If this year’s list of most anticipated romance novels were a season of The Bachelor, I’d have to withhold so many roses from so many promising books I want to get to know more, because there’s room for only a handful. But that means what I’ve narrowed down are the dozen-or-so contemporary romances that seem the most likely to break our hearts and put them back together again. As delighted as I am to see new books from my personal favorite authors (Emily Henry, Kate Clayborn, Jen DeLuca), there are so many excellent debuts from the likes of Yulin Kuang, Ella Dawson, and KT Hoffman. And do we spy a new Casey McQuiston?!
If your turn-ons are more about tropes and characters, let me tease you with the lovers and pairings you’ll meet this year: super-spies, hockey stars, sommeliers and pastry chefs, astronauts, wedding objectors, TV writers, true-crime producers… and at least one ghost wingman to help things along.
The Spy and I by Tiana Smith
Release Date: February 13 from Berkley Books
Valentine’s this year seems ripe for spy romances, from the TV adaptation of Mr. & Mrs. Smith to this delightful-sounding mistaken-identity romp. Despite having a high-security job, cyber security analyst Dove Barkley does not work for the CIA. You know who apparently does? Her sister, in whose place she gets recruited for a secret mission (impossible) that’s a lot more dangerous than her daily life. She’ll have her sister’s partner Mendez to help, but Dove is torn between a growing attraction to the mysterious man and the suspicion that he’s keeping some secrets of his own.
At Her Service by Amy Spalding
Release Date: February 20 from Kensington Books
Last year’s For Her Consideration won me over to Hollywood romance, so it’s exciting to see Amy Spalding expanding her sapphic L.A. universe with this sequel.
Max Van Doren, the chirpy assistant from the first book, feels like she’s not good enough for either a promotion to junior agent nor the attention of cute bartender Sadie. But when she impulsively signs up as the test subject for her roommate’s self-actualization app, Max puts her every decision in the hands of her new followers. And at first it seems to be paying off, especially where Sadie is concerned… until Max wonders if this is her best self or someone else’s impossible ideal.
Happily Never After by Lynn Painter
Release Date: March 12 from Berkley Books
Every year we need at least one rom-com critiquing the wedding industrial complex; this year it’s a riff on Wedding Crashers, as a pair of “professional” wedding objectors sabotage the vows of brides and grooms with cold feet.
Sophie Steinbeck falls into the gig thanks to a serial cheater fiancé and the perfectly-timed interjection of Max The Objector. But as she picks up the pieces of her heart and joins Max in his strange calling, they also become friends with benefits, even as their wedding crashing brings them closer. And we know I can’t resist a “bed first, feelings later” love story. As Sophie’s feelings get stronger, and they face down Max’s ex’s nuptials, will she speak now, or forever hold her peace?
Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
Release Date: March 19 from Atria Books
I love me a high-concept romance premise, and Rebecca Serle’s (In Five Years) latest is it: For the past twenty years of her dating life, Daphne has received slips of paper with names and expiration dates on them. That means she goes into every fling and long-term relationship knowing exactly when it will end, whether in a matter of weeks or years. Finally, on a blind date with Jake, there’s no expiration date… but Daphne does know something he doesn’t, that will challenge whether he could actually be her soulmate.
It’s giving the Black Mirror episode “Hang the DJ” (hopefully with the same heartbreaking scene when one of the lovers cheats and looks at their expiration date), as well as the speculative indie romance TiMER (which has its own heart-stopping moment of two soulmates discovering one another by surprise). I’m curious to see how Serle fulfills her own setup and how it leads to a happily ever after.
The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn
Release Date: March 26 from Kensington Books
I love watching an author challenge themselves, which is exactly what Kate Clayborn is doing with her latest romance—or rather, it’s a true-crime-inspired road-trip story about sisters joining up with podcast producers to track down their long-disappeared mother and the infamous con artist she ran away with. But hairstylist Jess Greene and her half-sister Tegan struggle to push past their shared scars of familial trauma enough to actually talk about their mom, let alone trust podcast host Salem Durant and her kindhearted producer Adam Hawkins enough to let them document this fraught family reunion.
