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Alexis Hall does fantasy romance as only he can

The author’s latest, Confounding Oaths, comes complete with an evil fairy godmother, plus sweet new releases from Emma R. Alban and Katie Shepard in this month’s romance column.
The author’s latest, Confounding Oaths, comes complete with an evil fairy godmother, plus sweet new releases from Emma R. Alban and Katie Shepard in this month’s romance column.
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Romance

I hate how much I love you

Feature by Dolly R. Sickles

This pair of enemies-to-lovers romances takes readers on a bicoastal journey from classic Los Angeles showbiz glitz to sleek Manhattan high-rises.

LA-based YA author Bridget Morrissey hits the ground running with her first adult novel, Love Scenes. Morrissey’s Angeleno bona fides shine through in this sweet and thoughtful rom-com that tackles real-world problems of addiction, sobriety and second chances with wit and wisdom.

Told in first person, Love Scenes follows Sloane Ford, actor and second-generation Hollywood royalty, as she contemplates retiring from the industry following the disastrous demise of her longtime gig on a TV crime procedural. But she’s quickly roped in to being the consulting producer of a new movie written by her stepfather, directed by her sister, co-starring her mother and starring Joseph Donovan, a fellow actor she never wanted to work with again after his difficult behavior during the one and only movie they made together.

Sloane’s gigantic family, with parents and siblings and steps galore, has the potential to overwhelm everything else in this romance—particularly since, in true Hollywood fashion, everyone is involved in showbiz. But they’re well rounded and secondary to the real focus of the story: Sloane and Joe. Despite the professional, generational and financial privilege Sloane could easily fall back on, she works hard and recognizes all the ways she’s been given a leg up in her career. She also recognizes, eventually, Joe’s genuine effort to make amends. He was an emotional wreck and struggling with alcoholism when they last worked together, but now he’s sober and dedicated to keeping it that way. What follows is real emotional growth, true friendship and a satisfying love story.

Lauren Layne proves once again that she’s the queen of contemporary New York City romance with To Sir, With Love. Her breezy dialogue and delightful characters will fully immerse readers in this dreamy and sophisticated love story.

It’s easy to connect with Gracie Cooper right out of the gate. She’s an earnest, hopeful character anyone would love to call a friend. She’s crazy about her best friend’s baby, names the pigeons she feeds in the park, blurts out everything and blindly gives herself over to the attraction she feels to “Sir,” the mystery man she’s been chatting with under the name “Lady” through a dating app called MysteryMate. All of that, and she’s set aside her own dreams to keep her late father’s champagne shop, Bubbles & More, in business.

Gracie thinks she’s fallen in love with Sir. But if she has, how can she also be so drawn to Sebastian Andrews, the man whose company wants to buy out Bubbles & More’s lease? At first glance, Sebastian is the villain in this fairy tale, but the more Gracie learns about the businessman, the more the goodness in her recognizes the goodness in him. Sebastian is kind and supportive and recognizes the community impact his business decisions could cause. And the more time they spend in one another’s company, the more he suspects the possibility of Gracie being the Lady to his Sir.

This hopeful, happy love story sparkles with fairy dust, even as Layne makes it clear how high the professional and personal stakes are for her main couple. The superb characterization of Gracie and Sebastian and the parallel journeys they take toward one another make To Sir, With Love a wonderfully satisfying romance.

This pair of enemies-to-lovers romances takes readers on a bicoastal journey from classic Los Angeles showbiz glitz to sleek Manhattan high-rises.

Romance

Ill-advised and irresistible

Feature by Elizabeth Mazer

A Regency romance without a scandal is, of course, hardly any kind of romance at all. What’s the fun of having all those rules if no one breaks them? But while we’ve all relished our share of rakish heroes with scandalous pasts and sinister reputations, there’s something bold and delightful about this trio of romances featuring convention-defying women. These heroines seem, at least on paper, to be the very last sort that any Regency hero would marry.

Charlotte Hurst, the heroine of Not the Kind of Earl You Marry by Kate Pembrooke, is most definitely an unexpected match for William Atherton, Earl of Norwood—especially given that their engagement is announced in the newspaper before the two of them have even met. It’s part of a plot to embarrass William and damage his political ambitions, but Charlotte and William choose to combat it by keeping the ruse going and playing the happy couple. Or at least, that’s William’s hope. Because he initially accuses Charlotte of being the source of the story, she takes some convincing. That’s his first hint that she's not like the other women he’s known. Far from fawning over the rich, handsome and titled gentleman, she’s quick to tell William off, informing him that he’s not the last man she’d ever marry, because that doesn’t go far enough. She’d never marry him, even if there were literally no options left.

Pembrooke uses the pair's first meeting to set the stage for the relationship they’ll build, in which Charlotte continues to startle and engage William by defying his expectations and puncturing his ego in the process. Charlotte’s pragmatic, no-nonsense attitude is refreshing not just to William but also to readers, who will appreciate her honesty, her kindness and the warmth and sincerity of her growing love for the one man she was quite certain she’d never marry.

In contrast to Charlotte, Kathleen Calvert knows exactly how she consistently ends up the subject of gossip in Vanessa Kelly’s The Highlander’s Irish Bride. She keeps finding herself in absurdly inappropriate situations through (mostly) no fault of her own. When the latest scandal gets her banished from London and sent to visit a cousin who has married into a Scottish clan, she immediately clashes with Grant Kendrick, the most staid and serious member of the somewhat riotous family. He’s Scottish while she’s Irish. He’s quiet while she’s talkative. He’s proper and buttoned up while she’s . . . not. Kathleen’s immediate reaction is that they could never suit, which any romance reader knows means that they’ll eventually discover they’re perfect for each other. Which they are, of course. Kathleen’s exuberance brings much-needed color into Grant’s rather drab life, while his steadiness eases her restless energy and helps her find a place to belong at last.

There’s a lovely poignancy to the scenes where the couple bonds over the things they do share: love of family, devotion to siblings, deep-seated sadness over the loss of parents. Grant and Kathleen are surrounded by quite a bit of drama and chaos as their romance progresses (people are held at gunpoint multiple times, and there’s a love triangle that gets delightfully convoluted) but Kelly uses their growing love as an anchor, grounding all the excitement in something real and warm and lovely.

