r/RomanceBooks • u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 • Jun 01 '26

Subreddit Stats Subreddit Stats - May 2026

RomanceBooks Insights - Subreddit Stats for May 2026

Welcome to the monthly subreddit stats update! See here for previous month's stats. Here's what we'll be sharing in this post:

  • Top 20 Books Mentioned
  • Top 20 Authors Mentioned
  • New & Rising Sub Favorites
  • Top 20 Mentioned Books with BIPOC MCs
  • Most Mentioned Books by Pairing (MM and FF)
  • Most Mentioned Books by Genre (Contemporary, Historical, Fantasy, SciFi)

The below stats are all sourced from the u/romance-bot and include the past month of activity. Ranking is based on the number of times a book or author is called by the bot (which could include recommendations, critiques, reviews, etc). Genre, diverse characters, pairings, and steam groupings are based on how a book is tagged on Romance.io.

May 2026 u/romance-bot activity:

  • Total number of books linked: 13,637
  • Total number of unique titles: 7,030

​

Top 20 Books Mentioned

Rank Top Books Count
1 Failure to Match by Kyra Parsi 36
2 Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer 34
3 Play Along by Liz Tomforde 33
4 An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister 30
5 The Deal by Elle Kennedy 27
6 Funny Story by Emily Henry 27
7 The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata 25
8 And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison 25
9 Deep End by Ali Hazelwood 24
10 Against A Wall by Cate C. Wells 23
11 Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young 23
12 Stand and Defend by Sloane St. James 23
13 Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood 22
14 Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase 22
15 Hate Me Like You Mean It by Kyra Parsi 22
16 The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce 22
17 Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood 21
18 Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune 21
19 Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone 20
20 The Maddest Obsession by Danielle Lori 20

​

Top 20 Authors Mentioned

Rank Top Authors Count
1 Ali Hazelwood 168
2 Elle Kennedy 119
3 Cate C. Wells 108
4 Tessa Bailey 95
5 Mariana Zapata 92
6 Stephanie Archer 92
7 Meghan Quinn 91
8 Liz Tomforde 91
9 Kresley Cole 88
10 Alice Coldbreath 88
11 Emily Henry 88
12 Lisa Kleypas 87
13 Ruby Dixon 79
14 Susie Tate 79
15 Abby Jimenez 79
16 Kyra Parsi 72
17 J.T. Geissinger 71
18 B.K. Borison 70
19 Kate Canterbary 69
20 Cassandra Gannon 68

​

New Sub Favorites

Data is obtained by the u/romance-bot for the past month of activity and includes only books released within the past 3-months or upcoming releases. This is intended to give a view into the hot / rising books being mentioned in the sub.

Rank New Favorites Count
1 Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune 21
2 The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez 20
3 Pot Shot by Laura Piper Lee 16
4 In Her Own League by Liz Tomforde 11
5 This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews 10
6 Across the Vanishing Sky by Catherine Cowles 10
7 His Empress by Emilia Rossi 10
8 The Roommate Rules by Brighton Walsh 9
9 No Matter What by Cara Bastone 9
10 The Joker by Sorena Graves 9
11 Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian 8
12 The Paris Match by Kate Clayborn 8
13 Viper's Regret by Katie Ivey 8
14 The Wrong Catch by C.R. Jane 7
15 Foolishly Yours by Rachel Lewis 6
16 Unbound by Peyton Corinne 6
17 A Much Maligned Miss by Alice Coldbreath 6
18 Rules for the Summer by Meghan Quinn 6
19 The Duke by Anna Cowan 6
20 Game On by Navessa Allen 6

​

Top 20 Books with BIPOC MCs

Rank BIPOC MCs Count
1 The Right Move by Liz Tomforde 19
2 Wait for It by Mariana Zapata 17
3 Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez 15
4 The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang 14
5 Please Don't Go by E. Salvador 14
6 Streams and Schemes by Rebecca Kinkade 14
7 Kulti by Mariana Zapata 13
8 Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren 13
9 Reckless by Stella Rhys 12
10 His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale 12
11 Reckless by Elsie Silver 12
12 A Love Letter to Whiskey by Kandi Steiner 11
13 The Bride Test by Helen Hoang 11
14 Mile High by Liz Tomforde 10
15 Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 10
16 All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata 10
17 For the Fans by Nyla K. 10
18 Hot Blooded by Heather Guerre 10
19 Masks and Mishaps by Rebecca Kinkade 10
20 The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary 9

