Funny Romance Books With Real Heart: 8 Picks Worth Reading

A funny romance can be the best kind of comfort read, or it can be all punchlines and no pulse. My favorites do both: they make you laugh out loud, and then they catch you off guard with something real. That's what I look for, and it's what I try to write.

I write contemporary romance with humor as Carissa Knight, so one of my series is on this list (clearly labeled). I checked every premise against a published description, so you know what you're getting before you click. Heat levels vary a lot in this genre, so I've noted mine below.

What makes a funny romance worth reading

• The humor comes from the characters, not just from jokes.
• The chemistry feels earned, with banter that does some of the work.
• There's something at stake beyond "will they or won't they."
• Underneath the laughs, there's a real feeling you didn't see coming.
• You'd happily follow these people for more than one book.

8 funny romance books worth reading

1. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman are assistants to the CEOs of two publishing companies that have been forced to merge. Their open dislike for each other grows even sharper when both are considered for the same new executive role. Somewhere in the middle of the rivalry, it turns into an unexpected attraction.

2. The One Night Stand Club by Carissa Knight (mine)

This is steamy contemporary romance with humor, set in the Twin Ports of Minnesota and Wisconsin, and it's funnier than it sounds and deeper than the title suggests. In Book 1, Dirty Plans, Lily's carefully planned, color-coded life is supposed to be enough, until she crashes into the tattooed manager of the city's hottest nightclub and recognizes him as London, her childhood best friend who disappeared twenty years ago. Forced proximity, unfinished business, banter, and a ride-or-die found family follow. In Book 2, Dirty Books, a heartbroken romance novelist reinvents herself for one night at Club Nocté and says yes to a masked hookup. The next morning, her new personal trainer turns out to be him. Book 3 is where I unleashed my favorite trope: enemies to lovers. Dirty Developments follows a songwriter turned digital coder who wants nothing to do with the bad boy musician who broke her heart years ago. But forced proximity and a group of meddling friends say otherwise.

Underneath the laughs, these books are about women rebuilding their lives and figuring out who they are as whole people, in their own bodies and on their own terms. On heat: it's steamy, open-door romance, with a few love scenes per book, and the characters have to earn them. It also has strong language, so it's 18+.

Start with Dirty Plans, or get Books 1 and 2 together in the eBook Duology Bundle. Ready for the enemies-to-lovers book? Pick up Dirty Developments. The full series is in the One Night Stand Club collection.

3. Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

Naomi Witt is a runaway bride who travels to Knockemout, Virginia, to help her estranged twin, Tina, only to find that Tina has taken her car and her cash. Tina has also left behind an eleven-year-old niece, which makes Naomi a guardian with no car, no money, and no plan. Knox Morgan, a bearded barber who avoids drama and high-maintenance women, reluctantly helps her through the mess.

If you like my books, Lucy Score is a natural next stop. She also writes the Riley Thorn series, which follows a divorced, broke woman who may be psychic and gets pulled into murder cases when a neighbor is found dead. Personally, I love her books and have read pretty much all of them. 

4. Beach Read by Emily Henry

January Andrews is a writer stuck in a creative slump who spends a summer in a seaside town clearing out the home her late father shared with his mistress. There she reconnects with Augustus Everett, a celebrated literary novelist and her former college rival, who is also struggling with his work. When they swap genres for a bet, their friendship slowly grows into a second-chance romance. I have personally read this one and loved it to pieces.

5. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren

Pessimistic Olive Torres has to spend her identical twin's wedding festivities with the groom's brother, Ethan Thomas, whom she finds judgmental. When a food-borne illness spares only the two of them, her twin persuades them to take the nonrefundable honeymoon trip. At the resort, they pose as a couple in public, and their mutual hostility gradually turns into romance.

6. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

After a near-death experience, Chloe Brown, a chronically ill computer geek, writes a list of bold goals to help her finally start living, including riding a motorcycle and doing something reckless. She recruits Red Morgan, a tattooed handyman who secretly paints, to help, and their teasing turns into a steamy romance as she learns what lies beneath his rough exterior.

7. Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Written as a personal diary, this 1996 novel follows a year in the life of Bridget Jones, a single, thirty-something London office worker who records her career, friendships, family, and love life. Along the way she becomes involved with two men: her charming but unfaithful boss, Daniel Cleaver, and Mark Darcy, a stiff human-rights barrister she first finds off-putting. It's loosely based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

8. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Alex Claremont-Diaz, the son of the first female U.S. president, and Prince Henry of England start out as rivals. A scandal at a wedding forces them to pretend to be friends to prevent a diplomatic crisis. Their pretend bond slowly turns into a secret romance, which is eventually exposed during the president's reelection campaign.

How to choose your next funny romance

• Want office rivals and banter? Start with The Hating Game.
• Want a steamy romance with humor, found family, and an enemies-to-lovers book in the mix? Try The One Night Stand Club (mine).
• Want a runaway bride, a small town, and a grumpy barber? Go with Things We Never Got Over.
• Want writers, a summer by the sea, and a bet? Read Beach Read.
• Want a fake couple on a free honeymoon? Pick up The Unhoneymooners.
• Want a bold list of goals and a tattooed handyman? Choose Get a Life, Chloe Brown.
• Want a diary, a London setting, and Austen vibes? Try Bridget Jones's Diary.
• Want rivals who fake a friendship? Look at Red, White & Royal Blue.

Keep reading

Ready to start the One Night Stand Club? Begin with Dirty Plans, browse the full collection, and use the reading order page to see all of my series in the right order.