Hanna Zaydan, Diana Quincy’s heroine in The Viscount Made Me Do It, is the most scandalous of this trio, but she is also the most heroic. She’s a bone setter, a historical occupation that was a bit like a chiropractor, but without a formal education and without a fraction of respect from the established medical community. As such, Hanna is viewed as a charlatan at best and a prostitute at worst, and even her own Arab English family finds her choice of profession inappropriate. The only person who believed in her was her father, who trained her in the craft and whose practice she has taken over following his death. Thomas Ellis, Viscount Griffin, comes into her life as he searches for his parents’ killer, and Hanna earns his admiration and respect when she cures him of a long-standing injury that the medical establishment has been unable to treat. His admiration grows into a fascination that soon tips over into love. It would not only be shocking for a viscount to wed a working-class woman in a disreputable profession, but Hanna’s big, close-knit family would never view Thomas as an acceptable match, since he's not an Arab.

In a subgenre as WASPy as Regency romance, The Viscount Made Me Do It is a marvelous breath of fresh air, reminding readers that there were other cultures, other religions and other perspectives present in this era besides the ones most commonly focused on. Hanna is a fascinating creation for all the ways in which she defies convention—and her love story is all the more dazzling for the richness and vibrancy her perspective brings.

A Regency romance without a scandal is, of course, hardly any kind of romance at all. What’s the fun of having all those rules if no one breaks them?

Romance

Romance: September 2021

Feature by Christie Ridgway

A queer romance threatens to upend a reality dating show in this month’s romance column.

★ I’m Only Wicked With You

Historical romance doesn’t get more glorious than Julie Anne Long’s I’m Only Wicked With You, the third book in her Palace of Rogues series. While residing at a genteel London boardinghouse, self-educated and ambitious American Hugh Cassidy meets Lady Lillias Vaughn, an earl’s sheltered daughter. Hugh’s on a mission for a friend and has no time for or interest in aristocratic debutantes, but he’s fascinated by Lillias’ beauty and quiet strength. Lillias is equally struck by Hugh’s handsome face and clever ways, but she’s also nursing a secret heartache. The pull between them is undeniable, and though they try to ignore it, the attraction proves overpowering. The slow burn flares to fire, and then they’re in real trouble. Filled with witty banter, yearning and lush descriptions of passion, as well as wonderful, fully drawn secondary characters, this romance hits every note just right. Readers will be sighing in satisfaction at the gratifying happily ever after.

★ The Charm Offensive

Alison Cochrun twines an earnest exploration of mental health and sexuality through a truly memorable love story in The Charm Offensive. Dev Deshpande works as a producer on the reality dating show “Ever After.” It’s a dream job until he’s assigned to be handler of this season’s “prince,” germaphobic and touch-wary tech whiz Charlie Winshaw. Diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder and generalized anxiety, Charlie hopes his TV stardom will erase his reputation of being difficult to work with. But he’s not particularly attracted to any of the women vying to become his soulmate, and he can’t stop thinking about Dev, with his busy brain and big heart. Can Charlie blow up his chance at a professional second act to reach for a different kind of future? Cochrun has a lot of fun with the behind-the-scenes glimpses of “Ever After,” but it’s The Charm Offensive’s tenderness and deep, believable emotion that will linger in readers’ hearts. 

Breaking Badger

There are no dull pages in Breaking Badger by Shelly Laurenston. Siberian tiger shifter Finn Malone learns no good deed goes unpunished when he comes to the aid of a band of honey badger shifters under attack. They’re energetic, unpredictable and impossible for him to understand, but then he discovers that these women might be the key to finding out who’s responsible for the murder of his father. He and his brothers try to enlist their help, leading to more chaos as well as a surprising attraction to badger/hyena hybrid shifter Mads Galendotter. As usual, readers entering a Laurenston universe will find themselves immersed in a strange world full of family, friends and shifter dynamics that never fail to amuse. Secondary characters with smart mouths and interesting abilities boost the high-octane entertainment. There’s nonstop banter, plenty of blood and gore and flaming-hot lovemaking as the intrepid Mads battles her dangerous relatives while learning that teammates can be friends and that your true family is the one you choose.

A queer romance threatens to upend a reality dating show in this month’s romance column.

Science Fiction & FantasyRomance

Kiss kiss, bang bang

Feature by Dolly R. Sickles

The stakes are high, the danger is imminent and the sexiness is through the roof in this trio of romantic suspense novels.

Author duo Kit Rocha is back with the second installment of the Mercenary Librarians series. The first, Deal With the Devil, introduced librarians Maya, Dani and Nina, who brokered a deal with a group of AWOL supersoldiers known as the Silver Devils to survive in a post-apocalyptic Atlanta. The Devil You Know is another exciting dystopian adventure packed with danger, sexy romance and fascinating world building.

Maya may not have the combat skills of her fellow librarians, but she’s got as much grit, determination and intelligence in her self-described “soft and squishy” body as anyone in her squad. Raised with the wealthy and well educated, she learned to speak dozens of languages and mastered advanced mathematics, astronomy, programming, cryptography and biochemistry. Now Maya uses her brilliance to help her small community learn to freeze-dry food while building a repository of information more useful and practical than any 20th-century library.

Gray is the consummate sniper—stoic, determined and laser-focused. The Silver Devils, who were once a private security group for medical and tech conglomerate TechCorps, were granted superhuman abilities by implants. But now those implants are deteriorating, and Gray has begun to experience seizures. Despite the secret kernel of affection he keeps buried in his heart for Maya, he’s more interested in keeping her alive and safe than in his arms.

Rocha’s writing is tight and purposeful, keeping readers on their toes as they, along with Maya and Gray, try to figure out who they can actually trust. There are moments of both gasping surprise and laugh-out-loud humor in this fun and totally unique romance.

Alexandra Ivy’s Faceless will ruin any preconceptions readers may have about safe, sleepy small towns.  

When Wynter Moore was 4, she witnessed the murder of her mother in a robbery gone wrong. Despite that trauma, she’s grown into a peaceful woman who lives a quiet life. For the past 25 years, Wynter has returned annually to her mother’s grave in Pike, Wisconsin, and Wynter’s longtime friend Noah Hunter is there waiting for her every time. Loyal, kind and dependable Noah has loved Wynter from afar ever since they met in grief counseling as teenagers, but he’s been hesitant to take things further because he knows that good friends are far more valuable than lovers. 

But then Wynter receives an unexpected envelope containing a still shot from surveillance footage of her mother’s murder, a clue that could unlock the killer’s identity. She turns to game warden Noah, who has been trained in observation and security, to help her investigate.

Ivy ably balances Wynter’s overwhelming emotions upon revisiting her mother’s death with the addictiveness of unraveling the truth. There’s a lot of details to unpack in this book, along with a lot of characters, which unfortunately turns down the slow burn of this friends-to-lovers romance to a simmer. It would have been nice to see a little more of Wynter and Noah’s romantic progression, but in the hectic world of romantic suspense, Faceless offers a breather: It’s a love story with a gentler pace, despite the life-threatening danger the main couple finds themselves in.

