10 Romantic Comedy Books Paired with Indulgent Desserts

Is it ever too late to leave the friend zone?

Hi, my name is Bree Camden, and I’m hopelessly in love with my best friend and star quarterback Nathan Donelson (so is half of America, judging by the tabloids and how much the guy dates). The first step is admitting, right? Except, I can never admit it to him because he clearly doesn’t see me that way, and the last thing I want is for things to get weird between us.

Nothing but good old-fashioned, no-touching-the-sexiest-man-alive, platonic friendship for us! Everything is exactly how I like it! Yes. Good. (I’m not crying, I’m just peeling an onion.)

Our friendship is going swimmingly until I accidentally spill my beans to a reporter over too much tequila, and now the world seems to think me and Nathan belong together. Oh, and did I mention we have to date publicly for three weeks until after the Super Bowl because we signed a contract with…oops, forgot I can’t tell anyone about that!

Bottom line is, now my best friend is smudging all the lines and acting very unplatonic, and I’m just trying to keep my body from bursting into flames every time he touches me.

How am I going to make it through three weeks of fake dating Nathan without anything changing between us? Especially when it almost-sorta-kinda seems like he’s fighting for a completely different outcome?

Send help.

XO Bree

An American travel writer who has never found a place to belong and a reclusive Scot with a surprising secret find a shocking connection when she enters a Highlands manor house that has been turned into a three-week-long Edwardian experience.

Katie Campbell has traveled her entire life. As the daughter of an army chaplain, changing homes–or even countries–was commonplace, so when her wild childhood storytelling turned into a lucrative career as a travel writer, she thought she’d found her perfect match. But as she’s nearly thirty with no real place to settle down, she’s starting to wonder where “home” actually is. Her own family hadn’t felt like home since her sister’s death left them all limping through life.

When a lengthy project in Scotland promises to not only give her travel fodder for months but also a shot at a coveted editing position, she accepts and is sent to spend three weeks in the newly created Craighill House, a Scottish home redesigned to offer guests an Edwardian experience. But her entrance to Craighill introduces her to a quirky group of characters and a surly Scot who is helping refurbish the magnificent woodwork of the estate house.

As Katie attempts to live “Edwardian,” she learns that all that glitters does not a comfortable lifestyle make . . . and surly Scots may turn out to be dashing and creative uncles raising their orphaned nephews. When a few escapades from the Downton era lead Katie on hunts for mermaids and dragons or to a fireside chat with a family who has grown stronger through tragedy, Katie begins to wonder if “home” looks a whole lot like rolling green hills, magnificent braighs, and a few extra “ayes” thrown in for good measure. But can her world-traveling lifestyle fit in with a Scot whose heart is double-knotted to home?

A chance meeting. A hunky hockey player. A fake romance.

Hardly an ordinary day in the life of Poppy Hart.

My days usually consist of agonizing over my failing restaurant, worrying about my mountain of debt, and nursing my broken heart.

Everything changes when I bump into a man in the coffee shop and claim him as my new boyfriend. To my absolute horror, he turns out to be hockey’s most renowned bad boy, Dallas Burke. To my absolute delight, he goes along with my story.

When his no-nonsense manager and meddling grandmother jump in the picture, they see a win-win solution for my failing restaurant and Dallas’s less-than-stellar reputation.

A full-fledged fake romance complete with contract negotiations, pretend dates, and phony PDA.

But as I get to know the real Dallas Burke, who is not the man the press says he is, it becomes clear that if this isn’t real. . . someone better tell it to my heart.

She’s got his back.
Hannah Brooks looks more like a kindergarten teacher than somebody who could kill you with a wine bottle opener. Or a ballpoint pen. Or a dinner napkin. But the truth is, she’s an Executive Protection Agent (aka “bodyguard”), and she just got hired to protect superstar actor Jack Stapleton from his middle-aged, corgi-breeding stalker.

He’s got her heart.
Jack Stapleton’s a household name—captured by paparazzi on beaches the world over, famous for, among other things, rising out of the waves in all manner of clingy board shorts and glistening like a Roman deity. But a few years back, in the wake of a family tragedy, he dropped from the public eye and went off the grid.

They’ve got a secret.
When Jack’s mom gets sick, he goes home to the family’s Texas ranch to help out. Only one catch: He doesn’t want his family to know about his stalker. Or the bodyguard thing. And so Hannah—against her will and her better judgment—finds herself pretending to be Jack’s girlfriend as a cover. Even though her ex says no one will believe it.

What could possibly go wrong?
Hannah hardly believes it herself. But the more time she spends with Jack, the more real it all starts to seem. And there lies the heartbreak. Because it’s easy for Hannah to protect Jack. But protecting her own, long-neglected heart? That’s the hardest thing she’s ever done.

Can a magic love potion help her see what’s right in front of her?

Ally Hawkins, ever cheerful and always willing to see the bright side of things, has never had a date for Valentine’s Day. But this is her year. She can feel it in her little optimistic heart. Even if she, a full-grown woman, resorts to believing in a love potion she bought at a county fair. After all, the day she accidentally got some of the smelly concoction on herself, the object of her desire asked her out to lunch. That can’t be a coincidence, can it?

But ever since the potion came into her life, Josh Wise, Ally’s coworker and office BFF, has been acting strange. He’s been pulling away from her, and she finds that she’s missing his playful antics and the way he can always make her laugh and smile. The potion, it would seem, is lifting the curtain on a reality that Ally has been blind to. But will she recognize what’s been right in front of her all along before it’s too late?

“You can’t Schitt’s Creek a town, Tank.”
“And you can’t verb a noun, son.”

When a family of former pro football players buy a small Texas town, they didn’t intend to start a war with its residents … or to fall in love.

Ever since his career-ending injury, Pat has bounced from job to job, idea to idea, short-lived relationship to short-lived relationship. But when his father purchases the town of Sheet Cake, Pat suddenly sees his life with clear purpose: get his brothers on board with his dad’s wild idea and win back the one woman who got away.

Lindy was supposed to be traveling the world, not stuck in a small town, caring for her niece. But she would do anything to keep custody of Jo–even if that looks like a marriage of convenience with the man who already broke her heart once.

Now if she can only keep herself from falling back in love with her husband…

Carly Catterson has one rule: never date a coworker again.

After her last office romance ended in humiliation—complete with a public breakup and a change in careers—Carly swore off love in the workplace. And especially love with Nate Farnsworth, the infuriatingly charming office rival at her new job.

But when Nate needs a fake girlfriend to fool his parents, and Carly needs a way to make her ex squirm, a mutually beneficial arrangement is born. The plan is simple: fake smiles, staged hand-holding, and absolutely no real feelings involved.

Only, somewhere between stolen glances and too-convincing kisses, Carly starts to see a side of Nate she never expected—kind, funny, and not at all the enemy she thought.

But where does that leave the mystery pen pal who’s been her anonymous confidant for months? The one who actually understands her?

With their fake dating deal nearing the end and a scheduled meeting with her pen pal on the horizon, Carly has to decide. Go back on her rule and risk her heart with Nate, or walk away from the online guy who knows her best.

She’s the desperate CEO hired to rebrand a sleepy Southern orchard. He’s the stubborn heir determined to see her fail.

All’s fair in love and farming.

Jane

I fix things. It’s what I do.

So when I’m hired to fix what’s broken at Sugar Maple Farms, I see an even bigger project in the form of the sexy, surly, six-foot-five owner, Tripp Carville.

Tripp may be a thorn in my side, but lucky for him, I can see beyond his impressive, prickly front to the wounded boy underneath.

And I know exactly how to fix him: I’m going to make him fall back in love with Sugar Maple Farms.

Now if I can just keep myself from falling in love with him in the process.

Tripp

I’ve never been enough for the people around me, not for my parents before they died and not for the tough grandfather who raised me. When he unexpectedly passes, leaving me the famous (and failing) Sugar Maple Farms, all I want is to sell so I can leave the weight of being a Carville behind.

Until Jane shows up.

The woman is smart, salty, and sexy as can be. I can’t admit it, but her vision for Sugar Maple Farms is captivating. Everything about her is captivating. While we spend every day arguing, I spend every night thinking about her.

I’m damaged beyond repair, and after never being enough for the people in my life, if I can’t be enough for Jane, I don’t think I’ll ever recover.

So I can’t let Jane in.

No matter how badly I want to.

When the stakes are win, lose, or fall … and love is not in their lesson plan.

Sayla Kroft has only two goals this year:

Score the big district grant to rebuild her high school’s dilapidated theater.
Avoid Dexter Michaels, the flirty-flirt athletic director who wants those same funds for the gym.
Losing to her workplace enemy—again—is not on Sayla’s never-ending to-do list. Neither is being trapped with her maddening coworker at a professional retreat.

Or noticing his relentlessly crooked smile is actually kind of … hot.

But just as she’s beginning to believe Dex might not be the devil himself, the two are forced to switch job titles to prove their collaborative spirit. That’s when Sayla realizes her competition is fiercer than she imagined, which leaves her with an impossible choice:

Fall for Dex and risk losing the grant … or stop at nothing to win, and risk losing everything.

You know it’s bad when you have to give up chocolate to pay the bills.

I’m flat broke and desperate, but the word can’t isn’t part of my vocabulary. I’m all too familiar with shoulda, coulda, woulda, however, you won’t hear me say cannot or any of its variations. No, siree.

I can do anything except for improve my finances. So it makes perfect sense that I, Louella Belle, would compete to become Mrs. Fix It, the new cohost, on the popular House and Landscape channel’s home improvement show, Mr. Fix It.
Too bad the limits of my handywoman skills involve duct tape and thumbtacks. Shh. No one needs to know that.

Onscreen, Mr. Fix It, aka Bo Boone, is a stud, and our chemistry is as blazing as the southern sun. However, when the cameras stop rolling, he cools off quickly. When I learn why, I want to patch up his heart. Don’t worry, I won’t use duct tape or thumbtacks.

My efforts are about as effective as me replacing a wax ring on a toilet, flushing everything down the drain, unless Mr. Fix It can live up to his name, forgive me, and get over his past.