A couple of weeks ago, I finally realized what I needed to break my reading slump: heroes. But not just any heroes—supportive, kind ones who tried their best, even when they made mistakes. In other words, human cinnamon rolls.

You may or may not have heard the term before. Like many wonderful things, it originates from The Onion (a satirical newspaper), and it references an article entitled “Beautiful Cinnamon Roll Too Good For This World, Too Pure.” Over time, folks on the internet began using the “cinnamon roll” phrase to describe people, especially fictional people, who are sweet and lovely. Like cinnamon rolls. Like the heroes I wanted to read!

So I put out a call for cinnamon roll heroes on Twitter, and I was delighted to receive lots of suggestions for my TBR pile. Like, LOTS. But I know I’m not the only one who needs to read these sorts of heroes right now, so I wanted to make sure other interested readers would have easy access to all the suggestions I got.

As a sort of holiday offering, I made a master list for you. And here it is, in all its gooey glory!

I haven’t read most of the books on the list, so please use your own judgment about whether they sound truly cinnamon-y or like stories you want to purchase. Whenever possible, I added any helpful commentary offered by readers and authors. And I included Amazon links for the books, because I know that’s what most readers use. But most of these books are available at other vendors, too, if you’re interested. (Including all the vendors would have taken an eternity. I’m sorry.)

If you read these books, I hope you love them. And best wishes to everyone for a lovely holiday season! I’m sending you hugs and warmth and all the cinnamon-laced sweetness in the world. ♥

Love,
Olivia

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Cinnamon Roll Heroes: When Only the Sweetest Men Will Do

1. Jocelyn Adler: Bad Decisions (“Jason…just wants to be there to support Nate and Tabitha, and watch them succeed. And to feed them when they forget to eat”)

2. Emma Barry: Private Politics; A Midnight Clear; “Kissing and Other Forms of Sedition” in Rogue Desire

3. Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner: Earth Bound (“stealth cinnamon roll”; “seems prickly, but actually has All The Feels”)

4. Sidney Bell: Bad Judgment; Loose Cannon

5. Ainsley Booth and Sadie Haller: Retrosexual (older couple; “adores his wife and wants to make her happy, even as he’s trying to make the world a better place”)

6. Michelle Boule: Letters in the Snow (“Bonus, love letters!”)

7. Eden Bradley: Forbidden Fruit (“sexy, a little kinky, and a total sweetheart…plus, he cooks!”)

8. Taylor Brooke: Fortitude Smashed

9. Stephanie Burgis: Snowspelled (“incredibly supportive and kind as well as seriously brilliant”)

10. Nathan Burgoine: “The Psychometry of Snow” (freebie short)

11. Jenn Burke: Her Sexy Sentinel; Chaos Station (“a bit more gruff and damaged than Derrick, but he’s genuinely a nice guy and loves hard”)

12. Cora Cade: Tapped (“contemp quickie with a plus heroine and stand-up guy”); A Day of Pleasure (“contemp anthology featuring sassy heroines and their stand-up heroes”)

13. Ellie Cahill: Cordially Invited series (“gooiest cinnamon roll heroes…all cinnamon roll with extra frosting”)

14. KJ Charles: An Unseen Attraction; The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh

15. Loretta Chase: Not Quite a Lady

16. Andie J. Christopher: Before Daylight; Night and Day (not out yet); All Hours (not out yet)

17. Kate Clayborn: Beginner’s Luck (“the hero I want all my heroes to be”; “gooey and sweet and full of CinRo goodness”)

18. Manda Collins: Duke with Benefits; Wallflower Most Wanted (“Benedick the vicar is pretty damn wonderful”)

19. Shae Connor: Nobody’s Son (“total sweetie who lives with his grandmother!”)

20. Amy Jo Cousins: Girl Next Door (“a big squishy doofus who fucks up a lot but learns from his mistakes and is genuinely willing to give anything a go to make his heroine happy”)

21. Olivia Dade: All of ’em, with the exception of Broken Resolutions—including My Reckless Valentine (“Solid structure outside. Gooey inside.”)

22. Victoria Dahl: Taking the Heat

23. Kaia Danielle: Calling Her Bluff

24. Six de los Reyes: Feels Like Summer

25. Sasha Devlin: Beary Christmas, Baby (“I’d like 10 more just like [this]”)

26. Mina Esguerra: Better at Weddings Than You; What You Wanted; The Future Chosen

27. Sionna Fox: Dark Rooms (“totes a cinnamon roll, and has a prickly pear for a heroine”)

28. Tara Frejas: Waiting in the Wings

29. Avon Gale and Piper Vaughn: Off the Ice (“HE’S TOO GOOD FOR THIS WORLD, TOO PURE”)

30. Karyn Gerrard: Marriage with a Proper Stranger (“Victorian schoolmaster hero who loves children and kittens and reading naughty books aloud to his marriage-of-convenience bride”)

