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18 Highly Anticipated Romances of 2026
Looking for the best romance books to add to your 2026 TBR? These are some of the most highly anticipated romance releases of 2026, and I’m already excited for them. I always look forward to cozy, feel-good romances, whether it’s small-town romances, enemies-to-lovers, steamy romances or even romance audiobooks I can’t stop listening to. If you love heartwarming love stories that make you smile and stay up late reading, these upcoming romance books are definitely ones to looking for in 2026.
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Fever Dream by Elsie Silver
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Elsie Silver comes a small-town, forbidden, rivals-to-lovers romance, the first book in the brand-new Western romance series Emerald Lake.
Professional bull rider Emmett Bush is not looking for love. He’s looking for a paycheck to save his family’s farm from bankruptcy. So, when he agrees to be the leading man on a hot new reality dating show, Romance Ranch, he’s already decided it’s all one big performance.
Until Julia Silva walks onto his property. Smart, snarky, beautiful, and off-limits in more ways than one. As the location consultant on set and the little sister of his most bitter professional rival, she’s the last woman who should pique his interest.
Julia has been warned about Emmett. She knows better than to fall for his cocky swagger, broad shoulders, and smoldering good looks. Plus, she’s sworn off relationships.
But as Julia and Emmett work together, mutual distaste grows into an unexpected connection and then… something more.
Soon, they find themselves searching for excuses to spend time together and out of reach of the cameras. Knowing glances. Stolen kisses. Secret rendezvous.
Still, Emmett signed up to play the role of an eligible bachelor searching for the one. His family’s land and legacy depend on him completing the show.
The problem is, he’s already fallen in love.
Just not with a contestant.
And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison
Two competing meteorologists are forced to find common ground in this opposites attract, When Harry Met Sally inspired romance, from New York Times bestselling author B.K. Borison.
Jackson Clark and Delilah Stewart have had their fair share of run-ins over the years, often ending in disaster. While Jackson thrives on routine and organization from the comfort of his radio booth, Delilah loves the spontaneity and adventure out in the field. When they’re partnered against their will to cover the snowstorm of the century, they find themselves scrambling to figure out how to work together.
Eager to be taken seriously as a journalist, Delilah offers Jackson a deal. If he can help her ace this assignment, she’ll help him rediscover his long-lost fun side. With an undiscovered chemistry burning beneath their clashes, the unlikely partnership quickly tumbles into an easy and surprising friendship.
But when other feelings start to enter the equation, can Jackson and Delilah withstand the storm? Or does what happens in the mountains, stay in the mountains?
The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Say You’ll Remember Me comes a beautiful, compelling novel that revels in laughter, friendship, and the messy choices life can throw our way.
In everyone’s life, there’s a split-second decision that can change everything…
For Larissa, it came when choosing which guy to ride home with after a concert. That night, she had no idea she’d met the perfect man. She and Chris are great together, co-parenting a slightly unhinged rescue Yorkie, sharing their favorite books, and judging bread (pumpernickel for the win!). For the first time amid all her side hustles to scrape by, things finally feel easy.
But Chris isn’t the one who drove Larissa home all those months ago—Chris is her boyfriend’s best friend. All Chris wants is for Larissa to be happy. Standing by on the sidelines is slowly killing him, but making a move would destroy someone else. And he’s just not that guy.
In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde
As the first female team owner in Major League Baseball, Reese Remington has spent her entire life preparing for this role. With a sharp mind and years of experience working behind the scenes, she’s more than qualified. But the public only sees a woman in a man’s world — not the person who’s earned their place on the field. Under constant scrutiny and pressure to prove herself, Reese can’t afford distractions.
Especially one that comes in the form of the team’s tempting field manager who questions her every decision.
Emmett Montgomery is a former All-Star turned coach who treats his players like family and the field like home. After years of running the team his way, the last thing he wants is a new boss, let alone one who seems ice-cold and laser-focused on business. But forced to spend long hours – and too many away games – side by side, he begins to see the fire beneath Reese’s control, the heart behind her ambition, and the unwavering determination to prove herself.
When heated banter turns into sizzling chemistry, professional boundaries blur and the spark between them becomes impossible to resist. But Reese is constantly reminded of how many people are waiting for her to fail, and the safest move is to keep Emmett at arm’s length – for the sake of the team, the season, and her career.
But keeping their distance is one game neither of them can seem to win.
Lost and Found by Tarah DeWitt
A stunning novel of romance and redemption set in the Spunes, OR world, filled with heartbreak and hope from “master of emotion” (Rachel Lynn Solomon) USA Today bestselling author Tarah DeWitt.
Bea always wanted to be a mom, but she never expected she’d have to lose her best friend to do it. Armed with nothing but her best friend’s eggs and a bucket list to complete, Bea’s world is a sea of changes.
