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8 Good Contemporary Romance Novels You’ll Fall In Love With

By Larissa LaFrance

I spent most of my life convinced there was nothing for me in the romance section of the bookstore. Enter contemporary romance, a genre I didn’t realize I was reading because of the Young Adult umbrella term.


Turns out, contemporary romance is the comforting genre I need to decompress after finishing an intense thriller or a high-stakes fantasy. Knowing that when I reach the last page, everything will be—if not better—at least okay is just the thing to ease the stresses of real life.


So, besties, if you find yourself needing a little stress relief, consider getting cozy with one of these light contemporary romance novels .


Please note: OwlCrate’s Spice Meter was used throughout this article to rate the spice level in each of the books. 

Top contemporary romance novels across the genre

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

SPICE LEVEL: EXTRA MILD (🌶️)

Despite knowing her marriage is in trouble—and has been for a while—Georgie McCool tells her husband, Neal, two days before their planned trip to visit his family in Omaha, that she has to stay in LA to work during the holidays. 


When Neal packs up their daughters and leaves for the airport, she wonders if this might have been the thing that finally ruins everything.


Georgie is seemingly thwarted at every attempt to connect with Neal while he’s in Omaha until fate forces her to call her in-laws from the landline in her old bedroom at her mother’s house. 

Through this yellow rotary phone, Georgie is somehow given a direct line to speak with a past version of Neal—specifically the one she dated during college.


I might be biased because we have similar ideas about romantic sentiments (“I love you,” he said. “I love you more than I hate everything else.” And Georgie had laughed because only Neal would think that was a romantic thing to say)but I think Neal is an underrated romantic lead. Despite everything going on with Georgie’s ambitious career goals, he remains an incredible father and partner who is worth romanticizing.


My own partner has said his own variation of a rather romantic statement Neal makes to Georgie: “You don’t get me to do anything. I just do things. Because I love you.”Excuse me, is there a fainting couch nearby for swooning purposes?


This is my favorite contemporary romance book (it’s cozy, sweet, and has no spice—pay no mind to the magic time-traveling telephone), and I don’t think it gets enough credit for navigating the difficulties of when love doesn’t feel like enough to sustain a relationship. This is a topic that Rainbow Rowell has an innate ability to write about in a way that is incredibly comforting and poignant despite being a little sad.

The Rom-Commers by Katherine Center

SPICE LEVEL: EXTRA MILD (🌶️)


After an accident leaves her father needing full-time care, Emma Wheeler essentially puts her life (spent studying, obsessing over, and writing romantic comedies) on hold until she is offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to rewrite a script for the famous Charlie Yates, her personal writing hero. 


Now Emma’s younger sister is taking over caregiving duties so that Emma can move to LA for six weeks to work with THE Charlie Yates on rewriting a romantic comedy script.

Except, he hasn’t actually agreed to work with her and doesn’t think much of the romantic comedy genre, let alone the concept of romantic love. There may be something to that adage about not meeting your heroes, after all.


between Emma and Charlie didn’t culminate in a passionate night together. While readers won’t find any spice in this book, there is an enemies-to-collaborators-to-lovers storyline, a forced proximity trope, and a depressed guinea pig.


Charlie’s attitude toward romantic comedies is similar to how some people view contemporary romance books—they’re both genres that don’t get enough credit for the comfort they provide. Throughout The Rom-Commers, Emma tries to convince the cynical Charlie that love stories matter, and I just loved how a skeptic forced to work with a believer played out.


This was my first time reading anything written by Katherine Center, and she handled this tension beautifully. If you liked the character dynamic in Emily Henry’s Beach Read, then this book is one you should check out.

The Comeback by Lily Chu

SPICE LEVEL: EXTRA MILD (🌶️)


After a soul-sucking day at Toronto’s most prestigious law firm, Ariadne Hui arrives home to find a strange man in her living room. Following a hilarious confrontation, Ariadne’s roommate confirms that her cousin, Choi Jihoon, is visiting from Seoul for a few weeks to heal from a broken heart.


