I don’t want some critically acclaimed sad af classic romance story. I don’t want to be reminded that the culmination of love is grief and that all relationships end in breakups or death. I want the fluff. I want the feel-good. I want the kiss on the forehead telling me everything will be just fine, forever. What I really want—no, what I really need—is these 10 fluffy romance novels.
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Do you want adorable? I’ll give you adorable. How does falling in love with a handsome man and becoming a surrogate parent to a lovable gaggle of magical children while living in a picturesque little house by the seaside sound? Because that’s EXACTLY the vibe that The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune delivers.
Science is cute and fluffy. Not the E = mc2 squared kind of science. Not the “Are we building synthetic intelligence that will render human thought obsolete” kind of science. I’m talking about the kind of science that involves making out with the first man you see. That’s the kind of controlled experiment that I can get behind. That’s exactly what Olive Smith, the big-brained protagonist of Ali Hazelwood’s The Love Hypothesis does. Why? For science. Not to prove to her friends that she’s dating someone she isn’t. That wouldn’t be very scientific of her, would it?
In her overachiever family, Lily Green feels like the odd one out. She’s a bookworm stuck in a dead-end job as a nonfiction editor. She spends most of her time alone, but one of her greatest joys in life is her email correspondence with one of her favorite fantasy authors, whom she’s never met. Sick of the single life, she enlists her charming neighbor to help her score a date. What she fails to realize is that he’s the author she’s been writing to (and falling for) this whole time. The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forest is a love letter emailed to introverts everywhere.
Can’t bear to watch the BBC’s Pride & Prejudice for the umpteenth time? Alexandria Bellefleur’s Written in the Stars is the fluffy romance for you. Jane Austin’s landmark novel has been lovingly rewritten into a sapphic, star-crossed romance. No-nonsense Darcy Lowell is sick of her brother trying to set her up on dates, considering the last one he sent her on with Twitter-famous astrologer Elle was a complete disaster. To get her brother off her case, Darcy lies and says her date with Elle was incredible, but the lie comes back to haunt her once big bro introduces Elle as his new business partner. Darcy begs Elle (who had an equally terrible time) to pretend that the pair are dating to save face. Will this fake romance blossom into something real? It’s almost like the stars are writing “Yeah, duh.”
Hockey doesn’t sound fluffy. The big gloves might be soft and padded, but those are the first things that come off when the fists start flying. It’s a hard-hitting sport, but you know what hits harder? A body check from LOVE. That’s exactly what happens to figure skating star Anastasia Allen. She was all set to go to the University of California on a figure skating scholarship, but fate just HAD to throw a hot hockey team captain in her way. Icebreaker by Hannah Grace may sound cold, but the flames of passion burn hot.
I grow weary of living the hard, cruel life of a commoner. I want the soft, cushioned, fluffy life of the aristocracy. I want what Red, White & Royal Blue is cooking up. Good ol’ Casey McQuinton wrote a romance novel about a British crown prince who gets into a fake friendship with the son of a U.S. President to avoid a political scandal. The real scandal here? What starts as a dishonest relationship turns into a bonafide expression of undying, romantic, royal, presidential, state-sanctioned, diplomatically immune gay love. Just the way the founding fathers and whoever came up with the idea of England intended.
I want a romance that will take me to my happy place. Not to judge a book by its cover, but I think Emily Henry’s novel, Happy Place, will be just the book to do it. For the newly broken-up couple at the center of this novel, the path to real happiness lies in faking it. Wyn and Harriet are, on paper, perfect for one another, the envy of all their friends. When they broke up, they neglected to tell those friends, hoping to avoid an awkward confrontation during the annual friends’ vacation they take together. But are they lying about being in love? Or are they lying about lying about being in love?
The title of Christina Lauren’s The Unhoneymooners may sound like some sort of summer bummer, but I can assure you, it’s anything but. It’s about a pair of twin sisters that couldn’t be more opposite. Olive is eternally unlucky in love; meanwhile, Ami is getting married. But when the entire wedding party gets rocked by food poisoning, only Olive and her nemesis Ethan Thomas are left standing. The pair decide to go on the honeymoon reserved for the newlyweds (since the happy couple are too busy on the can to make the flight) and they’ll have to pretend to be married to do so. Turns out, faking love in Maui ain’t so bad.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas won’t deceive me. I see it for what it is, a fluffy romance through and through. It’s the tale of Catalina Martín, a young woman in desperate need of a date for her sister’s wedding. She lied and told everyone she has a hot American boyfriend. She doesn’t. Now she has four weeks to find a man to play the part, a guy who’s willing to cross the ocean to Spain with her. Her insufferable (and insufferably handsome) colleague Aaron Blackford volunteers, and honestly? She could do much worse.
The title of Helen Hoang’s The Kiss Quotient has me conflicted. On the one hand, it sounds like long division. On the other hand, it sounds like a mathematical expression of a makeout. Lucky for you, dear reader, the second interpretation is closer to the truth. The book is about mathematician Stella Lane, who thinks everything in the universe can be described with numbers … except love and sex. So she’s avoided both. Now pushing 30, she wants a crash course in intimacy and has decided to hire handsome escort Michael Phan to help her come up with a lesson plan.
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