Book list · 16 books
The Best Contemporary Romance Books, From Sweet to Spicy
Real-world love stories, no dragons required. Here are 16 contemporary romance books ordered from sweetest to spiciest, with tropes, a spice rating and content notes for every one.
By Melanie Juarez
1 min read · Updated Oct 2026
The short answer
If you want one contemporary romance to start with, make it Beach Read by Emily Henry: rival writers, a lake house and real feelings under the banter. Want it sweeter? Try People We Meet on Vacation. Want more heat? The Kiss Quotient and Things We Never Got Over turn it up.
Quick picks
Best place to startBeach Read · Emily Henry
Sweet and low spicePeople We Meet on Vacation · Emily Henry
When you want it steamyThings We Never Got Over · Lucy Score
Contemporary romance is a love story set in the world we actually live in: jobs, group chats, bad exes, small towns and one person who won't get out of your head. No magic, no time travel, just two people and a lot of reasons it shouldn't work. (Want us to choose for you? Here's how a blind date with a book works.)
We've ordered this list from sweetest to spiciest, so you can stop wherever your comfort zone ends. Every book has our spice rating, its main tropes and content notes. And if you'd like a surprise instead, our romance blind date does the choosing.
The full list
Liz Buxbaum lives for rom-coms and has one goal: win over her longtime crush. Her only way in is Wes Bennett, the annoying boy next door, who agrees to help a little too easily.
If you liked: Every Summer After, The Hating Game
Content notes
Grief over a parent's death.
Persephone spent six summers at the lake with Sam, then left and didn't come back for six years. Now she's returning for a funeral, and she'll have to face him.
If you liked: People We Meet on Vacation, Beach Read
Content notes
Grief, death of a parent figure.
Poppy and Alex are best friends who took one summer trip together every year, until two years ago, when they stopped speaking. Poppy asks for one more trip to fix it.
If you liked: Every Summer After, Beach Read
Content notes
Some on-page sex.
Can't decide?
Let us pick your next romance
Pick romance and we'll hand-pick a brand-new book, wrap it so you can't peek, and tuck in snacks, stickers and a bookmark. You can rule out themes you'd rather skip before we choose.
At her twin sister's wedding, everyone gets food poisoning except Olive and the groom's brother, Ethan, who can't stand her. Someone has to use the free honeymoon to Maui.
If you liked: The Wedding Date, The Hating Game
Content notes
Some on-page sex.
Alexa and Drew get stuck in a hotel elevator together. By the time it moves again, he's asked her to be his fake date at his ex's wedding that weekend.
If you liked: The Unhoneymooners, The Spanish Love Deception
Content notes
Explicit sex.
Lucy and Joshua are executive assistants to two co-CEOs, sitting across from each other and hating every minute. Then they both go for the same promotion.
If you liked: The Unhoneymooners, The Spanish Love Deception
Content notes
Explicit sex.
Literary agent Nora Stephens is the cutthroat one, never the small-town love interest. On a trip to Sunshine Falls with her sister, she keeps running into Charlie Lastra, a brooding editor from back home.
If you liked: Beach Read, The Hating Game
Content notes
Grief over a parent's death, explicit sex.
A romance writer who can't write anymore moves into her late dad's lake house and finds her old college rival, now a serious literary novelist, living next door. So they swap genres for the summer.
If you liked: Book Lovers, People We Meet on Vacation
Content notes
Grief, a parent's infidelity, explicit sex.
Catalina needs a date for her sister's wedding in Spain, fast. The only volunteer is Aaron Blackford, the colleague she finds unbearable.
If you liked: The Hating Game, The Love Hypothesis
Content notes
Explicit sex.
To convince her best friend she's dating, PhD student Olive Smith kisses the first man she sees. It turns out to be Adam Carlsen, the department's most feared young professor.
If you liked: The Spanish Love Deception, The Kiss Quotient
Content notes
Sexual harassment in academia, grief over a parent's death, explicit sex.
ER doctor Alexis Montgomery breaks down on a back road in small-town Minnesota and gets rescued by Daniel, a carpenter ten years younger. Her family would hate it. She can't stop going back.
If you liked: Book Lovers, It Happened One Summer
Content notes
Emotional abuse by an ex, explicit sex.
Alex, son of the US president, and Henry, a British prince, cause an international incident at a royal wedding. Damage control means pretending to be friends.
If you liked: The Love Hypothesis, The Hating Game
Content notes
Homophobia, outing, explicit sex.
LA party girl Piper Bellinger gets cut off and sent to a fishing town in Washington to run her late father's dive bar. The local sea captain gives her a week, tops.
If you liked: Things We Never Got Over, Book Lovers
Content notes
Grief, explicit sex.
Stella Lane is brilliant with data and anxious about dating, so she hires an escort, Michael Phan, to teach her. The lessons stop feeling like practice.
If you liked: The Love Hypothesis, The Fine Print
Content notes
Explicit sex, family money problems.
Runaway bride Naomi Witt drives to a small Virginia town to help her twin, who steals her car and leaves her with a niece she didn't know about. The town's grumpy barber is not impressed.
If you liked: It Happened One Summer, The Fine Print
Content notes
Addiction, violence, explicit sex.
Rowan Kane has to remake his family's theme park to win his inheritance. Then he reads a brutally honest suggestion from one of the park's own employees, Zahra, and decides to hire her.
If you liked: Things We Never Got Over, The Kiss Quotient
Content notes
Grief, explicit sex.
Where to start
Want it sweet? Start with Better Than the Movies, Every Summer After or People We Meet on Vacation. For banter with some heat, go to The Hating Game, Book Lovers or Beach Read. Save It Happened One Summer, The Kiss Quotient, Things We Never Got Over and The Fine Print for when you want the door wide open.
How we rate spice
Our spice rating is our own editorial call, from 1 (closed door) to 5 (very explicit). It measures how much is on the page, not how emotional the story gets. A low-spice book can still wreck you.
Questions readers ask
What is a contemporary romance book?
What's a good first contemporary romance?
Are there contemporary romance books without spice?
How do you rate spice?
Are the content notes complete?
Can't decide?
Let us pick your next romance
Pick romance and we'll hand-pick a brand-new book, wrap it so you can't peek, and tuck in snacks, stickers and a bookmark. You can rule out themes you'd rather skip before we choose.
About the author
Melanie Juarez
Co-founder, Blindly
Melanie is Blindly's co-founder and resident bookmom. She reads every reader's quiz answers and hand-picks each blind date herself, from the family-run Blindly home in California. Nothing makes her happier than matching someone with their next favorite read.
Read Melanie's story →
