Contemporary romance novels are set in the same period that the author is writing it in. Typically, this genre only includes novels from 1970s onwards. And there are so many amazing contemporary romance novels out there. So, we decided to gather up some of our favorites. Check them out now!
Things We Never Got Over – Lucy Score
Naomi wasn’t just running away from her wedding. She was riding out to the rescue of her estranged twin to Virginia. A town where disputes are settled with fists and beer. But her evil twin hasn’t changed at all. Now Naomi is stuck with no car, no job, no plan, and no home. With an 11-year-old to take care of.
Meet Me at Beachcomber Bay – Jill Mansell
When Clemency meets the brilliant Sam Adams, she could just about fall in love with him. If he weren’t married. Three years later, she settles in Cornwall to focus on her career. Until Sam upends her life by showing up as her stepsister’s boyfriend.
Beach Read – Emily Henry
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author and January Andrews writes bestselling romance. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. The only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighboring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
It Happened One Summer – Tessa Bailey
Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control party lands her in the slammer, her stepfather decides to cut her off. And sends her to learn some responsibility at a dive bar in Washington.
Boyfriend Material – Alexis Hall
WANTED: One (fake) boyfriend
Luc O’Donnel is reluctantly famous due to his parents. Now that his dad’s making a comeback, Luc’s back in the public eye and one compromising photo is enough to ruin everything. So, to clean up his image, Luc has to find a nice, normal relationship. And Oliver Blackwood is as nice and normal as they come.
The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood
As a third-year PhD candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in romantic relationships. But her best friend does. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and on her way to a happily ever after, Olive kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor.
I Can’t Think Straight – Shamim Sarif
Spirited Christian Tala and shy Muslim Leyla could not be more different from each other, but the attraction is immediate and goes deeper than friendship. Moving between Middle Eastern high society and London’s West End, this story explores the clashes between East and West, love and marriage, and convention and individuality creating a humorous and tender tale of unexpected love.
Regretting You – Colleen Hoover
Morgan Grant doesn’t want her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, to make the same mistakes she did. By getting pregnant and marrying way too young, Morgan put her own dreams on hold. But with warring personalities and conflicting goals, Morgan and Clara find it difficult to co-exist. The only one who can bring peace to the household is Chris, Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father. But Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident. And the mother and daughter are falling further apart.
Bared to You – Sylvia Day
He was beautiful and brilliant, jagged and white-hot. I was drawn to him as I’d never been to anything or anyone in my life. I craved his touch like a drug, even knowing it would weaken me. But I was flawed and damaged, and he opened those cracks in me so easily… Gideon knew. He had demons of his own. And we would become the mirrors that reflected each other’s most private worlds…and desires.
The Friend Zone – Abby Jimenez
Kristen Peterson is perfectly fine. She has great friends and a great dog. In fact, everything’s calm in the world of Kristen until she starts to plan her best friends’s wedding and meets the best man, Josh Copeland. She’s sure he’d be better off with someone else, so Kristen tries to keep him in the friend zone. But as their attraction grows, it’s harder and harder to resist him.
Ugly Love – Colleen Hoover
When Tate Collins finds airline pilot Miles Archer passed out in front of her apartment door, it is definitely not love at first sight. They don’t consider each other friends, but they do have an undeniable mutual attraction. He doesn’t want love and she doesn’t have time for a relationship, but their chemistry cannot be ignored.
The Worst Best Man – Mia Sosa
A wedding planner left at the alter? Carolina Santos wants to leave that behind her. She’s been offered an opportunity to change her life. There’s a catch: she has to collaborate with the best (more like worst) man from her failed wedding. Lina isn’t interested in falling in love, but there are sparks flying between them.
When Katie Met Cassidy – Camille Perri
Katie Daniels has just been dumped by her fiancé when she finds herself seated across a negotiating table from native New Yorker Cassidy Price. While at first Katie doesn’t know what to think, a chance meeting later that night leads them both to the Metropolis, a dimly lit lesbian dive bar that serves as Cassidy’s second home.
The Soulmate Equation – Christina Lauren
Single mom Jess Davis is a data and statistics wizard, but no amount of number crunching can convince her to step back into the dating world. Until she hears about GeneticAlly, a buzzy new DNA-based matchmaking company.
