Kimberly Ruscitti

This Valentine’s Day, ditch the cookie-cutter romance novels for a couple of heroines who must fight for their happiness after their status-quo lives fall apart (and whose happily-ever-afters don’t necessarily include a Prince Charming).

If you’ve ever been that girl who’s been obsessed with the wrong guy, you’ll root for Fixie Farr in Sophie Kinsella’s new book, I Owe You One (The Dial Press). After her father’s death, Fixie has taken over the role of the glue that holds her family together (her nickname comes from her constant need to always help people). While her brother and sister lead their own superfluous lives, Fixie is running the family’s store with her mother in hopes of carrying on her father’s legacy. When her longtime crush, Ryan, moves back home, Fixie will do anything to make him stay, including cash in a favor she earned by saving a handsome stranger’s laptop from utter destruction. Ryan takes advantage of Fixie’s willingness to help (and ditches her when it doesn’t work out), as do her brother and sister when their mother leaves the country for a vacation. In her absence, Fixie tries her hardest to keep the store – and the family – together while her siblings begin to run it to the ground. Holding fast to her father’s motto of “family first,” Fixie must decide if she has the courage to finally stand up for herself and choose to put her own happiness first, or will she continue to stand by as her world comes crashing down.

If you’ve ever been the girl jealous of her ex’s past (who hasn’t been?), then Otherwise Engaged (Skyhorse Publishing) will be a funny, and slightly infuriating, read that shows “happily ever after” isn’t always what you envisioned it would be. Lindsey J. Palmer’s newest book introduces readers to Molly, a human resources professional who is living her dream life, newly engaged to her boyfriend, Gabe, who is about to publish his first novel. There is lots to celebrate, until Molly begins to read the draft of Gabe’s novel, essentially a retelling of his relationship with his wild and crazy ex-girlfriend, Talia. As she reads through the pages, Molly can’t help but compare her and Gabe’s current love to the one he shared with Talia. Molly’s concerns are magnified when Talia comes back into the picture to capitalize on the publicity from Gabe’s book, though Gabe continuously brushes her off, assuring her that his book is fiction and that their life is reality. When Gabe’s fame catapults with the success of his book, the lines between reality and fiction begin to blur, causing the increasingly jealous Molly’s paranoia to spin out of control. Her life with Gabe is falling apart in front of her eyes, as is her social life and work. When Molly hits rock bottom, she is forced to question what she wants and must fight her way back to happiness and to things she really wants.