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Romance Book Recs for Every Reader


Curated by Ashley Dickson-Ellison (@ashley_dicksonellison)


It's February, and some of us really enjoy reading some romances this time of year. To be honest, I never read romance books until after I started participating with Unabridged. It's hard to believe now because romances are such an important part of my reading life! I'm taking a look back at some of our Unabridged book reviews to highlight some favorite romance books since love is in the air this month.



From the review: "The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch is Jacqueline Firkins’s fourth book—I’ve loved every single one of them. Her first two books, How Not to Fall in Love and Hearts, Strings, and Other Breakable Things (a retelling of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park), are young adult romance novels; the next two, Marlowe Banks, Redesigned and this one, are adult romance. She excels at writing for both audiences—all of these books completely swept me away.


"What I appreciate most about Firkins’s books is the way she develops her characters. These are real, complex, flawed people with lives outside of the central relationship. Love conquers a lot, but not all, and sometimes, characters’ lives aren’t in a place where they can embrace love just yet." Read the full review.



From the review: "This book seems like a simple romance story about a fake dating relationship. Luc is having a rough time in his life partially because his has-been rockstar parents have made him just famous enough to catch the eye of the paparazzi, who manage to catch every mistake he makes, particularly when it comes to dating and sex. So after a particularly public blunder, in a desperate attempt to salvage his nonprofit job raising money for dung beetles, he winds up in a fake relationship with a friend of a friend, Oliver Blackwood, who is as stable and responsible as they come. Luc and Oliver could not have more opposing personalities, but because Oliver also has some motivation to show that he's in a stable relationship, he agrees to help Luc." Read the full review.



From the review: "The book begins with Stella Lane, a successful and affluent econometrician being inundated with questions regarding the status of her love life and life plans by her well-to-do mother. For Stella, who is autistic, making connections and social interactions are stress-inducing, so she prefers to bury herself in her work. But she also yearns to please her mother, so she hatches a plan to practice sex and intimacy by hiring a male escort to teach her. Enter Michael Phan, a male escort carrying the burden of caring for his ailing mother and his sisters and trying to escape the reputation of his deadbeat father." Read the full review here. As the review title suggests, this is an open door romance.



From the review: "Although Samir Jha and Pinky Kumar know each other through mutual friends (specifically Ashish Patel, who fans of the earlier Dimpleverse books, When Dimple Met Rishi and There's Something about Sweetie, will recognize!), they are far from what would be considered compatible. Pinky's wild, rebellious spirit clashes with Samir's fierce desire to be responsible and in control of all situations. She does everything on the spur of the moment; he meticulously plans each activity of each day in his planner." Read the full review.



From the review: "The Donut Trap centers 22-year-old Jasmine Tran, a daughter of Cambodian refugees of Chinese descent who fled Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge genocide and found their way to America, where they own a donut shop. While their shop has a steady stream of locals and a solid business, they have not raised prices, included fancier options, or found their footing in the social media world. So with rent costs rising, Jasmine begins to worry that she'll never find her way out of helping her parents at the shop. She feels adrift after college, wondering how she will meet new people and find her way into a career outside of donuts. When Alex, a meet cute crush from college, reappears in Jasmine's life, she finds herself hopeful for the possibility of romance and more outside of the donut shop that has become her whole world." Read the full review.


(A note to our readers: click on the hashtags above to see our other blog posts with the same hashtag.)


Interested in what else we're reading? Check out our Featured Books page.


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