Best Romance Novel

A marriage proposed for practical reasons becomes the emotional center of Lisa Kleypas's The Devil in Winter. Published in 2006 as the third Wallflowers novel, it follows Evangeline Jenner, a shy heiress trying to escape abusive relatives. She approaches Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent, a disreputable a...

Research for a novel brings sheltered author Sara Fielding into the world of Derek Craven, the self-made owner of a London gambling club. Lisa Kleypas's Dreaming of You, first published in 1994, sets their relationship in nineteenth-century England. Sara's curiosity about urban life creates a meetin...

An arrival in London unsettles an entire household in Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy. Published in 1950 and set in Regency-era England, the novel follows Sophy Stanton-Lacy as she becomes involved in her relatives' domestic and romantic difficulties. Her cousin Charles Rivenhall is especially aff...

A sheltered life in rural Yorkshire changes when Venetia Lanyon encounters her unconventional neighbor, Jasper Damerel. Georgette Heyer's Venetia, first published in 1958, places this relationship within the expectations of Regency society. Damerel's reputation makes him an unsuitable match in the j...

Responsibility for her younger siblings brings Frederica Merriville to London in Georgette Heyer's 1965 Regency romance. Hoping to introduce her beautiful sister Charis to society, Frederica asks the wealthy Marquis of Alverstoke for assistance. He initially regards the family's affairs as a diversi...

An inheritance condition prompts a pretend engagement in Georgette Heyer's Cotillion, first published in 1953. Kitty Charing's guardian plans to leave his fortune to whichever of his great-nephews marries her. Freddy Standen agrees to a sham engagement that gives Kitty the opportunity to visit Londo...

Recklessness turns a romantic pursuit into a flight to France in Georgette Heyer's Devil's Cub. Published in 1932, the novel continues the family story of These Old Shades through Dominic Alastair, Marquis of Vidal, the son of the Duke of Avon. His violent temper and disregard for consequences set i...

Literary agent Nora Stephens and book editor Charlie Lastra bring their ambitions with them into Emily Henry's Book Lovers, published in 2022. The two New Yorkers repeatedly encounter each other while Nora stays in a small North Carolina town. Their professional connection gives the contemporary rom...

Two writers facing stalled books become neighbors in Emily Henry's Beach Read, a contemporary romance published in 2020. January Andrews writes romance, while Augustus Everett is a literary novelist. They agree to exchange genres and take each other on research outings, turning their different worki...

Just for the Summer is a 2024 contemporary romance novel by Abby Jimenez. It follows Emma and Justin, two people who believe that anyone who dates them subsequently finds a lasting partner, and who agree to date each other in an attempt to cancel this apparent pattern. The novel combines its romanti...

Take a Hint, Dani Brown is a 2020 contemporary romance novel by Talia Hibbert and the second volume in the Brown Sisters series. It follows doctoral student Danika Brown and Zafir Ansari, a former professional rugby player, whose staged relationship begins after footage of him rescuing her during a...

The Kiss Quotient is a 2018 contemporary romance novel and the debut of Helen Hoang. It follows Stella Lane, an autistic econometrician who hires escort Michael Phan to help her gain experience with physical intimacy, only for their professional arrangement to develop into a romantic relationship. T...

These Old Shades is a historical romance novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1926 and set chiefly in eighteenth-century France. Its plot follows Justin Alastair, Duke of Avon, after he acquires the services of Léon, a red-haired youth who is eventually revealed to be a young woman named Léo...

Yours Truly is a 2023 contemporary romance novel by Abby Jimenez and the second book associated with the Part of Your World series. It follows emergency-room physicians Briana Ortiz and Jacob Maddox, whose tense first impressions change as they exchange candid handwritten letters. The story uses wor...

Naked in Death is a 1995 romantic suspense novel by Nora Roberts, writing under the name J.D. Robb, and the first volume in the In Death series. Set in New York City in 2058, it follows homicide lieutenant Eve Dallas as she investigates the murders of women whose deaths are connected to powerful pol...

Divine Rivals is a 2023 fantasy romance by Rebecca Ross and the first volume of the Letters of Enchantment duology. In a world shaped by a renewed war between gods, rival journalists Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt unknowingly exchange letters through magical typewriters while competing professionally. T...

A Kingdom of Dreams is a historical romance novel by Judith McNaught, first published in 1989 and set amid conflict between England and Scotland in the late fifteenth century. It follows Jennifer Merrick, the daughter of a Scottish clan leader, and Royce Westmoreland, an English nobleman and militar...

Mr. Impossible is a 2005 historical romance by Loretta Chase and the second novel in her Carsington Family series. Set primarily in Egypt in the 1820s, it pairs Rupert Carsington, a reckless English aristocrat, with Daphne Pembroke, a widowed scholar whose expertise is constrained by contemporary ex...

Again the Magic is a historical romance by Lisa Kleypas, published in 2004 and connected to her Wallflowers series as a prequel. Set in nineteenth-century England, it centers on Aline Marsden, an earl's daughter, and John McKenna, a former stable boy whom she was forced to reject because of their cl...

Red, White & Royal Blue is a 2019 contemporary romance novel by Casey McQuiston. It follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the president of the United States, and Prince Henry of Britain as a public rivalry develops into a secret romantic relationship with political consequences. The novel combines...

Part of Your World is a 2022 contemporary romance novel by Abby Jimenez and the first book in a connected series. It follows Alexis Montgomery, an emergency-room physician from a wealthy medical family, and Daniel Grant, a younger carpenter and innkeeper rooted in the small town of Wakan. Their rela...

Sylvester, or The Wicked Uncle is a Regency romance novel by Georgette Heyer, first published in 1957. It follows Sylvester Rayne, Duke of Salford, and Phoebe Marlow, an aspiring novelist who has unknowingly used him as the model for a villain in her manuscript. Their conflict develops through misun...

Boyfriend Material is a contemporary romantic comedy novel by Alexis Hall, published in 2020. It follows Luc O'Donnell, the son of two rock musicians whose public image has been damaged by tabloid attention, and Oliver Blackwood, a reserved barrister who agrees to a mutually useful fake relationship...

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a contemporary romance novel by Talia Hibbert, published in 2019 as the first book in the Brown Sisters trilogy. Chloe Brown, a chronically ill computer specialist, creates a list of experiences she hopes will make her life less restricted and asks Redford Morgan, her buil...

Act Your Age, Eve Brown is a 2021 contemporary romance novel by British author Talia Hibbert and the third volume in the Brown Sisters trilogy. It follows Eve Brown, the youngest Brown sister, after she seeks work at a bed-and-breakfast operated by Jacob Wayne and accidentally injures him with her c...

Tatiana and Alexander is the second novel in Paullina Simons's Bronze Horseman trilogy, continuing the story of Tatiana Metanova and Alexander Belov during and after the Second World War. The narrative follows Tatiana as she builds a life in the United States while believing Alexander may have died,...

Mine Till Midnight is a historical romance novel by Lisa Kleypas and the first installment in the Hathaways series. Set in Victorian England, it centers on Amelia Hathaway, who assumes responsibility for her unconventional family, and Cam Rohan, a wealthy man of Romani heritage previously introduced...

The Hating Game is a contemporary romantic comedy novel by Sally Thorne and her debut novel. It follows Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman, rival executive assistants working for the co-chief executives of a publishing company created through a merger. Their workplace competition intensifies when both...

The Flatshare is a 2019 contemporary romance novel and the debut of British author Beth O'Leary. It follows Tiffy Moore and Leon Twomey, strangers who occupy the same London flat and use the same bed at different times because their work schedules do not overlap. Their relationship develops through...