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Hooked on Books

A publication of all things bookish

Seven Romance and Romantasy Books I Reach for When I Need to Recharge

Stories that help me switch off, escape for a while, and let everything else wait.

5 min readOct 3, 2026

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Book, coffee and eucaluptus
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That feeling when you find a book you can’t put down.

The kind that makes you forget what time it is — and everything else you should be doing.

I love that feeling. That’s why I read. To switch off, get lost in a story, and return to everyday life with a little more energy.

These are the books that do that for me. The ones I keep recommending — and returning to again and again.

ROMANCE

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

This book will always have a special place in my heart. It was the book that pulled me away from crime novels and into contemporary romance. I fell for the humor, the STEM setting, the nerdiness, and Olive and Adam’s love story.

Adam has been in love with her for a long time, but Olive has no idea. She thinks the strict, intimidating professor is genuinely scary, while he believes she is in love with someone else. Delicious drama.

You can watch the movie adaptation of The Love Hypothesis on Prime Video.

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Elin Melaas
Elin Melaas

Written by Elin Melaas

Books, reading, health, parenting, and coffee 📚 MSc in Medical Physics and BSc in Nutrition. Editor at Illumination. Owner of Hooked on Books.