Brothers of the Vine
Forever Evermore
Women of W.A.R.
Here at Romance.com.au we ADORE watching romance movies. Whether they’re heartfelt and dramatic, side-splittingly hilarious, or simply ‘bad but in a good way’ we love them all!
Here are our top 11 picks for 2024 rom-coms to add to your watchlist this year… and what to read while you wait to watch them!
Anyone But You
Despite having an amazing first date, Bea and Ben’s initial attraction quickly turns sour. When they unexpectedly find themselves at a destination wedding in Australia, the pair pretend to be the perfect couple to keep up appearances.
Available to rent online
Read: Love at First Spite by Anna E. Collins
Falling in love is the ultimate payback in this delightful, breezy romcom about an interior designer who teams up with an enigmatic architect at her firm to get revenge on her ex the only way she knows how: by building a spite house next door.
They say living well is the best revenge. But sometimes, spreading the misery seems a whole lot more satisfying. That’s interior designer Dani Porter’s justification for buying the vacant lot next to her ex-fiance’s house…the house they were supposed to live in together, before he cheated on her with their Realtor. Dani plans to build a vacation rental that will a) mess with his view and his peace of mind and b) prove that Dani is not someone to be stepped on. Welcome to project Spite House.
That plan quickly becomes complicated when Dani is forced to team up with Wyatt Montego, the handsome, haughty architect at her firm, and the only person available to draw up blueprints. Wyatt is terse and stern, the kind of man who eats his sandwich with a knife and fork. But as they spend time together on – and off – site, Dani glimpses something deeper beneath that hard veneer, something surprising, vulnerable, and real. And the closer she gets to her goal, the more she wonders if winning revenge could mean losing something infinitely sweeter…
What Happens Later
Snowed-in at a regional airport overnight, ex-lovers Willa and Bill realize they’re still attracted to each other — but also still equally annoyed with each other. As they unpack the riddle of their mutual past and compare their lives to the dreams they once shared, they begin to wonder if their reunion is a mere coincidence or something more enchanted.
Streaming on Paramount+
Read: Second Chance Love in Point Perry by Joanne Speirs
After a devastating tragedy shakes Erin’s world, she returns to her hometown of Point Perry seeking solace and a fresh start. But just as she begins to find her footing, an unexpected visitor and an old enemy threaten to upend her life once again.
Tom, a devoted single father and beloved teacher, is no stranger to turmoil. His ex-wife, now a Hollywood starlet, has descended upon Point Perry for her movie premiere, stirring up trouble and putting Tom’s priorities to the test. As the town buzzes with excitement over the event, Tom must also navigate a strained relationship with his father and protect his son from his ex’s manipulations.
Despite their emotional scars and obstacles, Erin and Tom can’t ignore their growing connection. As they begin to explore the chance for a future together, they must confront their past traumas and find a way to move forward. Will their love be enough to overcome the challenges they face, or will their emotional baggage prove too heavy to bear?
Upgraded
An aspiring art intern is invited on a last-minute work trip to London, where she meets a handsome stranger.
Streaming on Amazon Prime
Read: The Boyfriend Candidate by Ashley Winstead
As a shy school librarian, Alexis Stone is comfortable keeping out of the spotlight. But when she’s dumped for being too meek-in bed!-she decides she needs to change. And what better way to kick-start her new more adventurous life than with her first one-night stand?
Enter Logan, the gorgeous, foul-mouthed stranger she meets at a hotel bar. Audacious and filterless, Logan is Alexis’s opposite-and boy, do opposites attract! Just as she’s about to fulfill her hookup wish, the hotel catches fire in a freak lightning storm. In their rush to escape, Logan is discovered carrying her into the street, where people are waiting with cameras. Cameras Logan promptly-and shockingly-flees.
Alexis is bewildered until suddenly pictures of her and Logan escaping the fire are all over the internet. Turns out Logan is none other than Logan Arthur, the hotshot candidate challenging the Texas governor’s seat. The salacious scandal is poised to sink his career-and jeopardize Alexis’s job-until a solution is proposed: he and Alexis could pretend to be in a relationship until election day…in two months. What could possibly go wrong?
Players
New York sportswriter Mack devises successful hookup techniques with friend Adam and their crew, but when she unexpectedly falls head over heels for one of her targets, they all must learn what it takes to go from simply scoring to playing for keeps.
Streaming on Netflix
Read: The Roommate Pact by Allison Ashley
All of the fun, none of the heartache…as long as they stick to the agreement.
