Double Booked is a collaboration between two Black romance reviewers, myself and to read and review books by and about BIPOC characters. We’re prioritizing our ARC TBRs to share our perspectives of every swoony line, every lust-fueled plot, and the scenes that literally stop you in your tracks.
Hi Librarygoer!
I have a question that’s been on my mind for a while.
Do people in the bookish community still have group chats.
If so, what do you talk to your friends about? Because the way I’ve been pulled into other people’s business via BookThreads, I can’t imagine what there’s left to talk about.
Anywho, how’s your 2026 reading going? I was chatting with Christine of , as we do, about some of our favorite reads of the year. Half the time we’re lamenting about all of the gems we don’t have time to read while drafting but of the ones we have read so far that year, there were a special few we loved. And since our reading time is limited, we’re spend a lot of our time influencing each other’s reading schedule. Aleia is absolutely trying to influence Christine into picking up less vanilla reads and we’re both actively disrespecting our TBRs when a banger finds its way in font of our eyeballs.
And today we’re sharing those with you! Let us know if you feel the same about any of these!
Happy reading!
- Aleia & Christine
Thank you for supporting diverse romance books. I’m so grateful to have you here! To support my work, please subscribe for free or upgrade to a paid membership so I can buy the coffee and books that fuel my recommendations.
We brought out individual obsessions to this list, even when the titles didn’t overlap. We’re very curious to see how different this list looks at the end of the year!
1. Reel & Score by Kennedy Ryan (Hollywood Renaissance, Books 1 & 2)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rep: Black romance (2X), Lupus rep (Reel), Bipolar disorder rep (Score), Bisexual rep (Score)
Reel Tropes: Workplace Romance, Forbidden Romance, Slow Burn, He Falls First, Dual POV, Hollywood Setting, Harlem Renaissance
Score Tropes: Second Chance, Workplace Romance, He Falls First, Dual POV, Hollywood Setting, Harlem Renaissance, Bisexual MC
Publish Dates: Reel: Nov 12, 2024 Trad rerelease (June 8, 2021) | Score: May 19, 2026
Christine’s Take
There are books you finish, and there are books that finish you. Reel is the latter.
Kennedy Ryan has this gift — and I don’t use that word lightly — of writing love stories that are also quietly, devastatingly about life. About how we move through it, how we miss it, how we fight to stay present in it before it slips past us. Reel is all of that, wrapped in a love story between two artists who understand each other on a level that made me ache from the inside out.
Cannon Holt, to some, may be that hero who might be hard to warm up to — a stern, exacting director with an iron grip on his vision. But Ryan opens this book with such intentional tenderness that you’re already on his side before he earns it. His passion for film, his integrity, his devotion — all of it becomes undeniably, unreasonably attractive (very very lol). Meanwhile, Neevah herself is a blinding light, the heroine you want to step into the pages and befriend. She approaches her dreams with the same fire and focus as Cannon, but she does it with a softness and kindness that makes it impossible not to root for her. I wanted to soak up everything she had to offer. I completely understand why everyone in this story is drawn to her.
Aleia’s Take
Of course we start with the GOATed Ms. Kennedy Ryan! Reel remains my favorite KR book since I borrowed the indie version on KU years ago. I’ve enjoyed every Kennedy Ryan book since then (obviously) which means I’m incredibly jealous that Christine was able to read it for the first time!
Neevah and Canon’s story is truly special to me because there’s nothing like a mean man (Canon is VERY grumpy) being down bad for a woman who has never felt like enough that hits me right in all the feels.
Like Reel, Score takes a very deep look at disability and we’re able to see bipolar disorder through the eyes of a woman in crisis, in care, and all the places in between. And then she learns to love herself and Monk loves her through it (and talks her through it!). The timeline runs slightly parallel to Reel and Canon’s empathy made me love even more but Verity and Monk stand firmly in love on their own. They work through so much together and it makes their love story feel singular. If Monk didn’t have Verity, he’d never have anything resembling true love and vice versa. ← Also this book is hotttt from Chapter 2-ish? WHEW!
And for the love of all that’s holy if you even kind of love audiobooks, I beg of you to listen to these. Reel won the top audiobook of the year, both include live musical performances, and the male narrators (Jakobi & Winston, respectively) are especially yummy.