Adriana Anders ratchets up the tension to stratospheric heights in the highly anticipated follow-up to 2020’s Whiteout, Uncharted. Set in the Alaskan wilderness, this forced proximity romance delivers a suspenseful TKO.

With staccato-style sentences, Anders brings new and returning readers up to speed on the ruthless Chronos corporation, which has deployed a team of mercenaries and scientists to gain access to a deadly virus. The only thing standing in Chronos’ way is hotshot pilot Leo Eddowes and the other members of her secret military unit. 

Leo and her team have traveled to Alaska in search of a scientist who stole a vial of the virus from Chronos. When the daring Leo decides to follow a lead without the rest of her team, she ends up crashing her plane in the wilderness after being attacked by Chronos’ goons. Leo is saved by the mysterious Elias Thorne, who has his own tortured history with the evil corporation.

Uncharted is ultimately a romance about trust and instinct. Who can you trust? When should you let down your guard? Anders has created two great protagonists who are equally skilled and equally wary of one another. Every sentence, every scene, is packed with emotion, and readers can feel Leo and Elias falling in love as they team up to make it out alive. The landscape provides as strong a foe as the enemies who are pursuing the pair, which makes the story all the more stressful. This is an exhausting book, but in the best possible way. It’s like the literary version of a Bruce Springsteen song, one that’s meant to be sung loudly and reverberate from every pore into the universe.

The stakes are high, the danger is imminent and the sexiness is through the roof in this trio of romantic suspense novels.

Romance

Contentious courtships

Feature by Keira Soleore

These witty enemies-to-lovers rom-coms are perfect for both fans of all things royal and readers who are eager for a variation on the trend. Rather than being princes or princesses themselves, the couples in these romances either work for or get sucked into the orbits of royal families.

In Battle Royal, the first book of her Palace Insiders series, Lucy Parker follows two London bakers at war with each other over lucrative, high-profile commissions. 

Dominic De Vere is famous for his exactingly perfect desserts, whereas Sylvie Fairchild is building a reputation for wildly imaginative cakes. They met on the set of “Operation Cake,” a baking show that Dominic judges with stern disdain. Sylvie had a strong run as a contestant thanks to her superb sugar work and unusual designs. Unfortunately, when her unicorn cake exploded and clocked Dominic on the forehead, she was promptly eliminated. Undaunted, Sylvie opened her own bakery bang opposite Dominic’s and proceeded to prove him wrong by making it a success. 

Their worlds collide again when Sylvie is invited to be a judge on “Operation Cake” while both of them are also competing to snag the commission of a lifetime: Princess Rose’s wedding cake. Sparks arc between the bakeries—and between the pastry chefs. As Dominic and Sylvie layer flavor upon flavor and craft intricate details into their cakes, they uncover essential truths about each other and themselves. Parker strikes the perfect balance between relationship growth and delicious, pastry-related escapism.

In Karina Halle’s The Royals Next Door, a duke and duchess’s departure from royal duties leads to romance between two solitary people who find themselves unwillingly fascinated with each other.

Piper is a second grade schoolteacher, diehard romance reader and anonymous podcaster. She also lives with and takes care of her mother, who has borderline and dependent personality disorders. Then the Duke and Duchess of Fairfax—a fictionalized version of England’s Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex—move in next door to Piper’s modest cottage on an island off the coast of British Columbia. Harrison Cole, the duke and duchess’s personal protection officer, takes his job very seriously and is not easily amused by life’s vagaries. He sees Piper as a security hazard; she sees him as a burr under her skin. 

The main couples in both Battle Royal and The Royals Next Door have to take giant leaps of faith into trust and love, giving these royal-adjacent romances a satisfying dose of reality. Parker and Halle have a lot of fun with all the glamorous trappings of royalty, but they temper the whimsy with the emotional inner journeys of their four main characters, all of whom come to terms with their turbulent childhoods over the course of their love stories.

In Battle Royal, Parker slowly reveals that Dominic’s stepfather was openly disdainful of him, and Dominic’s subsequent desire for control over his emotions results in his somewhat narrow-minded arrowing through life. The Royals Next Door’s Harrison was a caregiver to his mother and siblings in his early teens, and  he’s found comfort in adherence to rules ever since. Both men expect structured excellence from themselves and others. Imagine their consternation, then, when they are strongly attracted to whimsical women. 

But under their carefree exteriors, Sylvie and Piper have struggles of their own. Sylvie must overcome recurring feelings of inadequacy, while Piper has been haunted since childhood by her mother’s debilitating illnesses, which contributed to Piper developing anxiety and complex PTSD. Halle does an especially good job of realistically and empathetically depicting Piper’s relationship with her mother, who is never stereotyped or demonized.

Drawing on the strength of the friendships with the royal women they encounter, both Sylvie and Piper gain confidence over the course of their stories. Even with their sorrows, both women retain their desire to eke out a life for themselves that is joyful, which constantly endears them to readers. 

These witty enemies-to-lovers rom-coms are perfect for both fans of all things royal.

RomanceContemporary Romance

All’s fair in love and work

Feature by Dolly R. Sickles

Enemies to lovers is a favorite romance trope, and two new titles up the ante by making their central couples not just personal rivals but professional ones as well.

The prolific Meg Cabot is an expert in matters of the heart, having written love stories between characters from middle school to middle age. In No Words, the third book in her Little Bridge Island series, readers are once again whisked away to the lovely Florida Keys for a little sun, fun and romance.

Jo Wright is a children’s author who recently received an invitation to speak at Little Bridge Island’s first book festival. She’s successful and beloved by her legions of young readers, not just for the adventures in the books she writes but for the way she interacts with and treats them.

The lure of good money is hard for Jo to resist, but she wants nothing to do with one of the festival’s other invitees: arrogant novelist Will Prince, the man who once maligned Jo’s work to the New York Times. When she hears that Will is going to be out of the country that week, visiting the set of a film adaptation of his new book, she agrees to attend. Too late she discovers that not only does Will own Little Bridge Island, he is bankrolling the festival and very much in attendance.

Worshipped by the legions of women who read his angst-filled dramas, Will’s the Nicholas Sparks to Jo’s Judy Blume. She’s not interested in an apology, but the Will she meets on Little Bridge Island is awkward and sweet, and willing to go to great lengths to make amends. In a refreshing twist on the trope, he’s an enemy who begins the book hoping to change their status and ready to put in the work.

