Creating a list of the best romance books is quite a daunting task.
First, it’s subjective –what I think are the best romance books is probably not going to align specifically with what you think are the best romance books, and neither of us is likely to match up with the official critics who are actually paid to tell the world which romance books are seriously the best romance books.
Second, there are just so many. Hundreds of thousands of books filled with love stories of all genres out there to choose from. And there are so many different genres: contemporary, paranormal, historical, suspense, fantasy, erotic.
There are even subcategories within the genres: athlete romances, boss/employee romances, celebrity romances, college romances, and so on and so forth.
In spite of this, I’ve created a short list.
One that I tediously filled with my own, recently read, personal favorites as well as a few recommended titles from other romance genre lovers I consider friends (basically, people who follow DudeMom on Facebook).
Am I qualified to determine the best romance novels ever written?
Hardly.
But what I lack in literary criticism and knowledge I make up for in passion.
Passion that I flaunt shamelessly as a guest on random romance podcasts and when creating ridiculous videos…
Fortunately I don’t embarrass easily and am always eager to share.
A few notes:
- Many of the books mentioned are part of a series, you probably want to read them all if so.
- The ones I have read and recommend are noted [DudeMom Approved]
- You can get my entire list of recommended romance novels via my Amazon list. It includes way more than 20 books.
Try to control yourself.
20 of the Best Romance Books to Add to Your Reading List
See the entire list on Amazon here: 20 Best Romance Books
Best Romance Novels: Classic Love
The Time Traveler’s Wife, Audrey Niffenegger [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Audrey Niffenegger’s innovative debut, The Time Traveler’s Wife, is the story of Clare, a beautiful art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: periodically his genetic clock resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity in his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous, his experiences unpredictable, alternately harrowing and amusing.”
Buy here: Amazon
Love Walked In, Marisa De Los Santos
“When Martin Grace enters the hip Philadelphia coffee shop Cornelia Brown manages, her life changes forever. But little does she know that her newfound love is only the harbinger of greater changes to come. Meanwhile, across town, Clare Hobbs—eleven years old and abandoned by her erratic mother—goes looking for her lost father. She crosses paths with Cornelia while meeting with him at the café, and the two women form an improbable friendship that carries them through the unpredictable currents of love and life.”
Buy here: Amazon
Everyday, David Levithan
“A has no friends. No parents. No family. No possessions. No home, even. Because every day, A wakes up in the body of a different person. A is able to access each person’s memory, enough to be able to get through the day without parents, friends, and teachers realizing this is not their child, not their friend, not their student. Because it isn’t. It’s A. It’s a lonely existence–until, one day, it isn’t. A meets a girl named Rhiannon. And A falls for her after a perfect day together. But when night falls, it’s over. Because A can never be the same person twice. But yet, A can’t stop thinking about Rhiannon. She becomes A’s reason for existing. So every day, in different bodies–of all shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and walks of life–A tries to get back to her and convince her of their love. But can their love transcend such an obstacle?”
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Traditional Contemporary Romance
Archer’s Voice, Mia Sheridan
“I wanted to lose myself in the small town of Pelion, Maine. To forget everything I had left behind. But the moment I meet Archer Hale, my entire world tilts on its axis . . . and never rights itself again. Until I trespass into his strange, silent, and isolated world, Archer communicates with no one. Yet in his whiskey-colored eyes, something intangible happens between us. So much passion. And so much hurt. But it’s only in Archer’s silence that we might just find what we need to heal . . . and live.”
Buy here: Amazon
The Air He Breathes, Brittany C. Cherry [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“I was warned about Tristan Cole. It’s easy to judge a man because of his past. To look at Tristan and see a monster. But I couldn’t do that. I had to accept the wreckage that lived inside of him because it also lived inside of me. We were both empty. We were both looking for something else. Something more. We both wanted to put together the shattered pieces of our yesterdays. Then perhaps we could finally remember how to breathe.”
Buy here: Amazon
Beautiful Disaster, Jaime McQuire [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“The new Abby Abernathy is a good girl. She doesn’t drink or swear, and she has the appropriate number of cardigans in her wardrobe. Abby believes she has enough distance from the darkness of her past, but when she arrives at college with her best friend, her path to a new beginning is quickly challenged by Eastern University’s Walking One-Night Stand.
