14 Canadian books to get the romantic this holiday season
Books make great gifts for everyone! Here are 14 great Canadian titles for the readers who love love.
The Stand-In by Lily Chu
In The Stand-In, Gracie Reed's world is turned upside down when a mysterious vehicle pulls up beside her on the street, revealing its occupants to be Chinese cinema's famous couple, Wei Fangli and Sam Yao. Fangli asks Gracie to be her stand-in, due to how much they look alike, and attend public events with the incredibly attractive yet infuriating Sam. Gracie, who needs the money to get her mother into a new nursing home, agrees, and is thrown into a world of luxury, glitz and glamour.
The Stand-In is Lily Chu's debut rom-com novel. Chu writes romantic comedies set in Toronto with strong Asian characters. The audiobook of her second rom-com, The Comeback, came out in 2022 and will be in print in spring 2023.
Sari, Not Sari by Sonya Singh
In Sari, Not Sari, Manny Dogra is the CEO of a highly successful company that helps people manage their breakups. She's planning her wedding to a handsome architect, while in the midst of grieving the deaths of her parents. Her parents, who were both born in India, wanted Manny to become an 'All-American girl,' so that's what she did. Knowing next to nothing about her South Asian heritage, Manny meets an irritating client who agrees to give her a crash course in being Indian at his brother's wedding.
Sonya Singh is a writer, producer and former entertainment reporter. Sari, Not Sari is her first novel. Singh lives in Toronto.
LISTEN | Sonya Singh discusses Sari, Not Sari on The Next Chapter:
Made in Korea by Sarah Suk
Made in Korea is a YA rom-com about two teenagers who are running competing Korean beauty businesses at their high school. Valerie Kwon and her cousin Charlie run a successful student-run enterprise called V&C K-BEAUTY. Wes Jung is the new kid at their school — after seeing the enthusiasm from his new classmates for the K-pop-branded beauty products that his mother gave him to help him make new friends, he comes up with an entrepreneurial idea that could help him pay for the music school he hopes to attend after graduation. Valerie and Wes try and resist their growing attraction to one another, while competing to be the most successful business in school.
- Writers' Trust of Canada launches program to support books by BIPOC writers launched during pandemic
Sarah Suk is a YA writer living in Vancouver. Made in Korea is her debut novel. Suk's next book, The Space Between Here and Now, will be published in fall 2023.
The Romance Recipe by Ruby Barrett
In The Romance Recipe, restaurant owner Amy Chambers hires Sophie Brunet, a former reality-show finalist, to work as head chef in her restaurant. Sophie and Amy explore their feelings for one another, while trying to save the restaurant by signing up for a new foodie reality TV show.
Ruby Barrett is a writer based in Ottawa who writes romances about big feelings. Her previous novel, Hot Copy, was published in 2021.
Kamila Knows Best by Farah Heron
Kamila has a nearly perfect life. While she keeps herself busy by throwing Bollywood movie parties, hanging out with her endless array of friends and running her dog's wildly successful Instagram account, her love life is lagging behind. So Kamila decides to start flirting with a handsome family friend named Rohan and eventually develops a crush. When Kamila's secret nemesis returns to town with an eye for Rohan, things start to unravel and Kamila's life gets turned upside down.
Farah Heron is a writer from Toronto. She is also the author of the rom-com novels The Chai Factor, Accidentally Engaged and the YA novel Tahira in Bloom.
Starry-Eyed Love by Helena Hunting
In Starry-Eyed Love, London Spark is the business administrator for Spark House, her family's event hotel. A large company is interested in a partnership, and London is determined to win them over until she discovers that the company's CEO, Jackson Holt, is the same person she turned down at a bar a few months prior. Jackson and London soon find themselves throwing an event together at Spark House and their working relationship begins to blossom into something more.
Helena Hunting is a writer who lives outside of Toronto with her family and two cats. Her previous books include Love Next Door and Meet Cute.
Donut Fall in Love by Jackie Lau
Donut Fall in Love follows actor Ryan Kwok, who is back in Toronto after promoting his latest movie, a rom-com that's being slammed by critics. The sudden death of his mother prompts Ryan to take his first break in years and spend more time with his family — though his father would rather troll him on Twitter than meet for dim sum. Ryan's fate takes a turn when he knocks over a bunch of specialty donuts by an innovative baker named Lindsay McLeod. When he signs up for a celebrity episode of a baking show, he enlists Lindsay to help him prepare.
