What’s better than one amazing romance book whose couple stole your heart? Falling in love with a whole romance book series that sweeps you off your feet and leaves you wanting more, that’s what.
I’ll be honest: This list could easily be 100 series long, but for the sake of time, I (painfully) narrowed it down to my top 15. Whether you’re looking for steamy paranormals or sweet contemporaries, there’s bound to be a romance series (for adults, no YA!) here that satisfies your needs.
My personal favorite is the Hell’s Belles series by Sarah MacLean, which is an ongoing historical series about women righting wrongs. But rest assured, there are no wrongs on this list.
1. Leonardo by Melissa Schroeder (book 1 of the The Santinis series)
The Santinis are a close-knit family — mostly military and all determined to serve. Oh, and did I mention they’re all hot? Schroeder’s series is filled with Alpha men and the women who bring them to their knees.
The first book follows the titular Leonardo, an Army Medic, who’s thrown off by his intense feelings for Maryanne, a physical therapist who’s wary of getting too attached to this military man.
2. A Vampire Bewitched by L.E. Wilson (book 1 in the Deathless Night series)
Wilson’s Deathless Night series has all the tropes you want from a vampire series: fated mates, forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and forbidden romance. The action is nonstop, the vampire heroes are dark and intense, and the romance is swoonworthy.
In A Vampire Bewitched, a vampire named Nikulas is desperately trying to find his brother, who’s been missing for seven years. Meanwhile, Emma’s sister, a witch, also went missing at that time, so it makes sense for Nikulas and Emma to team up to find their siblings.
Emma has no clue her detective partner is a vampire — but she does know she finds him immensely attractive.
3. Bombshell by Sarah MacLean (book 1 in the Hell’s Belles series)
MacLean calls the quartet of fiercely determined women at the center of her series “The Lady Avengers.” Each of these romances feature a strong, independent heroine, a hero who’s besotted with her, and a wrong that needs righting — all while wearing ball gowns and evening gloves.
Bombshell begins with the reunion of Lady Sesily Talbot and American Caleb Calhoun, her sister’s business partner. It’s clear from the minute these two meet again that they’re meant to be; it’s only Caleb’s silly protective impulses that keeps them apart. But Sesily’s strength of will overcomes, and it’s her determination that make this book so terrifically powerful.
4. The Rogue of Fifth Avenue by Joanna Shupe (book 1 of the Uptown Girls series)
Shupe’s Uptown Girls, set in America’s Gilded Age, is about three sisters from the right side of New York City’s 14th Street downtown crossing. There, they find ruthless men who aren’t afraid of anyone — except for their heroines.
This series kickoff follows Mamie Greene, who plays her role as a good society girl in the day, and turns into a Robin Hood-like figure at night, helping those experiencing misfortune. Her father’s lawyer is onto her, but instead of turning her in, he helps her (despite her protests).
5. Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert (book 1 of The Brown Sisters series)
Hibbert’s quirky characters are impossible not to fall in love with. Her protagonists are often neurodivergent, and their course toward love is delightfully rocky.
The first book’s heroine is a plus-sized woman of color suffering from a chronic illness who’s determined to let none of those factors hold her back any longer. To ensure she has a lot of flippant fun, Chloe makes a list of rebellious activities she has to do, and attaches herself to biker Redford for a hilarious ride.
6. The Magpie Lord by KJ Charles (book 1 of the A Charm of Magpies series)
Charles’ Charm of Magpies is a paranormal series. No, wait, it’s a historical series. No, wait wait wait, it’s a mystery series. Okay, it’s all of those and then some, with a magnificent romance (enemies to lovers) layered throughout.
Charles writes queer romance, often between two men from very different circumstances. In the first book of this magnificent series, an exiled lord returns to England, needing supernatural assistance from a magician who loathes the lord’s family.
7. Hot and Badgered by Shelly Laurenston (book 1 in the Honey Badgers series)
Laurenston usually writes wildly funny paranormal series, and she ramps up the humor even more in her Honey Badgers series. Various protagonists from past and future books are sprinkled throughout the series, which means it feels like a great big furry family.
Meet Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan, a honey badger shifter who takes XXXL grizzly shifter Berg Dunn by complete surprise. He returns the favor by trying to help her protect her siblings from their crazy dad. Honey badger don’t care, the grizzly shifter is hot.