2. The Bridge Back to You by Riss M. Neilson
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rep: Filipino and Dominican MC, multiracial FMC, endometriosis rep, ADHD and OCD rep, single parenthood, food and cultural identity as love language
Tropes: Second Chance, Inheritance Games, Single Parent, Forced Proximity, Slow Burn, Dual POV, Dual Timeline, grumpy x sunshine
Publish Date: March 31, 2026
Aleia’s Take
Mother’s meddling from the afterlife? Because of course they are. I’m glad she did her meddling because Olivia and Carmello seem inevitable with every page turn. It’s a romance so of course the HEA is promised but much like her last adult novel which I adored, any moment the couple is not together feels like bullshit we need to get to the other side of.
In this story is that we have a grumpy x sunshine with a guilty-adjacent sunshiney character. Olivia’s lived a charmed life made possible by her delightfully inquisitive nature and the nomadic spirit of her parents. The nature that made her a part of Carmello’s life and for them to fall hard and fast as teens, made it that much more difficult when they took her away from him. They always fit together, even in the pain of reconnecting with each other.
What I most appreciate is how the story came together as a reader. We learned their story gently while believing in picking up on the future they lost out on. This story is more than a warm hug, it’s your reminder that you’re allowed to choose yourself, and also choose love.
Christine’s Take
What got me most was how emotionally layered this book is. Riss Neilson doesn’t let Olivia and Carmello rush past the hard stuff. Their first relationship didn’t fall apart because of some grand betrayal; it fell apart because of childhood wounds neither of them had names for yet. Watching them identify those feelings, sit with them, and grow through them together made their reunion feel so completely, beautifully earned. These are two emotionally mature leads who actually talk to each other, and the slow-burn tension that builds chapter by chapter is the natural result of two people trying so hard not to fall again, even as they fall for each other anyway.
3. American Love Song by Britt Middleton
Genre: Contemporary Romance (+ Debut)
Rep: Black FMC, anxiety rep
Tropes: Journalist x Country Music Star, Fake Alliance/Arrangement, Small Town, Forced Proximity, Found Family, He’s Down Bad, Summer Romance
Publish Date: June 9, 2026
Christine’s Take
Brinton is a Black journalist who has had to claw her way through every imaginable systemic barrier just to reach a position that still doesn’t fully value her. Jamie is country music royalty carrying guilt he’s never let anyone close enough to see. On paper, they shouldn’t work. On the page, they are electric. The banter, the flirting, the arguing that is very obviously just foreplay — all of it is hot as hell, and the first kiss had me actually squealing.
4. Maggie and Arthur’s Magic Moment by Leslie René
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Plus-size FMC, fear of re-entering relationships after hurt, Virginia-based magical campus world
Tropes: Grumpy x Grumpy, Fantasy Academia, Forced Proximity (one office!), Masked Stranger / Identity Mystery, Rivals to Partners, Slow Burn
Publish Date: July 28, 2026 (Upcoming)
Christine’s Take
Leslie René delivers a delicious slow burn with an enemies-to-lovers dynamic that had me grinning from start to finish. Between the mystery kiss, the shared office, the forced proximity, the one sleeping bag camping situation (yes, really), and the absolutely exquisite tension, Maggie and Arthur kept me thoroughly entertained.
What I loved most was how grounded the romance felt. Maggie, a confident plus-size heroine in her thirties, and Arthur, a broody, secretly soft academic, built a relationship through conversation, vulnerability, and slowly peeling back each other’s layers. The magical university setting struck the perfect balance between cozy and enchanting, with just enough mystery and stakes to keep the pages turning.
If you love academic romances, magical realism, and slow burns that will have you kicking your feet and muttering “just kiss already,” this one is absolutely worth picking up. A delightful debut, and I’ll definitely be reading whatever Leslie René writes next.
