Romance novels that focus on character-driven romance, where the relationship takes a while to develop. These books can be real steamy, but not of the insta-lust variety. I'm talkin' real character and relationship development throughout the course of the story that builds and builds and builds. Contemporary and historical books welcomed!
1

by
4.15 avg rating — 306,796 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.23 avg rating — 157,644 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
3.86 avg rating — 834,388 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.95 avg rating — 16,921 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.20 avg rating — 1,052,518 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
4.28 avg rating — 115,125 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.16 avg rating — 681,060 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.16 avg rating — 70,069 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
4.05 avg rating — 135,349 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
4.19 avg rating — 287,225 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
4.30 avg rating — 4,835,880 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.63 avg rating — 3,233,152 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
4.36 avg rating — 49,392 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.20 avg rating — 99,688 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
4.02 avg rating — 24,743 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.29 avg rating — 81,135 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
3.88 avg rating — 102,966 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.87 avg rating — 128,996 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
3.98 avg rating — 68,782 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.89 avg rating — 195,850 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.84 avg rating — 1,236,186 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.13 avg rating — 296,752 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.78 avg rating — 124,811 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
4.07 avg rating — 229,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.10 avg rating — 199,055 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.07 avg rating — 1,771,243 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
4.09 avg rating — 176,416 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.15 avg rating — 4,259,448 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.29 avg rating — 95,531 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
30

by
4.37 avg rating — 91,522 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.96 avg rating — 56,077 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.06 avg rating — 93,033 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.17 avg rating — 46,372 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
4.45 avg rating — 680,158 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.90 avg rating — 54,715 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,336,318 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
4.15 avg rating — 205,300 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.15 avg rating — 781,977 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
4.10 avg rating — 768,548 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.97 avg rating — 212,001 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 21,810 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.98 avg rating — 161,344 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
4.43 avg rating — 82,244 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
3.85 avg rating — 36,865 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.01 avg rating — 1,750,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
46

by
4.06 avg rating — 70,202 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.90 avg rating — 57,004 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.84 avg rating — 230,388 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.05 avg rating — 190,442 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
4.37 avg rating — 38,473 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.03 avg rating — 70,203 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
3.77 avg rating — 31,193 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,302,285 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
54

by
4.05 avg rating — 19,768 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
4.02 avg rating — 115,988 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.05 avg rating — 989,106 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
3.96 avg rating — 465,157 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
4.13 avg rating — 169,773 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
4.11 avg rating — 1,705,182 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.07 avg rating — 41,488 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
61

by
4.29 avg rating — 15,802 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
4.13 avg rating — 468,232 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.82 avg rating — 477,452 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
4.03 avg rating — 18,048 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
3.94 avg rating — 95,272 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.21 avg rating — 167,164 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
4.46 avg rating — 1,161,567 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
4.35 avg rating — 9,967,627 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
4.45 avg rating — 1,585,155 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
4.14 avg rating — 43,540 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 60,330 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.79 avg rating — 816,017 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.93 avg rating — 166,289 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
3.96 avg rating — 663,343 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.24 avg rating — 52,204 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.80 avg rating — 698,071 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.38 avg rating — 67,849 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.86 avg rating — 58,524 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
4.16 avg rating — 334,677 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
4.19 avg rating — 2,443,309 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
81

by
4.29 avg rating — 74,108 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
82

by
4.05 avg rating — 73,873 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
83

by
3.91 avg rating — 1,113,285 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
84

by
3.93 avg rating — 782,037 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
85

by
4.19 avg rating — 39,131 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
86

by
4.31 avg rating — 878,397 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
87

by
3.71 avg rating — 109,683 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
88

by
3.89 avg rating — 21,875 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
89

by
4.27 avg rating — 13,431 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
90

by
4.63 avg rating — 1,250,292 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
91

by
3.93 avg rating — 124,968 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
92

by
4.13 avg rating — 165,030 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
93

by
4.18 avg rating — 3,504 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
94

by
3.98 avg rating — 31,196 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
95

by
4.26 avg rating — 12,481 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
96

by
3.76 avg rating — 20,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
97

by
4.21 avg rating — 150,090 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
98

by
4.03 avg rating — 13,078 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
99

by
3.93 avg rating — 10,012 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
100

by
4.41 avg rating — 9,639 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
1,904 books · 3,369 voters · list created March 14th, 2016 by Molly (votes) .
488 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Molly 2013 books
234 friends
Vicky 3496 books
2216 friends
Sali 2228 books
262 friends
Siri 895 books
2 friends
Lina 2900 books
3 friends
Susan 1694 books
1 friend
Duffette 3755 books
79 friends
Dominique 860 books
12 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Molly (new)

Molly Thanks to whoever recommended Broken Heart Syndrome! It was GREAT!


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jan 10, 2017 01:35AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Molly wrote: "Thanks to whoever recommended Broken Heart Syndrome! It was GREAT!"

I had a similar experience with Checkmate. Had never heard of the book and didn't know the first thing about it when I started reading it, but it was great. I had such a good laugh, as it turned out to be romance mixed with a solid and healthy dose of humor :-)


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check.


message 4: by Thanya Maziel (last edited Jan 13, 2020 12:13PM) (new)

Thanya Maziel Booklovinglady wrote: "Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check."


Could you please also remove blossom in winter? It's not fair that so many lists are showing this book in the top spots when the voters are certainly campaigning for it. There are lists that remove giveaway votes and spam.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Thanya Maziel
The creator of this list is also a GR librarian, so I think you should ask her, as it is her list.


Parvati Patil Thanya Maziel wrote: "Booklovinglady wrote: "Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check."

Could you please also remove blossom in winter? It's no..."


I second that.


message 7: by Cute (new)

Cute Bookworm interesting list here! slow burn is something where there is lots of angst, emotions are lined up yet unclear - there is a constant turmoil / tug-of-war with a lot of steam/sensuality - but - but - not the word salad bang-bang - rich and high quality writing is what generally leads to slow burn - definitely my favorite genre <3

one am totally digging right now is sophista by amayra <3 <3


message 8: by Arden (new)


back to top



Related News

Need another excuse to treat yourself to a new book this week? We've got you covered with the buzziest new releases of the day, according to early...

Anyone can add books to this list.