20 Great Rom-Coms To Read If You Need Some Joy In Your Day

The only way you'll find me crying (of laughter) is when I read a romance book!

1. Don't Go Baking My Heart by N.G. Peltier

NG Peltier

Release date: June 21, 2022

Why you should read: Fun! Hilarious! Characters that you wish were your best friends! Don't Go Baking My Heart (how cute is that title, am I right?) is the story of Reba and Devon, two people who are very much opposites. Reba is chaotic, the personification of sunshine, and always ready to have fun while Devon is a rule-follower, grumpy, and prefers to spend his weekends working. When Devon needs baking help for an upcoming work-related event, he asks Reba. Even though they don't think they match, their attraction speaks louder than words.

Get it from Barnes & Noble. 

2. Walk of Shame by Lauren Layne

Headline Eternal

Why you should read: A Park Avenue princess and a famous divorce lawyer living in the same apartment building — you know that things are about to happen. Lauren Layne invites us to meet Georgie and Andrew who, every day at 5 a.m., meet at the lobby of their apartment complex. Georgie is coming back from a night of partying while Andrew is starting his day. Their fun personalities make this romance so wholesome that you won't ever want it to end.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

3. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey

Avon

Why you should read: It Happened One Summer was one of my favorite reads last year. The way you find laugh-out-loud moments, but also steam when you least expect it. Tessa Bailey knows how to grab us immediately! This story follows Piper, an It Girl who has it all. But after a disappointing night, her stepfather ships her to a small fishing town with her sister. Piper is so easy to love, and her journey throughout the whole book is amazing to see! When she finally meets Brendan, the grumpy local crab fisherman, she won't know what hit her.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

4. The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels by India Holton

Berkley

Why you should read: With an upcoming sequel in the near future, The League of Gentlewomen Witches (March 15 from Berkley), you have to read Wisteria Society immediately. I assure you this is the kind of book that will stay with you for hours, days, after you finish reading it. Love a good genre-blending romance? Because you not only get one genre, you get more than one in this book. Wisteria Society is a blend of rom-com, fantasy, and historical! Meet Cecilia, a young lady who has dreams of her own. Her dreams include joining the legendary Wisteria Society, but the ladies don't think she's ready yet. When they suddenly get kidnapped by pirates, she will make them see that her time is now!

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

5. From the Top by Jaqueline Snowe

Jaqueline Snowe

Release date: February 15, 2022

Why you should read: As soon as I saw the synopsis of this book, I wanted to read it. A party girl falls for a shy nerdy guy? If you know me, you know that that specific trope is my kryptonite. From the Top is about Cami Simpson, former dance team captain and all-around party girl, who has to move to the co-ed dorm rooms after disastrous news. Her day turns worse when she finds out Freddie, the guy who hates her, is moving next door to her. But after dark nights, ice cream dates, and getting to know each other more deeply, Cami and Freddie might realize they are better together than apart.

Get it from Amazon. 

6. Call Me Maybe by Cara Bastone

Headline Eternal

Why you should read: Now, if you read audiobooks, I highly recommend listening to this one. The experience is incredible. But if you don't, no worries at all — because they also published it as an ebook, so you can read it that way as well! Call Me Maybe has a very different format because every interaction the main characters have between each other is through the internet, chats, or text messages. You see, Vera is calling the customer service of a tech company who is working on her website because it's having some issues. The person who answers is Cal, and they hit it off that very same day. You'll watch them fall in love through other means of communication instead of the usual face-to-face interactions.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

7. Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Avon

Why you should read: I constantly say The Brown Sisters series is going to be a classic throughout the years. Not only because of their timely stories, but because the characters are going to stay with you for a very long time. In this case, we have the youngest of the sisters, Eve Brown, get her happily ever after with one grumpy B&B owner. This whole series is hilarious, and you will find yourself laughing out loud a lot while reading it. Act Your Age, Eve Brown is the perfect conclusion to an already well-loved series that will for sure continue to obtain new fans throughout the years to come.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

8. The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa

Avon

Release date: April 5, 2022

Why you should read: Mia Sosa has enchanted me with her rom-coms. They provide the perfect amount of laughs and swoons you need in a book, and they always deliver! In her upcoming romance, The Wedding Crasher, we meet Solange Pereira, a young woman who crashes a wedding because she stumbled upon a scene that made her think the pair wasn't made to be. Now the groom needs help, and Solange feels bad she ruined his nuptials, so she decides to help him as his pretend girlfriend.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

9. Our Way Back to Always by Nina Moreno

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Why you should read: I have a soft spot for YA contemporary romance books. And when I read this book last year, I couldn't stop loving it. Nina Moreno is a shining star, blessing us with entertaining stories that have lovable characters. In Our Way Back to Always, estranged best friends Lou and Sam, who fell out years ago, are ready to get back on track when Lou finds their bucket list. This book is not only about finding the way back to a friendship, but it's also about grief, finding yourself, and being OK with being afraid. 

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

10. A Not So Meet Cute by Meghan Quinn

Meghan Quinn

Why you should read: When Lottie and Huxley meet, it's during a time when they are both searching for something. Lottie is down on her luck: recently jobless, living with her parents, and drowning in student loans. She needs to find herself a rich husband, and she also needs someone to accompany her to her high school reunion to make her old toxic boss jealous. This is when she bumps into Huxley, a self-made billionaire, who is also in need of someone...to pretend to be his pregnant fiancé!

Get it from Amazon. 

