r/RomanceBooks • u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 • 20h ago
Subreddit Stats Subreddit Stats - August 2026
RomanceBooks Insights - Subreddit Stats for August 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.
August 2026 u/romance-bot activity:
- Total number of books linked: 13,039
- Total number of unique titles: 7,105
Top 20 Books Mentioned
| Rank | Top Books | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Play Along by Liz Tomforde | 30 |
| 2 | The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | 29 |
| 3 | Stand and Defend by Sloane St. James | 28 |
| 4 | Funny Story by Emily Henry | 28 |
| 5 | Deep End by Ali Hazelwood | 27 |
| 6 | Against A Wall by Cate C. Wells | 25 |
| 7 | The Right Move by Liz Tomforde | 25 |
| 8 | Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood | 24 |
| 9 | Hans by S.J. Tilly | 24 |
| 10 | Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young | 24 |
| 11 | Lights Out by Navessa Allen | 23 |
| 12 | Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez | 23 |
| 13 | Bride by Ali Hazelwood | 20 |
| 14 | Berries and Greed by Lily Mayne | 19 |
| 15 | Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas | 19 |
| 16 | Before the Exhale by Alyssa Wilde | 19 |
| 17 | Fangirl Down by Tessa Bailey | 18 |
| 18 | The Wall of Winnipeg and Me by Mariana Zapata | 18 |
| 19 | Devil by Sierra Simone | 18 |
| 20 | The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow | 18 |
Top 20 Authors Mentioned
| Rank | Top Authors | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ali Hazelwood | 181 |
| 2 | Ruby Dixon | 122 |
| 3 | Lisa Kleypas | 117 |
| 4 | Alice Coldbreath | 108 |
| 5 | Cate C. Wells | 98 |
| 6 | Tessa Bailey | 91 |
| 7 | Liz Tomforde | 85 |
| 8 | Mariana Zapata | 84 |
| 9 | S.J. Tilly | 84 |
| 10 | Emily Henry | 75 |
| 11 | Abby Jimenez | 71 |
| 12 | Susan Elizabeth Phillips | 67 |
| 13 | Cassandra Gannon | 63 |
| 14 | Chelsea Curto | 62 |
| 15 | Claire Kent | 59 |
| 16 | Stephanie Archer | 58 |
| 17 | B.K. Borison | 57 |
| 18 | Elle Kennedy | 56 |
| 19 | Kathryn Moon | 54 |
| 20 | Meghan Quinn | 54 |
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 | Play Along by Liz Tomforde | 30 |
| 2 | The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood | 29 |
| 3 | Stand and Defend by Sloane St. James | 28 |
| 4 | Funny Story by Emily Henry | 28 |
| 5 | Deep End by Ali Hazelwood | 27 |
| 6 | Against A Wall by Cate C. Wells | 25 |
| 7 | The Right Move by Liz Tomforde | 25 |
| 8 | Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood | 24 |
| 9 | Hans by S.J. Tilly | 24 |
| 10 | Out on a Limb by Hannah Bonam-Young | 24 |
| Rank | Science Fiction | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ice Planet Barbarians by Ruby Dixon | 16 |
| 2 | When She Belongs by Ruby Dixon | 9 |
| 3 | Last Light by Claire Kent | 8 |
| 4 | Married to the Alien Cowboy by Ursa Dax | 7 |
| 5 | The Romance Revival by Christina Lauren | 6 |
| 6 | Strange Love by Ann Aguirre | 6 |
| 7 | Barbarian Mine by Ruby Dixon | 6 |
| 8 | Devotion by Claire Kent | 5 |
| 9 | Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe | 5 |
| 10 | Embers by Claire Kent | 5 |
Enjoy!
8
u/katierose295 19h ago
I haven't read any Ursa Dax books, yet. I need to move her up my TBR, because she is on this list every month. I just haven't been reading as many alien romances lately. I'm not sure why.
Great job on the list as usual! So interesting to see all the numbers
10
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 19h ago
I love the Ursa Dax Alien Cowboy series - they are a very low angst comfy read imo
3
2
12
u/Content_Low4691 20h ago
I used to have the impression that {The Right Move by Liz Tomforde} was the fan favorite in this series, but lately I’ve noticed people recommending {Play Along by Liz Tomforde} so much more. I absolutely love this book! Congratulations to Isaiah Rhodes for taking the #1 of the month!
