The horrors are relentless and they never cease so yes, I am out here recommending more romance novels in these trying times. A romance peddler if you will. When life gets rough, I like to have several romance novels on deck and if my current stack of romances is any indication it is indeed dire right now. This post name is not only apt because it’s finally spring, but we just gained an hour and I don’t know how to function. But in all seriousness I will continue to support the notion of reading as an act of resistance. Romances are exactly what we need to be reading right now and I’m here with twelve new favorites for ya’ll to read and preorder for the coming months. You know the drill, this is a mix of historicals and contemporary romances depending on your persuasion. Prepare yourself for a French lady obsessed with overly scandalous outfits, a hate to lovers historical romance on a boat, a hockey marriage of convenience, a When Harry Met Sally retelling, and so much more!
The Reluctant Countess by Eloisa James
Lady Yasmin Régnier has long been followed by scandal, ever since she was tricked as a teenager by a man who never intended to marry her, and her mother became infamous as Napoleon’s mistress. Years later in England, Yasmin wears her fashionably low cut dresses, eschews the ton’s rigorous rules, and hides none of her laughter, much to society’s chagrin. Those of you that have followed me on my historical romance journey know that Eloisa James is one of my favorite authors and My Reluctant Countess may just be my favorite from her to date. This novel concerns all things scandal, so called polite society’s impossible standards, and how significant events shape who we are and inform our belief systems. Put it simply, Lady Yasmin was just an icon. She knows the rules of the game and cares not to adhere to them, deciding to instead enjoy her time in England. When she falls for Giles Renwick, an Earl who cares so much for perception and avoiding scandal, she is challenged to either change herself or stand resolute in the face of scandal. Eloisa James creates some incredible tension stemming from this profound disconnect. Giles needed to be bonked over the head several times but Yasmin was perfect, standing strong in her knowledge and refusing to change just because Giles struggled to appreciate her as she is. This one is a winding road through scandal but it’s a wonderfully humorous and heated journey all the same.
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Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer
Can I interest you in a marriage of convenience between a hockey player on the verge of retirement and the team’s physician who have hated one another for years? Ever since they met Alexei and Georgia have hated each other. She thinks he’s arrogant and he thinks she’s vapid, but Georgia needs research funding from her inheritance to continue her program training young women athletes after injury, and Alexei needs a green card to remain in Canada following his imminent retirement. Solution: a year long marriage until they both get what they want. Who cares if she’s actually intelligent and fiercely kind with a not-so-minor Vampire Diaries Addiction and a tendency to sleepwalk into his bed. And who cares if he wears glasses, communicates through the secret language of flowers, and takes care of her two bunny rabbits, Stefan and Damon. Warning, Gloves Off will leave you in the feels as these two so called enemies cohabitate and open up to friendship—and to love. What I liked about this addition to the Vancouver Storm series was how Stephanie Archer built a solid bedrock for the mutual hatred between her two leads. I could really understand why Alexei and Georgia viewed each other the way they did — even as I wanted to shake them so hard and beg them to see things properly. Romance is in the little things in this twist on marriage of convenience and hate to love. The drives to soccer practice and showing up to hockey games are all part of this developing romance. Georgia and Alexei had a slower build up but it is totally worth the wait. I entered this wondering how they would make a marriage work, and left wishing I could romance someone through a marriage of convenience myself. Funny how that works.
Preorder a Copy – Out June 17th
The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest
Kristina Forest concludes her series of interconnected romances with The Love Lyric, third in the Greene Sisters trilogy and dare I say my favorite? Headstrong and put together Iris Greene never expected to lose the love of her life at twenty four and be left a single mother. Since then, the door to romance has been firmly shut, but when she meets Angel Harrison, a pop and R&B singer, at a wedding event, sparks fly and she finds that love may not be so firmly in the rearview. The Love Lyric is a wonderful romance all about grief, loneliness, and starting over—featuring a man so down bad for our heroine he writes the song of the summer all about their romantic moments. What I love so much about this series is the heroes, and Angel is definitely a contender for the swoonworthiest hero in the trilogy. He was so patient and gentle with Iris as she worked through her continuing grief and started to come around to romance. But in private he’s yearning to be with her and writing the most intensely romantic songs without her knowing. The tension sparks as these two work together in a brand partnership, fighting feelings and the reality that their romance is not something either of them can pass by. As an aside I highly recommend the audiobook for this novel because the narrators absolutely smashed it. This wonderful series of sisterhood and modern love may be at a close, but Kristina Forest is a romance author you won’t want to pass by.
