25 of the Best Romance Books for Summer 2023 To Chill With and Read Under the Sun

Recently, news came out that Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House, was going to re-publish the first three books of the Lovelight series, plus release the fourth and final book.

Lovelight Farms tells the story of two best friends who have to pretend to be dating in order to win a competition to save her Christmas tree farm. This book is sweetly cozy and charming in a way that you won’t ever want to stop reading it.

A beautiful historical romance set in New York City in the ’50s where one reporter befriends the newspaper mogul’s son while they try their hardest not to fall in love.

Andy is the heir to the newspaper, but he doesn’t want it. Yet he tells his father that he will try for one year. As soon as he starts, Andy finds himself messing up more than he thought he would. But every time he does, Nick is there to help him out.

This hopeful and warm romance is going to become a comfort favorite for many readers.

For those who are still hurting from watching Daisy Jones and the Six (2023), All the Right Notes can become your saving grace. Second chances, charming characters, and the love of music await you in this debut romance novel.

Told in alternating timelines — past and present — we have Quito, a genius piano player, who wants to achieve his Broadway dreams. But after one epic night in college, his inspiration has been nowhere in sight. Then, his father announces he wants Quito to collaborate on a charity performance in his hometown, but he has to convince the boy he met all those years ago, now a Hollywood superstar, to participate alongside him.

Hazelwood returns with a third stand-alone novel, and her fourth book, Love, Theoretically, a story that follows theoretical physicist Elsie, who finds out that the man who ruined her mentor’s career is none other than the one who is going to decide if she will get her dream job or not at MIT.

This delightful STEM romance doesn’t shy away from the ups and downs, the triumphs and hardships, of academic life. This is Hazelwood’s best book yet!

When everything is going well in your life, would you take a risk for something much greater? Or would you stay and drive on the safe side of the road? Can’t Let Her Go talks about taking risks and seeing what’s on the other side. It’s about two people who couldn’t be more perfect for each other, but who are also scared to mess it all up. Both have their own goals and dreams and yet they cannot stop thinking about life together. Will they take the risk? You’ll have to read to find out!

Cozy fantasy romance novels bring out the best in a person. They provide comfort and serotonin when you need them the most. The Seven Year Slip tells the story of one overworked publicist who finds a strange man in her late aunt’s apartment…but he lives seven years in the past. This book is a fantastical time-travel romance novel that will make you take out a box of tissues immediately. But don’t you worry, because Poston is going to provide that happily ever after as well.

Sometimes you watch a film, or a TV show, and wonder if the actors are dating in real life. And some of those times, they are! But other times, the actors actually hated each other despite you seeing them falling in love on screen. In Wilder’s title, you’ll get to meet two co-stars, Lilah and Shane, with a very complicated history. They hated each other behind the scenes, but when it came to their characters on the hit paranormal TV show, they couldn’t be more perfect for each other. Yet Lilah walked away years ago, and after a lackluster career, she’s back for the ninth season to give the fans the happily ever after they’ve been waiting for a lifetime.

Legally Blonde meets The Hating Game in this entertaining romance about a chef who leaves everything behind to pursue law. But she wasn’t prepared for the hardships of this life-changing decision — she’s already fallen behind in classes and the year hasn’t even started yet! She really thought it would be like the cute romcoms she saw on television.

Rachel Lynn Solomon’s romance books make you feel things that you wish you could feel every day. They really feel like beacons of light in a dark world and Business or Pleasure is no different in this regard.

It’s a steamy romantic comedy about a ghostwriter and a struggling actor who agree to help each other. She will help him write his memoir while he will help her out in the art of satisfaction. What could go wrong, right?

If you’ve been waiting for this author’s reissues, you are in luck because Bloom Books recently acquired them. So, you can fully expect these books to be republished once again, but with new covers! (I have no clue if every single one of them will have new covers, but the ones that have been announced do have new covers). One of them is Grayson’s Vow, which tells the story of Kira who needs to marry, and quickly, in order to get access to her inheritance.

If you haven’t yet read Irwin’s debut novel, A Lady’s Guide to Fortune-Hunting, you need to remedy that and do it immediately. Sophie Irwin returns with a brilliant historical romance about a woman who, once upon a time, married for duty. Now, 10 years later, she’s a widow. A very rich widow though. And she’s ready to finally craft a future for her own self.

I’m a sucker for estranged spouses romance books. So as soon as I found out about Slaughter’s newest novel, you bet I was already half in love with it. Play to Win is Slaughter’s latest romcom and it follows Miriam who has been living a very stable but boring life. Everything changes when she buys a lottery ticket…and actually wins! But she quickly realizes that the only one who can take a part of her cash prize is her estranged husband. So she comes up with a plan to bring him back, give him a great sum of money, make him sign the divorce papers, and be done with him for good. But being done with Miriam is the last thing Leo wants.

Who doesn’t love a pact? The best kind of stories start like that. In The Roommate Pact, you’ll meet ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott. They both decide that, if by the time they reach 40, they haven’t found their other halves, they will become more than just friends. But everything changes when Graham gets injured and Claire decides to take care of him.

Who doesn’t love dogs and romance books? Stefanie London created a fabulous and glamorous romance book series about women working in the pet industry in New York City. The third book in the series is Confessions of a Canine Drama Queen and this is a very anticipated release for many.

In this second-chance romance, August is known as Manhattan’s Dog Whisperer. But while she’s the best person to call to pamper your furry friend, she’s not really good at love. Not since she once had a crush on her best friend’s brother. Meanwhile Keaton, now an emotionally closed-off widower, just wants to make his family feel secure. And if this means helping his sister wrangle her husky at a weekend talent competition, he obviously says yes. And asks August for help, of course.

Another anticipated sequel is Codename Charming, Parker’s latest romantic comedy about the personal assistant of a prince and the prince’s bodyguard. If you’re familiar with the first book, you know that we met the heroine, Petunia, in Battle Royal and we also briefly got to see the hero, Matthias. Sparks were already present in the last book, so Codename Charming is bound to create fire between the two.

Get ready to enjoy a fake-dating romance between two people who couldn’t be more different from each other yet find themselves falling madly in love.

A city girl returns home after finding out her mother is getting married to someone she met on a dating app. But she never expected sparks to fly with the groom’s son!

The Secret to a Southern Wedding is an emotional contemporary romance about second chances, forgiveness, and finding love once again. It’s the perfect book to end your summer.