Well hello there, it’s Tuesday today!

In case you have been at the edge of your seats wondering … I DID make it to the candlight hike on Saturday night, with the 8th grader who surprised me completely by agreeing to accompany me! We met one of my friends and walked in the woods in the dark with candlelight guiding the way ~ goal accomplished.

So, I have written before about my annoyance with the overall current state of the romance industry ~ supersaturated, not-well-vetted, too focused on tropes, pandering to BookTok ~ BUT, that doesn’t mean we can’t find quality work! It just takes more curation.

There are a few people I know I can trust for romance recommendations that match my requirements, so recently I compiled recs from Michelle Martin and Rena Rani’s newsletters to help create some priority lists to help me stay on track with picking romances I might actually appreciate. These links are just samples of their newsletters, they share SO MANY other great recommendations, so please subscribe!

I have also been diving into my collection of pre-release titles in a wide-ranging attempt to find books I can sink into, be surprised by, and believe in.

Today I am sharing one October 2026 release that I am vowing now will be one of my absolute favorites of the year, as well as four other romances that delighted me recently. I hope at least one of these piques your interest!

If you are encountering a paywall:

To unlock today’s full newsletter, please upgrade to a premium subscription. This gives you additional content in your inbox, as well as access to my full archive, exclusive bookshop and PDF downloads. You can subscribe on a monthly ($5/month) or annual ($40/year) basis.