June is a most excellent month for romance readers! It’s hard to pick out the best romance books of June 2026, just for the sheer volume of notable new releases this month.
But select them we did! You’ll find new titles from favorite authors like Tia Williams, Alicia Thompson, Ashley Poston, and more. They’re joined by some exciting debuts by Edward Schmit, Sophia Benoit, and Heather Frances. It’s going to be a wonderful month for romance readers, and we can’t wait! Keep reading to see which titles will be giving your library card (or credit card!) a workout this June.
The Open Era by Edward Schmit
Release date: June 2
Read it if: You’re very into how sports romance is having a moment! This queer tennis romance brings frenemies-to-lovers goodness to the best romance books of June 2026.
Publisher’s synopsis: Recently-turned-pro tennis player Austin Hardy has been out since high school and it’s never been a big deal. That is, until he becomes the first openly gay man to compete in a Grand Slam tournament. Suddenly, being gay is a huge deal, with headlines to prove it.
Unprepared for this new spotlight, Austin’s anxiety disorder hits a breaking point, and he trips and falls at practice. Right next to the very attractive, very talented, and probably straight Diego Cruz, ranked second in the world.
The two professional rivals start a friendship off the court. But between their flirty banter, mixed signals, and looming showdown, Austin is thrown further off his game by Diego.
With the eyes of the world on Austin, the weight of history on his shoulders, and Diego across the net, he must decide whether love means nothing or if it means everything as he battles for the trophy during an electric two weeks at the US Open.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
You Won’t Forget Me by Mazey Eddings
Release date: June 9
Read it if: You’ve watched that “Silver Springs” video a few too many times. After a messy breakup, a musician leans on her bandmates, only for a viral photo to put the brakes on her chance at new love.
Publisher’s synopsis: Cubby Clark is the heart of her band―loyal, earnest, and determined to make music that matters. But just as they’re about to break out, Connor, her on-again, off-again boyfriend walks away . . . and rockets to solo fame with a hit song tearing her down.
Left with a fractured band, a publicly adored and toxic ex, and relentless writer’s block, Cubby is barely holding it together.
The only thing keeping her steady are her friends and bandmates Darcy and Harry. Especially Darcy―bright, magnetic, and more guarded than she lets on. But, when a seemingly romantic photo of Cubby and Harry goes viral the same night Cubby and Darcy hook-up, the inseparable pair begin to fracture.
Thrust into a whirlwind tour, Cubby and Darcy are forced into close quarters. Now Cubby has one summer to decide what she’s willing to risk. Walking away would be easier. But staying might mean everything.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Shop Girl’s Guide to Wooing a Lord by Shana Galen
Release date: June 9
Read it if: You’d like some class conflict and reluctant attraction in the best romance books of June 2026. A working-class woman makes a tenuous bargain with a lord to save her siblings.
Publisher’s synopsis: Tamsin Archer might just be having the worst year of her life. And that’s saying something, considering her father is dead, her mother was maimed at work, and her family regularly sleeps under London’s bridges. But when her younger siblings go missing, Tamsin decides it’s time to step up and fight.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and Tamsin’s more than willing to take a few risks to reunite with her siblings. But while disguising herself to sneak into homes and steal from the rich, Tamsin is caught by Garret Kildare, the second son of an earl. Much to Tamsin’s surprise, Garret doesn’t want to turn her in. He wants to help her. Though Tamsin’s wary—she’s learned to never trust supposed “good luck”—the unlikely pair form an alliance, one that quickly muddles their class differences.
Garret knows he must be careful. Falling for a woman of a lower class could be the nail in the coffin for his family’s tenuous social standing, and there are eyes everywhere. Ignoring their attraction proves impossible, though, and soon the lines they’ve drawn around their partnership begin to blur. As more focus lands on Tamsin and Garret, they wonder if their red-hot connection means giving up everything—and everyone—they’ve ever known.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Missed Connection by Tia Williams
Release date: June 9
Read it if: You wish reply-all threads were a little more exciting than “Remove me from this!” After meeting her dream man on a flight, a woman accidentally involves her whole company on her quest to find him.
Publisher’s synopsis: Sasha Cruz knows types. As a booked-and-busy casting agent, she’s always casting—at happy hour, the grocery store, everywhere. She’s all about finding the perfect person to slot into the perfect role. What she doesn’t do, however, is relationships. Too much energy, not enough time.
