There are two good reasons to start a romance series rather than another standalone: the friend group carries over, and the next book is already waiting. But series commitment is a real decision — some of these are three books and finished, others are twenty and ongoing. This is what is actually live in 2026, sorted by what you are signing up for.
Complete, or still going?
This is the question that should decide your next series, and most lists ignore it.
Complete series — Maple Hills and Knockemout here — are three books each, all published. You can read the whole thing in a month and never wait. That is the right choice if the last unfinished series you started is still unfinished.
Ongoing series give you more, eventually. The Empyrean, Crowns of Nyaxia and the Wolves of Ruin all added books recently and all have more coming. The risk is the wait; the reward is that you are reading them while everyone else is.
Long-running series — Off-Campus and the Black Dagger Brotherhood — are effectively bottomless. Nine and twenty-plus books respectively. Start one of those and you have a default answer to "what next" for a year.
Ten romance series to read in 2026
Each entry names the book to start with, not the newest one. Every series here either published something in 2026 or is complete and worth the binge.
Fourth Wing — Rebecca Yarros
Still the series that defines the moment, and still incomplete — which cuts both ways. Three books are out and the fourth is the most anticipated release in the genre. Start now and you will be caught up in a fortnight; the books are long but they move. If you have been putting it off because you did not want another unfinished series, the gap between books has been about a year, which is fast by fantasy standards.
The Serpent and the Wings of Night — Carissa Broadbent
The best-constructed world in current romantasy, and it added a fifth book this year with The Lion and the Deathless Dark. Broadbent alternates duologies within one universe, so you get complete arcs rather than perpetual cliffhangers — which makes this the safest long series to commit to on this list.
Dire Bound — Sable Sorensen
The 2025 breakout that became a 2026 series with Fury Bound. Shifters, a brutal setting, and a heat level well above the romantasy average. Two books in, so this is the shortest catch-up on the list and the one most likely to still feel like a discovery rather than a phenomenon.
Silver Elite — Dani Francis
The one to start if fae courts are not for you. A repressive state, a hidden ability, a rebellion — closer to science fiction than fantasy, with the same enemies-to-lovers spine. Broken Dove followed in May, so there are two books and a clear direction.
Icebreaker: A Novel — Hannah Grace
Three books, all published, no waiting. That is the argument for starting it now rather than a series still in progress. College hockey, a warm friend group and consistent heat across the trilogy. If you want the wider field afterwards, see books like Icebreaker.
Things We Never Got Over — Lucy Score
The comfort binge. Three long books in one small town, funny and warm with real stakes underneath, and the trilogy is finished. Score writes the found-family texture that a lot of small-town romance only gestures at. Our Lucy Score reading order covers her other series.
The Deal — Elle Kennedy
Nine books across two connected series and still growing — Kennedy added to the Briar universe again this year. It is the deepest sports-romance backlist available and the one most other series in the subgenre are descended from. Start at The Deal and you have a year of reading.
The Close-Up — Kennedy Ryan
The most literary series on this list. Ryan writes adult romance in the actual sense — careers, therapy, the cost of things — and started a new Hollywood-set series this year with two books already out. If you have aged out of college romance and want the emotional register without the melodrama, start here.
Flawless — Elsie Silver
The Western revival’s standard-bearer. Five books in Chestnut Springs plus a new release this year, all gruff cowboys and small-town interference, with more humour than the subgenre average. Good for readers who want the grumpy-sunshine dynamic without the college setting.
Dark Lover — J.R. Ward
Twenty-plus books, started in 2005, and still adding to the shelf this year — no other romance series has that record. The early books show their age in places and the invented vocabulary takes a chapter to absorb, but nothing else offers this much sustained world in one place. Our paranormal romance guide has the alternatives.
How to choose between them
If you want romantasy: Fourth Wing if you want the conversation, Crowns of Nyaxia if you want the better-built world, Dire Bound if you want it hotter, Silver Elite if you want it without the fae. Our 2026 romantasy list covers the standalones.
If you want contemporary: Maple Hills for college sports, Knockemout for small-town comfort, Chestnut Springs for cowboys, Off-Campus for the deepest backlist, Hollywood Renaissance if you want to be treated like an adult.
If you want paranormal: the Black Dagger Brotherhood, and nothing else comes close on volume.
Where to go next
For the evergreen version of this list — the series that will still be worth starting in three years — see the best romance series to start reading. For a specific author’s books in order, our reading-order guides cover the ones people ask about most. And the catalogue browser will filter every series by trope, heat level and subgenre if you would rather find your own.