A look at what’s steaming up the shelves this month.
April shower bring May flowers — and plenty of new books! May also happens to be my birthday month, which gives me a good reason to take myself to the bookstore so I can stock up for summer. (As if I need a reason to go to a bookstore, amirite?) Until then, here are the romance novels I’ve been enjoying.
*****
Weekends with You (Avon) is a flower-infused treat by debut author Alexandra Paige.
Lucy Bernstein is an American florist in London with an unusual living arrangement: She shares a warehouse flat with seven other people. One of them is handsome Henry Baker, a photographer who spends most of the year traveling. In fact, he’s only in town one weekend a month — which makes it challenging to get to know him, much less pursue a relationship.
When Henry is around, the flatmates spend time hanging out and exploring London together, and these “Warehouse Weekends” offer Lucy and Henry an opportunity to get to know each other. Despite their undeniable chemistry, they struggle with the logistics of their budding, essentially long-distance romance. Henry’s wanderlust keeps him from settling down, and he’s not keen on staying in London even as expat Lucy tries to figure out her own direction in life in her chosen city. She’s more comfortable speaking the language of flowers than she is communicating her own needs and desires, which complicates matters.
Setting her story against a vibrant urban backdrop, Paige deftly weaves a satisfying tale of self-discovery and emotional growth that spans a year. Along the way, Lucy and Henry find the joy of new love amid the comfort of found family.
*****
Pick up Sarah Hogle’s Old Flames and New Fortunes (Putnam) for its enchanting floral cover and stay for the cozy, magical romance!
In the small town of Moonville, Ohio, Romina Tempest is a flora fortunist, crafting beautiful and thoughtful flower arrangements infused with magic. Romina and her sisters co-own the Magick Happens, a one-stop shop for all things mystical, and they’re hoping to secure funds for the shop’s expansion. To that end, Romina agrees to fake-date her friend Trevor, the son of a potential investor, but complications arise when she discovers Trevor’s soon-to-be stepbrother is Alex King, the ex-high-school sweetheart who broke her heart.
It’s been years since Alex and Romina have seen each other, and sparks fly immediately — more antagonistic than romantic…at first. Neither of their lives has turned out quite like they planned, and looking back at the mess they made of their relationship makes them reconsider what might have been. As Romina attempts to stick with her fake-dating plan to woo Trevor’s father to invest, Alex puts his own plan into action. The past is still a painful thorn in both their sides, but if they can go all in and take the leap, it might be worth the risk.
With a relatable heroine, a yummy hero, likable secondary characters (who will hopefully return in their own stories), and a quaint setting, Hogle’s heartwarming tale of everyday magic and second-chance romance is the kind of feel-good story I love.
*****
If you could deliver a message from the grave to the people you love and to the people you loathe, what would you say? That’s the intriguing hook of Suzanne Park’s funny and memorable One Last Word (Avon).
Fed up with her unfulfilling and underpaid tech job, Sara Chae pursues her dream of creating an app called One Last Word, which is designed to send messages to loved ones after death. When her sexist bosses don’t offer the support she hoped for, Sara quits and moves in with her sister, determined to find a path to success with her app. But life takes an embarrassing turn when Sara’s brutally honest last-word messages are mistakenly sent to the people in her own life, including her parents, her ex best friend, and her high-school crush.
As she watches her life implode, things get even more complicated. The good news is Sara has been accepted into a venture-capital program. The horrifying part is that her mentor is none other than her old crush, Harry Shim. As Sara juggles the chaos her app has wrought with her rekindled feelings for Harry, she learns that before she can be honest with others, she must be honest with herself.
Full of witty dialogue and sparkling chemistry, One Last Word is an unforgettable story of one woman’s quest to find her voice in life and love while navigating the challenges of working in the male-dominated world of tech.
Kristina Wright lives in Virginia with her husband, their two sons, two Goldendoodles, a ginger cat, and a green parrot. She’s a regular contributor at BookBub and a lifelong fan of romance fiction. Find her on Twitter at @kristinawright or on Bookshop, where she features her book recommendations.
