There’s always a good time to read romance, whether you’re single or in a relationship, and they don’t have to always feature white characters. Here are five romance novels featuring Black main characters.

“The Proposal” by Jasmine Guillory (325 pages)

Jasmine Guillory is the author of “The Wedding Date” and “The Proposal” is the second book in the series. This is not a series that you have to read in order, but sometimes the storyline may mention characters from previous books. 

Writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend Fisher and his friends. At the game, the boyfriend decides to propose to her in a stadium full of fans, but they’ve only been together for five months and he can’t even spell her name correctly.

Carlos Ibarra is at the game with his sister when he notices Nikole’s panic and helps rush her away from the camera crews. When the video goes viral and Nikole starts getting hate, Carlos is there for her through it all.

They start hanging out more and Nikole uses him as a rebound, but one of them has to be smart enough to not let anything go further. 

“Get a Life, Chloe Brown” by Talia Hibbert (373 pages)

“Get a Life, Chloe Brown” is the first book in the Brown sisters series, but again, this isn’t a series you need to read in order. Each book focuses on a different sister and as of now there are three books out, so it’s perfect for binge reading.

This novel follows Chloe Brown, a chronically ill computer nerd, who almost died six times and now is ready to get her life together by making a list of things she has always wanted to do. She’s already completed the first thing on her list: getting out of her parent’s house.

The one thing Chloe really wants to do is simply something bad. She has always been a by-the-book woman, which is why she enlists the help of Redford, a handsome handyman with tattoos. The more time they spend together, the more Chloe wants to break Redford’s rough exterior.

“The Wedding Party” by Jasmine Guillory (351 pages)

This novel takes on the classic enemies-to-lovers trope and is the third book in the “Wedding Date” series. 

It follows Maddie and Theo who are involved in their mutual friend Alexa’s wedding. While preparing for the wedding, they accidentally end up together one night, and afterward can’t stop thinking about each other. 

After not being able to resist each other they decide to mess around until the wedding is over and then go their separate ways; that is, until the wedding gets pushed up and their time together decreases. 

“The Worst Best Man” by Mia Sosa (368 pages)

Carolina Santos is a wedding planner who was left at the altar. When given the opportunity to plan a wedding that could change her career, she decides to take it, but has to be willing to work with the best man from her own wedding, who she hates.

Max Hartley, the ex-best man, and brother of the would-be groom is the one who gave his big brother the advice to ditch the wedding. Now he has to get through the next few weeks of working with Carolina. 

As they begin to work together over time chemistry builds up, but they know they can’t stay together because of their complicated past. 

“The Boyfriend Project” by Farrah Rochon (345 pages)

This novel follows Samiah Brooks, who suddenly discovers that the guy she’s been seeing is also dating two other women. After the women’s disaster goes viral, they decide to become best friends and make a pact of no men or dating. 

Samiah has always had a dream of creating her own app and in the aftermath of her dating disaster, she finally decides to take that chance. While hard at work with creating her app, she starts to develop feelings for her co-worker Daniel Collins. 

Samiah knows she needs to focus on her app idea, but Daniel is her dream man. She has to figure out if he is boyfriend material and worth giving the pact up for.