Coco Zephir is a bookseller at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, Mass., where she works on the events and marketing teams. She loves romance titles and here offers a roundup of some of the books coming out this month that she's most excited about:
Leave and Come Back by Lavanya Lakshmi (Pamela Dorman Books)
Timing is not on Simran's side. A family wedding calls her home for the first time in years just as she begins dating her longtime crush, Leo. When Leo crashes the wedding celebrations, chaos ensues, and a ruse is born--one that will either have Leo welcomed into the family with open arms or on the next flight back to Toronto.
An endearing, laugh-out-loud family portrait that examines grief and cross-generational relationships. Sometimes to fall in love you just have to come back home.
Games: A Love Story by Anna Maria Volkova (Morrow)
Prepare to be wrecked in this New York City summer of love and reckoning age-gap romance from debut author Anna Maria Volkova.
For Lili, an economist working on her master's thesis, a one-night stand with older Aleksandr quiets a nerve that's been ringing since her parents' deaths years prior. The quiet is intoxicating for Lili, but as she keeps coming back to Aleksandr and something grows between them, she becomes more afraid that she'll finally need someone other than herself, which she isn't ready to face.
A high-heat romance where power and intellect are the currency.
The Open Era by Edward Schmit (Berkley)
A new adult tennis romance perfect for readers looking for a little steam, mental health representation, and a friends-to-lovers story filled with a quiet connection in the city that never sleeps.
Austin Hardy, the first openly gay male tennis player to compete in the U.S. Open, has a crush. It's inconvenient. After Austin has an anxiety-induced fall, Diego, his competition and crush, comes to his rescue and the two begin a friendship. The connection blooms into more and comes to a head when the two return to the court to face off. Will their relationship withstand the pressure of professional tennis? You'll have to read to find out!