TW/CW: I have some startling news. I request that you hold on to your butt and possibly fetch your blood pressure medication if necessary.
Harlequin is releasing a hardcover of Heated Rivalry in September – a special edition of a book that is doing moderately well right now in terms of sales and borrows. LOL.
This is the cover.
Y’all.
Y’all, what is this.
Are those…robots? Robots and some hockey sticks?
I ranted about this on Bluesky because my own blood pressure was about to max out and my Losartan was about to rise up out of the bottle and slap me into next week.
My head is tilted so far my cranium is about to bounce down the hall like a macabre cat toy.
This is embarrassing. The secondhand embarrassment is measurable on multiple scales, including the one in my bathroom. WAHT IS THIS.
Is this an AI textbook? Heated Rivalry: AI vs. Humanity?
Why are they robots? Which one is Ilya?
Why is this the cover image? Why is one of the hottest properties adapted into one of The Hottest Shows Ever being released in hardcover with…line robots?
I cannot get over the TRON of it all.
My nature is of course to question myself: maybe I’m not the intended audience? Maybe this doesn’t appeal to me for reasons I won’t understand.
But for WHOMST is this? To what readership does this appeal?
And, again, how is there not a tie-in cover? You know, just one image featuring those two people who portrayed two random bland ass characters that absolutely no one is writing Tumblr posts and AO3 fic by the metric ton about?
What is happening?!?!?!
If I had to sum up in one image:

So I ask you: what genre do you think this is? If you’d never heard of Heated Rivalry, what kind of book would you think this was?
Nonfiction? Corporate spy thriller? AI textbook?
Simply Unforgettable
Simply Unforgettable by Mary Balogh is $1.99! This is book one in the Simply Quartet. The hero and heroine first meet during a snowstorm while stranded at an inn. I know Balogh’s romances are an auto-buy for many of you.
New York Times bestselling author Mary Balogh invites us into an intoxicating world — a select academy for young ladies — and introduces two unlikely lovers: a truly marvelous heroine, music teacher Frances Allard, and the man who seduces her with a passion no woman could possibly forget …
They meet in a ferocious snowstorm. She is a young teacher with a secret past. He is the black-caped stranger who comes to her rescue. Stranded together in a country inn, Lucius Marshall and Frances Allard share a night of glorious, unforgettable passion. But Frances knows her place. Due to begin her teaching position at Miss Martin’s School in Bath, Frances must try to forget that one extraordinary night. But when fate once again throws them together, Lucius’s passionate, single-minded pursuit will force Frances to give up all her secrets — except one — to win the heart of the man she already loves.
My Big Fat Fake Marriage
My Big Fat Fake Marriage by Charlotte Stein is $2.99! This is a standalone contemporary romance with a fake marriage and some forced proximity. I feel like Stein’s recent contemporaries aren’t hitting the same as her spicier, earlier work.
A fake marriage at a writer’s retreat goes awry when two people fall in love for real in Charlotte Stein’s next sexy and laugh out loud novel!
Connie Evans has always distrusted nice guys. In her experience, they’re just waiting to reveal some horrible secret. And then she meets big, adorable, Henry Samuel Beckett—lover of bow ties, sweet as a superhero who wears his underpants over his tights, and so cheery she struggles to believe he’s real.
Until Henry Samuel Beckett—or Beck, as he’s known to most—tells her what truly lurks underneath his sunny surface. He’s been single all his life. But somehow seems to have told everyone he works with that he’s married. And when Connie can’t help defending him, she ends up being the wife he doesn’t have.
And now they’re on a writing retreat together, surrounded by people convinced this can’t be real, both of them sure that those people are right. Until they have to share their first kiss, their first touch, their first time in only one bed. Side by side, every night, as the simmering tension builds…something has to give.
The only question for Connie is—could it be her heart?
Murder on Sex Island
Murder on Sex Island by Jo Firestone is $1.99! This is book one in the Luella van Horn Mysteries. It was recommended in the comments and I was honestly really tickled by the title.
A sexy reality show. A missing contestant. A one-of-a-kind detective.
“Bless Jo Firestone’s quiet, mad genius. . . . Hilarious and completely brilliant, [a] bloodstained love-letter to reality-dating television.”—Vulture
When a cast member goes missing from the hit reality show Sex Island, producers hire detective Luella van Horn to go undercover as a contestant and solve the case. What the producers don’t know is that the enigmatic Luella van Horn is actually a woman named Marie Jones, a divorced ex–social worker from Staten Island attempting to lead a double life as a private eye. The local press couldn’t get enough of Luella . . . until she horribly bungled her last case and a murderer went free.
Unable to resist the opportunity to be a part of her favorite trashy TV show, travel to a remote island, and embark on a journey for redemption, Marie-as-Luella takes the case. But the more she learns about Sex Island’s dark underbelly, the harder it gets to make it out alive. She encounters shady producers, sleazy directors, contestants willing to do whatever it takes to win the $100,000 grand prize—and the dead body of the show’s missing fan-favorite in her bathtub.
Will she find the killer? Will she find herself? Will she find . . . love?
Find out now, in Sex Island’s most dramatic season yet.
Lab Girl
Lab Girl by Hope Jahren is $1.99! Many readers loved this memoir, though wouldn’t recommend it on audio. Have you read this one?
An illuminating debut memoir of a woman in science; a moving portrait of a longtime friendship; and a stunningly fresh look at plants that will forever change how you see the natural world
Acclaimed scientist Hope Jahren has built three laboratories in which she’s studied trees, flowers, seeds, and soil. Her first book is a revelatory treatise on plant life—but it is also so much more.
Lab Girl is a book about work, love, and the mountains that can be moved when those two things come together. It is told through Jahren’s remarkable stories: about her childhood in rural Minnesota with an uncompromising mother and a father who encouraged hours of play in his classroom’s labs; about how she found a sanctuary in science, and learned to perform lab work done “with both the heart and the hands”; and about the inevitable disappointments, but also the triumphs and exhilarating discoveries, of scientific work.
Yet at the core of this book is the story of a relationship Jahren forged with a brilliant, wounded man named Bill, who becomes her lab partner and best friend. Their sometimes rogue adventures in science take them from the Midwest across the United States and back again, over the Atlantic to the ever-light skies of the North Pole and to tropical Hawaii, where she and her lab currently make their home.
Jahren’s probing look at plants, her astonishing tenacity of spirit, and her acute insights on nature enliven every page of this extraordinary book. Lab Girl opens your eyes to the beautiful, sophisticated mechanisms within every leaf, blade of grass, and flower petal. Here is an eloquent demonstration of what can happen when you find the stamina, passion, and sense of sacrifice needed to make a life out of what you truly love, as you discover along the way the person you were meant to be.

