RITA Nominees Include...

March has been an excellent month for hot chefs, cowboys, military heroes, beach
front romances and sex club sinners. But wait, there's more! RWA (Romance
Writers of America) has announced its 2013 RITA award finalists and we can't
skip to April without highlighting just a few nominated romance reads sure to
please.

A clear stand out in the contemporary romance category is double nominee Jill Shalvis and her Lucky Harbor series (Grand Central Publishing/Forever). Shalvis is no stranger to the RITAs and neither is her Lucky Harbor series; book #1 SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE won the RITA for best contemporary romance in 2011. This time it's LUCKY IN LOVE (Lucky Harbor #4) and her most recent release FOREVER AND A DAY (Lucky Harbor #6) that have been nominated for the award. Fans of Shalvis point to the humor, the heroes, and the sexual chemistry in this little town by the sea series as reasons to keep coming back for more. In LUCKY IN LOVE (Lucky Harbor #4) Shalvis takes her series and turns the attention away from the three sisters featured in books 1-3 and focuses on three girlfriends and their quest to help one another satisfy their unfulfilled romantic dreams. LUCKY IN LOVE's Mallory Quinn has had enough of playing it safe. As the local good girl, nurse, and devoted daughter she's always taken care of everyone else. But what exactly has that gotten her? Not Mr. Right, that's for sure. So why not gamble on a good time with Mr. Wrong? And who could be more wrong than the mysterious "I'm just passing through" new guy in town, Mr. Ty Garrison? With his lean, hard body and sexy smile Mallory's sure the memories alone will be more than enough to sustain her after he's gone...

Meanwhile Ty can't help desiring things from this seductress-in-training and
entertaining thoughts that he knows he shouldn't, including thoughts about
leaving the military for good. For the first time in his life, he can't bear to
leave. Has Mallory and Ty's sexy fling really become something more? It could in
a town called Lucky Harbor...

This brings us to the second of Shalvis's 2013 RITA nominees for best contemporary romance of 2012, fan favorite FOREVER AND A DAY (Lucky Harbor #6). Why so loved? Shalvis and book #6 of this series are the epitome of what romance readers love, love, love about contemporary romance: it's got an unsuspecting hero, it's funny, sexy and brings the chemistry and sweetness that makes the Lucky Harbor series much loved. Once again, the impossible becomes possible with FOREVER AND A DAY. After all, in Lucky Harbor love can happen in a heartbeat...

Grace never thought she'd be starting her life over from scratch, but losing
everything has her doing a lot of things she never expected, like driving until
she runs out of gas in Lucky Harbor, Washington and working as a dog walker of
all things for overwhelmed ER doctor Josh Scott. But one day when the nanny
fails to show, Grace quickly finds herself going from caring for Josh's lovable
mutt to playing house as nanny to his kids. The plus side? Pretty soon Grace
finds herself seeing a side of the overworked and overwhelmed sexy single dad
she didn't know existed...

Single father Josh has so many people depending upon him he has no time for
anything else beyond the clinic and his kids. That is until sexy-smart Grace
arrives in town. Now this brainy, blonde bombshell is turning his already hectic
life inside out-in a good way. Grace inspires Josh to want more from his daily
grind and has him working to improve his "bedside manner". But can
what they find in each other's arms really last? Good thing that in a town like
Lucky Harbor anything is possible...

Another stand out in the best contemporary romance category is relative newcomer, Ruthie Knox and her stand alone whip-smart, sexy romance with a dash of humor, ABOUT LAST NIGHT. Cath Talarico knows how to make mistakes. Ones you never forget. Mistakes she'll never make again. But just to be safe, she's fled her native Chicago and branded herself with tattoos to remind her. This reformed bad girl knows bad habits are hard to break. But still, she can't help feeling a bit shaken when she wakes up in a strange bed to find her two year abstinence from booze, bad boys and the bad things that happen when she combines the two, has her at a complete loss for what she did last night.

London had provided Good Cath a clean slate and now it seemed the free spirited
troublemaker Bad Mary Catherine had been allowed out to play. Still, she never
expected to find herself waking up with little memory of the night before in the
bed of a man who is a different kind of wrong for a girl like her: too rich, too
classy, too uptight, too perfect in all the ways she's not, no matter how hard
she's tried.

Nev Chamberlain has all the trappings of comfort and the respect that a job in
the city and his family's banking empire bring...and he's trapped and miserable.
Hidden beneath the buttoned up shirts and pinstriped suits is a talented artist
struggling to break free from his family's control.

In ABOUT LAST NIGHT (Random House/Loveswept), blue blood mixes with bad blood and first impressions give way to a man and a woman who are nothing like they seem. Mary Catherine, just way he says her name turns her on, and her secrets unleash the passionate man beneath the banker, but can a couple so clearly wrong for each other make the sacrifices to ever be perfectly right? When Nev's family starts making ultimatums and Cath's dreams of self sufficiency and a successful career are threatened the unlikely couple find themselves playing a game neither expected and has Cath convinced she's headed for her next tattoo...

With a little luck and a whole lot of faith and love, can they make what brought
them together last more than one night at a time to last a lifetime?

And finally there's romantic suspense author Roxanne St. Claire's foray into contemporary romance, making St. Claire a six-time nominee and one time RITA winner. This time it's for her 1st book in the BAREFOOT BAY series (Grand Central Publishing/Forever), BAREFOOT IN THE SAND, a sweet and sexy tale about starting over when life has offered you no choice and a second chance is all you have left...

When a hurricane roars through Barefoot Bay and destroys Lacey Armstrong's home
on the Florida coast, she decides to start fresh and make her own opportunities
in life, starting with opening a new bed and breakfast in Mimosa Key. Lacey and
her teenage daughter are due for a fresh start and nothing, even a significantly
hot, significantly younger architect is going to distract Lacey from finally
making her dreams a reality.

Enter Clay Walker. He may be young, but love has already cost him everything.
And if he's going to have any chance of picking up the pieces of his life, he
needs the job as Lacey Armstrong's architect. What he doesn't plan on is falling
for the headstrong beauty, much to the disapproval of her teenage daughter. But
once she gives in to temptation, Lacey's vision of the future is more appealing
than anything he could have drafted for himself. Will Clay's designs on Lacey's
heart be more than she is willing to handle, or will she offer Clay a second
chance at love and the opportunity to stop keeping secrets and build something
that will last forever?

This is just a sampling of the many award-worthy romances nominated by RWA. Be
sure to check back next week when we feature more of what’s HOT and worth the
read in romance this week.

Tina Peacock is a freelance writer, romance novelist, and long time educator. You can follow her adventures in authorhood on Twitter @book_crack and Facebook.