Romance Is not a genre I read very often, however this year I decided to read more of it and it's one of the best decisions I've made.
1) Icebreaker by Hannah Grace
Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA. It looks like everything is going according to plan when she gets a full scholarship to the University of California, Maple Hills and lands a place on their competitive figure skating team.
Nothing will stand in her way, not even the captain of the hockey team, Nate Hawkins. Nate’s focus as team captain is on keeping his team on the ice. This is tricky when a facility's mishap means they are forced to share a rink with the figure skating team—including Anastasia, who clearly can’t stand him.
But when Anastasia’s skating partner faces an uncertain future, she may have to look to Nate to take her shot. Sparks fly, but Anastasia isn’t worried…because she could never like a hockey player, right?
2) Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Chocrun
One year ago, recent Portland transplant Ellie Oliver had her dream job in animation and a Christmas Eve meet-cute with a woman at a bookstore that led her to fall in love over the course of a single night. But after a betrayal the next morning and the loss of her job soon after, she finds herself adrift, alone, and desperate for money.
Finding work at a local coffee shop, she’s just getting through the days—until Andrew, the shop’s landlord, proposes a shocking, drunken plan: a marriage of convenience that will give him his recent inheritance and alleviate Ellie’s financial woes and isolation. They make a plan to spend the holidays together at his family cabin to keep up the ruse. But when Andrew introduces his new fiancée to his sister, Ellie is shocked to discover it’s Jack—the mysterious woman she fell for over the course of one magical Christmas Eve the year before. Now, Ellie must choose between the safety of a fake relationship and the risk of something real.
3) You're a Mean One Matthew Prince by Timothy Janovsky
Matthew Prince is young, rich, and thoroughly spoiled. So what if his parents barely remember he exists and the press is totally obsessed with him? He’s on top of the world. But one major PR misstep later, and Matthew is cut off and shipped away to spend the holidays in his grandparents’ charming small town hellscape. Population: who cares?
It’s bad enough he’s stuck in some festive winter wonderland—it’s even worse that he has to share space with Hector Martinez, an obnoxiously attractive local who’s unimpressed with anything and everything Matthew does
4) Art Therapy by Tag Gregory
Jayce likes to hide out and paint in the nooks and crannies of The Truman School; the hotel where he works as part of the Art Therapy Program his doctor recommended following a TBI and subsequent stroke. Because of his disability, Jayce usually finds himself more comfortable with the Pipe People he paints on the exposed piping throughout the hotel than with actual flesh-and-blood people. But when his hiding place is disturbed one afternoon by Ryan - the embodiment of Jayce’s raunchiest sex fantasies come to life - the artist just can’t stop himself from enjoying a little voyeuristic fun. When Ryan catches Jayce watching him, and then starts to pursue the shy art therapy placement ‘kid’, Jayce isn’t quite sure what to do. He has no experience with men. The complications from his stroke make it difficult for him to deal with new situations or meet new people, and Jayce fears that nobody will ever want him because of his stuttering speech and slow demeanour. This is when Jayce comes up with a fantastic plan to get the elegant and experienced Ryan to let him ‘practice’ on him until Jayce gains enough confidence to go out and meet someone on his own.
5) Paris Daillencourt Is About to Crumble by Alexis Hall
Paris Daillencourt is a recipe for disaster. Despite his passion for baking, his cat, and his classics degree, constant self-doubt and second-guessing have left him a curdled, directionless mess. So when his roommate enters him in Bake Expectations, the nation’s favourite baking show, Paris is sure he’ll be the first one sent home.
But not only does he win week one’s challenge—he meets fellow contestant Tariq Hassan. Sure, he’s the competition, but he’s also cute and kind, with more confidence than Paris could ever hope to have. Only neither his growing romance with Tariq nor his impressive bakes can keep Paris’s fear of failure from spoiling his happiness. And when the show’s savage fanbase confirms his worst anxieties, Paris’s confidence is torn apart quicker than tear-and-share bread.
6) A Dash of Salt and Pepper by Kosoko Jackson
Xavier Reynolds is doing less than stellar. He just got dumped, was passed over for a prestigious fellowship, and to top it all off he's right back home in Harper's Cove, Maine (population: 9,000). The last thing he wants to do is to work as a prep chef in the kitchen of the hip new restaurant in town, The Wharf. Especially since the hot, single-father chef who owns it can’t delegate to save his life.
Logan O’Hare doesn’t understand Xavier or why every word out of his mouth is dipped in sarcasm. Unfortunately, he has no choice but to hire him—he needs more help in the kitchen and his tween daughter, Anne, can only mince so many onions. It might be a recipe for disaster, but Logan doesn’t have many options besides Xavier.
7) One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
For cynical twenty-three-year-old August, moving to New York City is supposed to prove her right: that things like magic and cinematic love stories don’t exist, and the only smart way to go through life is alone. She can’t imagine how waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and moving in with too many weird roommates could possibly change that. And there’s certainly no chance of her subway commute being anything more than a daily trudge through boredom and electrical failures.
But then, there’s this gorgeous girl on the train.
8) Beach Read by Emily Henry
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction. January Andrews writes bestselling romances. When she pens a happily ever after, he kills off his entire cast. They’re polar opposites.
In fact, the only thing they have in common is that for the next three months, they’re living in neighbouring beach houses, broke, and bogged down with writer’s block.
Until, one hazy evening, one thing leads to another and they strike a deal designed to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. She’ll take him on field trips worthy of any rom-com montage, and he’ll take her to interview surviving members of a backwoods death cult (obviously). Everyone will finish a book and no one will fall in love. Really.
9) Enemies by Tijan
Stone Reeves was my neighbour, and I've hated him since sixth grade.
Gorgeous and charismatic, he became the town's football god, while I became the town's invisible girl.
He went to a Division 1 school for football, while my father was fired by his father.
His team won the National Championship, while my mother died the same day.
He was a first round pick for the NFL, while I made the worst decision of my life.
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