One of the great joys of romance is that it offers light when life feels dark. Right now, when stress seems to shadow much of life, laughter isn’t just a luxury–it’s a necessity. Romances that make us laugh remind us that joy belongs in the everyday, that wit and warmth can live right alongside longing. And let’s be honest–we need the laughs.
I’ve laughed out loud at Sally Thorne’s The Hating Game, where Lucy and Josh’s exchanges are sharp, silly, and utterly relentless. Susan Elizabeth Phillips’s Natural Born Charmer has more hilarious scenes than I can recall although the Speed Racer scene cracks me up every time. The bros in Julianna Keyes’s Bench Player are flat-out funny and give the book a lightness that adds to its sexy love story.
There are others where wit is woven into the fabric of the story. Julia Quinn’s The Viscount Who Loved Me builds to the chaos of Pall Mall with such precision that it still makes me grin. Early Tessa Bailey—such as Protecting What’s His—throws irreverence in with the fire. Serena Bell’s Walk on the Wilder Side captures the comedy of human awkwardness without apology. Loretta Chase’s Ten Things I Hate About the Duke is wildly amusing from its opening scene on.
Those are a few of my favorite funny reads. What about you? Which romances have made you laugh out loud—so much that you had to stop reading for a moment and revel in the sheer pleasure of the scene?
I don’t know that I’ve ever roared with laughter when reading a romance, but Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material had me grinning and giggle-snorting a helluva lot!
Barbara Metzger’s early books were lots of fun to read. I loved all the animals she included in her stories.
I’ve got the one with a dog who has a PoV on myTBR list – looking forward to getting to it!
Yes, yes! See my comment to Mark.
Susan Elizabeth Phillips’ novels frequently include lots of humor…ever fairly well behaved characters occasionally do humorous things. Kristin Higgins novels also include lots of humor.
I so agree about both of them. Higgins’s earlier work was often hilarious.
The Wallflower Wager, of course.
Lucy Parker’s books, including her first by Elle Pierson.
Julia Quinn’s comic duology What Happens in London and Ten Things I Love About You.
A Wicked Kind of Husband by Mia Vincy
The Summer Duke and The Autumn Duke by Jillian Eaton.
Swordheart by T. Kingfisher.
My thoughts about humor in romances were included in one of Laurie’s old columns at AAR (https://allaboutromance.com/lauries-news-views-62 [down a little from the start of the column]).
My cumulative list of romances I have rated as having enough humor to recommend is here: http://www.ccrsdodona.org/markmuse/reading/romwhumorlist.html .
The 5-star subset of the above list is:
alexander, victoria: the marriage lesson*****
alexander, victoria: the pursuit of marriage*****
barnett, jill: (fall from grace***** see a season in the highlands anth.)
barnett, jill: (saving grace***** see highland fling anth.)
craig, emma: rosamunda’s revenge*****
crusie, jennifer: bet me*****
davidson, maryjanice: undead and unwed*****
davis, maggie: hustle, sweet love*****
evanovich, janet: back to the bedroom*****
evanovich, janet: smitten*****
evanovich, janet: the rocky road to romance*****
evanovich, janet: the grand finale*****
evanovich, janet: love overboard[ivan takes a wife]*****
garwood, julie: the lion’s lady*****
holbrook, cindy: the missing brides*****
holbrook, cindy: the missing matchmaker*****
holbrook, cindy: the actress & the marquis*****
holbrook, cindy: lord sayer’s ghost*****
holbrook, cindy: a rake’s reform*****
holbrook, cindy: the reluctant bride*****
jensen, emma: what chloe wants*****
jensen, trish: without a clue*****
joy, dara: high energy*****
joy, dara: (santa reads romance***** see the night before christmas anth.)
klune, t. j.: the lightning-struck heart*****
krentz, jayne ann: summer in eclipse bay*****
lansdowne, judith a.: lord nightingale’s triumph*****
lansdowne, judith a.: mutiny at almack’s*****
laurenston, shelly: the mane event*****
leclaire, day: the nine-dollar daddy*****
lee, jade: (kung fu shoes!***** see these boots were made for stomping anth.)
lynson, jane: the duke’s downfall*****
macalister, katie: (unleashed***** see cupid cats anth.)
macalister, katie: noble intentions*****
martin, michelle: the mad miss mathley*****
michaels, kasey: the tenacious miss tamerlane*****
nelson, judith: the merry chase*****
nelson, judith: patience is a virtue*****
phillips, susan elizabeth: nobody’s baby but mine*****
quick, amanda: ravished*****
quinn, julia: brighter than the sun*****
quinn, julia: to catch an heiress*****
quinn, julia: how to marry a marquis*****
reece, jean: the primrose path*****
sands, lynsay: single white vampire*****
sands, lynsay: (all i want***** see wish list anth.)
smythe, sheridon: completely yours*****
thompson, vicki lewis: operation gigolo*****
tucker, bonnie: hannah’s hunks*****
anthologies: cupid cats (km*****, cb***, vlt**.5)
anthologies: highland fling (as, cm, jb*****, ls)
anthologies: the night before christmas (va’’’, sh***, dj*****, nm*)
anthologies: a season in the highlands (jd***, jb*****, gd**.5, pb*, pc**.5)
anthologies: these boots were made for stomping (jk**, jl*****, mm**)
anthologies: wish list (lk**.5, lc***, cd**, ls*****)
Humor is VERY individualistic, so one reader’s LOL can be another reader’s HUH?
