A comprehensive guide to: (mostly contemporary) Romance Novels.
A comprehensive guide to: (mostly contemporary) Romance Novels.
The one's I've read that I think you should, too.
Romance is the biggest sector of the publishing industry, but I think romance novels have a less than positive reputation. There are a few reasons for that:
People don’t actually know what this genre is, and when they hear “romance novel” they only think about books with Fabio on the cover.
The target demographic is women, so no one takes them seriously.
I think a lot of people feel shame or embarrassment for enjoying this genre. I am here to free you from that patriarchal nonsense! Books do not have to be serious literature to have value. Reading should be fun! I think a lot of people who “don’t enjoy reading” are just reading the wrong things. You do not have to only read high brow books to be a serious person, these books are not dumb, you should read whatever you want to read.
If this is not your genre, that’s fine! Everyone can’t like everything. I’m just saying, if the reason this isn’t your genre is because you think it’s embarrassing or stupid, that is a fake reason and I’d encourage you to try something on this list.
I have been reading contemporary romance novels since 2018, and I cannot recommend them enough. I find them so comforting, a true joy. Sometimes it is just nice to sit down and read something that you know will have a happy ending. I’m a pretty fast reader, so I will often sit down and just read one of these cover to cover in a couple of hours. A lot of them also focus on serious issues— I have read romance novels about autism, infertility, a variety of social and political issues, domestic violence, chronic illness, etc.
I also think they portray sex in such a healthy way. Women are never shamed for embracing their sexuality, and consent is always at the forefront without feeling like the author is purposely trying to make a point of it. Romance novels are feminist, everyone!!
If you are new to this genre, I would start with The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory. Jasmine is my favorite rom com author. The Wedding Date is the first in a series of six books that all take place in the same universe, but also work as standalone stories. I love them all. If you like her books, this genre is for you.
With that, here is a comprehensive list of all the romance novels I recommend:
My other all time favorites:
The Idea of You by Robinne Lee: This is one of the most addicting books I have ever read, and two years later I still think about it all the time. It’s about a 40 something year old woman named Solene who takes her preteen daughter to a boyband concert, meets the band backstage, and starts dating Hayes, one of the members of the band. This is essentially a Harry Styles fan fic, but its SO well written and I could not put it down.
Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: This book was written for me, specifically. It is about Alex, the son of the first woman to be President, who falls in love with Henry, the Prince of England. Royals + progressive politics + rom com? This is all of my interests. This is so funny, so cute, just a true joy. I cannot express enough how good this book it. I love it so much.
The Kiss Quotient series by Helen Hoang: These all feature characters who have autism spectrum disorder. The Kiss Quotient was the first contemporary romance book I ever read, and I forced it onto many of my friends. I LOVED that book. The second book in this series, The Bride Test, is my least favorite of the three, but still good. The third one is very good, but different in tone from the other two and quite sad. A good overview of all the things this genre can be.
Emily Henry: She is all hits, no skips. Her five romance novels are: Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, Book Lovers, Happy Place, and Funny Story. These are top tier. Huge recommend.
Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: Curtis Sittenfeld is one of my favorite authors and this is just my perfect book. Sally is a writer at an SNL like show, Noah is a hot musician who comes to host one week, and months later they reconnect. This is so good.
If you want to read a series:
Well Met series by Jen Deluca: These all take place in a small town and center around the Renaissance Faire that takes place every summer. I do not care at all about Renaissance Faires, but these make them sound very fun. The first book, Well Met, is one of my favorite rom coms ever. I thought the second one, Well Played, was just fine but it is my least favorite of the series. Well Matched, the third one, is VERY good. All are worth reading.
The Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert: This trilogy is the BEST. They are so good. Each one is about a different sister, and I loved them all. They all have such fun personalities.
The Roommate series by Rosie Danan: Loved these as well. These are very sex positive, even more than a typical rom com. Super NSFW, I can’t even really describe the plot without giving important things away. Just trust me, read these.
The Friend Zone series by Abby Jimenez: I enjoyed all three of these. They all touch on some serious issues (infertility in the first one, death and depression in the second, chronic illness and drug addiction in the third), but they still manage to be cute and fun. They are pretty over the top and require more suspension of disbelief than normal, so maybe not for someone who isn’t sure about this genre.
