10 Best Romance Novels of January 2025 You Must Read This Winter
Who doesn’t love a fresh start? We sure do!
There’s no better feeling than looking ahead to a slate of everything new, including romance books. Start your 2025 TBR list with these new offerings to romance, ranging from dazzling romantasy, subversive rom-coms, and more!
Temple of Swoon
Jo Segura
Release Date: January 7
Temple of Swoon is a playful and adventurous romp for lovers of The Mummy and Indiana Jones. Dr. Miriam Jacobs has one mission: Prove herself to be the best archaeologist in the game by leading an expedition through the Amazon to find the Lost City of the Moon. Sounds simple enough, right? Especially when she’s got the best team in the country on her side, including journalist Rafael Monfils. Only Rafael isn’t really here to write a story. He’s here to stop this team from discovering and potentially desecrating the Lost City, a cherished place to his family’s legacy. Derailing this trip is Rafael’s primary objective, yet crushing the dreams of this passionate and charming archaeologist might crush him, too.
The Starlight Heir
Amalie Howard
Release Date: January 7
King Zarek’s invitation to the women of the kingdom has talented bladesmith Suraya Saab on edge. It might seem like a bid for a wife for Prince Javed, but the King is searching for the woman of an ancient prophecy who is said to have the power of the stars. Suraya is dropped into the royal court’s political game of cat-and-mouse as everyone vies for the Crown Prince’s attention, but it is the bastard Prince Roshan who captures her attention. When an attack at the palace forces Suraya to escape with Roshan, their allyship is forged through necessity and survival, but the blistering relationship they form isn’t.
The Favorites
Layne Fargo
Release Date: January 14
Layne Fargo delivers high octane drama to this tale of betrayal and ambition between childhood ice skating partners. Kat Shaw and Heath Rocha wanted to have it all together. Paired up as young ice skating partners, the duo had dreams of reaching the Olympics together, until Kat abandons Heath in her ruthless pursuit of glory. For more than a decade, both Kat and Heath will do anything to win, both on the ice and off it. This twisty story of love gone wrong will break readers’ hearts.
Unromance
Erin Connor
Release Date: January 14
Writer Sawyer Greene will do anything to get out of this bout of writer’s block. With a looming deadline, the romance author feels stuck until a meet cute in an elevator with actor Mason Greene sparks an idea. Mason needs to stop falling in love every time he lands himself in a swoonworthy scenario, and Sawyer needs some real-life rom-com scenarios to get her juices flowing. The deal is this: Sawyer will sweep Mason off his feet with every romantic gesture she can think of for her book, and Mason will learn to spot the signs of romanticism so he can stop falling for them. Manufacturing romance? Easy. Not falling for it? That might prove to be a bit harder.
His Girl Hollywood
Maureen Lee Lenker
Release Date: January 14
Arlene Morgan’s dream of becoming a movie director might finally come true, and as a woman in the 1930s, she knows chances like these are far and few between. The only problem is the studio has handpicked the one person she can’t stand to be the star of the film: Don Lamont. Arlene had once believed Don was the love of her life until he left her for dance in New York. Now, they’ve both got ambition and dreams to protect, and Arlene won’t be the one left with her heart in her hands this time.
Onyx Storm
Rebecca Yarros
Release Date: January 21
Everyone has been waiting with bated breath for the latest installment of Yarros’ Empyrean series. This month, the epic romantasy series continues. The time for studying at the dragon-riding school Basgiath War College is over. Violet Sorrengail doesn’t know who she can trust, and Navarre needs allies before the wyvern and venin attack. With the Aretian wards weakening day by day, leaving Navarre in search of allies is a massive risk, but it’s one she will have to take if she wants a chance at happily ever after what Xaden, peace for the kingdom, and to truly become the greatest dragon rider.
Better Than Friends
Jill Shalvis
Release Date: January 21
Jill Shalvis whisks readers to the cozy setting of Lake Tahoe with the latest installment of her Sunset Cove series. Olive Porter will do anything to stay away from Sunset Cove, but when her sister’s husband is badly injured, Olive returns to help her family. She’d hoped to avoid Noah, the ex-boyfriend turned National Park Service agent, but in a town so small, it was only a matter of time before she had to confront her past. What she wasn’t expecting was for their chemistry to be still so perfectly intact. Starting up again with the one man she has too much history with isn’t a part of Olive’s plans, but when revelations about the past add new context to their breakup, Olive and Noah must decide what to do with the perfect second chance that has fallen into their laps.
Zoe Brennan, First Crush
Laura Piper Lee
Release Date: January 21
Keeping Bluebell Vineyards running is the mantra for titular star Zoe Brennan. The family business means the world to her, and with her parents away grappling with a sudden illness, Zoe is left in charge of getting them into a wine festival sans vintner. Her stress is at an all-time high. A one-night stand threesome should take the edge off, but she soon discovers that one of her hookup partners, Laine Woods, will also be the temporary vintner while her parents are away. Both passionate and stubborn, working together doesn’t seem like it will work until they learn to vent their frustrations in new ways, leaving space to truly see one another.
I Think They Love You
Julian Winters
Release Date: January 28
Denz Carter is tired of everyone in his family not taking him seriously just because of his playboy demeanor. When his father, the mind behind their family’s event planning business, announces his retirement, Denz wants to prove that he can be the next CEO but will need to showcase his commitment in the romance arena, too. In steps Braylon, the ex who broke Denz’s heart back in college, back from the UK and willing to fake-date Denz if Denz can help his non-profit in exchange. So begins a series of fake dates for the public eye, but Denz can’t help but remember the very real feelings left behind in the aftermath of their relationship. Could this be a second chance to get things right, or will this remind Denz of why love was never quite his forte in the first place?
Out of the Woods
Hannah Bonam-Young
Release Date: January 28
Hannah Bonam-Young continues her winning streak of romances with Out of the Woods, a story of marriage on the brink of failure. Neither Caleb and Sarah Linwood could have predicted that their lives would turn out quite like this. As high school sweethearts, the duo thought the well of their love ran eternal. Seventeen years later, Sarah questions if she’s ever truly had the opportunity to stand on her own without Caleb there to clean up her every mistake. When Caleb goes over Sarah’s head to help her with a work assignment, it pushes their relationship to the edge, and their last hope of reconciling is the Reignite wilderness retreat. Pulled away from their responsibilities and monotony of the everyday, Sarah and Caleb attempt to find their way back to that spark they’d started many years ago.
