Romance
January 2026

Recent Releases
And Then There Was You
by Sophie Cousens

Hoping to impress her more accomplished classmates (including her former best friend, film director Sean Adler) at her ten-year college reunion, stuck-in-a-rut Chloe Fairway joins an exclusive dating service to secure her perfect plus-one. Rob is everything she could have dreamed of…but he’s a robot. Will her fake romance lead to real love? For another witty and heartfelt romance with speculative elements, try Magical Meet Cute by Jean Meltzer.
Daddy Issues
by Kate Goldbeck

When 26-year-old bartender and aspiring art historian Sam Pulaski meets divorced dad Nick Martino at a bar, their chemistry is immediate -- but she'll have to decide if she's ready to risk her career prospects to settle down with him and his nine-year-old daughter in small-town Ohio. For fans of: slow-burn age-gap romances like Ali Hazelwood's Problematic Summer Romance.
Sparks Fly
by Zakiya N. Jamal

Ready to lose her virginity, 27-year-old journalist Stella Johnson tags along with her best friend to a sex club, where she has a sizzling meet-cute with Max Williams. After she gets cold feet and flees, Stella is shocked to learn that Max is none other than the CEO of a tech company her workplace is partnering with -- and that his penchant for using AI means Stella's job may be on the chopping block. Try this next: How to Sell a Romance by Alexa Martin.
The Marriage Method
by Mimi Matthews

Benevolent Academy for the Betterment of Young Ladies teacher Penelope "Nell" Trewlove agrees to meet with newspaper editor Miles Quincy, who's determined to expose the school's "subversive" aims. When a clumsy moment puts them in a compromising position, they're forced into a marriage of convenience that quickly throws them into the middle of a murder mystery. This fast-paced 2nd in the Crinoline Academy Victorian romance series will appeal to fans of Manda Collins' Ladies Most Scandalous novels and Evie Dunmore's League of Extraordinary Women series.
For Fans Of: Emily Henry
With Netflix's long-awaited adaptation of Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation dropping on January 9th (and additional adaptations currently in the works), fans of the author will be eager to dive into some similarly heartfelt and witty romances. Try one of these!
 
Secretly Yours
by Tessa Bailey

Reuniting with her teenage crush Julian Vos while redoing the gardens at his family's Napa Valley vineyard, Hallie Welch is shocked when he doesn't remember her, channeling her confusion into drunk-writing a secret admirer letter. While Julian puzzles out the mysterious missive, he finds himself increasingly drawn to Hallie, whose freewheeling ways threaten to upend his buttoned-up lifestyle. For fans of: Emily Henry's Beach Read.
How to End a Love Story
by Yulin Kuang

In this heart-wrenching but hopeful debut by director and People We Meet on Vacation screenwriter Yulin Kuang, author Helen Zhang moves to Los Angeles to write for the TV adaptation of her bestselling YA series and encounters producer Grant Shepard, who played a role in the death of her younger sister. For fans of: Emily Henry's Book Lovers.
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Auburn Public Library
49 Spring St.
Auburn, Maine 04210
207-333-6640

www.auburnpubliclibrary.org/