12 Lighthearted & Heartwarming Romance Books To Pick Up This Spring
It’s no secret that I love romance books. I adore romance books. They bring me happiness and comfort no matter what romance book I read—that is, if it’s a fluffy comfort romance. While there are some romance books that stress me the heck out and make me want to sob uncontrollably, these are the books that warm my heart and have me kicking my feet and giggling.
The Cheat Sheet by Sarah Adams
This was an adorable and delightful childhood friends-to-lovers with a fake dating scheme thrown in there. Both the guy and the girl harbor secret feelings for each other but they don’t want the other to find out about their feelings at risk of ruining their friendship. They remained close throughout high school, but fell out of touch in college, but quickly became close again. The guy, Nathan, is a professional football player and the girl, Bree is a dancer. When the whole world thinks you’re together, does that mean you should just be together?
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Practice Makes Perfect by Sarah Adams
This was by far my favorite book of 2023. Annie made me feel seen. She’s shy and soft-spoken and warm-hearted. She loves her family and she feels the most comfortable around them. She hardly dates because she’s nervous around new people. Enter: Will Griffin, the sexy bodyguard with tattoos (whom we meet in the first book in this series, When in Rome!). Will takes a liking to Annie and develops a fierce protectiveness around her. He helps her with her dating problem and helps her to gain more confidence. All the while, they grow closer. I love this book and it just had me grinning as I turned every page.
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Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
Abby Jimenez flipped my heart over with the Part of Your World series—this one, aptly titled and the next book, Yours Truly. If I had to choose which was my favorite? I couldn’t. I love Bri and Jacob (especially Jacob! Dr. Jacob Maddox!) but I also love Daniel and Alexis. I didn’t pick this book up for the longest time because of the age gap, but it really wasn’t a big plot point as I expected it to be. The book is set in a small town, where we first meet Alexis, the city girl, and Daniel, the small town carpenter who owns a small B&B. This also had a take on the class divide and “dating outside of your class” rule. This one was unputdownable!
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Lovelight Farms by B.K. Borison
If you love Gilmore Girls (as much as I do), then do yourself a favor and pick up this book immediately!! I love the entire series, but Lovelight Farms (book 1) is the book to start with. Although this book is set during the winter, specifically Christmastime, you can read this at any time during the year. It’s a friends to lovers, fake dating scheme that anyone would love. The book follows Stella and Luka, two best friends, as they try and win and cash prize to save Stella’s Christmas tree farm. (Start playing Christmas Tree Farm by Taylor Swift!) Stella lied on her application for the contest to win the cash prize and said that she runs the farm with her boyfriend. The town of Lovelight is so closely similar to Stars Hollow and will have your nostalgic heart yearning to visit the small town!!
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The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory
I love Jasmine Guillory’s books with my whole heart. I will read anything by her. I love contemporary romance, and Jasmine Guillory is one of the many queens of contemporary romance. I love this book. It’s the first book in his five-book series (I think it’s five—someone correct me if I’m wrong). It follows Alexa and Drew as she agrees to be his date at his ex’s wedding—after she gets stuck in an elevator with him. After having so much fun together on the night of the wedding, they part ways. He lives in Los Angeles as a pediatric surgeon and she heads home to Berkeley, where she’s the mayor’s chief of staff. The long distance may be hard, but can these two make it work?
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Book Lovers by Emily Henry
Small town romances have a special place in my heart. However, this one is with a twist. Imagine the high-powered woman in a suit who loves her job goes to a small town (on a vacation with her little sister), where she meets and falls for a man. Except that man is her arch-nemesis from the city and he happens to be from there and had lived there for most of his childhood. And he’s trying to save his family’s bookstore. (Charlie Lastra, the man that you are.) This Emily Henry book was definitely a feel-good small town romance.
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Exes & O’s by Amy Lea
This was my first book by Amy Lea and the second book in the influencer series! The female main character, Tara, is an avid romance book reader (and even has a bookstagram!) who will not give up on a second chance with one of her exes. She longs to be in the second chance romance trope, but that’s not what she’s going to get. She sets out to find another spark with one of her exes, but with the help of her new roommate, Trevor, who is the friend of her sister’s fiance.
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I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston
I think this is one of the few young adult romance novels on this list, but I loved this book by Casey McQuiston. I read this when I was feeling very anxious, so this was a perfect read to take my mind off things. It lifted my spirits and made me feel better. There’s even a bit of mystery in this one!
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American Royals by Katharine McGee
I hesitate to call this a romance, but there are elements of romance and relationships in this one. I love this series with my whole heart. The book follows question, “If America was a monarchy instead of a democracy?” And the main family are the Washingtons and the mother and father are the King and Queen of America. The story follows their three teenage/young adult children, Beatrice, Samantha, and Jefferson (Samantha and Jefferson are twins, with Samantha older by a few minutes—that’s very important to remember), and their friends, Daphne Deighton and Nina Gonzalez. The story takes you on royal adventures and lots of drama between the children and their friends. Even some romance! Beatrice is my favorite character with her strength and determination. This book was a complete delight to read and very easy to read.
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Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
If I had to choose an Ali Hazelwood book to include on this list, it would definitely have to be Love, Theoretically. While I love The Love Hypothesis, this book is truly a comfort read. The story follows both Jack and Elsie, who “hate” each other (I use that term loosely). Well, Elsie hates Jack for her own misguided reasons, while she assumes Jack hates her as well for her chosen profession. (Elsie chose theory physics instead of experimental physics, like what Jack does.) When Elsie is up for a promotion, Jack is on the committee to help decide. But on the side, Elsie hides a secret: she offers her services as a fake girlfriend. But she ends up being the fake girlfriend to Jack’s brother and Jack finds out who she is. It’s a fun book with lots of fun and playful banter that will keep you entertained!
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The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest
This one was a very fun and enjoyable read! I read this while traveling and it was perfect for a getaway trip. Another fun reason to read this book: it’s a book about books! And publishing. The main character, Lily, is an editorial assistant at a publishing house. She strikes up an email conversation with her favorite author, which takes up about the first half of the book. Then, he suddenly ghosts her. Months later, she has forgotten her pen pal crush and now determined to find a date to her sister’s wedding. She finds aid from her new friend/neighbor, Nick. They are drawn to each other—but little to Lily’s knowledge, Nick is her favorite fantasy author whom she spent months emailing back and forth with. It’s truly a fun read!
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Tweet Cute by Emma Lord
I adored this very fun and enjoyable young adult romance. The main characters are set in high school, and you’d think it would be a tad too young for me, but the story is very You’ve Got Mail and so I was hooked with the mention of that movie. The two main characters are in high school and do not like each other. Pepper is a chronic overachiever while Jack is the class clown. But little do they know about each other is that they both run the social media accounts for their family businesses: Pepper runs the Twitter for Big League Burger, her family’s business and Jack is running his own family’s small deli business Twitter account. I loved this book so much!
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