Today we present not one but TWO exclusive cover reveals for exciting upcoming releases! In Gina Robinson’s Agent Ex novel Live and Let Love, a spy husband makes life tough, especially when he brings his work home with him, while in Elizabeth Essex’s Reckless Brides novel A Breath of Scandal, a naval officer will break all the rules to win his unconventional heroine. We can’t wait!

Here’s a bit more about each:

A Breath of Scandal by Elizabeth Essex (December 26, 2012)

Forced by her family into an engagement with a man she can never abide, Antigone Preston knows only a scandal will save her from a loveless marriage. But knocking a man down to the ballroom floor with her fists brings dangerous consequences. She may have ruined her reputation, but now she’s endangered her heart…

The son of an earl and a career navy man, Captain William Jellicoe has no interest in the frivolities of London—and even less in the institution of marriage. But there’s something steering him toward Antigone. He has never met anyone as brazen and unconventional as…himself. But will he risk it all for a woman who still has the breath of scandal hot on her lips? 

Live and Let Love by Gina Robinson (December 26, 2012)

Willow Pierce loved her husband madly. Even though he was an assassin for National Clandestine Services, the spying arm of the CIA, he was always gentle and loving with her. Since his death at the hands of South American drug lords, Willow has settled down to the quiet suburban life she craved while married to Jack.

Now there’s a man in town who swaggers like Jack, laughs like Jack, and looks like Jack. Is this really her dead husband come back to life and when the spy games come to her front door, can Willow trust anyone?

What do you think, are you feeling the love for these men in uniform? Or, er, out of uniform, as the case may be?

The cover for J.R. Ward’s Rapture, book 4 in the Fallen Angels series, has been released!

Here’s the goodreads description:

After reporter Mels Carmichael hits a disheveled man with her car outside the local cemetery, she pays a visit to the stranger in the hospital. The only thing he remembers of his past is seeing a name written on a headstone: that of Jim Heron—a fallen angel charged with rescuing souls from the seven deadly sins. Now, as Mels struggles to help this mysterious stranger rediscover himself, Heron himself returns to prepare for a battle between good and evil.

This is the first Fallen Angels book to appear in hardcover, and the cover looks a lot different from the first three Fallen Angels’ books, which had various iterations of male chests. Rapture will be out September 25, 2012.

Happy Mother’s Day! To celebrate, we present a roundup of H&H posts dedicated to this most deserved holiday. Whether you’re reading them again or for the first time, we hope you enjoy!

• Converting Your Mom to Romance: A Test Study by Wendy the Super Librarian
• Audioslice: Audiobooks for Mother’s Day by Samantha Beerman
• Not Your Normal Mother’s Day Reads by Aspasia Bissas
• Happy Mother’s Day, Mrs. Bennet: Jane Austen’s Mothers by Myretta Robens
• “My Children Are My Riches”: Mothers from Jo Beverley, Georgette Heyer, and Diane Farr by Janet Webb
• Moms of the Future: Why Are There So Few Moms in Sci-Fi Romance? by Heather Massey

Mother’s Day flowers image by audreyjm529 via Flickr

In honor of both the premiere of USA Network’s new bromantic comedy/procedural Common Law (which replaces In Plain Sight on Friday nights) and the success of the movie Think Like a Man (not to mention that the man is just smokin’ hot) we present to you Michael Ealy as this week’s Friday Beefcake. Enjoy!

[+ 2 more pics under the cut, ’cause who could resist?...]

Today, Gena Showalter unveils the cover for Last Kiss Goodnight, the first book in the Otherworld Assassin series, which itself is a spin-off from the Alien Huntress series. Whew!

Here’s the blurb:

THE SWEETEST TEMPTATION…

Black ops agent Solomon Judah awakens caged and bound in a twisted zoo where otherworlders are the main attraction. Vika Lukas, the owner’s daughter, is tasked with Solo’s care and feeding. The monster inside him yearns to kill her on sight, even though she holds the key to his escape. But the human side of him realizes the beautiful deaf girl is more than she seems—she’s his.

THE ULTIMATE PRICE…

Vika endures the captives’ taunts and loathing, hoping to keep them alive even if she can’t free them. Only, Solo is different—he protects her. But as hostility turns to forbidden romance, his feelings for her will be used against him…and he’ll be put to a life and death test.

Last Kiss Goodnight will be released Nov. 27th.

