5 Romance Novels You Should Read if You're a Hopeless Romantic
- Alexa Burban
- Dec 5, 2020
- 6 min read
I love, love! I’ve always been a hopeless romantic and a sucker for a happy ending, and because of this, I took a strong liking to romance novels. Over the past few years, I have read a ridiculous amount of contemporary romance novels and have collected quite the list of some of my favourites. I’ve narrowed that list down to my top 5 but will also include some others that I thought I should mention! It's also worth noting that if you have anyone in your life that you know loves a happy ending, these books would make for a perfect gift this holiday season!
Contemporary Romance, New Adult
It Ends With Us is one of my all-time favourite novels from Colleen Hoover and one I return to time and time again even with its heavy subject matter.
Lily’s come a long way from the life she once had from a small town in Maine. She’s graduated college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. When she meets the attractive and sometimes arrogant Ryle, she can’t get him out of her head, and Ryle’s desire to have nothing to do with romantic relationships is challenged when he can’t stop thinking about Lily either. Lily soon finds herself the exception to Ryle’s “no dating” rule but quickly begins to wonder why that rule was put in place to begin with. As Lily’s questions surrounding her relationship begin to overwhelm her, so do her thoughts of Atlas Corrigan - her first love and the link to the past she left behind in Maine. When Atlas suddenly reappears in Lily’s life, everything she has with Ryle is threatened and the life Lily once knew.
The first two times I read this book, I had two very different experiences. The first, I fell in love with one character and was rooting for him to end up with Lily. The second time it was the complete opposite. Reading It Ends With Us the first time led me to question my own morals and struggle to compartmentalize what the heart wants and what your head is telling you to do. Hoover beautifully writes a story that makes you feel and solidifies the fact that love is never easy.
Contemporary Romance, Chick Lit
Lucy has always been loved by everyone she’s worked with, that is until she worked with Joshua. Lucy’s charming and accommodating personality immediately clashes with Joshua’s cold and intimidating persona and they both make it their goal to make the other frustrated through their daily game to one-up the other. Lucy becomes determined to never let Joshua win, especially when a promotion is on the table. If Lucy wins, she’s Joshua’s boss but if she loses, she has to resign. But suddenly, Lucy starts having steamy thoughts about Joshua, and after an intense elevator kiss, Lucy begins to question if she ever really hated Joshua at all. Maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua and maybe he doesn’t hate her but maybe this is just another part of their game?
This is your typical enemy to lovers story. It’s got everything you want from an office romance and I completely ate it up! I had the pleasure of meeting Sally Thorne in 2019 at a book signing in Toronto and she was just as lovely in person and she is online. I look forward to reading more from her in the future!
Contemporary Romance, Thriller, Mystery
Struggling writer Lowen Ashleigh is offered an opportunity of a lifetime: continue writing the books of famous author and recent victim of a car crash, Verity Crawford; receive enough money to make all her financial troubles disappear; and spend time with the sexy but off-limits Jeremy Crawford, husband to Verity. When Lowen arrives at the Crawford home, her new place of residence, she’s ready to begin sorting through years of Verity’s notes about her books and begin finishing the series. What Lowen doesn’t expect is finding an unfinished autobiography about Verity’s life that she never intended anyone to read. Lowen can’t help but read the disturbing details of Verity’s life including the day her daughter died, and her intense love for Jeremy. Lowen decides to hide the manuscript from Jeremy, but as her feelings for him continue to grow the longer they live under the same roof, she can’t help but wonder if his opinion of his wife would change if he knew the horrifying truth about their life together.
I absolutely LOVED Verity. It’s twisted, mysterious, and also a love story! This was the first mystery thriller novel I read but it didn’t stray too far away from the genre of romance. I finished the book in one sitting as I couldn’t imagine walking away without knowing the ending!
Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Four years after moving from the States, Jocelyn Butler made a new life for herself in Scotland, far away from her past, and ignoring her demons and her grief in the process. Her plan of moving on was working perfectly until she moved into a new apartment on Dublin Street, where she meets Braden Carmichael who shakes up her guarded world. Braden is used to getting what he wants and what he wants is Jocelyn. After learning she’s not interested in a relationship, Braden proposes an arrangement that satisfies their strong attraction and promises no strings attached. As time passes and their bond intensifies, Jocelyn realizes that Braden won’t just settle on the physical, he wants to know her – body and soul.
I loved On Dublin Street and the entirety of Young’s series! I recommend you read the series in order as many of the characters from previous books overlap and you can see the relationships grow as the series progresses. I especially enjoyed this series as the names of the books (most of them) are based off actual street names or inspired by street names in Edinburgh, Scotland so while I visited Edinburgh last year, I walked along Dublin Street and geeked out a little.
Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Morgan Grant and her sixteen-year-old daughter, Clara, are complete opposites. Morgan is determined to not have Clara make the same mistakes she did when she was her age, getting pregnant and married way too young. Clara wants to be nothing like her mother, criticizing her for not having a spontaneous bone in her body. With their rocky relationship, the only person that can bring the two together is Chris, Morgan’s husband and Clara’s father. Their world is turned upside down when Chris is involved in a tragic and questionable accident that not only affects Morgan and Clara, but everyone else around them. As tensions continue to build, Morgan finds solace in the last person she expects to and Clara turns to the boy she’s forbidden to see. As new secrets are revealed and resentment grows, Morgan and Clara continue to grow further apart during a time when they should be growing together.
Regretting You is not just about one love story, but three. While of course, I was drawn to this book to see how the relationships that Morgan and Clara would pursue would play out, I also was drawn to the love story about a mother and a daughter who are nothing alike but learn to love one another all over again. As someone who is very close with their mum, I loved this book because it allowed me the opportunity to learn from another mother-daughter relationship and to appreciate the relationship I have even more.
I’m sure you can notice that I’m a huge fan of Colleen Hoover, given that three of the five books I’m recommending are written by her. I also want to mention a few other novels that I love but didn’t quite make the top five!
I absolutely love talking about my favourite books so if you have one that you would like to share, I’d love to hear from you! If you do decide to read any of the books I’ve mentioned, let me know what you thought!
And of course, if you’d like to follow along with what I’m reading, feel free to follow me on Goodreads and explore the other lists of books I’ve created!
Happy reading!
xx Lex
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