Cinnamon Roll Hero Romance Books
Alpha heroes can be the preference among romance readers but no one will bring the swoon like a good and sweet cinnamon roll hero! There’s nothing quite like a nice guy who is sweet, supportive and kind. They are genuine, excellent book boyfriends – the kind of guy many women would love to partner up with in real life. I am sharing with you only the best of these men. Happy reading!
The Right Move
by Liz Tomforde
This Windy City #2
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- athlete hero
- grumpy X sunshine
- sports
- fake relationship
- forced proximity
- rich hero
- friends to lovers
- multicultural
- slow burn
Blurb:
RYAN
She’s a distraction, that’s what she is.
I’m the newest Captain of the Devils, Chicago’s NBA team, and the last thing I needed this year was for Indy Ivers, my sister’s best friend, to move into my apartment. She’s messy, emotional, and way too tempting.
But when the team’s General Manager vocalizes his blatant disapproval of my promotion to Captain, referring to me as an unapproachable lone wolf with no work-life balance, I can’t think of a better way to convince him otherwise than pretending to date my outgoing roommate.
The only problem? Faking it feels far too natural.
Having a fake girlfriend wasn’t supposed to be messy but having Indy under my roof and in my bed is complicated, especially when she wants all the romantic parts of life that I could never give her.
INDY
I never imagined I’d be living with my best friend’s brother, NBA superstar Ryan Shay. Even more unbelievable? He needs me to act as his loving girlfriend who’s suddenly changed him into a friendly and approachable guy.
Because, well…he’s not. He’s controlling of his space and untrusting of others.
Our arrangement isn’t one-sided, though. I’m in a wedding coming up, one where every one of my childhood friends, including my ex-boyfriend, will be in attendance, and there’s no better date than my ex’s celebrity hero.
Blurred lines make it almost impossible to separate real from fake. Falling for my roommate was never part of the deal, especially when Ryan is quick to remind me that he doesn’t believe in love.
I’m a romantic and can’t help fantasizing that he’ll change, but soon enough, I find myself questioning if sharing a roof with my best friend’s brother was the right move after all
For Lucy
by Jewel E. Ann
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- angst
- emotional
- death/grief
- cheating
Blurb:
From USA Today & Wall Street Journal bestselling author Jewel E. Ann comes a novel so heartfelt and real it redefines the meaning of love.
I’m the wrong guy in the right place the night I steal Tatum Bradshaw from another man. When she mistakes me for her blind date, I decide she deserves a man who shows up on time … like me. Emmett Riley, Mr. Punctual.
Once I confess my true identity and convince her I’m not a creep—just a thief—it’s only a matter of time before my sexy smile and quick wit claim her heart, her hand in marriage, and the perfect life.
Unfortunately, perfection is an illusion, like the promises of our wedding vows. No one can prepare for the unimaginable—the heartbreaking exception to all the rules in life.
When thirty seconds destroys everything, I have to find a new existence and keep my promise to always love our daughter, Lucy, the most.
For Lucy, I will keep a secret, and I will watch my wife drift into the arms of another man.
Given the chance … can I reclaim my wife and the pieces of our life?
Reminders of Him
by Colleen Hoover
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- single mom
- enemies to lovers
- forbidden love
- boss & employee
- second chances
Blurb:
A troubled young mother yearns for a shot at redemption in this heartbreaking yet hopeful story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover. After serving five years in prison for a tragic mistake, Kenna Rowan returns to the town where it all went wrong, hoping to reunite with her four-year-old daughter. But the bridges Kenna burned are proving impossible to rebuild. Everyone in her daughter’s life is determined to shut Kenna out, no matter how hard she works to prove herself. The only person who hasn’t closed the door on her completely is Ledger Ward, a local bar owner and one of the few remaining links to Kenna’s daughter. But if anyone were to discover how Ledger is slowly becoming an important part of Kenna’s life, both would risk losing the trust of everyone important to them. The two form a connection despite the pressure surrounding them, but as their romance grows, so does the risk. Kenna must find a way to absolve the mistakes of her past in order to build a future out of hope and healing.
More than Forever
by Jay McLean
More Than #4
➥ New Adult
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- friends to lovers
- virgin heroine
- virgin hero
- insta-love
Blurb:
-LUCY-
There is a love so fierce it cannot be measured.
A heart so strong it will never slow.
There is a promise so sure it can never lie.
He promised me that love forever.
Even when it wasn’t enough.
-CAMERON-
Forever. Everlasting. Eternal.
