New Releases I’m Excited About: Mid 2020 Contemporary Fiction

Hi friends! It’s that time again when I look at my overflowing TBR bookcases (yes, bookcases. plural. and let’s not speak of the Kindle backlog) and then I look at all the delicious new books coming out this season …. and I resign myself to blissfully abandoning all hope of ever catching up! lol. Today we’re starting out with Mid 2020 Contemporary New Releases.

Here is the schedule of posts for the week so you can zero in on your fave genre!

TODAY: Contemporary Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
Thursday: Historical Fiction (non-Amish & non-suspense)
Friday: Mystery/Suspense
Saturday: Amish Fiction
Saturday: Speculative/Youth
Sunday: Non-Fiction

In my continued quest to streamline these posts and make them less overwhelming for me and for you too (because, sweet mercy, that’s a lot of covers and links in one place lol), I’m only selecting a few I’m most giddy about to spotlight here. Then, I’ll also include a link to my Goodreads shelf with ALL the books coming out in 2020 in this genre. The shelves will stay up until next year. AND I’ll also include links to all the May 2020 releases and June 2020 releases and July 2020 releases and August 2020 releases, each in their own list. You can also keep up with 2020’s new books as I learn about them by bookmarking the ‘2020 Releases‘ page on my blog menu & checking it each month!

Whew. Ok. that’s all the housekeeping, i think….

You want to see some awesome books??

I thought so 🙂

books i’ve already read & loved

spotlight on titles i’m most giddy about

(y’all. there are so many. I’m not even apologizing.)

ALASKAN DREAMS
(Northern Lights #6)
Beth Carpenter
Harlequin Heartwarming / May 1, 2020

Lauren Shepherd has traded her hectic office job for a quiet life working on an elderly friend’s farm. Risking everything to move to Alaska might just be the perfect opportunity for her—if Lauren can convince handsome and fiercely protective Patrick O’Shea that she’s not swindling his grandmother. But when financial troubles threaten her dream, Lauren and Patrick unite in a hunt for a legendary treasure…only to discover something between them more precious than gold.

HER HIDDEN HOPE
(Colorado Grooms #4)
Jill Lynn
Love Inspired / May 1, 2020

With only two weeks to renovate her family’s Colorado B and B, struggling single mom Addie Ricci can’t turn away help. Especially not when it’s her handsome high school sweetheart, Evan Hawke, who’s offering to pitch in. As they repair the B and B, Addie and Evan also begin rebuilding their relationship…until a secret from their past threatens to bring it all crashing down.

LITTLE TEA
Claire Fullerton
Firefly Southern Fiction / May 1, 2020

One phone call from Renny to come home and “see about” the capricious Ava and Celia Wakefield decides to overlook her distressful past in the name of friendship. For three reflective days at Renny’s lake house in Heber Springs, Arkansas, the three childhood friends reunite and examine life, love, marriage, and the ties that bind, even though Celia’s personal story has yet to be healed. Theirs is a friendship that can talk any life sorrow into a comic tragedy, and now that the racial divide in the Deep South has evolved, Celia wonders if friendship can triumph over history.

LOVE’S RECIPE
Mila Nicks
Independently Published / May 1, 2020

Rosalie Underwood is a broke, recently divorced single mother. After she’s forced to return to her hometown St. Aster, Louisiana, she lands a waitressing job at Ady’s Creole Café, which is on the brink of going out of business. If Rosalie hopes to recover from her disastrous marriage and keep her job, she must figure out a way to save the restaurant. When Nicholas Fontaine hires Rosalie Underwood, he doesn’t expect his newest waitress to stir the pot. He was hoping to keep up the charade he’s created since his mother’s passing. But Rosalie cooks up a plan to salvage the business—including the part where she enters the restaurant in a food competition to generate town-wide buzz. In order to succeed, they must come together and work as a team, but brewing feelings between them only complicates matters. Is this a recipe for disaster or a recipe for love?

WHEN I MEET YOU
(Tree of Life #3)
Olivia Newport
Shiloh Run Press / May 1, 2020

A trunk abandoned at Denver’s Union Station more than a century ago leads Jillian and Nolan to untangle the mystery of its contents—including correspondence with the head of Pinkerton’s National Detective Agency Denver office. While Nolan digs into the legalities of the findings, Jillian searches for the descendants of a stolen identity who might not be who they think they are on Colorado ranch land. When Drew seems anxious to hear what Jillian has to say but his Great Aunt Min slams the subject closed—twice—Jillian is all the more determined to find out what happened to the woman who never claimed her luggage, why Min doesn’t want to talk about it, and what will happen for Drew if he gets the answers he seeks.

