Hi friends! How are you all today? I’m writing this on a Tuesday, and I am doing the very Melbournian thing of drinking a chai latte, sitting in a cafe in the city and doing work. Is this adulthood? Possibly the pinnacle of it haha.
Today, I just wanted to briefly talk about the recent romance novels I have read. Recently, I have been turning to romance novels when I’m feeling down or meh and need a little pick me up. Romance books works wonders for this and also for helping you out of reading slumps (which was me at the beginning of April). I love being able to sit down on the couch on the weekend and binge an adorable, fun and sweet romance to feel something in the deep recesses of my heart.
In saying that though, I don’t think I have read alot of romance novels this year, I have read a few books that also have romance plot lines but are not specifically romance novels, do you get me? Am I making sense at all? I feel like I can’t construct a coherent sentence right now.
Anyway, let’s take a look at some of the romance novels I have recently read!
I think I have spoken about 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍. This is technically a historical romance novel but everyone is queer and it is so silly and camp and I absolutely adore it. 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔 𝑯𝒂𝒍𝒍 is quickly becoming one of my favourite romance writers because he is honestly doing something in his books that I don’t find anywhere else. I also think because he writes so many and such different romance novels, it feels like you have something new almost always when you open up one of his books. He centres queer characters – again, he varies in queer representation in his casts but also in the main characters, which is something that not many romance writes, even queer romance writers, do – and I love the celebration of queer love we are able to read. I just want to always read that! 𝑺𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒂𝒃𝒖𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒔 is hilarious, ridiculous and adorable and it centres the character Valentine, a Duke, who wants to do his duty to his family to marry a woman and have children because that’s what Duke’s are supposed to do.
Val is a precious boy who is very much lost and still trying to figure out who he is and how he feels about this burden placed on him. When he proposes marriage to Bella, a young woman who is family friends with the Duke and who was ‘promised’ to Val when she was young, Bella runs away, refusing his hand from marriage. Bonny, Bella’s sister, implores Val to run after Bella as a testament of his love. Val goes along with it because he feels like he has too and Bonny comes along.
Val and Bonny fall in love with each other in Val’s quest to find Arabella and win her hand in marriage. Val discovers a side of himself he didn’t really know existed or never really wanted to acknowledge because it didn’t quite fit in with the image he and everyone had of the Duke of Malvern. Although this book is incredibly silly and ridiculous, there were many moments that made me tear up. Valentine’s character, his journey in understanding himself was so just so goddamn wonderful. Be mindful though that when I say ridiculous, I mean ridiculous. Bella’s character will annoy the shit out of you and sometimes, you will want to slap Valentine upside the head because of some of the decisions he makes. But this was truly such an adorable and fun romance book which I absolutely loved. 5 stars.
It wouldn’t be a romance book based blog post if I didn’t scream from the rooftops my love for 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒍𝒂𝒉 𝑮𝒓𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝑫𝒐𝒆𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝑪𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒃𝒚 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝑯𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈-𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒌𝒆. I think I have screamed about this book so many times but this sapphic romance novel was truly a breath of fresh air. We follow two characters, Delilah Green and Delilah’s sister, Astrid’s best friend, Claire. Delilah is a lesbian woman and Claire is bisexual and they both don’t expect the other. This was a lot more emotional than I anticipated as in, you don’t realise that these two characters are personally dealing with a lot of shit and as a result, they either don’t talk about it to each other and miscommunicate or just believe that it’s easier not to share parts of themselves to the other, in fear of being emotionally vulnerable.
But I ate it up. Usually, miscommunication annoys me to no end but these two were so adorable and their feelings were ones that I related to in some ways. Claire and Delilah were just so cute and happy together that I melted. Yes, they fall in love in literally two weeks but is that not the sapphic experience?! hahah. I’m not saying that this book was perfect but I just really loved it. I cannot wait for the sequel! 5 stars.
Another romance novel I read recently was 𝑹𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑯𝒂𝒓𝒅 𝒃𝒚 𝑵𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒊 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉. Now, I enjoyed this. It wasn’t anything amazing but it still was cute and fun and fast-paced. I am unfortunately a sucker for a boss/secretary romance even though in real life, I would be questioning the power dynamics and ethics of such a relationship. But in romance novels, it just makes sense.
In this book, we follow Gabriel Bishop and Charlotte Bird. Gabriel was a big name in rugby, but after sustaining a career-ending injury, he turned to business in which he flourished. Charlotte is a woman, trying her hardest to blend in as to not get hurt. She had a terrible ex who hurt her and as a result, craves safety and security.
I’m going to be honest, I don’t remember much about this book. It wasn’t entirely memorable. There were a few things that annoyed me, and the third act conflict was just ridiculous but again, it was fun and easy to read over a weekend! 3 stars.
Oh, yes, let’s talk about 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒃𝒚 𝑶𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒂 𝑫𝒂𝒅𝒆.
I LOVE THESE TWO BOOKS SO MUCH. EVERYTHING ABOUT THEM WERE WONDERFUL. In both books, we have incredibly interesting women who know who they are and refuse to have anything but what they deserve and I loved them both – April and Lauren and just so lovely and were so awesome to read from their perspectives.
But their relationships with their significant others, Marcus and Alex respectively, were some of the best hetero romance I’ve read in a long time. The banter and deepening love between both of the main relationships were just so freaking ADORABLE. I loved watching how each couple fell in love, watching as their banter turned into something more. I absolutely loved it. 𝑺𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝑨𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒕 I gave 4 stars, and 𝑨𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑭𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔. I gave 4.5 stars.
And that’s it for today, friends! The five recent romance novels I have read! I hope you enjoyed it. If you have any romance recommendations, please let me know! I’m always on the lookout for great romances.
I hope you all are having a wonderful day/night! Take care and stay safe.
Until next time, happy reading!
All the love,
allie
xx
✨ 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓵𝓲𝓫𝓻𝓪𝓻𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓪𝓵𝓮𝔁𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓻𝓪 ✨ 
I LOVED SPOILER ALERT SO MUCH AND I’M SO GLAD YOU LIKED IT, TOO!!!!!!!!!!
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IT WAS SO SO GOOD AND I CANT WAIT FOR THE THIRD ONE OMGGGG
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