Sign in with Facebook
Readers' Most Anticipated New Romances for 2024
“The heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.”
Blaise Pascal, the 17th-century French mathematician, said that. He was a lifelong bachelor, as it happens. Seems relevant. Still, to lift the spirits, there’s nothing like a good love story, or even just a good lust story.
Happily for all, we have both types in this latest installment of our Most Anticipated series for 2024. The romance aisle remains a popular and busy one, and the books gathered here represent highly sought-after incoming titles, according to Goodreads members’ Want to Read shelves.
You’ll find plenty of familiar faces in contemporary romance, including new books from Emily Henry, Kennedy Ryan, Tia Williams, Casey McQuiston, and Carley Fortune. On the historical fiction end of things, look for a new queer Victorian romance series from Emma R. Alban, a sexy Mexican espionage affair from Liana De la Rosa, and the most gloriously strained punny book titles in the business.
This year, we’ve broken out a distinct category for Romantasy and Paranormal Romance, including Ali Hazelwood's much-anticipated paranormal werewolf/vampire saga, Bride. The Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is the sequel to one of 2022’s breakout hits. Also on tap: Saara El-Arifi’s Faebound, Analeigh Sbrana’s Lore of the Wilds, and Justinian Huang’s The Emperor and the Endless Palace. Sexy! Fantastic!
Watch for a few buzzy debuts, too, from newcomers including Naina Kumar and Yulin Kuang. Bonus trivia to bring everything full circle: Kuang is the director of the film adaptation of Emily Henry’s classic Beach Read.
Click on the book cover images for more information about each title, and don’t forget to feed your poor lonesome Want to Read shelf.
Contemporary Romance
Romantasy & Paranormal Romance
Historical Romance
Now it's your turn! Let us know which new 2024 romances you’re most excited to read this year in the comments below.
Comments Showing 51-84 of 84 (84 new)
date
newest »
newest »
message 51:
by
Deva
(new)
Jan 18, 2024 07:38AM
I would have LOVED a LGBTQ+ section! I'm ALWAYS looking for the next wonderfully queer romance to add to my collection!
flag
Can somebody recommend books like the Shatter Me series? I can't seem to get into any other series after finishing the Shatter Me series not too long ago.
Kathy wrote: "Then I read the description of The Emperor and the Endless Palace and it sounds incredible, absolutely my thing(s) -- MM, time travel, high angst"Agreed 😊
i was today years old when i found out there are people out there who genuinely prefer photos on covers rather than illustrations... anyways, so glad to be living in the age of illustrations!
I much preferred illustrated covers for romance. I won't pick up one with real people on the cover.
funny story, just for the summer, and this could be us
I added a BUNCH of these to my future to read list! I've missed the fun chik-lit genre over the past few years for all the heavier plots people have put out - these are perfect lighthearted fun. And I'm all for the fun artistic covers these days. No boring "fake" looking people on the covers please. ;)
I'm looking forward to quite a few of these. However, I do agree about the people covers. I definitely prefer creating my own mental image of what the characters look like instead.
Christine wrote: "Ha! And I’m just the opposite! I actually prefer illustrated covers! Thankfully, the words inside each book are the same regardless of whether there’s a photograph or an illustration. 😊"Same here! I think illustrated covers can be very great!
Sonia wrote: "I'm bummed that the Historical Romances all have illustrated covers. I'm not inspired to read any of them 😕"I feel the same way!
I cant wait for daydream by Hannah Grace!!!!!, her other books were amazing, this is gonna be a good year for books bc there's so many more coming out that I've been wanting to read
I love all the illustrated covers!I’d like to see more light fantasy, cozy fantasy, funny fantasy. The covers are all dark and forbidding.
Boots wrote: "I love all the illustrated covers!I’d like to see more light fantasy, cozy fantasy, funny fantasy. The covers are all dark and forbidding."
I agree! I would love to see some more variety.
Christine wrote: "Ha! And I’m just the opposite! I actually prefer illustrated covers! Thankfully, the words inside each book are the same regardless of whether there’s a photograph or an illustration. 😊"I also prefer the look of the illustrated covers. They feel less intimidating to me for some reason. Hahaha!
