Gunn’s latest Suitcase Sisters novel (after Gelato at the Villa) takes readers on a trite adventure into the wilds of Scotland. Cousins Nora and Allie have been eager to explore their family’s Scottish roots and get the perfect opportunity when their grandmother asks them to travel there to retrieve her old diary from a now-deceased lover. The trip gets off to a rocky start when they discover they’ll need to wait several days to access the manor where the diary is located, aggravating Allie, a high-powered executive who needs to head home to confront a work crisis. But traveling through the countryside reinvigorates the cousins’ bonds to one another and their ancestral home—especially for Nora, who’s sick of her ho-hum life back in Arizona. After the two are given access to the ex’s manor, Nora is offered an intriguing job cataloging its book collection and must consider what it means to start over. At the same time, revelations about their grandmother push both women to grapple with their family’s past and trust the “tremendous creative purposes of God” to chart their futures. Unfortunately, the cute premise is hampered by strained prose and awkward, exposition-heavy dialogue (“Knowing Gran, I doubt she ever told anyone. She entrusted us with a secret. I never felt this way about her before”) that saps the plot of momentum and stymies character development. A few charming moments aside, this fails to take flight. (June)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

This cheeky riff on A Midsummer Night’s Dream from Allen (Patricia Wants to Cuddle) drops Puck, here reimagined as a nonbinary reality TV producer, into a friend’s wedding week, where they can’t resist their professionally honed urge to meddle. Puck arrives at the luxurious Athenian Hotel for the marriage of their college friends Mia and Damon. Mia previously dated the newly sober Zander, part of their college friend group, for eight years; she’s only been with Damon for one. Meanwhile, Lena, the last member of their clique, still hopelessly pines after Damon. Over a series of gender-segregated events that make Puck feel like the odd person out, they orchestrate meetings, mediate between exes, and plot to stop the ceremony—despite the best efforts of maid of honor Robyn. Allen uses Puck as an agent of chaos to highlight the manicured production of wedding culture and how heteronormativity is performed and policed. Puck’s reality-TV instincts frame intimacy as plot and people as playthings, but their attempts to shape the narrative may keep them from finding their own happiness. Bursting with humor, interpersonal drama, and badly timed desire, this equally smart and playful narrative has a point to make: that control is antithetical to intimacy and the course of true love, whether queer or straight, resists both scripting and stage management. It’s a delight. (June)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay there in this cute contemporary from Phillips (Melting for You). Star NHL player Aiden Anders, captain of the Seattle Spears, wakes up in Sin City next to Lyndsey Stone, best friend to his teammate’s fiancée, and discovers that they drunkenly married the night before. Given the stipulation in Aiden’s father’s will that he can claim his inheritance once he’s married, he asks Lyndsey, who is dodging messages from an obsessive ex-girlfriend, to postpone the inevitable divorce and pretend to be happily married on a trip to Texas to see his family. Faking a relationship soon leads to real intimacy, and after the press and the public learn of the marriage, Aiden’s determined to protect Lyndsey from the fallout. Readers expecting a sports romance will find very little hockey. Instead, Phillips focuses on slowly peeling back the layers of Aiden’s and Lyndsey’s backstories to reveal their vulnerabilities. It’s a sweet enough take on a familiar trope. (May)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Schmit's compulsively readable debut finds openly gay tennis phenom Austin Hardy, 20, preparing to compete against “world number two,” Diego Cruz, at the U.S. Open. Though rivals, the pair strike up an unexpected—and potentially romantically charged—friendship in the days before their big match. Austin, who suffers from anxiety, is confused about Diego’s intentions as he pays frequent visits to Austin’s hotel room and takes him on outings that feel like dates (including go-kart driving and Ping-Pong games), but also appears to friend-zone him with fist bumps and abrupt drop-offs in communication. When Diego divulges that spending time with Austin has made him realize he is “not not” gay, the men’s relationship improves, but their complicated feelings prove distracting as they prepare to face off. With pressure mounting both on and off the court, Austin’s mental health struggles are as central to the plot as the romance, and it’s sometimes overwhelming to exist inside his head. Still, Schmit handles the verbal volleys between Austin and Diego well, especially when they bare their souls or comfort each other. The nimble action on the court earns points, too. This is a welcome addition to the growing subgenre of tennis romances. (June)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Ezuma’s poignant debut explores grief, legacy, and new beginnings. Ndidi Davis struggles to cope after the death of her husband, Alex, an überwealthy tech mogul. Having come to believe that “in an ethical, just society, no one would be a billionaire,” she finds new purpose in setting up a foundation to give the money away. Chronicling her turn to philanthropy is journalist Geoffrey Campbell, who ignites desires in Ndidi that she thought she’d never feel again. The pair grow closer but worry about journalistic ethics and the optics of starting a relationship. More complications arise when Geoffrey turns up a secret from Ndidi’s past that could alter Alex’s legacy. The leads handle the hurdles in their paths with remarkable emotional maturity, making their compatibility clear even as Ndidi wrestles with guilt over moving on and Geoffrey struggles to prioritize love or career. The measured tone makes for a refreshingly grounded billionaire romance, and it’s genuinely affecting to see Ndidi embrace new possibilities, redefine herself and learn to love again. Readers will be moved. (May)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Fortune (One Golden Summer) delivers a tender tale about a childhood friendship blooming into more over the course of a weeklong getaway. Former sous chef Francesca “Frankie” Gardiner is ready to tie the knot—until her fiancé dumps her during their wedding weekend via a note. Blindsided by the breakup, feeling directionless in her career, and lamenting the idea of having to start over again at age 30, Frankie returns to her family’s home. While there, her best friend of more than two decades, George Saint James, arrives with a proposition: the two of them will go on her honeymoon in Tofino, British Columbia, where he’ll help her process the breakup with the aid of a meticulously researched itinerary. Frankie agrees to this picturesque vacation with the hope of rebuilding their recently strained friendship, but along the way she comes to realize she no longer views George in a purely platonic light. As tension brews between the leads, Fortune expertly intersperses glimpses into the highs and lows of the pair’s past, showcasing their ever-evolving dynamic. The inevitable third act conflict feels somewhat predictable and underwhelming, but readers will be charmed by the idyllic setting and Frankie and George’s unwavering devotion to each other. People We Meet on Vacation fans should check this out. Agent: Taylor Haggerty, Root Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

