Romance authors reach into less-traveled historical settings and explore the possibilities of cross-cultural romances in the past and present.

Top 10

Beyond the Limit

Cindy Dees. Sourcebooks Casablanca, June 25 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4926-7909-7)

Dees kicks off a series about the first women to become Navy SEALs with a hot romance between a determined naval officer and the SEAL who reluctantly agrees to train her.

Forever Wolf

Maria Vale. Sourcebooks Casablanca, Mar. 26 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4926-6193-1)

Vale follows the outstanding A Wolf Apart with this tale of a wounded werewolf whose existence may bring about apocalypse, and the protector who hides and heals him.

One Warm Winter

Jamie Pope. Dafina, Mar. 26 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4967-1827-3)

Pope mixes and matches romance tropes in this unusual contemporary, in which a tech billionaire’s adopted daughter falls for her bodyguard while on a tropical island retreat.

Paranoid

Lisa Jackson. Kensington, June 25 (hardcover, $27, ISBN 978-1-4967-2246-1)

Twenty years after Rachel accidentally shot and killed her half-brother, she feels someone is following her—and only her ex-husband, a detective, can help her stay safe.

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors

Sonali Dev. Morrow, May 7 (trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-0-06-283905-3)

Dev opens a series about an immigrant Indian family in San Francisco with this romance between a neurosurgeon and a pastry chef, exploring cultural assimilation, identity, and the idea of home.

Project Duchess

Sabrina Jeffries. Zebra, June 25 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4201-4855-8)

Launching a Regency series, Jeffries introduces the grown children of an oft-widowed mother, and pairs her oldest son with the unconventional woman she’s trying to turn into a lady.

Rebel

Beverly Jenkins. Avon, May 28 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-06-286168-9)

A new series from historical romance author Jenkins is always an event. This launch title follows a Northern woman to post–Civil War New Orleans, where she finds a career and unexpected love.

Red, White & Royal Blue

Casey McQuiston. Griffin, June 4 (trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-1-250-31677-6)

When the U.S. president’s son picks a fight with a British prince, damage control requires the two to fake a friendship—and soon it becomes a romance that could be politically disastrous.

A Song for the Stars

Ilima Todd. Shadow Mountain, Apr. 2 (trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-62972-528-4)

Oahu-born author Todd mines Hawaiian history for this tale of a chief’s daughter who falls in love with an English captain’s translator and must teach him how to navigate back to England.

Unexpected

Kelly Rimmer. HQN, May 28 (mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-335-50495-1)

In this tale of a relationship escalator in reverse, the ticking of Abby’s biological clock leads her to conceive with her friend Marcus, and their coparenting project draws them closer to love.

Romance Listings

Allison and Busby

A Vintage Year by Rosie Howard (Apr. 19, hardcover, $25, ISBN 978-0-7490-2227-3). Bella, an unhappily married interior designer, misses her husband, who barely touches her, and begins looking elsewhere for satisfaction.

Avon

Lady Derring Takes a Lover: The Palace of Rogues by Julie Anne Long (Feb. 26, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-06-286746-9). In this Regency-era series opener, a widowed countess is startled to learn how exciting her husband’s life was—and how deep in debt she is. She opens a boarding house, and falls hard for the naval captain who arrives looking for a smuggler.

Say No to the Duke: The Wildes of Lindow Castle by Eloisa James (May 28, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-0-06-291295-4). A duke’s fiancée who’s hoping for a little adventure before she gets married ends up in the arms of a rogue who soon hopes he can win her heart.

The Trouble with Vampires: An Argeneau Novel by Lynsay Sands (Apr. 30, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-06-285517-6). Of all the places 3,000-year-old vampire Santo Notte might expect to encounter his life mate, a quiet corner of upstate New York doesn’t seem likely. But then he meets a history professor and falls hard.

Berkley

The Charmer in Chaps by Julia London (May 7, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-451-49235-7) begins a contemporary western romance series. A rancher who plans to return his pasture to its natural state runs up against a woman who owns almost nothing except a corner of his land.

