This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCLA chapter.
I exclusively read romance novels, and sometimes it’s overwhelming standing in the middle of the Barnes & Noble romance section and not knowing where to go first. There are so many different storylines, and not every story is for every reader. However, once you find what you like, it makes a world of difference. Here are curated recommendations to get you started based on the concepts you already know you love:
Fake Dating
My personal favorite trope. The characters come up with a mutually beneficial plan to date each other, and they aren’t supposed to fall in love. But, of course, the chemistry is undeniable, and they do.
- The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood: She’s a grad student that needs to fool her friends so they get off her back about dating. He’s a daunting professor who needs to convince his department he’s not a university flight risk, and he may or may not have other motivations as well.
- Also Includes: He Falls First
- The Deal by Elle Kennedy: She’s in the performing arts program. He’s the captain of the college hockey team. He’s failing a class she’s passing, and if she tutors him, he’ll pretend to date her, so she can get the attention of another athlete she has her eyes on.
- Also includes: He Falls First, Reformed Playboy
- The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren: She’s a twin who never seems to have any luck. However, the one time she does, it’s getting her twin’s all-expenses-paid honeymoon after the bride and groom (and the whole wedding party and guests) become extremely sick from a buffet. The only catch? She has to pretend to be the wife of the best man, her arch nemesis. Note: It sounds cheesy, but this book is one of my absolute favs.
- Also Includes: Enemies To Lovers, Forced Proximity
- The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas: She needs a date to her sister’s wedding in Spain where she will have to face her awful ex-boyfriend for the first time in years. Plus, he happens to be engaged while she is still single. Her co-worker who she happens to despise volunteers to be her date and pretend boyfriend, and when she’s run out of options, she takes him up on his offer.
- Also Includes: Enemies to Lovers, He Falls First, Forced Proximity
- The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang: She’s a successful businesswoman who has everything in life. However, her autism has significantly hindered her love life, and her parents are badgering her to get married and settle down. What happens when she hires an escort to teach her how to love physically and mentally in a fake relationship? Note: This rec is a little spicy, but one of my favorites. Having an autistic protagonist is extremely interesting, and makes a special experience for neurodivergent readers like myself.
Enemies to Lovers
They say there’s a fine line between love and hate, and the enemies-to-lovers trope definitely shows that. It’s a slow burn, but there’s been sexual tension since the beginning. The characters just have to realize it.
- The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Soloman: She’s been working at the same public radio station for a decade; it’s her passion. He’s a cocky, relatively new hire who thinks he knows all about journalism because of his masters program. The two have to come together and pretend to be exes on a podcast to save both the radio station and their jobs. The more they pretend to have a past, the more it impacts the present.
- Also Includes: A unique twist on Fake Dating
- Beach Read by Emily Henry: She’s a romance author who moves to a lake house for the summer after uncovering a dark secret about her late father. She now sees the world differently, and what could add to the stress? Her neighbor is her college rival, but he also is dealing with his own struggles.
- Also Includes: He Falls First
- The Hating Game by Sally Thorne: They are co-workers who sit across from one another and have an extreme hatred for each other, and they have no problem showing it. Now, they are up for the same promotion, but she is realizing that maybe there are multiple reasons for their tension.
- Also includes: Forced Proximity
- Book Lovers by Emily Henry: She’s a literary agent and he’s an editor. Their first meeting got them off on the wrong foot, but they end up in the same small town for the summer and decide to see if they can put their disdain for each other to the side. But you best believe, there will be banter.
- Dating Dr. Dill by Nisha Sharma: He’s a TV doctor, and she’s a homebody. They are complete opposites and want nothing to do with each other. However, an argument between them goes viral, and the solution to the consequences? They have to pretend to date because both of their futures are at stake.
- Also Includes: Fake Dating, He Falls First
Friends to Lovers
They are best friends…just friends…it’s completely platonic…they could never imagine dating each other, right?
- People We Met On Vacation by Emily Henry: They are polar opposites, but they were best friends…until they weren’t. Our two protagonists met in college and one road trip together started their faithful relationship. They then took annual summer trips together until one blew up in their face. They haven’t spoken in two years, but they decide to take one last trip together to make things right.
- The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas: They end up in the same apartment. She needs a place to stay while hers is getting repaired, and he needs a place while he is visiting New York from Spain. She’s a struggling romance writer, he’s a professional surfer that just had a life-altering accident. He decides to help her with her writer’s block by taking her on fake dates for inspiration, and she agrees…but they’re just supposed to be friends.
- Also includes: Fake Dating, Forced Proximity
- Josh and Hazel’s Guide To Not Dating by Christina Lauren: She’s a wild spirit, he’s mellow. They are acquaintances from college who reunite 10 years later. Fresh out of a breakup, he considers her a breath of fresh air, but they are just friends. They just happen to go on progressively terrible blind double dates together.
