Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody, and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! Today’s a love/valentine’s freebie, and I chose to highlight 10 recent romances I read that I loved. They may range from contemporary to fantasy and from cozy to dark, but they all had an important thing in common: they made me absolutely swoon for the romance, giving me a new OTP for my shelves 😉 Let’s go!
The Long Game by Rachel Reid (Game Changers #6): It’s no secret that I’ve been completely obsessed with Heated Rivalry’s Shane and Ilya. The Long Game is their sequel and I loved it even more than Heated Rivalry.
If It Makes You Happy by Julie Olivia: There was much to love about this cozy romance set in the nineties with Gilmore Girls vibes, but most of all was the black cat/golden retriever slow-burn romance between Michelle and Cliff.
Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood: I wasn’t big into age gap romances… until Maya and Conor came along. Bonus points for the fun Italy setting and the appearances of beloved characters from Not In Love.
Wooing the Witch Queen by Stephanie Burgis: This cozy romantasy was fun and sweet, and I loved the romance between wicked sorceress queen Saskia and the sweet, nerdy, cinnamon roll that is Fabian.
Lights Out by Navessa Allen: From cozy romantasy to a dark stalker romance… but don’t let that description put you off if you’re not into dark romance, because this stalker is actually also a big cinnamon roll…
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith: This gothic romantasy set in a deadly game had me swooning at the romance between a necromancer and a phantom.
A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna: Back to cozy in this sweet story about a grumpy witch innkeeper and an icy historian who can help her get her powers back.
Play Along by Liz Tomforde (Windy City #4): I loved ALL of the books in the Windy City series, but this may be one of my favorites as it has the best drunken Vegas wedding/marriage of convenience trope I’ve ever read.
Reckless by Elsie Silver (Chestnut Springs #4): I am NOT a fan of the surprise pregnancy trope. Like, at all. But Reckless is the exception to the rule, I loved Winter and Theo so much!
Funny Story by Emily Henry: My FAVORITE Emily Henry book and one of my all-time favorites overall! Daphne and Miles own my heart. The best kind of forced proximity / opposites attract / friends to lovers romance.
Tell Me:
Have you read and loved any of these romances too?
I do love the titles of Emily Henry’s novels. Those alone (along with the colorful art) always make me curious. 🙂
They do indeed always have fun covers and titles! 🙂
I’ve only read Funny Story which I loved but a few of these are on my WTR
Thanks for sharing your #TTT
I hope you’ll love the ones on your TBR when you get to them!
This is a nice collection of different types of romances.
Thanks! I like romance, but it’s nice to have some different types of romance too 🙂
I haven’t read any of these but almost all of them are on my TBR. lol
I hope you’ll love them all when you get to them!
I really need to read Funny Story. Beach Read is my favorite Emily Henry!
Beach Read is a great one too! I hope you’ll love Funny Story too when you get to it 🙂
I loved A Witch’s Guide and Lights Out was surprisingly fun as well. While I didn’t end up loving Phantasma, I did love Enchantra. Have you read it yet? Almost all of the others you mentioned are on my TBR and I can’t wait to read them. Great list!
Yay, glad to hear you loved A Witch’s Guide and Lights Out! I also read and loved Enchantra a lot, though I think I liked Phantasma just a little bit more 🙂 I hope you’ll love all of the ones still on your TBR!
I loved Funny Story and I want to read Wooing the Witch Queen!
I hope you’ll love Wooing the Witch Queen!
I love the variety of romances you have here.
Here’s my TTT: https://readbakecreate.com/favorite-romances-read-in-2025/
Thanks! I love a lot of different types of romances, but 95% of my reads must have at least a little bit of romance in them 🙂
If it makes you Happy has a super cute cover. It’s similar to one on my list today.
It’s indeed such a cute cover! 🙂
I love the variety here! I don’t care for romance as a main plotline, but I like it as a subplot.
Happy TTT!
Susan
http://www.blogginboutbooks.com
I totally get that! I always want/need a little romance in my books, but sometimes it’s the main plot and sometimes just a tiny subplot though 🙂
I’ve read Phantasma and Play Along from your list, but Reckless and The Long Game are somewhere deep down on that huge TBR of mine.
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2026/02/10/top-ten-tuesday-love-is-on-the-tbr/
I hope you’ll love Reckless and The Long Game whenever you get to them 🙂
I loved Problematic Summer Romance too. Thinking about it still makes me smile!
It was such a fun read indeed, I’d already love a re-read 🙂
I need to read the Witch’s Guide. I’m very much in the mood for cozy fantasy right now.
The Witch’s Guide was the best kind of cozy fantasy, I loved it! Hope you will too 🙂
I have read 8 of these and loved them! Liz Tomforde and The Long Game are on my TBR! Great list.
Yay! I hope you’ll also love the Liz Tomforde book and The Long Game!
If It Makes You Happy is definitely one I want to get to soon!
It was one of my favorite reads of the year, I hope you’ll end up loving it too!