13 Best Romance Books of August 2026: ‘Let’s Kiss & Tell’ and More
August has always meant sweltering summer heat, and the only thing that can cool the Swooon team down is more romance reads. We’re in the final stretch of the summer season, but these new books being released throughout the month of August have us cranking up the AC.
What better way to battle the rising temps than with a hockey romance that’s as scorching as it is sweet? Oh, and what’s sweeter: the perfect melting ice cream cone or a sex columnist and news writer deciding how to write their own happily ever after? Is the tide really high, or is it the heat in that literally out-of-this-world romance about an alien and a rock star?
No matter how you’re spending the end of summer, there’s a book on Swooon’s latest reading list to match your needs and scratch every romance reader itch. Check out our top 13 picks for the best romance books of August 2026.
Immortal Game
Allison Saft
There’s only one thing on the mind of prolific chess player Shea Fury, and that’s winning. Victory isn’t just a desire to remind herself that she is the best there is in the entire kingdom, but an opportunity to play against the High King of the Irish Otherworld, and the man her sister was forced to marry. Success in the chess tournament against him would free her sister from her union. Standing in Shea’s way is a slate of impressive and just as cutthroat competitors, including Ciara, who acts as Shea’s partner in duo competitions. But only one player can come out on top, and Shea won’t let her growing feelings for Ciara stand in her way.
Release Date: August 4
International Relations
Zac Hammett
Skip the fake dating — Zac Hammet is dropping a British diplomat and actor right into a fake marriage in this delectable read. Both Max and Hunter have found themselves stunted in their careers: Max continues to be outshined by his coupled-up peers at social networking events. Hunter can’t seem to get a new acting job after a very public breakup with his former director, especially now that he’s in the UK sans visa. When the two meet, the chemistry is instant, and so is the opportunity to push both of their careers forward. They agree to marry, so Hunter can get a visa to gain access to more acting work, and Max has a husband for all his career networking. But when they both finally get a shot at the opportunities they’ve been striving towards, they realize that separating their lives will be more complicated than they thought.
Release Date: August 4
Lost and Found
Tarah DeWitt
Tarah DeWitt’s latest novel acts as a heartening send-off to her Spunes series. Bea Marshall is preparing for what she knows will be one of the biggest losses of her life: her best friend Merritt. Merritt’s cancer diagnosis forces the two to contend with the reality that they won’t have the future they’d always dreamed of as little girls. Following her death, Bea is shocked to learn that Merritt has left behind her eggs and left them to Bea in hopes that one day Bea might use them for herself. Bea begins prepping for IVF, a daunting and expensive process, when her high school former crush Silas reappears and wants to help Bea by offering a room in his home. All the residual feelings from their youth are still present, but as Bea prepares for motherhood and Silas, a former firefighter, grapples with the trauma of a recent fire, the pair might be too raw to rekindle what they once felt. Or perhaps being vulnerable is just the right thing needed to find one another.
Release Date: August 4
How to Find Love in the Cereal Aisle
Alissa Derogatis
Ainsley Green, the romance writer and focus of Alissa Derogatis’ novel, isn’t quite living the life she writes about in her books. While she crafts tales about quirky heroines and happily ever afters, in reality, she’s just been dumped by her boyfriend and, quite frankly, feeling very uninspired by the concept of love. But her editor wants a new idea on her desk ASAP, and Ainsley is fresh out of ideas until her best friend Lucas convinces her that perhaps she needs to live a meet-cute to write a meet-cute. As Ainsley begins to coordinate idealistic meet-cutes that could spark something new in her own romantic life and on the page, it becomes clear that real romance cannot be constructed. And that sometimes the leading man you’re looking for is someone you wouldn’t expect.
Release Date: August 4
Find My Way Down to You
Julian Winters
Julian Winters’ latest YA romance packs a punch as it traces a grieving teen grasping for love beyond the veil. Queer black teen August has still not quite recovered from the sudden death of his boyfriend, London. As he notices random deaths happening around him, they all have one thing in common: a boy named Cary. It turns out that Cary is actually from the underworld and guides souls to their final resting place. August follows Cary to take him down to the underworld to see his late love one last time, and though the central problem is how August will return home, it’s also about finding a new love blossoming in the underworld for someone he may never see again.
Release Date: August 4
Embrace
Bal Khabra
Off Campus fans, rejoice! There’s a new hockey romance on the block that offers the great charm (and spice) that you’ve loved in the recent adaptation. The story follows hockey star Kian Ishida who, in his senior year, hasn’t really had the time to take a look at his grades. But upon realizing that his focus on hockey has comprised his time to study, he’s at risk of not graduating on time, the one thing his late father wanted him to accomplish. He has no choice but to begin attending study sessions led by none other by Scarlett Kilner, the coach’s daughter. Scarlett has earned a reputation for herself and is hoping in her senior year to take things easy and stay out of the college gossip circle limelight. But with Kian in her study group, and looking at her that way, she knows that this could only lead to more attention, the kind a coach’s daughter certainly doesn’t need. Player and coach’s daughter falling for each other should definitely be forbidden, but Kian and Scarlett can teach each other more than what’s in a textbook, and learning to be vulnerable could be the only thing worth the risk.
