It’s peak summer, and the best romance books of July 2024 are bringing the heat (and heart). This month’s new romance releases include highly-anticipated new titles from beloved authors like Jessica Joyce, Tessa Bailey, Eloisa James, and more. Plus, we’re excited about debut romances from Gabriella Gamez, Simone Soltani, and plenty more great new books!
Whether on the beach or on the couch, these are perfect for all your summer reading needs! Check out all our picks for the best romance books of July 2024.
The Love of My Afterlife by Kirsty Greenwood
Release date: July 2
Read it if: You love The Good Place and secretly think Just Like Heaven is a great rom-com. A recently deceased woman gets the chance to connect with her earthly soulmate, but it won’t be easy.
Publisher’s synopsis: If she wasn’t dead already, Delphie would be dying of embarrassment. Not only did she just die by choking on a microwaveable burger, but now she’s standing in her ‘shine like a star’ nightie in front of the hottest man she’s ever seen. And he’s smiling at her.
As they start to chat, everything else becomes background noise. That is until someone comes running out of a door, yelling something about a huge mistake, and sends the dreamy stranger back down to earth. And here Delphie was thinking her luck might be different in the afterlife.
When Delphie is offered a deal in which she can return to earth and reconnect with the mysterious man, she jumps at the opportunity to find her possible soulmate and a fresh start. But in a city of millions, Delphie is going to have to listen to her heart, learn to ask for help, and perhaps even see the magic in the life she’s leaving behind…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Undermining of Twyla and Frank by Megan Bannen
Release date: July 2
Read it if: Your favorite trope is friends-to-lovers, or you just love some fantastically chaotic fantasy world-building. A pair of beastie-fighting marshals get embroiled in a dragon plot, while also slowly realizing their feelings for each other.
Publisher’s synopsis: The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla’s rewarding career patrolling the strange land of Tanria remains a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank’s job a lot safer … and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals near an enormous footprint—and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon—they are grateful to be back in action.
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as danger closes in and Twyla and Frank’s investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might be the person who has lived next door all along…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
What’s In a Kiss by Lauren Kate
Release date: July 2
Read it if: You’ve ever gone down the path of wondering about the “what ifs” in your life. A woman gets to experience a different path in life, but she’s not sure if it’s worth the trade-off.
Publisher’s synopsis: This is not how Liv wanted to see Jake Glasswell for the first time in ten years. Once her high school rival and the prom date who humiliated her, now a successful TV personality, he’s more attractive than he has any right to be. And he’s her Lyft passenger.
Since the prom night kiss that never was, Liv’s life has not gone to plan. She deferred Julliard to be with her mom during a crisis, and now swears she’s happy as a recently furloughed drama teacher going on no-strings dates. This weekend she’s maid of honor to her best friend, Masha, and, of course, Jake is the best man. But when Liv glares into Jake’s eyes as Masha says, “I do,” the universe turns on its axis and Liv is suddenly living a version of her life where prom night was the beginning of her and Jake, not the end, and it turns out he’s the love of her life. The catch? Her mom and Masha hate her now. What’s in a kiss? Maybe everything.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Take Me Home by Melanie Sweeney
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You like your romance with a healthy side helping of family drama. Hometown rivals reluctantly agree to share a ride back to their small town. Along the way, they learn a lot about each other — and unpack some family insecurities, too.
Publisher’s synopsis: Hazel Elliot never looks back. If a door closes, she burns the whole house down. But when she’s invited to her father’s wedding, she’s forced to return to Lockett Prairie, Texas, for the first time since she fled for college.
Ash Campbell has been in love with Hazel since she dated his best friend in high school. Now, Ash and Hazel’s relationship is limited to playful feuding over the best chair in their favorite coffee shop, but his attraction to the prickly girl from home has only grown stronger.
When Ash’s car breaks down just as family obligations pull him home, only one person can get him there on time. But Hazel has a condition: Everything between them must stay the same. And if it doesn’t? She gets the coffee shop. So the frenemies endure bad music, inclement weather, and B&Bs with only one bed—and that’s just the drive across Texas. When they finally arrive, Hazel must face that, in a small town, there’s nowhere to run . . . and maybe, for the first time, she’s found a reason to stay.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Next Best Fling by Gabriella Gamez
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You’re looking for 27 Dresses vibes, but even messier (and sexier). Reeling from an engagement that leaves them both devastated, two heartbroken singles go from fake-dating to friends-with-benefits.
