Meet-cutes, threesomes, and kink: oh my!

Plus: This month's new paperbacks

Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize–winning The Nickel Boys, Jia Tolentino's best-selling essay collection — these are just a few of the great books out in paperback this month. Getting steamy for sex week 16 Romance Novels That Are Explicitly, Scorchingly, Don't-Read-In-Public Sexy 15 Audiobooks That Are So Sexy They'll Make You Lose Track Of Time And Reality On "classic" lit This Artist Condenses Classic Books Into Very Funny Comic Strips How Much Random Classic Literature Knowledge Have You Obtained? Fun & Quizzes 34 Indian Bookstagrammers You Need To Follow On Instagram Right Now This Is Exactly What It Was Like To Grow Up With "The Baby-Sitters Club" For your reading list Credit: Berkley / Andrea Scher Party of Two by Jasmine Guillory No one writes a rom-com like Jasmine Guillory, and her latest, Party of Two, may be her best yet. As fans already know, Guillory's books all exist in the same universe of characters, and all the protagonists are Black women. Party of Two focuses on Olivia, who you might remember as Alexa's older sister in The Wedding Date.  Olivia, a hardworking lawyer in her late 30s, moves from New York to LA to start her own firm, briefly living in a hotel. At the hotel bar one night, she winds up bantering over dessert with a sexy stranger — who, when she returns to her room and switches on the TV, she discovers is none other than Senator Max Powell. Olivia laughs it off, but when their paths cross again weeks later, Max makes it clear he's interested, even sending her a cake to make his point. With a new law firm and city to get used to, Olivia doesn't see a new relationship — much less one with a young hotshot politician — fitting into her plans. But despite all their differences — Olivia is Type-A and looks before she leaps, and Max is spontaneous and impulsive — there's something undeniable between them, and soon they're seeing each other in secret. When they decide to take their relationship public, the two must navigate the media attention that comes with it, much of which is racist and sexist. Olivia loves Max, but she has to decide — is that enough to make life in the spotlight worth it? Party of Two is as politically timely as it is charming. Olivia and Max are both such well-developed characters,  you can't help but root for the way they root for each other and their chemistry is off the charts. Just make sure you have some sweet snacks nearby while reading this, because Guillory's descriptions of food in nearly every scene are mouthwatering. Especially those cakes. Get your copy. —Julia Reinstein  More From BuzzFeed 24 Brutally Funny Moms Whose Tweets Literally Made My Sides Hurt If Disney Princesses Were Viral TikTok Influencers If You Can Pass This Random Knowledge, You Know Too Much 27 Platonic Ships On TV Shows That People Think Are Way Better Than The Romantic Ships     Do you know someone who would love the Books newsletter? Tell them to sign up here!   Got any feedback for us about the newsletter? Respond to this email; we'd love to hear what you want more (or less) of!  BuzzFeed, Inc. 111 E. 18th St. New York, NY 10003 We hope you love the products we recommend! Just so you know, BuzzFeed may collect a small share of sales from the links in this email. View our privacy notice and cookie policy Unsubscribe