Travis Maddox, lean, cut, and covered in tattoos, is exactly what Abby wants—and needs—to avoid. He spends his nights winning money in a floating fight ring, and his days as the ultimate college campus charmer. Intrigued by Abby’s resistance to his appeal, Travis tricks her into his daily life with a simple bet. If he loses, he must remain abstinent for a month. If Abby loses, she must live in Travis’s apartment for the same amount of time. Either way, Travis has no idea that he has met his match.”
Buy here: Amazon
Dear Aaron, Mariana Zapata [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Ruby Santos knew exactly what she was getting herself into when she signed up to write a soldier overseas. The guidelines were simple: one letter or email a week for the length of his or her deployment. Care packages were optional. Been there, done that. She thought she knew what to expect. What she didn’t count on was falling in love with the guy.”
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Contemporary Celebrity Romance
Lick (Stage Dive Series, Book 1) Kylie Scott [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Evelyn Thomas’s plans for celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Las Vegas were big. Huge. But she sure never meant to wake up on the bathroom floor with a hangover to rival the black plague, a very attractive half-naked tattooed man in her room, and a diamond on her finger large enough to scare King Kong. Now if she could just remember how it all happened.
One thing is certain, being married to one of the hottest rock stars on the planet is sure to be a wild ride.”
Buy here: Amazon
The Mighty Storm (The Storm Series, Book 1), Samantha Towle [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Tru Bennett was just fourteen years old when her best friend and first love, Jake Wethers, moved from England to America and left her brokenhearted. Now twelve years later, Jake is the world’s biggest rock star, lead singer of The Mighty Storm and every woman’s bad-boy fantasy. Every woman, that is, except Tru.
A successful music journalist, Tru knows better than to mix business with pleasure. But then she receives the assignment of a lifetime: interview Jake before his band launches its highly anticipated world tour. Tru vows to keep the meeting strictly professional—but nothing can prepare her for the sparks that fly the moment their eyes meet again.
Now Jake wants Tru to join the band on tour, offering her a behind-the-scenes exclusive that any journalist would kill for. There’s just one problem: Tru’s boyfriend, Will. Can their relationship withstand Tru hitting the road with rock and roll’s most notorious womanizer? Or will she risk it all for a second chance with the one who got away?”
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Contemporary Athlete Romance
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me, Mariana Zapata [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Vanessa Mazur knows she’s doing the right thing. She shouldn’t feel bad for quitting. Being an assistant/housekeeper/fairy godmother to the top defensive end in the National Football Organization was always supposed to be temporary. She has plans and none of them include washing extra-large underwear longer than necessary. But when Aiden Graves shows up at her door wanting her to come back, she’s beyond shocked. For two years, the man known as The Wall of Winnipeg couldn’t find it in him to tell her good morning or congratulate her on her birthday. Now? He’s asking for the unthinkable.
What do you say to the man who is used to getting everything he wants?”
Buy here: Amazon
The Hook Up, Kristen Callihan [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Anna Jones just wants to finish college and figure out her life. Falling for star quarterback Drew Baylor is certainly not on her to do list. Confident and charming, he lives in the limelight and is way too gorgeous for his own good. If only she could ignore his heated stares and stop thinking about doing hot and dirty things with him. Easy, right?
Too bad he’s committed to making her break every rule…
Football has been good to Drew. It’s given him recognition, two National Championships, and the Heisman. But what he really craves is sexy yet prickly Anna Jones. Her cutting humor and blatant disregard for his fame turns him on like nothing else. But there’s one problem: she’s shut him down. Completely.
That is until a chance encounter leads to the hottest sex of their lives, along with the possibility of something great. Unfortunately, Anna wants it to remain a hook up. Now it’s up to Drew to tempt her with more: more sex, more satisfaction, more time with him. Until she’s truly hooked. It’s a good thing Drew knows all about winning.”
