A great romance book draws readers in early on with strong characters and the promise of a compelling love story that will develop over the course of the reading experience. The best romance books have two lead characters that are nuanced, complex, and have their own lives outside each other. These characters have excellent chemistry, easy banter, and an ultimate desire to be together despite whatever obstacles they may have to face as a pairing.
While there are a number of fantastic romance books that are longer reads, it is always a treat to get to binge-read a captivating romance book in just a couple of days. These books immerse readers throughout, allowing them to fully escape into the story of two characters falling in love, in under 400 pages. These are amazing romance books that you can read in just one weekend.
‘To Sir, with Love’ (2021)
To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne is a You’ve Got Mail-inspired romantic comedy novel about an aspiring artist named Gracie Cooper. Instead of pursuing her dreams, Gracie had to take over the family business in the wake of her father’s death. She now runs his little champagne shop in New York City, and while it’s not her dream, she’s proud to be carrying on his legacy. Then, Gracie learns that a massive corporation wants to buy her family out and destroy the shop, by way of the handsome but arrogant Sebastian Andrews.
Gracie is determined to prevent Sebastian and his company from driving the shop out of business, but it’s not easy. At least, when this takes a toll on her, she has her pen pal to turn to: a stranger whom she met on an anonymous dating app and only knows as “Sir.” Gracie and Sir just get each other in a way that she hasn’t felt with anyone else, and she hopes to meet him in person one day. What she doesn’t realize, though, is that Sebastian is Sir – just as he has no idea that she’s actually “Lady.” To Sir, with Love is a sweet and short read that makes the perfect mental vacation for a single weekend, and it’s a delight from start to finish.
‘This Is How You Lose the Time War’ (2019)
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a science fiction romance novella that tells the unlikely love story of two rival agents in a post-apocalyptic future. Red and Blue are two women fighting on opposite sides of a war that’s being fought using time travel. Their agencies have been sending them to the past through different potential universes and threads of time, in order to manipulate future events in their sides’ favor. Time and time again, Red and Blue cross paths on their missions, but they never actually speak to each other.
Then, one day, Blue writes Red a letter acknowledging their rivalry. From there, the two suddenly find that they can’t stop leaving notes for each other, even though they would both lose everything if their letters were ever found. They start to really get to know each other in a way that they have never been able to have with anyone else under these circumstances, and their growing connection causes them both to start to question the greater systems at play. This Is How You Lose the Time War is a beautiful and suspenseful love story that will have readers on the edges of their seats all the way through, and it has some of the most breathtaking lines of any recent romance book.
‘Beach Read’ (2020)
Emily Henry has a phenomenal collection of romance books for fans of the genre to choose from, but the perfect one to read in a single weekend is Beach Read. The novel follows January Andrews, a successful romance novelist who’s recently been dealing with cynicism and a loss of hope after the death of her father and the reveal of some major family secrets. While on deadline for her next book, January goes away for the summer to clear out her father’s Michigan lake house in preparation to sell it. The last thing January is expecting is to run into Augustus “Gus” Everett, a former college classmate of hers whom she’s always disliked. Gus is now a successful literary fiction novelist, and he’s on deadline for his next book as well.
When January and Gus keep running into each other, it turns out that they are both struggling with writers’ block. Thus, an idea is formed: as part of a bet, they both have to write their next novel in the other one’s genre. Despite being on opposite sides of this bet, January and Gus decide to take this challenge on together, and they join each other on regular research trips for the novels that they’re writing. Sure enough, the challenge makes both of them feel inspired to write for the first time in a while. Along the way, January and Gus start to realize that maybe they were wrong about each other in college, and they form a genuine connection. Emily Henry’s Beach Read is such an entertaining and funny book, and January and Gus have phenomenal chemistry. It’s a difficult book to put down, and it makes for the perfect weekend binge-read.
