Mary H.K. Choi’s Permanent Record is a uniquely told, dazzling experience about sudden gifts of serendipity and happenstance as well as the workaday grinding world that surrounds us. The beautiful character work and realistic portrait of New York enchant, but with a heroine who feels more like a paper fantasy than a real person I…
A smile and a tear – that’s what you’ll produce as Talia Hibbert scores another win with Work for It, the angsty but deeply romantic story of two men who fall in love in spite of their emotional scars. Olu Keynes is a tart-tongued but handsome man who has been numbed emotionally thanks to a…
Professor Nikki Barber is starting over with a new job after drawing a firm boundary with her mother, and a tattoo feels like the right way to mark this new chapter in her life. Dean Shaw, six years her junior, offers to stay late at the tattoo parlor to work on her. But the tattooing…
Unbreak Me is a blistering romance; searing and brutal and yet tender and sweet. There are moments of gentleness that will melt you – but much of the book is a bruising indictment of a legal system that allows rapists to go free, and the government structures that caused the levées to break during Katrina….
When a romance hits that sweet spot between adorable, heartbreaking and steamy, you know what you’re reading is a treasure. Talia Hibbert’s lovely and warm-hearted That Kind of Guy is a delight; romantic, tender, and a little heartbreaking, it features realistic and flawed people who carve a bit of love out for themselves in a…
Are you tired of the same old historical settings? Then how about 1970s Cleveland? Can you fall in love with a mustachioed hero named Randy Manucci who likes to do the hustle? Want to read about a savvy black businesswoman and community representative heroine who looks superfly in silver Lurex? Then give it up for…
Friends, let’s keep it real. We’ve all fallen in love with a fictional character in a romance novel, and most of us can quickly call to mind our favorites. You’re doing it right now aren’t you? Lately, my book boyfriends share a common denominator: they’re all written by the fabulous Kennedy Ryan. Grip, the titular…
If you’re a fan of Mariana Zapata, by definition you must be a fan of slow-burn romances. It’s the style used in every one of her books that I’ve read, and it is utilized in Dear Aaron. While this is not my favorite of her novels, it’s a good story and a must-read for any…
I enjoyed Relaunch Mission, the first book in Robyn Bachar’s Galactic Cold War series, set in a future in which the Cold War never ended and which follows the adventures of the members of the crew of the privateer ship Mombasa. I somehow missed the second book, Contingency Plan, but decided to pick up this…
What do you do when your life goes in the direction expected, but not the one you wished for? That’s the burning question in this story of finding love in middle age, with a partner who is willing to be your second chance at happiness. Cam McGhee’s life followed a predictable pattern for a guy…