Move Over Rom-Coms, Here Are the Best Romantic Dramas

When Helen hits the first creative block she can’t work through, she decides to sign on to work in the writer’s room for the TV adaptation of her bestselling YA book series. She never expects to see Grant Shepard there. He drove the car that killed her sister, and now he is one of the writers in charge of her TV adaptation. Grant cannot pass up this career opportunity, even if it means confronting the past he’s wrestled so hard with. They are stuck together until the show is done, but as Helen and Grant work alongside each other, they begin to forgive, grieve, heal, and love in ways they never thought possible.

Seventeen years after their passionate European summer, Jack Gardner and Theodore Beaumont meet again during their son’s move-in day at the same elite boarding school where they met. Their kids from their respective failed marriages are now roommates, and their turbulent past and unbearable chemistry have risen to the surface once more. Ultimately, Jack and Theo will have to unearth their past mistakes and work through their present realities if they want to be all the way happy for the rest of their lives.

Her tenure-track job in higher education demands everything of Assistant Professor of Sociology, Dr. Deja Evans. She has a relentless list of meetings, classes, grading, writing, and other related tasks she can never seem to finish. Deja certainly doesn’t have time to date, but that doesn’t stop her from admiring Associate Professor of History, Dr. Alejandro Mendoza. So, when things between them start to heat up, Deja does her best to fit Alejandro into her hectic life because he is good, kind, and he will love her if she lets him. That is, if her job doesn’t crush her first.

Rachel Abbott knows the DMV press will descend when they learn her husband, the liberal mayor, cheated on her right before his presidential campaign. After giving up years of her life for Matt, she doesn’t care; she wants a divorce. But Matt offers to pay her to stay until his campaign ends, and as a mother with a prenup that would leave her with close to nothing, she cannot pass it up. With a crumbling marriage, Rachel didn’t expect to fall for a 26-year-old artist, but she is willing to risk scandal for the version of herself that loves him.

When a burnt-out violinist’s long-term boyfriend asks to open their relationship before marriage, she doesn’t have the willpower to do anything but find a one-night stand. Anna Sun promptly met Quan Diep—the kind of unconventional man she never thought she could have—for a one-night stand that stuck. Their attraction is undeniable, but his kindness has Anna coming back to his side, and when a family tragedy forces her to step up parental homecare duties, she begins to lean on him more than ever. Although Anna and Quan will struggle to realize they are stronger together than apart, they will come to realize their hearts were right all along.

After an aerophobic ER nurse saves a life during an in-flight medical emergency, she meets a gorgeous copilot who changes her life. Olive’s big save goes viral online, providing good PR for the airline Stella works for. Fake dating could be the thing that gets Stella her next promotion, and Olive would benefit too. The last year of Olive’s life hasn’t been easy, between losing her brother and managing her career, but this fake relationship might just be a chance for her to experience real joy. That is only the start of Olive and Stella’s eventful courtship in an excellent sapphic romantic drama.  

Mo Sarda is a neurodivergent, award-winning blacksmith, autobody shop owner, and divorced father who prefers a quiet routine. Until he got to know the new crossbow-wielding professor in town, Jessica Anderson, he wasn’t interested in dating or changing his routine. Jessica is still reeling from the death of her sister, and Mo hates loud places, but when they are told the center they love will close without their help, running a Renaissance fair, they say yes. Protecting their peace won’t be easy, especially once they start adding a romantic relationship into the mix, but welding their lives together might just make the weight their holding easier to bear.

Losing his partner, home, and job gave Alex a blank slate to make the life he had always dreamed of. Back in his Michigan hometown, he remodeled his parents’ bakery, a place where he met Corbin, a quiet, gorgeous man who began drawing at his shop. Corbin knows the town thinks he is strange, but Alex doesn’t seem to think so. As they grow closer, he begins to realize he doesn’t have to be so alone anymore with a cinnamon roll like Alex to support him.

Yasmen and Josiah Wade’s marriage fell apart under the pressure of devastating loss. Now, they co-parent their children and run a restaurant business, but two years after their separation, their spark hasn’t dissipated. When one kiss reignites their passion, they have to contend with the hurt and pain that shattered their relationship in the first place. Yasmen and Josiah may have a second chance, but they will only succeed if they decide to hope, heal, and love together.

