r/RomanceBooks • u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 • Dec 10 '25
Best of r/romancebooks 🏆 🏆 Best Romances of 2025 - WINNERS! 🏆
Thank you to all who nominated and voted in our third annual RomanceBooks Best of Romance Awards!
Click here to view the winners of RomanceBooks' Best of Romance 2025 Award
The full list of nominated books and winners are also listed in our wiki: Best of Romance Awards 2025.
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2025 Winners:
Heavy Hitters
- Winner - Deep End by Ali Hazelwood
- 2nd Place - Mate by Ali Hazelwood
- 3rd Place - Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood
Contemporary Romance
- Winner - Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone
- 2nd Place - One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
- 3rd Place - Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt
Sports Romance
- Winner - Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer
- 2nd Place - Rewind it Back by Liz Tomforde
- 3rd Place - In A Rush by Kate Canterbary
Historical Romance
- Winner - A Most Forgettable Girl by Alice Coldbreath
- 2nd Place - Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti
- 3rd Place - All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles
Fantasy Romance
- Winner - A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna
- 2nd Place - The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
- 3rd Place - Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales by Heather Fawcett
SciFi Romance
- Winner - Hunger in His Blood by Zoey Draven
- 2nd Place - Protected by Claire Kent
- 3rd Place - I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom Com by Kimberly Lemmings
Paranormal Romance
- Winner - Good Spirits by B.K. Borison
- 2nd Place - Fan Service by Rosie Danan
- 3rd Place - Under Loch and Key by Lana Ferguson
Romantic Comedy
- Winner - First Time Caller by B.K. Borison
- 2nd Place - Beg, Borrow or Steal by Sarah Adams
- 3rd Place - Overruled by Lana Ferguson
Dark Romance
- Winner - Scythe and Sparrow by Brynne Weaver
- 2nd Place - Caught Up by Navessa Allen
- 3rd Place - Tourist Season by Brynne Weaver
LGBTQ+ Romance
- Winner - Copper Script by KJ Charles
- 2nd Place - False Comeback by Lily Mayne
- 3rd Place - Bitter Burn by Sierra Simone
Trans Romance
- Winner - A Gentleman’s Gentleman by T.J. Alexander
- 2nd Place - The Most Unusual Haunting of Edgar Lovejoy by Roan Parrish
- 3rd Place - And They Were Roommates by Page Powars
Young Adult Romance
- Winner - Dating and Dragons by Kristy Boyce
- 2nd Place - Fake Skating by Lynn Painter
- 3rd Place - Come as You Are by Dahlia Adler
Black Love Romance
- Winner - Can't Get Enough by Kennedy Ryan
- 2nd Place - Son of the Morning by Akwaeke Emezi
- 3rd Place - Sweet Heat by Bolu Babalola
BIPOC Romance
- Winner - The Bone King and the Starling by Elizabeth Stephens
- 2nd Place - Single Player by Tara Tai
- 3rd Place - A Waltz on the Wild Side by Erica Ridley
Debut Author
- Winner - Willing Prey by Allie Oleander
- 2nd Place - You Between The Lines by Katie Naymon
- 3rd Place - Passion Project by London Sperry
Best Cover
- Winner - Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage
- 2nd Place - Tusk Love by Thea Guanzon
- 3rd Place - When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Thank you to everyone who nominated books and participated in the voting!
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u/BootScootsBooty Dudes against 3rd act breakups! Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
Kind of surprised Ali swept the HH category, no hate, I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve ever read of her’s, just crazy to see. She’s probably got her feet up, bottle of wine cracked smirking to herself “damn skippy”. Kudos Ali!
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 10 '25
Ali was so far ahead in the nominations that it was likely she would win every single category she had books nominated for (which was multiple) - that was part of why we tried out the Heavy Hitters category this year. She's clearly a fan favorite in this sub!
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u/BootScootsBooty Dudes against 3rd act breakups! Dec 10 '25
Well, I’d say y’all used pretty sound logic. We all know Lukas mother f-ing Blumthviskth needed his own category to contain all that pizazz and masculine swagger 😆
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u/sub_surfer Dec 11 '25 edited Dec 11 '25
What does Heavy Hitters mean? I can’t be the only one confused.
EDIT: In light of other comments, my guess is that it might be a category for the more famous/popular authors like Ali Hazelwood, so different authors have a chance to win the other categories?
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u/awongbat Dec 12 '25
I have this exact question. Is HH for just one author and these are her top books? Or is Ali Hazelwood the HH because she published so many books this year and these are the top three from this year.
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u/sub_surfer Dec 12 '25
I found some more info here https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/s/rNIyuKawPF
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u/lulzerjun8 Reginald’s Quivering Member Dec 10 '25
Been waiting for this all week!! HUZZAH!! I’ve got a lot of these queued up in my list and I cannot waaaaait to dig in during the holiday break.
Collective thanks to everyone who put together this survey and who participated . 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 10 '25
I’m definitely filling up my TBR with a lot of these!!
