As I was thinking of a book post to write for this week I was also, separately, thinking of books I'd recommend to my sister who I just newly discovered is on Goodreads. Judging by the books she had logged and some others I know she's read, my mind went to romance books. I was scanning through my list of what I read in 2022 and realized I had really picked up my romance reading. I like to think I read fairly widely but sometimes it's just nice to dive into a good romance, a genre I can usually get through rather quickly. And sometimes my brain likes not thinking so hard or reading about tough situations (I just finished Kindred and woah, that was a tough read at times). I also knew I had been awhile since I did a romance list on the blog (nearly two years, here) and volia...today's post was conceived.
These are nearly all of the romance (or romance-esque...I know the romance genre is typically defined as books that have a Happily Ever After or HEA. I'm not sure all of these qualify by that standard by all have pretty predominately romantic story lines.) I've given 4 or 5 stars to on Goodreads since I wrote that last post 21 months ago. In no particular order...here we go!
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People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
I, like many people, was introduced to Emily Henry via Beach Read in 2020. I enjoyed that one so much that I bought this one before reading it. I think Beach Read remains my favorite of hers but this was still a fun, travel based romance about two former best friends who would take a trip together every year. Then there was a falling out and the book goes back and forth between the present day when they are taking one. last. trip. together and flashing back to their prior trips, leading up to the one where everything went wrong.
Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey
This book is about a young toy store owner who crosses paths with a local Mr. Rogers, if Mr. Rogers was many decades younger (basically, the host of a public television show for children featuring puppets). Then add romance. It sounds less weird than you might expect. The toy store owner seeks the advice of young/hot Mr. Rogers and this carries on for awhile. SPARKS FLY. (You can assume that sparks fly in all of these books.) Again, less weird that that description sounds.
Float Plan by Trish Doller
I loved this story about a woman who takes a sailing trip solo that she was supposed to take with her fiance (I believe he died?). Turns out, sailing in the Caribbean is HARD and she needs help. That help comes in the form of a professional sailor who joins her and is also dealing with his own stuff. Will I ever sail a boat solo through the Caribbean? I mean, never say never but this feels like a pretty safe no. However, I sure enjoyed reading about someone else doing it.
The Suite Spot by Trish Doller
The follow-up to Float Plan, featuring the sister of that one's protagonist. She needs a job change and ends up on an island in Ohio (yes, Ohio has at least one island, this one in Lake Erie) at what she thought was another job managing a hotel but ends up to be developing a hotel with the prickly owner. Can she handle the job and the owner? This one mentions Cedar Point multiple times which I was tickled by every time.
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
Katherine Center is going to feature heavily on this list because I really dove into her books in the past 6 months and I've enjoyed all of them (so much she just got her own post recently). This one involves an ill fated plane flight, lots of rehab time, and a hot Scottish physical therapist. Like all of her books, I flew through this one.
Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center
I very specifically remember reading this, in a hotel room in San Antonio, all settled in near the mini kitchen while my kids slept and Matt was at his conference. It was a delightful and quiet time. This one has a disgraced firefighter (for standing up for herself again a former attacked) who transfers from Texas to Boston to care for her ailing mother and to escape the disgrace in Texas. She's at the bottom of line at her new station in Boston, except for a rookie who turns out to be her competition for a job only one of them can keep. Sparks fly. If you guessed there is also real fire...you are correct.
The Beach Trap by Ali Brady
One of my sister-in-laws recommended this to me and I quite enjoyed it. It's starts a reverse Parent Trap where two girls become BFFs at summer camp only to discover they are half-sisters they each didn't know existed. They are no longer BFFs and have no contact until their father dies and jointly leaves them a beach house in desperate need of repair. They have to find a way to fix it up and decide, together, what to do with it. Good thing they know men who will work for free.
Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey
This one I ALSO read next to a hotel sink while my kids slept but this time my husband was doing wedding party things for his nephew's wedding. I've really enjoyed all of Kerry Winfrey's books but this might be my favorite, about high school sweethearts from a small town who fell apart and then one them feels like she fell apart. The other went on to become a successful musician who, a decade later, decides to settle back in their hometown. They can't help running into each other.
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
This is the book that started my Katherine Center deep dive last year. A woman bodyguard in Texas gets hired to be a bodyguard for a big name actor who is in town to help see his mother through cancer treatments. He doesn't want his family to know there are threats against him so she poses as his girlfriend while also protecting him. Turns out, there isn't a lot to protect him from on a big Texas ranch.
Every Summer After by Carley Fortune
I loved this childhood sweetheart story about two young kids who meet at the lake. She is only there in the summers. He lives there year round. For many years their friendship is just in the summers and then that friendship turns into something more before it all falls apart. I am a sucker for a childhood sweetheart story. Flew through this one.
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan
This one was so much fun. A woman is scorned my her (now) ex-husband and turns her pain into a screenplay (maybe a book first?). They decide to film some of it at her actual house and then the very attractive actor playing her ex-husband in the movie needs a place to stay and ends up in her guest house. It all is a bit less far fetched as I may have made it sound. Delightful kids (hers) and just a really fun romance read.
Something Wilder by Christina Lauren
I am always amazed when I remember exactly where I was when I read a book, in this case, our cabin in Maine. I thought it was fitting I unintentionally brought a book largely set at a national park while we were visiting a (different) national park. This one was a departure for these authors (two best friends who co-write under this pen name). It involves the previously mentioned national park, a treasure hunt, bad people, guns, and romance. It was a wild ride. (Our national park trip involved very little of those things.)
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
There was a period last spring when it felt like EVERYONE was reading this book. My sister even caught someone else in car line with it. Emily Henry has become a must-buy for me but also it's fun to just buy a new book every year. A literary agent takes a month away with her sister in a small North Carolina town only to keep bumping into a book editor she knows from the city. And not a book editor she gets along with. They both love books. Will they love each other?!?!?!?
Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman
A magazine writer is doing an article on a big name movie star. Their interview is extended to include some actual hanging out and then they don't see each other for 10 years. Movie star is doing another big press push and requests magazine writer to do a second piece on him. Will they have to address what happened 10 years ago?? (Supposedly based on this GQ article written about Chris Evans in 2011.) It was fun.
Lease on Love by Falon Ballard
A young woman is passed over for a well deserved promotion and ends up, after some alcohol, on the steps of a gorgeous brownstone. She's much more interested in the real estate than in the man that comes with it. He is grieving the death of his parents but offers her his spare room for cheap, which she needs since she left her job after not getting that promotion. They are opposites but we all know opposites attract.
There you have it! Fifteen recent-ish romance books that I enjoyed! If you are looking for an enjoyable read but a book you can't put down...one of them might be for you!
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