No Words doesn’t have much in the way of tension or conflict, making it a quick, easy and lighthearted read (despite the huge cast of side characters). Cabot is a whiz at writing dialogue that’s both charming and believable, and she riffs on her years of experience in the publishing industry in snarky, silly ways that will bring readers plenty of laughs alongside this love story.

Julia London’s It Started With a Dog is a fun rom-com full of dog puns and good-natured, never mean-spirited competition that pits two like-minded coffee aficionados against one another.

When Harper Thompson and Jonah Rogers accidentally swap phones, neither knows that the trajectory of their life will be changed forever. In the process of getting the phones back to their rightful owners, Harper and Jonah learn that they have much in common, from favorite movies and food to their love of dogs and coffee. Both even have professional nemeses: each other.

Harper’s shiny new coffeehouse, Deja Brew, is bad news for the Lucky Star coffee shop, which is owned by Jonah’s family. The town isn’t big enough for two coffee shops, and something must be done. Harper and Jonah decide to organize a delightful battle of the baristas, but one for a good cause. As a way to raise funds for a local dog shelter, each shop will foster a rescue dog and urge their patrons to vote for their adorable new mascot to be named King Mutt.

London does a great job of developing characters who are likeable, engaging and relatable. Harper’s Type A personality is tons of fun (in London’s capable hands, she’s never irritating or unbelievable), and Jonah’s ability to step in and save the day for his family is a perfect example of how attractive sheer competence can be. It Started With a Dog is almost as good as a lavender latte.

Enemies to lovers is a favorite romance trope, and two new titles up the ante by making their central couples not just personal rivals but professional ones as well.

RomanceContemporary Romance

Toil and (triple) trouble

Feature by Elizabeth Mazer

These witchy rom-coms are whimsical and hilarious—with just a touch of wickedness.

Witch Please

In Witch Please by Ann Aguirre, Danica Waterhouse knows the rules: Mundanes are off-limits. She interacts with them as needed to keep her electronic repair business running, but they can never know the truth about her power, and they can never be considered romantically. The family curse says falling for a mundane will drain a Waterhouse witch’s magic away. Magic binds Danica to her work, her family, her coven—everything that matters. So when she meets the most incredible man, and feels the most incredible draw to him, she makes an incredible effort to keep her distance . . . and fails. Because Titus Winnaker is amazing: handsome, funny, goofy and smitten with Danica from the start. And he bakes. And he’s a volunteer firefighter. And he’s absolutely forbidden.

Smart, strong, determined and compassionate, Danica knows how to fix everything except her own heart, and her turmoil is palpable on the page. Endearing, clueless Titus is a beautiful cinnamon roll, too sweet for this world. The most magical moments they share don’t involve any witchcraft at all but instead feature two people simply being good to each other, in every imaginable way. Aguirre has concocted an exciting, engaging whirl of a story.

The Ex Hex

Vivienne Jones—spurred on by her broken heart, her loyal, vengeful cousin and way too much vodka—curses her no-good, horrible ex to have bad hair, bad sex and bad luck forever and ever, amen. However, when Rhys Penhallow returns to the small town of Graves Glen, Georgia, nine years later, his hair is still perfect and his sex appeal is still intact. So Vivi concludes, with a little sadness and a little relief, that her momentary whim of a curse didn’t take. But then a series of mishaps proves that bad luck has infected the town, potentially leading to disaster if the situation isn’t solved by Samhain, which is fast approaching.

While The Ex Hex is pure rom-com with its fun tone and witty characters, author Erin Sterling takes things deeper with potent, beautifully portrayed symbolism, especially when it comes to tarot cards and the intriguing, melancholy mystery tangled up with the curse. It’s a romance magically enhanced to be more vivid, more daring and more potentially deadly, and it’s all the more satisfying for it.

★ Payback’s a Witch

In Lana Harper’s Payback’s a Witch, there’s not just one witch scorned. There are three. Emmy Harlow left town as a brokenhearted teen after being used and discarded by Gareth Blackmoore, scion of the richest, most influential family in Thistle Grove. The four witch families that founded the town still run things, but the lion’s share of power and influence goes to whichever family wins the “Gauntlet,” a semicentennial event that the Blackmoores have won pretty much every time. The Thorns and the Avramovs have always lagged behind, and the Harlows have never stood a chance—which is why Emmy got the whole “It’s not you, it’s how utterly insignificant your family is” brush-off from Gareth years ago. But now she’s back, and she learns that Gareth has since toyed with Emmy’s longtime bestie, Linden Thorn, and also with Emmy’s secret high school crush, the stunning, untouchable Talia Avramov. And thus an alliance is formed as the three women come together with the goal of toppling the ascendency of the Blackmoores and putting Gareth firmly in his place.

Harper’s adult debut is gorgeous in every way. It’s hilariously funny, deeply moving, powerfully uplifting and so glue-you-to-the-page engrossing that this reviewer literally did not put it down for the final hundred pages. The love story between Talia and Emmy develops beautifully, but the true romance is with the town and the community. The bonds of both family and friendship shine from start to finish, and Harper balances the different clans and captures how, together, they make Thistle Grove the magical place that it is.

These witchy rom-coms are whimsical and hilarious—with just a touch of wickedness.

RomanceFantasy Romance

Romance: October 2021

Feature by Christie Ridgway

A duke falls in love with his secretary, a fairy-tale romance gets a second chance and fate brings two people together in this month’s romance column.

★ The Duchess Hunt

A no-nonsense duke is secretly crushing on his no-nonsense secretary in Lorraine Heath’s utterly delicious Victorian romance The Duchess Hunt. Upon becoming Duke of Kingsland, Hugh Brinsley-Norton built back the family fortune with the help of his trusted and long-serving secretary, Penelope Pettypeace, who has quietly become his best friend. Now he’s asked her to find him the perfect duchess, even though he’s increasingly fascinated with Penelope. Penelope knows she’s in love with Hugh, but her loyalty to him means she will dedicate herself to selecting the wife of his dreams from the eager ladies of high society, despite the fact that it will break her heart. With desperate secrets on the verge of being revealed and an engagement announcement ball on the horizon, will true love win? Smart characters with shadowy pasts, great sexual tension and steamy love scenes create a grand romance.