5. An Uncertain Magic by A.M. Kvita (Green Witch Cycle, Book 2)
Genre: Romantasy
Rep: Queer and BIPOC cast
Tropes: Rivals to Lovers, Sapphic Romance, Found Family, Urban Fantasy, High Stakes Adventure, Slow Burn
Publish Date: October 27, 2026 (Upcoming)
Christine’s Take
After completely falling in love with An Unlikely Coven, I went into An Uncertain Magic with equal parts excitement and fear. You know that feeling when you adore a first book so much you’re terrified the sequel won’t capture the same magic? Thankfully, I had absolutely nothing to worry about. I loved getting the dual POVs and spending more time with characters I already adored; Joan and Astoria’s relationship is tender, messy, heartfelt, and so achingly human that I found myself rooting for them on every page.
What I continue to love most about this series is its ability to balance humor, heart, and high stakes while treating its themes and representation with such care and authenticity. The queer, sapphic, non-binary, and POC representation feels lived-in and genuine, woven naturally into a story that is already bursting with warmth and magic.
6. By the Bootstraps by Alexa Martin (Starlight Ridge, Book 1)
Genre: Contemporary, Small Town Romance
Rep: Black Romance
Tropes: Small Town, Grumpy x Sunshine, Slow Burn, Love After Loss, Fish Out of Water, Inheritance, Small Town
Publish Date: May 26, 2026
Aleia’s Take
I’m never disappointed by Alexa Martin. She’s sure to give deep belly laughs and inspire kicking your feet in the air but this combined SOOO many of my romance loves with her writing style that I already loved.
Small town, fish out of water, delightfully sunshine-y, over the top, pink as a decor choice FMC meets a broody secretive small-town man that most of the residents know to give a wide berth. What’s not to love?
So we meet Luna in the middle of a grief crashout that started with her selling her childhood home and buying a home sight unseen in small town Texas. It could have gone very wrong and while her “perfect” bathtub fell through the ceiling in the house she bought (literally) the town met her with open arms. Even setting her in the path of the stupid hot town handyman/high school football coach Tate.
Their union is formed in laughter, many local hardware store trips, and a town completely tuned into the chaos.
It’s everything sweet and beautiful and healing and raunchy you need out of a summer romance.
7. Ember by Naima Simone (The Hunted Kingdom, Book 2)
Genre: Dark Romance
Rep: Black romance, morally grey FMC and MMC,
Tropes: Enemies to Lovers, Forced Marriage, Forced Proximity, Touch Her and Die, Morally Grey Leads, Cinderella Fairy Tale Retelling, Mafia
Publish Date: July 2026 (Upcoming)
Ember is Book 2 in The Hunted Kingdom series but set in a completely different universe than Huntsman so you can read it independently (and should!).
🚨 Content Note: Dark romance — violence, dark themes, drug usage, step siblings, delightfully morally grey characters. Read the author’s note and tell her I sent you!
Aleia’s Take
I cannot say enough about how much I loved this delightfully dirty, revenge driven tale of a love overdue love.
Asad and Ember are step siblings (okay, taboo) that have not always gotten along because of his mother, aka the evil stepmother in this Cinderella retelling. Speaking of that lady, it’s on sight if I everrrr lay eyes on her because WHY ARE YOU SO EVIL???!
Listen, if you know me in real life … prepare to be sick of me. I will think about this story every single day for the rest of forever. It’s easily one of my top 10 reads of the year. Allll the things I love about the story the most are little secrets that you get to find out. I refuse to spoil them but just know they are worth every flip of the page. From the will reading to Asad’s domineering mannerisms as the head of the mafia family/fashion empire front, to Ember’s devious dealings innovating the drug empire in basement headquarters.
The characters and side characters in the Cinderella story also show up in such fun ways. You will not regret every dark turn and twist.
Pre-order, purchase, and/or request from your library NOW!
8. Playing for Keeps by Alexandria Bellefleur
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rep: Sapphic FMCs
Tropes: Rivals to Lovers, Workplace Romance, Secret Relationship, Forced Proximity, Celebrity (Adjacent) Romance, Grumpy x Sunshine, Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Single POV
Publish Date: January 6, 2026
This story is single POV but also a masterclass in having characters on two separate journeys from that one point of view. Poppy and Rosaline are so incredibly distinctive characters. Poppy is a cautious, yet ambitious woman on the other side of a tailspin. She has a very soft landing,she gets a job as PR to her childhood best friend the NFL quarterback, that she doesn’t feel she deserves. At the same time, there’s Rosaline. Successful and self-assured after many years making it as a PR representative of America’s pop sweetheart. She’s learned to be no nonsense to succeed and thrives as being the one making the rules. Seeing them thrive alongside another and unlearn toxic traits that have otherwise helped them thrive makes every page of this worth it!
