2026 Romance New Release Ratings & Reviews
Looking for something to read that was published in 2026? That’s a pretty specific vintage. We’ve got you covered. Here are all the books we’ve read and reviewed from this particular turn around the sun.
2026 New Release Reviews
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Accidentally Yours by Christina Lauren
☆ 3.75
MILD, HEA
“This was a great story - as a marketer by trade, though, I was completely sidetracked by the FMC wanting to be a CMO with only 4 years of experience. Really sweet neighbors-to-lovers novella.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Workplace Romance, Slow Burn, Neighbors, Hidden Identity, Witty Banter, Short/Novella, Tech Startup, Divorced, Valentine's Day Romance, Holiday Romance
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Brutally Yours (Book 4) by Jamie Applegate Hunter
☆ 3.5
HOT, HEA
“There were parts of this story I'd rate 4 stars: the dragon sacrifices, the underground female army, the morally grey decision making, Sasha stepping in to save Amos, the patricide. But then there were other important parts that fell short. There just wasn't enough closure. Not enough pages to do the story and series finale justice.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Fae/Fairies, MMC Previously Abused, Abusive Parent(s), Fated Mates, Dragons, Magic, MMC/FMC Involved in a Rebellion/Resistance, MC has a Tragic Past, Loss of Parent (Death), MC is a Twin, Touch Her and Die Vibes
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Bulletproof by K.M. Moronova
☆ 3.0
MEDIUM, HEA
“Don’t go to the diner or else you’ll accidentally trigger a massive gangland response and find yourself in the midst of one giant black ops brawl. DON’T GO TO THE DINER.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Slow Burn, Break Their Heart To Save Them, Small Town, Power Struggle, Hidden Identity, Survival, Kidnapping, MC is a Bully (at the start), Gang Wars
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Cherry Bomb by Sarah Blue
☆ 3.5
HOT, HEA
“Good omegaverse, but not great. She's a stripper trying to make ends meet as a late-blooming Omega. They're a new pack looking for an Omega. They all meet Hailey separately with Hayes, the Beta, bringing everything together. It was more emotional than anything; not a lot of distress or turmoil to overcome.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Omega FMC, Omegaverse, "Male, Male, Male, Female (MMMF)", Gay, MMC/FMC is nesting, In-Heat, Rich/Wealthy MMC, FMC is a Stripper, Lost Love Found, Second Chance
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Everybody's Favorite Guy by Katherine Center
☆ 4.0
MILD, HEA
“Me reading this book: I love this, I love this, I love this, NOOOOOOOOO. I rage rated this lower than I intended because of the last chapter.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Enemies to Lovers, MCs were Childhood Friends, Childhood Crush, Break Their Heart To Save Them, MC has Interfering Family, Loss of Parent (Death), Trapped in a Cabin, Snowed in Together, Healing from Sickness, Slow Burn Due to Past Trauma, Short/Novella
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The Fox Hunt by Caitlin Breeze
☆ 4.5
MILD, TO BE CONTINUED
SEE OUR FULL ARC REVIEW “The best ARC I've read. This book is a cross between Gilmore Girls and Alice Through the Looking Glass. You're not going to be able to predict how this story unfolds.” Cardigan B
tropes: College/University Students, Secret/Elite Society, Rich/Wealthy MMC, Friends to Lovers, Portal to Another World, Shifters, MC is trapped, Secrets, Magic, Survival, Revenge, Cheating, Murder Mystery, MC has Interfering Family, To-Be Continued (TBC), Nerdy FMC, Female Friendship Group, Dark Academia
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Girls Just Wanna Have Sun by Rachel Lacey
☆ 2.75
MILD, HEA
“"Even in the dark. The affection and yearning on her face were impossible to miss." The book was flat and emotionless. This quote is a good example of the writing - it didn't make sense and it didn't have any appeal. It was AI-esque. Also this: "I'd like to work on my fear of snakes. I've been hiding behind my fears too long." Jesus. Sometimes a snake is just a snake. Why does Morgan have to work on herself? Why can't she just be imperfect?” - Cardigan B
tropes: Lesbian, Second Chance, Short/Novella
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Guarded by the Clanker by Layla Fae
☆ 3.75
HOT, HEA
“Pretty fun read - a woman needs protection from an assassin trying to silence her about her anti-robot views; the only protection she can afford is a robot. There are sparse details about her disdain for robots, but their love story is cute.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Robot/Human Romance, Bodyguard, Rescue, Survival, Only One Bed, Praise Kink, Forced Proximity, What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop
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The Half-Hearted Queen (Book 2) by Charlie N. Holmberg
☆ 4.25
MILD, HEA
“So. Good. Book 2 eclipses book 1, which was also good. This one is about Nym's survival, her own determination to live just to tell Renn how she feels. He's a prophecy, she's a home-taught healer. But their love is so pure, it works.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Friends to Lovers, Break Their Heart To Save Them, Arranged Marriage, Wartime Wedding, Royal/Commoner, Slow Burn, Loss of Sibling (Death), Rescue, Healing from Injury, Sexual Trauma, Survival, Kidnapping, Rape, Assassin, PTSD
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His Doll by Anna Svoboda
☆ DNF
No physical description of the MMC at the beginning. My mind conjured the grossest, most disturbed individual possible. Balding, pock-marked, sweaty, rotting teeth, and sausage fingers. Couldn't continue.
