Oooh, we’ve got a good one this week! For all you HGTV lovers out there, send a big thanks to Reader Chloe who sent in this request:
I’m seeking out romance with remodel recommendations. I love stories of shops/houses/barns – you name it – restored or remodeled or what-have-you alongside a good romance. I have no cares as to whether it is contemporary or historical but would like to find something funny or witty. I’m not really looking for anything paranormal, fantasy, or sci-fi flavored, though.
Explicitness of content, or lack thereof, doesn’t matter much to me.
Elyse: Billionaire Builders series by Jennifer Probst.
Amanda: Elyse reviewed Any Time, Any Place in the Probst series and enjoyed it!
Elyse: The Obsession by Nora Roberts.
Amanda: We also have a “renovation romance” theme in our book database. Feel free to poke around!
Also…though Chloe isn’t looking for anything scfi/fantasy based, I’m very curious if renovation romances that fall into those subgenres even exist.
Which renovation romances would you recommend? Let us know in the comments!
I agree with the Inn Boonsboro series by Nora Roberts. It is one of my favorite series just for the renovations on the inn!
It’s not a romance, and not exactly renovation, but it was old-house porn for me: Cherie Priest’s The Family Plot is about a family that strips historic houses before they’re torn down. It’s essentially horror, though (no gore, but spooky, as old houses should be).
And if it’s okay to mention one of my own… Possessed, Undressed, and in a Mess by Sophie Mouette is set in a mostly renovated Victorian that still needs a bit of work and features a sexy handyman. Spicy, funny paranormal.
Add me to the folks who’ve suffered through terrible renovation woes and now struggle to enjoy renovations vicariously in romance. (One of the highlights: going away on impromptu vacation for a week after our water got accidentally cut off, and then coming back to find the contractor’s little dogs had defecated all over my bedroom. THEY WEREN’T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE HOUSE.)
Farrah Rochon’s Always and Forever.
The story Starting Over at Mustang Ridge by Jesse Hayworth is around a small-town library renovation and the banter between the contractor leading the work and one of the local shopkeepers.
We had our front steps renovated before selling our former home. No one tells you that grout and tile dust are gifts that give nearly forever.
Try “The Do-Over” by Annie J Kribs. Has remodel and second chance romance.
A High-End Finish (A Fixer-Upper Mystery Book 1) Kate Carlisle – Cozy Mystery. not what you’re looking for, but light entertainment. there are 4 more in the series
Made for Each Other by Morgan Ashbury. Heroine is actually a General Contractor doing a home repair for the Hero after he has storm damage.
_The Enchanted Barn_ by Grace Livingston Hill.
Everyone, thanks SO much for the recommendations. I didn’t see this until today because the flu took me down and kicked me around late last week and I’m still in its lingering grip. I can’t WAIT to read these recs. You all are the best, best, best!