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At 31, I'm looking to read my first romance novel. Suggestions?
Hi! Growing up a boy, I was always too afraid to read Romance. I didn't want to get made fun of or give anyone clues about the way I felt about my gender and sexuality.
Besides the fact I identify as transfemme, I'm also much older and don't give a shit what anyone thinks now.
Can anyone recommend me a romance novel? I wanna add the genre to my reading. Fantasy/sci-fi splashed in would be cool but not required at all.
Please tell me your FAVORITE romance novel as opposed to the "classes" or "the best". I wanna know what you like. I think that will end up with more unique and specific vibes.
Ty xoxo
My first romance novel was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen as an older teen. I liked it a lot that I've read her other books.
It can be a little hard depending on what type of reader you are, but it's so fundamental to the history of romance as a genre and its story definitely holds up. I'll admit I'm not generally a romance reader, but it's a fantastically well-crafted romance if you can get past its age. And if you're good at reading older stuff with that level of vocabulary, her stuff is generally high quality even if the others aren't quite as famous as good ol' P&P.
What struck me with reading Jane Austen is the verbosity of her prose. English isn't my first language so it can be a slog to read her books. But otherwise I love her romance books, I have reread them many times.
Oh yeah it's a very different style than modern novels in that regard. It can be a struggle to get through the vocabulary even as a native English speaker, especially if you don't read many other books from the same era. If you can get past the language, though, the plot and story are more familiar to modern readers than a lot of other 1800s novels imo, it's much closer to a modern romcom in its structure than, say, Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre.
I was sat down and forced to watch the BBC miniseries by a good friend after she discovered I'd neither watched nor read it. I insisted I hated romances but... yeah, I was so hooked I protested when she dragged me away to stretch our legs halfway through. I'm not sure if watching that series before reading the book would help, but I do know that after watching it, I immediately chewed through the book and its been a regular rewatch and reread ever since. And while I still don't particularly care for the romance genre, it did open my mind enough that I started giving recommendations a chance and have found a few others I did end up enjoying as well!
Edit: OP, I see you're planning on buying a couple. Don't forget to check your local library! It's has a lot of older classics in ebook format,including P&P.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. Love, mystery, sci-fi-ish. Clever writing and asks some heavy questions.
Also by Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day is one of my favourite books of all time, largely for its beautiful, moving, and subtle romance. It's more a character study than a true romance, but if you're willing to do a lot of reading between the lines, it's deeply affecting.
It's a rare book that made me laugh, cry, and think. It has permanently altered the way I live, read, and write. I return to it often, both mentally and physically.
It's a good candidate for that Books that changed your perception thread actually.
Thanks for the suggestion will definitely check that out!
This is not a genre I have a particular interest in, so take these suggestions with a grain of salt, but I enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (sci-fi, kind of) and The Clocktaur War series by T. Kingfisher (fantasy).
One of the first Fantasy Romance novels I read in recent years is Master of Crows by Grace Draven, and I really enjoyed that one. It's not perfect, but it does an excellent job of building up sexual tension between the MCs, and it's also a magic master/apprentice fantasy story about killing an evil God.
The Sharing Knife series by Lois McMaster Bujold is another solid pick imo, if you don't mind a significant age gap between the leads. It's icky in principle, but well executed. Content warning for a rather clichéd attempted sexual assault and rescue scene early on.
I think Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher is also a good choice for someone's first fantasy romance book.
I also really enjoyed Burning Bright by Melissa McShane, it's alt history with a fire wielder main character. It's a bit fantasy-of-manners, but most of it takes place on a Navy ship.
These books vary drastically in their "spice level". Let me know if you want details, or look them up on romance.io :)
I left a bunch more recs for fantasy with good romantic subplots over in this thread the other day, check that out too: https://tildes.net/~books/16aq/i_love_fantasy_books_with_quality_plot_character_development_and_well_written_romantic_content
I highly recommend Swordheart by T Kingfisher. Someone else recommended her Clocktaur Wars series but the romance in that stretches the whole series instead of having a HEA (Happily Ever After) at the end of one book. So you’d be in for more of a commitment with that one.