The Bellinger Sisters by Tessa Bailey: I have read and not loved some other Tessa Bailey books, but these are SO good. It Happened One Summer is about Piper, a rich socialite who gets cut off and send to a small oceanside town where she meets Brendan, a grumpy fisherman. Hook, Line, and Sinker, is even better and is about Piper’s sister Hannah and Brendan’s friend Fox. These really go together and are best read in order, they are very spicey and very cute.
If you want a book about tv or movies or celebrities (my favorite trope):
Birds of California by Katie Cotugno: Fiona is a former child/teen star who has been out of the spotlight, when she gets a call from her agent that the network wants to reboot the show she starred in. Her old costar, Sam, seeks her out to try to convince her to agree to do the show.
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center: From the title I thought this would be about an actress falling in love with her hot grumpy bodyguard, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that SHE is the bodyguard and HE is the hot actor who needs to be protected. This reminded me so much of Miss Congeniality, very similar vibes. This is full of tropes and very cheesy and silly, but it was so much better than I was expecting and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun: This one is about Charlie, who is the lead on a show called Ever After (it’s The Bachelor) and Dev, his producer. There is a lot of mental illness content here, with a lot of talk about anxiety and depression in particular. But it is also very silly and fun, I read it in one sitting.
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman: A journalist named Chani had her career jumpstarted when a profile she wrote of movie star Gabe Parker went viral. 10 years later, they meet again to do a follow up.
How to Fake it in Hollywood by Ava Wilder: Grey and Ethan are celebrities who agree to a fake PR relationship in order to boot their careers. This is full of so many pop culture references and is very cute. Warning that alcoholism is a big part of the plot.
Love and Other Disasters by Anita Kelly: Dahlia and London are contestants on a cooking competition show called Chef’s Special. A non-binary love interest!
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan: Nora has built a career writing Hallmark-esque romance movies, but when she gets divorced she writes a more serious screenplay and movie star Leo Vance is cast as the lead. The movie films in her hometown and he asks to stay in her guest house while in town. Fun celebrity/normal person romance with an older main character.
One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London: Bea is a plus sized fashion blogger who, in a moment of frustration, publishes a rant on her blog about how a very popular dating show called Main Squeeze is not at all size inclusive. Then, she gets cast as the lead on the next season. This is basically The Bachelorette in book form, without all the problematic parts.
Playbook series by Alexa Martin: These are so fun! They are about a group of NFL wives/girlfriends. I actively dislike the NFL and do not care at all about sports but I really liked these.
Seven Days in June by Tia Williams: About Eva Mercy, the author of a fantasy erotica series who wants to prove herself as a serious author, and Shane Hall, a reclusive literary author who resurfaces every few years with a new book that inevitably wins awards. The book flashes back and forth between the present day and a week they spent together when they were teenagers. I’d say this needs a content warning for self-harm and substance abuse.
Take the Lead by Alexis Daria: A Dancing With the Stars plot— she is the pro dancer and he is the star of a survivalist reality tv show.
Will They or Won’t They by Ava Wilder: Lilah and Shane star in a popular supernatural show, but they have hated each other since their secret relationship crashed and burned after the first season. She left the show after season five, but after a flop movie leaves her without many career options, she’s back for the ninth and final season and they have to work together again. This is hot but its also very romantic, a great slow burn with so much tension. Loved it.
You Had Me at Hola by Alexis Daria: Jasmine is an up and coming actress, fresh off a recent high profile breakup, who gets a big break as the lead of a very high profile rom com. Ashton is a telenovela star trying to make it in America. This has Jane the Virgin vibes. Very good. Unfortunately didn’t like the next in the series as much.
You Made a Fool Out of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi: Feyi travels with the boy she’s casually dating to his home on a tropical island, where she learns his dad is celebrity chef Alim Blake. Never read another romance novel like this, go for this is you’re tired of the tropes.
If you want enemies to lovers:
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: A British rom com about Tiffy and Leon who work opposite schedules, and therefore have never met each other despite living in the same flat. Touches on some serious issues towards the end, but overall very uplifting and cute.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: An enemies-to-lovers story about Lucy and Josh, two assistants who share an office and hate each other. Then some things happen, and they don’t hate each other anymore. It’s very good.
Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola: Kiki has a college radio talk show, Malakai is known around campus for being a player, for reasons they start fake dating. This one is a little juvenile as it takes place in college, but it has great banter.