★ Eight Perfect Hours

As Eight Perfect Hours by Lia Louis begins, Londoner Noelle Butterby is just getting by. She deferred her dreams of becoming a florist several years ago in order to take care of her mother after she had a stroke, and now Noelle has also recently ended a serious relationship. Under it all, the loss of her best friend, Daisy, when they were teenagers has troubled her for years. Out of the blue comes a charming meet cute: During a snowy traffic jam, her car is stopped beside that of Sam, an American on his way out of the country. They hit it off, talking for hours until they’re free to go their separate ways. Noelle can’t stop thinking of him, and then he serendipitously comes back into her life. Again. And again. Until they both begin to wonder if something larger is at work. Louis’ sense of place is marvelous, vivid and lived-in, whether the couple is stuck on a road or sharing confidences in a laundromat. Suspend disbelief and just sit back for this tender kisses-only journey from heartache to happily ever after.

Once More Upon a Time

Bestselling YA fantasy author Roshani Chokshi pens her first adult romance in Once More Upon a Time. Married and enchanted with each other, Prince Ambrose and Princess Imelda thought they had it all, until Imelda fell ill and Ambrose gave up their love to a witch in order to save Imelda’s life. A year and a day later, the same witch offers them a chance to recover their lost love if they’ll retrieve a potion for her. Ambrose and Imelda aren’t completely convinced they want to fall in love with each other again, but as they team up to fight cannibals and changelings, they come to appreciate things they never really knew about each other. Amusing and imaginative—particular proof is a dry-witted horse of many uses and a walnut that opens to reveal magic dresses—this novella is told from the perspective of the lovers but also that of the witch, who has fabulous taste in handbags and looks great for her age (or so she says). This kisses-only fantasy road trip is lots of fun.

A duke falls in love with his secretary, a fairy-tale romance gets a second chance and fate brings two people together in this month’s romance column.

RomanceRomantic Suspense

Eight series that will get you hooked on romantic suspense

Feature by Savanna, Associate Editor

You know what improves most things? Kissing. And if you, dear Private Eye July reader, would like your mysteries and thrillers to be improved by kissing, romantic suspense is here for you. A subgenre of romance that invests just as much time in high-octane action or clever whodunits as it does in its central love story, romantic suspense often comes in series that follow the adventures of a team, or track characters through their many difficult cases.

And if you’d like your mysteries or thrillers to be improved by kissing and magic, then jump to the second half of our list for an introduction to the thrills of paranormal romance.

Romantic Suspense

If you wished classic action movies focused on romance and foiling bad guys in equal measure, these are the series for you.

 

Black Knights Inc.
Author: Julie Ann Walker
Premise: The Black Knights are a black ops group on a mission from the government, and their cover is a motorcycle shop. These books are the literary equivalent of a delightfully ridiculous, globetrotting spy thriller.
Number of books: 12.
Where to start: Hell on Wheels, where Black Knights member Nate “Ghost” Weller risks blowing his cover when the love of his life, Ali Morgan, comes into town and needs his help.

 

Fatal
Author: Marie Force
Premise: Did you watch “Scandal” and wish that Olivia Pope and President Fitzgerald Grant would stop going back and forth and just get their lives together? This is the series for you. Sam Holland is a brilliant police detective, and Nick Cappuano is the fling from her past. Sam solves D.C. murders, which gets progressively more complicated as Nick climbs the political ladder.
Number of books: 16 (there's also a second series starring the same characters, First Family)
Where to start: Fatal Affair—the first book of the series starts when Sam is called in to investigate the murder of Senator John O’Connor, Nick’s boss.

The O’Malleys
Author: Katee Robert
Premise: Do you want the thrills of romantic suspense without any pesky black-and-white morality? Then, my slightly scary friend, the Mafia romance is for you. This Boston-set series is outrageously sexy and features men and women of organized crime. Because feminism is for everyone.
Number of books: Six.
Where to start: The Marriage Contract, which starts when mob scion Teague O’Malley is ordered to marry Callista Sheridan in order to increase the family’s influence.

 

 

Paranormal Romance

If you’ve never read a paranormal romance, you probably think most of the genre is like Twilight for adults. But actually, the vast majority of paranormals follow the same action-packed beats of traditional romantic suspense, just with added magical intrigue.

 

Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter
Author: Laurell K. Hamilton
Premise: One of the founding series of urban fantasy as well as one of the longest-running paranormal series, Hamilton’s increasingly complex tales center on a vampire hunter/detective and her romantic entanglements. You’ll want to start at the very beginning with these.
Number of books: 25, with the 26th coming out this August.
Where to start: Guilty Pleasures, which sees Anita take on her very first case and get entangled with a very sexy vampire master.

Argeneau
Author: Lynsay Sands
Premise: A modern family of vampires battle evil and find love in this series of loosely connected romances. If you’re looking for a series that’s a little more light-hearted than some of the angstier offerings, the Argeneau books are for you.
Number of books: 27, with number 28 coming out later this year.
Where to start: A Quick Bite, whose vampire heroine faints at the sight of blood (told you these were funny) and gave the series its name.

 

Kate Daniels
Author: Ilona Andrews
Premise: After an apocalyptic event, magic comes in disruptive waves. One moment, technology works, the next it fails, and magic has to take its place. Kate Daniels is a mercenary in chaotic Atlanta, where magical creatures run amok.
Number of books: 10, with the final book coming out next month.
Where to start: Magic Bites, in which Kate gets caught between necromancers and shapechangers, both of which blame each other for a series of murders.

 

Psy-Changeling
Author: Nalini Singh
Premise: Even if you don’t read romance, you’ve probably heard of Singh’s long-running series. The name comes from two races at odds, but frequently falling in Romeo and Juliet-esque love. The Psy rule the world with their frightening psychic powers, and disdain all emotion. Their rivals are the changelings, shape shifters who live in close family units.
Number of books: 17 so far.
Where to start: Slave to Sensation—a love story between Psy Sascha, who has to hide her emotions from the rest of her race, and panther shifter Lucas that blooms while their respective peoples are on the verge of war.

You know what improves most things? Kissing. And if you, dear Private Eye July reader, would like your mysteries and thrillers to be improved by kissing, romantic suspense is here for you.

Romance

HEAs and Alphaholes: A beginner’s guide to romance terms

Feature by Savanna, Associate Editor

More than any other genre, the wonderful world of romance novels has its own separate lingo. It can be overwhelming for a newcomer, but once you learn the basics, it’s much easier to find the books that will make you smile like an idiot, and avoid the ones that will make you fling them across the room in a rage.

Romancelandia
Some fandoms would be content to simply describe themselves as “fans of [blank].” Not so the romance-loving blogosphere, who have coined this delightful term for themselves. If you’re looking to dip your toe into the romance discourse, searching the Romancelandia hashtag on Twitter is a good way to start.

