Rom coms: readers love them so much that the majority of romance books get (mis)labeled that way! It can often be difficult to tell if the book you’re reading is going to be a genuinely low angst, feel good (hopefully funny!) read, which sometimes makes reading rom coms frustrating. Sometimes I just want a book that’s going to make me smile, make me swoon, and make me laugh – while still being a fulfilling, engaging love story. The books on this list are all playful, fun, and romantic. They deliver satisfying romances, while also giving you a case of the swoons. Several of them are also hysterical, so you might find yourself giggling in public if you’re not careful.

There’s a little something for everyone on this list, and they’re all 4 or 5-star contemporary romance novels that kept me hooked while I was reading. There are several different tropes included, and very different reading experiences, from mostly sweet to super spicy. If I’ve reviewed a book, the link is included, as well as blurbs and links to Amazon for easy addition to your TBR. Happy reading!

Eloise and the Grump Next Door by Emma St. Clair and Jenny Proctor

I’m not sure which is worse–the lawyer handling my grandmother’s estate or the attack pelican living on the screened-in porch. Just kidding–I’ll take the pelican any day.

After graduation, I thought I’d be off to grad school, doing research on my favorite poet. Instead, I’m renovating my late grandmother’s home and posting about the process on Instagram. Talk about a detour …

But here I am. Turning Gran’s beach house into a bed and breakfast–a process that would be a lot easier if I didn’t have to deal with the grumpy lawyer living next door. It doesn’t help that the night Jake and I met, I got a little tipsy, and he had to carry me back to my hotel.

But the longer I stay on Oakley Island, the more I feel a connection to my childhood and to my grandmother. This isn’t the life I dreamed of, but dreams can change. Especially when new dreams include a future with Jake. On the outside, he might be pricklier than a puffer fish, but I catch glimpses of a delicious, cinnamon roll center.

Did I mention the tattoos he hides underneath those crisp button-down shirts? Yowza.

When I’m suddenly presented with the academic opportunity of my dreams (former dreams?), my picturesque life on Oakley starts to unravel.

A part of me wants to stay. If only a certain tattooed grump didn’t seem so determined to send me away …

Eloise and The Grump Next Door is a grumpy sunshine, closed door romantic comedy. The Oakley Island Romcom series follows three very different sisters as they renovate the house they inherited and find love on the island along the way. Each book will have sizzling chemistry but no spice.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Ads0HF

The Billionaire’s Fake Fiancée by Annika Martin

I’m no Prince Charming, and the last thing I want is a Cinderella.

My instructions were simple: scour the city for a fake fiancée who’s not my type at all. Have her on my jet Monday morning, dressed appropriately for a yacht vacation.

I need a woman believable enough to convince a certain client that I’ve changed my playboy ways…yet nothing like the supermodels and socialites I usually have on my arm.

Somebody too annoying to tempt me—no emotional entanglements, thank you very much. This is business only.

If she’s unfazed by my looks and wealth, all the better.

Should be easy. Right?

Apparently not, because my people go and hire Tabitha. My hairdresser.

What were they thinking? Yes, I said annoying, but I didn’t mean her, the most frustrating woman in the world.

Tabitha is sunshiny. She has a pet hamster. She loves Hello Kitty, and she gets under my skin like nobody else.

As if that’s not bad enough, the minute we step on deck, she thinks that certain people on the yacht are up to something shady—based completely on her soap opera knowledge.

She won’t listen when I tell her she’s being ridiculous.

But as the days go by, I find that we’re actually having fun. And our fake kisses are heating up. And suddenly her wild theories aren’t sounding so strange after all…

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3f2j0tB

Just My Type by Tara Sivec

Live in the best small town in the world? Check.
Have the greatest job ever working on my family’s pumpkin farm? Check.
Marry the town pharmacist and have a nice, quiet life with our son? Check-check.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you say you were happy? LOLOLOLOL!” ~ Life

Ember Hastings never thought she’d be dragged away from White Timber and everything she loved, thrust in the middle of a big city she hated, or have her husband of nine years say, “I can’t do this anymore,” all within the span of three months, yet here she is.

She misses her family, she misses the farm, and she misses having a backbone and caring whether or not the stain on her shirt is chocolate or sh*t. She works from home doing transcription. Does she really need to shower or leave the house?

Baker Matthews has been bringing everyone down lately with his grouchy attitude. His job is stressful and sometimes depressing, but he wouldn’t change anything about it. When a glitch with the transcription company he’s using mistakenly sends him notes he wasn’t supposed to see, Baker finds himself laughing out loud for the first time in months.

He’s never met a woman who says whatever she’s thinking and doesn’t fawn all over him when she finds out what he does for a living. Until Ember Hastings comes barreling into his life, calling him Sh*t Mouth and asking if he has any balls.

