I imagine we’ve all thought at one time or another about romance novels we’d love to see made into movies, right? But what about the reverse? What movies would you like to see made into romance novels? Here’s my own list! These might not all work as literal translations, but I certainly think they’d provide excellent inspiration for books.

French Kiss (1995)

There were so many great romantic comedies in the 1990s, but of all of them I’d most like to see French Kiss as a book. The movie is about straight-laced Kate (Meg Ryan), who goes to Paris (ooh la la!) to try and win back her fiance (Timothy Hutton). He dumped her after meeting a French woman he thinks is much more exciting and desirable than Kate, and Kate is determined to show him that she too can be exciting and sexy. On the plane, she meets Luc (Kevin Kline), a charming French thief and con artist smuggling stolen jewelry. He has to slip the jewelry to an unknowing Kate when he’s about to get caught, and this means he has to find her later. He’s intrigued by her plight and challenged by her tart demeanor–cue the funny and adorable bickering, which would work so well in a book. Even though he still wants his necklace back, he agrees to help her win back her fiance. Of course, we all know how that goes! I think this story would be perfect for a book–who doesn’t love a bad boy reformed and a woman coming into her own making out in some of the most gorgeous places in France?

Jupiter Rising (2015)

I know that this movie didn’t do particularly well with audiences or critics, but I have to confess that I really enjoyed it. I like campy space operas, and this was as campy, spacey, and opera-y as they get. Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis) is working in a dead end job and thinks her life is going nowhere. The plot is complicated and I don’t want to spoil anything, but essentially she ends up being pursued by aliens who want her to further their own agendas, some of which are…not good. She’s saved by Caine Wise (Channing Tatum), a sort of lycan solider/bodyguard sent by one of the interested parties to fetch her. The two have to negotiate the complicated and outrageous politics and characters, and in the process they start to form a connection. I would LOVE to read this science fiction romance! I acknowledge that the story would lose the amazing visuals of the movie, but there would be more of a chance to dig into the chemistry between Jupiter and Caine in a book. It would would be outrageous and exciting and just completely delicious, and of all the movies on this list it’s probably the one I would most like to see in print.

Desk Set (1957)

This is an oldie, but the story is surprisingly modern. (Yes, technically I am aware that this was a play before a movie, but I’d still like to see it expanded to book length.) The heroine is Bunny (Katharine Hepburn), the head librarian at a broadcasting company. She’s dating a company executive, but he doesn’t respect or challenge her. When the company hires Richard (Spencer Tracy) to set up a computer in the library to automate research, he and Bunny immediately butt heads. The librarians all assume the computer will make them obsolete, so Bunny and her colleagues set about trying to sabotage the process and Richard. We can all see that he is clearly Bunny’s equal, but of course it takes her a while to come around. The incredible Tracy/Hepburn chemistry really wows in the movie version, but in the hands of a skilled author the terrific conflict and sparkling dialog would translate to print, too. Obviously the premise is a bit dated, but it could be easily updated (there’s hardly an industry where there ISN’T a threat of some skills being made obsolete by technology, right?). Or, now that I think about it, I’d even love to see a version of this set in the 1950s, just like the movie. 1950s-set historical? Bring it on!

Charade (1963)

Another oldie but goodie, and another Hepburn–this time Audrey. The plot is complicated and twisty and action-packed, which is why it would make an AWESOME romantic suspense. Essentially, it’s about a woman named Reggie whose husband is murdered. This is no great tragedy, as she was already planning to divorce him, but after his death she finds out her husband was part of a group of men who stole a large sum of money during WWII. Her husband double crossed the group and stole the money for himself, and now the others have come to claim their share. The CIA is also after the money, and everyone wants it back from Reggie at all costs. As if this wasn’t enough, Peter (Cary Grant), a mysterious, debonair man Reggie had met at the movie’s opening, shows up protecting her and claiming to be on Reggie’s side as well. Hepburn and Grant are so freaking classy and charming that you can’t even stand it, but the movie still manages to keep up the tension and the confusion about who is really good and who is really bad. There’s a surprise twist at the end, too. I could 100% see this story brought into the modern age, maybe with something like a cyber crime and a woman on the run.

What about you? What movies would you love to see made into romance novels?