A good romance novel can give you butterflies in the stomach the same way a new relationship does. Of course, you won’t have anyone to hold hands with or go on dates with IRL, but you can live vicariously through a couple of fictional characters nonetheless. There’s nothing like a good romance to make the day better, and to make sure you meet your reading goals, IMO. And if you are a woman who loves a good romance novel, we have a few recommendations for you.

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1. Say You’ll Be My Jaan by Naina Kumar

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A theatre teacher with big dreams, Megha Raman just found out her best friend and secret crush, Seth, is engaged. And he wants Megha to be his best man. To deal with the blow to her heart, she agrees to meet a potential match her parents found for her. In walks the grumpy but handsome engineer, Karthik Murthy. Karthik is done with his mother’s matchmaking attempts. He agrees to meet Megha to appease his mother, but her vibrance pulls him in. Though he isn’t looking for a real marriage, Karthik is up for a fake engagement with Megha to kill two birds with one stone – he gets his mother off his back and Megha can deal with planning her crush’s wedding.

As Megha and Karthik find common ground, they grow protective of each other and learn to accept each other’s flaws. With an undeniable chemistry, will the fake engagement threaten to turn real?

2. The Catch by Amy Lea

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Boston fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen is trying her best to keep her brand afloat. To rescue her brand from irrelevance, she ends up in a rural fishing village on the east coast of Canada. While she expects the wilderness of Canada, she doesn’t expect the burly Evan Whaler, fisherman and bed-and-breakfast owner.

When a boating accident lands Evan in a hospital, Melanie is mistaken as his fiancée by his family. In exchange for Evan’s help to revive her social media content, she promises to be his fake fiancée for a week. The longer they spend time together, the more difficult it is to keep their feelings under wraps.

Can a big-city influencer let go of the glam and glitz to embrace love in the wild?

3. If Only I Had Told Her by Laura Nowlin

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The thing with love is, you need to tell people you love them, or else they’ll never know, and you live with regret. Finn is living in the same boat. He has always loved Autumn, the girl next door and his mother’s BFF’s daughter. For Finn, Autumn is everything, just not his girlfriend. That’s Sylvie. And he doesn’t want to hurt Sylvie, so he’ll never tell Autumn about his feelings.

Finn’s best friend Jack thinks Autumn knows about his feelings. After all, Finn wears his heart in his eyes, so how can’t Autumn see? And how can Jack protect his best friend from inevitable heartache?

Autumn surrounds herself with books and all she wants is to write her destiny. But fate often plays a cruel game, especially with those in love.

Told from the perspectives of Finn, Jack, and Autumn, If Only I Had Told Her is a story of hope, love, tragedy, and healing.

4. Happily Never After by Lynn Painter

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What do you do when you want to break off your wedding but don’t want to do it yourself? You hire an objector. That’s what Sophie Steinback does too. When she finds out her fiancée has cheated on her yet again, instead of breaking off the wedding, she hires Max to proclaim ‘I object’ during the wedding ceremony.

Soon, Sophie joins Max as an objector. Sophie is looking forward to saving poor souls from getting caught up in the web of marriage and enjoys her new job. As Max and Sophie spend time together, their chemistry leads them to the bed. But of course, no feelings involved.

When a groom hires Sophie to object at his wedding, they find out the bride is none other than Max’s ex. As Max struggles with whether or not he can break his ex’s heart, Sophie realises she may have fallen for her partner in crime.

5. Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer

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Evie Sage has an ailing family to support, which means she needs a job STAT. When she receives an offer from Rennedawn’s most infamous villain, saying no isn’t an option. Every job has its drawbacks, especially when it includes dealing with the likes of severed heads. But just as she is getting used to severed heads and errant eyeballs, Evie suspects there’s a mole in the dungeon. Somebody is trying to bring down the Villain and his nefarious empire. Now Evie takes it upon herself to find out who is trying to destroy her boss, and if she finds love on the way, it isn’t such a bad deal, is it?

6. Plot Twist by Erin La Rosa

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Sophie Lyon is a romance author and she’s never been in love. And now, the whole world knows her secret. With a deadline on the horizon and no manuscript, Sophie makes a plan to overcome her writer’s block – reunite with all her exes, find out why she could never fall in love, and document it all for millions of new online followers.

Sophie doesn’t know the ins and outs of social media, but lucky for her, her reclusive landlord, Dash Montrose has it all figured out. And he is willing to help her out. What Sophie doesn’t know is that Dash is an anonymous online crafter, a hobby that helps him stay sober.

As Sophie and Dash get closer, she proposes what any romance author would do – a friends-with-benefits arrangement. But will the two manage to stay strictly casual, or will the heart get in the way?

7. Happy Place by Emily Henry

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Harriet and Wyn go together like gin and tonic – perfectly so. Or at least they used to. Till about six months back when they broke up. Except, none of their friends are aware of their changed relationship status, and they need to keep the ruse up for an annual vacation.

For one week every year, Harriet, Wyn, and their group of friends get together for copious amounts of cheese, wine, and the salty coastal air. Now that the cottage they generally stay at is up for sale, this will be the last time the gang can get together in the place. The ex-couple can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, so they continue to pretend to be the loving couple they always were. After all, how difficult can it be to fake a relationship when they’ve got years under the belt of being the real deal?

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