Take your coziness to the next level with three new historical romances that’ll leave you feeling warm and fuzzy, inside and out.

Anyone but a Duke
In Anyone but a Duke by Betina Krahn, the quiet of a country estate is shattered when its mysterious owner returns to find a troublesome American woman managing its grounds.

Sarah Bumgarten has had it with the London aristocracy after being publicly rejected and has sworn off arrogant, titled men. Her only recourse is to lick her wounds in private at the Betancourt estate. The owner, the sibling of her brother-in-law, is presumed dead, and Sarah is grateful for the distraction of rehabbing the grounds.

But things quickly go awry when Arthur “Art” Michael Randolph Graham, the definitely not-dead owner of Betancourt, arrives injured on Sarah’s doorstep. It takes a village in despair and a greedy band of thieves for Sarah and Art to realize that the only way they can solve their problems and restore Betancourt to its former glory is to do it together.

Krahn’s subtle, insightful writing creates wonderfully tender scenes between the main characters. But don’t be fooled by the mischievous coterie of animals or the bucolic setting—Sarah and Art are survivors. The romance unfolds slowly and sweetly, with both Art and Sarah healing their emotional and physical wounds through love and understanding.

Forever and a Duke
Grace Burrowes puts a gender-swapped, historical spin on a “beauty and the geek” premise in Forever and a Duke.

Eleanora Hatfield hides behind numbers. Math makes sense, and she’s good at it. Of course, her workaholic behavior and all-business, no-nonsense attitude have absolutely nothing to do with the past she’d prefer to keep hidden. But when her abilities are recommended to the Duke of Elsmore, Wrexham “Rex” Dorset, she frets at leaving the safety and comfort of her bank job, though she’s not in a position to refuse.

Rex dearly loves his family, especially his sisters, and with so many accounts to run and lands to oversee, no one can blame him for being a little scatterbrained. With his sisters approaching the age to be wed, he realizes he needs to get his affairs in order, and Eleanora comes highly recommended.

And then Rex falls head over heels in love. He admires Eleanora’s knack with numbers, and while Eleanora may also be developing a crush, she knows a future together is nonexistent. Forever and a Duke is a lovely romance with a hero unabashedly embracing the feelings he has for the heroine (it is the sweetest thing) and the heroine doing everything she can to not fall madly in love with him. File this one under fun, flirty and just a little nerdy.

The Princess Plan
A Cinderella story between a privileged prince and a snarky spinster gets the royal treatment in Julia London’s The Princess Plan.

Sebastian is the crown prince of the fictional kingdom of Alucia, and he has a lot on his shoulders. He needs to broker a trade agreement with England, find an English wife to bolster the countries’ alliance and catch the person responsible for murdering his best friend. It’s, well . . . a lot. What he doesn’t need is a women’s gossip magazine spreading rumors and false accusations.

Enter Eliza Tricklebank: a judge’s daughter, co-publisher of Honeycutt’s Gazette of Fashion and Domesticity for Ladies, a repairer of fine clocks and the largest thorn in Sebastian’s side.

Eliza and Sebastian’s quippy banter is just a means of foreplay. They’re well-matched in terms of intelligence and personality, despite the glaring disparity in their titles. Eliza is a wonderfully feminist heroine whose actions are always punctuated with a scathing one-liner or wry observation. And Sebastian . . . sweet Sebastian! He is a true romantic hero, who loves Eliza wholly and completely as she is.

Steeped in fairy-tale elements—a prince, a ball, a crown—The Princess Plan is a sparkling introduction to a new series by London.

Two new small-town romances prove there’s life yet in a subgenre that’s often seen as old-fashioned at best, retrograde at worst. With deep emotion, excellent characterization and a sly subversion of tropes, Liza Kendall and Tracey Livesay have created towns we can’t wait to go back to.

Walk Me Home

Small-town romances don’t always have to be all sunshine, and Liza Kendall tugs at your heartstrings right away in Walk Me Home, a story full of characters with depth.

The first in the Silverlake Ranch series by Kendall, a pen name for the combined forces of two award-winning authors, Walk Me Home introduces the readers to the Braddock and Nash families. Willing a family tragedy to stay in the past, Charlie Nash is reluctant to go back to her hometown of Silverlake. Charlie hasn’t seen her ex-boyfriend, Jake Braddock, since they were teenagers, and when they reunite to help out with a circus of a wedding, sparks begin to reignite.

Filled with a cast of supporting characters who range from Jake’s fellow firefighters or Charlie’s ornery grandfather, it’s easy to get lost in the town of Silverlake, Texas. And under it all, Kendall creates a story of redemption and second chances with grace. One of the best things about this book is that it allows the characters to grieve fully and in different ways. Each member of the Braddock and Nash family navigate their grief in ways that help the reader to understand their personalities on a deeper level. Whether it’s Lila Braddock’s boisterous embrace of life or Kingston Nash’s anger, this lends the characters a distinct humanity.

Walk Me Home envelops the reader in Jake and Charlie’s long-buried feelings. Kendall smartly deploys characters’ backstories and uses them to fully flesh out their unique characteristics. The effect is endearing and will have you rooting for Jake and Charlie to figure out if their relationship is worth another shot. As past feelings, both good and bad, bubble to the surface, Charlie and Jake’s moments with each other are a treat to read. With lust that quickly turns into longing, and enough emotions to keep your nose buried deep in its pages, Walk Me Home is an excellent read.

★ Sweet Talkin’ Lover

Tracey Livesay brings the charm with Sweet Talkin’ Lover, the first in a new series that puts a modern spin on the popular small-town genre.

