Books like The Seven Year Slip — picked by fans

While not perhaps a “romance” novel in the established-formula sense, this book is achingly romantic. This epic story truly focuses on the gradual development of the two protagonists’ relationship and how time travel both created and challenged their love. This book ignited my passion for magic-realism romantic novels and remains one of my top books of all time.

I adore the contrast of romantic love between two seemingly destined souls and the brutality of some events caused by Henry’s uncontrolled time travel. There’s also the tricky angle of the age gap (only sometimes, depending on where Henry and Clare are in their lives, but it is occasionally extreme), which the author doesn’t shy away from. And I confess this is probably the book that made me sob the most!

Wow! Wowie! To be honest, I am not someone who ever knows the ending of a thriller. I guess whatever part of the brain decides if you'll be good at solving mysteries, I don't have it! And every time I thought I knew where Gillian was leading me, the reader, I was always very wrong.

I really loved the powerful message of the strength of mothers throughout this book. I liked that this was time travel, but not so complicated that I couldn't follow it. I loved how this book explored the idea of "what if" and second chances in a really unique and compelling way. It was absorbing and fast-paced, and it definitely went down easy for me.

I wanted to read this because the title made me think, "Yes, I want to know what it's like to be in someone else's shoes." And...yes, this delivered. I really enjoyed the journey that Nisha and Sam go on, swapping places. Along with the other supporting female characters, what I read felt so feminist and empowering.

As a reader, I marveled at all of the subtle messages we were given about what it means to truly support other women. This all came in a very fun, entertaining, and page-turning book! Loved!

Oh, how I loved Lauren's book. I had the opportunity to be on a panel with Lauren, and she talked about her research for this book. I was so excited to get my hands on it. I savored reading this friends-to-lovers romance.

It was so unique, the characters so vivid, and I absolutely loved hearing about their lives and how they made each other stronger. I can't recommend this enough!

I read this book in less than twenty hours—not that I had time for it, but this book demanded it.

The main characters’ emotional and tangible goals are set up so well, I felt drawn in immediately. There was so much push and pull between the two as they learned to open up and work together to write a rom-com, so much (clashing) personality and voice (I always love Center’s voicy characters).

I loved the romantic sizzle on every page, the perfectly paced plot of her helping her idol fix his writing, and the incredible banter. *While the book contains some language, there wasn’t a hint or even an implied spicy scene.

This book is everything a magic-realism romance should be—captivating, romantic, ethereal, and satisfying. As a total sucker for parallel worlds, I love the alternate-reality element of this novel. Each night, our protagonist Lydia has lifelike dreams of an alternate path in which her boyfriend Freddie didn’t just die in a tragic accident. The potent pills her doctor prescribed to help her sleep after his death are taking her into this magical dream world in which she would much rather live than reality. 

I love how this seemingly ideal dream world is juxtaposed with the reality Lydia is forced to live while awake and her gradual awakening from grief into a new world of love. It’s moving, tender, sweet, and totally dreamy—literally! 

Cesca Major's book is my pick in the spate of recent time-loop novels that feature romance. The Groundhog Day concept, where the protagonist repeats the same day over and over to (hopefully) get it right, is fertile ground for a great romance. Who hasn’t wished they could get a do-over with a loved one or potential partner? 

Our protagonist, Emma, keeps reliving the day her husband, Dan, died after being hit by a car after a marital fight. I love Emma’s agony in trying all the possibilities to avoid Dan’s death, to the extent of virtually driving her insane. The lack of consequences, given she always wakes up on the Monday morning, is another thing that pushes her to increasing extremes.

This is not a typical romance, but the focus on saving her marriage no matter what makes this book a perfect magic-realism romantic novel. I also adore the London… show more.

Ahh, Tia Williams, how I love thee. Out of the two perfect New York-set romances she has written, this one is the one that has a somewhat unexpected magic realism twist. This Harlem-based beauty follows two timelines—the present day of our protagonist Ricki, an impulsive, artistic florist with a mission to revitalize Harlem with flowers, and the 1920s jazz-soaked Harlem Renaissance era of our romantic hero Ezra, a grumpy, mysterious jazz musician.

The perplexing nature of how their worlds intersect and the deep passion of their relationship gives this romance so much fire and drive. It’s also very much a love story to Harlem, with a fabulous sub-plot about Ricki’s community initiative and how her colorful friends get on board. I honestly couldn’t put this one down!

A wise, humane, wildly original feat of imagination and heart.

The skill of Habeck in making the incredible credible knows no bounds as Wren and Lewis’s lives are upended by a diagnosis of Carcharodon carcharias mutation, namely his gradual transformation into a great white shark.

A beautiful meditation on art, family, loss, and what it means to be human, this reminded me of Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven but is like nothing I’ve read before or since. 

I loved this book because of the setting in a sugar beet farming town facing environmental degradation, complicated by forbidden love and hidden secrets.

The problems all farming communities face are similar and heartbreaking. This is about ordinary people, like those I know, flawed but decent and struggling to survive a farming life.

Plus, I love a good love story.