2023’s Most Heartfelt Reads: The Best Romance Books of the Year

Happy Place

By Emily Henry

Since their undergraduate years, Harriet and Wyn have been the ideal couple—they complement each other like salt and pepper, honey and tea, and lobster and rolls. But as of right now, they don’t—for reasons they haven’t yet disclosed.

They split up half a year ago. and haven’t yet told their closest pals.

This is how they end up sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage that for the past ten years has served as the annual retreat for their buddy group. Every year, they take a vivid, wonderful week off from their everyday lives to enjoy a seaside getaway where they can enjoy an abundance of cheese, wine, and seafood while spending time with those who truly understand them.

Harriet and Wyn are just lying through their teeth this year, attempting to hide how much they still desire each other. since this is their final week together in this location and the cottage is up for sale. They’ll play their parts because they can’t bear to damage their pals’ hearts. Wyn will be the easygoing charmer who never shows his vulnerabilities, while Harriet will be the focused surgical resident who never picks fights. If you observe the plan via sunglasses covered with sunscreen and from a considerable distance, it appears to be perfect. How difficult can it be to pretend to be in love for a week after years of being together—in front of the people who know you the best—?

Love, Theoretically

By Ali Hazelwood

Elsie Hannaway, a theoretical physicist, has finally come to terms with her numerous lifetimes. In the aim of getting tenure, she works as an adjunct professor during the day, grading laboratories and instructing thermodynamics. Other days, Elsie uses her skillfully developed people-pleasing abilities to represent whichever version of herself the client needs, making up for her nonexistent wage by providing her services as a pretend girlfriend.

To be honest, it’s a really great gig—until her meticulously built Elsie-verse collapses. For it turns out that Jack Smith, the obnoxious beautiful and conceited elder brother of her favorite client, is the heartless experimental physicist who destroyed her mentor’s career and damaged the standing of theorists worldwide. And he’s the same Jack Smith who oversees the MIT physics department, putting Elsie in the path of her ideal career.

Elsie is ready for a full-scale academic sabotage battle, but those piercing, lengthy looks? Being herself without having to pretend to be someone else when she’s with him? Will she ever be tempted to implement her most cautious views about love after becoming caught up in the orbit of an experimentalist?

Practice Makes Perfect

By Sarah Adams

Annie Walker, who owns the neighborhood flower shop in Rome, Kentucky, is searching for her ideal match—someone who will enhance her contented, peaceful existence. But Annie could have a harder time than she thought finding her ideal man. In her community, everyone knows everyone, and there are less and fewer opportunities for dating. Annie begins to suspect that the issue may be with her after overhearing her most recent date describe her as “so unbelievably boring.” Is it too late for her to start being flirty and lighthearted like the leads in her romantic comedies? Perhaps she just needs a little more experience, and Annie has Will Griffin in mind as the ideal tutor.

While Amelia Rose prepares to wed Annie’s brother Noah Walker, Will, her seductive, tattooed, and stunning bodyguard, is momentarily returning to Rome to watch over her. While on the job, he only has one personal goal: avoid Annie Walker and any other potential attachments to this quaint village. However, as soon as he settles in, Will is assigned the responsibility of assisting Annie in becoming Rome, Kentucky’s next leading lady and meeting the love of her life. Will is opposed to altering the attractive and kind Annie. He is certain that she won’t be happy with some stuffy, stiff guy, but he lacks the courage to refuse her.

Annie learns that Will is not always as stoic during intense practice dates and rigorously “educational” tutoring sessions. Annie rethinks her ideal partner as their friendship borders on perilously blurring. Perhaps she just needs her love life to be genuine and not ideal.

The Build Up

By Tati Richardson

Architect Ari James did not foresee herself starting her first day at a new business looking rumpled and disheveled. And not many things can compare to the terror of having her new, incredibly attractive colleague barge in on her at the worst possible time. It’s more difficult than ever for her to concentrate on her big comeback after finding out that she’ll be collaborating with him on the project that will supposedly launch her career again.

Nothing will stop Porter Harrison from completing his new project to the fullest—not his annoying rival, his erratic brother, or his new coworker, whose stunning curves he stumbled upon and can’t stop thinking about—because a partnership at his company is on the line.

Ari and Porter have a clear connection once their creative juices start flowing, even though neither of them is searching for love. However, since their mutual objective has always been professional success, laying a strong basis for a relationship could wind up costing them everything.

The Love Wager

by Lynn Painter

Hallie Piper is making a fresh start. She becomes a full-fledged adult after belly-crawling out of a hotel room (hey, rock bottom). She obtains a new apartment, a new hairstyle, and new clothes, but when she opens the dating app she thinks would lead her to her true love, she recognizes Jack—the person she sneaked out of his room.

Jack and Hallie find they’re each other’s ideal wingmen in their quest for The One after deciding they’re not at all interested in one another. They email back and forth about their dates, usually arranging to meet at the same restaurant so that, in the event that things don’t work out, they can go out for tacos afterwards.

Spoiler alert: They eat a lot of tacos together.

Jack and Hallie, disheartened by the lack of opportunities, decide to place a bet to see who can discover true love first. However, all stakes are raised when they decide to pose as dates for a weekend wedding. They both find it difficult to recall why the other was a lousy idea in the first place as they try to act like a pair.

