Romance readers know that saying you’re “in the mood for a romance” doesn’t really narrow things down.

Do you want something sweet and funny? A second chance that probably should have happened years ago? Two people who absolutely do not have time to fall in love but are going to do it anyway? Maybe you want hockey, pirates, vampires, fake dating, old flames, dangerous secrets, or enough chemistry to make reading in public slightly uncomfortable.

Romance is huge. And one of the best things about reading indie is getting outside the handful of books and authors we see everywhere and discovering just how many different kinds of love stories are out there.

The Romance shelf at the Motivated Savages Indie Author Bookstore has grown into a pretty wild mix of contemporary love stories, romantic comedies, sports romance, historical romance, paranormal worlds, suspense, steam and LGBTQ+ stories.

So instead of handing you one enormous list of romance books to read, let’s make this easier.

What kind of romance are you in the mood for?

Contemporary Romance: Give Me Love, Life and a Little Mess

Sometimes we want a love story that feels like it could happen to somebody we know. Contemporary romance gives us plenty of room for that, although “somebody we know” apparently includes rockstars, cowboys, touring musicians, old flames and people making much more interesting life choices than most of us did today.

These are stories about finding love in the middle of everything else. Careers. Families. Grief. Fresh starts. Bad timing. Second chances. And, occasionally, the person you probably should have figured out your feelings for a long time ago.

The Next Round by Eva Frances

The Next Round caught my attention because it gives us two romance favorites at once: friends-to-lovers and second-chance romance.

Sometimes the person you need to find isn’t actually new. Sometimes life just needs to circle back around at the right time.

If contemporary love stories are your thing, this section of the bookstore gets wonderfully crowded. The Next Round is just one place to start.

→ Browse more Contemporary Romance

Romantic Comedy: Please Make Me Laugh While They Figure It Out

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching two fictional people stumble their way toward a relationship while we sit comfortably on the outside thinking, Oh, come ON. You obviously like each other.

Romantic comedy gives us chemistry without requiring everyone to behave sensibly. Actually, behaving sensibly would ruin a lot of perfectly good books.

The Stories We Tell by M.D. Blaylock

The Stories We Tell is about two authors who hate each other but have one month to write a book together.

That’s it. I’m already interested.

There are certain setups where you don’t need much convincing that things are about to get complicated, and putting two writers who can’t stand each other together with a deadline is absolutely one of them.

If laughing together is your favorite kind of chemistry, Romantic Comedy is where awkward moments, ridiculous situations, and falling in love all collide.

→ Discover more Indie Romantic Comedies

Sports Romance: Love Beyond the Scoreboard

There’s something about sports romance that just works. I think the appeal is the contrast. There’s something ridiculously entertaining about watching someone who can handle everything happening on the ice, field or court suddenly have absolutely no idea what to do with another human being.

Whatever the reason, sports and romance make a pretty good team.

Shots and Shutouts by Dee Marie

A star goalie finding unexpected love beyond the rink? Yep, we’re starting with hockey.

Shots and Shutouts by Dee Marie kicks off the Goshawks Hockey Romance series and brings a love story into the world of the game. It’s a great place to start if your ideal romance comes with skates, goalies and a little more action than your average meet-cute.

And if hockey isn’t your sport, keep wandering. The Sports Romance section has more waiting.

→ Browse Sports Romance Books

Historical Romance: Take Me Somewhere Without Text Messages

Sometimes we need to leave modern dating behind entirely.

The historical romance section can take you to medieval England, 1840s New York, Scotland, wartime America or straight onto the high seas. The clothes may change. The communication methods definitely change. Human beings making their love lives unnecessarily complicated appear to be timeless.

Waves of Desire by Lauren Everly

Lady pirate. Navy captain sent to capture her.

I feel like we can stop there.

Waves of Desire gives us romance, adventure and two people who are very much not beginning this relationship under ideal circumstances. And sometimes that’s exactly the kind of historical romance we want.

If love stories from another time are your thing, Historical Romance brings the past and passion together.

→ Discover more Historical Romance

Fantasy & Paranormal Romance: Because Regular Dating Wasn’t Complicated Enough

Sometimes a love story needs more than chemistry. Sometimes it needs magic, supernatural trouble, a little mythology and at least one person wondering how their life got this weird.

Fantasy and paranormal romance take all the complicated parts of falling for someone and add worlds where the normal rules don’t necessarily apply.

Choosing Chaos by Luna Runestorm

She wanted quiet. Instead, she found magic, chaos and Loki.

That seems like a fairly significant change of plans.

Choosing Chaos by Luna Runestorm is the first book in the Twilight Runes series and brings romance into a world where mythology and magic have other ideas about how life is supposed to go.

