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Winners

Fiction: Romance

2025 FINALISTS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2025 finalists in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2024.

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The Headmaster: A Dark Academia Novel
2025 Finalist

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Publisher: 8th Circle Press

ISBN: 9781949769678

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In the shadow of the Appalachians, literature teacher Gwen Ashby stumbles upon the William Marshal Academy, a boarding school stuck in time, where she is seduced by the bewitching headmaster. Tiffany Reisz’s throwback to 1960s Gothic Romance novels features steamy love scenes and seriously spooky vibes.

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Maggie and the Pirate's Son: A Brides of Chattan Novel
2025 Finalist

Author: Rose Prendeville

Publisher: Eridani Press

ISBN: 9781955643122

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After accidentally stowing away aboard the wrong ship, Maggie must trust the reluctant young pirate navigator Bastian MacLeod to disguise her as a cabin boy and keep her safe. Sparks fly as the two endeavor to outwit the navy and locate their Captain’s lost treasure in this seaworthy historical romance.

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Regency Glad Tidings
2025 Finalist

Author: Carla Kelly

Publisher: Epicenter Press

ISBN: 9781684922222

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Christmas isn’t always jolly, but it can change with the unexpected, healing gift of love. Consider a surgeon, forced to manage a hypochondriac; a woman used to poverty who finds love from America; or an overworked widower discovering love in a notions shop among thread and yarn.

2024 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2024 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2023.

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Love in War
2024 Gold Winner

Author: Stewart Lytle

Publisher: Stewart Lytle

ISBN: 9798218255466

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Love in War is a sweeping historical romance, based on a true story, set against the Spanish Civil War. Kirkus praises its “rich details” and commends its “impressive” command of the period. This romance between Marti and Montserrat, which overcomes evil intent of an Army officer, is beautiful and inspiring.

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Casalvento: House of the Wind
2024 Silver Winner

Author: Gudrun Cuillo

Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press

ISBN: 9798886450651

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When Erika travels to Italy to settle the affairs of her inheritance, she meets Paolo, Casalvento’s intelligent and strikingly handsome estate manager and wine maker. She learns the inheritance comes with a catch—to keep or sell Casalvento and Livernano, she must live there and learn the business of the estates.

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Ghosted
2024 Silver Winner

Author: Sarah Ready

Publisher: W.W. Crown Books

ISBN: 9781954007611

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Her life is a dumpster fire. He isn’t even alive. Together, they make magic happen. When a woman who can’t talk to men falls in love with a sexy Lothario ghost, romance comes alive. But what happens when you fall in love with a man you can never have?

2023 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2023 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2022.

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Summerhaven: A Regency Romance
2023 Gold Winner

Author: Tiffany Oderkirk

Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.

ISBN: 978-1-52442-146-5

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Hannah Kent arrives at Summerhaven, and childhood sweetheart, Oliver Jennings seems disinterested in renewing their acquaintance. His brother Damon, who she has loathed her whole life–is the one offering her warmth and friendship, it becomes difficult to discern the line between pretense and true love.

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Bewitching a Highlander
2023 Silver Winner

Author: Roma Cordon

Publisher: CamCat Books

ISBN: 978-0-7443-0503-6

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Healer and witch Breena MacRae spent years believing her father was dead. After learning the truth, she plans to rescue him, and unexpectedly runs into future clan chief, Egan Dunbar. Egan and Breena's mutual attraction hit them head-on. But their desires could risk everything for Breena’s family and the Dunbar clan.

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Josh and Gemma Make a Baby
2023 Silver Winner

Author: Sarah Ready

Publisher: W.W. Crown Books

ISBN: 978-1-954007-19-2

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What do you do when you’re a single woman in your 30s, with infertility, and the burning desire to have a baby? Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a hilarious romcom about the desire for a baby, the hilarity and rawness of IVF, and finding love where you least expect it.

2022 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2022 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2021.

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Pink: A Christmas Romance Novel
2022 Gold Winner

Author: Monica Collier

Publisher: Red Press Co.

ISBN: 978-0-9985899-3-0

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Ethan Cooper, a high-powered corporate attorney in New York City, seemingly has it all. He escaped life in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, and his family’s notoriety. Years later, the strained relationship with them reaches new heights when Charlotte Rose, a stationery designer and mechanical engineer, enters his work life. Christmas romance softens his heart as Ethan discovers he is missing the most important aspect of his life, love.

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The Last Birthday Party
2022 Silver Winner

Author: Gary Goldstein

Publisher: Hadleigh House Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-7357738-1-0

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There’s nothing fabulous about 50 for L.A. writer Jeremy Lerner, who loses his marriage, job, and use of an arm days after the party he begged his now ex-wife not to throw. But fate is a sly devil in this humanly funny tale set against the alluring nuttiness of Hollywood.

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Mailbox by the Sea
2022 Silver Winner

Author: Mark Grady

Publisher: Webster Falls Media

ISBN: 978-0-9816872-3-0

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Amy and Mason's innocent high school summer romance at Carolina Beach evolves into falling deeply in love. However, Amy's mother sees Mason as a threat to her plans for her daughter. Many years later, a visit to a famous mailbox on the beach will change many lives forever.

2021 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2021 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2020. Click here to watch the Gold and Silver winner speeches.

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Flower of Iowa
2021 Gold Winner

Author: Lance Ringel

Publisher: Distant Mirror Press

ISBN: 978-0578649344

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France, 1918: In the final months of the First World War, naïve, idealistic American soldier Tommy Flowers struggles to become a good soldier in the trenches with the help of his savvy new best buddy, British soldier David Pearson. But their friendship soon develops an intimacy neither young man expected.

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Charming Falls Apart: A Novel
2021 Silver Winner

Author: Angela Terry

Publisher: Spark Press

ISBN: 978-1684630493

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After losing her job and fiancé the day before her thirty-fifth birthday, people-pleaser and rule-follower Allison James embarks on a self-help mission to find some new life rules, only to realize that her old life wasn’t as perfect as she thought—and that she needs to start writing her own rules.

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The Pearl
2021 Silver Winner

Author: Tiffany Reisz

Publisher: 8th Circle Press

ISBN: 9781949769166

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When Lord Arthur Godwick learns his brother is up to his bollocks in debt to Regan Ferry, owner of The Pearl Hotel, he agrees to work off the tab…in her bed. Soon Arthur discovers he’s a pawn in an erotic game of revenge, where nothing is what it seems.

2020 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE

See below for the list of 2020 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2019.

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The River Nymph
2020 Gold Winner

Author: Anne Lovett

Publisher: Words of Passion

ISBN: 978-0-9996579-5-9

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In 1920s Georgia, a determined farm girl struggles to overcome poverty, abuse, and heartbreak, longing for a respectable future with the man she loves.

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After Kilimanjaro: A Novel
2020 Silver Winner

Editor: Gayle Woodson

Publisher: She Writes Press

ISBN: 978-1-63152-660-2

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Dr. Sarah Whitaker is burned out, so she seeks renewal in Africa. If she survives the year, her life will never be the same.

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Honey and Leonard
2020 Silver Winner

Author: Mark Paul Smith

Publisher: BQB Publishing

ISBN: 978-1-945448-47-8

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Honey and Leonard are in their seventies when they fall in love. Leonard is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and Honey thinks her love will cure him.

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About the
Independent Book Publishers Association

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For more information, visit www.ibpa-online.org.

Questions? Contact Terry Nathan at terry@ibpa-online.org or 310-546-1818.

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