There is no measure of time.
No sounds of the ticking of a clock.
Just the rising and falling of the sun.
And our own sense of forever.
But our forever isn’t always.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
Landon & Shay
by Brittainy C. Cherry
Landon & Shay, part 1, duet
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- enemies to lovers
- grumpy & sunshine
- multicultural
Blurb:
Shay Gable hated my guts, and I hated hers, too.
We went out of our way to avoid one another at all times. When she came my direction, I went the other. When we locked eyes, she’d turn and walk away.
All of that changed the day I was presented with a challenge. It started out as a stupid bet: make Shay fall in love with me before I fell in love with her first.
That was an easy bet for me to win.
I didn’t love, I hardly liked.
Yet slowly the game started to shift. Shay made me crave things I never knew I wanted.
Love.
Happiness.
Her.
The closer we grew, the more she challenged my darkness, and the parts I kept locked away.
The hurts.
The pains.
The truth.
The game between us became too real, our feelings intermixed, and the risks of hurting one another grew higher.
But you know what they say…
All’s fair in the game of love and war—especially the heartbreaks.
Salt Kiss
by Sierra Simone
Lyonesse #1 Trilogy
➥ Erotica
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- boss & employee
- military
- bdsm
- marriage of convenience
- virgin heroine
- virgin heroine
- angst
- love triangle
- fetish
- polyamorous
- dark romance
Blurb:
Tristan Thomas is lost.
After leaving the Army, the young former soldier is in limbo. Until, that is, he’s hired by Mark Trevena, the owner of Lyonesse—DC’s ultra-secret club—to be Mark’s new bodyguard. He’s drawn into Mark’s dark, seductive world of power and desire, and slowly drawn to Mark himself, even though Mark is everything Tristan knows he shouldn’t want: cruel and wicked and shamelessly amoral.
But protecting Mark isn’t Tristan’s only duty: soon, Mark asks him to guard his soon-to-be bride as she travels home from Ireland on Mark’s yacht. Tristan is jealous—and hurt to learn that the object of his obsession is engaged—but the soldier in him is made to obey orders, and he goes to fetch Mark’s bride for him.
Isolde Laurence is nothing like Tristan expected, however. Young, quiet, and sharp, she’s being pushed into this marriage by her family, and as the two travel back to America, Tristan finds himself fascinated with Isolde and the glimpses he gets of the lonely but determined woman behind her reserve. And the fascination is mutual: one night, while sailing under the cold stars, they share a searing kiss.
From there, it’s a fast fall into the forbidden.
But in Mark Trevena’s world, the fall is only the beginning…
The Lyonesse trilogy is a queer, kinky contemporary retelling of the legend of Tristan and Isolde, set in the same world as the New Camelot series. Readers will not have to read New Camelot to enjoy Lyonesse, although readers who enjoyed New Camelot will find all the things they loved about the trilogy here: MMF ménage, plenty of the angsty forbidden, and a sweeping retelling of a familiar story.
Funny Story
by Emily Henry
➥ Romantic Comedy
Tropes:
- small town romance
- sort of fake relationship
- cinnamon roll hero
- exes getting revenge
- friends to lovers
- opposites attract
- roommates
- found family
Blurb:
A shimmering, joyful new novel about a pair of opposites with the wrong thing in common, from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.
Daphne always loved the way her fiancé, Peter, told their story. How they met (on a blustery day), fell in love (over an errant hat), and moved back to his lakeside hometown to begin their life together. He really was good at telling it… right up until the moment he realized he was actually in love with his childhood best friend Petra.
Which is how Daphne begins her new story: stranded in beautiful Waning Bay, Michigan, without friends or family but with a dream job as a children’s librarian (that barely pays the bills), and proposing to be roommates with the only person who could possibly understand her predicament: Petra’s ex, Miles Nowak.
Scruffy and chaotic—with a penchant for taking solace in the sounds of heart break love ballads—Miles is exactly the opposite of practical, buttoned-up Daphne, whose coworkers know so little about her they have a running bet that she’s either FBI or in witness protection. The roommates mainly avoid one another, until one day, while drowning their sorrows, they form a tenuous friendship and a plan. If said plan also involves posting deliberately misleading photos of their summer adventures together, well, who could blame them?
But it’s all just for show, of course, because there’s no way Daphne would actually start her new chapter by falling in love with her ex-fiancé’s new fiancée’s ex… right?