I’m also going to echo the Grace Draven recommendation. Imo you can’t you really go wrong with any of her books, but my favorites are her Fallen Empire Series. The world building and politics are amazing; she’s got different cultures and an established history, and the books themselves are fantastic imo.
If you’re a Beauty and the Beast fan, Radiance or Entreat Me by Grace Draven are fantastic. Radiance is actually about an arranged marriage between a man and a woman of different species who both think the other is hideous, and how they slowly become friends and fall in love in spite of that. Entreat Me is about a cursed lord and his castle but is very different from the Disney version.
I know you asked about our favorites, but I’ve read so many great ones that I can’t pick one. The best I can do is a list of favorite authors.
I've been eyeing T. Kingfisher for a while now! Your recommendation is the extra kick in the pants to check it out I think.
I plan on buying 2 romance novels to get me started. Pretty sure this is gonna be one of them :)
Happy to help! I don’t know if you’re into audiobooks, but hers are pretty good. Don’t forget to check your local library’s online catalog (if they have one), mine had most of her books available.
I'm someone who never read Romance, and still generally don't, but an old partner of mine got me really into Bridgerton. The show is pretty great as well.
I really enjoy the Bridgerton Netflix show. I hadn't considered reading the books. Thanks! This is a good idea
This was going to be my recommendation. I'm not a big romance reader but I devoured the Bridgerton series. I read each book in one to two days, all the way through the series. (I'm also a fan of the show. The books are better, IMO.)
I just wanted to thanks to everyone who gave me a suggestion :)
I've got a good idea of what I'm going to read from the suggestions! I'm going to make an new post when I've read them and report back with my thoughts.
I'm excited, see y'all next week!!
I'm going to recommend a couple offbeat choices. First, in the fantasy genre I like the Poison Study series by Mindy Klasky. I have only read the original trilogy and I believe she continued it, but I quite enjoyed those first three.
Next, the first three books in the Kushiel's Legacy series (Kushiel's Dart/Kushiel's Chosen/Kushiel's Avatar) are excellent. I would read some Goodreads reviews on them as the romantic scenes are varied and get pretty intense, but I loved the sex positive, enthusiastic consent world Carey built.
Lastly, you didn't mention mystery, but my favorite romantic mystery series is the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. If you heard of the movie "One For The Money"...well please don't judge it on that. That's the title of the first book and it's my favorite beach read type of romance featuring hot mess express "bounty hunter" Stephanie Plum. (A bounty hunter who prefers to get her subjects back to jail with talk, keeps her gun in her cookie jar because she hates to carry it, and has a pet hamster.)
Enjoy! It's a really wide genre that gets a lot of unfair grief.
As much as I love Stephanie Plum, the series really isn’t romance because it doesn’t have a HEA (Happily Ever After) or any kind of lasting commitment. It does have a romantic subplot, but the romance is definitely not the focus.
I’m not saying that Romances can’t have mysteries or that (imo) there has to be a HEA at the end of a single book for it to be a Romance.
For a mystery Romance series, I recommend The Veronica Speedwell Mysteries by Deanna Raybourn. It’s set in the Victorian Era. The FMC is a very forward thinking lepidopterist and the MMC is a broody and scarred natural historian/taxidermist.
A Court of Thorns and Roses! By Sarah J. Maas. There are five books in the series currently! Fantasy romance.
It can be a little extra at times, maybe even a little cringe for reasons that are hard to articulate and may just be a "me" thing (I'll put it this way: the first book reads a bit like fanfiction at times, which makes sense because that's how the author actually got her start in writing). But honestly and shamelessly, I BINGED the series. The first book is just the teaser; I LOVED the second book - I'm an absolute sucker for tension and anticipation and the author, IMO, is REALLY good at tapping into that, especially with book 2. So so good. Book three was also good with some "shit is going down" themes; the fourth is fluffy filler and skippable tbh unless you want All The Story; and book five is just downright nasty (in the fun way!).
Oh yeah, the books are explicit. My husband calls the books my "faerie porn" and I mean, he is not wrong. But it IS plot and romance over smut. It just doesn't pull punches when it comes to "scenes", is all.
So yeah. That's my vote. Are the books going to blow your mind with amazing writing, and hold up to a rigid critical media analysis? Nah probably not. Again, there are some cringeworthy moments. But are these books easy to pick up, addictive, fun to read, and really, really spicy? Yes. Oh, yes.
