Contemporary Romance Times Three

I love a fresh and frothy romance in hot summer weather… here are three contemporary romance novels, all leading to a special Happily Ever After!

The science one is The Soulmate Equation by Christina Lauren. The worlds of dating apps and DNA testing collide in this funny, warm story about Jess, a single mom who’s struggling to get by, and River, a genetics nerd who is part of the team to create GeneticAlly, a dating app that matches potential soulmates by their DNA test results. When Jess and River discover that they’re a rare “Diamond Match,” they’re off on a journey to see if DNA compatibility really leads to romance.

The dog one is called Pug Actually by Matt Dunn. Silly title, silly premise, sign me up! The story is told in first person from the point of view of Doug, a pug dog owned by Julie, who is looking for love in decidedly all the wrong ways. She meets Tom, who is a V-E-T (nobody will say the word out loud in front of Doug) but their relationship is off to a rocky start because both have been hurt in other relationships and need to figure out how to trust a new partner. This is a light and amusing book, and Doug’s voice is really priceless. I loved it.

The new take on a classic one is To Sir, With Love by Lauren Layne. This bubbly novel takes the plot of The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail and brings it into the new millennium with a couple who meet over a new dating app, MysteryMates, that allows chat but no photos. Gracie runs her family store, an upscale champagne shop, in Manhattan. Sebastian’s family business, a development company, is pressuring Gracie to end her lease early so they can develop the lot. There is a lot of initial attraction, but Gracie is distracted by the man she only knows online. As a fan of James Stewart and of Meg Ryan, I enjoyed this tremendously.

Other new contemporary romance novels include:

While We Were Dating by Jasmine Guillory

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary

Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *