So like, if that is your thing? Very buttoned-up gentlemen finding themselves in situations where they have to let go of some of their buttoned-up-ness? Hoo fucking boy have I got a novella collection to commend to your attention.

I have been known to be picky about the novella romance! I admit this freely! But He’s Come Undone features not one but five nearly perfect examples of the novella form. Every one of these stories is weighty and substantive to the point that the resolution of the romance felt satisfying in every case. Plus as a bonus, there were all these super uptight dude protagonists being slowly unraveled by feelings. Let’s run through them real quick to give you a sense of what you’re in for, shallllllllll we?

“Apassionata,” Emma Barry

Kristy Kwong used to be a wildly talented and famous pianist, until — in baseball terms, she got the yips. Now she is returning to the stage, and Brennan is the piano technician tasked with setting up the instrument she’ll play for her first performance in two years. She’s struggling against stage fright as she tries to recapture her mojo, while Brennan — who was never able to play at her level in the first place — considers his life in the world of music and his role in setting Kristy up for success in her comeback.

This is my first Emma Barry story, and I loved it! She gets into the nitty-gritty of piano mechanics but also touches on the indefinable magic of musical performance. Better still, her story is ineffably kind and compassionate to its characters, which is one of my favorite things that romance — or any fiction! — can do. For all his restraint, Brennan is keenly aware of the prejudice, sexism, and general undermining Kristy has faced in her career, and he’s determined not to contribute to it. “Apassionata” is a perfect example of a shared-project romance, and it’s just the cherry on top that the shared project is “let the heroine shine the way she deserves to shine.”

“Unraveled,” Olivia Dade

OH THIS GENTLEMAN IS BUTTONED-UP AS ALL HELL. Mmmmm this is the good stuff. Okay so Simon is a veteran math teacher, and he’s been assigned to mentor a new art teacher called Poppy, but SHE — and try not to clutch your pearls when you hear this news — sometimes wears CASUAL CLOTHING. With PAINT on them, and Simon does not like this because being an art teacher is no excuse for SLACKENING ONE’S STANDARDS.

(And yet. Oh, and yet, my friends! And yet, one thing leads to another, and they end up boning in the art studio. Also he hotly defends her when one of the other teacher says a mean thing.)

In addition to all this jeans-wearing and laxity of standards, Poppy’s particular form of art is making tiny murder dioramas a la the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. So alongside the romance is a running subplot in which Simon is trying to solve one of the diorama murders, paying keen attention to every one of the tiny, specific details in Poppy’s murder diorama. Oh, and a teacher recently left the school under suspicious circumstances. PERHAPS ALSO MURDER???

It is very fucking fun. Romance authors should always write romances about the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. In my humble opinion.

“Caught Looking,” Adriana Herrera

In the category “romance authors who are also social workers,” ie two of my favorite professions at the same time, Adriana Herrera has rapidly become one of my go-to authors. “Caught Looking” is about two longtime best friends, Hatuey and Yariel, waking up to a startling morning after. For years Yariel has been in love with Hatuey, but he has been unwilling to risk ruining their friendship by making a move on a best friend he knows — thinks he knows — is straight. Now he just wants to put it behind them and get back to normal, because the alternative carries the risk that their friendship won’t survive, and Yariel can face anything but that.

BUT OH NO QUEL DOMMAGE because right at this very instant, this fortuitous very instant, they have a commitment where they both have to spend a long weekend in the Dominican Republic doing fundraisers and photo opportunities (Yariel’s an MLB player) and flying on private jets and staying in nice hotels. Many are the opportunities for Hatuey to pine whilst gazing at Yariel being delightful with young children who admire him; many the friendship memories that flood Yariel’s mind like that one time Hatuey’s dad was all “you are a good kid but don’t bone my son, cool?”

As is typical for Adriana Herrera, “Caught Looking” hinges on the genuine love and respect the characters have for each other. Yari and Hatuey’s friendship is the core of this story, whether or not they decide to change the parameters of their relationship, and every move they make is predicated on ensuring that the other one is comfortable and confident. It couldn’t be more lovely.

(Actually that is consistent throughout this collection: It’s about partners building each other up, even in moments when life leaves them vulnerable. Another good thing about this collection! Gosh I like romance novels.)

