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Discover weekly, the best short stories

Looking for a steady supply of romance short stories? Every week thousands of writers submit stories to our writing contest.

Romance Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest. From the thrill of a first date to a snapshot tour through an entire relationship, our collection of romantic short stories will give you everything your heart desires.

Romance Short Stories – Page 5

A Faeted Match

Weekly Contest #368

Dorien Smeet had not expected his Saturday to take such a turn. It began simply enough: he woke early, ran around the local park, stopped at Misha's Sweet Treats for his usual Danish pastry and cappuccino, then headed to the local bookshop where Sylvia, his girlfriend of thirteen months, worked. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans.On the way, Dorien stopped at Rose & Vine's Speciality, an independent flower shop known for arranging some of the finest blooms in England. There, he bought a bouquet of pink peonies before turning int...

5 likes 4 comments 4
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The Orphan's Pill

Weekly Contest #368

The rain had been falling for nearly three hours when Sister Agnes heard the crying. At first, she thought it was one of the younger children. The orphanage was never completely quiet at night. There were always small disturbances, the rustle of blankets, a frightened child calling for a nun after waking from a nightmare, the occasional quarrel over a stolen pillow. Old wooden doors groaned in their frames, ceiling fans clicked unevenly, and whenever the monsoon arrived, rain hammered the tiled roof so fiercely that ordinary sounds disappear...

5 likes 6 comments 6
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The Break-Up Crate Incident at Wrong Turn Records

Winner of Weekly Contest #368 🏆

New records are silent. When Imogen touches them she can’t hear a thing. She’s tried removing the shrink wrap, holding them up to her ear, and softly nibbling the cardboard ends like hot slices of pizza. She’s given up and asked Geoff, her boss, to excuse her on new release day.  “I’ll work any other day but Monday. I can’t work amongst all this SILENCE.” “Midgey.” The last time she asked him, he played a Lana Del Rey record on the shop’s turntable. “Listen, will you?” He put a hand behind his ear. “There she is! Warbling on about love ...

78 likes 24 comments 24
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A Court Date Is Still a Date: The Divorce Lawyer with a Love Potion

Weekly Contest #368

A courtroom. To most people, it is a mundane place: fluorescent lights, wooden benches, stacks of paperwork, and people waiting for their names to be called. But I have always found the courtroom magical. On one floor, two people who, against all odds, found each other are getting married. On another, paperwork, yes, boring paperwork, is being signed to give a child a family. An adoption is occurring. What was once merely a fact in two people's hearts, I belong to you and you belong to me, is being legally announced to the world. It is a bea...

11 likes 0 comments 0
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Heaven

Weekly Contest #368

There was once a woman who lived in the south of France, and in those days there were no office jobs so she sculpted for a living. The woman became famous for this and all over the world all kinds of people asked her to make something for them. She was famous for the realism of her sculpting as though she was the creator of nature herself, and for this reason she was especially loved by lovers who wanted their love’s face or body sculpted so they could immortalize each other’s beauty. The woman watched as the years passed and millions of lov...

5 likes 1 comment 1
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The Melittan Paradox

Weekly Contest #368

The first thing Professor Veylan told them about the Melittan Paradox was that none of them would solve it.Which was a reckless thing to say to Avira.Rain worried at the high windows, blurring the quadrangle into something imprecise. Avira disliked the effect. The university was designed around symmetry—four black-stone towers, four walks, four reflecting pools—and now all that geometry dissolved into gray smudges.Lumen-glass lined the walls in iron brackets, one already clouding at the edges from spent salts. Avira noticed because apparentl...

23 likes 16 comments 16
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Correspondence Upon a Star

Weekly Contest #368

I sat alone, atop the world it seemed. Winter had just set in. A newborn snow bank filled the valley below me. I sat against a boulder, still pondering what to do about the letters that sat slightly crumpled in my hands.They had found their way to me by a very confused courier mere hours ago. He had tried to explain their origin, but I knew. I knew the moment I glimpsed the seal. Like lips to paper, it was a sign as clear as any other.The first letter sat atop the stack, a small date smudged in the corner.“I guess I should start with you.” I...