11. In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer

Forever

Release date: March 15, 2022

Why you should read: New York is known as a place where you're always running toward something, whether it be at a meeting, the subway station, or a particular goal — in New York, you're always ready for the next thing. Franny, on the other hand, is having the worst day ever. She's just been laid off, her dress ripped, and she flashed her underwear to every single person in NYC. The good thing is that a dashing, handsome man saved her with his Gucci coat! But someone posted their "meet-cute" online, and now everyone is shipping them. Franny and Hayes are so different from each other, so they don't think they will ever meet again...until they do.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

12. Rafe by Rebekah Weatherspoon

Rebekah Weatherspoon

Why you should read: "Buff male nanny" instantly caught my attention when I first saw this book. Inside any Rebekah Weatherspoon book you will find fun and steam, and she delivers this in Rafe. We meet Sloane, a very successful surgeon, who is in need of help. Nanny help. She has busy hours, and her twin girls need a competent caretaker. Enter Rafe, a tall, tatted, sexy nanny who's great with kids. But Sloane will come to realize that he is also great with her and her needs.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

13. Something Like Love by Christina C. Jones

Christina C. Jones

Why you should read: Christina C. Jones will take you on a ride with the last book in the Serendipitous Love series. Even though this is the sixth and last book in the series, it can be read as a standalone. When you start reading it and meet the other characters, you will want to read the previous books, though. Eddie and Astrid are opposites. Eddie dislikes Astrid in a way that he can't explain. Maybe it's because she's annoyingly perky. Maybe it's because she's always going on about how Eddie is attracted to her! Be it one or the other, Eddie wants to stay as far from her as possible. But one thing leads to another, and they suddenly embark on a sex-only relationship.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

14. Twice Shy by Sarah Hogle

G.P. Putnam's Sons

Why you should read: Sarah Hogle's sophomore novel greeted me like an old friend. After reading You Deserve Each Other (which is a fantastic and perfect rom-com), I was excited about this one. Twice Shy is a wonderful story about losing yourself, finding yourself, and love. Especially about love. Maybell has always been a hopeless romantic. Always a big dreamer, she gets the surprise of a lifetime when she finds out she just inherited a charming house from her great-aunt Violet. But that's not all! Maybell isn't the only inheritor — Wesley Koehler, the grumpy groundskeeper, owns the other half...and he has very different ideas about what he wants to do with the house.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

15. The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun

Atria Books

Why you should read: Finding love in a reality TV show...that sounds kind of unreal, right? It rarely happens, but in The Charm Offensive, it totally does! Dev Deshpande is the producer of the long-running reality dating show Ever After, and he's very good at his job. Even though his love life is not flourishing, he knows how to craft a perfect love story for the world. But then the show casts a disgraced tech wunderkind Charlie Winshaw as its star, and Dev's whole life turns upside down. 

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

16. In the Event of Love by Courtney Kae

Kensington

Release date: August 30, 2022

Why you should read: I have a soft spot for the "city girl goes back/moves to small town and finds love" trope. Maybe it goes back all the way to Sweet Home Alabama and the Hannah Montana movie. They just work for me, every single time! In the Event of Love brings us to Morgan Ross, a Los Angeles event planner whose life implodes after a tabloid blowup. She has to move back home after seven years, creating the perfect opportunity to reunite with her childhood crush, Rachel Reed.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

17. Bad at Love by Gabriela Martins

Underlined/Delacorte

Release date: August 2, 2022

Why you should read: When the author says this is How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days but YA, you add it as quickly as possible. You wait for it. You pre-order it. It's that simple. Gabriela Martins returns with her sophomore novel Bad at Love, where a fake bad boy meets the girl who wants to write an exposé about him. Daniel has just moved to Los Angeles from Brazil to join band Mischief & Mayhem, and the paparazzi love him, especially his bad boy persona! But is he really a bad boy? Sasha will go through anything to find out Daniel's secrets and soft sides.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

18. All the Feels by Olivia Dade

Avon

Why you should read: If you love the fine line between nerdy and fame, the Spoiler Alert series is for you. All the Feels is the second book in the series, but this can also be read as a standalone. But I'm positive that if you read this book, you'll want to immediately read the previous one. Alex has a pretty good life. He has charm, sex appeal, and an epic role in TV's biggest show, God of the Gates. But everything comes crashing down when the showrunners pretty much ruin his character. All of this reckless emotion finally explodes into a bar fight, and Alex needs some saving. Enter former ER therapist Lauren, who's going to keep him in line.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

19. Oops! by Alexandra Warren

Alexandra Warren

Why you should read: If you follow me on my social media, you know I adore surprise pregnancy romance books. The Oops! series is definitely one of my favorite rom-com series, and if you haven't read any of them, you should fix that. Oops! follows the life of Camryn Cox, who works at Maverick's family's company. They don't get along at all. You can find them constantly bickering in her office. But one passionate night leads to...a baby?! Alexandra Warren wrote this enemies-to-parents-to-lovers romance that you desperately need in your life.

Get it from Bookshop or from your local indie through Indiebound here. 

20. Mr. Wrong Number by Lynn Painter

Berkley

Release date: March 1, 2022

Why you should read: Receiving an anonymous text message that asks, "What are you wearing?" doesn't sound that great, but for Olivia, it turns out to be a life-changing event. Bad luck follows Olivia, so when a fire starts in her apartment, it forces her to move in with her brother and his roommate. Let's not forget she did, in fact, receive the above text message, so her day isn't going too great! But this text soon turns into a hot, entertaining (but anonymous) relationship. What she doesn't know is that her brother's best friend is the one behind the screen.

Get it from Bookshop, Target, or from your local indie through Indiebound here.