IST 605: Contemporary Romance Literature

The Prospects is a queer sports romance between a transmasculine protagonist and his rival that takes place in the arena of minor league baseball. Perfect for readers who want to experience queer joy and also really love baseball!

The Seven Year Slip is an excellent example at how a romance can weave speculative elements within but still remain a contemporary romance novel. The heroine, Clementine, inherits her late aunt's apartment, only to find that within its walls she gets transported to seven years in the past, where she meets and finds herself falling for a stranger.

A rollicking adventure romcom with a Latinx protagonist, Raiders of the Lost Heart follows rival archaeologists Corrie and Ford being forced to work together as they search for the remains of Corrie's ancestor, Chimalli.

The Truth According to Ember, published in 2024, is the first Native romcom by a Native author published by a major publisher. It follows Ember, who lies about many things, including her race, to get a new and better-paying job. Despite the company having a no-dating rule, she finds herself interested in—and secretly meeting with—Danuwoa, the IT guy in the office and a fellow Native man.

Sorry, Bro is a romance about finding yourself— in your culture, in your sexuality. It follows Nar, who has just left her non-Armenian boyfriend and is attending Explore Armenia, a month-long event in her city, to enrich herself in her culture and find a boyfriend who shares her values. Instead of a doctor, she finds Erebuni: a beautiful, witchy Armenian woman.

Perfect for those who would prefer a more literary bent to their romance, Seven Days in June follows authors Shane and Eva, who have history— a week of history, twenty years ago, to be exact, and they've been writing to each other in their books ever since. When they reconnect again for seven days, they have a chance to re-explore their connection and answer all the questions they left each other with two decades ago.

There can be no recommendation list for romance without mentioning Emily Henry. As one dives deeper into the genre, they'll find she's the current "It" author within it, with every book being a raging success. I'm very partial to Book Lovers—it takes the small town, Hallmark movie tropes of a workaholic ice queen leaving the city for a vacation and turns them on its head.

A Puerto Rican romcom set in the world of telenovelas. You Had Me at Hola follows Jasmine and Ashton as they're cast in new starring roles in attempts to save their careers and/or reputations. But when their on-screen chemistry is lacking, they decide to rehearse together behind the scenes— and in typical romance fashion, this leads to something more. But can love survive the spotlight?

Olivia Dade is the queen of plus-size romances, but this one is special to me—both leads are plus-sized. Ship Wrecked is the third in a series but can be read as a standalone, about a pair of actors on an eerily Game of Thrones-esque show who had a one-night stand years ago and are eager to rekindle that spark once filming ends.

There are quite a few things to love about Love, Theoretically: the way both love interests are passionate about science, the goofy shenanigans of a fake-dating-for-hire app, the soul-crushing nonsense of academia. But it makes the list because our heroine, Elsie, is a Type-1 diabetic, rarely seen in romance fiction.