Must Read Favorite Rom-com Novels
I’m not the biggest rom-com reader, but I LOVE to laugh!! Always have! And although I don’t actively search out rom-com books to read, when I come across one, I’m not going to say NO.
So I thought I’ll pick my most favorite rom-com novels that I’ve read so far. There is a mix of indie as well as traditionally published novels. They all come with a personal recommendation from me.
Let’s check them out…
Must Read Favorite Rom-com Novels
| Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score |
Probably one of my most favorite rom-com’s from last year. I actually read this one twice already. I think what I loved about this one the most is the love story, but also the focus on an underdog female soccer high school team and their totally unexperienced soccer coach.
Synopsis
Downsized, broke, and dumped, 38-year-old Marley sneaks home to her childhood bedroom in the town she couldn’t wait to escape twenty years ago. Not much has changed in Culpepper. The cool kids are still cool. Now they just own car dealerships and live in McMansions next door. Oh, and the whole town is still talking about that Homecoming she ruined her senior year.
Desperate for a new start, Marley accepts a temporary teaching position. Can the girl banned from all future Culpepper High Homecomings keep the losing-est girls soccer team in school history from killing each other and prevent carpal tunnel in a bunch of phone-clutching gym class students?
Maybe with the help of Jake Weston, high school bad boy turned sexy good guy. When the school rumor mill sends Marley to the principal’s office to sign an ethics contract, the tattooed track coach, dog dad, and teacher of the year becomes her new fake boyfriend and alibi—for a price. The Deal: He’ll teach her how to coach if she teaches him how to be in a relationship.
Who knew a fake boyfriend could deliver such real orgasms? But it’s all temporary. The guy. The job. The team. There’s too much history. Rock bottom can’t turn into a foundation for happily ever after. Can it?
| The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary |
Last year’s biggest gem for sure. The Flatshare combines my love of all things British with an unique plot, wonderful characters and a conversation on post-it notes that stole my heart. I read this one as regular book AND audiobook and can recommend them both equally. A big THUMBS up for it!!
Synopsis
Tiffy and Leon share a flat
Tiffy and Leon share a bed
iTiffy and Leon have never met…
Tiffy Moore needs a cheap flat, and fast. Leon Twomey works nights and needs cash. Their friends think they’re crazy, but it’s the perfect solution: Leon occupies the one-bed flat while Tiffy’s at work in the day, and she has the run of the place the rest of the time.
But with obsessive ex-boyfriends, demanding clients at work, wrongly imprisoned brothers and, of course, the fact that they still haven’t met yet, they’re about to discover that if you want the perfect home you need to throw the rulebook out the window…
| Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren |
If I have to pick my favorite rom-com from this author duo it’s Josh and Hazel. And Hazel is still my favorite character by this author. Quirky and hilarious, she is someone I would love to call my friend.
Synopsis
Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.
Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.
Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them…right?
| The Hating Game by Sally Thorne |
This one is considered a classic. An office romance with lots of banter and tension between enemies that become lovers. It has everything I love about this genre. It’s a beloved book by many, and a reliable source of entertaining for me.
Synopsis
Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome.
2) A person’s undoing
3) Joshua Templeman
Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.
Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.
If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth-shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.
Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
| The Rosie Project (Don Tillman, #1) by Graeme Simsion |
I absolutely adored the audiobook for The Rosie Project. I’m a HUGE fan of quirky characters, and Ron is one of the best. The book is written from his POV, and since he is on the spectrum, entertainment is GUARANTEED!!!
Synopsis
An international sensation, this hilarious, feel-good novel is narrated by an oddly charming and socially challenged genetics professor on an unusual quest: to find out if he is capable of true love.
Don Tillman, professor of genetics, has never been on a second date. He is a man who can count all his friends on the fingers of one hand, whose lifelong difficulty with social rituals has convinced him that he is simply not wired for romance. So when an acquaintance informs him that he would make a “wonderful” husband, his first reaction is shock. Yet he must concede to the statistical probability that there is someone for everyone, and he embarks upon The Wife Project. In the orderly, evidence-based manner with which he approaches all things, Don sets out to find the perfect partner. She will be punctual and logical—most definitely not a barmaid, a smoker, a drinker, or a late-arriver.
Yet Rosie Jarman is all these things. She is also beguiling, fiery, intelligent—and on a quest of her own. She is looking for her biological father, a search that a certain DNA expert might be able to help her with. Don’s Wife Project takes a back burner to the Father Project and an unlikely relationship blooms, forcing the scientifically minded geneticist to confront the spontaneous whirlwind that is Rosie—and the realization that love is not always what looks good on paper.
| Good Boy (WAGs, #1) by Sarina Bowen |
One of my favorites when it comes to banter between the couple. I had so much fun with the hero and heroine. Again, I love it when the characters are distinctive and different. And there is no way that I’ll ever forget the hero, he doesn’t take himself very serious and can be quite the bane of someone’s existence, but for me he was pure entertainment.