When Silas steps in to give her a place to live when she needs it, Bea is half-relieved she has a longtime friend in her corner. A firefighter living in the wake of an accident, Silas has his own challenges to work through that have left him cautious and vulnerable in equal measure. At first, they expect nothing. But as these two former sunshines knit together in a love that has been unfulfilled till now, a new beginning comes out of the ashes of the past. One that will lead to a love that can withstand all the slings and arrows, joys and triumphs, that life can throw.
Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune
Best friends have one week in paradise to fix their friendship or fall apart in this heart-stopping, utterly romantic new novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Every Summer After and One Golden Summer.
Frankie and George have been best friends since they were eight years old. Both passionate, impulsive, and headstrong—they’ve always clashed . . . and come back together. Until now. It’s the eve of Frankie’s wedding weekend, and she doesn’t know where they stand or even if George will show up as her best man.
Then, at the start of the festivities, in walks George. For one glorious evening, surrounded by her loved ones, Frankie’s life is finally perfect. But it all comes crashing down when her fiancé dumps her the next morning, leaving only a note as an explanation.
Crushed and confused, Frankie returns to her family’s home to wallow. But George has a different idea and a plan for healing Frankie’s broken heart. He wants her to go on her honeymoon. With him. For one week, to the lush rainforests and misty beaches of Tofino.
Frankie agrees, seeing the trip for what it really is: one last chance to repair their friendship. Even if it means unearthing secrets and long buried feelings neither knows how to handle. Even if it means falling apart for good.
No Matter What by Cara Bastone
After a traumatic accident threatens the foundations of their happy marriage, a young couple tries to rebuild and find their way back to each other, and themselves, in this tender, slow-burn romance by the author of Ready or Not and Promise Me Sunshine.
Roz and Vin can’t look each other in the eyes anymore, let alone share a bed. It’s been a year since they survived a traumatic car accident and their marriage hasn’t been the same. But Roz has held out hope they can fix things…until she discovers Vin signed a new lease. So she does what any soon-to-be-divorced-Brooklynite would sign up for figure drawing class.
Between her determined attempts to improve her skills in class every Friday and adventures with her best friend Raffi, she can almost ignore Vin’s impending move out date and his footsteps in their previously unoccupied guest room. But it would all be a lot easier if Vin wasn’t Raffi’s older brother, and she didn’t still find him incredibly, debilitatingly attractive and kind.
So kind, in fact, that he offers to let Roz draw him. What is she supposed to say? It’s probably better than her original plan of finding some random male model online, and she needs all the practice she can get. Plus, that’s sure to make a separation easier right? Focus on every detail of your estranged spouse’s body while drawing them in the nude. But after the year they have spent avoiding each other and their struggles in the aftermath of the accident, it feels good to see and be seen by one another again.
As Roz works to better herself as an artist and capture the wholeness of the person she fell in love with, will they both be able to draw upon the feelings they buried deep inside to finally heal together?
Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong
When a fierce rivalry between two professional wrestlers grows increasingly heated, neither man can fight the attraction burning between them, in this dazzling debut romance.
From dramatic character gimmicks to death-defying stunts, everything in the world of professional wrestling is an act. Asher Ross’s hatred for Caleb Knight, however, is not. When Asher gets drafted to Global Elite Wrestling’s main roster, playing the role of Caleb’s worst enemy—the face to his heel—should be easy. Stripping him of his World Championship title should be even easier. But as the two men trade barbs and blows across arenas, they’re each surprised to find their chemistry is so sizzling, it can’t just be for the cameras.
Through training sessions, rehearsals, and injuries, Caleb’s icy demeanor melts away, and Asher begins to see the real man behind the cruel persona GEW has molded Caleb into. An unlikely truce evolves into feelings neither want to deny, but the company won’t let them be seen as anything other than bitter rivals, both in and out of the ring.
As Asher and Caleb grapple with what they truly want in an industry with a history of denying queerness, their forbidden romance comes crashing down on them, and both men are forced to decide if their relationship is real enough to last, and just how much they’re willing to fight for it.
Racing Hearts by Ann Adams
When a competitive rower’s losing streak threatens her Olympic dreams, she must train for the summer with a hometown coach to win it all back in this irresistible opposites-attract romance.
Katherine Parker doesn’t just dream of rowing in the Olympics. She has a carefully crafted plan. With a strict training schedule, a meticulous diet, and no one else in her boat to slow her down, she’s as good as gold.
Then her boyfriend breaks up with her at the starting line of a big race and Kath comes in dead last. She’s swiftly kicked off the team and out of the Olympic Training Center—the only place she’s ever felt at home.
With one shot to win back her spot, Kath returns to her hometown to train with a new coach. The upside? Coach Adrian is hot. The downside? Instead of letting Kath follow her own training regimen, Adrian pushes her outside her comfort zone, urging her to try new things and let go of control.
