There exists in this world a particular sort of magic—not the kind that requires fairy dust or second stars to the right, but the quieter enchantment found between the pages of a truly splendid romance novel. It is the sort of magic that wraps around you like a favourite blanket, convincing you that all shall be well.
Whether you seek the newest treasures of 2025 and 2026 or those beloved classics that have warmed hearts across generations, we have gathered here the very finest feel-good romances. These are stories that promise not merely happy endings, but the most delicious journey in getting there.
Falling Down Under
If ever there was a book designed expressly for lifting spirits, it is this gem set among the sun-dappled vineyards of rural Australia. One might call it a perfect stress reliever, and indeed, readers have proclaimed it just that.
The tale follows Georgia Bailey, a London socialite who loses everything in rather spectacular fashion—her fortune, her rock-star boyfriend, even the inheritance she expected from her estranged father. With nothing left but her wits and wounded pride, she travels to Australia to work at her grandparents’ vineyard, where she must face Jared, the grumpy chef who also happens to be the boy who first captured her heart years ago.
What unfolds is the ultimate second-chance romance, brought to life with characters so believable and endearing that readers report feeling as though they’ve spent a day with close friends. The story takes one through the full range of emotions but leaves that warm, satisfied feeling that only the best comfort reads can provide. There are misunderstandings and meddling family members, a resident kangaroo (yes, truly!), and food so vividly described you’ll long to taste it.
The supporting cast sparkles with their own delightful dramas, and the rural Australian setting provides the perfect backdrop for Georgia’s transformation from fallen socialite to someone who discovers her own worth has nothing to do with wealth. This is a book that reminds us that sometimes rock bottom is the best place to start. The Seven Sisters Vineyard series continues with Falling for Stardom and Falling with Grace, each a complete, standalone novel with no cliffhangers—perfect for those who crave resolution with their romance.
Read a sample of Falling Down Under
Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry
The reigning queen of contemporary romance has delivered yet another triumph with her 2025 offering. Two rival journalists—one an eternal optimist, the other a Pulitzer-winning human thundercloud—compete to write the biography of a reclusive heiress on a balmy Georgia island. But the stories Margaret Ives tells them don’t quite match, and unraveling the mystery brings these two opposites rather closer than either anticipated.
This slow-burn romance weaves together family secrets spanning generations, the complexities of ambition, and the question of what stories we choose to tell about our lives. It won Emily Henry her fifth consecutive Goodreads Choice Award, proving that she understands what readers’ hearts desire.
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Two centuries have passed since Miss Elizabeth Bennet first captured readers’ hearts, yet the spell remains unbroken. This is the grandmother of all enemies-to-lovers tales, featuring the most delightfully irreverent heroine English literature had known and Mr. Darcy, whose pride we forgive entirely because, well, we understand it at last.
Austen’s wit sparkles in every line of dialogue, and the slow dance between Elizabeth and Darcy—full of misunderstandings, wounded feelings, and eventual surrender to love—has influenced every romance written since. Over twenty million copies sold cannot be wrong.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
A romance writer who has stopped believing in love and a literary fiction author who has never believed in it make a most peculiar wager: she will write something dark and meaningful, he will write something with a happy ending. What follows is a summer of research trips, shared secrets, and the gradual dismantling of all their careful defences.
Set in neighbouring beach houses in Michigan, this forced-proximity tale tackles grief and family secrets whilst maintaining the warm embrace of a true feel-good romance. The PopSugar Best Romance Book of 2020 is now being adapted for film.
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
Some stories are meant to be read again and again, and this tale of Noah and Allie has earned that devotion from millions. Meeting at a carnival in 1940s North Carolina, a working-class dreamer and a wealthy young woman fall into the sort of love that wars and disapproving parents cannot quite extinguish.
The genius of Sparks’ debut lies in its structure—an elderly man reading to his beloved in a nursing home, the notebook containing their own love story, the reminder that true devotion endures even when memory fades. Keep handkerchiefs near.
The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
Stella Lane is brilliant at her work as an econometrician but finds human connection rather more challenging. In a perfectly logical approach to her difficulties with intimacy, she hires escort Michael Phan to teach her everything she needs to know. What neither expects is that lessons might lead to something neither can quantify.
This gender-swapped homage to Pretty Woman brought neurodivergent representation to mainstream romance, with the author drawing on her own experiences with autism. The result is tender, steamy, and wholly wonderful.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Some books refuse to be confined to a single genre, and this magnificent saga is chief among them. Claire Randall, a World War II combat nurse on a second honeymoon in Scotland, touches an ancient standing stone and awakens in 1743—facing clan warfare, political intrigue, and one Jamie Fraser.
Over fifty million copies have found their way into readers’ hands, testament to Gabaldon’s extraordinary ability to blend history, adventure, and a love story that spans centuries. Be warned: once you enter the Highlands, you may never wish to leave.
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman share an office, a mutual loathing, and an elaborate system of psychological warfare that would impress generals. But when a promotion sets them as rivals and one catastrophically good elevator kiss reveals cracks in all that animosity, their hating game transforms into something quite different.
Oprah ranked this seventh among the twenty best romance novels of all time, and readers everywhere have fallen for the enemies-to-lovers perfection of Lucy’s bright optimism clashing with Joshua’s stern reserve.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry
What happens when the workaholic big-city woman usually left behind in small-town romances becomes the heroine? Nora Stephens, fierce literary agent, reluctantly follows her sister to Sunshine Falls, North Carolina, only to keep encountering the brooding editor who once rejected her book—and who grows more irritatingly attractive by the day.
This clever romance pays loving tribute to small-town stories whilst subverting every expectation. The sisterly bond at its heart brings tears; the banter brings laughter; the romance brings swoons aplenty.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
The First Son of the United States and a British prince despise each other—or so the tabloids believe after a particularly public altercation. Forced into a fake friendship for diplomatic purposes, Alex and Henry discover that their enmity conceals something far more complicated and infinitely more romantic.
This queer love story became a phenomenon, winning multiple awards and proving that romance readers hunger for stories reflecting love in all its diverse glory. The Amazon Prime adaptation introduced millions more to this joyful tale.
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding
She resolves to drink less, smoke less, and find a sensible boyfriend. She fails spectacularly at the first two and rather unexpectedly succeeds at the third. Bridget’s diary entries—charting calories consumed, alcohol units drunk, and mortifying social disasters survived—constitute a modern update of Pride and Prejudice wrapped in delicious British humour.
This worldwide phenomenon launched an entire subgenre and reminds us that heroines need not be graceful or collected to deserve love. They need only be human.
Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood
Maya has been best friends with her older brother’s best friend Conor since childhood—a friendship carefully hidden from her overprotective sibling. When they find themselves at the same destination wedding in Sicily, years of suppressed feelings collide with the age gap they’ve been pretending doesn’t matter.
Ali Hazelwood brings her signature wit and swoonworthy tension to this 2025 release, perfect for readers who love forbidden romance with a side of sunny Mediterranean settings.
Finding Your Perfect Feel-Good Romance
The books gathered here share one essential quality: they leave you believing in love’s power to transform, heal, and endure. Whether you prefer the gentle wit of Regency England, the sunshine of Australian vineyards, or the electric tension of enemies sharing an office, there exists a perfect feel-good romance waiting for you.
Begin wherever your heart leads—perhaps with a London socialite finding herself among kangaroos and grape vines, or a prince and president’s son redefining diplomacy. The magic awaits.
Happy reading, dear friends. May your pages be full of swoons.
