#Giveaway Day 9: #HJBOOKMAS Extravaganza!

Welcome to Harlequin Junkie’s 11th Annual #BOOKMAS EXTRAVAGANZA!

HJ’s Bookmas Extravaganza is our most magical time of year, a joyful celebration of YOU — our incredible, loyal readers of Harlequin Junkie and the book community.

Thank you for the love, the support, and the endless bookish enthusiasm you share with us all year long. We couldn’t do this without you — and we truly appreciate you to the last page and beyond!!

From Naughty to Nice — and everything in between…

On the 9th Day of #Bookmas…  We bring you a giveaway from Gallery Books!

 
Gallery Books, established in 2010, publishes a wide range of books—prescient pop culture, heartfelt novels, page-turner thrillers, memorable memoirs, genre-defining franchises, smart self-help, and fearless cultural commentary—that engage, enlighten, and entertain. https://simonandschusterpublishing.com/gallery-books/
 

Here’s a sneak peak at some of Gallery Books upcoming 2026 Releases:

 
MEET ME AT THE SUMMIT by Jordyn Taylor (On Sale 1/27/26)
A heartfelt and sexy romance novel following one bi woman’s messy journey through coming out—and reluctantly falling for a straight man. From the USA TODAY bestselling author of Wicked Darlings.

Girl comes out as bi. Girl falls for a straight guy.

Simone Whittaker has spent the first three decades of her life pretending to be straight. But when the girl she never dared call her girlfriend walks away, she decides she’s done living in fear. Her uptight parents don’t take the news well, but a viral coming-out post and a new job at Toronto’s Rainbow Museum offer a fresh start—and a crash course in queer adulthood.

That is, until her first day of work, when Simone ruins a project designed by Ryan Foley—the museum’s gruff and annoyingly hot carpenter—earning her the top spot on his enemies list. When they’re forced to take a work trip to the Whistler Pride and Ski Festival together, Simone vows not to let a grumpy straight guy ruin her first Pride. But Ryan keeps surprising her—thoughtful, vulnerable, and impossible to ignore. As sparks fly on chairlifts and by crackling fires, one snowstorm—and one bed—changes everything.

Back in Toronto, however, reality sets in. Dating a guy—and being mistaken for straight—weren’t exactly part of Simone’s coming-out plan. As the pressure builds between the identity she’s just beginning to explore and the relationship that wasn’t supposed to happen, she starts to wonder: What if claiming one part of herself means erasing the other?
 
HOW TO KILL A GUY IN TEN DATES by Shailee Thomson (On Sale 2/3/26)
A humorous, swoony, and downright terrifying slasher rom-com in which a cinephile gets caught in the middle of a murder spree at a speed-dating event and must use her encyclopedic knowledge of the romance and horror genres to make it as a real-life Final Girl.

When Jamie Prescott and her best friend Laurie attend a speed-dating event, Jamie expects to meet a roster of mediocre men and indulge in some street food afterwards. She doesn’t expect one of her dates to have his throat slit at their table during a blackout. After the lights come back on and there are more bodies on the floor, it becomes clear that dating can be a very dangerous pastime.

Armed with makeshift weapons and Jamie’s extensive knowledge of what NOT to do in a slasher, the remaining speed daters try to find an exit while the killer adds to their body count. As the night progresses and Jamie comes face-to-mask with the murderer, she begins to suspect they are committing the slayings to woo one of the daters and turn them into a real-life Final Girl. But Jamie has other plans, and as she fights for her life, she can’t help but find herself ensconced in a love triangle with two of the other survivors. Will she make it through the bloodshed to find her Happily Ever After? Or does this machete-wielding psychopath have another ending in mind?
 
FAST LANE (Book #1 of Campus Drivers series) by C.S. Quill (On Sale 4/28/26)
He’s the campus bad boy. She’s his neighbor’s ex. Who thought becoming roommates was a good idea?

Lane O’Neill is living the dream his senior year of college, running Campus Drivers, the ride-share app that he launched with his best friends. The concept is simple: play taxi driver for students behind the wheel of vintage cars. The girls love it, and the four drivers are deeply committed to never disappointing their clientele.

Lane has just one rule: no attachments. Ever. After everything he’s lost, keeping his emotions locked up is the only way he knows how to move forward—seeking solace in late-night drives and the rare quiet of his apartment off-campus.

So how the hell did he end up with his neighbor’s ex, Lois Hogan, crashing at his place? She’s everything he doesn’t want—clingy, directionless, and annoyingly optimistic. The type who follows her basketball-star boyfriend to college and picks a sports therapy major just to stay close to him—then acts surprised when it all blows up in her face. Lane can’t resist calling her out on it, yet despite the constant bickering, he keeps letting her stay.

Lois thought she had her life figured out, but after a messy breakup, she’s going through a full-blown identity crisis. To top it all off, she now has to deal with an infuriatingly hot, emotionally distant roommate who seems to have a knack for driving her crazy. But Lois is done playing the good girl. If Lane wants to push her around, she’s more than prepared to push right back.
 
