This post includes affiliate links that kick us a small percentage at no cost to you, if you use them to shop. If this post is useful, please use them to support my work – thanks!
It’s been a summer of solid reads so far, but this is the week my TBR really starts to cook. It’s a break-the-bank level release day across genres, so I’m bringing you seven new and upcoming romances worth a look for your TBR.
If you’re doing a little shopping, Bookshop.org is offering free shipping on July 11 and 12, with an added tote bag bonus for orders over $100.
Two mid-life main characters meet over online gaming? Set in Washington state and features a Viet-American FMC? Yes, please. Maggie is a 48-year old hermit who cuts a deal with her college aged son — if he’ll be more social, so will she. She opts to join a gaming guild run by “Otter” aka Aiden who’s using the group to let off steam as he deals with caring for his aging mother.
The two become fast friends online, even as they mistake each other for a college student and an octagenarian. The air is cleared when they finally meet in person, but can this unlikely grumpy/sunshine pair overcome their complicated pasts and find something real?
Get Role Playing on The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books (audiobook only)
A ghostwriter has a totally awkward one night stand she’d rather forget, then finds her next assignment is on a memoir for a C-list actor. Who it turns out, is the guy she hooked up with. Though Chandler wants to keep things as professional as possible, Finn is bummed when he finds out their night together wasn’t all that rapturous. The two strike a bargain — when they’re not working on the book, she’s gonna give him sex lessons. As the two grow closer, the blurb tells us “they must figure out which is more important, business or pleasure — or if there’s a way for them to have both.
Rachel Lynn Solomon’s last US stop on her book tour for Business or Pleasure is this Wednesday, July 12 in Seattle at Third Place Books (Lake Forest Park). If you’re in Amsterdam, she’s also scheduled for a signing at Boekhandel Scheltema on July 22.
Get Business Or Pleasure from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Another winner from Sophie Irwin!
While it seems like nearly every historical romance gets pitched as “ideal for fans of Bridgerton (or Jane Austen)” I think A Lady’s Guide to Scandal actually fits the bill. Witty repartee, meddling and money-grubbing mamas, a mixed race MMC, queer rep, and a love triangle…or could it be a second chance romance? The whole thing’s just a delight.
I loved the journey just widowed Eliza goes on, though at first I was like, how long is this shrinking violet thing gonna go on? You’re finally free, woman (but not quite). But the thing is, that’s what makes this a journey! I loved that most of the book happens in Bath, though they do get to London eventually. The romance is pretty chaste as Eliza is in her first year of mourning for most of the book, but there’s a bit of kissing.
Definitely a Regency romp to put on your summer reading list.
Get A Lady’s Guide to Scandal from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Check out our review of Sophie Irwin’s first book A Lady’s Guide to Fortune Hunting.
In the follow up to American Royalty, Dani Nelson (aka Duchess) and Prince Jameson are about to take their relationship public. While their love story has made them wildly popular, it’s not without its price. As Dani works to close a deal for her skin care line with a major player in cosmetics, they want Jameson involved in the marketing. For his part, Jameson just wants to get back to academia, but ends up getting fired over his “newfound notoriety.” (This guy is already a prince, how does that work?) Can Dani and Jameson’s relationship survive the spotlight and scrutiny, or will secrets signal the end?
Get The Duchess Effect from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop | Amazon | Apple Books
Signed copies are also available from Fountain Bookstore.
Part rom-com, part screwball comedy, Maureen Lee Lenker’s debut It Happened One Fight takes us back to 1930’s Hollywood. Dash Howard may be Hollywood favorite leading man, but he’s not Joan Davis.’ It’s his attitude, his baiting her at every turn, the on-set pranks. But just as she’s prepping for the film that could actually get her taken seriously, it’s one of those on-set pranks gone wrong that finds Joan and Dash (oops) legally married.
The solution? One more movie with Dash, that’s filming in Reno, where they’ll be able to get a divorce after six weeks. But over those six weeks, Joan starts to see another side to Dash and maybe, just maybe, this marriage isn’t the sham she thought it was.
Get It Started One Fight from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Release Date: August 1
If you love enemies-to-lovers and you’re a fan of Much Ado About Nothing, Nisha Sharma’s Tastes Like Shakkar is a MUST READ. The second book in her If Aunties Were Shakespeare series picks up with Bobbi and Bunty getting ready for Prem and Kareena’s wedding. Nisha Sharma nails the banter (not bitching) with these two and it’s delightful to watch them dance around each other as they’re thrown together on prepping for the wedding, Bobbi as event planner and Bunty doing the menu. But it seems someone is hell-bent on sabotage. The question is, is it sabotaging the wedding or Bobbi, or both?
Banter – first class. Steam – top notch. But what I really loved is that Sharma brings real depth and complexity to Bobbi and Bunty as both wrestle with their roles in their families. And the difficult choices we sometimes have to make balancing those responsibilities with what will make us truly happy.
5 stars
Get Tastes Like Shakkar from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Signed copies are available from Doylestown Bookshop.
Release Date: August 8
A gender-swapped Cinderella retelling featuring a Jewish heiress and a synagogue custodian. Marry Me by Midnight is totally delightful and fiercely feminist with Jewish rep that goes beyond surface level. Loved it.
After the death of her father, Isabelle Lira is fighting to maintain her hold on their family surety business. The quickest way to do it while keeping her father’s business partner at bay is to find a husband who sees things her way. She enlists Aaron, the synagogue custodian, to gather intel on prospective husbands she’ll basically “interview” over the course of 3 festival events.
Marry Me by Midnight offers up interesting insight into the Jewish community and how it interacted & co-existed with England’s gentiles in the Georgian period. My only nit is that there’s a little bit of whiplash when one key player does a complete 180 in service of the story that I just didn’t buy. But don’t let that stop you from reading this one.
4 stars
Get Marry Me By Midnight from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
