I’ve been reading romance novels since I was a teenager. Love is a universal feeling, and there is no better emotion in the world than falling in love. While I read a variety of novels in different genres, I always come back to read romance. I write romance as I believe we all deal with different things in our daily lives, but an emotional connection and love bring us all together and make the world a better place to live in.
This is a wonderful story about romance, a touch of suspense, and second-chance love. The heroine, Gianna, comes home after three failed engagements, suffers the gossip of the town, and runs into her childhood boyfriend, Zach. She’s gun-shy about getting involved with him again but can’t deny her feelings.
He’s thrilled to see her, and intense feelings ignite between them while he is recovering from a tragedy of his own. The story is beautiful and touching as they help each other heal. I loved this book and recommend it.
From #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Barbara Freethy comes the first book in the WHISPER LAKE series! Set in the majestic Colorado mountains, the books feature sexy romance, heartwarming emotion, family drama, compelling mystery, and a town full of fascinating characters. Once you come to visit, you'll never want to leave!
After her third broken engagement, Gianna Campbell comes home to help with the family business and to heal her heart, only to realize that she has become the town joke—dubbed the runaway fiancée. If that wasn't bad enough, who should show up in town but her former crush…
I’m E.S. Luck, author of The Wastelander, a post-apocalyptic romance that blends the grittiness of post-apocalyptic fiction with steamy romance. I’ve always had a deep interest in the idea of living after the apocalypse. Fundamentally, apocalypse narratives are about human resilience, a concept that’s rich with storytelling opportunities. I’m also an avid romance reader. I love the tension, buildup, and deep exploration of love's many forms. Post-apocalyptic romance ratchets that tension up to eleven and introduces the possibility of love that transcends even the end of the world…and if that’s not compelling and deeply desirable on a basic human level, I don’t know what is.
I truly never thought I’d be into “why choose” romance, but here we are, and Rebecca Quinn converted me. What I love about this book is that despite having five (yes, five!) main male characters, each one is so distinct and fully formed that it never feels confusing or repetitive to hop between their perspectives.
The relationship between Eden and the Brutes, as well as the relationships between the Brutes themselves, are complex, layered, and often messy in a way that feels authentic and real. Quinn’s prose is lovely, and the spice…let’s just say several of those scenes live in my head rent-free. The sequel is just as memorable and may be even better than the first book (how often does that happen?!).
Even if the world did end, five men is far too many to handle. Isn’t it?
Since the Final War, I’ve been doing just fine. I have a lovely cave, a darling vegetable patch, forest views . . . and if loneliness sometimes squeezes my aching heart, well, my books have always kept me company.
That is, until a pack of hunters chase me from my home and right into the arms of several rather large, rather brutish ex-Army Rangers. And those brutes have the nerve to make me the rudest offer I’ve ever heard.
The dragons of Yuro have been hunted to extinction.
On a small, isolated island, in a reclusive forest, lives bandit leader Marani and her brother Jacks. With their outlaw band they rob from the rich to feed themselves, raiding carriages and dodging the occasional vindictive…
I love studying the ins/outs of humanity and our interactions, but especially, EI (emotional intelligence). A lot of emphasis is put on being “smart” and analytical (think IQ), but EI is largely ignored.
Relationships thrive (and die) on EI! In the novels I write, I explore the emotional side of relationships and how, if we pay attention to this other side of intelligence, beautiful interactions happen.
Typically, I don’t find riveting EI in books—and so when I do, I gobble the book up once, then twice, and possibly a third time, then tell everyone I know to GO READ THAT BOOK!
I’ve always been deeply fascinated with any amnesia-related plot. A teenager who survives a near-death experience and cannot remember the last several years of her life? And, despite this being YA novel, as an older reader, I could not put this book down. It kept me guessing, constantly deducing as everything unfolded, and though the main characters are young, their emotional processes are so raw and beautiful. I’ve reread this one many a time. For any Nancy Drew gamers out there, The Secret History of Us is like a ND game/Nicholas Sparks’ novel hybrid.
"Jessi Kirby's books just keep getting better and better, and The Secret History of Us is her best yet. It beautifully touches on all the most important things in life-love, family, friendship, memory, and bacon. I loved it."-Morgan Matson, New York Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Everything In this gorgeously written, emotional novel that fans of Sarah Dessen will enjoy, a teenage girl must piece together the parts of her life she doesn't remember after a severe collision leaves her with no memory of the past four years. When Olivia awakes in a hospital bed following a near-fatal car…
I have always loved fantasy worlds and romantic stories, but in recent years I’ve found it harder to read stories with extreme violence or trauma. When I started writing fiction, I planned to write a fantasy romance with a kingdom and a battle, but I couldn’t do it—my characters organized a nonviolent revolution and formed a democratic system of governance instead. I reconsidered and decided to write what I call cozy fantasy romances. So many types of romance novels could be set in a fantasy world, such as an office romance or road trip comedy. I’ve been searching for these types of romance novels—fun, lighthearted romances set in a fantasy world—and am slowly finding them.