“Yes, And…”, Ruby Lang

If you come to Adriana Herrera for searing mutual respect, you come to Ruby Lang for banter and family relationships. “Yes, And…” does not disappoint. Darren is among the more uptight of these uptight protagonists, but he’s taking a meditation class to help himself unwind — not because he wants to unwind, but just because his blood pressure’s high and he’s trying to lower it. (This is very relatable to me, an outcomes-focused tightly wound lady whose blood pressure has been fucking with her lately.) But due to a scheduling mix-up, he finds himself in the exact opposite of a meditation class — an improv class, led by Joan Lacy on her one night off from caring for her mother, who has early-onset dementia.

If Darren won my heart for not wanting to do any goddamn meditation, Joan won it for having a panic attack because she’s so worried about her mom. I couldn’t not want these humans to be happy, particularly after Darren takes care of her during her panic attack, drives with his hands at nine and three, and apologizes for hurting her feelings. THESE ARE TRAITS I AM SOFT FOR. Their courtship is gentle and careful (and sexy!), with both of them trying hard to believe that they are enough. It’s a romance about the way a partner can help you to fill the entire space you are meant to occupy, even when you struggle to believe in yourself in that way. This one’s a scootch more melancholy than the foregoing two, but it makes the happy ending that much more satisfying.

“Tommy Cabot Was Here,” Cat Sebastian

This story is dedicated to Sirius Black and Bucky Barnes, and I just think it’s worth contemplating that fact for a moment. Yes? Have we all given due consideration to the good and glorious world in which we are now privileged to reside? Great. Onward.

In a move very characteristic of Cat Sebastian, “Tommy Cabot Was Here” is about two people who have been parted for years and years due to misunderstandings, and are now awkwardly, anxiously reunited. Everett stopped speaking to Tommy Cabot after Tommy’s marriage, and now it’s fifteen years later in 1959, and Tommy’s son is attending the school where Everett teaches math — the same school at which, long ago, he and Tommy used to fool around, and at least one of them fell in love.

This one’s wall to wall feelings, just a whole lot of two people negotiating with each other about what their past together meant then and means now, and what they want their present and future to look like. Though the central misunderstanding — Everett’s certainty that Tommy has moved on to a golden life of heterosexual bliss and political glory — does power some of the conflict, the bigger issue is and always has been the characters’ own struggles to identify what they want. Everett wasn’t wrong to think that Tommy wanted his wife over Everett (though he was deceiving himself about what his life could be); Tommy wasn’t wrong to think that Everett turned away from their friendship (though it was an act of self-protection). The romance is a gentle, careful navigation of what they each want now and what they are able to offer. It’s immensely sweet.

As a bonus, Tommy’s wife Patricia rules? I would read a whole other Patricia book where she’s just taking over California with Harry. So that was nice too — side characters are one of the great joys of romance novels, and it was a pleasure for Tommy’s ex to be a source of support and joy rather than additional conflict.

Note: I received an ARC of this book for review consideration. That has not impacted my review. My review has, however, been heavily impacted by how much I enjoy buttoned-up heroes, which is very, very much.

The post Review: He’s Come Undone, Emma Barry, Olivia Dade, Adriana Herrera, Ruby Lang, and Cat Sebastian appeared first on Reading the End.

As you hopefully have not yet tired of hearing me say, Ruby Lang’s books always stand out for their warmth, humor, and tenderness toward their characters, and House Rules is no exception. In the short space a novella affords, Lang makes her characters real humans trying to muddle along and figure things out as best they can. And sometimes she gives them the grace of being mistaken, as when Simon’s sister confronts him for acting like her life as a mother and wife is somehow less important and interesting than her pre-marriage choices. I continue to adore Lang’s knack for writing families where mutual love is never a perfect guard against prickliness and misunderstanding.

House Rules is a second chance romance that honors the reasons Simon and Lana didn’t work out the first time — no wicked mother hiding a year’s worth of letters in this book! — but also gives weight to the true and abiding affection they still have for one another.

“And you think this — us — is a good idea?”

“No, I don’t.”

He flinched slightly. But at the same time, he felt a little surprised. Lana of seventeen years ago had not been so blunt…. “How do you know I won’t try to steal this place from under you?”

“You wouldn’t do that to me. Because you’re honest, even kind of noble in your own way, Simon. I trust you. And that’s why I ended up thinking of you. Not that you weren’t in my mind before. But that’s why I supposed I could share a space with you.”