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A Hunger in Every Heart (Book 4) by Kate King
☆ 4.25
HOT, HEA
“This series just keeps delivering. Fox and Aurelia are an unexpected delight - you don't get to know her well in the first books, but she's charming, sweet, and smarter than she gets credit for. Fox is brooding, calculating, and completely in love with her which he hates. They have to work hard for their love story.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Friends to Lovers, Friends with Benefits, Friendship Group, MC is a Twin, Wolf/Shifter, Magic, Protective MMC, Dirty Talker, Praise Kink, Fairytale Retelling
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One Hot Summer Wedding by Falon Ballard
☆ 4.25
MEDIUM, HEA
“Oooo Sara (FMC’s former high school bff) did her dirty, but she chose the high road. Which, it turns out, is full of second chance orgasms and happiness.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Best Friend's Older Brother, Second Chance, Childhood Friends Reunion, Childhood Crush, MC has Interfering Family, Wedding Season, Short/Novella
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One Small Echo by Jane Washington
☆ 4.25
MILD, TO BE CONTINUED
“I fucking LOVE Jane Washington. Her books leave me scratching my head. Eiko is a small town (blind) girl living in a lonely world. She runs away when her friends are "hollowed out" in this book's medieval version of conversion therapy. They join the military to hide. Oh, and they have to now share their meat vessel with A MAGICAL MONSTER WHO GRANTS THEM MYSTERIOUS POWERS. Jane, please write book 2 faster. I'm dying here.” - Cardigan B
tropes: MMC/FMC is/are on the Run, Military, What the hell did I just read and why can't I stop, Monster/Human Romance, Hidden Powers, MMC/FMC has limited vision or is blind, Doesn't Speak
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A Play for Love by Trilina Pucci
☆ 4.0
MILD, HEA
“So cringe when the MCs first interact in acting class, I was impressed at how much secondhand embarrassment the author could evoke from me. Rory's 'Happy V D" pants were hilarious. I haven't read anything by this author before, but this was witty and charming. I'll read more.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Second Chance, Longtime Crush, Valentine's Day Romance, Academic Setting, One Night Stand, New York City, Strong Sister Bond, Short/Novella, Holiday Romance, Theatre/On Stage
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Petty in Pink by L.J. Shen
☆ 3.25
MEDIUM, HEA
“She holds on so tightly to her insecurities. Grant sticks around too long.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Friends with Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Accidental/Surprise Pregnancy, Friendship Group, Doctor, Teacher, No Use of Contraception
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Pretty Little Death (Book 3) by Lola Glass
☆ 3.5
HOT, HEA
“Her magic is Death. But at no point during the story does she kill someone (which she's purported to do enough to have earned the reputation) or use her magic in any way whatsoever. We find out in passing that her Death magic doesn't affect Grayson. Okay...but, could we have some details please? Good story, but lacked details.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Surprise Virgin, Virgin FMC, Fated Mates, Found Family, Demons, Touch Aversion, Only One Bed, Possessive MMC, Obsessive MMC, Assassin, FMC & MMC Enter Into A Contract, MC has Interfering Family, Knotting, Mating/Bonding, Creative Anatomy
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Pretty Little Mate (Book 2) by Lola Glass
☆ 4.25
HOT, HEA
“This is a Rod Stewart song from beginning to end. "When the one you loooooves in love with someone else..." all the way to "and it was all for one and all for love, let the one you hold be the one you want." Loved this book. Niall stole my heart early on. Also, good riddance to werewolf rubbish. Yes offense, Gwen and Jonah. May this love never find me.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Fated Mates, Forced Proximity, MC has Interfering Family, Found Family, Second Chance, Shifters, Magic, MC is a Twin, One Night Stand, Friendship Group, Healing Together, FMC has Overprotective Brother/Male Relatives, Forgiveness Arc, Possessive MMC, Obsessive MMC
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Pretty Little Shadow (Book 4) by Lola Glass
☆ 2.5
HOT, HEA
“The definition of "phoned it in" - you won’t get the satisfying series conclusion you’re hoping for. Stop after Book 2 and write your own ending.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Fated Mates, Assassin, Virgin FMC, Vampire, MMC/FMC is back from the dead, Reformed Playboy, MC has Interfering Family, Stalker/Stalking, Magic, Abusive Parent(s)
