October 16th, 2026
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On Top Shelf
Fresh Pick
THE RALLY
📚 New Books This Week 📰 Latest News 🎪 Reader Games 👻 🎃 Halloween Contest Giveaways 🎃

October Reads Worth Falling For

Danger, desire, second chances, and unexpected romanceβ€”discover this month’s Fresh Fiction Featured Books.

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A poisoned cousin, a five-year-old's life, and a family with too many secrets.


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Supernatural sparks fly
between a bookseller
& her hard-boiled ghost.


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If Her Highness thinks I’ll let another man claim her and my child, she’s lost her royal mind. Sophaya’s mine.


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She found a body. Then she started asking the wrong questions.


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He ghosted her ten years ago. Now she’s stuck with him for Christmas.


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She’s the lady everyone overlooks. He’s the prince who can’t look away.

Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter

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Also by Lynn Painter:

Trust Fall, October 2026
Hardcover / e-Book / audiobook
13 Little Love Stories, July 2026
Paperback / e-Book
First and Forever, May 2026
Trade Paperback / e-Book / audiobook
Fake Skating, October 2025
Hardcover / e-Book
Maid for Each Other, July 2025
Trade Paperback / e-Book
Accidentally Amy, January 2025
Trade Paperback / e-Book
Nothing Like the Movies, October 2024
Hardcover / e-Book
Happily Never After, March 2024
Trade Paperback / e-Book
Betting on You, December 2023
Hardcover / e-Book
The Love Wager, March 2023
Trade Paperback / e-Book
Mr. Wrong Number, April 2022
Trade Size / e-Book
Better Than the Movies, May 2021
Hardcover / e-Book

BETTER THAN THE MOVIES
By: Lynn Painter


Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
May 2021
On Sale: May 4, 2021
368 pages
ISBN: 1534467629
EAN: 9781534467620
Kindle: B08LDV3JXH
Hardcover / e-Book
Add to Wish List

Young Adult Romance | Romance Comedy

In this rom-com about rom-coms, in the spirit of Kasie West and Jenn Bennett, a hopeless romantic teen attempts to secure a happily-ever-after moment with her forever crush, but finds herself reluctantly drawn to the boy next door.

Perpetual daydreamer Liz Buxbaum gave her heart to Michael a long time ago. But her cool, aloof forever crush never really saw her before he moved away. Now that he’s back in town, Liz will do whatever it takes to get on his radar—and maybe snag him as a prom date—even befriend Wes Bennet.

The annoyingly attractive next-door neighbor might seem like a prime candidate for romantic comedy fantasies, but Wes has only been a pain in Liz’s butt since they were kids. Pranks involving frogs and decapitated lawn gnomes do not a potential boyfriend make. Yet, somehow, Wes and Michael are hitting it off, which means Wes is Liz’s in.

But as Liz and Wes scheme to get Liz noticed by Michael so she can have her magical prom moment, she’s shocked to discover that she likes being around Wes. And as they continue to grow closer, she must reexamine everything she thought she knew about love—and rethink her own ideas of what Happily Ever After should look like.