15 Funny SFF Romance Books That Put The Punch in Punchline

Content Warning: Death

Waking up with a hangover and a phone call to get out of her hotel room, it is reasonable that even a honey badger shifter would forget clothing. So, when Charlie Taylor-MacKilligan unceremoniously falls into Berg Dunn’s hotel room, naked, she takes his gun, shirt, and cell phone before running out of the grizzly shifter’s life. Charlie has to protect her sisters again from her father’s destructive life choices, but this time Berg is determined to help. Animal shifters everywhere know you do not mess with the Mackilligan sisters, but Berg is already in too deep, and he will persistently protect her until she wants him forever, too.

Content Warnings: Death, Kidnapping

Welcome to my favorite snowed-in, enemies-to-lovers vampire hunter romance. Ezra just wanted one night free from his family compound and endless bodyguards. He wanted to get picked up by a cute guy, not by a vampire clan looking to extort his family. To make a bad night worse, he escapes into a blizzard and stumbles into an empty cabin…one that belongs to a vampire hunter. Morgan decided he was done with the family business, the one where they all get together and kill monsters. He did not expect his weekend cabin retreat from his family to include a frozen vampire in residence. The snow brought them close for now, but when it melts, can they possibly stay together?

Content Warning: Death

Threatening dreams become reality when Willow Stevens comes face to face with murderous myths, creatures, and monsters. It turns out, her co-worker Eli knows more than he lets on and unlocks the reason behind her nightmares and the vampire king who stalks her. Eli is a Protector who must keep her safe, and avoid romantic entanglements, but as the danger to Willow’s life increases, Eli cannot deny the growing chemistry between them. Sure, their lives are at stake, but there might be some time for an illicit romance along the way.

Content Warning: Kidnapping

Verity Price’s passion is her work as a professional ballroom dancer, but her job as an urban incryptid specialist is what keeps the lights on. That is, she keeps New York City together so electricity still operates in a world where the Monsters who do not play by the rules answer to her. It’s the Price family business: protecting American monsters from the Covenant of St. George indiscriminately killing Cryptids. Her work-other work balance is going just fine until the Covenant shows up in her city. Now she has to juggle distracting and falling for a Covenant man, Cryptid disappearances, a dragon problem, and her ballroom career. No problem. Hopefully. The book is a monster from the backlist lagoon but the quips, romance, and fantasy elements are off the charts.

Content Warning: Death

Orphan girls with magic abilities raised together as sisters in a convent are prophesied to all become queens. Sorcha is a dragon and the long-lost sister of the dragon kingdom. Newly reunited with her biological family, she is willing to do anything to help, even if it means negotiating with the elves across the border. When she is taken hostage, her initial plans go up in smoke, and a new path to peace and love light her path instead. Between a rising rebellion and the heroic efforts of the mysterious Woodsman, her goals might be more attainable than she ever thought.

Content Warning: Death, Emotional Abuse by a Parent, Misogyny

Someone murdered four trolls, and it is up to a rogue spellcaster, an outsider troll, and a human soldier to solve the case. Onna is a brilliant spell writer looking for her big break as one of the only women in primarily male academia and instead finds a murder that needs to be solved. Meanwhile, Tsira is looking for acceptance as a troll with no magic in a world where magic helps establish power. She lives by herself, hoping to one day create a home of her own when she finds a dying human in the snow and decides to nurse him back to life. When a wizard tries to kill her, they are drawn into town to discover who is behind the attacks on the trolls. Now, this book borders more on high fantasy, but the romantic plot line is atypical and adorable so I had to include it.

Content Warnings: Death, Imprisonment

A queer chosen one story filled with chaotic magic, humor, and big feelings. Sam knew getting selected by the King’s Wizard and receiving a place in the castle was special and came with serious expectations — expectations like not getting captured by people every time he leaves the castle. One day. But one day comes a bit faster than he thought when a dragon captures the prince. Now Sam and his friends have to get him back and Sam’s longtime crush, Prince’s fiancé, the knight commander, is coming too. Staying emotionally (and physically) intact will require some serious skill from everyone involved, but somebody has to save the prince, and it’s up to them to do it.

Content Warning: Death

It’s Lunar New Year and the scent of death is in the air. Dragon Prince Thuan is less than pleased to be thrust into politics once more during his vacation, but his husband Asmodeus cannot get enough of the murder investigation. As a fallen Angel, Asmodeus is extremely loyal and equally dangerous. Thuan is clever enough to solve the case, but will the bookish prince follow through on his promise to solve the murder? This Vietnamese-inspired world is filled with magic, mystery, and an epic love that might not survive another investigation.

Get ready to curl up with an ace novella focusing on an AI technician and a now-defunct AI. Before society decided AI was illegal, Sal was made. Now she runs the tea shop her owner left behind, hoping to do her best until she eventually breaks down. Sal never expected Clara Gutierrez to walk into her shop and offer her the help she desperately needs. You see, Clara is the AI technician who specializes in working with bird-like companions. She never lingers in one place for long after living in a migrant worker family, but she cannot leave Sal behind. Not when she needs her help. They will have to grow together if they decide they do not want to part.

Content Warnings: Torture, Incarceration, Death, Kidnapping, Emotional Abuse by a Parent

In a galaxy where three high houses control everything, it should not be hard for the von Hasenberg house to get their daughter back home, married off, and fast. But Ada begs to differ, even after bounty hunters capture her. She knows the man in the cell next to her is a dangerous outlaw, but Marcus Loch is her ticket out. It’s a win-win: Ada will escape and Marcus will be handsomely rewarded. Her fortune, airtight aliases, and computer skills won’t hurt her chances either. A space opera that leans into tropes traditionally associated with upper-class historical romance novels shows you can fear for the destruction of the galaxy and have fun along the way.

Content Warnings: Emotional Abuse by a Parent

Demonic Karaoke, check. Extensive Star Trek discussions, check. Queer romance, check. Lucy Valdez expects perfection in her life. She is the best personal superhero trainer, karaoke singer, and planner in San Francisco. So her inability to confess her feelings to the head of the city’s Police Department’s Demon Unit, Rose Rorick, is a real problem that needs to be solved ASAP. But just as she works up to her big move, a new karaoke star serenades supernatural trouble into town. Now Lucy has to fix this problem with Rose and maybe even find the perfect way to ask her on a date while they’re at it.

Content Warning: Death

Stowing away on the Tangled Axon to find her sister Nova and a job in one go might not have been Alana Quick’s brightest idea. She might be an excellent sky surgeon, but even she does not know how to deal with a pilot who randomly comes and goes from reality, a wolfish chief engineer, and the hottest captain Alana’s come across. Between her chronic pain disorder and her difficult relationship with her spiritual sister, Alana comes onto the ship with problems of her own. Now she must confront the Death Star–level threat following Nova and her growing feelings for the polyamorous captain who she cannot stop thinking about.

Content Warning: Past Trauma

Humor is cut into this sci-fi novella that puts the cute in meet-cute. Trinity Jordan and Li Wei are just neighbors. As a proud homebody, Trinity is happy to stay in and recover from a devastating accident. But when Li Wei notices his gorgeous neighbor, Trinity, he finds it impossible to leave her alone. Sure, he is relearning what it means to be an almost-human AI unit, but why not flirt a bit in the meantime? Together, they both begin remembering the truth and realizing their attraction may be based on shared experience. Trinity and Li have a cat, a witty AI unit, and friends who’ve helped build their safety, one built almost entirely on ignorance. The truth is more dangerous than they could have ever imagined.