Top Five Reads of July 2024 – Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance Books

The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez (2024)

Contemporary romance. Book 1 of the Librarians in Love series. Chaotic and messy and I couldn’t put this one down. Marcela has been pining for her best guy friend, Ben, for years and in for total heartbreak when he proposes to his longtime girlfriend, Alice. And as if going to an engagement party wasn’t enough anxiety, she stops Ben’s brother Theo from drunkenly declaring his feelings for Alice. When they leave the party together and then show up at brunch together the next day, everyone thinks they hooked up, and they seem to go along with the lie to prevent anyone else from suspecting their real feelings for the engaged couple. We get a fun little fake dating situation for a hot minute, until they decide to go with a friends with benefits situation instead. But Theo doesn’t know about Marcela’s crush on Ben, everyone is telling Marcela to stay away from Theo, and Marcela is just trying to protect herself from getting hurt. It’s all sorts of messy and dramatic, but Theo has generally been open and honest with Marcela about his feelings and is basically the one making a try at a real relationship. Overall, Theo is the best, Ben is the worst, Alice is actually a decent friend, and Marcela just needs a pep talk.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.

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My Rogue to Ruin by Erica Ridley (2023)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 4 of the Wild Wynchesters series. Quiet artist sister Marjorie has her turn to take the lead on a case this time. When the Wynchesters find that a crime lord is passing counterfeit coins through his pawn shop, they aim to find the counterfeiter and bring about justice. Marjorie insists on infiltrating the workshop to find the evidence and solve the case, but she finds a charming lord there instead. Adrian is the second son of a marquess who was banished from his family home many years ago and made his money by counterfeiting artistic artifacts; when he’s caught at that, the crime lord blackmails him into counterfeiting money instead. He’s pretty much held captive, even though he feels horrible cheating innocent people out of money. While Marjorie and Adrian are at odds in the beginning, they soon realize they have a lot in common, and need to team up to get out of this mess. Adrian gets to witness firsthand the benefits of a loving family and find allies in all the Wynchesters. The romance here was easy and low-angst and the crime-solving caper was a lot of fun.

Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

Not Another Love Song by Julie Soto (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. I don’t know much about music, but the musical chemistry between Gwen and Xander was totally believable. Gwen is the somewhat naive and not totally confident violin player given a chance to be first chair of a pops symphony, much to the dismay of cello player/rockstar Xander. He’s got the overconfident arrogant attitude that rubs Gwen the wrong way, until he rubs her the right way. He’s both broody and yearning all at once, which is fun to read. While most of the book is told from Gwen’s point of view, we get interludes from Xander’s perspective every 5 chapters or so. Tons of flirting and steam and external machinations from all the grown-ups in their lives, which made me keep reading to find out both backstory and what would happen next. Overall, a fun and emotional read.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley.

The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson (2024)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. It’s a rough day for Daphne who is at a baseball game that she’s not interested in, but she makes it better by getting drunk and heckling a baseball player. Except that she accidentally makes him cry. And then when she tries to apologize via Instagram DM, she neglects to mention she’s the heckler. Chris is having a rough season but he’s happy to be chatting with his new Instagram friend who he seems to have hit it off with. It’s an awkward chaotic mess as Daphne is fighting her guilt and attraction towards Chris. We’re really just waiting for everything to blow up if he ever finds out the truth, but we get to see a very sweet and steamy romance build up along the way. Super fun and flirty book to read.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Ne’er Duke Well by Alexandra Vasti (2024)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Belvoir’s Library series. There are so many of my favorite of tropes blended into this delightful novel. Peter is a new duke who grew up in America and is now seeking custody of his younger half siblings. His friend Selina, the sister of yet another duke, is helping him improve his case by finding him a suitable candidate to marry. Except these two are actually more attracted to each other than anyone else and all of Peter’s courtships are comically bad. We get to see a series of terrible courting excursions and then ultimately Selina and Peter get caught in a compromising situation themselves and need to marry. Meanwhile, Selina has her own potential for scandal by owning and running a circulating library with a secret section of elicit texts. She’s trying very hard not to get caught at this, since it’ll ruin Peter’s custody case, but he’s amazingly supportive after she tells him her secrets. There are a fun cast of characters here with Selina’s loving and supportive family, Peter’s young siblings, and even the ladies that Selina had suggested for Peter. I enjoyed this book so much; it was full of humor, steam, and a low-angst romance.

Advance ebook provided by St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley.