Weekly Reads: December 1 to 7, 2025

The Writer and the Rogue by Lydia Drake (2025)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 2 of the Debutantes of London series. Caroline is in enough of a desperate financial situation to turn to blackmail to solve her problems. Her father is in possession of a letter which hints that the current earl of something might not actually be legitimate, so she uses this as a way to blackmail the man into marrying her. Gabriel is resistant at first, but wants to stall her until he can get a hold of this letter and decides on a lengthy courtship. Of course, he’s totally impressed by Caroline’s originality and direct personality and finds himself falling for her anyway. It’s a fairly straightforward blackmail-turns-to-true-love sort of story, which was super entertaining to read.

Advance ebook provided by Entangled Publishing via NetGalley. Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.

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The Bodyguard Affair by Amy Lea (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. This was a really fun set-up where Andi and Nolan meet at a bar, have a somewhat awkward one night stand, and then don’t see each other for three years. But they run into each other at work, where Nolan is the Prime Minister’s new bodyguard and Andi is the Prime Minister’s wife’s personal assistant. And then somehow, Andi is rumored to be having an affair with the Prime Minister (which she’s not), so a fake relationship with Nolan will help distract the scandal. Nolan is all sorts of caring and sweet and I love how obsessed he is with Andi. We get a really nice dual POV story here. This is the first Amy Lea book that I’ve read, and I was under the impression that she writes Asian characters, so I kept trying to see if either Andi or Nolan had any Asian heritage. I was also given an ARC copy from the Berkley Influencer Hub for Underrepresented Voices as an Asian book reviewer. I didn’t happen to catch if either of these two main characters were Asian, but maybe I missed it.

Advance ebook provided by Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

Sparks Fly by Zakiya N. Jamal (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Stella is ready to lose her virginity at a sex club and luckily meets an awesome guy there, Max. But things don’t go as planned and they end up with unfinished business before parting ways. Stella’s in for a rude surprise when Max ends up being the brother of her boss’s boss and at her workplace to launch a new AI writing tool for their company. This would seem like the perfect set up for an enemies-to-lovers situation, but they have very wisely kept their work separate from their personal lives and continue with a semi-secret relationship. This book is all sorts of spicy and the workplace conflict doesn’t affect the romance plot much at all. Loved seeing how Max treats Stella and how they very easily and quickly fall in love.

Advance ebook provided by Berkley Publishing via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Penguin Random House Audio.

Game Changer by Rachel Reid (2018)

Contemporary romance. Book 1 of the Game Changers series. Super steamy insta-lust, insta-love situation for hockey player Scott and smoothie maker Kip. Scott’s gotta keep his personal life secret because of macho sports reasons, but Kip is just excited to be with him. At first. The secret boyfriend situation will eventually be the big conflict of the book, but it’s super sweet to see these two get together and fall in love. Kip is absolutely adorable and you can totally feel his insecurities here being the big burly famous athlete’s secret. But Scott definitely has his own issues that he’s slowly working through when he realizes love is more important than anything else. Great setup for the rest of the series.

Ebook borrowed from my local library via Hoopla.