Contemporary Romance has never been as diverse as it is today. We read stories about love interests from a multitude of backgrounds finding each other amidst real-life struggles. This month’s featured novels reflect such variety.

Cowboy/Medical Romance 

In Cowboy Strong, nurse Acacia Richards moves to San Antonio to take care of her twin brother Bobby, a disabled veteran whose injury in Afghanistan left him a quadriplegic with no memory and the cognitive ability of a four-year-old child. This responsibility caused her fiancé to break up with her weeks before their wedding. Heartbroken, Acacia doesn’t trust her growing feelings for Noah Rowden, her brother’s physical therapist, despite his special treatment of Bobby and his obvious attraction to her. A misunderstanding halts their relationship before it even starts. One crisis after another has Acacia reeling and needing the love and support of the only man she can lean on—Noah. Cowboy Strong is book three of Janalyn Knight’s Howelton Texas Series.

Nobody knows sexy Texas cowboys like Knight. From an early age, she competed in rodeo, later working on a ten-thousand-acre cattle ranch, and these experiences lend an authenticity to her characters and stories. When she’s not writing spicy cowboy romances, she’s living her dream—sharing her twenty-acres of Texas Hill Country with her daughters and their families.

STEM Workplace Romance

What happens when your boyfriend is three-timing you and your breakup goes viral? You become friends with the other women and agree on a pact to swear off men and dating for six months to focus on yourself. This is exactly what Samiah Brooks does in The Boyfriend Project. A Black woman in a male-dominated tech field, she finally has time to develop the app she’s always dreamed of creating. But fate has other plans for her, and she meets sexy Daniel Collins at the IT solutions company in Austin where she works.

On an assignment for the Treasury Department, Daniel has to hide his true identity in order to fulfill his mission. The last thing he should be indulging in is an office romance. But how can he resist when thrown into close proximity with a smart and funny woman like Samiah? He can’t, and neither can she. Now, how to explain the matter of his deception to a woman who has been lied to and still keep her in his life?

The Boyfriend Project is the first book in a new series of the same name by Farrah Rochon. A former Texas resident, USA Today bestselling author Rochon hails from a small town just west of New Orleans. When she is not writing in her favorite coffee shop, Rochon spends most of her time reading, cooking, traveling the world, visiting Walt Disney World, and catching her favorite Broadway shows. An admitted sports fanatic, Rochon feeds her addiction to football by watching New Orleans Saints games on Sunday afternoons.

Age-Gap Romantic Suspense

A seventeen-year age difference shouldn’t be an obstacle when it comes to love. That seems to be the case for Jo Lawson and Kurt Wheeler in their Rush to Love. While home for vacation at her family’s cattle ranch outside a small town in the Texas Panhandle, Jo babysits Kurt’s children, and she and Kurt succumb to their mutual attraction. Soon, their summer fling turns into a long-distance relationship until Kurt abruptly ends it.

Years later, Jo returns home to escape a vicious stalker. With danger following her, she has no choice but to seek out the help of the town sheriff—who happens to be the same man who broke her heart, Kurt. Their chemistry still strong, Jo and Kurt attempt to overcome the odds stacked against them. Rush to Love is book three of Nicole Ann Nielsen’s Texas Solace series.

Nielsen believes in romance, love, and that everyone deserves a happily ever after, and that is what she writes—contemporary romance. She lives in scenic Cape Town, South Africa, and shares her space with her husband, two dogs, and a lone cat, her son and daughter having long flown the parental coop. A much-enjoyed visit to Mott Creek Ranch near the town of Matador, Texas, in Motley County inspired Nielsen to write this Texas-based series.