HADLEY BECKETT’S NEXT DISH
Bethany Turner
Revell / May 5, 2020

Celebrity chef Maxwell Cavanaugh is known for many things: his multiple Michelin stars, his top-rated Culinary Channel show To the Max, and most of all his horrible temper. Hadley Beckett, host of the Culinary Channel’s other top-rated show, At Home with Hadley, is beloved for her Southern charm and for making her viewers feel like family. When Max experiences a very public temper tantrum, he’s sent packing to get his life in order. When he returns, career in shambles, his only chance to get back on TV and in the public’s good graces is to work alongside Hadley. As these polar-opposite celeb chefs begin to peel away the layers of public persona and reputation, they will not only discover the key ingredients for getting along, but also learn the secret recipe for unexpected forgiveness . . . and maybe even love. In the meantime, hide the knives.

THIS WANDERING HEART
(Madison River Romance #1)
Janine Rosche
Berkley / May 5, 2020

No one in the quaint town of West Yellowstone, Montana knows that unassuming geography teacher Keira Knudsen moonlights as sensational travel blogger Kat Wanderfull. No one, that is, except for her first love, Robbie Matthews, who has just discovered the woman he is falling for online is the same one that broke his heart five years ago. But Robbie has another problem: the mother of his daughter, Anabelle, has resurfaced after a three-year absence determined to rip Anabelle away from him. Robbie needs a steady paycheck for a chance at custody, and now, on the eve of a grand adventure that could give Keira a chance to flee her old, troubled life once and for all, she is in need of assistance.

STAY WITH ME
(Misty River Romance #1)
Becky Wade
Bethany House / May 5, 2020

When acclaimed Bible study author Genevieve Woodward receives an anonymous letter referencing her parents’ past, she returns to her hometown in the Blue Ridge Mountains to chase down her family’s secret. However, it’s Genevieve’s own secret that catches up to her when Sam Turner, owner of a historic farm, uncovers the source of shame she’s worked so hard to hide. Sam has embraced his sorrow, his isolation, and his identity as an outsider. He’s spent years carving out both career success and peace of mind. The last thing he wants is to rent the cottage on his property to a woman whose struggles stir his worst failure back to life. Yet can he bear to turn her away right when she needs him most?

LOVE IS IN THE AIR
Candee Fick, Laura V. Hilton, Tanya Eavenson,
Kathleen Rouser, Katheen E. Friesen
Independently Published / May 10, 2020

This collection of five brand new romances is sure to send your heart soaring. Journey from Canada to Georgia and Colorado to Paris by way of Michigan as these couples find love is in the air. All they had to do was look up.

OF LITERATURE & LATTES
Katherine Reay
Thomas Nelson / May 12, 2020

After fleeing her hometown three years earlier, Alyssa Harrison never planned to return. Then the Silicon Valley start-up she worked for collapsed and turned her world upside down. She is broke, under FBI investigation, and without a place to go. Having exhausted every option, she comes home to Winsome, Illinois, to regroup then move on as quickly as possible. Yet, as friends and family welcome her back, Alyssa begins to see a place for herself in this small Midwestern community. Jeremy Mitchell moved from Seattle to Winsome to be near his daughter and to open the coffee shop he’s been dreaming of for years. Problem is, the business is bleeding money—and he’s not quite sure why. When he meets Alyssa, he senses an immediate connection, but what he needs most is someone to help him save his floundering business. After asking for her help, he wonders if something might grow between them—but forces beyond their control soon complicate their already complex lives, and the future they both hoped for is not at all what they anticipated.

WHATEVER HAPPENS NEXT
(Everyday Love #4)
Jaycee Weaver
Sandia Sky Press / May 12, 2020

Growing up in nowhere Oklahoma gave US Air Force vehicle maintainer TSgt Dyson what his momma calls itchy feet. His wanderlust has kept him from romantic entanglements for years, until the day an over-dramatic, strawberry-scented chatterbox slams into him and turns his world upside down. Jenna Davis was a quintessential good girl, deeply rooted in her family and faith until one mistake three years ago changed everything. Unable to admit her failure, she goes through the motions watching everyone else live their dreams. But it’s hard to find her purpose when opening up to anyone—even God—feels impossible. Then she meets Dyson, who personifies the strong, silent type. Dyson gets her to open up and begin dreaming again, rebuilding the trust she’s lost in men and especially in herself. But Dyson has something important to tell Jenna, and he knows it’ll be the end of everything they’ve built. After all, how can he ask her to leave everything and everyone behind when he can never stay?