31. Ginn Hale: The Shattered Gates (“heart of gold even when facing awful decisions”)

32. Leanna Renee Hieber: Darker Still (YA; “super-nice, somewhat helpless hero…who becomes a true partner”); Eterna Files series (“full of loving, supportive men of various backgrounds and orientations”)

33. Jenny Holiday: Infamous

34. Mia Hopkins: Thirsty (“sexy Groot” [!!!])

35. Liz Jacobs: Abroad (“super supportive to his friends, his brother & later Nick, his LI…also appears a bit grumpy but he is soft & squishy behind”)

36. Kelly Jensen: Block and Strike

37. Kristina Knight: Breakup in a Small Town; entire “in a Small Town” series

38. Ruby Lang: Clean Breaks (“dirty-talking do gooder”); Hard Knocks (“mild-mannered bruiser”); Acute Reactions (“just wants to hold someone close in his muscular arms”)

39. Shelly Laurenston: The Mane Squeeze

40. Sami Lee: Just One Taste

41. Eva Leigh: Temptations of a Wallflower (“so pure and cinnamony”)

42. Rosanna Leo: A Good Man (“he’s humble…but I think he lives up to the title”)

43. JC Lewis: Revelations (“enthusiastic comic book geek who is delighted to discover a woman who can bend steel with her bare hands”)

44. Everly Lucas: Learning to Love the Heat (“patient, supportive, a bit of a nerd…and straight-out-of-the-oven hot”; “fluent in French and uses words like ‘indefatigable’ in casual conversation. He’ll stock his fridge with your favorite wine and call you an angel when you’re going through hell”)

45. Eliza Madison: Dirty Work (“golden retriever-like hero”); Eight Naughty Nights; Service With a Smolder

46. Kelly Maher: The Bridesmaid and the Hurricane (“grocery store bakery cake”)

47. Mary Ann Marlowe: A Crazy Kind of Love (“sticky sweet characters”)

48. Kristina Mathews: Better Than Perfect; Swept Away; Worth the Trade (“cinnamon roll with a dash of cayenne”)

49. Jo McNally: Nora’s Guy Next Door (“crusty exterior”; “SUCH a good guy at heart…saves her from a spider [even though] he’s afraid of spiders”)

50. Quenby Olson: The Bride Price (“Patient, sweet, hard-working…”)

51. Courtney Milan: All of ’em (“Every Courtney Milan hero supports their love interest so much TBH”)

52. Tamsen Parker: Due South (“squishy and adores his heroine So. Much.”); On the Brink of Passion (“squishy, and his heroine is a total ice princess”)

53. Roan Parrish: The Remaking of Corbin Wale (“pure sugar…supports Corbin without hesitation”)

54. Ainslie Paton: Unsuitable (“Hero is younger and a muscled marshmallow”)

55. Linda Poitevin: Gwynneth Ever After (“Gareth CLEANS THE KITCHEN”)

56. Angela Quarles: Must Love Kilts (“a Highlander Rupert Carsington”)

57. Nicola Rendell: All of ’em (“All her heroes are good guys who fall hard almost instantly. Also dogs.”)

58. Sara Rider: Keeping Score (“endlessly patient & good, but falls for the one person who gets under his skin”)

59. Gretchen Rily: Every Last Mile (“cinnamon insides with bad boy icing”)

60. Nico Rosso: One Minute to Midnight (“a badass who completely supports fellow badass Mary”)

61. Lizbeth Selvig: Rescued by a Stranger (RITA finalist; “wonderful”)

62. Susan Scott Shelley: Enamored (“Mascot for a pro baseball team, does a ton for kids’ charity, and is head over heels for his heroine”; my mom LOVES Susan’s books)

63. Suleikha Snyder: Opening Act; “Spice & Sand” in ISHQ Factors

64. Mia Sosa: Acting on Impulse

65. Ada Maria Soto: Empty Nests (“single dad doing his best”)

66. Melanie Ting: Mr. November (“a hockey enforcer with marshmallow insides”)

67. Christa Tomlinson: A Sniper’s Devotion (“friends to lovers where cinnamon roll Hector supports his childhood friend Miguel as he gets back on his feet. Then oops, they fall in love”)

68. Jody Wallace: Kiss the Bride (“hero is a major doofus and has to plan a bachelorette party”)

69. Lucy Woodhull: Ragnar and Juliet (“huge, sweet tough guy with a heart of gold and mushy feelings”)

70. Cathy Yardley: Fandom Hearts series (“Look like Alphas, but they make you tea and are into cuddles & consent as well as bangin’ sex”)

71. Samantha Young: Echoes of Scotland Street (“Cole is the sweetest”)

72. Sabrina Zbasnik: A New Hero (story in progress; “sweet, adorable” knight-wannabe hero; “bonus lesbian princess who falls in love with a lady assassin”)