- Every Summer After by Carley Fortune: She’s living in the city and avoiding her childhood town until her mother’s funeral brings her back. There she finds him, a friend she never thought she would separate from. But when their relationship became more than a friendship, they fell apart. Now facing each other again, the connection is still there, but they have a past to work through.
- Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren: She is living her life as a pediatric assistant with a guarded heart, and she’s marrying a man for money. However, she runs into her childhood best friend who she hasn’t spoken to in 10 years since their relationship blew up in their faces after a multitude of confessions. Now, she has to decide which path to choose.
Forced Proximity
They have no choice, they have to share a space. Whether it is an office or an apartment, there is no way they can avoid each other.
- The Roommate by Rosie Danan: She is a socialite who believes she’ll be sharing an apartment with her childhood crush. However, she is tricked and ends up with him. He’s handsome and also has a scandalous past that could possibly put her reputation in danger, but they have some commonalities and join together on a project on the shared beliefs about the sex lives of women.
- By The Book by Jasmin Guillory: She’s in publishing, but at a standstill in her career. However, she sees an opportunity for promotion by getting a high-profile author to deliver his manuscript. However, it turns out he is going through a similar crisis, and the professional tension between them could form into something more.
- Also Includes: Enemies to Lovers
- Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter: An spicy text sent by an unknown number turns into an online situationship. They do not know who the other is in real life. However, it turns out she’s his best friend’s little sister who has recently moved in with him and his roommates after being down on her luck. How will they deal with learning they are each other’s entertaining internet partners?
- Also Includes: Friends to Lovers
He Falls First
We are so used to seeing female protagonists as lovesick puppies, it’s kind of nice to read about a male being a simp. Of course, his love is eventually reciprocated, but I say to make him work for it.
- Love On The Brain by Ali Hazelwood: She’s a neuroscientist who gets the opportunity to work at NASA. It’s her dream, except the co-lead on her project is her sworn enemy from graduate school. She *thinks* he hates her and that she is absolutely vial. But there was a different reason for his behavior, and it’s going to take her a while to find out.
- Also Includes: Enemies to Lovers (mainly one sided)
- Set On You by Amy Lea: She’s a fitness influencer who is breaking body stereotypes. She is also recently heartbroken and channels her emotions through exercise. He’s a brand new member of her gym and just happens to steal her favorite equipment. They have a little rivalry, but ultimately have to spend more time together when it is revealed their grandparents are getting married to each other. The relationship buds, but there are a lot of tests.
- Also Includes: Slight Enemies to Lovers
- Maggie Movies On by Lucy Score: She’s an internet-famous house flipper, and her next project is renovating a Victorian mansion in Idaho. She immediately meets the flirty landscaper, and she plans to have no more than a summer fling. However, he’s knocked down the gate she’s built around her heart, and she has to figure out if she wants to stay or continue her lifestyle of moving on.
Reformed Playboy
He likes to break hearts until he finds someone who could potentially break his. Who doesn’t love seeing a playboy and/or bad boy redemption arc? We love to see a woman finally putting a man in place.
- Hook, Line, and Sinker by Tessa Bailey: He’s a small-town fisherman who does not do relationships. She’s in the entertainment industry, and the only person ever to see past his facade. They room together for a few weeks, and as they learn more about each other, the reader asks, can this playboy truly give his heart?
- Also Includes: Friends to Lovers, Forced Proximity
- The Dating Plan by Sara Desai: She’s successful in every area of her life except for her relationships. She’s also 27, and in her Indian family, that means she’s ancient and her aunties will not stop until she’s engaged. He’s a finance bro playboy, but he needs to settle down in less than 2 months to unlock his inheritance. The only girl he’s ever truly been interested in is her, but they haven’t seen each other in 10 years, and the last time they did was right before he stood her up at senior prom. Can they put aside their past for a short-term engagement and marriage?
- Also Includes: Fake Dating
- Duke, Actually by Jenny Holiday: She’s the “best woman” and he’s the “man of honor” at a royal wedding. She is a professor in New York City who has sworn off love and is friends with the groom who is a former cab driver. He is a Duke in the making, an international playboy and is friends with the bride. He would have married her in an arranged marriage if she didn’t meet her true love. Our female protagonist can’t stand him. However, he’s always been drawn to her, and they start to form a very unlikely friendship that has some underlying tension.
- Also Includes: Friends to Lovers
Hopefully, this list gave you some inspiration for your next Barnes & Noble trip. Don’t be afraid to get more than one book. Get two, or three or even five. You can’t have too many book boyfriends.