February 2024 Romance Releases
Did January last for five months or was that just me? If the winter months aren’t for staying cozy and cuddling up with your TBR pile then I don’t know what they are for. I’m doing the Diverse Baseline Challenge this year on StoryGraph to diversify my reading. I was very sad to see that I’d only read fifteen books by BIPOC authors last year. I really want to increase that number this year. Are you on StoryGraph? I just started using it. I’m enjoying it so far. This month we’ve got books by Xio Axelrod, Cara Bastone, Meghan Quinn, Olivia Dade and Amy Lea. I’ve got about 25 books listed.
What new releases are you looking forward to this month?
If Iโveย missed a bookย that you feel deserves to be on my list, please let me know. Be sure toย bookmark this pageย so you can refer to it when you need to throughout the month.
โ Get your books on next month’s list.
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February 6
When Lilah Goodluck saves the life of Good Witch Willow as theyโre crossing a busy LA street, the last thing she expects is five unwanted predictions as a reward. Who gives someone the lotto numbers then tells them theyโve only got a week to live? And who believes in that nonsense anyway?
But when the first three predictions come true within twenty-four hours, Lilahโs disbelief turns to mild panic. Sheโs further horrified when she nearly runs a car off the road that belongs to Alistair Lennox, the illegitimate son of the English king.
Alistair is intrigued by her preposterous story, but Lilah is adamant about resisting the heat between her and the playboy prince. If heโs not her soulmate, then the last prediction canโt come true. But as the days count down, they become maybe friendsโฆand then maybe more. But between the relentless paparazzi and his disapproving family, dating a sort-of prince isnโt easy, let alone when you have death on your doorstep.
The final installment in the Regency Vows series follows the heir to a dukedom and a young widow, once very much in love, as they reunite years later to fake an engagement for the benefit of her sister.
West, the Marquess of Weston, and Sophie, Lady Fitzwilliam Bridewell, have lately been spending a considerable amount of time together. But West and Sophie are not new acquaintances. In fact, years ago, they had once been nearly engaged until Westโs almost fatal curricle accident and his meddling father threw them off course.
Now recently widowed, Sophie has put aside all thoughts of romance. But when her widowed sister, Alexandra, mentions a fondness for an earl, Sophie realizes that she may be holding her sister back. Alexandra wonโt move forward with an engagement until Sophie, too, settles down again, and so Sophie approaches West with a plan. They will announce their engagement and break things off once Alexandra is happily married. Itโll be simple. After all, itโs not like she is going to fall for West a second time, not when Sophie has sworn not to risk her heart again.
All her life, Kayla heard the same Don’t be so loud. Don’t act so wild. Don’t take up so much space. Now she’s the beating heart of an up-and-coming rock bandโฆand the whole world is going to know her name. Once upon a time, the pressure to be the perfect daughter nearly broke Kayla Whitman. Desperate to find an outlet away from her controlling mother, she picked up a pair of drumsticks, forever altering the rhythm of her life.
Since then, she’s been determined to make her own way, finding her home with her bandmates even as she fights to keep her past and her present firmly separate. Things were simple enough when the Lillys were playing local gigs at dive bars, but now they’re on their first official tourโand all Kayla can see are warning signs. Desperate to escape the worry churning inside her, Kayla finds solace in quiet tour bus driver Ty Baldwinโฆand discovers in him a kindred spirit like no one she’s ever met before. Their connection is immediate and intense, but when increasing scrutiny from the press threatens to destroy Ty’s newfound peace and Kayla’s carefully guarded secrets, Kayla’s forced to make an impossible pursue her dream and risk destroying everyone around her? Or give in and lose the chance of ever becoming the person she’s always known she could be.
Aubree Rowley finally can focus on her family farm after helping her sister take over the family store. And just when she’s ready to fun the farm the way she’s always dreamed, the winds roll in and so does Wyatt, the long lost owner of the other half of the land.
Wyatt wants one thing from Aubree and one thing only, her hand in marriage. Not because he loves her, but because she’s the key to what he needs and he has no problem leveraging the farm to get what he wants.
The Reason I Married Him is a small town, enemies to lovers, forced proximity, marriage of convenience romantic comedy. More to come.
A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance.
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcastโagain. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchangeโagain…
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. Itโs clear from the way he tracks Miseryโs every movement that he doesnโt trust her. If only he knew how right he wasโฆ.
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back whatโs hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territoryโฆalone with the wolf.
