ARCs provided by the publishers/author publicity teams except for The Secret to a Southern Wedding
We’re deep in that time of the year when a lot of people are focused on getting kids back to school, or they’ve shifted focus to pumpkin spice season. But summer’s not over yet! So if you’ve been distracted this month, let me give you four new romances to read before summer really slips away. All books below are available now.
If you love a celebrity-adjacent romance, Xio Axelrod’s Love on the Byline delivers a slow burn friends-to-lovers against a Hollywood backdrop. Ollie and Blake knew each other in college and meet again five years later when gossip reporter Blake is assigned a celeb profile of up-and-comer Brandon Cody. Ollie is his personal assistant, but like most people in Hollywood, has bigger aspirations in the industry. Love on the Byline sets itself apart by not overglamourizing the Hollywood scene and delves into the seedier side of the industry with another story Blake pursues. Ollie is a big old cinnamon roll (a French-speaking, pesto-making cinnamon roll – le sigh!) who isn’t gonna let his second chance slip away. And Blake is super relatable as someone who got a journalism degree but finds herself writing whatever to pay the rent. If you enjoyed Elissa Sussman’s Funny You Should Ask, pick this one up.
CW: Past suicide attempt, close grandparent with Alzheimer’s
Get Love on the Byline from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
This series just keeps getting better and better! In her latest, Sarah MacLean is serving major Miss Scarlet and the Duke vibes as Lady Imogen Loveless and Detective Inspector Thomas Peck get their moment in the spotlight. In Knockout, the Belles are working to uncover who’s been targeting the informal network looking to better things for people on the East End. Simultaneously, Imogen’s brother, the Earl of Dorring, decides it’s about time she puts aside her interest in explosives and gets herself a husband. Luckily one effort will aid the other. But then DI Tommy Peck is enlisted as her bodyguard and to reign in Imogen’s chaos (as if). It’s opposites attract, it’s got a growly, working class hero, it’s got women who know their own minds, and it’s a rip-roaring adventure from the word go. Things are never boring with the Belles. My one itty bitty nit is the explosives theme (and number of references) gets a little heavy handed in the ARC, but whatever. I can’t wait for Duchess’ book!
Get Knock Out from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Picking up Codename Charming is like catching up with a friend you’ve been missing. I loved it!
In this follow on to Battle Royal, you’re getting a royal adjacent workplace romance with fake dating. Between Pet who’a personal assistant and Matthias who’s personal security for Johnny Marchmont, the hapless husband of Princess Rose. When the paparazzi glom onto the idea that Pet and Johnny are having an affair, the royals come up with a fake dating scheme to divert attention. There’s a little bit of. a Beauty and the Beast thing going on here with Pet and Matthias being dubbed #tollandsmoll (lol) and the two find themselves actually falling for each other. But never admitting it, despite major attraction between them. I loved the cheeky humor in this one. Lucy Parker drops some zingers in the first 30% that actually had me laughing out loud. But I think what really sets it apart is that there’s a secondary plot that keeps this from being just a standard fake dating story.
A solid, sexy, slow burn for summer and beyond.
CW: emotionally abusive parent, death of parents in car accident leading to character going into foster care
Get Codename Charming from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
Imani Kemp was just named doctor of the year at her hospital in Tampa. Then her mama drops the news on her that she’s getting remarried to a man she’s only been dating for a month. Shocked, does’t begin to describe it. Imani heads to her small town in Georgia to meet this guy (and put a stop to the wedding). Preston Dash is just looking to find happiness again after the death of his first wife. That’s all his son Cyril wants for him, but when his dad tells him he needs to be the one get Imani on board, he’s like what the what? And when the two find themselves attracted to each other, things can only get more complicated. Will Imani succeed in stopping the wedding? Will she and Cyril give in to the attraction? I’m 180 pages in to Synithia Williams’ The Secret to a Southern Wedding and totally invested. Full review to come.
CW: Past infidelity, attempted murder, estrangement from dad, actual murder leading to the spouse being suspected, transphobia (Dr./patient)
Get The Secret to a Southern Wedding from The Ripped Bodice | Bookshop.org | Amazon | Apple Books
