Romantic Hero by Kirsty Greenwood
on June 16, 2026
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Contemporary, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy, Fiction / Women
Pages: 368
Format: Hardcover
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A romance author whose fictional cowboy villain suddenly appears in her living room? Okay, you’ve got my attention.
Romantic Hero was such a cute, fun read! Gertie Bickerstaff is a romance author dealing with some major writer’s block after being dumped by her boyfriend, Henry. She’s convinced she needs to get him back, but then a manifestation ceremony with her quirky older neighbor leads to her waking up with a VERY shirtless cowboy sitting on her sofa.
Even better? He’s River Oakley—the villain from the book she’s currently trying (and failing) to finish.
River desperately wants to get back to his fictional world, and Gertie desperately needs to finish her book, so obviously the two come up with a plan to help each other. And we all know how well those kinds of plans usually work in a romance.
I really enjoyed Gertie’s character growth throughout this one. She starts out as a people pleaser who has a hard time standing up for herself and is still carrying around quite a bit of grief and heartbreak. She thinks getting Henry back will fix everything, when really she needs to figure out what she wants. River coming into her life shakes everything up and helps her find some of the confidence she has lost along the way.
And River! Give me a grumpy, broody cowboy who is actually a giant softie underneath it all, and I’m sold. I loved that he was supposed to be the villain in Gertie’s story, but the more she gets to know him, the more she realizes there is a whole lot more to him than the character she created. Their banter, chemistry, and tension were so much fun, and I loved watching their relationship develop.
There’s also something so fun about a romance writer having to deal with one of her own fictional characters suddenly becoming a real person. It adds this wonderfully ridiculous and magical element to the story while still giving us a romance you can root for.
Overall, Romantic Hero was fun, quirky, romantic, and just a little bit magical. It has a fictional character coming to life, a grumpy cowboy, forced proximity, great banter, some steam, and a heroine learning to stop shrinking herself for everyone around her.
Sometimes the villain just might be the romantic hero you needed all along.
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