From theย New York Timesย bestselling author ofย Seven Days in June,ย A Love Song for Ricki Wildeย is an epicย love storyย one hundred years in the makingโฆ
Leap years are a strange, enchanted time. Andย forย some, even a single February can be life-changing.
Ricki Wilde has many talents, but being a Wilde isnโt one of them. As the impulsive, artistic daughter of a powerful Atlanta dynasty, sheโs the opposite of her famous socialite sisters. Where theyโre long-stemmed roses, sheโs a dandelion: an adorable bloom thatโs actually a weed, born to float wherever the wind blows. In her bones, Ricki knows that somewhere, a different, more exciting life awaits her.
When regal nonagenarian Ms. Della invites her to rent the bottom floor of her Harlem brownstone, Ricki jumps at the chance for a fresh beginning. She leaves behind her family, wealth, and chaotic romantic decisions to realize her dream of opening a flower shop. And just beneath the surface of her new neighborhood, the music, stories and dazzling drama of the Harlem Renaissance still simmers.
One evening in February as the heady, curiously off-season scent of night-blooming jasmine fills the air, Ricki encounters a handsome, deeply mysterious stranger who knocks her world off balance in the most unexpected way.
Set against the backdrop of modern Harlem and Renaissance glamour, A Love Song for Ricki Wilde is a swoon-worthy love story of two passionate artists drawn to the magic, romance, and opportunity of New York, and whose lives are uniquely and irreversibly linked.
February 13
Some things burn hot on and off the track…
A tumultuous season filled with reckless driving, drunken debauchery, and more bad press than a kinky politician leaves five-time Formula 1 World Champion Blake Hollis in desperate need of an image overhaul. To redeem his tarnished reputation, his team decides itโs time for drastic measures. Their solution: a tell-all book that showcases his illustrious career and presents a more respectable public persona.
Enter Ella Gold, a once-renowned sportswriter and podcast host desperate for a fresh start. She accepts the challenge of writing Blakeโs biography knowing that getting close to the brooding Brit will be challenging. But interviewing Blake canโt be worse than staying in NYC where rumors of her podcastโs demise follow her like a bad Hinge date.
As they spend the season together, sparks fly, barriers break, and their dynamic shifts from antagonistic to something entirely unexpected. Throughout twenty-one races around the world, theyโll face the ultimate interview question: can they write their own happy ending, or is their love destined to crash and burn?
Drive Me Crazy is a spicy Formula 1 romantic comedy with heart, heat, humor, and a guaranteed HEA. This is the first book in the Drive Me series and can be read as a standalone.
Chemistry sizzles in this workplace rom-com set in the world of high school basketball from the author of Love & Other Disasters , named a “must-read” by USA Today , PopSugar, SheReads, and Harper Bazaar.
When smart-mouthed Vanessa Lerner joins the high school basketball team Julie Parker coaches, Julieโs ready for the challenge. What sheโs not ready for is Vanessaโs new foster parent, Elle Cochraneโformer University of Tennessee basketball star. While star-struck at first, soon Julie persuades Elle to step into the unfilled position of assistant coach for the year.
Even though Elle has stayed out of the basketball world since an injury ended her short-lived WNBA career, the gig might be a way to become closer to Vanessaโand to spend more time with Julie, who makes Elle laugh. As the coaches grow closer, Elle has a hard time understanding how Julie is single. When Julie reveals her lifelong insecurity about dating and how she wishes it was more like sportsโbeing able to practice firstโit sparks an intriguing idea. While Elle still doubts her abilities as a basketball coach, helping Julie figure out dating is definitely something she can do. But as the basketball season progresses, and lines grow increasingly blurred, Julie and Elle must decide to join the gameโor retreat to the sidelines.
Two sisters roll up their sleeves to run a dilapidated, beach town inn but must learn to work with the locals in this deliciously spicyย Sense and Sensibilityย inspired rom-com by Nikki Payne.
There’s never a good time to learnย youโreย your father’s secret second familyโespecially not at the reading of the will. To add insult to injury, Nora’s racy leaked videos just went viral. Nora Dash has got no reputation, no dad, and only a forgotten beach house in rural Maine to her name. There are no other Black people for miles, the place is abandoned, but at least no one will recognize her O face in the backwoods. She and her free-spirited sister Yanne havenโt even knocked the traveling dust off last season’s designer boots when the first problem pops up: a fake park ranger giving tours of their property like it’s his ownโand heโs hotter than the local lobster boil.