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Whenever You’re Ready by Rachel Runya Katz
Two estranged friends, Nia and Jade, haven’t spoken since their explosive fight years prior. Before their best friend Michal passed away from cancer, the three planned a road trip that they never ended up taking. To honor her memory and their promise, Nia and Jade reconnect on a trip through southern Jewish history, confronting the love they’ve been denying for years. A sapphic friends to lovers romance traversing through years of grief, Jewish history in the south, and the complexities of a friendship, Rachel Runya Katz’s novel is a multifaceted romance gem. Whenever You’re Ready is an emotional journey unlike anything I’ve ever read. The love between Nia and Jade is wrapped up in so much history, between themselves, their departed friend Michal, and Jade’s twin brother, Jonah. This romance is just as much a journey out of grief, and reconciling the pain that grief dealt three different people—who has the right to grief and why? And how do we hurt others when we feel our grief is a singular experience. Runya Katz delves into the complicated history of Jewish communities in the south alongside this and it struck the perfect note between informative and entirely connected to our characters sense of identity. Whenever You’re Ready is everything I love about romance and what it affords us about human connection. Healing is possible but it is our connection to others that can help us along, reminding us we aren’t alone.
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A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
Just a woman and her live chicken skeleton, her friend cursed into the body of a fox, her resurrected aunt, the dungaree wearing aspiring hobbit in love with said aunt, a 20-something cosplaying as a knight, two small children, and a stoic historian. Now that’s a family. Sangu Mandanna’s long awaited, Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is here, and wow what a triumph of a novel it is. Sena Swan, a young witch, depleted her well of magic performing a forbidden resurrection spell on her aunt fifteen years ago. She was subsequently exiled from the Guild and left with nothing to do other than to help run the magical inn that serves wayfaring travelers in need. But one day, she hears of a spell that could restore her magic and just like that, Sena embarks on a quest to reclaim what she lost. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is a lovely beacon to the lost, the caregivers who burn themselves out in service to others who deserve to be taken care of and so much more. Mandanna recaptures the magic with her debut. From the eclectic mix of people who make the inn their home, the comforting atmosphere of baked goods and twisted magic—including a guest bedroom that rains apple blossom tea, the ghosts of Sena’s past that wander the house, and the wildflowers blooming in teacups—all of it left me utterly enchanted. A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping contains the kind of magic only Sangu Mandanna is capable of drumming up and I want nothing more than to remain under its spell.
Preorder a Copy – Out July 15th
When Javi Dumped Mari by Mia Sosa
Welcome to Mia Sosa’s twist on When Harry Met Sally, where the road to romance is long and tumultuous but hidden between moments of angst and true friendship. Almost ten years ago and some change, Javi met Mari during a late night protest which involved Mari stealing every copy of the college paper while Javi stared on dumbfounded. After some snippy back and forth they became friends and in their Sophomore year, made a promise to always vet the other person’s dates, until now —when Mari shows up to a friendship lunch engaged to a colleague Javi has never even met. Integrating dual perspectives and timelines, Sosa harkens back to the beginnings of this friendship as it stands on the brink of change in the present, and what went wrong in the years leading up to this moment. With these two the chemistry is intense but no match for the denying-you’re-in-love-with-your-best-friend mentality they both are holding fast to. Sosa really made me feel for Javi and Mari, their differences and their similarities, but also what they can be when they are on the same team. I have always said I love my love stories on the messy side and Mia Sosa understands that deeply. This was messy, sexy, and SO SO funny I think I hurt my chest a few times with all the laughing. Javi was a sweet theatre guy who yearns but feels like he isn’t good enough whereas Mari was ambitious and determined to chase the successful lawyer lifestyle and prove herself to her father and I loved them both dearly. Mia Sosa shows how it’s never too late in this reimagining of a classic, full of heat, misunderstanding, and the wedding mishaps we all adore.