Jackie Lau is a Toronto-based author of over a dozen romantic comedies, including the Holidays with the Wongs series and the There's Only One Bed at Christmas novella anthology. She went to school for engineering and worked as a geophysicist before writing romance novels.
The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan
The Foghorn Echoes is a novel about forbidden love and finding a home in the midst of war. Set in war-torn Syria in 2003, two boys act on their feelings for one another and in an instant, their lives are changed forever. Ten years later, as they struggle to find peace and belonging, the past continues to reverberate and both men must face heartache and history.
Danny Ramadan is a Syrian-Canadian author, public speaker and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel, The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted for Canada Reads 2018. He has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.
LISTEN | Danny Ramadan discusses The Foghorn Echoes with Shelagh Rogers:
All I Want for Christmas by Maggie Knox
All I Want for Christmas is a rom-com novel about two mismatched musicians, Sadie and Max, who pretend to be in a relationship for a career-changing opportunity. Real and fake emotions intertwine and the pair wonder if there just might be something more.
Maggie Knox is the pseudonym of Canadian writing duo Karma Brown and Marissa Stapley. Brown's bestselling books include Recipe for a Perfect Wife and The 4% Fix, while Stapley's known for romantic novels like Mating for Life and Things to Do When It's Raining. The Holiday Swap was their first collaboration.
LISTEN | Maggie Knox on the joy of the holiday romantic comedy:
Love from Mecca to Medina by S.K. Ali
In the sequel to Love from A to Z, Adam and Zayneb must find their way back to one another. Adam is in Doha, Qatar, making a map of the Hijra, a historic migration from Mecca to Medina, and Zayneb is in school in Chicago. When the pair get a chance to reunite for Thanksgiving week on the Umrah in Saudi Arabia, the trip goes nothing like what they expect and their love is put to the test.
S.K. Ali is a writer and teacher from Toronto, best known for her debut YA novel, Saints and Misfits. She is also the author of Love from A to Z.
Lucien & Olivia by André Narbonne
Lucien & Olivia is a comic novel that explores the often transactional nature of life and how humans interact with each other. In 1980s Halifax, a time before mobile devices and social media, a marine engineer working on a Canadian tanker and a university student working on her philosophy degree randomly connect and are both repulsed by yet drawn to each other's differences. They try to navigate love and a healthy relationship — despite how much the odds are stacked up against them.
-
André Narbonne's debut novel Lucien & Olivia takes a comedically blunt look at love in 1980s Halifax
André Narbonne is a Canadian professor and author. He teaches English and creative writing at the University of Windsor and is the fiction editor of the Windsor Review. Narbonne's poetry collection, You Were Here, was published in 2016. His short story collection, Twelve Miles to Midnight, was a 2017 finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. Lucien & Olivia is his debut novel.
LISTEN | André Narbonne on launching Lucien & Olivia:
Reasonable Adults by Robin Lefler
Reasonable Adults is a charming romantic comedy about a young woman named Kate Rigsby. Kate takes a job at an arts retreat in Muskoka cottage country after her life falls apart. She imagines three idyllic months in an artistic wonderland as she plots her next chapter. But reality isn't anything like she expected. Can Kate pull it together? And can she successfully avoid her gorgeous — and off-limits — new coworker?
Robin Lefler is a writer from Kitchener, Ont. Before she wrote fiction, she worked in the tech industry. Reasonable Adults is her first novel.
Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim
Sophie Go's Lonely Hearts Club is about professional matchmaker Sophie Go. Sophie has just moved back to her hometown of Toronto. When a scandal is set to destroy her career, Sophie takes on her most challenging clients yet: a group of seven elder Chinese men who never married. Is she up for the professional and personal challenges she's about to face?
Roselle Lim is a writer who lives on Lake Erie. She is also the author of the novels Natalie Tan's Book of Luck and Fortune and Vanessa Yu's Magical Paris Tea Shop.
Bad Girl Reputation by Elle Kennedy
In Bad Girl Reputation, former bad girl Genevieve West has returned to her hometown in the wake of her mother's death. While there, she must confront her past along with deal with her grief — which includes facing her ex-boyfriend, Evan Hartley. Evan is determined to give their relationship another shot, while Genevieve wants to keep her bad girl days behind her. Can they work it out, once and for all?
Elle Kennedy is a writer from Toronto. She is also the author of the novel Good Girl Complex, as well as the Killer Instincts series and the Off-Campus series.
