Tessa Bailey returns to her Academy series with a bang in Indecent Exposure, which features a charming police trainee who can’t resist his firearms instructor’s Irish lilt.

Jack Garrett is on his way to becoming a police officer. It’s not out of duty or family history; he’s just looking for a little job security. But the charming playboy finds himself slightly over his head when he realizes the woman he had a hot make-out session with the night before is now his new firearms teacher.

Katie McCoy knows her way around a gun. She’s a master markswoman and an Olympic gold medalist to boot. Plus, her charming Irish accent has everyone taking notice. However, the last thing she needs is to start a no-strings-attached fling with her new trainee. With Jack, though, nothing goes as planned, and resistance seems to be futile.

Jack is a welcome surprise as a hero. He’s the comedic relief of his friend group and likes to keep things light and fun. It’s no secret that Jack is also quite popular with the ladies, but he has an inner depth he tries to hide. He’s OK with being used for a little “release” and being the guy people can count on for a good time. But Katie sees something more in him than just eye candy, and for someone to want Jack for more than just a primal, superficial attraction is surprisingly satisfying. This realization that he’s more than just a hot bod is incredibly sweet.

With her Olympic background and intense training, Katie is obviously a unique heroine. She’s driven, outspoken and intimidating. It’s impossible not to love her. When paired with Jack, her honesty frequently puts the sweet-talker off his game, and to see him get frazzled by her openness feels like an exciting victory for the reader. Jack uses his humor as a shield, and Katie has no problem breaking down those walls with her earnest compassion.

When you read a book by Bailey, there are two things you can always count on: sexy, rapid-fire dialogue and scorching love scenes. Indecent Exposure delivers on both fronts and is a delightful reminder of why Bailey is a favorite author for many romance readers. Though there are moments of seriousness, especially when it comes to Jack’s guarded behavior and his past, this book is just wickedly fun.

After finishing the book, the biggest complaint from readers will be that they want more. More Jack. More Katie. And definitely more from the Academy. Hopefully, Bailey won’t make us wait too long.

Miranda Gabriel is back in Blue Moon Harbor, the town she fled after dropping out of high school. It’s the last place she ever expected to return to, but she has a 2-year-old daughter who deserves better than what Miranda has been able to give her so far. So Miranda returns to the tiny town and to her brother, Aaron, the only person she unequivocally knows she can count on. Once back in Blue Moon Harbor, Miranda discovers she’s inheriting Aaron’s new fiancée’s family right along with him. Miranda and Aaron were given short shrift in the functional family department, so she doesn’t have the first idea how to interact with her new family-in-law. She doesn’t plan to stick around very long, anyhow. She just needs to get back on her feet, then she’s returning to Vancouver where she belongs.

Local veterinarian Luke Chandler is a lifelong resident of Blue Moon Harbor. He married his high school sweetheart, and they planned to grow old together. But the day their twin boys were born, he lost the love of his life, and he’s been raising his sons on his own these past four years. Then one day, he walks into the local toy store and runs into the no-longer-Goth, grown-up version of the girl who fascinated him back in high school. Luke decides on the spot that maybe the time is finally right for him to get to know another woman. Miranda is a harder sell, but Luke perseveres until she agrees to meet him for a cup of coffee. And little by little thereafter, Miranda is drawn deeper into his orbit.

Susan Fox pens a page-turner of second chances and self-discovery in the second book of her Blue Moon Harbor series. Too many books hinge on a problem that one good conversation would resolve, but Miranda and Luke are excellent communicators who actually discuss the problems separating them, even as their individual issues threaten to keep them from getting their hearts’ desires. Their gratifying struggle will keep you turning the pages of Come Home with Me far into the early hours of the morning to learn how they ultimately score their happily ever after.

Roxanne Snopek embraces the complications of trauma and recovery in Sunset Bay Sanctuary, the first novel of her new series set in the beautiful beaches of Oregon.