It’s exactly this honesty that makes the premise of House Rules work. In another author’s hands it could have felt extremely tropey (which I would have loved in a different way), but Lang makes it seem plausible in the physical landscape of New York housing hell and the emotional landscape of these two adults.

And they are adults. As the “Lana of seventeen years ago” line suggests, this isn’t a romance between people in their twenties. They’re coming to this relationship after years of living on the earth and discovering what they want and who they are, and that’s notable in how they interact with each other. When they look back on their marriage, they’re able to see each other more clearly in the light of hindsight, which in turn helps ease their paths back to each other. I also loved that Lang engages with the fact of their bodies: Simon and Lana experienced the regular aches and wonkiness that come with getting older, and Lana also battles horrific cramps and possible infertility as a result of her endometriosis.

(Sidebar, I am always happy when someone in a romance novel has a period. Periods! A lot of people have them!)

One curious side effect to all this emotional realism, which I find genuinely lovely and moving, is that the HEA feels rather equivocal. Knowing, as we do, that Simon and Lana broke up once before, and that Lana, at least, is now on the verge of major career changes, it’s hard to leave the book without a question in mind about whether they’re going to make it work in the long term. House Rules never lets the reader lose sight of the fact that relationships sometimes just don’t work out, not because of any huge nefariousness or failure on either side, but simply because life brought too much pressure to bear on fragile points. This is deeply true, and it lends legitimacy to Simon and Lana’s choice to get back together, but it also made me uncertain about the future. The result was a romance on the melancholy end of the romance spectrum, despite and because of its maturity, grace, and emotional truth.

If you’re interested in more about this book, check out reviews at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and Let’s Fox About It!

Note: I received an e-ARC of this book from the publisher for review consideration. This has not impacted my review.

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How to Catch a Wicked Viscount, Amy Rose Bennett

After an indiscretion at school that leaves Sophie and her three best friends with a reputation for scandal, she never expects to be accepted back into polite society. But when Charlotte discovers Sophie in a compromising situation with her rakehell brother, Nate, she offers Nate a deal: If he helps Sophie to catch a rake with a heart of gold for a husband, Charlotte won’t tell their father that he’s compromised Sophie. But Sophie finds that all she wants is Nate — a man who’s sworn he’ll have nothing to do with love and marriage.

In general, How to Catch a Wicked Viscount was a lot of fun, particularly if the “I am supposed to be helping you find someone else but in the meantime we are falling in love” trope appeals to you. (As forced proximity tropes go, it’s low on my list; but I love forced proximity across the board, so even an un-preferred version of it is enjoyable to me.) I love that Sophie’s part of a network of lady friends who all support and love each other, no matter what — they’re all treasures and gems, and I would like them all to find love. While some of the sex prose gets a little purple (is there a special term for that? sex prose that’s overdone?), it’s brilliant to see an unexperienced heroine who’s still able to identify what she wants and go after it. I loved her for being the initiator of most of the couple’s sexual encounters.

However, for a generally sex-positive book, How to Catch a Wicked Viscount has a weird little interlude to introduce Nate. He and his rakish friends are breaking into the Astley house to steal the underwear of the famously, I guess, slutty?? Countess of Astley — which I already don’t love — and then she catches them and propositions them. Nate thinks “he wasn’t going anywhere near her unless he was wearing a sheath” and then when his friend does decide to stay for sex, they remind the friend to wear a condom too. I couldn’t tell if this was meant to be a pregnancy thing or a disease thing, but it made me uncomfortable, and it was hard to come around on Nate as a character after that. Because: Ew.

Dalliances and Devotion, Felicia Grossman

Admittedly Twitter is a hellscape, but it can’t be all bad, can it? when it led me to this book. Dalliances and Devotion is the second in a series, though it can be read as a standalone (which is what I did). It’s the story of Jewish heiress Amalia Truitt and her former flame, Pinkerton Daniel Zisskind, who are thrown together on a train trip across America after Amalia receives a string of death threats. She’s determined to make it home and gain access to her fortune so that she can go on funding her charity, which helps women get divorces when they can’t afford them. (Amalia is twice divorced.)