Ennis “Bear” Freeman is used to people showing up unannounced on his land. So when a beautiful city girl shows up with the deed to his unofficial headquarters in one manicured hand, he gives it a week before their whole crew packs up and leaves. But it isn’t long before they find out they work better together than apart. To his surprise, Nora’s damned good for Bear’s business, and his own secrets might turn out to be the thing that sends them packing.
Bestselling author Olivia Dade welcomes you to Harlot’s Bay in this delightfully sexy rom-com about a woman who buys the town’s famous Spite House, only to realize the infuriating man she can’t stand lives right next door–and their unwilling proximity might spark something neither can ignore.
When Athena Greydon’s fiancรฉ ends their engagement, she has no choice but to move into the Spite House she recklessly bought him as a wedding gift. This is a problem, for several reasons: The house, originally built as a brick middle finger to the neighbors, is only ten feet wide. Her ex’s home is attached to hers. And Dr. Matthew Vine the Freaking Third (aka the uptight, judgmental jerk who convinced his younger brother to leave her) is living on the other side, only a four-foot alley away.
If she has to see Matthew every time she looks out her windows, she might as well have some fun with the situation–by, say, playing erotic audiobooks at top volume with the windows open. A woman living in a Spite House is basically obligated to get petty payback however she can, right?
Unfortunately, loathing Matthew proves more difficult than anticipated. He helps her move. He listens. And he’s kind of…hot? Dammit.
Jesse Logan doesnโt want a fresh start. He wants his old life backโbefore an injury made his career as a firefighter impossible, before his grandfatherโs Alzheimerโs got so bad he doesnโt recognize Jesse anymore. When a friend tells him about a paid psychological study, Jesse sees it as a chance to get back to the man he was while making a little extra cash.
All Lulu Banks is asking for is a fresh start. Back home after a devastating breakup, sheโs struggling to find her place. Sheโs always been a lotโtoo loud, too eager, too obvious about her feelings. The friendship study seems like a great ideaโฆuntil sheโs paired with Jesse Logan, who recently ghosted her after a blind date that led to a steamy make-out session.
Now that old familiar tension is back. Despite the programโs strict โno romanceโ rule, Jesse and Lulu are quick to find a work-around that allows them to explore their tenuous connection. And soon theyโre on their way to total self-improvementโฆ
As long as they donโt get caught.
Why date a mountain man? Because he knows how to pitch a tent. When Dahlia Weathersby’s sister disappears on what should have been a simple day hike, Dahlia immediately heads deep into the Colorado Rockies to find her. Knowing she’ll never survive the mountains alone, she convinces the local hermitโadorably grouchy survival expert Winston Daneโto be her guide. All it takes is a good helping of Dahlia’s charmโฆand just the teeniest bit of blackmailโฆbefore she’s got all six-foot-something of him wrapped around her finger. But even with her very own mountain man in tow, things aren’t going to be easy. There With everything the wilderness has to throw at them, it’ll take more than charm and some city girl ingenuity to make this trek anything but a disaster waiting to happenโฆand an adventure she’ll never forget.
#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Elizabeth Phillips returns with the next book in her Chicago Stars series where a successful sports agent and the sister of his biggest client engage in a take-no-prisoners battle of the sexes.
Take one hard-driving sports agentโฆ
Throw in a failed chocolatierโฆ
And her superstar football player brotherโฆ
Add a quirky pink and purple food truckโฆ
Then, to really screw things up, mix in a very unfortunate murder.
Brett Rivers is the hottest sports agent in the businessโfast and furious, swift and deadly. Failure? Not an option.
Rory Garrett isโletโs be honestโa disaster. She has a big heart, an empty bank account, a passion for making exquisite chocolate, and a huge inferiority complex from living in the shadow of Brettโs most important client, her football legend brother.
Brett and Rory should never have met, and they absolutely, positively should never have had to deal with the consequences of one stupid, drunken nightโฆone disastrous lieโฆone career in jeopardyโฆone missing football playerโฆand a very dead body.
Itโs going to get messyโฆand dangerousโฆand heartbreakingโฆand sexy. To Rory, Brett represents skewed values and a devious mind. To Brett, Rory is forbidden fruit, off limits, do not disturb, and no entryโdefinitely no entry.
A woman who has succeeded at nothing and a man whoโs succeeded at everything confront the challenge of their lives as they struggle with themselves and each other. When it comes to loveโwhat price are any of us willing to pay to be simply the best?
A surprise pregnancy leads to even more life-changing revelations in this heartfelt, slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance of found family and unexpected love.