Buy here: Amazon
Real, Katy Evans [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Remington Tate has a bad-boy rep in and out of the ring, a granite-hard body, and a raw, animal power that sends his female fans into a frenzy. But from the moment their eyes lock, the only woman he wants is Brooke Dumas. His desire is pure, all-consuming, and REAL.
Hired to keep his perfect body working like a machine, Brooke finally has the lucrative sports therapy job she’s been dreaming of. But as she tours the dangerous underground fighting circuit with Remy and his team, Brooke’s own body becomes alive with the most primal of hungers. If what happens between Brooke and Remy is ever as light as a flirtation, it quickly becomes an erotic obsession for them both, and promises so much more.
But their white-hot lust has a dark side—and when Remy’s deepest secret comes to light and Brooke’s familial duties demand action, will the pair be able to hang on, or will everything that once seemed so real suddenly fade away like an illusion?”
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Historical Romance
Outlander (Book 1), Diana Gabaldon [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Scottish Highlands, 1945. Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding clans in the year of Our Lord . . . 1743.
Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of a world that threatens her life, and may shatter her heart. Marooned amid danger, passion, and violence, Claire learns her only chance of safety lies in Jamie Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior. What begins in compulsion becomes urgent need, and Claire finds herself torn between two very different men, in two irreconcilable lives.”
Buy here: Amazon
The Bronze Horseman (Book 1), Paulina Simons [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“The golden skies, the translucent twilight, the white nights, all hold the promise of youth, of love, of eternal renewal. The war has not yet touched this city of fallen grandeur, or the lives of two sisters, Tatiana and Dasha Metanova, who share a single room in a cramped apartment with their brother and parents. Their world is turned upside down when Hitler’s armies attack Russia and begin their unstoppable blitz to Leningrad.
Yet there is light in the darkness. Tatiana meets Alexander, a brave young officer in the Red Army. Strong and self-confident, yet guarding a mysterious and troubled past, he is drawn to Tatiana—and she to him. Starvation, desperation, and fear soon grip their city during the terrible winter of the merciless German siege. Tatiana and Alexander’s impossible love threatens to tear the Metanova family apart and expose the dangerous secret Alexander so carefully protects—a secret as devastating as the war itself—as the lovers are swept up in the brutal tides that will change the world and their lives forever.”
Buy here: Amazon
Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
This is the tale of Scarlett O’Hara, the spoiled, manipulative daughter of a wealthy plantation owner, who arrives at young womanhood just in time to see the Civil War forever change her way of life.
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Paranormal/Fantasy
Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1), J.R. Ward [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“The only purebred vampire left on the planet and the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who killed his parents centuries ago. But when his most trusted fighter is killed—orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate—Wrath must put down his dagger and usher the beautiful female into another world.
Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn’t there before, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes to her at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of the Brotherhood and blood frighten her. Yet his touch ignites a dawning new hunger—one that threatens to consume them both…”
Buy here: Amazon
Dead Until Dark (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 1), Charlaine Harris [DUDEMOM APPROVED]
“Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She’s quiet, doesn’t get out much, and tends to mind her own business—except when it comes to her “disability.” Sookie can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. Then along comes Bill Compton. He’s tall, dark, handsome—and Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting for all her life…
But Bill has a disability of his own: he’s a vampire with a bad reputation. And when a string of murders hits Bon Temps—along with a gang of truly nasty bloodsuckers looking for Bill—Sookie starts to wonder if having a vampire for a boyfriend is such a bright idea.”
Buy here: Amazon
Moon Called (Mercy Thompson, Book 1), Patricia Briggs
“Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.
But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.
But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…”
Buy here: Amazon
Best Romance Novels: Young Adult
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, Jenny Han
“What if all the crushes you ever had found out how you felt about them…all at once?
Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.”
Buy here: Amazon
If I Stay, Gayle Forman
“In the blink of an eye everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall what happened afterwards, watching her own damaged body being taken from the wreck. Little by little she struggles to put together the pieces- to figure out what she has lost, what she has left, and the very difficult choice she must make.”
Buy here: Amazon
Looking for more of the best romance books? Check out these ideas from Facebook readers: Best Romance Books
If you’ve still not read one of the best romance books people have been talking about for years, you should definitely read my review of it: Is Fifty Shade of Grey Really That Good?