The proposition is simple: if ER nurse Claire Harper and her roommate, firefighter Graham Scott, are still single by the time they’re forty, they’ll take the proverbial plunge together…as friends with benefits. Maybe it’s the wine, but in the moment, Claire figures the pact is a safe-enough deal, considering she hasn’t had much luck in love and he’s in no rush to settle down. Like, at all. Besides, there’s no way she could ever really fall for Graham and his thrill-seeking ways. Not after what happened to her father…
Just as things begin to heat up way before the proposed deadline, Graham’s injured in a serious rock-climbing accident — and he needs Claire’s help to heal. She’ll do whatever it takes to nurse him back to health…even if it means moving into Graham’s bed and putting up with his little dog who hates her. But with this no-strings arrangement taking a complicated turn, keeping ‘for now’ from turning into ‘forever’ isn’t as easy as they’d planned.
Lisa Frankenstein
A misunderstood teenager and a reanimated Victorian corpse embark on a murderous journey together to find love, happiness, and a few missing body parts.
Available to rent online
Read: The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
Florence Day is a ghost-writer with one big problem. She’s supposed to be penning swoon-worthy novels for a famous romance author but, after a bad break-up, Florence no longer believes in love. And when her strict (but undeniably hot) new editor, Benji Andor, won’t give her an extension on her book deadline, Florence prepares to kiss her career goodbye.
Although when tragedy strikes and Florence has to head home, the last thing she expects to see is a ghost at her front door. Not just any ghost, however, but the stern form of her still very hot – yet now unquestionably dead – new editor.
As sparks start to fly between them, Florence tells herself she can’t be falling for a ghost – even an infuriatingly sexy one. But can Benji help Florence to realise love isn’t dead, after all?
If you fell in love with Beach Read, The Love Hypothesis and The Hating Game, this laugh-out-loud romance packed with sizzling chemistry will give you all the feels!
Irish Wish
When the love of her life gets engaged to her friend, Maddie puts her feelings aside to be a bridesmaid at their wedding in Ireland. Days before the wedding, Maddie makes a spontaneous wish for true love, only to wake up as the bride-to-be.
Streams on Netflix March 15
Read: The Witch Is Back by Sophie H. Morgan
Love is a hex of a thing.
Bewitched, bothered and…betrothed? THE WITCH IS BACK is a charming, witchy romantic comedy packed full of secrets, unexpected reunions, and high society scheming!
There’s nothing wrong with being a wallflower. Not to Emmaline Bluewater, anyway. Emma may have been born into witch society, but her days of trying to fit in where she doesn’t belong are over — they ended seven years ago, when the man she’d hoped to marry left town without a word. She’s much happier now, living a delightfully mundane human life in Chicago and running her bar, Toil and Trouble.
Until Bastian Truenote walks through the door and announces that he wants her back.
Bastian had his reasons for leaving — even if he can’t tell Emma what they are. Now, to win Emma’s heart, he’s got to face down an adorably goofy dog familiar, a best friend who’s all too eager to hit him with a carefully aimed hex, and a woman who’s far from the meek witch he remembers.
Magical contracts aren’t easily broken, but as far as Emma’s concerned, not even a marriage of convenience will have her falling under Bastian’s spell again…
The Idea Of You
Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.
Streams on Prime Video May 2
Read: Tempted By The Rock Star by Kimberly Lang, Kate Hewitt & Cat Shield
In The Heat Of The Spotlight – Kate Hewitt
Abitious CEO Luke Bryant needs a big name star to help launch his luxury department stores – everything hangs on its success. What he doesn’t need is washed up pop princess and tabloid joke Aurelie Schmidt…
Little Secret, Red Hot Scandal – Cat Schield
Meek and mild Mia Navarro has spent her entire life in her twin’s shadow. But a brief and secret affair with superstar singer/producer Nate Tucker is about to change all that…
The Downfall Of A Good Girl – Kimberly Lang
Southern debutante Vivienne LeBlanc can’t believe bad boy rock star Connor Mansfield is back in town for New Orleans’ annual Saints and Sinners pageant. With a reputation as wicked as his devilish smile, Vivi has no intention of becoming one of his latest groupies!
A Family Affair
A surprising romance kicks off comic consequences for a young woman, her mother and her movie star boss as they face the complications of love, sex and identity.
Set to stream on Netflix later this year
Read: Ship Wrecked by Olivia Dade
Maria’s one-night-stand—the thick-thighed, sexy Viking of a man she left without a word or a note—just reappeared. Apparently, Peter’s her surly Gods of the Gates co-star, and they’re about to spend the next six years filming on a desolate Irish island together. She still wants him…but he now wants nothing to do with her.
