After a riding accident ends her barrel-racing career, Emmy Ryder returns to her family's Wyoming ranch, the hometown she once fled. Luke Brooks, her older brother's best friend and the town's favorite bad boy, is suddenly everywhere. Neither wants to risk the family they share, but staying away proves impossible.
Jennifer Sylvester is tired of being Green Valley's Banana Cake Queen and of obeying her parents. Desperate for a way out, she tries to outmaneuver Cletus Winston, the town's scheming fixer, and draws him into her plan. Their deal slowly turns into something neither of them expected.
Glenna Dobbs is already the town pariah after taking the blame for her father's exposé of the local sheriff. When the backlash turns threatening, Cash Wall—the loud, cheerful man who bullied her in school—offers to be her fake boyfriend, and Glenna has to survive the arrangement with the town's most popular man and his stubborn, gentle heart.
Tate Collins moves in with her older brother in San Francisco and meets Miles Archer, his best friend and a reserved airline pilot. Their attraction becomes a no-strings arrangement with strict rules, but Tate wants more while Miles is held back by grief he refuses to discuss.
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.
Darcy Barrett has loved Tom Valeska since childhood, but her twin brother Jamie claimed him first, and Tom has stayed loyal to that friendship. When the three reunite to renovate the family cottage, Darcy and Tom must decide whether the one rule they never broke is still worth keeping.
After a Hollywood party scandal, Piper is cut off and sent to a rainy Washington fishing town to run her late father's bar. The town's grumpy sea captain wants her gone, but the summer pushes the socialite and the fisherman into an uneasy partnership that softens into more.
Georgie, the party clown her family never takes seriously, has loved her brother's best friend Travis for years. When the injured former baseball star needs a respectable image and she wants to be seen as an adult, they fake a relationship, and the act starts feeling far too real.
Zahra Gulian works at Dreamland's Magic Wand Salon and has long been frustrated by the park's uninspired new rides. After a drunken critique of Dreamland accidentally lands in the company's creative proposal contest, she is promoted to the Creator team—directly under Dreamland's cold, exacting director, Rowan Kane. Working for him was not part of her plan, and neither was the attraction that grows between them.
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.
Summer Heyward-Di Laurentis transfers to Briar University and moves in with her older brother's hockey friends, including Colin Fitzgerald, the quiet player she has crushed on since they met a year earlier. Fitz knows she is off limits, but living together makes his resolve harder to keep.
Lucy Marshall moves back home to Nashville with her young son and falls for Cooper, her older brother's best friend, who has been warned to stay away from her. Cooper tries to keep his distance, but their shared circle and repeated proximity make their attraction impossible to ignore.
Olive, a third-year biology PhD student, kisses the first man she sees to convince her friend that her dating life is fine, and it turns out to be the famously severe Professor Adam Carlsen. To keep the story convincing, the two agree to fake a relationship, and their staged arrangement slowly becomes real.
ER doctor Briana blurts out that she is dating a colleague to escape an awkward moment, and anxious Dr. Jacob plays along. Pretending to be a couple at his family gatherings brings the two reserved people closer, one quiet gesture at a time.
Cold, driven Alex promised to watch over his best friend's sister while Josh is away. Ava is warm and open, everything he avoids, and the more time the neighbours spend together the harder their growing attraction is to deny, even as Alex's buried past threatens them both.
Hanna Bergstrom has buried herself in graduate school, so her older brother asks his best friend, Will Sumner, to help her get out and start dating. Will is a venture capitalist who avoids commitment, but their lessons in romance soon turn into something neither expected.
After losing her job and her apartment in one disastrous week, Olivia Marshall moves in with her older brother and his best friend, Colin Beck. Anonymous flirty texts with a stranger become a bright spot, but Olivia does not realize the stranger is Colin.
Anna Jones is focused on finishing college, not on the star quarterback who keeps staring at her. Drew Baylor has fame, trophies and a clear plan: persuade prickly Anna to give him a chance. A no-strings arrangement suits her better, but neither of them is prepared for feelings that refuse to stay casual.
Iris Landry has worked as Declan Kane's assistant long enough to know his rules. When his grandfather's will ties Declan's inheritance and his chance to take over the family's media empire to marrying and having an heir, his arranged fiancée backs out—and Iris volunteers to take her place. They move in together, perform affection in public, and try not to confuse the terms of their contract with what they actually feel.
Jennie Beckett has always been off limits: she is the younger sister of Garrett Andersen's best friend and teammate. When Jennie moves into Garrett's building, their easy friendship turns into a secret arrangement, and Garrett must decide how much he is willing to risk for her.
Stand-up comic Farley and her grumpy manager Meyer have been best friends and secret crushes for years. When a television opportunity requires a stable image, they fake a relationship, and the line between performance and real love disappears.
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.
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.
Rhett Eaton is the face of professional bull riding until a scandal forces him to accept a minder: his agent's daughter, Summer Hamilton. She has no patience for cowboys, and he resents being watched. Travelling the rodeo circuit together, their arguments soften, and a hotel booking mix-up leaves them with one bed.
Start with “Done and Dusted”, “Beard Science”, “Against a Wall”: they are the closest to “Wild Love” in tropes and mood. Under each book in the list you will see what exactly it has in common.
How are similar books chosen?
We compare tropes (for “Wild Love” these are Brother's Best Friend, Small Town Romance, Grumpy Sunshine), genre, plot, era and tone. It is not “readers also bought”; it is similarity in the content itself.
Are there recent books in this list?
Yes. Among the newer ones are “Done and Dusted”, “Beard Science”, “Against a Wall”. Switch the “Modern” filter to keep only books from 2000 onward.