One Star Romance by Laura Hankin: About Natalie and Rob, who meet when they are both in their early twenties and she is the maid of honor and he is the best man at their friends’ wedding. Before the wedding, Natalie finds out that Rob gave her recently published debut novel a one star rating on Goodreads, so obviously they do not get along (this premise is inspired by Hankin’s real experience of having to walk down the aisle at a wedding with a man who had given her book a one star rating, iconic). We then follow Natalie and Rob through the next decade or so as they keep having to see each other at their friends’ big life events. It’s funny and fun but also gets quite serious and emotional towards the end. It felt very true to what it feels like to try to figure out your life in your twenties, and what happens to friendships as people chose different paths.
You, Again by Kate Goldbeck: A modern day retelling of When Harry Met Sally. What more do I need to say? It’s so good.
Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez: This is the second in an interconnected series, but it is a stand alone story about Briana and her new coworker, Jacob. They get off on the wrong foot and then he apologizes in a letter, which leads to them writing letters back and forth to each other, which leads to you can guess what. This is so CUTE, I liked it a lot more than Part of Your World, which comes first in this series. Just skip to this one.
More standalone stories I really liked:
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: Told in two timelines—in the past, the main character Percy spends her summers at her family’s beach house and becomes best friends with Sam, the boy who lives next door. In present day, Percy and Sam have not spoken in 13 years, and she returns to the beach town to attend his mother’s funeral. This is basically just The Summer I Turned Pretty but with adults.
The Bookshop of Second Chances by Jackie Fraser: A woman named Thea is recently separated from her husband after finding out he had been sleeping with one of her friends. She then finds out that a distant uncle of hers has passed away and left her a house in a small coastal town in Scotland. She decides to go spend a few weeks preparing the house to be sold and ends up staying longer than planned, so she gets a job at a local bookstore. Obviously, the owner of the bookstore is a very hot, single man. Convenient! This has a quirky writing style but I really liked it.
Evvie Drake Starts Over by Linda Holmes: Evvie Drake is a recently widowed woman who rents out a spare apartment in her house to Dean Tenney, a former professional baseball player and a friend of Evvie’s best friend. This one is a little more serious and a little more substantive than a typical romance novel. Very good.
In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer: Franny and Hayes have a meet cute on the NYC Subway that goes viral on social media. Closed door, more sweet than others on this list.
Same Time Next Summer by Annabel Monaghan: Sam is engaged and decides to go look at a wedding venue on Long Island and stay at her parent’s house on the beach for the week. She gets there and is surprised to learn that Wyatt, her childhood love, is also in town. Very good beach town, second chance romance book.
Summer Romance by Annabel Monaghan: This one is about Ali, who is two years out from her mom dying and one year out from her husband leaving her. She meets a cute man, Ethan, at the dog park one day and decides its the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling. This was so good! I read it so fast. Lots of good stuff in here about finding yourself and choosing the life you want. A perfect beach book.
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: Olive, a Ph.D candidate studying pancreatic cancer, starts fake-dating Adam Carlsen, a professor in her department who is known for being super strict and mean. I unfortunately did not like Ali Hazelwood’s next book, Love on the Brain, at all.
I will read anything these authors write:
Emily Henry, mentioned above.
Rachel Lynn Solomon: I actually haven’t read her YA books, but all three of her adult romances are excellent. My favorite is Weather Girl, but I also loved The Ex-Talk and Business or Pleasure. Can’t go wrong!
Mhairi McFarlane: She writes British rom coms that are all a delight. I’ve read several, but she still has quite a deep back catalog that I am working through. I have read and would recommend: Just Last Night, If I Never Met You, and You Had Me at Hello.
Christina Lauren: This is a writing duo with a very deep back catalog of very good rom coms. I am still working my way through them all. Their best is The True Love Experiment, which is truly excellent. I have also read and would recommend: The Soulmate Equation, In a Holidaze, The Unhoneymooners, and The Honey-Don’t List. Skip Twice in a Blue Moon.
Historical Romance! This is not my favorite subset of the romance genre, but here’s what I’ve read:
The Bridgerton series: These are not as good as the show, and really they aren’t well written at all, but they are extremely readable and very entertaining. More thoughts on the series and my ranking of all 8 are here.
To Have and to Hoax by Martha Waters: I have only read this one, the first of a series, but it was good! Set in Regency Era England, so very similar to Bridgerton.
A League of Extraordinary Women series by Evie Dunmore: Set in late 1800s England, the women in these stories are feminists, fighting against a lot of the patriarchal norms of the time. I’ve read the first three, first one is my favorite.
