Arm Candy

Jessica Lemmon writes the kind of contemporary romance that you can pick up on a Friday night and finish before the weekend is over. Arm Candy fits squarely into the bantering, accidentally falling in love subgenre that her readers know her for. The setup hints at a fake relationship or a marriage of convenience situation, where the heroine needs an escort and the hero ends up being more than she bargained for. Lemmon has used variations on this premise across her catalogue and she handles the trope with the kind of practiced confidence that makes the familiar beats feel fresh.

The heroines in Lemmon’s books tend to have specific reasons for the situations they end up in. They are not just bumbling into the plot, they have made a choice that turned out to be more complicated than they expected, and the romance grows out of how they deal with the fallout. The heroes are usually competent men who notice things other people miss, and the slow burn of attraction underneath the surface conflict is what carries the middle of each novel.

Lemmon’s prose is light and quick. She does not linger on description or interior monologue when dialogue and action will move the story faster. The heat level in her books is consistent, warm without being extreme, and her endings tend to feel earned rather than rushed.

Readers who enjoy Lauren Layne, Christina Lauren, Helena Hunting, or Tessa Bailey will recognize the territory. Lemmon’s standalones can be picked up in any order, which is part of why her audience has grown steadily. Arm Candy is a comfortable entry point and a fair sample of what she does best.