Publisher’s synopsis: Librarian Marcela Ortiz has been secretly in love with her best friend for years—and when he gets engaged, she knows it’s long past time to move on. But before she gets the chance, she has a bigger problem to contend with in the form of Theo Young, ex-NFL player and older brother of the man she’s in love with. When she discovers Theo’s plans to confess his feelings for his brother’s fiancée at their engagement party, Marcela is quick to stop him—despite how tempting it is to let him run away with the bride-to-be. She manages to convince Theo to sleep off his drunken almost-mistake at her place and when they arrive at a family brunch the next day together, everyone wrongly assumes they hooked up.
Since Theo needs a cover for his feelings for the bride and Marcela needs a distraction from her unrequited feelings for the groom, they decide to roll with the lie. Until one late night at a bar, they take it a step further and discover a layer of attraction neither realized existed. Soon, they find themselves exploring the simmering chemistry between them, whether in library aisles or Marcela’s bed. There are no boundaries for the rebound relationship they form—just a host of complicated feelings, messy familial dynamics, and uncovered secrets that threaten to tear them apart before they can even admit to themselves that their rebound is working. Maybe a little too well.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
Release date: July 16
Read it if: You love second-chance romances and gorgeous settings. Exes must work together to save the wedding of their mutual best friend. Naturally, sparks fly, but should they revisit the past?
Publisher’s synopsis: Georgia Woodward lives by her lists, none more so than the one about her ex, Eli Mora. It’s full of the ironclad dos and don’ts they’ve been following since she returned to the Bay Area after their cataclysmic breakup five years ago.
With the wedding of their mutual best friend, Adam, looming, and them about to step into their roles as best woman and man, Georgia’s never needed it more. She refuses to threaten their tight-knit friend group with her messy—and still very present—feelings. The rules on that list will keep her cool, calm, and compartmentalized.
What’s not on her list? Eli arriving from New York with a new rule-breaking attitude or the all-inclusive venue burning to the ground, leaving the bride and groom in dire straits. Nor does she anticipate Adam asking her and Eli to help him make a miracle happen. Together.
As Georgia and Eli rush up to Napa Valley to pull off the perfect wedding, their old chemistry comes back in technicolor. Somewhere between cake tastings gone wrong, disastrous DJ auditions, and Eli’s heated attention, Georgia starts recognizing the man she fell in love with before. And if she lets herself break her rules, she might find what they’re building isn’t the something old that ruined them—it’s a chance at something new.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Au Pair Affair by Tessa Bailey
Release date: July 16
Read it if: You’re a fan of Bailey’s particular brand of rom-com and trope-laden steam. A single-dad athlete tries to get back out there, only to fall for his kids’ au pair.
Publisher’s synopsis: Tallulah is smart, vivacious, and studying to be a marine biologist. She’s also twenty-six and broke. So when Burgess, a battle-scarred hockey veteran and newly single dad, offers her a job as his live-in nanny, she jumps at the opportunity to get paid while living in a super fancy neighborhood and being around Lissa, his cool but introverted tween.
Her tween charge isn’t the only one who could use some help fitting in, though. According to…well, everyone except Burgess, he needs to get back on the dating scene, and adventurous Tallulah is just the girl to show him how. But as boundaries are slowly crossed and Burgess finds himself pulled between his daughter, who wants her parents back together, and his insane chemistry with Tallulah, a huge rift is formed, and Tallulah does the “right” thing—breaks her own heart and walks away.
Though Burgess knows it’s for the best—he’s too jaded, with too much baggage—a chance meeting, and a new push from his daughter, forces him to put everything on the line and fight to prove he learned his lessons well and is worthy of a happily ever after with Tallulah.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Design of Us by Sajni Patel
Release date: July 16
Read it if: Fake dating and island destinations are your perfect pairing. Two bickering coworkers pretend to be dating at a destination wedding, with surprising (or not) results.
Publisher’s synopsis: Sunshine incarnate Bhanu brings big UX energy to whatever she does, including going for the promotion where her only serious competition is her work nemesis, AKA Sunny, the grump with the Denzel voice. She expected to get a reprieve from him while visiting her family in Hawai’i, but the universe has other plans. When Bhanu runs into Sunny at the hotel and witnesses his ex criticizing him about being single, Bhanu does the first thing that comes to mind: she impetuously claims to be Sunny’s girlfriend just to get some peace and quiet. Except Sunny is on island for a friend’s wedding and his ex has already texted the entire wedding party about this mysterious girlfriend.
Bhanu truly is the bane of Sunny’s existence. But the last thing he wants to do is cause tension during his friend’s wedding festivities, much less be the object of their pity. He has no choice except to play along, if only he and Bhanu can put aside their quarreling and act like a real couple.
Between Bhanu’s hilariously meddling family and Sunny’s ecstatic friends, the two are pushed closer together, even as stress mounts over the impending promotion.