The Completely Arbitrary Sunset Exchange is a femslash+ exchange that I and my best friend are hosting because we think Sunset is cool! This is a low-pressure, medium-inclusive event with a low barrier to entry.
Sunset is "a website established in 2025 dedicated to hosting F/F, NB/F and NB/NB fanworks. It holds pro-freedom of fiction, queer and trans inclusive, anti-bigotry and generally compassionate ideals. For an invitation, you can comment here, on our Dreamwidth or Tumblr, or sign up on Sunset itself.
Schedule:
Nominations: April 6 - 11 2026 (New York time; countdown)
Sign ups: April 14 - 19 2026 (New York time; countdown)
Assignments out by: April 26 2026
Deadline: May 24 2026 (New York time; countdown)
Reveals (works & creators): May 31 2026
Dreamwidth | Tumblr | Sunset collection | Tag set
What's that? You want more "Missed Marks" wrecks?
AS YOU WISH.
First up, Randee C. ordered this simple zebra-stripe cake from her local bakery:
... and ended up with something only a finger-painting preschooler could love:
Zebras of unusual stripes?
I don't think they exist.
Next, Tahneea made two notable discoveries: first, this gorgeous cake:
There's a shortage of perfect ruffles in the world. 'Twould be a pity to damage yours.
And second, a use for leftover coffee filters!
"I do not mean to pry, but you don't by any chance happen to have six hundred coffee filters on hand?"
"Do you always begin conversations this way?"
"YUP."
And finally, Mel D. ordered this beauty for her wedding:
She tells me her baker showed her an impressive portfolio of gorgeous cakes, which made the final reveal on her big day that much more, well, you know ...
INCONCEIVABLE.
And ... EMBIGGIFY!
On the plus side, that silver glitter really clumps together nicely.
Bye bye, brides! Have fun ordering your cakes!
("Think they'll be wrecks?"
"If not, it'll be a miracle.")
BYEEE!
*****
P.S. Forget the cakes, this month has left my house wrecked. I'm so ready for a big purge and organizing blitz - and eyeballing nifty little turntables like this:
7-Layer Rotating Makeup Organizer
Ohhh, look at this beauty. Don't you just want to take her for a spin? It's on sale with a $4 off coupon on Amazon right now, so about $17 Prime. Not bad!
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
Crankshaft, 3/25/26

