Epistolary romance is one of my favorite things to read. There’s something so undeniably charming and romantic about people falling in love through the written word that I can hardly resist it. Whenever I see that a book just might have an epistolary element, I immediately add it to my TBR.
Over the years, I’ve read some great epistolary romances (which you’ll learn about below) and some that were… not so great, let’s just say. In my ideal world, “epistolary” would mean that we get to see most, if not all of the letters/messages on page, but in reality, that’s often not the case. So, for each book, I’ll try to describe just how epistolary it is without spoiling anything, so you can decide what works best for you.
Here’s what you’ll find in this list:
- Emergency Contact by Mary H. K. Choi: A coming-of-age story where the entire romantic relationship happens almost entirely through text messages. And you get to read almost all of them!
- Letters to The Lost by Brigit Kemerer: Two grieving teenagers from the opposite sides of the track exchange letters and fall in love. Many letters to read!
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows: Told entirely through letters, this book follows Juliet Ashton, a writer, as she tries to find her book’s next subject and starts a correspondence with a man from Guernsey.
- Yours Truly by Aby Himenez: Two rival doctors start sending each other letters and fall in love in the process. And yes, you get to see the letters.
- This Is How You Lose a Time War by Amal El Mohtar and Max Gladstone: Poetic, sci-fi tale where two enemy time agents begin leaving each other notes through time and fall in love.
- Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross: This is a fantasy romance where Iris and Roman write to each other anonymously even though they’re office rivals in real life.
- The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary: Tiffy and Leon, who share a flat but have never met, leave each other post-it notes that go from household chores to deep conversations. And yes, you see the notes!
- Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata: A shy girl signs up to write letters to a pen pal in the military, and the two of them end up falling in love. Very slow burn, you can read many of their letters.
- Love in The Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas: Beatrix and Christopher dislike each other, but when he needs some comfort at war, she takes over her vain friend’s correspondence with him while hiding her identity.
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Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi
“I like knowing that you exist. It doesn’t make me feel any less lonely, because life is lonely, but it makes me feel a lot less alone.”
Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi is a quiet, introspective romance that unfolds almost entirely through text messages. Penny starts college as a misfit. Her roommate and her friends seem nice, but she still feels lonely and on the outside of things. But then she meets Sam, her roommate’s cousin, who she’s equally intimidated and enchanted by. They seem to have similar tastes, but as awkward as Penny is, it doesn’t really go anywhere.
That is, until Penny sees him having a panic attack and helps him out. From then on, these two communicate solely through texting, and become each other’s lifeline through difficult times. Penny is struggling with her writing class and Sam’s toxic ex girlfriend might be pregnant, on top of him trying to stay sober and scrounge up enough money to go to film school.
This is more of a coming-of-age story, but the romance is so sweet, and you get to follow both Sam and Penny as they figure their lives out, with their relationship playing a huge role in that. It’s also a slow burn!
Plus, you’ll get to see almost all of their text messages written out on-page, excerpts from Penny’s stories, and more, and it’s all so fun to read. I have a full review here if you’re curious to know more (spoiler: it’s one of my favorite books).
Letters to The Lost by Brigid Kemmerer
“We’re all united by grief, and somehow divided by the same thing.”
This book made me cry so much. Yes, it’s YA, so expect some YA elements to it, but it’s also so much more.
Juliet’s mother has recently died and she is grieving, feeling unseen by her father. So, she leaves letters on her mother’s grave as a way to deal with it. Declan is the high school outcast, and has just started his court-ordered community service at the local cemetery.
One day, he finds one of Juliet’s letters and feels compelled to write back. Juliet is initially angry but they soon become each other’s comfort.
The problem is, they know each other outside of these letters as well. Juliet is one of the most popular girls in school and Declan is very much the opposite of that, and the world won’t let them forget it.
You’ll get a very slow burn romance that develops almost entirely via letters, a story about loss and grieving and finding your way through the world. I absolutely loved this book, and even writing about it makes me tear up, so just read it, please and thank you!
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
“I don’t want to be married just to be married. I can’t think of anything lonelier than spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t talk to, or worse, someone I can’t be silent with.”
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows is an absolute treasure of a book. Told entirely through letters, it’s a charming, quirky romance that transports you to post-World War II England, where Juliet Ashton, a London-based writer, begins corresponding with the residents of Guernsey Island. Their letters reveal a secret literary society formed during the war, and as Juliet gets to know them, she finds herself drawn not only to their story but also to one of its members, Dawsey Adams.
If you want a book with letters, this is probably the best you can get! So many letters, and all of them reveal something new, so it’s like a puzzle that you have to put together. I adore this one!
