the forensics lab owned by Jamie’s family. He meets the headstrong Jamie, but he has a job to do. And his attraction to her… well, he’s a professional.
Jamie knows the stakes are high. She has to face the past and save her parents’ business while dealing with her family drama and an uncertain future. She also has to deal with Nick, who wants her out of the way of his investigation. But fate keeps throwing them in one another’s paths… and into chaos that they both want to avoid, but neither can seem to escape.
E.M. Williams, Chaos Calling: Book I of The Xenthian Cycle
Genre: Fantasy Action and Adventure
Description:
What if you were on stand-by for the end of the world–and you didn’t know?
Anna Lin is done with crying. Her mother has died and her father’s refusing to deal with, well, anything. Her brother Jason, an emergency physician in Vancouver, has long since checked out.
Meanwhile, caring for her mother’s decline and sorting out her estate has iced Anna’s realty career. The bills are piling up. The kids are out of school for the summer. And her husband, Malcolm, is running out of patience.
Beyond frustration, Anna hears raccoons in her Toronto garage late one night. But no neighbourhood pest awaits her.
For the first time in two millennia, mysterious creatures have returned to our world to hunt us. As the strange attacks increase, Anna realizes that she, Jason, and Dave LaRoque Montcalm, a recovering startup CEO and their childhood best friend, hold the keys to defending their city and the world—if she can convince them to join her.
Jess Wisecup, Between Wrath and Mercy (The Divine Between Series)
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Description:
A mother will do anything to save her child, no matter the cost.
After her daughter is kidnapped, Emmeline Highclere—a thirty-four-year-old mother living in isolation with memories and grief her only companion—must do everything in her limited power and divine abilities to get the girl back.
Emmeline believes her daughter, Elora, is the Beloved—the conduit with goddess-granted divine abilities prophesied to bring peace to the Three Kingdoms. Because the last person thought to be the Beloved was brutally murdered by the enemy kingdom of Folterra, Emmeline has dedicated the last sixteen years to hiding her daughter and keeping her safe. When Elora is kidnapped by a Folterran prince, Emmeline must leave her place of hiding, resolving to do anything to rescue her daughter. But to have any chance against those who took the girl, Emmeline must call upon one of the most powerful conduits in the Three Kingdoms, the Crown Prince of Vesta—the man who broke her heart—and hope he helps her despite their estrangement.
With the weight of his father’s impending death hanging over his head, Crown Prince Rainier has begun to make moves to prove his dedication to assume the role of king. When he is visiting the estate that was once a second home to him, the woman who has long haunted his dreams and consumed his thoughts appears before him, asking for his help to find the child she had with another man. Now, he must decide: does he drop what he is doing to help Emmeline, or does he maintain his unwavering duty to the Crown?
Now, Emmeline and Rainier must work together to find the Beloved—to save the girl from the Folterrans and fulfill the prophecy of peace—while they both battle feelings of remorse, grief, and heartbreak, trying to ignore the heated desire and simmering attraction between them that never left.
Katelyn Brehm, The Art Collector (Demon Among Us Series)
Genre: Contemporary Paranormal Romance
Description:
A quiet art historian. An irresistible demon. And an insatiable hunger neither can escape.
Madelyn Frye enjoys her simple, drama-free life, even if it means there's an empty seat next to her on the couch at night. But when her firm lands a lucrative contract to appraise the paintings of an infamous mansion with a storied past, her comfortable routine is upended by the handsome and mysterious millionaire who owns it.
For over a century, Thomas von Dreiss has resigned himself to a solitary fate, refusing to let his hunger transform him into a monster. But he never expected the art appraiser who shows up at his door to test his unshakable restraint. Her brilliant mind and kind heart rekindle long forgotten hopes and set his carnal needs aflame.
Will Madelyn risk shattering her safe and predictable world to be with Thomas? And if she does, will Thomas's dark secret destroy their chance at a happily ever after?
Katie Halloway Chasing Freedom
Genre: Sci-fi Romance
Description:
Cassie has spent her whole life trapped. Being told what to eat, how to exercise, who to love, where to work. but she has discovered a way out and will do anything to make her dreams of freedom real.
Nick has created the perfect life for himself. With no one to care for, no responsibility, he isn't tied to one place, and he can do his job in peace. That all changes one hot summer day, when a woman walked into him in a market square. He should have just walked away but then he rarely did the smart thing.
Chasing Freedom is a slow burn spicy romance set in a post-apocalyptic future. This is part one of a three part series.
Kayla Love, A Bliss Bay Romance Series
Genre: Contemporary Romance (BIPOC)
Description:
After a series of short-lived love affairs, Brandy is looking forward to escaping to Bliss Bay for the summer. Imagine her shock, and surprise, when her ex, Justin, unexpectedly shows up - with his new girlfriend! In an attempt to demonstrate she is over him and has moved on, Brandy makes up a fake boyfriend!
With only two weeks to put up or shut up in introducing her “new man” to her friends, Brandy is ready to fess up when a serendipitous meeting leads to her finding a co conspirator. While getting to know her fake bae, Jalen, Brandy catches real feelings. What will happen when her too-good-to-be-true fake relationship is met with an obstacle that could destroy her plan? Will she overcome the obstacle and save face, own her truth and admit she’s super single, or something else?
