Top 10 romance novel meet-cutes we can’t get enough of

6/22/2018

For those who aren’t aware, (or for those of you who don’t watch rom coms or anything on the Hallmark or Lifetime Channel) a “meet cute” is when two characters in a book, film, or television show “have an amusing or charming first encounter that leads to the development of a romantic relationship.” (Merriam Webster) In the romance novel world, there are literally so many great meet-cutes that we could NEVER list them all. We could list them every Friday until the end of TIME and we still wouldn’t run out of choices. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a few favorites that we could read over and over again. So, without further ado, here are the top 10 romance novel meet-cutes we just can’t get enough of:

Storm by Carian Cole

A series of weather and driving mishaps leaves me trapped in the woods during a blizzard with a complete stranger. In the back of a pickup truck. For forty-eight hours.

A stranger with long hair, tattoos, and rippling with muscle.

A stranger with an insanely sexy voice and a wicked smile that turned my insides to jelly.
A stranger who held me in his arms, calmed me, and then set a fire in me that I couldn't put out. A stranger who I later find out, is a famous rock star.

Storm lives up to his name. Dangerously alluring. Tumultuous. A beautiful, unexpected clash of hot and cold.

He's used to getting everything he wants.
And now he wants me.

Some people chase storms for the thrill. What happens when the storm chases you?

Dirty by Kylie Scott

The last thing Vaughan Hewson expects to find when he returns to his childhood home is a broken hearted bride in his shower, let alone the drama and chaos that come with her.
Lydia Green doesn't know whether to scream or cry in a corner. Discovering the love of your life is having an affair on your wedding day is bad enough. Finding out it's with his best man is another thing all together.

Just when this runaway bride has nowhere left to turn, a handsome stranger offers her a broad, muscular shoulder to cry on. Vaughan is the exact opposite of the picture perfect, respected businessmen she's normally drawn to. This former musician-turned-bartender is rough around the edges and is facing his own crossroads. But Lydia's already tried Mr. Right and discovered he's all wrong—maybe it's time to give Mr. Right Now a chance.

After all, what's wrong with getting dirty?

Accidental Tryst by Natasha Boyd

Two strangers accidentally switch cell phones in a busy airport in this edgier You've Got Mail, sexy romance for the smart-phone era ...

Emmy
What a disaster! I only just made my flight to New York to help my uncle, and the phone I’m holding is not mine! It seems to belong to some commitment-phobic serial dater who’s never made it past four dates (according to the constant notifications he's getting from his fake dating profile...) And worse? I have a sinking feeling it’s that hot suit-monkey with the arctic grey eyes I just had a run-in with at the airport. Somehow, I have to persuade him not to get a new phone until I get back. My whole life is on that phone. I knew I should have backed it up. It’s only a few days. Surely, we can handle it.

Trystan
This is a joke, right? My life could not get more f*cked up. I’m in the middle of selling my company and on my way to a funeral and that hot mess hippie-chick stole my freaking phone. I’m not sure how she convinced me not to immediately walk into a smart phone store and get a new one, but now she’s going to have to play stand in and distract me while I deal with my long-avoided and estranged family. I don’t have my dating apps after all, and frankly she’s pretty funny. And sexy. And why can’t I stop texting her? And now we’re talking. And … look, I’ll admit that I usually run for the hills the morning after, but the morning after phone sex? That’s not really real, right?

Hearts in Darkness by Laura Kaye

Two strangers…

Makenna James thinks her day can't get any worse, until she finds herself stranded in a pitch-black elevator with a complete stranger. Distracted by a phone call, the pin-striped accountant catches only a glimpse of a dragon tattoo on his hand before the lights go out.

Four hours…

Caden Grayson is amused when a harried redhead dashes into his elevator fumbling her bags and cell phone. His amusement turns to panic when the power fails. Despite his piercings, tats, and vicious scar, he's terrified of the dark and confined spaces. Now, he's trapped in his own worst nightmare.

One pitch-black elevator…

To fight fear, they must reach out and open up. With no preconceived notions based on looks to hold them back, they discover just how much they have in common. In the warming darkness, attraction grows and sparks fly, but will they feel the same when the lights come back on?

You Complicate Me by Isabel Jordan

Grace Montgomery has a very simple plan. Fly to her younger brother’s wedding, stop the wedding, go home, make partner at her law firm. Almost getting arrested by air marshal Nick O’Connor? Not part of the plan. Neither was puking on him. (Don’t ask) Finding out he’s her soon-to-be brother-in-law…also a minor setback to her plan. And don’t even get her started on her untimely attraction to the tall, dark, and dead-sexy jerk.

If Nick had a plan, it wouldn’t include getting involved with a woman as complicated as Grace. It especially wouldn’t include road tripping with her to attend a week of pre-wedding family events. But as it turns out, traveling—and sparring—with the lovely, sharp-witted Grace is the most fun Nick’s had since, well, ever. And their sexual chemistry? Off. The. Charts.

