Start with Our Perfect Storm for a honeymoon without the groom, The Name Game for two people with the same name and one job, or The Open Era for a sports romance on the tennis tour. Seven more follow, grouped by kind and in no order of merit. Updated 3 October 2026.
Heat levels vary. None of the publishers says whether a book is open or closed door, so we have not guessed. Check the publisher’s description if it matters to you.
See this result · run 3 October 2026
Editor’s verdict: Asked for this year's best new romance, book search returned six good romances and not one from 2026: The Love Hypothesis, The Hating Game and Beach Read among them. It is better at matching what you loved than at tracking release dates, which is why this list was built by hand, one publisher page at a time.
Two tests. The novel was first published in 2026, with its date and ISBN on the publisher’s own page. And at least one independent list, Book Riot, Marie Claire or YA All Day, carries it. Books from 2025 that are still in the charts, like Great Big Beautiful Life, Say You’ll Remember Me and Deep End, are left out. Each entry gives the British publisher and date, because several came out here weeks or months after America.
Most of the year's romance, and most of what readers are asking for.
Contemporary · May 2026
Left at the altar on her wedding morning, Frankie goes on the honeymoon anyway, with the best friend who was supposed to be best man.
UK: Michael Joseph, hardback, 7 May 2026 · ISBN 9780241813782
Contemporary · April 2026 · British author
Two strangers who are both called Charlie Jones turn up on a tiny island for the same farm-shop job.
UK: Quercus, hardback, 7 April 2026 · ISBN 9781529437935
Contemporary · May 2026 · second chance
Exes who split up at college meet again a decade later as the screenwriter and the composer on the same film. The second book in her Hollywood Renaissance series, after Reel.
UK: Little, Brown, paperback, 19 May 2026 · ISBN 9780349444697
Contemporary · June 2026 (UK August)
A casting agent loses track of her seatmate after a flight to Paris, accidentally emails her whole company asking for help finding him, and starts a search that goes round the world.
UK: Hachette, hardback, 4 August 2026 · ISBN 9781529439458
Contemporary · May 2026 (UK October)
At her sister's wedding on a cruise ship, JoJo recruits her childhood best friend to help her finally win over her first crush.
UK: Hachette, paperback, 8 October 2026 · ISBN 9781398729803
Contemporary · May 2026 · fake dating
A single mother back in her Rhode Island hometown for the summer agrees to a fake relationship with the town's old-money heir.
UK: No UK edition found; the American edition is Putnam, 26 May 2026 · ISBN 9780593853979
One 2026 sports romance clears our bar so far, and it is a good one to start with.
Sports · queer · June 2026 · debut
The first openly gay man to play a Grand Slam falls for a rival on the tennis circuit.
UK: Penguin, paperback, 4 June 2026 · ISBN 9780241784679
If what you want is the long slow burn of two rivals in a professional closet, our Books like Heated Rivalry page goes back further than this year.
Two Regency romances, one of them by a British writer known for queer historicals.
Historical · 1816 · June 2026
A wallflower compiling a dictionary of bawdy slang forces the town rake into a marriage in name only.
UK: Hachette, paperback, 23 June 2026 · ISBN 9780349450216
Historical · queer · 1821 · April 2026 · British author
In London in 1821, a con man posing as a French count sets out to fleece a shopkeeper who has just inherited a fortune, and falls for him instead.
UK: No separate UK edition: the author points UK readers to the American Bramble paperback, 28 April 2026 · ISBN 9781250395917
One for readers who like a speculative twist.
Speculative · July 2026
A scientist uses her secret research to bring her husband back after a fatal accident, and he wakes with no memory of their marriage.
UK: Hachette, paperback, 14 July 2026 · ISBN 9780349440439
The three names most readers look for first have no new novel this year. Emily Henry’s next, Modern Classic, is due in April 2027. Abby Jimenez’s 2026 book collects earlier novellas, and her next novel is due in April 2027. Ali Hazelwood’s two 2026 books are novellas, and her next novels come in 2027.
We found no romantasy we could confirm against both a publisher and an independent list, so the year’s biggest romance trend has no entry yet. That is a gap in what we could check, not a judgement.
This is a checked list, not a ranking, and “best” here means the books the independent lists picked that we could confirm. It leans towards contemporary romance because that is what this year’s lists are full of. Two of the ten have no separate British edition and will need ordering from America.
We will check it again in mid December, when the year can be judged as a whole, and change the date at the top when we do.
Not a novel. Her next novel, Modern Classic, is due from Berkley on 6 April 2027. Her 2026 title is a gift book, Emily Henry's Books Are My Happy Place, due on 10 November 2026.
No. Abby Jimenez's 2026 release, A Married Little Christmas, collects three earlier novellas, and her next novel, Feels Like Falling, is due in April 2027. Ali Hazelwood's 2026 books are novellas: Two Can Play, first released as an audiobook, and Bound and Unbound, two earlier novellas in print together. Her next novels are due in 2027.
Beth O'Leary's The Name Game (Quercus, 7 April 2026) and KJ Charles's How to Fake It in Society (28 April 2026) are both on this list. Freya Sampson's Most Ardently Yours (Hachette, 9 July 2026) also came out this year, but no list we checked carries it yet.
Book search is better at the romance you already love than at this year’s new releases. Tell it the trope, the setting and how much heat you want, and it will look across every year.
Describe the romance you are in the mood for
For two writers falling for each other, our Books like Beach Read page goes further than any list of new releases.