It’s hard to believe 2024 is almost over! The best romance books of December 2024 are a great way to wrap up a chaotic year. They’re heartwarming, heartfelt, and — most importantly — always promise us a HEA.
If you’re a historical romance fan, you’ll love this month’s new arrivals from mainstays like Elizabeth Hoyt, Lorraine Heath, and Suzanne Allain. Or, if you’re more into contemporaries, try new releases by Jaci Burton, Amy James, or Katie Holt, among others!
Ready to end the year with love? Read on to see all our picks for the best romance books of December 2024!
PS: I Hate You by Lauren Connolly
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You want both a good cry and a HEA in your best romance books of December 2024. After her brother’s death, a woman teams up with his BFF to complete his final wish.
Publisher’s synopsis: Maddie Sanderson would be proud to honor her older brother’s dying wish, that she scatters his ashes over eight destinations that the adventurous 29-year-old never got to visit before he died from cancer. But in his will, Josh assigned her an impossible partner to help complete the mission—Dominic Perry. Seriously, if Maddie weren’t already at her brother’s funeral, she would have killed him for this.
Sure, Dom was Josh’s life-long best friend. He’s also the infuriating man who broke Maddie’s heart back when she was naïve enough to give it to him. But since Dom insists on following the rules and Josh didn’t leave much room for Maddie to argue the matter, they embark together on a series of farewell trips that span thousands of miles, exploring new places and revisiting their complicated history along the way.
After a snowstorm leads to a shared bed, Maddie starts to wonder if her brother might be matchmaking from the grave. But when grief also reopens old wounds between them, Maddie will need more than Josh’s ghostly guidance to trust Dom again.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Unexpectedly Yours by C. Chilove
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You love romance books with family rivalries for added conflict. A woman lands her authorial dream, but struggles to tell her family, especially after hiring their rival.
Publisher’s synopsis: Carrah Andrews spent her life trying to please her parents and siblings, putting her own hopes aside to work as a chemist at Noir, her family’s cosmetics company. Her dream was to be an author, not spend her days developing beauty serums. Everything changes when Carrah enters a writing contest and lands a book deal. Except she can’t ever tell her parents because: 1) they’d be devastated she wants to leave Noir, and 2) she just hired their biggest rival as her entertainment attorney.
Christopher Chenault is not supposed to cross enemy lines, but he can’t bring himself to turn Carrah away. After all, the families’ enmity doesn’t have to be theirs…especially as more time spent together leads to undeniable attraction.
But when long-held secrets come to light, Carrah and Chris are going to have to decide if they’ll stand by their heritage or embrace who they want to be–and the love they have only just discovered.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Five-Letter Word for Love by Amy James
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You’re looking for something light and quirky among your best romance books of December 2024. Dreaming of a creative career, a woman turns to an annoying coworker for help with her Wordle streak.
Publisher’s synopsis: Twenty-seven-year-old Emily doesn’t have a lot going well in her life right now. She dreams of a creative career but works as a receptionist in an auto shop; she longs for big city life but lives in a small town on Prince Edward Island. She craves a close group of friends but is stuck with irritating, car-obsessed coworkers.
What Emily does have is a 300+ day streak on the New York Times Wordle. But one day, with only one guess left and no clue what the answer is, she’s forced to turn to one of her irritating, car-obsessed coworkers, John, for help—and in doing so, realizes that he might not be so irritating after all.
As they make their way, word by word, toward a 365-day streak, Emily is drawn into a surprising romance that will take her outside of her comfort zone—and challenge everything she thought she knew about happiness, success, and love.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Designs on You by Jaci Burton
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You like single-parent romance, or just feel overwhelmed with life sometimes. A divorced mom falls for a younger game designer while trying to balance her life.
Publisher’s synopsis: Natalie Parker is in her mid-thirties, divorced, and firmly focused on her newly resurrected career and her two children. When her sister asks her to help design the backyard in the new home she shares with her boyfriend, Linc, Natalie’s more than happy to take on the project. What she isn’t prepared for is Linc’s younger brother, video game designer Eugene Kennedy. He’s smart, incredibly good-looking, and constantly flirts with Natalie. He’s also too young for her, which makes him totally off-limits.
