Stave off the cold this autumn with some romance books. With the likes of a chef who cooks topless and the brooding billionaire keeping you on the edge, these romance books will keep the heat going this cold season.
Must Read Romance for April 2025
The Strawberry Patch Pancake House
9780008713348 | HarperCollins | PBO
Laurie Gilmore
Every book in the Dream Harbor series can be read as a standalone.
As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.
Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it’s suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.
Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless… Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?
The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is a cozy romantic mystery with a single dad and found family dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!
Tropes
Found Family
Single Dad
Forced Proximity
Slow Burn
Steal My Heart
9780008753511 | HQ | PBO
Laura Pavlov
She’s off limits…but I never did follow the rules
Welcome to Rosewood River…your newest obsession from the author of the TikTok sensation Magnolia Falls series. Perfect for fans of Elsie Silver and Lucy Score!
***
Henley Holloway is my boss’s daughter, and my biggest distraction…
I’m not looking for a student, but I’m determined to make partner at the firm, and this is the only thing standing in my way.
So, I agree to take the Princess under my wing.
Because I know that at the sight of any hard work, she’ll be begging me to leave her alone.
But from the day she walks into the office…I’m intrigued. She’s a Harvard grad. Her work ethic rivals mine. And she’s witty, funny, and beautiful all at the same time.
I always had a rule about relationships – it’s a hard no.
But weren’t rules meant to be broken anyway…?
Coming April 2025
King of Envy
9780349436395 | Piatkus | PBO
Ana Huang
He had everything he could’ve wanted . . . except her.
Dangerous. Powerful. Reclusive.
Vuk Markovic is notorious for shunning human interactions. The scarred billionaire rarely talks, and he has no interest in relationships outside his small but trusted circle.
His only exception? Her. The beauty to his beast, the object of his obsession.
He saw her first. He wanted her first. But now, she’s engaged to his oldest friend-and the closer the wedding looms, the more he’s torn between loyalty and desire.
She should be his . . . and he might just risk it all to have her.
***
Beautiful. Successful. Glamorous.
To the world, supermodel Ayana Kidane leads the perfect life. Her career has skyrocketed, and she’s engaged to one of New York’s most eligible bachelors.
What people don’t know is that the engagement is only a business arrangement. He gets his inheritance when they marry; she gets the money she needs to leave her abusive agency.
Pretending to be in love should be easy-until she finds herself increasingly drawn to her fiancé’s enigmatic best man.
Vuk thrills and terrifies her in equal measure. She knows she should stay away, but when her wedding is thrown into chaos, he’s the only person who makes her feel safe…
Until his past catches up with them and threatens everything they love.
The Ick
9781408748855 | Renegades Books | PBO
Holly McCulloch
Six foot two with blue eyes ✅
Dimples and strong arms ✅
Giant turtle backpack ❌
Gem’s date is looking promising. Atlas is 6’2, with blue eyes, dimples and strong hands that look like they would be at home wielding an axe. But when he says he eats soup for lunch, Gem is immediately hit with the ick. Suddenly she’s painfully aware of his giant backpack that makes him look like a turtle, his colourful socks, and his hair that’s just a bit too floppy.
Gem, who collects icks like others collect loyalty points, is adamant that the phenomenon is her instinct kicking in, but her housemate and best friend Shanti disagrees, and challenges Gem to take part in a study for her psychology course: Is intuition real?
Gem eventually decides to take part, but doing so means she has to break all her own rules. She sees Atlas for a second date, a third, and even a fourth, until she starts losing count. It’s all for research purposes, of course – but what if the impossible happens and Gem falls for Atlas? And if he finds out she’s being paid to date him, will he ever forgive her?
Forced-proximity meets enemies-to-lovers in this spicy, swoon-worthy and totally hilarious romantic comedy. Fans of Emily Henry, Ali Hazlewood and Mhairi McFarlane won’t be able to put this sizzling romance down.
Coming April 2025
Summer in the City
9781526686930 | Bloomsbury Publishing | PB
Alex Aster
From the New York Times bestselling author of the Lightlark Saga, this is Alex Aster’s debut romance novel.
Twenty-seven-year-old screenwriter, Elle, has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in New York City. The only problem? She’s had writer’s block for months, and her screenplay is due by the end of the summer.
Desperate for inspiration, Elle returns to NYC – the city she hates – and tries to throw herself into her writing. But then she meets her new neighbour: Parker Warren. He’s the city’s favourite handsome tech billionaire and he’s also the guy Elle hooked up with in a stairwell two years ago. When seeing him again turns into a night of hate-fuelled writing, Elle realises Parker might just be her twisted muse.
So, when Parker needs to fake a steady relationship during his company’s precarious acquisition and Elle needs to research a list of classic date spots in the city for her screenplay, they suddenly find they might just be exactly what each other needs.
Summers always end, and so will this agreement.
It’s all pretend.
Until it isn’t.
If you like…
Billionaire
Forced proximity
Neighbours
Fake dating
Enemies-to-lovers
Slow burn
Steamy/spicy
…you’ll love Summer in the City
Coming April 2025
