Top Five Reads of June 2025 - Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance Books

Jul 02, 2025

The Duchess in His Bed by Lorraine Heath (2019)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 4 of the Sins for All Seasons series. Widowed duchess Selena is at the ladies’ club on the prowl for Aiden Trewlove, the owner and bastard son of some unnamed lord. We get to see their flirty and seductive first meeting, before finding out Selena’s real reason for being there. She needs to get pregnant and quick, so she can pass the baby off as her late husband’s to keep her position and fortune. It’s dramatic and angsty and we get to catch up with the whole boisterous Trewlove family. So much steam and longing within these impossible circumstances and it was so much fun to read. Pulls at all the heartstrings just right. Loved it.

Ebook and audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

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A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim (2025)

Young adult fantasy romance. Standalone novel. This book was such a fun adventure. Tru is the oldest sister of three girls, stuck taking care of her family after her father disappears. She’s an art forger in a bit of a pickle with her mother’s gambling debts being called in. Somehow, she’s entangled in Elang’s bargain, the half-dragon and half-human prince who was banished by his dragon king grandfather. They enter into a marriage of convenience so that Tru can assist Elang with a special painting to overthrow his grandfather. We get a story full of wonderful world-building and tons of secrets to uncover. Loved it.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

All's Fair in Love and Pickleball by Kate Spencer (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. This book had so much good banter and flirting and it was such fun to read. Bex is the owner of a financially struggling racquetball club and one of her favorite clients has fallen and broken her wrist on the courts. Of course, that old lady’s nephew is some hotshot tennis star who is grumpy about his injured aunt and having his own struggles to make a tennis comeback. Nico and Bex are delightful to read together and the angry flirting is top notch. And then somehow they become pickleball partners, fake dating partners, and so much more. The community of all of Bex’s retiree friends in this sleepy little SoCal town is so much fun to read. I pretty much could not put this book down. It was a great time.

Advance ebook provided by Forever Books via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Hachette Audio. Print book provided by Forever Books.

Eliza and the Duke by Harper St George (2025)

Historical romance. Gilded Age England. Book 2 of the Doves of New York series. Eliza is searching for one last bit of adventure before she marries a viscount to gain her inheritance and she just so happens to run into an injured Simon at a club where she isn’t supposed to be. Turns out Simon is secretly an underground prize fighter, plus has some other dealings with a crime boss in Whitechapel. He and Eliza cross paths again when he’s on security detail for her family and she does her very best to convince him to take her on a night of adventure. I loved seeing these two get closer together and the yearning that they have for each other in spite of the impossible circumstances. Super flirty and steamy and loads of caretaking involved here. Loved this book so much.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Never Been Shipped by Alicia Thompson (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Related to With Love, from Cold World. A defunct punk rock band is asked to join a teen drama revival cruise to perform their one-hit wonder that was played on the show’s big prom episode. And Micah is having all sorts of feelings about it because she’s the one who broke up the band all those years ago. Meanwhile, her childhood best friend and ex-bandmate John is also feeling apprehensive about the trip, because it’s super obvious to all of us that he was in love with her all those years ago buy stayed firmly in friendship territory. This book had so much emotional angst and longing. Watching the band reunite was so much fun because they all had to catch each other up on their time apart. The romance between Micah and John was both sweet and super steamy. And of course, the cruise ship comedy was also entertaining. Loved this book.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Libby. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.