Nalini Singh has released an excerpt for her next Guild Hunters Novel, Archangel’s Storm, on her website. It opens on the wedding day of Dmitri and Honor, with Raphael’s Seven in attendance:

While the vampire was dressed in a crisp black-on-black suit, his bride wore a gown of deep, vibrant green that caressed and embraced her curves before rippling in a liquid waterfall to the dew-laden grass, the fabric arranged cleverly at her left hip to give the illusion of waves. When her gaze landed on Jason, she smiled and came toward him, halting at the border of the invisible space that separated him from the world, one hand holding the wildflower bouquet Elena had created using the blooms in her greenhouse.

Read the rest at Nalini Singh’s website. Archangel’s Storm will be out on September 4, 2012.

On her website today, Thea Harrison posted an excerpt from Chapter 2 of book 5 in the Elder Races series, Lord’s Fall.

The continuation of Dragos and Pia’s story, which began in Dragon Bound (book 1), Lord’s Fall will be available November 6, 2012.

Get a taste of the sneak peek here and then read the rest at Harrison’s site:

When [Dragos} reached Manhattan, he spiraled down through the frigid air to land in a large, cordoned off area in a parking lot by Four Pennsylvania Plaza. After he shimmered into a shapeshift, he let go of the cloaking spell and strode toward the main entrance of the massive, round Madison Square Garden building. ...

What do you think? Looking forward to more Dragos/Pia?

Sherrilyn Kenyon has just released a brief excerpt of Time Untime, the sixteenth novel in her Dark-Hunter series, on Facebook!

Time Untime isn’t out until August 2, 2012, but here you can meet heroine Kateri now and get a taste of the Dark-Hunter goodness to come:

Kateri Avani jerked in her sleep as her dreams tormented her. No longer a woman full grown, she was again a little girl sitting in her grandmother’s house, playing with the dolls her grandmother had made for her and her cousin Sunshine from the corn that grew in the garden out back. Barely twelve, Kateri brushed her small hand over the black cornsilk hair of the male doll. ...

Read the rest at Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Facebook page!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! In honor of today’s celebration of Mexican culture, Team H&H presents its inaugural edition of Mexican beefcake, in which we celebrate the eye candy that is Mexican hotties—or at least hotties of Mexican descent—like Eduardo Verastegui, Rafael Amaya, Gael Garcia Bernal, Kevin Alejandro, Jay Hernandez, Mario Lopez, and Michael Trevino.

Enjoy, and do let us know who we left out!

[+ more delicious pics under the cut...]

While we’re all recovering from Lothaire and Ellie’s smoking hot story, Kresley Cole has just revealed the cover for the book that launches the new Dacians series, a spin-off from her Immortal After Dark series. 

Shadow’s Claim will be out November 27, 2012, and accompanying the cover reveal on Cole’s Facebook page today is a note that says, in part:

I put in a few cover requests for this one. I wanted to have the hero looking like he’d just returned from punishing the heroine’s enemies, basically a “you mess with her, you’ll see a man get mean” scenario. I requested mud on his grim face, a menacing stare that says “you’re next,” stuff exploding in the background, clothes all ripped up. And the art department delivered! That, my friends, is Trehan Cristian Daciano to a T!

You excited to read how “master assassin” Trehan gets mastered himself? Get on over to Facebook for the full scoop and then let us know what you think!

As you may have heard, a little movie called The Avengers is finally out in U.S. theaters today. Given the amount of beefcake this movie provides, we felt we had no choice but to dedicate this week’s Friday Beefcake to Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye/Clint Barton), Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man/Tony Stark), Chris Evans (Captain America/Steve Rogers), Mark Ruffalo (Hulk/Bruce Banner), Chris Hemsworth (Thor/god of thunder), and—because we love the bad boys too—Tom Hiddleston (Loki/the trickster god).

[+ more Avengers assembled under the cut...]

On her site today, author Jeaniene Frost offers readers another delicious sneak peek at Once Burned, the first book in her new series, Night Prince, set in the Night Huntress universe.

Once Burned, which features firestarter vampire hero Vlad and telepathic human heroine Leila, will be available June 26, 2012.

Get a taste here...

Black pants and an indigo shirt draped over muscles that appeared far harder than a gym membership usually accounted for, and though no flames clung to his hands, they were crisscrossed with scars that looked like former battle wounds. His high cheekbones were accented by stubble somewhere between five o’clock shadow and a beard, yet instead of coming across as unkempt, it was rugged and enticing. I hadn’t seen a man pull off that look so well since Aragorn in Lord of the Rings, and his eyes…

...and then get on over to Frost’s site for the full snippet! (Is it hot in here or what?!)

Out today—along with many, many other books!—is Larissa Ione’s Apocalypse: The Lords of Deliverance Compendium, a guide to her popular Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse series. The compendium includes “character descriptions, key player background information, a handy glossary of terms and special abilities, a Q&A inspired by reader questions, and an all-new, exclusive short story.”

