Cover Story

Eden Sands has been a star for twenty years, but it’s lonely at the top. Her mediocre marriage just ended, and her inner circle is smaller than ever. The stage is the only place she’s ever felt like she truly belonged, and yet, her last album flopped, and her upcoming tour hasn’t sold out. Eden’s desperate for her star to shine bright again, but when her team suggests a collaboration with an up-and-coming young star to give her a boost, she balks.

Parker Chase is everyone's friend and every woman's conquest. She's always looking for her next one-night companion until a statuesque blonde strolls up to her bar one night. She never believed in love at first sight before now, but can she overcome a troublesome past that leaves her feeling unworthy of any lasting affection?

Professor Kate Walker is a tenured, world-renowned engineer. She has a job she loves, a daughter she adores, and friends who've been with her through thick and thin. It's a fulfilling life that doesn't really need anything—or anyone—else. Especially not a charming, downright amazing woman who happens to be twenty years her junior.

Devon Douglas can’t believe it when she comes face-to-face with Sadie again. They were inseparable in high school until Devon did something she ruined their friendship on a lovestruck whim. Sadie is as dazzling as Devon remembers—and she can still hold her own surfing the wild waves of Clearwater Bay. Devon’s first priority is her five-year-old son, but getting to know Sadie all over again is taking up more and more of her headspace. Sadie is inexplicably drawn to Devon. It could be nostalgia. Or remnants of their old friendship flaring. But what if it’s more than that?

Quinn has no idea why a short trip to a small town turned into her moving there and buying an antique shop, but after five years of waiting, her answer walks right through the shop’s door. Leaving the big city, Abby Brennon, a best-selling author, moves back home after looking for the quiet calm that comes from living in a small town but also something else that she can’t quite describe even to herself. When she walks into the antique shop and sees Quinn Jordan, things start to make sense.

Raffo retreats to a lake house in Big Bear, desperate to heal her broken heart. But peace and quiet prove impossible when she discovers Dylan—her best friend’s mother—already staying at the house, hiding from her own mistakes. Dylan is everything Raffo doesn’t need: older, off-limits, and utterly captivating. What starts as a shared summer sanctuary quickly turns into something far more dangerous when their undeniable chemistry ignites. As their bond deepens, passion blossoms into a love neither woman saw coming.

Emily Janssen prefers to play it safe. At thirty-five, she’s still working at the inn her grandmothers own while dreaming of a day when she’s able to support herself fully with her art. And while her friends have all hiked to the summit of the mountain in their hometown of Crescent Falls, Vermont, something has always held Emily back. Diana Devlin has already made it to the top. Well, almost. She’s this close to securing the promotion that will put her in line to take over as CEO of her family’s hotel chain when her father retires.

Lara Bennett is world-famous in Ribbonwood, population 907. She's the woman you don't trust your husband with: a real-life femme fatale. If there's a scandal in town, she's at the center of it, ruining businesses, marriages, and egos everywhere she goes, with her sharp tongue and that body that makes you look twice. Besides… didn't she more or less kill a man?

Ellie Fisher loves most things about being a nurse in the emergency department . . . just not working with Regina Novak, an icy attending physician who acts as if she's God's gift to medicine. The dislike is completely mutual. Regina thinks Ellie is a starry-eyed romantic with a sentimental attitude that has no place at work. When Regina gets talked into volunteering at a singles auction, Ellie accidentally bids on her—and ends up winning. Oops! Since the money raised is for a good cause, they reluctantly decide to go through with the dates.

Have you ever had a crush on your babysitter? Taryn Ross sure did. Sixteen-year-old Charlotte was sophisticated, thoughtful, gorgeous, and fun. Taryn counted the minutes until they’d hang out. But Charlotte and her family moved away. Now a transfer student at Hillspoint University, Taryn is ready to officially come out when she runs into a familiar face at a party. Charlie, now a grad student, insists on walking a drunk Taryn home. To the detriment of Taryn’s heart (and libido), Charlie has only grown kinder (and hotter) with time.

Elle Robinson's world is literally swept away when a raging flood sends her car careening toward certain doom, only to be rescued by Angela Lane – a spirited, self-reliant, and unexpected savior who pulls Elle back from the edge of calamity. In the aftermath of their brush with mortality, passions ignite between the two women, mirroring the uncontrollable rise of the floodwaters. However, fate has a wicked sense of humor.

Monti Schroeder is on a quest for peace. She has been since the moment she was born. But peace has remained elusive. Living as a nomad, she takes work where she can get it. When her sister calls with a favor for her neurotic boss, Monti agrees to it for a few extra bucks. What Monti finds when she arrives is a woman just as broken as she is. And no matter what, she can't leave Athena to flounder on her own.

For the first time, Regan Gallagher is facing the world without her best friend by her side—no, Sutton isn't dead but she is in Rome, following her dreams. And Regan really is thrilled for her. Left to her own devices, she's doing . . . fine. Oh, except for the fact that her new roommate, Emma Bordeaux, has hated Regan since the literal day they'd met two years ago. Sure, most of their interactions end in disaster and Regan is the root cause, but they are all accidents! She'll win Emma over though; she's determined to make this living arrangement work come hell or high water.

Since A-List actress and Hollywood's sweetheart Wren Acker came out, not only is she at the top of the acting world; she's also crush number one for her queer fanbase. Loving life, loving her job, loving her cat-everything is fantastic. Except that lack of any kind of private life. When a car accident brings her to the ER, the bottom falls out of her world when she realizes that reserved Doctor Taylor, her physician, is Madison Taylor from camp way back when she was a kid. And boy, does Madison still hold a well-earned grudge for how that all ended.

Good things come to those who wait and now Sutton Spencer and Charlotte Thompson get to reap the benefits. They spent months circling around admitting their feelings, but the time for denying their love is over.