A naval officer presumed dead crashes his wife’s second wedding in Marry in Secret by Anne Gracie. Lady Rose Rutherford is shocked to discover her husband lives, and her family is shocked to learn she secretly married years ago. Commander Thomas Beresford longed to reclaim his wife, but now that he’s face-to-face with her and her protective family, he’s not so sure marriage is best for either of them. Rose remembers the man who stole her heart, and she’s ready to recommit, but Thomas’ harrowing experiences have changed him. Nothing is more delicious than a heroine determined to overcome a noble hero’s scruples, and watching Rose win Thomas over is a true pleasure. A charming supporting cast and witty banter are paired with emotion and a dash of suspense to make Marry in Secret a deeply enjoyable historical romance.

Mary Balogh returns to her Westcott historical romance series with Someone to Honor, an emotional and sweetly indulgent romance in which first impressions aren’t always indicative of a person’s true character.

Abigail Westcott and Gilbert Bennington truly get off on the wrong foot after she chastises him for working shirtless on the Westcott estate. It’s not proper, especially when there are young, unwed ladies in his midst. And this single interaction leads to a host of misunderstandings. Abigail makes the assumption that Gil is just a servant on the grounds and not the officer who helped her brother return home from the Napoleonic Wars. Meanwhile, Gil reduces Abigail’s comments to her being a spoiled and rich woman, something that deeply taps into his feelings of inadequacy given their class differences.

Despite their disastrous first meeting, Abigail and Gil begin spending more and more time together, often enjoying walks around the grounds, where they have rather insightful and illuminating conversations. Gil realizes he was wrong about his assessment of Abigail. She’s a wealthy and independent woman whose life was upturned by a family scandal. Meanwhile, Abigail learns of Gil’s heroic treatment of her brother, and when he reveals a personal, heartbreaking predicament, Abigail and her brother offer to help. But that help comes in the form of marriage.

Self-assured and practical, Abigail has grown accustomed to being a pariah since her father’s bigamy scandal. What she never expected was how much it would give her in the ways of freedom. With no man wanting to attach his name to her, Abigail has settled into a lovely, quiet country life in which she can do as she pleases. Gil carries lingering trauma from his military service, and while he may have earned the respect of many, he can’t shake the insecurity he feels from being an illegitimate child and growing up in poverty. A bit broody, Gil is a hero who prefers to observe and be on the sidelines, harboring an understandable distrust for upper-crust society.

Balogh writes with an inescapable tenderness, in which each conversation furthers Gil and Abigail’s affection ever so slightly. There is always a softness and subtlety to Balogh’s romances, serving as a lasting reminder that love is patient and kind. Previous fans of the Westcott series will love seeing familiar faces integrated into Gil and Abigail’s romance. Though well-meaning, the Westcott family isn’t afraid to meddle and can’t leave well enough alone.

With a relationship built on trust that slowly blooms with understanding, Someone to Honor is another fantastic novel by Balogh, who expertly navigates all the highs and lows that come before a happily ever after.

Olivia Waite is, quite simply, one of the finest critics of the romance genre working today. I would advise any skeptic of the genre to read her eloquent celebrations of romance, and her ability to evoke the tone and feeling of a particular book is astonishing. So I was excited, but also a little apprehensive, to hear that she would be publishing a new historical romance, having never read any of her previous books. It was a relief and a joy to find that The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is just as elegant, just as incisive and intelligent, as Waite’s criticism.

Waite’s writing is gorgeous and always purposeful throughout this Regency-era romance. The introductions to astronomer Lucy Muchelney and her aristocratic love interest, Catherine St. Day, are striking and immediately effective, as the text itself shifts to express the differences in their personalities. The reader is thrust into Lucy’s mindset at the start of Lady’s Guide, and Waite renders her keen intelligence and longing for a life in pursuit of knowledge with immediate, straightforward prose. Then when Lucy meets Catherine, the woman who will offer to be her patron, Waite allows her writing to unfold into more fanciful, evocative turns of phrase: “You wouldn’t think, looking at the pinned-up gold of her hair and the sweet pink-and-cream plumpness of her figure, that this was the same woman who’d traversed so much of the globe. . . . She’d sat in that parlor as if she’d been grown there, as immoveable and domestic as a potted rosebush.”

Catherine is Lucy’s last and best chance to emerge from her recently deceased father’s shadow. Having been the mathematical brains behind his theories for years, she knows she is capable of translating the game-changing latest text from French genius Olerón, a task Catherine offered to Lucy’s father before he died. And while Catherine is inclined to allow the single-minded and alluring Lucy to take on the job, she fears becoming further involved with the younger woman. Catherine’s late husband, George, was also devoted to science, a calling that eventually eclipsed all other concerns and excused any emotional cruelty he visited upon his wife.

Waite patiently excavates Catherine’s memories of her difficult marriage, as well as Lucy’s lingering heartbreak over a rejection from a former lover, as the two women grow closer professionally and personally. As they attempt to gain the support of the early scientific community, Waite is able to explore the fascinating world of Regency astronomy, a booming field that commanded rapt popular interest while still warped by the same sexist, racist gatekeeping present in scientific endeavors today. The championing of women in STEM has become a bit of a romance cause célèbre in recent years, especially in historical romance, and Lady’s Guide is among the most nuanced and satisfyingly detailed works in this category. The thrill of discovery, the satisfying internal click when a new concept is fully understood, is beautifully expressed, both in Lucy’s internal monologue and in Catherine’s when Lucy explains her work and her passion for it.

However, Waite also captures how the heady rush of more equal-opportunity Enlightenment-era scientific discovery was slowly but surely narrowing via the staid nature of the following Regency period. As science began to settle into an established role in society, an interested party increasingly needed either wealth of their own or a generous patron to make an impact. This unpleasant fact becomes one of the largest stumbling blocks in Catherine and Lucy’s affair and also complicates Lucy’s relationship with her unsupportive brother, a working artist who is familiar with the dangers of becoming an aristocrat’s pet project.

In the character of Catherine, Waite is able to not only explore the personal costs of the pursuit of science but to also mount a full-throated celebration of so-called “womanly pursuits.” A devoted embroiderer, Catherine turned to needlework and design throughout her difficult marriage for solace and emotional expression. Waite describes Catherine’s embroidery just as rapturously as she details Lucy’s stars and glories in how clothing can be both art and a source of social power.

By the time I reached the wonderful, warm and quite frankly inspirational ending of Lady’s Guide, I only had one main critique, which can also be taken as a compliment. When the Black Moment* arrived, I didn’t accept it. Because I was that certain that Lucy and Catherine were destined for each other.

*the point in a romance when the central relationship seems doomed