But she wants to keep this professional. She made him pinky swear, and you don’t mess around with pinky swears. Baker will have to get creative if he wants to prove to Ember that he’s just her type.

Read the audiobook review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3gNRnq7

Good Vibrations by Kayley Loring

A former model, a grumpy lawyer, and a single dad walk into an audition for a children’s musical… They’re all Miles Brodie. It’s only cute if you aren’t the director who’s being bribed to cast his daughter.

DEAR MS. CROSS,

Re: Our discussion

1. True. Casting my daughter as the lead in your musical could be considered bribery if people find out I’m investing in it, but no one needs to know.
2. I only want to hire you as Macy’s singing coach so her vocal skills will improve.
3. Maybe if you’d spent less time surfing and more on your singing career, you wouldn’t be in this financial predicament.
4. Re. your living situation—my neighbor has a guest house. If you cast Macy as Alice, I will pay for your first three months’ rent.

Do we have a deal?

Best regards,
Miles Brodie

DEAR MR. BRODIE,

1. It absolutely is bribery, but I absolutely need that money for my production. Thanks!
2. It is very cute that you will do anything to get Macy this part, but I would only coach that sweet child as a favor to all mammals with functional hearing.
3. If I spend less time surfing, will you spend less time jogging on my beach with your shirt off?
4. You want to pay me to live next door so you don’t have to drive anywhere to frown at me?
5. I have another condition for casting Macy as Alice—you have to perform the part of the Cheshire Cat.

Purrrrrrr,
Aria

* This is a 70,000 word standalone steamy romantic comedy novel.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/39Gc7zE

Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score

Can these opposites turn up the heat… without burning down the house?

House-flipping sensation and YouTube star Maggie Nichols can’t wait to dig into her next challenge. Arriving in tiny Kinship, Idaho, with only a cot and a coffeemaker, Maggie is prepared to restore a crumbling Victorian mansion in four months or less. She has her to-do lists, her blueprints, and her team. What she doesn’t have is time for sexy, laid-back landscaper Silas Wright.

The man takes flirtation to a whole new level. And he does it shirtless…sometimes pants-less. He and his service school-dropout dog are impressively persistent. But she’s not interested in putting down roots. Not when fans tune in to watch her travel the country turning dilapidated houses into dream homes. A short-term fling on the other hand could fit nicely into her calendar. After all, Maggie remembers what fun is like. Vaguely.

As their summer gets downright steamy, Silas manages to demolish the emotional walls she’s spent years building, sending Maggie into a panic. He’s the wrench in her carefully constructed plans. With the end of the project looming, she has a decision to make. But how can she stay when her entire career is built on moving on?

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/35UHm8i

The Modern Gentleman by Meghan Quinn

Have you ever hit rock bottom?

I embarrassingly have.

It’s why I’m wearing my girl’s decorative scarf over my head, clutching her lady drink to my chest, and singing ever so softly to Joni Mitchell while swaying back and forth.

This is what therapists refer to as LOSING IT.

Oldest story in the book: boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy screws up MASSIVELY, girl tells boy to suffocate in the fruits of his very own unborn children.

Heard it before? I’m sure you have.

So what’s so different about this story? Well, it’s about me, The Modern Gentleman, New York City’s top advice columnist, and my rather ungraceful downfall from my pristinely polished pedestal

It’s about a girl I met who threw all my proven theories to the wind and left me awkward, needy, and absolutely head-over-wingtipped shoes in love.

This is a story about June Lacy and how she single-handedly dismantled The Modern Gentleman.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3brcWYB

All Downhill With You by Julie Olivia

The moment we meet, it’s all downhill.

My job is providing happiness and smiles at Honeywood Fun Park, and Emory Dawson is the frown our park didn’t ask for.

When our star roller coaster malfunctions with me on board, the manufacturer’s heir and lead engineer, Emory, vows to renovate the attraction. So instead of having a fun summer season as Marketing Manager for Honeywood, I’m now saddled with playing host.

Wonderful.

Emory is the opposite of a good time. He’s the grump that won’t stop grumping, and our arguments escalate quicker than my heart rate after a roller coaster’s fall.

He knows I can see right through his broody gaze and big ideas. Repairing the coaster? More like overhauling his own company’s reputation, regardless of whether it helps our local theme park.

But when our firm handshakes start lingering too long, or when his muscled thighs rest against mine under the table, I’m thrown for a loop.

Most roller coasters are fun, but I’d like to get off this emotional one, please.

All Downhill With You is a stand-alone romantic comedy. This book is an enemies-to-lovers, grumpy/sunshine romance with laugh-out-loud theme park moments, a cozy small town, and sizzling spice!