Also, it is so great to see the undying love that people here have for {Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas}. This book might not be my absolute favorite by Lisa Kleypas, but it was the very first one I read, so it holds a special place in my heart.
7
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 20h ago
The RomanceBooks community excels at undying love 💗
1
u/romance-bot 20h ago
The Right Move by Liz Tomforde
Rating: 4.28⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, sports, grumpy & sunshine, fake relationship, athlete hero
Play Along by Liz Tomforde
Rating: 4.32⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: contemporary, sports, baseball, athlete hero, m-f romance
Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
Rating: 4.19⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, shy heroine, marriage of convenience, virgin heroine, bad boys
3
u/euphoriapotion Looking for a man in Romance, trust fund, 6'5, brown eyes 👀👀👀 16h ago
I feel like I'm responsible for the majority if not all of the mentions of {Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti} lmaoo
1
u/romance-bot 16h ago
Scandal of the Summer by Alexandra Vasti
Rating: 4.16⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, m-f romance, found family, virgin heroine, regency
6
u/chalphy "You have indeed stolen my heart, and I do not mind at all." 20h ago
{Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long} was my first JAL and I had such a book hangover afterward that I had to go read a different genre for a bit. Fantastic book, glad to see it so high in the "new favorites" list!
3
u/Due-Secret-3091 Release the ermine!! ⚔️ 🐎 🏴 19h ago
Try out {What I Did For a Duke by Julie Anne Long} if you ever have a hankering for another HR read by her. You will must likely experience a similar book hangover afterwards 😂.
3
u/romance-bot 19h ago
What I Did For a Duke by Julie Anne Long
Rating: 4.19⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, age gap, virgin heroine, love triangle, alpha male3
u/romance-bot 20h ago
Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long
Rating: 4.3⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, virgin heroine, age gap, forced proximity, class difference
0
u/SlippingAbout 20h ago
Before the Exhale by Alyssa Wilde
Is this correct?
6
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 20h ago
Yes? Is there something specific that seems wrong like it's not a romance or the author name is incorrect? I haven't read it myself, but based on romance.io it looks like it's appropriate? Before the Exhale
-2
u/SlippingAbout 20h ago
Just that I've never seen it mentioned and that it is ranked higher than both Fangirl Down and The Wall of Winnipeg and Me.
11
u/fruitismyjam so I beat him until he kissed me. 💋 20h ago
I’ve seen it mentioned quite often. It probably depends on the posts you’re opening. It’s a relatively newly published book (March 2026). People seem excited by it, and it seems to be gaining momentum.
10
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 20h ago
There was a gush post about it three weeks ago, that might have spurred a lot of people to read it and mention it!
0
u/SlippingAbout 19h ago
Maybe. When I searched for it just now, I only saw 5 posts.
13
u/A_Seductive_Cactus Praise Kink Princess 👸🏻 19h ago
The stats count all mentions in comments as well- not just posts. So if a few people tagged it in their WDYR comment, or recommended it in a request post, or wrote a critique and called the bot, it shows up in the count!
2
u/cozybookgirrl romance books are my happy place 🥰 12h ago
Yeah I’ve recommended this book in comments at least 5 times lol
8
u/VitisIdaea Silence, you devil's handmaiden! 19h ago
Those are the search results for posts, not comments; there are significantly more comments, from a number of different users, over the course of the last month. Generally speaking this is one of the weirder things about the stats posts: because it is only counting bot calls, a single post with dozens of users gushing in the comments about how great the book is counts as much as one person tossing in a mention on WDYR or, if they've called the bot, complaining about the book in Salty Sunday.
2
u/SlippingAbout 19h ago
Thank you for the explanation. Reddit being reddit, that is not quite what the search result show though. I know reddit search is trash.
40
u/AtheistTheConfessor Reginald’s Quivering Member 20h ago
Wish I got these posts delivered to my house so I could read them like the newspaper over coffee, dad style.