10 Pen Pal Romance Novels

Brianna and Jacob are both emergency room doctors competing for a promotion. They also are both recovering from big breakups. After Jacob overreacts to Brianna bumping him in the hallway, she thinks he’s a jerk. But then he writes her an apology letter full of emotion and vulnerability. She writes him back. And soon, they are trading letters and going on lunch dates. Eventually, Jacob agrees to be a kidney donor for Brianna’s brother. And then he asks her to be his pretend girlfriend at a wedding. This epistolary, slow burn, fake dating romance is not to be missed!

Hana is trying to balance self-producing a podcast, an internship at a local radio station, and trying to save her family’s halal restaurant when a competitor opens in the same neighborhood. She gets support and companionship from corresponding with a fan of her podcast. But unknown to her, her pen pal is actually Aydin — the owner of the rival restaurant. Hana feels torn between the feelings she has for her pen pal and the reluctant ones that grow for Adyin. A hate crime in the neighborhood brings them even closer together but also leads to several secrets being exposed.

When Ruby signs up to write letters to a soldier who’s deployed overseas, she thinks she knows what to expect. But as the letters between her and Aaron grow deeper, feelings neither of them expected develop. Mariana Zapata is the queen of slow burn romances. And with almost the first 40% of the 500-page book being told through their letters, this might be the slowest burn of them all. But the yearning and longing is so fun to read. And once the two of them are finally on the page together, their love is well worth the wait it took to get there. Among pen pal romance novels, this is one of the most popular and beloved by readers.

Maria is an actuarial student at UC Berkley who anonymously runs one of the most popular nerdy math blogs on the internet. For over a year, she’s been corresponding online with her most frequent commenter, “Actual Physicist.” They email and chat for hours online and are starting to consider moving their relationship in person. But it turns out Actual Physicist is Jay, a friend of Maria’s brother working at Berkley, who Maria absolutely loathes. What ensues is a queer, STEM romance with pen pal, secret identity, and enemies-to-lovers tropes. And the combination of deep emotions and explorations of trauma with off-the-charts sexual chemistry makes this book a must read.

Marcus is the star of the biggest show on television Gods of the Gates (think Game of Thrones). He is also a huge fan of the book who secretly writes fan fiction and anonymously complains about differences between the show and the book (swoon). His favorite online buddy is April a geologist who writes fic under a pseudonym. When she decides to post a picture of herself cosplaying one of the characters under her real name, Marcus slides into her DMs to ask her on a date. He doesn’t know they’ve been writing to each other on the fan fiction forum for years. And when he finds out, he can’t risk telling her because of a clause in his contract that he never critique the show online.

Jane’s day job is working at her family’s real estate business. But at night, she writes steamy romance novels under a pen name. Lately, she’s been corresponding online with a fan named Rosie and wondering if they should take their relationship into real life. But Rosie is a bookstore owner whose lease is being canceled by Jane’s company. The chemistry between them in person and online is clear on every page. But what will happen when Jane and Rosie realize that their IRL enemy is also their internet crush?

In 5th grade, Misha and Ryen are set up as pen pals from different schools. For seven years, they write to each other regularly, developing a very close relationship. But the two of them have rules: no pictures, no social media, and no meeting in person. But then they end up at the same party. And Misha decides to look up Ryen on social media to see if he really met his longtime pen pal. What follows is a sexy, angst-ridden romance that keeps twisting and turning. This is huge in romance booktok. And I can see why! It’s got a very dramatic, New Adult vibe that can be compulsively readable. Just check the trigger warnings before you pick this one up if you think you might be sensitive.