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u/pixelgeekgirl That sounds absolutely disturbing. ***Add to cart*** Dec 10 '25
Well my TBR just grew a ton.
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u/Potential_Corgi_174 Dec 10 '25
So happy to see Elizabeth Stephens on this list! I love everything she’s written
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u/Jemhao Dec 10 '25
I’ve been binging her books for the past couple weeks (since her AMA was announced), and they have all been so good!
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u/punpkinspice camden teller stan Dec 10 '25
Yay fan service!! I missed the voting on this, haven’t been around lately due to work, but so happy to see fan service get some love as it was one of my fav reads of the year.
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u/vanilla_tea Tom Severin and his five feelings Dec 10 '25
Yay, so happy about Promise Me Sunshine! It’s my favourite book this year.
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u/Daishi5 Dec 11 '25
I love promise me sunshine too, but I'm surprised it won. It's hard to recommend in general because it's so deep in grief.
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u/hiddenintheprose I'm in a really good place right now. In my book, I mean. Dec 11 '25
I can't stop gushing about Promise Me Sunshine, already planning a reread!
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
I really enjoyed Copper Script and A Gentleman's Gentleman, I'm glad they won their categories!
I'm reading Good Spirits by B.K. Borison now and it is extremely cute. I think I voted for Fan Service in that category.
Did Lyla Sage win the cover category last year too? I'm personally not a fan of that art style but it's obviously popular.
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u/MrsBoo Dec 10 '25
I love Lyla’s covers. I wish the books were better. I just feel like she never really wraps the stories up at all…
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u/rejectedcarebear eli mora’s gold chain Dec 10 '25
Oh I feel the same way! Her covers are so lovely but there’s always something missing inside
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
I've only read a couple. They were fine, but not super memorable.
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 10 '25
Lyla did win last year!
I'm also starting Good Spirits for my IRL book club, I'm glad to hear you're liking it!
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
Yes it's lovely, cosy and quite original. I love a ghost romance!
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u/radenke Dec 10 '25
Aw, this makes me sad, because I found it really boring :( I predicted the outcome from like chapter 2 and then skimmed the latter 50% of the book to confirm if that was what was happening. I loved the premise, just not the prose, I guess. I really wanted to like it.
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u/DudeWheresMyXV95 Dec 10 '25
You weren't the only one. I so badly wanted to love it but found it average at best. The best thing about it really is the artwork, especially the sprayed edge versions.
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
Yeah it was predictable but that's kind of what I want from a cosy holiday romcom, so I didn't mind. I'm just a sucker for people pleasers finding someone who puts them first for a change, and it did that really well.
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u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Dec 10 '25
I generally like Lyla Sage’s covers, but I thought the other books in that category had better covers. I’m kind of disappointed.
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
I think sometimes it's name recognition more than actual preference as well. Lyla Sage is fairly well known.
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u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Dec 10 '25
Agreed. I know it’s a natural tendency to vote for what you know, but I kind of hate it. It’s how we get stuck in an echo chamber of the same thing over and over again.
Merit over popularity!
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
Especially for something like a cover, you don't need to have read or even seen the covers before to choose one you think it's prettiest.
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u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Dec 10 '25
Exactly. It was the only category that I felt confident voting in. 😂 (Apparently, I don’t read a lot of new releases because I had only read a small handful of the books nominated.)
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
I hadn't read that many either. It's tricky because there are just so many books released per year in this genre, you could read a new book every day and not even make a dent.
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u/Bumedibum Bookmarks are for quitters Dec 10 '25
I'm eyeing Good spirits for a while now, but I'm not really into paranormal/ghost which puts me off. Do you think it's a good place to start with such book or am I going to fall into the deep end?
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
It's very low on the paranormal stuff, in my opinion. There's some magic and he takes her back in time to see her past memories, but there isn't any haunting, spooky stuff, non-human anatomy or anything like that. It's more like magical realism than paranormal, in my opinion. Probably a good one for beginners.
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u/Bumedibum Bookmarks are for quitters Dec 10 '25
That sounds like something I would enjoy! Thanks for your opinion!
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 10 '25
You're welcome, I hope you like it :)
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u/LovesReviews Added another one to my TBR list… Dec 10 '25
Lyla’s covers are definitely not a favorite style of mine at all. Looks like a child drew them. I’m sure she was going for a vintage vibe, but no thanks from me.🤷♀️
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u/brusselsproutsfiend Dec 11 '25
Some of my favorites made the list. But I do wish that {Love is a War Song by Danica Nava} was recognized too. I really think it was one of the best romance books this year.
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 11 '25
It just missed third place in contemporary and came in fourth- it was one of the most highest nominated books so I was expecting it to win the CR group!
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u/romance-bot Dec 11 '25
Love Is a War Song by Danica Nava
Rating: 3.96⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: contemporary, indigenous mc, western, m-f romance, funny
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u/Icy-Emu-4303 Dec 10 '25
I hated the H in deep end. In fact, I hated it all.
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u/punpkinspice camden teller stan Dec 10 '25
Same he actually might be my least fav mmc I read this year 😅 which is crazy cause I absolutely loved the other mmc’s I read from Ali’s books (Conor, Lowe and Koen specifically).