Peter knows this role could finally transform him from a forgettable character actor into a leading man. He also knows a failed relationship with Maria could poison the set, and he won’t sabotage his career for a woman who’s already walked away from him once. Given time, maybe they can be cooperative colleagues or friends—possibly even best friends—but not lovers again. No matter how much he aches for her.
For years, they don’t touch off-camera. But on their last night of filming, their mutual restraint finally shatters, and all their pent-up desire explodes into renewed passion. Too bad they still don’t have a future together, since Peter’s going back to Hollywood, while Maria’s returning to her native Sweden. She thinks she needs more than he can give her, but he’s determined to change her mind, and he’s spent the last six years waiting. Watching. Wanting.
His shipwrecked Swede doesn’t stand a chance.
Our Little Secret
Two resentful exes must awkwardly spend Christmas together after learning their new partners are siblings.
Set to stream on Netflix later this year
Read: The Ex-mas Holidays by Zoe Allison
Falling in love can sometimes go off-piste…
There’s never a good time to bump into your ex – so Maya Bashir is shocked when she comes face to face with her old flame Sam Holland, who is wearing nothing but a tiny apron, working as a naked butler at her friend’s Christmas party.
Having driven home for the holidays after losing her boyfriend, flat and job – and dreading her father’s inevitable disappointment that she still doesn’t have a fifty-year plan – perhaps Sam is exactly the distraction Maya needs.
But as sparks begin to fly, Maya doesn’t know if she can let Sam back into her heart so easily… With Christmas day fast approaching, will Maya find love or disaster under the tree?
For fans of Sophie Cousens and Mhairi McFarlane comes a hilarious Christmas romance that will warm your heart this winter! If you love:
Wallbanger
Caroline, a single interior designer, moves into what seems like the perfect apartment only to be awakened nightly by her neighbor, the ‘wallbanger,’ sparking an unexpected, tension-filled connection.
Unspecified 2024 release date
Read: It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey
Piper Bellinger is fashionable, influential, and her reputation as a wild child means the paparazzi are constantly on her heels. When too much champagne and an out-of-control rooftop party lands Piper in the slammer, her stepfather decides enough is enough. So he cuts her off, and sends Piper and her sister to learn some responsibility running their late father’s dive bar… in Washington.
Piper hasn’t even been in Westport for five minutes when she meets big, bearded sea captain Brendan, who thinks she won’t last a week outside of Beverly Hills. So what if Piper can’t do math, and the idea of sleeping in a shabby apartment with bunk beds gives her hives. How bad could it really be She’s determined to show her stepfather—and the hot, grumpy local—that she’s more than a pretty face.
Except it’s a small town and everywhere she turns, she bumps into Brendan. The fun-loving socialite and the gruff fisherman are polar opposites, but there’s an undeniable attraction simmering between them. Piper doesn’t want any distractions, especially feelings for a man who sails off into the sunset for weeks at a time. Yet as she reconnects with her past and begins to feel at home in Westport, Piper starts to wonder if the cold, glamorous life she knew is what she truly wants. LA is calling her name, but Brendan—and this town full of memories—may have already caught her heart.
A Cuban Girl’s Guide To Tea and Tomorrow
Follows Lila as she leaves her life at her Abuela’s Cuban bakery in Miami to spend the summer cooking at her Aunt’s inn in London.
Unspecified 2024 release date
Read: The Library of Lost Things by Laura Taylor Namey
She’ll read a thousand happy endings before she finds her own.
From the moment she first learned to read, literary genius Darcy Wells has spent most of her time living in the worlds of her books. There, she can avoid the crushing reality of her mother’s hoarding and pretend her life is simply ordinary. But when a new property manager becomes more active in the upkeep of their apartment complex, the only home Darcy has ever known outside of her books suddenly hangs in the balance.
While Darcy is struggling to survive beneath the weight of her mother’s compulsive shopping, Asher Fleet, a former teen pilot with an unexpectedly shattered future, walks into the bookstore where she works…and straight into her heart. For the first time in her life, Darcy can’t seem to find the right words. Fairy tales are one thing, but real love makes her want to hide inside her carefully constructed ink-and-paper bomb shelter.
Still, after spending her whole life keeping people out, something about Asher makes Darcy want to open up. But securing her own happily-ever-after will mean she’ll need to stop hiding and start living her own truth – even if it’s messy.
Happy reading & watching romance lovers!