The season of summer romances kicks off with new novels from Ali Hazelwood, Ashley Poston, and Katherine Center.
Join us as we highlight notable romance book releases each month to add to your never-ending TBR pile. These lists will include a range of adult, young adult, LGBTQ+, and BIPOC novels to put on your radar. They could be stand-alone books or new releases in a best-selling series.
Our June rom-com picks include a homerun baseball rivalry, angsty teen summer camps, and writers whose fantasies come to life.
In order of release date, here are 6 rom-com novels we are excited to read in June:
1. Wish You Weren’t Here by Erin Baldwin — June 4
A teen read with a summer camp setting? Sign me up. An enemies-to-lovers story involving the most popular girl and her school rival? Even better.
Juliette looks forward to the five weeks every summer when she can be herself at Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, away from the prying eyes of her classmates and hot, popular girl Priya Pendley. When her sworn enemy, in a twisted turn of events, becomes her cabinmate, their mutual dislike turns into something much more unexpected.
Book Description: Juliette doesn’t hate Priya Pendley. At least, not in the way teen movies say she should hate the hot, popular girl. They don’t do catfights, love triangles, or betrayals. To survive their intertwined small-town lives, they agree to a truce: complete group projects without fighting, don’t gossip to mutual friends, and stand on opposite sides of photos so it’s easy to crop each other out.
Priya seems to have everything during the school year — social media stardom, the handsome track captain boyfriend, and millions of adoring fans. And Juliette is at peace with that because she has Fogridge Sleepaway Camp, the place she never feels like “too much.” But Juliette’s dreams of five Priya-free weeks in paradise are shattered when her rival shows up on move-in day as her cabinmate, no less. Juliette is determined to enjoy her final summer at camp, even if it means tolerating Priya Pendley, but fate seems to have other plans.
2. Not in Love by Ali Hazelwood — June 11
Not in the mood for a summer beach read? Ali Hazelwood’s trademark steamy laboratory romance is back with a new couple to steal our hearts.
Rue is a successful biotech engineer in food science. Eli is leading the hostile takeover of her start-up company. Romance is off-limits to the two rivals, so naturally, they enter into a secret, no-strings-attached affair expected to end when one company falls.
Book Description: Rue Siebert might not have it all, but she has enough: a few friends she can always count on, the financial stability she yearned for as a kid, and a successful career as a biotech engineer at Kline, one of the most promising start-ups in the field of food science. Her world is stable, pleasant, and hard-fought. Until a hostile takeover and its offensively attractive frontman threaten to bring it all crumbling down.
Eli Killgore and his business partners want Kline, period. Eli has his own reasons for pushing this deal through – and he’s a man who gets what he wants. With one burning exception: Rue. The woman he can’t stop thinking about. The woman who’s off-limits to him. Torn between loyalty and an undeniable attraction, Rue and Eli throw caution out of the lab and the boardroom windows. Their affair is secret, no-strings-attached, and has a built-in deadline: the day one of their companies will prevail. But the heart is risky business — one that plays for keeps.
3. The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center — June 11
Emma Wheeler is a damn good screenwriter who has won several contests for her successful rom-coms. Her personal hero and famous scriptwriter, Charlie Yates, is writing the worst romantic screenplay and believes love is a scam.
When Emma moves to LA to work on the screenplay with her idol, the two immediately clash over status and vision. However, our leading lady is determined to stand up for rom-coms everywhere.
Book Description: Emma Wheeler desperately longs to be a screenwriter. She’s spent her life studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies — good ones! That win contests! But she’s also been the sole caretaker for her kind-hearted dad, who needs full-time care. Now, when she gets a chance to re-write a script for famous screenwriter Charlie Yates — her personal writing god! — it’s a break too big to pass up.