Eugene is intrigued by Natalie’s beauty, smarts, and especially her sarcastic wit. When he teases her, she throws it right back at him. Besides that, they have an instant chemistry. But she keeps trying to get rid of him despite the sparks that fly between them. And Eugene never backs down from a challenge.
Natalie is running out of reasons to think being with Eugene is a bad thing. Her kids adore him, her sister loves him, and even her always negative mother does, too. The only person holding her back is…her. Maybe it’s time she take that leap and design herself a love for the ages. After all, if she can create the perfect home, she sure as hell can design a happily ever after.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Wrong Lady Meets Lord Right by Suzanne Allain
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You love near-Shakespearean trading-places scenarios. A pair of cousins switch places, leading to romantic chaos.
Publisher’s synopsis: When Arabella Grant’s wicked aunt dies suddenly, both Arabella and her cousin Lady Isabelle cannot help but feel relieved. She’d made their lives miserable. Now Lady Issie is free to read to her heart’s content, and Bella is free from taunts about her ignoble birth.
Their newfound freedom is threatened, however, when Issie’s great-aunt commands her to travel to London for a come-out Issie has never wanted. Issie, who is in poor health, is convinced she’ll drop dead like her mother did if she drops into a curtsy before the queen. So when her great-aunt turns out to be nearsighted and can’t tell the noble Lady Isabelle from her commoner cousin Arabella, Issie convinces Bella to take her place. Bella can attend all the exclusive entertainments that her lower birth would typically exclude her from. And Issie can stay in bed, her nose in a book.
Bella agrees to the scheme for her cousin’s sake, but matters turn complicated when she meets the irresistible Lord Brooke. He begins courting her while under the impression she’s the rich and aristocratic Lady Isabelle, who, unlike Bella, is a suitable bride for an eligible young earl. And Bella, who is convinced that she has met “Lord Right,” worries what will happen when she reveals that he’s actually fallen for…the wrong lady.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Not in My Book by Katie Holt
Release date: December 10
Read it if: You want the best romance book of December 2024 to include hate-to-love storytelling and Beach Read vibes. Two polar-opposite writers team up on a novel that combines their opposing viewpoints.
Publisher’s synopsis: Rosie, an idealistic and passionate Peruvian American, leaves her Tennessee hometown to pursue her dream of making it in New York as a writer. But her plan is derailed when she ends up in class with her archnemesis and ex-crush, Aiden Huntington—an obnoxious, surly, and gorgeous literary fiction writer who doesn’t have much patience for the romance genre or for Rosie.
Rosie and Aiden regularly go to verbal battle in workshop until their professor reaches her breaking point. She allows them to stay in her class on one condition: they must cowrite a novel that blends their genres.
The reluctant writing duo can’t help but put pieces of themselves into their accidentally steamy novel, and their manuscript-in-progress provides an outlet for them to confess their feelings—and explore their attraction toward each other.
When Rosie and Aiden find themselves competing against each other for a potentially career-changing opportunity, the flames of old rivalry reignite, and their once-in-a-lifetime love story is once again at risk of being shelved—unless they can find a way to end the book on their own terms.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Rules of Royalty by Cale Dietrich
Release date: December 10
Read it if: You cheered out loud when Princess Diaries 3 was announced. A newfound prince learns to be royal from a charming yet repressed neighboring royal.
Publisher’s synopsis: Jamie Johnson has never been the centre of attention, and he’s perfectly okay with that. His entire world unravels as a hidden truth emerges: he’s the heir to the throne of Mitanor, a sun-drenched southern European country, and the press is ready to expose this secret to the world. An invitation to spend the summer in his father’s palace arrives, giving Jamie a chance to get to know the man he never thought he’d meet.
