We’re nearly halfway through the 2020s, and romance has never been bigger—or harder to pin down. It dominates bestseller lists, fuels the publishing industry, and inspires endless debate over what even counts as romance anymore. The genre is evolving in real-time, which makes naming the author who defines it tricky. But if we’re talking about the writers setting the tone for what romance looks like right now, a few names come up again and again.
It feels as if Emily Henry is the decade’s breakout star, the writer who made romance palatable to people who once turned up their noses at it. Since Beach Read, her books have lived at the intersection of literary fiction and romance, balancing self-aware humor with introspection and sharp-edged longing. Her characters don’t just fall in love; they untangle themselves first. Whether that’s deepening romance or watering it down depends on whom you ask, but the fact remains—no one has done more to drag contemporary romance into the mainstream.
Ali Hazelwood, on the other hand, doesn’t just embrace romance tropes—she wields them like weapons. Her STEM romances (The Love Hypothesis, Love on the Brain, Love, Theoretically just to name a few) lean into the genre’s biggest, most exaggerated beats, proving that readers don’t just tolerate tropes; they devour them. And then there’s Bride, her 2024 pivot into paranormal romance, which is both a hilarious send-up of the genre and an unironically fantastic love story. If anyone thought she could only write nerdy academia romances, they weren’t paying attention.
Many would argue KJ Charles is writing the best historical romances of the decade. Her books aren’t historical themed; they are historical. Instead of ballrooms and dukes who mysteriously support women’s rights, she delivers working-class heroes, political stakes, and rich, fully realized queer love stories that could only exist in their time periods. The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting and A Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel aren’t just some of the best romances of the decade—they’re some of the best historical novels, period.
Julie Anne Long remains the master of slow-burn devastation, her Palace of Rogues series delivers some of the most elegant, aching, precisely written love stories in the genre. She understands that romance is about yearning—not just chemistry, not just conflict, but the exquisite tension of knowing, this could ruin me, but I want it anyway. If her characters had the vocabulary for it, they’d all be quoting Jane Eyre at each other before finally giving in.
Rebecca Yarros, meanwhile, set the industry on fire with Fourth Wing. While she had a solid career in contemporary romance before 2023, Fourth Wing turned her into a publishing juggernaut. Does it belong in the romance aisle? Does it matter? Readers are inhaling every page, and at the heart of it—beneath the dragons and the war and the high-stakes fantasy world—is a love story that drives everything. It’s proof that romance can lead the conversation, even when it’s not being marketed as such.
I’d be remiss to mention Kennedy Ryan, who writes with depth and emotional intelligence. Before I Let Go is certainly one of the best second-chance romance of the decade—grown-up, messy, and heartbreakingly real. Ryan doesn’t deal in simple love stories; she writes about love as something fought for, something that bends under pressure but doesn’t break. Her books (Reel, The Kingmaker) are as smart as they are sweeping, proving that romance doesn’t have to choose between emotional depth and pure swoon.
So, who’s the greatest romance author of the decade so far? The one selling the most books? The one elevating the genre? The one whose stories crack your heart open and put it back together? And what about longevity? Will these be the names we’re still citing in 2035? And, most importantly, what do YOU think? For you, who is the greatest romance author of this era? Why?
Honestly, that all depends on how you define greatest. Most sales? Most talked about? Most recommended? I would have to say if any of those are criteria, Hoover wins. The Goodreads list for best of the last decade is filled with Ward, Gabaldon, and Colleen Hoover. I still go to brick-and-mortar bookstores, and that would coincide with what I see on their shelves. I think Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game had a huge impact when it came out in 2016, as did Red, White and Royal Blue (2019) by Casey McQuiston. Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James would, hands down, win my vote for most impactful romance of the 21st Century (2012), and while I personally would never label it great, I think it did a ton to bring romance into the mainstream. Me Before You by JoJo Moyes (2012) would be another book I would say had a big impact on bringing romance into the mainstream.
None of these are personal favorites. I’m strictly looking at what novels/authors have most impacted the romance market in the last decade or so, and I would say it is the above.
I was thinking THIS decade, not the past decade so the books you mention weren’t on my radar!
