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28 of the Hottest Romances of 2020
Looking to start off your new year with something sweet? Don't worry, we've got plenty to keep you busy. Whether you're looking for a ready-for-the-screen rom-com or a sultry affair with a decadent duke, there's a little something for everyone.
It's not easy finding your true love…so we did the hard work for you. To create our list of romance must-reads, we focused on what Goodreads members can't wait to get their hands on. How do we measure that anticipation? By taking a look at how many times a book has been added to Want to Read shelves.
Which of these seductive reads captures your attention? Tell us what catches your eye in the comments!
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Release: 2020
Release: 2020
Which romance books are you excited to read this year? Share them with us in the comments!
Check out more recent articles:
33 Highly Anticipated Books of 2020
Super Readers Share Their Best Tips to Read More in 2020
The Best Romance Books of January
Comments Showing 1-50 of 54 (54 new)
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Brooke
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Jan 02, 2020 08:32AM
This one should definitely be added to the list! Something to Talk About
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Any queer romances? Casey McQuiston has a new queer romance coming out and since she won the Good Years award for best romance of 2019, seems like a good sign that we all want to see more great queer romance novels!!
agree with Michelle above! where are the queer romances, is this lack of representation due to the publishing industry, or Goodreads or both?
So you "focused on" goodreads lists? What else was taken into consideration? This list feels lacking.
Any new M M romance I should be looking out for?
Finding Elenore by P.W. Hazeldine should be on this list. This really is one of best love stories I have read in a very long time.
Sai Ram wrote: "agree with Michelle above! where are the queer romances, is this lack of representation due to the publishing industry, or Goodreads or both?"
Goodreads.
Unexpected Bond by Kaylee RyanLove at the BluebirdAurora Rose Reynolds
Making you mine Melissa Foster
Stuff that are missing from this list:-1) queer romance
2) Romance (in English) from countries other than America & England.
&I haven't checked all the books but it doesn't look like this features many diverse or ownvoices romance either.
What "catches my eye" is the lack of diversity.Giving the benefit of the doubt that the flaw lies in the method used to compile the list. For instance, did you consider as a factor that the "romance" tag is typically used to refer only to straight & cis romance and that other tags are used for queer romance that should be included in your algorithm?
My guess is that you did not consider this, as the result is a list of only straight romance. Generously I am assuming you did not set out to intentionally or malevolently exclude queer romance from your list. What you have created here is harmfully exclusionary.
This article should be removed or revised. And in the future, you should examine the end result before publishing a list like this. Try harder. Do better.
I wish new authors were highlighted in the paranormal romance section... They are always the same! I need new paranormal stories!
The other frustrating thing about this list is that it leans towards major publishers. a lot of my want to reads are for indie authors like Jackie Lau, who just don't have as wide a reach. Trying to find more of the indie writers would really help on the diversity front as well. (Where are my menage stories?)
The 35¢ Dowry by Maryvonne Fent should be on this list. It got some great reviews on Amazon. Located in Paris in 1960, it is the story of a young French girl who must find the means to rejoin her lover, a charismatic Polish student, in India, and will embrace an ancient culture to discover opportunities that will change her life.
Ash wrote: "What "catches my eye" is the lack of diversity.Giving the benefit of the doubt that the flaw lies in the method used to compile the list. For instance, did you consider as a factor that the "roma..."
Well said!
IN FIVE YEARS really isn't a romance...
Maryvonne wrote: "The 35¢ Dowry by Maryvonne Fent should be on this list. It got some great reviews on Amazon. Located in Paris in 1960, it is the story of a young French girl who must find the means to rejoin her l..."Your book only has two reviews on Goodreads, so that may be why staff aren't aware of it.
Steve wrote: "Any new M M romance I should be looking out for?"You can check here https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...
Here for the queer romances too. C'mon Goodreads, throw a little diversity in.
I’m glad it has blown up. I really was wondering why Goodreads romance often omits the queer romance novels. We have a long way to go for diversity.
queer romances queer romances *bangs fists on table*also like. most of these look pretty white, it'd be nice to see some non white romances on here too
Hmm, some great recs in the comments methinks!
No way!! The hottest book in January is Credence by Penelope Douglas!!!! Talk about steamy
Upcoming queer romance for all those asking would be BOYFRIEND MATERIAL by Alexis Hall. It is AMAZING, and out 7/7/20.
Also, another lovely M/M book, lower heat rating but absolutely lovely is THE STATE OF US by Shaun David Hutchinson, also out this summer.
Oh I did laugh when I saw Highland Ever After on the list. Maya Banks has lost a lot of credibility over the release date farce on this book. It's had a release date every year for the last 5 or 6 years and last October when they put it back yet another year was the final straw for a lot of fans of the series.
https://www.amazon.com/Book-Last-Year...Prepare to be impassioned on a heart throbbing journey within the pages of, A Book to Last the Year; Calendar Anthology Romance.
Among these alluring tales you'll encounter forbidden love, broken hearts, and spellbound desire. A cake decorator who hates weddings but craves a stunning guest. The aftermath of a hot encounter with a mythical God. The sweet awe of attraction between adults who were once childhood friends. A 40 something grieving widow infatuated with a younger man. A girl teetering between the naughty and nice list at Christmas time.