Hero and heroine
The leading man and the leading lady in heterosexual romances. This may also be abbreviated to “H” for hero, and “h” for heroine. These are usually used instead of calling either character a protagonist because most romances focus equally on both halves of a central couple.

Old school romance/bodice ripper
If you’re not a romance reader, a bodice ripper is probably what you think most of the genre is—an innocent virgin, a swaggering he-man, not much subtlety, purple prose aplenty. However, those books fell out of style a few decades ago. If you pick one of them up, you’re probably going to have to deal with an uncomfortable (at the very least) lack of consent, and quite possibly any number of other discomfiting aspects—racism, homophobia, etc. “Old school romance” and “bodice ripper” function as giant you-have-been-warned signs for readers venturing down the backlist of the genre.

Insta-love and insta-lust
A trope that’s fallen somewhat out of fashion but can still be found in most subgenres, insta-love is when the hero and heroine lock eyes across a crowded room and fall madly in love right there on the spot. This works best in either high melodrama historicals or paranormal romances. Most modern authors are content to have their couple fall in insta-lust instead, which is exactly what you think it is.

Desert Island Keeper (DIK) and Keeper Shelf
A Desert Island Keeper is a book so beloved, one would take it to a hypothetical exile on a desert island. Keeper Shelf is the more practical cousin of this term and refers to the metaphorical or literal place where one’s favorite, eternally re-readable books are stored.

Book Boyfriend
If a book is a DIK for you, chances are it also contains one of your Book Boyfriends, the men you wish were real and could date you. Or make out with you. Whatever you’re looking for.

Alpha male
Speaking of men in romance, the alpha male is probably still the most common variant. This is your standard commanding, arrogant, accomplished dude. Think Mr. Darcy before Elizabeth Bennet’s rejection humbled him, and we all learned he was actually an adorable nerd who gets shy around sassy girls.

Alphahole
An alpha male whose bossy and/or stubborn tendencies go too far, causing the reader to imagine kicking him repeatedly instead of being wildly attracted to him.

The Grovel
Contrary to popular belief, most alpha males don’t stay bossy and commanding throughout the entire book. Usually, their lady love humbles them somehow, resulting in The Grovel. This is where the hero metaphorically or literally falls to his knees, begging forgiveness and telling the heroine how much she has changed him for the better. A good grovel may also be required for any character who lied to or tried to manipulate their true love before inevitably falling for them.

Beta male
A counterpoint to the traditional alpha male hero. Beta males are generally kinder, more nurturing and more open about their emotions and thoughts than a taciturn alpha.

Gamma male
I approach defining this term with trepidation since Romancelandia is still figuring out exactly what it means. A conclusion seems to have been reached that a gamma male is a mix of alpha and beta qualities. Usually strong and commanding, but not arrogant, a gamma male can be seen as the villain at first. He is often independent and may be indifferent to the heroine initially. Literally all of what I just wrote could change tomorrow though, so take this definition with a grain of salt.

HEA
Happily Ever After. The finale, the explosion of sparkles and rainbows, the endorphin high every romance hopes to spark in its readers. A good romance novel is nothing without a wonderfully sweeping conclusion, and if a reader says they weren’t sold on the HEA, it probably means they won’t be recommending the book to a friend.

HFN
Happy For Now. An ending that either leaves something to be desired or leaves the couple in a decent place while hinting there is more drama to come. A standalone book with a HFN is generally not desirable, although there are some fans that don’t mind. Most romance readers however, prefer a HFN if it comes at the end of a book in an ongoing series, and the author makes it clear the couple’s journey is not over yet.

Autobuy
An author you love and trust so much, you automatically buy their books whenever they come out.

Catnip
A trope that gets you every single time. For example, some people are suckers for a good friends-to-lovers story, or a workplace romance. Most romance tropes are pretty self-explanatory, but there are a couple worth explaining.

Forced proximity
This trope is when circumstances force a couple to spend a lot of time in the same space. So, snowed into a cute cabin in a contemporary, or stuck together on a long carriage ride in a historical.

Marriage of Convenience
When somebody has to get married to avoid scandal, being betrothed to some horrible old lord, get money for an impoverished family, what have you. This is a cherished trope of historical romance because it allows for society-sanctioned sexy times (heirs aren’t going to make themselves!) while the main couple slowly falls in love.

Ton
Speaking of historical romance, I would do a whole other list of period-specific terms, (but since a good amount of them will already be known to lovers of biographies or historical fiction, I’m not going to). Ton is one of the most commonly used phrases in historical romance, and one that historical fiction readers might not know. It refers to British high society, and you’ll probably come across this word quite a bit since almost every historical takes place in Ye Olde England. Unfortunately, historical romance is even whiter than contemporary romance, but that is the subject of an entirely different article.

Bluestocking
Another historical-specific term, a bluestocking refers to a bookish lady, probably a wallflower, probably on the road to spinsterhood. This was a derogatory term in reality, but since romance loves a smart heroine, the fictional lady in question often wears this epithet with pride.

Too Stupid To Live (TSTL)
One would think this is the direct opposite of bluestocking. But rather than refer to a lack of book smarts, a heroine described as TSTL is a person who wanders into or creates dangerous situations at an annoying rate, and thus makes sympathizing with her rather difficult. This is especially egregious in any Highlander or paranormal romances, where the stakes are often life-and-death.

The Duke of Slut
The ladies over at beloved romance website Smart Bitches, Trashy Books are responsible for this utter masterpiece of a term, which makes me laugh every single time I think about it. The Duke of Slut refers to a type of hero commonly found in historicals—the sexy aristocrat who never met an actress, dancer, courtesan or mildly attractive and consenting woman he didn’t then immediately sleep with.

More than any other genre, the wonderful world of romance novels has its own separate lingo. It can be overwhelming for a newcomer, but once you learn the basics, it’s much easier to find the books that will make you smile like an idiot, and avoid the ones that will make you fling them across the room in a rage.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Beyond Regency and Victorian: 15 unusual historical romances

Feature by Savanna, Associate Editor

As a lifelong period drama devotee, historical romance is probably my favorite subgenre in all of Romancelandia. But as a history nerd, I’ve never quite understood why the Regency and Victorian eras are so very, very dominant. Don’t get me wrong—I will never say no to a good bustle, and I love Austen-esque tales as much as the next romance reader. But why isn’t there an entire genre of fast-paced, witty Roaring ’20s romances? Or love affairs within the court intrigue of Tudor England? Or, you know, more romances set anywhere other than England or America? The following list is unfortunately still Anglocentric, much like the romance genre itself, but these authors offer a place to start for those looking to move beyond the Regency or Victorian romance.