And that’s where Clayborn weaves in her signature love story, with flesh-and-blood characters whose respective baggage is not merely convenient to the plot, but which actually gives them relatable desires (beyond kissing each other) and realistic obstacles to being together.
How to End a Love Story by Yulin Kuang
Release Date: April 9 from Avon
Many romance readers may know Yulin Kuang as the screenwriter adapting Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation and Beach Read (and directing the latter), but I’ve been aware of Kuang since I Ship It, her short-lived TV series about bandmates who write songs about fandom culture. I leapt at the chance to read the ARC for her contemporary romance debut, based upon perhaps the darkest foundation for a love story: Helen Zhang lost her sister Michelle to suicide when they were teenagers, when Michelle ran in front of the car of homecoming king Grant Shephard.
Thirteen years later, Helen is a bestselling author of a dark academia series, and she’s nabbed herself a spot in the writers’ room of the forthcoming TV adaptation. The only problem is, one of her new coworkers is Grant himself, who is the definition of “good in a room”: annoyingly affable and a brilliant writer. As Helen and Grant work through their awful history to try and collaborate on something new, they are drawn to each other in dark, messy, heady ways. This book will twist the knife in your gut, yet give you every reason to root for these two, even when they don’t know how to fight for themselves.
The Kiss Countdown by Etta Easton
Release Date: April 9 from Berkley Books
A fake-dating scenario works especially well when one person sounds like they could be lying about their job. That is, astronaut Vincent Rogers has an out-of-this-world gig and a convenient three months until liftoff, which makes it perfect for him to pretend to date event planner Amerie Price. First it’s to get back at her smug ex, but then it winds up being a good distraction for his worrisome family, while Amerie gets to crash at his place rent-free while preparing to launch her startup.
But with every aspect of their sham relationship counting down to zero, will these faux lovebirds be able to envision a future after Vincent leaves Earth?
The Prospects by KT Hoffman
Release Date: April 9 from Dial Press
As we saw with the TV adaptation of A League of Their Own, team sports create an excellent pressure-cooker environment for romance: the thrill on the field outmatched by the intimacy of downtime and travel between games, the rivalry even among teammates competing to be the very best, the sense of acceptance for queer characters who might not fit into more traditional jobs or lifestyles.
There’s all of that and more in KT Hoffman’s debut The Prospects, in which trans baseball player Gene Ionescu fears that he’ll go from rookie of the year to has-been when his old teammate and rival Luis Estrada gets traded to his team, the Beaverton Beavers. But while these men haven’t the foggiest idea how to communicate during a game, they find a surprising amount in common in the dugout—including an attraction neither can ignore.
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Release Date: April 23 from Berkley Books
How is it that every Emily Henry contemporary romance sounds even more promising than the last? She leans full into screwball tropes with Funny Story, pairing up two reluctant roommates whose exes have fallen for one another: buttoned-up Daphne, stuck in Waning Bay, Michigan, after she followed fiancé Peter there, only for him to leave her for his childhood best friend Petra; and scruffy oddball-with-odd-jobs Miles, who takes her in.
It’s not enough for them to commiserate over their ridiculous rom-com situation, but of course they have to kick things up a notch by fake-dating—or at least making their awful exes think they are. I sped through this book in the last few days, and can confirm that it’s an excellent steamy slow burn about relearning how to believe yourself worthy of love.
But How Are You, Really by Ella Dawson
Release Date: June 4 from Dutton
Ella Dawson is someone whose creative nonfiction I’ve followed in the media world for over a decade; I’ve long admired her boldness in writing about intimate matters like her bisexuality and living with herpes. To find out that she’s written a novel that encapsulates an especially fraught era—a 27-year-old media worker’s five-year college reunion weekend—is the book equivalent of an autoclick.
When Charlotte Thorne follows her tech boss back to Hein University for his commencement address at her alma mater, she’ll have to confront her mental health issues and her sordid past with hockey player Reece Krueger—not to mention why she’s turned her back on her chosen family.