8. To One Hundred by Melissa Blue (book 1 of the #dirtysexygeeks series)
Blue’s very sexy contemporaries pair smart Black women with hot men who get them. The series title is apt: the books are very dirty, extremely sexy, and cutely geeky. Perfect for when you want to get your geek on.
To One Hundred introduces Eva March and Grady Addison, who have been flirting online after meeting on a forum to discuss the show Firefly. Eva decides to go back to school to complete her degree and get a promotion when she discovers that Grady is her professor.
9. Savannah’s Secrets by Reese Ryan (book 1 of the Bourbon Brothers series)
Enemies to lovers is a beloved trope, and for good reason — there’s something so compelling about seeing people who used to hate each other fall in love. Ryan’s Bourbon Brothers series centers around a distillery that’s hundreds of years old and the family that runs it in Tennessee. As you can perhaps imagine, the Abbotts — the family making bank on booze — have made a lot of enemies through the years.
Savannah Carlisle is seeking to avenge her grandfather by working for the Abbotts, and plotting to take back the half of the business that was stolen from her ancestor. Just one problem: She’s drunk on Blake Abbott.
10. Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews (book 1 of the Hidden Legacy series)
What makes Andrews’ books so compelling is the worldbuilding, which is close enough to our world so as not to be confusing, but different enough to totally change and complicate the character and political dynamics.
The Hidden Legacy series is a paranormal romance that revolves around a family with a variety of special gifts and a lot of attitude. The romance thread is strong and underpins the overall action throughout. Like a potato chip, we dare you to read just one.
12. A Match Made for Thanksgiving by Jackie Lau (book 1 in the Holidays with the Wongs series)
If you want a fun, raucous Asian family to spend the holidays with, Lau’s Holidays with the Wongs is perfect. It’s a series of rom-coms that aren’t ludicrously silly; the romances are fraught with real emotion and conflict and the characters are charming.
Just before Thanksgiving, Nick Wong winds up in bed with Lily Tseng for an agreed-upon one night stand. But when Nick goes home for the holidays, his mom and grandma have decided to pair him and his brothers up with possible matches — and Lily winds up with his brother, Greg. That, of course, doesn’t last for long.
12. Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin (book 1 of the Tang Dynasty series)
Lin’s elegant, beautiful prose highlights the equally elegant and beautiful setting and characters in her series. China’s Tang Dynasty was a time of great progress, building on the unification of China begun in the previous dynasty. Lin’s characters are of that time, but are drawn so believably that it would be easy to imagine meeting them now.
In Butterfly Swords, a princess flees an arranged marriage and asks for help from a white mercenary who’s been in China finding work for the past five years.
13. Kiss of a Stranger by Lily Danes (book one in the Lost Coast Harbor series)
Lily Danes and Eve Kincaid collaborated on the romantic suspense Lost Coast Harbor series, with each author writing every other book. Their writing is so polished, however, that there’s not much of a difference in style between the two. The series centers on Lost Coast Harbor and the crime and police factions there.
Book one features an ex-con who was falsely accused and wants revenge and a woman who’s working to put her damaged past behind her. The story is fast-paced, sizzlingly sexy, and offers flawed, likable characters.
14. The Adrien English Mysteries: Books 1-3 (the start of The Adrien English Mysteries series)
These are mysteries, yes, but there’s also a strong romantic plotline running through all the books in the series.
The titular Adrien English is a bookseller and aspiring writer, a queer man who isn’t the sort to get involved in murder cases — until they arrive literally at his door.
His romantic arc involves a closeted police officer whom he meets in the course of his first book, and their on-again/off-again relationship continues through the series.
15. Rebel by Beverly Jenkins (book 1 in the Women Who Dare series)
Jenkins writes what she calls “edutainment,” meaning you are entertained while you are educated. Jenkins’ characters are the people that mainstream textbooks don’t talk about — Black Americans who existed alongside their more heralded counterparts, trying to survive and fall in love while dealing with systemic racism.
Her Women Who Dare series kicks off with Rebel, whose heroine is helping recently emancipated Black people, and teaching children who have just been freed. Rebel is both sexy and historically accurate.
About the Author: Megan Frampton
Megan Frampton is the Content Acquisitions Manager for Everand. She also writes historical romance under her own name and romantic women’s fiction as Megan Caldwell. She likes the color black, gin, dark-haired British men, and huge earrings, not in that order. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and kid.
