Here’s your weekly round-up of brand new, progressive-leaning romances that you may not have seen on your Instagram feed. If I’ve omitted a title you feel passionate about and think this community will enjoy, please do share it in the comments. Reminder that I haven't read any of these titles yet, so this isn't an official endorsement unless noted. Click through to read the post on Bindery for my full commentary.

Sunflower Season by Danica Nava (Berkley) — We stan Danica Nava!!! Her third romance is out just in time for Native American Heritage Month. What happens when a burned-out tech employee fantasizes about homesteading and buys a crumbling sunflower farm in her rural Oklahoma hometown? Who could predict that her ex-boyfriend never left and still wants to know what went wrong between them? I am tearing into Sunflower Season as soon as my pre-order arrives today.

Cut to the Ending by Maria Millage (Little, Brown & Co) —  Aspiring screenwriter Delaney gets the opportunity to write the finale of a massive fantasy franchise. But there’s a catch… she’s never seen it. Enter Max, an anxious assistant in search of his big break who knows the canon of the franchise back and forth. Friend of the pod Mallory Marlowe wrote in her blurb, “The deft knowledge of the entertainment industry make this book a masterclass in Hollywood romances. Maria Millage is about to become a shining star of her own in this genre!”

Sold to the Werewolf Highwaymen by Eva Leigh (Indie) — The third novella in Eva’s paranormal why choose erotic romance series! Eva is pumping these out and we thank her for it.

Happily Ever After the Murders by Rae Wilde (Legacy Lit) — More of a thriller than a romance, but we’ve got late-in-life lesbians on the run after committing a murder. Golden Girls meets Thelma and Louise but confirmed queer.

The Trial of Magdalena Overmorrow by Caitríona Moran (G.P. Putnam's Sons) — This enemies-to-lovers romantasy caught my eye because the heroine is an abortionist accused of being a witch. Interesting to me that we're finally getting the abortion stories folks expected after the fall of Roe v. Wade and they're mostly in genres removed from our reality (i.e. speculative sci-fi Buzzard by Inez Ray, historical romance A Tropical Rebel Gets the Duke by Adriana Herrera).

The Other Side of Starting Over by Mara Williams (Lake Union Publishing) — A tearjerker about a widow still learning her late husband’s secrets as she parents their teenagers alone… and falls for the gruff manager of her parents’ antique store.

Final Cut by Amy James (indie) — This M/M Formula 1 romance is the next in the Crash Test series. I have mad respect for Amy for self-publishing more books in this world after Avon didn’t pick them up. It rocks seeing traditionally published authors be so transparent about going indie.

Are You Staying, Mandy Boyle? by Melanie Moore (Blackstone Publishing) — I am always going to root for a contemporary romance about local journalism.