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3GSqddY

Ego Trip by Tabatha Kiss

Two weeks on the road with my boss? Business as usual.
Two weeks on the road with my newer, hotter boss that I had a one-night stand with four years ago? A disaster waiting to happen.

It was a one-time thing with a man I knew from work.
His name was Oliver Black. The rich and handsome manager of the Botsford Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas.
Dark hair. Icy blue eyes. A cocky smirk with dimples deep enough to trip on.

No one has to know, he said.
And no one did know… except maybe the guests trying to sleep in the suite next door.

I didn’t know he’d eventually get promoted to my department.
I definitely didn’t know my boss would assign me to travel the country with him to keep his raging ego in check.
Two weeks. Five locations. A whole lot of hotel rooms in-between.

This trip will either solidify our business relationship as totally platonic friends and nothing more, or destroy my career.
But we already know the answer to that question, don’t we?

I’m screwed. Literally.

Ego Trip is a stand-alone romantic comedy with a cocky boss, his cheeky by-the-books assistant, and enough steam to melt your Kindle! One-click your copy to find out why romance lovers can’t get enough of Tabatha Kiss and her delicious heroes!

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/38YTL97

Matchmaking a Billionaire by Angela Denise

He’s everyone’s dream man but hers.

Bryn

I used to believe in what we do at Mayberry Matchmakers, but now? Love is just another four-letter word.

Too bad my grandmother hasn’t gotten the memo. When tech billionaire Rory Byrne approaches us, wanting to develop the matchmaking app my sister and I dreamed up (and Nana shot down), she jumps at the chance. My grandmother is nothing if not opportunistic.

Of course, there’s a catch. She’ll only do it if Rory lets us matchmake him the old-fashioned way.

He’s going to say no.

Please God, let him say no.

The last thing I want to do is matchmake an entitled rich jerk…especially one who looks like sin and talks a good game.

***

Rory

I’ve screwed up in love a few times, but I never screw up in business. Mayberry Matchmakers has the idea for something amazing, and I have the money and the experience to make it come to life.

I should deny Nana Mayberry’s condition. If I let them matchmake me, it’ll be all over the news, and making headlines has never interested me…especially not after the personal betrayal that nearly broke me. But I’m having trouble caring about what I should do, because Bryn Mayberry is smart, snarky, and not the slightest bit impressed with me.

Actually, this may be Mayberry Matchmakers’ easiest job yet.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3qzd6HO

The Bookworm’s Guide to Dating by Emma Hart

What I wanted for my birthday: Books.
What I got for my birthday: my brother’s best friend playing matchmaker.

Let it be known that I, Kinsley Lane, am one hundred percent against being set up with somebody.
And I’m one thousand percent sure that Josh Carter is not the man to find me a boyfriend.
I mean, if I’m so great, why isn’t he the one dating me? (For the record, I don’t know the answer. That’s just what the guy on the internet asked.)
Still, I’ll humor him. If I go on his little dates, he’ll teach my bookish, introverted self how not to be totally, completely, utterly, unforgivably awkward on every single one of them.
And all I have to do is fall in love with one of the lovely gentlemen he’s serving up for me on a silver platter—all of whom fit my very specific guidelines.
Simple, right?
It would be.
If only I could stop falling for Josh.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3lgnAqu

America’s Geekheart by Pippa Grant

Remember that time you accidentally sexted your boss?

Yeah. I just basically did the equivalent. Except worse. Now my millions of social media followers are reading and sharing the rude, smartass message I meant to send privately to my little sister as a joke…and I’m officially public enemy number one.

I’m Beck Ryder. Former boy bander. Underwear model. Fashion mogul. And I buried my entire leg in my mouth—not just my foot—modern internet style, and publicly insulted my sister’s neighbor.

Sarah Dempsey.

Also known as the woman of my dreams, who loves geeky TV shows, baseball, and giraffes, who’s just as turned on by food as I am, and who has a huge secret that I didn’t see coming.

Now it’s time to grovel and apologize publicly on social media and hope that those same followers who helped start the raging shitstorm will help calm the waters.

Because Sarah doesn’t want the spotlight. For very good reasons that I can’t tell you right now and trying to convince her to be my fake girlfriend to fix this mess and make me look like less of a jackass is worse than taking a kick to the nuts by Jackie Chan.

And I thought modeling underwear made me feel naked.

Trying to start a relationship in the era of the Twitterazzi isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be.

America’s Geekheart is a rockin’ fun romantic comedy featuring a billionaire fashion mogul who got his start modeling underwear, the geeky girl next door with a secret the size of California, and more superstitions and secrets than you can shake a baseball bat at. It stands alone with no cheating or cliffhangers.

