Over the last year, I greatly struggled with social anxiety. One way I dealt with it was by reading books. Books helped me escape everything that was going on in my life and gave me the ability to live in another person’s shoes for a bit. Throughout this period, I documented all of the books I had read and gave them ratings. At the end of the year, I saw that I had amassed over 200 books. I decided to share my top 20 favorite romance novels to inspire others to begin their reading journey.
20. Fake It ‘Til You Break It by Meagan Brandy
This book features the fake relationship trope and has quite a complicated plot. They had both had feelings for each other at one point, which makes this book and storyline even more interesting.
19. Just Friends by Jennifer Sucevic
Throughout this list, you will see multiple books by Jennifer Sucevic, which goes to show how amazing of an author she is. I love the friends-to-lovers trope and the fact that this is a hockey romance makes it even better.
18. Love to Hate You by Jennifer Sucevic
This book is a hilarious roommates-to-enemies-to-lovers where the two main characters are constantly at each other’s throats. There are a few pranks in the mix and a whole lot of sexual tension.
17. Takedown by Evelyn Sola
This book is absolutely hilarious, as the main character had a mistake marriage in Vegas and wants to give marriage a real try. The male main character is absolute perfection and I wish I had someone like him in my life.
16. The Baller by Vi Keeland
This is an enemies-to-lovers football romance between a football player and a sports reporter. As someone who is interested in working in the sports world, it was immensely interesting to read about a female reporter in the world of sports.
15. Friend Zoned by Jennifer Sucevic
Another best friends-to-lovers football romance by Jennifer Sucevic that makes me wish I had a male best friend. You can feel the tension as they both fight with themselves on whether to admit their feelings or not and risk ruining their friendship.
14. Campus Player by Jennifer Sucevic
Two college athletes, one football player and one soccer player in an enemies-to-lovers? Count me in! Jennifer Sucevic truly knows how to write sports romances, and I can guess that I’ve probably read most of her books.
13. His Kissing Penalty by Anne-Marie Meyer
Football romance with a fake relationship trope, does it get any better than that? I think not. This book is a good read for a lazy day, as all of us are having now.
12. The Girl Next Door by Jennifer Sucevic
A football friend-to-enemies-to-lovers with the male chasing the female character. I don’t think I have ever been so jealous of a female character than Mia Stanbury; what I would give to have male main character Beck pining after me!
11. More Than This by Jay McLean
One of my friends recommended this series to my whole friend group in high school and it spread like wildfire. Over 20 girls in our grade were hooked on these books, which goes to show how amazing they are. I have gone back and read these an unspeakable amount of times. It is a baseball romance and each book is about a different character in the friend group.
10. The Locker Room by Meghan Quinn
The Locker Room is the first book in the Brentwood Boys series. This series is a baseball romance series that begins in college and continues on to the MLB. It is an adorable read if you are ever in a book slump.
9. The Accidentals by Sarina Bowen
The main point of this book is not romantic love, but the love of a family reuniting and growing. It is beautifully written and made me so happy. A rockstar father discovers that he has a daughter after her mother dies, and he gets full custody. It is a story of growth and development that is a cute read.
8. Moonlighter by Sarina Bowen
I absolutely adore this book. It has both the hockey romance along with action and danger, which are some of my favorite things. I am a complete sucker for the two people, one bed trope, and this book has it.
7. Bound by Honor by Cora Reily
This series is amazing and as someone who loves mafia romance, I found this so well written and interesting. The main character from book one, Luca Vitiello, is quite controversial and not many people like him, but personally, I love him. I believe that his character development is so important. The main series is the Born in Blood series with The Camorra Chronicles being the spin-off series.
6. Taking Shots by Toni Aleo
Taking Shots is the first book in a long series by Toni Aleo of hockey romance books. These books are centered around the Nashville hockey team the “Nashville Assassins.”
My review: While this series is very long, I believe that it is so worth the read. Each book is about another player on the hockey team and features many different tropes so everyone can find something they like. These books have other spin-off series that are just as good as the first. To read all of them follow this series order:
Assassins Series
Nashville Assassins
Bellevue Bullies
Nashville Assassins: Next Generation
Ice Cats
For the full reading list, use this link!
5. Throttled by Lauren Asher
This is the first book in the Dirty Air series. This series is a Formula 1 romance, the first one I have ever read. Let me just say I had never been a fan of Formula 1 until I read this series.
4. The Selection by Kiera Cass
The Selection is the first book in the Selection Series by Kiera Cass. This is 100 percent my comfort series. Whenever I am down and just need a book to remind me of why I love reading, I turn back to this series. This series is like The Bachelor, but make it royal.
The first three books are absolutely fantastic and feature that love that we all wish to one day have. The last two books are a complete disappointment to me. I just don’t like how they finish and refuse to acknowledge it.
3. One Thousand Boy Kisses by Tillie Cole
This book is an absolute masterpiece. I have multiple videos of me sobbing as I read this book. It is a beautiful second-chance romance about two high school students.
2. The 7 Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
This book is about movie star Evelyn Hugo, who has become a recluse in the past couple of years and has just requested a tell-all interview.
This book broke my heart and rebuilt it at the same time. I truly wish Evelyn Hugo was a real person because her story is so beautiful and passionate. I am not a person who cries when reading books, but this book had me shedding a couple of tears.
1. The Deal by Elle Kennedy
The Off-Campus and Briar U are my favorite series of all time. Elle Kennedy blessed the world with both of these series and no one can tell me otherwise. This cemented my love for Hockey Romance and I go back to read these books at least twice a year. As a matter of fact, I am currently re-reading these books right now! The only reason I have not read the last two books is that I am not mentally prepared for this series to end. Bravo Elle Kennedy!
The Off-Campus Series makes up the first four books and then the spin-off series Briar U was created, definitely read both in this order because they intertwine.
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