With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, February is the perfect month to dive into the romance genre and pick up a book to celebrate the holiday.
Romance used to be my preferred genre, but reading too many romance novels burnt me out. Now, when I go to pick up a book, I rarely find myself reaching for romance novels; oftentimes, it feels like I’m reading the same plot in each book, just with different characters.
When I do find a romance novel that I enjoy, it makes the book extremely special to me. These six recommendations are a few of the most unique romance novels I’ve picked up, and they’ve truly captured my heart.
- Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings
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Late Bloomer is a sapphic, forced-proximity, and dual-POV romance. Throughout the novel, you follow Opal and Pepper, who completely embody the “opposites attract” stereotype.
After Opal wins the lottery, she buys a flower farm out in the country, planning to use the space as an escape to work on her art. Unbeknownst to Opal, Thistle and Bloom already has an owner and occupant: Pepper. They strike up a deal to room together in the space, and the story takes root as their relationship with each other grows and flourishes.
My favorite part of Late Bloomer is the characters. Both Opal and Pepper are realistic and relatable, with both of them being neurodivergent, and their personalities and characterization are excellent. I’ve read the novel twice, and Eddings clearly put love, work, and care into the plot, which is why the book captured my heart.
- Love, Theoretically by Ali Hazelwood
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You may know Ali Hazelwood from her novel The Love Hypothesis, which is a popular romance pick on BookTok. I prefer Hazelwood’s Love, Theoretically, as the plot and the relationship between the two main characters strayed from Hazelwood’s usual style. I prefer this installment of Hazelwood’s because the characters had more depth to them and were more enjoyable to follow along with.
In this STEM romance, Elsie is a theoretical physicist who also works as a fake girlfriend to make up for her meager paycheck at work. One night, her world comes crashing down as she meets Jack Smith, who’s the older brother of her favorite client. The two have a complicated past, which builds into their feelings for one another.
The novel is extremely similar to Hazelwood’s other books, but the tropes aren’t inherently boring or bad. It’s nothing revolutionary in the romance genre; I think of Love, Theoretically, as a “guilty pleasure” read. Not all books have to be literary masterpieces to be enjoyable, and I enjoy this novel for what it is — a cute, lighthearted romance.
- She Gets the Girl by Rachael Lippincott and Alyson Derrick
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She Gets the Girl is a sweet YA romance and another “opposites-attract” trope. The main characters are Molly and Alex: Molly, who’s socially awkward, and Alex, who’s headstrong but chaotic.
After their paths cross, Alex comes up with a five-step plan to help Molly talk with her crush. Alex hopes to get back with her ex-girlfriend, and helping Molly is the perfect way to show her that she can commit and maintain relationships.
The book’s story takes place on a college campus, which made the novel and characters more relatable when I read it. The two are navigating their newfound college life and their growing relationship, and as Alex and Molly get to know each other, they’re also growing and discovering themselves.
- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
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Wuthering Heights is a novel that has defined the drama and romance genre alongside classics like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Even though it’s a classic, Wuthering Heights doesn’t fail to deliver a dramatic story that’ll keep you hooked the entire novel.
The book tells a story of passionate but doomed love, and I particularly liked the narration style. The characters are engaging to follow along with, and as you get deeper into the pages of the novel, the story unfolds and unravels in dramatic twists and turns. This novel lives up to the hype — there’s no doubt why Bella from Twilight considers Wuthering Heights to be her favorite novel.
- This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
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This Is How You Lose The Time War is a sweeping sci-fi romance set against the limitless backdrop of time and space, capturing the main characters’ love that spans through an endless chase that transcends the universe.
This Is How You Lose The Time War is a unique, one-of-a-kind story. It follows two time-travel agents, Red and Blue, and it’s written as a series of letters in a fractured mosaic, with each POV written by one of the authors. These distinct voices create a dueling rivalry that blossoms from letters of a cat-and-mouse chase to letters of pure poetry for one another.
This book is hard but rewarding to read; I didn’t start understanding it until the end of the novel, so it’s on my TBR to reread this year. When you pick up the book, you have to learn how to read the novel: the writing tests the limits of the human language, and the exquisite prose makes it soar.
- Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
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Taylor Jenkins Reid is an author whose books I will always pick up. Her most popular hit is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, which is another honorable mention for this list. She also wrote Malibu Rising and Carrie Soto Is Back, which are two of her other phenomenal novels.
I chose Maybe in Another Life as my pick for this list because of the innovative plot. Maybe in Another Life follows Hannah and what happens after meeting up with her best friend, Gabby.
During a night out, Hannah meets her old high school boyfriend Ethan, and he invites her to go back home with him. What happens next depends on what Hannah decides to do — leave with Gabby or leave with Ethan.
In each universe, Hannah lives out each decision, each developing into parallel stories with different consequences for her world. Maybe in Another Life is about fate and what-ifs. t mainly follows Hannah, but it also follows two different romances and calls into question what a “soulmate” really is.
Each of these novels, though they span different genres, are all romance books at their core. I chose each because of the ways that innovate and challenge the romance genre, and each book will refresh your perceptions of what a romance novel can be. All six are perfect picks for Valentine’s Day, and for the most romantic holiday of the year, picking up a book in the romance genre is perfect!
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