Some of the best things in romance come in pairs — so this month, we have two sets of books, each a variation on the same trope.
A Rare Find
by Joanna Lowell
First up: everyone’s favorite, enemies to lovers. Joanna Lowell’s A RARE FIND (Berkley, 368 pp., paperback, $19), is the gentle take on this, pairing a Regency archaeologist fighting the field’s sexism with the nonbinary neighbor who’s been a lifelong thorn in her side.
Elfreda Marsden, her antiquarian father’s assistant, hopes to join the archaeological society as a Fellow in her own right; Georgie Redmayne is her ebullient, impulsive neighbor banished to the country by their brother after a London scandal. Elf is diligent, self-sacrificing and devoted to local history; Georgie is whimsical, charming and bored to tears by country life. When Elf finds clues that point to a hidden hoard of treasure on Georgie’s land, the two team up to search for it despite a sizzling mutual antagonism — which quickly turns to fascination, as they begin to untangle generations of mystery and misunderstanding.
Lowell’s “A Shore Thing,” one of last year’s sleeper hits, depicted a breathless cross-country bicycle race. This new book defines one particular place and then digs in — literally, with so many archaeologists about — which makes it all the more gratifying when fickle, travel-hungry Georgie eventually chooses to stay.
Mercy Fletcher Meets Her Match
by Aydra Richards
MERCY FLETCHER MEETS HER MATCH (Self-published, ebook, $3.99) takes the same trope and dials the angst up to 11. At the start, we see our impulsive, inquisitive heroine crash-land her hot-air balloon literally on top of her snobby neighbor Thomas Armitage, napping in a field. She’s a jumped-up silk merchant’s daughter, he’s a baron raised to value birth and breeding, and they’ve been fighting since the moment they met.
But when the baron suffers a financial catastrophe, ruining his sisters’ hopes for a London season, Mercy’s father makes him an offer: He’ll fund everything — gowns, debts and all — so long as the baron and his family bring Mercy with them to London and find her a husband.
In Richards’s hands, this simple setup offers stunning emotional rewards. Mercy and Thomas both have secret shames, and it’s delicious watching them hit too close to one another’s tender spots. The catharsis, when it comes, overwhelms like a flood.
Our second set of books are both time-shift romances, which have been popular ever since the pandemic upset our sense of chronological time.
Time Loops and Meet Cutes
by Jackie Lau
TIME LOOPS AND MEET CUTES (Emily Bestler Books, 337 pp., paperback, $18.99) is one of Lau’s sharpest books yet. After eating a magical dumpling at a Toronto night market, Noelle Tom finds herself living the same June day over and over — the Wordle answer never changes, her bank account never empties — and running into the same attractive brew pub owner. But the more times she introduces herself to Cam, the harder it gets that he can’t remember her.
Meanwhile, we see Cam go through the calendar year as normal. As June becomes July becomes August, he can’t shake the feeling that he’s forgotten something important, creating a breathless, elegant tension. You feel the wire pulling tight, and wonder when it will snap.
Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon
by Annie Mare
In COSMIC LOVE AT THE MULTIVERSE HAIR SALON (Ace, 384 pp., paperback, $18.99), a wrong number leads to addictively flirty texts and a date to meet. But the hairdresser Tressa Fay is crushed when the other woman, Meryl, ghosts her. Then Meryl’s friends burst into her salon, demanding to know what Tressa Fay is playing at — Meryl, they say, went missing last month and couldn’t have been texting anyone.
Except that she was. After Meryl’s friends and Tressa Fay compare notes, they realize that Tressa Fay has somehow been communicating with the Meryl of five months ago. And every time the two women talk, they alter history a little bit — which means that maybe, just maybe, there’s a way to change the universe to prevent Meryl from disappearing.
Don’t try to keep track of the timelines in this one. This is a loose, expansive, touchy-feely speculative romance — the multiverse as cuddle puddle — where the prose is so sparkling and strong that it keeps the plot from collapsing. There’s a creative sense of rebellion: If you’re already in the worst timeline, why not change as many things as you can and see if you end up somewhere better? Because whether you’re caught in a time loop or revisiting a classic romance trope, every choice matters.
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