Read the audiobook review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3L1h6ZL

The Real Deal by Lauren Blakely

April Hamilton wants you to know she hasn’t been on GigsForHire since that time she sold her futon after college. She doesn’t even spend that much time online. And even if she did, she would not be looking up personal ads. But going home alone for her family’s summer reunion is an invitation for every single relative to butt into her personal life. She simply can’t handle another blind date with the butcher, the baker or the candlestick maker from her hometown. So when she finds the GigsforHire ad for a boyfriend-for-hire, she’s ready to pay to play.

Heading Home and Need a Buffer? I’m the REAL DEAL.

Theo Banks has been running from the past for years. He’s this close to finally settling all his debts, and one more job as a boyfriend-for-hire will do the trick. He’s no gigolo. Please. He’s something of an actor, and he knows how to slip into any role, including pretending to be April’s new beau — the bad boy with the heart of gold.

Even if it means sleeping in close quarters in that tiny little bed in her parents’ inn. Even if it means spinning tales of a romance that starts to feel all too true. What neither one of them counts on is that amid the egg toss, the arm wrestling, and a fierce game of Lawn Twister that has them tangled up together, they might be feeling the real deal.

She only wanted to show her family once and for all that she had no need to settle down.

He didn’t expect to have the time of his life at her parent’s home.

They didn’t plan on loving every single second of the game.

But can a masterful game of pretend result in true love?

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mzzeyi

Blow Me Away by Christina Hovland

It’s all fun and games until somebody falls in love…

Jase Dvornakov has always loved women, 80’s hair band music, and things that go boom. He used to disarm bombs in the Navy, but he’s back in Denver after a mission overseas went sideways and destroyed his future, including his marriage. Now he arranges flowers in his family’s floral business because flowers don’t explode.

Cookie-baker extraordinaire, Heather Reese, has had one too many rounds of heartache, so she’s sworn off men and prefers to spend her evenings binge-watching game shows. Plus her no-men rule gives her time to focus on her dream come true–Heather’s Cookie Co.–her very own bake shop with an underground following for naughty shaped treats. She refuses to be interested in the hot-shot florist across the street. He is trouble with a capital T. Sexy trouble, but still, a hook-up with Jase is a hard nope.

Desperate to avoid his family’s incessant matchmaking, a fake breakup with the beautiful Heather is just what the florist ordered. If his family believes Heather decimated his heart, they’ll leave him alone. Heather isn’t so keen on the idea, but Jase is determined to make it worth her while. When a pretend breakup becomes the real romance neither was expecting, together they’ll have to decide if it’s finally time to light the fuse on love…

Blow Me Away is the second book in the Mile High Matched Series. Each book stands alone and can be read in any order. If you love friends to lovers with a dash of steam, this is the book for you! Buy Blow Me Away for a laugh out loud romantic comedy!

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3QTXslf

Drop Dead Gorgeous by Lauren Landish

I see dead people.
No, not like that movie.

I’m a coroner, and yes it’s the kiss of death on my dating life. When men find out what I do, I’m lucky to hear “it was nice meeting you.”

Until I almost accidentally kill Blake Hale with my car.
Instead of being freaked out by me, he’s intrigued.
No matter how much I try to scare him off, he keeps coming back for more.
And for a follow-the-rules guy, he’s breaking them all for me.

We couldn’t be more different.
He’s all goodness and light, with a brain that’s even sexier than his six pack.
I’m danger in a pretty package, and no amount of knocking on wood is going to make the happily ever after he’s promising come true. But…

With each word we exchange, my resolve weakens.
With each heated look, he gets further into my soul.
With every kiss, he consumes me by accepting me just as I am.

I deal in death all day. He sells life… insurance. What could possibly go wrong when I start believing in Mr. Right?

Drop Dead Gorgeous is a full-length meet-cute Romance… with a twist! It is a standalone.

Read the review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/2N5waw4

Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone

Paint your toes. Pick up the wrong coffee and bagel order. Drive from Brooklyn to Jersey in traffic so slow you want to tear your hair out. It’s amazing all the useless things I can accomplish while on hold for three hours with customer service. Three hours when I should be getting the Date-in-a-Box website ready to launch at the big business expo in a few days. Except my shiny new website is glitching, and my inner rage-monster is ready to scorch some earth . . . when he finally picks up. Not the robot voice I expected but a real live human named Cal. He’s surprisingly helpful and really knows his stuff, even if he’s a little awkward . . . in an adorable way.

And suddenly I’m flirting with him? And I think he’s flirting back.

And suddenly it’s been hours, and we’re still on the phone talking and ordering each other takeout while he troubleshoots my website.

And suddenly we’re exchanging numbers and sending texts and DMs every day, leaving voice mails (who even does that anymore?!).

And suddenly I’m wondering if it’s possible for two people to fall in love at first talk.

Because I’m falling . . . hard.

Read the audiobook review here

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JKbuBL