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Pretty Little Wolf (Book 1) by Lola Glass
☆ 4.25
HOT, HEA
“This is the way to do consent. Callum won't fuck Kat so she makes it impossible for him to be pressured into it during her heat...by having him locked up in a padded room with no way out. #MaliciousCompliance.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Fated Mates, Werewolves, Stalker/Stalking, Soulmate Marks, FMC & MMC Enter Into A Contract, Magic, Clones/Twins, Secrets, Hidden Powers, In-Heat, MC is a Twin, True Identity, "Mysterious, Brooding (MMC)", MMC Previously Abused, Morally Grey MMC, Forced Business Partners, Forced Proximity, Kidnapping, Possessive MMC, Obsessive MMC
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Save a Horse, Keep a Cowboy by Jessica Peterson
☆ 3.5
MILD, HEA
“The focal point of this story is really Weston's dramatic change from an impressionable teenager to a man unafraid to stand up to his family for the woman he loves. I liked the story, but there just wasn't much meat on these bones.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Short/Novella, Second Chance, Childhood Promise Fulfilled, Childhood Sweethearts, Singer/Musician, Cowboy/Rancher, MC has Interfering Family, Overcoming past breakups
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Second Act Romance by Julie Soto
☆ 3.5
MILD, HEA
“The story centers around the tour and a shrimp taco night gone horribly wrong. It was funny and charming. Not much meat on the bones, though, and lots of background on the stage blocking.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Second Chance, Mistaken Identity, Rich/Wealthy MMC, Friends to Lovers, Rescue, Theatre Actress, Theatre/On Stage, TV/Movie Actor
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S'More of You by Tessa Bailey
☆ 4.5
MEDIUM, HEA
“She's just a misunderstood woman in love who communicates through demonstration. She didn't mean to get you lost in the woods, she meant to navigate you to a sacred site you've been pining over. The fact that you didn't understand isn't her fault, okay?” - Cardigan B
tropes: Short/Novella, Trapped in a Cabin, Childhood Crush, Virgin FMC, Breakup Due to Misunderstanding, Praise Kink, MC is a Bully (at the start), Boss/Employee
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Snatching Her Scribbler (Book 3) by Anna Svoboda
☆ 2.75
HOT, HEA
“I generally love a "prickly with everyone but me" kind of story and add in a murder mystery? Great combo. But. The constant reminders that Caleb is "soft" and has a "belly" weren't necessary. The editing wasn't great. Many added letters, missing letters, some duplicated lines. And I'm not yucking anyone's yum, but the constant anal play on Caleb just wasn't for me.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Murder Mystery, Mask Kink, Sex Toys, Writer/Editor, Assassin, Kidnapping, Forbidden Love Interest, Unconventional Love Story, Touch Her and Die Vibes, Grumpy/Sunshine, Submissive MMC, Dominant FMC
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Summer Staycation by Sarah Grunder Ruiz
☆ 4.0
MILD, HEA
“She's steadfast and true to herself, he's looking for solid ground. A travel blogger who meets a marine biologist and sparks unexpectedly fly. She's neurodivergent and he likes who she is. Sweet and funny.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Short/Novella, Meet-Cute, Scientist
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Summer Thaw by Rebecca Jenshark
☆ 3.75
MILD, HEA
“He's pined for her for years. She didn't notice him...until she did. There's no real event that brings them together, just the "Hattie's single" news which is enough for Colin to turn on the charm. And it's so potent that Hattie can't resist even after saying she didn’t think of him romantically? After all this time? Eh, maaaybe. It's a stretch.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Sports, Age 20+ FMC, Age 20+ MMC, College/University Students, Second Chance, MMC Falls First, Friendship Group, Short/Novella
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Valentine's Slay by Navessa Allen
☆ 3.75
HOT, HEA
“Surprisingly sweet second chance childhood romance between a grave digger and a wealthy housewife. It shouldn't work but it totally does. The dirty talk is hot, but a little jarring. They haven't spoken to one another in 15 years AND she just came out of a freshly exhumed grave. "You want this dick" is just too direct for the occasion.” - Cardigan B
tropes: Childhood Crush, Murder Mystery, Survival, Small Town, MMC/FMC is back from the dead, Rescue, Secrets, Adultery, Dirty Talker, Corrupt Cop/Detective, Emotional Abuse
