10 Black Romances to Add to Your TBR Right Now
We celebrate the joys of Black love all year round, but in honor of Black History Month, Swooon is spotlighting Black romances sure to make you swoon. Scroll down for some of the best Black romance reads of 2025.
The Love Simulation
Etta Easton
Release Date: March 4, 2025
Please raise your hand if you want to spend the summer in a Mars simulation! Teacher Brianna Rogers’ hand is certainly not up, not until the principal of her school takes the funds meant to be used for the library and uses them instead for a football field, all while his son and fellow teacher Roman does nothing to stop it. So Brianna is joining a group of teachers on a simulation that could earn them the money they need to fund the library, except Roman is coming along, too. Brianna can’t tell if his intentions are true or if Roman is here to sabotage their team, but she can’t deny that her feelings about him are changing the more time they spend together. Brianna will put everything on the line to get what she needs for her students, but she just can’t tell if this thing with Roman is all a simulation, too.
No Ordinary Love
Myah Ariel
Release Date: April 1, 2025
To her many fans, pop star Ella Simone is living the dream. But behind closed doors, her relationship with her producer and husband is falling apart due to his cheating. Post divorce, Ella knows that she needs to keep a low profile, but during an awards show, MLB star Miles Westbrook comes to the rescue during Ella’s wardrobe malfunction and now all eyes are on them. This could be Ella’s chance to resuscitate her reputation, and it couldn’t hurt Miles to be seen gallivanting with one of the biggest pop stars. Being picture perfect has always been Ella’s forte, yet she finds that she’s not performing with Miles but really being with him. This PR stunt could have a real happily ever after for Ella, if she’s ready to finally walk away from being what everyone else wants her to be.
Flirting Lessons
Jasmine Guillory
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Avery Jensen is a good girl who wants to be bad. Taylor Cameron is a notorious bad girl who is making an effort to slow down when it comes to hookups, especially since her best friend thinks she can’t. When Avery and Taylor meet, they find a way to help each other: Taylor can distract herself by helping Avery learn how to flirt, and so begins the titular flirting lessons. However, Taylor may have done her job too well because now Avery is a magnet with many options. Taylor is finally learning what it feels like to want to be the only one, and Avery is discovering that playing the field doesn’t quite matter when your heart only skips a beat for one person.
If We Were a Movie
Zakiya N. Jamal
Release Date: April 22, 2025
High school senior Rochelle doesn’t quite hate Amira, the only person who could snatch valedictorian away from her. But she sure as hell doesn’t like her either. When Rochelle applies to work at Horizon, a Black-owned movie theater, in order to boost her college application, the last person she wants to see (or work under) is Amira. As the pair spend more time together, Rochelle finds herself surprised to learn Amira isn’t the person she thought, and when the Horizon theater comes under threat, they’ll do anything to save the place that may have brought them together.
Ms. V’s Hot Girl Summer
A.H. Cunningham
Release Date: April 29, 2025
Trinidad Velasquez can’t remember the last time she focused on herself. For 16 years, her entire world has been about her son and making sure she does everything possible to make sure he has everything he needs. Sure, it might mean she’s put her own feelings on the back burner, even in her own engagement, but life can’t always be about sparks and passion. Or at least that’s what she thinks until her son tricks her into heading off on a Caribbean Carnival vacation. And who else would be there but the one man who’s always managed to make her heart beat faster?
Can’t Get Enough
Kennedy Ryan
Release Date: May 13, 2025
Kennedy Ryan brings the fabulous Hendrix Barry to the forefront in the last (we know, we’re crying, too!) addition to the Skyland series. There is nobody on Earth who can tell Hendrix Barry that she isn’t That Girl. She has the success, the style, and the attitude to match, but one thing her money can’t buy her is more time with her aging mother. But she’s got her girls and a great summer ahead of her to keep her steady. Enter: Maverick, a (very) sexy single she meets at a party who seems to be the first man to ever really be able to match her wit. Even though relationships, especially one with Maverick, is off the table for Hendrix, Maverick is determined to show Hendrix that he can spoil her and support her.
Out of Step, Into You
Ciera Burch
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Marianna never thought that a world could exist where she and Taylor weren’t best friends. But when she moved away and Taylor abandoned her, Marianna came to terms with the fact that that world did exist, and she was living in it. Three years later, she’s back in town, and both Taylor and Marianna are the top two runners on their track team. With old resentments still lingering, every race becomes an opportunity to outshine the other, to remind the other of how they’ve been hurt. Yet, time spent putting blood, sweat, and tears onto the track reminds them of how much they’d one shared, and still do. If only they could slow down to remember…
Plus Size Player
Danielle Allen
Release Date: June 10, 2025
Nina Ford, star of the second installment of the Curve series, likes to keep a roster of men to keep her entertained (a variety pack, if you will). She’s got different men to fulfill different needs, and that’s the way she plans to keep it until Russell, her designated “fun guy” has a different idea. Russell is ready to show Nina that there’s more to him than great sex and good laughs, but can one person be enough? Nina is starting to realize that it could be, but only if she’s ready to give one person every part of her.
August Lane
Regina Black
Release Date: July 29, 2025
Country star Luke Randall hates his biggest hit “Another Love Song,” but that doesn’t matter because he’s going to keep singing it. It’s the song that has him going on tour, even if every time the lyrics spill from his lips, he’s brought back to the worst thing he’s ever done. August Lane also isn’t a fan of “Another Love Song,” considering the fact that she wrote it but had all the credit stolen from her by Luke, who’s never so much as apologized. When the pair reunite, August demands he co-write a song and perform it with her at an important upcoming concert. Luke, desperate to please her, agrees. August wants nothing more than to use this opportunity to become a star in her own right, yet singing with Luke brings something magical out of them both. With both of their careers, reputations, and futures on the line, August must decide between revenge or believing that this very different version of Luke deserves a second chance.
Sweet Heat
Bolu Babalola
Release Date: September 2, 2025
Have you missed Honey & Spice’s Kiki and Malakai? Because we sure have! The duo makes their return in this sequel set 10 years later, and finds Kiki floundering after a deal for her romance radio falls through. On the other hand, her ex-boyfriend, Malakai, is in a bout of success as a filmmaker and Kiki will need his help if she wants her career to stay afloat. All it will take is working together for one summer, but the same heat that drew them together in college comes roaring back — twice as hard — and they’re both left wondering if they can move past old hurts to start something new.