It doesn’t take long for Grace to realize there’s a lot more to her air marshal than a pretty face and a big, um, gun. If she’s not careful, she just might lose her highly prized control—not to mention her heart—to Nick. But before Grace and Nick can set foot on the road to happily ever after, they’ll have to deal with Grace’s meddling ex, a slew of dysfunctional family members, and a contaminated pumpkin bisque (long story) … and that’s all before the end of day two.

It’s gonna be a long, complicated week…

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of You Complicate Me here!

I Flipping Love You by Helena Hunting

Rian Sutter doesn’t usually get hit on in the grocery store, but when she notices a sexy man in a suit checking her out, she thinks maybe it’s her lucky day. Either that or the suit has a thing for sweaty, yoga-pant wearing women with excellent price matching skills.

Turns out it’s neither.

Pierce Whitfield can’t believe his luck when he’s able to track down the woman who scratched up the paint job on his car at the scene of the crime. But when he confronts the hit and run hottie, he discovers there’s not just one, but two of them, and he’s been throwing accusations at the wrong twin.

As repair costs are negotiated, and the chemistry between them flares, Rian and Pierce find out they have more than mutual attraction in common. They’re both vying for the same pieces of prime real estate in The Hamptons and neither one plans to give up without a fight.

Can these passionate rivals turn up the heat on their budding romance—without burning down the house?

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of I Flipping Love You here!

The Gamble by Kristen Ashley

Nina Sheridan desperately needs a timeout vacation. With a fiancé who can't even remember how she takes her coffee, Nina wants some distance to rethink her engagement. Flying halfway around the world from England to a mountain town in Colorado should do the trick. But when she finds a gorgeous man at her rental cabin, Nina's cold, lonely adventure suddenly heats up.

The owner of the house, Holden "Max" Maxwell is surprised by the beautiful woman who turns up at his door. But when Nina becomes ill, Max spends days nursing her back to health. A private man with a broken heart, Max finds himself drawn to the strong-willed woman. Soon it becomes impossible for Nina and Max to deny their growing attraction to one another. Yet even as these two wounded souls think about taking a chance on a relationship, a secret from Max's past emerges-and threatens to end their love for good.

Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins

How far would you go to get over a guy?

When Grace Emerson's ex-fiancé starts dating her younger sister, extreme measures are called for. To keep everyone from obsessing about her love life, Grace announces that she's seeing someone. Someone wonderful. Someone handsome. Someone completely made up. Who is this Mr. Right? Someone…exactly unlike her renegade neighbor Callahan O'Shea. Well, someone with his looks, maybe. His hot body. His knife-sharp sense of humor. His smarts and big heart.

Whoa. No. Callahan O'Shea is not her perfect man! Not with his unsavory past. So why does Mr. Wrong feel so…right?

Egomaniac by Vi Keeland

The night I met Drew Jagger, he'd just broken into my new Park Avenue office.
I dialed 9-1-1 before proceeding to attack him with my fancy new Krav Maga skills.
He quickly restrained me, then chuckled, finding my attempted assault amusing.

Of course, my intruder had to be arrogant.
Only, turned out, he wasn't an intruder at all.

Drew was the rightful occupant of my new office. He'd been on vacation while his posh space was renovated. Which was how a scammer got away with leasing me office space that wasn't really available for rent.

I was swindled out of ten grand.

The next day, after hours at the police station, Drew took pity on me and made me an offer I couldn't refuse. In exchange for answering his phones while his secretary was out, he'd let me stay until I found a new place.

I probably should have acted grateful and kept my mouth shut when I overheard the advice he was spewing to his clients. But I couldn't help giving him a piece of my mind.

I never expected my body to react every time we argued. Especially when that was all we seemed to be able to do.

The two of us were complete opposites. Drew was a bitter, angry, gorgeous-as-all-hell, destroyer of relationships. And my job was to help people save their marriages.

The only thing the two of us had in common was the space we were sharing.

And an attraction that was getting harder to deny by the day.

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of Egomaniac here!

Crank by Adrianna Locke

This is one mistake Sienna Landry can’t buy her way out of.

As Walker Gibson looks at her, then at the damage to his precious truck (that she may or may not have accidentally inflicted), she knows she’s in trouble. It’s not the busted headlight and dented grill that’s sunk her though. It’s the downright sinful man in front of her that’s the problem.

The small town mechanic is broody. Rough. Smells like engine grease and gasoline and Sienna isn’t sure why that’s so sexy, but it is. It so is. She’s ready to peel off her panties at the drop of his wrench.

He wants her too. She can feel it when he brushes against her. Experience it as he presses her against the wall of the shop. It’s thinly veiled in his deep, brown eyes when he looks at her like she’s everything he’s ever wanted. So why won’t he give in?

The damage to Walker’s truck is the first of many mistakes between the two of them, ending with truths that rock Sienna’s world. Nothing can fix her broken heart except the love of a man that won’t, maybe even can’t, love her back.