My Evolving Affair With Romance Novels

Romance novels have taken over my to-be-read list! I thought I was still sticking to my old reading habits - diving into a fair mix of books. Some literary fiction, some genre. I've started dipping into poetry. But nothing has grabbed my attention lately like Romance. A quick look at recent reads from my Goodreads shelf shows how many of them have been romance.

I've also realized from this screenshot that
I've read a lot of graphic novels lately too.

About two years ago, I blogged about reading romances. I had become a fan of Melissa Foster and a few others. Their typical style: A couple meet. They're attracted to each other. They get together. Something happens to keep them apart. They work past it and live happily ever after. They are still fun reads.

There are two things that have been attracting me to my current choices in the Romance genre. The first is interracial romances. That's my life. My Hubby is white and his experiences with family and culture are different than mine. I'm not looking for romances that exactly mirror my relationship (frankly, there aren't really any that exist). I find any interracial romance interesting. From The Chai Factor, to The Kiss Quotient, to Duke by Default. (Another fun part of Duke by Default, is the American/Scottish dynamic added to the mix.) The other dynamic has been what also makes The Kiss Quotient and Duke by Default compelling. The female lead of The Kiss Quotient has high-functioning autism (Asperger's). Not only does she navigate love, parents, and cultural differences, but she learns to accept her own differences with someone who loves her exactly the way she is. In Duke by Default, the female lead is labeled as "flighty", "a party girl", and "unreliable." What she learns as an adult is that she has a form of ADHD. With this new knowledge, she learns how to better navigate her life. Those are the serious issues that I find reading about in these relationships fascinating.

The other thing that has been attracting me to Romances is the humour. I've been reading Romantic Comedies. Sometimes, you need a laugh. Man Hands is a good example. Even the title makes me laugh. The next book in the series is Man Card. That's enough to make me want to read it. There are definitely a lot of the same romantic tropes that you're going to find in any romance story, but the quirky situations had me laughing out loud. 

All these books are full of strong women. Most of them are over 30 and very relatable. They're working towards their dreams, being independent, fighting with family, coming together to support other women. They're people I would be friends with. The men too. They learn, grow, are kind, protective without smothering the woman in their life... or if they to do start smothering, they back off and admit they were wrong. They have their own issues, also relatable. Of course, they're also all super studly. 

So, this is me coming to accept the level of Romance in my reading life. Looking at that picture of 30 books, 12 of them fall easily into the Romance category. I always thought I read more Sci-Fi/Fantasy, but not in the last few months. Maybe it's just me looking for a laugh and a happy ending. 

Vacation Reads - Part 2

The Kiss Quotient was just the first of three (I think) books with inter-racial couples (Michael is half Vietnamese) I've read this summer. (Also, I'm not counting Bridal Boot Camp because it was a short story.) Inter-racial couples really grab my attention, for obvious reasons for anyone who knows me or anyone who has read my blog since the beginning. That brings me too...

The Wedding Date

I sort of loved this story. Jasmine Guillory's heroine is black and hero is white. That is not the main focus of the plot, but it does play a part. There's a wedding (obviously), some misunderstandings, and some emotional moments. Any talk about the differences in race are natural to the evolution of the relationship. At least they felt natural to me, moments I could really relate to. What I appreciated about how Guillory handled it, was the thoughtfulness she gave to both characters. Alexa makes Drew really think about the differences in the way they grew up. I also really liked how Drew never doubted Alexa, even when she commented about a guy he thought of as a nice guy. The Wedding Date had a fun "rom-com" feeling. I think it would make an adorable Netflix movie.

Hearts at Stake

Like Faefever, Hearts at Stake was one of the only books I read that didn't have an adult romance at the centre of it. Hearts at Stake is a vampire book. One of the first I have read in a long time. It's also Young Adult, again a departure from my other steamy summer reads. The main reason I read it: author Alyxandra Harvey will be speaking at the York Writer's Conference this October. I have registered to attend her workshop about genre-blending. I enjoyed her first book in the Drake Chronicles and look forward to reading more of her work.

