Romance is in the Air - 5 Novels to Read

by MK French

Spring has sprung and along with the pollen comes an uptick in new romance novels. Over the next few months, there will be romances of all subgenres coming out and vying for a place in your beach bag. Here is a look at the few that would be perfect for that spring break getaway you have planned.

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Love, The Duke by Amelia Grey

April 2025; ‎St. Martin's; 978-1250850454
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); Regency romance

The Duke of Hurstbourne turns down the opportunity to marry his childhood friend's sister Ophelia because he believes in love at first sight. He doesn't want to marry strictly for money as the ton usually does. However, Ophelia Stowe dresses as a man to ask for his help anyway. His help turns out to be a marriage of convenience to find a missing relic. While finding it will restore the Stowe good name, the marriage feels very real.

This novel is in the same world as the prior Say I Do novels, though it isn't necessary to have read those first. Hurst is the last of his three friends to get married, and he's less mercenary than most men of his station. He's also scrupulously against thievery and breaking and entering, which immediately sets him apart from Ophelia. As a vicar's daughter and sister, she was raised with the same expectations as polite society but threw it all out the window when a chalice disappeared. Her beloved brother had given everything for the parish prior to his death, so Ophelia is willing to do everything to preserve his good name. The faint clue of a nobleman and a partial crest on the carriage brings her to London in disguise, ready to do a little breaking and entering to peruse libraries for the relic. The two meet and clash at every turn, and grow to love one another in the process.

Hurst and Ophelia, while at odds in their methodology, respect each other and her brother's memory. She grew up in a loving family and was allowed within reason to be impetuous, while Hurst didn't, so he has more distance to go in accepting past memories. As far as romance novels go, there are fewer hurdles to their love and marriage than most. They learn from each other and how to grow together, which is always fun to see in romance novels. 

Buy Love, The Duke at Amazon

The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson

April 2025; Ace; 978-0593817865
audio, ebook, print (544 pages); romantic fantasy

The human kingdoms of Anwyvn fear maegic, killing halflings on sight. Rhya Fleetwood's execution is interrupted by Commander Scythe, who brings her to the Northlands. Everything she thought she knew about this world is incomplete, and there's more to her than even she knew. Her ability to call the wind and the birthmark on her chest means she is a Remnant, one of four souls scattered across Anwyvn, fated to restore the balance of maegic…or die trying.

This is book one of the Reign of Remnants. Rhya is at death's door in the opening, blindfolded and with a noose around her neck from the people ready to kill her for being a half-elf when humans want nothing to do with even halflings. When Scythe arrives, he's surly, angry with the hunters and soldiers that had taken her prisoner. Though he makes short work of them, he doesn't provide any answers and makes for the North at a breakneck pace. We slowly learn about the different kingdoms, the superstitions, and the creatures in the world. Rhya has more skills than she is willing to reveal to strangers, but still has little understanding about the maegic she has.

It's not a spoiler to say that Scythe isn't who he appears to be when he first shows up in the story. Travel to the north is difficult, and even there it isn't entirely safe. There are various factions eager to kill the fae and one kingdom born of dark magic who would love to kill fae and absorb their magic. Being a Remnant means Rhya has more magic than most, even if she can't control it. When she uses the magic, it comes out as a storm and exhausts her. While the first half of the book involves getting Rhya to a place of safety and belonging, the second involves solidifying that place and finding a way to control her power. There are emotional pulls as well, so the romantic element ebbs and flows as both resist it at turns and grow closer. 

While some questions are answered, others are still ones that remain. Death and destruction follow some of the battles, and there are interpersonal tensions that challenge Rhya. Life isn't easy for her as a Remnant, and she still has a long way to go before she will learn what that means. Four Remnants are part of the prophecy, and one has never been found yet. There is a natural pause at the end of this story that will feed into future novels of the series.

Buy The Wind Weaver at Amazon

The Gods Time Forgot by Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez

April 2025; Alcove Press; 979-8892422338
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); romantic fantasy

In 1870 Manhattan, Rua has forgotten everything about herself and is mistaken for Emma, the missing daughter of the wealthy Harrington family. As she tries to blend in, she's drawn to the forbidden Lord of Donore. He's recently arrived in Manhattan and is just as drawn to her. He feels they may have met before, and gradually Rua recalls a past rife with dark magic. The two must figure out the past in order to save their future.