We’re guessing more world-building authors will be offering similar guides; what author would you like to see explain her world more thoroughly in a guidebook?

At the end of last year, we ran our fabulous bloggers’ lists of top reads of the year. Those posts were so fun that we’ve decided to continue, asking our bloggers to share the best thing they’ve read each month (or things, plural, if our bloggers declare a tie ’cause they just can’t choose). It doesn’t have to be a new book, as evidenced below; just something that made the month sparkle just a bit more. So here’s this month’s installment for April 2012 (and if you’ve missed any, be sure to check out the January, February, and March 2012 picks):

Dolly Sickles

Shadows at Midnight by Elizabeth Jennings
Though Shadows at Midnight was published in August 2010, I just pulled it off my bookshelf to read. It’s a fantastic suspense, with a badass US intelligence agent heroine (Claire Day) and a sexy, smitten Marine Sergeant (Dan Watson). The opening scene, a rebel coup at a US Embassy in a fictional West African country, is one of my favorites. It got my heart pumping, and kept it at a rapid pace throughout the whole book. I can’t believe it took me so long to grab it from my TBR pile! So totally worth the read.

[The rest of the best...]

His dreams of winning the European Cup this year may have been dashed after his missed penalty shot this week, but Real Madrid football/soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is still aces in our book. He certainly makes for prime Friday Beefcake, as this Armani photo shoot illustrates beautifully. We’d volunteer to comfort him in a second...

The cover for Megan Mulry’s A Royal Pain, has been unveiled! More details to come, but we’re already intrigued by the tagline: “It’s not easy being common.” Isn’t that the truth...

A Royal Pain, which will be available November 1, is Mulry’s debut novel, but you may already know her work as an H&H blogger.

With Will & Kate’s wedding already a year in the past (!), we’re more than ready for this royal romp.

On Facebook today, the covers for all six (!) installments of Francine Pascal’s upcoming Sweet Valley e-serial, The Sweet Life, were unveiled. The twins have entered their adulthood, and the 21st century: Blogging, marriage, motherhood. Yikes!

Here’s the official description:

Three years after the events of Sweet Valley Confidential, Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield are back in Sweet Valley and inseparable once more. Things are looking up for both twins: Elizabeth is a star reporter at the LA Tribune with a popular blog, and Jessica’s PR career is on the fast-track. But while the professional lives of the Wakefield sisters are secure, their personal lives may be in jeopardy. Jessica, now a mother, finds that managing parenthood, marriage, and a job is harder than she expected, while Elizabeth and Bruce must face a scandal that could strengthen their bond…or tear them apart for ever.

Meanwhile, life goes on in Sweet Valley. Families are made, hearts are broken, and…Lila Fowler is a reality TV star? Some things never change.

The Sweet Life takes Elizabeth and Jessica Wakefield through a new chapter in their well-chronicled and beloved fictional lives. This dramatic first installment and cliff-hanger ending will leave readers breathless for the next episode.

For more about the series (out June 26, 2012) and to see all 6 new covers, check out the Sweet Valley Confidential Facebook page!

And if you feel like a stroll down Sweet Valley High memory lane while you wait for the continuing adventures of Jessica and Elizabeth, H&H blogger Tara Gelsomino’s nostalgic post Wakefield Twin Powers Activate! may be just the thing.

Nalini Singh has succumbed to frantic readers’ demands, and offered a tiny look at her upcoming Tangle of Need, out May 29, 2012. Here’s the first part; head to Nalini’s blog for the rest:

Matthias’s jaw brushed her hair. “No pressure, darling.” They danced in warm silence until Adria caught a scent that made her spine lock—right before Matthias said, “I think someone’s about to steal you away.”

Not wanting to make a scene and mar the celebration, she didn’t protest when Matthias stepped back. “Take care of my girl,” he warned.

Riaz muttered something pithy in Spanish that made Matthias laugh, but all Adria could hear as he took her into his arms was the frantic beat of her pulse, thudding in time to his own. Too fast, both of them, their skin too hot.

Oh, swoon! Nalini Singh has the rest of the peek.

Find your future faves with this delightfully convenient shopping list of romance novels coming out in May. This time around, we’ve divided them up by subgenre to make it easier for those who’ve got a very specific obsession. Don’t forget to take this printable version with you when it’s time to shop!

Heroes and Heartbreakers’s May Shopping List
Paranormal/Urban Fantasy/SFR

[What’s on your must-buy list this month?...]