Last week Matt & I celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Fifteen years sounds like awhile and we are getting close to that "been together half our lives" milestone (actually, since Matt is slightly younger, he already has hit it a few weeks ago, I'm not for a few months). We spent our 10th anniversary in New York with a Luke who was the age Sam is now. It was 40° and raining on our wedding day and we had rain again on our 10th. Luckily, no rain for the 15th!
In honor of that recent anniversary (on the 13th!) here are 13 romance(ish)* novels that I have enjoyed!
*The romance genre is typically defined as books that have a Happily Ever After or HEA. I'm not sure all of these qualify by that standard by all have pretty predominately romantic story lines.
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Historical Fiction
A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams
If I was pressed to name one singular favorite book, I think this would be the one that I would pick. Told in alternating time lines, the early 1930s and ~7 years later (I think 1931 and 1938) from Lily' perspective who starts the story falling in love with a slightly forbidden boy while they are finishing up their final year of college. Seven years later, that boy is now married to Lily's former BFF and their lives are thrown back together during a summer on the New England coast. I love the time period and the romance and the background of history.
Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald
I have thought so many times, after the fact, that this book should have been on my Best of 2019 list because it really stuck with me, even years later (I distinctly remember finishing it in bed with a flashlight at the lake so not to wake Luke or Sam (or Matt) in the same room!). It takes place almost entirely in the Grand Central Terminal in the 1930s and involves a woman out of time, Manhattanhenge, and a man who finally connects the dots of why this woman is mysteriously showing up and then disappearing.
The Forgotten Room by Beatriz Williams, Karen White, and Lauren Willig
Three women, decades apart, all spend time in a forgotten room in a mansion in Manhattan. They discover secrets of the past and figure out more about themselves. The first time I read this I literally drew a flow chart trying to keep straight who was connected to who and how. I love the slight mystery and how each woman is taking her life's path into her hands a bit. And there's romance, three of them!
YA
The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
This book destroys my reading every single time I read it. It is so hard for me to pickup another book because this book makes me feel so many things. You have a damaged mysterious teenager who doesn't say a word and a loner boy who everyone avoids because everyone around him dies (or maybe he avoids everyone else). She doesn't know people stay away from him. So she doesn't. Heads up for some slightly graphic flashback scenes.
Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey
This was a really fun book that packed in the rom-com references and made me really wish I had time for more solo movies in my life. Annie just wishes her life was a like a rom-com where you bump into love (literally) and then you get your happily ever after. Then a movie starts filming in her Columbus neighborhood and she bumps into the young star. Maybe it could be love?
Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Amy & Roger are teens right out of high school and are driving across the country together for reasons that I don't remember and barely matter to the plot. They aren't friends, barely know each other from what I remember, but here they are on a long journey together. They have nearly endless time to talk and figure each other out on their long drive and somehow, even with those endless hours in the car, fall in love. I don't know, that's pretty miraculous but it worked for them and was fun to follow along. Made me wish I had a cross-country road trip in my future.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
This is the first in a wonderful trilogy about Lara Jean and love letters she wrote to past loves. She never intended for those letter to get out but, thanks to a spunky little sister, they did. Now she has a fake boyfriend and complications abound. Come for the charming YA romance and stay for the lovely family dynamics between Lara Jean, her two sisters, and their loving widower Dad. (I wrote a post about these here.)
Adult Contemporary
Bookshop by the Sea by Denise Hunter
I JUST finished this one earlier this month and it was so charming that it got included. Denise Hunter writes reliable Christian romance with just a hint of Jesus and steamy kisses as far as anything goes. There is a woman trying to set-up a bookshop after she's given all she could to her family. He's a sky diver. They dated in high school and then he left but they are thrown back together at her sister's wedding. Then there is a hurricane. And they make the foolish decision to put up drywall with nails (WHY?!?!?). But if you can stretch the believably of the speed of remodel, this was charming.
What You Wish For by Katherine Center
Samantha is a teacher with the dreamiest school library I've every heard of. Duncan is her new "by the books" principal which might be all well and good but Samantha knew him at a different school before where that's not how he was and she likes the wilder version better. I think there is also a whale saving in this book? It was one I was eager to pick up and really enjoyed when I was done.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
This was a smash hit last summer that I saw EVERY WHERE (and I bought myself). Gus is a serious writer and former college rival to January writes romance. They end up next door to each other on the shores of Lake Michigan (the cover is very misleading, I've spent time on the shores of Lake Michigan in the summer and there is about 2 weeks where it might actually be comfortable to lay next to the water in a swimsuit to read). They challenge each other to write a book in the other's genre and then end up spending a lot of time together. On the slightly steamer side of the books here.
Grace Grows by Shelle Sumners
This is another book that I have read many times and the romance never gets old for me. Grace is maybe a little too similar to me, wants everything to be just so, sticks to the plan, never deviates. Tyler is a musician new to NYC who never has a plan and keeps showing up in her life. He is not a part of her plan. Then he becomes a big deal recording artist but he still keeps showing up to walk her neighbors' dogs. Slightly more open door than some others on this list (but not by much).
Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Christina Lauren can be hit or miss for me but this was one of theirs that I've enjoyed the most (but I haven't read them all). Josh & Hazel have been friends for 10 years. Definitely friends. But now they are both single at the same time and make a deal to set each other up on blind dates. It's fun for them, helps each other get out there. There's nothing else to it right? Because they definitely aren't interested in each other. Also on the slightly steamer end, I think.
Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
Can we call a book from 2005 a classic of the genre yet? I've read this at least 3 times and have really enjoyed it every time, it doesn't even feel very dated for being 16 years old (everyone is just missing texting and even more constant screen time). Rachel is the "good girl". Darcy is her wilder best friend from childhood in Indiana (hey!). They are still friends in Manhattan but it's really only their childhood they have in common. And that they are in love with the same guy, Dex. Who Rachel knew first and secretly crushed on before Darcy met him. Look, people make some poor choices in this book but it is still so fun and they at least feel guilty about it. I know, cheating is wrong but...somehow it feels justified here? Don't judge me for liking this book, it is a really enjoyable read.
Well, now I want to go reread all of these. Have you read any of them? I'm always open to recommendations!
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