There exists a particular species of novel—warm as a well-steeped cup of tea, clever as a cat with cream on its whiskers—that makes one believe, however briefly, that the world is fundamentally good and that love, given patience and a touch of proximity, shall find its way. Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare belongs to this enchanted category, and if you have lately turned its final page with a sigh of satisfaction and a heart full of that peculiar ache for more, then you have arrived at precisely the right place.
What follows is a carefully curated collection of novels that share the same essential magic: the slow-burning chemistry, the wit that sparkles like champagne, the forced circumstances that push two people ever closer until they simply cannot pretend any longer that what they feel is merely friendship. These are books that understand the delicious tension of proximity, the comedy inherent in human connection, and the transformative power of letting oneself be truly known.
1. The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas
Permit us to introduce you to a tale of two souls sharing quarters in New York City, that most magnificent and maddening of metropolises. Rosie Graham has fled her sensible career to pursue the rather terrifying dream of writing romance novels, only to discover that her inspiration has abandoned her entirely. When her apartment ceiling quite literally crumbles, she takes refuge in her best friend’s flat—not realizing said friend has already lent the space to her devastatingly charming Spanish cousin, Lucas.
What unfolds is a delightful experiment indeed: Lucas proposes to take Rosie on a series of romantic dates to reignite her creative spark, and readers shall find themselves holding their breath as the line between research and reality grows ever more wonderfully blurred. The forced proximity is exquisite, the banter positively electric, and the slow burn so perfectly calibrated that one might need to fan oneself periodically.
2. Falling Down Under by Errin Krystal
Here is a gem that deserves far wider recognition—a tale set in the sunburnt splendour of rural Australia, where a young woman named Georgia Bailey finds herself stripped of everything she thought defined her. Her father has died, her boyfriend has departed, and her stepmother has ensured she inherits precisely nothing. With no other recourse, she returns to her grandparents’ vineyard to work as a waitress.
The complication, as complications go, is rather delicious: her new employer in the kitchen is none other than Jared, her childhood sweetheart, now grown into a properly grumpy chef who has not forgiven her for leaving. The forced proximity of working together daily, the friction between his gruffness and her determined sunshine, and the mystery of what precisely drove them apart years ago—all combine into a most satisfying confection. There is a kangaroo named Boomer who sunbathes in the car park, and the descriptions of food shall make one’s stomach growl most inconveniently. This is the first in the Seven Sisters Vineyard series, and each book stands beautifully alone with its own complete happily-ever-after.
3. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
If you found joy in the crackling tension of The Flatshare, then you shall positively revel in the spectacular warfare between Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman. These two executive assistants share an office—and a mutual loathing that has curdled into something approaching obsession. They play games: staring contests, mirror games, elaborate psychological warfare dressed up in professional attire.
When both find themselves competing for the same promotion, the stakes rise considerably. Sally Thorne has crafted something rather special here—an enemies-to-lovers romance so tightly wound with tension that each small moment of vulnerability lands like a thunderclap. The dialogue crackles, the chemistry simmers, and the eventual confession of feelings arrives with the force of a dam breaking. Small wonder Oprah herself placed this among her top romance recommendations.
4. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell
Here is a love story told almost entirely through emails, and it is as peculiar and wonderful as that premise suggests. The year is 1999, and Lincoln O’Neill has taken a job monitoring employee emails at a newspaper—a position that requires him to flag inappropriate correspondence. What he did not anticipate was falling quite desperately in love with Beth Fremont through her witty, warm exchanges with her colleague Jennifer.
The problem, of course, is that Beth does not know Lincoln exists, while he knows her innermost thoughts, her fears, her jokes, her heart. It is an ethical quandary wrapped in the most tender of romances, and Rainbow Rowell navigates it with characteristic grace. The secondary characters delight, the humor arrives consistently, and the eventual meeting between Lincoln and Beth is worth every page of anticipation.
5. The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Stella Lane is brilliant—an econometrician whose mind finds patterns in numbers with remarkable ease. What she finds considerably more challenging is the bewildering calculus of human intimacy. Determined to overcome her inexperience, she takes an approach that is nothing if not logical: she hires Michael, an escort, to teach her the mechanics of physical relationships.
What neither anticipated is that their arrangement would become something far more complicated and infinitely more real. Helen Hoang has written a romance that is both scorchingly sensual and deeply tender, with an autistic protagonist rendered with authenticity and care (Hoang herself is autistic). The forced proximity of their lessons, the gradual revelation of each other’s vulnerabilities, and the ultimate reckoning with what they mean to each other—it is a romance that rewards readers richly.
6. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert
After a brush with mortality, Chloe Brown—web designer, chronic pain warrior, and member of a gloriously eccentric wealthy family—creates a list of experiences she has thus far denied herself. Among the items: ride a motorcycle, go camping, have meaningless but enjoyable physical encounters. What she requires is someone to assist in these endeavours, and who better than Redford Morgan, the tattooed, motorcycle-riding superintendent of her building?