Well Met – Jen DeLuca
Emily knew there would be strings attached when she relocated to the small town of Willow Creek, Maryland for the summer to help her sister. But who anticipated her getting roped into volunteering for the local Renaissance Faire alongside her teenaged niece? Or that the schoolteacher in charge of the volunteers would be so annoying that she finds it impossible to stop thinking about him?
To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before – Jenny Han
What happens when secret love letters you wrote for every boy you’ve ever been in love with gets mailed to them? Lara Jean is about to find out and her love life spins from imaginary to out of control.
Roomies – Christina Lauren
Holland Bakker plans her journeys to work around the times handsome Irish musician, Calvin McLoughlin, plays in the 50th Street subway. She admires from a distance because she doesn’t have the nerve to actually talk to him, but a near-tragic accident causes him to come to her rescue. Only he disappears when the police start asking questions because he doesn’t have a visa. So, Holland offers to marry him so he can stay in New York and become a broadway star.
Fangirl – Rainbow Rowell
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life and she’s really good at it. Now that Cath and her twin sister Wren are going to college, Cath is on her own and completely out of her comfort zone. For Cath, the question is: can she do this?
Normal People – Sally Rooney
Connell and Marianne grew up in the same town, but the similarities end there. At school, Connell is popular and well liked, while Marianne is a loner. But when they strike up a conversation, something life changing begins. A year later, as she veers into self-destruction and he begins to search for meaning elsewhere, each must confront how far they are willing to go to save the other.
It Ends With Us – Colleen Hoover
Lily hasn’t always had it easy, but that’s never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She’s come to Boston and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with the gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything seems too good to be true. He may have a soft spot for Lily, but his complete aversion to relationships is concerning, even if Lily is the exception to his ‘no dating’ rule.
Me Before You – Jojo Moyes
Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has barely been farther afield than their tiny village. Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected.
Golden Girl – Elin Hilderbran
On a perfect June day, Vivian Howe, author of thirteen beach novels and mother of three children, is killed in a hit-and-run car accident. She ascends to the Beyond where she’s assigned to Martha, who grants her three ‘nudges’ to change the outcome of events on earth during one last summer.
The Wish – Nicholas Sparks
1996 was the year that changed everything for Maggie Dawes. But by 2019, she is a renowned travel photographer. Increasingly dependent on a young assistant, they become close. And she finds herself telling him the story of another Christmas and the love that set her on a course she never could have imagine.
The Kiss Quotient – Helen Hoang
Stella Lane has no dating experience and her mother thinks its time for her to get married. She can’t handle the awkwardness of one-on-one dating. To overcome this, she hires a male escort, Michael, to teach her to be a good girlfriend. The more time they spend together, the harder Michael falls for her.
Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston
When his mother became President, Alex Claremont-Diaz was the American equivalent of a young royal. But he has beef with the actual prince, Henry, across the pond. And when the tabloids get a photo involving an Alex-Henry altercation, it makes the British/U.S. relation worse. So they make a truce. what begins as a fake, Instagramable friendship grows deeper and more dangerous than they could have expected. Soon Alex finds himself hurtling into a secret romance with Henry.
Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
Caught between the joys of Singleton fun and the fear of dying alone, Bridget resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult and learn to program the VCR.
The Hating Game – Sally Thorne
Lucy HATES Joshua. She cannot understand his joyless, uptight approach to work. Joshua clearly doesn’t understand how Lucy is so quirky and wants to be liked. Now they’re up for the same promotion and Lucy has had enough of him. But as tension reaches boiling point, the real battle has only just begun.
Can You Keep A Secret – Sophie Kinsella
Nervous flyer Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. Thinking that she’s about to die, she tells the man next to her ALL of her secrets. She survives the flight and the next morning the famous founding boss of the mega corporation she works at is visiting the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma realises that it’s the man from the plane.
The Wedding Date – Jasmine Guillory
On the eve of his ex’s wedding festivities, Drew Nichols is minus a plus one. Until a power outage strands him with the perfect candidate. Alexa Monroe wouldn’t normally agree to go to a wedding with a guy she only just met, but it was hard to resist Drew. It was supposed to be a fake date, but their weekend of fun in San Francisco means they can’t stop thinking about each other.
The Unhoneymooners – Christina Lauren
Olive is always unlucky; her identical twin sister Ami is the luckiest person in the world. While she’s about to marry the man of her dreams, Olive is forced to be friends with her nemesis: the best man, Ethan. But when the entire wedding – except for Olive and Ethan – get food poisoning, there’s an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs. Pretending to be newlyweds, the two take a trip to paradise.
