★ My Best Friend’s Earl
In Regency London, bookseller Constance Martin helps a friend and finds her man in Bethany Bennett’s My Best Friend’s Earl. It’s a delightful title for an equally delightful book. When a new gal pal laments her upcoming arranged marriage to Oliver Vincent, Earl of Southwyn, Connie’s all sympathy. Fearing a boring future, Connie walked away from her own wedding, and the earl sounds too stuffy to bear. So she agrees to help break up the match—and finds herself falling for the handsome, honorable, but very buttoned-up Oliver. He’s unbending about keeping his promise to marry, even though it’s becoming extremely inconvenient given his inescapable attraction to Connie, her busy brain and her beautiful body. A happy ending seems impossible, but with good friends at hand, surely there’s a way. A rousing cast of characters and a couple of unforgettable cats add to this fun-filled romp.
If All Else Sails
Emma St. Clair offers up a summer-set, kisses-only romance with If All Else Sails. School nurse Josie lets her brother persuade her to care for his best friend, NHL star Wyatt Jacobs, for a few weeks while the hockey player recovers from an injury. A self-professed grump, Wyatt is even more ornery now that his injury may stop him from sailing to Savannah, Georgia, to scatter his uncle’s ashes. But perhaps Josie can make his dreams come true—including that sailing adventure. Cue rom-com opportunities, such as pigs on the run and a rescue dog in cute costumes, as these two overcome a long-ago Big Misunderstanding. Josie and Wyatt’s trip on the Intracoastal Waterway grants readers a vicarious adventure and the protagonists a chance to realize they are made for each other. This is an easy afternoon read about nice people finding sweet love.
Love Is a War Song
Danica Nava’s Love Is a War Song is a fish-out-of-water rom-com starring Native American lead characters. After a disastrous photo shoot jeopardizes her career, Muscogee pop star Avery Fox visits her estranged grandmother’s ranch in Oklahoma to lie low. There, she butts heads with Chickasaw ranch manager Lucas Iron Eyes. But as they work together at the property, Avery learns about herself and her heritage, and Lucas comes to appreciate her talent and tenacity. Romance blooms, but the world won’t stand still, and Avery soon gets a second chance at her career—which means squelching her chance at love with Lucas. Or does it? Told in Avery’s honest first-person voice, this story explores family, found family and how what we don’t know can hurt us.