All Rhodes Lead Here
by Mariana Zapata
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- small town romance
- slow burn
- age gap
- friends to lovers
- grumpy X sunshine
- single dad
- cinnamon roll hero
Blurb:
Losing people you love is hard. Aurora De La Torre knows moving back to a place that was once home isn’t going to be easy. Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be. But a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart. Checking out her landlord across the driveway just might cure it too.
Part of Your World
by Abby Jimenez
Part of Your World #1
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- small town romance
- age gap
- rich heroine
- class difference
- cinnamon roll hero
- angst
- opposites attract
Blurb:
After a wild bet, gourmet grilled-cheese sandwich, and cuddle with a baby goat, Alexis Montgomery has had her world turned upside down. The cause: Daniel Grant, a ridiculously hot carpenter who’s ten years younger than her and as casual as they come—the complete opposite of sophisticated city-girl Alexis. And yet their chemistry is undeniable.
While her ultra-wealthy parents want her to carry on the family legacy of world-renowned surgeons, Alexis doesn’t need glory or fame. She’s fine with being a “mere” ER doctor. And every minute she spends with Daniel and the tight-knit town where he lives, she’s discovering just what’s really important. Yet letting their relationship become anything more than a short-term fling would mean turning her back on her family and giving up the opportunity to help thousands of people.
Bringing Daniel into her world is impossible, and yet she can’t just give up the joy she’s found with him either. With so many differences between them, how can Alexis possibly choose between her world and his?
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
The Bride Test
by Helen Hoang
The Kiss Quotient #2
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- arranged marriage
- multicultural
- virgin hero
- single mom
- grumpy & sunshine
- disabilities & scars
- shy hero.
Blurb:
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Kiss Quotient comes a romantic novel about love that crosses international borders and all boundaries of the heart…
Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, he feels irritation when people move his things or contentment when ledgers balance down to the penny, but not big, important emotions—like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better—that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly avoids relationships, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride.
As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. When the opportunity arises to come to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down, thinking this could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working…but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection.
With Esme’s time in the United States dwindling, Khai is forced to understand he’s been wrong all along. And there’s more than one way to love.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
The Mistake
by Elle Kennedy
Off Campus #2
➥ New Adult
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- college sports romance: hockey
- friends to lovers
- second chances
- funny
Blurb:
Get ready for another binge-worthy romance from international bestselling author and TikTok sensation Elle Kennedy. He’s a player in more ways than one… College junior John Logan can get any girl he wants. For this hockey star, life is a parade of parties and hook-ups, but behind his killer grins and easygoing charm, he hides growing despair about the dead-end road he’ll be forced to walk after graduation. A sexy encounter with freshman Grace Ivers is just the distraction he needs, but when a thoughtless mistake pushes her away, Logan plans to spend his final year proving to her that he’s worth a second chance. Now he’s going to need to up his game… After a less than stellar freshman year, Grace is back at Briar University, older, wiser, and so over the arrogant hockey player she nearly handed her V-card to. She’s not a charity case, and she’s not the quiet butterfly she was when they first hooked up. If Logan expects her to roll over and beg like all his other puck bunnies, he can think again. He wants her back? He’ll have to work for it. This time around, she’ll be the one in the driver’s seat…and she plans on driving him wild.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
How to Fail at Flirting
by Denise Williams
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- insta-love
- secret relationship
- multicultural
- nerdy hero
- funny.
Blurb:
One daring to-do list and a crash course in flirtation turn a Type A overachiever’s world upside down.
When her flailing department lands on the university’s chopping block, Professor Naya Turner’s friends convince her to shed her frumpy cardigan for an evening on the town. For one night her focus will stray from her demanding job and she’ll tackle a new kind of to-do list. When she meets a charming stranger in town on business, he presents the perfect opportunity to check off the items on her list. Let the guy buy her a drink. Check. Try something new. Check. A no-strings-attached hookup. Check…almost.
Jake makes her laugh and challenges Naya to rebuild her confidence, which was left toppled by her abusive ex-boyfriend. Soon she’s flirting with the chance at a more serious romantic relationship—except nothing can be that easy. The complicated strings around her dating Jake might destroy her career.
Naya has two options. She can protect her professional reputation and return to her old life or she can flirt with the unknown and stay with the person who makes her feel like she’s finally living again.
Smitten
by Lauren Rowe
➥ Romantic Comedy
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- rockstar hero
- friends to lovers
- insta-love
- shy heroine
- virgin heroine
Blurb:
From USA Today Bestselling Author Lauren Rowe comes an all new, Standalone Friends to Lovers Romance.
