The Monsoon Swoon: Romance Novel Recommendations

Seven Summers by Paige Toon

Six summers ago

Liv and Finn meet while working in a bar on the rugged Cornish coast. Their future is full of promise. When a night of passion ends in devastating tragedy, they become inseparable. But Finn’s life is in LA with his band, while Liv lives in Cornwall with her family. So they make promises to each other. Finn will return every year, and when they’re single, they’ll spend the summer together.

This summer

Liv’s path crosses that of Tom, a mysterious newcomer to her hometown. As the wildflowers and heather begin to bloom, they fall in love. For the first time, Liv can imagine a world where she doesn’t get her heart broken every year.

Now Liv has to make an impossible decision. And when she learns the shocking reason why Tom left home, she has to trust her heart even more…

You, with a view

Two weeks on the road…stuck in a car with my high school enemy.

Noelle Shepard is mourning the loss of her beloved grandmother when she discovers decades-old photos and letters that hint at a forbidden love in her grandma’s past. Needing to know the full story, she creates a TikTok video pleading for information – and it goes viral.

Through her video, she manages to track down her grandmother’s secret crush, Paul, who offers to take her on the honeymoon by car that he and Gram had planned but were never able to go on.

Noelle jumps at the chance to make that final connection with her grandmother. There’s just one problem: Paul’s grandson is Noelle’s frustratingly handsome high school rival, Theo.

And Theo has to come too.

It’s only two weeks. Surely Noelle can survive that long, right? But with only one car for the two of them – and often only one bed – it doesn’t take long for things to get heated…

If only I had told her

If I had told her years ago that I loved her, I wouldn’t be here now.

Finn has always loved Autumn. She’s not just the girl next door or the daughter of his mother’s best friend, she’s his everything. But she’s not his girlfriend. That’s Sylvie, and Finn would never hurt her, so Autumn can’t possibly know how he really feels about her.

Jack, Finn’s best friend, isn’t so sure. He saw Finn and Autumn together. How could she not know? And how can he support and protect Finn when heartbreak seems inevitable?

Autumn surrounds herself with books and wants to write her own destiny – but you don’t always get a new chapter and fate can be cruel to those in love.

Told from three different perspectives, If Only I Had Told Her is a love story full of truth, tragedy, and unexpected bonds that heal us.

Happy never after

When Sophie finds out shortly before her wedding that she has been cheated on (again!), it is time for drastic measures. Instead of calling off the wedding, she hires an attractive stranger – Max – to interrupt the ceremony and confront her fiancé.

It’s not exactly the wedding she had planned. But Sophie has a thing for revenge, so when Max asks her if she wants to work with him to help others expose their unfaithful partners, Sophie agrees.

When they are hired by a man who is marrying the girl who once broke Max’s heart, Sophie expects Max to enjoy the job. But instead, he seems to be struggling with his feelings for his ex. And worse, Sophie is jealous…

Tropes/Themes:

1. From friends to lovers
2. Slowly budding romance
3. Spicy books
4. Love triangle

The catch

In a last-ditch effort to save her brand from obscurity, fashion influencer Melanie Karlsen finds herself in a remote fishing village on Canada’s east coast. The only thing scarier than nature itself? Burly fisherman Evan Whaler – who single-handedly disproves the theory that Canadians are “nice.”

After a boating accident, Evan ends up in the hospital. Mel is mistaken for his fiancée by his kind but odd family. And in exchange for Evan’s help with her social media content, Mel agrees to fake her engagement for just one week.

But controlling their budding feelings for each other proves more difficult than expected.

Someone else’s shoes

Who are you when you are forced to follow in someone else’s footsteps?

Meet Sam. Meet Nisha.

Two women who lead very different lives.

But when their paths cross and both get into a lot of trouble – and finding the missing shoes is the only solution – they are faced with a decision that every woman has to make: go alone or stick together…