They say what happens on island, stays on island. But as Sunny and Bhanu let their guards down, will either of them be able to resist this romantic getaway without crossing the line?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Backtrack by Erin La Rosa
Release date: July 16
Read it if: You have some strong emotions and memories associated with ’00s music. When a woman finds her old CD player, the songs reveal all the might-have-been timelines of her life.
Publisher’s synopsis: Nearly twenty years ago, Sam Leto left her small hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia, to pursue her dreams of becoming a pilot. While she’d prefer to keep flying away from her painful childhood memories, her beloved grandmother Pearl decides it’s time to sell the family home. Reluctantly, Sam is summoned back to pack up the house.
The 2000s nostalgia from Sam’s old bedroom hits immediately: Fall Out Boy posters, drawers of roll-on body glitter and even her favorite CD player with a mixtape from her best friend, Damon Rocha. Damon was always a safe place and Sam often wonders what if her teenage self admitted her feelings for him back then…
Mysteriously, the CD player still works all these years later. And somehow it has the power to show Sam an alternate version of her life.
Song by song, Sam receives flashbacks from her past—senior prom, graduation, leaving home. But the memories aren’t as she remembers them; they show what could have been. Suddenly, Sam knows exactly what would have happened if she’d taken a chance with Damon—and she can’t help feeling she made a terrible mistake leaving Tybee all those years ago.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Infinite Light of Dust by Anna Todd
Release date: July 23
Read it if: You love angst, secrets, how timing plays into falling in love, and commitment. The final installment of The Brightest Stars series, wraps up in a way that only Anna Todd can do. It leaves you both shocked, aching for more, and yet satisfied at the possibilities.
Publishers Synopsis: The heart-wrenching conclusion to the epic Brightest Stars trilogy from New York Times bestselling author Anna Todd
Karina and Kael have been trying to make it work for as long as they’ve been together. The two broken souls have a lot of individual healing to do before they’ll be able to find happiness anywhere, never mind with each other.
As the world around them starts to crumble, Kael is consumed by the darkness of his PTSD, and Karina struggles to overcome her anxiety, which is at an all time high. Then someone from their past returns to invade their lives and wreak havoc on the fragile peace they’ve created. If they’re going to have the future they dream of, they’ll have to commit to fighting this battle together
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Ornithologist’s Field Guide to Love by India Holton
Release date: July 23
Read it if: You love light academia, professional rivals, quirky world-building, and puns. Dueling ornithologists team up on a contest to capture an endangered bird in a Victorian fantasy academic setting. It’s as weirdly wonderful as it sounds.
Publisher’s synopsis: Beth Pickering is on the verge of finally capturing the rare deathwhistler bird when Professor Devon Lockley swoops in, stealing both her bird and her imagination like a villain. Albeit a handsome and charming villain, but that’s beside the point. As someone highly educated in the ruthless discipline of ornithology, Beth knows trouble when she sees it, and she is determined to keep her distance from Devon.
For his part, Devon has never been more smitten than when he first set eyes on Professor Beth Pickering. She’s so pretty, so polite, so capable of bringing down a fiery, deadly bird using only her wits. In other words, an angel. Devon understands he must not get close to her, however, since they’re professional rivals.
When a competition to become Birder of the Year by capturing an endangered caladrius bird is announced, Beth and Devon are forced to team up to have any chance of winning. Now keeping their distance becomes a question of one bed or two. But they must take the risk, because fowl play is afoot, and they can’t trust anyone else—for all may be fair in love and war, but this is ornithology.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Viscount in Love by Eloisa James
Release date: July 23
Read it if: You need more spicy historical romance after finishing the new season of Bridgerton. A viscount marries for the sake of his two young wards, only to realize he might have stumbled on his perfect match.
Publisher’s synopsis: He wants a nanny, not a bride…
Suddenly guardian to twins, Viscount Dominic Kelbourne is luckily betrothed to a suitable lady—until she elopes. With no time to woo, Dominic decides to marry his fiancée’s unconventional sister. Torie isn’t perfect, but their kisses are so passionate that society thinks he’s actually chosen her.
She wants to marry for love…
Torie has never been able to make sense of words on a page, so she has turned her talents to art. She longs for a man who values her as she is… but marries for the sake of the twins. She doubts Dominic is capable of love, let alone respect, but as their heated debates turn into something more, Torie begins to imagine a life as a wife, not a nanny.
But when the arrogant viscount finds that his viscountess has stolen his heart, he’ll have to give all he has to win her love.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Cross the Line by Simone Soltani
Release date: July 23
Read it if: You love sports romance and wish there were more racing romances. A Formula 1 driver hires his BFF’s sister to help him clean up a social media disaster. Their attraction is forbidden twice-over, both personally and professionally.
