It’s not just a crisp in the air… it’s also love. This season it’s time to snuggle up to warm friends-to-lovers read, roll around with a steamy romance and get wrapped up in a holiday-centered heartbreaker. These are the most anticipated romance reads of 2023.
The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley 8/1
She’s an ER nurse. He’s a firefighter. For now they are just roomates, but they’ve made a pact to dive head first into friends with benefits if neither is spoken for by forty. Putting that plan off for the future though is getting more complicated as Claire nurses Graham back to health after an accident. Sticking to the agreement gets more and more difficult as something more than the promise of a fun future romp forms between them.
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New Adult by Timothy Janovsky 8/15
Nolan Baker wants to skip to the good part. The part where he’s a famous comedian, settled and thriving. In a last-minute decision, he decides to ditch his sister’s wedding, standup his best friend Drew and take a gig. When everyone gets mad at him for this beyond big blunder, he makes a wish on magic crystals to fast forward to when things are better. Sure enough, he wakes up a successful comedian. There’s a big problem though. His family and Drew aren’t speaking to him in this future. Desperate to regain their love, he must convince his future loved ones that the past Nolan still exists.
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Love on the Byline: A Plays and Players Novel by Xio Axelrod 8/29
Blake is desperate to become the journalist her grandfather was known for being. Instead, she is chasing down celebrity gossip. When she gets the opportunity to profile a rising film star, she thinks this might be her chance to prove herself. Oliver took a job as executive assistant to his best friend, a quickly rising celebrity. It’s a lot of cleanup work and little reward. Except now, Blake and Oliver are reunited, former college crushes unexpectedly brought back together. As they try to manage their feelings and their jobs, things get complicated, and both are at risk of unraveling their futures.
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The Long Game: A Novel by Elena Armas 9/5
Anyone hoping to stoke those Ted Lasso vibes will fall for this sweet, soccer romance. When a disgraced exec and a former soccer star come together to coach a children’s team. Adalyn has fallen from grace, banished to North Carolina by her father and team owner. When she fins Cam there, she’s not sure what to make of her fortune. Though he’d be the perfect one to get her back in the game, things get off to a rocky start. Set against a smalltown backdrop, these two will work out their woes on the pitch hoping to find redemption.
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Things We Left Behind by Lucy Score 9/5
The BookTok sensation and #1 New York Times bestselling author Lucy Score is back with the next steamy story in her series. Sloane is a small-town librarian. Lucian is a mogul seeking to burn his father’s legacy to the ground. They are polar opposites and yet, they can’t stop thinking about each other. When their constant bickering turns into heated foreplay, a whirlwind of enemies-to-lovers goodness kicks off. Lucian has his goals, Sloane wants a man who will settle down, neither of their plans align, but something keeps drawing them together.
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Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea 10/1
For Charlotte, organizing the perfect prom is the last thing on her high school to-do list. It would all be going great too, if not for the irritating encounters with J.T. Renner—handsome jock and all-around pain. When she falls from a ladder onto Renner, the lights go out. When she wakes, she’s in her thirties, in a bed she doesn’t recognized next to Renner, her fiancé. Both have been thrown into the future, only tethered to their past reality by each other. As they navigate this new life, both learning and growing, they attempt to find their way back to seventeen.
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Wreck the Halls: A Novel by Tessa Bailey 10/3
For anyone ready to just skip ahead to the holiday season, this Christmas rom-com by #1 New York Times bestseller Tessa Bailey is a hit. Melody is the quiet daughter of one of Steel Birds’ bandmates. Beat is the son of the former rock band’s lead singer. When their worlds are shoved back together over the promise of a Christmas Eve reunion concert, sparks fly, the past reemerges and the two will have to navigate their respective mothers to come into harmony.
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10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall 10/17
Sam is happy in his job managing a home goods store. Jonathan, the store’s owner, feels he’s made a terrible mistake putting Sam in the position. When Jonathan asks Sam to meet with him, intending on righting where he’s gone wrong, Sam trips, hits his head and ends up with amnesia. At least, that’s what Sam tells Jonathan in a panic about losing his job. As Sam tries to keep up his lie, he discovers a softer side to his boss. The feelings are real, but everything else is based on one spontaneous lie.
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Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date (Bright Falls) by Ashley Herring Blake 10/24
Iris is content living her life in serial singledom, despite everyone around her being coupled. The only problem she faces is a pending deadline for her romance novel and no ideas to speak of. During a random one-night stand, she hooks up with Stefania. It does not go well, but she’s content to leave it behind until the two run into each other trying out for a local play. Stefania is actually Stevie and to solve both their problems they pretend they are dating. As the lines blur between what is an act and what is for real, Iris must decide if she’s going to hold on to her life alone or allow herself to fall for her fake girlfriend.
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It’s a Date (Again) by Jeneva Rose 10/24
Peyton is ready to be done with dating. And she knows who she wants to be with. As she runs to tell the man she’s chosen that he’s The One, she’s hit by a car and suffers amnesia. Now she’s awakened to three men who she doesn’t know, but each claim to be her boyfriend. So she concocts a plan to date them all with a clean slate to determine who she’s supposed to end up with.
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Always Orchid by Carol Van Den Hende 10/24
In the next book of the Goodbye, Orchid series, Phoenix and Orchid are trying to find their footing after a life-changing event. Phoenix has been left forever changed and Orchid is working diligently to convince him that his injuries have not changed how she feels about him. When they move to China and are confronted with a different cultural reality regarding disabilities, their love, commitment, and strength are tested.
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The Rom Con by Devon Daniels 11/7
For fans of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Rom Con pits two rival journalists against one another. Cassidy is sick of dating and when her grandmother gives her a a guide of “125 Tips to Hook a Husband” she decides to use it on Jack. He works for Brawler, the men’s site counterpart to Siren, Cassidy’s employer. She’ll document all the funny ways these tips fail. At least that was the plan. But the old-fashion advice is working and soon she finds herself in the throes of a real relationship, challenging her to choose love or career.
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The Good Part by Sophie Cousens 11/7
For fans of 13 Going on 30 and Big, comes a story for today’s generation. Twenty-something Lucy is sick of waiting for her life to begin. When she makes a wish to skip her present and get to “the good part” she wakes up in her forties. She has a great husband, the perfect job, delightful children and interesting friends. It really does seem like she skipped ahead to when life is at its best. Is this where she’ll stay? Can she even get back to her time? And if she can, does she want to?
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Next Door Nemesis by Alexa Martin 11/14
Is there anything that causes more friction than the HOA? Collins and Nathaniel are running against each other for the position of president in their homeowners association. They were rivals in high school and now they are taking their teenage tiff to the campaign trail. As they battle for the top spot of their suburban life, the tension builds and they are forced to reconcile their true feelings amidst a bitter race.
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Technically Yours by Denise Williams 12/5
Pearl works at a nonprofit, bent on change called OurCode. Cord is the newest member of the organizations board of directors. The problem is, Pearl broke his heart eight years before and he hasn’t given love a shot since. Now sparks are flying and as they navigate the messy terrain of attraction, both must consider their career, the company and their connection and decide if giving it another go is worth the risk.
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