It’s almost February 14th, the season of Lurve!
As a single pringle I am mainly celebrating Galentines this year but I do still love Love. I enjoy a romcom film but I don’t really read that many romance books. I like my romance as a side plot, a crucial but minor presence in a book. However since it’s the time of year where romantic love takes centre stage I wanted to review a couple of my favourite book couples.
The Love Hypothesis: Adam and Olive
Ali Hazelwood is pretty much the only Romance with a capital R writer that I read and enjoy. I love her STEM-romance novels, they feel very realistic and well plotted and I think her best is still The Love Hypothesis. As a dyed in the wool Reyolo fan girl I was on board for some au fanfic and this is so good. I love Olive as a protagonist and really enjoyed her relationship with Adam. I was excited to see these two crazy kids pop up for a cameo in Love Theoretically and will happily devour anything else Ms Hazelwood chooses to put out.
Shadowhunters: Jace and Clary
Everyone remembers their first YA love and mine were Jace and Clary from City of Bones. I loved Jace’s snark and swagger but I also loved how Clary matched him so well, just as brave, just as clever and the two of them were so clearly meant to be together even through the many challenges they faced. A lot of these YA Romantasy books don’t stand up now I think the Shadowhunters will be classics for a long time.
Enchantment: Ivan and Katerina
Sleeping Beauty but with a heavy amount of realism. What would happen after the prince (a modern day languages professor) kissed the princess (a medieval Russian lady) and how would they defeat the witch (a terrifying Baba Yaga with all the power and fury of the Russian Winter at her fingertips). I love this book and how Ivan and Katerina learn to share in the new worlds they discover and eventually fall for each other.
Here Be Dragons: Llewelyn and Joanna
The book that kicked off my lifelong love of all things Welsh: Llewelyn the Great and his marriage to Joanna, the English king’s bastard daughter, was not expected to last but the two of them managed to build a life together and a love so strong that it would keep the English at bay for a few more generations.
A Town Like Alice: Jean and Joe
A Town Like Alice is my favourite book and probably a significant reason in deciding to move to Australia! Jean is a British office worker captured by the Japanese in WWII Malaya where she meets Australian PoW Joe. Their story arcs from the tropical Malaysia to cold 1950s London to the simmering Australian Outback. Beautifully written this book breaks my heart every time I read it but I’ll never stop.
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