Reading lists · August 9, 2026

The Best Romance Books to Read in 2026

Contemporary, historical, romantasy and slow burn — the best romance books to read in 2026, organised by trope so you can find your exact thing.

Enemies to lovers

• The Hating Game — Sally Thorne. The contemporary standard.
• Fourth Wing — if you want dragons attached.
• The Bridge Kingdom — spy sent to marry the enemy king.
• Beach Read — Emily Henry. Rivals, grief, extremely good dialogue.

Slow burn

• The Song of Achilles — you know how it ends. It does not help.
• A Court of Mist and Fury — the book that made ACOTAR a phenomenon.
• Normal People — literary, painful, not a romance in the genre sense.
• The Seven Year Slip — Ashley Poston. Gentle and clever.

Historical

• Bridgerton (The Duke and I) — the obvious entry.
• Outlander — enormous, genre-defying, decades long.
• A Marvellous Light — Edwardian, queer, magic.
• The Wallflower series — Lisa Kleypas. Comfort reading of the highest order.

Contemporary with weight

• The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo — old Hollywood, and not really a romance.
• People We Meet on Vacation — friends to lovers, done properly.
• Book Lovers — for anyone who has ever been the sharp one.
• Happy Place — second-chance, holiday house, quietly sad.

On spice levels

Romance readers rate explicitness on a pepper scale, and it varies enormously within the genre. It is worth noting your own preference against each book you finish — the fastest route to reliable recommendations is knowing what you actually liked rather than what you were told to like.

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