Meet the Authors of Spring's Hottest Sophomore Romances
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When it comes to the romance genre, second books can be a bit like second dates, can't they? You've had that great initial meet-cute with a writer's first novel. Maybe you've talked that book up to all your friends. You might even be counting down the days until their next title is finally available for an evening of binge-reading.
This spring, we're reacquainting you with some of romance's biggest new authors, who all have sophomore books publishing this season. Call it second-glance romance, maybe?
Be sure to check out the new books from breakout stars like Emily Henry and Uzma Jalaluddin, and let these authors play matchmaker for you with their many romance recommendations!
Don't forget to add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf!
This spring, we're reacquainting you with some of romance's biggest new authors, who all have sophomore books publishing this season. Call it second-glance romance, maybe?
Be sure to check out the new books from breakout stars like Emily Henry and Uzma Jalaluddin, and let these authors play matchmaker for you with their many romance recommendations!
Don't forget to add the books that catch your eye to your Want to Read shelf!
Emily Henry, author of People We Meet on Vacation
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Emily Henry: Travel writer Poppy and high school teacher Alex are polar opposites, but they’ve been best friends since college. Every year, they take a week-long summer trip together—until their relationship went off the rails two years ago. Now, unhappy at work and missing their friendship, Poppy persuades Alex to take one last trip to Palm Springs, to see if they can heal the rift. So the story follows their present-day trip, interspersed with all the vacations they’ve taken up to that point.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
EH: Honestly, I was just trying to figure out a setting for my next book, because my writing and plotting are heavily influenced by a sense of place or atmosphere. I started running through a list of places I’d loved visiting, trying them on for size. I’d also known for a while that I wanted a story that allowed me to play with story structure, and at some point, I realized how fun it would be to throw the same characters into all of these different places and see how it changed them and their relationship.
Of course, I had no idea the book would be releasing a year into a global pandemic when I first wrote it, but in editing, I was really determined to pack this book with a feeling of armchair travel. I wanted it to be the ultimate escape.
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
EH: When you write your debut novel, you’re in this kind of love bubble, that’s just you and your book. Once you put your work out into the world, it’s never quite the same! When you write, you’re acutely aware that it’s not just for you; it’s for an audience. That’s a nerve-racking thing, but it’s also special. Because writing Beach Read really was just a gift to myself—an opportunity to bask in a warm, gentle story—but writing People We Meet on Vacation was always intended to be a gift for the people who supported my debut.
There’s more pressure on a sophomore novel than a debut, because now there are expectations, but I’ve also been trying to lean into the sense of purpose that comes with that. I want this book to feel like a gift and respite from a year that’s been exceptionally challenging.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
EH: There are so many. In contemporary, I love Jasmine Guillory, Josie Silver, Suzanne Park, Christina Lauren, Mhairi McFarlane, Kennedy Ryan, Sally Thorne, and Abby Jimenez—among plenty of others. Lately I’ve also been devouring Sherry Thomas and Tessa Dare’s historical romance.
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
EH: It falls more in the overlap between romance and women’s fiction, but Mhairi McFarlane’s Just Last Night was the first book in a while that I wished I’d written. McFarlane’s writing is this perfect blend of humor and emotion, and her characters are delightfully complex. I also completely loved Lizzy Dent’s debut novel, The Summer Job, and Suzanne Park’s sophomore novel, So We Meet Again. Jesse Q. Sutanto’s Dial A for Aunties is also spectacularly funny and charming.
As for more traditional romance novels, Talia Hibbert’s Brown Sisters trilogy is fantastic, and I also adored Lana Harper’s upcoming fantasy romance, Payback’s a Witch.
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
EH: I think You’ve Got Mail really set the bar for me when it comes to love stories, which is probably why I love the enemies-to-lovers trope so much. In real life, you often experience a gut-level connection to a person that’s hard to put into words, and thus hard to write about or fully buy into as a reader. But seeing characters begin at odds creates a really nice tension and an opportunity to dig into the quirks, flaws, and assumptions of the characters. You get to know them so well, and it only adds to the feeling of satisfaction when they finally acknowledge their true feelings.
Emily Henry's People We Meet on Vacation will be available on May 11 in the U.S.