On a flight to Paris for work, a chance encounter with her type changes everything. Sasha’s seated next to a broodingly attractive mystery man, and sparks fly—but they never exchange contact information. Convinced she’s lost out on her soulmate, Sasha emails her work friend for help, but accidentally writes to the entire company worldwide! The international manhunt to find Seat F begins.
Meanwhile Sasha takes matters into her own hands. She hires a smoldering detective she knew in another lifetime—who complicates matters in unforeseen (and irresistible) ways.
With a worldwide search underway, will love take flight for Sasha?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Summer Girlfriend by Kristina Forest
Release date: June 9
Read it if: You think this cover alone makes it one of the best romance books of June 2026! Struggling to make ends meet, a woman agrees to fake-date a rich guy for the summer.
Publisher’s synopsis: Noelle Lewis doesn’t have time for long walks on the beach, brunch with the girls, or summer vacations. She’s too busy saving up to go back to college. After recently getting laid off from her bookseller job, her main gig is now serving as a “stand-in” bridesmaid, which doesn’t pay enough for the upcoming semester’s tuition. But then the perfect, if not unconventional, opportunity arises.
Jeremiah Smith II, grandson of the founder of Smith’s Sweets—a well-known baked goods company—once lived a life of frivolity. Since his grandfather’s death, Jeremiah’s tried to clean up his act. But it’s hard to focus when his family requests that he join them at their summer house in Heart Beach, New Jersey, where his most painful memory lies. To avoid going there, Jeremiah claims he already has plans with his girlfriend. Of course, his family tells him to bring her. The problem? Jeremiah doesn’t have a girlfriend.
After a chance meeting, Noelle and Jeremiah come to an agreement. He’ll hire her to be his stand-in girlfriend for the weekend. She’ll use that money toward her tuition. She figures it will be quick, easy money, but as it turns out, Jeremiah’s family is lovely. And Jeremiah is even lovelier. Soon, a weekend agreement turns into an entire summer, and Noelle and Jeremiah will have to keep their hearts in check, or else it’s sink or swim for them both.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Great Outdoors by Kayla Olson
Release date: June 16
Read it if: You are so not outdoorsy. An uber-prepared woman goes on a hiking trip to prove she can be spontaneous, only to fall for her tour guide.
Publisher’s synopsis: Sadie has always been praised for being the most prepared person in the room, the one who’s thought of everything—and every backup plan—for any given situation. She knows exactly what she wants, exactly what she loves, and goes to great lengths to make sure her life runs perfectly as planned.
So, when her laidback boyfriend breaks up with her for being “too high-maintenance,” Sadie is eager to prove him wrong, and signs herself up for a weeks-long guided wilderness adventure in the High Sierras of California: camping, hiking, rappelling, and kayaking. It’s the most miserable, uncomfortable situation she can think of.
Sadie’s a five-star resort girl at heart, but she has a compelling—and suspiciously attractive—tour guide: August Thorn. Thorn lives for adventure and always keeps a professional distance from the trekkers under his care. But there’s just something about Sadie, and for the first time, he finds himself wanting to get closer. As they explore the wilderness together, Sadie realizes the great outdoors might truly be great with the right person.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Someday Garden by Ashley Poston
Release date: June 16
Read it if: You’d like grown-up The Secret Garden vibes in the best romance books of June 2026! A groundskeeper discovers strange secrets when she takes a gig revitalizing an old manor.
Publisher’s synopsis: When Sophie Drear plans her escape to coastal Maine for the summer—for a temporary job revitalizing the storied grounds at Lilymoor House—she doesn’t expect to fall in love.
But she does: With the beguiling land, the fragrant flowers, and the towering hedge maze. With the quirky staff and the enigmatic woman who owns the place.
And then, the door appears. Never in the same place twice, it leads her to a secret, and unfinished, garden with a frustrated thundercloud of a man trapped inside.
This mysterious garden is not the only sign that the future of Lilymoor is unstable: the foliage resists Sophie’s careful nurturing, vines threaten to strangle the hedges, and the manor’s owner has wild ideas about who will take over when she retires—including her inconveniently attractive nephew who is also there just for the summer.
