Today on the site I’m delighted to reveal the cover of Emma R. Alban’s Happily Ever Afterlife, a Sapphic paranormal Romance releasing September 29, 2026 from Alcove Press! Here’s the story:
Frannie’s awful boss, celebrated literary novelist Henry L. Olsen, just told her that her latest manuscript is a dud—again. Frustrated and lonely, Frannie stomps around the ninth floor of the famously haunted Dakota Building in Manhattan, desperate for something to change. And then, something does.
Bridgette, the ghost of a little girl from 1889, appears out of nowhere and asks Frannie to play catch. Shocked and wildly curious, Frannie says yes to the ghostly invitation and soon meets Bridgette’s ghost brother, Michael . . . and the children’s exceedingly attractive and aloof 1960s ghost mom, Elsa.
Fascinated and more than a little flustered, Frannie starts secretly writing a book about Elsa (a.k.a. Hot Ghost Mom). And while her boss is on book tour, through a mutual affection for musicals, banter, and the ghost children, Frannie and Elsa slowly become friends, until Frannie finds herself tumbling head over heels in love with a ghost tied to a building she couldn’t afford to live in over four lifetimes.
Now Frannie has to either give up her ambitions of becoming a novelist to remain Henry’s assistant in the Dakota forever or somehow free her ghost family from their immortal home. With her career, future, and heart on the line, can Frannie find a way to write them all a happily-ever-after . . . life?
And here’s the romantic cover by Mallory Heyer!
Buy it: Bookshop | Amazon | Penguin Random House
Emma R. Alban is a USA Today bestselling author and screenwriter. Raised in the Hudson Valley, she now lives in Los Angeles, enjoying the eternal sunshine, ocean, and mountains. When she isn’t writing books or screenplays, she can usually be found stress baking with the AC on full blast, skiing late into the spring, singingshowtunes at the top of her lungs on the freeway, and reading anywhere there’s somewhere to lean. She is the author of Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend, You’re the Problem, It’s You, and Like in Love with You.
RACHEL KITCH is a mixed-race Thai American speculative horror author with a love of writing unsettling, creepy books that still have a spark of light. Rachel has her master’s in design from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor’s from West Virginia University. As a generation 1.5 immigrant, Rachel loves to blend her heritage and incorporate Thai and Appalachian folklore into her projects. When not writing, she can be found designing author brands and websites, or reading books on her Kindle that would kill a Victorian child. Keep up with her at 
Ally North (she/her) is a queer writer who has been writing fiction her entire life. During the pandemic, she began writing sapphic romance out of pure chaotic boredom and discovered an untried knack for the genre. She lives in America, but occasionally she lives in England. When she isn’t writing, Ally can be found cooking with obscene amounts of garlic, traveling someplace new, rescuing animals, and feeding Jean-Claude, the wild possum who lives under her shed.
Sierra Branham is the author of the forthcoming science fiction novel LOVE GALAXY, a romantic and political thriller releasing with DAW Books in spring of 2026. Her short fiction can be found in venues like Small Wonders Magazine and Apex Magazine. When not spinning words into stories, she can be found hiking with her goats, juggling knives, or battling existential crises. Find her on Instagram at @authorsierrabranham or sign up for her newsletter on her website at 
Julie Leong is a Chinese-Malaysian-American fantasy author who grew up across both New Jersey and Beijing, China. She studied economics and political science at Yale and works in tech, but she has always nurtured a deep love for sci-fi/fantasy beneath her corporate exterior. Julie lives in San Francisco with her husband Drew, their rescue pup Kaya, and a magical Meyer lemon tree in the backyard that somehow always has ripe lemons. When she’s not writing, she enjoys making unnecessary spreadsheets and flambéing things.
Rae Ryan’s science fiction lets people escape into stories with flawed characters, but without identity-based discrimination. Because we all deserve a break. She’s currently working on a contemporary FFM romance when she’s not walking her silly dog, Piper, on the Colorado Front Range.