I met Alessandra at a party. Tried to impress her. Was almost positive I was going to fail.
I think I said something along the lines of, “I’m a Goat called Fish who’s hung like a bull—but not really. I’m actually pretty average.” Smooth. I know. Try not to be jealous.
When she laughed—and I mean, really laughed—I knew she wasn’t like the other girls I’d been meeting on tour. Hell, she wasn’t even in the same stratosphere as those fangirls and gold-diggers.
At one point during the party, Alessandra said, “There’s nothing like a girl’s first love.” I knew she was talking about the first smash hit by my band, 22 Goats. Alessandra said it was the first song she’d heard by us and it “hit her like a ton of bricks.” Ironic, seeing as how I was having the same reaction from being in her presence.
I made it my mission to impress her. Give her the kiss of a lifetime that night. But since I’ve always been the dude with zero game, nothing went according to plan.
I’m not giving up, though. I’m going to win this girl over. I’m done sitting on the sidelines, watching the bad boy getting the girl. This time, the nice guy will finish first. Even if it’s the last thing he’ll do.
The Guy on the Right
by Kate Stewart
The Underdogs #1
➥ New Adult
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- friends to lovers
- nerdy hero
- funny
- college sports romance
Blurb:
Strike One-My mother named me Theodore after her favorite chipmunk.
Not cool, Mom.
I‘ve spent most of my life answering to Teddy, because I couldn’t make Theo work.
Except for here. College. The place where all bets are off, and I’ve managed to redeem myself.
There’s only one problem, my new roommate, Troy, is football royalty and looks like he stepped off the set of an Abercrombie shoot.
Doesn’t matter, I cook a mean breakfast for his panty parade, and we get along well.
And anyway, this year I got the girl. And she’s perfect.
That’s right. Theodore Houseman, former band geek, now marching band rock star has finally landed the girl of his dreams.
Everything is perfect.
That is, until Troy takes a good look at her.
I’m not going down without a fight. As a matter of fact, I’m not going down at all. As glorious as these days may be for my all-star roommate, Laney is my end game.
I may not know much about play strategy, but I’ve been the good guy my whole life. I’ve been listening and I know exactly what women want. Framed in a picture standing next to me, Troy may seem like Mr. Perfect, but he’s underestimating the guy on the right.
Spoiler alert: In this story, the underdog is going to win.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
From Lukov with Love
by Mariana Zapata
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- enemies to friends to lovers
- slow burn
- grumpy/ice queen
- grumpy/ice hero
- funny
- forced proximity
- sports romance: figure skating
Blurb:
If someone were to ask Jasmine Santos to describe the last few years of her life with a single word, it would definitely be a four-letter one.
After seventeen years—and countless broken bones and broken promises—she knows her window to compete in figure skating is coming to a close.
But when the offer of a lifetime comes in from an arrogant idiot she’s spent the last decade dreaming about pushing in the way of a moving bus, Jasmine might have to reconsider everything.
Including Ivan Lukov.
Archer’s Voice
by Mia Sheridan
Where Love Meets Destiny #1
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- tortured hero
- disabilities & scars
- friends to lovers
- small town
- suspense
- angst
- slow burn
- love triangle
Blurb:
When Bree Prescott arrives in the sleepy, lakeside town of Pelion, Maine, she hopes against hope that this is the place where she will finally find the peace she so desperately seeks. On her first day there, her life collides with Archer Hale, an isolated man who holds a secret agony of his own. A man no one else sees.
Archer’s Voice is the story of a woman chained to the memory of one horrifying night and the man whose love is the key to her freedom. It is the story of a silent man who lives with an excruciating wound and the woman who helps him find his voice. It is the story of suffering, fate, and the transformative power of love.
*·˚ Each book in this series features a different couple and can be read as a standalone, but for maximum enjoyment, follow the recommended reading order ˖*°
In a Jam
by Kate Canterbary
➥ Romantic Comedy
Tropes:
- small town romance
- marriage of convenience
- friends to lovers
- second chances
- grumpy X sunshine
- single dad
- sassy heroine
- shy hero
Blurb:
When Shay Zucconi’s step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm—under two conditions.
First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second—and most problematic since her fiancé just called off the wedding—Shay must be married within one year.
Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she’ll do anything to save the only real home she’s ever known.
Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl.
A lifetime later, Noah is a single dad to his niece and has his hands full running the family business. That old crush is the farthest thing from his mind.
Until Shay returns to their hometown.