The Cowboy and His Baby by Jessica Clare (May 7, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-984803-98-6). Dustin is a ranch hand with a reputation around town as a ladies’ man. He loves flirting and the thrill of the chase. It’s all fun and games for Dustin until he meets a woman who sparks real feelings in him, and he’s blindsided by love.

Blackstone

All In by Shelley Shepard Gray (Feb. 12, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-5384-4088-9). Gray deals a winning hand in her second Bridgeport Social Club contemporary, in which a transplant from West Virginia to Ohio finds his feet with the help of a lovely Pilates instructor.

Bold Strokes

Love’s Portrait by Anna Larner (Apr. 16, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-63555-057-3). Sparks fly between Molly, an art curator, and Georgina, her museum’s aloof benefactor, as they research the portrait of a 19th-century lesbian social activist and try to convince the museum’s board to display it.

Recipe for Love: A Farm-to-Table Romance by Aurora Rey (Apr. 16, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-63555-367-3). In this foodie contemporary, a down-to-earth farmer supplying produce to an egotistical city slicker head chef is surprised when they cook up more than delicious recipes.

Carina

American Dreamer by Adriana Herrera (Mar. 4, e-book, $3.99, ISBN 978-1-335-00687-5) opens a four-book series following childhood friends with Afro-Caribbean roots who grew up together in New York City. Nesto, a Dominican food truck chef, moves to Ithaca, N.Y., to work toward his dream, and falls in love with Jude, a sharp-tongued librarian with dreams of his own.

Cleis

Erotic Teasers, edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Feb. 12, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-62778-264-7), collects short sexy stories with a variety of settings that all contain an element of delayed gratification—and climaxes that are worth waiting for.

Marriage Training by Golden Angel (May 14, trade paper, $17.95, ISBN 978-1-62778-294-4). An earl arranges for his sweet, submissive fiancée to attend a very unusual finishing school that will teach her how to be the perfect wife in and out of the bedroom.

Coach House

Permission by Saskia Vogel (May 19, trade paper, $16.95, ISBN 978-1-55245-380-3). Grieving actress Echo loses herself in the life of her neighbor, a dominatrix who awakens her passions. Soon Orly’s 50-something houseboy is drawn to Echo and hopes to save her from herself.

Dafina

Sweet Heat by Zuri Day (June 25, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-61773-429-8). Marvin Carter is desperate to win a cooking contest and launch a dessert franchise. His competitor Naomi Wells longs to be a caterer. As they face off in the kitchen and fend off other contestants, their attraction to each other becomes unstoppable.

Entangled/Amara

The Aussie Next Door by Stefanie London (July 23, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-64063-668-2). American Angie Donovan falls in love with a tiny Australian seaside town. Now she just needs an Australian man to fall in love with her and marry her before her visa expires—and her handsome neighbor fits the bill. 75,000-copy announced first printing.

Forever

Gentleman Sinner by Jodi Ellen Malpas (Feb. 5, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-5387-4524-3) is a standalone romantic thriller in which a nurse fleeing a threat from her past runs into the arms of an imposing hero with demons of his own.

Meet Cute by Helena Hunting (Apr. 9, trade paper, $14.99, ISBN 978-1-5387-6018-5). A collision on the first day of law school sets up this rom-com featuring an actor turned law student and his fangirl turned friend. Years later, he needs legal advice in her area of expertise, and the attraction they felt in law school revs up again.

The Summer House by Jenny Hale (May 7, trade paper, $9.99, ISBN 978-1-5387-6417-6). Two best friends buy a North Carolina beach house to renovate together, and one of them falls hard for a local boy. Then a diary full of secrets sends the whole community into an uproar.

When a Duchess Says I Do by Grace Burrowes (Apr. 2, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-5387-2898-7). In this Regency romance, a woman fleeing from problems in London ends up in the woods of a country gentleman who can’t resist saving her from danger.

Gallery

Passion on Park Avenue by Lauren Layne (May 28, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-1-5011-9157-2) opens a series about three women on Manhattan’s wealthy Upper East Side. Jewelry empire CEO Naomi came from nothing, and Oliver Cunningham—whose family Naomi’s mother was a housekeeper for—makes sure she remembers it. But they also find each other irresistible.