Synopsis
Hosting her brother’s wedding for an MVP guest list is the challenge of Jess Canning’s life. Already the family screw-up, she can’t afford to fail. And nobody – absolutely nobody! – can learn of the colossal mistake she made with the best man during a weak moment last spring. It was wrong, and there will not be a repeat. Absolutely not. Even if he is the sexiest thing on two legs.
Blake Riley sees the wedding as fate’s gift to him. Jess is the maid of honor, and he’s the best man? Let the games begin. So what if he’s facing a little (fine, a lot) of resistance? He just needs to convince the stubborn blonde that he’s really a good boy with a bad rap. Luckily, every professional hockey player knows that you’ve got to make an effort if you want to score.
But Jess has more pressing issues to deal with than sexy-times with a giant man-child. Such as: Will the ceremony start on time, even though someone got grandma drunk? Does glitter ever belong at a wedding? And is it wrong to murder the best man?
Let me know if you read any of these and how you liked them. Also, if you have a favorite rom-com novels recommendation, let me know below.
| HAPPY READING |
Must Read Favorite Rom-com Novels
I love The Hating Game! I still really need to read Josh and Hazel and anything by Lucy Score!!❤️❤️
I had the best time reading Josh and Hazel. It’s my favorite CL book after Love and Other Words, all thanks to Hazel. She is the most quirky and entertaining heroine of all CL books. And I would definitely recommend Rock Bottom Girl and The Worst Best Man by Lucy Score, they are my absolutely favorites ♥︎
I loved Good Boy and Bet Me 😀 I love a good Rom-Com when I’m in a slump, I’ll have to try some of the others.
You already read two of my favorites, with Bet Me and Good Boy – try Lucy Score’s Rock Bottom Girl and The Worst Best Man – loved them both!
The Rosie Project is on my TBR! I’ll try to read it this summer 🙂
If you love audiobooks, I can only recommend going with that format. I laughed so much, but I also love that kind of humor. 😀
Thanks for all the rom-com recommendations! ? Funny romances are way more my thing than serious romances ?. I’m happy to see Josh and Hazel on your list, I loved that book and would totally want to be friends with Hazel too! ?
You’re welcome 😀
I don’t read them often enough, but there are some that have become favorites, and who couldn’t use something funny now and then. xoxo
So, so many good ones on here! I love so many of them.
Looking at this list, I realized that I don’t read nearly enough rom-coms, or maybe I have but I’m not aware that they are actual part of this trope.
I try to read a lot of them because they’re kind of my favorite. I read a ton of Meghan Quinn’s because she makes me laugh constantly.
I’ve heard only amazing things about MQ – glad you found an author that delivers consistently.
You haven’t read her yet? I bet you would like her! You should start with Co-Wrecker.
I only read a couple books by her, and Co-Wrecker was one of them – loved it. I also really enjoyed her cowritten book with Sara Ney.
I’ve been meaning to read The Hating Game for AGES now! Great blog post 😀
It’s such a classic romance – and you are not the only one that had this book on their tbr for ages. And honestly, it’s never too late for a book. My tbr is humongous, and there are books on there that I wanted to read for years now.
Josh & Hazel and The Hating Game are a couple of my faves. Flatshare doesn’t fall far behind. I just added Rock Bottom Girl to my TBR. Thanks for the rec!!
You’re welcome, and I’m always looking for new recs myself. So if you know of great books, along the lines of the books above, let me know. 😀
I wanna try The Flatshare 🙂
I think you would love it 😀 It’s a charming story, and a book I would recommend to anyone.
When I saw the title of your post, my first thought was ‘Oh! I’m going to recommend Bet Me!’ I was so excited to see you’ve already read it and loved it. I wish that book would make a comback.
I have The Hating Game and The Flatshare on my TBR, and they’ve been there for so long. I really need to get to them! I want to read The Rosie Project as well.
Thanks for sharing!
You’re Welcome 😀
One of her earlier romances, Welcome to Temptation, was one of the first romances I ever read in English and I laughed so hard! Loved all the puns and banter.
The others are great books to have on any tbr – can’t wait for you to read them.
I’ll have to try that one!
Have you read any Sophie Kinsella (and NOT Confessions of a Shopaholic, which falls near the bottom)? Rom-com is not my favorite genre, but she tops the list for me. My absolute favorite laugh hysterically out-loud book of hers is I’ve Got Your Number. Followed by Twenties Girl, Remember Me?, and Can You Keep a Secret?
I have read her YEARS ago, the shopaholic books when they came out, but haven’t read any since. I’m going to check my libraries to see if they have and of the ones you mentioned, I bet they do. I must admit, I have a hard time with rom-com. It has to be done well. The funny needs to be balanced with a great story, and it has to be WITTY 😀
Well, my personal fave is I’ve Got Your Number, but the deepest story is probably Twenties Girl. Remember Me? is an amnesia story. which I was ok with but I know is a trope some people aren’t fans of. Can You Keep a Secret is the lightest of all of these. I pretty much hated Confessions of a Shopaholic. It’s really not a good indicator of the rest of her books.