My answer would usually be, “Anything other than Twilight”, but seeing the travesties such as 365 Days and the godawful 50 Shades of Gray, I have decided an in-depth analysis is necessary to understand what makes a decent romantic relationship in a book stand out from the rest.
The answer is not much, it just needs to have emotions. Something that readers like you and I can connect to. Good romance does not involve 10 pages of bad sex and 150 pages of co-dependency sprinkled in with liberal self-depreciation. It just needs believability or an echo of it at least. We are readers and at the end of the day, we are all looking for an escape so the emotions matter to us, a lot.
For me selecting a book isn’t an easy process, I struggle with it a lot. So, when I usually do pick one, it’s because it is something that clicked with me or something that I connected with. Ok, even I like spicy novels, but all sex and no story don’t make it better either.
Now for me, there are a few books that stand out from the rest when it comes to romance and the best part is that they aren’t even romance novels. So, for those who hate the cringey “he got me flowers” cliché, these are perfect for you.
1. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Genre: Novel, Fiction
Pages: 320
Rating: 4.3/5 Goodreads
Aww Level: Makes you sniffle into you handkerchief all ladylike
This book feels like a best friend you ended up losing contact with years ago, then stumbled across on a bad day and ended up chatting for hours. It’s a simple story but there is so much to it, it’s beautiful. The simplicity of it is what makes it beautiful.
It’s about an orphan girl Anne who sees the world through shades of optimism, she refuses to be categorized in one box and is not afraid to make friends. The bonds in this book run deeper than pages and it’s not just between the characters. It’s about us too. L.M. Montgomery makes sure we fall in love a little bit too.
The Simple Love Story
This is how I would describe it in a nutshell. It’s so simple. Boy meets girl, girl hates boy, a boy tries to get girls attention… I am not going to tell you the rest but trust me you will fall head over heels for Gilbert too.
Anne and Gilbert are the two main protagonists of this love story and what makes this so different is their growth, they grow so much with each turn of the page. It is not like Anne is running through the fields and declaring her undying love and devotion for him, no because she knows she wants to be so much more than that.
She wants to be Anne before anything else. What makes it even better is the amount of respect Gilbert has for Anne and her views, he sees her as a whole person instead of just a girl he wants to “possess”.
They fight, they debate, they disagree and none of this has a shadow of animosity. They understand they are two different people and that’s ok. We are allowed to be ourselves.
To find love with acceptance and laughter while changing what makes us for someone else is what matters and this is what Anne taught me with her story.
The Love Between Pages
“It’s delightful when your imaginations come true, isn’t it?”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
“I’m not a bit changed — not really. I’m only just pruned down and branched out. The real ME — back here — is just the same.”
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
“Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”
― Lucy Maud Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables
2. The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Genre: Fantasy Fiction, Contemporary fantasy
Pages: 339
Rating: 4.4/5 Goodreads
Aww Level: Makes you want to cry alone near the sea in happy tears
TJ Klune really ruins normal love stories for you with his book and somehow, we cannot even get mad at him for it. Full of hope and a chance for something more, that’s what this book is about for me. We all go through life with a set routine and don’t allow any room for change, but what if we did?
What if we took a chance?
Linus Baker took a chance, and that chance is what led Arthur into his life like a whirlwind and taught him life from the basics. The House in the Cerulean Sea is about Linus’s holiday from his normal life into a world of possibilities.
The Accidental Love Story
As a fellow logic driven and rule-following person, I can understand much of what goes through Linus’s head, so to see him letting go and following his heart for once is what sets this story apart from the rest.
It’s not some passionate love affair or a sexy love story, it’s just two people coming together for a reason they both believe in and staying together. It’s easy to fall in love but hard to find reasons to stay in love and that’s what Linus faces.
Linus, being just an employee of the Department in Charge of Magical Youths (DICOMY), has rules to follow and he doesn’t mind following them but when those same rules stand against the ones that he loves, he must make a choice.
What makes this story unique is that never does Arthur force him to choose, he knows exactly who Linus is and respects what he must do. They are two different individuals with completely different sets of responsibilities and yet they never overwhelm one another.
They want one another just as they are. You are not as ordinary as you think you are is what I learned within the pages of this book.
The Love Between Pages
“You’re too precious to put into words. I think … it’s like one of Theodore’s buttons. If you asked him why he cared about them so, he would tell you it’s because they exist at all.”
― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea
“A home isn’t always the house we live in. It’s also the people we choose to surround ourselves with.”
― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea
“Don’t you wish you were here?”
― T.J. Klune, The House in the Cerulean Sea
3. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Genre: Novel, Fantasy Fiction, High fantasy
Pages: 594
Rating: 4.2/5 Goodreads
Aww Level: Shed few warriorly tears
To be very clear the romance in this book isn’t romance in the pure sense of the word, but it is something that consistently flows underneath the story without disrupting the words.
The connections in this series are so much more than just a traditional love story, it’s about bonds forged with trust and welded with loyalties. The characters are put through the grind and broken down, but they all know that at the end of the day, they’ll have one another.
This book is about a war, and children who become adults too soon and there is magic everywhere. Bad guys, shamans, and mystical gods, you’ll find it all here. But, getting past all that glitter, you will find the gold: The bonds between the characters.
Within a few pages R. F. Kuang makes you want to rethink the way you view love. It isn’t about the whirlwind affair or a two-minute-long passion, it is about having someone who stands by you no matter what.
It is about someone who calls you out on the things you are wrong about, someone who disagrees with you without putting you down.
The Love Story of Warriors
It is about Rin, a small-town girl trying to find her place in a socially broken system. It is about Kitay whose entire perspective is shattered under reality. It is about Nezha who is crushed under responsibility. It is about Venka who bears the brutality of mankind and refuses to break under it.
Four unique individuals who were forced to let go of their beliefs and grow. It is a brutal and fast-paced read where the growth in each character is immense but what I loved the most was that R. F. Kuang understood the tone of the story and didn’t just force a romance into the pages.
She knew that the main characters had a connection with each other, and she respected the nature of the bonds and let them grow naturally.
No forced romance scenes or out-of-character behavior. None of the characters were running around and being petty with one another for attention. Just natural.
The main character Rin is a flawed individual and her connections with others showed that. Her bond with Kitay is so unique and beautiful. He never agrees with her views but respects them all the same while showcasing his beliefs boldly.
Their bond isn’t even purely romantic, it is so much more than that.
Rin and Nezha have their moment, both stubborn and determined. They each have a purpose and they go behind it single-mindedly.
It’s beautiful, the respect they have for each other. It tells you that love doesn’t have to be bold and “in your face”, it just needs to exist, and you’ll eventually find it.
The Poppy War taught me that love does not mean losing one’s purpose in life.
The Love Between Pages
“They were monsters!” Rin shrieked. “They were not human!”
“Have you ever considered” he said slowly “that that was exactly what they thought of us?”
“Fire and water looked so lovely together. It was a pity they destroyed each other by nature.”
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic
“Take what you want. I’ll hate you for it. But I’ll love you forever. I can’t help but love you.”
I would never go so far as to suggest that you must love all of these books, that’s for you to decide but what I will say is that do give them a chance, you never know which one of these might change your perspective on love.
All of these books are completely different from one another but that’s the best part, they each beautifully interpret love and that’s what makes them an essential read.
From the woods to war, there is a pick for your needs. I loved them all and knowing the potential in each book, I know you will love them too.
