As the winter wind bites, viewers are craving romances that bring back first loves and reunions—and heat up cold nights. Here are five romance dramas you can curl up with at home right now, guaranteed to thaw you out from the inside out.
Airing in 2016 on tvN, Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (aka Goblin) is the quintessential winter romance fantasy. It follows an immortal goblin who needs a human bride to end his eternal life, the amnesiac grim reaper he ends up rooming with, and a girl fated to die who appears claiming she is the "goblin's bride"—spinning a modern folktale rich with mystery and yearning.
Goblin distilled the very essence of winter—snowfall, a red scarf—through its settings and props to heighten the leads' emotions and aching connection. Add in an OST stacked with perennial winter staples like 'I Will Go to You Like the First Snow' and 'First Snow,' and it's no wonder the drama still lingers with the public nearly a decade after it aired.
That winter vibe carries into 2025 with fresh titles. One standout is SBS's recently wrapped Woojoo Marry Me. The rom-com tracks a man and woman who enter a sham marriage to keep a luxury newlywed home they won—leading to a sweet yet cutthroat 90-day trial run as fake newlyweds.
Watching the pair power through crisis after crisis offered viewers a cathartic payoff and a steady dopamine hit. The show made a bold first impression from episode 1, when Yoo Meri (played by Jung So-min) drops to one knee and proposes to Kim Woo-joo (Choi Woo-shik), kicking off a breakneck, anything-can-happen pace. The twist that they were each other's first love cranked up the butterflies even more.
Last Summer may air in the dead of winter, but even its title radiates a gentle warmth. The drama is a "remodeling romance" about two lifelong friends who pry open the "Pandora's box" of their buried first love and face the truth together.
Though much of the story unfolds against a summer backdrop, it is far more than seasonal window dressing. Last Summer uses that setting to symbolize the tail end of youth and the cusp of farewell and growth—serving up a deeper, cozier afterglow for winter viewers through the leads' shifting emotions and evolving romance.
We Shouldn't Have Kissed! centers on a single woman (Ahn Eun-jin) who fakes being a mom to land a job, and the team leader (Jang Ki-yong) who falls for her—an aching, slow-burn office romance.
The setup may sound far-fetched, but by tackling two of modern life's biggest pressures—making ends meet and finding love—the show grounds their relationship in relatable reality. It refreshes the familiar Cinderella arc with solid plotting and finely tuned psychology, delivering a romance that pushes all the right dopamine buttons.
According to Nielsen Korea, episode 8, which aired on Dec. 4, set a personal best with a 7.1% rating in the Seoul metro area. The peak minute soared to 8.5%, and the key 20-49 demo also hit a series high at 2.41%. It ranked No. 1 across all channels in its time slot, No. 1 among weekday dramas, and No. 1 in 20-49 viewership across all Thursday programs—securing the crown by a landslide. While We Shouldn't Have Kissed! sits at No. 1 on Netflix's global non-English TV chart for Nov. 24-30, it is sweeping domestic charts too, pulling off an all-kill at home and abroad.
Premiering on Dec. 6, Waiting for Kyungdo follows Lee Kyung-do (Park Seo-jun) and Seo Ji-woo (Won Ji-an), who broke up in their twenties after two attempts at love. They reunite years later as a reporter who exposed an affair scandal and the scandalized husband's wife—only to tumble into a bittersweet, all-in romance once more.
Despite the 11-year age gap, leads Park Seo-jun and Won Ji-an drew praise after the premiere: viewers said, "They look so alike," "Their chemistry is on point," and "You can feel that first-love warmth." Anticipation is growing for how their story will unfold.
Episodes 1 and 2 charted their first meeting and their reunion 10 years later, stirring both fluttery excitement and tender ache—and leaving audiences with a hefty dose of vicarious satisfaction and even more curiosity about what's next.
With winter settling in, these romance picks are poised to paint the rest of 2025—and the year to come—with lingering warmth and heart-fluttering moments.