#naima simone

"If you stop, I'll find a way out of these chains and choke you with them. Put your mouth back on me." —Huntsman by Naima Simone

5 stars

Bookshelf: Back in the Texan’s Bed (Texas Cattleman’s Club: Heir Apparent #1) by Naima Simone

From the publisher: He’s going to claim his child and the woman who got away…from USA TODAY bestselling author Naima Simone.Will they ever learn…that giving in to desire is playing with fire?After discovering he has a secret son, oil heir Ross Edmond isn’t letting Charlotte Jarrett walk away again. He proposes they move in together–to share their son…and a bed. But Charlotte has secrets, and…

Yep! I've (mostly) organized it by author:

Naima Simone: I'm obsessed with literally everything this woman writes, both Harlequin and not Harlequin. Naima writes a lot of fabulous Black heroines (and she writes great body diversity as well) and a decent amount of POC heroes as well. My favorites include . Black Tie Billionaire (Black heroine, Asian hero), Secrets Of A One Night Stand (Black heroine, Pacific Islander hero), and Trust Fund Fiancé (both the hero and heroine are Black). The best thing about Naima's books is just the uniformity in how she writes every body type as attractive and desirable and the sex is very hot. Would absolutely recommend.

Katrina Jackson: I haven't talked about Katrina enough, when she's out here doing the most for mafia romances and spy romances with diverse characters. I could happily read her novella Beautiful & Dirty over and over, but it's a prequel to the mafia series which ends with my favorite, The Don, which has a Black heroine. Katrina also wrote a spy series (The Spies Who Loved Me!) and the first in that series, Pink Slip, has a Black heroine who's lusting over her married bosses (the wife, Monica, is Latina I believe) and surprise, they're both into her too.

Angelina M. Lopez: Angelina writes excellent Latino rep. Her fictional town Freedom, Kansas, which is the setting in multiple stories, has an amazing Mexican-American community she builds on. I'd recommend After Hours on Milagro Street, which has a Mexican-American heroine, as well as her upcoming Full Moon Over Freedom, which is next in the series. The way she melds culture, magic, and romance is gorgeous. Also! Lush Money, which is set within this universe, has a Latina heroine and is very fun and worth reading.

Tara Pammi: If you want to read about Indians in India or Bollywood-centric romances, Tara is the author. I liked Claiming His Bollywood Cinderella and The Secret She Kept in Bollywood (that man is suuuch a DILF he's great).

Jadesola James: I've talked about her before (see here) but Jadesola has written a couple Harlequin Presents stories set in Africa. I'd recommend The Royal Baby He Must Claim and The Princess He Must Marry, which are about sisters who are Nigerian princesses.

Talia Hibbert: The Brown Sisters books are bangers, sexy and emotionally comforting at the same time. I'd recommend all of them: Get a Life, Chloe Brown, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I also love her novella Guarding Temptation, which has both a Black hero and heroine and Wanna Bet? which has a Black heroine and a British-Indian hero (thanks for reminding me @viscountessevie).

Wrong to Need You by Alisha Rai: The hero and heroine are in-laws (well, her husband, his brother, is dead) so the romance was very emotional and slow-burn, but the pay-off was absolutely worth it. The heroine Sadia is Pakistani-American, and the hero Jackson is of Japanese and Hawaiian ancestry. Alisha also delves pretty deep into South Asian family dynamics which hit a liiiittle too close to home, but I can't deny the accuracy.

Reel by Kennedy Ryan: This a romance between an actress and her director (both are Black) and I particularly appreciate the amount of research Kennedy Ryan put into the Harlem Renaissance, Black artists of that era (she created a fictional artist to base the movie off of), as well as their contributions to the Civil Rights movement which I think isn't discussed enough.

Sink or Swim by Tessa Bailey: See here.

I actually had a hard time with this one because there are so many historicals where the marriage is convenient for one party, or like, convenient in that otherwise she'll be "ruined" or she's possibly pregnant. But here are some of the ones where both parties agree to marry without any (or much) external pressure:

Historical:

Convergence of Desire by Felicity Niven: Harry wants to devote her energies to proving Fermat's Theorem (which I now know way too much about) rather than being out in society, and Thomas needs a rich wife, so they decide to marry and Harry even says he can sleep with whoever after they marry..... unfortunately this man is only able to get it up for her soon enough.

Fiona and the Enigmatic Earl by Grace Callaway: Fiona wants to be free to continue her work as a member of an investigative agency, Lady Charlotte's Society of Angels, and Hawk wants to marry but without any emotional entanglements and to continue his spy work, so they agree to a marriage of convenience where neither party will hinder the other.

How the Wallflower was Won by Eva Leigh: After fucking up his sister and best friend's (DOM MFING KILBURN) marriage, Finn needs to marry or he'll be cut off, and Tabitha wants to join an influential intellectual society that only admits married women, and so marriage it is.

The Scot of Mine by Sophie Jordan: Kind of a marriage of convenience? Except the terms aren't laid out super clearly beforehand and Clara's brother does have a hand in the marriage, but this one is too funny to not include. Clara lies about being pregnant to escape marriage to an asshole, but when she's sent to Scotland, she meets Hunt, a laird who has a generational curse on him which means he will die before his heir is born. So Hunt decides to marry her because she's pregnant with someone else's baby so obviously, he won't die!