Though “road trip” was the pitch that got me to read this book, I dare to say that I would have loved it just the same if it hadn’t been a road trip at all. It was lovely to see a romance between two Jewish protagonists, and even lovelier that their beliefs and religious practices were central to the story (Amalia’s going to Delaware for her nephew’s bris, among other things!). Since the story takes place in the aftermath of the Civil War, there were also many timely discussions of what it means to be American and Jewish, what the best of America is and how to pursue that ideal of a nation. It added emotional resonance to a book that already gave such heft to the interior lives of its central characters, inside and outside of the central pairing.

I also want to give special mention to the sex scenes. Like many romance novelists working today, Grossman is careful and deliberate about consent, which rules, but she also manages to strike a (to me) perfect balance of consent, sexiness, and joy. Amalia and David are having FUN with each other, which made their eventual HEA all the more satisfying. I loved this book to pieces and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Open House, Ruby Lang

Let’s pause a moment to celebrate the fact that Ruby Lang is writing again, after a pause that in real life was very short but experientially was like TEN THOUSAND YEARS OF DEPRIVATION. Any romance writer who can write a line like “He didn’t want to be her weakness; he wanted to be part of her strength” is already to be treasured. Add to that Lang’s gift for vivid settings, complex family relationships, and reliably funny, affectionate, crackly banter between the leads, and you’ve got one of the best contemporary romance authors currently working.

Open House is the second novella in Lang’s Uptown series (first one is reviewed here!), and it follows realtor Magda Ferrar as she tries to unload her recalcitrant uncle’s brownstone on Strivers’ Row and a vacant lot on 136th St. Unfortunately (for her), the lot has been turned into a community garden, and the community — including sexy accountant (yes) Ty Yang — isn’t any too thrilled at the idea of losing it.

The love story in a romance novella can feel rushed and incomplete, but Open House never does. Nor does it depend on uncontrollable mutual attraction to justify the leads’ interest in each other (no shots btw to uncontrollable mutual attraction, which can be very fun sometimes!). Ty and Magda like each other because they like each other: because they’re each kind and funny and engaged, because they challenge and encourage each other out of easy false narratives, and also YES I ADMIT because they find each other really hot. But principally, their relationship is founded — despite this being an antagonists-to-lovers story — on trying really hard to be in each other’s corner. I loved it.

I should also mention that Lang has a true knack for writing family dynamics and exploring the way they affect people in romantic relationships. Insofar as her leads face obstacles (and these are typically quite low-conflict books), they are typically internally generated and respectfully explored over the course of the book. I loved seeing Magda in a position of trying to navigate an adult relationship with her much-older sisters!

A chef’s kiss to this book, in honor of my hope that Lang will set the next series after this one in restaurants LIKE SHE CLEARLY WANTS TO. (I see you, Ruby Lang.)

In Between Days, Anne Jamison

Eh, this one may be more YA than romance, but who’s counting? It contains a romance, so I feel fine about it.

In Between Days is the angry feminist Breakfast Club Judd Nelson / Molly Ringwald romance you definitely knew you wanted, a coming of age story that also features a lady friendship to warm the cockles of even my stony automaton heart.

If me saying this book warmed my heart has led you to believe that it is heartwarming, I assure you that it is not. It’s one of those books about high school that will gladden you that you’re not in high school anymore; and one of those books about The Past (in this case, the 80s of Gen X) that will make you feel blessed that the runaway train of linear time WHATEVER ITS FAULTS is dragging us inexorably further and further away from The Past. (I mean racist and homophobic slurs, my pals, & drugs & sexual assault — so be good to yourselves if you’re not in the mood.)

But I adored the three central characters — Pris and Jason and Samantha — and their gradual, prickly efforts to learn how to be good to each other. I started off feeling that there was no way for things to be okay between them — Jason and Samantha area real assholes, good GOD I do not miss high school — but the book lured me along to a touching and satisfying conclusion.

American Love Story, Adriana Herrera

This is the third in Adriana Herrera’s Dreamers series, which I have probably already raved about in this space. (Fact check: I have.) American Love Story follows scholar and activist Patrice Denis, who has taken a job at Cornell for reasons not wholly unrelated to the hot Ithaca ADA, Easton Archer, whom he used to bone. Their relationship is complicated not just by Easton’s job as a representative of a system Patrice loathes, but by a recent uptick in unwarranted traffic stops of black and brown men in Ithaca — which Easton’s boss is reluctant to address.