The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (May 14, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-1-5011-2803-5). When an entire wedding party gets sick, only the best man and the bride’s sister are unscathed. They may hate each other, but they won’t pass up an all-expenses-paid honeymoon that the bride and groom are too ill to take—even if they have to pretend to be newlyweds.

Hqn

Low Country Hero by Lee Tobin McClain (Feb. 26, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-335-01764-2). A contractor renovating South Carolina beachfront cabins befriends a woman and her young twins who desperately need a place to stay. Though wary, the two scarred survivors soon grow closer.

Slow Dancing at Sunrise by Jo McNally (June 25, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-335-00677-6). An accountant returns to the upstate New York town where her aunt has a winery and works with her aunt’s handyman to rebuild the business.

Kensington

Dating by the Book by Mary Ann Marlowe (June 25, trade paper, $15.95, ISBN 978-1-4967-1821-1). When a book reviewer declares that author Maddie Hanson knows nothing about passion, she sets out to prove him wrong and falls into a tangle of potential heroes for her real-life romantic story.

Lake Union

Faking Forever by Catherine Bybee (Mar. 12, trade paper, $12.95, ISBN 978-1-5039-0522-1). A photographer looking for a partner in conception winds up sharing a Mexico honeymoon with the jilted fiancé whose wedding she was supposed to shoot, and both their expectations are shattered by their shared passion.

Lyrical

Cowboy Up by Stacy Finz (July 23, e-book, $3.99, ISBN 978-1-5161-0924-1). When former FBI agent Cash Dalton inherits California ranch land and learns he has a 12-year-old daughter, he decides it’s time to figure out family life and ranch life, and is aided by a woman renting a cottage on his land.

Darkness Returns by Alexandra Ivy (Apr. 16, e-book, $5.99, ISBN 978-1-5161-0842-8). Rebel vampire Chiron receives a magical scroll that leads him to a demon hotel—and a mesmerizing woman whose past is a mystery even to her.

Wayward Bride by Anna Bradley (Feb. 26, e-book, $4.99, ISBN 978-1-5161-0946-3). A woman engaged to an earl can’t stop pining for the marquess she thought would be hers forever. And only six weeks remain until the wedding she doesn’t want.

Mira

Dark Storm by Karen Harper (May 28, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-0-7783-6945-5). Forensic psychologist Claire Markwood learns that her sister, Darcy, is missing, along with some rare butterflies Darcy was working with. Claire and her criminal lawyer husband, Nick, dig deep into the case and are unsettled by what they find.

Montlake Romance

The (Half) Truth by Leddy Harper (Feb. 19, trade paper, $12.95, ISBN 978-1-5039-0518-4). Aspiring chef Tatum is stuck working at her ex’s restaurant alongside his new girlfriend. She pretends she’s dating her best friend’s cousin, Jason, and soon one lie leads to a whole mess of them, until Tatum and Jason wonder whether there’s any path to happiness.

Hide and Seek by Mary Burton (Apr. 23, trade paper, $12.95, ISBN 978-1-5039-0526-9). A special agent angling to join the FBI’s elite profiling team offers to investigate some recently discovered bones as an audition. She’s joined by a sheriff who was once her lover, and renewed sparks fly as they dodge a dangerous stalker.

The Promise of Us by Jamie Beck (Apr. 9, trade paper, $12.95, ISBN 978-1-5039-0524-5). After a bullet puts pro tennis player Claire out of commission, she reinvents herself as an interior designer. Unfortunately, her biggest client is the guy she has a crush on, and his sister was once Claire’s friend and betrayed her terribly.

Morrow

The Marriage Clock by Zara Raheem (July 23, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-0-06-287792-5). A young Muslim-American woman is given three months to find the right husband or else her traditional Indian parents will find one for her. Can love happen under deadline pressure?

Meet Me in Monaco by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb (July 23, trade paper, $16.99, ISBN 978-0-06-288536-4). As Grace Kelly prepares to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, a perfumer who once sheltered Kelly from a persistent photographer finds her path crossing with the photo-journalist again amid the glamour of the royal wedding.