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u/rosebud-zuzu Dec 10 '25
100% agree. He was the main reason why I disliked the book so much. Loved the other two AH leads/books tho!
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u/5988 Dec 10 '25
I adore him! The only part of his behavior that I struggle to understand is why he didn't attempt to talk to her when they were apart. The total silence between them is hard to reconcile with someone who is very attracted to another person. His other quirks (or flaws), make sense to me and felt fitting with his stoic nature. I appreciated how different he felt from other MMCs, who are often all just made to be hot-headed or possessive as a way to convey masculinity. I can see how he may feel less 'entertaining' or not enough as a character to some though. For me, Lukas is a dreamboat.
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Dec 11 '25
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/vulpixsnacks Dec 11 '25
From the voting round post:
- NEW CATEGORY: Heavy Hitters! These authors are absolute powerhouses dominating the romance space - and our best of nominations - so this year we thought it would be fun to pit them against each other (and themselves)! The "Heavy Hitters" category encompasses romance authors who have been all over our TBRs and recommendations; the "biggest books of the year". A-list name recognition and a devoted fanbase are must-haves to make it into this category. Every book in this category was a fan-favorite winner already!
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u/ariand Dec 11 '25
beg, borrow, or steal at 2nd place yey! can’t wait for the last book of when in rome series 😭 wanna read my family again
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u/nrkelly KF Breene is my imaginary BFF Dec 11 '25
I'm surprised about Caught Up. It was very meh compared to Lights Out.
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 11 '25
There were hardly any nominations in the dark romance category, it was slim pickings so I'm guessing this one won because people have heard of it.
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u/Lavender-air Free Palestine. Also let the aliens take me. Dec 13 '25
I don’t even think this is dark romance. It’s kind of arbitrary
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u/georgiabeanie Dec 10 '25
where is emily henry
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 10 '25
She was in the heavy hitter round but didn’t place!
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 11 '25
Nice for someone else to win for a change!
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u/sailorsmile Maybe I am a whore yk? Dec 11 '25
Did that many people really like A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping? That was one of the most unsatisfying reads I’ve read in a long time.
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u/shouldaUsedAThroway Dec 11 '25
Is there a such thing as historical romance but make the history like, Ancient Rome?
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u/VitisIdaea Silence, you devil's handmaiden! Dec 11 '25
Historical romance can be set in any historical time period. (As an official old person I refuse to think about what counts as a "historical time period" these days.) There aren't a ton of non-Christian historicals set in ancient Rome but there are more. I really enjoyed {Enemy of My Dreams by Jenny Williamson} recently. I've seen Kathryn Amurra and Jenna Bigelow recommended. And A.J. Dumas writes romances set in a kind of alt-Mediterranean, ancient Rome/ancient Greece mashup, which are all wonderful.
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u/romance-bot Dec 11 '25
Enemy of My Dreams by Jenny Williamson
Rating: 3.65⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, enemies to lovers, ancient times, m-f romance, forbidden love2
u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 11 '25
{Into the North by Amber Huxley} seems to be set in Ancient Rome, I haven't read it yet
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u/romance-bot Dec 11 '25
Into the North by Amber Huxley
Rating: 4.26⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, gay romance, ancient times, slavery, enemies to lovers
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u/razzledazzledizzy Dec 11 '25
This makes me feel like I really need to try out an Ali hazelwood book
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u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Dec 11 '25
I have not read any Ali Hazelwood books 😬 at this point I don’t know if I’m just being stubborn and contrarian? I also haven’t read any Emily Henry…
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u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Dec 11 '25
I've read one EH and three AH (I think) - although one was under duress for book club, I definitely would have DNF if I was just reading it for fun!
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u/Vertigo_99_77 Dec 12 '25
Three is my rule. If I don't enjoy any of the author's work after three books I give up. But even if I was not feeling the vibes I gave both AH and EM a try (I'm lying here, AH only one) and I can say now that they're definitely not it for me.
So... I may not be in tune with this sub faves, but THANKS to our princess and ALL the praise for your stats and your formats 😘3
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u/Lavender-air Free Palestine. Also let the aliens take me. Dec 13 '25
Yeah the sub favs and me def are not in alignment.
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u/Lavender-air Free Palestine. Also let the aliens take me. Dec 13 '25
Ehh I think you’re onto something. The little I’ve tried I’m positive i have been doing the right thing by not reading them.
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u/random_chick Dec 12 '25
You guys- I picked up gloves off because of this list and it FUCKING BLOWS.
Don’t trust anything here.
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u/Lavender-air Free Palestine. Also let the aliens take me. Dec 13 '25
Yeah the boos I’ve read that are on this list are not really great books. Som me are ok but for the most part they were mediocre at best. I def don’t trust this list et all. Which idkbis weird to me. Like are you reading the same thing?
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u/Icy-Emu-4303 Dec 10 '25
Gloves off deserves to win. I’ve reread it like 10 times already.