I’m super excited to share some of my favorite romance book (romance books to read) recommendations with you. These aren’t your typical cliché love stories. These are books that actually have depth, beauty, and a whole lot of heart.
I get it—contemporary romance, especially the super popular ones, can feel a bit overdone. But trust me, the books I’m about to recommend are different. They’re the kind of stories that stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Whether you’re a hopeless romantic or someone who just enjoys a good character-driven narrative, there’s something here for everyone.
From modern tales of love and heartbreak to classic poetry that will make you feel all the feels, this list has it all.
Whether you’re here for the recommendations or just curious about what I’ve been reading lately, I promise you’ll find something worth adding to your to-be- red (TBR) pile.
7 Best Romance Books to Read
- Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
- Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
- De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
- Time Stops at Shamli by Ruskin Bond
- Essays in Love by Alain de Botton
- I Hate and I Love (poetry collection) by Catullus
- The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White
1. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
The first book I want to talk about is Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney. Sally Rooney is very famous nowadays for writing about modern contemporary dating life in a very beautiful way.
Every story is very complicated, which is true to the fact that modern dating is also so complicated. It’s more of a contemporary character study as well. Unpopular opinion: I like Conversations with Friends more than Normal People for various personal reasons. But everything I’d say,
Sally Rooney is a must-read—holy bible to the contemporary world of romance literature.
Quote from the book:
It’s strange to know you’re in love with someone but not know whether you like them. I felt that I had never understood before that other people could exist in the same way I did.
2. Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
The next book I want to talk about is Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton.
It is a collection of stories from her early youth, early 20s, more about dating in her early youth, finding a partner with true authentic connection, and going out on dates in her early youth, which is a very well-compiled collection.
Quote from the book:
Love is not an exact science, it’s an art. And like any art, it’s subjective and messy and flawed.
3. De Profundis by Oscar Wilde
Moving on to the next recommendation that I have, which is De Profundis by Oscar Wilde.
It is a letter that was written by Oscar Wilde to his lover while he was in jail. The letter is filled with so many insults and attacks and so much guilt that actually speaks about how his lover left him, and yet he is still crying about it, saying, “How could you leave me?”
It’s not a very stars-collide-and-some-lovers-meet story. It’s just a story about two men who fell in love and destroyed everything for themselves, especially around the time when homophobia was such a huge concept.
Talking about letters, even in today’s date, letters are fancied to be an epitome of romantic love.
Give and take letters—it’s a very romantic form that has always been seen.
Quote from the book:
Behind joy and laughter there may be a temperament, coarse, hard, and callous. But behind sorrow there is always sorrow.
4. Time Stops at Shamli by Ruskin Bond
Moving on to the next recommendation that I have is Time Stops at Shamli by Ruskin Bond. Ruskin Bond’s book is a compilation of short stories, and one of the stories is *Time Stops at Shamli*, where Shamli is a place where apparently the author’s lover lives.
Basically, time stops there. It’s about how he meets his old lover and everything that follows along.
It is written in a very beautiful way, with very beautiful monologues in between, and it’s a very short story. I would definitely recommend it.
Quote from the book:
The past is always beautiful. So, for that matter, is the future. Only the present hurts, and we carry it around like an abscess of the spirit.
5. Essays on Love by Alain de Botton
So, the next book I want to talk about is Essays on Love by Alain de Botton. Alain de Botton is a very famous guy—you must know him from the channel School of Life.
The book is basically about this man who meets this girl on a flight, and by the end of the flight, when they land, he realizes that he is in love with the lady. In general, the entire genre of romance is a little pretentious, a little cocky, and a little unsettling to people.
Quote from the book:
Love is a skill, not just an enthusiasm.
6. I Hate and I Love by Catullus
Another poetry collection I have is I Hate and I Love by Catullus. Catullus’s poetry collection is about this woman pen-named Lesbia.
Lesbia was an aristocrat who goes back to the comfort of her husband, leaving Catullus alone and crying and obsessively in love with Lesbia, which is written at a very extreme level. It’s almost like ranting, but back in the day, Catullus was so obsessive in his writing that, of course, it’s obscene, but you can almost feel how intensely emotional this man must have been when he wrote this.
There is this very famous line from one of his poems that I will recite: “I hate and I love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.”
Quote from the book:
I hate and I love. Why I do so, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it, and I am in torment.
7. The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White.
The next recommendation I have is The Beautiful Room is Empty by Edmund White. Edmund White writes so beautifully—every sentence feels like poetry.
The prose is very smooth, very beautiful. In the book, Edmund White talks about the loneliness that people face in this generation so beautifully.
Quote from the book:
We are all born to be free, but we are not all born to be brave.
My Words...
These were my personal 7 recommendations for some truly beautiful and thought-provoking books about love, life, romance and everything in between.
Whether you’re into modern romance, classic poetry, or deeply emotional character studies, I hope this list has something that speaks to you.
Books have this incredible way of making us feel seen, understood, and even a little less alone in the world. They remind us that love isn’t always perfect, but it’s always worth exploring—whether it’s through the pages of a novel, the lines of a poem, or the letters of someone’s heart.
If you end up picking up any of these books, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Let me know which ones resonated with you or if you have any recommendations of your own.
After all, the best part about reading is sharing the experience with others.