Despite this being all the way in my wheelhouse, American Love Story is my least favorite in the series so far, only because I had a hard time getting a grip on Patrice’s character. Most of what we learn about him is told, not shown, from his job to his personality. I wanted to know more about his scholarship (important, apparently?), his online presence (ditto), his history of cutting people out when they disappoint him (considerable?). Without that, his character lacked some of the wonderful specificity of Herrera’s other characters.

Even so, I got all verklempt at the end of the book when Easton and Patrice are finding their way back to each other and sorting through how not to damage each other in this same way next time. I still love this series and can’t wait for the final one! Social workers should always write the books!

As a final note, I received, I think, all of these from the publisher/author for review consideration. This has not impacted the content of my reviews.

The post Police Stops, Brises, and Other Rites of Passage: A Romance Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

Playing House is about a woman finding her place in the world after a divorce (that’s Fay) and a man finding his place in the world after losing a job (that’s Oliver). In the relatively small world of urban planning, they’ve been casual friendquaintances for years. But when they run into each other at a home tour, and pretend to be dating to scare off a pushy guy harassing Fay, sparks fly.

In my master list of romance novel recs organized by trope (which I am keeping private until it reaches some not-yet-defined state of finished-ness), one of my favorite tropes is “Shared Project,” which is nearly, but not exactly, a subset of “Forced Proximity.” It’s a trope I love because it offers a tidy way for the characters to externalize their interest in each other and it humanizes them by showing us what they love (apart from, eventually, each other). It’s impossible not to love Fay and Oliver for loving what they do. Look at this adorability:

“What have you been up to today, then?”

“Helping my mom. Yard work. She lives in Forest Hills.”

“In Forest Hills Gardens–?”

They chorused, “One of the oldest planned communities in the United States.”

It was the first real laugh they’d had together that morning. Oliver had thrown back his head, and he was looking at her with something like affection. Blink and it was gone. “No, not the Gardens area. If she lived there, I’d lead with that. Hi, I’m Oliver Huang-my-mom-lives-in-Forest-Hills-Gardens-which-was-conceived-by-Omlsted-and-Atterbury.”

“They’re right when they say Asian names are difficult.”

I defy you not to feel love for these two charming nerds.

As they’re seeing each other, and looking at houses, they’re also both trying to figure out what they want their lives to look like. Oliver’s long-time firm recently shuttered, and he’s currently awaiting a call back from Fay’s quickly-expanding firm (which Fay doesn’t know). In the meantime, he’s living with his brother, working contract jobs, and struggling with the feeling that he’s disappointed everyone who knows him. Fay, for her part, is coming out of a marriage that made her feel isolated and unsupported, and she doesn’t feel much like taking a chance on anyone, let alone someone who’s friends with all her friends.

Playing House is the perfect book for a grim day when all you need is a cup of tea and a book that will make you feel cozy and safe and hopeful. There’s no operatic stakes here: Nobody’s threatening anyone’s livelihood, or getting murdered in an adjacent hotel room, or escaping a stabby step-parent. The biggest conflict Fay and Oliver face is he doesn’t tell her right away that he’s up for a job at her firm, and she’s mad about it. But that’s exactly what I love about Ruby Lang in general and Playing House in particular. The stakes are normal human stakes, because these are normal human people, albeit wittier and better at banter than normal human me. Even within the length constraints of a novella, Fay and Oliver feel like entire people with entire messy lives. Playing House isn’t pure fluff exactly because Fay and Oliver’s lives feel so real, from the things they love (penny? tile? I don’t understand house words) to the things they fear (inadequacy, parental disapproval). I was so happy for them to talk through their problems and get their relationship on track.

Ruby Lang continues to be one of my favorite romance novelists working. I have languished many years in the dark after her Practice Perfect series ended,¹ but now she is returned! Playing House is but the first in a new series about REAL ESTATE, a setting that now seems such an obvious one for romance novels that I am shocked I don’t have an entire raft of housing-related romances on my bookshelf. Please hit me with any real estate-focused romance novels you may know of. Like maybe one where the protagonists are bonding over home renovations?

Note: I got an e-ARC of this book from the publisher for review consideration, probably because of my noisy and boundless enthusiasm for the author’s previous books. This has in no way influenced the contents of my review.

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Ruby Lang is a new-to-me author I discovered through the wonderful Romance Novels for Feminists (which has never yet steered me wrong), and I received Hard Knocks for review consideration from the publisher. Hard Knocks is about a hockey player nearing the end of his career (Adam) and a neurologist (Helen) who thinks he’s cute when he brings his friend in for a concussion check-up but does not think much of all the brain damage sports can wreak upon their players.