Emma’s younger sister steps in for caretaking duties, and Emma moves to L.A. for six weeks for the writing gig of a lifetime. But what is it they say? Don’t meet your heroes? Charlie Yates doesn’t want to write with anyone — much less “a failed, nobody screenwriter.” Worse, the romantic comedy he’s written is so terrible it might actually bring on the apocalypse. Plus! He doesn’t even care about the script — it’s just a means to get a different one green-lit. Oh, and he thinks love is an emotional Ponzi scheme.
But Emma’s not going down without a fight. She will stand up for herself, and for rom-coms, and for love itself.
4. The Art of Catching Feelings by Alicia Thompson — June 18
Are you tired of the hockey romance trend? This summer is for the baseball girlies, and Alicia Thompson has just the read.
Daphne is not a fan of baseball, and after one too many ballpark beers, she heckles one of the players to the point that he starts crying. However, when her apology to Chris Kepler is misinterpreted, she hides her identity as his heckler even though the team has hired her to work alongside him. When her secrets come out, could Daphne strike out with Chris?
Book Description: Daphne Brink doesn’t follow baseball, but watching “America’s Snoozefest” certainly beats sitting at home in the days after she signs her divorce papers. After one too many ballpark beers, she heckles Carolina Battery player Chris Kepler, who quickly proves there might actually be a little crying in baseball. Horrified, Daphne reaches out to Chris on social media to apologize but forgets to identify herself as his heckler in her message.
Chris doesn’t usually respond to random fans on social media, but he’s grieving and fragile after an emotionally turbulent few months. When a DM from “Duckie” catches his eye, he impulsively messages back. Duckie is sweet, funny, and seems to understand him in a way no one else does.
5. A Novel Love Story by Ashley Poston — June 25
Ashley Poston is known for writing rom-coms with a fantasy, supernatural twist. A Novel Love Story is the latest twisted romance to grace our presence and is all about getting lost in a good book — literally.
After getting left at the alter, Eileen looks forward to her annual book retreat until her car breaks down, and she finds herself stranded in a fictional town straight out of a novel.
Book Description: Eileen Merriweather loves to get lost in a good happily-ever-after. The fictional kind, anyway. Because at least imaginary men don’t leave you at the altar. She feels safe in a book at home. Which might be why she’s so set on going to her annual book club retreat this year — she needs good friends, cheap wine, and grand romantic gestures — no matter what.
But when her car unexpectedly breaks down on the way, she finds herself stranded in a quaint town that feels like it’s right out of a novel because it is.
6. Finding Mr. Write by Kelley Armstrong — June 25
Kelley Armstrong is mainly known for true crime and teen supernatural dramas, but she’s no stranger to writing a good romance within these genres. Now she’s going full rom-com with a wilderness writing scheme gone wrong.
When Daphne’s rejected manuscript is finally purchased under a male pseudonym, she needs an outdoorsy, macho man to play her alter ego. Chris Stanton seems like the perfect hire with his survivalist look and endearing personality. But Chris has a few secrets of his own that could rival Daphne.
Book Description: Daphne McFadden is tired of rejection. After submitting her manuscript to dozens of agents, she’s gotten rejection after rejection, and now it’s time for something drastic. And so, Daphne submits her manuscript again… under a man’s name. Imagine her surprise when it sells for big money at an auction and soon becomes a publicity darling. Only she needs a man to play her super macho alter ego, Zane Remington.
Enter Chris Stanton, who absolutely looks the part of a survivalist and has a talent for pressing her piss‑me‑off‑I‑dare‑you buttons while somehow being endearing at the same time. But Chris has a few secrets of his own, including the fact that he’s really an accountant who has no idea how to chop wood or paddle a canoe. When Daphne’s book becomes a bestselling sensation, and they’re forced to go on tour together, Daphne wonders if this city‑boy geek is exactly what she needs to push her to claim her dreams.
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What will you be reading in June? Share your picks in the comments below!
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Alicia Gilstorf
Alicia is a writer from Canada. She credits her passion for TV and film to superheroes, workplace comedies, cheesy holiday movies, and coming-of-age stories.