Love in The Afternoon by Lisa Kleypas
“I didn’t mean to send love letters, but that is what they became. On their way to you, my words turned into heartbeats on the page.
Gah, I wanted to love this book so so much, but it was not my thing. The beginning is so promising, and then it all kind of falls apart. The letters in this one are more of a plot device, and while you do get to read some of them, they mainly appear in the early chapters and get completely abandoned later. Read my full review here if you’re curious!
In this book, Beatrix is the strange, unmarriable girl who starts writing letters to Christopher Phelan because her friend (his sort of girlfriend) won’t. He’s at war and desperate for comfort, so Beatrix does her best to cheer him up. The problem is, she can never tell him it’s her. And as the war advances, and he gets more popular, her friend becomes more obsessed with having him back and marrying him, so Beatrix has to let go and watch from the sidelines. That is, until their fates intertwine anyways.
Yours Truly by Abby Himenez
“Have you ever heard the saying that if you’re with someone who doesn’t speak your language, you’ll spend a lifetime having to translate your soul?”
I’ll be perfectly honest, I did not like this book. The prose didn’t agree with me, but if it makes you feel any better about it, I never liked any of this author’s books, so this is essentially a case of “it’s not the book, it’s me”. And this one is so beloved and so praised that I had to include it here, especially since letters play a big part in the romance.
Briana Ortiz is in a world of problems. She’s just divorced, her brother needs a kidney, and the promotion she so badly wanted goes to another doctor. So, as you can imagine, she’s quite ready to hate this impostor until her dying day, but then he sends her a letter in which he apologizes and explains himself, and things start rolling from there.
The hero is very soft, anxiety-ridden, and a people-pleaser to the extreme (his brother and girlfriend got together and are getting married, and he won’t say anything about it, for example). He’s basically the only part of the story I personally liked.
But yeah, you’ll get to see a bunch of their letters and see them fall in love that way.
This Is How You Lose a Time War by by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
“I love you. I love you. I love you. I’ll write it in waves. In skies. In my heart. You’ll never see, but you will know. I’ll be all the poets, I’ll kill them all and take each one’s place in turn, and every time love’s written in all the strands it will be to you.”
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone is a sci-fi enemies to lovers story where two time agents of opposing factions leave each other notes in different time periods. The notes start out as taunting and bragging, but turn into something else entirely soon enough.
The prose is absolutely stunning and so poetic, but the book itself is short so you can read it in one sitting.
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
“It takes courage to let down your armor, to welcome people to see you as you are. Sometimes I feel the same as you: I can’t risk having people behold me as I truly am. But there’s also a small voice in the back of my mind, a voice that tells me, “You will miss so much by being so guarded.”
This is another book I didn’t quite like, for reasons you can learn about here. But this is, once again, a book that’s well loved and praised for its romance and love letters specifically. So, of course, I have to include it!
Divine Rivals is a fantasy romance story that follows Iris and Roman, two rival journalists who unknowingly exchange letters through a magical typewriter. Their written words connect them long before they realize who the other person is, creating a romance that, for many, hits all the right emotional notes. You’ll get to read their letters and follow them across a war-torn country.
The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary
“It’s weird how easily you can get to know someone from the traces they leave behind when they go.”
The Flatshare has a very unique concept and I liked it for the most part. Some of it was kind of boring, and the romance might just be a bit too slow, even for me, but I would still highly recommend it if you need something fun and unique.
So, Tiffy and Leon share the same flat, but they have never met because he works nights and she works days. In order to manage the household, they leave each other post-its with random questions and chores that need to be done. But soon, these notes turn into way more and suddenly, being so separated is no longer a positive.
Be warned that there are some heavier themes here (emotional abuse, wrongful imprisonment) so it’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but it is a good read, and as a bonus, you get to see a lot of the notes they write on page.
If you want more amazing rom-coms, check out my roundup of more than 60 contemporary romance books you’ll love!
Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata
“Mostly though, Rubes, I want to go back in time and beat every single person’s ass who’s ever made you doubt yourself, because the girl who makes me smile ‘til my face hurts even on a shit day needs to see that in herself. I feel like I owe it to you.”
Dear Aaron by Mariana Zapata is a slow-burn, epistolary romance that unfolds almost entirely through emails and messages. Ruby, a shy and sweet heroine, signs up for a military pen pal program and starts exchanging letters with Aaron, a deployed soldier. What begins as friendly banter soon turns into something deeper, filled with inside jokes, late-night confessions, and an undeniable connection.
Since most of the book is written in email format, the romance builds slowly, but that’s true of every Mariana Zapata book. Personally, I did struggle with the prose but the concept is good and there are plenty of emails of theirs you can read.
Slow burn books are my jam, so check out my list of the best slow burn romance books here.