Oh how I love discovering a new romance author whose books are just right for me. Hard Knocks is witty and charming, with banter between the leads that is also witty and charming (in the way that so many romance novels try and fail to have their banter be, i.e., effortlessly), and I’m delighted that there’s another book in the series for me to read.¹ Things I particularly loved include how angry Helen is (I love angry heroines); the fact that nobody gives a crap that she sleeps with Adam casually; frank discussion of finances (so rare); and how angry Helen is.

Did I say one of those twice? I really love angry heroines. I can already tell that Ruby Lang’s going to be one of my go-to romance authors–very much recommended!

Charlotte Highwood creeps into the library to let Lord Granville know that she absolutely does not intend to let her mother entrap them into marrying — and kind of gets entrapped into marrying him. She’s determined to find them both a way out of it. He’s a spy. Everyone’s stuck at this manor house for one of those house parties where people are so nosy and everyone is maybe creeping away to do assignations.

Frankly, this is a delight from cover to cover. I love and revel in angsty romances (cf. my longtime love for Meredith Duran), but it was a refreshing treat to encounter a heroine as cheerful and indomitable as Charlotte. She refuses to allow herself to be caught up in anything like a Big Misunderstanding and perpetually cuts through the romance novel trope bullshit to say and do exactly what she means.

Courtney Milan was one of the first — maybe the first? — romance authors I tried when I decided to give romance novels another chance; and I’ve been a fan ever since. Her latest historicals have felt a trifle pat, so I’ve been on a break from them, but her new contemporary series — of which Hold Me is the second — has been excellent so far. In addition to thoughtfully exploring issues I care about (poverty, work-life balance, complicated parental relationships, independence v. intimacy), they lay out sincere emotional problems and show us how the characters navigate those issues.

Maria Lopez runs a popular blog where she imagines end-of-the-world scenarios in great detail. She has an ongoing semi-flirtation with one of her regular commenters, whom she called Actual Physicist and who calls her Em. When she goes to deliver a message to one of her brother’s friends (a scientist), the friend, Jay, is horribly rude to her, making immediate assumptions about her intelligence based on her appearance (girly! heels!), and she takes an immediate dislike to him. Well guess what y’all. Guess what turns out to be the case.

I liked this book a hell of a lot. Maria’s trans, and I love that it isn’t an issue in her relationship to Jay. I love that we see her as part of a group of queer friends, and that part of her emotional arc involves speaking honestly with her friend and former roommate Angela (who’s getting her own book, yay!) — in other words, that overcoming her feelings problems doesn’t revolve solely around Jay. I love You’ve Got Mail-y premises like this one, and Hold Me is a hugely satisfying book along those lines.

KJ Charles has a new series called Sins of the City that’s inspired by Wilkie Collins’s fiction, and frankly that’s all the information I needed to get excited about An Unseen Attraction. (Actually all I needed was KJ Charles’s name, but this Wilkie Collins thing didn’t hurt.) I received An Unseen Attraction from the publisher for review consideration, via NetGalley.

Clem manages a lodging house where everything is in perfect order, apart from the one tenant Clem’s noble half-brother won’t ever let him evict. When that tenant turns up brutally murdered, Clem’s tidy world is turned upside down — and so is the life of another of his tenants, the sexy taxidermist Rowley Green.

So much Wilkie Collins in this book, y’all. I loved it. Dark secrets to be uncovered, the promise of more scandal to come in subsequent books, it’s all completely up my alley. Better yet, Charles does a wonderful job of showing how Clem and Rowley learn to be ever-better friends and lovers to each other, treading gently around insecurities but setting boundaries where necessary. Clem is on the spectrum and Rowley comes from an abusive home, and they make mistakes with each other. The tension doesn’t arise so much from a Big Misunderstanding as from the clashes that happen around conflicting motives, loyalties, and ways of being a person. Charles is terrific at depicting Clem and Rowley’s attempts to navigate all of this, and it makes their happy ending all the more satisfying.

Basically, if the idea of a story about love, taxidermy, and murder most foul appeals to you, I’d recommend you run straight out and preorder An Unseen Attraction. It comes out on 21 February and is well worth your time.

What romance novels have you been enjoying lately, friends? I always need more recs!

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