Check out my picks of the best Romance books of 2023! These 16 novels absolutely have to go on your TBR!
Get ready to fall in love with these excellent Historical and Contemporary Romance novels and Romantic Comedies!
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert
I usually avoid talking in extremes, but Talia Hibbert truly never disappoints. I absolutely adored Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute!
The characters in this Young Adult Romance book are so utterly lovable, and the storyline is fun and captivating.
Celine and Bradley used to be friends, but then he dropped her to hang out with “the cool kids”. She could never forgive him for that, so they’ve been rivals ever since.
Celine and Bradley are both such wonderfully fleshed-out characters, and it’s so much fun to read their thoughts about each other. And, of course, the banter is absolutely delicious!
One of the best Romance books of 2023, not only for fans of Young Adult love stories!
Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni
Sorry, Bro is at the same time super fun and profoundly moving. After breaking up with her all-American boyfriend, Nareh begins to explore her Armenian roots and gets to know – and falls for – another Armenian-American woman.
The romance between Nareh and Erebuni is so sweet! But while Erebuni is comfortable in her identity, Nareh is struggling and searching. She has not come out as bisexual to her family and believes they would not accept her. And she is unsure how to make Armenian culture work with her very American upbringing.
This book is more on the Women’s Fiction side of things., focusing on Nareh’s journey But it’s also very much a Romance novel with a wonderful Happily Ever After.
I adored Sorry, Bro, and it’s for me one of the best Romance books of 2023!
Two Wrongs Make a Right by Chloe Liese
Chloe Liese is an author who, time and time again, exceeds my expectations. Two Wrongs Make a Right is a wonderful Enemies to Lovers Contemporary Romance about two people who want to get back at their meddling friends.
Jamie and Bea run in the same circle of friends but don’t like each other very much. Their friends, however, are convinced the two would make a perfect couple.
Jamie and Bea hope if they fake a relationship and break up, their friends will give up and leave each of them in peace.
But when they anonymously start to text, they actually do find that they get along extremely well. It’s not easy to leave the real-life animosity and hurt feelings behind, though…
Never Ever Getting Back Together by Sophie Gonzales
Never Ever Getting Back Together is an adorable Young Adult Romance between two bisexual girls who meet on a reality show.
And that reality show is… phew! Imagine The Bachelor, but it’s actually all of the guy’s ex-girlfriends and hookups.
Maya never ever, ever wants to see her ex-boyfriend Jordy again. But when he begs her to star on this show with him, she gives in – hoping this would give her a chance to take revenge for the way he left her and for cheating on her.
But she gets rather worried about her plans when she’s supposed to stay in the same room with Skye, the girl Jordie cheated with.
I absolutely loved the ending of this book and the entire way the relationship between Maya and Skye develops! This is a book you can get lost in and one of the best Romance books of 2023!
Something Spectacular by Alexis Hall
This book is so delightful! It is truly funny but also heart-warming, and I appreciate the great lengths Alexis Hall went to for the poetry meeting scene (Iykyk).
This book starts out as the story of an unrequited love. Peggy could never move on from her crush on her best friend, but Arabella could not reciprocate her feelings.
Peggy would do anything for her, though, and when Arabella asks Peggy to talk to a very attractive opera singer for her, Peggy immediately agrees.
But when Peggy and Orfeo, the singer, feel instant attraction for one another, things get rather complicated, very interesting, and wonderfully spicy!
Something Spectacular also fabulously ties in with the couple from the first book in the series. And this NB/NB Historical is for me one of the best Romance books of 2023!
Role Playing by Cathy Yardley
I was instantly intrigued by the blurb for this book. Two people over the age of 45 who meet in a video game? That’s a wonderful premise!
And the story I found inside was even better than what I had hoped for. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I know many of you look for this, so let me just say: This book has wonderful queer representation in the main characters!
And I adored both of them so much. Maggie is the kind of grumpy hermit that I admittedly am, too. And I appreciated that, even though she is 48, she gets to play video games and use internet slang and memes.
Her relationship with her 18-year-old son is also very tender and beautiful.
It was great to see this kind of honest and loving parent-child relationship in a Romance novel which so often plays on teenage children being very absent and withdrawn (or, if it’s a Young Adult Romance, parents being absent and not understanding).
Aiden is such an unexpected and wonderful hero, too. I’m utterly (otter-ly?) in love!
Butcher and Blackbird by Brynne Weave
I was in a horrible, horrible book slump last year. After starting and stopping a whole bunch of books, I saw a recommendation for Butcher & Blackbird. And this was wild!
A male serial killer and a female serial killer become friends. Every year, they have a competition in which they pick out another serial killer and hunt him down.
This book is gross. Like… it’s so gross! There are a lot of very gross, macabre details, and there is a considerable body count.
But this book is also hot. Like… it’s so hot! Somehow, the author manages to go from all the gross to a really sweet friends-to-lovers romance that gets intensely steamy.
If you’re looking for something different, wild, and fast-paced, this book is it!
