154 Series, 735 Books, and a Whole Lot of Romance: My Ultimate Book Recommendation Guide

I started reading books as a kid. My parents bought a ton of books for me right from Tinkle comics, Geronimo Stilton Novels, Thea Stilton novels, mythology stories, and of course fairy tales. It was in 11th grade or as we say here in Mumbai, FYJC which is a short form of First Year of Degree College, that I started reading romance, mainly on Wattpad at first.

One of my friend was reading a novel once and as a person who loves books I asked her what was it about. It was "World's Best Boyfriend" by Durjoy Dutta. That was the book that pulled me into the world of romance. It was my first romance novel and my first book by an Indian Author.

From there started my journey to read romance...I got my first kindle in 2015 from my parents with the cutest note!!! It came gift wrapped. The note said,

"Our dearest Princess, Read and Enlighten yourself. Be the lovely child that mother and I have imagined you to be. Enjoy your gift!! With Love from Mumma and Papa"

I got kindle unlimited and I used it to its limit like everyone. I found so many new authors who are now my favourites. At first, it was just Indian Authors whose books I would read. Slowly over time as Instagram started getting popular and people started posting about books I found out a few new authors. It started with me reading clean romances, which was appropraite for me to read at the age of 16/17. Age ratings are really important, being a 24 year old right now I do not feel okay letting my younger cousins read books that are very much meant to be for people of 18 and above or 21 and above.

Two years ago, I found myself in a sticky situation with my younger sisters at a bookstore. Picture this: me, the wise older sibling, 22, and my trio of troublemakers aged 18, 17, and 16. As we browsed through the streets where the book vendors were lined up, two of them set their sights on the scandalous bestseller "It Ends With Us." Naturally, I had to put my foot down. So, I did what any responsible adult would do—I threatened to spill the tea about the books they read to our uncles and aunts (aka their parents) if they dared to buy that book. Oh, the horror! But then, the eldest of them hit me with that classic "Then your parents will know too" line. Like, honey, my parents have seen it all. They know I'm not out here reading fairy tales and rainbows.

All my family members know about my passion for romance novels. A few have acknowledged relying on my reviews when selecting a book to read. One of my sisters revealed that her friend wanted to read a book I had already reviewed, so she passed on my review for her friend to check out.

I’ve devoured 853 romance books so far—nope, not counting my Wattpad binge sessions or my pre-Goodreads era reads. Back in the day, I had this epic notebook where I tracked every book title, author, and my ratings. Should I count those too? Of course!

I started hustling for ARCs (Advanced Reader Copies) from authors, publishers, and indie agencies—basically, whoever would let me in. Then I discovered NetGalley, aka ARC heaven, where new and upcoming releases were just waiting for me. So far, I've reviewed 15 ARCs and pretty much every book I read because, let's face it, the world needs my hot takes.

I’m all about reading reviews before I dive into a book, especially from bookstagrammers who spill all the tea with detailed reviews and perfect quotes. Sometimes, a single quote can make me drop everything and dive into a new book, even if it means abandoning my current read!

Finding good books got tricky once I burned through all the goodies on Kindle Unlimited. The struggle is real, folks—I hit book slumps because I can't find a juicy read. But fear not! I've got a solution: a list of 154 series, and 98% of them can be read as stand-alones. This epic list has 735 books, so it should keep you busy for a while. You're welcome!

The list includes the series I've read and the books I've read from those series, indicating their availability on Kindle Unlimited (India). It also specifies whether I have read them, own a paperback or hardcover, or have read them as an e-book. If I own the paperback/hardcover or read the book as paperback/hardcover and/or have read it on Kindle/e-book, both of the column boxes are checked, otherwise only one mode either paperback or kindle is checked. This list is my recommendations of book series I've read or come across. You can check my Goodreads or Instagram.

And the best part; it's all organised in a google sheet!!

Click here to see the full list!!!

Hit me up in the comments if you’ve read any of these or if you’re planning to dive into some!

Pls Note: this will be updated every now and then as I read more, so more series and books will be added to this list!!!!

Last update: 3 May 2025