Welcome Back to blog! In the spirit of Valentine’s Day, I have compiled a list of the perfect romance novels to read this Valentine’s Day. My list is made up of romance novels I’ve read this past year but feel free to recommend me some more in the comments. I read romance novels year-round and I am open to genres.
Please Note: There are some HarperCollins novels on this list. I have included links to read up on the Union’s fight for a livable wage. As of February 9th, the Union has reached a tentative agreement with the company but asks readers to continue holding the line.
A Proposal They Can’t Refuse is Natalie Caña’s debut novel; and it’s phenomenal. This novel perfectly blends Irish and Puerto Rican cultures in a novel about friendship, scheming grandfathers, and falling in love.
It also features the perfect oh no, they were roommates and bed-sharing trope!
Is what Mr. Ethan Winston of Historically Inaccurate would say!
Hi readers! Remember last week when I shared some of my favorite quotes from Historically Inaccurate? Well today I’m sharing my review for the novel. I received an advanced readers copy of Historically Inaccurate in exchange for my honest review thanks to the team at Colored Pages Blog Tours.
Historically Inaccurate is a new adult story by debut author Shay Bravo. Historically Inaccurate was originally on Wattpad but is now going to be published for the masses. This novel features diverse characters, a Black love interest, College clownery, and finding yourself.
Hey readers! In today’s post, we will take a look at a fluffy YA summer romance featuring an art hoe and an emo-pop star. The story is set in the backdrop of Georgia and on the set of a hot new movie. If all these things sound good, continue reading. If this sounds boring, check out my review of Princess Jellyfish.
Midnight Sun was a dreadful read, but Bet me yanked me right out of my feelings and into a world of bets, Elvis, chicken marsala, Krispy Kreme, and love stories. This enemies to somewhat friends to lovers story will keep you guessing and make you fall in love with all the characters. It might be the best book I read this year. Keep reading if you want to hear what I thought about this romantic contemporary.
The Sun is Also a Star is an #ownvoices novel the author, Nicola Yoon, grew up in Jamaican and Brooklyn, and falls under the YA romance genre. This book is not a quick read, but if you’re up for it, check it out.
It’s been a while since my last post and safe to say the quarantine stress finally got to me. To combat it, I threw myself into sewing and watching animal crossing streams. That was great and all, but I was not able to focus on reading nor creating content for this blog.
I’m feeling much better now, and I hope to be able to get some bookish crafts up soon. For now, though, here is a book review for Beautiful Bastard.
Beautiful Bastard is one of the first books best writing friends Christina and Lauren published together. The first draft of Beautiful Bastard was a twilight inspired fanfiction written by Christina. Although readers won’t be able to tell while reading Beautiful Bastard. To read more about the origins of Christina Lauren, check out this interview.
The spin off to Helen Hoang’s “The Kiss Quotient” tells the story of Khai, Michael’s cousin, who has autism and has never had a girlfriend.
Khai’s everyday routine is to eat a protein bar for breakfast, run to his office, and keep his garden unkempt to annoy his neighbor. Khai likes his life but his Mom thinks Khai is lonely and old enough to be married, so she decides to take matters into her own hands. Khai’s mother, Co, fly’s to Vietnam and makes a deal with My Ngoc Tran, who later changes her name to Esme, one summer in California to fall in love with her son. If the two are incompatible Esme is free to fly home, but Co knows they will work.
Khai aimed a disapproving look at her shoes
“You’re better off walking barefoot than wearing those.”
“But they’re useful. It’s like having a shoe and a knife.“
Helen Hoang
I was a little hesitant to read this book because how often do you hear the story of someone from aboard coming to the U.S to marry an American in order to secure residency status? Often. It feels icky to reduce the immigrant experience to this and because this same story was the main plot point for this novel I was unsure. Although, after reading the Kiss Quotient I had a change of heart. I love Hoang’s writing style and I was eager to read Khai’s story.
Esme may come to the U.S with the intention to gain a residency status but that changes when she falls in love with Khai. Additionally, Esme has a love for learning and enrolls into night school to get a GED. Soon Esme begins to see a future where she can gain temporary residency as a student. By adding Esme’s ambition to her character Hoang adds this layer to the immigrant experience that is often disregarded and ignored. That there is more to someone than people think.
What I really enjoyed about this story was that complexity of both characters. Khai convinced himself a long time ago that he is unable to love someone however, he is willing to marry Esme so that she can gain citizenship if that is what she truly desires. In reality, Khai is secretly in love with her, he just has not admitted it to himself. On the other hand, Esme is driven by the desire to go to University because some colleges will pay for international student’s family members to come to the U.S and Esme really wants to get her family out of poverty.
One of my favorite scenes in this book occurs when Esme visits 99 Ranch market for the first time. Just by visiting this grocery store Esme is reminded of her home. I think this scene is beautiful because it ties together food and culture: it reminds us that places like the grocery store serve as a time capsule of home.
Overall, I give the Bride test 5 stars and would recommend it for fans of romance novels or anyone who is looking for diverse characters in a novel. This book is also spicy and we have a few mature scenes but in my opinion there are way more sex scenes in the Kiss Quotient.
livinginlibros.com 