Time for our regular look at the new and upcoming releases the AAR team is most excited about reading over the coming weeks. As usual, this is in no way a comprehensive list, but is rather based on the information from authors and publishers available at time of writing – and we always like to hear about which new releases YOU’RE most looking forward to getting stuck into in June!
Releasing week of 1st June 2022
Releasing week of 6th June 2022
Releasing week of 13th June 2022
Releasing week of 20th June 2022
Releasing week of 27th June 2022
From the list above, I am looking forward to Noelle Adams’ The Sunshine Strategy. I enjoyed the 1st two books (novella length) in this series. I also recently bought Hayden Snow’s An Unexpected Kind of Love, which is first in the series before When London Snow Falls. I will have to hurry up and read it to see if I want to buy the second book!
Other books I look forward to are:
Last on the List by Amy Daws (M/F) – the latest in her Wait With Me series. It’s a millionaire boss – sassy nanny romance.
Vortex Conundrum by Lousia Masters (M/M) – the 2nd in her Ghostly Guardians series. I don’t read a lot of paranormal but got the first book (Spirited Situation) based on the review here and liked it a lot.
The Devil You Know by Elizabeth O’Roark (M/F) – this is 3rd in the series and if you have not read the previous two (A Deal with The Devil, The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea), they are fantastic. Book 3 is about lawyer Ben, introduced in the previous books, and looks like it is a workplace romance.
Hopelessly Bromantic and Here Comes My Man by Lauren Blakely (M/M) – her M/M book The Best Men with Sarina Bowen was one of my favorites of last year so I read some of her other M/M romances and enjoyed them too. This duology is a 2-part story that is enemies-to-lovers, bicoastal (London, New York), second chances. Looks great!
Stuck with You by Ali Hazelwood (M/F) – the 2nd in a 3 novella series starring STEM heroines. I really liked the first novella Under One Roof and the 3rd novella comes next month.
Thanks for commenting – as I’ve said before, it can be difficult to decide what to include in these lists when there’s so much being self-published, so I hope readers will find some things to enjoy from your list, too.
I reviewed An Unexpected Kind of Love for AudioGals – unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed :( I might give the Masters a try – book one was an okay read, but the story was fun.
This column and the responses to it is actually one of my best sources of self-pub authors! It’s very helpful to start hearing names from readers and then check individuals out.
I loved O’Roark’s DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA—and that cover: Phew! (Fans self.) In fact, because I’m the shallowest woman on the planet, I initially grabbed DATDBS from KU—being completely unfamiliar with O’Roark—because of the cover (cover model wearing a sexy scowl and very little else) and was pleasantly surprised to find a well-written and deeply-emotional story about a woman falling for her ex-boyfriend’s brother while dealing with both her dysfunctional family and the hero’s. I still have to catch up with the other two books, but if they’re as good as DATDBS, I’m in for a good reading experience.
I saw the first 2 books rave-reviewed on another website. The first book (A Deal with The Devil) has 4.5 stars on Amazon after over 4,000 reviews so I took a chance and bought it. I loved it and immediately bought book 2. And I think you will like the covers of all 3 books!
Thanks so much for recommending the O’Roark books. I hadn’t read her books before and really enjoyed them.
I’m so glad you liked them!
I want to warn anyone who hasn’t read The Queer Principles of Kit Webb not to even read the blurb for The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian. I unfortunately looked at it while I was in the middle of listening to the book and the blurb contains major spoilers for the second half of the first book. I was rather irritated with the blurb and myself.
One of my major problems with Kit Webb was that there were so many holes and unanswered questions – and I’m sure that at the time it was first announced there was no mention of it being a series. We do have a review for it coming up.
As I stated in my review on GR, I think I benefited from the fact that I knew there was a second book pending and therefore wasn’t as concerned about the loose ends. I think it really would have irritated me otherwise. I also already knew the second book was about Marian, so I wasn’t worrying about her obviously clandestine activities as I figured we’d learn more in the next book. But what I didn’t expect was for the blurb for book to to so totally blow some important secrets in book 1. Maybe there was no way to avoid it, but it was really disappointing to me. I’m not 100% sure I’ll go on to the next book. I definitely won’t spend a credit at Audible for it. I got The Queer Principles.. from Chirpbooks for cheap.