A mainstream romance novel I enjoyed was Beach Read by Emily Henry. For LGBT romance, you might also like the "For the Love of the Game" series by Alex Washoe. I especially enjoyed Racing Hearts.
Alice Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis is pretty much my fave romance novel of all time - academic setting and they're mostly not over the top.
It should be great for getting into the genre.
My favourite romance is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern--perhaps my all-time favourite book. It’s a romance/fantasy novel in which two magicians in Victorian-era England are pitted against one another in a competition with rules they do not know and masters they do not understand. The timeline can be somewhat dizzying to follow on occasion as it leaps backwards, forwards, and sometimes sideways... but I found it very much worthwhile in the end. The atmosphere in Morgenstern’s writing is sublime—scenes unfold and reveal themselves like a dark, lucid dream.
I quite enjoyed The Night Circus, but I would personally not consider the romance front and center enough to put it into the capital R Romance genre. There's also no "Happyily Ever After" or generally optimistic ending, which is a requirement to really sell something as Romance.
I did enjoy the relationship in the book though, just giving some extra context for OP to know what they're getting into.
That’s true, it definitely is more fantasy than most romantasy novels.
I know there are some very strict criteria in romance circles for what constitutes a “real” romance. But, as someone who has read a few capital R-romances (The Hating Game, Archer’s Voice, Pride and Prejudice, etc) but isn’t part of the capital-R romance community, I find books like The Night Circus give me more of the feelings I’m looking for than many of the capital-R romances out there.
As for the ending,
very vague spoilers for the end of the night circus
all know is I was crying happy tears 🤷♂️ . I find the guaranteed HEA undermines my enjoyment of the book because then there’s no real tension as to whether or not “love will conquer all”. I know this is an old debate in the romance community, though.If you are a Star Wars fan, Lost Stars by Claudia Grey is an accidentally Romance story lol. The story is about young lovers that end up believing different ideals. They grow up Imperial and one turns Rebel when they lose their belief in the good the empire was supposedly doing. Ive read it multiple times now and will read it again in the future.
That actually sounds lovely! I do really like Star Wars, but I'd be lying if I said I had any deep lore knowledge. I'll give the book a look. Thanks so much!
I recently finished Red, White and Royal Blue and quite enjoyed it
Call Me by Your Name is excellent, but it's also one of the only romance novels I've read recently as I don't frequent the genre. The movie adaptation is *chef's kiss* too. If you're looking for more of a classic, then I'd echo the Pride and Prejudice suggestion.
I am not a romantic person, but one of the participants of my book club is. My favorite of her book picks so far has been Beard Science by Penny Reid. There is a whole series that is intertwined, which is common for the genre. It's easy to get into, is light, and has a nice subplot. I believe there is also a cozy mystery series spin-off.
My favourite romance novel is probably one of the Georgette Heyer novels. Sylvester perhaps, though Stephen Fry makes a good case for Cotillion. They are quite dialogue-heavy, though.
In terms of books that aren't in the romance genre but have strong romantic plots, The Age of Innocence and The English Patient are my favourites.
In all honesty, the romance genre is full of absolute trash and that's where it finds its footing. They know that's what audiences want and there's even enough of an audience for excessively weird stuff.
I would honestly just recommend walking into a bookstore, go to the romance section and find something that speaks to you. Rock band on the road breaking on the rules? Women who realize they only want to bang werewolves? Alien affairs? They'll have it. The only exception is if you want something that's outright smutty in which case you'll have to look online, but that's into erotica territory.
Generally any books that aren't hot trash tend to... graduate out of the romance category, and end up slated as adult fiction. Jane Austen as an obvious example, but there's many new books that release this way too. Basically, publishers won't release them as a "romance" title if they're not specifically built for that genre.
By the way when I say these books are "trash" I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just the way the genre is. These books are meant to be reads that don't challenge the reader, don't make you think too hard, and don't linger in your thoughts long after they're done. They're disposable - many many mystery books are the same way, where authors will pump them out nonstop for their audiences to snap up. Harlequin Romance basically defined the modern romance genre and even ran subscriptions so you could just continually get the next book delivered.