Emotional, butterfly-inducing, and sexy — Romance books have always provided great fodder to the film industry for movie adaptations. With a surge in popularity of the romance genre thanks to BookTok and Bookstagram, more and more love stories have become viral. The popularity of novels by authors like Emily Henry and Ali Hazelwood has led to movie deals, and there is a slew of romance book adaptations on its way to the big screen.
Big ticket stars like Anne Hathaway, Blake Lively, and Nick Galitzine have signed up to bring to life the swoon-worthy characters from these romance novels. From The Idea of You to Beach Read, these are the most hotly anticipated romance books getting the movie treatment.
10 The Idea of You
With Anne Hathaway in a starring role and Nick Galitzine of Red, White and Royal Blue fame, The Idea of You is set to hit screens later this year. Based on the novel of the same name by Robinne Lee, the story follows a middle-aged, divorced gallery owner, Solene, whose life changes when she takes her teen daughter to watch a boy band named August Moon. She finds love in Hayes, a member of the band, rediscovering love and passion unexpectedly.
Reportedly, the movie adaptation stays largely faithful to the book, except for some small details. Anne Hathaway plays the mother, who is renamed Sophie for the big screen, and she goes on to have a clandestine affair with Hayes. The Idea of You promises to be a heartwarming tale of defying social conventions and reclaiming love despite differences.
9 The Love Hypothesis
Move over high school romance movies — the era of science romances is upon us. Ali Hazelwood's New York Times bestseller, The Love Hypothesis revolves around Ph.D. hopeful Olive, who kickstarts a fake relationship with well-known grump and professor, Adam Carlsen. She wants to convince her best friend, Anh, that she has moved on from her ex and that Anh can now date him.
Set in the world of STEM, academic conferences, and graduate funding programs, Olive and Adam's fake-to-real romance is worth seeing on the big screen. Bisous Pictures is adapting the movie and is currently in preproduction. There has been no confirmed casting yet.
8 Book Lovers
With over a million copies sold, Emily Henry's Book Lovers takes on the beloved enemies-to-lovers trope but subverts it by applying it to a literary agent and an editor. It follows Nora Stephens, the stone-cold agent who agrees to vacation in North Carolina with her little sister Libby. What she doesn't expect is that she would keep bumping into surly Charlie Lastra, an editor with whom she had a disastrous first meeting.
With just the right doses of tragic backstories, sisterly dynamics, and sultry romance thrown in, Book Lovers is Henry's third book to be bought for a movie adaptation. Being produced by Tango Entertainment, it has Sarah Heyward of Girls and Modern Love fame attached for the screenplay.
7 The Spanish Love Deception
The debut novel of author Elena Armas, The Spanish Love Deception, is a bright and buoyant love story about Catalina Martin, a young woman whose lies about a fake boyfriend become too big for her to handle. She knows she's in over her head when she has to go to a family wedding in Spain and find a real man to play her imaginary beau in front of her family.
Inexplicably, Catalina's number one nemesis at work, Aaron Blackford, agrees to fly from New York to Spain to do just that. What ensues is an epic slow-burn romance and some family drama. BCDF Pictures is working on The Spanish Love Deception, with director Peter Hutchings at the helm.
6 Beach Read
Another Emily Henry romance book tapped for the big screen by Original Film, Beach Read, tells the story of two authors from opposite ends of the genre spectrum. Augustus Everett is a highly awarded literary fiction maven, while January Andrews pens popular romance. When they end up in neighboring homes in North Bear Shores, Michigan, tensions rise and sparks fly.
Peppered with January and Augustus' histories, Beach Read gets the most interesting when the authors decide to exchange genres, each writing a book on them. Yulin Kuang is set to direct this swoon-worthy, beachy romance, but there's no word on a release date yet.
5 It Ends With Us
Colleen Hoover's It Ends With Us became a viral sensation on TikTok, revolving around the life of Lily Bloom, a young woman who witnesses abuse in her parents' marriage. Sadly, she is destined to fall for Ryle, a similarly abusive man she ends up marrying. The return of Lily's childhood love, Atlas Corrigan, holds both hope and despair for her.
Optioned by Justin Baldoni, the It Ends With Us movie had already started filming earlier this year. Starring Blake Lively, Brandon Sklenar, and Baldoni himself, it had to be put on hold owing to the 2023 WGA strike. It is expected to be released in 2024.
4 The Switch
Twenty-something Leena Cotton decided to switch places with her nearly ninety-year-old grandmother, Eileen when she bombs a big presentation at work. Leena is burnt out by the pressures of London life in her tiny apartment, while Eileen, newly single, is frustrated with her cooped-up life in Yorkshire, a town that lacks eligible bachelors for her to court.
Warm, delightful, and entertaining, The Switch by Beth O'Leary has a bit of everything, with romance. Produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Pictures, Rachel Brosnahan is set to play the lead in the movie, but there has been little to no update since this announcement in 2020.
3 People We Meet on Vacation
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry centers on Alex and Poppy, two polar opposites who manage to find common ground after a shared car ride in college and have been best friends since then. Through the years, straitlaced Alex and fiesty Poppy maintain their bond by going on holidays together, until one epic fallout.
When Poppy gets the chance to fix their friendship in one epic last trip, every emotion pent up within them flows out instead. 3000 Pictures is adapting this friends-to-lovers story that plays around with the concept of soulmates, with Brett Haley set to direct.
2 The Cuban Girl's Guide To Tea & Tomorrow
A Latinx young adult novel, The Cuban Girl's Guide To Tea & Tomorrow is a gushy and tender story of Lila Reyes, a girl who had her future planned out to the tee. But when her Abuela dies, Lila's life starts to fall apart. In an effort to help her mental health, Lila's parents send her to the town of Winchester, England, for a well-deserved break, where she meets the sweet tea shop clerk, Orion Maxwell.
Between sightseeing, cups of tea, and the beginnings of love, Lila starts imagining a whole new future for herself. Producer Ace Entertainment has already begun production on the movie, which stars Maia Reficco, Kit Connor, and Kate Del Castillo.
1 It Happened One Summer
Tessa Bailey's It Happened One Summer is the first of her Bellinger Sisters series, following glamorous LA It Girl Piper Bellinger. After one too many incidents that send her to jail, Piper is cut off by her wealthy father and sent away to the small town of Westport to live with her sister. Truly a fish out of water, Piper's stay in the town is made a lot more interesting by the presence of the surly local fisherman, Brendan.
BCDF Pictures and Frolic Media is set to adapt this bestseller, and Christina Mengert and Joseph Muszynski are in charge of the screenplay. The casting for vivacious Piper and handsome Brendan are yet to be announced, but fans of the book can't wait to see this feel-good rom-com on the big screen.