Also, this is perfect for you if you’re a fan of the elusive ‘phone sex as yearning’.
9. Big Girl Blitz by Danielle Allen (Curve, Book 3)
Genre: Adult Contemporary Romance / Women’s Fiction adjacent
Rep: Plus-size Black FMC
Tropes: Small Town, Sports Romance (football), Slow Burn, He Loves Her Out Loud, Found Family
Publish Date: April 14, 2026
Series Note: Book 3 in the Curve series — can be read standalone but connects to Curvy Girl Summer and Plus Size Player. Link Aleia’s existing Substack review of Plus Size Player
🚨 Content Note: Death of a side character, fatphobia
There are girl groups that you’re sad to let go. The ladies of the Curves series are absolutely that for me.
But Lamar??? Baby he’s everything else. Read my full review on why Jazz and Lamar together are a (deliciously nasty) delight to experience.
10. The Magic of Untamed Hearts by Raquel Vázquez Gilliland (Wild Magic, Book 3)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Rep: Autistic-coded Latine FMC
Tropes: Neighbors to Lovers, Fake Friendship, Magical Realism, Small Town Outcast x Town Hero, Librarian x Journalist, Slow Burn, Mystery Subplot,
Publish Date: January 13, 2026
Series Note: This is book 3 in the Flores Sisters series. It reads as a standalone but books 1 & 2 are unskippable if you’re a fan of cozy paranormals featuring beautifully flawed women and the men who unknowingly fall deeper in love with them than the Mariana Trench.
Aleia’s Take
Sky’s story is not what I expected but quietly gripped me and held on until the last page. In the first two books Sky is understanding the world around her. She’s brash and a bit coarse, but it’s almost endearing. Her family treats her a little like catching a toddler using swear words on camera. Like they should correct her, but she’s cute so they at least laugh first. Throughout the story we get a pretty difficult era of the sister relationships and I appreciate the realness of this matriarchal family.
In this story, Sky is undoing all of that. She’s leaned into what makes her different, even if it makes the townspeople shun her. Adam is her reprieve from not being understood and not understanding herself. He was around telling her she’s enough while she healed herself. Don’t get me started on the epistolary element of this love story; I’m obsessed!
I also appreciate that we don’t get a DSM perfect representation of Sky’s autism. Her portrayal doesn’t involve a medical diagnosis or even on page acknowledgement from herself or other people. It’s in her inability to understand social cues and in her obsession with the animals around her. She prefers them much more to people and it’s as is if the magic in her makes her neurodivergence manifest this way. I feel it adds a richness to this story that makes it unputdownable.
I love how soft yet emotional this story is and how hard it made me root for Sky and Adam.
Christine’s Take
This book is, at its core, a story about learning how to live again after trauma, finding people who see you clearly, and realizing that being different was never something that needed fixing in the first place. Sky’s journey felt incredibly tender and deeply human. Her loneliness, her longing to be understood, and her determination to carve out a place for herself in a world that has always called her “too much” or “strange” made her impossible not to root for.
I absolutely adored the slow-burn romance between Sky and Adam. Their relationship unfolds through honesty, vulnerability, friendship, and the kind of quiet care that sneaks up on you emotionally. Adam’s patience and gentleness with Sky, combined with their heartfelt conversations and undeniable chemistry, made their romance feel both grounded and magical.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was Sky’s neurodivergent representation. Her struggles with social cues and indirect communication felt authentic and thoughtfully portrayed, and I loved that the story embraced her exactly as she is. Add in the whimsical magic, the lovable side characters (especially William), and the beautiful exploration of family, identity, and healing.
What’s Next for Double Booked?
Drafting. Editing. Staring at the moon (well Aleia, it’s generally past Christine’s bedtime). Maybe meeting IRL before the summer ends?
Haha, other than our list above, here’s what’s next on our TBRs!
Which of these have you already read? Which is going straight to your TBR?
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