New Releases for April 2025 – Historical Romance and Contemporary Romance Books

An Impulsive Kiss by Alexa Aston (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 2 of the Captivating Kisses series. Judson has a tragic backstory here with being bullied at school and then beaten and punished by his guardian uncle at home, to the point where he thinks that he’s dark inside and doesn’t deserve love. He meets Lucy, who’s in her debut season, and even though he’s attracted to her, he thinks she deserves someone better and stays away. Until he can’t. Lucy is equally attracted to Judson, but she’s trying her best to enjoy her first season and look for a serious prospect to marry. But we all know she’s going to end up with Judson anyway. I loved how Judson slowly starts to open up to Lucy and some new friends and starts to yearn for love and affection for himself. We get some bonus drama with some villainous bullies and that terrible uncle, but it all resolves pretty quickly without leaving us hanging. An easy and comfy read.

Advance ebook provided by Dragonblade Publishing via NetGalley.

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The Duke Disaster by Kathleen Ayers (2025)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the League of Extraordinary Widows series. Widowed Celia is living it up after getting out from under the overbearing thumb of her brother-in-law. She was basically unloved and discarded by her husband immediately upon marriage, so she’s doing her best to find some fun and affection. Unfortunately, it has caused her to collect a scandalous reputation and the family duke, Oliver, is called in to corral her behavior. Oliver is the model of propriety and rigid in all his standards, mostly due to the influence of his very strict mother, so he is instantly aggravated by Celia’s behavior, despite being intensely attracted to her. His anger/attraction is clearly about the boil over at any moment, and we’re not sure if it’ll lead to a proposal or an affair. Celia really is just looking for any shred of affection and her reality is not as scandalous as her reputation appears, but she does love to thumb her nose at all of Oliver’s strict mandates. It’s pretty tense to read how much they dislike each other and I did wonder how they would eventually work it out. Overall, a solid steamy read.

Ebook accessed from Kindle Unlimited.

The Duke and Lady Scandal by Christy Carlyle (2025)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 1 of the Princes of London series. Super fun adventure-type romance between an outspoken bluestocking and a gruff Scotland Yard inspector. Alexandra (Allie to her friends and family) has been left behind to run the family antique shop while her siblings are off on an excavation and she overhears some possibly nefarious plotting at the coffee shop next door. She’s instantly off to Scotland Yard to warn someone and instantly connects with Ben, the serious inspector she meets there. Ben’s pretty much the only person to take her seriously, so she’s extra impressed by him. It’s most definitely instant attraction for both of these two, but they’re doing their best to keep things professional. Somehow, they end up entangled with each other through this mystery and have to team up to put all their clues together. Really enjoyable read.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Libro.fm.

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A Duke Never Tells by Suzanne Enoch (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Standalone novel. A quick little trip to spy on Meg’s future husband has turned into total disaster in this very funny historical rom-com. Basically, Lady Meg is in an arranged marriage to a duke with a terrible reputation, so she and her aunt Clara go playing a part of a lady and companion to visit the duke’s estate. Except James is a grumbly sort of duke who is not interested in playing tour guide, so he pretends to be the butler and introduces his man of business Elliot as the duke. We have four different people pretending to be someone they’re not, and it all gets worse when Meg injures her ankle and they have to stay there (and keep up their roles for two weeks). And of course, we get a double romance here with Clara and Elliot pairing off and Meg and James growing closer together, no one knowing the other person’s true identity. It’s mostly funny and sweet and an enjoyable read, especially since we get to see all four characters POVs along the way.

Advance ebook provided by Bramble via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Dreamscape Media.

Hardly a Gentleman by Eloisa James (2025)

Historical romance. Georgian-era England. Book 2 of the Accidental Brides series. Clara is a walking scandal after hitting the prince with her reticule. On her way to Scotland to stay with her aunt, she hitches a ride with another carriage who’s there to pick up a new housekeeper. She’s clearly not a housekeeper and an even worse fake housekeeper, but she’s befriended the driver and she’s on her way. Caelan is the widowed laird who has basically let his estate go to rot because he’s completely apathetic and rustic. But the whole town thinks that he’s heartbroken over the loss of his wife and he doesn’t even have the interest to correct them. When Clara shows up as the new housekeeper, he knows she’s really a lady, but he’s instantly attracted to her and eventually decides he wants to keep her. I loved how delightfully messy these two people are and how they’re able to be fairly direct and honest with each other. It was a lot of fun to read their romance develop and get to know that meddlesome town Caelan oversees.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley.

Hazardous to a Duke’s Heart by Sabrina Jeffries (2025)

Historical romance. Regency-era England. Book 1 of the Lords of Hazards series. Jon comes back from a French prison after being detained for 11 years to find himself a duke. And the daughter of his mentor now lives in his house as his sister’s governess. Due to Jon’s guilt over his mentor’s death, he decides to secretly give Tori a dowry to see her settled into marriage, but he knows he’s not a prospective husband because she’ll end up hating him for what happened with her father. Tori’s totally uninterested in marriage due to her own secrets, and she’d rather use the money to open an art school. There’s a whole lot of bickering and banter between Jon and Tori, but they’re very much attracted to each other, and can’t quite seem to stay away. I enjoyed reading this book and learning all of the backstory and secrets our main characters are hiding. And of course Jon is a much better man than he’s giving himself credit for.

Advance ebook provided by Kensington Books via NetGalley. Advance audiobook provided by Recorded Books.

Crash Landing by Annie McQuaid (2025)

Contemporary romance. Standalone novel. Second chance romance time after crashing on a deserted island. Piper is on her way to her best friend’s destination wedding and a cancelled flight puts her on a private plane with her ex-boyfriend Wyatt piloting. And then they crash and are stuck together on an island til rescue can come. Awkward. But also gives them a chance to actually talk to each other and make-up. We get a split of present-day and past-day chapters, all from Piper’s POV, so we get to slowly see how they got together as high schoolers and then we slowly see how they become more comfortable around each other on the island. Between the survival terror and the emotional angst here, it makes for a higher-stakes read than most contemporary romances. I enjoyed it and thought that Wyatt’s caretaking of Piper was really nice. Spice level is fade-to-black.

Advance ebook provided by Avon Books via NetGalley. Audiobook borrowed from my local library via Libby.

The Lady Who Left by Ginny B Moore (2025)

Historical romance. Victorian-era England. Book 4 of the Flower Sisters series. Loads of drama and angst with this book. Marigold is tired of being talked down to and takes a stand against her husband when he wants to send her sweet son off to a cruel school. She’s looking to divorce the man, but knows her case is shaky. She’s lucky that her new barrister, Archie, is so tenacious. She’s less lucky that they’re both attracted to each other and need to fight their feelings to keep things professional. Archie is super sweet and outgoing and charming, and also very protective of Marigold. Watching these two fall in love is an absolute delight. I loved how he was interested in almost anything that Marigold talks about and believes that she deserves care and love. He’s also absolutely amazing with her sons and treated them with so much respect. Loved this book.

Advance ebook provided by Ginny B Moore.