CW/TW: absentee parent(s), brief mention of parent death, brief mention of parent chronic illness, mention of incarceration, mention of temporary foster care placement, reference to teenage teasing/bullying (not detailed, not explicit), brief incidence of fat-shaming, living with a neurodivergent child
The Wrong Heart
by Jeniffer Hartmann
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- enemies to lovers
- grumpy & sunshine
- suspense
- dark romance
- angst
Blurb:
When my husband died, he left my broken heart behind.
He left another heart behind, too—his.
I know it’s wrong. I shouldn’t be contacting the recipient of my husband’s heart. I don’t even expect him to reply…
But there’s a desperate, twisted part of me that hopes he will.
No names.
No personal details.
Just a conversation.
The only thing I have left of my husband is inside him.
***
‘The Wrong Heart’ is an angst-filled contemporary romance standalone. This book deals with heavy themes, such as loss of a loved one and self-harm/suicide.
Making Faces
by Amy Harmon
➥ Historical Fiction
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- second chances
- friends to lovers
- military
- tortured hero
- war
- virgin heroine
- abuse
- slow burn
Blurb:
Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She’d been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have . . . until he wasn’t beautiful anymore. Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl’s love for a broken boy and a wounded warrior’s love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.
You & Me
by Tal Bauer
➥ Contemporary Romance
Tropes:
- friends to lovers
- single dads
- small town
- bi-awaking
- slow burn
- older/mature characters
- secret relationship
- m/m romance
- sports
Blurb:
A single dads, friends-to-lovers, bi awakening MM Romance.
We’re a puzzle made of two pieces.
Landon Larsen is the envy of all the dads in Last Waters, Texas. He’s cool, confident, and put together. He and his son—the high school’s all-star quarterback—have the perfect father-son relationship. He’s such a Super Dad, it’s almost sickening.
I’m not cool, or confident, and my relationship with my son couldn’t be worse. He’s barely speaking to me, and a year after my wife died, we’re both clinging to the wreckage of our family.
Landon’s son and mine are best friends and—of course—Landon is the football Team Dad. And though I know nothing about football, Landon convinces me to volunteer to be closer to my son. Volunteering might give him and me a chance to rebuild what’s broken between us. Now I’m spending all my free time with the team—and with Landon—and the more we’re together, the deeper our friendship grows. My son is opening up, too, little by little. I think I’m getting him back.
There’s just one giant problem.
I’m head over heels for Landon.
I’ve never been attracted to men in my life… until him. Landon draws me in without even trying, and the harder I fight this, the deeper I fall.
Crushing on my son’s best friend’s father must be my biggest parenting failure ever, but I can’t get enough of Landon. Falling for him puts each fragile moment I’ve rebuilt with my son at risk. What would he think if he knew I craved his best friend’s dad? I’m playing with fire, but I can’t turn off these feelings Landon has unlocked inside of me.
Of course, a guy like Landon could never fall for someone like me. It’s pointless to even imagine we could be something together.
So why did I just kiss him?
***
You & Me is a single dads, friends-to-lovers, bi awakening MM romance, full of dads and their exasperating teenage sons, high school sports shenanigans, and #FoundFamily. Come for the epic love, stay for the forever feels.
Four Day Fling
by Emma Hart
➥ Romantic Comedy
Tropes:
- cinnamon roll hero
- sports
- fake relationship
- rich hero
- funny
Blurb:
A standalone romantic comedy of epically awkward proportions, from New York Times bestselling author, Emma Hart.
Imagine this. You’re ready to leave after a one-night stand, and you’re figuring out how to—shock horror—leave your number and ask him to be your fake boyfriend for your sister’s wedding this weekend. When he wakes up. Well, that happened to me. And over coffee and omelets, I found myself a date.
Which was how I ended up arriving at the wedding with a guy I knew nothing about. I didn’t know his last name, or how we met, or how long we’d been dating. I didn’t know where he grew up, what he’d majored in in college, or how many siblings he had. I sure as hell didn’t know he was Adam Winters, hotshot hockey player—and not only my father’s favorite player, but my little nephew’s freakin’ idol. Which means I’m in trouble. Big, big trouble. My mother is suspicious, my sister is bridezilla on crack, and my grandpa will tell anyone who’ll listen about his time in Amsterdam’s Red Light District. Four days. I have to keep this up for four days, and then Adam and I can return to our regular lives, where we don’t have sex whenever we’re alone and my family aren’t interrogating him over his intentions with me.
At least, that’s the plan. And we all know what happens to those.
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