6 steamy romance reads to heat up your summer

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Romance readers know the first rule of Romance Club: You always get a happily ever after.Even if you’re abducted by aliens, being wooed by a succubus, or trying to be the best fake girlfriend you can to a cookie empire heir, there’s real comfort in knowing the author will stick the landing.

And when it comes to summer reads, that kind of certainty hits different.So whether this is your first time at Romance Club or your bazillionth visit, consider this your invitation to escape.If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.The Open Era By Edward SchmitBerkley(June 2)“Heated Rivalry” has broken my brain.

I’m not a sports-ball person.And yet, gentle readers, I am seeking out sports romance novels.

Enter “The Open Era” — about Austin and Diego, respectively — which has now made me care about tennis.This is a beautiful romance, full of longing, heat and athletic men doing athlete things (training, competing, spiraling over rituals that may or may not matter).

Schmit skillfully weaves in mental health and the quiet, complicated calculus of coming out in a hyper-public sport.Can I tell you what “love” means in tennis? Absolutely not.

Can I tell you Austin and Diego’s journey had me tearing up? Also yes.Consider this your open invitation.The Missed Connection By Tia WilliamsGrand Central Publishing(June 9)How far would you go to find a hot Italian stranger? As it turns out, Sasha Cruz — a casting director with questionable impulse control (said with love) — will go pretty far! Starting with accidentally sending a company-wide email that launches a deeply public search, and ending with hiring Wes, a former detective with whom she has a … complicated* history (*lightly sexual and deeply unresolved).

In “The Missed Connection,” Williams balances fun and messy chaos wi...