Ready to get your happy on? Genevieve asked for suggestions for very happy low impact romance books, and I feel like this is a group that will have Ideas.
For some context, Genevieve is fighting through some head injury brain issues. So we need something that is NOT electronic (no screens) and does not require a lot of complicated mental struggles to remember plot points and things. Just light, happy, simple, fun.
I honestly can’t remember what I’ve already recommended so I’m just gonna go through EVERYTHING I can think of that fits these parameters!
Janet Evanovich: Currently best selling light mystery author (and those books are super fun too), but started out as a light romance author. A few years back she went into her old romance library, slightly updated them and improved them, and re-issued them. They are EXTREMELY light and tend to also have a lot of light comedy scenes, no angst. Listing out titles below that I recommend:
The Grand Finale
Thanksgiving
Smitten
Rocky Road to Romance
Back to the Bedroom
Wife for Hire
Fowl Play
Naughty Neighbor
Hero at Large
Jennifer Crusie: Same thing! Currently she writes actual good romances. Like, with complicated characters and things. Still fun, still light, still happy, but you have to remember backstories (blech!). But she started out writing really light stuff that is a quick read with no brain required, and again she has recently cleaned them up and modernized them and reissued them:
Trust Me on This
Anyone But You
What the Lady Wants
Charlie All Night
Amy Vansant: Pineapple Port Mysteries! These are so FUN! I think they started out as self-published through kindle, but now there are paperback versions available (yay!). Our heroine is a 20-something woman who grew up and still lives in a 50+ retirement community in Florida. She falls into being a private detective, and solves murder mysteries around the retirement home. It’s not Great Literature, but it is super fun and happy and light and quick. I’ve sold myself on them! I need to go back and read the latest few that I haven’t read yet! You can read them in any order (again, SO LIGHT), but the first three are:
Pineapple Lies
Pineapple Mystery Box
Pineapple Puzzles
Katie MacAlister: She never quite made the jump from romance novels to “legit”, but I think she could have. Her books are romantic, sure, but also laugh out loud FUNNY. And her characters are great. I recommend the ones below in particular:
Noble Intentions
The Corset Diaries
Noble Destiny
Okay, what else do you have for Genevieve? Light light light, easy read, fun, distracting, pleasant? And available in paperback?
dontcallitbollywood 
For very simple YA fic, I rec Adiba Jaigirdar and Joya Goffney’s first two books.
Talia Hibbert is another (would highly rec!), Meg Cabot (of course), I’ve also heard good things about Annika Sharma’s work and Nisha Sharma, though I can’t vouch for them since I haven’t read them.
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Oh! I just thought of another author! Angela Thirkell. She has a million books, but the lightest funnest most self-contained ones are High Rising, Pomfret Towers, and The Brandons.
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OK, so I feel like I really needed to respond to this one because I am a special collections librarian and a lifelong romance reader. I even advocate in my profession for taking romance genre fiction seriously in collection development and research, but that’s another story. So, I know you didn’t want too many light Bridgerton, ton-y books in the mix, so I’ll try to stay away from the light historical romance genre (and the angsty historicals as well). I also am, not surprisingly, often drawn to books that in some way have the feel of Bollywood or are written by South Asian authors, so I’ll start with some of those…
Harlequin Presents titles by Tara Pammi (she has a trilogy that is actually set in Bollywood)
Harlequin Desire titles by Sophia Singh Sasson (the Nights at the Mahal series is pretty good)
Harlequin Special Edition titles by Mona Shroff (the first two in the Once Upon a Wedding series were good)
—all of the above can be a bit “angsty” at times, but they also mix in lots of lighter moments and family dramedy and all are very quick and easy reads
some India based romance authors I like…Anuja Chauhan, Sakshama Puri Dhariwal, and just started reading a charming “cozy” romance set in North India by Shristi Chaudhary called Lallan Sweets and it reads like an Ayushmann Khuranna film so far…
Some South Asian Canadian and American authors I like that are on the lighter side are Sonya Lalli (loved her Holly Jolly Diwali and this is the perfect time of year to pick up that one). Also really liked Farrah Heron’s Accidentally Engaged. And Sara Desai’s first three books were very good as well.
I also just read and loved Sangu Mandann’s The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, which was a charming and very cozy light read about a modern day witch in England.
OK for some non desi romance reads on the lightish side…I do like Lucy Parker, Christina Lauren, Alyssa Cole (her royal contemporaries are very fun), Helen Hoang, and even think Nora Roberts trilogies and quartets like the Born In trilogy and the Gallaghers of Ardmore and the Chesapeake Bay Quartet might fit the bill. Though be warned, sometimes books that have cartoon-ish style covers nowadays and are marketed like rom-coms, they often do deal with serious issues but the happily ever after is very rewarding. The Helen Hoang books for instance are all, I think, on the lighter (and sexier) side when it comes to the romance, but have main characters who are neurodivergent who get happily ever afters!
