Disability Employment Awareness Month
Observed each October, National Disability Employment Awareness Month is a chance to spotlight the value and contributions workers with disabilities bring to our workplaces and economy. As someone with an invisible disability and two jobs that I love, this is a cause that’s especially close to my heart. NDEAM isn’t just about one month of recognition—it’s about a year-round commitment to ensuring disabled workers have access to good jobs, opportunities, and the support they deserve. This year’s theme, "Access to Good Jobs for All," really speaks to that mission of creating lasting, meaningful change.
Here are three romance books from my TBR which feature main characters with disabilities who thrive at their work.
Baking Me Crazy (Donner Bakery, Book 1) by Karla Sorensen, narrated by Chris Brinkley & Reba Buhr
I'm Levi Buchanan, and until five years ago, I thought the legend of my family's curse was a load of crazy, Southern nonsense. No curse can make you fall in love at first sight. No curse can force a true, deep, passionate, all-consuming love that will haunt you all the days of your life. Then I met Jocelyn Abernathy and I realized how completely wrong I was.
The problem is, Jocelyn guards her feelings like well-armed soldier. She's the most beautiful, stubborn, infuriating woman I've ever met. Every time she talks, I want to kiss the living daylights out of her. But I can't. Because when we met, she didn't need true love. She needed a best friend. And that's what I've been to her...for five years.
But when Jocelyn meets a handsome stranger her first day working at Donner Bakery and she lets him buy her a dill pickle cupcake, I realize with ominous regret that I may have missed my window with my best friend. If I can't get her to see past our friendship, my new curse may be to watch the love of my life move on with someone else.
Baking Me Crazy is a full-length contemporary romantic comedy, can be enjoyed as a stand-alone, and is book number one in the Donner Bakery series, Green Valley world, Penny Reid Book universe.
Blank Canvas (Irons and Works, Book 2) by E.M. Lindsey, narrated by Scott D. Alford
When a car accident changed the trajectory of his life at 15, Sam Braga set out to find his own way in the world. It never occurred to him he’d find home in Fairfield, Colorado, working with a childhood friend at a tattoo shop, and the legal guardian of a gorgeous little girl who was abandoned by her mother at birth.
Sam has his life organized exactly the way he needs it. Maisy, work, and his found-family. There isn’t room for anything else. Especially when DCS gets involved and tells him that his disability might interfere with his petition to finally adopt the little girl he’s been raising. Sam might be lonely, but he just doesn’t have room for love.
Niko Pagonis tells himself he’s not using the small town of Fairfield as an escape, but who is he kidding. When his NHL career ends two minutes after it begins, Niko flees the East Coast in search of somewhere to settle. He finds home in the form of his accounting firm and his gym buddies who never abandon him on leg-day. Eventually, however, it’s not enough. Niko craves connection, and above all, he wants to feel like he belongs. He stumbles onto the unlikely family at Irons and Works, and more than that, he finds himself in the path of the gorgeous single dad who has made it clear he has no plans to fit Niko into his routine.
But things aren’t always that simple, even when both men try to make them that way. A misguided offer of friends with benefits turns into something else, and both Sam and Niko know they’re flirting with disaster. Still, neither one of them can seem to stay away from the other. Will they find their way through the mess before someone gets hurt? Or will it all come crashing to the ground?
What If You & Me (Say Everything, Book 2) by Roni Loren, narrated by Desiree Ketchum
The world can be a scary place. At least, that's what Andi Lockley's anxiety wants her to believe. It doesn't help that she narrowly escaped a dangerous man years ago or that every relationship since has been colored with that lingering fear. But things are better now. She's channeling everything into her career as a horror novelist and true-crime podcaster, and her next book may be the breakthrough she needs - if only her grumpy new neighbor would stop stomping around at all hours of the night.
Former firefighter Hill Dawson can't sleep. After losing part of his leg in a rescue gone wrong, he's now stuck in limbo. He needs to figure out what he's supposed to do with his life, and he can't let himself get distracted by the pretty redhead next door. But when someone breaks into Andi's place, he can't stop himself from rushing in to play the hero. Soon, a tentative bond forms between the unlikely pair. But what starts out as a neighborly exchange quickly turns into the chance for so much more...if Andi can learn to put aside her fear and trust in herself - and love - again.