Preorder a Copy – Out 24th June
A Rare Find by Joanna Lowell
Who wants to uncover lost treasure with their childhood enemy. Anyone? Elfreda Marsden has long been in her father’s shadow helping him publish his various papers of archaeological research. Elf desires to make her own name as an archaeologist—starting with proving her theory that a Viking army camped on the Marsden estate, but when she uncovers an amulet that proves her theory, she immediately loses it after clumsily colliding with her childhood enemy, Georgiana Redmayne. Georgiana and Elf have never gotten along, due in part to the history of animosity between their two families, but can they bury the hatchet and uncover a hoard of Viking gold instead. Joanna Lowell has been recommended to me by several seasoned readers in the genre and it’s safe to say I have never read a historical romance as charming as A Rare Find. This is Lowell’s first foray into Regency romance and it’s a purely whimsical, absurd, adventure through not just the regency period, but lost moments of history and antiquarian endeavors. Including some fantastic nonbinary representation and queer people discovering their identities, finding happiness and love, this book is a treasure in itself. The author’s note on Lowell’s research was an incredibly fascinating read and I’m reminded just how much historical notes are my love language. If you like your plots meandering with significantly lower stakes, A Rare Find is the perfect historical romance to unwind with.
Preorder a Copy – Out 10th June
Gabriela and His Grace by Liana De La Rosa
Gabriela Luna Valdés has long felt the odd one out. As her eldest sisters have all married and gone on to contribute politically to Mexico back home and abroad, Gabi cannot help but feel adrift. After many years away from Mexico, Gabriela intends to return after a scandal leaves her with no other choice but to flee London altogether. Who should be called to provide a watchful eye on the ship bearing her home but Sebastian Brooks, the Duke of Whitfield, and Gabriela’s nemesis. But outside of the expectations of London society, Gabriela and Sebastian soon discover how little they actually know each other, and the sizzling chemistry underlying their years of hatred. Put simply, Gabriela and His Grace is historical romance perfection. Liana De la Rosa focuses on the end years of the illegal occupation of Mexico by the French as her heroine travels home to a world transformed, and I loved the windows into a part of history long uncovered within this genre. Liana De la Rosa entwines this tumultuous time in Mexican history with an exploration into home and how we can stand for our communities and ourselves. The hate to lovers arc is built up around this with the slowest of slow burns. I love seeing characters removed from their comforts so much that the facades come down and that is central to this romance. Liana De la Rosa really works to make Sebastian and Gabriela see one another, and that in contrast to their upbringings makes for some truly delicious tension. As an aside I don’t think I will be moving on from the sharing-one-bed-on-a-boat scenes, they were really so so hot (thank you Liana De la Rosa). This was a scrumdiddlyumptious romance and I will be yelling about it more in time.
Preorder a Copy – Out 26th August
The Best Worst Thing by Lauren Okie
Nicole and her husband Gabe have been trying for a baby for a long time, so long that Nicole launched a semi-successful podcast documenting her experiences with infertility. On the cusp of their final try with a gestational carrier, Nicole discovers her husband’s infidelity. To top it off, the pregnancy she has been wishing for for so long is viable, and their surrogate, Valerie, is now pregnant. Nicole’s entire world has been upended in mere minutes and in a fugue state, Nicole finds herself on the doorstep of a former colleague and friend, Logan Milgram. They haven’t seen each other in years but in seconds their immense history comes roaring back to life. The Best Worst Thing is a timely friends to lovers romance about the merits of Jane Austen’s, Persuasion, reading the books someone recommended as a love language, and all the messy and complicated bits of stirring up the past. Shifting between the past and the present, Okie documents the rise and fall of this relationship and just how much Logan and Nicole stand to gain from loving one another right now. A golden retriever protagonist so sickeningly in love and a messy second chance romance is the essence of Lauren Okie’s, The Best Worst Thing. This story is heartfelt, compelling, and extremely hot—exactly what you’d expect from a slow burn friends to lovers romance, but somehow nothing like anything you’ve ever read before.
