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Settle in for a sexy look at swords literal and figurative with the second book in Alyssa Cole’s Reluctant Royals series. Metal craft and bladesmith afficionados won’t be disappointed by Cole’s handling of Scottish weapons lore and armory details, and the heat that’s forged between main characters Portia and Tavish is enough to light anyone’s fire.

Data, statistics, and DNA meet a matchmaking app that just might be single mom Jess’s answer to forever love. Jess is a brilliant but love-shy mathematician when GeneticAlly, the first truly scientific approach to dating, matches her with the app’s arrogant founder, Dr. Peña. A fun twist on the enemies-turned-lovers trope that explores start-up culture and the science of love, The Soulmate Equation will enchant numbers nerds and hardcore romantics alike.

Goodbye Bertha Mason, hello Patience Jordan! A Regency romance starring a West Indian heroine A Duke, the Lady, and a Baby is another delightful story about strong women lifting each other up in a cultural milieu that seeks to disenfranchise them. When Patience is severely punished for questioning her British husband’s suspicious death, she seeks the help of a covert organization, The Widow’s Grace, to recover her inheritance and, more importantly, the newborn son who was taken from her and put in foster care with the Duke of Repington. Sent undercover as a nanny, Patience finds her child and so much more.

Aunt stealing pirates, high tea, assassination plots, and society ladies who thieve on the side? India Holton spins historical romance on its besotted head in this uproarious story that pits strong women against a powerful man who seeks to thwart them at all costs. At its center is Cecilia Bassingwaite, “presumptuous” lady and high flying thief, and the would be assassin who finds her too thrilling to take out (unless it’s to dinner — that he’s fine with).

If you like football, sports medicine, or just a great take on the fake dating trope, chances are you’ll fall for Jamar Nixon, a former pro football player hoping to get back in the game, and Taylor Powell, the talented but down-on-her-luck personal trainer he hires on the sly to help. Intent on keeping his goal a secret, Jamar convinces Taylor to fake date him, only… we know how this plot ends. What keeps the story fresh is Rochon’s commitment to the characters’ relatable struggles, and Taylor and Jamar’s sexy, caring partnership.

Romance with rabbis? Hook this Jewish Studies major up. Ethan Cohen has just been promoted to head rabbi of a struggling congregation and made LA Mag’s list of the city’s hottest bachelors. This (cough, unlikely) premise should be enough to draw you in, but in case you need more, meet Naomi Grant, former adult film actress and founder of a sex-positive start-up. In an effort to attract millennials to worship and build an academic portfolio, respectively, Ethan and Naomi join forces to run a seminar on modern intimacy. What more could the sex-positive religion reader ask for?

If you’ve ever wondered what “Canadian heart” is (we’re wondering too, Kirkus https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/uzma-jalaluddin/hana-khan-carries-on/), one page into Jalaluddin’s buoyant Toronto romance should be enough to convince you that it’s at least as fantastic as maple syrup and Ryan Gosling. Hana is a Canadian Muslim woman with lots of plans. She wants to work in public radio, solve a family mystery, and save her family’s struggling halal restaurant from the new competition across the street. Unfortunately, that competition comes in the form of handsome, witty, and rich Aydin Shah. Is he too delicious to resist?

On Location
by Sarah Echavarre Smith

It’s hard enough being a woman in the entertainment industry, let alone a young woman of color watching her first-ever executive project being stymied by a chauvinistic TV host and a field coordinator who’s constantly second-guessing her authority on set. When Alia realizes she’ll need her problematic hottie’s help to wrest the show from ruin, fireworks of love and self-actualization explode, making this a double romance: one between two smoking adults, and a second, more important one in which Alia learns how to provide unconditional self-love.

The Greek gods are among literature’s earliest sex-crazed lovers, and Katee Robert brings them to glorious, vengeance-fueled life in Neon Gods. Set in the modern age, Persephone is a socialite fleeing a surprise engagement to Zeus. Hades is more than happy to help a gorgeous girl out, especially when it means destroying his enemy. Filled with the all of the scheming and kink you expect from Greek mythology (this is the genre that brought us “sex with a swan”), and built around a captivating power couple, Neon Gods is as close as it gets to watching an HBO series penned by Ovid. And what classics fanatic hasn’t daydreamed about that?

