This summer, Dover Publications will begin publishing "intensely passionate, richly immersive" romantic fiction under the banner of Midnight Rose, a new imprint directed by Dover publisher Betina Cochran, with Ally D'Antonio overseeing acquisitions. Dover plans to release for to eight titles annually.
Midnight Rose will debut with Rebecca F. Kenney's This Brilliant Void, publishing in August. The book—which blends sci-fi and romantasy in a "passionate tale where the line between killer and savior begins to blur," per the publisher—is the first installment of Kenney's Riftwalker Duet duology, and will be published worldwide in a special hardcover edition with silver foil accents and four-color edge printing. The sequel is expected in 2027.
“With Midnight Rose, Dover Publications steps boldly into the romance space,” Cochran said. “We are offering readers stories that linger long after the final page—and authors a home where passion and storytelling flourish.”
Midnight Rose has announced three additional titles for 2027, including Julie Graham’s A Ruin Among the Stars, a gender-swapped retelling of The Phantom of the Opera; Olivia Riesling’s Bonnie’s Summer of Love, Swords and Other Long Hard Things, about a demigod who accidentally travels back in time to the Middle Ages; and M.G. Hauck’s Unknowable, a romantic fantasy inspired by The Wizard of Oz.
While best known for its public domain reprints, such as the Dover Thrift Editions line, Dover, acquired by the book printer LSC in 2015, has forayed into publishing new work in recent years. Given the popularity of romance—particularly "spicy" books of the sort the new imprint will focus on—Midnight Rose arguably marks Dover's most significant step to date into frontlist publishing.
