As Canada Day approaches, we’re celebrating the bevy of romance fiction emerging from Canada, showcasing authors who have mastered the art of crafting swoon-worthy heroes, strong heroines, and the kind of emotional journeys that keep readers turning pages late into the night. From established bestsellers to rising stars, these Canadian voices prove that when it comes to matters of the heart, there’s something truly special about stories told with that unmistakable blend of warmth, wit, and authenticity that Canadian authors bring to the page.
Writing Mr. Wrong by Kelley Armstrong
Debut author Gemma Stanton knows romance readers love a bad boy—and she has the perfect prototype for her novel: Mason Moretti. High school hockey god-turned-pro player, Mason was Gemma’s first crush, but she couldn’t forget the sting of his very public rejection. So, she casts him as a hot-headed Highlander in her spicy new historical romance. She never expected readers would find out on live TV when a morning show host invites Mason for a surprise on-air reunion…
As an aging hockey player with a rep for being ruthless on the ice—and roguish off of it—Mason has an image problem. So, when his meet-cute with Gemma goes viral, Mason proposes they build on the momentum with a few fake dates to boost her book sales…and his sagging profile. But when the fictional flirting gets a little too real, Mason realizes Gemma actually makes him want to become a better man—someone worthy of her trust and her love.
Will Gemma give him a second chance? Mason knows it’s a long shot, but taking shots is sorta his thing, and besides, who loves a redemption arc more than a romance author?
Time Loops & Meet Cutes by Jackie Lau
Noelle Tom really shouldn’t have eaten those dumplings at the night market. But the old woman at the stall said they’d give her what she needed most, and what Noelle desperately needed after another long workweek was food.
Except now she’s reliving the same Friday. Every morning her alarm goes off at 6:45, and the Wordle answer is always “happy.” Worst of all, any work she does at her job as an engineer? It’s erased when she wakes up. Monday might never come in this workaholic’s nightmare. Noelle has no idea how being trapped in a time loop is the “thing she needed most,” and a trip to the food stall doesn’t help…because there’s no sign of it.
Then she meets good-looking Cam, who appears in multiple places on her Friday. While the brewery owner seems to have no memory of their encounters, there are signs he might be the key to getting un-stuck. But Noelle can’t figure out how, even when she steps outside of her comfort zone and lives a little. As she grows attached to him, she becomes more worried that she’ll never escape the loop and he’ll never recall her name. And if she does ever get out, can they be together in the “real” world?
Manic Pixie Dream Earl by Jenny Holiday
When not writing, poet Edward Astley, Viscount Featherfinch, spends his time fending off the young ladies of the ton—and some of its young men—and avoiding his cruel father. As heir to the earldom, Edward knows he must marry someday. Alas, he is already hopelessly in love with someone. Hopeless because not only is Miss Julianna Evans not a member of the aristocracy, she is employed. She is a magazine editor—the only one to publish his work. Also, in all their years of increasingly personal correspondence, they’ve never met.
Also, she thinks he’s a woman. Named Euphemia.
Julianna is baffled. How can her soul mate not want to meet? Could it be that Euphemia is not the simple country girl she claims to be? Perhaps she’s wealthy. After all, she’s never cashed any of the bank drafts Julianna has sent. Perhaps Euphemia simply doesn’t want rank to come between them. Well, no more. Having extracted the details of a trip Euphemia is planning, Julianna squanders her meager savings and surprises her at the scene.
He is very, very surprised. As is she.
Now the two will have to decide what is true, what is not, and whether the truest thing of all—love—just might be worth an earldom . . .
A Lady Would Know Better by Emma Theriault
There are many things an English lord might encounter on the grounds of his wintry estate. Trees. Birds. Perhaps a wandering gamekeeper. Instead, the Earl of Belhaven finds a woman in the snow, unconscious and nearly frozen to death. Then her luminous gray eyes open just long enough for her to plead, “Don’t let them get me.”
Now Jasper Maycott has his hands full with a woman who has absolutely no memory of who she is or where she came from—to say nothing of her name! Just a gold ring, some fine clothes, and a penchant for pert conversation. But while “Jane” dresses and speaks quite like a lady, Jasper can’t make any assumptions. After all, she could be a crafty fortune hunter…albeit a charming and unutterably beautiful one.
Only there’s no room for romantic love in the Earl of Belhaven’s world. There is just grim duty, a lingering sense of loss, and the knowledge that love—in any form—can only bring heartbreak in its wake.
But while a lady should know better, the heart heeds no rules…even if its every beat portends the danger she was running from.
One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune
I never anticipated Charlie Florek.
Good things happen at the lake. That’s what Alice’s grandmother says, and it’s true. Alice spent just one summer there at a cottage with Nan when she was seventeen—it’s where she took that photo, the one of three grinning teenagers in a yellow speedboat, the image that changed her life.
Now Alice lives behind a lens. As a photographer, she’s most comfortable on the sidelines, letting other people shine. Lately though, she’s been itching for something more, and when Nan falls and breaks her hip, Alice comes up with a plan for them both: another summer in that magical place, Barry’s Bay. But as soon as they settle in, their peace is disrupted by the roar of a familiar yellow boat, and the man driving it.