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Where Reckless Hearts Whisper by Victoria Holliday
☆ 3.5
HOT, HEA
SEE OUR FULL ARC REVIEW “"He reaches a hand between us and paws at my clit" WHAT?! I got the sense in this series finale that the author was ready to be done with it. This was the perfect example - to date, her descriptions have been so elegant and sensual.” - Cardigan B
tropes: MC is involved in Mafia, Step-Sibling Crush, Arranged Marriage, Forbidden Love Interest, Kidnapping, Rescue, Age Gap Romance, Loss of Parent (Death), Loss of Sibling (Death), Grumpy/Sunshine, Virgin FMC, Gang Wars
@35CARDIGANS @BLACKCAT100
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FAQs
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A guide to romance novels of all heats and sizes. We’re recommending books we’ve read (we’ve read 1,000s) and telling you what to expect. We’ll help you do your research - your time and money will be happy.
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‘Happily Ever After’ - nearly every book you find on The Velvet Pages has an ‘HEA’. It means that the story reached a satisfying conclusion. It might say “To Be Continued” which means there’s probably an HEA in the series, but that particular title didn’t resolve the relationship.
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This is how sexual or sexy a book is. There’s a range: Hot, Medium, Mild, and Flour.
Hot is ‘“holy Hell I’m sweating.”
Medium is steamy.
Mild is tender and sweet.
Flour means there’s nothing romantic here.
We label each book so you know what to expect and you can choose what you’re comfortable reading.
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We rate each book out of 5. Cardigan B and Penelope Black can rate a book the same score on occasion, but usually the rating you see is an average of their scores.
The ratings are pretty subjective, but include things like:
Did the story make sense?
How did the characters measure up?
Was the writing literate?
Was the premise or were the plot points memorable?
Were the mysteries solved? Did the questions get answered? Did you leave me on ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER, ONYX STORM?
Did the book make us feel something?
Was there a cute cat?
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We recommend starting with Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, or Sports Romance. They’re the most popular and you’ll find recognizable tropes.
Start with Mild to Medium heat and definitely choose an HEA.
If you’re still stuck, email us and we can give you some recs!
Heyyyvelvetpages@gmail.com
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We’ll read pretty much anything. Each month, Penelope and Cardigan select a list of about 20 books to read together. There’s at least one book from each genre and some popular titles that have been recently released.
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We sure do! It’s called ‘The Velvet Edit’. You can sign up at the top or on the ‘Contact Us’ page. We send out a themed list of recommendations each month and a ‘Quickie’ (a single title spotlight) two weeks later. We won’t spam you.
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That’s the section of the site where we share what we’re reading this month for our book club. You can check out our other reading lists from the past few months of 2025, too.
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Nope, not even close. The books on the site are generally the ones we enjoyed the most. Or hit on different trends we see coming up.
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They are! If you buy from a button click on the site, we might earn a commission. You’re not paying more for the product, though. We’re all about ‘pay less for smut’ around here.
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We use Storygraph. It has a friendly app interface and has every book we’ve read. It also shows your reading stats, which is unique.
We have separate Goodreads accounts, but they’re connected to our friends and family and…I don’t want them to see that I read the first and second book in a series about a merman with two dicks.
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MMC is Male Main Character. FMC is female main character.
There are typically one of each, but there can be multiple in genres like Omegaverse or Reverse Harem.
Or, like in the case of Court of Thorns and Roses, the MMC could be one person in one book and another person in another book.
Don’t come at me about ‘spoilers’ - these books were published in 2015.