What I’m reading, Canadian romance edition.
Since July 1 is Canada Day, it’s a great time to kick off a summer of Canadian reading. What better time than when Canadian romances are hotter than the sidewalks of downtown Toronto? Here are some Canadian romances that I’ve enjoyed in the first half of 2026. For your reading pleasure and my organizational bliss, I’ll break them up into categories.
If you like hockey romance…
Well, obviously I love hockey romance. I write it and I read a ton of it.
I’m both a fan and a friend of Kelly Jamieson. She has a huge backlist and you can’t go wrong with her hockey romances. This year I’ve already read two and a half of her books (I’m in the middle of her latest, The Rebound.) My rec today is Play to Win. If you’re a hockey fan with a losing team like me, a brainy, bespectacled, attractive General Manager is sexier than any player. Not convinced? Just Google Kyle Dubas and keep him in mind while reading. The crackling electricity between a straight-laced hero and a fun-loving heroine is one of Jamieson’s strengths.
Recently, I did a reread of Elle Kennedy’s Off Campus series this year, like a trillion other people. (Thanks, Kobo Plus membership!) I realized that my favourites of her books are the ones where the hero is a kind of an a-hole. He’s a macho ladies man or a damaged loner drawn in by the spirited heroine. In that spirit, I recommend these Off Campus books: The Deal, The Score, and The Risk. And my all time favourite Elle Kennedy book: The Graham Effect, which is second gen Off Campus. Two hockey players, mega-friction, and the best banter? Come to momma.
If you’re in the mood for magical realism…
Here’s the thing, I’m never in the mood for magic realism. I have been known to slam a book shut as soon as something or someone turns magical. But I make exceptions for authors that I really like.
I enjoy everything that Lily Chu writes. She has a lovely balance of the frivolous and the serious. And by frivolous, I mean subjects I enjoy like fashion, organizing, or style. The book I’m recommending is her first foray into women’s fiction, Library of Flowers. The book explores perfumer Lucy Hua’s present day life, as well as those of her ancestors—all women with a gift for creating life-altering scents. The best part of the book is sensory as Lucy describes all the different scents in her world. If possible, read the paperback version with its gorgeous patterned edges.
I read a lot of Jackie Lau’s backlist this year as stress relief. They predictably have prickly Asian characters, food descriptions, and straightforward sex scenes, all of which I enjoy. But the book I’m going to recommend is one I read last year, Time Loops & Meet Cutes. The heroine keeps repeating the same day over and over after eating a magic dumpling. I do enjoy a good time loop, but the best part of this book was how Lau explores the poignancy of being unable to connect with Mr. Right for more than one day.
If you want to go home for the holidays…
I really enjoyed In Too Deep by Mimi Flood. Is “she used to be his babysitter” your romance catnip? How about if the hunky yoga instructor hero has taken a vow of celibacy? I liked all this and the natural way that their romance develops in a gossipy small town. Even though I jumped in on book two, I had zero problems in following the story.
If you want to go on holidays in Canada…
How about a trip to a dude ranch? Stirrup Some Trouble by Julianne Baclayanto is set on a ranch in Alberta. A troublesome B-list actress/model and a stressed-out rancher are thrown together for her redemption tour. I read this book immediately after watching The Wrong Paris, so I already had strapping blonde cowboys and reality shows on the brain. But Baclayanto throws a lot of unexpected twists into this fish out of water romance.
A Maritime vacation, yes please. Emma Davie’s Good for the Summer came out last week and I grabbed that book immediately. Violet and Finn are both visitors to Nova Scotia, so we get to see them fake-date their way through all the tourist attractions! And eat all the lobster rolls. As a bonus, this book has the most amazing music playlist, including my fav band ever, Hey Rosetta! Since the setting is the wedding of the two main characters from Home to Christmas Island, I recommend reading that first. Thank me later!
If you enjoy a workplace romance…
From the first Amy Lea romance I read, I’ve been hoping that she would write an Asian heroine in an Ottawa setting because she’s both those things. I grew up in Ottawa, and a book like that would have been my teen reading dream. Lea’s latest book, The Bodyguard Affair, comes close. She’s making Ottawa sexy with a romance between two members of staff in the Prime Minister’s office. And the heroine secretly writes romances, which naturally resonated. Do you enjoy political infighting and jostling for federal government promotions, or is that just scarred veterans of the civil service like me? Well, everyone can get behind a forbidden romance between a damaged military man and an undervalued hardworking heroine.
And those are my Canada Day recs! Feel free to recommend more Canadian romances to me in the comments, especially if they’re in Kobo Plus.