Popular European Romance Books
Find romance books written by authors from Europe for the next part of the Read Around The World Challenge. (163)
141.
The Price of Paradise by Susana López Rubio EN
SpainDescription:
In a city as corrupt as it was luxurious, those who dared to dream were bound to pay the price. Havana, Cuba, 1947. Young Patricio flees impoverished Spain and steps into the sultry island paradise of Havana with only the clothes on his back and half-baked dreams of a better life. Blessed with good looks and natural charm, he lands a job as a runner at El Encanto--one of the most luxurious department stores in the world. Famous for its exquisite offerings from French haute couture to Arabian silks, El Encanto indulges the senses in opulent extravagance. It caters to visiting Hollywood stars, r... continue
142.
The Reader by Bernhard Schlink EN
GermanyDescription:
Hailed for its coiled eroticism and the moral claims it makes upon the reader, this mesmerizing novel is a story of love and secrets, horror and compassion, unfolding against the haunted landscape of postwar Germany. When he falls ill on his way home from school, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg is rescued by Hanna, a woman twice his age. In time she becomes his lover--then she inexplicably disappears. When Michael next sees her, he is a young law student, and she is on trial for a hideous crime. As he watches her refuse to defend her innocence, Michael gradually realizes that Hanna may be guardi... continue
143.
The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald EN
SwedenDescription:
Once you let a book into your life, the most unexpected things can happen… Broken Wheel, Iowa, has never seen anyone like Sara, who traveled all the way from Sweden just to meet her pen pal, Amy. When she arrives, however, she finds that Amy's funeral has just ended. Luckily, the townspeople are happy to look after their bewildered tourist—even if they don't understand her peculiar need for books. Marooned in a farm town that's almost beyond repair, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend's memory. All she wants is to share the books she loves with the citizens of Broken Wheel and to co... continue
144.
The Red Notebook by Antoine Laurain EN
FranceDescription:
"Laurain presents the story as if it were reportage, but with the confidence of an age-old storyteller."—San Francisco Book Review "Laurain's gentle, satirical humor remind this reviewer of Jacques Tati's classic films, and, no, you don't have to know French politics to enjoy this charming novel. Fans of Muriel Barbery'sThe Elegance of the Hedgehog will want this."—Library Journal "A hymn to la vie Parisienne . . . enjoy it for its fabulistic narrative, and the way it teeters pleasantly on the edge of Gallic whimsy."—The Guardian Heroic bookseller Laurent Letellier comes across an abandoned ha... continue
145.
The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden EN
Country: Europe / 
Netherlands
Netherlands
Description:
"It is 1961 and the rural Dutch province of Overijssel is quiet. Bomb craters have been filled, buildings reconstructed, and the war is truly over. Living alone in her late mother's country home, Isabel knows her life is as it should be, led by routine and discipline. But all is upended when her brother Louis brings his graceless new girlfriend Eva, leaving her at Isabel's doorstep as a guest, to stay for the season. Eva is Isabel's antithesis: she sleeps late, walks loudly through the house, and touches things she shouldn't. In response, Isabel develops a fury-fueled obsession, and when thing... continue
146.
The Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley EN
IrelandDescription:
Gathering at their Lake Geneva estate when their adoptive father passes away, six sisters receive tantalizing clues about their true heritage, prompting Maia to journey to Rio de Janeiro to learn the story of her parents' forbidden love. By the best-selling author of The Orchid House.
147.
The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe EN
Description:
"Be on your guard … and take care not to fall in love!" Visiting an idyllic German village, Werther, a sensitive and romantic young man, meets and falls in love with sweet-natured Lotte. Although he realizes that Lotte is to marry Albert, he is unable to subdue his passion for her and his infatuation torments him to the point of absolute despair. The first great ‘confessional’ novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther draws both on Goethe’s own unrequited love for Charlotte Buff and on the death of his friend Karl Wilhelm Jerusalem. The book was an immediate success and a cult rapidly grew up around... continue
148.
The Spanish Love Deception : A Novel by Elena Armas EN
Description:
A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A TikTok sensation, this rom-com about a young woman who agrees to fake date a colleague and bring him to her sister’s wedding has “everything you could want in a romance” (Helen Hoang, New York Times bestselling author). Catalina Martín desperately needs a date to her sister’s wedding. Especially since her little white lie about her American boyfriend has spiralled out of control. Now everyone she knows—including her ex and his fiancée—will be there and eager to meet him. She only has four weeks to find someone willing to cross the Atlantic and aid in her deception... continue
149.
The Tree and the Vine by Dola De Jong EN
Country: Europe / Netherlands
Netherlands
Description:
A lesbian love story set during the Nazi occupation in Holland.
150.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera EN
Country: Europe / 
Czech Republic
Czech Republic
Description:
A young woman in love with a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing; one of his mistresses and her humbly faithful lover—these are the two couples whose story is told in this masterful novel. In a world in which lives are shaped by irrevocable choices and by fortuitous events, a world in which everything occurs but once, existence seems to lose its substance, its weight. Hence, we feel "the unbearable lightness of being" not only as the consequence of our pristine actions but also in the public sphere, and the two inevitably intertwine.