We’re first introduced to Caila Harris, whose yearly girls trip has become a cornerstone of her group of friends. A no-nonsense professional working in the beauty industry, Caila’s life gets turned upside down when she finds herself on assignment to shut down an unprofitable factory in Bradleton, a small town whose charm is only outmatched by that of the rightfully dubbed “Mayor McHottie,” Wyatt Bradley.

Her grandfather’s death has knocked Caila off her game in the workplace, even with a promotion on the horizon. Caila’s plans go further awry when Wyatt and the people of Bradleton set out to show her the magic of their small town. Soon, Caila finds herself for falling for more than Bradleton's quaint shops and fall festival.

Livesay crafts a grand adventure in a small package. Unlike many small-town romances, Livesay drops a believable, modern day heroine into reader’s laps. Reading about the adventures of a black woman in small-town Bradleton as she navigates between her head and her heart is wondrous. Livesay delivers excellent descriptions of Caila’s and Wyatt’s surroundings that will make even the most die-hard city slicker yearn for the simple life.

As sweet as small-town life can be, Livesay also knows when to turn up the heat. Wyatt and Caila’s attraction to one another simmers and boils over as they grow closer to each other. Readers will feel the intensity of their mutual attraction build through Livesay’s skillful, playful banter and evocatively written longing between the two. With a diverse cast of characters who propel the story forward and an enchanting look at a modern small town, Sweet Talkin’ Lover is a triumph.

ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Go Behind the Book with Liza Kendall.

Little girls like Prince Charming. Grown women like a different sort of man—a man with a little more edge, a little more stubbornness and grit. Prince Charming can sweep you off your feet, plucking you from your tragic backstory and escorting you into another life that’s shiny and new. But it takes a true hero to step up to be your equal, not your rescuer. To share your battles and take them seriously instead of brushing them all away. To appreciate and value you for who you are, rather than “saving” you from yourself by turning you into someone else. These grumps with hearts of gold prove themselves as worthy heroes by showing the women they love that they are and always have been heroines in their own right.

In Sarah Morgenthaler’s The Tourist Attraction, Zoey Caldwell certainly doesn’t think of herself as a heroine, even on the dreamiest of all dream vacations, visiting the Alaska wilderness she’s saved every penny to see. Though she’s visibly out of place with the ultra-rich jet setting crowd that fills the exclusive Moose Springs resort, she couldn’t be happier to soak up every experience, including a meal at the infamous local diner The Tourist Trap, run by grumpy local Graham Barnett. Graham hates tourists—with good reason. And after a series of mishaps that include an energetic kick to somewhere . . . indelicate on their second meeting, Zoey’s not exactly going out of her way to make a great impression. Yet it’s clear that she dazzles him from the start. Before he knows it, Graham’s breaking all of his rules: taking her to the best dives known only to the locals, going on godawful expeditions with her just to make her happy, and, most dangerous of all, giving his heart away to a woman who’ll be leaving after two weeks.

Graham’s soft heart makes an earlier appearance than you might expect given his forbidding demeanor, but that’s just because Zoey is so irresistibly charming, walking around with her own heart on her sleeve as she practically vibrates with love for his beautiful hometown. Graham warms to her quickly, but that doesn’t mean his rough edges have gone away, or that their love is destined for smooth sailing. (There is, in fact, a bout of very rough sailing that is simultaneously one of the cutest and grossest scenes of the book.) As with any good romance, it’s Graham and Zoey’s imperfections that make them such a perfect match, bringing out new sides of each other and opening each other’s eyes to new experiences, new perspectives and a new belief that love might actually be able to conquer all.

By contrast, the hero of A Duke by Any Other Name by Grace Burrowes is very slow to succumb to the charms of the heroine. In fact, it takes an invasion of pigs (not flying, sadly) before Nathaniel Rothmere, the Duke of Rothhaven, deigns to give Lady Althea Wentworth the time of day. Leaning hard into his reputation as Yorkshire’s leading crank/recluse, he has no visitors, pays no calls, shows no courtesies and gives not a flying fig for anyone’s opinion—which means, of course, that the town views him with great admiration and awe. It’s a position Althea desperately envies. Although she’s the beautiful, well-educated, extremely wealthy sister of a duke, her position is lower than low among the ton who resent her rise from poverty and obscurity, who seize every opening to deliver another petty, nasty, viciously “civilized” slight.

Turning to Nathaniel for advice is roughly akin to sticking her head in a lion’s mouth, but she’s desperate enough to try, and both bold and clever enough to succeed. He spars with her, in spite of himself. He likes her, in spite of himself. He even counsels her, giving really awesome advice in the process. (I now know precisely how to give the cut direct: “You notice, you hold in a contempt too vast for words, you dismiss.”) But even when love finds him—despite all the literal and metaphorical walls he’s hidden behind—the twisted bonds of a dark family secret mean he can’t give in to what he feels. Here again we see how the hero needs the heroine, how the only counterbalance for his darkness is her light, and how in turn his grounded nature helps to set her free.

As you might expect from two such strong and determined characters, the sparks that fly between Nathaniel and Althea are undeniably fierce. Their banter is quick-paced and witty, sharp as a fencing foil. Sharp too is the edge with which Burrowes portrays their circumstances. Both were victims of shocking cruelty from their earliest years. The story touches on themes of violent parental abuse, exploitation of physical and psychological disabilities and even child prostitution. But these heavy shadows are balanced by the honor and kindness Nicholas and Althea demonstrate, the warmth and dedication they give to each other and to their families and, most of all, by the beautiful love they slowly build and (even more slowly) accept between them.