The 10 Best Romance Books Of July 2026
Summer is officially in full swing, and you know what that means! It’s the best time to break out your most charming (and sexy) romance beach reads. While there are plenty of classic reads you can always return to, the new romance books of July 2026 are totally worth the space in your tote bag.
What better way to soak up the sun than with the tale of a wealthy man and the woman he hired to trick his family? Or an enemies-to-lovers story that all the hockey romance fans are sure to swoon over? And then there’s Christina Lauren’s latest romance, which puts a twist on Frankenstein.
Starting July 7, new romance books will be hitting bookshelves that deserve a place on your summer TBR. No matter what your pick, Swooon has all the right romance reads to sweat it out with this month. If you want to enjoy heat that doesn’t require massive amounts of sunscreen, we’ve got you covered.
Buried Feelings
Kit Rosewater
Release Date: July 7
Ivy and Cam were once best friends. Ivy can remember all the years they spent confiding in one another, until Ivy revealed that she was a lesbian and Cam pulled away from her. Two years later, Ivy learns that Cam has come out as transgender and is joining the Gender & Sexualities Club that she runs. Ivy would like to push the pain of their friendship breakup behind her, but when a project tracing the history of queer rights across the city presents itself, Ivy knows the only person to tackle it with her is the one person she can’t stand anymore. Enlisting Cam’s help, the pair goes on a treasure hunt across San Francisco in hopes of solving a final clue, but to work together, they will have to dredge up their own history, too.
The Final Score
Lana Ferguson
Release Date: July 7
If you’re just itching for the new season of Off Campus, Lana Ferguson’s sexy hockey romance will be sure to hold you over. When Abby Thompson’s apartment floods, she’s not left with many choices. Crashing with her hockey star brother, Ian, and his girlfriend gets old quickly, but she’s surprised by the offer from Ian’s teammate, Jack, to stay in an extra room at his place. Abby knows Jack’s type, the beautiful player that everyone loves, but upon living with him discovers that beneath his picture-perfect facade is a man struggling with his mental health. Abby, grappling with the loss of her mother and estrangement with her father, has her own baggage. But somehow these polar opposites who live together for convenience have found the one person who might just understand what the other is feeling.
Hallie’s Rules for a Recovering Romantic
Jessica Lewis
Release Date: July 7
The titular star of Jessica Lewis’ sweet summer romance is a lover girl at heart. After her sixth heartbreak, Hallie is determined not to let her heart get in the way of her head anymore. She goes off to a scholar camp for the summer with a renewed focus on her schoolwork and on reinventing herself into someone who won’t easily have her heartbroken. Her troubles arrive in the form of Julia, her cabinmate, who Hallie finds herself turning to when changes around camp stir up drama for the campers. This summer is about NOT falling in love, and Hallie questions if she can keep all her promises to herself while developing a friendship with Julia.
Rich Girl Summer
Lily Chu
Release Date: July 7
Though Valerie Peng does well for herself as an event planner, things could always be a bit better. So when Roger, the son of a wealthy businessman whose memorial she recently planned, taps her for a deal, Valerie is inclined to listen. Malcolm has just learned that his family paid off his high school lover, who was at the time pregnant with his baby, to break up with him and disappear. To figure out who in his family could have betrayed him in this way, Malcolm Badgerton needs someone to cosplay as his daughter for the summer to provoke an answer out of the perpetrator. Valerie accepts the offer, in exchange for a great payout, of course, and assumes that playing it up for the family won’t be too difficult. But amid the wealthy Badgerton clan, Valerie has her work cut out for her to keep up with her lies, and fears that the only thing that is true is her growing feelings for Malcolm.