Despite herself, Sophie has come to care for the residents of Lilymoor just as much as she cares for its grounds. With the help of one man on the outside of the secret garden, and one man on the inside, she might be the only person who can figure out exactly what Lilymoor needs to bloom once more.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Dearly Departed by Chip Pons
Release date: June 16
Read it if: You think Hades gets a bad rap (thanks, Disney!). The former god of the underworld falls for a florist while trying to get un-banished.
Publisher’s synopsis: Hayden Harlow, once the mighty Hades, has spent centuries quietly resenting his fall from immortality. Stripped of his godhood by the allegedly irreversible Immortal Retirement Act, he now runs Harlow and Sons Funeral Home—a front for his eternal sentencing among mortals, and a bleak reminder of the purpose he’s lost. Still, he’s determined to claw his way back…if only the Fates at City Hall would stop toying with him.
Enter Levi Wilder: a florist with an artist’s heart, an infectious smile, and a gift for finding beauty in life’s messiest moments. When Hayden storms into Levi’s shop to complain about a bouquet of sunflowers—an offensive choice for a funeral, in his opinion—their worlds collide. Hayden is all restraint and shadows; Levi is all sunshine and charm. But beneath the clash lies an undeniable spark neither can ignore.
As their connection blossoms, Hayden finds himself caught between the life he once knew and the bright future Levi dares him to imagine. But trusting Levi means risking the walls he’s kept in place all these years—and it’s not just his heart on the line. Because in the threads of fate, one choice can change everything.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti
Release date: June 23
Read it if: You want the best romance books of June 2026 to include a historical romp! A quirky heiress crashes a con man’s best-laid summer plans.
Publisher’s synopsis: Eccentric heiress Lady Ruby Ballimore has had enough of the Marriage Mart. After offending yet another Very Important Marquess―and imperiling her father’s diplomatic career―Ruby flees London for the holiday house of a glamorous (and better yet, absent) princess. Armed with a forged invitation and accompanied by her like-minded friends, Ruby arrives at the Cornwall estate expecting a summer of blissful freedom.
Instead, she discovers a derelict mansion and the most suspiciously charming man she’s ever met.
Former privateer and current con artist Captain Malcolm Archer has dragged his ramshackle crew into a new life. Posing as staff at a princess’s abandoned estate provides the perfect cover for Archer’s smuggling scheme (not to mention free rent). Everything’s going according to plan―until an unorthodox London heiress crashes the party.
But when Archer and his crew attempt to frighten off their uninvited guests, Ruby’s unfazed by insect invasions and sham sea monsters. Harder to ignore? The scorching heat between the rakish pirate and the debutante who can see right through him. As sparks fly, deceptions run wild―because in this Great Cornish Fake Off, the only thing riskier than telling the truth is falling in love.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Chase Me If You Can by Heather Frances
Release date: June 23
Read it if: You’re still mad they cut that kiss from the end of Twisters. A photographer reluctantly works with her rival as she tries to win a storm photo contest.
Publisher’s synopsis: Wedding photographer Sloane Michaels spends most of her year running after brides, but she lives for the six weeks each spring she chases tornadoes instead. When the prestigious magazine Nature Shots announces a storm cover contest, Sloane knows that winning could be her best opportunity to establish herself in landscape photography.
The last thing she needs is a distraction in the form of reckless “Wild Wes” Talbot. A legend among storm chasers, he’s been Sloane’s close, personal frenemy for the last decade and is the man to beat for the cover contest.
Sloane isn’t surprised when Wes gets in an accident that jeopardizes his chances. But with an active weather pattern emerging, she doubles down on her need to beat Wes fair and square, and begrudgingly invites him to join her for the remainder of the season.
As they race through hail, high winds, and stormy skies, Sloane realizes that Wes might be more than the rich, flirty, Texas wildcard she thought she knew — and that the feelings blooming between them are more charged and dangerous than the storms they’re chasing.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Very Definition of Love by Sophia Benoit
Release date: June 23
Read it if: You want to read about a not-so-innocent wallflower in the best romance books of June 2026. A near-spinster decides to write a spicy slang dictionary, only to get roped into a scandalous marriage of her own.
Publisher’s synopsis: 1816. Harriet Barrington may be on her fifth season with no marriage prospects, but she’s fine with that. It gives her more time to write her dictionary of modern slang. Words are her passion, especially the exciting, filthy ones men have kept hidden from women for far too long.
