This Cursed Light
Series: The Last Finestra #2
Author: Emily Thiede
December 5th 2023 by Hodder & Stoughton
When the gods make the rules, the players must choose: Sacrifice their love to save the world, or choose love and let it burn?
Six months after saving their island from destruction and almost losing Dante, Alessa is ready to live happily ever after with her former bodyguard. But Dante can't rest, haunted by a conviction that the gods aren't finished with them yet. And without his powers, the next kiss from Alessa could kill him.
Desperate for answers, Dante enlists Alessa and their friends to find the exiled ghiotte in hopes of restoring his powers and combining forces with them to create the only army powerful enough to save them all. But Alessa is hiding a deadly consequence of their last fight--a growing darkness that's consuming her mind--and their destination holds more dangers than anyone bargained for. In the mysterious city of the banished, Dante will uncover secrets, lies, and ghosts from his past that force him to ask himself: Which side is he on?
When the gods reveal their final test, Dante and Alessa will be the world's last defense. But if they are the keys to saving the world, will their love be the price of victory?
In This Cursed Light, Dante and Alessa face their most daunting challenge yet when the Gods demand they prove their worth by choosing the ultimate sacrifice to save humanity, once and for all.
Goodreads
The Gentleman's Gambit
Series: A League of Extraordinary Women #4
Author: Evie Dunmore
December 5th 2023 by Berkley
Bookish suffragist Catriona Campbell is busy: An ailing estate, academic writer's block, a tense time for England's women's rights campaign--the last thing she needs is to be stuck playing host to her father's distractingly attractive young colleague.
Deeply introverted Catriona lives for her work at Oxford and her fight for women's suffrage. She dreams of romance, too, but since all her attempts at love have ended badly, she now keeps her desires firmly locked inside her head--until she climbs out of a Scottish loch after a good swim and finds herself rather exposed to her new colleague.
Elias Khoury has wheedled his way into Professor Campbell's circle under false pretenses: he did not come to Oxford to classify ancient artefacts, he is determined to take them back to his homeland in the Middle East. Winning Catriona's favor could be the key to his success. Unfortunately, seducing the coolly intense lady scholar quickly becomes a mission in itself and his well-laid plans are in danger of derailing...
Forced into close proximity in Oxford's hallowed halls, two very different people have to face the fact that they might just be a perfect match. Soon, a risky new game begins that asks Catriona one more time to put her heart and wildest dreams at stake.
Goodreads
This Spells Love
Series: None
Author: Kate Robb
December 5th 2023 by Dial Press Trade Paperback
A young woman tries to heal her heartbreak by casting a spell to erase her ex from her past, but she wakes up in an alternate reality where she’s lost more than she wished for in this witty, whimsical friends-to-lovers debut.
What if one little wish changed everything?
When Gemma gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she reacts the way any reasonable twenty-eight-year-old would: by getting drunk with her sister, kooky aunt, and best friend, Dax. After one too many margaritas, they decide to perform a love- cleansing spell, which promises to erase Gemma’s ex from her memory. They follow all the instructions, including a platonic kiss from Dax to seal the deal.
When Gemma wakes up, she realizes that this silly spell has worked. Not only does it seem that she never dated her ex, but the rest of her life is completely unrecognizable. The worst part: Dax has no idea who she is.
To reverse the spell and get back to her old life, Gemma must convince her once-best-friend-now-near-stranger to kiss her. But as she carries out her plans, she finds herself falling for him—hard. Soon, Gemma begins to wonder whether she even wants to go back to the way things once were. What if Dax was The One all along?
Goodreads
Technically Yours
Series: None
Author: Denise Williams
December 5th 2023 by Berkley
Seven years ago, he fell in love with a stranger he couldn’t have—today, she’s back in his life and the sparks between them threaten to set her career on fire.
Pearl Harris has learned the hard way to be careful in work and in love. When she is appointed acting director of OurCode, a nonprofit aimed at inspiring high schoolers to code, she has a chance to make lasting change for the organization, but a scandal has put their reputation at risk. Further complicating matters, Pearl didn’t expect the one man she hasn’t stopped thinking about in seven years to be the newest member of her board of directors.
