Lit Hit List: Recent Romance Reads - February 2021
Don’t judge me - I’ve been using fluffy and fun romances to escape all this, and so, sometimes, it’s just easier to do a round up than individual reviews. Plus, you get 5 opportunities to add to your TBR - so win-win for all of us!
A few weeks ago, I participated in a 24-in-48 readathon, and as a fast reader, I was able to get through…5 books. Several of those are on the list below, as well as a few other weekend reads. Thank goodness the library is back open for pick up; it really helps with my voracious reading habits. Several of these authors have new books coming out this spring, and I have found the library to be a great source to find backlist titles of popular authors, especially if you want to test out their writing style.
“The Chicken Sisters” by KJ Dell’Antonia (Bookshop | Kindle) - 4
A few weeks ago, I was at a bookstore, and there was some sort of buy 2/get 1 free promotion, and it will surprise none of you that I took advantage of this offer. If you know me in real life, you know that I consider myself a chicken tender connoisseur, so a family drama that involves fried chicken and competition-based reality tv is really quite up my alley. This isn’t a traditional romance like some of the others included in this list — though there are definitely some elements of it in Mae’s and Amanda’s life — but rather a story about all kinds of love: family love, friend love, love of fried food. This story does flip back and forth between Mae and Amanda’s experience filming Food Wars (a show that appears to be fictional but I would definitely watch), and it really helps you get connected to the feud. I ended this book wanting to visit Merinac, Kansas and eat at the Chicken Sisters, so fair warning to have some chicken on hand.
“Grown-Up Pose” by Sonya Lalli (Bookshop | Kindle) - 4.25
I put Sonya Lalli’s newest - “Serena Singh Flips the Script” - on my Winter Book Preview a few weeks ago, and when my library reopened, I decided to seize the opportunity to read some of her backlist — which, lucky for me, included this amazing book. This is Anu’s story — a woman who, on paper, is an actual adult: she married her first love, she has a great job, they own a home, they have a child. However, she’s a mess. She separates from her husband, she can’t get her act together at work, and she really just starts to doubt…everything about herself. Basically, we get to see her live through her quarter-life crisis. Like many other elder millennials, I frequently bemoan that I don’t feel like an adult (nor do I want to), and so this book spoke to me deeply.
Sonya is especially gifted at world-building; her side characters, locations, and side plots are exquisitely developed, and it really added to my enjoyment of this story. It was funny, thoughtful, and ultimately, hopeful.
“Crazy Stupid Bromance” by Lyssa Kay Adams (Bookshop | Kindle) - 3.5
I’ve read and enjoyed the earlier entrants Lyssa Kay Adams “Bromance Book Club” series (weirdly, I only reviewed the first, but I know I read the second), so I knew I’d like this one; I must be honest and admit it took me a while to read it though because I’m just not a cat person. Okay, okay, I guess I should provide a little bit more context: the woman at the center of this story, Alexis, owns a cat cafe in Nashville, and her feline friend plays a large part her story with Noah. Like the other books in this series, we get to hear about the romance from the male point of view — this time, our dude in the Bromance book club is Noah, a former-hacker-turned-security-engineer, and imo, he’s a bit of a Bernie bro. With all that said, I promise I did enjoy this book; it just wasn’t my favorite of the series. I had a hard time remembering exactly how they were connected to the characters I met (and loved!) in other books, and the side plots really just separated them out further. Alexis’ hidden father plot was interesting — and not what I expected — but it didn’t really fit with the vibe or mood of the other books. However, it was still a charming story, and I did ultimately come to enjoy it — and have pre-ordered the final book in the series, duh.
“Fight or Flight” by Samantha Young (Bookshop | Kindle) - 3.5
Trigger Warnings: domestic abuse, drug use, blatant pro-life agenda
Of all the books I read during my readathon, I think this one bugged me the most. I don’t mind a good hate-to-love story, and I adore a strong female character lead — but I just never really felt connected to Ava…or the book. The cover and description promised what I thought was going to be a fluffy romance, and I don’t think it accurately depicts Ava and Caleb’s story. Yes, it was a romp (for sure a romp) but it was also incredibly serious in some of the plot points. Throughout the story, we’re teased with why Ava and Caleb don’t want a relationship — and it’s so dark (and in Caleb’s case, preachy in a way that doesn’t fit in such a sex-positive book). There’s also some incredibly graphic descriptions of domestic abuse and drug use that really took me by surprise.
That said, this was definitely the steamiest of the books on this list, and Samantha Found does know how to write a sexy love story — so don’t count this one out completely, if that’s the mood you’re in. Just be aware that there are some minefields.
“The Matchmaker’s List'“ by Sonya Lalli (Bookshop | Kindle) - 4
Admittedly, much of my knowledge of modern Indian marriage culture comes from either “The Mindy Project” or “Bend it Like Beckham,” but I loved this take on it by Sonya Lalli. Raina is a young well-behaved Indian girl butting heads with the Grandmother, who is insisting that she needs an (arranged) marriage to really be a success in their community. However, Raina, who is still nursing a broken heart from the worst kind of toxic relationship, just isn’t there yet — so, even though she agrees to go along with her Grandmother’s plan, her heart isn’t in it. And naturally, hijinks ensue. I honestly felt bad for Raina — all she was trying to do was balance living her own life with keeping her family happy, and it escalated in an absolutely horrible way. As an Enneagram Type 2 (i.e., the ultimate people pleaser), I really empathisized with her character, and I audibly cheered when she got her shit together. Like with “Grown Up Pose,” I loved all of the people in Raina’s world, and I genuinely enjoyed the time I spent reading this book. I ended it with a smile on my face and a little bit of hope in my cold, dead heart — the ultimate treat these days.
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