Exes and O’s

by Amy Lea

Tara Chen, a romance book enthusiast, has had 10 separate guys break her heart; they all left her because of her “stage-five clinger” behavior. Tara is nonetheless committed to finding The One. The sole issue These days, meet-cutes are extinct because of dating applications. Tara makes the decision to get in touch with her past lovers again in the hopes of landing her own clichéd second-chance relationship.

Trevor Metcalfe, a firefighter from Boston, is the last person to hurry into a relationship, yet he will be the first to rush into a burning building. He simply isn’t into love. He grudgingly accepts when his new roommate Tara asks him to assist her in getting in touch with her ex-partners. However, Tara’s voyage is enabling him to write a new chapter in his own life.

Tara becomes increasingly aware that Trevor appears to be the only person who values her dramatic, true self as they spend more time together. Can Tara and Trevor see past their developing relationship in order to secure their happily ever after?

The Neighbor Favor

by Kristina Forest

Lily Greene is shy, bookish, and yes, awkward, but she’s always felt small in comparison to the rest of her successful family, who all aim for Black perfection. She has been annoyingly stuck in the nonfiction sector for years without any sign of a promotion, despite her desire of becoming an editor of children’s books. Lily finds solace in her emails with her favorite fantasy writer, and what starts out as a cautious friendship between two lonely people becomes into something more than Lily will probably ever allow herself to consider—until he abruptly stops talking to her.

Even though Lily is still devastated months later, she is resolved to take control of her life and is starting by setting up a date for her sister’s wedding. And her new neighbor Nick Brown, whom she finds endearing and intriguing for reasons she cannot quite put her finger on, is the ideal guy to assist her. She had no idea, though, that Nick is one of her favorite fantasy writers.

Nick, who has his own motivations for going under a pen name and avoiding social situations, quickly discovers that the quiet, lovely girl across the hall is the same Lily that he fell in love with over email months earlier. He offers to put her up with someone else since he doesn’t want to make things between them any more complicated. However, this straightforward favor between two neighbors is anything but that—especially because he can’t stop thinking about her.

The True Love Experiment

by Christina Lauren

Felicity Chen, or “Fizzy,” is lost. She has a great career as a well-liked romance novelist and has written several blockbusters, but when she is invited to make a commencement speech, it dawns on her that she hasn’t been living up to her own words.

Fizzy has never truly experienced love. Desire? Absolutely. But that overwhelming, swoon-worthy emotion that makes you want to die? Not at all. Nothing at all. What happens when readers begin to perceive the optimism she has spent her entire career supporting as a lie?

Documentary filmmaker and single father Connor Prince is passionate about his profession, but he is out of his element when his profit-driven boss demands that he produce a reality TV show, jeopardizing his career. An accidental encounter with an irate Fizzy provides Connor, who is desperate to locate his love interest, with the ideal answer. What if he could capture the world’s attention by showing the queen of romance herself falling in love? He gets a hard pass from Fizzy unless he complies with her wish list. Connor worries if he will ever find the right partner as he says yes and production on The True Love Experiment starts.

Much Ado About Nada

by Uzma Jalaluddin

Nada Syed is stuck. She is close to becoming thirty and continues to live at home in Toronto’s Golden Crescent district with her siblings and parents, firmly refusing to heed her mother’s impassioned requests that she get married as soon as possible. Even though Nada is an excellent engineer, her startup aspirations for Ask Apa, her software baby, are far from realized due of a dishonest business partner. The app launched with a whimper rather than a bang. Since nothing in her life has gone as planned, Nada feels inadequate and unfulfilled. She has to move on, but the past is clinging too strongly to allow her to do so.

Haleema, Nada’s closest friend, is trying to break through her shell.and where better for Nada to finally meet Haleema’s fiancé, Zayn, than at the massive yearly Muslim conference held downtown? Did Haleema also state that Baz, Zayn’s brother, will be present?

Haleema is unaware of Nada and Baz’s past, which is secret and includes both positive and negative events. Nada is confronted with fresh challenges and a time of reckoning when that history all crashes into the conference. Is it right for Nada to let go of the past and start over, or should she cling to her dreams?

Make a Wish

by Helena Hunting

Have you ever had a pivotal moment in your life that you wish you could go back and change? There is one Harley Spark. The moment she nearly planted a kiss on the father of the toddler she looked after as a nanny. They relocated across the state because of the terrible situation, and she never saw them again.

After seven years, she is completely over it. She believes she is, at least. Until Harley’s family’s event hotel, Spark House, hosts a princess-themed birthday party where Gavin Rhodes and his gorgeous, now nine-year-old daughter, Peyton, make a reappearance. She tries not to notice how awkward the scenario is, but she can’t help but notice how damn cute he looks in a tutu. In addition, she broke out in hives unexpectedly, indicating that she hasn’t moved on from the humiliation of her terrible mistake from years ago.

Gavin, though, doesn’t seem to notice her internal conflict. He thinks it would be a good idea to meet for lunch. For Peyton’s benefit, naturally. This is the ideal time to mend past hurts. Or it might just open them again. Harley has moments like these when she wishes she could see into the future.