Cord Matthews fell for Pearl when they met in an elevator seven years ago. She’s just his type: smart, capable, and makes him laugh, but when she broke his heart, he decided love wasn’t for him. After five years with no contact, their connection is immediate despite the many roadblocks in their way and Cord must consider breaking his ban on serious relationships. But going public with a romance between them might derail Pearl’s career and the progress she’s made at OurCode.
Pearl and Cord both are hesitant to trust their feelings and take a risk as they grow closer, but it becomes impossible to keep ignoring the electricity between them. Cord is a skilled programmer, but a workplace romance might spell disaster for both of them, and love isn’t easily debugged.
Goodreads
The Stage Kiss
Series: None
Author: Amelia Jones
December 12th 2023 by Alcove Press
In this slow-burn yet highly combustible enemies-to-lovers romance, perfect for fans of Rachel Lynn Solomon and Abby Jimenez, two stage actors find themselves falling for each other with each onstage kiss...against their better judgment.
Actress Eden Blake’s biggest claim to fame is a mortifying pharmaceutical commercial for male enhancement pills. That is until the female lead on the nationwide tour of Broadway’s hit Pride & Prejudice musical abruptly quits and Eden is called up to fill the role.
The cast of Liz and Darcy: The Musical has just settled into a three-week run in Washington, DC, and Broadway royalty Brennon Thorne is set to play Darcy. Despite Brennon’s reputation as being “a dream to work with,” Eden’s first impression of him is more like a nightmare. Now, she’ll have to kiss the pompous jerk eight shows per week.
Brennon can’t disguise his disdain for understudies like Eden. But New York is filled with reminders of his most recent failed relationship, and this American tour is a much-needed distraction from his loneliness. As Eden and Brennon take the stage playing Jane Austen’s most memorable characters, their reality begins to mirror Elizabeth and Darcy’s—explosive chemistry and all. Together, they power through press performances and curtain calls, even as rumors of Brennon’s checkered romantic past resurface and prove to Eden that he can’t be trusted.
But with each choreographed stage kiss, Eden and Brennon’s passion for the stage—and each other—ignites. Maybe, just maybe, not all rumors are to be believed—and not all showmances are doomed to fail.
Goodreads
Taming the Savage Duke
Series: Victorian Outcasts #1
Author: Barbara Russell
December 12th 2023 by Oliver Heber Books
Maddie doesn’t have dreams. She has plans.
Finally, after weeks of hard work, the painting she’s going to present to the Royal Women’s Academy of Art is finished. The next step? She’ll get a fellowship to study at the academy, become one of the few female artists in the British Empire, and live happily ever after.
Her mother abhors the idea of her daughter being an artist—how vulgar! But the fellowship will grant six thousand pounds per year to Maddie.
When eccentric Lord Hector ruins her precious painting and injures her hand—by accident, of course—she’s furious at first, distraught later. She lost the opportunity to receive the fellowship and maybe ever paint again because of Hector’s clumsiness.
Mortified, he promises to make amends after he returns from his trip to the Amazonian Forest. Botany is his passion, and as the brother of the Duke of Blackburn, he has the money and support to pursue his dream. Money he’ll share with Maddie to help her become a painter.
Not feeling particularly optimistic after being injured and witnessing her painting being destroyed, Maddie wishes to never see him again. Her wish is granted when his ship sinks in the middle of the ocean during a storm, and he’s pronounced dead.
Eight years later, an ocean liner rescues him. Hector spent those years on a secluded island alone, hunting, fishing, and fighting against wild primates. In the meantime, his brother died, and the dukedom passed to his cousin, who has no intention of yielding it to a demented, savage man with a baboon’s manners.
Maddie is the only person Hector trusts and confides in. Appalled by his cousin’s brutal treatment of the employees at the family’s factory, he’s determined to claim the title and help those workers, but first, he has to prove he’s in full possession of his mental capabilities. Maddie takes on the daunting chore of reintroducing the wild quasi-duke into society. If she succeeds, Hector, once he’s the Duke of Blackburn, will help her realise her dream.
Goodreads
The Hotel Room Mix-Up
Series: None
Author: Kathy Jay
December 15th 2023 by One More Chapter
When the similarities between Ella Swift and Callum Smith’s last names lead to a hotel room mix-up, they find themselves sharing a cramped cottage in Porthkara rather than the private luxury hotel suites they expected. Each in town for a different wedding – and carrying more baggage than just the suitcases in their hands – the reluctant roommates are forced to share a shelter from the storm surge that sweeps in off the Atlantic. But as the rain crashes down there’s a shift in more than just the atmosphere, and by the time the sun rises on a new day, Ella and Callum’s futures have already been forever changed.