The Gilded Age in New York City is rather like Regency and Edwardian England. The old money doesn't appreciate upstart new money entering society but is more than happy to take that money for their own business prospects. Lord Donore is Irish and hopes to build orphanages and hospitals for the poor, financing them with glitzy hotels built with the Harrington fortune and Fitzgerald connections, as long as he marries Annette Fitzgerald. Rua replaced Emma, who had gone missing in upstate New York, but rumors about her circulate and she has little interest in truly fitting in. Emma and her maid Mara had worshipped the Morrigan in secret, and the missing memories include whatever the two had been up to.

Alongside the growing romantic feelings between Rua and Finn, with Annette at the third point of the triangle, is the truth about how polite society works as well as what happened on August 1. Both Finn and Rua have memories or dreams of a past that is straight out of Irish myth. As the summer progresses into fall, there are more memories and more complications; we don't see it all come together until the final 10 to 15 percent of the book. I raced through it to find out what happened next. I really enjoyed the story.

Buy The Gods Time Forgot at Amazon

Some Like It Scot by Pepper Basham

April 2025; Thomas Nelson; 978-0840716743
audio, ebook, print (384 pages); romantic comedy

Katie Campbell writes about her adventures all over the world and is now given a chance to explore her family background in Scotland. For an Edwardian experience, Katie is in period attire, with traditional foods and activities, and endless opportunities for misadventures. Enter Graeme MacKerrow, a stoic Scot who doesn't wander far from home. He wants to save it, even if that means allowing a tall American woman in. Their different worlds collide, but home might not be a place at all.

Katie "Miss Adventure" Campbell lives to travel and write about it. Making the pitfalls seem humorous takes talent, and she is continually on the move. The request to be an editor gives her hives since she thinks it means she must be sedentary and boring. Graeme and his family pooled resources to purchase the ancestral home, which needs a lot of upkeep they can't afford. This leads to renting the estate for the Edwardian Experience, a travel destination worth writing about. The two have opposing plans for the future, which of course means eventual tension as they grow to like each other. 

I enjoy the moments of Katie sitting in nature, talking with random people, and collecting stories. It's obvious she doesn't like talking about herself, and her family life is part of why she's continually on the move. She and Graeme are incredibly self-aware of why they're so closed off from the world in their ways. Katie is clumsy and uses her humor as a shield, which is disarming and earned her a following online. She doesn't even rise to the bait of a fellow blogger competing for the same award. After being abandoned, Graeme values his home and family. It's his safe place, and being out of his comfort zone is especially terrible.  His family is everything to him, and they grow to care for her as well. Both need the other's strength to move forward, which is part of why we root for them. The misadventures during the holiday don't hurt, either! This is a fun romance novel and will make you long for a trip to Scotland yourself. 

Buy Some Like It Scot at Amazon

Bold Moves by Emma Barry

April 2025; Montlake; 978-1662520853
audio, ebook, print (331 pages); contemporary romance

Jaime Croft wants to prove his directorial range, and Scarlett Arbuthnot’s biography is perfect, even though she broke his heart seventeen years ago. Scarlett is a chess grandmaster, and sure she can handle working closely with Jaime. She had reasons for ending things and is sure he would despise her if he knew her reasons. The two go over her memoir and remember the past, rekindling old feelings. Getting back together means letting go of their emotional walls, and neither is ready to make that move.

Jaime and Scarlett came from the same Appalachian town and had been in a relationship before she abruptly left. While he had been the rich kid and she was the poor one, he had given her opportunities to fulfill her dreams. His own life had been a struggle, but he wanted to turn her memoir about the chess world into a series. Scarlett can't give up control or her secrets, forcing them into close proximity for two months to write the scripts, and then for filming. The past is there with them the entire time, but they deal with it in different ways: she runs, and he helps others as penance.

Having read Emma Barry's prior novel, I was amused by the blink and you'll miss it shout outs to the world of the prior novel. The chemistry between them is always there, as is the frustrated love they still have for each other. Both have messy emotions, and Jaime is the one who tends to reveal them all. Both have their supporters, though Scarlett is shocked that she has one. Both of their views of the past and each other are flawed, for all that they're aware of their flaws and have been through therapy. Knowing something logically and feeling it as true are two separate things, and both have to come to the realization that is better together than apart. They are moving at different speeds, which heightens the tension between them. Overall, I really enjoyed this second-chance romance. 

Buy Bold Moves at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever.

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