Contemporary Romantic Comedies

Selected by Ambrea 

 

Cindy loves fashion.  She’s even earned her degree in design, because, one day, she hopes to be the name others are wearing.  To jumpstart her career, Cindy decides to volunteer for the reality show Before Midnight and quickly becomes a body positivity icon.  As the only plus-size woman on the dating competition, she’s definitely made a splash.  Cindy, however, doesn’t expect to find love in the most unexpected places—on television.  Will Cindy be able to find her happily-ever-after, or will she have to choose between her fashion aspirations and Prince Charming?  Find out in If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy.

In By the Book by Jasmine Guillory, Isabelle—Izzy to her friends—is an overworked and underpaid editorial assistant.  She has spent years working for the same publishing house and meeting the same dead ends.  When she’s given the opportunity to work with grumpy Beau Towers to produce his tell-all memoir, she jumps at the chance.  But helping Beau write his book is much more difficult than she expected, especially when she’s inspired to write her own book—and, more surprisingly, finds herself falling for the prickly celebrity.

 

After the death of her treasure-hunting—and notoriously absent—father, Lily is left with nothing but a skill for solving puzzles and a bunch of hand-drawn maps.  To keep her head above water, she starts offering fake treasure-hunting tours, letting tourists and thrill-seekers walk in the steps of Duke Wilder.  It’s during one of these tours she stumbles across Leo Grady, her first and greatest love.  But Lily has no money, no patience, and no love lost for all the men who have left her behind.  Can Lily and Leo learn to put their shared past behind them, or will the Canyonlands tear them apart for good?  Check out Something Wilder by Christina Lauren.

 

Ari Abrams loves weather.  As a TV meteorologist, she’s living the dream—except her boss, legendary weatherwoman Torrance Hale, and the station director, Torrance’s ex-husband, are always at each other’s throats.  Ari is at her wits’ end, until she hatches a plan with sports reporter Russell Barringer.  Through hijinks and well-meaning meddling, Ari and Russell work to bring the couple back together.  When they find themselves unexpectedly growing closer, Ari can’t help but wonder if blue skies might be on the way in Weather Girl by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

If the Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Cindy Woods loves a good pair of shoes. Louboutin, Jimmy Choo, Balenciaga, or even a good pair of Converse—Cindy loves them all. She loves shoes so much that she even graduated from design school and now is ready to launch her fashion career. Except, she’s in a bit of an inspirational slump and is instead going home to nanny for her triplet half-siblings, Gus, Mary, and Jack. When she meets a tall, dark, and handsome stranger on her flight from New York to L.A., it’s exactly the type of meet-cute that you would expect from a modern-day fairy tale. And of course, it doesn’t end there; fate brings Cindy and Prince Char—I mean, Henry, together again.

Cindy loves her stepmother Erica Tremaine, a high-powered reality TV executive producer, as well as her two stepsisters, Anna and Drew. Cindy may have always felt like the less popular, chubby outsider, but she really does count them as family. When Erica suddenly needs a few extra women to fill the slots on Before Midnight, a Bachelor-esque dating show, Cindy, Anna, and Drew are catapulted into the spotlight. And who is the male suitor ready to meet his one and only true love on live television? You guessed it: Henry.

This may sound like your typical romantic comedy, full of parallels to the classic Cinderella (step-family, shoes, Before Midnight, and even the names of most of the main characters match!) but the writing is well done and entertaining. Cindy has her insecurities but stands up for herself, and makes decisions to make her own dreams come true, without just waiting on the incredibly good-looking Henry to make his choice from the crowd of young women waiting for him in the Before Midnight chateau. Other supporting characters spice up the story: from gruff Beck, a production assistant with dreams of her own show; to mean girl competitor Addison; to sweet Southern girl Sarah Claire; to best friend and college roommate Sierra; to Jay the non-binary fashion designer; oh, the list could go on.

The ending was almost anti-climactic, but I won’t give it away. Did Cindy get her happily ever after with the man of her dreams? Or did she ditch Mr. Charming and go on to her own success story?

Julie Murphy has published a string of young adult novels and is brilliant at creating characters who emerge from their struggles full of body positivity and self-confidence. Sure, they are a little idealistic but I have enjoyed several and plan to seek out more of her other writing.