Parsons kicks off her Stranded in Leavenworth series with this wilderness-set charmer. Lucy O’Malley is happily planning a romantic outdoorsy vacation in the quaint town of Leavenworth with her workaholic, somewhat emotionally distant boyfriend, Brodan—until he dumps her on her 30th birthday. Meanwhile, widowed wilderness tour company owner, Jonathan Miller, whose wife, Cynthia, died four years earlier in a white-water rafting accident on an expedition he was leading, has vowed never to allow anyone else into his heart. Then Lucy comes bounding into his life and announces that the trip she booked for two will actually be a one-on-one tour. Reluctantly consenting to lead Lucy on her solo hiking trip, Jonathan is soon won over by her grit, especially as the multiday climb turns out to be harder than she’d expected. Through landslides, torrential rainstorms, and renegade tents, Lucy and Jonathan grow closer—but will their pasts prevent them from getting together? Lucy’s sweetness and sass convincingly slips beneath Jonathan’s high walls, and their grumpy/sunshine dynamic is a treat. Supporting characters, especially Lucy’s drag-queen bestie, Dirty O’Feelya, provide enchanting pockets of levity. This well-crafted romance will have readers hooked. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 10/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

Monroe (When I Should’ve Stayed) squanders a juicy premise in this strained romantic suspense novel. When swaggering Nashville homicide detective Dominic Dunn, the 35-year-old heir to a global coffee chain, calls the most frequently dialed number on a dead woman’s phone, he’s surprised to get phone sex operator Hannah May on the line. She’s a financially desperate 25 year old; it’s her first day on the job; and she’s a virgin. When Dominic realizes that the victims in his current case and a cold one both worked for Hannah’s new employer, he tracks her down and gets a wire tap on her work phone line, hoping to catch the killer. Hannah’s innocence and often cloying naivete (“Ew,” she thinks while imagining a customer “with his weiner out”) leads Dominic to offer to coach her through her calls. The pair grow closer, especially after Dominic demonstrates kindness to Hannah’s mother, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when Hannah was 12 and believes she’s living in an episode of NCIS. Once things heat up between them, Hannah’s discomfort with human sexuality falls suddenly away in sensual scenes that strain credulity. An abrupt third-act conflict about money feels underbaked and the mystery culminates in a haphazard showdown complete with an unsatisfying final reveal. Clunky exposition and wooden banter don’t help. This disappoints. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

O’Sullivan wraps up her Fae Destiny series (following A Kingdom of Deceit and Desire) with this spellbinding standalone romantasy. After fae princess Eala Duir’s husband, Sionnach, is taken hostage by Finnbheara, the king of the Connacht Fae of the Tír na nÓg realm, Eala sets out to rescue him. Using her magic Veil, she travels back in time to recruit powerful witch Biddy and pirate queen Grace, and transport them to the present. She realizes too late, however, that even their combined powers may not be sufficient to take on the fae king. In her desperation, she seeks the help of “fae thief and villain” Robber Bright, who holds a grudge against Finnbheara, making him a good potential ally, but who also recently absconded with Eala’s human best friend, Colleen, to Bráchthine, the Dark Prince Aodh’s realm. The excitement ramps up as Eala faces potential threats in both realms, and Aodh tries to use her as a pawn in his war against Finnbheara. O’Sullivan weaves the many threads together skillfully, though readers will wish Biddy and Grace had a bit more to do in the epic finale. Still, with inventive magic, emotional stakes, and some high-heat love scenes, this sends the series out on a high note. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Regency sensibilities clash with contemporary culture and science clashes with magic in Donovan’s goofy sequel to Her Knight at the Museum. In 1818 England, Henry Leighton-Lyons, the Duke of Beresford, mourns his wife, Charlotte, who died young, and dedicates himself to creating a time machine that will enable him to reunite with her, even for a brief moment. In present day Chicago, practicing witch Rose Novak, an employee at the Art Institute of Chicago, wishes to find love with “an old-fashioned gentleman.” She casts a love spell, unknowingly using a necklace containing the same moonstone that Henry also used in his time machine, and is shocked when it summons him to her side. Henry, a man devoted to logic and (often outdated) science, struggles to make sense of the modern day, while Rose struggles to find a way to send him back. Along the way, they agree to what Henry calls a “brief assignation” and Rosie calls a “fling.” As they grow closer, however, Henry comes to believe that Rose may be Charlotte reincarnated. The worldbuilding relies on an awful lot of hand-waving, and Donovan plays Henry’s culture shock for broad laughs. Unfortunately, his stuffy royal arrogance and period-typical views are often a turnoff, especially once he starts insisting to a disbelieving Rose that she is Charlotte reborn. This is best suited for devoted series fans. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

An enemies-to-lovers plot meets the fake dating trope in this by the numbers new adult romance, Mae’s Hall Beck University series debut. College student Athalia Payton Pressley has longed for the attention and affection of her twin brother, Henry, ever since the death of both their parents seven years prior. But while Henry, their school’s star athlete, is extremely protective of Athalia, he struggles to connect with her emotionally. When Athalia’s statistics professor informs her that she’s failing and assigns her to private tutor sessions, she winds up one-on-one with Henry’s despised athletic rival, Dylan McCarthy Williams. Athalia initially balks, but Dylan, who has always had feelings for Athalia but never acted on them due to Henry’s hostility, is determined to help her pass the class. After Athalia realizes the arrangement has finally earned her Henry’s attention, she recruits Dylan’s help keeping it by pretending to date her. From there, the story hits all the expected beats without adding much depth, especially not to the thinly drawn characters. The result is enjoyable but forgettable. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

