Ah, springtime: the birds are singing, the sun is shining, flowers are blooming and freedom is rapidly approaching. Whether you’re pumped for lazy days with your SO or ready to live up that single life this season, there’s no doubt that there’s just a little bit of love and possibility floating in the air. What better way to jump on that than with a good romance novel?
The feel-good sense of the outdoors right now is best when paired with your own feel-good feeling. As an expert in bubbly fun romances, I feel the need to share with you this list of cute romance novels from the past few years to keep you smiling — and swooning — all season! Click the name for the full book blurb!
A Night in With Audrey Hepburn by Lucy Holliday
Poor Libby could probably create her own Series of Unfortunate Events with her terrible luck, but THEN she encounters super actor Dillon O’Hara and her horrible luck continues — except she’s got Audrey Hepburn coaching her from the sidelines. It’s an adorable story about finding yourself and your confidence, with a hefty dose of quirky cute romance that’ll have you giggling just as much with giddiness as it will at poor Libby’s misadventures.
The Distance Between Us by Kasie West
I am 100 per cent unashamed to admit how much I still love Young Adult fiction, and this is one of my favourites. Caymen and Xander have all the makings of a semi-typical, rich-poor, Pride and Prejudice-style love story, but is sweet and original enough that you completely overlook some of the clichés. Their romance is heavily based in their friendship, and watching Caymen warm up to the guy that Xander is (not the ass she thought he’d be) is enough to fill the coldest heart with gooey warmth.
My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel by Kitty Curran and Larissa Zageris
This was the HIGHLIGHT of my week when I read it. It combines all the best tropes of romance that we love to hate into an adult Choose-Your-Own-Adventure novel set in nineteenth-century England. It is, at its heart, a romance/erotica parody, meaning it doesn’t take the setting and plot super seriously, but if you can take it with a grain of salt (and find the fun in the “womanly orbs” and literal bodice-ripping) then it’s definitely worth it. Seriously. It’s hilarious!
I Owe You One by Sophie Kinsella
This one came out recently and despite being only about 50 pages in, I am in LOVE. Fixie Farr’s narration is cute, fun and endears you to her and her family struggles from page one. Bonus: Kinsella is the same author who wrote the novel Confessions of a Shopaholic ages back — which rapidly turned her into a romance writing icon — so you just know it’s going to be grand.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan
This was a big deal last summer because of the movie (which is great, BTW), but if you still haven’t read it, you absolutely must. The writing style is a little unconventional and highly visual, which means you’ll not only love the characters and their struggles, but also their high-society Singaporean world. Plus, the love between Rachel and Henry — despite the family meddling — is refreshingly genuine, being focused on the actual love between them more than some fierce sexual chemistry (though, of course, those books are great too). With a message for new beginnings and a fresh perspective set in an incredible colourful and sparkling world, the novel is perfect for Springtime reading (and vacation-dreaming).
Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover
Colleen Hoover is an amazing romance writer, but one of the best parts about her books is that they’re usually about college-aged characters like us. It sometimes is difficult to find really good non-smut New Adult fiction, and most end up with more YA (which is great, but can feel juvenile at points) or books about 30-year-old divorced mothers (again, great, but very hard to relate to); Hoover’s books fill that gap with relatable, swoon-worthy stories about people we understand. Maybe Someday is often hailed as one of her best, and is the perfect blend of angsty, tumultuous, sexy and romantic.