Romance Release Radar: July 2026

evemrileyauthor
Jun 25
4 min read

Updated: 4 days ago

your favorite authors' favorite summer reads!

Long summer days are the perfect match for a steamy romance! Here are five author-recommended romances that I can't wait to get my hands on! Read on for dark mafia romance, time travel, divorce lawyers (a romantic's grim reaper) and more...

Extracurricular

by Rachel Lynn Solomon

Release Date: 14th July 2026

Tropes: student/teacher | college romance | black cat/golden retriever | mutual healing

A man and a woman embrace in front of a bookshelf, degree certificate and guitar poster. Amazon kindle tbr

Ramona Wilder isn't the typical college student. At the age of 26, she's been at work since a young age, first on a hit kids' TV show and later a music career that morphed into sold-out arena tours and a life almost entirely lived in the public eye. She's ready to put herself first, and that starts with getting an education.

Psychology professor Nick Navarro is the golden retriever blueprint. Aside from his allotted 10-minute self-pity sessions, he refuses to let his recent divorce cloud his sunny emotional landscape. He is certain that teaching a celebrity will do nothing to disrupt his decidedly even keel. But when Ramona enters his class like a minor explosion, Nick can't keep his cool.

Their flirtatious classroom chemistry grows into genuine connection when a crisis necessitates extracurricular connection. But burying your head in the sand is no way to outrun a complicated past. Can the pair find their happily-ever-after?

"A masterclass in exploring the intersections of intimacy and power" Katie Naymon, author of You Between the Lines.

Crash Into Me

by Robinne Lee

Release Date: 9th July 2026

Tropes: second-chance romance | forbidden romance | coming-of-age romance

Front cover of Crash Into Me by Robinne Lee. A ripped white forergound reveals a red and orange sunset with a woman's silhoette in front of it.

Two young women meet in the decadent world of 1990s fashion. Cecelia is an assistant photographer, and Anouk has just booked her first modelling gig. The chemistry between model and photographer propelled both into stardom and sparked a passionate connection unfolding in long summer days on the Mexican coast. It's an intense period that Cecilia can't shake from her mind, even decades later with the demands of a young family to occupy her.

When the two run into one another in LA, the past is stirred up again, and cracks start to appear in the life Cecilia has built for herself. How much is she prepared to risk?

“I pushed "pause" on my entire life to read it. Such elegant writing!” —Tia Williams, author of The Missed Connection

Not That Kind of Proposal

By Victoria Lavine

Release Date: 21st July 2026

Tropes: grumpy/sunshine | workplace romance | enemies to lovers | romcom

A man and woman in professional dress on the front path of a purple stone building with floral bushes. There is a bouquet lying on the step. Amazon Kindle TBR grumpy/sunshine romance.

Can a wedding planner and a divorce lawyer say 'I do' to their own HEA?

Gracie Holland is a hopeless romantic and wedding planner who has found her true calling: creating the perfect Happily-Ever-After for everyone (except herself). She is currently reeling from the breakup to end all breakups in the gorgeous staff cottage of her boss's Rhode Island estate. Enter our villain (or is he?) Jude Larkwood. He's a divorce lawyer overfamiliar with the gnarly details of heartbreak. He's decided to sell the estate by summer's end, without a care for his gran's legacy (or her employees' jobs).

But there's a catch: in a moment of brilliance, Nana Larkwood has left the cottage to Gracie. If he wants the sale, Jude is going to have to work together with Gracie to plan her ex's shotgun wedding. If she can prove to this cynic that the estate is profitable as a wedding venue, it stays; if not, she sells her cottage and leaves the magic of Larkwood behind.

"Heartwarming and sweet with full, well-rounded characters." - Naina Kumar, author of Say You'll be Mine.

Every Version of You

by Natalie Messier

Release Date: 7th July 2026

Tropes: speculative fiction | slow-burn | second-chance romance | paranormal romance

The cover is divided into a 3x15 grid, with some scenes in the squares including an embracy and a cat. The center of the page is a woman with her back to the viewer looking at a sunset skyline with a palmtree.

Joey Vasquez has it all. She's about to make partner at her law firm, she has a big house in LA, and she's just about managed to make her parents proud.

At a dinner party hosted by her best friend and secret crush of over a decade, Elijah Aarons, Joey bumps into quite possibly her least favorite person – Alex Aquino. A tech bro and the worst wingman ever. As if it couldn't get any worse, she dies.

Transported back into her 18-year-old self but with her old memories intact, Joey has the chance to do it all over again. Her first life tells her Elijah is the one, so why is she so drawn to her nemesis?!

"The characters are complicated, their decisions questionable, and their chemistry palpable." – Carley Fortune, New York Times bestselling author of One Golden Summer.

Daybreak

By Autumn Woods

Release Date: 30th July 2026

Tropes: dark romance | dark academia | enemies to lovers | morally grey heroine

Front Cover of Day Break, the second book in the Sorrowsong University Duology by Autumn Woods. Image shows a purple window with two people embracing behind it. Around the window is a green and purple floral scene. Dark Gothic Vibes,

Ophelia came to Sorrowsong University, a gothic institution in the depths of the Scottish Highlands, with a one-track mind: destroy Alex and his entire family. But this was, of course, before she'd actually met Alex; in person, things get messy and emotional, and they forge a fiery connection.

After a gutwrenching betrayal and his father's disappearance, Alex returns to New York, determined to forget Ophelia and rebuild the family legacy.

When an anonymous blackmailer threatens to expose Alex and Ophelia, they must combine forces once more. But how can they work together when they no longer trust each other?

"Immensely fun and sexy – this book combines everything I love about dark academia and new adult! Autumn Woods wrote a winner!" — Ali Hazelwood, author of Bride.