Summer Loving
happiness-maxxing with romance books
Like it or not romance books are gaining popularity astronomically. A romance specific bookstore just opened up in my city and many other genre specific book stores are cropping up everywhere. People are yearning for story and connection.
Romance stories require a Happily Ever After or Happily For Now end and honestly its soothing for brains that lean towards pessimism and catastrophizing. Its a spell to remind the brain that good things happen. Especially if you put in the work to learn and grow from your mistakes that you just might reap what you sow and that it might be just what you needed.
I know a lot of folks categorize romance reading as non serious, fluff, and drivel. Its elitist, and exclusionary and honestly closed minded. You do not have to read it if its not your vibe- but to feel a sense of superiority because you do not is base and frankly annoying.
Ok rant over!
Last year Carrie Etzel and I shared some our favorite romance reads and now that summer is here were back again to do the same!
Farai
In February I stumbled upon the Game Changer series by Rachel Reid and I have NOT looked back. I have never been into sports and the only other notable sports adjacent books I read were the football Sugar Blitz series by Jamie Wesley which I enjoyed. But baby let me tell you- these queer romance hockey based stories have me in a chokehold. Its been really lovely to read about men falling in love and being vulnerable and tackling internalized homophobia and dealing with their issues. I’ve went to a few hockey games and found myself actually understanding a sport for the first time. I’ve bonded with random strangers at fairs, concerts, and the internet over these books. Its been really fun.
Carrie
All the Feels by Olivia Dade. This is the second in a trilogy, and while the other two were fantastic, this is the one that’s stuck with me the most. Alex and the way he’s judged for his ADHD, the way he’s willing to take on harm to keep others safe, was a deeply moving character. And it would be impossible not to fall in love with Lauren, with her beaky nose, gorgeous eyes, and the way she pairs her quiet competence with curiosity, withholding judgment.
Farai
I will never not recommend G A Aiken and the Dragon Kin series. Its filled with violent, blood-thirsty, fierce women and some dragons . I love them. The world building is rich and vibrant.
Carrie
Act Your Age, Eve Brown, by Thalia Hibbert was a gorgeous and heartbreaking ode to the weight of masking and the judgment autistic people, and especially undiagnosed autistic women carry. It’s also hot af, and one scene convinced my hubs to get *cough*creative*cough* in new ways.
Farai
Steel Pack Alphas by Reece Barden - this one falls under paranormal romance . There lots of shifters, fated mates, and requires you to suspend your disbelief to fall into this world. My local library had the ebook set of the books and I read them all and had many a discussion with Carrie about how the author chose to write the characters and what we found refreshing . As a writer I cannot help but dissect stories as I read them but this one was a continuous series done right.
Carrie
The Stranger I Wed, by Harper St. George. Also, Eliza and the Duke, and as soon as my Libby hold comes through, Imma bet I’ll recommend The Dove and the Rogue too. Historicals have my heart forever, and these historicals were fan-freakin-tastic. The Stranger I wed also has the best trope–marriage of convenience. Yes, please, give me a man who yearns for the wife he married for money and discovers that she is so much more than he expected.
Farai
Kait Nolans In a Kilt Series was fun. I’ve been into book series where everything is wrapped up in a neat bow at the end of it. Life is already so full of unanswered and open questions we have to live with. I love a highlands story. I mentioned Lisa Rayne in last years post but if you are into historical scots fiction here is one for you too.
Carrie
Another recommendation for Kait Nolan - Hero, Unexpected. I will EAT UP a small town romance. Throw in mostly retired drag performers as fairy godmothers, a friends to enemies to marriage of convenience theme, heavy yearning, and meddling (for good and ill) family and leave me alone with my book and tea please.
Carrie
I Got Abducted by Aliens and Trapped in a Rom-Com, by Kimberly Lemming. Look, if you prefer your anthropological and anti-colonial commentary with a side of prehensile, suctioning tails and a double mate system designed to fill all her *cough* needs, this is the book for you. It’s absolute absurdity, whip smart satire, and something you definitely don’t want your kid connecting their headphones to as you listen.
Farai:
Laurie Gilmore’s cuties cottagecore Pumpkin Spice Cafe series was cozy and adorable. I am always wondering how folks come up with the concepts for their stories and this one is no different. Its formulaic by I love me a formula.
Carrie
Violet Thistlewaite Is Not A Villain Anymore, by Emily Krempholtz. This cozy fantasy romance hit just right. The deeper messages of guilt and harm and rebuilding are timely, but the way Violet and Nathaniel circle each other, they way they fall in love, longing for emotional intimacy and openness with each other, was perfection.
Farai
Katee Robert's Neon Gods is retelling of a modern greek romances was fire, very hot and steamy. I am typically not a fan of modern retellings of things but this worked for me!
Carrie
The Antiquarian’s Object of Desire, by India Holton. Yes, this is the third in the series, and yes, you can read this first. Friends to lovers can be a special sort of challenge, and Holton got it right here. Somehow, in all her books, she manages to lean into the absurd (Magical antiques! Ghosts in the bedroom!) without ever losing the emotional weight that gives her books staying power. Imagine Anne Shirley weeping to Marilla over dying her hair green, only grown-up, and subtle.
Farai - Tricia O Malley’s Loves a Witch. How fun would it be if we lived in a world where magic was real and that major inconveniences could be fixed with magic too. It has some familial angst, dragons, and the over arching theme present in romance novels to just let go and surrender.
Carrie
Power by Kathy Lockheart. I am not a fan of billionaire romance. Besides the fact that being a billionaire is fundamentally unethical, the power dynamics have me wanting to scream “RUN BEFORE HE MURDERS YOU AND GETS AWAY WITH IT!” All that aside, this book’s entire theme is power and risk, and I’ve rarely seen it examined so well. There’s a skeevy friend, workplace harassment, a secret relationship, and decisions about who to believe.
Happy Reading and Rootin Tootingly yours
Farai and Carrie
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