Die For Me
Shirlene Obuobi
Release Date: July 14
Don’t we all want a bit of what we can’t have? Temptation is showcased at its finest in Shirleen Obuobi’s tantalizing paranormal story. While at a wedding, cardiologist Sean Sullivan doesn’t know what her own heart is doing. She’s staring across the aisle at Julian, the attractive and mysterious man of honor, whom she can’t seem to tear her gaze away from. Sean knows better. She hasn’t been craving to return to the dating scene, and Julian, more than a decade younger than her, shouldn’t be the person to tempt her back into it. As they spend more time together, Sean can’t get enough, to the point where when she’s not with him, she’s physically unwell. But perhaps these symptoms are signals of something otherworldly, and Sean may have just tempted seduction itself.
The Romance Revival
Christina Lauren
Release Date: July 14
Fans of Christina Lauren will enjoy seeing the dynamic duo up their stakes with a sci-fi twist in this heartening romance. Most people probably don’t know much about Dr. Emery Martín’s job, but that’s on purpose. She runs a lab that creates a substance that could bring mammals back to life. A job with this level of secrecy and urgency means that her marriage to her husband, Luca, has fallen to the wayside over the years. An accident then forces Emery’s hand, and she uses a portion of her company’s substance to bring her husband back to life. However, this version of Luca has lost most of his memories, including their marriage, and it’s on Emery to remind him and herself why and how they fell in love in the first place.
Thighs Wide Shut
Hayley Fleming
Release Date: July 21
Diagnosed with vaginismus when she was in college, Emma didn’t know how to talk about her condition with anyone, let alone with Harrison, with whom a fledgling romance was growing. And so, Emma walked away and has regretted never giving them the chance they both deserved ever since. Today, Emma has just returned to her hometown in Boston while she figures out her next steps after teaching doesn’t work out and learns Harrison is still around. In fact, he’s more than around. He lives right next door. The chemistry between them is still as palpable as it was a decade earlier, but Harrison is hesitant to give Emma a second chance after the way she ghosted him, and Emma is still not sure if she’s ready to reveal such a private part of herself with him. This is a second chance romance at its surest.
Vera Stein Is Fine
Julie Murphy
Release Date: July 21
Being an assistant to her boss who she occasionally sleeps with is not what screenwriter and titular star Vera Stein had in mind when she came to Hollywood. And when she learns she’s on the verge of being fired, Vera packs up and heads to Palm Springs to see her grandmother, a famous actress who lives at Starlight Palms, a retirement community for former celebs. While Vera is licking her wounds she encounters Elias, a former flame, who is now employed at Starlight Palms, reminding her of their brief but intimate affair, where they got married (and annulled) years ago. Vera came to Palm Springs to start over in a myriad of ways, but a reunion with Elias wasn’t in the cards when she arrived. But maybe all kinds of second chances are what she needs to get her life back on track.
Second First Dates
Gabriella Gamez
Release Date: July 28
After four years, Leti has decided it’s time to dip her toe back into the dating pool. She doesn’t realize it while she’s swiping across the app, but when history teacher Julian sits down in front of her for their first date, Leti remembers this isn’t a first date at all. In fact, Julian was why she stopped going on dates in the first place. Later, Julian bears witness to Leti on another unsuccessful date and offers to help her spruce up her profile to find better matches. Of course, they are the perfect match for one another, but Gabriella Gamez takes her delightfully sweet time ensuring that they get there.
Double Standard
Mallory Thomas
Release Date: July 28
Ana Barlow, star of Mallory Thomas’ adept novella, knows a thing or two about double standards. The actress has earned a reputation in Hollywood for being difficult, when in reality she simply has to advocate for herself more than her male costars do. As she’s preparing to start filming for a new blockbuster movie, the drama begins: Ana has been caught spending time with Cole Haggerty, her new costar and the director’s husband. In an effort to quell growing rumors, Ana claims that it’s Cole’s stunt double, Levi, that she was seen with, not Cole, and a fake dating scheme unravels. Ana knows that her career and reputation are once again at stake, and though she cherishes her time with Levi, only one of them will bear the cost of anyone finding out that their feelings are real.