CAROLINA BREEZE
(Bluebell Inn Romance #2)
Denise Hunter
Thomas Nelson / May 19, 2020

Rising Hollywood star Mia Emerson is looking for a safe place to land in the wake of a public breakup and scandal, and she finds it in the lake town of Bluebell, North Carolina—the location of her canceled honeymoon. She wants nothing more than to hide and wait for the tabloids to die down. Soon after her arrival at the Bluebell Inn, Mia meets Levi Bennett, who runs the inn along with his two younger sisters. Drawn to one another from the start, Mia trusts Levi to keep her location from the press, and Levi confides in Mia about the financial state of the inn—a secret he’s been keeping from his sisters. When Mia and Levi discover an old journal that hints at a rare diamond necklace hidden in the inn, they set off on a treasure hunt to find the long-lost heirloom. What they don’t expect to surface are feelings they thought were safely locked away.

(THAT WAS ONLY MAY, Y’ALL. MAY.)

DRIFTWOOD DREAMS
(Carolina Coast #2)
T.I. Lowe
Tyndale / June 1, 2020

Josie Slater has allowed the circumstances anchoring her in Sunset Cove to become a life sentence. Since her mother’s death years before, she’s spent most of her waking hours helping her dad run the Driftwood Diner. As her best friends, Opal and Sophia, make their dreams come true, Josie watches her own art school aspirations drift on by. But when a French-speaking Southern gentleman from her past moves back from Europe, Josie is launched into a tizzy of what-ifs and I-sure-do-hope-sos. August Bradford left Sunset Cove six years ago to sow some life oats and conquer his ambitious career goals. Finally ready to lay down some roots, the successful artist is back in town and determined to win Josie’s heart. When he enlists Josie’s help in the preparations for a children’s art camp, Josie finds herself unleashing her artistic side in a way she hasn’t since before her mother’s death. August hopes to convince Josie to paint a life with him, but the problem is convincing her to let go of her apprehensions and give him–and her dreams–a fair chance.

THE SUMMER HOUSE
Lauren K. Denton
Thomas Nelson / June 2, 2020

Lily Bishop wakes up one morning to find a good-bye note and divorce papers from her husband on the kitchen counter. Having moved to Alabama for his job only weeks before, Lily is devastated, but a flyer at the grocery store for a hair stylist position in a local retirement community provides a refuge while she contemplates her next steps. Rose Carrigan built the small retirement village of Safe Harbor years ago—just before her husband ran off with his assistant. Now she runs a tight ship, making sure the residents follow her strict rules. Rose keeps everyone at arm’s length, including her own family. But when Lily shows up asking for a job and a place to live, Rose’s cold exterior begins to thaw. Neither Lily nor Rose is where she expected to be, but the summer makes them both wonder if there’s more to life and love than what they’ve experienced so far.

WHERE THE ROAD BENDS
David Rawlings
Thomas Nelson / June 2, 2020

Fifteen years after college graduation, four friends reconnect to keep a long-ago promise and go on a trip of a lifetime in the Australian Outback.  Dropped at a campsite in the middle of nowhere, the friends quickly discover they aren’t the same people they once were, and they begin to confront hard truths about one another—and themselves. Then a bizarre storm sweeps across their camp, scattering them across the desert. Wondering if they are part of some strange escape game, each of the friends meets a guide to help them find exactly what they need: purpose, healing, courage, and redemption. But they’ve already traveled far down the road of life and course-correcting to become the people they were meant to be won’t be easy.

AFRAID OF THE LIGHT
Cynthia Ruchti
Kregel / June 16, 2020

Clinical psychologist Camille Brooks isn’t put off by the lifestyle of her hoarding clients. After all, she lost her mother to the crippling anxiety disorder. She’ll go a long way to help others avoid the same pain and loss. Despite Camille’s expertise, her growing audience for her Let in the Light podcast, and the national recognition she’s gaining for her creative coaching methods, there are some things she isn’t prepared for. A client who looks far too much like her mom catches her off guard. And the revelation that she’s also hoarding something sends her spinning. Can she stand to let the light into her own life with the help of a friend who wants to stand by her for life and the God who created and loves her? Or will she find that defeating her demons proves too much to bear?