Eve Hatch is pretty content with her life. Her apartment in Brooklyn is cozy and close to her childhood best friend Willa, but far from her midwestern, traditional family who never really understood her. While her job is only dream- adjacent , sheโs hoping her passion and hard work will soon help her land a more glamorous role. And sure, her most recent romantic history has consisted of not one but two disappointing men named Derek. At least she always knows what to expectโฆuntil she finds herself expecting after an uncharacteristic one-night stand.
The unplanned pregnancy cracks open all the relationships in her life. Eve’s loyal friendship with Willa is feeling off , right when she needs her most. And itโs Willaโs steadfast older brother, Shep, who steps up to help. He has always been friendly, but now heโs checking in, ordering her surprise lunches, listening to all her complaints, and isโฆ suddenly kinda hot? Then thereโs the baby’s father, who is supportive but conflicted. Before long, Eve is rethinking everything she thought she knew about herself and her world.
Over the course of nine months, as Eve struggles to figure out the next right step in her expanding reality, she begins to realize that family and love, in all forms, can sneak up on you when you least expect it.
A grumpy lobster fisherman tosses a fashion influencerโs impeccably curated life overboard in the next romantic comedy from international bestselling author Amy Lea.
In a last-ditch effort to rescue her brand from the brink of irrelevance, Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. The only thing scarier than nature itself? The burly and bearded bed-and-breakfast owner and fisherman, Evan Whalerโwho single-handedly disproves the theory that Canadians are โnice.โ
After a boating accident lands Evan unconscious in the hospital, Mel is mistaken for his fiancรฉe by his welcoming yet quirky family, who are embroiled in a long-standing feud over the B&B. In a bold attempt to mend family fences, Mel agrees to fake their engagement for one week in exchange for Evanโs help with her social media content.
Amid long hikes and campfire chats, reeling in their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult by the day. But is Mel willing to sacrifice her picture-perfect life in the city for a chance at a true, unfiltered love in the wild?
A magically gifted con artist must gather her estranged mother’s old crew for a once-in-a-lifetime heist, from the New York Times bestselling author of Stranger Suspicious Minds.
Dani Poissant is the daughter and former accomplice of the world’s most famous art thief, as well as being an expert forger in her own right. The secret to their success? A little thing called magic, kept rigorously secret from the non-magical world. Daniโs mother possesses the power of persuasion, able to bend people to her will, whereas Dani has the ability to make any forgery she undertakes feel like the genuine article.
At seventeen, concerned about the corrupting influence of her motherโs shadowy partner, Archer, Dani impulsively sold her mother out to the FBIโan act she has always regretted. Ten years later, Archer seeks her out, asking her to steal a particular painting for him, since her mother’s still in jail. In return, he will reconcile her with her mother and reunite her with her motherโs old gangโincluding her former best friend, Mia, and Elliott, the love of her life.
The problem is, itโs a nearly impossible jobโeven with the magical talents of the people she once considered family backing her up. The painting is in the never-before-viewed private collection of deceased billionaire William Hackworthโotherwise known as the Fortress of Art. Itโs a job that needs a year to plan, and Dani has just over one week. Worse, sheโs not exactly gotten a warm welcome from her former colleaguesโespecially not from Elliott, who has grown from a weedy teen to a smoking-hot adult. And then there is the biggest puzzle of why Archer wants her to steal a portrait of himself, which clearly dates from the 1890s, instead of the much more valuable works by Vermeer or Rothko. Who is her motherโs partner, really, and what does he want?
The more Dani learns, the more she understands she may be in way over her headโand that there is far more at stake in this job than she ever realized.
LUCAS MCKNIGHT, is the center for the Seattle Stormbreakers hockey team, and a famous actor. Youโd think his life would be made, but heโs going through a dry spellโin more ways than one.
One of his teammates is tired of watching Lucas suffer, and with a little convincing, entices him to attend a masked Valentineโs Day party for a night of distraction. Little does he know; this night will change the game.
Lucas meets a mysterious woman in a red mask, and their chemistry is both instant and undeniable. After one little taste of the lady in red, his dry spell is broken, and after a fresh win on the ice, Lucas wants more. Heโll stop at nothing to find her.
Only, he doesnโt have to look far. It turns out the woman behind the mask, is STEVIE HARPER. As in, the sister of his twin brotherโs partner. Future sister-in-law or not, Lucas isnโt giving up that easily.
