January to June 2021 Because Seriously No One Can Process More than That Right Now
Time once again to look ahead to books hitting shelves in 2021. But to keep things manageable we’re just looking at the first half of the year. I call it my Beg Borrow Steal TBR, the books I am dying to get my hands on. So far, my Most Anticipated list (across genres) for the year is 25 titles. And no one’s got the attention span for that right now. So, I whittled it down to 10. Here a look at my most anticipated romance titles hitting shelves January to June 2021.
Release Date: February 9, 2021
Wild Rain, the second book in Ms. Bev’s Women Who Dare series follows Spring Lee, a woman who runs her own ranch in Wyoming post-Civil War.
When former slave, now Washington reporter Garrett McCray comes to town to do a story on Spring’s brother Colton, he discovers the real story he might be interested in is the one he’ll write with Spring. Despite the attraction, there’s just one hitch, this independent woman isn’t looking for love. As the description says, “But when a shadow from Spring’s past returns, all is on the line: her ranch, her safety–and this wild, fierce love.”
Read an excerpt from Wild Rain.
Get Wild Rain from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Release Date: February 21, 2021
Poignant, romantic, funny — Love at First is a must read.
In Nora Clarke’s small building, you don’t just have neighbors, they’re a family. So when Dr. Will Sterling inherits his uncle’s apartment and makes no bones about the fact that he intends to turn it into a short term rental, these two are instantly at odds. And there’s only one thing for Nora to do, either make him fall in love with building or sabotage him.
But Kate Clayton doesn’t just deliver a prank-fest. She weaves a story around these two that gives their dance real depth and emotion. Will and Nora’s parents set very different examples for them about how love looks and works and it bears out in nearly every interaction they have with each other. If only people in real life were this cognizant and emotionally intelligent.
If you love a story with rich characters and emotionally satisfying romance, run, don’t walk for Love at First.
Finally, I have to mention that Clayborn does this awesomely effective thing with word /phrase repetition. It got me in Love Lettering, and it shows up in Love at First, too. So good.
GET LOVE AT FIRST from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.
Release Date: March 2, 2021
Farah Heron sets up vivid characters, sibling conflict, a hot neighbor, delivers some funny lines, and introduces a realist MC who calls it like she sees it. Accidentally Engaged bursts with personality and is uplifting without being treacly. Although I’m not South Asian, this feels like a more modern, or maybe just more fleshed out, representation of family dynamics than we’ve seen in other stories. (I’ll be looking to see if #ownvoices reviews confirm that). Sure, Reena’s parents are still focused on getting their kids married off, but they’re also looking the other way on a lot about how the kids are living their lives.
Like Farrah Rochon’s The Boyfriend Project, I’d call this one romantic women’s fiction. Reena’s fake engagement to Nadim is absolutely central to the story, but she’s also contending with losing her finance job, following her dreams to win a scholarship to culinary school, and dealing with family drama. In fact, I actually found myself way more interested in the family / community drama than the FoodTV contest Reena and Nadim enter (which is weird, since I’m super into food and cooking).
There is one interaction between Reena and Nadim early on that had me going, Ew, what? There is NO universe in which that is sexy. It’s not about kink-shaming or anything like that, you’ll know it when you get to it.
Overall, I loved Accidentally Engaged. Definitely on my pre-order in hard copy list.
Get ACCIDENTALLY ENGAGED from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: March 9, 2021
Sandcastle Beach, the third book in Jenny Holiday’s Matchmaker Bay series serves up the enemies-to-lovers story fans have been waiting for. Set in a Canadian beach town on Lake Huron, Sandcastle Beach, Maya Mehta is the resident community theater director, and when the theater finds itself in dire straits, she’ll do whatever it takes to save it. But what she really needs is to win Matchmaker Bay’s new business grant. There’s only one competitor standing in her way, local bar owner Benjamin “Law” Lawson. They’ve been pushing each others buttons for years, but when an ex-pop star turned actor starts getting close with Maya, it’s time for Law to get off the sidelines.
