We’ve made it, more than half of the year has gone by! Summer may look a little different this year but, when it comes to New Adult romance, it’s bringing the requisite heat and romance. These titles have you travel through fresh takes on hallmark romance troupes.
Wanted:
One (fake) boyfriend
Practically perfect in every way
Luc O’Donnell is tangentially—and reluctantly—famous. His rock star parents split when he was young, and the father he’s never met spent the next twenty years cruising in and out of rehab. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye, and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything.
To clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship…and Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come. He’s a barrister, an ethical vegetarian, and he’s never inspired a moment of scandal in his life. In other words: perfect boyfriend material. Unfortunately apart from being gay, single, and really, really in need of a date for a big event, Luc and Oliver have nothing in common. So they strike a deal to be publicity-friendly (fake) boyfriends until the dust has settled. Then they can go their separate ways and pretend it never happened.
But the thing about fake-dating is that it can feel a lot like real-dating. And that’s when you get used to someone. Start falling for them. Don’t ever want to let them go.
Who doesn’t love a pretend relationship trope! Mix in opposites and attract and it’s an explosive romance that pushes boundaries. I love these types of troupes because there’s a level of honesty between the two that is refreshing. It has British snarky humor and a swoonworthy romance that pulls at your heartstrings.
When someone tells you who you are, do you believe them?
The first question the cops asked me was if anything out of the ordinary happened to me lately.
When I woke up this morning in the room of a mental institution I couldn’t remember a thing – not my name nor how I got there. Not how I left or how I ended up in that interrogation room.
The only thing I knew came from the contents inside my bag. A wallet, a student ID, a key that opened an unknown door, and two notebooks.
They tell me my name. It matches my IDs.
They tell me my story. I shut my eyes and try to piece it together, but can’t.
They tell me why they picked me up in the first place. They thought I was my sister. My brain stays stuck there. I try to rewind and fast-forward, as if my memories were on a videotape, but it’s no use. I can’t recall having a sister.
They put me back in the car and drop me off in front of a mansion they call The Manor and I discover that the mysterious key in my backpack opens the front door, and just as quickly wish I’d never unlocked it at all.
As a fellow Miamian, I have been meaning to read a Claire Contreras novel and this was it. I went into this book blind, just captured by the cover and WOW. It immediately throws you into the twisted world of the secret society on campus. It’s a thrill ride that makes me question every theory I have. Don’t worry, there’s definitely a romance to go along with the story. Eva is a heroine that I didn’t know if I could trust, I mean I really didn’t know if I could trust anyone in this story, But I was still rooting for her. She has had a hard life and is thrust into a world of sinister means. If you’ve read Tana French’s The Likeness, this is a similar concept.
Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.
Emily
I fell in love with him when I was fourteen. Under the stars, he told me he loved me, and under the stars we promised to love each other always. But under the stars, he broke my heart by walking away.
He left me without a second glance. I was just an afterthought.
Now he’s back, but this time, I’m not falling for his Southern charm.
Maybe.
It’s time I get my happily ever after, even if part of me wishes he was still mine.
Ethan
I found out on my twenty-first birthday that everything I thought I knew was a lie, and the man I had grown up thinking was my father wasn’t.
The pain I felt blinded me, making it impossible to hear what anyone said.
I left them all behind, including her, my best friend and the woman I was going to marry.
Five years later, I’m back, only to find the woman I still love has another man’s ring on her finger.
She’s going to marry my best friend unless I stop her. And this time, I only have until sunrise to change her mind.
This is my favorite of the series and it bookmarks the end. It’s such an angst fest with a great redemption arc. As Ethan finds his way back to the town and woman he left behind, he realizes he has a lot of mistakes to make up for. He does so in a way that grips your heart and makes you cheer for his second chance. Yes, I sometimes wanted to shake them for their decisions, it was also a love story with crazy chemistry.
What are you jumping into this month?
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive excerpt from What the Mountains Remember…
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive excerpt from How to Plot a…
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive excerpt from The Catch by Amy…
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive exceprt from Meant for Me by…
[Note from Frolic: This article is sponsored by A Winter by the Sea by Julie…
We are so excited to bring you this exclusive excerpt from The Night Shift by…