Preorder a Copy – Out 14th October
Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
Weeks after her ex, Sam, dumped her, Alison Mullally finds herself at his funeral. Alison soon realizes that no one there knows that they broke up, and she is called to play the part of the grieving partner—which includes boxing up all of Sam’s things in his former apartment alongside Adam Berg, Sam’s best friend. Four Weekends and a Funeral is a uniquely situated romance debut that centers some notably underrepresented topics within the genre. I really appreciated the focus on preventative healthcare and the anxieties that come with recovery and romance. When we are introduced to Alison she is on the heels of a double mastectomy after she found out she was a carrier for BRCA 1 and in all likelihood would develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Alison’s mother is pressuring her to go further with other preventative surgeries, after her own battle with breast cancer, and there is a lot on her shoulders because of this. Meanwhile Adam and Allison are growing closer as the four weekend apartment cleanout becomes significantly more involved, and they realize they have a connection. This romance certainly brings a lot into focus, but every topic is handled with such care. The close proximity between Adam and Alison is the real standout, with their delightful back and forth spurring forth the chemistry and their romance. This really is the perfect contemporary love story full of delightful Twin Cities representation and characters just trying their best.
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How the Marquess Was Won by Julie Anne Long
Julie Anne Long’s Pennyroyal Green series has long been lauded as one of the best in the historical romance genre and I’m here to say that the praises are true. How The Marquess Was Won is book six in this eleven book saga (each romance can be read independently), and it is high up on my list of favorites from the series. Julian Spenser, the Marquess Dryden has specific requirements for his life, and that includes his search for a wife. Nowhere does tempting a kiss from his intended fiancee’s paid companion play into this plan. When she overhears a bet regarding Julian Spenser enticing a kiss from her, Phoebe Vale decides to confront him head on. What emerges is a back and forth in the hallways between gatherings, gifted bonnets, romantic kisses in forest glades, and a love neither of them can afford. Opening with Julian Spenser, shot, and calling out to a woman who he says does not love him, Julie Anne Long was not playing around. From there, it’s back to the beginnings of this slow burn and heavy longing between group outings and various social gatherings as we encroach closer upon why Julian was shot. Julie Anne Long knows how to build tension, and class disparity is the primary vehicle driving the tension here. How the Marquess Was Won is a perfectly crafted romance and yet another Julie Anne Long novel to reread over and over again. This romance made me so giddy it’s no wonder I immediately moved to finish the remaining books in this eleven book series.
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Slap Shot by Chelsea Curto
A star hockey player in need of a private chef hires a newly unemployed chef and single mother in Slap Shot, a romance of epic slow burns. This was my first foray into Chelsea Curto romance and wow am I obsessed. I’ve often complained how the landscape of today’s contemporary romances don’t tend to leave space for slow burns or developing a friendship before romance enters the conversation, and that is why I love Slap Shot so much. Curto spends a tremendous amount of time highlighting who our protagonists are individually, as they strike up a professional relationship that transitions into friendship. Hudson and Madeline endear themselves separately without romance immediately being at the center, which only serves to deepen their connection and why their partnership works when they eventually start dating. Hudson is still dealing with the loss of his mother, and Madeline is desperately trying to balance her career with caring for her daughter, Lucy, after her partner walked out on them. These struggles are personal and yet together, Hudson and Madeline begin to build a future unencumbered by grief and strengthened by the sharing of these burdens. If this wasn’t enough, Slap Shot is seriously so hot. Hudson and Madeline’s sexual compatibility was on another level that I posit as due to the immense foundation Curto builds up over five hundred pages. I’m not one to typically recommend romance novels of this length, but every single page of Slap Shot is essential and certainly worth the read.
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Literaryrobin 