I went on a Romarathon in May because I realised I rarely ever read purely romance novel and I was feeling empty, so I did what any logical person would do. Bought a bunch of romance novels with cartoonish covers and segmented a part of my shelf to them.

Whether I felt better at the end is debatable, but I loved the books and might even delve into crocheting because of one of them. More on that later.

Anyways here we go.

You Deserve Each Other- Sarah Hoogle

RATING: ★★★★

My second best and on occasion best romance trope is the classic enemies to lovers which is what this book is but with a little modification. Lovers-Enemies-Lovers.

So once upon a prologue, Naomi and Nicholas might have actually loved each other but such a time is a hazy blur to her because these days she’s just filled with resentment towards him. What version of her could possibly have wanted to spend the rest of its life with him?

All she wants is to break off her engagement but that means she must pay the non-refundable wedding bill, so to avoid that, she decides to ‘how-to-lose-a-guy-in-10-days’ Nicholas into being the one to break the engagement but Nicholas is like ‘Game on’

Thus, they play.

And like all games of these sorts, they realise that ‘wait a minute, pause the game, I think I remember why I fell in love with you’.

And then they live happily ever after. Or do they? Of course they do. When do they not ever?

And yeah, they deserve each other.

Fangirl- Rainbow Rowell

RATING: ★★★★

Before I begin, let it be known that Carry On is top two best books I’ve read and so naturally I would gravitate towards a book that serves me crumbs of Baz and Simon and this is the MOTHER book.

We follow Cath, a huge Simon Snow fan/fanfiction writer. Is she me? (I’m actually more of a Baz fan but yes, I find Simon adorable on occasion). She’s just started college and her twin sister Wren, wants them to be two singular entities, rather than the pair they’ve been their whole life. In light of this, Cath decides to hide out in her room eating protein bars and writing fan fiction anonymously. In comes Levi, her roommate’s (boy)friend, stealing her protein bars when she’s not around, then bringing her coffee, smiling all the time, asking her to read to him; in my opinion, that alone should be the premise of a love story.

The best part of this book was the scene where Levi had an exam the next day but he hadn’t read the book the exam was on, because he has this thing where he can’t focus while reading a book. Normally he has Reagan (Cath’s roommate) helping him study. This time Reagan is at a party and Levi is looking quite desperate so Cath decides to read to him. SHE READS THE ENTIRE BOOK TO HIM.

I’m sorry if I read an entire book to you, you are now under a legal obligation to marry me AND ensure I live my best life.

Beach Read- Emily Henry

RATING: ★★★

This book is what I assume romance novels to be which is exactly why I don’t like reading them in the first place. Bland. There was in fact no chemistry between the love interests.

2020 must have hit January real good because everything is going wrong in her life. She decides on a getaway to get off writer’s block and write something before she goes absolutely broke. But wait! Her next-door neighbour is her college nemesis stroke crush. Okay, man.

So why did I hate it? Looks like my classic enemies-lovers. No? No.

1. This was not an enemy to lovers. She’s pissed up because she felt like back in collge, he didn’t like her work.
2. Did I already mention the lack of spark between these two people?
3. I did not care for any of the other sub-storylines running through the story.
4. It felt like a Harlequin novel.

The Flatshare- Beth O’Leary

RATING: ★★★★

Now imagine this? Suppose you needed a cheap place to rent. You come across a flatshare ad that is unlike any flatshare. Because here, you share the same bed, closet space, bathroom, beanbag, with your roommate whom you never meet because you work day shifts and he works night shifts so your schedules never intertwine. You communicate with each other via Post-It notes stuck all over the house. You eat each other’s food. Have I mentioned you leave notes for each other? Then one day, you accidentally cross paths in the bathroom. Definitely steamy. Now you both know what the other person looks like, and now you can’t stop thinking about them. One day he might even propose on a note?

record scratch

But that would be too perfect a story so of course throw in real-life issues like emotional abuse and a wrongly convicted family member. Now that’s some side storyline I actually care about.

If you’re looking for something light with a different twist, then you’d want to pick this one.

On a side note, I might be into crocheting now. Have I crocheted before? Not since secondary school. Was I good? No. But this book makes me feel like I might be good if I start again so I might just go and purchase some yarns and a bean bag.

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That’s all the romcoms I read. Will I be revisiting this genre this year? Maybe. Let me know if you have any recommendations.