Uzma Jalaluddin, author of Hana Khan Carries On
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Uzma Jalaluddin: Hana Khan Carries On is a romantic comedy inspired by the 1995 movie You’ve Got Mail, except it is set in rival halal restaurants. The novel follows Hana Khan, a young podcaster who works at a radio station and whose family’s Indian restaurant is threatened by the arrival of a new “hipster halal” upscale diner on the street. In addition, mysterious relatives from India bring complications, and there is a hate-motivated attack on their diverse neighborhood. Throughout, Hana tries to figure out who she is and who she wants to be.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
UJ: I was out for dinner with my husband in April 2017 (a million years ago!) to celebrate my birthday. We were in a nice halal restaurant that serves American-style food, and I remarked that this sort of business simply didn’t exist 15 years ago. As young kids growing up in Toronto, if we wanted to eat halal, our dining choices were very limited. I think the restaurant and food scene is such a great metaphor for the way that successive waves of immigrants shape the landscape of a city. Also, the way food preferences change over time says a lot about people’s lives.
Plus, I love podcasts, which feature prominently in Hana Khan Carries On, as they are the medium through which the two main characters, Hana and Aydin, communicate. And, of course, I’m a huge fan of classic 1990s rom-coms like You’ve Got Mail!
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
UJ: There are very few expectations on a debut writer, and that can be quite liberating. I took as long as I wanted to write Ayesha At Last, since no one was really waiting for it. However, with my second novel, I felt more seasoned about things like story and character. You learn something new about yourself with every book, and my second novel taught me that I can do this for the long run (I hope!) and that I have readers who are interested in the themes I want to write about. With my first novel, I had a fair bit of imposter syndrome. I honestly did not know who would want to read my Muslim rom-coms set in Canada. I am very grateful that my funny, diverse love stories are finding fans all over the world!
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
UJ: One of the joys of writing romance is finding Romancelandia. I have so many favs, I’m sure I will miss many. Some authors I’ve read recently are, in no particular order: Jasmine Guillory, Alisha Rai, Nalini Singh, Sonya Lalli, Sherry Thomas, Alyssa Cole, Talia Hibbert, Lucy Parker, Tessa Dare, Courtney Milan, Ayisha Malik, and about two dozen more!
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
UJ: I enjoyed Serena Singh Flips the Script by Sonya Lalli and Bringing Down the Duke by Evie Dunmore; both were so much fun! I’m looking forward to Dial A for Aunties by Jesse Q. Sutanto, and The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon was just fantastic!
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
UJ: I’m a sucker for enemies-to-lovers, especially with a grumpy/stern love interest. The angst! The secret yearning! The TENSION! Swoooooon.
Uzma Jalaluddin’s Hana Khan Carries On is available now in the U.S.
Martha Waters, author of To Love and to Loathe
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Martha Waters: To Love and to Loathe is a Regency rom-com set at a country house party featuring a rakish marquess and an outspoken widow who can’t spend five minutes together without bickering. After the hero receives some unflattering feedback in the bedroom and wants an honest review, he and the heroine agree to a friends (frenemies?) with benefits arrangement for the duration of the house party—but, of course, it doesn’t go according to plan.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
MW: The hero, Jeremy, and heroine, Diana, were side characters in my first book, To Have and to Hoax. Every time they were on page together, they pretty much took over the scene, and they had such great chemistry that I felt compelled to write their love story. I love books set at country house parties, which gave me the idea for the friends-with-benefits setup, and I was also interested in poking a bit of fun at the Regency rake of romance novels who is always a complete genius in the bedroom from the very first time.
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
MW: I think the obvious answer is that I had to finish writing and revising this book during a global pandemic! These weren’t ideal working conditions—and, of course, when I wrote my first book, I was writing just for myself, whereas since I was revising this book after my debut came out, I kind of had my audience in mind, which added pressure. On the flip side, publishing this book a year into the pandemic when we’ve gotten the hang of virtual events and know what to plan for, versus three weeks into the pandemic (as was the case with my first book) when everything was utter chaos, has been a really nice experience by comparison.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
MW: There are too many to name! On the historical side, Julia Quinn, Eloisa James, Lisa Kleypas, and Loretta Chase were my gateway romance authors, and I love Cat Sebastian and Alyssa Cole’s historicals, too. On the contemporary side, I adore Lucy Parker, Alexis Hall, Sally Thorne, Talia Hibbert, and Kate Clayborn.
