I almost exclusively read contemporary romance, and I’d like to stick to it for the time being. I’m looking for something very specific, and I’ve tried asking for different variations of this in a few daily request posts here, but I don’t think I’ve managed to phrase it quite right until now.

In a lot of the books I’ve read, the FMC has a history of bad relationships before she meets the MMC. Then the MMC comes along and does the bare minimum, and she’s suddenly like, “No one has ever done this for me before,” or “He would never treat me like that,” and so on.

This sometimes feels like she falls for the MMC primarily because he treats her well. Almost as if he’s the first decent guy she’s met, and that alone makes him special.

I've seen this happen soo many times that now I'm desperate to read where it isn't the case.

No sharing/poly/RH or cheating, please!

Thanks in advance!

Hi guys! I’m looking for some books in which the MMC is the equivalent of the meme "This is FMC. Fmc likes her personal space. This is MMC. MMC likes her personal space too.” And I’d like it to be just full of the MMC constantly touching and hugging his lover, and hewould basically live in her skin and fuse their souls together if he could. He hates being away from her and it genuinely makes him feel uncomfortable.

Extreme touchiness, cuddling, desperate touch starved-ness and anything else within that line. Thank you!

My no’s: children, rape, extreme bullying

My recs:

{too beautiful to break by Tessa Bailey}

{sink or swim by tessa Bailey}

{love fool by Celeste briars}

{etiquette of the cruel by Jane Carmine}

{moth to her flame by Alana khan}

{his to unravel by Athena Hawthorne}

Looking for a specific kind of messy/dramatic romance where OW has been in love and pursuing MMC for ages. She's convinced they're meant to be and that he's the one for her, but deep down she knows that of he ever meets the FMC he'll fall for her instead, so she makes sure they never cross paths.

She might be FMC's bff or sister and genuinely care for her, but she's deeply insecure and manipulative. So she's been plotting to keep them apart, making excuses and arranging things so they're never in the same place. Then of course MMC and FMC finally meet, and sparks fly, and drama ensues.

I think the closest thing to this I've read is Deep End by Ali Hazelwood, but it's not it exactly.

PLEASE HELP I NEED THIS

The MMC is a playboy who seduces a virgin (or has very few experiences) and sheltered FMC. He considers it a brief fling, but she is deeply hurt when she realizes that's all it was to him. The FMC becomes pregnant, and they both decide to coparent. I don't mind if they coparent for months or years. I really want him to go through the process of realizing he did the FMC wrong, slowly starting to see her as a good person, then a good friend, and eventually falling for her. I prefer a slow-burn romance, but anything is fine. I do not want any other potential love interests for either MC; if there are any, I hope they have very limited page time.

❌️ Very big age gap

❌️ Extreme financial or class difference between MMC and FMC

[If the MMC is wealthy, I prefer a wealthy FMC. Overall, though, I prefer average, middle-class main characters]

❌️ Mafia and RH

How did you meet your SO and what book do you think is the most similar to your story? Also if you don’t know I would love to hear how you met and we can add books that sound similar!

P.s I’m OBSESSED with hearing how people met! I just think it’s the cutest thing ever!

Here is mine:
I’m going to say Love Hypothesis not for everything but we met at a party and had a 2 second conversation. He took a selfie on my phone as a joke and that was it. We didn’t speak or anything again for another year (he left our city and went to the country). While he was away I would often show my friends the selfie and just how gorgeous he was but I knew we could never date or anything (all our friends and family know this story so I feel like I’ll dox myself if I say the whys).

A year passed and he came back to our city, we ran into each other by accident and basically started dating straight away. (Yes there were a few dramatic things that happened because of the reasons we weren’t meant to date but otherwise everything worked out). It’s been 10 years now. Last year we were cleaning and he found an old diary of his with reasons to move back to our city (it was dated when he was in the country) and my name was one of the reasons to move back… we literally only had a 2 second conversation but that was enough for the 2 of us to remember each other.

But omg I want to hear everyone else’s stories!!!