17 likes 8 comments 8
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One Last Wish

Weekly Contest #368

The contract in their hand was a long one, spooling out from black nails and down onto dusty church stone. Renata had heard, once, that demons would burn on sacred ground. She supposed Heaven and Hell must be a lot closer together than anyone thought, because the demon stood right in front of the church altar without the slightest bit of discomfort. “Is all this paperwork really necessary?” Renata asked. “After all, it’s just one little wish.” “Hell,” the demon sighed, sounding almost bored at the question, “is full of people who love to arg...

17 likes 4 comments 4
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When Love Fell

Weekly Contest #368

Loving her was like watching a falling star: beautiful enough to make you believe Heaven had loosened its grip on something precious, terrifying enough to remind you that even the brightest things can be burning while they are beautiful. That was how I loved Amara. She entered my life with light trailing behind her, and I stood beneath the gravity of her wondering whether God had sent me a blessing or simply permitted me to witness something I was never meant to keep. I knew better than to confuse possession with love. A man can admire a sta...

10 likes 2 comments 2
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You Wished for Me

Weekly Contest #368

Ben had a history of bad luck. If he was able to go an entire day without developing a bruise from being clumsy, arriving late because of traffic, or successfully talking to a girl without getting so flustered that he couldn’t form coherent sentences, he considered it a good day. He wasn’t a superstitious individual, but there was something to be said for the fact that his bad luck, to memory, started when he accidentally broke a mirror as a child. He had gotten so frustrated at the Rubik’s cube he could not solve, that he flung it across th...

6 likes 2 comments 2
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The Wishing Well

Weekly Contest #368

Against my better judgment, I took my sister, Genie, to a carnival in town. I had a feeling something was off about it, but she insisted that she wanted to go. My reservations stemmed from the fact that the carnival had appeared seemingly overnight. No one had seen the initial setup, yet somehow, by nightfall, the place was packed with people. My gut instinct told me, Don’t go, but I ignored it.That night, Genie pulled me toward a wishing well.“Make a wish, Alice,” she urged.I didn’t want to, but when Genie wanted someone to do something, th...

3 likes 0 comments 0
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Cassandra’s Curios

Weekly Contest #368

Annabel Coterie loves her collie, Homer, more than she ever loved her wayward, spoiled children or her spendthrift husband. Besides, at sixty-eight, with her once-svelte figure gone to flab, Annabel no longer expects to find love or happiness in any human being. Cassandra’s Curios seems an odd place for a dog lover to shop. Annabel was drawn to the store by an advertisement in the Westport Wag newspaper that read: “Cassandra’s Curios. We have everything. It’s a place where miracles happen.” In addition to antique lamps, furniture, jewelry,...

25 likes 10 comments 10
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The Message on the Postcard

Weekly Contest #368

Amanda hadn’t planned to stop at the shop by the lake, where gulls squabbled over chip ends, and the air smelled of damp cedar and petrol. She had opened her bedroom windows that morning to let October in, but by noon her hands were sore from knitting, and the empty house had begun to bother her. She took the car out and followed the county road toward Lake Erie.She drove near the beach, parked, and kicked off her shoes. A flyer flapped in the dune grass: Wonder Cards. Unusual postcards. Something for everyone. The shop stood across the road...

17 likes 9 comments 9
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J.J. Montrose and the Karma Cardigans

Weekly Contest #368

J.J. had an invisible storefront on a nondescript street in a forgotten industrial area. The bleak stores around her tiny shop had once sold notions, offered shoe repair, hawked international foods that brought nostalgia to recent immigrants. But now most were empty.  A few doors down from her was a magazine and second-hand book stand run by a young man named Trent who sometimes smiled at her when he passed by.  Her great uncle owned the building, and he let her rent the corner spot for pennies on the dollar because J.J. made peopl...

12 likes 2 comments 2
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Everyhome Enchantments

Weekly Contest #368

Marla ran across the street avoiding the carriages, her umbrella kept half-upright while she fumbled with the keys of her shop. The bell trilled her welcome as she opened the door and, out of habit, she glanced at the little thermometer hidden at the threshold, barely visible if you didn’t know it was there. When she passed in front of it, it spiked to a pleasant 23 degrees Celsius to then return to the actual temperature of 16.Marla smiled as she turned the sign on the door to “open” and started humming a little tune to herself. She liked r...

5 likes 2 comments 2
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RBE | RBE Romance | 2024-03

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