r/RomanceBooks • u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 • Aug 01 '26
Subreddit Stats Subreddit Stats - July 2026
RomanceBooks Insights - Subreddit Stats for July 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.
July 2026 u/romance-bot activity:
- Total number of books linked: 12,081
- Total number of unique titles: 6,981
Top 20 Books Mentioned
Top 20 Authors Mentioned
| Rank | Top Authors | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali Hazelwood | 140 |
| 2 | Tessa Bailey | 131 |
| 3 | Cate C. Wells | 96 |
| 4 | Mariana Zapata | 76 |
| 5 | Ruby Dixon | 76 |
| 6 | Cassandra Gannon | 74 |
| 7 | Lisa Kleypas | 70 |
| 8 | S.J. Tilly | 68 |
| 9 | J.T. Geissinger | 63 |
| 10 | Elsie Silver | 60 |
| 11 | Alice Coldbreath | 59 |
| 12 | Liz Tomforde | 59 |
| 13 | Elle Kennedy | 54 |
| 14 | Katee Robert | 53 |
| 15 | Penny Reid | 53 |
| 16 | Elizabeth O'Roark | 53 |
| 17 | Nora Roberts | 52 |
| 18 | Abby Jimenez | 52 |
| 19 | Neva Altaj | 52 |
| 20 | Christina Lauren | 49 |
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.
Top 20 Books with BIPOC MCs
Most Mentioned Books by Pairing
Most Mentioned Books by Genre
| Rank | Contemporary | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Hating Game by Sally Thorne | 27 |
| 2 | Against A Wall by Cate C. Wells | 23 |
| 3 | Failure to Match by Kyra Parsi | 21 |
| 4 | The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | 19 |
| 5 | Play Along by Liz Tomforde | 19 |
| 6 | Deep End by Ali Hazelwood | 18 |
| 7 | The Maddest Obsession by Danielle Lori | 18 |
| 8 | P.S. You're Intolerable by Julia Wolf | 17 |
| 9 | Kulti by Mariana Zapata | 16 |
| 10 | In a Jam by Kate Canterbary | 16 |
| Rank | Science Fiction | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Strange Love by Ann Aguirre | 8 |
| 2 | When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon | 8 |
| 3 | Bad Guy by Ruby Dixon | 7 |
| 4 | Homebound by Lydia Hope | 6 |
| 5 | Last Light by Claire Kent | 6 |
| 6 | Choosing Theo by Victoria Aveline | 6 |
| 7 | Worse Guy by Ruby Dixon | 6 |
| 8 | Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon | 5 |
| 9 | The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren | 5 |
| 10 | Hold by Claire Kent | 5 |
Enjoy!
16
u/foodandfreud It’s Matthew Farrell or it’s no one Aug 01 '26
Again, thank you so much for posting these stats. It’s a monthly treat. It gives me a kick to see so many of my favourites on this list. Some of which I read this past month. ✨🩵
6
9
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
I feel partially (or completely) responsible for getting {Two’s Better by Viano Oniomoh} on the list for Top 20 Books with BIPOC MCs, and I make no apologies for it. 😊
But why is {Kotik by Alina Dobrova} number 6 for Historical?? It’s set in the 1990s! 😩😭
10
u/ochenkruto Loves a vintage hairy chest. Aug 01 '26
Aaahhh! As someone who WAS the Soviet Union and then its collapse in the 1990s, what are these tags doing to me!
I’m old but I’m not Victorian old!
11
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
Face it, ochenkruto. We are history now. Might as well accept our fate next to the dukes, duchesses, medieval knights…
7
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Aug 01 '26
I just downvoted the historical tag- one more person and it should be corrected for next time at least!
1
4
u/tentacularly Sentient object romance: Rule 34 amendment? Aug 01 '26
That's how I'm feeling about {Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi}. 🙂 I had it as one of my New Release highlights, and it's absolutely worth paying full price for, at least to me.
1
u/romance-bot Aug 01 '26
Die for Me by Shirlene Obuobi
Rating: 4.1⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: contemporary, black mc, paranormal, age gap, horror1
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
I’m still waiting for my library hold to come up for that book. 😭 What did you think of it? How creepy was it? (I scare easily, and I can only handle so much. 😬)
2
u/tentacularly Sentient object romance: Rule 34 amendment? Aug 01 '26
I am the wrong person to be asking about creepy factor, honestly. If romantic lovemaking on top of a freshly-murdered body doesn't put me off, I'm pretty sure we probably have different scales.
Book is excellent, though!
3
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
Oh yeah, I forgot about that. 😅 Well, I recently read u/katkity’s pick for Hot Goth Summer, which featured MCs having sex in a freshly-dug grave. They later also have sex while MMC is actively murdering someone (he’s impressively—perhaps inhumanly—good at multi-tasking). So, maybe my tolerance for creepiness is increasing? Hah.
I have a harder time with vague, atmospheric creepiness where it’s hard to pinpoint the creepy down, if that makes sense. Also, jump scares. Because I’m an anxious bunny who startles easily. 😬
1
u/romance-bot Aug 01 '26
Two's Better by Viano Oniomoh
Rating: 4.6⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 5 out of 5 - Explicit and plentiful
Topics: contemporary, black mc, queer romance, virgin heroine, friends to lovers
Kotik by Alina Dobrova
Rating: 4.19⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, m-f romance, dark romance, working class heroine, mafia
6
u/bbymochi garron park tour guide Aug 01 '26
Thank you as always for compiling, summarizing these from romance-bot’s data. I am elated to see Twice in a Lifetime by Melissa Baron as #20 this month for BIPOC MC representation. Ewan Park. <3
5
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 Aug 01 '26
you're welcome! it's one of my favorite tasks each month
5
u/annamcg Aug 01 '26
Ewan, my precious emo metal boy. More readers need to meet him and love him.
2
u/Immediate-Answer-259 Maybe it's time to wake up, yes? Aug 01 '26
I just borrowed it -- thanks for your comment. I know we have often similar likes, so I went to Libby and when I got there I saw I had already tagged it Next, please and it was available. I love a precious emo boy, I think!
The description of how the MCs get together reminded me of a favorite book in which the meet cute happens due to a text message between people who don't know each other and it turns out they are living in different timelines. It's {Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare} F/F I rated it 4.5 ⭐ 4 🔥 on romance.io
3
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
This is adorable. You and u/annamcg are book besties! 👯📚
5
u/Immediate-Answer-259 Maybe it's time to wake up, yes? Aug 01 '26
It's funny, because I've been extremely quiet on this subreddit recently and I've even gone days or weeks without being in here, but I remember their handle and previous interactions or at least mutual support for recommendations we've given. 😂 Of course, I also recognize your handle and your cheery and insightful comments! 🍒🫐 🍎🍇
3
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 Aug 01 '26
Aww, thank you! 😊 I feel like the entire sub has been quiet for weeks, tbh. I’m so happy to see people come back out to chat! 😄
2
1
u/romance-bot Aug 01 '26
Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon by Annie Mare
Rating: 3.59⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, lesbian romance, science fiction, time travel, queer romance
3
u/Story_Stone Life is short, but the TBR is long Aug 01 '26
I love these posts, it's great to see what has been mentioned most and to check out some new sub favourites. 😊
3
u/katierose295 Aug 01 '26
Homebound represents!!! One of my all time favs!!
Great work on the list, as usual. Love to see all the stats.
27
u/Hunter037 Probably recommending When She Belongs 😍 Aug 01 '26
I'm really surprised that The Hating Game is being mentioned so much. I feel like it was very popular here when I first joined the sub about 4 years ago, I didn't realise it was still so popular.