Whether romance is your primary reading preference, or you need a palate cleanser between fantasies or thrillers, I’ve compiled this list of eight adult contemporary romance reads that you should read during 2022! I loved each and every one of these novels, and there’s sure to be at least a few for every kind of reader!
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1 || The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
The Unhoneymooners is a hilarious and witty contemporary slow-burn romance filled with tropes such as enemies to lovers, only one bed, and fake dating that you’re sure to love!
Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, inโฆwell, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancรฉ is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and sheโs managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, sheโs forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man. Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who arenโt affected are Olive and Ethan. And now thereโs an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs. Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesnโt mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.
“Don’t threaten me with a good time”
The Unhoneymooners
2 || If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy
Modern day, bachelor-esque Cinderella retelling with a gorgeous and relatable plus-sized main character! Utterly bingeworthy!
After having just graduated with a degree in shoe design, and trying to get her feet on the ground, Cindy is working for her stepmother, who happens to be the executive producer of America’s favorite reality show, Before Midnight. When a spot on the show needs filling ASAP, Cindy volunteers, hoping it might help jump-start her fashion career, or at least give her something to do while her peers land jobs in the world of high fashion. Turns out being the only plus size woman on a reality dating competition makes a splash, and soon Cindy becomes a body positivity icon for women everywhere. What she doesn’t expect? That she may just find inspiration-and love-in the process. Ultimately, Cindy learns that if the shoe doesn’t fit, maybe it’s time to design your own.
“Don’t you see how belittling this is! I’m not brave for wearing a dress. I’m just living!”
if the shoe fits
3 || The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
The Hating Game is a fully and sarcastic romance based on two hostile coworkers competing for the same promotion, which ultimately ends up being the ideal read for lovers of the “enemies-to-lovers” trope!
Debut author Sally Thorne bursts on the scene with a hilarious and sexy workplace comedy all about that thin, fine line between hate and love. Nemesis (n.) 1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome; 2) A personโs undoing; 3) Joshua Templeman. Lucy Hutton has always been certain that the nice girl can get the corner office. Sheโs charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual. Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, theyโve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. Thereโs the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy canโt let Joshua beat her at anythingโespecially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking. If Lucy wins this game, sheโll be Joshuaโs boss. If she loses, sheโll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like sheโs got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether sheโs got Joshua Templeman all wrong. Maybe Lucy Hutton doesnโt hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesnโt hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
“It’s a corporate truth universally acknowledged that workers would rather eat rat skeletons than participate in group activities”
The hating game
4 || The Roommate by Rosie Danan
The Roommate is a unique, slow-burn romance that tackles typical society standards and expectations by challenging and defying them! Includes roomies turned lovers and forced proximity romance.
House Rules: Do your own dishes. Knock before entering the bathroom. Never look up your roommate online. The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. Sheโs the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Claraโs childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too much to resist. Unfortunately, itโs also too good to be true. After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptiveโnot to mention handsomeโfor comfort, but thereโs a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadnโt looked him up on the Internet… Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheatonโs most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if theyโre lucky, theyโll help everyone else get lucky too.
“In your rush to protect yourself from heartache, you’re always the first to jump to conclusions”
The roommate
5 || The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
The Love Hypothesis is an entertaining and high-tension contemporary slow-burn romance featuring fake dating, workplace/school romance, and a brooding love interest that you can’t help but fall for!
As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn’t believe in lasting romantic relationships–but her best friend does, and that’s what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive is dating and well on her way to a happily ever after was always going to take more than hand-wavy Jedi mind tricks: Scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting biologist, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees. That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor–and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when Stanford’s reigning lab tyrant agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire, putting Olive’s career on the Bunsen burner, Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support and even more unyielding… six-pack abs. Suddenly their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion. And Olive discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.
“I’m starting to wonder if this is what being in love is. Being okay with ripping yourself to shreds, so the other person can stay whole”
The love hypothesis
6 || The Ex Hex by Erin Sterling
The Ex Hex is a witchy, comical, and sharp-witted romance filled with magic gone wrong, pure-genius hexes on more than deserving male heartbreakers, and a dreamy, accented love interest!
Olive is always unlucky: in her career, in love, inโฆwell, everything. Her identical twin sister Ami, on the other hand, is probably the luckiest person in the world. Her meet-cute with her fiancรฉ is something out of a romantic comedy (gag) and sheโs managed to finance her entire wedding by winning a series of Internet contests (double gag). Worst of all, sheโs forcing Olive to spend the day with her sworn enemy, Ethan, who just happens to be the best man. Olive braces herself to get through 24 hours of wedding hell before she can return to her comfortable, unlucky life. But when the entire wedding party gets food poisoning from eating bad shellfish, the only people who arenโt affected are Olive and Ethan. And now thereโs an all-expenses-paid honeymoon in Hawaii up for grabs. Putting their mutual hatred aside for the sake of a free vacation, Olive and Ethan head for paradise, determined to avoid each other at all costs. But when Olive runs into her future boss, the little white lie she tells him is suddenly at risk to become a whole lot bigger. She and Ethan now have to pretend to be loving newlyweds, and her luck seems worse than ever. But the weird thing is that she doesnโt mind playing pretend. In fact, she feels kind of… lucky.
“You almost ran your ex-boyfriend over with a car, and then left him lying in the literal dirt on the side of the road. It is such a big deal, you absolute queen”
The ex hex
7 || The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
The Spanish Love Deception is an adorable and comfy enemies to lovers romance set in NYC and Spain, featuring fake dating, a wedding, and witty banter.
A wedding. A trip to Spain. The most infuriating man. And three days of pretending. Or in other words, a plan that will never work. Catalina Martรญn, finally, not single. Her family is happy to announce that she will bring her American boyfriend to her sisterโs wedding. Everyone is invited to come and witness the most magical event of the year. That would certainly be tomorrowโs headline in the local newspaper of the small Spanish town I came from. Or the epitaph on my tombstone, seeing the turn my life had taken in the span of a phone call. Four weeks wasnโt a lot of time to find someone willing to cross the Atlanticโfrom NYC and all the way to Spainโfor a wedding. Let alone, someone eager to play along my charade. But that didnโt mean I was desperate enough to bring the 6โ4 blue eyed pain in my ass standing before me. Aaron Blackford. The man whose main occupation was making my blood boil had just offered himself to be my date. Right after inserting his nose in my business, calling me delusional, and calling himself my best option. See? Outrageous. Aggravating. Blood boiling. And much to my total despair, also right. Which left me with a surly and extra large dilemma in my hands. Was it worth the suffering to bring my colleague and bane of my existence as my fake boyfriend to my sisterโs wedding? Or was I better off coming clean and facing the consequences of my panic induced lie? Like my abuela would say, que dios nos pille confesados.
“Because it was all you were willing to give me. And I’d rather have you hating me than not have you at all”
The spanish love deception
8 || People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
People We Meet on Vacation is a sweet and emotionally-gripping slow-burn friends to lovers romance with fun, instagram worthy vacation settings!
Two best friends. Ten summer trips. One last chance to fall in love. Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. Sheโs a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apartโsheโs in New York City, and heโs in their small hometownโbut every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together. Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They havenโt spoken since. Poppy has everything she should want, but sheโs stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation togetherโlay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees. Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
“Like a good book or an incredible outfit, being on vacation transports you into another version of yourself”
people we meet on vacation