I like the combination of Crankshaft’s dopey smile and Keesterman’s look of genuine concern in the final panel. Consistently misspeaking like this isn’t normal and it isn’t funny, and I guess someone should tell the latter to Andrews McMeel Syndication, which sells this strip to newspapers all over the country.
Hi and Lois, 3/25/26

Wow, Hi’s face in that last panel is a lot less “Ha ha, the mayor wasn’t even able to get that ball over the plate!” and a lot more “Oh my god … the mayor somehow killed six and injured dozens more with an errant throw. This is awful. This is the darkest opening day in the history of Major League Baseball.”
Mary Worth, 3/25/26

I feel like logically we must assume that there’s an unseen third panel, where someone is fretting that Mary hasn’t reached out for a bit. Is it Wilbur? Probably Wilbur. He’s hit some new emotional low in a comical fashion and Mary is the last person he knows who won’t laugh directly in his face about it. Obviously there’s no unseen fourth panel, because nobody is worried that Wilbur hasn’t gotten in touch lately.
Hello, everyone!
New England was definitely hit with “false spring” last week because there was sleet yesterday. And it’s still so damn windy.
Definitely struggling with lots of competing interests. I think it was LML last week that brought it up. I have video games I want to play and books I want to read. I would just love like a second or third set of eyeballs.
What’s demanding your attention right now?
…
It’s the Steam Spring Sale! If you’re into visual novels or otome games, the reddit community has a big ol’ list of sale prices.
…
Christy sent in this link! A woman in Ontario is looking to sell her collection of 2000 Harlequin romances. What a collection! Anyone interested in buying?
…
The new Bonkers Romance collection is set to launch in about two weeks. The theme this time is Bluebeard. You can get a sneak peek here and sign up to be notified when it the Kickstarter opens.
…
Season 5 of Bridgerton is officially underway!
View this post on Instagram
…
Don’t forget to share what cool or interesting things you’ve seen, read, or listened to this week! And if you have anything you think we’d like to post on a future Wednesday Links, send it my way!
If there's one thing I've learned from Cake Wrecks over the past decade, it's that Epcot is a thing not to be trifled with.
If there's another thing I've learned from Cake Wrecks, it's that you can't make a rounded cupcake cake (ptoieee!). As in, ever. The laws of physics preclude even the merest hint of possibility.
Not that this stops our brave wreckerators from trying, of course. They seem convinced that slathering potentially life-threatening amounts of icing onto anything will put a skeptical customer into a pre-purchase sugar haze.
So let's look at how the seemingly simple circle becomes a disaster destined for diabolically dastardly...um...proportions. (No, wait. Dimensions! Dang it. Broke my stride.)
This...[dramatic pause]...is a base "ball."
And this...is Spider-Man:
Or what's left of him, anyway.
This...is...SPARTA!!!
Actually, no. I think this is supposed to be a hamburger.
"Eh wude lak to baa zebargare kek."
Baker: "I'm sorry, what?"
"Zederbergerer kek."
Baker: "Okay, I'm really not sure what you're..."
*sobbing* "DERBERGER!"
Well just remember, Wreckerators, you can always resort to that old standby: Piping, The Fix For Everything.™
Perfect.
Nina M., Amanda Y., Tyler M., & Ruth U., here's hoping the CCC will be circling the drain sometime soon. Think there's a petition we can all sign?
*****
P.S. Right, so cupcake burgers are a no, but SOCK burgers?
SO MUCH YES.
I like how the patterns are subtle enough to be everyday socks.
*****
And from my other blog, Epbot:
Y’all, look at these two married cuties!

Amanda, co-pilot of the SS Smart Bitches, got married today and THE KVELLING that is happening. If you haven’t met Amanda’s partner, please meet Brian (they/them)!
Congratulations, you two!
Want to just expire from cute? Today is also the anniversary of their first date four years ago.

