Veronica Scott shares her top picks for January, with four books to help you start your reading year off right.

The Duke of Ivar cared little about his children’s feelings when he married his mistress shortly after his wife’s death. And in this case, time did nothing to improve their relationship – rather the opposite. The duke’s children now have even more reasons to hate their father. And one of them thinks that the duke should pay for what he’s done. And Alex is sure that the only way to get back at the Duke and the new Duchess is to take what they really care about – their jewels. Which is why he hires jewel thief Jerry Crozier. But to get the jewels, they have to get in his father’s castle. That means Alex has to get back in the good graces of his father which is not easy. It also means Alex and Jerry have to get to know each other so that they can pretend to be friends and give Alex a reason to invite Jerry along. Soon Alexander isn’t so sure if he’s just pretending… but there’s also the issue that not everybody was completely honest and there’s far more at stake than expected.

Sally Thorne's debut hit novel, The Hating Game, was a polarizing book, but I came down on the side of really enjoying it. I liked it enough that I just looked past the issues and enjoyed the ride. That said, 99% Mine is not much like The Hating Game at all. I know that I'm a different reader than I was in 2016, when her first novel came out, so it fits that this book is different than Thorne's last. It's as though the book fits where I am now. Perhaps it'll fit for you, too.

This book came to me via a recommendation by author Cathy Pegau on Twitter and I'm so very happy we were both in the same digital space that day. I adore Hades and Persephone retellings, not only because Demeter/Ceres is my BFF, but also because Hades is the ultimate bad boy. When done properly, retellings make their relationship a forbidden romance rather than a forced abduction and well, I am here for that every day. 

My opinion of Six Weeks with a Lord varied greatly as I read it, and the origin of my issues: the hero.

When my daughter and I sat down to watch the Netflix reboot of the 80's cartoon, She-Ra, I knew it was created by the wonderful Noelle Stevenson (Nimona, Lumberjanes), and I knew she'd drawn her fiancee, Molly Ostertag (The Witch Boy) into "Princess Prom." Oh, and I knew that a bunch of grown men on the internet were annoyed that this version of She-Ra wasn't going to be half naked and drawn for the male gaze. Sold and sold.

In her black leather, heavy lined eyes and dark cloak, Diana, a coyote shifter, exudes confidence and primal energy but there is one human who can fluster her like no other - her ex, Laine. Laine never believed Diana’s reasons for their break up with her and is back to see if Diana is ready to admit they should still be together and put them back on track.

New year, new books! Kick off your 2019 reading with some new romances! 

Silvia Moreno Garcia's The Beautiful Ones is a difficult book to categorize, blending fantasy, historical fiction, and romance into one complicated, character-driven novel. On the whole, I can't say that it made me "happy," but I did enjoy reading it. Fluff this is not.

This is a difficult book to review, because I had two completely different trains of thought going while I was reading. On one hand, it's an over-the-top romantic comedy, with a heroine doing some truly batty things that sound straight out of The CW's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. On the other hand, the book doesn't deal well with mental illness, the reality of stalking, and/or actually building the romance between the two main characters.