Calling all the writers out there who feel excluded from the list of Highly Sexy Occupations: erotica author Eva Mercy and literary darling Shane Hall are about to put the hammer in grammar (just go with it). Shane and Eva haven’t seen each other since a vulnerable, whirlwind love affair in their teens, but when they reconnect at a literary event, their spark is undeniable. Possibly the most socially and psychologically complex novel on this list, Seven Days alternates between depicting Eva’s and Shane’s teenage relationship (both the beautiful connection and their self-destructive habits) and the tenuous stability they’ve created as successful adults. Bringing in themes of generational trauma, Black literary society, parenting, and relationship skills, Williams has crafted a smart, stunning romance with characters you’ll root for.

(To the tune of “Raindrops on Roses”): Farmers in Britain, visiting bookstores / Flirting with Evie / Whose life was a big bore / Back in Chicago / Where love she had none / Leave it to indies / To bring big romance fun!

That’s right, this cozy romance, set in a charming village bookstore that improbably allows vacationers to run it, has us singing.

Is it YA? Is it romance? Does it matter? In this unique love story, two teens — one dealing with deep grief, and the other with the possible loss of his family’s bookstore — find comfort and eventually love through books and writing. Tucking their longings into letters slipped between the pages of books, Rachel and Henry, estranged childhood friends, find their ways back to each other.

Jeffe Kennedy combines high fantasy with intoxicating levels of sexual tension in The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince. If you’re the kind of fantasy reader who luxuriates in the love scenes, or if you like your romances with a side of mysterious dark forces threatening humanity, don’t miss out on this magical series.

Another romantic high fantasy, this time with a Middle Eastern twist, Daughter of the Salt King follows Emel, a princess forced to use her body to subjugate her father’s political rivals. When members of a secret rebellion attack the Salt King’s court, Emel seizes her freedom via her father’s secret weapon: a wish-granting jinni named Saalim. But Saalim turns out to be just as dangerous and alluring as his magic and Emel’s longstanding desire to flee the desert comes into conflict with a new wish to stay in her jinni’s arms.

Cat Sebastian’s books always hit it out of the park, but this historical romance between a reformed highwayman and the aristocrat seeking his skills and counsel is the novel equivalent of scoring a run on a triple play. Newly disabled from a theft gone wrong, Kitt Webb is trying to find satisfaction in running a coffee shop when the handsome Lord Edward Percy arrives with a proposition: Rob his father’s carriage, or teach Percy how to do so. Kitt is resistant, but it’s hard to say no with the sexy, flirtatious Percy always hanging around his shop. Full of steamy scenes, but plenty of witty political discourse too, The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb is an absolute delight.

The next time you make the frugal decision to eschew a coffee shop latte in favor of your kitchen’s French press, just know you might be missing out on the meet-cute of a lifetime. Fixie doesn’t think much of it when Sebastian, a good-looking investment banker, asks her to watch his laptop for a second, even when she saves it from disaster and he pens her an IOU. But when her hapless friend Ryan needs a leg up and Sebastian agrees to give him a job, Sebastian and Fixie find themselves in a seductive cycle of IOUs. The joy in this story is watching Fixie seize what she wants after a lifetime of serving others — something a lot of readers can relate to.

Children’s book buyer Madeline let me in on this YA gem, which takes the fake dating and enemies-turned-lovers tropes back to high school. Scottie is a star basketball player, but she’s been feeling off her game since her ex-girlfriend, Tally, dumped her and switched schools. In an effort to make Tally jealous, Scottie persuades the head cheerleader to be her pretend girlfriend — an especially big ask since Irene hates Scottie and hasn’t come out to anyone but her family. As Scottie and Irene fall in love, they (and the reader) learn valuable lessons about extending empathy, owning up to mistakes, and finding the strength to heal from heartbreak.

A tender story about the tension between family responsibilities and personal dreams, and the thrills of first love, Bloom follows Ari and Hector, who connect through their work at Ari’s family’s bakery. At first desperate to leave and start a musical career, Ari finds himself drawn to Hector, whose enthusiasm for bread-baking is secondary only to his enthusiasm for Ari. Gorgeously rendered art panels revel in the slow pace of baking and the boys’ relationship in this lovely book about accepting oneself and others.