Bestselling Romance Authors Adriana Herrera and Ali Hazelwood to Headline Romance-Con

Daily Dose  |  02/13/2026 9:00 am

The Toledo Lucas County Public Library welcomes award-winning and bestselling romance authors Adriana Herrera and Ali Hazelwood as the headlining authors for Romance-Con, the Library’s annual romance novel convention. The daylong event returns to Main Library on Saturday, Nov. 7.

Adriana Herrera is a USA Today bestselling and Audie Award-winning author whose work celebrates characters who look and sound like her community and unapologetically receive their happy endings. Born and raised in the Caribbean, she has spent the past 15 years living around the world due to her career and family life. The New York Times has described her work as “sweet, thoughtful, and delightfully filthy too.”

When she is not writing romance, Herrera can be found planning logistically complex family vacations, hunting for discounted Broadway tickets or working as a trauma therapist in New York City, where she supports survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

Ali Hazelwood is the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis, as well as a writer of peer-reviewed articles on brain science in which no one makes out and the ever after is not always happy. Originally from Italy, she lived in Germany and Japan before moving to the United States to pursue a PhD in neuroscience.

Outside of her academic work, Hazelwood enjoys crocheting, eating cake pops and watching sci-fi movies with her three feline overlords and her slightly less feline husband.

Together, Herrera and Hazelwood recently launched AH² Romance Collections. According to the AH² website, the project was created as “a space where authors could write at their freest creative selves without compromising their vision for the stories they want to tell.”

The first collection, After the End, ranks among the top 10 publishing projects on Kickstarter. It features eight novellas across four volumes written by a who’s who of romance authors, including Hazelwood, Herrera, Nina Saxena, Nikki Payne, Claire Kent, Elizabeth Stephens, Cate C. Wells and Sherry Thomas.

Romance-Con is a literary celebration where romance readers connect with fellow fans and authors through talks, workshops, panel discussions and an author fair featuring dozens of independently published romance writers from across the country. The event also includes conversations with nationally renowned, bestselling romance authors.

Since its debut in 2024, Romance-Con has hosted nearly 100 romance writers, ranging from local creators to nationally bestselling authors. Previous headlining and featured guests include Abby Jimenez, Christina Lauren, Susan Lee, Kimberly Lemming, Kathryn Moon, C.M. Nascosta, Nikki Payne, Chip Pons, Jo Segura and Julie Soto.

For updates on additional Romance-Con authors, workshops and discussions, visit toledolibrary.org/romance-con. Program details are subject to change.