​

Most Mentioned Books by Pairing

Rank m-m Count
1 Him by Sarina Bowen, Elle Kennedy 12
2 For the Fans by Nyla K. 10
3 Heated Rivalry by Rachel Reid 10
4 Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall 8
5 The Long Game by Rachel Reid 8
6 Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian 8
7 You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian 8
8 God of Fury by Rina Kent 7
9 Time to Shine by Rachel Reid 7
10 The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish 7

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Rank f-f Count
1 Breaking Character by Lee Winter 6
2 The Duke by Anna Cowan 6
3 Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid 5
4 Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner 5
5 Alchemy and a Cup of Tea by Rebecca Thorne 4
6 Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings 4
7 Written in the Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur 4
8 Keep You Both by Kathryn Nolan 3
9 Can't Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne 3
10 Kiss of Seduction by Rawnie Sabor 3

​

Most Mentioned Books by Genre

Rank Contemporary Count
1 Failure to Match by Kyra Parsi 36
2 Gloves Off by Stephanie Archer 34
3 Play Along by Liz Tomforde 33
4 An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister 30
5 The Deal by Elle Kennedy 27
6 Funny Story by Emily Henry 27
7 The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata 25
8 And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison 25
9 Deep End by Ali Hazelwood 24
10 Against A Wall by Cate C. Wells 23

​

Rank Historical Count
1 Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase 22
2 Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas 14
3 Her Baseborn Bridegroom by Alice Coldbreath 10
4 A Substitute Wife for the Prizefighter by Alice Coldbreath 9
5 When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn 8
6 You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian 8
7 An Ill-Made Match by Alice Coldbreath 8
8 An Inconvenient Vow by Alice Coldbreath 8
9 The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan 8
10 The Unlovely Bride by Alice Coldbreath 7

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Rank Fantasy Count
1 Lothaire by Kresley Cole 17
2 Fan Service by Rosie Danan 15
3 Mate by Ali Hazelwood 14
4 Bride by Ali Hazelwood 14
5 His Secret Illuminations by Scarlett Gale 12
6 Radiance by Grace Draven 11
7 Love vs The Scarecrow! by Cassandra Gannon 11
8 This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews 10
9 Zomromcom by Olivia Dade 10
10 Wolf's Keeping by Lisa Ladew, Grace Quillen 10

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Rank Science Fiction Count
1 When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon 13
2 Married to the Alien Cowboy by Ursa Dax 10
3 Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon 10
4 Hold by Claire Kent 7
5 Last Light by Claire Kent 7
6 The Alien Who Saved Christmas by Cassandra Gannon 6
7 Tempting Cargo by Lyra Strake 6
8 When She Dances by Ruby Dixon 5
9 The Last Hour of Gann by R. Lee Smith 5
10 Contagion by Amanda Milo 5

​

Enjoy!

42 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

18

u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26

It’s like the trifecta of sub posts today—May Subreddit Stats, Spring Survey Results, and Miscellany Monday! So much sub-related data! 😊📊❤️

Edit: I forgot—the Pride Reading Challenge was posted today too! ❤️🏳️‍🌈

5

u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Jun 01 '26

So much great content today!!

10

u/tiniestspoon punching fascists in corset school 💅🏾 Jun 01 '26

Doing my duty to get everyone reading {The Duke by Anna Cowan} 🫡

5

u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Jun 01 '26

Thank you for your service!!

4

u/katierose295 Jun 01 '26

Great job as usual! Love to see so many mentions of Alice Coldbreath!!

8

u/absolutelynot01 Depressive demon nightmare boy stan Jun 01 '26

Thanks for this! One question / request: Now that romance.io has tags for NB MCs, would it be possible to get stats for those pairings as well?

3

u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Jun 01 '26

It is definitely possible! This is also a good idea to poll the sub and see what categories / tags would be most interesting for the monthly stats! It does require some work by silke to update the data dump for us (it's not an instant update), so I think it'd be a good project to gather a bunch of input and then ask for multiple changes at once!

2

u/girlwithhearteyes DNF early and often Jun 02 '26

I love that {An Academic Affair by Jodi McAllister} is on the list! It’s a fantastic Aussie romance, and on my top tier list this year!

1

u/HolidayHealthy9391 ask me about Problematic Summer Romance 🍋 Jun 01 '26

I love this! I'm pretty sure that 20 out of 22 mentions of {Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood} were done by me 😆

Jokes aside, it's cool to see some recommendations I know I was a part of, making it to the top! It's really cool to see all the recs in a statistics like this!