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
MW: Emily Henry’s People We Meet on Vacation is one of the best executions of friends-to-lovers (which I think can be a very tricky trope!) I’ve read in a long time, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert might be my favorite contemporary romance of 2021 so far (the banter!). And one that’s not out yet, but that I won’t stop talking about, is India Holton’s The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels, a historical fantasy rom-com(!) that comes out June 15 and which is the most fun I’ve had reading a book in a long time.
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
MW: If I had to choose only one, I’d go with marriage in trouble—I love the shared history between the hero and heroine that these books offer.
Martha Waters’ To Love and to Loathe is available now in the U.S.
Rosie Danan, author of The Intimacy Experiment
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Rosie Danan: The CEO of a sex-ed startup and a rabbi recently featured on L.A. magazine’s list of the city’s most eligible bachelors, join forces to host a seminar series on Modern Intimacy. When they run out of reasons as to why they shouldn’t date, they find themselves putting their theories to the test and quickly discover love isn’t a perfect science.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
RD: I first wrote the heroine of The Intimacy Experiment, Naomi—a character who’s original one-line summary was “the aptitude of Charlie’s Angels Alex Munday with the disposition of Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Rosa Diaz”—as a core part of the narrative of my debut, The Roommate. Even at that point, I knew I wanted to tell her story someday, but (and this probably isn’t cool to admit about your own character) she also scared the s--- out of me. Naomi has always felt complicated and demanding and desperate to prove that love doesn’t scare her.
I had to put someone into her path who would intrigue her enough to even consider undertaking the effort of peeling off her infamous armor. I am not kidding when I say that a hot rabbi immediately seemed to me the most logical solution. By definition, a rabbi has courage of conviction, aptitude for fielding difficult questions, and experience making people feel welcome—Naomi needed all of those things. Plus, in Ethan’s case, he’s also got a seriously great butt.
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
RD: With a sophomore novel, you know comparison to your debut is inevitable, and that’s scary, for sure. Even though there are crossover characters and values, The Intimacy Experiment is a very different book from The Roommate.
It’s fitting, really, because one of the themes of book two is this idea of embracing radical vulnerability, and writing and releasing The Intimacy Experiment has felt like an exercise in that practice. If the debut was a flying leap, book two is standing still with your heart in your palm. So, both terrifying but for different reasons.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
RD: OK, I’m going to try and bucket a few different categories because the answer could easily be infinite if I don’t restrain myself somehow.
Historical game changers: Scarlett Pechkam, Diana Biller, Vanessa Riley, Felicia Grossman
"Set me on fire" contemporary: Kennedy Ryan, Mia Hopkins, Helen Hoang, Olivia Dade, Charlotte Stein
Transcendent voice, would read their crumpled-up grocery list: Ruby Lang, Talia Hibbert, Kate Clayborn, Alexis Hall, Rachel Lynn Solomon
Formative goddesses: Christina Lauren, Eloisa James, Meg Cabot
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
RD: Sarah Hogle’s Twice Shy: exemplary grumpy/sunshine, slow burn, filled with Sarah’s signature biting wit. I devoured it. Ruby Barrett’s debut Hot Copy: I’ll just copy and paste my official blurb, “An intoxicating blend of wholesome sweetness and tear-off-your-clothes steam.” And Jodie Slaughter’s latest, To Be Alone with You, laid me out. So tender. So Sexy. Jodie is the brightest star.
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
RD: I’m not sure most people officially categorize this, but it’s definitely something you see in romance again and again in different formats, and that’s competition-as-foreplay. Any kind of competition applies, really. Workplace, sports, drinking games, trivia. The wires in my brain that code “winning” and “kissing” were irreparably tangled together in the womb.
Rosie Danan's The Intimacy Experiment is available now in the U.S.
Sara Desai, author of The Dating Plan
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Sara Desai: Software engineer Daisy Patel needs a fake fiancé to keep her matchmaking aunties away. When she bumps into her former high school crush, Liam Murphy, and discovers he needs a wife to claim his late grandfather's inheritance, a fake marriage seems like the ideal solution. Except Daisy hasn't forgiven Liam for standing her up on prom night. And Liam isn't the kind of guy who can follow a plan.
GR: What sparked the idea for the book?
SD: My daughter is interested in becoming a software engineer, and we did a lot of research about the profession together. There aren't many STEM heroines in romance, and I thought it would be fun to tell Daisy's story and pair her up with someone who was her complete opposite—a bad boy cinnamon roll with a gooey center!
