9 Cheery Romance Novels To Brighten Dark Days
Photo by cottonbro studio
I love this time of year. I love cozy sweaters, hot drinks, and rain speckling the windows while dark clouds drape the sky. Since I live in a hot southern climate where the cold lasts for about four months, I eat it up while I can. Not to mention the holidays are just around the corner, bringing an extra layer of magic and anticipation.
But sometimes the days are a little too gloomy and preparations for the holidays breed stress. To combat this, I typically reach for a book that makes me smile and/or laugh while I snuggle up in a comfy chair.
So, if the dreariness becomes too much or the upcoming festivities starts to make you stress, cozy up with one of these sweet, funny novels below.
01 | Starstruck by Amy Clipston
Heather Gordon never expected a food fight in her family’s restaurant to spark a relationship with rockstar Alex Kirwan. Even after he asks for her number she never thought he would be interested in talking to an ordinary woman like herself. But as they text, email, and video call while he’s on tour, she lets herself fall in love with the bookish, dorky man he keeps hidden from the crowds. Could a rockstar really fall for a small-town baker? Or will their different worlds end up tearing them apart?
02 | If All Else Sails by Emma St. Clair
Josie and Wyatt have been at odds since the first day they met. Both have a silent agreement to stay at arm’s length. When Josie’s brother incentivizes her to help Wyatt while he recovers from an injury, she agrees and even volunteers to accompany Wyatt on his annual sailing voyage. As Josie spends more time with Wyatt, they untangle the misunderstandings that have guided their interactions for years. Underneath all the sarcasm and distance, is there undeniable chemistry that’s been brewing for years?
03 | How to Plot a Payback by Melissa Ferguson
Finn Masters blames all his misfortunes on Hollywood’s sweetheart actress Lavender Rhodes. So when he’s hired as a scriptwriter for the sitcom Neighbors, in which she’s the star, he finds himself in the perfect place to exact payback. But as his pranks implode one by one, he discovers that the woman he’s villainized for years may be as sweet as everyone thinks she is. Even worse, she may be the kind of woman he could fall in love with.
04 | The Perfect Rom-Com by Melissa Ferguson
Bestselling ghostwriter Bryony Page waits for her own book to find a publisher as she slaves away on stories for diva Amelia Benedict. Her agent/understated best friend Jack Sterling shields her from Amelia’s drama so she won’t quit but everyone insists that he’s in love with her. Bryony dismisses the thought; after all, they’re just friends. But when the publishing team decides Bryony should go on Amelia’s next book tour and feed her the right answers on interviews, Jack tags along even though he doesn’t have to. Is everyone right? Are she and Jack just friends, or is there more between them than she ever dreamed?
05 | Sense and Suitability by Pepper Basham
Secret author Emmeline Lockhart enters the St. Grove’s season vowing to avoid Simon Reeves, the man who broke her heart, at all costs. Her plan implodes when they meet at a ball and their love reignites. Though Emmeline’s the only woman Simon’s loved, his inherited debts, dependent siblings, and crumbling estate force him to marry someone wealthier than Emmeline. So she volunteers to help him find a suitable bride. Because they can ignore their chemistry and choose duty over heart. Right?
06 | Love & Other Great Expectations by Becky Dean
After an unexpected diagnosis leaves Britt Hanson on the sidelines of the soccer field forever, she accepts a rare opportunity to complete a literary themed scavenger hunt in England. On the first day of the hunt she meets British book boy Luke Jackson, who volunteers to accompany her and her chaperone to all the stops. As much as she would like to get to know him, she won’t be in England forever. But as Britt goes from one destination to the next, she learns sometimes life’s most unexpected stops are the ones worth visiting… especially when it comes to love.
07 | The Happy Life of Isadora Bentley by Courtney Walsh
On her thirtieth birthday in the supermarket checkout, university researcher Isadora Bentley finds herself dissatisfied, unfulfilled, and lonely. On an impulse she picks up a magazine article titled “Thirty-One Ways To Be Happy.” After reading it, she designs an experiment to disprove that happiness cannot be cultivated. But as she collects a motley team of people to help her, including the handsome Dr. Cal Baxter, she discovers a world outside her office, one in which she might find happiness.
08 | An Overdue Match by Sarah Monzon
Evangeline Kelly has no delusions: men aren’t attracted to women with no hair. But her alopecia won’t stop her from cultivating love in the lives of others. Armed with library checkout lists, she plans to matchmake her small town into wedded bliss and indulge her inner romantic. Then tattoo artist Tai Davis whirls in and ruins her plans with his flirtatious attention and constant pursuit. Evangeline’s convinced herself she will only be the side character in the story. Is it possible that she has become the heroine… in a romance?
09 | Love in Tandem by Becca Kinzer
Two years after her engagement ends and her life implodes, Charlotte Carter can finally breathe easily again. She’s over her ex, her mother is cancer free, and her dream job as a music teacher is within reach… until the funding for the school music program is pulled. When Zach Bryant, her ex’s brother, comes back to town, circumstances lead everyone to believe he and Charlotte are a couple. Then well-meaning friends sign them up for a couple’s tandem bicycle challenge so they can win the $250,000 prize to save her music program. Their relationship started out as a lie, but the further they pedal away from home, the more they want it to be real.