Haylee Hansen trains therapy dogs at her aunt’s Sanctuary Ranch, a halfway house that provides tough love and support to foster kids, troubled adults and anyone else in need of a fresh start. Through a strange set of circumstances, including an unsettling blast from her past, Haylee meets Aidan McCall, the town’s new ER doctor, who later contacts her about getting a therapy dog to help with his PTSD. It’s difficult for Haylee to get Aiden to divulge his traumatic past, and Haylee is equally reluctant to share her tragic history. She’s learned to steel her emotions and has determined to keep her life simple, without romantic attachments. But Aiden sweeps her off her feet, and both must decide whether to face their demons or give up a chance at a lasting, profound connection.

Snopek beautifully incorporates her leads’ individual backstories within the central romance, alternating between Haylee and Aiden’s perspectives as they begin the delicate process of sharing their pasts and allowing the other to know them fully. And although Haylee and Aiden are front and center, Snopek also draws the reader’s attention to supporting characters and their struggles—building a community of fascinating people, all with their own burdens and journeys. Replete with surprising twists, Sunset Bay Sanctuary closes on a cliffhanger sure to entice readers to look forward to the next installment of this warmhearted series.

To anyone who asks, Mick Branson is back in the small Wyoming town of Mustang Creek to surprise his friend Slater Carson with a Christmas Day presentation of Slater’s latest documentary. But he also wants to see Raine McCall. There is no denying they are far from each other’s usual type. Yet Mick hasn’t been able to put her out of his mind since the last time he was in town.

Raine is content with her life. She’s self-employed, has a daughter she adores and is good friends with her kid’s father, as well of a decent portion of the rest of Mustang Creek’s admittedly small population. The last thing she needs is a hotshot movie exec to show her all the things she’s supposedly been missing. But Mick isn’t like that. He seems to fit in with her group of friends, her daughter likes him, and he has never made her feel less than the glamorous Hollywood women she is pretty sure he’s accustomed to. And god knows they have chemistry to spare. So when he requests a meeting to discuss a possible job offer for her, she agrees to see him. She even invites him to share a Christmas Eve dinner with her.

A Snow Country Christmas is heaven-sent for Linda Lael Miller’s multitude of fans and is sure to make a fan of those who have not yet had the pleasure of reading her books. Miller fills her stories with rich settings and characters so well-rounded, they cause a reader to feel as if they could be your neighbor, your best friend or the man of your dreams brought down to earth. You might want to add A Snow Country Christmas to Santa’s list, because this is a perfect stocking stuffer of a book!

Susan Andersen is a New York Times bestselling author of 25 romance and romantic-suspense novels.

Braden Montgomery is a game warden in small-town Hotchkiss, Colorado, and has structured his life exactly the way he wants it. His job lets him spend a lot of time outdoors, and the only female he has to tolerate these days—never mind cares to have warming his bed—is his dog Charley. Given Braden’s history with a cheating ex-fiancée, bachelorhood suits him just fine. But then a Texas girl who stars in a televised hunting show and is best known for her short shorts, cleavage and pink camouflage bursts into his life, smelling like strawberries and making his dormant libido rear its head.

Amber Regan’s show is circling the drain, and she’s in search of the perfect location to film an elk hunt she hopes will haul the program back to its glory days. She knows exactly what Warden Montgomery thinks of her—and doesn’t particularly care. Well, except maybe for the part where something about the guy makes her heart beat in Texas Two Step Swing tempo. She knows what a fantastic hunter she is. She grew up hunting with her uncle and if people don’t like the girly wardrobe she often does it in, too bad.

Ready for Wild was my first Liora Blake book, but it won’t be my last. Blake writes with heart, humor and sizzling sexiness, presenting her readers with characters and situations we can sink our teeth into and believe in. Braden and Amber felt like people I would happily hang out with. They didn’t let misunderstandings stand—they talked things through, leaping off the page as fully realized adults. I predict they will leave you rooting as enthusiastically for their hard won happily ever after as I did.

Bestselling romance novelist Erin Nicholas has her fingers on the pulse of what a girl wants—at least in terms of steamy romantic fiction—and Totally His is a bouyant love story with a refreshing maturity at its core.