I haven’t been the best about reading new releases…but I think I’d like to answer this question in two ways: Greatest Mainstream Author and Greatest Indie/Smaller Platform Author who have propelled the genre
Mainstream (now although she didn’t start off that way) probably have to go with Ana Huang!! I think she kind of made reading cool again for younger generations and you can’t really browse “Romance” in person at book stores, on online platforms, on social media discussions without coming across her as a suggestion. I also think she releases slower too so the excitement for her books builds and kind of loops other readers into the hype.
Indie/Smaller I would have to think about because in each subgenre there have been authors that have pushed boundaries and kind of made themes/tropes go viral
I would say though that a lot of authors that have been staples for the genre in 2020+ kind of make me wonder why sometimes?….like is the way they approach romance just new so I’m adapting?…
You point out something that I ignored which is that–usually published by Bloom Books–there are a bunch of romances in the Colleen Hoover vein–heavy angst, power dynamics, lots of sex–that critics don’t discuss. Huang is a great example.
Thank you!!
Every author does something different for me, so this one is a hard one to answer.
My money would be on Ali Hazelwood. She’s definitely of the last decade, her work is incredibly popular, she moves around the sub-genres, picking up readers and fans as she goes. She’s incredibly supportive of the industry, so she lifts all romance authors and her books include depictions of relationships that are aspirational and respectful of women. I can’t think of anyone else with her popularity or her range?
I think that’s a good call. My estimation of her–already high–soared when I read Bride.
I’m not sure, haven’t found anyone that I consider really good as of yet all my favourite writers at least in the romance genre are from last decade. Julie Anne Long I guess but she’s been writing for almost two decades.
JAL would be, currently, in my list of the top romance writers of all time. We’ve given her 17 DIKs, twelve Bs, and three C+s. Her books are smart, funny, moving, and many have enough depth that rereads of them offer more gifts. She’s written HR and CR phenomenally well.
She’s the true version of a Desert Island Keeper!
It’s a hard question. For one thing, we’re only half way through the 2020s – for another, the authors who would hit the top of any list of mine have already been writing for over a decade; KJ Charles’ first published work, The Magpie Lord, was released in 2013. She certainly is the best author of HR writing now and for the past few years; she doesn’t take liberties with history, knows the rules and conventions of the time period, and given that getting her characters to an HEA that is both convincing and plausible is much harder than it is for most m/f writers (because her leads are almost always both men), always delivers an entertaining story with superbly drawn characters – and that convincing HEA. (She should be on your list of GOATs!)
I have no interest in reading Emily Henry or Ali Hazelwood – they may be popular now, but I’m seeing a reviews of AH saying that she’s becoming same-y and writing to formula, so I wonder how her books will stack up by the end of the decade. (She is also putting out 3-4 books a year and there aren’t many authors who can maintain quality at that level of output.)
So such a list is always going to be subjective and will depend on what we read/have read. I read hardly any books by what would be termed mainstream romance authors so my view of “the greatest” will be vastly different to many other readers’.
Yes–that’s why it’s fun to discuss!
I like Ali Hazelwood’s books but agree with the reviews you read. I thought her first book The Love Hypothesis was promising but not outstanding. She has written many further books and novellas with STEM heroines and they do feel very similar. The heroines often have low self-worth related to something that happened in the past, the heroes are similarly enigmatic, and something unfair to the heroine always occurs in the workplace. However, Bride was a completely different romance subgenre (paranormal) and the plot had some variation. I haven’t read Check & Mate (her YA novel) or Deep End (which looks like NA). I like her writing enough that I will continue to purchase her books for now but would wait until the book goes on sale.
I agree about Ali Hazelwood. I liked her first few books — after that, they got annoying. She’s also an actual academic, so I’m just wondering how she has time to chase tenure-track and put out several books a year. Perhaps it’s why her books feel more formulaic lately?
I loved this column–not only for the authors and books chosen, but for the clear and concise reasons for their inclusions. I am downloading the samples of the books that I haven’t read, yet.
Let’s hope that the romances that on the Best Sellers’ list make a dent in so many people’s minds who are so contemptuous of romances, never having read one. (Pet peeve of mine)
Thank you!!!
