Are you tired about reading romance novels with business people, professional athletes, rockstars, authors, and other ‘conventional’ jobs for the genre? If so, this post is for you! I’ll highlight 5 romance novels which feature protagonists with unique jobs.
This post is a follow up of a similar post, where I highlighted 5 cozy mysteries featuring protagonists with unique jobs. All blurbs are adapted and paraphrased from their original blurbs on Goodreads
Want by Emma Rider
The Unusual Job: Jade is a professional cuddler. Because of her criminal record, this is the first well-paying job she’s able to find.
The Story: This is a contemporary romance about Jade and MMA fighter Ryland. A motorcycle club threatens Jade’s best friend, so she does everything she can to try and save him while also paying off her debts. To do that, she signs a contract to cuddle Ryland. Ryland wants her and Jade wants him too, but she tries to keep their contact platonic – key word being tries.
The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall
The Unusual Job: Need someone to plan your wedding, pretend to be your friend, and be your bridesmaid? If so, Sophie is the gal for you!
The Story: This is a rom-com, where Sophie is hired by a bride’s mom to plan a major London society wedding. However, the bride is a bridezilla, making Sophie’s job difficult. Plus, she’s attracted to Cordelia’s older brother Tom, who’s definitely off-limits, there’s another big society wedding on the same day as the wedding she’s planning, and the bride isn’t happy with her mom’s decision to hire Sophie… this will be a day to remember!
The Sexorcist by Vivi Andrews
The Unusual Job: Luis exorcises demons for Karmic Consultants. Karmic Consultants is the throughline of the series – it’s a business where mediums help ghosts pass through to the other side.
The Story: Brittany’s never planned a wedding before. But here she is, planning a wedding, and a demon is threatening the event. She calls Karmic Consultants for help and Luis answers the call. They can’t afford to be distracted by a romance if they want the wedding to go well, but
Kiss an Angel by Susan Elizabeth Philips
The Unusual Job: Alex is a expert of bull whips. He manages a travelling circus (which is where much of the book is set).
The Story: Daisy has a choice: she can either to go jail, or she can marry a mystery man in an arranged marriage. Alex is that man, but he doesn’t think very highly of Daisy and doesn’t want to spend that much time with her. So, to the traveling circus they both go, where they will learn that there’s more to the other than they thought.
Morning Glory Milking Farm by C.M. Nascosta
The Unusual Job: Violet finds a job milking minotaurs (monster with the body of a man and the head of a bull). And uh… she’s not milking them like you would milk a cow for milk. It’s way more NSFW as the Goodreads reviews will explain.
The Story: Violet is badly in need of a job, so when she sees an opportunity at Morning Glory Milking Farm, she jumps on board. They offer great hours, great benefits, great pay… but she’ll have to milk minotaurs for her pay.
One of her clients begins requesting her for his milking sessions. Crushing on her client definitely isn’t in her plans. But, maybe her crush on this monster isn’t as one sided as she thinks…
Have you read any of these books? Do you have any recommendations for romance novels with unusual professions? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts and suggestions in the comment section below!
Mint Loves Books 
Oh those are pretty cool indeed!!
Hang on- i know I have some, lemme think..
The dachshund wears prada, Stefanie London — Dachshund nanny (taking care & carrying her to her play dates, groomer & psychics)
A season for second chances, Jenny Bayliss — Seaside town house-sitter (staying in the seashore house for the winter)
At first sight, Hannah Sunderland — operator at a mental health helpline (super cool 🥰)
Love sold separately, Ellen Meister — Shopping Channel host!
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Thank you for all of these recommendations! Love Sold Separately sounds especially fun to me, I always loved watching shopping channels and dreaming about what I might buy.
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Right? It’s a cool job to have in books, never seen anything of the like before! I need more.
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Well, I learned a lot today. I did not know that romance books prominently featured rock stars! And I did not know that the first professional job someone with a criminal record could get would be a “cuddler.” So everyone is too suspicious to hire her for a “normal” job, but she can get realllly close to someone as a cuddler?
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Not all of them, but rockstar romance is a whole thing – all the rockstars, singers, instrumentalists, and more someone could ever want!
And… yeah, that is very strange for a ‘cuddler’. You’d think that kind of job would come with extra criminal record checks…
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The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy is a romance novel where the female love interest is an undertaker!
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That sounds fascinating, thank you so much for the recommendation!
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These are very interesting jobs. What exactly does a cuddler job entail? Great post, Mint.
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From what I understand, it’s where someone will pay to have someone hug them – maybe standing up, sitting down, or in the position chosen. However, there wouldn’t be any intimate physical contact beyond that like what a sex worker would provide… unless both parties agree to that, I suppose.
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Makes sense. Thanks.
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The Secret Bridesmaid was such a good book, and that was an interesting job. Lots of perks though. A professional cuddler. I remember the first time I heard of that job. I think it could be creepy, but nice too?
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Maybe a little creepy, but maybe also closer to sex work (but without the sex)? I can see why people might want cuddles in their life, though it’d also be super important to set out boundaries as the cuddler about what is okay and what isn’t.
Glad to hear that The Secret Bridesmaid was a good book!
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Kiss An Angel is one of my all time favourite books, definitely a reread when in a slump 🤗
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I’m glad to hear that you enjoyed it, the summary sounds so intriguing!
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