While researching late in the library during a party, Harriet accidentally finds herself in a compromising situation with notorious rake, Lord Alexander. To save her reputation and her younger sisters from ruin, Harriet has no choice but to slightly kidnap Alexander and strong arm him into an elopement. This arranged marriage has a very particular condition. It will be in name-only, leaving each of them to follow their own interests. For Harriet that’s her work, for Alexander, that’s women.
But soon Alexander’s rakish existence is not nearly as fun as spending time with Harriet, and Harriet’s beginning to worry about how much she actually likes her husband. Behind the closed doors of their respectable home, things become a little… complicated. After all, who better to teach her the very thorough meaning of these indecent words than the renowned lover, Lord Alexander Stirling?
Perhaps this marriage will teach them both a little more about that word they’ve been avoiding—love.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Abby Offsides by Anna McCallie
Release date: June 23
Read it if: You’re really looking forward to the new Ted Lasso season. Seeking a new start, a woman moves to the UK, works for a soccer team, and connects with the team’s new star.
Publisher’s synopsis: Seeking a fresh start after leaving her cheating fiancé, Abby McIntyre makes a series of spontaneous decisions: She quits her job. She books a one-way flight to the UK. She even gets bangs!
Newly arrived in Liverpool, she lands a job with the Mersey Football Club and meets Lachlan Ramsay, the recently recruited Scottish star midfielder. Both lonely in a new city, the pair bond quickly, and Abby finds it nearly impossible to deny their chemistry—despite the nagging guilt she feels about Lachlan’s mysterious wife who didn’t relocate with her husband.
When Abby’s housing falls through, Lachlan insists she move into his massive penthouse. As they spend almost every waking moment together, Abby wonders if it’s possible that the world-famous footballer could be falling for her, too. But with her job and his marriage dependent on them staying firmly in the friend zone, can Abby risk being caught offside?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
In Every Possible Way by Alicia Thompson
Release date: June 23
Read it if: You want a dreamy touch to the best romance books of June 2026. After falling unconscious, a woman wakes up to a whirlwind romance in Ireland… but what happens if it’s not real?
Publisher’s synopsis: After yet another disastrous date where Jess is too awkward, too earnest, too whatever, she’s ready to put her romantic daydreams aside. Other than an enchanting Irish accent, her latest date is no prince charming. Then the night goes from bad to worse when she’s mugged in the parking lot and hits her head. Hard.
Hard enough that when Jess wakes up, she’s in Ireland.
The first person she meets is Eamonn, a quiet, gruff mechanic. Since Jess is stranded with no passport, cell phone, or way to get home, Eamonn becomes her reluctant knight in shining armor.
Over the next forty-eight hours, they meander through the cobblestone streets of Dublin and explore the Irish countryside, sharing their deepest fears, quiet hopes, and softest aches. It’s a connection that is as electrifying as it is terrifying, because what if Jess falls asleep and Eamonn vanishes like a dream? But a love like this—touched by magic and a little bit of luck—is never quite as it seems.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Dearest Beast by Felicia Grossman
Release date: June 30
Read it if: You want a Beauty and the Beast riff among the best romance books of June 2026. A widower reluctantly takes in a prickly neighbor, only to fall for her.
Publisher’s synopsis: Despite an unhappy first marriage, Roger Berab always took pride in being a good father. When his daughter’s reckless behavior, however, damages both their neighbor and her home, he’s forced to reconsider. To pay reparations, he agrees to provide lodgings until the repairs are complete. Unfortunately for Roger, the victim is the same woman with whom he foolishly once shared a night of passion . . . and then scorned for her lack of status.
With her sharp tongue and and disdain for fashion, Rebecca Adler is not exactly a community darling. What she does have, however, are her skills at midwifery. That is, until she injures herself saving Roger Berab’s daughter. With her profession at a halt and her haven in disrepair, she has no choice but to accept Roger’s offer of shelter . . . but never again will she believe a man of substance lies beyond his pretty face.
Trapped in the same house, neither Rebecca nor Roger can avoid each other—or the passion still burning between them. But their time together has a deadline, and Rebecca no longer trusts Roger: can he convince her his feelings are true? Or is their tale doomed before it’s truly started?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
