What Is Contemporary Romance?
What Is Contemporary Romance?
Books come in a variety of categories, each catering to a specific reader's interests and preferences. These categories can be based on the book's genre, theme, intended audience, or even the author's style. Some common book categories include fiction, non-fiction, mystery, romance, science fiction, fantasy, biography, autobiography, and self-help. Each category has its unique characteristics and features that appeal to different readers. For instance, fiction books usually tell a story that is not true, while non-fiction books provide factual information about a particular topic. Knowing the different book categories can help readers choose books that align with their interests, making reading a more enjoyable experience.
Romance stories are a highly popular genre in literature that has the most number of best-sellers. The romance genre typically features stories about love and relationships between characters, often with a happy ending. However, within the romance category, there are numerous sub-genres, each with their own unique elements and themes. Some of the most popular romance subgenres include historical romance, erotic romance, paranormal romance, romantic suspense, young adult romance, and contemporary romance. Historical romances typically take place in a specific historical period prior to WWII, while paranormal romance often includes supernatural elements such as vampires or werewolves. Contemporary romance, on the other hand, takes place in modern times and deals with contemporary issues and relationships. With so many sub-genres to choose from, there is something for everyone in the romance category. I’ll be focusing on Contemporary Romance for this post.
What Is Contemporary Romance?
Contemporary romance is a genre of romance novels that takes place in the present day or modern era. These novels are typically set in the time period following World War II and reflect the social, cultural, and technological advancements of today’s world. The beauty of contemporary romance lies in its focus on realistic characters, often ordinary people navigating extraordinary emotions, relationships, and life-changing moments. Readers can relate to the personal struggles, romantic challenges, and emotional growth of the characters, making these stories both engaging and relatable.
One of the common themes in contemporary romance is the exploration of love and identity. The genre often delves into the complexities of modern relationships, touching on issues like career aspirations, family dynamics, and emotional healing. These stories often feature strong characters who are navigating love in a world that is constantly evolving—whether it's balancing work with relationships, dealing with personal trauma, or learning to trust in themselves and their partners.
Unlike other sub-genres, contemporary romance focuses on the here and now, creating a world where love is messy, imperfect, and incredibly real. It's a genre that can reflect the highs and lows of daily life while offering readers an escape into the world of romance that feels both familiar and fresh.
Click here to learn about the best contemporary romance authors.
Best Contemporary Romance Books
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Left of Forever by Tarah DeWitt
Left of Forever tells the heart-wrenching story of Leah, who unexpectedly falls for someone who isn’t her type. Charlie, a man dealing with personal loss, challenges Leah’s view of love, leading to a connection neither of them saw coming. Their relationship is complicated by family drama, individual insecurities, and a society that doesn’t always understand their bond. As Leah and Charlie work through their issues, they both discover that love doesn’t always fit neatly into the box you expect it to. Left of Forever is a heartfelt journey of growth, healing, and finding love in unexpected places.
The Romance Rivalry by Susan Lee
In The Romance Rivalry, two rival romance authors, Quinn and Riley, are forced to work together on a project that neither of them wants to be involved in. What starts as an almost bitter partnership soon turns into something much more complex as their competitive nature pushes them to both outwrite and outwit each other. As they get closer, they begin to realize that maybe the rivalry isn't the only thing drawing them together. This enemies-to-lovers story takes a playful look at the world of writing and competition, blending sharp humor with heartwarming romance.
The Love Lyric by Kristina Forest
The Love Lyric follows Melody, a single mom who’s just starting to rebuild her life after a difficult breakup. When she meets a rising star in the music world, her world is turned upside down. Despite their immediate connection, Melody is cautious—she’s already been burned once and has no interest in dating someone who lives in the limelight. But as their bond deepens, Melody begins to question whether her fears about fame are standing in the way of true love. This romance explores the complexities of navigating love in the public eye, as well as the everyday struggles of raising a child while finding yourself again.
The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
In The Pairing, the enemies-to-lovers trope takes center stage when two competing chefs, Jamie and Alex, are forced to team up for a prestigious culinary contest. While they may have no problem verbally sparring, their chemistry in the kitchen is undeniable. Both of them have long-held grudges against each other, but as they collaborate on their culinary creations, they begin to realize that their heated rivalry could turn into something more. Set against the backdrop of a luxury food and wine tour, The Pairing is a delightful exploration of food, passion, and love, all served with a side of humor and heart.
Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood
A refreshing twist on the classic romance, Problematic Summer Romance follows Violet, a determined career woman who gets more than she bargained for when she’s forced to spend the summer with Theo, a former flame who is now a well-known celebrity. Theo has always been the man who could break Violet’s heart, but she’s determined to stay focused on her career and avoid rekindling anything. As the summer heats up, so do their undeniable chemistry and unresolved issues. Violet finds herself caught between her ambitions and a love she thought she could leave behind. With the backdrop of a gorgeous Italian villa and steamy romantic tension, Problematic Summer Romance is a story about second chances, finding balance, and the complexity of personal and professional growth.
The Partner Plot by Kristina Forest
The Partner Plot is a fresh and exciting romance that follows Zoey, an ambitious young woman navigating the cutthroat world of business. When she is unexpectedly paired with a colleague, Cameron, who seems like the least likely partner for success, sparks fly—both professionally and romantically. As they work together to outsmart the competition, Zoey and Cameron realize they have more in common than they thought, and what started as a business arrangement blossoms into a passionate, but complex, romance. Set against the high-stakes world of corporate maneuvering, The Partner Plot is a compelling tale of love, ambition, and what it really takes to make a partnership work—both in business and in the heart.
The Ex Vows by Jessica Joyce
When Marissa is asked to plan her best friend’s wedding, she’s taken aback to learn that the groom’s ex will also be attending as a friend of the family. As the wedding preparations go awry, Marissa must navigate her own feelings about her long-term relationship, which she’s been putting off confronting. To make things even more complicated, her relationship with her ex unexpectedly rekindles when they’re forced to work together. A romantic comedy about past love, present relationships, and the importance of moving forward, The Ex Vows is a humorous yet tender exploration of how we redefine love when confronted with old flames and new vows.
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
Ali Hazelwood’s Bride tells the story of a wedding planner named Nina who is tasked with organizing the most prestigious wedding of the season. However, her calm and composed exterior hides the fact that she has been avoiding her own complicated love life. When she’s forced to confront her ex, a famous actor with whom she shares an unforgettable history, Nina finds herself grappling with old feelings she thought were long buried. As she navigates the intricacies of wedding planning and the resurgence of passion with her ex, Nina discovers that love doesn’t always go according to plan. Hazelwood’s mix of humor, chemistry, and heartfelt emotion shines through in Bride, where readers learn that sometimes love needs a little more than a perfect ceremony to thrive.
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Author Interview with Abby Jimenez
In Just for the Summer, we meet Charlotte, a woman whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel when she finds herself facing an unexpected summer romance with a man she believes is completely unsuitable for her. Jordan is carefree, spontaneous, and constantly on the move, while Charlotte’s life is tightly planned. As the summer heat intensifies, Charlotte and Jordan discover that they are far more alike than they realize, and their connection grows into something deeper. However, when the summer comes to a close, they must each face the question: can their love survive the shift from carefree to real life? With Abby Jimenez’s signature charm and emotional complexity, Just for the Summer offers a sweet reminder that sometimes love is worth breaking your plans for.
Funny Story by Emily Henry
Bookish Buys inspired by Funny Story by Emily Henry
Funny Story tells the story of Quinn, a jaded librarian who’s never quite recovered from the heartbreak of her past. When she unexpectedly runs into her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex, she gets roped into an unusual, yet strangely alluring, challenge—trying to make peace with her past relationship while facing a new set of romantic and emotional hurdles. As Quinn and the charmingly unpredictable woman, Lottie, share their awkward, yet humorous, experiences, they begin to question everything they thought they knew about love and forgiveness. Emily Henry's Funny Story is a blend of sharp wit and emotional depth, with hilarious banter and poignant moments that remind us how complicated—and funny—love can be.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person's undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can't understand Joshua's joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy's overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.
Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job...But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn't hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn't hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
...I absolutely love [Sally Thorne's] writing style, her dialogue, and the chemistry between her characters is always through the roof. Whenever I think of rom-com author goals, she’s the first person that comes to mind. - Kate Bromley
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
A heartwarming and refreshing debut novel that proves one thing: there's not enough data in the world to predict what will make your heart tick.
Stella Lane thinks math is the only thing that unites the universe. She comes up with algorithms to predict customer purchases--a job that has given her more money than she knows what to do with, and way less experience in the dating department than the average thirty-year-old.
