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What New Romance Novels Have The Highest Ratings On Goodreads?

Asking about best-rated recent romance book releases—been browsing Goodreads ratings but opinions seem all over the place. Any 2024 standouts with consistent five-star buzz?
2025-07-26 02:03:55
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Okolo Dumebi
Okolo Dumebi
Note that Goodreads ratings can shift rapidly, but right now the most popular new releases in romance are mostly mafia romances. I’ve updated the ‘New Releases’ and ‘Most Read This Week’ lists on the site to give you the very latest. In the meantime, I’ve recently discovered an excellent web novel, ‘I Saved the Mafia Boss—Now I’m His Obsession’. It’s a highly tense story in which the hero’s act of mercy is turned on its head and he is forced to remain in the heroine’s company in a gilded cage. He’s a complex character: grateful to her for saving his life, yet possessive and sometimes menacing. The tension between them is relentless.
2026-08-04
Uriah
Uriah
As someone who reads a lot of romance novels, I’ve recently come across a few books that have gotten a lot of love from Goodreads users recently. One of them is ‘Book Lovers’ by Emily Henry. The witty repartee between the two main characters, Henry’s beautiful exploration of love and ambition, and the fact that it’s a romance that’s been set in a small town but turned on its head are all things that I adore about this book.

Readers of a more serious bent will adore the new second-chance romance, Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, which is set in a rather idyllic small town and is every bit as sweet and nostalgia-tinged as the cover art promises. On the other end of the spectrum from Book Lovers, The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood is, unsurprisingly, another absolute read for fans of the combo of fake-dating and academic settings. For fans of a far more fantasy-focused romance, there’s A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske, which is set in historical fantasy world and is a rather amazing queer love story. All of these are more than highly rated – they’ll get inside your head and stay with you long after you finish reading them.
2025-07-28
Samuel
Samuel
As someone who devours romance novels, I can always stand to read more of the highest-rated novels on Goodreads. Recently, I added The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams to my list, as it is receiving wonderful reviews of the sweet friends-to-lovers story set in the sports world. It's really fluffy and so fun that I haven't been able to put it down. The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston is also another recently-released novel that has been getting a lot of wonderful reviews, mostly because the book is a mixture of romance and the paranormal.

Additionally, ‘Honey & Spice’ by Bolu Babalola is another new release set in a college setting full of witty repartee and unforgettable characters while ‘Portrait of a Scotsman’ by Evie Dunmore is a historical Regency romance featuring a very fierce female lead and her brooding hero. With paranormal romance, contemporary and so many more sub-genres of the genre being written, it’s true that romance is thriving.
2025-07-30
Theo
Theo
If you’re looking for something new to read, you can always check out Goodreads’ Top Rated New Romances list. Many of the books that are at the top of the list right now are really good. For example, The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang is a very personal and new love story about self-discovery. The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling is a good witch rom-com. And Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean is a great royal romance written for a young adult audience and it’s got a lot of really great culture in it.
2025-07-30
Yara
Yara
As many of you know, I’m obsessively following the Goodreads ratings for all of the top-rated romance novels. Newer releases are really dominating the charts right now. For example, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry is an amazing friends-to-lovers story, full of travel and amazing chemistry between the two leads. And the pacing is also perfect. Or another example, The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas is a really slow-burner that is completely hilarious. The entire story is basically a misunderstanding that is played out in fake-dating scenario.

In terms of something a bit more serious, ‘The Soulmate Equation’ by Christina Lauren is a great combination of romantic story and quirky science fiction that looks at the concept of DNA matching for soulmates. In contrast, ‘It Happened One Summer’ by Tessa Bailey is a hot opposites-attract story set in a pretty seaside town. Both books are getting lots of love at the moment because they expertly blend humor, heart and sex in a fresh and highly-addictive way.
2025-07-31

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