Even though Jackson knows his brother’s widow is off limits, she is the one woman he’s never been able to stop loving. Sadia was Jackson’s best friend before she married his brother…and before he was accused of a crime he didn’t commit and had to flee town. Ten years later, Jackson is back, and so are Sadia’s feelings for him. She can’t turn down his offer to help her at the café she inherited any more than she can turn down the affection that’s morphed into heat. They know it’s wrong, but Jackson and Sadia’s simmering romance is too good to ignore.

Jade Harbour Capital’s best equity investor, Danny Yip, planned to remorselessly acquire the tech company, WesTec, and sell it for parts before he ran into his best friend’s younger brother, Tobin. Ever since Tobin and Danny’s explosive one-night stand, he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about him. Now that Tobin and Danny are on opposing sides of an important business deal, he has a chance to prove he is more than the kid Danny remembers. Danny is determined to keep Tobin by his side for good this time, and the stakes have never been higher. His life, his love, and his job are hanging on a deal that may even escape the great Danny Yip.

Given Ava’s experience with an abusive past relationship, she wasn’t sure if she should get to know Parker after meeting her at an LGBT therapy group. Parker is only a year out of her own toxic relationship. But now that they’ve met, they can’t seem to stop crossing paths, and every time they do, their relationship feels more and more like fate. Ava isn’t even sure if someone as great as Parker would want to date her after she finds out Ava is asexual. Realistically, Ava and Parker both have a lot to work through before they are anything close to perfect for each other, but they might just be able to heal together if they do.

When Addie’s older sister dies, she loses her last family member and any desire to stay in LA. Fleeing California altogether, she ends up alone in Texas, taken in by local ranchers and the small town she’s stumbled into. Meeting a farm hand like Zac may have been accidental, but the relationship they start to develop starts to give Addie the direction she lost. Her new small town holds a part of her past she has to confront if she wants a chance at healing and growing into the person she wants to become.

Blake Dillon is one story away from finally becoming an investigative journalist like her grandfather. Just one problem—the story she has to cover is another fluff profile on a rising film star whose executive assistant is her former college best friend. Directionless after college, Oliver agreed to follow his best friend to Hollywood, but now he spends more time managing him than he does deciding what he wants to do with his life. No one makes that clearer than meeting Blake again. She is driven and accomplished, and he wants more than anything to try and resuscitate the romantic relationship he was too scared to pursue in college. Out of professionalism, Blake will not start anything until her article is done, but once the ink is dry, they will finally have a second chance at love.

When Ricki gets a chance to rent the bottom floor of a Harlem brownstone, she leaves her familial wealth, her socialite sisters, and her messy romantic past behind her. Excited to expand her artistic talents, she is ready to explore all Harlem has to offer. One night, she meets a mysterious stranger who changes her life and her heart forever. Ezra didn’t expect to meet a force of nature like Ricki, but once he does, he refuses to live in a world without her by his side, even if he has to reveal all his secrets to do so.

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas…Right? Twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter would like to think so. After receiving her PhD in astronomy, she took a girls’ trip to Vegas that ended with her saying “I do” to a woman she can’t quite remember. She has always carefully lived her life to her family’s expectations, but when she starts to feel the pressure of an impossible job market, impending burnout has her leaving Portland for a summer in New York with her new mystery wife. Yuki Yamamoto is creative, gorgeous, and Grace fears she would never fit into her real life. But when Grace faces everything she’s fled, she begins to realize a complicated life with Yuki might be better than a clean life without her.

As members of the same friend group with all the same wedding invites, Heath and Teagan agree that attending together is far easier than finding romantic partners. Teagan is stressed finishing her law degree, and Heath’s dream career as a physical therapist threatens to crumble under family drama. They could both use uncomplicated, prearranged hookups to get them through the summer season. But when their uncomplicated situationship begins to spiral into real feelings, Heath and Teagan will both have to reassess the place of romantic love in their relationship.