See, I had an ARC of KW several months before publication and nowhere did it say it wasn’t a standalone until right before it came out. (I can’t help but suspect that it was sold as a single book because I don’t recall the author saying anything about a sequel until around the time KW was published.) I have no interest in reading Marian’s book (I didn’t much like her, tbh) and am annoyed that I only got part of a story when I’d expected a complete one.
It’s an excellent book and works well as a stand alone WITHIN the book because it spells things bout for newcomers, but man, the blurb was a rotten trick.
Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I have it on my TBR list and will probably get it on audio when I find it on sale, but yeah, the blurb was just poorly done.
Although I was hoping that C.M. Nascosta would be releasing either the third book in her Girls Weekend series or MOON BLOODED BREEDING CLINIC (all part of her Cambric Creek monster romances line) neither is showing a release date on Amazon yet, alas. So on with books that (as of now) do have June due dates:
Amelia Wilde’s POWER PLAY (June 7) features a hero and heroine who were both secondary characters in her recent Wealth trilogy. The hero holds the heroine’s family accountable for his own family’s downfall; the heroine (a baker) is estranged from her family for other reasons. The hero initially pursues her for revenge. Wilde writes very dark in a style similar to Skye Warren (another favorite of mine). I like dark, but YMMV.
Julie Kriss’s RIFF (June 9) is the second in her Road Kings series of rock band romances. I really liked the first book, DUET, in part because the Road Kings band was never enormously successful—they were a mid-range band famous for their live shows, but the members of the band can plausibly be unrecognizable. RIFF features a second-chance romance between the band’s bass player and the mother of his teenage daughter. I think Kriss is one of the most underrated writers in Romancelandia and I’m really looking forward to this next book.
Zoe York’s FEARLESS AT HEART (June 14) is the fourth in her Kinkaids of Pine Harbour series featuring a family of five brothers all of whom are employed in first-responder jobs. FEARLESS AT HEART features somewhat older MCs (late-thirties) who have known each other since high school but have never acted on their feelings. I’m hoping York will right the ship with FEARLESS AT HEART because the previous book in the series, WILD AT HEART, was rather dull and kept the MCs apart for long stretches of tme.
Garrett Leigh’s SAINT’S SONG (June 14) is the second of her Rebel Kings MC series and continues the story started in the first book, DEVIL’S DANCE. This is an M/M/M-menage romance featuring members of a motorcycle club. The first book was dark & gritty, so I’m not expecting the second to be any different in tone.
Sybil Bartel’s ZULU (June 14) is the latest in her romantic-suspense Alpha Elite series. Bartel writes to a template (beyond-gonzo alpha heroes; resiliant heroines in trouble through no fault of their own; lots of fire power & high body counts; and plenty of sexy-times with a D/s dynamic). If you don’t like the template, her books will not be for you. But if, like me, you do like Bartel’s style, ZULU will be a good read.
June 14 is shaping up to be a banner day! In addition to the aforementioned books, THE CRASH by Skye Warren & Amelia Wilde is also scheduled for release. THE CRASH is a couple-against-the-elements story when the plane piloted by the hero (who is part of the Midnight Dynasty Morelli family) crashes on the way to taking the geologist heroine to a remote jungle site. Warren has a history of books not releasing on their due dates, so I won’t be surprised if this doesn’t show on June 14—but will be very happy if it does.
Ana Huang’s TWISTED LIES (June 30) is the fourth and final book in her Twisted series about four college roommates and their lives & loves after graduation. I’m generally not a big fan of N/A, but I’ve liked the previous books in the series (especially the bodyguard romance, TWISTED GAMES). TWISTED LIES is about a couple who agree to a fake relationship. Let the faking begin!
As ever, thanks for your list! There’s no way to make this post a comprehensive one, so I really appreciate the additions and hope readers will find something else to enjoy!