START WITH ME
Kara Isaac
Independently Published / June 29, 2020

Lacey O’Connor is finally a sure thing for the promotion she’s spent ten years working for. But when a scandal rocks her firm she finds herself on a collision course with the one person she has spent five years trying to forget. Only to discover he doesn’t even remember her… Victor Carlisle has spent the last three years trying to convince his family he’s no longer the playboy alcoholic who tore their life apart. When a company merger is announced with a US sister firm, he’s presented with the perfect opportunity to prove he’s changed. Only to find himself falling for his competition and the one woman his family will never accept.

SET THE STARS ALIGHT
Amanda Dykes
Bethany House / June 30, 2020

Lucy Clairmont’s family treasured the magic of the past, and her childhood fascination with stories of the high seas led her to become a marine archaeologist. But when tragedy strikes, it’s Dashel, an American forensic astronomer, and his knowledge of the stars that may help her unearth the truth behind the puzzle she’s discovered in her family home. Two hundred years earlier, the seeds of love are sown between a boy and a girl who spend their days playing in a secret sea cave, while the privileged young son of the estate looks on, wishing to join. As the children grow and war leads to unthinkable heartbreak, a story of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and redemption unfolds, held secret by the passage of time. As Lucy and Dash journey to a mysterious old estate on the East Sussex coast, their search leads them to a community of souls and a long-hidden tale that may hold the answers–and the healing–they so desperately seek.

A FATHER’S PROMISE
(Bliss, Texas #1)
Mindy Obenhaus
Love Inspired / July 1, 2020

Stunned to discover he has a child, Wes Bishop isn’t sure he’s father material. But his adorable daughter needs him, and he can’t help feeling drawn to her mother, Laurel Donovan—a woman he’s finally getting to know. But can this sudden dad overcome a past tragedy that has him convinced he’s not meant to be a husband or a father…and make a promise of forever?

MOLLY
(Sewing in SoCal #1)
Sarah Monzon
Independently Published / July 2, 2020

If there’s one thing you should know about me, it’s that I absolutely refuse to tell a lie no matter the consequences. So don’t ask me a direct question unless you’re prepared for a direct answer—that’s something my SoCal sewing girlfriends have learned the hard way. But who would have thought my honesty policy would get me fired from my job at the preschool? Or that a desperate—and not to mention devastatingly handsome—single father of one of my (now-former) students would hire me that same day as a nanny for his daughter? I’m an education professional. How hard can taking care of a four-year-old and her over-stressed, over-worked father be?

UNDER SCOTTISH STARS
(MacDonald Family Trilogy #3)
Carla Laureano
Tyndale House / July 7, 2020

Recently widowed Serena MacDonald Stewart focuses on her children to the exclusion of her career, her art, and her sanity. When her brothers ask her to oversee the family guest house on the Isle of Skye, it’s a chance to dust off her long-ignored business skills and make a new start. But her hopes for a smooth transition are dashed when the hotel manager, Malcolm Blake, turns out to be irritating, condescending . . . and incredibly attractive. Malcolm gave up everything–his home, his girlfriend, and his career–to return to Skye and raise his late sister’s teenage daughter. With few job opportunities available on the island, he signs on as the manager of the MacDonald family hotel, which he’s soon running successfully without interference from the owners. That is, until Serena shows up, challenging his authority and his conviction that there’s nothing missing from his new life on Skye.

FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT
Michele Phoenix
Thomas Nelson / July 14, 2020

Cancer stole everything from Ceelie—her peace of mind, her self-image, perhaps even her twenty-three-year marriage to her college sweetheart, Nate. Without the support of Darlene, her quirky elderly friend, she may not have been able to endure so much loss. So when Darlene’s prognosis turns dire, Ceelie can’t refuse her seemingly impossible request—to find a WWII paratrooper named Cal, the father who disappeared when Darlene was an infant, leaving a lifetime of desolation in his wake. Alternating between Cal’s D-Day rescue by two young French sisters and Ceelie’s present-day journey through trial and heartbreak, Fragments of Light poses a timeless question: When life becomes unbearable, will you press toward the light or let the darkness win?

