Travis Ford has been Port Jefferson’s pride and joy ever since he was a high school MVP knocking grand slams out of the park. The fame and success that followed (topped with a certain scandal-sheet notoriety: photos from an interrupted interlude earned him the nickname Two Bats) surprised no one, least of all Georgie Castle, his best friend’s little sister who always idolized him from afar. But when Travis returns to town, directionless and depressed after an injury and multiple surgeries have drained his career and his sense of self-worth, Georgie catches his eye in a way she never had before—by chucking greasy leftovers at his head and dragging him, kicking and screaming, back to life.

With the small-town vibe, the local-boy-makes-good-hero story, the second-chance romance and the best-friend’s-sister trope all coming together, you may think you know where Fix Her Up is going, especially when Travis and Georgie concoct a plan to fake a relationship to boost their reputations. If you’re certain it’ll inevitably lead to hijinks, misunderstandings, personal resolutions not to get attached and irresistible attraction that makes the fake romance real in spite of everything . . . well, you’re right. So what? You know where a rollercoaster is going before you get on. That doesn’t stop it from being an amazingly fun ride. And this story has more than enough heat and excitement and sweetness and charm to keep you glued to the page.

Travis really will make your heart (and other places) throb with his physical confidence, his full-throttle sensuality and the delicious way he gets caught up in the heroine despite his attempts to keep his distance. And girl-next-door heroine Georgie is definitely sweet. She works as a clown at kids’ birthday parties, and her easy propensity for joy is as natural and infectious as any child’s. And yet she is also fully grown up in her tastes and desires and deeply insightful in the way she angers, teases, soothes and motivates Travis into discovering the man underneath the playboy façade. My favorite part of Fix Her Up is how good they are for each other—and how much richer their lives are from having the other’s support on the way to seizing their dreams.

With a couple this fresh, engaging and endearing, a happy ending seems like an inescapable conclusion. But in the hands of Tessa Bailey, it feels more like a justly earned reward for everything Travis and Georgie have done to make us fall in love with them along the way. I already can’t wait to see them making cameos in the author’s upcoming sequel, Love Her or Lose Her.

Love is the most dangerous gamble imaginable for Johan Maximillian von Braustein, stepson to the king of the tiny, tumultuous nation of Liechtienbourg. Bullied as a child for his sensitive heart, he’s learned to protect himself with an unending display of glamour and debauchery designed to keep everyone distracted and at a distance. Known as “Bad Boy Jo-Jo,” he’s on a first-name basis with members of the paparazzi, and there are online communities dedicated to the appreciation of his, ahem, assets—which are on frequent display. Every move he makes is orchestrated and calculated to protect himself from ever having to be genuine or vulnerable. And while he’s known for his wild stunts, the one risk too hazardous for him to even consider is the idea of falling in love.

Meanwhile, love is quite literally a game for Nya Jerami. Sheltered (read: stifled) by her manipulative, controlling father for most of her life, she seeks refuge in online games that let her play at romance, intrigue and seduction. And if her favorite happens to be One True Prince, in which her character is required to seduce a certain Prince Hojan transparently based on a Liechtienbourgian playboy, then who’s to know? It’s not likely that a man like him would ever notice a wallflower like her.

A series of comedic mishaps throw Johan and Nya together during a mutual friends’ wedding celebration. Nya finds herself thrust into Johan’s arms—and right into the media spotlight. It’s her chance to chase the adventure she’s always craved, with the man she has always desired. But years of treating love as nothing more than a harmless, consequence-free game have done nothing to prepare her for the moment when it’s there in the flesh, right by her side.

Cole has a lot of fun with the luxury and decadence of the settings in A Prince on Paper, and plenty of palaces, private jets and other trappings of wealth play into the escapist tone of the story. Yet that privilege comes at a price. As the daughter of a powerful government minister whose Machiavellian tactics have landed him in jail, Nya faces equal measures of pity, suspicion and scorn from people all too willing to tar her with the same brush. On the other hand, Johan is solely responsible for his reputation, but that doesn’t stop it from being a burden. It just happens to be a burden he willingly bears, drawing fire on himself to protect his beloved half-brother, the heir to the throne, from media scrutiny.

But with Johan, Nya doesn’t have to hide. And with Nya, Johan doesn’t have to dissemble. Their no-holds-barred honesty with each other is shocking compared to all the wheels-within-wheels manipulations surrounding them, and that’s exactly what makes it so sweet and satisfying. Johan puts all his masks aside while Nya steps out of the shadows, and they meet in the middle in a love that’s not a gamble or a game but a reward for their courage and trust.

Former lovers get a second chance in Stefanie London’s Bad Influence. On the eve of a big move for her boyfriend’s job, Annie Maxwell decided to stay in New York City to support her mother during a medical crisis. The man in her life, Joseph Preston, left her behind, inspiring her to anonymously create a now-infamous app, Bad Bachelors, where women rate and review men of the city. Joseph returns just as a hacker threatens to reveal Annie’s identity, and she finds herself confiding in him, giving them a chance to face past mistakes and find closure. But will love rebloom instead? Annie and Joseph are flawed, authentic characters who must tread a fine line between loyalty to family and to each other. This is love with the blinders off, and it is all the more sophisticated and refreshing for that.

Zoey Castile returns to her aptly named Happy Endings series with Hired, in which two people learn that sometimes you have to break a few rules for the sake of finding true love.

Aiden Rios was supposed to be spending a week in New Orleans as an escort to a married woman. Unfortunately, she bailed, and now he’s celebrating his 25th birthday alone. While nursing his disappointment at a hotel bar by drinking one too many hurricanes, he meets Faith Charles. Their attraction is immediate, and one night gives way to yummy brunches, New Orleans sightseeing and so much more. But with Aiden contracted through the week to his married lover and Faith being the daughter of a popular mayoral candidate, their romance is riddled with complications.

Aiden is in the midst of a quarter-life crisis. A bad business decision caused him to jeopardize the male revue show he was part of with his friends, and he isn’t quite sure how to repair those relationships. While his original client, Ginny, hired him for a week of fun in New Orleans, issues with her husband caused her to leave Aiden hanging, an important detail that he keeps from Faith.

Meanwhile, Faith’s anxiety and stress have reached a new high while working on her mother’s campaign. Her relationship with her mom is strained at best, and she feels like every slight action is harshly judged. All she wants is her mother’s love and acceptance, though she fears those things are out of her reach. The way Aiden and Faith find a moment’s respite in one another is incredibly sweet. While they have some sizzling chemistry, they also genuinely like each other. It’s impossible not to smile when they’re together, especially when they’re flirting over a delicious stack of banana chocolate chip pancakes.

Hired is also a love letter to New Orleans. It’s imbued with drool-worthy food descriptions and portrays the city’s fascinating dichotomy between historic locations and humid bayous. Even if you’ve never been, you’ll feel like you can taste the warm beignets coated in powdered sugar and feel the thick heat of the afternoon sun on your neck.

Faith knows that being seen with Aiden could be a problem, both for her mother’s mayoral race and her own fractured familial relationship. Aiden has his own set of rules when it comes to women, knowing that attachments only breed more problems. But the two of them just fit, and despite the fallout from bending and breaking these rules, they’re willing to take a chance to see if it’s all worth it.

With a contemporary romance series that just keeps getting better, Castile is becoming a surefire bet for readers in search of adorable, emotionally fluent romances that will undoubtedly trigger a happy cry or two.