Six romances I'm excited for in Q4 2023
Including possibly my most anticipated romance of the year?
October is here in full force. There’s a crispness to the air, the leaves are just beginning to turn, and bookstore shelves are overflowing with witchy and Christmas books. (Side note: do we think the end of September is too early to start releasing Christmas books? I feel like the romance section has been flooded with them since I got back from my trip and my reading mood is still firmly rooted in the Gothic, magical, and autumnal. I can also only read a few holiday romances before I burn out on the genre, so I have a feeling I’m not the target audience here.) But the last few months of the year have quite a few titles I’m eagerly anticipating, from a return to one of my favorite small towns to curse breaking to interstellar drama. So many, in fact, that I decided to go slightly rogue and highlight eight titles I can’t wait to read this fall and winter.
Better Hate Than Never by Chloe Liese (October 10th)
I’m a simple woman. You mention a Shakespeare retelling and I’m there, little cartoon clouds of dust springing up behind me like the Road Runner. This one takes on The Taming of the Shrew, with a childhood enemies to lovers spin and what the author describes as a mash up of her favorite parts of 10 Things I Hate About You and the Anne-Gilbert dynamic in Anne of Green Gables. (A pitch that I immediately fell for.) I really enjoyed Liese’s Two Wrongs Make a Right last year, when it was exactly the tender, relatively low-angst romance I needed, and I’m looking forward to more of her writing this fall.
10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall (October 17th)
Hall’s range is dizzyingly wide but, judging from early reviews and the blurb, this fake amnesia romance falls in one of my favorite of his niches: the witty, Richard Curtis-esque romcom, featuring a charming human disaster and a starchy grump with a heart of gold. It also seems to be Christmassy, but not overly so, which is my preferred flavor of holiday romance.
Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake (October 24th)
I have been waiting for this book for what feels like an eternity. The first two books in the Bright Falls series, Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail, were two of my absolute favorite romances last year and I’ve been anticipating Iris’ story since her first hilarious one-liner. Blake’s romances are funny, nuanced, wonderfully lived in, and swoon-worthy in a way that’s all the swoonier for how real they feel. Also, a queer retelling of Much Ado About Nothing is involved? I preordered my copy months ago and am positively vibrating with excitement for it to finally come out.
A Power Unbound by Freya Marske (November 7th)
This is the third installment of a fantasy romance series that I have successfully sold multiple people on as a queer, magical, steamier Downton Abbey. You do absolutely have to read the series in order but there’s time before A Power Unbound comes out to catch up on this world of magical plots, hedge mazes, top-tier angst, murder, and shipboard romances. (Everything I want in a fantasy series, honestly.)
Calamity by Constance Fay (November 14th)
This sci-fi adventure is one of the first titles published by Bramble, Tor’s new romance imprint, and I’m hoping that it’s a portent of more sci-fi romances to come. The cover copy is promising a found family of misfits, an enemies to lovers romance, and fast-paced interstellar drama, all of which I’m here for. This just sounds fun.
Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan (November 14th)
A curse breaker and a disgraced archaeologist meet in a haunted Scottish castle and butt heads almost immediately…then become enemies with benefits. Danan previously wrote The Shameless Series, which I really enjoyed, and I’m so curious to see what she does with the supernatural elements here. She’s also very good at building her main characters’ relationship through steamy scenes and I think she’s doing quite interesting things with how she writes about intimacy, so I can’t wait for her take on enemies to lovers.
The Gentleman’s Gambit by Evie Dunmore (December 5th)
The fourth book in the impeccably researched League of Extraordinary Women series focuses on bookish suffragist Catriona Campbell. I’m hoping for more of Dunmore’s elegant writing, layered characters, fascinating historical backstory, and clever spins on typical historical tropes. I was very impressed with how the previous book in the series turned a lot of the typical ‘ruthless tycoon with secret emotional turmoil and sheltered debutante’ historical romance plot upside down. I love a good historical romance trope but I love a book that’s willing to unpack it even more and I’m excited for whatever Dunmore has up her sleeve for this one.
This Spells Love by Kate Robb (December 5th)
I had to add a witchy romance in here. This one includes a sliding doors situation, a dash of whimsy, and what early reviews are suggesting is a gorgeous friends-to-lovers romance. I’ve been loving all the romances with a dash of magic that have popped up over the last few years and this sounds like the perfect combination of charming and swoony.
Let me know what books you’re looking forward to this fall in the comments!
Currently reading: Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo. I love Acevedo’s YA and so far I’m liking the complex characters and magical elements in her adult debut.
What’s bringing me joy lately:
Nighttime museum excursions. A friend and I went to the Whitney’s evening hours recently and there’s something about going to a museum at night that makes it feel like an event.
Some stellar park walks, including a leisurely loop around the Central Park Reservoir on a perfect fall day.
Editing the most recent draft of my book and letting myself be just the tiniest bit pleased with some of my sentences.
So many great book recommendations! I’m most excited for The Gentleman’s Gambit! I preordered it months ago and can’t wait until it comes out in December.