I love a good illustrated cover. A GOOD one, not these samey-same/MS Paint inspired "chicklit" cartoons peppered throughout a few of these subgenres. Photo elements can be done well, esp when a good graphic designer gets in there as well, but for Romance a straight up photo does *tend* to be really bad costumes/hair with no historical value and just a bit cringe on the poses. (Not unlike oldskool illustrated.) IMHO, either way can be done poorly or well--depending on the budget, probably. And I'm seeing the comments both have ppl complaining about the lack of LGBTQ books on this list and happy that there's a lot. I'm...unsure. I kinda get not having a section for LGBTQ b/c we shouldn't be segregated off but at the same time, it's a hassle having to skim past the more standard issue hetro fare, and sometimes the little popup description makes it hard to tell what's the what. I'm honestly not sure if I found them all. Ah well. Will look at what I did scope out.
(But then what even is comment sections--there's ppl mad the covers are too light, where's the dark stuff? and ppl complaining it's all so dark and forbidding.)
Law wrote: "Where are the queer romances? Are there any POC romances? Bride looks intriguing."There looks to be several on the list.
Ahhhh the historical romances! Why do they all have the tacky covers?!?! they all look like carbon copies 😥😥
Every time they do a romance list I think “oh that’s nice, there’s some queer romances”. And then I look in the comments and there’s a bunch of people bitching that there are no queer romances. Did you LOOK? Maybe they should make a queer section each time so people stop complaining.
Law wrote: "Where are the queer romances? Are there any POC romances? Bride looks intriguing."I counted 3 queer ones but that’s only based on the cover lmao
Niyya wrote: "Nsikan wrote: "I’m tired of this age of illustrated covers for romance and YA. Let’s get back to the times of photography"I'm the exact opposite, the photography covers scare me😭 but I will agree..."
This is me right here
Ann wrote: "How about Christina Lauren? No book this year?"Maybe later this year?
I see these neon, corporate art style covers and immediately want nothing to do with the book
Alex wrote: "People complaining about illustrated covers lmao I absolutely hate when books have real people on the cover especially romance. If I see a prom dress cosplaying as historical or shirtless dude on t..."“Photo of shirtless man” and “flat, bright cartoon cover” are not the only two cover options
I only have two on this list, but many, many on MY list. But just to take it to April and the one's that I am willing to shill for. :-) You will notice the 5 stars already for the SEP book.....squeee!!!!!The Wickedness of a Highlander Braden, Elisa
Simply The Best (Chicago Stars) Phillips, Susan E *****
Only Hard Problems Estep, Jennifer
In Want of a Viscount Heath, Lorraine
Blitz (Treasure State Wildcats 2) Perry, Devney
The Governess Should Never Love a Spy Windsor, Emily
Aurelia (Bellamy Sisters 4) Spencer, Minerva
Ruthless Scandal Guardians of the Bones 5 Jackson, K.J.
The Stranger I Wed St. George, Harper
My Season of Scandal Long, Julie Anne
Archangel's Lineage GH 16 (Elena and Rafael) Singh, Nalini
Tom wrote: "Fantasy romance covered are becoming indistinguishable 🥲"Agreed, which is a bit ridiculous because there is so much killer fantasy art out there. Unfortunately, it’s not about art - it’s about marketing. Sigh.
Carrie wrote: "No dark romance? Bummer. 😑"As I was scrolling down, I said to myself.. no dark romance? then I saw your post. Very disappointing :(
I hopped for more diversity. LGBT+ should have had it's own section. But the hopes of a book set in a fresh and new setting is what brought me here.
Most of these look like cover art for a children's picture book. I guess this sort of AI generated thing plays well with the BookTok generation (said with the bitterness of someone who tried a few hyped books and DNF'd them all in disgust), but it feels juvenile and soulless to me. There's a dozen different animation or "papercraft" styles they could use and instead there's just this ONE type that resists nuance and detail... and it telegraphs what might be inside. We don't have to go back to Fabio on every cover to signify historicals etc, but this sameness doesn't sit right with me. Have all the art departments been downsized to one graphic design intern who just rotates through different fonts?
Photos? Illustrated covers? I say bring back the horny oil painting covers!
Sonia wrote: "I'm bummed that the Historical Romances all have illustrated covers. I'm not inspired to read any of them 😕"The bottom hisfic row are all photographs, 1/3rd of the hisfic titles shown.
And tbh, usually the photograph covers are pretty forgettable to me. They're okay, here? They're rarely accurate to time period or the characters, so I tend to prefer illustrations that are more in line with what the book actually contains.
I like the illustrated ones, and these illustrations are done in a variety of styles!
Sonia wrote: "I'm bummed that the Historical Romances all have illustrated covers. I'm not inspired to read any of them 😕" Frr
Why do the covers look all the same?Not a single one stands out, all of them basic and boring. Looks like someone fed AI prompt “make me a random romance cover”
I’m fed up with those.