Grey (Mr. Big Shot) whisks readers to the Mediterranean for a flirty workplace romance. Responsible Isabel De Vere sets out to complete the bucket list left behind by her late sister, Winnie, as a way to cope with her grief and honor Winnie’s adventurous spirit. Only her grandmother, Lita, knows her plans as she goes off the grid, leaves the high-profile family jewelry business behind, and heads to Ibiza, where she lands a job at the island’s hottest club. Meanwhile, Lita extracts a promise from her late best friend’s grandson, Cristiano, who happens to be the club’s workaholic owner, that he’ll look out for Isabel during her wild summer. As Isabel crosses items off of Winnie’s bucket list—which includes snorkeling, skinny-dipping, getting a tattoo, and having “wild sex”—she steps out of her comfort zone and embraces her true self, including her feelings for Cristiano. Grey has a lot of fun with the adventurous premise, and it’s easy to root for Isabel along the way, though Cristiano, who self-identifies as “the jealous type,” can come across as too intense and overbearing to be summer fling material. Still, readers who like their romance heroes on the possessive side will find plenty to enjoy in this beachy romp. (May)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

At the start of this quirky but uneven contemporary from bestseller Williams (A Love Song for Ricki Wilde), casting agent Sasha Cruz, who became a recluse after a traumatic stalking incident, decides to reenter the world. After a fortune teller informs Sasha that she’s in for “a chance meeting that’ll set off a chain of events... that’ll end in happily ever after,” Sasha feels sparks with her seatmate on a plane ride to Paris and becomes convinced that he is her soulmate. Unfortunately, the pair are separated before exchanging names or numbers. Worse, Sasha accidentally emails everyone at her new workplace about her mystery man. Her coworkers set out to find him—and wind up finding their own loves in the process, developments that are relayed through cute email exchanges interspersed throughout. Meanwhile, Sasha seeks help from Wesley “Wes” Dane, the detective whom she credits for saving her from her stalker. Late-night calls with Wes lead to Sasha “developing a crush on the guy I hired to find my crush,” and she soon feels torn. The premise is fresh and Williams remains skilled at exploring the lingering effects of trauma, but readers may be unconvinced by Sasha and Wes’s relationship. Sasha continually crosses Wes’s boundaries, including by nonconsensually kissing him at a memorial service for his father, making their happy ending difficult to root for. This doesn’t live up to its potential. (June)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

The amusing sophomore novel from Timoti (Salty, Spiced, and a Little Bit Nice) takes readers back to the fictional town of Port Benedict, Wash., for a fun friends-to-lovers rom-com. Cynical Kimiko “Kim” Halim has been running her grandmother’s yarn store since she died almost two years ago. But a clause in her grandmother’s will says Kim needs to have a partner within two years to fully inherit the store. After 27 terrible first dates, Kim loses hope of finding the right person and panics as the deadline approaches. Enter Rob Carmichael, a friend of a friend. Rob, who is “always the groomsmen, never the groom,” is nevertheless a firm believer in happy endings and offers to help Kim find her soulmate if she’ll be his date to five upcoming weddings. The more time they spend together, attending the weddings and prepping for Kim’s dates with potential suitors, the more Kim opens up to love. Rob is a cinnamon roll of a hero—to the extent that he feels almost too perfect at times—but his banter with Kim is full of sparks and their genuine chemistry grows naturally. The result is a feel-good romp with plenty of heart. Agent: Ann Rose, Tobias Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 03/13/2026 | Details & Permalink

A bluestocking discovers love with one of London’s most notorious rakes in Benoit’s playful and sexy Regency debut. After being discovered alone in a library with reprobate Lord Alexander Stirling, the rumored bastard son of the Duke of Belhaven, Lady Harriet Bancroft must marry him to save her and her sisters’ reputations. With the help of his mistress, Harriet kidnaps an inebriated Alexander and whisks him off to Gretna Green, Scotland, where they can be swiftly wed. Though Alexander agrees to a marriage in name only, sexual tension ignites between them when innocent Harriet requests Alexander’s help in working on a dictionary of slang words she is writing with an Oxford professor. Alexander’s explanations (and demonstrations) of the erotically charged words Harriet seeks to define, including “cockstand” and “quim,” leave him sexually frustrated while her sunny disposition and caring nature soon have him wanting more than a marriage of convenience. The dictionary project adds a fun dimension to the classic setup of a jaded, worldly man falling for an innocent. This should win Benoit plenty of fans. Agent: Jessica Felleman, Jennifer Lyons Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 03/06/2026 | Details & Permalink