“Bed first, feelings later” romances make my knees go weak, so the moment I learned about this premise I had to know more: Cassie takes on a live-in nannying gig to a hot chef single dad and his sweet daughter, only to discover that Aiden is one of her former regulars from her defunct OnlyFans. Then there’s whispers of a reboot…! A great mix of looking back and looking forward to kick off the year of romance.

But when she’s paired back up with her former best friend Ransom Joel, who betrayed her despite their on-screen chemistry, she’ll have to contend with balancing the smooches for the camera with potential real-life attraction and baggage. Here, Liv Latimer never quite got out of the shadow of the show that made her a face of primetime, yet she can’t say no to participating in a reunion special. Both books seem to wink to stalwarts like One Tree Hill or The OC as the inspiration for fictional teen dramas that made the careers of female Hollywood stars who are now looking for a second act in their thirties and forties. It’s really fun to see contemporary romance authors tap into millennials’ nostalgia for early-2000s TV, like in last year’s How to Fake It in Hollywood and now The Reunion. Release Date: January 17 from Atria Books I couldn’t let myself include YA since this list would balloon even more… but that won’t stop me from shouting out some honorable mentions like Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute from Brown Sisters author Talia Hibbert (her YA debut!), Lex Croucher’s A Knight’s Tale-inspired Gwen & Art Are Not in Love, and Dahlia Adler’s wonderfully titled Going Bicoastal. Truly, it was difficult to narrow down, and this is just the first half of the year. This list has new books from Kate Clayborn, Emily Henry, Taj McCoy, Christina Lauren, Tehlor Kay Mejia, and many many more.

Or if you’re looking for a sharper edge to your contemporary romance, get ready for books that amp up the archetypal enemies or rivals into witch-versus-witch-hunter or competing con artists. Yet there’s also the themes of writing ourselves into fantasy scenarios or idealized versions of ourselves-or if not writing, then taking the cannonball plunge into summer camp or other group getaways in the sunshine, when we can be freer versions of ourselves not weighed down by expectations or exes. In 2023 expect more than one ghostwriter falling for her client (because what’s more intimate than learning someone’s voice) and plenty of author crushes in the flesh. While it’s easy to recommend contemporary romances based on various combinations of shorthand tropes and archetypes, it’s equally fascinating to pick up on the common themes in a year’s crop of new romances.

Wanderlust by Elle Everhart