It doesn't help that Stella has Asperger's and French kissing reminds her of a shark getting its teeth cleaned by pilot fish. Her conclusion: she needs lots of practice--with a professional. Which is why she hires escort Michael Phan. The Vietnamese and Swedish stunner can't afford to turn down Stella's offer, and agrees to help her check off all the boxes on her lesson plan--from foreplay to more-than-missionary position...
Before long, Stella not only learns to appreciate his kisses, but crave all of the other things he's making her feel. Their no-nonsense partnership starts making a strange kind of sense. And the pattern that emerges will convince Stella that love is the best kind of logic...
Helen Hoang, Chloe Liese, and Talia Hibbert have been trailblazers in portraying neurodiverse love in romance, and I admire their talent endlessly. Liese, Hoang, and Hibbert show such nuance in their characters and never fail to make me laugh. - Mazey Eddings
The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary
Tiffy and Leon share an apartment. Tiffy and Leon have never met.
After a bad breakup, Tiffy Moore needs a place to live. Fast. And cheap. But the apartments in her budget have her wondering if astonishingly colored mold on the walls counts as art.
Desperation makes her open minded, so she answers an ad for a flatshare. Leon, a night shift worker, will take the apartment during the day, and Tiffy can have it nights and weekends. He’ll only ever be there when she’s at the office. In fact, they’ll never even have to meet.
Tiffy and Leon start writing each other notes – first about what day is garbage day, and politely establishing what leftovers are up for grabs, and the evergreen question of whether the toilet seat should stay up or down. Even though they are opposites, they soon become friends. And then maybe more.
But falling in love with your roommate is probably a terrible idea…especially if you've never met.
The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
Agreeing to go to a wedding with a guy she gets stuck with in an elevator is something Alexa Monroe wouldn't normally do. But there's something about Drew Nichols that's too hard to resist.
On the eve of his ex's wedding festivities, Drew is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate for a fake girlfriend....
After Alexa and Drew have more fun than they ever thought possible, Drew has to fly back to Los Angeles and his job as a pediatric surgeon, and Alexa heads home to Berkeley, where she's the mayor's chief of staff. Too bad they can't stop thinking about the other....
They're just two high-powered professionals on a collision course toward the long distance dating disaster of the century--or closing the gap between what they think they need and what they truly want....
There are so many authors I admire and are inspired by! Lately I've been following Jasmine Guillory on social media, especially when she does writing Q&As. She gives such helpful, thoughtful advice! - Melissa Croce
One Day in December by Josie Silver
Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn't exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there's a moment of pure magic...and then her bus drives away.
Certain they're fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn't find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they "reunite" at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It's Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.
What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
For ALL ABOUT US, I was really inspired by authors like David Nicholls, Marian Keyes, Mike Gayle and Josie Silver - they all write brilliant romantic comedies that manage to be funny, sad, poignant and uplifting at the same time. More generally, I think Dan Rhodes and Sue Townsend are probably my go-to novelists for comedic inspiration - both are ridiculously amusing. - Tom Ellen
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Olive Torres is used to being the unlucky twin: from inexplicable mishaps to a recent layoff, her life seems to be almost comically jinxed. By contrast, her sister Ami is an eternal champion...she even managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a slew of contests. Unfortunately for Olive, the only thing worse than constant bad luck is having to spend the wedding day with the best man (and her nemesis), Ethan Thomas.
Olive braces herself for wedding hell, determined to put on a brave face, but when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning, the only people who aren’t affected are Olive and Ethan. Suddenly there’s a free honeymoon up for grabs, and Olive will be damned if Ethan gets to enjoy paradise solo.
Agreeing to a temporary truce, the pair head for Maui. After all, ten days of bliss is worth having to assume the role of loving newlyweds, right? But the weird thing is...Olive doesn’t mind playing pretend. In fact, the more she pretends to be the luckiest woman alive, the more it feels like she might be.
With Christina Lauren’s “uniquely hilarious and touching voice” (Entertainment Weekly), The Unhoneymooners is a romance for anyone who has ever felt unlucky in love.
I draw inspiration from multiple authors for a variety of reasons. But in terms of pure writing style, my OG inspiration comes from the amazing duo Christina Lauren. Their style is accessible, simple, yet heartfelt and hilarious. They were my gateway into reading contemporary romance so I will always hold a special place in my heart for their books. - Amy Lea
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
What happens when America's First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was promptly cast as the American equivalent of a young royal. Handsome, charismatic, genius—his image is pure millennial-marketing gold for the White House. There's only one problem: Alex has a beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get hold of a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, U.S./British relations take a turn for the worse.
