The 2025 National Book Awards Must Have Misplaced the Romance Finalists.
Because not a single Romance Fiction title made it to the National Book Awards Finalists list for 2025 for Fiction.
The National Book Awards Finalists were announced on Tuesday, October 7, 2025 HERE and…show me your surprise face…there’s not a single romance novel on the Fiction list. Not one of our beloved authors received the distinguished honor — and we will not let this offense go unanswered!
So we’re offering an Addendum, an honorable edit to right this wrong and include at least one of our top-rated romance gems from 2025 in the Fiction category. We’ll even do the National Book Foundation’s heavy lifting for them — here are our top six new releases for consideration.
See all of the 2025 new releases we’ve read and rated HERE.
2025 TVP ROMANCE FICTION ADDENDUM FINALISTS SHORT LIST
Ratings and reviews data from Goodreads
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Genre: Fantasy, Dystopian, Fantasy Romance
Release date: March 18, 2025
882,000 ratings & 162,000 reviews
4.75 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.52 Goodreads rating
A Thorn in Every Heart by Kate King
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release date: April 1, 2025
6,800 ratings & 1,100 reviews
4.50 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.08 Goodreads rating
Be With Me by Gabrielle Sands
Genre: Mafia Romance, Modern Romance
Release date: May 14, 2025
10,600 ratings & 1,600 reviews
4.50 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.18 Goodreads rating
Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release date: May 14, 2025
120,000 ratings & 28,100 reviews
4.50 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.31 Goodreads rating
Rose in Chains by Julie Soto
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release date: July 8, 2025
40,300 ratings & 10,600 reviews
4.50 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.20 Goodreads rating
Shield of Sparrows by Devney Perry
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release date: May 6, 2025
193,400 ratings & 29,900 reviews
4.50 The Velvet Pages rating & 4.41 Goodreads rating
Our selection represents the best of American Romance Fiction in 2025 (in our humble opinions) and follows each of the Fiction submission requirements:
Published December 1, 2024 - November 30, 2025
Published by a U.S. publisher
Self-publishing is accepted if they publish multiple authors
Can’t be published using a publishing service (like Amazon Direct Publishing)
Author is a permanent resident or long-term resident of the U.S.
Author must be alive when the eligibility window opens
Full-length novel in its category
Not an anthology with multiple authors contributing
Not a reprint
Not only does this year’s Fiction Finalist list not include any Romance Fiction, we couldn’t find any evidence that Romance Fiction has been a Finalist since…1977! That year, a sort-of-Romance made the list: A Fine Romance by Cynthia Propper Seton. It’s not what we’d call a typical commercial romance, but it gets close — well, closer.
We haven’t yet read the books on the Fiction list for 2025. And we won’t say they don’t deserve to be on the list. Based on the book jackets, reviews, and Finalist achievement, each of these books is likely a brilliant work of storytelling. All we’re saying is…Romance belongs here, too!
We wanted to analyze the popularity of the official Finalists to our TVP Addendum. You know, just to see.
What we found: In some cases, the books aren’t released yet (they have until November 30, 2025). In others, the ratings & reviews aren’t statistically significant yet. We retrieved this data from Goodreads.
2025 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FICTION FINALISTS
The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother) by Rabih Alameddine
Release date: September 2, 2025
288 ratings & 84 reviews
4.24 Goodreads rating
A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar
Release date: October 14, 2025
141 ratings & 92 reviews
4.23 Goodreads rating
The Antidote by Karen Russell
Release date: March 11, 2025
8,789 ratings & 1,703 reviews
3.92 Goodreads rating
North Sun: Or, the Voyage of the Whaleship Esther by Ethan Rutherford
Release date: March 11, 2025
174 ratings & 48 reviews
4.24 Goodreads rating
Palaver by Bryan Washington
Release date: November 4, 2025
143 reviews & 147 reviews
3.88 Goodreads rating
There’s another explanation, of course. In order to win the award, a book must be submitted by its publisher. Are Romance titles not being submitted? Is the sabotage coming from inside the house? You’ve gotta play to win. We’ll assume this isn’t the case based on the insane promotional material we see all over the place for Romance new releases. This genre has no issue with self-promotion.
"You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. -Wayne Gretzy” -Michael Scott
To the National Book Foundation: All we’re asking is that you give Romance Fiction a chance in 2026. Your stated mission is “to celebrate the best literature published in the United States, expand its audience, and ensure that books have a prominent place in our culture.” The two titles in the Young People section that made the longlist (“The Leaving Room” by Amber McBride and “The Corruption of Hollis Brown” by K. Ancrum) are a fantastic start, but by limiting these stories to the Young People category, you’re signaling that they only belong in that category. That Romance has the biggest plate at the kids’ table — loud, joyful, and wildly popular — but somehow still not “grown-up” enough to join the main dining room.
It’s time to pull up a chair for Romance Fiction.
Sincerely,
Your Secret Stack Librarians at The Velvet Pages
