We all collectively lost our minds back in 2018 when Netflix released an adaptation of Jenny Han’s popular YA book, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before. Lara Jean’s journey navigating high school love reached more than 80 million subscribers, catalyzing a new wave of rom-com adaptations. The popularity of BookTok has provided Hollywood with an endless selection of romances just waiting to be blockbusters.
Whether you’re a personal fan of romance or not, you can’t deny the appeal of a little escapism. Romances allow us to dream about a better world—one where love conquers all and we all get to live happily ever after.
In 2024, Colleen Hoover stirred the pot when screenwriter Christy Hall adapted her book It Ends With Us. The controversies behind the stars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have been headlining news outlets for well over a year.
The film made approximately $350 million on a $25 million budget, proving once again, “no press is bad press” when it comes to dollar signs. While Hollywood may not want to replicate this exact formula, they’d be remiss not to capitalize on the massive Gen Z readership.
From Colleen Hoover to Emily Henry, here are five popular BookTok rom-coms that you can expect to see on your screen very soon.
1. Verity by Colleen Hoover
In just under one year, Verity will be hitting theaters on October 2, 2026. The film stars Dakota Johnson as the lead and Josh Hartnett as the male lead, with Hollywood giant, Anne Hathaway, set to play Verity herself.
Michael Showalter, who recently directed another Anne Hathaway movie, The Idea of You, is set to direct this movie. Amazon MGM Studios is responsible for distribution.
Images of Johnson and Hartnett filming in New York City circulated the internet in March of this year, seemingly filming the very first scene in the book.
Unlike most of Hoover’s other books, which are romances and dramas, Verity is a thriller, first and foremost. The book is unsettling and eerie, perfect to read during the spooky season.
Verity follows struggling author Lowen Ashleigh as she’s on the brink of losing everything. With few other options, she accepts a job from Jeremy Crawford to be the ghost writer for his injured and mysteriously absent wife and bestselling author Verity Crawford. Lowen then has to move into the Crawford house. There she finds an unfinished, bone-chilling autobiography that Verity never intended for anyone to read.
As Lowen gets closer to Jeremy, she’s torn between the dark truths that lie in the pages of this autobiography and her desperate need to protect Jeremy from the terrible secrets his wife kept.
2. People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry
Emily Henry has been taking the book world by storm in just the last five years. Her first big hit, Beach Read has over 1.5 million ratings on Goodreads and her second book, People We Meet on Vacation won the 2021 Goodreads Choice Award for favorite romance. She continued this winning streak with her next three books all earning the Goodreads Choice Award for favorite romance in 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Now all her books are becoming movies! People We Meet on Vacation has already wrapped up filming and is dropping on Netflix January 9, 2026.
The teaser, which dropped on September 30th, gives us our first look at Emily Bader as Poppy Wright and Tom Blythe as Alex Nilson.
Both actors recently starred in their own YA book adaptations. Bader starred in the popular YA book My Lady Jane on Amazon Prime, and Tom Blythe starred in the popular Hunger Games book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, as President Snow.
People We Meet on Vacation is about two best friends, Poppy and Alex who, since their ill-fated falling out two years ago, haven’t spoken to each other. Poppy’s free spirit pushes her to invite Alex on one more of their annual trips. To lay everything on the table and make it right.
Now she has one week to fix everything and confront what made a perfect friendship crash and burn. What could possibly go wrong?
3. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Nina Dobrev is back and set to star as Piper Bellinger in Tessa Bailey’s popular rom-com, It Happened One Summer. Nina Dobrev is famous for playing Elena Gilbert on the uber-popular teen vampire show, The Vampire Diaries. She will be acting alongside Tyler Hoechlin. Hoechlin recently played Superman in the Superman & Lois TV Show. Hoechlin is also known for his role as Derek Hale in the teen werewolf show, Teen Wolf.
Virginia Gardner, who recently starred in her own romance alongside Dylan Sprouse has also been cast in the film. She is set to play as Dobrev’s sister, Hannah Bellinger.
The show is currently in pre-production with The Hating Game director Peter Hutching at the helm.
Deadlines description of the book reads:
Piper Bellinger is a glamorous LA It Girl whose glittering world comes crashing down after a viral mishap gets her cancelled overnight. Cut off from her wealthy family’s safety net, she’s exiled to a rugged fishing town with one ultimatum: fix up her late father’s dive bar – or lose everything. There, she butts heads with Brendan, a gruff sea captain who has zero patience for influencers. He’s the last person she expected – and exactly what she needs.
Deadline
4. The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Amazon MGM Studios is gearing up to release another rom-com—and this one is sure to break the box office.
Ali Hazelwood’s popular novel The Love Hypothesis blew up on BookTok in 2021. Since then, it has amassed almost 2 million ratings on Goodreads with an impressively high rating of 4.11/5.
Now, a movie deal has been signed and sealed with beloved actress Lili Reinhart to star as Olive Smith. Reinhart’s big break was as Betty Cooper in Riverdale, which ran on Netflix for seven seasons. Reinhart and Hazelwood serve as producers on the film.
The cast has been active on TikTok, so we know they were filming in July and wrapped end of August. While no news about specific dates has been released, Lili Reinhart’s TikTok will keep us satiated until then. Her recent Love Hypothesis TikToks have been going viral, with one garnering over 70 million views.
To get her friend off her back about her lack of romance, Olive Smith kisses the first man she sees. She did not expect this man to be the young hot-shot professor, Adam Carlsen. What she expects even less is for Adam to agree to keep this charade up and support her along the way.
Soon enough, the little game they’re playing starts to feel all too real, and Olive learns that putting your heart under the microscope is much harder than a hypothesis could ever predict.
5. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
Elle Kennedy’s viral Off-Campus book series is coming to the small screen. From the same studio as The Summer I Turned Pretty, Amazon continues to turn beloved books into binge-worthy TV shows.
The first season is expected to follow the events of the first book. Hannah Wells has little experience in love and dating. Conversely, popular, all-star hockey player Garrett Graham is well known in the romantic scene. But if he wants to continue hockey after college, he needs to do something about his plummeting grades. That’s where Hannah and Garrett find they can help each other. Garrett can help Hannah get attention of her crush and Hannah can tutor Garrett. Seems simple enough, but things get complicated when neither are sure what’s pretend and what’s real in their little deal.
Similar to Bridgerton, each season will follow the story of different yet interconnected characters on Briar University’s hockey team.
Ella Bright, a relatively new actress, will be playing Hannah Wells with Belmont Cameli as Garrett Graham. Cameli recently starred in Along for the Ride, adapted from Sarah Dessen’s novel of the same name.
The Off-Campus Instagram account is currently active and hyping fans up for the new show.
Hollywood and its rom-coms
In the next couple of years, we’ll have no shortage of exciting, swoon-worthy romances to watch. Amazon and Netflix have been the giants behind this insatiable phenomenon, but from personal experience, I can say that I trust both studios with my books.
A faithful adaptation comes from capturing the heart of the story, the intentions of the author, and the passion of the readers. Recent Amazon successes like The Summer I Turned Pretty and We Were Liars have Amazon scrambling for the next big Gen Z drama.
A good rom-com reminds us that through all our ups and downs, we all have the chance to find a book-worthy romance.
Which adaptation are you most excited for?
