Romances That Gradually Build

These books do NOT contain romances that are 'love-at-first-sight' or 'instant'. These are gradual and they find out at the end or do not act upon it till the end of the book. During the middle, they might have 'tense' moments. Extra bonus points if the romance burns on "gradually" into the next books too!
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480 books · 532 voters · list created February 9th, 2013 by Anab.
165 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Kyra 876 books
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Tammie 4705 books
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Lara 2056 books
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Anna 1913 books
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Ellen 628 books
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Clio 2214 books
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Comments Showing 1-13 of 13 (13 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Momo (new)

Momo Love this list


message 2: by HEAjunkie (new)

HEAjunkie thank you! I was looking for just these kind of books. :)


message 3: by Jamie (new)

Jamie Campbell I'm looking for a recommendation (preferably contemporary) written in the first person from the female lead's POV. Any suggestions from this list would be welcomed.

Also - what equates to 'gradually?'


message 4: by Shelby (new)

Shelby Suderman Jamie wrote: "Also - what equates to 'gradually?"

Anybody else that likes when it not only takes its time, but also multiple books?


message 5: by Anab (new)

Anab Jamie wrote: "I'm looking for a recommendation (preferably contemporary) written in the first person from the female lead's POV. Any suggestions from this list would be welcomed."

A lot of these books are fantasy haha so probably not contemporary. A recent book I read which has contemporary slow romance is "Kulti". There's a lot of romance in it, but it's more of love-hate-love romance. And it's hilarious! Another one I really like is, and I'm not sure if it's on this list, is called "So Not Happening" by Jenny B. Jones. The romance builds up to the next books too ;)


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I found this list because it was mentioned in Slow romance, which is another good list to explore.


message 7: by Jayana (new)

Jayana Jamie wrote: "I'm looking for a recommendation (preferably contemporary) written in the first person from the female lead's POV. Any suggestions from this list would be welcomed.

Also - what equates to 'gradua..."


Check out Wrecking Ball by P. Dangelico, If you haven't still Mariana Zapata' 's works are the holy grail of slow burn.
Hope that helps.


message 8: by Jewel (new)

Jewel Anab wrote: "Jamie wrote: "I'm looking for a recommendation (preferably contemporary) written in the first person from the female lead's POV. Any suggestions from this list would be welcomed."

A lot of these b..."


I love both those books! Just read Kulti today and grew up reading Jenny B. Jones. Most people credit Harry Potter for sparking their love of reading, but I have gotta hand it to her.:)


message 9: by Rina (new)

Rina Sorry to bother girls, I am looking for a specific book and I hope you can help me find it's name. It is a romance that gradually burns so you may know the name.
It is about a girl/woman that used to do gymnastics, but one day in an important competition she crashes her knee, and her career is over. But then she becames a physical therapist and helps a (i think it was rugby or baseball) player bc he has injured his arm.
It was a beautiful story to read, so I hope you can help me find it and maybe read it because it's super cute.
Pd: The guy is kind of an asshole at the beginnig bc of his injury but we will just ignore that.


message 10: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Apr 16, 2018 09:11AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Mar
Try What's the Name of That Book??? on Goodreads.


message 11: by Jewel (last edited Jul 28, 2018 02:38PM) (new)

Jewel Mar wrote: "Sorry to bother girls, I am looking for a specific book and I hope you can help me find it's name. It is a romance that gradually burns so you may know the name.
It is about a girl/woman that used ..."


I think the book you are referring to is Real by Katy Evans. It fits everything you said, except the guy she helps is a wrestler, not a rugby player, and he doesn't hurt his arm, he just needs a psychical therapist to travel with him. Hope that helps!:)


message 12: by Durga (new)

Durga Mar wrote: "Sorry to bother girls, I am looking for a specific book and I hope you can help me find it's name. It is a romance that gradually burns so you may know the name.
It is about a girl/woman that used ..."


thats Real by Katy Evans


message 13: by Micka22 (new)

Micka22 checked - skip


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