Welcome to The Velvet Pages

We read 1,000s of romance novels. We catalog the good ones.*

*Includes memorable reads along with highly rated.  The books in Weird Romance live by their own scale.

New Release Romance

Coming Soon - Can’t Wait

Book cover for 'Bride' by Ali Hazelwood featuring a woman in a white dress with a wolf behind her and a celestial background of stars and the moon.

FEATURED BOOK

Bride by Ali Hazelwood

TAGS/TROPES: HEA, Alpha MMC, Vampire, Shifter, Arranged Marriage, Betrayal & Secrets, Break Their Heart to Save Them, Fated Mates, Arranged Marriage, Paranormal, Shifter, Enemies-to-Lovers, STEM FMC, Alpha MMC, Smart & Independent FMC, Dry Humor, Peanut Butter-Loving Vampire FMC, Slow Burn, Mating/Bonding, Witty Banter, Tall MMC, Found Family, Knotting

4.25/5 “I LOVED this book. It really was a near-perfect story with a twist and an HEA.”

— Cardigan B

4.25/5 “Loved this book! Misery is strong-willed, loves peanut butter, is sassy, has a dry sense of humor. Lowe is mysterious, quiet, strong leader. Perfect match!”

— Penelope Black

Billionaire Romance

College or Academy Romance

Dark Romance

Fantasy Romance

First-Touch Favorites

Heartbreaking But Worth It

Historical Romance

Mafia Romance

Modern Romance

Monster Romance

Small Town Romance

Sports Romance

Under 100 Pages, 2-Hour Listen

Weird Romance

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The Velvet Edit

The ‘Buy Now’ buttons include affiliate links that lead to Amazon to purchase. If you click on a link and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you.

The prices you see for each book are based on Amazon prices at a point in time. If you choose a different format of book, the price will likely change. Be sure to review your order before you checkout on Amazon.

Dodge the duds.

Consider us your ‘secret stack’ librarians helping you curate your underground library with gems and newsworthy finds. Don’t spend $20 on a book just yet.

We give every book a chance. Every author their due. It’s up to them to make it worth your time and money.

It’s way too easy to fall for a gorgeous cover and end up with a story that reads like soggy fanfic.

That’s where we come in.

Our recs are proudly on point: 94% Satisfaction Rating

We’ve read thousands of books. We’ve no doubt read something you’ll like.

We know the tropes, we’ve seen some things, and we’re here to lead you into the world of romance fiction.

No shame, no buyer’s remorse — you’ll find fun, spice, and solid storytelling for your underground library of romance - aka smut, aka bodice rippers, aka spice rack reads, aka Booktok baddies, aka hoe books.

Just two friends who love romance novels. As we read books, we talk about them, laugh about them, rant, rave, and roar about them.

We read the good, the great, and the downright weird. We like different genres of romance which means we’re always discovering shiny gems.

Romance is fun - there’s something for everyone. If you find one you like, spread the joy.

Who are we?

Penelope Black & Cardigan B

Sizzle Scale

HOT

(Blazing & Explicit): This is the full five-alarm fire. Bedroom doors are flung wide open, and the scenes are DETAILED, EXPLICIT, and SCORCHING HOT. You will likely need to find your partner or battery-powered friend after reading these. You may need to whip out your phone and search for definitions or perhaps try and twister yourself into some of the positions to gain full understanding of what’s happening. No fading to black here.

MEDIUM

(Simmering & Steamy): Expect passionate kisses that don't always fade to black, simmering tension that finally boils over, and maybe some open-door scenes that focus more on the passion and connection. Could be graphic, but probably one scene that goes full throttle. Things get steamy, and the chemistry is sparking. You’ll blush, but you won’t need a fire extinguisher... yet.

MILD

(Sweet & Tender): Think cozy sweaters, shy smiles, and the electric buzz of holding hands for the first time. Expect sweet sighs, maybe a stolen, chaste kiss or two, and plenty of heartwarming moments that make you go "awww." If things get more intimate, the bedroom door gently clicks shut (fade-to-black).

FLOUR

(Platonic, if anything): Rare to find around here. This is a book that has…no romance at all. We probably read this by accident.

 FAQs

  • A guide to romance novels of all heats and sizes. We’re recommending books we’ve read (we’ve read 1,000s) and telling you what to expect. We’ll help you do your research - your time and money will be happy.

  • ‘Happily Ever After’ - nearly every book you find on The Velvet Pages has an ‘HEA’. It means that the story reached a satisfying conclusion. It might say “To Be Continued” which means there’s probably an HEA in the series, but that particular title didn’t resolve the relationship.

  • This is how sexual or sexy a book is. There’s a range: Hot, Medium, Mild, and Flour.

    • Hot is ‘“holy Hell I’m sweating.”

    • Medium is steamy.

    • Mild is tender and sweet.

    • Flour means there’s nothing romantic here.

    We label each book so you know what to expect and you can choose what you’re comfortable reading.

  • We rate each book out of 5. Cardigan B and Penelope Black can rate a book the same score on occasion, but usually the rating you see is an average of their scores.

    The ratings are pretty subjective, but include things like:

    • Did the story make sense?

    • How did the characters measure up?

    • Was the writing literate?

    • Was the premise or were the plot points memorable?

    • Were the mysteries solved? Did the questions get answered? Did you leave me on ANOTHER CLIFFHANGER, ONYX STORM?

    • Did the book make us feel something?

    • Was there a cute cat?

  • We recommend starting with Historical Romance, Fantasy Romance, or Sports Romance. They’re the most popular and you’ll find recognizable tropes.

    Start with Mild to Medium heat and definitely choose an HEA.

    If you’re still stuck, email us and we can give you some recs!

    Heyyyvelvetpages@gmail.com

  • We’ll read pretty much anything. Each month, Penelope and Cardigan select a list of about 20 books to read together. There’s at least one book from each genre and some popular titles that have been recently released.

  • We sure do! It’s called ‘The Velvet Edit’. You can sign up at the top or on the ‘Contact Us’ page. We send out a themed list of recommendations each month and a ‘Quickie’ (a single title spotlight) two weeks later. We won’t spam you.

  • Dust off your Dewey Decimal System knowledge for this one. 813 is the Dewey Decimal class for American fiction in English, where most romance novels fall. The 813.6 subdivision represents our own “shelving” of titles here at The Velvet Pages.

  • That’s the section of the site where we share what we’re reading this month for our book club. You can check out our other reading lists from the past few months of 2025, too.

  • Nope, not even close. The books on the site are generally the ones we enjoyed the most. Or hit on different trends we see coming up.

  • They are! If you buy from a button click on the site, we might earn a commission. You’re not paying more for the product, though. We’re all about ‘pay less for smut’ around here.

  • We use Storygraph. It has a friendly app interface and has every book we’ve read. It also shows your reading stats, which is unique.

    We have separate Goodreads accounts, but they’re connected to our friends and family and…I don’t want them to see that I read the first and second book in a series about a merman with two dicks.

  • MMC is Male Main Character. FMC is female main character.

    There are typically one of each, but there can be multiple in genres like Omegaverse or Reverse Harem.

    Or, like in the case of Court of Thorns and Roses, the MMC could be one person in one book and another person in another book.

    Don’t come at me about ‘spoilers’ - these books were published in 2015.

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