With her Olympic dreams on the line, Kath will have to choose: stick to her perfect plan, or find out if the key to winning—and happiness—is to embrace the part of rowing that makes it fun, one sweaty, sexy training session at a time.
Happy Ending by Chloe Liese
From USA TODAY bestselling author Chloe Liese, a clever and heartwarming rom-com that is perfect for fans of Christina Lauren and Annabel Monaghan about two best friends who must fake a relationship for their exes.
Thea and Alex have three things in common—they love food, they hate where they live, and they’re both divorced. Otherwise, they couldn’t be more different.
Thea’s never cooked a day in her life. Alex is a world-class chef. Alex resents feeling stuck in his hometown. Thea resents the town for not feeling more like home. Thea and her ex are in a contentious custody battle for their dog. Alex and his ex amicably coparent their daughter. Beyond a few friends in common, a couple small-world connections (welcome to life in a mid-size city), their lives look nothing alike. Fast forward two years, and they’re truly the best of friends. No one would ever know their friendship began as a lie…
Two years ago, their exes got together immediately following their divorces, and somehow, Thea and Alex found themselves spinning a spite-fueled story about being old friends and first loves. Two years later, what began as a ruse has grown into real friendship—just friendship, despite what friends and family seem to think. But when their exes invite them on a two-week, “two family” beach vacation—daughter and dog included—Alex and Thea start to wonder if this story they’ve spun might have gotten away from them, and if it’s led them to the last place they ever thought it could: a happy ending.
Extracurricular by Rachel Lynn Solomon
When a former pop star enrolls in college, the last thing she expects is A-plus chemistry with her psychology professor in this sexy and tender romance from New York Times bestselling author Rachel Lynn Solomon.
Ramona Wilder has spent her whole life in the spotlight. After a hit kids’ TV show, she transitioned into music, singing in arenas around the world and becoming an icon for millions of teenage girls. Now at age twenty-six, exhausted by the inhumane lack of privacy, she’s done—with all of it. She wants a chance at normal, whatever that might mean for her. And she’s starting with college.
Professor Nick Navarro is recently divorced but determinedly optimistic, allowing himself a very reasonable ten minutes per day to wallow. When his department calls a meeting about a celebrity enrollment, he plans to treat whoever it is like any other student. Except when Ramona blazes into class and causes an uproar, the typically easygoing professor is rattled, maybe for the first time in his career.
Ramona loves the way she flusters him, taking every opportunity to push Nick’s buttons, though what she really wants is to unbutton them completely. When a crisis brings them closer outside of class, they begin a tentative friendship amid an undeniable attraction. But Ramona can’t be so easily finished with her old life, and they’ll both have to confront their pasts if they want a chance at something real.
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
The new head gardener at the enchanting Lilymoor House stumbles upon a secret garden . . . with a mysterious man trapped inside, in the next magical novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Sounds Like Love and The Seven Year Slip.
When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.
But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.
And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.
This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.
Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.
Across the Vanishing Sky by Catherine Cowles
He spent a lifetime trying to escape his dark past…but to save her, he’ll wade back into the shadows.
Braedyn Winslow never expected to return to Starlight Grove—the town that took everything from her. Not after her best friend, the one who’d sacrificed so much for her, vanished without a trace. But with a young son to raise and a past that won’t stay buried, Brae is back…and determined to uncover the truth.
She just didn’t count on the brooding, reclusive mountain man living next door.
Dex Archer is the stuff of local legend—silent, rugged, and surrounded by whispers of his and his brothers’ violent father. But Brae sees through the scowl and his parentage to the man beneath: fiercely loyal, unexpectedly kind…and just dangerous enough to protect her when someone starts warning her off her search.
The closer she gets to the truth, the harder it is to stay away from Dex. And as things get more perilous, Brae realizes the only person she can rely on is the one man who swore never to trust again.
Only someone isn’t happy that Brae has been digging, and they’ll do anything to stop her. But Dex? He’ll do anything to save her, even slip back into the dark
Just Friends by Haley Pham
This heartwarming and swoon-worthy second chance romance about childhood friends reconnecting as adults is the highly anticipated debut novel from BookTok icon Haley Pham.
Blair and Declan were inseparable growing up—best friends who knew each other better than anyone else. But when an impulsive kiss took them from friends to something more, everything changed. Just as quickly as their romance started, one moment shattered it all, leaving them with nothing but heartbreak and silence.
Now, four years later, Blair is back in their coastal hometown of Seabrook to support her mom and care for her great-aunt Lottie as her health declines. To make ends meet, Blair applies to work at a coffee shop—only to discover it’s managed by none other than Declan. The boy she loved. The boy she lost. The boy who still makes her heart race.
As Blair’s path keeps crossing with Declan’s, old wounds resurface, secrets are revealed, and sparks reignite. But could their future ever be free of their past?
