If you like closed door rom com books or clean romantic comedy books, this book list is for you.
I love to read romance books when I need something light and fun to read. My favorite time to read them is after I have read a serious book or long nonfiction read on a heavier topic. I also like to read them when I am sick and want to read something that doesn’t take a lot of thinking.
Although I love to read romance, I like a good, clean, or closed-door romance. I like the romance without the graphic details. I even have a whole list of clean romance books, as well as a list of books that read like Hallmark movies.
I thought it would be fun to do a similar list with clean romantic comedy books. Books that mixes romance and comedy is always fun to read.
If you are like me and like clean or closed-door romantic comedy books, I think you will enjoy this list of clean romantic comedy books.
Clean Romantic Comedy Books
The books on this list are all books that I have read and enjoyed, so they are not just random books, they are books that I can recommend because I have read them.
The Happy Life of Isadora Bently is my favorite Courtney Walsh book. It was published in 2023. Amazon doesn’t list this as a rom-com, but it felt very much like one to me, so I think it fits this list well. This book is serious at times, but also very funny.
Isadora is a university researcher who keeps to herself. She thinks it is better that way because then you can’t get hurt, but on her thirtieth birthday, she takes a challenge called Thirty-One Ways To Be Happy. She hopes to prove the challenge wrong, but instead, she learns that happiness is a choice.
My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh was a recent read for me. My Phony Valentine is set in a small town near Chicago, where Poppy, a chef, meets Dallas Burke, a hockey player. It is a fake dating contemporary rom-com type of book. It is a bit Hallmark movie like, but I still enjoyed it.
My Lucky Charm by Courtney Walsh was another recent read that I enjoyed. It is the follow-up book to My Phony Valentine, but they are stand-alone books and don’t have to be read in order.
Book one followed Poppy. Book two follows Poppy’s sister, Eloise.
Eloise recently lost her job and has a chance to take a job as an assistant to Grayson, a star hockey player. Eloise needs the work, and Grayson needs to improve his attitude and image. This is an enemies-to-lovers type of book. It is another one that is a bit Hallmark movie-like, but I enjoyed it. It makes for a good light and fluffy read.
A Match In the Making by Jen Turano is a clean historical romance with lots of comedy. It is book one in The Matchmakers series.
Set in the Gilded Age, A Match in the Making follows Gwendolyn Brinley, who was hoping for a quiet summer season in Newport. She ends up spending the summer as an assistant matchmaker for the wealthy families that spend their summers in Newport.
A Match In the Making is book one. I have also read book two, To Spark a Match, and Meeting Her Match. All three books made for quick, fun reads. They are unrealistic and a bit cheesy, but if you need a mindless fun read, I think you will enjoy them.
Plot Twist by Bethany Turner was published in 2021. When I read it, I finished it in a day. It was a great, quick, and fun read. This book follows one day a year for ten years, and it was different from anything else I had read.
To Love A Lady by Gabrielle Meyer. This Gilded Age romance was a recent read for me. Amazon has this listed as a historical romance, but it felt like a rom-com to me. I enjoyed it and thought it was a fun Gilded Age book set in both the U.S. and England.
Meet Me In the Margins by Melissa Ferguson is the first book by Mellissa Ferguson that I have read. It is a fun book set in the world of book publishing.
How To Plot a Playback by Melissa Ferguson is another book set in the writing world. This one is about a screenwriter and actress and is an enemy-to-lovers story. I really enjoyed this one and can’t wait to read more by Melissa Ferguson.
The Rom Commers by Katherine Center was published in 2024. This is considered a closed-door romance, so I included it on the list. It is not super descriptive, but it does have quite a bit of kissing and making out, so not everyone will consider it completely closed-door.
Emma is the sole caretaker of her father, but she longs to be a screenwriter. Charlie, a famous screenwriter, needs help writing a rom-com movie, so Emma’s friend convinces her to move to L.A. for six weeks to take on the job.
The Body Guard by Katherine Center was published in 2023. Like the Rom Commers above, this is considered closed door, but some might not consider it that. When I wrote my review of it last summer, I said it was reasonably clean.
This book follows Hannah Brooks, a bodyguard, and Jake Stapleton, a superstar. Hannah pretends to be Jake’s girlfriend to protect him while visiting his sick mother.
More Closed Door Rom-Coms
These are not books and authors that I have read, but they are on my list to read soon because they have been recommended to me.
Authentically Izzy, Loyally Luke, and Positively Penelope are all on my Kindle waiting to be read, but I have not read them yet. They are all very popular with people who enjoy clean rom-com books.
Cindy Steel is another clean rom-com author on my list because so many people love her. I have a friend who really enjoys her books.
Emma St. Claire has also been on my to-be-read stack for a while. I bought several of her books when the Kindle version was on sale, but I have not read them yet.
Have you read any of these? What clean rom-coms should I add to my to be read list?