Determined to keep Stevie close, Lucas offers her a job, hoping to explore whatโs between them. Stevie agrees but insists on a platonic arrangement, she doesnโt mix business with pleasure. Only, their pact to remain professional quickly becomes a complicated dance, as they skate the blurred lines between friendship and something more.
When it comes to the game of loveโฆ thereโs more than meets the ice.
February 20
From USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke comes a warm and romantic novel about a marriage in trouble, two conspiring kids, and the meaning of long-lasting love.
After twenty years, the cracks in Lauren Reedโs marriage are showing. She and her husband, Jack, feel more like roommates than a loving couple. What they have in common are two wonderful teenagers, Michael and Maddie, and the same wistful When did it all go wrong? Now that Laurenโs decided to get on with her lifeโaloneโdivorce is inevitable.
Not to the kids. They arenโt giving up so easily.
Michael and Maddie have conspired with their grandfather to bring everyone together for a vacation in the familyโs favorite summer getaway, a rustic lakeside cabin in Story Brook, Ohio. Awkward? Yep. A little deceptive? Sure. But as far as traps go, Lauren and Jack agreeโthe meddlers couldnโt have set one that was more scenic or filled with so many bittersweet memories.
This trip is going to be life-changing for the whole family. Fourteen days of hope, heartbreak, and unexpected possibilitiesโlike maybe falling in love all over again.
Phoebe Miller told herself that she would never fall for another rock star, but then she met Damien Bell.
With their relationship suddenly thrust into the spotlight, Phoebe and Damienโs bubble has burst and things have begun to get real.
Fast.
Not only does Phoebe have to save her job, but she and Damien now have to handle a work rival who is hell-bent on ruining her, the chaos of a tour, a brand new album, and the pressures of being in a real relationshipโ all while being in the public eye.
Will Phoebe stay with Damien despite new pressures and sudden scrutiny? And more importantly, can their love survive the stranglehold of fame?
Dollhouse is the second and final instalment in the Revolver Duet.
February 27
Two former high school sweethearts get a second chance in this marriage of convenience romance by Kristina Forest, author of The Neighbor Favor.
To Violet Greene, fashion is everything. As a successful celebrity stylist, she travels all over the world, living out her dreams. Professionally, sheโs thriving, but her personal life is in shambles. After surviving a very public breakup with her ex-fiancรฉ six months ago, Violet is now determined to focus on her career. But life hands her somethingโor rather, someoneโthat might derail everythingโฆ
Xavier Wright did not expect to run into his high school girlfriend Violetโthe girl he once thought heโd marryโon a birthday trip to Vegas. As a high school teacher and basketball coach, he rarely leaves his New Jersey hometown, so what were the chances? But when the initial shock wears off, they decide to celebrate together. They feel young and reckless as they party the night awayโand reckless they clearly were when the following morning, they wake up beside each other with rings on their fingers.
Their impulsive nuptials might be a blessing in disguise, though, when they realize that both of their careers could benefit from the marriage. So they play the part of a blissfully wedded couple. Yet when their passion comes hurling back, they realize their feelings are just as real as they were back when they were teens. But are their lives too different to stick it through or will they finally get a happy ending?
From the beloved author of Just My Type and Lease on Love comes a new romantic comedy in which a former actress-turned-screenwriter finds herself back in the spotlight, only for her romantic lead to be the one man she canโt stand.
Hollywood darling Emmy Harper is considered the queen of writing romantic comedies. That is, until tragedy struck and she swore sheโd never write another happy ending again. After some time away, and lots of encouragement from family and friends, Emmy is finally ready to dive back into the genre with her latest project. But more is riding on this movie than just her return to the big screen. This time, Emmyโs also been convinced to star as the lead, dusting off acting skills she hasnโt used in over a decade.
Emmyโs nervous, yet excited, to give performing another shot, until a last-minute injury benches her trusted co-star. With filming about to start, thereโs only one other actor available on such short Grayson West. A blockbuster action star known for his mega-watt smile and impossible abs, Grayson is anyoneโs dream of a romantic lead. Anyone except Emmy that is, who still blames him for her disastrous first movie and the early end to her acting career.
As filming begins, the friction between Emmy and Grayson is palpable and itโs anyoneโs guess if itโs unresolved awkwardness or simmering sexual tension. The two are pushed to get their acts togetherโand quicklyโor they risk tanking the entire movie, but if working things out leads to sizzling chemistry on screen, what might happen when the cameras stop rolling?
I hope you enjoy this list of contemporary, historical, paranormal, and dark romance and it is more than enough to keep you busy in February. To see last month’s list, click here.