Khadine Grant, Along Came Callum: New Beginnings Book
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Description:
Gracie: I’ve given my husband over twenty years of my life, and now he’s left me for a younger model. At nearly forty, I have to start over again and create a new life for myself and my children. I’m not looking for love again, not after being burned so badly.
Callum: I’m the epitome of a playboy. I’ve only ever met one woman with whom I’d like to settle down with, and she broke me. I doubt anyone else will be able to compete... or will they?
Lynn Montagano, Royals and Legends Series
Genre: Steamy Sports Romance
Description:
Spicy contemporary sports romance series with a twist and darker themes
Melissa Grace, The Midnight in Dallas Series
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Description:
Olivia Sinclair left her dreams of a music career behind, along with her hopes for love and a family. With her husband having left her for more fertile pastures, she’s content to focus her energy on her thriving bakery, a new home, and an ornery rescue cat named Mama. That is until Liv’s best friend drags her to a concert where she meets the handsome (and much younger) frontman of the popular band, Midnight in Dallas.
Jaxon Slade is looking for a little inspiration. Up against a deadline, his ability to write music has escaped him. But when he meets Liv backstage, all of that changes. Jax is instantly captivated by her witty sense of humor and effortlessly beautiful voice. As the two grow closer, he begins to see a future with Liv by his side. All he has to do is convince her that their connection is worth the risk.
But when Jax suggests taking their relationship to the stage as a duo, fame makes some of the most painful details of Liv’s past public, testing her belief in their relationship and herself. Liv must decide between being the woman the world and her ex told her she was, or choosing the woman she was always meant to be. Home Is Where You Are, the first in the Midnight in Dallas series, is a story of love, friendship, and the family we choose.
Home is Where You Are is a heartwarming celebrity romance with sizzling chemistry, a strong heroine, and on-page steam. Though the Midnight in Dallas series is interconnected, each book can be read as a standalone.
Nicole Silver, Chosen of Gods
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Description:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one: A werewolf walks into an art gallery…
Raine is happy running her small art gallery and frame shop, and flirting with the handsomest customers. She doesn’t want anything permanent, let alone a relationship that comes with built-in issues before it even starts.
But when Thorstein walks into her gallery, looking like a giant blond Viking and acting like he’s afraid he’ll break something, she finds herself wanting to put him at ease. Except Thorstein’s life is not his own, because he’s not only a werewolf, he’s a berserker, and his father has kept him on a magical leash, used him as an enforcer, for nearly a century.
To escape his father’s control and take back his life, Thorstein and Raine will have to ask the one person Thorstein has been unable to face for decades, a man he nearly killed under their father’s direction, and who has every reason to hate him: his younger brother Magne.
And if Magne won’t help, then there may be no future for Thorstein and Raine. And even if he will, it could be too late.
Ophelia Wells Langley, The Borderlands Princess
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
Description:
What her people need, or what her heart wants?
Destined to unite the war-torn kingdoms of humans and Fae, Princess Sorcha must do her duty. But her heart has other ideas.
The road to Fae-lands is long, and her Fae escort, Lord Conall, is handsome, dashing, and brave-all things a loyal knight should be. Yet no fae wants a human queen, and more war is on the horizon. Her betrothed, High King of the Fae, has secrets of his own, and she's not sure that he's her destiny. But her handsome knight and her heart will have to stand aside, for the princess has a duty-her people need this alliance. Until terrible secrets are exposed and the princess must choose between upholding her duty or following her dreams.
One mistake, one wrong choice and it's not just her heart that will suffer, it's her entire kingdom...
Val Gale,Hunter
Genre: LGBTQ+ Romance,Trans Romance
Description:
Hunter is a love story between a trans-man and a trans-woman who meet when writer Hunter has finally completed full female to male reassignment surgery. Cate is his nurse, supporting him in the hospital as he heals physically and faces the traumas of his past.
Soon he realizes that his physical scars pale in comparison to his emotional turmoil, he confides in her about his abusive brother and his journey from Lisa to Hunter. Their trans identities and shared struggles create a bond that helps each of them pull back the layers of self-protection, fighting substance abuse, prejudice, and their own fears as they grow together.
Varsha Chitnis, The Art of Taking Second Chances
Genre: Contemporary Romance (BIPOC/South Asian)
Description:
Talented and headstrong, Tara has worked hard to become what she is today, a successful art appraiser and an aspiring artist. When her latest job brings her to Dallas, the last thing she expects is running into Sameer Rehani. He is the spoilt, rich, and irresistibly gorgeous man who broke her heart years ago in India. This time she is determined to keep her distance. But it’s getting increasingly difficult to deny the heat that arises within her every time she sees him. Desire is rebellious, after all.
A bona fide rake during his college days in Baroda, Sameer has now sobered up to head a successful financial firm in Dallas. He is one step away from achieving everything he’s wanted for over a decade, when in walks Tara Kadam, his first and only love. And she still has the power to make his heart skip a beat. Sameer has a lot to make up for but he knows he needs to put everything on the line for a second chance at happiness.
Steamy romance combines with high drama in this debut novel by Varsha Chitnis which presents South Asian characters in a refreshing new light.