New romance books – 2026

Reading lists

New romance books to read in 2026

Jessica Stanley

Consider Yourself Kissed is a love story like no other: charming, warm, heartfelt and funny but with a truly razor-like authenticity. I absolutely loved every moment and didn’t want it to end!

Liane Moriarty, internationally bestselling author of BIG LITTLE LIES

Consider Yourself Kissed is a smart literary love story and an absorbing family drama. Jessica Stanley follows her characters over the years as they make their way in the private, intricate, fragile world they create for themselves, and in the always-changing larger world. This is a deeply appealing and winning novel

Meg Wolitzer, New York Times bestselling author of THE INTERESTINGS

Fabulous . . . It's clever, joyful, familiar and awkward, and so funny.

Pandora Sykes, author of HOW DO WE KNOW WE'RE DOING IT RIGHT?

I loved it, I loved them, I loved the Cazaletty interior details, I loved the social politics, I loved the actual politics, I loved the time span, I loved how complicated everyone was. I already know I will read it again . . . A beautiful romcom for grown-ups.

Ella Risbridger, author of MIDNIGHT CHICKEN

Beautifully written, wise, funny, moving. Deftly fuses the personal and the political. A proper grown-up love story.

Utterly brilliant - so astonishingly clever, but with a core of love. It's generous, it's hopeful, it's one of the very best grown up love stories I have ever read. And wears its smartness so lightly, but it captures the strangeness of the past few years perfectly. I could not have adored it more.

Daisy Buchanan, author of INSATIABLE and CAREERING

Consider Yourself Kissed is ringingly original and just absurdly good. Jessica Stanley captures all the tenderness and brutality of young motherhood without dulling either, and the relationships and writing are so bracingly, deliciously fresh that I wish there were a fresher word than fresh. And that the book were 1000 pages longer.

Catherine Newman, New York Times bestselling author of WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS

I loved it. I was grinning like an idiot for the first forty pages, and crying for the next forty . . . It links emotional and political events so brilliantly and is incredibly funny too.

Emma Healey, million-copy bestselling author of ELIZABETH IS MISSING

Oh, how I loved and empathised with Coralie! Consider Yourself Kissed is funny, tender, authentic and incredibly moving

Jennie Godfrey, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS

I absolutely raced through this novel which I found so smart, funny and true to life. Ones of those books you’ll want to give all your friends once you’ve finished

The platonic ideal of reading experiences! . . . So funny, so smart and deliciously well observed! A real treat.

Immersive, truly funny, brilliantly smart, and full of lovable characters, Consider Yourself Kissed is a joy. In her novel spanning ten years of one woman's life, Jessica Stanley balances domesticity and politics, contemporary British history and the pursuit of love – and she makes it all seem effortless. I cried when I read the last page, simply because I was bereft that it was over.

Fresh and original . . . Coralie is one of the most painfully relatable literary heroines I’ve encountered in ages. Her story captures so well the mess and magic of ordinary family life and how women often sacrifice parts of who they are for other people . . . a brilliant book that hits all the right notes: a bit sad, a lot moving and very funny in places. A wholehearted recommend.

Jessica Stanley’s principal subject is romance, which she renders—in all its mess and glory—masterfully. But the real delight in Consider Yourself Kissed is how the novel confidently thinks about love more broadly: the feeling we can have for family, for work, for art and books and our homes and our friends, for the very world around us. It is an exhilarating read, a marvel of a book.

Rumaan Alam, author of LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND

This summer's must-read . . . a sparkily enjoyable romantic comedy that, like One Day and Normal People, leaves you feeling bereft at the final page . . . what Consider Yourself Kissed captures so brilliantly [is] the small, seemingly insignificant moments of joy and difficulty, fun and darkness, that make up the reality of happy ever after.

I'm annoyed I didn’t write this book myself. Combines rom-com breeziness with sharp political observation, plus one of the best depictions of stepmother-hood I’ve ever read.

Droll, smart and cheekily literary . . . This is, at its core, a love story, but it is also much more than that . . . Consider Yourself Kissed is a novel that enjoys people, that likes them, and this intelligent goodwill saturates the pages.

Current as well as timeless, this book is full of such heart and humility. It’s a love story rooted in reality, yes, but most of all, I found it to be a heartfelt family portrait, so well-drawn it was like peering through someone’s kitchen window. Romance meets reality amid a kaleidoscope of societal chaos - it’s smart, page-turning and resonant. I couldn’t put it down.