Release Date: August 4
In What World
Bridget Morrissey
A kooky high school theater director reunites two former actor rivals in this sliding doors-esque romance from Bridget Morrissey. It doesn’t matter if it’s been more than a decade since Marlowe and Priscilla have seen each other; they’re still enemies. As high school students, the pair both vied for lead roles and the approval of theater director Mr. Winthrop. Marlowe has since gone on to become an actress, while Priscilla stayed in town and worked alongside Mr. Winthrop. On the evening of an important performance, for which Marlowe has returned home and Priscilla is working, Mr. Winthrop is nowhere to be found. The women search for him and discover an old relic of Winthrop’s: a time-traveling machine he’d always spoken of making, and upon entering, are surprised when it actually works. Traveling across alternate universes, the two are forced to confront the feelings that have always been rumbling beneath their dynamic, and are fully realized in the other timelines, as they figure out how to return home.
Release Date: August 11
Let’s Kiss and Tell
Joss Richard
Fans of Sex and the City star Carrie Bradshaw and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days’ Andie will enjoy this sexy romance starring a sex columnist who must shake up her advice to keep her job. Lucy Reid knows sex and dating. At least she thought she did. As the writer of a sex column, she’d once believed that her advice to readers to depend on themselves and not a partner had been well received until her editors informed her that unless she makes her advice more couples-friendly, she may lose her job. In need of a relationship she can write about, Lucy is happy to be dragged into the drama of news writer Marshall, who is in desperate need of a date to his ex’s wedding. What starts off as an agreement for Lucy to gain new writing material and for Marshall to have a hot date who will convince his friends and family that he’s over his ex evolves into a vulnerable relationship that blurs the lines of said agreement. Is there a way to write in a happily ever after, or will they be destined to become a story that never made the cut?
Release Date: August 11
You’ll Be the Death of Me
Holly Michelle
Life is really looking up for Dell Rodgers, the star of Holly Michelle’s rom-com of fatal mixed identity. She’s just opened up a restaurant that’s becoming the talk of the town, and she’s eager to finally marry her fiancé in the coming days. However, Cole Lewis, a worker in the Department of Accidental Deaths, has made a big mistake: He’s killed the wrong Dell Rodgers, and now the young woman who had so much to look forward to has had her life cut short. The department has agreed that Cole and Dell have three days to correct Cole’s mistake, and if they can avoid Dell getting into her accident, she can have her life back. The two set off to uncover what put Dell on the path to death that day, unveiling how her seemingly perfect life had fractures she wasn’t quite willing to face. But with the clock counting down and feelings growing between them, this “life or death” plan has never been more complicated.
Release Date: August 11
Mutual Discord
Liana De La Rosa
What’s a girl to do when her anonymous internet fan turns out to be her best friend’s new crush? That is the exact conundrum recent internet sensation Sofia has found herself in. Sofia has never been one to chase internet fame, but when a clip of her drunkly calling out a male coworker goes viral, Sofia has no choice but to embrace her status as the internet’s new feminist woman in STEM, especially since the clip led to her losing her job. She’s found comfort in chatting with an anonymous commenter under her videos but struggles to readjust when her best friend, Caitlin, introduces her to Alex, Caitlin’s out-of-town crush, and Sofia’s commenter. As her feelings for the one guy she knows she can’t have continue to grow as they spend more time together, Alex and Sofia’s situation blows out of control as their internet personas interfere with their real lives.
Release Date: August 18
Immortal Rose
Alexandra Bracken
Viola Lockwood, the last of her fairy-blessed bloodline, holds much power. She is the last person capable of blending fragrance with magic to manipulate others. So when royal spymaster Hugh Thorton, who once had her locked up, comes knocking on her door in need of her magic to find a traitorous murderer, Viola is initially uninclined to help. But under the promise that she will gain the riches her family has long deserved, Viola agrees to concoct the potion Hugh needs, but the final ingredient is hidden in the most dangerous region of the kingdom. Together, they embark on a tumultuous journey to find the lost ingredient, and as their journey brings them closer together, they also question whether their quest was driven by more sinister intentions.
Release Date: August 18
I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy
Kimberly Lemming
No one is crafting sexy and hilarious out-of-this-world romances quite like Kimberly Lemming. One moment, rock star Blair was onstage wowing crowds with her voice and talent, and the next she’s no longer on Earth. She has been abducted by the Biwbans to Waffles, a planet where the Biwbans are testing different creatures for their interspecies mating program, and somehow, lucky Blair was selected. Blair has no intentions of dating, let alone mating, on a completely different planet, especially Osid, a fellow abductee, though he is a king on the planet where he comes from. Osid, however, has claimed Blair as his mate, and the Biwbans test the couple for compatibility. Via a series of increasingly ridiculous challenges, Blair begins to let down her walls, and Osid learns to let someone else lead in this silly yet warming tale of an unlikely bond.
Release Date: August 18
Daggerbound
T. Kingfisher
T. Kingfisher develops yet another astoundingly rich and fantastical love story in the sequel to Swordheart. Scholar Edmund has only one job: transport his assigned relic, an ancient sword, from its current temple to the next. What should be a routine job becomes critical when thieves arrive at his temple seeking the sword, and Edmund makes a rookie mistake in a moment of panic: He touches the sword himself. The sword transforms into a beautiful warrior who takes down the thieves and reveals himself to be Dervish, an immortal warrior who has been trapped in the steel of his own sword and is now connected to Edmund, his new wielder. And though Dervish seeks to free himself of this curse, he also can’t help that he doesn’t despise Edmund in the way he has the wielders before him, and in fact questions what will happen when the forced bond between them is broken, and the only thing keeping them together is whether or not they choose to be.
Release Date: August 25
