Is anyone else noticing all the new rom-coms we’ve been getting this year? I know I have. I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve been able to watch a cute rom-com that makes me cry, laugh, and want to experience a whimsical romance all at once. And with all my favorite book romances making it to the big screen? Even better!Â
Lately, I feel like I’ve been so nostalgic for some feel-good movies, rewatching When Harry Met Sally, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, and While You Were Sleeping. None of the more recent romance movies really gave me the same feelings as those classics did. I’ve honestly just been going back to reading anything by Lynn Painter. However, ever since the start of 2026, it feels like that one scene from Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), in season three, where Sabrina is being given all those pancakes. Yup, that’s literally me this year. From Prime to Netflix, we are being fed tons of rom-coms.Â
I also love how BookTok is getting some recognition, too. All of our beloved rom-coms, just in book form, are getting their shot on the big screen, and we get to see these stories come to life. From People We Meet on Vacation earlier this year to The Love Hypothesis coming out just recently, it feels like the line between BookTok and Hollywood is getting smaller than ever. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing new ideas in film, especially with Sterling Point, a brand-new original idea that brings all the feel-good nostalgia without just redoing the same thing. But I can’t say I’m not a bit biased as a book girly when it comes to watching all my favorite books come to life on screen.
And then there’s the casting. I feel like no matter what the author writes as the character description, we all have our own image of what certain characters look like. It’s so fun to be able to see how someone else visualized them and which actors we’ll now associate with that character… sometimes. There’s something especially exciting about watching a character you’ve spent an entire book imagining suddenly become an actual person on screen. It makes them feel more “real”. Of course, sometimes the casting is exceptionally on point, and sometimes it makes you wonder if the casting directors even read the same book you did.Â
Even with all these new releases, there are so many different settings and ways to experience some of our favorite romance tropes. Netflix’s Office Romance and Voicemails for Isabelle, along with Prime’s The Last Sunrise, all add something different to the mix. Office Romance gives us the classic workplace romance, following two workaholics who find themselves in a secret relationship while trying to keep their feelings from getting in the way of work. Voicemails for Isabelle takes a more unusual approach, with a woman’s voicemails to her late sister accidentally being sent to a stranger who starts falling for her without ever meeting her (and a bunch of other emotional rollercoaster jumpscares). And then there’s The Last Sunrise, which takes the romance somewhere completely different with a summer escape to Mallorca, where a college student unexpectedly falls in love – something I expect to happen during my college era.Â
It’s not just that there are more romance movies coming out, but instead, it feels like there’s actually something for every kind of romance lover. Whether you want friends-to-lovers, fake dating, a classic meet-cute, or something a little more dramatic, there seems to be a movie for it. Sometimes, we don’t need an entirely new trope. We just want to see a familiar one told in a way that makes us fall in love with it all over again.Â
Maybe that’s part of why these movies feel so refreshing. I think it’s just nice to be able to watch a movie about two people falling in love and knowing that it’s more than likely going to result in a happy ending. Or you could be completely blindsided (spoiler warning) like in A Walk to Remember and think you’re watching a cute rom-com with a happy ending, only for it to not be.Â
So, if 2026 really is the year of the rom-com comeback, I have only one thing to say: keep them coming. My TBR may be getting longer, but so is my watchlist.