In the sweet and spicy fifth romance in Daws’s Wait with Me series (after Take a Number), a precocious 11-year-old helps her father find love. Colorado millionaire Max Fletcher is nervous about spending the summer with his daughter, Everly, while his ex-wife heads on vacation, as it’s been 10 years since he’s had Everly in his house full-time. When he starts interviewing for a nanny, he’s not particularly convinced by the candidate who shows up in an orange tie-dyed sweatsuit—but Everly blurts out “you’re hired” before Max can send her away. Cassandra “Cozy” Barlow is on sabbatical from her high-powered career in Denver, and taking care of Everly, whom she quickly comes to love, is just the break she needs. Though Max and Cozy are attracted to each other from the start, Max worries that if he dates the nanny, he’ll have become a cliché. Daws surrounds her endearing leads with an all-star cast of supporting characters, many of whom fans will recognize from previous books, including Max’s burly cowboy brothers and romance writer Mercedes Lee Loveletter. This bighearted sense of community enhances the dreamy romance. Readers will be eager for more. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

The grumpy/sunshine trope animates this charming rom-com from Chamberlain (The Slowest Burn). Orphaned Mari Cole found refuge from her rough childhood in books, leading her to her dream career in adulthood: consulting with and revitalizing independent bookshops. When Mari’s mentor, the owner of a California bookstore, asks her to fly to London to help an old friend save his struggling shop, she leaps at the chance. Leo Ross dreamed of being an artist but has been groomed his entire life to take over Ross & Co., one of Britain’s best-known bookstores. When his grandfather dies unexpectedly, Leo’s destiny comes calling and he finds himself in way over his head. While Leo and Mari initially clash over how to manage the shop, opposites soon attract and they become inseparable—until a brace of bombshell family secrets rock their worlds. Readers will fall in love with Mari and Leo as Chamberlain skillfully reveals their hidden depths and believable vulnerabilities. The result is a multilayered love story that hits all the right notes. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

In Cook’s quirky debut, a woman conquers her fear of intimacy amid preparations for her bookstore’s grand opening. The Shopkeeper, a writer and a soon-to-be bookshop owner in Philadelphia, has always been a loner, due partly to a condition that causes her to fall asleep if she touches another person. Before her store officially opens, a sweet-smelling monk in training called ME wanders in. The pair immediately click, and ME leaves with the Shopkeeper’s last copy of her self-published book, Conversations with Harriet. After inexplicably finding a shelf full of her books at the university bookstore—copies that the Shopkeeper knows she didn’t print—she offers another copy to two members of her writers group, hoping it will bring them closer. As her book brings lovers together, the Shopkeeper pines after ME but keeps busy with setting up her bookstore. When the Shopkeeper’s pregnant sister, Elle, asks her to road-trip with her down south to their grandmother’s house, the Shopkeeper is forced to confront her fear of touch and the emotional baggage she left behind when she moved north. While far from a traditional romance, at the heart of Cook’s lightly allegorical debut is a love letter to storytelling itself. Readers eager for something out of the ordinary will be enchanted. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bowman (Hiring Mr. Darcy) gets a new series off to an enchanting start in this pitch-perfect contemporary. After event planner Ellie Lawson’s boyfriend dumps her and her boss fires her from her prestigious Manhattan firm, she returns to her Long Island hometown to help her parents’ Honeycrisp Orchard Inn prepare for the upcoming harvest festival. Ellie is surprised when she’s forced to share the inn’s two-bed attic apartment with Aiden Paker, the son of the nearby orchard’s owner whom she hasn’t seen since they were kids. Though the mutual attraction between them is instant, the pair initially clash over festival planning. As Ellie adapts to small-town life, however, she and Aiden come together to ensure their parents’ financial success—and share some steamy stolen kisses in the process. But when Ellie gets a job opportunity back in the city, she must carefully weigh her priorities. The cozy autumnal setting provides an idyllic backdrop for the sweet yet sensual romance between former childhood friends. Readers will be thoroughly charmed. Agent: Kevan Lyon, Marsal Lyon Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/25/2025 | Details & Permalink

YA author West (Better Than Revenge) makes her adult debut with an endearing rom-com about the pitfalls of modern dating. Romance-loving junior literary agent Margo Hart longs for a meet-cute with the man of her dreams, but for now she’s stuck swiping on the apps while struggling to disentangle herself from a toxic situationship with her boss and constantly comparing herself to her happily married sister. Fielding gross or tone-deaf messages from creepy dudes online is made somewhat easier by Oliver, a virtual stranger with whom she shared one disastrous date three years prior but whom she’s matched with on every dating app she’s downloaded since. The pair have never met again in person but frequently trade dating horror stories, romantic encouragement, and flirtatious banter. When Margo’s boss passes her over for a promotion, she decides to start her own literary agency. That very same day, she unexpectedly runs into Oliver in person, sparking intense chemistry. As Margo works to solidify her career, she must also wrangle with her feelings for Oliver, a task made harder when she learns the truth about why their first date went so horribly wrong. West has a gift for witty dialogue and successfully mines the horrors of dating app conversations for humor. Abby Jimenez fans will want to check this out. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