Charlie Florek was nineteen when Alice took his photo from afar. Now he’s all grown up—a shameless flirt, who manages to make Nan laugh and Alice long to be seventeen again, when life was simpler, when taking pictures was just for fun. Sun-slanted days and warm nights out on the lake with Charlie are a balm for Alice’s soul, but when she looks up and sees his piercing green gaze directly on her, she begins to worry for her heart.
Because Alice sees people—that’s why she is so good at what she does—but she’s never met someone who looks and sees her right back.
Only Between Us by Ellie K. Wilde
After a death-defying injury sidelined him for two seasons, Brooks Attwood’s pro football comeback has hit a major snag. Naughty photos from a post-break-up bender have leaked, and they’re killing his chances with the Rebels—his old team, and the only one he wants to play on.
As he trains with the hope of being signed before the first kickoff of the season, Brooks’s plans to keep a low profile are suddenly upended when his selfie with a fiery fan goes viral, and tabloids mistake them as the football world’s newest It couple.
Turns out, Siena Pippen is the ex-girlfriend of the “face” of the League. And she wants nothing more to do with that world after being with her nightmare ex. While she and Brooks are busy blaming each other for the media circus surrounding them, NFL teams are suddenly scrambling to sign a housebroken Brooks. Meanwhile, Siena realizes that all this buzz could be the Hail Mary her family’s struggling business needs.
Together, Brooks and Siena hatch a ignore the will to kill each other and pretend to be madly in love—at least, until Brooks signs with a team. But the longer they pretend, the less fake their fauxmance begins to feel…and Brooks becomes as determined to convince Siena they’re truly meant to be as he is to land a spot on the Rebels’ roster.
Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young
High school sweethearts Sarah and Caleb Linwood have always been a sure thing. For the past seventeen years, they have had each other’s backs through all of life’s ups and downs.
But Sarah has begun to wonder . . . who is she without her other half?
When she decides to take on a project of her own, a fundraising gala in memory of her late mother, Sarah wants nothing more than to prove to herself—and to everyone else—that she doesn’t need Caleb’s help to succeed. She’s still her mother’s daughter after all, independent and capable.
That is, until the event fails and Caleb uninvitedly steps in to save the day.
The rift that follows unearths a decade of grievances and doubts. Are they truly the same people they were when they got married at nineteen? Are they supposed to be?
In a desperate attempt to fix what they fear is breaking, Sarah and Caleb make the spontaneous decision to get out of their comfort zones and join a grueling hiking trip intended to guide couples through rough patches.
What follows is a life-affirming comedy of errors as two nature-averse people fight their way out of the woods in order to find their way back to their roots.
Something Like Fate by Amy Lea
For generations, the fortune-telling women in Lo Zhao-Jensen’s family have foreseen The One—the great loves of their lives—before ever meeting them. Except for Lo, who has zero psychic abilities. Just memories of old rom-coms and a lot of poor judgment when it comes to love.
Until now.
When Lo finally has the vision she’s been waiting for, her delighted aunties are convinced she’ll meet The One on her backpacking trip in Italy. Vero amore, here she comes.
Along for the summer is Lo’s best friend and confidant, Teller Owens, her opposite in every way. Upon arrival in Venice, Lo is saved from a runaway trolley by Caleb, a fellow backpacker. It’s a meet-cute so swoony, it has to be fate. But with each destination, Lo’s complicated feelings for Teller are becoming harder to ignore. From the cobblestone streets of Rome to the rocky cliffs of Amalfi, Lo begins to wonder if fate has other plans.
Breathe With Me by Becka Mack
Cara Hunter is a self-made woman. Driven and fearless, she’s never lost a battle. In fact, the only time she’s fallen to her knees was, well…for him.
Emmett Brodie might be one of hockey’s hottest players, but the moment he sees Cara, he’s reduced to a single hers. And he’ll stop at nothing to change her last name.
With a love as all-encompassing and fierce as theirs, they become the ultimate power couple and the backbone of their family. But when they decide it’s time to have a baby, they discover their journey to conceiving will be anything but easy. As they face off with infertility, a battle that strips them to their bones, they’ll see just how unshakeable their foundation really is.
They thought they could survive anything together, but how do you survive when you’re barely breathing?
Hot Work by Kate Cole
Violet Thomas has everything figured out.
Fearless and over forty, she’s been a commercial diver for almost two decades and has mastered work at dark and dangerous depths. Cutting, welding, and inspecting offshore platforms and power dams with flawless execution, there isn’t much that fazes her anymore.
Except Cooper Brooks.
Bold, bright, and larger than life, he’s full of youth and BDE (Big Diver Energy). He’s the last thing the lone female on the dive team expects to find on a derelict oil platform set for decommission.
In the high-stakes world of diving, the pressure is intense, and safety is paramount. But maybe it’s time for risk-averse Violet to take a few chances. In a place where lives and careers are so easily set adrift, will the biggest plunge she takes be one she makes with her heart?