‘Tell Me Three Things’ (2016)
Tell Me Three Things by Julie Buxbaum is a young adult contemporary romance book about a teenage girl named Jessie Holmes who has to suddenly move from Chicago to Los Angeles after her father gets remarried. Jessie is still grieving after the death of her mother a couple of years earlier, and she has no interest in uprooting her life. Sure enough, Jessie feels like a complete fish-out-of-water at her new school. Her only solace is in Somebody Nobody, better known as SN, the new pen pal who reaches out to her through her school email. SN is also lonely and intimately familiar with grief, and he wants to be Jessie’s friend and guide to her new school, as long as they just stick to talking online.
At first, Jessie’s arrangement with SN couldn’t be better. He gives her helpful tips that make her life at school considerably more bearable, and he never fails to make her laugh. The more that they get to know each other, though, the more Jessie starts to dream about finding out who he really is. She starts to consider whether he might be someone she already knows from school, and she considers finally taking the risk to try to find out. Tell Me Three Things is such a sweet and fun pen pal romance that will keep you guessing until the end, and the unconventional love story between Jessie and SN is a true delight to get lost in.
‘The Dead Romantics’ (2022)
The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston is a supernatural rom-com that follows Florence Day, a ghostwriter for a successful romance author. Ever since her recent terrible breakup, Florence has had a hard time believing in love, let alone writing about it. While under pressure from her new editor, Ben, to meet her next deadline, Florence learns that her father has died. Thus, she has to go back home to the town she left ten years ago, where her family runs a funeral home that has always been heavily populated by ghosts.
As if this isn’t difficult enough for Florence, she’s thrown for a loop when she finds Ben waiting at her family’s funeral home. As it turns out, Ben has just died in an accident, and he’s now a ghost who needs her help figuring out what comes next for him. The Dead Romantics is a fun, sweet, and silly ghost romance with clever lore and great banter. It’s a quick read, and it makes for the perfect choice for a fall weekend.
‘An Enchantment of Ravens’ (2017)
An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson follows Isobel, a young human painter who is extremely talented. In exchange for useful enchantments, Isobel paints portraits of the faeries who hire her. The fair folk admire human craft, but they are not capable of it themselves. One day, the autumn prince, Rook, hires Isobel to paint his portrait. It goes well enough at first – that is, until she greatly offends him by accidentally painting sorrow into his eyes.
Now, Isobel is in a great deal of trouble for making Rook look weak to the rest of the fair folk, and she has to go on trial for her crime. Rook takes her with him back to his kingdom, and on the way, they find themselves sparking an unlikely connection on their odd quest. An Enchantment of Ravens is an incredibly fun fairytale romance with epic adventures, compelling moments of suspense, and a beautiful main love story between Isobel and Rook.
‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ (2019)
Before it was a hit movie, Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston was a phenomenal romance novel. The book follows Alex Claremont-Diaz, the 21-year-old son of the President of the United States. Alex’s mother, Ellen Claremont, is the first female president of the US, and there’s a great deal of pressure on her as she prepares to run for re-election. Alex is interested in politics and wants to help her, but he accidentally causes a scandal at a wedding thrown by the British royal family. For a very long time, Alex has had a rivalry with Prince Henry, and it all comes to a head in a very public way at the least ideal time.
In order to save face, Alex and Henry fake a PR friendship from then on out. They volunteer together, make sure to regularly be seen in public together, and try to hide the fact that they can’t stand each other. As the months go on, though, Alex starts to realize that he was initially wrong about Henry – and he comes to like him much more than he was ever meant to. The two slowly fall for each other, even though they know that they can never actually be together. Red, White & Royal Blue is a fantastic romance novel with excellent banter, a beautiful and emotional love story, and the perfect ending.
Red, White & Royal Blue
- Release Date
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August 11, 2023
- Runtime
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121 Minutes
- Director
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Matthew Lopez
- Writers
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Matthew Lopez, Ted Malawer