A commitment-phobic firefighter falls for an EMT with a troubled past in St. James’s hot and heavy Sky Ridge Hotshots series starter, which was originally self-published and went viral on TikTok earlier this year. Prescott “Scottie” Timmons fled her old life in Arkansas for Sky Ridge, Wash., where she finds work as an EMT. She’s never met a man like Callahan Woods, a hunky local wildland firefighter with whom she falls into instalust. Though Callahan wants to keep their relationship purely physical, Scottie starts to feel more­—until he ghosts her. The pair are thrown back together, however, when Scottie winds up trapped on a mountain trail during a snow storm and Callahan comes to her rescue. Forced to ride out the days’ long blizzard together in a fire tower, Callahan explains his good reasons for ghosting, and Scottie divulges the dark truth about her life in Arkansas. Their relationship quickly heats up again, but will it last once they return to civilization? Readers who dislike the miscommunication or instalove tropes may be frustrated, but the spicy scenes are well done, and there are enough shocking set pieces—including natural disasters and Scottie’s emotional backstory—to keep the pages turning. This sizzles. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Troublesome politics, fanciful magic, and spicy romance combine but never quite cohere in this rocky romantasy from Ballard (Lease on Love). Courtesan Lady Caterine, Cate to her friends, is Gifted, possessed of innate magical powers for which she and those like her are oppressed in the erstwhile kingdom of Avon. Meanwhile, Prince Callum was heir to the throne of Scota, one of Avon’s four provinces, before the Uprising successfully staged a revolution. When the Uprising decrees that Avon will be run by an elected president, but would-be candidates must kill their province’s current monarch to qualify, Callum hatches a plan to kill his own father. His and Cate’s destinies become intertwined when he seeks out her Gift to assist in his plot, despite his bias against the Gifted. This thorny premise is plenty entertaining, the pace is swift, and the eventual romance between the leads is satisfyingly erotic, but both the politics and the magic system feel sketchy and convoluted. The muddled plot, which falls apart in the third act, is also mired in allusions to Macbeth that never amount to much. Readers may still have a good time with this, but only if they don’t think about it too hard. Agent: Kimberly Whalen, Whalen Agency. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 09/26/2025 | Details & Permalink

Lynn (Take Me Away, Cowboy) adds a sparkling second installment to her Cowboys of Elk Ridge, Montana series. When trial lawyer Sophie Kellerman’s boyfriend of five years, Drew, asks her to a special dinner, she thinks she’s about to receive a marriage proposal, not an insulting offer of a junior partnership at his law firm. Meanwhile, cowboy–turned–bestselling crime novelist Brad Connors’s long-term girlfriend Julia left him for his best friend, Chris. Both are jaded and not looking for love when they reconnect at Julia (who was Sophie’s college roommate) and Chris’s wedding—but chemistry instantly ignites between them. Not everyone is happy with their budding relationship, however: Brad’s mother is determined to make him a better match and will do what it takes to break them up. The leads feel grounded and real, a solid supporting cast adds charm, and the novel’s antagonists are satisfyingly dispatched by the end. Western romance fans will find this hits the spot. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

How much of reality TV is real behind the scenes is the question at the center of this fun contemporary from Kann (The Romantic Agenda). Entrepreneur Zinnia is too busy for dating and decides to approach marriage as a “merger”; she’s looking for a sensible partnership, not a giddy love match, and she gives herself 30 days to get it done. Her best friends, Grace and Fiona, think she’s insane—until Zinnia meets fellow entrepreneur Jordan, who’s seeking a similarly passionless arrangement, though for a very different reason. The rest of his family has been starring in a Kardashian-style reality show for years, and though he remains close with them, he doesn’t appear on camera, leading the public to dub him “the estranged son.” Now, however, the family hopes to keep Jordan’s sister Sadie’s twin pregnancy out of the news with a splashy distraction: Jordan’s emotional return and surprise engagement. As Jordan and Zinnia’s marriage of practicality becomes a public spectacle, the lines between performance and reality blur, with Zinnia joining Jordan’s family, saving his sister from a stalker, and unexpectedly finding real love. Zinnia’s strength of will and self-respect make her an admirable heroine while Jordan’s depth and eventual devotion are swoon-worthy. Readers will have no trouble rooting for these two. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink

This addictive romantasy series launch from Tuli (Not Safe for Work) follows young heroine Zarya, who has been raised in gilded captivity by the mysterious Row since the death of her parents. Row insists his refusal to let her leave his gorgeous property by the ocean is for her own safety, though he doesn’t elaborate. When Row disappears, Zarya risks fleeing, discovering a largely abandoned world damned by blight and roving demons save for one still-standing city. There, Zarya is injured while helping two Rakshasas, the city’s elite soldiers, fight a demon. Afterward, the men take her directly to the city’s castle. Unsure whom to trust in court, Zarya focuses on finding out why Row kept her hidden, a quest that unfolds as a twisty and genuinely surprising mystery. Meanwhile, with demons increasingly encroaching on the city, new friendships and potential romance with a Rakshasa inspire a newly self-aware Zarya to fight alongside its inhabitants. Tuli balances mystery, magic, and romance to create a page-turning tale. It’s sure to be a hit. (Nov.)

Reviewed on 09/19/2025 | Details & Permalink