11 BEST Light Angst Romance Books

2. The Language of Flowers – Vanessa Diffenbaugh

In Victorian times, flowers were introduced as a way to convey romance. Different flowers had different meanings, for example, honeysuckle meant devotion, asters mean patience, and red roses, as you could guess, are for love.

But for Victoria Jones, flowers = mistrust, and solitude. After she spent her childhood in foster care, she finds it difficult to get close to anyone, and her only connection to love is through flowers and their meanings.

Now eighteen and out of foster care with nowhere to go, she realizes she has a gift for helping others through flowers.

One day, an unexpected meeting with a stranger has her questioning everything she knows about love. When she’s forced her past and all its secrets, she must decide whether a second chance at happiness is a risk worth taking.

View it on:

3. Anna and the French Kiss – Stephanie Perkins

Anna is almost in her senior year in Atlanta. She has a great job, a trustworthy best friend, and a crush that looks to be moving forward.

So when her father unexpectedly ships her off to a boarding high school in Paris, she’s enraged —until Étienne St. Clair walks on the scene.

He’s perfect in every way. One problem though – he’s taken. And to top it all off, her crush from back home might be making strides in their relationship.

Anna has to choose between two crushes. Can she wait a year for her crush back home? Or will too many romantic near-misses end in a French kiss? This sweet angsty romance book is full of angst and passion.

View it on:

4. Virgin River (Virgin River Series) – Robyn Carr

Virgin River is the debut novel by Robyn Carr in the Virgin River series. Now also a Netflix original series, this sweet angst romance book is full of tender moments that will leave you breathless.

It follows the love story of a midwife/nurse who is recently widowed and moves to a small town, Virgin River, which has a population of six hundred.

After the loss of her husband, Melinda Monroe sees this job in the remote mountain town to be the perfect escape from her heartache.

But her hopes come crashing down within an hour of arriving—the cabin she was given is a dump, the roads are dangerous and the local doctor ignores her.

Realizing she’s made a mistake she decides to leave the next day.

Just as she’s about to leave, a tiny baby is abandoned on a front porch. It changes everything. Especially when former marine Jack Sheridan comes into the mix.

This is a heartwarming and light angst romance book with a family-orientated storyline with a female hero and slow-burn angsty romance theme.

It’s perfect to read after a break up.

View it on:

5. The Rosie Project – Graeme Simsion

The Rosie Project is a tender and humourous angst romance novel that follows an odd and socially awkward professor as he seeks to find true love.

Love is not a science. Don Tillman, an intelligent and socially inept professor suddenly decides it’s time he found a wife. He designs the Wife Project, an orderly and scientific way to find his perfect partner.

He prepares a sixteen-page survey to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Rosie Jarman has all the right qualities, but Don disqualifies her. However, he is intrigued by her quest to find her true family – her biological father. She prepares a similar project, called The Father Project, on which Don collaborates on.

When an unlikely relationship develops, Don must learn, despite what his scientific brain tells him, that love is something that cannot be controlled.

This endearing and emotional angst romance novel is the debut by Graeme Simsion – a romantic comedy author to watch out for.

View it on:

6. Real – Katie Evans

Real is the first novel in a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling series by Katie Evans. It follows a beautiful sports rehab specialist who battles with her attraction to a steamy underground fighter.

Remington Tate is a bad boy, both in and out of the ring. He has rock-hard abs and a raw, animal-like manner that gets the ladies hot under the collar. But when he meets Brooke Dumas, he decides there is only one woman he wants.

Brooke was hired to keep his perfect body working like a machine. As she tours the dangerous underground fighting scene, her own body becomes primal.

As their professional relationship develops, the flirtations become more intense, leaving the reader full of angst and anticipation.

But though they play it cool. It’s evident that their desire is REAL.

This angst romance book is a little more on the angst side than tender, but it’s a lovely angsty romance story full of emotion and warmth.

View it on:

7. Reason to Breathe – Rebecca Donovan

Reason to Breathe is the first in the bestselling Breathing Series by Rebecca Donovan.

Set in an affluent town in Connecticut called Weslyn, where everyone wants to be seen and heard, Emma Thomas is trying to hide.

She’s trying to feign perfection by hiding her bruises and scars, trying to pretend her life is just as perfect as everyone else’s.

Without warning, she finds love. Love teaches her to recognize her own worth, even if it means revealing a secret she would rather not share.

This is an angsty romance book about one girl’s journey of love and hope.

Trigger warning: this book contains scenes of abuse.

View it on:

8. Hot Under His Collar – Andie J. Christopher

Father Patrick Dooley joined the clergy as his mother’s dying wish. He’s starting to feel it’s not his calling anymore, but it’s all he’s ever known.

If he leaves, what will he do with his life? How can he reconcile his faith if he lives a different life?

Sasha Finerghty was content to admire Patrick from afar, but with Patrick’s church is in need of funding, she finds she is just the girl to solve the problem.

After Sasha and Patrick spend more time together, their best friend’s to lovers relationship starts to form and her crush gets more intense. And the more Patrick gets to know Sasha, the easier it feels to give up the clergy.

Will Patrick give it all up? Can they contain their crush on one another? This forbidden angst romance story leaves you on the edge of your seat throughout.

View it on:

9. Beautiful Disaster – Jamie McGuire

Beautiful Disaster is a New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling novel about a good girl in love with a bad boy.

Abby Abernathy doesn’t drink or swear and wears cardigans. She believes she has put enough space between her and her past, but when she arrives at college, her path is challenged after a one-night stand.

Travis Maddox is the epitome of bad boys. He’s clean-cut and covered in tattoos. Exactly the type of man your mum said to stay away from.

He spends his nights gambling in a floating fight ring, and by day he is a college campus charmer.

Abby seemed resistant to his appeal, so he tricks her into his life with a simple bet. The rules are, that if he loses, he must go celibate for a month. If Abby loses, she must move in with Travis.

Either way, Travis has no idea what he has got himself into…

If you love college romance novels, you’ll love Beautiful Disaster.

View it on:

10. Hopeless – Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover is one of the best angst romance authors of the modern day. If you are ever dreaming of your first love, then Hopeless is an angsty romance novel you will love.

When Sky discovers Dean Holder, a troubled boy who sparks emotions in her that she can’t comprehend, she begins to realize that he might not be as turbulent as he appears.

This angst romance novel has a storyline that will leave you pining for more. The characters are so relatable, and the story is full of tender moments that play on the heartstrings.

If you haven’t read any of Colleen Hoover’s work yet, this is a great first read. If you think this sounds enticing, then you might like some other books by Colleen Hoover such as It Ends With Us.

View it on:

11. Bared To You – Sylvia Day

Gideon Cross is beautiful, brilliant, and steamy hot. Gideon has his demons, and Eva cannot resist him.

For fans of Fifty Shades of Grey, you’ll enjoy Bared to You. It follows a possessive, stalkerish man who wants to be dominant, and Eva, an immature and compliant subordinate.

This is a tale of sultry, firey hot scenes and plenty of angst. It’s a story of a love that is as powerful as it is destructive.

View it on: