Searching for your next read? Check out one of these oddly specific romance subgenres. Once you try one, you won’t be able to get enough of it.
With romance books taking over social media by storm on platforms like TikTok and Twitter, now more than ever, niche subgenres are getting the attention and love they deserve. Here are five surprisingly big subgenres of romance that you definitely should check out if you’re between books.
Hockey Romance
Hockey players are known for more than just the way grueling ice skating practice makes their butts the center of attention. In terms of romance novels, they’re also brooding, with a soft side that comes out for the main character. If you want to read about a professional hockey player Maria Luis’ Power Play is for you, with a feisty main character and lots of steamy romance. If college hockey is more your level, then Elle Kennedy’s The Deal is exactly what you’re looking for. Honorable mentions include For The Boys by Amanda Chaperon and Icebreaker by Hannah Grace.
What’s the hottest sport for a romance novel and why is it hockey?
— Andrew Collins (@kacollinsjr) April 5, 2023
Summer at the Beach Romance
If you’re looking for adult romance, Emily Henry’s Beach Read has been taking the romance novel world by storm for its adorable beach town setting and broody writer as a male lead. In terms of young adult romance, if you’re looking for something a little more lighthearted, The Summer I Turned Pretty is an adorable first book to a trilogy by Jenny Han that was also turned into an Amazon Prime Show. The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther is an especially great recommendation if you are a Taylor Swift fan, as this book is chock-full of references to her music and feels like a romance taken straight out of one of her songs.
i love romance books that take place over the summer bc the vibes of beach dates, staying out all night, hot days where the characters do everything together to stay cool, working shifts together for summer jobs, the angst of knowing it’ll all come to an end soon…IMMACULATE
— hayley ☼ ☽ (@pagesofhayley) June 27, 2022
Career-Focused Woman Searches For A Man
A lot of romance authors have been using their work to speak out about the double standards that come with career and family for women, especially in high-profile jobs. Book Lovers by Emily Henry follows a woman struggling between her big-city job and her small-town romance, while Nisha Sharma’s Dating Dr. Dil is a modern take on a Shakespearean romance with enemies-to-lovers and a twist. Both books have a woman who struggles to balance her career and her love life but don’t worry; there are happy endings ahead.
I want to write a romance novel like the ones in which a career woman from the Big City has to go back to her hometown for some stupid reason and discovers that all she’s been missing is owning a B&B and the love of a small town boy, except the exact opposite of that.
— grimly rageplaying the pianoforte 🌈 (@zomgitskiki) April 14, 2020
They Were Roommates Romance
With rent only seeming to go up in every whimsical city that book characters love to live in, it’s easy to understand why suddenly a lot of books about roommates are cropping up; who can afford to live alone these days? The American Roommate Experiment by Elena Armas is a spinoff from her popular novel The Spanish Love Deception and comes with a hot leading man with an irresistible accent and lots of shenanigans. If you’re looking for something even more raunchy, the male lead in Rosie Danan’s The Roommate is in the adult entertainment business with a reluctant roommate in the main character who was expecting to be rooming with her childhood crush.
On a “strangers need to be roommates and then they fall in love” romance book spiral
— Becs (@accordingtobecs) March 6, 2021
Farm/Cowboy Romance
If you need a little yeehaw in your life, then this romance subgenre is for you. If you’d prefer to just dip your toes into cute ranch romance, try reading The Bodyguard by Katherine Center, where the main character is assigned to protect a famous actor with farm roots. If you’re looking to dive right in Staci Hart’s Bet, The Farm features a lactose-intolerant dairy farmer for a leading lady in an enemies-to-lovers small-town romance.
RELATED: Yesterday I asked my granny what she was reading and she goes “it’s a western” and passes me this romance novel with a cowboy on the cover. I flipped it open and immediately found the most raunchy sex scene I have ever seen in print and I love that woman so much
— meg monk (@MegMonk) October 11, 2019
Do you have a favorite subgenre of romance? Share it with us on social media by tweeting to us @AfterBuzzTV!