This collection of enticing stories and poems is not for the chaste. Enter into passionate worlds of pleasure and pain. Talented story tellers and poets inspired by the months and seasons provide a mixture of imaginative and fascinating journeys allowing you to escape and forever be changed.
I want to read M/M romance. But apparently Goodreads is far too homophobic to promote those books.
“Wild Rain” by Beverly Jenkins, the 2nd book in her “Women Who Dare” series should be on this list. The first was sooo very good!
The Betrothed by Kiera Cass is coming out in May!
God, would you lot all quit moaning. There is a whole lgbt section on Goodreads here https://www.goodreads.com/genres/lgbt which you can explore to your hearts content.If the romance section included non-straight books, there would have to be a whole new section for books that are straight only, since that is what I and a whole lot of other people are interested in reading. Then you'd be moaning that that was discriminatory...
Just like you can't chose who you love, you can't choose your literary tastes, and I for one resent the continual dismissal of the books chosen, and therefore my taste in books as homophobic or discriminatory whenever a romance newsletter comes out.
Ugh. So boring and so straight. More queer/diversity please!
Wow Lyndsey. So uncharitable. The LGBT book list is a great but we can also want new release titles. I actually enjoy many types of romance. I’m a lesbian so I like reading that but read lots of m/m and also hetero romance. It’s kind of impossible to avoid hetero romance. You’d have to live under a rock. I don’t think you’d need your own whole list if Goodreads added one or two queer books. My larger point was that “Red White and Royal Blue” by Casey McQuiston won the Good Reads Best Romance of 2019 category, and won by a large measure, and it’s a queer romance. That means about 60k people voted for it and liked it. A queer romance was the most popular. So please recommend more along the line of what was the most popular.
I am currently reading Finding Elenore by P.W. Hazeldine. It's so out there romantic. Can't wait to finish it. Let you know when I leave a review
Please can you send a message to the public .Emily😁😀
Michelle wrote: "Any queer romances? Casey McQuiston has a new queer romance coming out and since she won the Good Years award for best romance of 2019, seems like a good sign that we all want to see more great que..."It's not expected to be published until 2021 unfortunately :(
For all those crying out for MM, KING TJ Klune has a few coming out this year, and if you are a fan of MM romance and haven't read anything by him yet... WHAT ARE YOU DOING?
a website freebie in the magnificent Green Creek series - already available 
his first trad published book (with Tor.com) - March 17th
his second (and it's YA) with Tor.com - May 5th
the last in my beloved Green Creek series - August 18thAlso, not only is the list very homogenous but where are all the popular self-published titles at??? There's only one that I'm aware of on this list. NOT GOOD ENOUGH for lists of romance genre books.
Goodreads, you need to get out from the big publishers' pockets and give all those other thousands of books out there some attention too. Especially in romance as many self-pubbed titles are far superior in pushing the boundaries of many of the cliches and diversity issues that get in the way so much of the time in the genre.
I mean... you even seem to ignore all the incredibly popular KU titles, many of them being self-published too. And as GR is owned by amazon that makes no sense at all.
Been so long I have read such romances... Any recommendations?
Michelle wrote: "Any queer romances? Casey McQuiston has a new queer romance coming out and since she won the Good Years award for best romance of 2019, seems like a good sign that we all want to see more great que..."Casey McQuiston has a new book coming out? Is it a sequel to Red, White & Royal Blue? I If it is, then I will be extremely happy for the rest of the day! I know that they have a movie in the works but I haven't heard anything about a book sequel. Personally, I want a book sequel more than a movie.
Genevieve wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Any queer romances? Casey McQuiston has a new queer romance coming out and since she won the Good Years award for best romance of 2019, seems like a good sign that we all want to s..."Casey McQuiston's book is coming out next year according to the goodreads page. It's a f/f book and not a sequel to RWRB, but still exciting nonetheless :)
Jenna wrote: "Genevieve wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Any queer romances? Casey McQuiston has a new queer romance coming out and since she won the Good Years award for best romance of 2019, seems like a good sign tha..."Ohh, I can't wait!! Thanks!
Lyndsey wrote: "God, would you lot all quit moaning. There is a whole lgbt section on Goodreads here https://www.goodreads.com/genres/lgbt which you can explore to your hearts content.If the romance section incl..."
My thoughts exactLy!
Emily wrote: "Please can you send a message to the public .Emily😁😀"
Charlotte wrote: "I am currently reading Finding Elenore by P.W. Hazeldine. It's so out there romantic. Can't wait to finish it. Let you know when I leave a review"
How do I do this Emily. Was this sent to me
I think there’s a bit of a disconnect between romance and erotica. Of course sex is part of romance but unless the sex descriptions add anything to the story other than, well.., steam it’s just for titillating the reader.Rant over.
I’d love to see a wider variety of titles from self-pub, indie, and perhaps some lesser known authors, otherwise Goodreads feels like a schill for the major publishing houses vs a place for good reads.
