Kate Clayborn's books are not light and fluffy. They take me a while to read and I usually cry at least once. They are, however, the sort of book that makes me think a lot about how we connect as humans and what it means to start over, to stand still for a moment, to redirect the trajectory of a relationship or a life.

New Year, New Books! Here's a look at what's caught our eyes this month.

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We're so excited to share this exclusive interview with Kate Clayborn, who is celebrating the release of her new book, Love Lettering, on December 31. Considering its themes of renewal and reconnection, what better time to read it than as we reflect on the start of a new year and a new decade?

Please enjoy the interview, and if you decide to pick up the book, we'll have links at the end!

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Mini-reviews of Sick Kids in Love, Winterwood, The Magnolia Sword, Rage, and The Night Country, which means an one contemporary romance, one Mulan retelling and three fantasy novels with romantic elements.

These posts are so subjective that I decided not to call mine a Best Of 2019 list this time. Did I read every romance that came out this year? Does every person bring their own preferences and baggage to each book? Yeah, exactly.

This book hit all of my buttons: enemies-to-lovers, witches, historical (AU) France and a very murdery plot. It's a book that I might feel just a little twinge of guilt about loving as much as I do, but that guilt is overshadowed by the emotional ride this book took me on.

Mini-reviews of Irises in the Snow, A Hive of Secrets and Spells, Night of the Scoundrel, and We Met in December, which means an f/f fantasy-mystery, an m/m contemporary, an m/f historical and an m/f contemporary.

As you probably know, we don't review much erotica. But ever since I was handed one of her anthologies in my days at Heroes & Heartbreakers, I've followed Rachel Kramer-Bussel's work with Cleis Press. Kramer-Bussel's curation of these anthologies, particularly the Best Women's Erotica of the Year series, is what really makes them sing. The collections are diverse in both authorship and content and while most readers won't love every story, there's something for everyone in them--as with most anthologies. They're also loosely organized around a theme, this time it's "Outrageous."

Woohoo! Last month of the year! January's absurdly full of new books, so please consider this month a bit of a breather.

And now, for the books we're looking forward to picking up in December!

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Last year Veronica Scott gave Felicia Davin's Edge of Nowhere a glowing recommendation, so when we heard that the second in the Nowhere series was coming out this December? Yeah, we were interested. *eyeballs emoji*