Fated Mates - Romance Books for Novel People

We’re filling summer reading lists and making sure that you have plenty of beach reads ready for whatever your plans are! It’s hard to believe it’s July, but we’ve got another quarterly upcoming romance episode here to ease the pain of half the year already passed! Here’s a huge list of books arriving in July, August & September 2026—historical, paranormal, speculative, contemporary, a YA or two and a romantic suspense or two, we’ve got something for everyone. As a reminder, we haven’t read most of these, but we have big plans!
If you want more recommendations and more people with whom you can discuss 2026 romance novels, maybe you want to join our Patreon? You get an extra monthly episode from us and access to the incredible readers and brilliant people on the Fated Mates Discord! Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is an old school contemporary, Perfect by Judith McNaught. Sarah says it has the greatest all-is-lost moment in romance history. Read it to find out if she’s right. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books or wherever you get your books.
AUTHORS: Do you have a book coming out in 2026 that you’d like to make sure we know about? Or, are you a debut romance author who’d like to make sure we know about your debut? Fill out the forms here:
2026/2027 Upcoming Romance Novels
2026 Debut Romance Novels

June Releases (Better Late Than Never)
Love is a Contact Sport by Frederick Smith
A Deal at Dawn by Vanessa Riley

July Releases
Seduced by the Werewolf Highwaymen by Eva Leigh
FIRE on Fire by Lukas Gaines
Princess Bride with Benefits by Bella Mason
As Long as it Takes by Jill Francis
Die For Me by Shirlene Obuobi
Kiss, Marry, Kill by Cara Tanamachi
The Paddock Club by Madge Maril
Affairs of State by Calvin James
Formula Zero by Meredith Lanzen
A Date with Death by Kelly Creagh
Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman
Falling For You by Natasha Madison
The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren
Eclipse of the Crown by AK Caggiano
Their Summer Rescue by Sera Taíno
Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie Rene
Foxx by Paisley Hope
Ravenous by Kresley Cole
An Education in Longing by Charlotte Stein
One Shattered Crown by Rebecca Zanetti

August Releases
I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming
Steelborn by Taylor LaRue
Embrace by Bal Khabra
The Cozy Nook Bookshop by Jeannie Chin
In What World by Bridget Morrissey
It’s a Business Doing Pleasure With You by Lindsay Lewis
Roped by Saffron Kent
Don’t Say Mafia by CR Jane
See you at the Sunset by Susan Lee
Old Flames by Nadine Gonzalez
Sex Positive by Brooklyn Rose
International Relations by Zac Hammett
Her Undercover Protector by Kayla Parrin
The Marriage Rebound by Meka James
Full Throttle by JK Maclaren
Vow of Eternal Night by Lily Crozier

September Releases
Love Me like a Rock Song by Shelley Jay Shore
Hexy Beast by Avery Flynn
You’re the One that I Haunt by Katie Jung
A Spell of Heart and Havoc by Kristen Vale
The Alibi Club by Carrie Talick
The Invisible Roommate by Timothy Janovsky
From Beijing With Love by Bei Lin
Demons and Diplomacy by Megan Frampton
With all my Haunted Heart by Isabel Sterling
Isn’t He Romantic by Adib Khorram
How to Ruin a Rake by Kate Pearce
Ghost Me, Maybe by Manda Collins
See you Next Tuesday by Kate Stayman-London
Game Over by Bella North
Formula He’s the One by Andie J Christopher
Doomsdate by Laura Piper Lee

Sponsors
Felicia Grossman, author of Dearest Beast, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble,

Is it our birthday? It is not! But who says you need to celebrate a birthday in real life to celebrate birthdays in romance novels? Not us! Today we’re talking about books that focus on birthdays — something that you would think would be more common in romance. We talk about birthdays that are cursed, about mistakes made on birthdays, about why heroes don’t seem to have birthdays, and about old reliable — I’m turning thirty, better get rid of this pesky virginity!
Tell us about your favorite birthday romances over on the Fated Mates Discord, where it’s probably someone’s birthday—or at least close to someone’s birthday. The Discord is accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Books
Three Little Mistakes by Nikki Sloan
Brazen and the Beast by Sarah MacLean
Suddenly You by Lisa Kleypas
Nero by SJ Tilly
Wicked in Your Arms by Sophie Jordan
All of Me by Tiya Rayne
Witness to Passion by Naima Simone
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Kylie Scott
Birthday Shot by Rilzy Adams
The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn

Notes
You can visit The Book Nook bookstore and go on the Blue Bell Ice Cream Tour if you’re ever in Brenham, Texas.
This reflecting pool situation, honestly, if someone wrote it into a book would be too heavy-handed a metaphor.
What is clipping, you might be wondering. Well, something that’s bad, actually.
Charlie Chaplin had babies when he was 73!
We had a whole episode about Ruination in season 7.
The “turning 3O book” Jen couldn’t think of is Charlie Quinn Lets Go by Jamie Varon. The nonfiction book she mentioned about “being frozen” is Girls Play Dead by Jen Percy.
Chicago, don’t miss Jen and Sophia Benoit tonight (June 24), to celebrate the release of her first historical romance, The Very Definition of Love.

Sponsors
Lotte James, author of From Rogue to Viscount, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Macmillan, publishers of Julie Murphy’s The Undergrads: Student Union, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
Blue Box Press, publishers of To Catch a Sinner, by Dylan Allen, writing as Lucy Wilson-Tagoe available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, or wherever you get your books.
Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/23/s0839-birthday-romances
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re back with a deep dive on one of our favorite recent romances, Seven Days in June by Tia Williams! We talk about yearning in contemporaries, about books that have a powerful sense of place, about dual timelines, about secondary characters, about lines that stick with us years later, and about how fated mates works as a trope in a contemporary romance.
Tia also has a new book out this month, The Missed Connection. Get it wherever you get your books.
Listen to our Season 3 episode with Tia Williams about writers in romance and head over to talk about Seven Days in June or any of her other books on the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Read Seven Days in June at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Notes
Sorry, we’re a Knicks podcast now, everyone. Sarah because of New York and Jen because of Villanova. Sarah did look up that Knickerbocker thing, but we never got back to it. Learn more about how those trousers became a symbol of NYC here.
Sports curses are bad, just ask Red Sox fans! Spike Lee has really been through it, Jalen Brunson’s interview after the game just shows you a man trying to deal with his feelings.
The World Cup, we just don’t know anything about that yet, but we’re gonna get up to speed on that, just like all the people of the world getting up to speed on America. Also, feels important to romance that we bring you the news that the Tartan Army cleared Boston out of beer.
We had Tia Williams on the podcast back in season 3 when Seven Days in June was released. Although there is not a sequel to Seven Days, Shane and Eva are secondary characters in the YA romance with Audre that came out in 2025. Find out more about Tia, and see all her books at her website.
Come see Sophia Benoit in conversation with us in NYC (June 23) and Chicago (June 24) to celebrate the release of her first historical romance, The Very Definition of Love.

Sponsors
Frederick Smith, author of Love is a Contact Sport, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.
Little Brown & Company, publishers of Lu Chekowsky’s Don’t Buy What I’m Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning to Love My Whole, Fat Self, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
The What in the Smut? Podcast, available wherever you get your podcasts.
W by Wattpad Books, publishers of Nicole Alfrine’s Brain Games. Available in print and ebook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/2026/6/16/s0838-seven-days-in-june-by-tia-williams
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

This week, we’re visiting with Mary Kay Andrews, a longtime writer and certified badass who we adore for her WTAF Wednesdays and her delightful books. We talk about her writing journey, her decision to get publicly, vocally political, and about her new book Road Trip. We had a great time chatting and talking about writing, about research, and about how we should all just take a road trip through Ireland. Of course, we recommend a few books!
Find Mary Kay Andrews (and catch WTAF Wednesdays) on Instagram, Threads, or her website.
Listen to our earlier romance road trip episode from Season 1 and head over to tell us all about your favorite road trips and find an endless list of road trip recs on the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Next week, our read along is Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Books Discussed
Road Trip by Mary Kay Andrews
Summers at the Saint by Mary Kay Andrews
This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
Nevermind the Mistletoe by Louisa Darling
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Odyssey, Emily Wilson's Translation
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett

Sponsors
Edward Underhill, author of The House of Now & Then, available in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.
Kristina Forrest, author of The Summer Girlfriend, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
Little Brown & Co, publishers of Emily Adrian’s Seduction Theory. Available in print, ebook and audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Lumi Gummies. Go to lumigummies.com and use code FATEDMATES for 30% off your order.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/9/s0837-road-trips-with-mary-kay-andrews
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky, Tumblr, and probably some other places, too, if you look hard enough.
If you've never listened to our Stop Book Banning episode, there's no better time than now.

We’re celebrating the paperback release of These Summer Storms this week, and that means we’re talking about the weather! We talk about rain and snow and wind and tempests and tornadoes and monsoons, and we talk about why we all like weather in books so much (hint, it’s because it’s dialed up to 11).
Tell us all about your favorite weather in romance novels and find an endless list of books that are as wild and stormy as you like over at the Fated Mates Discord, accessible to our Patreon subscribers. By joining the Patreon, you meet other Fated Mates listeners and get an extra monthly episode from us. Support us and learn more at fatedmates.net/patreon.
Our next read along is Seven Days in June by Tia Williams. Get it at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Apple Books, wherever you get your books, or with your monthly subscription to Kindle Unlimited.
Books
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean
Eleven Scandals by Sarah MacLean
Struck Speechless by Tati Richardson
A Tempest of Desire by Lorraine Heath
Beautiful Russian Monster by Odette Stone
Wild Rain by Beverly Jenkins
Uncharted by Adriana Anders
Whirlwind by Kayla Grosse
After Hours on Milagro Street by Angelina M Lopez

Notes
We are fans of Mayor Mamdani, texting Sarah about the weather. This lady didn’t get the memo, but we hope she’s okay. After this episode was recorded, the Knicks were headed to the MNBA finals, and the Mayor repealed bedtimes for all the kids in New York. Could we love him any more?
Eric was camping, which Sarah and I imagine is like Ferngully, but it was real rainy.
Half agony and half hope is from Persuasion, which just goes to show you that you can never read Jane Austen and still get the basics!
Send Help is a movie with Rachel McAdams and it’s basically light horror, maybe? Idk, Jen covered her eyes a lot, but it was super fun.
It was a dark and stormy night is from Snoopy, and also an 1830 novel called Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, who was an aristocrat! He was the first Baron Lytton! Paul Clifford is an example of a Newgate novel.
Snowed-in is a subset of forced proximity, but the snowed-in is a symbol.
You can watch People We Meet on Vacation on Netflix.
Speaking of Crash Landing on You and weather.
James Joyce was afraid of thunderstorms.
Sophia Benoit will be with Sarah at Book Club Bar in Brooklyn on June 23rd, and with Jen at Women & Children First in Chicago on June 24th. Sarah will be with Mary Kay Andrews on Long Island on June 12th.

Sponsors
Rachel Griffiths, author of Just for the Season, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, signed from the Ripped Bodice, or wherever you get your books.
Lulu Morris, author of The Dating Pact, available for preorder in print, ebook, audiobook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo or wherever you get your books.
W by Wattpad Books, publishers of Sabrina Blackburry’s Half Wylde. Available in print and ebook from Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, or wherever you get your books.

The Rest
For even more info about this episode, and to explore everything Fated Mates has to offer, visit: https://fatedmates.net/episodes/2026/6/1/s0836-weather-is-genre-these-summer-storms-paperback
If you wish you had six more days in a week of people talking about romance, may we suggest joining our Patreon? Aside from an additional episode every month you get access to our Discord, where other romance readers are talking about books they love (and many other things!) all the time. It’s so fun! Learn more about the Patreon and go join those cool people who love romance as much as you do at patreon.com/fatedmates.
Beyond your favorite podcast app, you can find us on Instagram, Threads, Blue Sky,