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
SD: I had already developed Daisy's character in The Marriage Game, so The Dating Plan was all about diving deeper into her life, exploring her family ties, and finding her perfect happily ever after. I also had so much encouragement from readers who loved The Marriage Game and wanted to read more in the story's world, and so much love from Desi fans who enjoyed the South Asian representation.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
SD: I am a huge romance reader, so it is difficult to name just a few! For paranormal, I love J.R. Ward, Nalini Singh, and Patricia Briggs. For historical, Beverly Jenkins, Sarah MacLean, and Julia Quinn. Contemporary romance authors I love include Kristen Ashley, Sonali Dev, Alyssa Cole, and Alexa Martin. I could go on and on...
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
SD: I am loving all the diverse romance that is coming out right now. I've just finished Farah Heron's Accidentally Engaged and Alexis Hall's Boyfriend Material, and I've got Talia Hibbert's Act Your Age, Eve Brown and Sonya Lalli's Serena Singh Flips the Script next on my Kindle (along with the other 400 books on my TBR list!).
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
SD: Enemies-to-lovers! There is nothing as exciting as watching two people who hate each other slowly overcome their differences and fall in love. Add the emotion of a second-chance twist (especially if the split wasn't amicable) and I'm up all hours waiting for that HEA!
Sara Desai’s The Dating Plan is available now in the U.S.
Farah Heron, author of Accidentally Engaged
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Farah Heron: Accidentally Engaged is about Reena, a woman who gets a lot of joy from baking bread but is in a bit of a rut in her life and is trying hard to resist her parents' constant interference. When she meets Nadim, the man across the hall, he seems so perfect for her—he has the body of Captain America and loves bread as much as she does—but he works for her father, and both their parents are hoping they'll marry. Reena refuses, and they become friends, then pretend to be engaged to enter a home-cooking contest together. But soon the fake-engagement leads to real feelings.
GR: What sparked the idea for your book?
FH: I always knew I wanted to write a book with foodie characters since I'm a huge foodie myself. I also wanted to write about over-involved, meddling parents because it's common in my culture (even though my family is nothing like this). After deciding on the arranged-marriage element, I threw in a fake relationship because it's one of my favorite tropes, and I thought it would be fun to have both an arranged marriage and a fake relationship happening at the same time.
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
FH: While every book release brings both excitement and anxiety, my second release felt very much like having my second child. I knew what to expect a little bit more and was more confident going in, but at the same time, I had many surprises and experiences that were unique to this book. I think the biggest thing for me to get used to when writing my second (and subsequent) books was that my focus was split between promoting, connecting with readers, mentoring, and everything else involved with being a published author. Also, having a much bigger platform meant I worried more about keeping my readers happy.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
FH: There are too many to list! I adore Tessa Dare, Sonali Dev, Alyssa Cole, Adriana Herrera, Jenny Holiday, Mia Sosa, and more!
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
FH: One of the perks of being an author is I get to read books that haven't been published yet. One that I will be screaming from the rafters about how good it is is Two Houses by Suleena Bibra. Suleena was my Pitch Wars mentee a few years ago, and this book about rival art dealers is absolutely hilarious, with such memorable characters, and a very satisfying, swoony happily ever after. Another one coming out in the fall that I loved is Love, Chai, and Other Four-Letter Words, by Annika Sharma. It was the sweetest, warmest love story I've read in a long time, but it packs a real punch with identity issues and characters with complicated pasts. I highly recommend it. And finally, I just had the pleasure of reading The Shaadie Set-Up by Lillie Vale, and it was so, so excellent. The prose was gorgeous, and I loved the whole concept so much. I want to be the main character's best friend!
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
FH: I love fake dating and fake relationships. That moment when feelings go from pretend to real is so much fun to write about, and even more fun to read. I love it when characters go into an arrangement thinking their hearts are protected and their pesky emotions won't get in the way, and they learn just how wrong they are. It's so satisfying!
Farah Heron’s Accidentally Engaged is available now in the U.S.
Sarah Hogle, author of Twice Shy
Goodreads: Summarize your new book in a couple of sentences.Sarah Hogle: Twice Shy is about a lonely young woman, Maybell, who is discontent with her life and spends most of her time fantasizing about a better one. When she inherits a beautiful estate from her late great-aunt, she embraces the opportunity for a fresh start. But when she arrives at her new house, not only is it in shambles but she has to share it with a co-inheritor, a grumpy groundskeeper named Wesley who seems to want nothing to do with her.