Thorne’s The Hating Game is an example. I didn’t see enough humor in that book for it to make my 3-star cutoff for enough humor to recommend.
Some Brief Folly by Patricia Veryan is a different sort of exception. There is only one strongly funny scene in the whole book, but I laughed hard enough at that scene to record 3 stars for the book even though the book is mostly serious/dramatic.
Judith A Lansdowne did “amusing” so well. A real treasure and glad she’s on your list, Mark. Another one was Barbara Metzger with her outrageous servants and crazy animals. No doubt both learnt at the feet of the great Georgette Heyer.
Metzger isn’t in my 5-star list above, but 19 of her titles are in the 4-star section and 14 are in the 3-star section of the full list.
Nobody’s Baby but Mine by SEP was the first book that came to my mind. So glad to see it on your list. And I totally agree about The Hating Game by Thorne. I mark that as among the start of when contemporary romance moved toward a hero who was a genie in a bottle, existing only to make the heroine’s dreams come true.
I don’t know that I actually roared with laughter, but I definitely chuckled at a number of Eloisa James’ earlier works, especially the Essex sisters and Desperate Duchesses (the poetical mermaid). And Anne Gracie’s The Perfect Rake.
Among the Brits, Kristin Bailey and Mhairi McFarlane both layer up the ridiculousness in their messy romcoms – Five Gold Rings by KB is hilarious. Charlotte Stein’s banter is very funny too.
Penny Reid’s Winston Brothers books are very funny – especially Beard Science with Cletus and Jenn (the Winston family names are enough to make me smile: brothers are Billy, Roscoe, Cletus, Jethro, Beau and Duane)
Thanks Mark for your comprehensive list – plenty there to follow up on. I need to make a note of humour levels when I review!
For me, it was Georgette Heyer’s Friday’s Child—that particular scene of Freddie trying to remember the word ‘miasma’ and driving up all his friends up the wall trying to figure out what he is talking about. Priceless!
There are some American romances that I have found funny but Aussie humour is very different, more dry and understated, so I will never rely on a book’s reputation for humour as a selling point. For some reason I read a lot of hockey romances and the banter between the players is usually funny but in books billed as rom-coms I often find the humour either forced or eye-rollingly over the top.
Georgette Heyer does brilliantly funny dialogue. The Grand Sophy is snortingly hilarious.
… in books billed as rom-coms I often find the humour either forced or eye-rollingly over the top.
Same. Or it’s obvious the writer is trying too hard to be funny. There are a handful of incredibly popular (American) m/m authors who are frequently touted as ‘hilarious’ whose humour, to me, is simply juvenile and completely un-funny.
Out of the 31 Heyer books I’ve read, I recorded 16 as 4-star and 10 as 3-star humor, so I would recommend 84% of them for readers looking for humor.
Heyer’s The Talisman Ring also has some hilarious moments, and is especially good on audio. Eustacie imagines herself as a tragic heroine and her (maybe) fiance Tristam is too practical for words. Their banter is laugh-out-loud at times. There are so many fun Heyer books!
I’ve listened to more Heyers (including The Talisman Ring) than I’ve read in print, and the right narrator can really bring out the humour.
I like dry humor, so what, other than hockey romances, would you recommend?
I’m biased, but I think you’ll find the best dry humour – in romance novels anyway – mostly in books by UK and Aus/NZ authors. KJ Charles, Alexis Hall, Jay Hogan, Lucy Parker, Fearne Hill (Lily Morton in her earlier books) – all have the ability to make me smile and occasionally laugh out loud. I’m a tough audience – I dislike the slapstick and often infantile attempts at humour that so many authors seem to think is funny; I like clever and wry.
Yes to UK and Aus/NZ authors – you’ve reminded me of Danielle Hawkins. She’s a New Zealander and her romances are hilarious! Not so much wry, but very clever and very dry 🙂
Chocolate Cake for Breakfast and It All Went to Custard are both terrific. I need to read her latest, Take Two.
So many authors to list. Alexa Martin’s Next Door Nemesis had a scene involving a lawn flamingo and inflatable Ben Franklin that had me literally laughing out loud. The start of The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon is pretty dang funny. Krisitan Higgins can be hilarious Just One of the Guys had me laughing quite a bit. Jill Barnett’s Carried Away is silly in a cute way. Janet Evanovich’s Metro Girl and Motor Mouth are two of my favorite funny books. Jennifer Crusie: Agnes and the Hitman, Welcome to Temptation, Bet Me, Faking It. Casey Claybourne’s Ghost of A Chance is hilarious. It can be silly, but it is lighthearted and self-aware of the goofiness. Jayne Ann Krentz Trust Me. Krentz writing as Quick, I found her Ravished funny.