McCoy (The Good Ones Are Taken) brings lots of spice but little sense to this underwhelming contemporary. Ambitious Kendra Porter hopes that her plan to open a speakeasy/supper club in or around Washington, D.C., will finally free her from the shadow of her older brother, a successful restaurateur. Sparks fly when her brother’s lifelong best friend, BJ, offers his expertise in historical preservation to help Kendra find a landmark location that will enhance the ambiance of her new venture. The pair are obviously mutually interested in each other from the jump, leading to a hot and heavy “friends-with-benefits situationship.” When Kendra confesses that she has real feelings, however, BJ insists that, as his best friend’s sister, she is “off limits.” It’s an old trope, and McCoy does little to make it feel fresh or even believable: there’s no indication why Kendra’s brother would object to the relationship and, indeed, it turns out he doesn’t. The result is a flimsy conflict that can’t drive the plot forward with any urgency and serves to make both protagonists look bad, especially BJ, who comes across as undependable. This doesn’t work. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

Britton (The Duke’s All That) launches her Wimpole Street Widows Society series with this scintillating Regency. When Heloise Marlowe’s sister-in-law asks for help recovering jewels her employer was cheated out of at the Dionysus gaming club, Heloise, a widow and former blacksmith’s apprentice, agrees. With assistance from her charming group of widowed friends, Heloise launches an elaborate plan: fellow widow Laney, a former boxer, will come out of retirement for a match at Dionysus. Posing as Laney’s manager, Heloise will search the place for the missing jewels. To access the club’s inner sanctum, however, Heloise will need to seduce part owner Ethan Sinclaire. She’s not anticipating falling in love with her mark. Ethan rose out of poverty to become a successful businessman without ever losing his sense of compassion. He’s also just as determined as Heloise to get to the bottom of the cheating rumors that plague Dionysus. As the pair grow closer, Heloise fears what will happen to their budding relationship when Ethan discovers her true motives. Britton propels the plot forward at a page-turning clip while introducing an enchanting ensemble of progressive widows whose love stories readers will look forward to following in future installments. Add in sensual romance and a dollop of mystery and this proves impossible to put down. Agent: Kim Lionetti, BookEnds Literary. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

YA author Laurens (Youngblood) makes her adult debut with this queer, campy escapade into the world of stardom and its accompanying rigmarole. Childhood friends Renee Feldman, now an MFA student in documentary film, and Lola Gray, international “princess of pop,” are reunited at Lola’s sister’s wedding, where sparks fly all the way into a passionate one-night stand. After Renee sneaks out the next morning, she doesn’t expect to hear from Lola again—until Lola calls to ask her to direct a documentary film about the making of her next album. From there, the tension is twofold: first, as director and subject, feelings entering into the mix could make things messy; second, Lola is closeted, and her fans are already dissecting her every move and song lyric for clues about her sexuality. Laurens peppers in plenty of Easter eggs that will put fans in mind of Taylor Swift, though she tempers the real-world parallels somewhat by making her heroines down-to-earth and even nerdy at times. Readers looking for a spot of escapism will find everything they need here. (Oct.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

Miller launches a spin-off series from her Monsters & Muses novels with this angsty, dark academia–inflected romance. Asher Anderson and Lucy Wolfe have been friends since childhood, and they both plan to attend Avernia College in Fury Hill, N.H., where Asher’s older sister, Quincy, is studying. After Quincy realizes the Andersons were one of the tiny college’s founding families, and that the crimes of their ancestors have put targets on Quincy and Asher’s backs, Asher’s parents persuade him to stay away, leaving Lucy to navigate a campus controlled by mysterious secret societies on her own. But when students start dropping dead, Asher fears for Lucy’s safety, reenrolls, and takes a position as her dorm’s RA to protect her. The body count is high and the violence is often graphic. Equally graphic are the spicy sex scenes once Asher and Lucy realize their feelings for each other. Propelled by a clever mystery and red-hot friends-to-lovers romance, this is sure to whet readers’ appetite for more. (Aug.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink

Harrow (One-on-One) gracefully avoids the sophomore slump with this fun road-trip romance. Celebrity online spin instructor Quinn Ray keeps things sunny on camera, but she’s frustrated by her toxic work environment. After a video of her breakup goes viral, her supervisor suggests she take a few weeks off, giving her the perfect opportunity to drive from L.A. to the Jersey Shore to visit her best friend. When her estranged former friend Nate, a swim instructor, asks to tag along, Quinn finds it too difficult to say no despite major awkwardness and unresolved feelings between them. Nate has his own agenda for the trip: he’s hoping to track down their wayward mutual friend Logan, now a reality TV star, to have a serious conversation that Logan’s been putting off. Though Quinn planned for a peaceful drive stopping at some national parks, the hunt for Logan leads to frequent detours, taking her and Nate to Las Vegas parties, strangers’ baby showers, and country music festivals. Along the way, Quinn builds in plenty of time for Nate and Quinn to believably talk through their differences and finally act on their attraction. The result is a freewheeling romp that will please friends-to-lovers fans and armchair travelers alike. (Sept.)

Reviewed on 07/18/2025 | Details & Permalink