100 books like A Prince on Paper

This whole book, I kept expecting an epic space battle to break out. That’s how space operas work, I thought, but now I’ve been introduced to cozy science fiction.

The book explored a dozen species. Very different people kept finding common ground, something anyone living in the US right now is struggling with.

My life has been filled with people who didn’t fit the average person mold in various ways. I was moved almost to tears more than once as people who were all so different found their way into something like a family. I particularly enjoyed how the love of friends was given the same weight as romantic love. I gloried in how each relationship interwove into something greater than the parts.

You would think a book in which a woman accidentally kills the man who tried to date-rape her and enlists her mother to help hide the body would be a gritty, intense thriller or a thought-provoking work of literary fiction full of social commentary. Sutanto turns this premise into a comedy about intergenerational female bonding, and it freakin’ works. Meddlin Chan’s manslaughter and cover-up take place against the bubbly backdrop of a Chinese-Indonesian resort wedding and a reconnection with her first love. What even is this book’s genre? Crime? Romance? Chick lit? Whatever it is, I laughed out loud through the whole thing.

This murder mystery deals with some dark topics. But the snarky narrator, Willowjean “Will” Parker, brings an upbeat, devil-may-care vibe to the book. I love Will for being clever and hilarious. I also love her for presenting as gender-nonconforming, not in an “ahead of her time/normal for our time” way, but in a way that’s historically accurate for a butch girl in the 1940s. And rather than framing Will as Not Like Other Girls, the book gives her a badass matronly mentor, a femme fatale, and a whole world of women, men, and others who live outside of 1940s gender norms in spite of the consequences.

This non-fiction book is probably the most categorically comedic on my list. Greenberg, a comedian, and Meinzer, a critic, are the hosts of a podcast called By the Book, in which every episode documents their attempt to follow a new self-help book to the letter for two weeks. After a few years of doing this, they co-wrote their own self-help book based on their experience and narrated the audio version. The result is insightful, irreverent, and hilarious.

Sometimes you just need an unsuspecting steamy read!

It Happened One Summer was one of the hottest books on #BookTok in 2022 and let me tell you… the hype is worth it! Main character Piper is as flawed as they come, but that leaves room for one of the most beautiful characters arcs I’ve ever read.

And honestly, just take my money because any character Tessa Bailey writes is one I want to read. Brendan is book-boyfriend-worthy! 

For me, one of the best parts of a shifter romance story is a character who finds his/her “fated mate.” The idea of a fated mate is kind of like a prince charming, one true love, and soul mate all rolled into one. It’s the ultimate love story. The idea that there’s that perfect person for you out there and oh, look, destiny just brought you to their doorstep. I am a sucker for that storyline and I know, if you love shifters and romance, you are too. One True Mate has the fated mates theme perfected. It also has a storyline with secrets, friendship, family, overcoming a painful past, and a main character who has to find a way to heal herself enough to love someone else. Basically, this one has it all. 

I had the pleasure of reading this while Valentine was writing. We’re back to the true definition of family in this book, as we’re looking at a (modern-day) royal family. Immediately in chapter one, you cannot help but fall for the prince, his little sister, and their grandfather, the reigning king. This one checked all my boxes—a bit naughty, a touch of comedy (the ties!), and a greatly written age gap! A little birdy told me she’s planning on expanding this into an interconnected standalone series, too, and I cannot wait to see what else unfolds!

This story had so much unique and charismatic personality! The characters leapt off the pages, and their “dilemma” created an irresistible hook.

Davis is about to graduate from college and has yet to lose her virginity. She turns to the one man she’s wanted for the job, her childhood crush, lifelong family friend, best friend to her brother, and bad boy extreme, Crew Taylor. These two have an intense history together that involved Davis’s older brother Memphis, and this relationship and how Memphis fell into addiction, dragging Crew down with him, was beautifully crafted by the author and the highlight of the story for me.

The angsty buildup between these two people who clearly were destined for each other was incredibly satisfying! I was on the edge of my seat, rooting so hard for Crew to overcome the demons of his past and just let Davis into his heart. I… show more.

Lavinia Kent takes the reader on a beautiful journey of exploration in this book. I loved the hero and heroine straight from the start; you can’t help but root for them. Louisa desperately wants to save her dead husband’s reputation, so goes to a madam for assistance in ridding herself of her virginity before she remarries. Swanston is the man given the task. The scene when these two anonymously come together is sexy and moving.

A month later, Swanston finds himself needing a wife, and little does he know, but the woman he marries was the woman he had bedded. I liked how this book wasn’t too angsty, as many in the genre are, and how Kent dove into the reasons Swanston has for his need for control. 

This is the book that made me want to write a historical romance. The protagonist, Miss Jane Fairfield, is outlandishly rich. But she can’t get married and leave her younger sister, who has epilepsy, to the well-meaning but cruel treatments recommended by their uncle, who is also their guardian. Since her money makes her an appealing target for many an impoverished rake, Jane has to work extra to become unappealing while still seeming like she’s trying to attract a man. She wears obnoxiously bright clothing, insults people with the kindest tone, and—in one desperate attempt to make a man be mean to her—takes the food right off his plate. This is a book about people trying to put you in your place and keep you small. And let me give you a hint: it’s a romance, so there’s definitely a Happily Ever After, and that includes small-minded people getting their… show more.