Title: Smash
Authors: Penelope Ward & Vi Keeland
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Forbidden Romance
Release Date: October 25, 2026
BLURB
A new, shockingly forbidden standalone from New York Times bestselling authors Penelope Ward and Vi Keelandโฆ
Sometimes one floor is all that separates the life you planned from the life you never saw comingโฆ
Moving to New York with my boyfriend, Calder, was supposed to be a fresh start.
A new city. A new job. A beautiful brownstone in Brooklyn we’d call home. The beginning of our forever.
There was just one catch: Calderโs best friend lived in the apartment downstairs.
Rafeโa gifted artist who smashed glass into masterpieces. With his unruly blond hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through me, he was impossible to ignore.
He was also completely off-limits.
Yet somehow, every walk past his apartment or trip to the basement laundry room turned into another deep conversation neither of us ever wanted to end.
At first, it was innocent.
Then I found myself looking forward to running into him again.
Before long, I was creating opportunities to be around him.
Somehow, Rafe and I made each other feel seen in ways neither of us expected.
I tried to ignore our connection, reminding myself that Calderโs best friend was the last man on Earth I could ever fall for.
But with every stolen moment, that lie became harder to believe.
Maybe some love stories aren’t about finding the right personโbut what happens when you find them too late.
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PENELOPE WARD
Penelope Ward is a New York Times, USA Today and #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author of contemporary romance.
She grew up in Boston with five older brothers and spent most of her twenties as a television news anchor. Penelope resides in Rhode Island with her husband, son, and beautiful daughter with autism.
With millions of books sold, she is a 21-time New York Times bestseller and the author of over thirty novels. Her books have been translated into over a dozen languages and can be found in bookstores around the world.
VI KEELAND
Vi Keeland is a #1โฏNew York Times, #1โฏWall Street Journal, andโฏUSA TodayโฏBestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