Steeped in Love

Together We Read is a digital book club with participating libraries Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Steeped in Love was the selection for August. I saw it on the homepage and the synopsis gave me that summer rom-com feeling, with a little extra that spoke to me. One of the main characters is a writer, suffering from writer's block. The other main character is a tea-lover and tea leaf reader. I LOVE tea. I'm probably drinking tea right now. It's one of those stories I had to read. Author Julie Evelyn Joyce is also very Canadian (just take a peek at her profile pic). Steeped in Love was funny, sweet, and had a great feel-good ending. Also, unlike several of the adult romances I read this summer, the "steam-level" was rather low. The story of Abbie and Ethan is heartwarming. It made me smile.

This summer I also read the sequel to The Kiss Quotient, The Bride Test, also featuring an autistic main character. Again, a fantastic story.

I read, Seaside Nights, Seaside Embrace, Seaside Lovers, and Promise My Love by Melissa Foster. Still clearly one of my favourite romance writers.

I read Reckless In Love, and Fearless in Love, by Bella Andre and Jennifer Scully, who have me loving the Maverick Billionaires.

I also read Chemical Reaction, the sixth book in the Nerds of Paradise series. It's Merry Farmer's last Nerd book for a while. She typically writers Historical Romances (Bodice-Rippers?), and it'll be a while before another Nerd book pops up. I don't think I've read a Historical Romance (unless Shadow of Night counts), but if it's written by Farmer, I might give it a try. Ten years ago, I never thought I'd read Romances, but this year, I had a summer filled with them. I think it's the happy endings. The past few years, I've needed more happy endings.

Vacation Reads - Part 1

Summer was busy. There were parties, barbecues, kid-events, family gatherings, and girls and guys nights. It was hot, too rainy, then not rainy enough. Even though summer is technically June 21 to September 23, I always feel like summer doesn't really start until the last weekend in June when school is out. Then something happens, it's like the flick of a switch and suddenly it's fall on September 1 (or August 29 this year).

Like many summers before, there were a lot of long drives, including our family vacation. We visited beautiful Prince Edward Island for the third time. I highly recommend going. PEI is amazing. The people are beyond nice. Everything about the island makes me happy. I plan on continually going. We road-tripped it to PEI from Ontario and it was the beginning of my "summer reading". That involved a lot of Romance of one kind or another. Everything I read this summer was "fun", (except for Faefever's ending and a bunch of Stephen King short stories), and they left me with a smile on my face. I guess I just wanted happy reads in between all the busy days and nights. I picked out a few of the books to share.

Faefever

The ending. Just, whoa. What is going to happen to Mac? I'm very worried about her. I was really hoping that there was going to be a last minute something, but nope. This is probably one of the most major cliffhanger endings I have ever read. It's definitely an ending that comes from a book in the middle of a series. After Mac as the main character, I was left wondering if that would change. I think it's the kind of ending that keeps readers invested in the series.

Bridal Boot Camp

A short story from Meg Cabot. Bridal Boot Camp is essentially a prequel to her upcoming release, No Judgments. It was a cute, fun story, but more than anything, I want to know what happens when the storm hits. It came up in the "Just Added" section of my library's ebooks. An author I like, a readily available short story, a good, fun read, it was an easy selection. 

The Kiss Quotient

Even though I have been reading a lot of love-centred stories, I still like finding stories that are out of the ordinary. That brought me to The Kiss Quotient. Helen Hoang's debut novel is about a single woman finding love, like so many romances. What makes it different is who Stella is. Stella Lane has high-functioning autism/Asperger's. The story follows Stella as she navigates love and life with all her unique qualities. I couldn't put it down. I was a bit surprised at the "steam" level (as I've seen  romance writers/readers call it). The cover and synopsis did not fully describe how hot the book is. Stella and her "love-interest", Michael, were full, complete, complex characters. Michael had his own issues and journey to go on and was just as interesting. I think it's the best Romance I've read this year. It might be one of the best ever.

That's just three of the books I read. Part 2 will be here in [hopefully] a couple days.