One of the first things taught in any English Lit class is that there’s a world of difference between romance and Romance.
While both are indeed literary genres, Romance with a capital ‘R’ was the one you were supposed to strive towards. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge spearheaded the intellectual movement spanning art, literature and music at the end of the 18th Century with the publication of Lyrical Ballads – a poetry collection dedicated to the sublime and beautiful power of the natural world.
As for reading a romance (lower-case ‘R’) novel? Well, you simply wouldn’t admit to it - unless, of course, it was authored by a Brontë or Austen, or had been optioned for a BBC adaptation.
Thankfully, those days have been shelved. Now? You’ll find bookworms unabashedly reaching for books with titles containing faeries, daemons, otherworldly princes, hunky jocks and scientists on their commute, poolside, or in local cafes. Sultry romance with a firm focus on female pleasure has hit mainstream reading stacks.
Whether thanks to TikTok’s BookTok revolution or simply a collective exhale after the austerity of the pandemic years, there’s a growing appetite for stories that centre joy, intimacy and emotional connection.
Romance, once side-eyed as low-brow (or worse, “trashy”), is now among the most commercially successful genre in publishing. Though there’s certainly a focus on characters written for the female gaze, all gender identities and sexualities are, refreshingly, taking ownership of their respective literary pleasures.
But not all romances, or romance-fantasy hybrids, are created equal. Some go in for slow-burn tension and a single, well-placed kiss 200 pages in.
Others? Let’s just say you’ll want to keep a glass of water nearby.
To help you navigate the spectrum, we’ve pulled together a guide to this summer’s most talked-about love stories, complete with a “spice rating” – from gentle simmer to full-on fire alarm. TikTok fans usually rate steaminess with a chilli emoji, but we’ll offer a simple rating out of five.
These are the books that are defining the season – not to mention fuelling group chats, book clubs and maybe even your next holiday fling. Whether you’re a romance rookie or a seasoned devotee, there’s something in my selection to make you swoon.
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Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Spice rating: 1/5
The historical blueprint for all contemporary reimaginings of Regency-era romance, Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice offers a true glimpse into love and courtship during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Filled to the brim with acerbic wit, ebullient emotions and wonderfully full characters which you’ll struggle to leave behind, it’s a perennially popular novel by one of the world’s best-loved novelists worth ticking off your reading bucket list.
Buy now £7.35, Amazon
One Dark Window by Rachel Gellig
Spice rating: 2/5
Elspeth Spindle is plagued by an ancient, mercurial spirit which torments her from its cage within her head. She calls him the Nightmare, and he’s the only thing that keeps her safe in the shadow-filled, misty kingdom of Blunder.
One evening, our protagonist meets a mysterious highwayman on a forest road, who enlists her in a dangerous quest to cure Blunder of the dark magic which infects it - which infects her. The highwayman just so happens to be the King’s nephew, who is guilty of high treason and in charge of some of the most dangerous men in the kingdom.
Buy now £10.11, Amazon
Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
Spice rating: 2/5
Stephen King declared Bardugo’s best-seller to be “the best fantasy novel [he’s] read in years, because it’s about real people.”
We follow the life of Alex Stern, a high school dropout and the sole survivor of a horrific unsolved multiple homicide, as she enters her freshman year at Yale. A free ride at one of the world’s most prestigious institutions supported by mysterious benefactors inevitably comes with a catch, and Alex is tasked with monitoring the activities of Yale’s darkest secret societies – otherwise referred to as tombs.
Known for producing esteemed members of the global elite, Alex uncovers the occult secrets of the university’s haunted societies – but at what cost?
Buy now £6.00, Amazon
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Spice rating: 2.5/5
Already set to be a feature film starring Lili Reinhart, Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis is about a third-year Ph.D candidate named Olive Smith who doesn’t believe that romantic relationships can ever truly go the distance. Olive’s best friend, however, certainly does.