This series is set in a magical land that’s hidden and protected from the rest of the world. It’s filled with delightful villages that have festivals and games, where the locals work at their craft and then drink beer at the tavern in the evening—basically, the exact place I would design to live in.
In Brewed in Magic, Lilia is a brewer who travels the countryside with her mobile tavern. On the way to a festival, she camps out with another traveler and they hit it off—until he disappears in the morning. Turns out he has rushed to beat her to the festival and steal her spot with his own mobile tavern. They continue to spar but must team up when all the beer disappears.
That’s right: the level of conflict in this story is “if we can’t find the beer, the festival will be ruined.”
Lilia has always had a wanderer's heart. She spends her days on the road with her famous Traveling Tavern and only a dragon to keep her company. Despite longing for a deeper connection, she knows she's destined to wander the world alone.
When she meets a handsome stranger on her journey to the winter festival, she finally feels she's found a kindred spirit...until he vanishes in the early morning without so much as a goodbye.
Turns out, he rushed ahead to reach the festival first with his own traveling tavern. One he never mentioned. Now her would-be companion is her…
As an only child of a working mother, I spent a lot of Saturday afternoons with John Wayne. I graduated to movie nights at the theater with Clint Eastwood. My hero-worshipping crush on tough guys combined with my passion for romance novels and my fascination with the history of the American West made me the perfect candidate to write gritty, romantic westerns. My very first book, written over 30 years ago, was a western.
The day I found Maggie Osborne was the day I found a kindred western romance novel-writing soul. Her heroines are the kind of tough that won the west. They didn’t need a man; they could tame that place themselves. However, if a worthwhile male comes along... they can be persuaded.
I read every book Maggie ever wrote, but Silver Lining is the one I remember the best. Low Down is not your typical romance novel heroine. She’s rough, gruff, and tough. And she only wants one thing—a baby.
Not a husband, mind you, just a baby. In the 1800s. How she gets one, makes for one of the best yarns I’ve ever found.
Hailed as “one of the best writers in the business” by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, multi-award-winning author Maggie Osborne delivers hilarious and heartrending tales of resilient women full of grit, pride, and dignity who shine through hard times. Now meet the most irresistible and independent heroine of them all, a woman called Low Down, who never had anything good happen to her until the day she asked for the one thing that only a man could give her. . . .
As scruffy and rootless as the other prospectors searching for gold in the Rockies, Low Down wanted nothing in return…
As a mom of four busy kids in grade school, middle school, high school, and college, reading a novel is my reward at the end of a hectic day. I’ve read hundreds of novels, many of them Christian romances, while sitting at my children’s bedsides. They have to be well-written, no smut, and if the characters are Catholic Christians like me, all the better.
There are a bazillion romances about good girls attracted to bad boys.
Here’s one about a good girl attracted to a good guy, but neither of them can seem to get past his bad boy past. It’s easy to give lip service to redemption – sure, people change! But to build a life on that change? That’s another thing.
There’s a lot of forced proximity in West Castle that helps bring Caitlyn, our good girl (who has her own flaws), and Jared, our bad boy (who is trying so hard to be a better man), together. The romantic tension kept me reading through to the end!
College student Caitlyn Summer arrives at the Wests’ castle-like house to fill in for their live-in maid. After a recent decision blows her vision of the future, this ideal job and the peaceful surroundings are just what she needs to seek God’s will for her life. That is, until Jarret West, not wanting a repeat of past mistakes, backs out of a summer-long field study overseas and returns home. The two have never gotten along, and unforgettable baggage from the past makes it hard even to be cordial. While Jarret’s faults convince Caitlyn he hasn’t changed, she forces herself to…
Can a free-spirited country girl navigate the world of intrigue, illicit affairs, and power-mongering that is the court of Louis XIV—the Sun King--and still keep her head?
France, 1670. Sixteen-year-old Sylvienne d’Aubert receives an invitation to attend the court of King Louis XIV. She eagerly accepts, unaware of her mother’s…
I was an avid reader growing up, but I never saw myself reflected unless it was a book about the Holocaust. Those are crucial stories to tell, but I wanted a Jewish girl going through a wardrobe to a secret land or having magical adventures. So, I decided to write those stories for women and combine them with steamy romance, because I love that, too. All my main characters are Jewish, and I draw from Judaism and Jewish folklore for my worldbuilding and magic systems. It's also important for me to showcase my diverse hometown of Vancouver. To that end, my characters are of varying ethnicities and sexual identities.
I love m/m romance and I love urban fantasy, but until now, that combination hadn’t grabbed me in a way that had me sit up in excitement. I tore through this series (currently and desperately awaiting the final book). Not only does Nash devise a fun and fascinating magic system with Dom’s playing cards, I shipped Dom and Kempthorne so hard. The obstacles they must overcome, both externally and with their inner demons, had me turning pages as fast as I could. It’s an absolute delight.
