Winners
Fiction: Romance
2025 FINALISTS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2025 finalists in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2024.
The Headmaster: A Dark Academia Novel
2025 Finalist
Author: Tiffany Reisz
Publisher: 8th Circle Press
ISBN: 9781949769678
In the shadow of the Appalachians, literature teacher Gwen Ashby stumbles upon the William Marshal Academy, a boarding school stuck in time, where she is seduced by the bewitching headmaster. Tiffany Reisz’s throwback to 1960s Gothic Romance novels features steamy love scenes and seriously spooky vibes.
Maggie and the Pirate's Son: A Brides of Chattan Novel
2025 Finalist
Author: Rose Prendeville
Publisher: Eridani Press
ISBN: 9781955643122
After accidentally stowing away aboard the wrong ship, Maggie must trust the reluctant young pirate navigator Bastian MacLeod to disguise her as a cabin boy and keep her safe. Sparks fly as the two endeavor to outwit the navy and locate their Captain’s lost treasure in this seaworthy historical romance.
Regency Glad Tidings
2025 Finalist
Author: Carla Kelly
Publisher: Epicenter Press
ISBN: 9781684922222
Christmas isn’t always jolly, but it can change with the unexpected, healing gift of love. Consider a surgeon, forced to manage a hypochondriac; a woman used to poverty who finds love from America; or an overworked widower discovering love in a notions shop among thread and yarn.
2024 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2024 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2023.
Love in War
2024 Gold Winner
Author: Stewart Lytle
Publisher: Stewart Lytle
ISBN: 9798218255466
Love in War is a sweeping historical romance, based on a true story, set against the Spanish Civil War. Kirkus praises its “rich details” and commends its “impressive” command of the period. This romance between Marti and Montserrat, which overcomes evil intent of an Army officer, is beautiful and inspiring.
Casalvento: House of the Wind
2024 Silver Winner
Author: Gudrun Cuillo
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
ISBN: 9798886450651
When Erika travels to Italy to settle the affairs of her inheritance, she meets Paolo, Casalvento’s intelligent and strikingly handsome estate manager and wine maker. She learns the inheritance comes with a catch—to keep or sell Casalvento and Livernano, she must live there and learn the business of the estates.
Ghosted
2024 Silver Winner
Author: Sarah Ready
Publisher: W.W. Crown Books
ISBN: 9781954007611
Her life is a dumpster fire. He isn’t even alive. Together, they make magic happen. When a woman who can’t talk to men falls in love with a sexy Lothario ghost, romance comes alive. But what happens when you fall in love with a man you can never have?
2023 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2023 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2022.
Summerhaven: A Regency Romance
2023 Gold Winner
Author: Tiffany Oderkirk
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
ISBN: 978-1-52442-146-5
Hannah Kent arrives at Summerhaven, and childhood sweetheart, Oliver Jennings seems disinterested in renewing their acquaintance. His brother Damon, who she has loathed her whole life–is the one offering her warmth and friendship, it becomes difficult to discern the line between pretense and true love.
Bewitching a Highlander
2023 Silver Winner
Author: Roma Cordon
Publisher: CamCat Books
ISBN: 978-0-7443-0503-6
Healer and witch Breena MacRae spent years believing her father was dead. After learning the truth, she plans to rescue him, and unexpectedly runs into future clan chief, Egan Dunbar. Egan and Breena's mutual attraction hit them head-on. But their desires could risk everything for Breena’s family and the Dunbar clan.
Josh and Gemma Make a Baby
2023 Silver Winner
Author: Sarah Ready
Publisher: W.W. Crown Books
ISBN: 978-1-954007-19-2
What do you do when you’re a single woman in your 30s, with infertility, and the burning desire to have a baby? Josh and Gemma Make a Baby is a hilarious romcom about the desire for a baby, the hilarity and rawness of IVF, and finding love where you least expect it.
2022 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2022 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2021.
Pink: A Christmas Romance Novel
2022 Gold Winner
Author: Monica Collier
Publisher: Red Press Co.
ISBN: 978-0-9985899-3-0
Ethan Cooper, a high-powered corporate attorney in New York City, seemingly has it all. He escaped life in his hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, and his family’s notoriety. Years later, the strained relationship with them reaches new heights when Charlotte Rose, a stationery designer and mechanical engineer, enters his work life. Christmas romance softens his heart as Ethan discovers he is missing the most important aspect of his life, love.
The Last Birthday Party
2022 Silver Winner
Author: Gary Goldstein
Publisher: Hadleigh House Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-7357738-1-0
There’s nothing fabulous about 50 for L.A. writer Jeremy Lerner, who loses his marriage, job, and use of an arm days after the party he begged his now ex-wife not to throw. But fate is a sly devil in this humanly funny tale set against the alluring nuttiness of Hollywood.
Mailbox by the Sea
2022 Silver Winner
Author: Mark Grady
Publisher: Webster Falls Media
ISBN: 978-0-9816872-3-0
Amy and Mason's innocent high school summer romance at Carolina Beach evolves into falling deeply in love. However, Amy's mother sees Mason as a threat to her plans for her daughter. Many years later, a visit to a famous mailbox on the beach will change many lives forever.
2021 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2021 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2020. Click here to watch the Gold and Silver winner speeches.
Flower of Iowa
2021 Gold Winner
Author: Lance Ringel
Publisher: Distant Mirror Press
ISBN: 978-0578649344
France, 1918: In the final months of the First World War, naïve, idealistic American soldier Tommy Flowers struggles to become a good soldier in the trenches with the help of his savvy new best buddy, British soldier David Pearson. But their friendship soon develops an intimacy neither young man expected.
Charming Falls Apart: A Novel
2021 Silver Winner
Author: Angela Terry
Publisher: Spark Press
ISBN: 978-1684630493
After losing her job and fiancé the day before her thirty-fifth birthday, people-pleaser and rule-follower Allison James embarks on a self-help mission to find some new life rules, only to realize that her old life wasn’t as perfect as she thought—and that she needs to start writing her own rules.
The Pearl
2021 Silver Winner
Author: Tiffany Reisz
Publisher: 8th Circle Press
ISBN: 9781949769166
When Lord Arthur Godwick learns his brother is up to his bollocks in debt to Regan Ferry, owner of The Pearl Hotel, he agrees to work off the tab…in her bed. Soon Arthur discovers he’s a pawn in an erotic game of revenge, where nothing is what it seems.
2020 WINNERS - FICTION: ROMANCE
See below for the list of 2020 winners in the FICTION: ROMANCE category, for books with a copyright date of 2019.
The River Nymph
2020 Gold Winner
Author: Anne Lovett
Publisher: Words of Passion
ISBN: 978-0-9996579-5-9
In 1920s Georgia, a determined farm girl struggles to overcome poverty, abuse, and heartbreak, longing for a respectable future with the man she loves.
After Kilimanjaro: A Novel
2020 Silver Winner
Editor: Gayle Woodson
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 978-1-63152-660-2
Dr. Sarah Whitaker is burned out, so she seeks renewal in Africa. If she survives the year, her life will never be the same.
Honey and Leonard
2020 Silver Winner
Author: Mark Paul Smith
Publisher: BQB Publishing
ISBN: 978-1-945448-47-8
Honey and Leonard are in their seventies when they fall in love. Leonard is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and Honey thinks her love will cure him.
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