I wrote this book hoping it would feel like a warm, fluffy cake fresh from the oven.
GR: What sparked the idea for your book?
SH: I wanted to explore a character with social anxiety and a character who daydreams more than the average individual, two people who are alone in different ways. I had a vision of this grand house with a man and a woman inside, one of them on the ground floor and the other directly above them out of sight, finding creative ways to communicate because the anxious one is shy and has difficulty compiling their thoughts into neat sentences. I saw it in my head like it was a dollhouse with one side open for me to view all the rooms at once. And in my mind, I was watching the characters move from room to room, sensing each other through the walls, getting to know each other while occupying the same house but not always the same space within it. Some inspiration for Falling Stars, which is the house in the book, came from my visit to the historic Hotel Millersburg and the Victorian House Museum in Millersburg, Ohio.
GR: What’s been the biggest difference between writing or publishing your sophomore book versus your debut novel?
SH: Writing my second book was WAY more difficult—it’s a comfort knowing that so many writers struggle with their second book—and I sometimes buckled under the pressure to come up with the best follow-up to You Deserve Each Other. My second book needed to be similar enough to the first that readers of You Deserve Each Other enjoyed this one as well, but not so similar that I’d look like a one-trick pony; I knew the books would be constantly compared, and I got into my head about that.
Publishing my sophomore novel, however, feels way easier. My debut came out in the early days of the pandemic, right as all the physical bookstores were closing and panic was surging. I worried the book I’d been waiting excitedly to send off into the world would slip through its cracks and be forgotten. This time around, I know that my book will find its way into the hands of readers one way or another, and after my incredibly anxiety-provoking debut experience, anything else feels so much calmer and easier in comparison. I’m feeling very little anxiety this time around. I’m here to have a good time! Whatever happens, happens.
GR: Who are some of your favorite romance authors?
SH: This question twists me into a pretzel because I’ll feel guilty if I don’t write two pages full of names (I have so many favorites!), so I’ll cheat and list a few authors whose books I’ve read recently and loved: Lillie Vale, Martha Waters, Talia Hibbert, Kerry Winfrey, Sarah Grunder Ruiz, Rosie Danan, Christina Pishiris, Mazey Eddings, Rachel Lynn Solomon, India Holton, Chloe Liese, Lauren Ho, and Sarah J. Maas. Lisa Kleypas is a huge name in the romance community, but I’ve only just started reading her books this year. I’m LOVING them!
GR: What are some new romance books that you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
SH: I’ve been recommending The Shaadi Set-Up by Lillie Vale (out September 7) all over the place. It’s a heart-tugging second-chance romance featuring seaside B&B reno and two adorable dogs. Also A Brush with Love by Mazey Eddings (out in 2022), which has groundbreaking anxiety rep. Love, Lists, and Fancy Ships by Sarah Grunder Ruiz (out November 23), a women's fiction with romance in it, which made me cry. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton (out June 15), which is a hilarious, delightful romp. Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey (out June 15), which features a unique hero like none I’ve read about before. The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon (out now!), which is such a feel-good novel. And To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters (out now!), which is HILARIOUS.
GR: What's your all-time-favorite romance trope?
SH: Second-chance romance. When two characters have a history together, and are privy to details about each other that no one else knows, which they can then use to their advantage, there’s really nothing better to me. The banter is loaded, the emotions are raw beneath all the smirks and pretending not to be affected. I love the sense of fate involved: that even though these two people have been separated for whatever reason, or lost their way, the universe has brought them back to each other. Resistance is futile! Battle your feelings all you want; this person is clearly your person and you won’t win that battle. With second chance, you know there are going to be cute moments between the leads in which they nostalgically recollect the past, then realize their past wasn’t perfect or else they wouldn’t be where they are today and therefore need to work on their relationship or risk losing it again. There’s usually a nice balance of humor and angst.
Sarah Hogle’s Twice Shy is available now in the U.S.
Don’t forget to add these romances to your Want to Read shelf, and tell us which of these books you’re most excited about in the comments below.
Check out more recent articles, including:
10 One-Night-Stand Romances that Readers Can Commit To
Romance Readers' Most Anticipated Books for May
30 New Contemporary YA Romances for Sweet Summer Lovin'
Check out more recent articles, including:
10 One-Night-Stand Romances that Readers Can Commit To
Romance Readers' Most Anticipated Books for May
30 New Contemporary YA Romances for Sweet Summer Lovin'
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