16 Beautiful Barbara Delinsky Romance Books

Victoria Lesser is a known matchmaker, but Leah thinks nothing of it when she loses her Manhattan apartment and her friend offers her a place to stay in a remote cabin in the wilderness of New Hampshire. Though it’s not her idea of a perfect location, she’s intensely grateful for the life-saving opportunity and has no reason to question Victoria’s generosity—until Leah arrives during a rainstorm to find the place burnt to the ground. 

With nowhere else to go, Leah seeks refuge with the closest neighbor, outdoorsman Garrick Rodenhiser. The kind (and ruggedly handsome) man is thankfully willing to take in a stranger for the night. Before long, the two independent, solitary souls find that they enjoy the company of the other, and let it happen, even after discovering they’re just pawns in another one of Victoria’s schemes. But love is never that easy, and there are secrets hanging in the balance that could disrupt their cozy confinement enough to destroy it forever. 

Victoria Lesser, a shameless matchmaker, gets her karmic payback when she’s tricked into attending a fortune-hunting trip that just so happens to be led by an adventurous professor who is both her age and (gasp!) single. Luckily for Victoria, she brought her niece, Shaye, along, who will provide the perfect buffer. 

But Shaye is less than thrilled… because the professor has his own buffer: his insufferable nephew, Noah. Not only have the sun and the sea teamed up to attempt to get type-A Shaye to relax, but now brash and impulsive Noah is throwing his hat in the ring. As their vintage sailboat heads toward Costa Rica and all the pirate booty that Costa Rica offers, Noah works harder than the sun and sea combined to tear down the walls of the safe and structured world Shaye has built up around her. 

Divorced from her childhood sweetheart, Amber MacLaine has sworn off men to make a go of it as a single mom. But then her son flies to the West Coast for the summer to stay with his father; and even with her new job, Amber isn’t sure what to do to fill up her time. 

But then she meets a breath-takingly handsome doctor at work… and she keeps bumping into him, even beyond the hospital walls. First, he’s coaching the opposing baseball team her son is playing against and she sees him at the field. Then, he’s at the airport, dropping his kids off to see his ex the same way she is hers. And of course, they happen to be out riding bikes at the same time. When Zachary Wilder finally takes her into his arms, you’d think her desire would give her a heart attack. But the only cure for this type of heart problem is surrender. 

Sasha Blake and Doug Donohue want two completely different things in life. But fate seems to align when Sasha’s motorcycle barrels into Doug’s Maserati one rainy night in Martha’s Vineyard… not the kindest way for fate to step in, but it stepped in nonetheless. 

Sasha is an introverted bestselling romance author who, unlike the characters she writes, has suffered a failed marriage and wants a man in her life least of all. But when Doug, a world-renowned men’s fashion designer who is putting his fast-paced New York City lifestyle behind him in search of someone to share his life with enflames her desire with just one touch, Sasha is mystified. 

While the crash seems like a freak accident, it’s not the only odd occurence Sasha has experienced lately. There’s no way the freak accidents that have been plaguing Sasha aren’t coincidences. Sasha is used to writing about heroines in peril, she’s just not so used to being one…

Corrine Freemont knows herself well–you get to be that way when your parents abandon you and your sister and your grandmother has to step in to raise you. After all that, the last thing Corrine wants is uncertainty; which makes her do things like become a market research analyst, or repress her deepest desires. 

But then Corey Haraden, exactly the type of man Corinne would never want to be with (a player who lives just as fast as he loves, you know the type) bulldozes into her life. A hotel developer who’s friends with her boss, Corey is drawn to her aloofness and hires her for an on-location project at his home base hotel to get to know her better. Even though her guard is up, she can’t help but be attracted to his warmth and wit—so much so that she even second-guesses her preconceived notions about him. Suddenly the walls come crashing down, and she finds herself craving Corey’s laugh, his spontaneity, and most of all, his reckless passion…

Not only does Elizabeth Jerome get to work her dream job: a PR specialist at a New York City public relations firm. She also landed a dream client: Donovan Grant, a modern renaissance man with a plethora of successful business ventures. When his health-food company desperately needs some damage control, he comes to Elizabeth for help. 

But Liz and Donovan start out completely on the wrong foot. Donovan impresses her in every way: his morals, his drive, and even his looks. But when he returns the attraction just as completely, she doesn’t understand what he could see in her. If only Liz could advocate for herself as well as she does for the businesses she works for… but Donovan will use every ounce of his compassion before he gives up on proving to Liz just how incredible he thinks she is.

Sabrina has never forgotten the brief encounter she had with Derek McGill or the compassion she felt for him. Derek is a reporter for a well-known investigative journalism TV show—or rather, he was. The son of a felon, Derek has been set up for murder and is now behind bars. However, he’s convinced that someone powerful sabotaged him in order to put him there. 

When Sabrina finds out about his conviction, she feels drawn to visit him in prison. Her son has a serious brain injury that her husband chooses to ignore, and her marriage is crumbling around her. She remembers the compassion she felt and thinks that comfort could help them both. But it helps a little more than she thought and swiftly turns into a dangerous attraction that is only made more complicated when she learns of his quest for revenge that may entangle them both.

At just 31 years old, Marnie Lange has been named the CEO of her family’s corporation. In celebration, she’s been chosen to appear on the cover of the first fashion magazine the company is set to launch, they’ve picked New York City’s hottest photographer to do the shoot. 

The problem? The photographer is Brian Webster, the man she called “Web” from a passionate summer romance 14 years ago. He also happens to be the man her parents blame for her brother’s tragic death. Already nervous about being front and center on a magazine cover for the first time, Marnie doesn’t need anything else to worry about. But as they get to re-know each other, their passion reignites. 

