Best Books Summer 2018 from Publishers Weekly

Contraband Hearts

Alex Beecroft (Riptide)

In this enjoyable late-18th-century Robin Hood–esque adventure, Perry Dean, an ambitious black customs officer, intends to root out smuggling in Porthkennack, Cornwall; instead he falls for Tomas Quick, a notorious smuggler. Their relationship is complicated by racial and family tensions and enhanced by the protagonists’ shared commitment to saving shipwrecked black men from being sold into slavery. Readers will savor the thrilling action and smoldering sexual energy.

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A Devil of a Duke (The Decadent Dukes Society, Book 2)

Madeline Hunter (Zebra)

In Hunter’s sensual second Decadent Dukes Society Regency, Gabriel St. James, a duke trying to rehabilitate his reputation, doesn’t realize that the object of his affection is Amanda Waverly, a lady’s secretary and an expert thief from a family of rogues. Love across class lines is complicated by crime and danger to create a page-turning story.

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How to Forget a Duke

Vivienne Lorret (Avon)

In this clever, original standalone Regency set in the Whitcrest area of Sussex, a methodical duke meets his match in an impertinent, unapologetic busybody and matchmaker. Mischief and snappy banter elevate this lighthearted historical romance about plans gone entirely awry.

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Kiss of the Spindle

Nancy Campbell Allen (Shadow Mountain)

Allen (Beauty and the Clockwork Beast) delivers pure reading joy in a steampunk riff on “Sleeping Beauty” that is equal parts race-against-the-clock adventure, social comedy of errors, sweet romance, and clever alternate history, with a strong moral compass befitting its fairy tale heritage. The scenes set on an airship make this entertaining tale particularly good reading for long plane flights.

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A Wedding on Bluebird Way

Lori Wilde, Janet Dailey, Allyson Charles, and Stacey Keith (Zebra)

When small-town society bride Savannah Loving jumps on her uncle Tom’s Ducati to bolt from her wedding at the bucolic Bluebird Inn, it sets the stage for four warmly written, cohesively plotted romance novellas set in Texas. Contemporary romance fans will be delighted by these shorter love stories, in which everyone linked to the ill-fated wedding finds an unexpected path to a happy ending.

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