Except, well, it's a lie, and he finishes inside her multiple times after they're married so........

The Beast of Beswick by Amalie Howard: Astrid proposes marriage to Thane, a scarred misanthrope duke, so that her sister can escape marriage to the man who ruined Astrid's reputation. Thane eventually agrees because he's intensely attracted to her but has no intention of falling in love with her.

The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare: Another scarred duke, this time in want of a wife that won't faint when she sees him so he can begat heirs; Emma is the seamstress who made his former fiancée's wedding dress and shows up for payment, but Ashbury decides she'll do just fine as a wife.

Worth Any Price Lisa Kleypas: The only male virgin in Kleypas-verse (well at least in the beginning), Nick Gentry is tasked with finding Charlotte on behalf of her family and fiancé, but it turns out the fiancé is, among other things, deffo a groomer so he agrees to marry her to protect her.

Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas: You know the deal with this one; St. Vincent needs to marry a rich heiress since he's about to be cut off and his attempted kidnapping of Lillian failed miserably, and Evie needs to escape her abusive relatives, so off to Gretna Green it is.

Contemporary:

Lush Money by Angelina M Lopez: Prince Mateo agrees to marry billionaire Roxanne and have sex with her three nights a month so she can have a kid in exchange for money for his impoverished country. The resentment in this man is real, not that it stops him from calling her mi mujer and jumping her every 10 seconds. Basically, the only wife guy I condone.

Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey: Natalie and August agree to marry so Natalie can access start-up capital and August can improve his shoddy vineyards. I really loved August's (objectively dumb) no-PiV-sex-until-she-won't-regret-it rule because it actually made the wedding night kinda great, and it also drew out tension until they had no choice but to admit their feelings for one another.

The Harlequin fave Jackie Ashenden very helpfully made a page on her website devoted to all her marriage of convenience books, and yes, I recommend all of them.

Crowning His Lost Princess by Caitlin Crews: Warlord touches down in a Kansas (?) field and announces that this farmer gal was switched at birth, is actually a princess, and that they must marry for political reasons.

Trust Fund Fiancé by Naima Simone: Reagan needs access to her inheritance and proposes a marriage of convenience to her friend Zeke in order to gain access. This one is also technically friends-to-lovers but a really well done one.

Sure! This list includes voyeurism that involves the hero and/or the heroine but not necessarily both, and they may be watching other people while getting off on it.

Historical:

The Recruit by Monica McCarty: Mary watches Kenneth have sex with another woman in the stables after wandering in thinking a horse was in distress. Kenneth notices her and puts on a bit of a show.

Her Wanton Wager by Grace Callaway: Percy watches couples getting off through a peephole in Hunt's club, and when Hunt catches her she's sadly contemplating that she'll never be a good girl, but Hunt is like "HELL YEAH YOU AREN'T" and goes to town on her. Truly an affirming scene.

The Duke Who Knew Too Much by Grace Callaway: Ft. some unwitting as well as witting(?) voyeurism; the unwitting bit is when Emma accidentally happens upon some light CNC between the hero Alaric and his mistress at the time; the more purposeful voyeurism is when Alaric kidnaps Emma and takes her to a sex club to observe BDSM scenes to make her understand what he was doing with his mistress and then they make out.

The Prince of Broadway by Joanna Shupe: We love a good peephole scene; this one takes place during a police raid and Clay and Florence are in a tunnel and happen upon a couple having sex through a partition. Flo makes Clay turn around and they both masturbate to it.

The Bride Goes Rogue by Joanna Shupe: Katherine watches Preston masturbate in the French Ball scene, and later on, he watches her masturbate in front of him in a carriage.

His Countess by S.M. LaViolette: Gideon brings two prostitutes to his new estate and the widow of the last earl, Alys, watches them go at it (with snacks) for multiple nights and he is very aware of this and puts on a show.

You'll find voyeurism in most of the books in LaViolette's Victorian Decadence series, but this is the one that stood out to me.

Contemporary:

Praise by Sara Cate: There's a great scene during the opening of the kink club where Charlie and Emerson are in a dark room watching a couple having sex through the window and he fingers her while they watch.

Eyes on Me by Sara Cate: This book is allll about voyeurism; from what I remember, Garrett hasn't had sex in a decade but he has done plenty of watching. The heroine, his stepsister Mia, is a cam girl on not!OnlyFans and he's a regular viewer. Later on, there's plenty of great exhibitionism scenes as well set in the club.

Give Me More by Sara Cate: Hunter's original fantasy is to watch Drake with his wife Isabel, and this does happen a few times initially (in a kink club, and during a "there was only one bed" hotel room sitch).

When Heroes Fall by Giana Darling: There's this really hot scene where Elena watches Dante jerk off through a crack in his bedroom door, and he calls her name out when he orgasms.

The Professional by Kresley Cole: When Sevastyan first breaks into Natalie's home to kidnap her, he watches her masturbate in the bathtub before he drags her out of there lol. Later on when they're in Paris, he routinely watches her masturbate on security cameras and storms home while she's calmly giving a show.

Only For A Night by Naima Simone: Another sex club voyeurism scene; Rion gets Harper off in the voyeurism room in his aphrodisiac club while they watch another couple through the glass.

Neon Gods by Katee Robert: One of the earlier sex scenes involves Hades and Persephone in a shadowy corner of his in-house kink club and getting off while they watch another couple perform a scene.