Publisher’s synopsis: Formula 1 driver Dev Anderson’s career is on the line. After a social media disaster leaves him with an angry team and sponsors threatening to jump ship, he needs someone to help save his image. At a party in Monaco, he bumps into the woman who can fix it all. There’s just one problem: she’s his best friend’s little sister. And, okay, maybe there’s another problem—he kissed her last year and hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it since.
Recent college grad Willow Williams needs a job. She may have a talent for seeing the bright side of any bad situation, but it’s hard to stay positive when she’s struggling to get hired. So when Dev offers her a temporary solution, she can’t help but say yes. Even if it means ignoring the crush she’s had on him since childhood.
Willow and Dev are determined to keep things strictly professional, regardless of old feelings and the blazing chemistry between them. But in the glittering and high-stakes world of Formula 1, some lines are meant to be crossed…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Jewel Me Twice by Charish Reid
Release date: July 23
Read it if: You’ve been delighted by the mini-renaissance of action rom-coms lately. Exes (and former heist partners) collide when they’re both hired to steal the same jewel.
Publisher’s synopsis: Love can catch you red-handed.
He was her partner—both in crime and between the sheets. It’s been five years since professional thief Celeste St. Pierre laid eyes on Magnus Larsson. These days, she runs a Manhattan antique store, but her talent for stealing beautiful, shiny things hasn’t faded. And as a chance reunion over a locked safe proves, neither has the heat between her and the gorgeous, ice-cool Magnus.
For Magnus, only one thing beats the thrill of getting away with robbery—and that’s the woman he’s tried hard to forget. Their last job together ended in disaster. But if they’re going to honor their mentor’s last wishes to pull off the theft of the century, they’ll have to temporarily put their grudges behind them.
Crisscrossing Europe on a real-life treasure hunt, Celeste and Magnus quickly rediscover how well they work together. The higher the stakes, the hotter the sexual tension. But one slipup and it won’t be only jewels on the line, but a future that, just maybe, has been the ultimate prize all along…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Fiancé Dilemma by Elena Armas
Release date: July 30
Read it if: PR relationships and messy families are what you’re looking for. After four failed engagements, a woman fake-dates her brother’s BFF for the sake of her family’s PR.
Publisher’s synopsis: Josie Moore has given the opposite sex—and love—plenty of chances. Four exactly, if you count all her failed engagements, and five if you include her no-longer-absentee father. Nonetheless, when the influential man decides to announce his retirement with a splashy magazine piece and Josie learns that her romantic history isn’t great PR for the family, she jumps at the chance to offer a solution.
Matthew Flanagan is in the mud. Literally. Not only has he been fired from his job, but after taking a wrong turn on his way to Green Oak, North Carolina, his car is stuck. So, he grabs a duffel bag with his essentials and goes in search of a place to crash until he gets his life (and vehicle) back on track. But instead, he stumbles upon his best friend’s sister, Josie, greeting him as her fiancé.
What starts as a big misunderstanding quickly turns into a fake engagement, with Matthew playing the role of the doting fiancé as he and Josie are swept into a PR whirlwind. The ring on Josie’s finger makes her stomach turn, but she knows this is only temporary. They have rules in place, and one of them is that no matter what, there will be no exchange of “I dos.” But that’s easier said than done, as lines soon start to blur, and the rest of the small town comes to believe the fifth fiancé is truly The One.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Name Your Price by Holly James
Release date: July 30
Read it if: You not-so-secretly love the messiest of reality shows. A pair of exes are locked in a house together on a reality game show. Chaos (and serious chemistry) naturally ensues.
Publisher’s synopsis: Olivia Martin and Chuck Walsh have chemistry. Too much chemistry, perhaps. Their every interaction as a couple either lights the house up with sexual tension or burns it down with anger. After one huge, very public fight, they finally break up for good. Or so they think. Someone was filming their dramatic argument in the street and—because Olivia’s parents were Hollywood royalty, and because Chuck’s an actor whose star is on the rise—the video goes viral. When Name Your Price, a reality game show, sees the footage, they invite Olivia and Chuck to shoot a very unusual challenge: Live locked in a house together for one month and they will be paid a million dollars. Each.
Olivia really needs the money if she’s going to keep her beloved grandmother in her nursing home, and Chuck is desperate for any chance to win Olivia back. So the game is on—even as the show tries to pluck every nerve with only one bed, one bathroom, and a set of rules that will lose them money if broken—including no touching. With stakes that have never been higher and their explosive chemistry at a fever pitch, can Chuck and Olivia keep it together (and their hands off each other) for one month? Find out next week on Name Your Price!
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