Rachel Reads Romance for Bookstore Romance Day

My introduction to romance novels is fairly standard: at the age of sixteen, a friend put a book in my hand and said something like "you have to read this." And I swear this isn't apocryphal - I'm fairly certain it was a book from the Bridgerton series (a series I love to this day!). You can imagine my surprise and delight when the Netflix adaptation brought about a resurgence of appreciation for romance novels, especially historical romance. Those who are in the know have been passing around mass market romances, whispering "this one's so good!" with a wink, for what seems like ages. I'm in my thirties, and the friend who introduced me to mass market historicals was from a three-generations-deep romance-reading family. So for some of us, the proliferation of romance in the cultural zeitgeist inspires a "glad you're finally catching up" feeling. 

Contemporary rom-coms have been dominant more recently, and I've certainly enjoyed my share. Book Lovers was my first Emily Henry book after much resistance ("she can't be THAT good..."), but she really is at the top for a reason. Her characters are next-level good; I swear she just follows people around and transcribes their dialogue. Another book I just can't stop talking about is Love on the Brain by Ali Hazelwood, out on 8/23. Our Random rep sent me the galley a while ago, and I've been dying to chat with customers about it because it's so funny - I was texting fellow bookseller Parker about it during the entire reading process. If you loved the Love Hypothesis, you're going to flip for this one. I can't wait to see what Ali Hazelwood does next. 

Speaking of Parker, they're the reason I read A Taste of Gold and Iron by Alexandra Rowland (out on 8/30). They had the galley and thought I might be interested - cut to me reading it within 24 hours and making Parker, Oli, and Jenny read and love it as well. It's a fantasy in the sense that there's a bit of magic built into the story, but to be honest, it's just a fabulous romance between two adorable sweeties that made me coo in delight. It's one of those books where you want to just push the main characters together and say "now kiss!" It was a delight to see this title appear on the Indie Next list for September because it means booksellers all over the country also enjoyed the heck out of it. Since reading A Taste of Gold and Iron in May, I've gone on to read a ton of queer fantasy/sci-fi books because there are so many romance-adjacent books to discover! Other ones of note are A Marvellous Light and A Strange and Stubborn Endurance - all of the best queer fantasy romances start with A, apparently. 

Rom-coms tend to have distinctively cartoon-y covers, as opposed to the "shirtless man and barely clothed woman in the throes of passion" covers that made historical romances somewhat embarrassing to read in public. Some more recently published books are historical romances disguised as rom-coms - Martha Waters and Evie Dunmore are my favorites. I adore Martha Waters; it was a thrill to chat with her about the first two books in her series, To Have and to Hoax and To Love and to Loathe. I'm very much looking forward to the fourth in the series, To Swoon and to Spar, out on 4/11/23. And Evie Dunmore's books are so meticulously researched that her author notes at the end are an education of their own. My personal favorite of the series is the third, called Portrait of a Scotsman. I always recommend both of these series first when customers ask for historical romance recommendations, but I'm happy to say that I have more titles to add to my list. 

When the Milwaukee Public Library approached us and asked me to participate in this event with Emily Sullivan, I was nervous because I haven't read a true-blue historical romance in a long time. The great news is, I loved the series! The series is set in the Victorian period, so think shirtwaists, bustles, and truly ridiculous hats. All of the men are or were spies for the Crown, and they just can't help but fall in love with these feisty ladies. My favorite part of the books is how socially conscious these women are - they're not interested in sitting around and looking pretty because they have voting rights to win and factories to reform. Beth Gabriel of MPL and I will be chatting with the author about the most recent release, The Hellion and the Hero, and I'm so ready to talk about spies and the troublemaking women who love them. The virtual event takes place on Tuesday, August 23, 6 pm. There's still time to register - see you there! 

This year has been great for romance, and I'm so thrilled that I get to discuss my favorites with the authors. Coming up, we have an event with Sangu Mandanna for another of my top 5 books of the year, The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches. This book is just wonderful from start to finish - perfect for those of you who love a witchy romance with a healthy serving of found family. Baked into this world where witches exist is a palpable sense of loneliness - magic is a secret to keep, and Mika Moon can't make meaningful connections because of this. I really felt for Mika, and I rooted for her as she made her way toward accepting and giving love to the residents of Nowhere House. So yes, it's a romance, but it's really so much more. If you'd like to hear more, please consider registering for this virtual event on Saturday, September 10th at 11 am. 

The last book I'd like to discuss is Ocean's Echo, a shared-universe sequel-but-not-really to a fabulous book that my book club read earlier this year called Winter's Orbit. Fellow bookseller Margaret raved about Winter's Orbit for so long that I knew I had to read it - we shelve it in our space opera subsection, but it's definitely equally a romance. A Tor book that originated on Archive of Our Own, it has all the fun tropes - arranged marriage! only one bed! slow burn! - but what really stood out was the queernormed society that Maxwell establishes. Pronouns are respected, and love is love, period. I love it there. The new book, Ocean's Echo, is set in the same galaxy and is much more of a space opera, but the heart of the book is the relationship between Tennal and Surit. We'll host the author for a virtual event on Saturday, November 12 at 11 am, and joining me is Oli Schmitz, one of our youngest Boswellians who, conversely, has worked at Boswell longer than most of us. They're an endless fountain of enthusiasm for books of all sorts, so we will just be fawning over the author for the event. Come watch us be dorks! 

If you're ever in the store and want to chat romance, feel free to find me because I love recommending books and hearing your recommendations! I can't read every book, but I can certainly try. Happy bookstore romance day, all - I know what my plans will be.