I knew they’d been planning an elopement, but recently they realized that they can just…get married. Right now. So they did!
I mean, why wait for happy times if you can make them happen sooner?
I’m seriously so happy for them both, and wanted to share the celebration with all of you.

Please share your wishes and advice for a happy future! Let’s shower them both with love and support.
Thanks for sharing your marvelous day, Amanda and Brian – congratulations!
This HaBO is from Kay, who wants to find this romance:
Marriage in trouble with husband having an affair with the mother of one of his son’s classmates. There’s a graduation (high school) party for the son where the mistress attends with her daughter (the son’s classmate.) I think there may be the discovery of the affair or a confrontation of some sort at the party. At some point the husband leaves to live with the mistress in somewhat cramped circumstances with the mistress and her child.
There may be a scene where all parties to the drama are at the same restaurant and the mistress smirks at the wife.
For sure there is some kind of accident that puts the wife in the hospital. By this time the cheating husband has realized that he has made a mistake and wishes to return home. He tells his mother in law that he will spend the night in the hospital so his wife won’t be alone. For some reason he returns to the mistress and the wife wakes up alone and has to call someone else to pick her up when she is released.
Somehow the book ends with the couple reunited. There may be a second book that focuses on the mistress who mends her ways and has her own HEA or HFN.
Not sure how the “hero” is gonna get out of this pickle and feel fully redeemed.
Hagar the Horrible, 3/24/26

I make a lot of jokes on this blog parsing various anachronistic clues trying to figure out where Hagar and his crew are plundering and pillaging at any given time, but … it’s generally France, right? Like, that’s where Norse raiders mostly went in real life, descending on a civilization on the Continent that was wealthier and more advanced than theirs but that had begun to politically unravel as the heirs of Charlemagne fought each other for territory. Today we see a surprising result of this type of cultural contact: one of Hagar’s men, who apparently was getting off on what he thought was an act of sexual dominance over the regional nobility to match his warband’s military success, is clearly devastated to learn that he’s become entangled in what the locals refer to as “an arrangement.”
Beetle Bailey, 3/24/26