Chef’s Choice by TJ Alexander
Chef’s Choice was so, so good! This is my new favorite TJ Alexander book!
Luna is a trans woman and finds herself in a bit of a pickle after losing her job unexpectedly… just to end up in a fake dating situation with an extremely rich French trans man.
Jean-Pierre needs to succeed in a cooking competition to secure his inheritance. But neither he nor Luna can actually cook.
This storyline is wild and such immense fun! Luna is extremely lovable, and while Jean-Pierre can be a bit exasperating, I couldn’t help but root for him, if only so Luna would get the happy end she deserved.
Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon
I am so excited about Business or Pleasure by Rachel Lynn Solomon!
There are very few books in which the Romance hero is not good in bed, and the heroine teaches him how to be a better lover (technically, I only know of one other book with this topic).
And Rachel Lynn Solomon embedded this theme into a truly touching and romantic story.
Chandler is a ghostwriter and agrees to write an actor’s memoir. But it turns out that this actor was her horribly failed one-night-stand!
I rooted so hard for Finn, who is such a sweet guy, and I truly believed how he came to be oblivious about his lack of skills between the sheets.
One of the most fun and best Romance books of 2023!
Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
Elsie is an adjunct professor, which sounds fancy, but actually doesn’t pay the bills. At all. So, she also works for an agency where people can book a fake girlfriend for events.
But then she accidentally runs into the older brother of one of her regular clients at a job interview for a tenure position. He knows her as Elsie, the librarian, not as Elsie, the theoretical physicist.
To make matters even worse, he is an experimental physicist. And not just any, but the one who started a horrible war between theoretical and experimental physics.
So, Elsie is in quite the situation. And it doesn’t help that she is extremely attracted to the guy. While he thinks she is his little brother’s girlfriend…
With Love, From Cold World by Alicia Thompson
With Love from Cold World by Alicia Thompson completely charmed me! I adored the way the chemistry between Lauren and Asa builds up.
The two start out as annoyed co-workers, enemies if you will, but the attraction is undeniably there.
Asa is bisexual, and the author took such wonderful care in portraying him. Asa’s sexuality is not abused as an accessory to make him “edgy” or whatever, like I’ve encountered in other books. It is an integral part of who he is, how he interacts with Lauren, and also what he does with Lauren once the two get more intimate with one another.
With Love, From Cold World takes the enemies-to-lovers trope and puts it in a wonderful, fresh packaging with two main characters that feel relatable and real.
You, Again by Kate Goldbeck
Oh boy, this book was a ride!
You see, Ari and Josh are not likable people. Both of them have a ton of issues, and they are honestly a bit stupid. But their story was so captivating (not to mention scorchingly hot). And I got really, really invested in their relationship.
We accompany the two over the span of 9 or so years. Their first occasional meetings go very badly. They hate each other.
Of course, it doesn’t help that the first time they meet, they are both into the same woman. Just that Josh believes she is his soul mate, while Ari just wants a good time.
And that’s their issue going forward. Josh is looking for the one. And Ari… is not. For reasons, that changes over the years.
This is a very well-written book with characters that I couldn’t get enough of, despite – or maybe because of – their flaws.
How to Win a Breakup by Farah Heron
This book gave me a trope-gasm! First, How to Win a Breakup starts with my favorite: Becoming friends online, not knowing each other in real life.
But then, Samaya runs into the guy from her online friend’s photo during a school project. And apparently, she has been catfished! Because this guy is not the guy she gamed with.
However, David is super nice and very laid back. And he agrees to fake-date Samaya – my other favorite trope – so she can “win the breakup” from her ex-boyfriend, who is already dating Samaya’s frenemy, Hanna.
This Young Adult Romance is such immense fun with lots of twists and turns. It kept me guessing who the actual online friend was!
Didn’t See That Coming by Jesse Q. Sutanto
I’m such a fan of Jesse Q. Sutanto, and it came as no surprise that she excels at writing an entertaining Young Adult Romance, just as much as her usual Mystery books.
Didn’t See That Coming was so all-around fun!
Kiki is a badass. I loved her immediately. She’s a gamer, but because of the intense harassment she experienced as a “girl gamer” online, she decided to let everyone online believe she’s a guy.
She didn’t take into account that things could get awkward once she makes a real friend.
And when she then changes schools and starts to suspect that a nice guy from her class might be her online best friend, things get quite uncomfortable for her.
Dragged to the Wedding by Andrew Grey
James is living his best gay life in Chicago. But when he has to visit his very conservative family in Montana to celebrate his sister’s wedding, he has a problem.
He is not out to his family.
Fortunately, a friend introduces James to stunning Daniela, who agrees to be James’ fake date for the duration of the visit.
However, Daniela is actually Daniel, aka Lala Traviata, a star drag queen!
Daniel’s skills with make-up and clothing are exactly what the disastrous wedding needs, and soon, everyone – James and James’ family included – is in love with “Daniela”.
Dragged to the Wedding is a fun M/M Romance with lots of depth and, for me, one of the best Romance books 2023!