Red is gruff and guarded, hiding both artistic talent and old wounds beneath his handsome exterior. Chloe is sharp-tongued and determined, refusing to let her chronic illness define her boundaries. Together, they generate enough sparks to set the entire building ablaze. Talia Hibbert writes with such wit and warmth that one cannot help but cheer for these two complicated souls finding their way to each other.
7. Beach Read by Emily Henry
January Andrews writes romance novels—the kind with guaranteed happy endings and the reassuring certainty that love conquers all. Then she discovers her late father was not the man she believed him to be, and suddenly her faith in love stories crumbles entirely. She retreats to his lake house to write and to heal, only to discover her new neighbor is Augustus Everett, a literary fiction author and her college rival whose novels specialize in nihilism and tragedy.
Their wager is irresistible: January will write something dark and literary, while Gus will attempt a happy ending. She will take him on proper romantic adventures; he will drag her to interview survivors of a death cult. What emerges is a romance that earns every moment of its eventual joy, never flinching from grief or complexity while still delivering the emotional satisfaction readers crave. Emily Henry has become synonymous with modern romance for excellent reason.
8. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
Poor Olive Torres has never been lucky—not like her twin sister Ami, upon whom fortune seems to perpetually smile. So when Ami’s entire wedding party succumbs to food poisoning, leaving only Olive and Ethan (the groom’s brother, whom Olive actively despises) standing, the universe appears to be playing its usual cruel jokes. Yet here is an all-expenses-paid honeymoon to Hawaii going to waste…
What follows is a fake-marriage, forced-proximity romp through paradise as Olive and Ethan must pretend to be the blissfully married couple—particularly when Olive’s new boss appears at their resort. Christina Lauren (the pen name of co-authors Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings) excels at banter that sparkles and chemistry that smolders, and watching Olive’s certainty about Ethan dissolve in the Hawaiian sunshine is pure, uncomplicated pleasure.
9. It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Piper Bellinger is a creature of Instagram and champagne, a socialite whose reputation as a wild child finally catches up with her when a rooftop party goes spectacularly wrong. Her stepfather’s solution is both ruthless and inspired: he exiles her to the small coastal Washington town where she was born, to run the dive bar her late father left behind.
Westport is about as far from Los Angeles glamour as one might imagine, and its most formidable resident is Brendan Taggart—a brooding, widowed captain of a fishing boat who takes one look at Piper and sees everything he distrusts about the outside world. Watching Piper discover depths within herself she never knew existed, while simultaneously cracking through Brendan’s considerable defenses, is nothing short of delightful. The Schitt’s Creek comparisons are apt and well-earned.
10. Wallbanger by Alice Clayton
Caroline Reynolds has just moved into her dream San Francisco apartment, only to discover that the walls are tragically thin—and her neighbor possesses both tremendous athletic stamina and a rotating cast of admirers whose enthusiasm is… audible. After several sleepless nights, Caroline storms next door in her nightgown to confront the source of her insomnia, thus beginning one of the most entertaining neighbor-to-lover romances one might encounter.
Simon Parker is indeed devastatingly attractive, and the tension between him and Caroline crackles through every interaction. Alice Clayton writes with a breezy wit and a gift for comedic timing, building the anticipation with the skill of a master storyteller. Their journey from antagonism through friendship to something considerably warmer is paced beautifully, and the humor never flags.
11. The Roommate by Rosie Danan
Clara Wheaton has always been the good one of her infamous east coast family—proper, predictable, appropriate. When her childhood crush invites her to Los Angeles to start a new life, she leaps at the chance, only to arrive and discover he has already departed on tour with his band, leaving her to share an apartment with Josh, a stranger he found online. A stranger who, Clara quickly learns, works in adult entertainment.
What follows is not what one might expect: rather than scandal, Rosie Danan delivers a thoughtful, feminist romance about challenging assumptions, embracing authentic desire, and finding connection in unexpected places. Josh is kind, principled, and fighting against an exploitative industry; Clara discovers courage and passion she never knew she possessed. Their chemistry is considerable, and their eventual partnership—both romantic and professional—is deeply satisfying.
12. People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsen are best friends, though no one who meets them can quite understand why. She is a whirlwind of color and spontaneity; he is buttoned-up, cautious, and allergic to adventure. Yet for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together each summer—until two years ago, when something happened that neither will discuss, and they have not spoken since.
Now Poppy, miserable despite achieving her dream career as a travel writer, realizes her last moment of true happiness was with Alex. She convinces him to take one final trip, determined to salvage their friendship and perhaps finally confront what has gone unspoken between them. The story unfolds through past vacations and present tensions, building inexorably toward the truth. Emily Henry has become a master of this particular alchemy, blending humor and heartache into something altogether irresistible.
Each of these novels understands what made The Flatshare so beloved: the pleasure of watching two people orbit ever closer, the delight of sharp dialogue and genuine wit, and the satisfaction of earned emotional resolution. Whether you prefer your proximity forced by thin walls, shared kitchens, or professional obligation, these books deliver that delicious tension in abundance.
Now pour yourself something warm, find a comfortable corner, and prepare to fall in love all over again.