If your preferred love story could use a little supernatural interference, this is a fun place to start.

If magic belongs in your love stories, Fantasy Romance brings adventure, impossible worlds, and falling in love together.

→ Browse Fantasy & Paranormal Romance

Romantic Suspense: Love With Something to Lose

Falling in love is complicated enough without secrets, danger, political schemes and the very real possibility that trusting the wrong person could ruin everything.

Romantic suspense takes the relationship we came for and drops it into a situation where the stakes are considerably higher than whether someone gets a second date.

To Seduce a Senator by Carrie Ray

Independent widow Junia has a job to do: sabotage a reformer.

One small problem. She’s secretly in love with him.

To Seduce a Senator by Carrie Ray mixes romance with political intrigue, divided loyalties and the kind of impossible choice that makes romantic suspense so much fun to read. When your mission and your heart are pulling in opposite directions, something is eventually going to give.

If you like a little danger with your love story, Romantic Suspense brings chemistry and high stakes together.

→ Discover more Romantic Suspense

Steamy & Erotic Romance: Turn Up the Heat

Some romance readers want the door closed. Others would prefer we leave it very much open.

Steamy and erotic romance puts intimacy, desire and chemistry right alongside the relationship itself. But heat doesn’t mean the story stops there. These books can still explore commitment, trust, identity, relationships and what love looks like when it doesn’t follow the traditional script.

Mallory and Derek Attend Secret Parties by Ruan Willow

Mallory and Derek are already a devoted couple.

Now they’re exploring polyamory, pleasure, ambition and unconventional love together.

Mallory and Derek Attend Secret Parties by Ruan Willow takes a different route than the traditional falling-in-love story. Instead, it follows an established couple exploring what they want their relationship to look like, making it a fitting pick for readers who like their romance steamier and a little outside the usual lines.

If you like more heat in your love stories, Steamy & Erotic Romance turns up the chemistry and passion.

→ Browse Steamy & Erotic Romance

LGBTQ+ Romance: Love Stories With Room for More

LGBTQ+ romance isn’t one particular kind of love story. It can be sweet or steamy, contemporary or historical, quiet or completely chaotic.

Or, apparently, it can involve an assassin falling in love while she’s supposed to be working.

Assassin’s Kiss by Emery Rachelle

A polyamorous bisexual assassin falls in love on assignment. Which feels like a fairly significant workplace complication.

Assassin’s Kiss by Emery Rachelle takes LGBTQ+ romance into a magical world filled with danger, desire and characters who don’t fit neatly into one box. With lesbian and nonbinary representation alongside its bisexual and polyamorous romance, it’s a great example of just how much variety exists within LGBTQ+ indie romance.

And also… assassin. Sometimes that’s really all the convincing we need.

If you want love stories with more representation, LGBTQ+ Romance celebrates love in all its forms.

→ Explore LGBTQ+ Romance Books

Why Indie Romance Is So Much Fun to Discover

One of my favorite things about building this bookstore has been seeing just how specific books can get once you move beyond the titles everyone already knows.

A romance doesn’t have to fit neatly into one little box. It can be a small-town second chance. A historical pirate adventure. A zombie-apocalypse road trip romance. A secret relationship between tennis rivals. A romantic comedy about two writers who can’t stand each other.

And yes, there is apparently a romance about an autistic librarian discovering that the social-media cosplayer she meets is actually a vampire.

That sentence alone is an argument for wandering indie shelves.

Independent authors can take familiar things we love about romance and combine them in ways that are surprising, specific, weird, heartfelt, funny and sometimes impossible to neatly categorize.

And that’s exactly what makes discovering them fun.

Discover More Indie Romance Books

The books above are only a handful of what’s waiting on the Romance shelf at the Motivated Savages Indie Author Bookstore.

You can browse by Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sports Romance, Historical Romance, Fantasy & Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense, Steamy & Erotic Romance, or LGBTQ+ Romance and follow whatever catches your attention.

Browse the Indie Romance Bookshelf

Don’t recognize the author? Good. That’s kind of the point.

Click the cover anyway.

Your Next Favorite Romance Might Be One You’ve Never Heard Of

There will always be books everyone talks about. There’s nothing wrong with reading those.

But there’s something really fun about finding one before everybody else does.

You never really know what’s going to make you click. You might come looking for contemporary romance and end up with pirates, get distracted by an actual vampire, fall for a gorgeous cover, or read one ridiculous sentence in a description and suddenly need to know the rest.

That’s how discovery works.

You don’t always know what you’re looking for until you find it.

Go wander.

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Indie Romance Books to Read: Love Stories Worth Falling For