Heads of family, state, and other handlers devise a plan for damage control: staging a truce between the two rivals. What at first begins as a fake, Instragramable friendship grows deeper, and more dangerous, than either Alex or Henry could have imagined. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with a surprisingly unstuffy Henry that could derail the campaign and upend two nations and begs the question: Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston's Red, White & Royal Blue proves: true love isn't always diplomatic.
When asked what book character she’d be best friends with, Megan Collins said…
Alex Claremont-Diaz from RED, WHITE & ROYAL BLUE by Casey McQuiston. He's smart, funny, loyal, and if I didn't already love him from the first chapter, the turkey scene would have sealed the deal for me. (Seriously, if you haven't read this book, it's worth it for the turkey scene alone.) - Megan Collins
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
One summer. Two rivals. A plot twist they didn't see coming...
Nora Stephens' life is books—she’s read them all—and she is not that type of heroine. Not the plucky one, not the laidback dream girl, and especially not the sweetheart. In fact, the only people Nora is a heroine for are her clients, for whom she lands enormous deals as a cutthroat literary agent, and her beloved little sister Libby.
Which is why she agrees to go to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina for the month of August when Libby begs her for a sisters’ trip away—with visions of a small town transformation for Nora, who she’s convinced needs to become the heroine in her own story. But instead of picnics in meadows, or run-ins with a handsome country doctor or bulging-forearmed bartender, Nora keeps bumping into Charlie Lastra, a bookish brooding editor from back in the city. It would be a meet-cute if not for the fact that they’ve met many times and it’s never been cute.
If Nora knows she’s not an ideal heroine, Charlie knows he’s nobody’s hero, but as they are thrown together again and again—in a series of coincidences no editor worth their salt would allow—what they discover might just unravel the carefully crafted stories they’ve written about themselves.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry. The perfect, breezy summer read. No one writes dialogue like Emily Henry. The best one-liner zingers in the rom-com biz! - Kate Stollenwerck
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
Author Interview with Talia Hibbert.
Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
Enjoy a drunken night out.
Ride a motorcycle.
Go camping.
Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
And... do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…
Talia Hibbert is one of my favorite romance authors, and I have so much respect for authors who started out doing self-publishing because it takes such a tremendous amount of work. I also love that Talia's books are so focused on creating inclusive love stories, and that she's so willing to share parts of herself and her own experiences through her characters. Plus, her books are hilarious! I would love to be able to write with the kind of distinct voice she infuses into her characters. - Alison Cochrun
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
The first rule of book club: You don't talk about book club.
Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott's marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville's top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it'll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez
Kristen Peterson doesn't do drama, will fight to the death for her friends, and has no room in her life for guys who just don't get her. She's also keeping a big secret: facing a medically necessary procedure that will make it impossible for her to have children.
Planning her best friend's wedding is bittersweet for Kristen -- especially when she meets the best man, Josh Copeland. He's funny, sexy, never offended by her mile-wide streak of sarcasm, and always one chicken enchilada ahead of her hangry. Even her dog, Stuntman Mike, adores him. The only catch: Josh wants a big family someday. Kristen knows he'd be better off with someone else, but as their attraction grows, it's harder and harder to keep him at arm's length.
The Friend Zone will have you laughing one moment and grabbing for tissues the next as it tackles the realities of infertility and loss with wit, heart, and a lot of sass.
I am inspired by Kate Clayborn. Her books are the perfect combination of funny and meaningful and I love her writing style. Other favorites of mine are Jodi Picoult, Abby Jimenez, and Katherine Center. - Leanne Treese
(Click here for my list of Best Jodi Picoult Books)
The Simple Wild by K.A. Tucker
Calla Fletcher was two when her mother took her and fled the Alaskan wild, unable to handle the isolation of the extreme, rural lifestyle, leaving behind Calla’s father, Wren Fletcher, in the process. Calla never looked back, and at twenty-six, a busy life in Toronto is all she knows. But when her father reaches out to inform her that his days are numbered, Calla knows that it’s time to make the long trip back to the remote frontier town where she was born.
She braves the roaming wildlife, the odd daylight hours, the exorbitant prices, and even the occasional—dear God—outhouse, all for the chance to connect with her father: a man who, despite his many faults, she can’t help but care for. While she struggles to adjust to this new subarctic environment, Jonah—the quiet, brooding, and proud Alaskan pilot who keeps her father’s charter plane company operational—can’t imagine calling anywhere else home. And he’s clearly waiting with one hand on the throttle to fly this city girl back to where she belongs, convinced that she’s too pampered to handle the wild.
Jonah is probably right, but Calla is determined to prove him wrong. As time passes, she unexpectedly finds herself forming a bond with the burly pilot. As his undercurrent of disapproval dwindles, it’s replaced by friendship—or perhaps something deeper? But Calla is not in Alaska to stay and Jonah will never leave. It would be foolish of her to kindle a romance, to take the same path her parents tried—and failed at—years ago.
It’s a simple truth that turns out to be not so simple after all.
I’d love to be stuck in an elevator with Jonah from The Simple Wild by KA Tucker. Not only is he the ultimate book boyfriend, but he’s a handy Alaskan pilot who could probably figure out a way to save us. - Amy Lea
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
Also listed in Books Like Red White And Royal Blue
When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.
As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships—but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.
That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor—and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford's reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive's career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding...six-pack abs.
Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love.
Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.
Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.
Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.
Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
Also listed in Steamy Contemporary Romance Novels
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come a long way from the small town where she grew up—she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. And when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily’s life seems too good to be true.
Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He’s also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily. And the way he looks in scrubs certainly doesn’t hurt. Lily can’t get him out of her head. But Ryle’s complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his “no dating” rule, she can’t help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.
As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan—her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
A TikTok sensation, this rom-com about a young woman who agrees to fake date a colleague and bring him to her sister’s wedding has “everything you could want in a romance” (Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author).
Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him.
She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception. New York to Spain is no short flight and her raucous family won’t be easy to fool.
Enter Aaron Blackford—her tall, handsome, condescending colleague—who surprisingly offers to step in. She’d rather refuse; never has there been a more aggravating, blood-boiling, and insufferable man.
But Catalina is desperate, and as the wedding draws nearer, Aaron looks like her best option. And she begins to realize he might not be as terrible in the real world as he is at the office.
You Deserve Each Other by Sarah Hogle
When your nemesis also happens to be your fiancé, happily ever after becomes a lot more complicated in this wickedly funny, lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy debut.
Naomi Westfield has the perfect fiancé: Nicholas Rose holds doors open for her, remembers her restaurant orders, and comes from the kind of upstanding society family any bride would love to be a part of. They never fight. They’re preparing for their lavish wedding that's three months away. And she is miserably and utterly sick of him.
Naomi wants out, but there's a catch: whoever ends the engagement will have to foot the nonrefundable wedding bill. When Naomi discovers that Nicholas, too, has been feigning contentment, the two of them go head-to-head in a battle of pranks, sabotage, and all-out emotional warfare.
But with the countdown looming to the wedding that may or may not come to pass, Naomi finds her resolve slipping. Because now that they have nothing to lose, they're finally being themselves—and having fun with the last person they expect: each other.
The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Author Interview with Rachel Lynn Solomon
Public radio co-hosts navigate mixed signals in Rachel Lynn Solomon's sparkling romantic comedy debut.
Shay Goldstein has been a producer at her Seattle public radio station for nearly a decade, and she can't imagine working anywhere else. But lately it's been a constant clash between her and her newest colleague, Dominic Yun, who's fresh off a journalism master's program and convinced he knows everything about public radio.
When the struggling station needs a new concept, Shay proposes a show that her boss green-lights with excitement. On The Ex Talk, two exes will deliver relationship advice live, on air. Their boss decides Shay and Dominic are the perfect co-hosts, given how much they already despise each other. Neither loves the idea of lying to listeners, but it's this or unemployment. Their audience gets invested fast, and it's not long before The Ex Talk becomes a must-listen in Seattle and climbs podcast charts.
As the show gets bigger, so does their deception, especially when Shay and Dominic start to fall for each other. In an industry that values truth, getting caught could mean the end of more than just their careers.
From Lukov With Love by Mariana Zapata
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one.
After seventeen years of figure skating - and countless broken bones and broken promises - she knows her window to compete is coming to a close.
But when the offer of a lifetime comes from the arrogant idiot she's spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in front of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.
Including Ivan Lukov.