B.K. Borison’s Lovelight Farms series is very cozy and I enjoyed the first two so far…
I really liked Karina Halle’s Nordic royals series a lot (also very spicey)
If you like Christmas romances…I recommend Jenny Holiday’s A Princess for Christmas and the other two books in the trilogy…think steamier Hallmark Christmas movies
I do think some British chick lit/ women’s fiction (hate that term!) might also work for you…like Sophie Kinsella or Jenny Colgan (I love the latter’s Mure series)
If you do want low angst historical romances, I do recommend Tessa Dare and Eva Leigh
That’s it for now…hope whatever you decide to read is a great distraction for you!
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It’s me filmilibrarian, by the way…the site is making me try to login again
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I just finished Those Pricey Thakur Girls from Anuja Chauhan, and it was GREAT! THANK YOU!
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There’s a good adaptation called Dil Bekaraar on Hotstar if you’re interested.
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I read a Tara Pammi book and it had an amazing love scene, and then lots and lots and lots of angst.
In the midst of Holly Jolly Dilwale, and am enjoying it.
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Thank you so much for the recomendations! The problem with subbing for sick teachers is the teachers got sick from the kids, so then I go in and guess what? I also get sick from the kids… So I have lots of time to read at the moment.
I remembered that Margaret recommended a Jennifer Crusie book before, Getting Rid of Bradly, so I ordered another one by her and a book by one of the authors Filmilibrarian recommended, Those Pricey Thakur Girls. Chosen less because they were the ones I wanted most, and more because I live in the middle of nowhere and things take a long time to get to me UNLESS they are coming from Reno, and those books were in Reno. And then I sent my husband to our beloved local book store to pick up some $1.98 used romances as they currently have a pile. He’ll probably come back with the most embarrassing titles possible. Can’t wait till Tuesday when the other books hopefully arrive.
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Oooo! Which Crusie? Ive read almost all of hers.
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Bet Me, it was rated #1 on Good Reads.
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It’s very good! Slightly less light, there’s some family disfunction, but still super happy!
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So I just have to say that my darling husband brought home a book called “The Accidental Mom”, probably laughing at the title. And it was a religious romance. NO SEX! Perfunctory kissing. Also the protagonist is sad because God didn’t see it in his plan to make her a mom – and she is 20 years old! But later in the book she is 26, which was basically just bad writing. And most of the characters have lost a lot of family members and experienced a ton of grief and that is not God’s fault, but everything good that happens IS because of God and prayer. Also the person you fall in love with at 12 years old is the person you should spend the rest of your life with. Never leave home, cities are bad (especially Chicago!), and all social life happens at church. Additionally, children are always cute and perfect. Considering that last sentence I am contemplating going to church more.
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Wait, did I miss something in sex ed? How is there no sex and also accidental motherhood? Does this mean abstinance DOESN’T work?
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I look forward to reading the books I ordered eventually, but in the future I should order my first choices. There is a major HWY going through the main street of my town, and it is FILLED with trucks. But not U.S. Postal Service trucks….
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10223022354039608&set=a.1495902989858
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Happy romances are, like, all I read. So here we go. Including YA too, just in case that’s your thing:
– The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren
– Counting Down with You by Tashie Bhuiyan
– A Match Made in Mehendi by Nandini Bajpai
– The entire Bromance Book Club series by Lyssa Kay Adams
– Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann
– Love from A to Z by S.K. Ali
– Hot British Boyfriend by Kristy Boyce
– Date Me, Bryson Keller by Kevin van Whye
– The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
And it wouldn’t be a book recommendation comment from me without adding Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston because it might be my favorite book ever. Have been obsessively thinking about it since the movie came out last month. But there’s lots of language and a decent amount of sexual content. Plus, the main character is the son of the president of the United States, so there’s a massive political side plot in a reelection campaign. A phenomenal story and romance, but might not be super low stress.
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I saw the movie of Red White & Royal Blue, will that ruin the book for me?
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I don’t think so. All the basic beats are the same in both, but the book just has more of everything. A much deeper dive into the political side plot, and an exploration into Henry’s depression as well as the struggles of the side characters (Alex has a sister in the book that they completely cut for the movie). But there’s also a slower realization of Alex’s sexuality, more relationship development, WAY more emails, and yes, more on page physical intimacy. Almost everyone I’ve talked to who’s consumed both has said the book is better, and I feel the same way. And I’m still so curious about opinions of people who read the book after watching the movie. But especially in your case, maybe knowing the big dramatic plot twists and the overall ending might lessen the stress, so it might have actually helped, haha.
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I read Anyone But You by Crusie and it was great. And then I read Agnes and the Hitman by her and another guy, and it wasn’t as good. The plot was fine, but the sexual tension didn’t exist and the villains were too villainy for the family set up.
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Yeah, her new stuff isn’t as light.
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