New Releases for March 2025 – Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance Books

The Lady Sparks a Flame by Elizabeth Everett (2025)

Historical Romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Damsels of Discovery series. Combine an emotionally traumatized exiled scientist with an upbeat and fairly emotionally happy kind of guy, and we get this absolute gem of a book. Phoebe is back in the country to deal with her late father’s estate, after having been exiled off to America for inventing a bomb that killed someone. She’s all sorts of detached and cold to everyone around her, and we learn that it’s because of her horribly abusive father. Somehow, the wealthy shop owner and newspaper owner Sam gets involved in her affairs, first by offering to buy her house and second by trying to court her sister. Sam’s just trying to improve his overall station in life and thinks a titled wife is the way to do it. But of course, Sam is more interested in Phoebe than anything else and wants to soothe all of her hurts. Tons of emotional angst here as we dig up all of Phoebe’s traumas and come to some resolution. Excellent read.

Advance ebook provided by Berkley via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

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The Strawberry Patch Pancake House by Laurie Gilmore (2025)

Contemporary romance. Book 4 of the Dream Harbor series. Loved this super cute and steamy single dad-nanny romance. Archer has just found out that he’s the father to a five year old girl whose mother had recently passed away. He’s way out of his depth as a father since he needed to uproot his life as a chef in Paris to move to the small town of Dream Harbor. And he has no idea what he’s doing with the kid. He hires Iris as the new live-in nanny, and she also has no idea what she’s doing with the kid. She basically has zero experience but she’s needs the money and a free place to live. And of course, the physical attraction and tension between Iris and Archer is high. Though they’re both starting to catch real feelings, especially as a built-in family unit. Iris is the skittish one here and needs to overcome her fears of commitment, while Archer has done a fairly good job of warming up to his new life. Loved this addition to the series.

Advance ebook provided by Harper360 via NetGalley.

The Trouble with Anna by Rachel Griffiths (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novel. I almost missed out on reading this book because I did not realize it was a historical romance. The cover design is fresh and fun but kind of confusing for which genre the book belongs in. Anyway, we have Anna, a socially awkward daughter of an earl who lives with her maternal grandfather and pretty much hates going to balls and parties. And then her grandfather dies and turns out he only leaves her the house, horses, and stables if she marries the earl next door. Julian is doing his best to do his duty and fulfill his obligation but he certainly does not want to marry Anna and thinks that the whole thing is a trap. But then he actually spends time with her and is honestly intrigued and a little bit smitten. And he’s terrible at communicating and she thinks he’s just courting her for duty-bound reasons, even though he kisses her every chance he gets. It’s basically all chaos in a book with an inheritance clause, a somewhat arranged match, and lack of communication. I enjoyed this book a lot and couldn’t wait to see how they resolved their issues.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

A Midsummer Night’s Duke by Colleen Kelly (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novella. Steamy and emotional one-night stand romance between a duke and an actress. Basically, Bitty and Rex meet each other on the road at an inn, have a wonderful night together, and go their separate ways. But of course they can’t stop thinking about each other, even though Bitty is about to be a respectable teacher at a girls’ school and Rex needs to get on with business as a duke. Neither of them know who the other person is, so are totally shocked when Rex shows up to visit his sister at school and finds Bitty there as her teacher. Awkward. But also, fortunate because they can rekindle their relationship, despite it being a terrible idea. Full of steam and sweetness and longing. Loved it.

Advance ebook provided by Colleen Kelly.

Scot and Bothered by Alexandra Kiley (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Be prepared for lots of angst here. Brooke is a ghostwriter after being unable to graduate school for reasons we will find out later in the book. She’s co-writing her mentor’s memoir and decides to go out on the hiking trail the mentor founded to get some more perspective for her next revisions. Problem is that her ex-boyfriend Jack is also on the trip as a the photographer. The book is told from both Brooke and Jack’s POV, with chapters switching between present-day and the past development (and dissolution) of their relationship. I liked reading about their adventures on the hiking trail and all the elements that they had to overcome. There was a lot of time for Brooke and Jack to each self-reflect on their goals and dreams in life and how they might be able to make a relationship work this time around. It was also interesting to read the chapters from the past and how their relationship was both fated and doomed from the start. The story also gets a bit teary as we deal with the mentor’s illness and how that is shared (or not shared) with our main characters. Great story, but you have to be in the mood for it.

Advance ebook provided by Harlequin Books via NetGalley.

Our Dear Miss H. Is on the Case by Violet Marsh (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Connected to the previous historical romance by Violet Marsh. Loved this caper of a romance. Georgiana is the sister of an earl and spinster who is an antiquarian who digs for artefacts. Her cousin Percy usually takes the credit for all the work, since she won’t be taken seriously as a woman. But when she overhears her brother trying to broker a marriage for her to an unknown marquess, she’ll do her best to escape the situation. On top of that, her cousin has gone missing and she needs help figuring out what happened to him. Alexander is one of Percy’s friends, so he quickly volunteers to help, and we get a load of adventure as these two take on the town and beyond. Oh, and Alexander also happens to be the marquess that Georgiana is trying to avoid. He has his own problems with a father who hates him and tries to dictate his life, so he’s also trying to avoid an unwanted marriage. But of course, these two complement each other quite well, so it’s only a matter of time before they fall in love.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Hachette Audio via NetGalley.

The Earl’s Gamble by Stevie Sparks (2025)

Historical romance. Interwar-era England. Book 1 of the Lovers’ Arch series. Quick and steamy novella. Widowed Rose is at the workhouse after falling into some tough circumstances after the death of her husband and her brother. While at the garden to honor what would be her brother’s birthday, she meets Griff, who served in the war with her brother and also there to pay tribute to the fallen man. And it turns out he’s an earl with plenty of money and power to help Rose get back on her feet. So he brings her home and almost certainly falls in love with her, despite the differences in their social station. We get a scheming butler thrown in the mix for some drama, but it’s still a quick read.

Advance ebook provided by Stevie Sparks.