Ariadne’s temporary new roomie is kind and thoughtful, even if he’s a little weird, and they have a lot of fun together—until she discovers that Jihoon is known all over the world, and she suddenly becomes the mystery woman on the arm of a gorgeous celebrity.


Lily Chu’s books feel similar to well-written fanfiction, and it’s not because of an unconventional celebrity meet-cute. It’s the way the writing makes you feel so invested that you become desperate for more, to the point where, if readers aren’t careful, they could very easily “one more chapter” their way to 3:00 am. To keep with the comparison: The Comebackis, as ye olde fanfiction terms would say, free of lemons and limes (translation: it’s not spicy).


But it’s not all cuteness and fluff, as characters often deal with the realities of racism, misogyny, and feeling othered. In one scene, Ariadne, who has been ambitiously focused on becoming a partner at her firm, overhears two co-workers refer to her as a diversity hire.


The way these real-world situations are woven through a sensationalized storyline is just one of the reasons why I love Lily Chu’s work so much. If you’re a fan of telenovela-level twists, I highly recommend checking out her book The Stand-In.

Funny Story by Emily Henry

SPICE LEVEL: MILD (🌶️🌶️)

Daphne and Peter have a meet-cute, they get engaged, and move to his lakeside hometown to begin their lives together, setting the tone for their entire relationship: Peter leads, and Daphne is happy to follow. Except, at his bachelor party, Peter realizes that he’s actually in love with his childhood best friend, Petra.


Daphne is in an unfamiliar town with no support system and, thanks to the universe’s proclivity for irony (and a little bit because of the economy), ends up moving in with the only person who gets how much this sucks: Petra’s ex-boyfriend, Miles. 

I’ve never been engaged, had a partner leave me (for their bestie, no less), or been forced to cohabitate with the ex of my ex’s new lover, and yet Daphne is the most relatable character I have ever encountered.


Like me, Daphne struggles with forming adult friendships and keeps to herself at work, but there is no greater bond than having daddy issues. Emily Henry, I have never felt so seen by an author in all 33 years of my life.


I’ve also never gone on to panic and tell my ex that I’m dating his new girlfriend’s ex, who is also my roommate, but I really understand why Daphne may have panicked.


I told myself I could only pick one Emily Henry book, and even though I love Funny Story a little extra, I sincerely recommend all of her adult contemporary romances

The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt

SPICE LEVEL: MEDIUM (🌶️🌶️🌶️)


LaRynn Lavigne has just inherited half of a dilapidated Santa Cruz building that she now co-owns with Deacon Leeds, the guy she had one short and complicated summer fling with as a teenager (which did not end well). 


Now, she’s hoping to convince Deacon to sell the building with her, but it’s going to need expensive renovations before it can be put on the market. Deacon has the trade experience but lacks the funding, while LaRynn has a trust fund that can only be accessed once she’s married.



That’s right, besties, it’s an enemies-to-lovers second-chance romance , wrapped up in a marriage of convenience with a built-in end date, and featuring the forced proximity trope! To save money during the renovation, LaRynn and Deacon end up cohabitating in a construction zone with faulty plumbing and not enough walls (sadly, there is more than one bed).


A new edition of this book with expanded scenes and bonus content was released on November 11, 2024, but I read the edition that was published in 2022. This one was spicy, but the rerelease didn’t specify which scenes were expanded or what the bonus content entailed, so can I say with certainty what spice level The Co-Opfalls under?


If you enjoy watching HGTV, playing The Sims, or the building aspect of Legends & Lattes, consider adding The Co-Opto your TBR. 


Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez

SPICE LEVEL: MEDIUM (🌶️🌶️🌶️)


Dr. Briana Ortiz is understandably having a bit of a rough time: her divorce is about to be finalized, her brother needs a kidney donor ASAP, and it looks like the promotion she wants will go to Dr. Jacob Maddox, the new guy at the hospital. 


Just as Briana decides to hate him, Jacob sends her a letter that shows he is a funny, likable person who is really bad at first impressions. First, they become pen pals, then lunch buddies, and, eventually, something more.



This was my first Abby Jimenez book, and I was incredibly impressed with how she expertly navigates a multitude of familiar contemporary romance tropes and plot devices. 


