Best MM Romance Books of 2026: 14 New Gay Romances, From Star Shipped to Hunt the Villain
The best MM romance books of 2026 arrived in a year when Heated Rivalry turned a whole new audience into gay romance readers, and publishers answered: Cat Sebastian’s actors-on-a-sci-fi-show romance, a Grand Slam tennis debut, KJ Charles running a con in 19th-century London, Rina Kent’s rival mafia heirs and a wave of queer romantasy. Below are the 2026 MM releases worth your time, grouped by mood (contemporary, historical, dark, and fantasy), each with a premise check and a heat rating. At the end, four Inferno-heat MM releases from our own shelf for when three chilis is not enough.
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Contemporary MM Romance: Rivals, Actors and Athletes
Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian (March 3, 2026)
Simon and Charlie have played opposite each other on a long-running sci-fi show for years and fight constantly. Simon’s contract is ending and he wants a fresh start in New York, but the feud is starting to cost him. The fix is a PR friendship to change the narrative, which turns into the real thing while the fandom ships them louder than ever. A strong entry point if you’ve only read her historicals.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door
See Star Shipped on Amazon →
The Open Era by Edward Schmit (June 2, 2026)
Austin Hardy is the first openly gay man to compete at a Grand Slam, which makes him the story of the tournament while his anxiety gets worse. Then he trips in front of rival Diego Cruz, and a flirty off-court friendship starts while they keep meeting across the net. Rivals to lovers with real attention to mental health and career pressure. The tennis book for readers who finished Heated Rivalry and want another sport.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See The Open Era on Amazon →
Hold Me Like a Grudge by Celine Ong (March 31, 2026)
Asher Ross is promoted to Global Elite Wrestling’s main roster as the face to Caleb Knight’s heel, and finds himself attracted to the man he’s paid to hate. Their company-mandated feud blocks anything real, so the two of them have to take on an industry that profits from keeping them apart. Pro wrestling, kayfabe and rivals to lovers.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See Hold Me Like a Grudge on Amazon →
My Kind of Guy by Sarina Bowen (March 2026)
The fourth Hockey Guys MM novel from the author who co-wrote Him with Elle Kennedy, and the closest 2026 match for Heated Rivalry readers who want to stay on the ice. Bowen’s next, Hate the Player, is dated April 20, 2027; our Sarina Bowen books in order guide has every series.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See My Kind of Guy on Amazon →
Promise Me by Sara Cate (February 10, 2026)
Declan Barclay has one week to win back Colin Shelby, the friend he let get away, before Colin marries someone else at Barclay Manor. A wedding-week second chance from Sinful Manor, Cate’s kink-forward series, and the hottest trad-adjacent MM release on this list.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See Promise Me on Amazon →
Father Material by Alexis Hall (June 2026)
Luc O’Donnell and Oliver Blackwood, the fake-dating couple from Boyfriend Material, after the happily ever after. Established relationship, British humor and the emotional vulnerability the London Calling books do best. Read Boyfriend Material and Husband Material first.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild
See Father Material on Amazon →
Historical MM Romance
How to Fake It in Society by KJ Charles (April 16, 2026)
Nicolas-Marc is a scammer on the run from gangsters, posing as the son of a notorious diamond thief to win money from Titus Pilcrow, a widowed former shopkeeper with a brand-new inheritance. The problem is that Titus is too kind to swindle. As they start building a home together, Nico has to tell the truth if he wants to keep him. Charles at her best: con artists, class and a hero who gets found out.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit
See How to Fake It in Society on Amazon →
Rears & Vices by E.M. Caro (2026)
It’s 1816 on the Great Lakes. Royal Navy officer Everand learns his former lover Vitya is facing a court-martial for piracy and recruits Preston D’Arcy to break him out of jail, so the three of them can start a life of piracy together. A historical MMM pirate romance where the triad has to get past their own walls as well as the Navy.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Explicit (expected)
See Rears & Vices on Amazon →
Dark MM Romance
Hunt the Villain by Rina Kent (March 24, 2026)
Two heirs to rival mafia organizations meet in an unusual setting and hate each other on sight, especially Yulian Dimitriev, reckless and violent and impossible to ignore. Then the hatred turns into something forbidden, a tragedy sends them back to their separate worlds, and those worlds refuse to stay separate. Villain #2, set in the Legacy of Gods world; read Kiss the Villain first. Heart of My Monster follows in 2027. Content notes: violence, mafia crime, a death in the plot.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️ Inferno
See Hunt the Villain on Amazon →
MM Romantasy and Queer Fantasy Romance
The Fake Divination Offense by Sara Raasch (May 19, 2026)
Orok is a half-giant rawball star. Alexo is a human cheerleading intern. After a bar fight goes viral, Orok’s team and his god’s church want a fake PR relationship to repair the god’s image, and Alexo’s price is a spot on the cheer squad. Fake dating plus sports plus gods. The sequel to The Entanglement of Rival Wizards, but it follows a new couple.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door
See The Fake Divination Offense on Amazon →
The Feywild Job by C.L. Polk (June 30, 2026)
Con artist Saeldian made a magical pact never to fall in love. Then a client hires him to steal a gem and deliver it to the Feywild, on the condition that his ex, the bard Kell, comes along. Kell is still hurt by how it ended; the job revives the spark anyway, and the heist uncovers a conspiracy bigger than either of them. Exes to lovers in a Dungeons & Dragons world.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ Open door (expected)
See The Feywild Job on Amazon →
Bromantasy by Máire Roche (May 26, 2026)
Juniper O’Reilly would rather stay on the farm with his best friend, Mo Elmthorn. After a bar fight, the government orders Juniper on a quest to slay a monster, and Mo goes with him. The monster turns out to be a frightened little girl, the knights start hunting them instead, and friendship turns into romance on the road. A cozy queer friends-to-lovers fantasy.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild
See Bromantasy on Amazon →
Nemesis Mine by Amy Archer (June 23, 2026)
Cyrus is a washed-up villain. Maximillian is a golden-boy hero with a secret flaw. They agree to stage fake battles that boost both their reputations, on one condition: neither falls for the other. Enemies to allies to lovers, with a villain who embroiders pillowcases.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild (expected)
See Nemesis Mine on Amazon →
Daggerbound by T. Kingfisher (August 25, 2026)
Dervish has spent centuries with his soul trapped in a sword. When the scholar Learned Edmund draws the blade in a moment of danger, Dervish is bound to protect him and absolutely not supposed to fall for him. The queer sequel to Swordheart, cozy and funny with real stakes.