Medieval

After the Regency and Victorian periods, the medieval era is probably the third most common setting in historical romance. In Ye Olde Decades Past of romance, it was a super popular period but is now mainly the territory of dashing Highlanders. Which is not at all a bad thing!

Isabel Cooper
Medieval, but make it paranormal: The dashing Scottish hero of Highland Dragon Warrior is, you guessed it, a dragon shape-shifter. And if that wasn’t enough, his love interest is a Jewish alchemist. If you get hooked, Cooper also has a previous series starring the same family, centuries later.

Julie Garwood
She’s currently writing romantic suspense, but longtime romance fave Garwood has an extensive backlist of acclaimed medieval romances. Start with the Highlands’ Lairds or Lairds’ Fiancées series.

Elizabeth Kingston
If you’re looking for a realistic depiction of the period in both its cultural sophistication and near-constant violence, let me introduce you to the wonderful Elizabeth Kingston. Her deeply romantic Welsh Blades series takes place during the chaotic English conquest of Wales, and both books have a unique, utterly ferocious heroine.

Mary Wine
Wine’s book list is almost entirely medieval and early Renaissance, and she specializes in strong-willed female characters and lushly detailed depictions of Scotland and England.

Jeannie Lin
The Tang Dynasty was one of the golden ages of imperial China, and a particularly good example of how most of the world was doing just fine during what we Westerners have self-centeredly called “the Dark Ages.” Start with Butterfly Swords, where sword-wielding Princess Ai Li flees her upcoming wedding and enlists a handsome, mysterious warrior to keep her safe.

 

 

 

Georgian

No less an authority than Terry Dresbach, the costume designer for “Outlander,” has said that the 18th century, known as the Georgian period in England, was one of the sexiest ever periods of fashion. This era comes right before the Regency but was earthier, more sex-positive and far less constrained by propriety. Which to me sounds like a recipe for a pretty great time.

Eloisa James
After writing many beloved regencies, James has moved back a few decades to give us some arch, intelligent Georgian love stories. I’m partial to her current series, the Wildes of Lindow Castle, which works in the burgeoning gossip press of the era in hilarious ways, but readers also love her Desperate Duchesses books.

Elizabeth Hoyt
Like Mary Wine and the medieval period, Hoyt has staked out a claim for herself as the happy queen of her particular era. Check out her Maiden Lane or Legend of the Four Soldiers series for a grittier take on Georgian England, or go to the Princes books for some upper-class romance.

The Gilded Age/Edwardian Era

As any reader of Edith Wharton knows, the Gilded Age is a particularly fantastic setting for romance (even if it tends to end in gut-wrenching heartbreak—I still haven’t forgiven Edith for what The House of Mirth did to me). The extraordinary wealth accumulated by the American upper class in this period put much of the European aristocracy to shame, and the Yanks compensated for their lack of noble titles by adhering to hilariously byzantine rules of social engagement. In other words, everyone was very sexually repressed and looked super hot all the time.

Joanna Shupe
Shupe has established herself as a go-to author for smart, well-researched historicals, and she does particularly great work in this era. Her superfun Knickerbocker series put her on the map, but I’d recommend starting with A Daring Arrangement, which follows an English noblewoman as she embraces the hustle and freedom of NYC and hooks up with a delicious, dashing financier.

Elizabeth Camden
Inspirational romance is often a good place to go for great work set in less popular eras, and Camden’s Empire State series is perhaps the best example of this. Camden’s romances are witty, warm and exhaustively researched. She has a particular knack for writing about the scientific advances of the era, so any readers looking for STEM heroes and heroines will be very happy.

Laura Lee Guhrke
Guhrke has series in all sorts of eras, but her Abandoned at the Altar books take place in Edwardian England. All three romances have delightfully independent ladies, all of them center around broken engagements, and characters can actually drive themselves around in cars rather than carriages! (You’ve heard of carriage love scenes—I raise you old-timey automobile love scenes.)

 

 

20th Century

You’d think with the popularity of “Mad Men,” “Downton Abbey” and every other 20th-century period drama on television, there’d be a corresponding boom of romances. Alas, no. But there are a few shining stars out there, daring to write historical romances in eras sans corsets.

Amanda Quick
The alter ego of romantic suspense icon Jayne Ann Krentz has lately started writing romances that I swear were tailor-made for yours truly—sexy mysteries set in Hollywood circa 1930. It’s like “Poirot” and the second season of “Agent Carter” had a baby and wow am I sorry for that image. So sorry. Anyway, these books are great—start with The Girl Who Knew Too Much.

Roseanna M. White
Another hidden gem of inspirational romance, the Shadows Over England series takes place during the lead-up to the Blitz. As you might expect, things are very tense, very dramatic and very British. There are spy games and refugee musicians and clockmakers and reformed criminals aplenty, making these books excellent reads to curl up with on a chilly day.

Alyssa Cole
The wonderful Cole has a fantastic backlist of historical novels and novellas written both before and after she became a total superstar with An Extraordinary Union (which is a great pick for a different historical, given its Civil War setting, but also technically still in the Victorian era). Let Us Dream is set in 1917 Harlem, and follows a romance between a cabaret owner and her chef. And Let It Shine stars a boxer and a civil rights activist who fall in love in 1961.

As a history nerd, I’ve never quite understood why the Regency and Victorian eras are so very, very dominant in romance. The following list is unfortunately still Anglocentric, much like the romance genre itself, but these authors offer a place to start for those looking to move beyond the Regency or Victorian romance.

RomanceContemporary Romance

Let’s get physical

Feature by Carole V. Bell

These contemporary romances are ensconced in the world of professional athletics and fitness, but emotional lifting takes greater precedence than squats.

In The Dating Playbook, the second rom-com in Farrah Rochon’s knockout Boyfriend Project series, a personal trainer with a struggling practice teams up with a high-profile former NFL player facing multiple hurdles to give him a second chance at playing pro ball.

Taylor Powell has always felt like the black sheep in her high-achieving family. While her siblings soared, school meant suffering and panic attacks for Taylor. She squeaked by in high school, but her lack of college degree has been the deciding factor in several lost professional opportunities. Now she works as a personal trainer and has a tight circle of female friends, a sisterhood of women (introduced in The Boyfriend Project) who all learned through social media that they were dating the same sad-sack, low-rent player. And yet, despite their generosity and support, their professional prowess exacerbates her feelings of failure by comparison, a situation made worse by Taylor’s undiagnosed ADHD.

