13 of the Sexiest, Sweetest Romances to Kick Off Your New Year

Natasha Madison's highly anticipated Something So Irresistible is now available. When bad boy Max Horton collides with good girl — and totally off-limits — Allison Grant, he doesn't expect for his world to turn upside down. He's also never regretted anything more than that one mistake made so many years ago. She knows that he's a devil in disguise, but the more time she spends with him, the more he turns into a prince. It's forbidden. It goes against everything that she knows. But it's all the more irresistible.

A tough vampire warrior in training and her fellow aristocratic trainee struggle to deny the attraction they feel for one another as they prepare for the looming war ahead. Blood Fury is the latest in a new paranormal romance series set in the world of the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward. Brothers at the Black Dagger Brotherhood training center push recruits to the limit to become faster and stronger than ever before as they continue preparing for the fight against the lessening society. Novo, a resilient survivor and a bit rough around the edges, has overcome a great deal, including her intense attraction to suave, aristocratic Peyton. The two fighters shared a passionate physical connection. But when Peyton finally comes to terms with and admits his true feelings for Novo, she rejects him for a more stable male. Now they must train in close quarters and eventually confront the feelings they still undoubtedly harbor for one another.

In Devney Perry's The Bitterroot Inn, Maisy Holt isn't looking for much outside the quiet, small-town life she's built for herself and her son. She's had enough drama to last two lifetimes thanks to her son's father. Content with her simple life, the last thing she expected was for Hunter Faraday to walk into the lobby of her motel and become more than just a handsome stranger. If only she knew that the past she'd tried to forget was connected to his secrets.

In Tempt Me by Carly Phillips, a sexy bodyguard with an adorable little girl falls for the woman he hires to care for her . . . not knowing her past will come back to haunt her, leaving her in need of his special brand of protection. Austin Rhodes steps up to protect Mia Atwood, and their relationship quickly turns serious. But Austin has been burned before, and he isn't looking for forever. Until he's faced with losing Mia. The nanny and the bodyguard story!

If you like your alpha heroes on the dark side — and with a lot of bite — you'll want to dive into Lara Adrian's "evocative, enticing, erotic" (according to J.R. Ward) Midnight Breed vampire romance series. In the newest novel, Claimed in Shadows, Breed warrior Aric must stop a powerful new enemy determined to incite a war between humans and the Breed. But when he's teamed up with beautiful Kaya, a tough female recruit who's hiding a dangerous alliance, the lethal Breed male will have to decide between duty to his brotherhood and desire for a woman who may ultimately be the perfect weapon to destroy him.

Shayla Perkins and Sean "Stitch" Molina have always had this inexplicable yet comforting understanding while at work — she talked and he listened — and it never went beyond that. But when Shayla gets up the courage to ask him out, she thinks the tide has finally changed for them. Until he rejects her — cue the embarrassment. Determined to forget all about him, Shayla focuses her attention on other things, but when she finds herself in a real bind, it's Sean who is there to step up and help. In Bad For You by J. Daniels, these two unlikely people find themselves unable to stay away from one another, but his rocky past becomes their present and threatens everything.

In Judgment Road by Christine Feehan, the men and women of the Torpedo Ink motorcycle club have trained from childhood to be the perfect assassins. They escaped the brutal lives they were forced into, but they'll never truly be free of their pasts. No one is more reluctant to interact with outsiders than Reaper, but he's confronted with an outsider he can't ignore: bartender Anya Rafferty. It's Reaper's job to keep his club safe, but when a deadly secret Anya's been keeping is revealed, he has to choose between the club that saved his life and the woman who can save his soul.

I am beyond excited to share that I also have a new release out this month! The next standalone in my Walker Security series, Falling Under, features Jacob King, ex-special ops, who is now a member of the Walker Security elite. He's assigned to protect Jewel Carpenter, the daughter of a high-powered CEO, from death threats. It's supposed to be an easy job, but the chemistry between them is fire and ice and downright explosive. And the closer she gets to him, the more dangerous he becomes to her . . .

In Bella Andre's upcoming, Love Me Like This, eight years have passed since Justin first fell head over heels in love with Taylor, even though she could never be his. He's tried everything he can to get over her, but she's still the only woman he'll ever want. So when he turns up on the doorstep of her Napa Valley bed and breakfast, he can't help but long for her. And as they spend beautifully romantic mornings together watching the sun rise over the vineyards — and fall into each other's arms on wickedly sexy nights — it looks like they might finally get their chance at the love they've been waiting for. But will the secret Taylor has been keeping shatter everything in the end?

In Lauren Dane's Whiskey Sharp: Unraveled, Maybe Dolan has worked and fought hard to create a life exactly as she wants it. She's got her sister, a best friend, and she's got a job she loves at a barbershop. She's even got her band where she plays the drums. And then she's got Alexsei — a longtime crush — in her bed. Alexsei, who rocks her world as everything else in her life seems to be thrown into chaos. His calm, determined presence in her life becomes something she craves. Once Alexsei lets himself have a taste of Maybe, he knows everything has changed. He'd never imagined what it would be to truly fall the way he does for Maybe. She's giving and loving and supportive, to the point where it's beginning to hurt her heart. As the issues she's fighting begin to weigh on her, he's got to find a way to walk that knife's edge between protecting her from harm and taking away the things that make her special.

Louisa Clark, the brilliant, irrepressible character readers have come to love from global bestsellers Me Before You and After You, is headed to New York in Jojo Moyes's new novel Still Me. In Still Me, Lou arrives in New York ready to start a new life, confident that she can embrace this cross-Atlantic adventure and keep her relationship with Ambulance Sam alive across several thousand miles. As Lou tries to keep the two sides of her world together, she finds herself carrying secrets — not all her own — that cause a catastrophic change in her circumstances. Full of Moyes's unique charm and true-to-life characters who leap off the page, Still Me continues Lou's story while also taking on themes of class, reinvention, and rediscovery, long-distance relationships, and what matters most in life. Still Me is a vital chapter in Louisa Clark's story.

Meet the de Vincents and leave your morals at the door in Jennifer L. Armentrout's Moonlight Sins. Set in the heart of New Orleans and centering around a family built on scandals, discover an irresistible, scorching romance. Lucian is part of an infamous family of hot-tempered siblings who always gets what he wants, and he wants Julia. The last thing Julia is looking for is romance, especially with someone like Lucian, who not only left a trail of broken hearts in his wake, but also happens to be her new boss. As Julia tries to navigate her unwanted but undeniable attraction to Lucian, they must also face that Lucian's family secrets are not only dangerous — they're deadly.

In Beyond Scandal and Desire by Lorraine Heath, Mick Trewlove is the illegitimate son of a duke — but despite his lowly upbringing, Mick has become a successful businessman. What he craves most, though, isn't wealth, but revenge against the man who won't acknowledge him as his son. So Mick hatches a plan: he'll destroy everything that his biological father loves by wooing the heir's betrothed into his own unloving arms. The only problem is that it's hard not to love the orphaned and innocent Lady Aslyn Hastings. Brought up in a sheltered household, she longs for a bit of adventure. With her intended often preoccupied, Aslyn finds herself drawn to the darkly handsome entrepreneur who seems to understand her so well. She knows it isn't proper for a lady of her station to feel so drawn to a man of Mick's station, but she finds him completely irresistible. As Mick's plan for vengeance draws closer to fruition, he must decide if his plan for vengeance is worth risking what his heart truly desires.