# What is the best debut romance novel?

> Every author here got it right on the first try, whether the book arrived by horse-drawn mail coach or went viral on BookTok. Brooding moors, office rivals and time travel all compete for the same heart.

*By YPB Team · Published October 28, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/what-is-the-best-debut-romance-novel*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **The Notebook** — score 1000/1000
   Nicholas Sparks's 1996 debut novel about a lifelong love remembered in old age.
2. **Gone with the Wind** — score 999/1000
   Margaret Mitchell's only novel (1936), the Pulitzer-winning saga of Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler.
3. **Outlander** — score 999/1000
   Diana Gabaldon's 1991 debut, in which a WWII nurse falls through time into 18th-century Scotland and into Jamie Fraser's arms.
4. **Red, White & Royal Blue** — score 907/1000
   Casey McQuiston's 2019 debut about the US president's son falling for a British prince.
5. **Jane Eyre** — score 800/1000
   Charlotte Brontë's first published novel (1847), the story of a governess and the brooding Mr Rochester.
6. **The Hating Game** — score 659/1000
   Sally Thorne's 2016 debut, an office enemies-to-lovers romance between rival executive assistants.
7. **Call Me by Your Name** — score 659/1000
   André Aciman's 2007 debut novel about a summer love affair on the Italian Riviera.
8. **The Rosie Project** — score 659/1000
   Graeme Simsion's 2013 debut romantic comedy about a genetics professor's scientific search for a wife.
9. **Love Story** — score 659/1000
   Erich Segal's 1970 debut novel, a tearjerker about a Harvard student and a working-class Radcliffe music student.
10. **Sense and Sensibility** — score 571/1000
   Jane Austen's first published novel (1811), following the Dashwood sisters through love and heartbreak.
11. **The Wedding Date** — score 571/1000
   Jasmine Guillory's 2018 debut, a fake-dating romance that starts in a stuck hotel elevator.
12. **Slammed** — score 467/1000
   Colleen Hoover's self-published 2012 debut about two young people drawn together by slam poetry.
13. **One Day in December** — score 467/1000
   Josie Silver's 2018 debut about a decade-long near miss that begins with a glance through a bus window.
14. **Forever Amber** — score 467/1000
   Kathleen Winsor's 1944 debut, a scandalous bestseller about an ambitious woman in Restoration England.
15. **Twilight** — score 467/1000
   Stephenie Meyer's 2005 debut, the vampire romance that launched a global YA phenomenon.
16. **The Time Traveler's Wife** — score 467/1000
   Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 debut about a marriage strained by a husband who slips involuntarily through time.
17. **The Spanish Love Deception** — score 467/1000
   Elena Armas's 2021 debut, a self-published fake-date romance that went viral on BookTok.
18. **The Kiss Quotient** — score 343/1000
   Helen Hoang's 2018 debut about an autistic econometrician who hires an escort to teach her about intimacy.
19. **Wuthering Heights** — score 343/1000
   Emily Brontë's only novel (1847), a wild, obsessive love story set on the Yorkshire moors.
20. **Something Borrowed** — score 343/1000
   Emily Giffin's 2004 debut about a dutiful lawyer who falls for her best friend's fiancé.
21. **P.S. I Love You** — score 343/1000
   Cecelia Ahern's 2004 debut, in which a widow receives letters her late husband left to guide her through grief.
22. **The Love Hypothesis** — score 343/1000
   Ali Hazelwood's 2021 debut, a fake-dating romance between a PhD student and a notoriously stern professor.
23. **Icebreaker** — score 343/1000
   Hannah Grace's 2022 debut, a sports romance between a figure skater and a hockey captain.
24. **The Flame and the Flower** — score 0/1000
   Kathleen Woodiwiss's 1972 debut, widely credited with launching the modern historical romance.
25. **The Flatshare** — score 0/1000
   Beth O'Leary's 2019 debut about two strangers who share a flat and a bed on opposite shifts without ever meeting.
26. **Sweet Savage Love** — score 0/1000
   Rosemary Rogers's 1974 debut, a sweeping bestseller that defined the 1970s bodice-ripper.
27. **Fifty Shades of Grey** — score 0/1000
   E. L. James's 2011 debut, an erotic romance that became one of the fastest-selling books ever.

Tags: romance, books, fiction, debut novels