HAPPY ENDING by Chloe Liese (On Sale 4/14/26)
Thea and Alex have three things in common—they love food, they hate where they live, and they’re both divorced. Otherwise, they couldn’t be more different.

Thea’s never cooked a day in her life. Alex is a world-class chef. Alex resents feeling stuck in his hometown. Thea resents the town for not feeling more like home. Thea and her ex are in a contentious custody battle for their dog. Alex and his ex amicably coparent their daughter. Beyond a few friends in common, a couple small-world connections (welcome to life in a mid-size city), their lives look nothing alike. Fast forward two years, and they’re truly the best of friends. No one would ever know their friendship began as a lie…

Two years ago, their exes got together immediately following their divorces, and somehow, Thea and Alex found themselves spinning a spite-fueled story about being old friends and first loves. Two years later, what began as a ruse has grown into real friendship—just friendship, despite what friends and family seem to think. But when their exes invite them on a two-week, “two family” beach vacation—daughter and dog included—Alex and Thea start to wonder if this story they’ve spun might have gotten away from them, and if it’s led them to the last place they ever thought it could: a happy ending.
 
THE FORGOTTEN MIDWIFE by Laura Anthony (On Sale 5/12/26)
Set in the dual timelines of present-day and 1950s Ireland and based on real historical events, a powerful, poignant novel of feminism and resilience that follows the life of a young woman consigned to work in a home for “fallen girls” who quickly realizes she must risk everything to protect them.

New Jersey, 2023. Riley Carmichael is getting married and finally joining a huge, loving family but can’t help but feel the emptiness of her own side of the church. For most of Riley’s life it’s just been her and her wonderful grandmother, Betty, but as late-stage dementia overtakes her grandmother’s mind, Riley knows she’s losing her, too. On one of Riley’s visits to Betty’s nursing home, she encounters her grandmother in one of her increasingly rare moments of lucidity as Betty desperately hands Riley a tatty birth certificate for an unknown baby born in Ireland in the 1950s. Full of questions about her heritage, Riley embarks on a trip to Ireland to find that elusive sense of home.

Tipperary, Ireland, 1954. Margaret Lannigan’s life is made up of weekly dances and spending time with the love of her life, Joseph. But when Margaret’s older sister suddenly passes away, it falls to Margaret to fulfill the family’s commitment to the Church: the eldest daughter of the Lannigan family has joined the Sisters of Mercy nuns for generations. Forced to part with Joseph and take the veil, Margaret is sent to a Home for Fallen Girls to care for expectant mothers who fell pregnant outside of marriage. With no training or midwifery skills, she must fight to provide compassionate care she feels these women deserve amid the cruelty and abuse they face.

When Margaret meets a young and terrified Delia O’Rourke, the sister of her childhood best friend, she must find the strength she needs to protect this young woman and her baby in the face of a system built to ensure they disappear.

Based on true historical events, The Forgotten Midwife is a powerful and emotional story of the women lost to Ireland’s “mother and baby homes,” as well as the young women forced to join the orders that ran the establishments. Told with courage and heart, it’s a haunting, hopeful novel of feminine strength, found family, and love that transcends oppression.
 
WORSE THAN STRANGERS by Kyleigh Leddy (On Sale 6/25/26)
A debut novel for fans of Jane Austen, Elin Hilderbrand, and Gilmore Girls, Worse Than Strangers is a Nantucket-set retelling of Austen’s Persuasion about finding romance, second chances, and a new path in life.

Rose and Lily are best friends first, mother-daughter second, which is good because right now, Lily could really use a friend. Recently fired from her NYC magazine job and heartbroken, Lily has fled to the family cottage in Siasconset. She is shocked when she stumbles across her first love at the grocery store holding hands with his new fiancé—a fiancé he never mentioned on their many, many late-night phone calls.

Rose has secrets, too. A therapist about to start her own private practice, Rose’s world is rocked by the handsome renter staying in their guest cottage, Thomas Wentworth: the one person she thought she would never see again and the man who has always (unfortunately) held her heart.

A modern retelling of Jane Austen’s Persuasion set against a backdrop of blue and purple hydrangeas, swollen brick sidewalks, tall sea grass, and uniform, shingled houses, Lily and Rose Gardner’s summer journey of second chances, healing, and hope begs the question: Can you repeat the past, and is it ever too late to try again?
 
 

Giveaway: 5 Winner’s will win Gallery Books ARC Bundle

Winner will receive a print ARC of each of the titles noted below:

• FAST LANE by C.S. Quill (On Sale 4/28/26)
• THE FORGOTTEN MIDWIFE by Laura Anthony (On Sale 5/12/26)
• WORSE THAN STRANGERS by Kyleigh Leddy (On Sale 6/25/26)

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Raffle form below and Leave a comment with your thoughts on the 2026 Releases featured here, tell us which one(s) caught your attention & why?

  Stop by the blog December 15–31, 2025 for fabulous giveaways.
 — each prize is a little holiday treat you won’t want to miss!