Meanwhile, in a northern European kingdom known for its cold climate and stoic royals, Erik Lindstrom, the spare prince, grapples with the upcoming marriage of his golden-boy elder brother. With the country’s spotlight trained on his family more than ever, Erik feels sidelined and tightly controlled. So when he receives an offer to tutor the newly found American prince in the ways of royalty, he accepts without hesitation.
At a magnificent summer palace, Erik guides Jamie through the intricacies of royal etiquette, politics, and history. What neither prince anticipates is the connection that sparks between them―one that challenges both of their futures. Now each must make a choice: follow their hearts, or the time-honored royal path where crown and country reigns supreme, no matter the personal cost.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
No Ordinary Duchess by Elizabeth Hoyt
Release date: December 10
Read it if: Your wish list for the best romance books of December 2024 includes a grumpy/sunshine historical. A brooding heir and a cheerful lady fall for each other while pursuing their own secret quests.
Publisher’s synopsis: Cold and brooding, Julian Greycourt, the heir to the Windemere dukedom, has always known that his uncle the duke was responsible for his mother’s death. Now he’s determined to exact revenge against his uncle—if he can find the proof. But Julian hides a secret so explosive it will destroy him if it’s ever revealed, and the duke is watching. The last thing he needs is a distractingly sensual woman whose very presence threatens to destroy his plans.
Sunny and cheerful, Lady Elspeth de Moray doesn’t know why her brother and Julian fell out all those years ago, but she can’t let the autocratic man get in the way of her mission: to retrieve an ancient family text that she believes is in one of the Windemere libraries. Locating the tome, however, proves trickier than she anticipated, and at each turn, she’s thrown together with the maddingly mysterious Julian. And the temptation to give in to her family’s greatest enemy grows stronger with each intriguing encounter…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Tempest of Desire by Lorraine Heath
Release date: December 24
Read it if: You love gloriously bonkers premises and steamy historical romance. A courtesan washes up on the shore of a traumatized viscount’s island, following a hot-air balloon accident.
Publisher’s synopsis: After surviving a horrific railway accident, Viscount Langdon retreats to his private island to recover and conquer the nightmarish memories that continue to haunt him. The very last thing he wants—or expects—is for London’s most infamous courtesan to wash up on his beach.
Marlowe is known for her bold flirtations, but her most daring exploits involve flying in her hot air balloon. When a storm blows her off course, she discovers herself alone with the isle’s only inhabitant. The gorgeous, seductive lord tempts her beyond reason, but giving into temptation would lead to her ruination because the all-consuming liaison would demand complete surrender. And she has secrets to protect.
Langdon finds the captivating beauty near impossible to resist, but he can’t risk her learning the true reason behind his isolation. However, a powerful tempest of desire is swirling wildly between them, urging them to give in to the perilous passion that could destroy them . . . or perhaps show them the way to love.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Secret Daughter by Anne Gracie
Release date: December 24
Read it if: You enjoy stories of secret identities and free spirits (and fairytale allusions). After spending a week together in disguise, two aristocrats struggle to reunite when they return to reality.
Publisher’s synopsis: Orphaned Zoë Benoît has spent the last three years in Paris learning how to be a lady. But Zoë is torn—as an independent spirit and a talented artist, she cannot help but want more than the tightly controlled life of a society lady.
On an impulsive visit to the château where her mother lived, Zoë, disguised as a maidservant named Vita, meets a handsome wandering artist, known simply as Reynard. One blissful week with the charming Reynard convinces Zoë that this is the man and the life for her—until she discovers what he’s been hiding from her, and she flees, heartbroken.
Longing for the chance to redeem himself, Reynard searches far and wide for the woman he knows as Vita, to no avail. Disheartened, he returns to England to reluctantly resume his role as Julian Fox, the Earl of Foxton. However, when he sees one of Zoë’s paintings, he realizes she’s in London, and becomes desperate to find her before it’s too late. But even if they reunite, can he convince Zoë he’s worthy of her trust and prove to her that, with him, she can be a free-spirited artist and a countess?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