Get SANDCASTLE BEACH from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: March 9, 2021
The first book in a new series from Joanna Shupe, The Heiress Hunt finds Harrison Archer back in New York, discovering his father has bankrupted their family. What they need is an infusion of cash, and the one way to get it is to marry an heiress and quick. He employs the help of an old friend who’s now engaged to a duke. Even as Maddie Webster helps him find a bride, watching Harrison flirt with other women is too much for her. And even with her own wedding around the corner, an old flame flares to life. Will they go their separate ways? (I think we can guess the answer).
Get THE HEIRESS HUNT from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: April 13, 2021
In Love in Color, Bolu Babalola retells the most beautiful love stories from history and mythology with incredible new detail and vivacity. The short story collection includes West African folktales, reimagined Greek myths, and ancient legends from the Middle East.
Get from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: April 13, 2021
Sally Thorne is back in 2021 with a quirky romance between Ruthie, who works the front desk at a luxury retirement villa, and Teddy, the partying layabout son of the property’s developer. When Teddy lands at the villa needing a place to stay, his father agrees with one stipulation, he’s gonna have to earn his keep. And as it happens two of the villa’s residents are looking for a personal assistant. As Ruthie sees it, “Offering up Teddy seems like a surefire way to get rid of the tall, handsome, unnerving man who won’t stop getting under her skin.”
But it doesn’t all go quite as planned. Even as Teddy charms the residents, it turns out his father plans to put the retirement villa on the market, putting Ruthie’s livelihood in jeopardy. Was Teddy’s charm all just a ruse?
Get SECOND FIRST IMPRESSIONS from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: April 27, 2021
I’m not 100% convinced this is actually a romance, but until I get my hands on it I won’t know for sure. All I know is, it sounds over-the-top and completely off-the-wall. You’re gonna have to have a dark sense of humor, and probably have seen Weekend at Bernie’s to get this one.
Meddelin Chan accidentally kills her blind date. Her aunties step in to hide the body. (Ok, no one’s laughing so far). The bad news, it accidentally gets shipped to the 2,000 guest wedding the Chan family is running, an event where they can’t afford to have anything go wrong. Then, Maddie’s college sweetheart shows up among the guests. Could this night get any worse? As the synopsis says, “Is it possible to escape murder charges, charm her ex back into her life, and pull off a stunning wedding all in one weekend?”
Get DIAL A FOR AUNTIES from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: May 11, 2021
Publisher’s description: As a Korean adoptee, Hara Wilson doesn’t need anyone telling her she looks different from her white parents. She knows. Every time Hara looks in the mirror, she’s reminded that she doesn’t look like anyone else in her family—not her loving mother, Ellen; not her jerk of a father, Pat; and certainly not like Pat’s new wife and new “real” son.
At the age of twenty-five, she thought she had come to terms with it all, but when her father suddenly dies, an offhand comment at his funeral triggers an identity crisis that has her running off to Seoul in search of her roots.
What Hara finds there has all the makings of a classic K-drama: a tall, mysterious stranger who greets her at the airport, spontaneous adventures across the city, and a mess of familial ties, along with a red string of destiny that winds its way around her, heart and soul. Hara goes to Korea looking for answers, but what she gets instead is love—a forbidden love that will either welcome Hara home…or destroy her chance of finding one.
Get HEART AND SEOUL from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: June 15, 2021
The Layover’s got summer read written all over it. Ava Greene has one trip left before she finishes out her career as flight attendant. But somehow Jack Stone, a former pilot and a man she’s held a grudge against for years – is on her flight. Then, mechanical problems force a weekend layover in Belize, and Jack is about the last person she wants to be stranded with. Yet, she finds herself re-evaluating Jack and where she goes from here. As the blurb says, “And all too soon, she might have to choose between keeping her feet on the ground and her head in the clouds….” I have no idea what that really means, but I’m in.
Get THE LAYOVER from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | IndieBound | Amazon | Apple Books
My 2021 YA MUST READS are coming up later this week. Stay tuned.