If you’re looking to cry a lot:
Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun: This about two women, Rosemary and Logan, who are childhood best friends turned enemies turned coworkers. They are both very close with one of their high school teachers, and when he is diagnosed with terminal cancer he asks the two of them to drive him across the country to the house in Maine where he wants to be when he dies. This is a romance and a road trip novel, but it’s also very heavily about death and dying.
My Oxford Year by Julia Whelan: Ella studies abroad in Oxford, where she meets and falls in love with Jamie, who has a very sad secret. This is so good but also made me weep like a baby.
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle: If you could have dinner with five people, dead or alive, who would you pick? Sabrina shows up to her 30th birthday dinner to find her answer to that question has come true. This is so good.
The Girl He Used to Know by Tracey Garvis Graves: This takes place in two timelines— in 1991, when Annika and Johnathan are in college and dating, and in 2001, 10 years since they have last seen each other. Very SAD.
Just Last Night by Mhairi McFarlane: A woman named Eve has had the same group of three best friends for years. Then something horrible happens, and Eve and her friends have to pick up the pieces. This was so emotional, but also uplifting and empowering.
To read during the holidays:
One Day in December by Josie Silver: On a day in, you guessed it, December, Laurie makes eye contact with a man at the bus stop and is convinced its love at first sight. She spends the next year thinking about/looking for him, and then at a Christmas party the following year she finds out her best friend’s boyfriend, Jack, is the man from the bus. Very wintery and lots of drama.
The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman: This is about two best friends, Hannah and Finn, who have spent Christmas together for the past 10 years because neither of them had anywhere to go. Over the years they added Priya and Theo to the group, and now they are planning what might be their last Christmas together because Finn is moving from New York to LA. More about friendship but has some romance plot lines, too.
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens: A New Years theme! Minnie and Quinn share a birthday, New Years Eve, and become friends after meeting on their 30th birthday. It also flashes back to different years throughout their lives. Cute!
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This is a time loop plot. Maelyn has spent every Christmas at a cabin with her family and their friends, and this year’s trip has gone particularly poorly. On the way home her family gets in a car accident and she wakes up back on the plane on the way to the cabin a week earlier. This is silly and dumb but also cute.
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochran:This one is about Ellie, who is really struggling to get her life together after getting fired from her dream job. She meets Andrew, who has just found out that he has to get married before he can claim his $2 million inheritance. He offers Ellie $200k if she agrees to marry him for a year. She agrees, and goes home with him for Christmas to meet his family. A lot of Christmas rom coms are over the top cheesy, and this one isn’t!
If you want a royal theme:
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan: The story of Will and Kate, if Kate had been an American student studying abroad. Nick and Bex fall in love at university, and it’s complicated because he is gonna be the King of England. The sequel, The Heir Affair, is also good.
Reluctant Royals series by Alyssa Cole: These are all about regular people who fall in love with someone who is a royal. They are cheesy and pretty trashy (this is not a bad thing, trashy is often very fun), but I loved them.
American Royals series by Katharine McGee: What if George Washington had been the first King of the United States, instead of the President? That’s the premise of this YA book. This is fluffy and fun and very much about teenagers. These have the vibe of a teen drama with the added extravagance of royalty. The fourth and final one comes out next year.
The Selection series: I cannot in good conscious tell you to read these without saying very clearly that these books are terrible. They are not at all well written and honestly, very dumb. BUT, this series was incredibly addicting and I read all of them. Plot is The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games, this society is a caste system and when it is time for the Prince to marry someone, one girl from each caste is picked to participate in The Selection, where the Prince will select a wife. DUMB. STUPID. Terribly written. I read every single one.
If you want a YA book:
Blackout by Dhonielle Clayton, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nic Stone, Angie Thomas, Ashley Woodfolk, Nicola Yoon: A bunch of vignettes about different groups of tenns all trying to make it to an end of summer block party.
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston: Like Paper Towns by John Green except in 2022 and extremely queer. So fun.
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy by Jenny Han: Everyone knows about these movies, but I think the books are fun to revisit as well.
The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon: Natasha’s family is about to be deported to Jamaica, and on her last day in NYC she meets Daniel. It follows them through her last 12 hours in New York.
Emma Lord: She is so good at writing YA that doesn’t feel super childish. My favorite of hers is Tweet Cute, but I also loved Begin Again and You Have a Match.
The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy by Jenny Han: I think this is the superior Jenny Han trilogy. High school me LOVED this, and I think they held up in a recent reread. They are about a girl named Belly who is in a love triangle with Conrad and Jeremiah, the two sons of her mother’s best friend. Big beach town vibes here as well.