r/RomanceBooks basically declared this peak Emily Henry the week it dropped. Daphne gets dumped by her fiancé for his childhood best friend, and ends up reluctantly rooming with Miles, who happens to be the ex of the woman who stole her fiancé. Naturally, they fake-date for revenge. Readers single out the dialogue as her sharpest yet, and the emotional intelligence underneath the banter is what keeps people rereading it. Spice sits on the lower-explicit side (2-3); the appeal is the slow burn and the wit. The go-to rec when someone wants a contemporary that's funny but actually has a heart.
Curated from real reader threads on Reddit (r/Romantasy, r/RomanceBooks, r/Fantasy) and cross-referenced against Goodreads and BookTok. Updated regularly.
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by Emily Henry
Emily Henry's 2023 hit, often paired with Funny Story in every "what should I read next" thread on r/RomanceBooks. A friend group reunites at a Maine cottage where one couple is pretending they didn't already break up. Same emotional intelligence, different setup.
by Emily Henry
Henry's breakout and her best slow-burn. Two writers stuck next to each other for a summer make a bet to swap genres. The fake-arrangement-to-real-feelings template that Funny Story refines.
by Emily Henry
Two best friends, ten summer trips, one fight that ended it all. Netflix film adaptation dropped January 2026. The friends-to-lovers angst Funny Story readers chase next.
by Sally Thorne
The office enemies-to-lovers blueprint. Two executive assistants who share an office despise each other (or do they?). Same banter-to-feelings pipeline. Reread-able for years.
by Elena Armas
Fake-dating your hot coworker to a wedding in Spain. Combines all the tropes Funny Story flirts with into one extremely satisfying package. r/RomanceBooks regular.
by Ali Hazelwood
A PhD candidate fake-dates a brooding professor to convince her best friend her love life is fine. STEM rom-com with the same sharp female lead voice.
Beach Read is the consensus answer on r/RomanceBooks. Funny Story is her sharpest, Happy Place her most emotional. People We Meet on Vacation is the easiest entry point. All four work as standalones.
Yes, but not explicit. Two-to-three on most spice scales. The chemistry is more about banter and emotional intimacy than spice. Compare to Beach Read for similar level.
Ali Hazelwood, Tessa Bailey, and Elena Armas are the most-recommended next-author crossovers. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne is the consensus single-book pick.
It starts with what romantasy readers actually recommend to each other, the books that come up again and again in Reddit threads (r/Romantasy, r/fantasyromance), Goodreads 'readers also enjoyed,' and BookTok. For popular titles those lists are hand-curated with a reason for each pick; for everything else, 90books matches on tropes, pace, spice and vibe. Connect your Goodreads and books you've already read get filtered out. Affiliate buy links support the site but never affect which books are recommended.
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