Romance, at its giddy outset, is about beginnings. It is then fitting to read debuts concerning love in preparation for Valentine’s Day.
In the charming modern romp Ally Hughes Has Sex Sometimes (Dutton. 2015. ISBN 9780525955214. $26.95; ebk. ISBN 9780698405691), author Jules Moulin delights with a narrative that shifts between two time periods. The first takes place at the end of a semester at Brown University, when professor Ally Hughes, single mother to ten-year-old Lizzie, has a sexy weekend with the gentle and gorgeous Jake Bean, a just barely former student. Fast-forward a decade, and now it’s Lizzie bringing Jake home for dinner. The story spins out from there, with Jake making it clear that Ally has never been far from his mind. Light, fun, and effervescent, Moulin’s debut offers a beguiling—and delayed—happily ever after.
Vikings come to play in Asa Maria Bradley’s quickly paced paranormal, Viking Warrior Rising (Sourcebooks Casablanca. 2015. ISBN 9781492618843. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9781492618850). Engaged in an urban street war with agents of the Norse god Loki, a group of immortal Vikings and Valkyries seek to stave off the end of the world. The powerful Leif Skarsganger leads the company, and it comes as a surprise when Loki’s minions get the better of him. Naya Brisbane, a human subject of black ops experiments, saves Leif and in so doing triggers an ancient bond that ties them together. Filled with vivid worldbuilding and unique characters who respect one another’s strengths, this title evokes the promising beginnings of series such as those by Sherrilyn Kenyon and J.R. Ward.
Romance is not confined to novels, as Clara Bensen makes clear in her memoir, No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering (Running Pr. 2016. ISBN 9780762457243. $25; ebk. ISBN 9780762457250). In an intimate tone that is immediately absorbing, Bensen recounts her relationship with her newly found boyfriend Jeff. The couple connected on a dating site, and just one month after they began seeing each other decided to travel to Turkey on one of Jeff’s mad sprees of journeying psycho-lite (in the clothes worn on the plane, with what can fit in their pockets, with no reservations). Readers will be hooked by their free-spirited trip, which serves as a gazetteer to their deepening relationship. Bensen details with finesse the couple’s personalities, issues, quirks, and expectations of each other.
Kerrigan Byrne’s major publishing house debut launches a new Victorian-set series about a group of boys who survived the abject horrors of Newgate Prison to become the scarred men who rule London’s criminal underworld. In The Highwayman (St. Martin’s. 2015. ISBN 9781250076052. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9781466887404), Dorian Blackwell, the most feared crime lord of the city, abducts Farah Leigh Mackenzie right under the nose of Scotland Yard. Whisked away to Dorian’s lair, Farah receives an offer she cannot refuse—he will help her to regain her lost family and fortune if she becomes his bride, granting him respectability through her reputable name. Of course, there is much more as this intense and lavishly described tale of redemption and abiding love comes to a head.
Kemper Donovan’s sweetly affirming The Decent Proposal (Harper. 2016. ISBN 9780062391629. $25.99; ebk. ISBN 9780062391605) explores love of all kinds, from the buoyancy of best friends, to the care and support of strangers who become family, to romantic love stripped of its flowers and hearts. Emotionally reserved Elizabeth Santiago is a junior lawyer dutifully working her way to partner. Richard Baumbach is an about-to-fail movie developer, who knows he is stunningly good looking, and charming, to boot. The strangers are brought together through a very odd proposal from an anonymous benefactor—spend a few hours talking with each other every week for a year and split a million dollars. With fluid prose and a gentle hand, Donovan explores Elizabeth and Richard’s weekly dates and the influence those meetings begin to have.
Joanna Bourne broke onto the scene with The Spymaster’s Lady (Berkley. 2008. ISBN 9780425219607. pap. $7.99; ebk. ISBN 9781101206867), a novel that enchanted much of the romance reading populace and won the American Library Association’s Reading List award. Annique Villiers is a French spy caught in a dangerous net: she knows Napoleon’s plans for the invasion of England. Robert Grey, the chief spymaster of Britain, wants those plans, as does a ruthless man within the French network. Bourne’s graceful, playful, and smart tale of how Annique conquers all those set against her is a joy, full of strongly drawn characters, witty dialog, and sprightly set scenes. This is the first in what has become her long-running “Spymaster” series, the most recent of which is Rogue Spy.