Listing funny romcoms can be hard because the label often denotes lighthearted rather than laugh-out-loud funny.
The first snort out loud funny romance I remember reading was Jennifer Crusie’s Manhunting. I still giggle at the golf course cheating scene.
I also loved Anyone But You. Fred is one of my favorite dogs of all time.
I feel as if I am the rare reader who doesn’t find Heyer funny. She’s witty but her humor has a distance to it that doesn’t quite move me. It’s true I’ve only read two so perhaps my sample size is too limited.
Heyer doesn’t ALWAYS have a lot of humor. These are her books that I found funniest:
heyer, georgette: these old shades****
heyer, georgette: devil’s cub****
heyer, georgette: arabella****
heyer, georgette: black sheep****
heyer, georgette: the convenient marriage****
heyer, georgette: the corinthian****
heyer, georgette: cotillion****
heyer, georgette: frederica****
heyer, georgette: friday’s child****
heyer, georgette: the grand sophy****
heyer, georgette: the masqueraders****
heyer, georgette: the reluctant widow****
heyer, georgette: sprig muslin****
heyer, georgette: sylvester (or, the wicked uncle)****
heyer, georgette: the toll-gate****
heyer, georgette: the unknown ajax****
Notes:
The Reluctant Widow is two books in one. If you take the heroine at face value, it is pretty Gothic. If you assume she is sarcastic or facetious or ironic, it is very funny.
The humor you see in The Unknown Ajax also depends on whether you read the hero as he appears to the family or as putting on an act.
I think she’s just not my cup of tea, TBH. I’ve read Frederica and Devil’s Cub.
Jennifer Crusie, SEP and Kristan Higgins were the first names to pop into my head – and are the authors I pull off the shelf to reread when I want something “funny”. Other writers who consistently amuse me in more subtle ways – grinning if not laughing out loud – include Georgette Heyer and Loretta Chase.
And then there are specific scenes that just came out of nowhere (but I still remember laughing at):
Julie Garwood’s The Bride: Jamie is one of Garwood’s youngest and most innocent/naive heroines. Her so earnest but tortured logic throughout the book (e.g. explaining the necessity of her contributions to the alms box to the local priest and his reaction) had me laughing out loud.
Linda Howard’s Open Season: the MCs reactions to one another at the heroine being caught out in public with a party pack size box of condoms.
Lisa Kleypas’ Suddenly You: he is there to meet her as a potential writer for his publishing company, she thinks he’s the male escort she’s hired to “broaden her horizons”.
And as I sit here writing this, I realize that most of these titles/scenes are pretty “old” books. Beard Science by Penny Reid – which is a decade old now! – is the most recent, laugh out loud book I can think of.
Scotch on the Rocks made me laugh as did Molly Malloy and the Angel of Death. Both are recently published!
I haven’t read Scotch on the Rocks but did enjoy Molly Malloy and the Angel of Death. I just don’t remember laughing out loud . . . ? 😉 Doesn’t mean I didn’t, but I don’t remember it (sigh).
It cracked me up!
The Other Guy’s Bride by Connie Brockway, Bridal Favors by Connie Brockway, Sophie Kinsella books — certain bits of the Burnout had me laughing in public, Mhairi McFarlane’s early books, Jennifer Crusie. Oh, and the “seduction” scene in “Nobody’s Baby but Mine” by SEP is pretty ridiculous.
Offtopic: does anyone have trouble signing in on the forum page?
What problem are you having? Is this the email you are trying to use?
I get the giggles with Junebug and crew from The McBrides of Montana series. Also Bet Me and SEP can still crack me up after numerous rereads.
I love that series AND Junebug is the best.
Most recently, Meghan Quinn has made me laugh out loud. Till Summer Us Do Part and Bridesmaid for Hire were two of the funniest. My husband will look at me like I’m crazy. Apparently, his true crime books are downers 🙂
I think you’ve already mentioned my favorites, but here are a few more to add. Early Trisha Ashley books still make me laugh on the re-read. Cassandra Gannon, particularly her “Love and Monsters” series. Martha Waters’ “Regency Vows” series, Elizabeth Mansfield has a Heyer -like wit. Cate C. Wells’ “Against a Wall”. Lyssa Kay Adams “Bromance Book Club” series. T. Kingfisher as already mentioned. Janet Mullany regencies. A few of Amanda Milo’s SF romances are very funny. I know Jennifer Cruisie has been mentioned multiple times, but her new collabs with Bob Mayer have a lot of humor, and the writers each have their own individual unique humor so you get a double portion.