Can their reclaimed love overcome the damage that’s already been done? 

Headstrong and independent to boot, Monica Grant is the perfect controversial radio talk-show host. She’s also a romance novel addict. She wants a man in her life who is strong-willed like herself and the heroes in the romance novels she reads about. Someone like Michael Shaw. 

Hard-shell cop on the outside, gooey poet in the center, Michael Shaw is looking for someone too: an old-fashioned, feminine woman to spend his days with. Somehow he thinks Monica will be the perfect woman for him… but when he demands something from Monica that she’s not sure she can (or wants to) give, she’s not sure if he’s her happily ever after, after all. 

The Rory in Delinsky’s Search for a New Dawn (which published in 1982) might remind modern readers of Rory from Gilmore Girls. The plot follows naive and pampered Rory Matthews, who has somehow found herself in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory…aka, a place she never thought she’d find herself. But she arrived to accompany her brother on a scientific expedition, in an attempt to quash her spoiled, rich-girl tendencies. 

While she had expected to struggle with the adjustment, she hadn’t expected to fall for Eric Clarkson–a man just as rugged and intriguing as the land around her. Sometimes the most fulfilling new beginnings are just as perplexing and infuriating as they are passionate…

Paige Mattheson is a successful sculptor living a solitary and inspired life at her seaside home in Massachusetts. But she regularly travels to Manhattan, as many of her buyers live there, and it’s in Manhattan that she catches the eye of film editor Jesse Dallas. From one artist to another, just one look at her work convinces Jesse that Paige is much more passionate than the poised, self-contained facade she puts on. He’s intrigued enough to pose as her limousine driver to get to know her better. 

Overcome with inexplicable attraction to her limo driver, Paige feels a longing she’s never felt before—a longing that results in a one-night stand a reader can see coming from a mile away. But they quickly find that just one night isn’t enough for either of them, and in fact only leaves them wanting more…

Taking college courses, working two jobs, and finding the time to visit an elderly friend in the nursing home would be enough to make anyone collapse–and in Karen Drew’s case, she literally does. Luckily, her friend Rowena’s grandson, Brice, is a doctor, and he's there to help. Unluckily, Brice doesn’t like her; in fact, he blames her for his grandmother’s condition. 

Two years ago, Rowena was hit by a car, which Karen was driving. But even though Karen wasn’t technically at fault, Brice can’t find it in him to forgive her, and he certainly can't forget the accident. But he’s not such an awful person that he would let Karen stumble her way home through a snowstorm while she’s sick, so now he’s stuck with Karen at his house as she recovers from pneumonia. 

Perhaps this is just what the doctor ordered—forced to spend time together, Brice begins to warm to her presence, and Karen finally gets to know the man behind the mask. 

Enemies-to-lovers enthusiasts will love Delinsky’s The Real Thing. Two strangers reeling from professional disasters unexpectedly find themselves stranded together on a tranquil, picturesque island off the coast of Maine. 

Deidre Joyce was a passionate fitness instructor who embarrassingly broke her leg. In an attempt to escape her family’s suggestions of abandoning her fitness dreams to take over their family corporation, she flees to her friend’s island in search of serenity and solitude. The only problem is that Neil Hersey, a corporate attorney blackballed by the entire Hartford business community for doing the right thing, has the same friend–and the same idea. 

Though neither was in the mood for company, the two eventually discover that the line between fighting and flirting is incredibly thin… and once it’s crossed, there’s no turning back.

In Justine’s mind, the only reason she’s become the successful new partner in a New York City law firm is because she hasn’t let love or marriage disrupt her progress. She has her reasons for preferring platonic and professional relationships with men, and quite frankly, it’s never been a problem; until her firm takes on new client Sloane Harper. 

Known as the Silver Fox—both due to his premature gray hair and his cunning ways with women—Sloane instantly intoxicates her. Powerful and magnetizing, she finds herself for the first time wishing she could mix business with pleasure… and luckily for her, the feeling is mutual. 

A more chilling tone than most of her novels, Threats and Promises is a romantic thriller. In it we meet Lauren Stevenson, who has inherited the substantial legacy of her estranged brother when he passed. She’s currently living the life of her dreams: the money helped her invest in plastic surgery to fix a medical condition she’s been plagued with all her life; the shop she opened with her best friend in the heart of Boston has become an instant success; and she even bought a farmhouse that she’s anxiously waiting to renovate. All she’s missing is someone to share it all with. 

Enter Matt Kruger, supposed good friend of her late brother, who is in town on business. The rugged builder is the man of her dreams, and they quickly embark on quite the whirlwind romance. She’s so preoccupied that she doesn’t suspect that the peculiar things happening around her may be more than just a coincidence; a garage door missing her by inches, a vicious dog appearing out of nowhere, signs that someone clearly went through the lingerie in her house…

But eventually, Lauren can’t ignore that she’s being stalked. But by who? And why? Could it be Matt, the man who didn’t come around until over a year after her brother died and who claims to be a close friend? What does he really want? 

One of Delinksy’s more moving sagas, The Summer I Dared is a story about reclamation of the self. Julia Betchel, Noah Prine, and Kim Colella are the only survivors of a horrific boating accident that occurred off the coast of Maine that claimed the lives of nine others. Post-accident, things that used to seem so critical now hold no significance at all, and things that never seemed important before are becoming extremely crucial. 

Julia, a forty-year-old wife and mother, realizes in her narrow escape from death that there is so much more to life than being loyal and obedient to people who wouldn’t do the same for her. Resolving to live her life to the fullest, she finds an inner strength she didn’t know she had even two weeks ago, and awakens to a whole new world. Julia’s story is one of survival, finding yourself, and the irrepressible ability of the human spirit to rebound from disaster and make the world your own again.