Something wicked is moving in the shadows of London...
In the underground world of glitzy illegal auctions, fast cars, and stolen magical artifacts, John "Dom" Domenici knows he's out of his depth. But he needs the job at Kempthorne & Co like he needs to breathe. The alternative-going back to the organized crime gangs of London's East End-is unthinkable.
So when Alexander Kempthorne, boss of Kempthorne & Co Artifact Retrieval Agency, wants him on a special case to track down an illegal artifact dealer, Dom can't say no.
It shouldn't matter that Kempthorne's world is full of deadly secrets. It…
Listen, I love straight people. I even married one! But sometimes, you have to get out of the hetero bubble. Most of the people in my life, outside of my family, are queer. Representation matters, and I am thrilled that the queer romance genre is booming. Experiencing lives outside of your own norm can only create more empathy, which is all we can hope for. I hope you enjoy the books on this list as much as I did, and that you check out my Hearts of Broadway series for more representation. And showtunes.
I. Love. Slow. Burn. And this burn is delicious. I also love a bit of a celebrity romance. And a bit of a will-they-won't-they-should-they-even?
There is a delicate balance to strike when one of the MCs is the boss, and Wilsner pulls it off effortlessly. Jo and Emma are flawed and authentic, and so in love with each other they can't even see it. A sapphic romance with bi-representation is my favorite, and the payoff at the end? Perfection.
A showrunner and her assistant give the world something to talk about when they accidentally fuel a ridiculous rumor in this debut romance.
Hollywood powerhouse Jo is photographed making her assistant Emma laugh on the red carpet, and just like that, the tabloids declare them a couple. The so-called scandal couldn't come at a worse time—threatening Emma's promotion and Jo's new movie.
As the gossip spreads, it starts to affect all areas of their lives. Paparazzi are following them outside the office, coworkers are treating them differently, and a “source” is feeding information to the media. But their only comment…
My love for romantic comedies has only recently started to develop, but I have always been passionate about food. For years, I have been combining storytelling and new recipes through my movie cookbook series. As I was developing my book, below, I learned that weaving the food directly into the romance adds a whole new delicious layer to the story. I hope you enjoy devouring the books on this list as much as I have!
I ate Kristen Callihan's book right up. It made me feel like I was biting into the most perfect dessert. It gave me a rush but also made me think about my own life, especially where I’m at with my acting career. I was drawn into our hero's secret passion for baking, which made his pastries feel like they weren’t just food; they were little love notes.
It inspired me to bake delicious desserts for my husband, to let him know I love him without saying a word. Each description of his creations made my mouth water and my heart melt a little. It reminded me how the simple act of sharing something you pour your heart into can become a beautiful language of affection. I only put the book down to pick up a dessert fork. I probably gained 5 pounds reading this one!
From New York Times bestselling author Kristen Callihan comes a charming, emotional romance about redefining dreams and discovering unlikely love along the way.
Life for Emma isn't good. The world knows her as Princess Anya on Dark Castle, but then her character gets the axe-literally. The cherry on top is finding her boyfriend in bed with another woman. She needs a break, and sanctuary comes in the form of Rosemont, a gorgeous estate in California promising rest and relaxation.
Then she meets the owner's equally gorgeous grandson, ex-hockey player and current recluse Lucian Osmond, and she sees her own pain…
Love and War in the Jewish Quarter
by
Dora Levy Mossanen,
A breathtaking journey across Iran where war and superstition, jealousy and betrayal, and passion and loyalty rage behind the impenetrable walls of mansions and the crumbling houses of the Jewish Quarter.
Against the tumultuous background of World War II, Dr. Yaran will find himself caught in the thrall of the…
Historical romance author Emmanuelle lives on the bonny banks of Loch Fyne with her husband and beloved haggis pudding Archie McFloof—connoisseur of bacon treats and squeaky toys. While waiting on her own country house party invitation [sending a wink to Inveraray Castle—which is just down the road, and boasts a duke!] she makes do by serving up imaginary shenanigans.
I have a super soft spot for ‘second chance’ romances. Here, our heroine’s long-broken heart skips several beats on being confronted by the dashingly handsome culprit at a Christmas Ball. Having forsaken the only woman he has ever loved, our hero has just one chance to make amends. How will he regain her trust, persuading her that he’ll never again let her down? You’ll be rooting for them both to find the happiness they deserve.
She’ll never let anyone break her heart. Not again, anyway…
Lady Sarah Farley has learned many of life’s lessons the hard way. She now knows the ton will viciously turn on anyone, anytime. And love? That only brings devastation. But when a particularly handsome ghost from her past re-emerges, she can’t help but wonder if life is about to teach her poor wounded heart yet another painful, unwanted lesson.
Lord Giles Longe, Marques Gordan, never wanted to hurt Sarah. But he couldn’t have married her back then. His father wouldn’t have allowed it. Everything is different now, though. He will…