Jamar Dixon, on the other hand, is used to being a star. He excelled at football and got a dream job playing professionally right out of college. But an injury in his first season cut his career short. Taylor’s relative anonymity will help Jamar keep his training a secret, away from the prying eyes of the press and the public pressure to come back better than ever. And apart from the overdue bills that this lucrative gig will help Taylor pay for, being the architect of a successful comeback for a football star could be just the career-making boost she needs. To make sure Jamar’s training remains a secret until he’s ready to return and she’s ready for the spotlight, they agree to pretend to date in order to throw everyone off the scent.

It’s a great setup and well executed, with each character scratching just the right itch for the other. They both have a lot riding on their professional partnership and ample reason to keep it under wraps. Like the best rom-com couples, Taylor and Jamar are much more than the sum of their individual parts. They’re absolutely lovely together, making Rochon’s choice to have the friend group play a lesser role in this installment a wise one. The Dating Playbook is a gentle and relatively low-angst romance that makes a great comfort read in stressful times.

The comedy is a bit broader and the chemistry is more volatile in Alexis Daria’s crazy, sexy, cool second-chance romance A Lot Like Adiós.

After a young lifetime of being badgered and bullied by his parents, Gabe Aguilar was desperate to get out of the Bronx and away from his judgmental and domineering father. In an act of defiance, unbeknownst to Michelle Amato, his best friend and next-door neighbor whom he always had a crush on, Gabe applied to UCLA, got a scholarship and left everything behind, including the friendship that sustained him for most of his life. Thirteen years later, Gabe is a physiotherapist and co-owner of a successful Los Angeles gym called Agility. Michelle and Gabe are thrown together again when Fabian, Gabe’s business partner, sees a splashy marketing campaign that Michelle designed and recruits her to work on the launch of their first East Coast branch.

Gabe and Michelle have a ton of unresolved sexual tension, and they’re both curious about and longing to see each other. The main challenge, apart from the fact that he thoroughly ghosted her in order to make a fresh start in LA and never really explained why, is that Gabe isn’t ready to deal with being back in New York. Even beyond his issues with his family, not knowing how to push back against other people’s expectations has long been a problem for him.

Michelle’s terms for accepting the job include Gabe staying with her on this trip, so they can hash out their differences. She wants closure, so she engineers a little forced proximity to force the issue. To say that the scheme works is an understatement. Gabe and Michelle share a connection that is instinctual and hot like fire—not just habanero or scotch bonnet hot, but ghost pepper hot. In the bedroom, at the zoo, in the basement gym, everywhere they go, there’s heat. Daria masterfully blends that steam with character building and emotional connection from the start. Their love scenes are nothing short of spectacular, full of communication and creativity as well as physical spark.

Daria portrays Gabe with particular sensitivity. His character is specific and concrete, his wariness, dysfunction and emotional pain palpable on the page. In an effectively cringeworthy scene, Gabe’s worst fears come true when he and his father finally come face-to-face. It’s tender but also funny in a Larry David-esque way, excruciating and human all at once. Unfortunately, the story skims over his path to healing, narrowing the steps Gabe takes to mend his psychological wounds to one significant epiphany with not much in the way of follow-up. Readers’ mileage may vary when it comes to the resolution and HEA, which lean hard on embracing the love and support of family, making it almost sound like a miracle cure. It’s a curious note in an otherwise truly irresistible arrangement.

These contemporary romances are ensconced in the world of professional athletics and fitness, but emotional lifting takes greater precedence than squats.

RomanceHistorical Romance

Cheers to the Duke

Review by Elizabeth Mazer

Fans of Sally MacKenzie’s Widow’s Brew series have been waiting for this moment. Jo, the widowed Lady Havenridge, has appeared in the series' previous two books as a woman who seemed to have it all figured out. The founder and leader of the Benevolent Home for the Maintenance and Support of Spinsters, Widows, and Abandoned Women and their Unfortunate Children, she has established not only a sanctuary for women and girls with nowhere else to go, but also a thriving business as the women operate their own brewery. She has work, purpose, a home and a community, but now it’s finally time for her to find love. And perhaps it’s a testament to how rare and special her situation is that love and matrimony—the longed-for prize of every young miss in Regency society—holds little appeal for her. She doesn’t actually say that she needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle, but the implication is there.

However, in Cheers to the Duke, the right man is quite forcefully ushered in. Edward, the Duke of Grainger, is a solicitor from an obscure branch of the family tree who unexpectedly inherited the title (think Matthew Crawley from "Downton Abbey"). The search for a bride, someone to step into the shoes of his dearly loved first wife as Edward’s partner and mother to his young, sensitive son, has not gone well. Thrust into society’s so-called graces, he is fawned over by empty-headed debutantes with hungry eyes on his title even as they turn up their noses at his common origins. But then he’s brought together with Jo at the christening of Viscount Hurley, their mutual godchild. And by “brought together,” I mean “all but locked into a closet together by their friends who’ve decided they’re perfect for each other.” Edward is quick to agree that Jo is just what he needs—in his home, his heart and his bed. (His son, Thomas, is instantly on board as well, and in one of the sweeter moments in the story, actually proposes that Jo become his mother even before Jo and Edward officially meet.) Jo, on the other hand, is harder to convince.

In a genre as well-trod as Regency romance, there's much pleasure to be found in stories that subvert expectations, and this story (this series!) definitely accomplishes that. Rather than a society-defying rake who is tamed by love, MacKenzie features capable heroines who defy social norms and require heavy persuasion before they’ll give in to the virtues of wedded life and love. There’s no villain in the story, no rigidly disapproving family member interfering with the course of true love, no moustache-twirling scoundrel attempting to compromise or disgrace the heroine. The only roughness in the course of true love comes from the fact that Jo genuinely needs convincing that marriage is something she’d ever want, even with the perfect man. Her independence is both admirable and refreshing. The response of the other characters to that independence is . . . a bit less endearing. Like Bridget Jones, I’m not often a fan of “smug marrieds” who are convinced that no one can be both happy and single, and the other guests at the christening celebration lean a little far into that mindset. There could have been a bit less well-intentioned matchmaking, and a bit more genuine respect for Jo’s choices (there were a few too many conversations where she got steamrolled).

Still, the energy of the story is infectious, evoking the feeling of a family reunion where everyone’s truly glad to see one another. For those hoping for a happy conclusion to these characters and their adventures in brewing, the final Widow's Brew novel delivers love, laughter and libations.

Fans of Sally MacKenzie’s The Widow’s Brew series have been waiting for Jo, Lady Havenridge, to get her happily ever after, and Cheers to the Duke does not disappoint.

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