Experienced by Kate Young
Release Date: June 4 from Penguin Books
Some queer love stories end with the protagonist’s self-discovery that exclusively heterosexual dating just wasn’t cutting it, but that’s merely the beginning of food writer Kate Young’s debut novel, Experienced.
Bette hits 30 feeling pretty great about her realization that her missing piece is women, like her seeming soulmate Mei. Except that Mei doesn’t feel right about them saying forever before Bette gets the chance to really explore the queer playing field. Forced to take a break from their relationship in order to have the formative queer experiences of messy, sexy, self-discovering hookups seems like the best of all worlds… but then Bette meets Ruth, and all bets are off.
Just Some Stupid Love Story by Katelyn Doyle
Release Date: June 4 from Flatiron Books
With the Hollywood writers’ strike still fresh in our minds, it’s not surprising that I’d be drawn to recommending some romances revolving around screenwriters (see Katherine Center’s The Rom-Commers, also out in June). What I like about this one is that it plucks rom-com scribe Molly Marks out of LA and into the worst possible environment: her fifteen-year high school reunion in Florida. Her disillusionment with love after writing the big-screen version is further tarnished by facing her ex, Seth Rubinstein, after she ghosted him at graduation.
But despite being Chicago’s best divorce lawyer, Seth is still heart-eyed about love; and to prove it, he and Molly bet on the outcome of five of the night’s couples before the next reunion. Except that they are one of them. So will they be happily reunited or bitterly estranged in five years’ time? There’s a When Harry Met Sally… vibe to this that makes it irresistible.
The Game Changer by Lana Ferguson
Release Date: July 9 from Berkley Books
Taylor and Travis have primed us to be excited for all of next year’s sports romance, but my personal draft pick is gonna be from Lana Ferguson, who brought us last year’s steamy OnlyFans-meet-cute romance The Nanny. This time her unlikely teamup pairs struggling cupcake queen Delilah Baker with charming hockey player (and her brother’s best friend) Ian Chase in a PR stunt meant to drum up support for both of their careers. But as their respective fans eat up this fake relationship, Ian and Delilah must decide what’s for show and what’s just for them.
Shout-outs to other sports romances coming out this year, including Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ Simply the Best and Sarah Adams’ The Rule Book!
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
Release Date: August 6 from St. Martin’s Griffin
Casey McQuiston had me at “slutty bisexuals.” While the Red, White & Royal Blue author has written characters across the sexuality spectrum, their books are usually shelved as gay or lesbian. But their latest focuses on the bisexual experience, especially the stereotype of the horny commitment-phobe, with the brilliant twist of exploring hedonism through food and drink and travel.
Exes Theo (sommelier) and Kit (pastry chef) broke up four years ago, one stop into their epic European culinary tour. When they separately decide to use up their vouchers before they expire, they wind up back where they started, but now with plenty of baggage and the need to outdo each other. What better way than a hookup competition? Eat, drink, and fuck their way through Europe—what could go wrong?
Haunted Ever After by Jen DeLuca
Release Date: August 13 from Berkley Books
It’s a credit to Jen DeLuca’s endlessly charming Ren Faire romance series that I will follow her from Willow Creek, Maryland, to ghostly Boneyard Key, Florida. I don’t usually go for anything resembling paranormal romance, but there’s a welcome coziness to her new series, in which Cassie Rutherford leaves Orlando and all her friends who are getting hitched in favor of buying a flipped cottage that happens to be haunted.
But ghosts abound all over Boneyard Key, as Cassie discovers when local coffee shop grump Nick Royer takes her on ghost tours and helps her with her own personal poltergeist… But what happens when perfectly mundane fears about love and trust threaten to exorcise their fledgling relationship?
Natalie Zutter is a Brooklyn-based playwright and pop culture critic whose work has appeared on Tor.com, NPR Books, Den of Geek, and elsewhere. Find her on Twitter @nataliezutter