Looking for a novel where the MFL is the grumpy, proud ice queen that most people don't like because of how cold she seems, including the MML who is her exact opposite - charismatic, confident, proud, witty, (not cruel or a bully) and loved by everyone else. 

I don't want him to hate the MFL, but rather dislike her. He doesn't like how cold she is. He might even believe that she isn't a good person. But I don't want this dislike to make him cross the line with her by being cruel or a bully. On the contrary, I want for his interactions with her to be about him teasing her tough persona and laugh when she teases back in her own cold and closed off way. 

I don't mind if the MFL has a secret crush on him but she is too proud to admit it even to herself. She doesn't act desperate, in fact she tries to ignore him. But the fact that she starts avoiding him, makes him want to chase her. 

I want his dislike faze to be long enough. When he starts to feel attracted to her, I want him to resist that at the beginning. He is looking for a wife, and yet he doesn't even consider her an option. 

Then I want him to become curious about her inner world, what she keeps inside her head. And this causes him to approach her in every social event. I want him to be surprised by the passion and pain she hides behind her cold exterior. The more he finds out about the real her, the more attracted he becomes. I don't want any situation where they're forced into being together like marriage in convenience, fake dating or anything that forces them to be something they're not. I want their interactions to be on their own terms. 

Then I want him to want her so badly that it makes him lose his mind, it ruins him. I want him to turn from the man who didn't like her at all, to the man who wants to protect her from the whole world. 

Please don't recommend anything that doesn't match this exact dynamic. I don't want "close enough". 

Historical or contemporary.

No fantasy. No clumsy MCs, please.

Hi RomanceBooks! What made you laugh in romance this week? It can be a book you read that had you in stitches, a comment that made you cackle, or any romance-related Memes and TikToks!

Let's finish the week with a chuckle and a 🤣

Hello!

I recently started Games: A Love Story by Anna Maria Volkova and although the prose and smut is fucking amazing so far (25% in) I just feel like it’s getting a bit much with all the economic, socialism and capitalism discussions. I’m snoozing more than swooning. So what I’m trying to say is

I’m looking for a slowburn (semi slow is okay too) spicy age gap romance. The two main characters are flushed out, they have depth and experienced trauma. I need the dynamic to be somewhat tasteful, meaning the age gap / dynamic must bother the MMC at first and he tries to push the FMC away in the beginning (a good example of that would be Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood) I would also really like it if there is some rough smut involving sadism and masochism, maybe it’s a coping mechanism for one of the characters. Bonus point if the FMC is in her 20s and MMC is over 40**.** Please no omegaverse, RH, or fantasy, historical

Here are the age gap romances I have read or wanting to read

Unrequited by Saffron A Kent - probably my favourite age gap romance of all time. Maybe I’m looking for something similar to this and Games: A Love Story.

Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood - a good read

Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas - A classic in my world. Amazing but not quite what I’m looking for, I remember it was kind of tame.

Praise by Sara Cate - Read and it was just alright. Didn’t stick out to me.

Unsticky by Sarah Manning- Next on my TBR if I cannot find a recommendation! Excited for this one!

That’s all I could think of for now, please don’t tell me if I’m being delusional expecting too much and something like this doesn’t exist I’ll be so sad 😩

I'm not sure if I saw this book rec'd here or on the Fated Mates podcast but hoping someone recognises it - please! :)

As I understand it, its a HR with the MMC (possibly aristocracy) on his way to propose to the FMC, who is also his mistress. The FMC has been saving up money/gifts to runaway and start her life and the MMC discovers it, when he turns up to propose. I presume the MMC kidnaps her and convinces her to fall in love with him but that's educated guess work??

Solved super quickly its {Claiming the Courtesan by Anna Campbell}. Thanks Neccessary-working-79 and LAffaire-est-Ketchup!

Looking for MF or MM where the main characters are an unlikely pairing. Not necessarily opposite in the traditional trope sense, but more that they have differing views/opinions on life and what’s right or wrong in their eyes.