It’s a difficult question to answer. Does the greatest romance author of this decade mean someone who has had the most success and who has had her work adapted for the screen and whose books have got their own merch, like Colleen Hoover (is she even a romance writer?), E L James or Julia Quinn (Bridgerton soap anyone?)
Or do we mean authors who consistently writing bestseller after bestseller and have career longevity, like Nora Roberts or Mary Balogh?
As someone who reads a lot of romance novels, this is a question that has stumped me.
I think the “best” label is always open to interpretation. So, I guess the answer is whatever you as a reader define it as, first for you, and then, if you wish, for the market or the critics or whatever standard you’re asserting.
You’ve named some of my favorite authors here but to choose one as the best is like Sophie’s Choice and just too hard. I love them all!
Fair. Utterly fair!
If she continues to write the same excellent books she’s written for over a decade, I would pick KJ Charles as perhaps most talented, diverse, and enjoyable romance author of this decade. She’s written lighter and humorous books, paranormal, angsty, scary and sexy. She writes great social commentary and her historical settings are about as perfectly researched as I’ve ever read. She has an incredible eye for human foibles and motivations and I’ve never read a flat or two dimensional character in one of her books. Her foray into straight mystery (some romantic elements), Death in the Spires, is an amazing look at what drives people to do what they do. It has a complex mystery without simplistic characters or answers.
Best contemporary authors for me would include Jay Hogan, who writes consistently solid m/m contemporary romances that have well developed characters. Her series all have very different settings and storylines that she has obviously researched meticulously. One of the best romantic suspense authors is Nicky James, also m/m. Also C.S Poe, who has two compelling series, Magic and Steam (steampuck and suspense mix) and Momento Mori, with unique characters and complex plots.
Since they are all m/m authors, many people won’t have read them so they won’t get the same popular support. However, I can say with certainty that as far as writing talent, unique stories and incredible research, these four authors would stand up to any romance authors I’ve ever read.
*nods in agreement*
I cannot say who is ‘the best’. It’s a very difficult concept and we would never agree on what does it mean. Is ‘Jeanne Dielmann’ the best movie ever? If you haven’t ever heard of that film, don’t worry, even seasoned cinephiles haven’t seen it but it was still chosen the best film ever in 2022. It represents, IMHO, the problem of what does it mean to be considered ‘the best’ creative work in Western 2020s. In any field.
But I have a clear idea of what authors are my favourites and I would recommend them as some of the best of the genre. ‘Favourites’ is one thing, ‘best’ another one.
I used to love KJ Charles and Kennedy Ryan, but I don’t read their books anymore.
My experience with the rest of the names you mention has not been the same as the majority of readers. Their books do not work for me. I tried one or two and I saw they were not for me, so I don’t read them.
Nevertheless, I understand that they represent the zeitgeist of this moment, in the Western world. They represent it so well that I don’t think their books would be read ten years from now, when the world and the society will be different.
BUT I still find amazing things in recent years. I really enjoy the books written by Rachel Reid, Lucy Parker, or Tal Bauer (although I don’t think he is publishing anymore).
If you ask me, I’d say Sarina Bowen is one of the finest writers in the genre. She even has got a world of her own (True North). And I do think that some of her novels would still be loved in the future. She expresses something as an artist, something real and personal. Even if what she expresses is very tiny, very ‘small town’, it still sounds authentic and not an intellectual imposture. That’s just my feeling.
Longevity? Sandra Brown is still amazing forty years after her first book.
Those are just my personal preferences, I understand that the majority prefers something different nowadays.
I think Best is whatever one thinks it is. To me, it’s never an absolute term.
I’m not sure does it have to be someone that has started writing this decade or a writer that has been in the business for years?
Either!
I’ve not yet found any writers this decade I find great so far not in romance at least. I’m rereading The vampire Lestat by Anne Rice another favourite genre of mine.Ive switched the genre I’m reading because current romance is so badly written.
Anne Rice–she was such a game changer for PRN.
Yes,a bit off topic entirely different genre and all. But it’s a book I’m reading and thinking it’s something that would be very difficult to get published today without backlash from the public, I can just imagine the outcry it would get.
I sorta think (and hope) she wouldn’t have cared. She was a law unto herself.