Claire Daverley, author of TALKING AT NIGHT

Set over ten years, this wonderful, sweeping novel doesn’t just make the political personal, but the personal political. It shows us how life is a series of negotiations and situations over which you have little control, but that loving and being loved is central. Beautiful and life affirming.

Araminta Hall, author of ONE OF THE GOOD GIRLS

A book about falling in love to fall in love with - Consider Yourself Kissed is a beautifully observed, charming, intelligent, very funny novel full of heart and warmth and life. Jessica Stanley is a rare and special talent.

A beautiful, harrowing, wild ride through everyday life, Consider Yourself Kissed is a love song to women everywhere

Annabel Monaghan, author of NORA GOES OFF SCRIPT

An extremely intelligent, present and excellently written marvel of a book that I will never stop thinking about.

Ore Agbaje-Williams, author of THE THREE OF US

Funny, tender, intelligent, and political, Consider Yourself Kissed finds the beauty and ecstasies in the life of a woman around marriage, motherhood and family, all while dissecting its complications and heartbreaks. I felt embraced in its gentle humour, and then gut punched by its deep emotion and perceptiveness. By the end I was so invested in the story that I became Coralie!

Likely to be one of the big love stories of 2025, set against the political upheavals of the past decade

Funny, smart and memorable, this contemporary romance offers a lucid example of how humanity can endure amid a daily churn of horrendous news . . . Stanley’s delightful novel reminds her readers of the joy, humor and even subtle hope that can be experienced during life’s lowest moments.

I read Consider Yourself Kissed with my hand on my heart, and now that it’s done, I want to be right back inside its pages. A charming, emotional and feminist tour de force, this is one of the most delightful and relatable books I’ve read about modern womanhood, the evolution of love, and the way we show up in the world. A true treasure of a novel. I need more from Jessica Stanley!

Ashley Audrain, internationally bestselling author of THE PUSH

One of those books you tell everyone to read – a truly modern novel about the complexity of love and domestic life

As warm as a David Nicholls novel

Stanley writes beautifully about the tension among wants, needs, and desires, especially in motherhood

A witty, warm romp through the little crises of life, with a dash of political nerdery on the side

A delightfully grounded romance . . . It is also the kind of book that, for a certain kind of reader, will immediately become a treasure . . . This is a book about making a better world, globally and domestically – and whether, perhaps, those two might amount to the same thing . . . Consider Yourself Kissed is neither truly a romance novel nor a political novel – merely a very human novel. And a very good one

The book's successes are rooted in its depictions of maternal love and making home . . . Stanley negotiates the dislocations between reality and desire with quiet ingenuity and compassion . . . charming . . . a lively, agile book

Charming, fresh and downright romantic, this feels like a surefire summer hit . . . its heart is irresistible

So funny, so clever, so engrossing . . . this book is perfection

A deeply enjoyable mix of romance, social comedy and political satire . . . if you spot a woman chuckling in grim acknowledgement at a book this summer, chances are it will be this

Funny, insightful and escapist . . . Stanley’s writing is a real treat while leaving you mulling over a bigger picture

A pitch-perfect literary love story which I have now read twice . . . A very wise, very funny, unusual romance novel - and I enjoyed it so much I might just read it again

I absolutely adored Consider Yourself Kissed . . . it is a grown-up romcom and it’s going to be massive

Funny, romantic but brutally realistic

It’s a romance, but it also subtly builds a picture of the insidious sidelining of women’s work as expressed through domestic space

Delightfully absorbing . . . acutely observed

Clever, funny, politically aware and full of literary in-jokes

Warm, sharply observed and emotionally honest, this is a modern love story about growing together, growing apart, and what's left when the honeymoon fades

Combines romance with brutal realism . . . A wickedly funny tale about ambition, parenthood and long-term relationships.