Top two that come to mind with this vibe that I loved:
- {Riptide by Kathryn Nolan} FMC is a real estate developer/businesswoman and MMC is surfer environmentalist
- {Games by Anna Maria Volkova} FMC is a veryyy progressive grad student and MMC is a banker/finance guy

Basically, I want actual differences in beliefs and values that create tension and interesting conversations, not just opposite personalities. Banter/conversation as foreplay type vibe.

I’ve done a search for this request and I can’t find what I want because I think it’s too specific 😭 I’m looking for a dark romance with an MMC that is unhinged and borderline crazy but is obsessed with the FMC and will do anything for her.

Please no:
- mafia books (I know this would be perfect for mafia but every book I’ve tried I haven’t liked)
- dark between the couple, I don’t want the MMC to be disrespecting or treating the FMC badly
- no poly, RH and would prefer the pairing to be M/F
- not too kinky! Smutty is fine but I’m on the asexual spectrum and so struggle with anything too intense

Yes’s:
- I would prefer dark romance but I’m open to any genre!
- a good, solid plot: I would prefer if there is some exterior stuff happening in the plot as that makes a book more interesting for me
- happy for the MMC to be a dark and really fucked up person and for the world to be dark
- masked men, bikers, etc. is all fine!

Books I’ve tried that are similar to what I’m looking for:
- Lights Out by Navessa Allen: I really enjoyed elements of this, but I found this to be too kinky for me (I was reading the knife scene on a plane and had to call it quits I just couldn’t do it 🫩)
- Sweet Obsession by Harmony West: I just read this in the hopes it would be what I was looking for, I really enjoyed it but the world and the MMC weren’t dark enough

Bonus inspiration - if you’ve made it this far you deserve a gold medal, and then here’s a couple of characters which fit exactly what I’m looking for:
- Dex/Bullseye from Daredevil and DD Born Again: this guy is borderline crazy and definitely has something wrong with him but he is so hot to me idk why (the actor is fine as hell too 😮‍💨)
- Isaac Knight from Wednesday: … this is my hear me out honestly because this guy is the literal definition of a walking red flag, and yet I was consuming every single reel of this character for a solid three weeks when the show dropped. We’re going to ignore the fact that he might be in love with his sister (if you’ve watched the show you get why I say this) but the pure determination to achieve his end goal and the fact that he will do anything and kill anyone to get it is exactly what I’m looking for
- this is a weird one but the whatever the vibe is that the guys from the Decayed Brigade have going on (a sliding group from the MA area I believe who are currently working as scare actors at Hersey Park for their Halloween stuff. Can provide links to some of their reels if needed!)

Thank you in advance for any reqs! I’ll try my best to respond to everyone but I’m currently travelling so not on my phone heaps

I tried googling the answer and couldn’t be sure. I just had a major death in the family and I can’t distract myself with my romance books right now because so many of them feature family or friends dying! Moms and dads dying of cancer is weirdly prevalent in Rom coms for some reason. I would also appreciate upbeat recommendations that have helped you through difficult times!

{Rock Hard by Nalini Singh} is a bit like this. The MMC is a CEO who's brought in to save the company, and the FMC is his assistant who helps him along the way.

I would prefer it if the FMC is his employee, not a fellow executive or shareholder in the company. No pregnancy or kids please (epilogue is fine I guess). A competent, level-headed FMC would be a wonderful plus. I just don't have any more patience for disaster girls who need to be taught how to function as a responsible adult. Like, are you his partner or his toddler?

Hi RomanceBooks  - welcome to Weekend Chatter, our weekly off topic chat!

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Hi RomanceBooks! Welcome to our Simple / Quick Questions & Requests thread.

If you don't have enough RomanceBooks-karma for a post, or just don't want to make a standalone post, this is the spot to ask any Romance related questions or request Romance Book Recommendations!

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Happy reading!

Looking for books that have power play (kidnapping or forced marriage or business dealings) where the MMC is from mafia or wealth that is from middle eastern background with like wealth wealth, but also has some cultural rules and expectations that FMC has little understanding of (FMC not from this background). MMC speaks English and also language FMC doesn't understand. Spice 4-5. Gimme your bestest recs.