Pocket

Stone Cold Heart by Laura Griffin (Feb. 26, mass market, $8.99, ISBN 978-1-5011-6239-8) continues the Tracers romantic suspense series with the story of a forensic anthropologist and a police detective whose current case has unexpected links to their personal histories.

Putnam

Grace After Henry by Eithne Shortall (Mar. 12, trade paper, $16, ISBN 978-0-525-53786-1). Grace is shattered by grief after the death of her fiancé, Henry. She hides in the house that was supposed to be theirs—and then his long-lost twin brother comes knocking on the door. 50,000-copy announced first printing.

Quercus

The Love Factory by Elaine Proctor (Apr. 9, hardcover, $26.99, ISBN 978-1-78429-682-7). Literary writer Anna tries writing erotic fiction to make money and has to admit she’s never experienced true sexual desire. To make her books sizzle, she’ll have to find the perfect lover of her own.

Relight My Fire by Joanna Bolouri (Apr. 16, trade paper, $13.99, ISBN 978-1-78648-858-9). Trying to rekindle passion, two exhausted parents create a sexy wish list and finally ask each other for everything they want in the bedroom.

Shadow Mountain

Daisies and Devotion by Josi S. Kilpack (May 14, trade paper, $15.99, ISBN 978-1-62972-552-9). Kilpack’s mirthful second Mayfield Family Regency is a lighthearted look at proper

manners and repeated misunderstandings as two friends try hard to find good spouses for each other while refusing to admit they are a perfect match.

Sourcebooks Casablanca

Kingdom of Exiles by Maxym Martineau (June 25, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4926-8938-6). In a chaotic fantasy realm, Leena Edenfrell, exiled beast charmer, is targeted for death. She persuades her assassin to let her live by trying to find a cure for his curse, and soon their hearts become entangled.

Whiteout by Adriana Anders (July 30, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4926-7750-5). A baffling attack on an Antarctic research station leaves only two people alive—with no power, no radio, and a killer tracking their every move.

St. Martin’s

Dared by the Bad Boy by Melonie Johnson (June 25, mass market,

$7.99, ISBN 978-1-250-19307-0). A Hollywood actress and a stuntman, who come from different backgrounds and had a mutual crush as teens, get a second chance at love on the set of a blockbuster movie.

The Earl Next Door by Amelia Grey (May 28, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-250-21430-0). Opening a series about spirited young Regency-era widows, this novel introduces a lord looking for a wife and the liberated widow who only wants to be his lover.

Getting Hot with the Scot by Melonie Johnson (Apr. 30, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-250-19309-4). A super-serious journalist on vacation kisses a sexy Scot—but it turns out he’s a comedian and she’s been pranked. Memories of that excellent kiss lead to a one-night stand and hopes for more.

It’s Getting Scot in Here by Suzanne Enoch (Feb. 26, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-250-29637-5). London socialite Amelia-Rose Baxter requires a husband who accepts her for herself. She finds him in Highlander Niall MacTaggert, which is awkward, as she’s supposed to marry Niall’s older brother.

Waterhouse

Misadventures of a Curvy Girl by Sierra Simone (Feb. 19, trade paper, $12.99, ISBN 978-1-64263-077-0). Happily curvy Ireland Mills is stranded by a storm and ends up in the arms of Caleb Carpenter and Ben Weber, two men she’s enlisted to be the public faces of their small Kansas town. And it turns out they’re very happy to enlist her to be their lover.

Zebra

Letters from Peaceful Lane by Janet Dailey (Mar. 26, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4201-4491-8). In the rugged Ozarks, Burke Caldwell is obsessed with memories of his deceased first wife, Kate. His new wife, Allison, reads a trove of hidden letters from Kate to Burke and learns unexpected ways to win her husband’s heart.

Wind River Protector by Lindsay McKenna (July 30, mass market, $7.99, ISBN 978-1-4201-4752-0). An Air Force pilot returns to her roots, flying helicopters for a small Wyoming county sheriff’s department. But the man in charge of the program is ex-Army, and their shared memories of Afghanistan pull them together even as professionalism requires them to stay apart.