Clever and contemporary, this modern romance between short king single dad Adam and magazine writer Coralie accrues depth as it jumps from initial meet-cute to a decade-long romance, all the while embracing step-motherhood, work and politics. (You didn’t think you could get Brexit into a romance?) The writing is wonderful, and the book has genuine heft – which might dial back the escapist fun, but it’s no less enjoyable for that

** THE PERFECT SUMMER READ FOR FANS OF ONE DAY AND NORMAL PEOPLE ** 
 
Discover the joyful, funny love story everyone is falling for 
 
A NATALIE PORTMAN'S BOOK CLUB PICK 
'A MUST-READ . . . LIKE ONE DAY AND NORMAL PEOPLE' THE TIMES 
'FUNNY, SMART AND MEMORABLE . . . A DELIGHTFUL NOVEL' NEW YORK TIMES 
'AS WARM AS A DAVID NICHOLLS NOVEL' STYLIST 
'A BRILLIANT BOOK THAT HITS ALL THE RIGHT NOTES' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING, BOOK OF THE MONTH 
'THIS BOOK IS PERFECTION' SUNDAY TIMES STYLE 
'A DELIGHTFULLY GROUNDED ROMANCE AND A TREASURE . . . VERY HUMAN' GUARDIAN 
'CHARMING . . . WITH QUIET INGENUITY AND COMPASSION' OBSERVER 
'A DEEPLY ENJOYABLE MIX OF ROMANCE, SOCIAL COMEDY AND POLITICAL SATIRE' SUNDAY TIMES 
'I DIDN'T WANT IT TO END' LIANE MORIARTY, internationally bestselling author of BIG LITTLE LIES 
'CLEVER, JOYFUL AND SO FUNNY' NINA STIBBE, author of LOVE, NINA 
'DEEPLY APPEALING AND WINNING' MEG WOLITZER, New York Times bestselling author of THE INTERESTINGS 
 
 
What happens when you find love, but life gets in the way? 
 
When Coralie arrives in London in 2013, she’s ready for a change. Then she meets Adam: clever, witty and very slightly taller than the average British male, with a charming four-year-old daughter in tow. 
 
Over the next decade, they weather the glorious chaos of small children, school runs, and the minor warfare of a kitchen renovation – all against the surreal theatre of British politics. 
 
But when they resurface, something is missing from the life Coralie and Adam have built. 
 
Or maybe, having gained everything she dreamed of, Coralie has lost something she once had: herself. 
 
*** 
 
 
'Sweet and tender' PANDORA SYKES 
'Ringingly original and just absurdly good' CATHERINE NEWMAN, New York Times bestselling author of WE ALL WANT IMPOSSIBLE THINGS 
'I'm annoyed I didn't write this book myself' MADELEINE GRAY, author of GREEN DOT 
‘So astonishingly clever, but with a core of love. I adored it’ DAISY BUCHANAN, author of INSATIABLE 
‘Oh, how I loved and empathised with Coralie!’ JENNIE GODFREY, Sunday Times bestselling author of THE LIST OF SUSPICIOUS THINGS 
'So well-drawn it was like peering through someone’s kitchen window' CLAIRE DAVERLEY, author of TALKING AT NIGHT 
 
READERS LOVE CONSIDER YOURSELF KISSED . . . 
 
‘I predict this will be the book of the summer’ ***** 
‘So much more than a romance. Delightful, refreshing and thoughtful’ ***** 
‘Funny, insightful and thoroughly enjoyable’ ***** 
‘Exceeded my expectations and lifted me out of a real reading rut’ ***** 
‘The kind of book you want to share with everyone’ ***** 
‘An engaging and thought-provoking book about the messiness of love, the complications of family life, and the quiet losses that often go unnoticed until it’s too late’ *****

Jessica Stanley

Praise for Consider Yourself Kissed

Consider Yourself Kissed is a love story like no other: charming, warm, heartfelt and funny but with a truly razor-like authenticity. I absolutely loved every moment and didn’t want it to end ...

Consider Yourself Kissed is a smart literary love story and an absorbing family drama. Jessica Stanley follows her characters over the years as they make their way in the private, intricate, fra ...

Fabulous . . . It's clever, joyful, familiar and awkward, and so funny.

Consider Yourself Kissed is a love story like no other: charming, warm, heartfelt and funny but with a truly razor-like authenticity. I absolutely loved every moment and didn’t want it to end ...

Consider Yourself Kissed is a smart literary love story and an absorbing family drama. Jessica Stanley follows her characters over the years as they make their way in the private, intricate, fra ...

Fabulous . . . It's clever, joyful, familiar and awkward, and so funny.

Consider Yourself Kissed is a love story like no other: charming, warm, heartfelt and funny but with a truly razor-like authenticity. I absolutely loved every moment and didn’t want it to end ...

Consider Yourself Kissed is a smart literary love story and an absorbing family drama. Jessica Stanley follows her characters over the years as they make their way in the private, intricate, fra ...

Fabulous . . . It's clever, joyful, familiar and awkward, and so funny.

Articles featuring Jessica Stanley

New romance books to read in 2026

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