So, to get Anh off her back, Olive manages to convince young hotshot professor Adam Carlsen to be her “fake boyfriend” – but when sparks fly at a science conference, Olive is forced to confront everything she thought she understood about love.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Spice rating: 2/5
For those who have raced through Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone trilogy, The Six of Crows is also set within the mystical Grishaverse. It follows criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker and his crew of six dangerous outcasts. Faced with the challenge of an impossible heist which could make the Crows richer than they ever thought possible, the motley bunch of flight risks, criminals and shadow-dwellers must work together to avoid definite destruction.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
This Summer will be Different by Carley Fortune
Spice rating: 3/5
One of the most sultry summer novels this season, Fortune features beloved tropes within the romance community, like friends-to-lovers and off-limits relationships. On holiday on Prince Edward Island, protagonist Lucy meets a local boy named Felix – and the chemistry is undeniable. But when she learns that Felix is the younger brother of Lucy’s best friend, she knows that she has to stay away.
Every year, Lucy joins her best friend Bridget for a coastal escape, and every year she promises herself she won’t fall into Felix’s arms. But never has the need to stay away been more prevalent than when Bridget is in crisis. Lucy drops everything to join her best friend on the island and help her through the worst time in her life, but staying away from Felix in the process proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Buy now £9.19, Amazon
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Spice rating: 3/5
One of nine cult-favourite books, Outlander is a time-travelling mystical novel filled with romance, death-defying adventure, monstrous horrors, war, kidnappings and so much more.
The year is 1946, and Claire Randall is on a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands with her husband Frank. Yet one afternoon, while exploring her surroundings, Claire walks through a circle of stones and disappears into the year 1743. It is in this timeline that she meets James Fraser, a young Scots warrior, who forces Claire to choose between fidelity and desire.
The TV adaptation is much racier.
Buy now £8.99, Amazon
Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Spice rating: 3/5 (second and third books in the series, 4/5)
Rebecca Yarros’ Fourth Wing is the unexpected, highly addictive and fiery (quite literally, there are dragons involved) novel which follows Violet Sorrengail, a new cadet in Navarre’s brutal Basgiath War College.
Initially slated for the rather tame Scribe quadrant, where cadets are tasked with bookkeeping and writing historical records, Violet is thrust into the Rider’s Quadrant – Basgiath’s most brutal yet revered army sector which demands survival yet does everything possible to prevent it. Violet doesn’t know what’s worse – fighting for her life on a daily basis, or her undeniable attraction to the enemy.
Buy now £5.48, Amazon
Quicksilver by Callie Hart
Spice rating: 3.5/5
A skilled, seemingly human thief named Saeris Fane accidentally opens a gateway to the Fae realm while on the run from the Queen’s guards. Saeris belongs to the most impoverished faction of the kingdom known as “The Third”, and will do anything to keep her and her younger brother alive. So, when she finds herself at the feet of a warrior fae named Kingfisher, the personification of Death himself, she is forced to ally herself with him to fight her way back home.
Buy now £14.00, Amazon
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
Spice rating: 5/5
A ferociously passionate fantasy tale which follows an enemies-to-lovers trope taking place within the mythical lands of Prythian, where faeries and humans live in violent opposition.
Whether you’ve come across A Court of Thorns and Roses via social media platforms such as TikTok, or are simply in the market for a new erotic fantasy series to devour, you’re in the right place. The first of Sarah J Maas’ five-book series, A Court of Thorns and Roses follows the plight of a huntress named Feyre who kills a wolf in an act of survival to feed her family. However, the wolf that Feyre killed was not what it appeared, and her violent act had untold consequences for the young huntress and her people.
For her actions, Feyre is kidnapped and taken away from her family. While held captive by the masked Tamlin, Feyre’s feelings become complex – turning from hatred to lust, as the two lovers attempt to navigate the bloody consequences of their relationship and fight to break an ancient curse.
Buy now £4.98, Amazon