Heat: 🌶️🌶️ Mild
See Daggerbound on Amazon →
Coming December 1: Casey McQuiston’s The Private Correspondence, twenty years of letters between Alex and Henry. Our Casey McQuiston books in order has the details. If Heated Rivalry is your benchmark, start with our books like Heated Rivalry, minus the hockey list, and the MM Christmas romance guide covers this season’s holiday releases.
Read Next: Hotter Picks From Fractal Enigma
Most of the 2026 trad list sits at three chilis. These four MM releases from our shelf run to Inferno on our five-chili scale: hockey, second chances, best friends and two divorced dads on one sideline.
Off the Ice — Chase Power
Rafe Donnelly is the league’s golden boy until his knee goes in a contract year. Micah Voss is the older ex-defenseman turned team consultant with a spare room and no stairs, and a clause that says he can’t lay a finger on Rafe for six weeks. Nobody said he couldn’t tell him what to do. The pick for My Kind of Guy and Heated Rivalry readers.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Hockey Romance, Injured Athlete, Age Gap, Roommates to Lovers, Forbidden Romance, Praise Kink, Brat/Tamer, Hurt/Comfort
Not Your Practice Husband — Jace Wilder
Fifteen years of being his best friend’s practice husband. Six rules written in pencil. An upholsterer in small-town upstate New York has been someone’s stand-in for half his life, right up until a question the arrangement never covered. Best friends to lovers with a bisexual awakening and a first time with a man, for Star Shipped readers who want the fake-to-real turn at full heat.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Best Friends to Lovers, Bisexual Awakening, Fifteen Years of Pining, Practice Turns Real, Rules in Writing, Blue-Collar Hero, Coming Out
Start reading Not Your Practice Husband →
The House We Left Behind — Milo Hart
He left before morning. Sixteen years later, a buttoned-up architect comes home to his grandmother’s house, which is falling down, and the only contractor who can save it is the rough-handed man he walked out on. Second chance, renovation romance and two men over 35, for the Promise Me reader who wants the one who got away to come back.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Second Chance, Best Friends to Lovers, Homeowner × Contractor, Renovation Romance, Small Town, Over 35, Divorced Hero
Start reading The House We Left Behind →
The Bench Beside Mine — Milo Hart
A buttoned-up accountant and a loud, warm transit planner get drafted as co-coaches of their kids’ soccer team. Two divorced dads, one sideline bench, a ranked list and a first time with a man. Friends to lovers, grief recovery and exes who are decent people, from the 2026 MM shelf.
Heat: Inferno 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Tropes: Divorced Dads, Single Dads, Friends to Lovers, Co-Coaches, Bisexual Leads, First Time with a Man, Over 35, One Bed
Start reading The Bench Beside Mine →
Want them darker? Rafe Calder’s dark MM mafia shelf is the Hunt the Villain lane at Inferno heat.
FAQ: Best MM Romance Books of 2026
What is the best MM romance of 2026?
Cat Sebastian’s Star Shipped and KJ Charles’s How to Fake It in Society are the two most widely recommended. For a sports romance, Edward Schmit’s The Open Era; for dark, Rina Kent’s Hunt the Villain.
Which new MM romance is most like Heated Rivalry?
Sarina Bowen’s My Kind of Guy keeps the hockey; The Open Era and Hold Me Like a Grudge keep the rivals-in-public setup in other sports. Rachel Reid’s own Unrivaled, the Shane and Ilya book, is dated June 1, 2027.
How spicy are these books?
Most of the trad picks sit at two or three chilis. Promise Me, How to Fake It in Society and Rears & Vices run hotter, and Hunt the Villain is dark and fully explicit. Every Fractal Enigma pick above is Inferno.
Is Heated Rivalry season 2 coming?
Yes. Season 2 is aimed at April 2027, and our Heated Rivalry season 2 reading guide has the full Game Changers order to read before it.
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