Books like “It Happened One Summer”

What to read after “It Happened One Summer” by Tessa Bailey: a list matched by tropes, mood and atmosphere. Under each book you will see what it has in common.

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1
Book Lovers
Emily Henry · 2022
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Small Town Romance
- Forced Proximity
Literary agent Nora is the cold city professional that small-town romance novels leave behind, and editor Charlie is her sharp-tongued rival in the same business. When her sister drags her to a North Carolina town for the summer, Charlie turns out to be there too, and their sparring slowly becomes something neither expected.
2
The Roommate
Rosie Danan · 2020
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
Clara leaves her buttoned-up East Coast life to move across the country to the man of her dreams, only to find he has sublet her room to someone else. Sharing the apartment with easygoing Josh, whose job would scandalise her family, forces an uneasy friendship that slowly becomes more.
3
Things We Never Got Over
Lucy Score · 2022
Same genre: “Contemporary romance”
Naomi arrives in the small town of Knockemout to help her estranged twin, who promptly robs her and leaves her stranded with the young niece she never knew she had. With no car, job, or home, she turns for help to Knox, the town's grumpy, bearded barber, who claims he wants nothing to do with anyone but keeps turning up as she starts over.
4
Twice Shy
Sarah Hogle · 2021
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
Maybell inherits her great-aunt's crumbling house in the Smoky Mountains, only to learn the grouchy groundskeeper Wesley is a co-inheritor with very different plans. Forced to renovate together, the dreamer and the shy, scowling loner slowly find in each other the safety they have always wanted.
5
Beach Read
Emily Henry · 2020
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
Romance writer January and literary novelist Gus become summer neighbours in a lakeside town, both blocked and both skeptical of each other's genre. They make a bet to write in the other's style and slowly trade barbs for late-night talks, discovering the grief and hope behind their different worldviews.
6
The Bodyguard
Katherine Center · 2022
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
Hannah, a small but capable bodyguard, is sent to protect movie star Jack Stapleton at his family ranch after a stalker threat. To keep the assignment secret she poses as his girlfriend, sharing his home and his family's grief while trying to stay professional.
7
The Charm Offensive
Alison Cochrun · 2021
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
Anxious tech genius Charlie is the reluctant star of a reality dating show, and producer Dev is tasked with helping him connect with the contestants. Behind the cameras their unlikely friendship turns into a romance that neither can script.
8
Part of Your World
Abby Jimenez · 2022
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Small Town Romance
ER doctor Alexis is thirty-seven and boxed in by her wealthy surgical family's plans for her. In the small town of Wakan she meets Daniel, a carpenter and mayor nine years younger, and a casual fling turns into a love that neither of their separate worlds seems willing to allow.
9
The Simple Wild
K.A. Tucker · 2018
Same genre: “Contemporary romance”
Toronto city girl Calla flies to remote Alaska to see the father she has not seen since her mother took her away as a toddler. There she clashes with Jonah, the proud bush pilot who flies for her father's charter company and thinks she does not belong. Weeks in the unforgiving landscape slowly wear down both their defences.
10
Natural Born Charmer
Susan Elizabeth Phillips · 2007
Same genre: “Contemporary romance”
Pro quarterback Dean, restless and disillusioned with his gilded life, picks up a hitchhiker in a beaver costume on a Colorado highway. Blue, a broke portrait painter running from her past, takes the ride, and their uneasy road trip leads to a Tennessee farmhouse where two guarded people begin to build a life and a makeshift family.
11
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne · 2016
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
- Forced Proximity
Lucy and Joshua are assistants at the same publishing house, forced to share an office while competing for one promotion. Their open hostility and elaborate office games hide an attraction neither will admit, until a single reckless moment changes the rules between them.
12
Bet Me
Jennifer Crusie · 2004
Same genre: “Contemporary romance” and “Romantic comedy”
- Grumpy Sunshine
Minerva overhears her ex-boyfriend bet the charming Cal that he can get her into bed within a month, so she accepts his dinner invitation to turn the tables. The sceptical actuary and the commitment-shy businessman keep colliding through meddling friends and sheer bad luck, resisting an attraction neither of them wants.