Just a small sample of the tropes I identified in this book: enemies to friends to lovers, fake dating, forced proximity , and the beloved (for a reason) only one bed . While mixing so many of these in one book could be overwhelming, in Yours Truly, it works to create an emotional, funny, and compelling story with minimal camp.


I want to touch on another trope because I was so impressed by the author’s ability to make it feel necessary for the plot and Briana’s narrative journey. To keep this review spoiler-free, I won’t name the trope, but I’m sure most of you can guess what it is. After all, it has merchandise about how hated it is and has been widely declared an automatic DNF (did not finish) by readers. 


I hope anyone who skipped this book because they heard that it included the trope will consider giving it another chance, as it is handled with such meaningful precision.

Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld

SPICE LEVEL: MEDIUM (🌶️🌶️🌶️)

Inspired by how the talented but average-looking men at the late-night comedy show she works for get romantically involved with beautiful and accomplished women, Sally writes a sketch to poke fun at the societal phenomenon while simultaneously highlighting how unlikely it is that this would happen for a woman.


When musical sensation Noah Brewster signs up to host the show and be the night’s musical guest, he and Sally end up hitting it off. While the vibes are there, Sally is convinced that someone like Noah would never date her, and during a soul-baring conversation, she panics and says something mean about him dating twenty-two-year-old models.

After the mean model statement, they go their separate ways in April of 2018 and don’t speak again until Noah reaches out via Sally’s work email near the end of July 2020. It takes six days of constant emailing and one week of talking on the phone to convince Sally to drive 1,600 miles to visit Noah in person, where her low self-esteem (and internalized sexism, really) continues to be a barrier to their potential relationship.


I have experience letting low self-esteem get in my way, both romantically and professionally, so it’s easy for me to understand where Sally is coming from. All the signals might be there, but unless they’re lit up in bright neon and direct (with no room for any other interpretation), the signs might as well not exist.


This book is for anyone who may have their own missed-connection romance they wish had played out differently and for fans of Saturday Night Live. In the same way that SNL can be raunchy and political, Romantic Comedy is spicy!

A Merry Little Meet Cute by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone

SPICE LEVEL: HOT (🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️)

When the lead of a squeaky-clean Hope Channel holiday movie has an accident right before going on camera, a headshot mix-up lands Bee Hobbes her first role outside of her successful adult film career. She just needs to keep her other career and alter ego, Bianca von Honey, under wraps while she’s on set.


Unfortunately, her co-star, Nolan Shaw, an ex-boy band member in need of a career rehab after an international sex scandal, recognizes her immediately from ClosedDoors (turns out, he’s a fan with a bit of a crush). Both of them have reasons why they need this movie to go well, but it’s not long until he and Bee are sneaking around the set to hook up.

This is a dual-perspective book , so readers get to see Bee as a confident, sex-positive, and desirable plus-sized woman through Nolan’s eyes while understanding that she isn’t immune to feeling insecure and vulnerable.


I appreciate books with plus-sized female main characters who are so body-positive that one sentence addresses how insecurity has no place in their story, but it’s not my lived experience. I feel especially soft-hearted toward Bee for feeling good about herself most of the time while still being in a place where she can be hurt and have her confidence shaken.


Don’t let the cutesy title fool you—A Merry Little Meet Cute is an incredibly spicy, sex-positive book that does not shy away from debating different flavors of lubricant early on in the story (see: chapter one).

Want to read more books in this genre? Join the waitlist for OwlCrate’s new quarterly Romance subscription, coming in Spring 2025!


Every 3 months, subscribers will get an OwlCrate exclusive edition of a signed, newly released hardcover Romance novel with incredible design elements. Plus, as a subscriber, you will get first access to beautiful limited editions of popular Romance books.


Larissa is a full-time Communications Administrator with a diploma in professional writing. When not working, Larissa uses her various creative projects and an endless TBR pile to avoid the laundry that needs to be folded and put away. Most recently her partner convinced her that they should totally start a podcast together and it turns out she really will do anything to avoid folding laundry. 

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