As someone who has loved (and been deeply hurt by) a combat veteran with PTSD, Sheridan's words and actions struck such a cord with me that I went through a box of Kleenex in the span of hours. It's got a bit of the problematic old-school romance stuff going on (hero is cruel to heroine, racist portrayals of Arabs) but it is actually much more complex than that stuff usually is. I picked this up for the chubby, inscure heroine, and ended up reading all 453 pages straight. Sheridan and Olympia are some of the most complex characters with the most dramatic story arcs I've encountered in a romance novel. Set in Georgian England, Seize the Fire is another exciting tale from the author of For My Lady’s Heart, whose work has been praised by Julia Quinn as “unfailingly brilliant and beautiful.”

And though Olympia is impossibly naive, for reasons he can’t fathom, she touches him in some obscure, half-forgotten place, until the thought of losing her becomes even more impossible. But Olympia, who comes to him with plump cheeks and eyes full of expectation, has money, something of which he is in great need. Sheridan has no patience for hero worshipers war is a game of survival, not gallant deeds. Except she cannot seem to get his deep, stirring gaze out of her head. In fact, nothing would make her happier than to forget him. Easily frightened, she is vastly relieved to have Captain Drake’s help-until she discovers he’s a scoundrel without a drop of honor in his body. Leger appoints the most celebrated man in England to escort her: recently retired war hero Capt. Summoned to rule the tiny nation of Oriens, Princess Olympia St. A scoundrel is transformed by the love of an innocent princess in this historical romance by the New York Times–bestselling author of Flowers from the Storm.

Seize the Fire by Laura Kinsale