Local theater-owner Sophie lost her mother when she was only two, leaivng her under the care of her manipulative father, Frank. Frank bounced his young daughter from stepmother to stepmother, women he used for sex, free food, cable TV and a warm place to live. With this turbulent upbringing, it’s no wonder that Sophie has difficulties with trust and love. She is sure that every good thing that comes her way in life will come to a swift end.

Responsible, self-assured cop Finn Kelly was raised by a single mother after his father’s death. Though the extended Kelly clan can be loud and sometimes cloying, they have given Finn absolute confidence in himself and reinforced his worthiness to be loved. He adores his mother and is both a protector and a “fixer,” traits which draw him to Sophie.

While respondng to a a fire at the local theater, Finn spots a young woman in hot pink underwear running back inside the burning building. More than a little curious, Finn sees it as his duty to find the girl and rescue her. He carries her out of the building and doesn’t stop wanting to protect her.

Finn tries to fix everything in her life, but Sophie wants more from him than that. She wants him to love her for herself, and to trust that she is mature enough to manage her life. Will Finn keep trying to come up with a solution to change Sophie’s difficult relationship with her incorrigible dad, or can he learn something from Sophie, too?

In Totally His, Erin Nicholas has woven a sweet and sexy tale set against the backdrop of a lively community theater and a noisy, rollicking Irish pub that readers won’t want to leave behind.

Lilac Lane, the latest in Sherryl Woods’ Chesapeake Shores series, pairs fiery redhead Kiera Malone with Bryan Laramie, her handsome and temperamental neighbor, in a battle that encompasses the kitchen and the heart.

Kiera leaves Ireland to be with her family in America, longing for an escape from the sadness of her former life. Married at an early age to a drunkard, her divorce left her raising three children alone and just scraping by. Years later, when she finally dared to open her heart to a good man, he suffered a fatal heart attack and died, leaving her feeling devastated and adrift.

On arriving from Dublin, Kiera is taken on as a consultant at the Irish pub her son-in-law runs. At O’Brien’s Pub, Kiera is flung into the kitchen where Chef Bryan Laramie, tormented by his own past, rejects her ideas. But sparks fly. Their respective family and friends fly into full matchmaker mode, but it doesn’t take a basket of O’Briens to make Kiera and Bryan suspect they may be right for each other.

When Bryan’s long-lost daughter, Dillon, bursts onto the scene, it seems Kiera and Bryan’s romance may have to be pushed to the background, but thanks to the family’s devious plotting, a charity cooking contest will soon bring them on stage together and force them to take charge of their own future.

Set against the ticking clock of Kiera’s visa expiration, Lilac Lane is as charming and vibrant as an Irish spring. Fans of the hit TV show based on the series will be delighted by this new installment.

An encounter with an autistic boy leads to a burgeoning romance in RaeAnne Thayne’s newest addition to the Haven Point series.

Katrina “Kat” Bailey is only in Haven Point for the month leading up to her sister’s wedding. She comes to the aid of new resident Bowie Callahan when Milo, his 6-year-old autistic brother, has a meltdown at the local grocery store. The seemingly self-absorbed yet handsome tech mogul is amazed at Kat’s ability to calm Milo and promptly offers to pay her $12,000 to babysit Milo for three weeks. She accepts, realizing that she can use the money to adopt a sweet little girl from a Colombian orphanage. Kat is excited to return to Colombia to rescue her soon-to-be daughter from her meager surroundings. But things get complicated when she falls in love with Bowie.

Fans of the Haven Point novels have much to look forward to in Serenity Harbor, the sixth installment in the series. Thayne weaves in romantic tension from the get-go, focusing much of her plot on developing the character traits of her young lovers. Kat and Bowie are no doubt attractive people outwardly. But inwardly, they are riddled with flaws—medically and emotionally. Thayne’s realistic characterization grounds the hope of falling in love with the trials and tribulations that so often come with it.

Serenity Harbor is riveting to the very end.