Told in dual timelines that unravel the magic and pain of first love, Just Friends is a moving, romantic story about second chances, the weight of dreams, and finding your way back to the people who feel like home.
The Odds of You by Kate Dramis
Sage Collins knows a thing or two about odds. A year ago, she was a data analyst until she burned it all down to pursue her dream of becoming an author. One whirlwind bestseller and a struggling second book later, and Sage isn’t sure she’ll ever write a novel again.
But then an accidental encounter with an irritating passenger on the flight to Comic Con leaves Sage in an untested position. That passenger is Theo Sharpe: a breakout actor on the cusp of fame. And, unfortunately, the paparazzi have mistaken her for his girlfriend.
Armed with signature British charm and a smile that could tame oceans, Theo wears fame like a well-fit coat…though Sage can see there’s something deeper held in his eyes. But his fans are too involved in the drama, the pressure to deliver the next bestseller is on, and Sage and Theo both must agree there’s nothing between them. They don’t have to acknowledge that saying it doesn’t make it true.
When Sage decides to flee to Scotland to clear her head and write her novel, she expects to find fresh air and the stillness to think. What she doesn’t expect is Theo Sharpe to come back into her life…and how he may be her greatest miscalculation of all.
An emotionally-charged novel in the vein of Ashley Poston and Yulin Kuang, The Odds of You is a smart and sexy first contemporary novel from bestselling romantasy author Kate Dramis.
Dolly All the Time by Annabel Monaghan
If they begin by pretending, can they end with something real?
Dolly Brick has never met a problem she couldn’t solve. Not when her mom left when she was twelve, and not at thirty-nine when she moves with her son back to Whitfield, Rhode Island for the summer to keep her dad and brother from losing the family home.
So when she comes across Stewart Whitfield—annoyingly handsome scion of the Whitfield family—with a flat tire and at the wrong end of a very public, very humiliating breakup, it’s in her nature to help. But Stewart’s proposed arrangement ends up being more than either of them bargained for, because as public dinners and high society benefits turn into sunset boat rides and swinging on the porch, Dolly starts to feel something more than helpful. She’s never relied on anyone besides herself, can she really start now?
The Shippers by Katherine Center
One of the hottest, fastest-rising rom-com stars delivers her latest swoon-worthy novel about a destination wedding on a cruise ship.
After a whole lifetime of being bad at love, JoJo Burton decides to solve her intimacy issues once and for all at her sister’s destination wedding on a cruise ship. With the help of a little pop psychology, she diagnoses herself with a fixation on the neighborhood guy who was her her first crush and first kiss (and who just happens to be a newly-divorced wedding guest ), and she decides to woo him during the cruise for some long-delayed closure. Only problem is, her sister’s a little busy being a bride at the moment—so JoJo ropes in her childhood bestie, Cooper Watts, to be her wing man. Cooper: who RSVPed no, but then showed up, anyway. Cooper: who left town without a word four years earlier and moved to London. Cooper: who was, if she’s honest, the worst heartbreak of JoJo’s life. It’s bliss for her to see him again, and it’s agony, too—and the more they team up for Project Conquest, the more she obsesses over questions she can’t bring herself to ask.
Shipboard antics ensue in this witty, heart-tugging, childhood-friends-to-lovers romance—as JoJo and Cooper fake flirt, slow dance, share a cabin, sing duets, treat sunburns, get jealous, rescue each other over and over, and finally, at last, figure it all out in the most blissful, swoony, romantic way.
No one does summer romance quite like Katherine Center. THE SHIPPERS will take readers on the cruise of a lifetime in a story awash with romantic longing, top-notch banter, long-held secrets . . . and true love rediscovered.
The Missed Connection by Tia Williams
New York Times bestselling author Tia Williams returns with an intensely romantic, deliciously sexy tale about a woman searching for her handsome seatmate on a European flight—and the unexpected places her hunt for love leads her.
Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she’s always casting — at happy hour, the post office, the grocery store, everywhere. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn’t do, however, are relationships. Too much energy, not enough time. Men find her intimidating, and she likes it that way.
But when Sasha’s seated next to a mysterious, broodingly handsome Italian man on the way to a work trip in Paris, sparks fly – but they miss the chance to exchange contact information. Now, convinced that she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha is on a manhunt to find Seat F.
Sasha enlists her work friend for help in the search, but when she accidentally emails the entire global company, colleagues around the world begin looking for Seat F, too – with some finding love along the way. Meanwhile, Sasha takes matters into her own hands, hiring a smoldering detective who complicates matters in unforeseen ways.
More 2026 Book Releases
17 Most Anticipated Books Of 2026
17 Most Anticipated Historical Fiction Books of 2026
19 New Thriller Books Coming In 2026
Stephy George