Goodreads
Least Likely To Win A Duke
Series: The Wallflower Academy #1
Author: Emily E.K. Murdoch
December 21st 2023 by Mills & Boon Historical
A most unlikely match
For a most unlikely wallflower!
Part of The Wallflower Academy. Miss Pike’s finishing school might be designed to find the most unconventional of debutantes a husband, but Gwendoline Knox doesn’t expect to literally bump into a duke on her first day! Let alone one as distractingly charming as Percy Devereux. Gwen knows nothing can come of their flirtations—not with their different stations and her scandalous secret! Still, she can’t help wishing for more…even if that means confronting her past…
Goodreads
The Governess and the Duke
Series: Renegade Dukes #3
Author: Lydia Drake
December 26th 2023 by Entangled: Amara
A hilariously engaging romp of a romance, where a sensible governess must learn how to defy the rules…
Governess Miss Viola Winslow is quite familiar with the rules of society, and her place in it. Still, it hasn’t stopped her from being horribly in love with the Duke of Huntington for years. But while the duke knows little of her foolish passions, the same cannot be said of Viola’s charge—a precocious fourteen-year-old obsessed with her governess’s secret romance.
As a confirmed bachelor with no interest in marriage, the Duke of Huntington prefers his estate at Moorcliff Castle to the hustle, bustle, and utter nonsense of London society. He’s far more content with a glass of excellent whiskey and the calm of the country. Until his peace is shattered by the enchanting Miss Viola, and her injured young charge.
Unable to travel or leave, Miss Viola has no choice but to remain at Moorcliff—where avoiding the duke is all but impossible. Somewhere between late night run-ins and a fake date in the most unlikely of places, their chemistry stops feeling one-sided. But when he discovers the secret she’s been hiding all along, there’s nothing that will save them from scandal.
Goodreads
You're the Duke That I Want
Series: The Thunderbolt Club #1
Author: Lenora Bell
December 26th 2023 by Avon
USA Today bestseller Lenora Bell returns with a Grease-inspired rom-com about an innocent lady who clashes with a sexy rake, the first book in a brand-new series sure to delight fans of Sarah MacLean, Tessa Dare, and Julia Quinn.
Raised by an overprotective mother, bookish romantic Sandrine Oliver craves adventure, but nothing exciting ever happens in her sleepy seaside village. Until a handsome, mysterious stranger arrives and sweeps her off her feet…only to leave suddenly with no explanation.
Lord Dane Walker, brother to the Duke of Rydell, is infamous for racing fast carriages and breaking hearts. But when his brother is mortally injured, Dane inherits the responsibilities of the dukedom—duties that come with a dangerous secret which threatens everyone close to him.
In London, Sandrine is astonished to learn that the charming, honorable man she met at the beach is really a disreputable rake. And the infuriating nobleman acts as though he barely knows her.
Who needs a wild rake? Certainly not Sandrine! With a little help from her friends, she transforms into a glamorous belle. She’s out to make Dane pay…but can she stop her traitorous heart from longing to surrender only to him?
Goodreads
Second Duke's the Charm
Series: Her Majesty’s Rebels #1
Author: Kate Bateman
December 26th 2023 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
Meet Her Majesty’s Rebels: three brilliant women who run King & Co., London’s most exclusive investigative agency...
The wedding-night death of her much older husband left Tess Townsend the Dowager Duchess of Wansford—and still a virgin. Now she and her two best friends investigate London’s most scandalous crimes, and while Tess longs to experience physical pleasure for herself, she can’t risk losing her treasured independence...
Cynical shipping magnate Justin Thornton never expected to inherit a dukedom, but he’ll do his duty. When the ravishing woman he kissed at a party turns out to be the Dowager Duchess, Justin sees an obvious solution: a marriage of convenience that will suit them both.
But the passion that sparks between them is anything but convenient. As Tess works on a new case at the request of Queen Charlotte, her increasingly suspicious behavior makes Justin question her motives—and her past. The infuriating woman clearly can’t be trusted, but Justin doesn’t believe in love, so there’s absolutely no danger of him falling for his own wife...is there?
Goodreads

What has caught your eye for December? Have you read any of these? Let me know :)