5 Romance Novels Featuring Protagonists with Unique Jobs

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…

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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!

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5 Cozy Mysteries Featuring Protagonists With Unique Jobs

There are so many cozy mysteries with booksellers or librarians or restaurant owners or bakers. Sometimes, it’s nice to read cozies that are a bit different.

In this post, I’ll compile a list of 5 cozy mysteries that feature exactly protagonists with unique jobs – or at least, unique jobs when considering what’s typically found in the genre. All of these books are the first in their respective series.

Live, Local, and Dead by Nikki Knight

In this book, the protagonist Jaye is a radio DJ and radio station owner. In a moment of anger, Jaye shot a snowman with a gun, only to find a real corpse inside the snowman! The body belonged to a talk show host that Jaye recently fired from her station. Jaye must juggle her new station while clearing her name of a murder she didn’t commit.

Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon

Gethsemane Brown is an African-American classical musician living in Ireland. She’s currently working a teaching job, charged with transforming a group of schoolboys into a well-tuned orchestra. She’s also housesitting in a home that’s home to a ghost, a ghost that has a request for her. The ghost claims he was falsely accused of killing himself and his wife and wants Gethesmane to clear his name!

A High-End Finish by Kate Carlisle

This is the series that inspired the Hallmark series of Fixer Upper Mystery movies! The protagonist Shannon is a contractor who owns her own home-renovation and repair business. She went out on a blind date with a real estate agent, but when the real estate agent is later found dead in a home that she was hired to restore, the police’s eyes are set on Shannon as a prime suspect. Can Shannon clear her name and save her business?

Dying in Style by Elaine Viets

Josie is a mystery shopper. She’s paid to pose as a customer in different businesses and to gather information on things like their customer service, product selection, and more. In her latest assignment, Josie left a negative review about a local handbag shop. When the designer of those handbags and the designer’s lover are found dead, Josie is suspected to be the murderer. Can she use her skills as a mystery shopper to help clear her name?

Who Shot the Serif? by Daisy Robyns

Jamie is a hand-letterer who owns her own hand-lettering business. One day, she finds one of her hand-lettered prints on the window of her own shop with a hole shot through it. Jamie believes Earleen, the owner of a local stationary shop, was responsible, and confronts her about the incident. When Earleen is found dead in front of Jamie’s home, naturally, Jamie becomes the main suspect in the eyes of the police. But, together with the police chief and her friend Nora, Jamie hopes that they will be able to clear her name and catch the person responsible for killing Earleen.

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Do you know of, or recommend, any cozy mysteries that feature protagonists with unique jobs? If so, feel free to leave your suggestions in the comments below. I might include them in a future post!

5 Cozy Mysteries Featuring Computers

I’ve always wondered why computers, or technology in general, aren’t referenced more in cozy mysteries. Technology is so relevant to our lives today and it can be extremely useful when investigating a crime, yet references to technology seem absent from many of the cozy mysteries I read.

In today’s list, I’ve compiled 5 books from cozy mystery series where computers play a significant role in the book’s plot and in the series itself. Perhaps the protagonist works with computers or the protagonist is a computer program themselves!

You’ve Got Murder by Donna Andrews

Artificial intelligence personality Turing Hopper senses trouble. Yes, the main character of this book is a computer program! Turing’s creator, Zack, has been missing from work for a few days, and Turing is worried. Believing his disappearance may be caused by foul play, Turing does all she can to find Zack.

This is Book #1 in the Turing Hopper series. Written in 2002, it won the Agatha Award for Best Novel. It was also nominated for the Dilys Award in 2003. I love how unique the premise of this series is!

Trending Topic #Murder by Sarah E. Burr

Celebrity blogger Coco Cline is excited to start her own social media consulting company in Central Shores, Delaware. However, she’s run into some challenges with her latest clients Peter and Olivia Chen. You see, the Chens are only days away from the opening of their new specialty consignment store when their store clerk is found dead behind the register! Looks like Coco’s going to add another job to her list: amateur detective.

This is Book #1 in the Trending Topic Mystery series. It doesn’t look like there are any other books in the series, but because this book was only released in 2020, more books may come in the future! I especially like the minimalist cover.

Uncle and Ants by Marc Jedel

Set in Silicon Valley, this book features computer programmer Marty Golden. When Marty’s sister is injured in an ‘accident’ caused by a delivery drone, Marty becomes suspicious. Marty may be new to sleuthing, but he will do all he can to keep his family safe.

Uncle and Ants is book #1 in the Silicon Valley Mystery series. There are currently 4 books in the series, with the latest released in 2020. It’s especially cool that this book was written by a male author and that it features a male protagonist, as both are somewhat rare in the genre.

Killer Content by Olivia Blacke

New Brooklyn resident Odessa Dean secures a job at Untapped Books & Café selling books and craft beer. However, her new job gets dangerous when a fellow waitress named Bethany is killed. Bethany was an up-and-coming YouTuber and her death was caught in the background of a couple’s flash-mob proposal video. Believing that Bethany was murdered, Odessa will do all she can to get to the bottom of this case.

This is Book #1 in the Brooklyn Murder Mystery series. As it’s a newer series, there are only 2 books in the series so far, but I can definitely see this series expanding. Reviews state that social media plays a significant role in this mystery, with the characters often being quite tech-savvy.

A Corpse at the Castle by R.B. Marshall

Izzy Paterson is a horse trainer in the Scottish Highlands. She’s also a partner in Aye Spy, a cyber investigation business. Her knowledge of both horses and IT will come in handy when herself and her friend Craig are accused of a murder they didn’t commit. Can Izzy solve the case before the killer strikes again?

Book #1 in the Highland Horse Whisperer series, this book looks perfect for people who are interested in computer and animal (specifically horse) themed cozies.

Please note that I haven’t read all the books on the list yet, so I can’t speak to their quality and the level of technology integration in the book. However, these are all books I’d add to my TBR list in an instant!

If you know any cozies where computers or technology in general plays a large role, let me know in the comments below. Also, if you have any thoughts on why technology isn’t referenced more often in cozy mysteries, I’d love to hear them.