This strip actually got me to look up what the experience of a limb “falling asleep” actually is, and I thought it had to do with blood flow but apparently it primarily arises from nerve compression that just cuts off sensation from the affected area altogether. And Beetle is like, wouldn’t it be great if my whole body was cut off from my brain completely? If I were nothing but a pure mind, untethered to physical existence? Killer’s facial expression is appropriate: he is not buying this and neither am I.
Happy Tuesday!
March is nearly over. I can’t believe it! A short release week for us, but then things really start to ramp up. April is already looking bonkers.
What’s on your TBR pile? Let us know in the comments!
Aicha
Author: Soraya Bouazzaoui
Released: March 24, 2026 by Orbit
Genre: Historical: Other, Science Fiction/Fantasy
TEMPTRESS. MONSTER. WARRIOR.
Aicha is the story of Morocco’s warrior goddess, her strange magic, fierce rebellion, and devastating romance. Debut author Soraya Bouazzaoui weaves an epic tale of female rage and hidden myths, perfect for fans of The City of Brass and The Stardust Thief.
The Portuguese flag has been planted across Morocco, its empire ruling with an iron fist. But eventually, all empires must fall.
Aicha, the daughter of a Moroccan freedom-fighter, was born for battle. She has witnessed the death of her people, their starvation and torture at the hands of the occupiers, and it has awakened an anger within her. An anger that burns hot and bright, and speaks to Aicha’s soul.
Only Aicha’s secret lover Rachid, a rebellion leader, knows how to soothe her. But as the fight for Morocco’s freedom reaches its violent climax, the creature that simmers beneath Aicha’s skin begs to be unleashed. It hungers for the screams of those who have caused her pain, and it will not be ignored.
Look at this gorgeous cover!
The Beheading Game
Author: Rebecca Lehmann
Released: March 24, 2026 by Crown
Genre: Historical: European, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Disgraced. Beheaded. And out for revenge . . .
We all know what happened to Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. But what if she woke up the day after her execution and took it upon herself to seek justice?
“Fabulous! A marvelously inventive and mythic reworking of the story of Anne Boleyn. I loved it.”—Kelly Link, author of The Book of Love
“Nobody was surprised at Anne’s conviction. The world loves to put a woman in her place.”
The Beheading Game begins in the hours after Anne Boleyn’s beheading, when she wakes to find herself unceremoniously laid to rest in a makeshift coffin, her head wrapped in linen at her knees. Discarded by King Henry VIII for being unable to give him a male heir and reviled by Cromwell for being too smart for her own good, she was ultimately executed based on trumped-up charges of adultery, incest, and high treason.
Anne escapes the Tower of London, sews her head back on, then sets out on a quest to kill Henry VIII before he can marry her own lady-in-waiting Jane Seymour. The stakes are high—if Jane gives birth to a rival heir, Anne’s daughter, Elizabeth, will lose her claim to the throne. Traveling the streets of London in the guise of a commoner, with the help of a prostitute who becomes a trusted friend (and perhaps something more), Anne soon realizes how little she knew about life in the real world.
A fantastical journey through the wilds of England and Tudor history, filled with danger and magic and steeped in Arthurian legend, The Beheading Game is a prescient reminder that “mouthy” women have always been punished. Now, thanks to debut novelist Rebecca Lehmann, nearly five hundred years after Anne Boleyn’s death, one of history’s most maligned women finally has the chance to tell her story.
Amanda: This is getting a lot of buzz and I’m curious!
Elyse: I am low key obsessed with the Tudors.
Someone to Daydream About
Author: Sydney Langford
Released: March 24, 2026 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Genre: Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Young Adult
For fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon and Alice Oseman, this swoony, fast-paced romance stars a teen who falls in love with the lead singer of America’s most popular boy band during a whirlwind summer tour.
This is what dreams are made of.
Every teenager in America knows eighteen-year-old Felix Song, the lead singer of the most popular boy band since One Direction. Unfortunately, Natalie Nielsen is no exception. Though she thinks of him more as an annoying rich kid from her hometown than a heartthrob.
Uninterested in stardom, Natalie dreams of honoring her late dad’s legacy and making a positive impact on her beloved Deaf community by revamping her family’s run-down Deaf Center. The issue? She has no money. When Felix’s little sister’s hearing loss begins to accelerate, he gives Natalie a generous job offer that would help secure the Center’s future: but she must accompany him on tour this summer to teach him ASL.
What begins as a professional arrangement soon morphs into stolen kisses and late-night rendezvous. But as their connection deepens, so do the risks—and when their relationship suddenly takes center stage, it’s not only their hearts, but Felix’s career on the line. Between relentless public scrutiny, contractual obligations, and meddling band members, Natalie must decide if their dreams can co-exist in the spotlight.
Elyse: A heartthrob from a boyband helps a teenage create a center for the Deaf.
Wolf Worm
Author: T. Kingfisher
Released: March 24, 2026 by Tor Nightfire
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Something darker than the devil stalks the North Carolina woods in Wolf Worm, a new gothic masterpiece from New York Times bestselling author T. Kingfisher
“I saw the devil in these woods.”
Sonia Wilson is a talented scientific illustrator—but she is only able to follow her dream because of her father’s reputation as a renowned scientist. Such is the lot in life for a woman in science in 1899. And after his death, she is left without work, prospects, or hope.
So when the reclusive Dr. Halder offers her a position illustrating his vast collection of insects, Sonia jumps at the chance to move to his North Carolina manor house and put her talents to use.
Once there though, she encounters dark happenings in the Carolina woods, and even darker questions come to light, like what happened to her predecessor? Why are animals acting so strangely, and what is behind the peculiar local whispers about “blood thiefs?”
With the aid of the housekeeper and a local healer, Sonia discovers that Halder’s entomological studies have taken him down a twisted road. His ground-breaking discoveries come with a cost—one that Halder is paying with human flesh.
If Sonia can’t find a way to stop the monstrosity, she may be next under the knife.
The latest from T. Kingfisher!

As should be obvious, I love the JLI work of Keith Giffen and his scripting collaborators like J.M. DeMatteis, so I feel a little treasonous saying this about a story by neither Giffen nor DeMatteis. But I have to speak truth. The lead story here, by Mark Waid and Mike McKone, is my favorite JLI story. Full stop.
( If only the JLU cartoon had adapted this one. )


