*Spoiler-free.*
On a personal note, I have been reading a lot of Young Adult Romance books lately. Until recently, I would’ve said it’s my least favourite genre (an excuse something along the lines of ‘it’s not difficult to make romantic plots predictable and cheesy, and the characters can be two-dimensional and same-y’). I’m still convinced this is true for a lot of books (I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Colleen Hoover), but throughout the course of August, I’ve found several popular titles that have proven themselves and successfully lived up to their Instagram and #BookTok hype. Note that these novels are all focused on predominantly straight relationships — this is not for a lack of interest on my part, but rather because it’s been a while since I’ve come across a well-written LGBT+ romance (but I’m always open to suggestions). Here are my best recommendations for feel-good holiday reads and stories that will give you faith in the romance genre if you’re not usually a fan.
The Love Hypothesis
Ali Hazelwood’s bestselling book started off as a Reylo fan-fiction (the shipping of fictional characters Rey and Kylo Ren from the Star Wars sequels). This may initially put you off and it would be fairly understandable — fan-fictions turned into commercial fiction aren’t always the best ideas (safe to say I was not a fan of Anna Todd’s After series). However, it’s worth noting that, in the final published version, you would not be able to tell this novel was originally written with non-original characters (there’s nothing Star Wars-y about it). Set in the modern world of Stanford’s biology department, Olive is a fiercely independent PhD student embarking on an ambitious project, and Ben is the grumpy doctor who gets roped into a fake dating scenario with her. If you enjoy the fake dating, grumpy vs. sunshine or guy-falls-first tropes, this is the one for you. TWs: Sexual harassment, mild mentions of illness/death.
The Kiss Quotient
You might have heard this one is about maths, and you would be forgiven for the hesitation to read the following. Rest assured, this is nothing like Andy Weir’s The Martian (with so much mathematical and scientific jargon in there that a regular human being can only pretend to understand). Written by Helen Hoang, this novel offers fantastic representation of autism presenting in women (the author herself is autistic); the lead character Stella has found her passion in econometrics and statistical data, but struggles to form intimate relationships with her partners with what she perceives to be stunted social skills. In a sort of reversed Pretty Woman scenario, Stella hires a male escort, Michael, to help her with sex and romance. This is a charming story between two characters who quickly form a meaningful connection, and works well as a feel-good fast read. TWs: Internal ableism, sexual assault, abandonment.
The Unhoneymooners
Christina Lauren was made to write the enemies-to-lovers trope. After self-proclaimed unluckiest person alive Olive is the only guest bar one to avoid food poisoning at her sister’s wedding, she is coerced into a tricky situation. As her sister’s identical twin, she is able to take the bride’s place on her honeymoon in Hawaii, but she gets stuck with her mortal enemy, Ethan. The two pretend-newly-weds have to put on a front of love and intimacy, but it soon becomes natural as their feelings develop for real. While I wouldn’t rate this as highly as the other novels in this list, it’s certainly worth a read (especially if you like the only-one-bed cliché). TWs: Cheating, mild body shaming.
It Happened One Summer
I didn’t like the premise of this book: Popular LA party-girl gets sent away Wild Child-style to a small fishing village and left to fend for herself with little money or friends, but she’s conveniently picked up by the grumpy fisherman who harbours an unexplainable interest in her. However, I was pleased to follow Piper along in her much-needed character development and this made for a satisfying and enjoyable read. Tessa Bailey has turned the success of this book into a series and you’ll certainly want to continue with it. While one might doubt the fast pacing the book begins with, stay with it, and everything will fall into place. TWs: Grief and loss depictions, mentions of death.
This wraps up the best romance books I’ve read in August. ‘Romantic fiction and sagas’ is a genre fueling a 49% novel sales leap from last year (Armitstead, 2022), with household names such as the Bridgerton, Heartstopper, and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series on screens being adapted from popular books. Although I still find the genre to be a hit or miss, there are some hidden gems also waiting to be discovered. And in 2022, we can agree that we all deserve some happy lovey-dovey stories to cheer us up, if that’s your thing.
Figure 1: A collection of YA Romance titles, Goodreads.
References
Armitstead, C. (2022). ‘Why we’re falling in love with romance novels all over again’, The Guardian [online]. Available at: https://amp.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jan/16/romance-novels-book-genre-holiday-romance-pandemic (Accessed 25/08/22).