SEA GLASS CASTLE
(Carolina Coast #3)
T.I. Lowe
Tyndale House / August 1, 2020

Sophia Prescott is still mending from the embarrassment of a highly publicized divorce from a pro football player, and the now-single mother is back in Sunset Cove, surrounded by the supporting love of her family and the Sand Queens. Sophia doesn’t think there’s any hope for starting over until an unexpected trip to the pediatrician’s office gives her a second chance after all. Dr. Weston Sawyer knows all about lives shattering into millions of pieces. His own all but ended when a truck driver fell asleep at the wheel and barreled head-on into his pregnant wife’s sedan, killing her instantly and leaving Wes with a soul so wounded that it has refused to heal. If Sophia and Wes can take the leap to give love another try, they just might find that hope has a way of coming back around and weaving into one’s heart.

RAISING HONOR
(Colorado Grooms #5)
Jill Lynn
Love Inspired / August 1, 2020

Nothing will stop Ryker Hayes from giving his neglected five-year-old niece the stable home he never had. But to gain custody, he must move to Colorado…and prove to Honor’s wary foster mother, Charlie Brightwood, he’s more than just responsible. As his visits with Honor and Charlie begin to feel more like family time, might Charlie become another reason to stick around for good?

READY TO TRUST
(Hearts of Oklahoma #2)
Tina Radcliffe
Love Inspired / August 1, 2020

Rancher Reece Rainbolt’s shocked to learn he’s inherited half of Claire Ballard’s family farm—and that he’s a father. Now Claire’s determined to break ties with the man who once left her behind. But Reece will buy her half only on one condition: she must stay in town to help with the harvest…and let him get to know his little girl.

LOVE AND A LITTLE WHITE LIE
(State of Grace #1)
Tammy L. Gray
Bethany House / August 4, 2020

After hitting rock bottom, January decides she has nothing to lose in working at her aunt’s church–while hiding a lack of faith. A minor deception until she meets the church’s guitarist and sparks fly. Can she avoid disaster–especially when a handsome landscape architect has an annoying ability to push her to deal with feelings she’d rather keep buried?

A DAZZLE OF DIAMONDS
(Georgia Coast Romance #3)
Liz Johnson
Revell / August 4, 2020

Penelope Hunter loves her job as the events manager at one of Savannah’s premier historic venues–until her ex-fiancé walks into her office with his new bride-to-be. To make matters worse, a scheming social matriarch is intent on seeing Penelope fired, especially if she insists on being seen with Tucker Westbrook. Since returning from serving two tours in the Middle East, Tucker has built a thriving security company. His work is nearly as stabilizing as his friendship with Penelope, who has been by his side since childhood. But when the lone candidate for county sheriff goads him, Tucker loses his cool and ends up on the ballot–and on the receiving end of a smear campaign claiming the Westbrooks were traitors to the South. To clear his name, Tucker and Penelope must join forces to find the truth behind a 150-year-old lost treasure. But the more time they spend together, the closer she comes to losing her job–and falling helplessly in love.

want to add these to your lists too?

To see ALL 2020 Contemporary New Releases so far (including last season)…

goodreads 2020 new releases – contemporary

Or if you’d rather see all the new releases by each separate month…

Books i want to read that aren’t on Goodreads yet

When I Lost My Way by Jennifer Rodewald (May)
What Matters Most by Leah Atwood (May)
Waiting Out the Storm (re-release) by Ruth Logan Herne (June)
Before Summer’s End by The Mosaic Collection authors (June)
In Spite of Ourselves by Jennifer Rodewald (July)
Song of Mercy by Brenda S. Anderson (July)
Season of Hope (re-release) by Ruth Logan Herne (July)
Hometown Honey by Jessica R. Patch (July)
The Price of Dreams by Toni Shiloh (August)
Heart Restoration by Regina R. Merrick (August)
Winter’s End (re-release) by Ruth Logan Herne (August)

my fave covers?

DON’T WORRY!!
No bloggers (namely me) were harmed in the building of this post. But it was a very close call.

What about you? Which Mid 2020 Contemporary New Releases did you add from my Goodreads shelf to yours? Which covers are your favorites?

If you don’t see your book mentioned here or in my goodreads/amazon lists, I apologize! It’s impossible to keep up with all the books LOL! Please feel free to leave your release info for Christian / clean fiction in the comments.