Hey Bibliofriends!
It’s the start of a brand new week and the final days of February! I’m rapidly trying to sprint through my current reads to try and round off the month fully and start a new book in March. I’m not quite sure I’ll make it though… When I was plotting out February’s blog posts, I came across The February Book Tag created by Lynn at Lynn’s books. She originally created it as part of a Love Freebie for Top Ten Tuesday, and as February is the month of love, it provided me with the perfect tag to wrap up the month with.
The shortest month of the year – A short story or novella that you would like everyone to know about
There is a collection of horror stories called Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap who is a Filipino/American author. Obviously it’s not quite in-keeping with the romance element of this book tag, but the stories are incredibly well written and atmospheric. If you’re a horror-lover, they’re going to be right up your street.
Valentine’s Day – your favourite romance novel
I feel that the Romance genre is getting more and more tricky to identify. Lots of stories have a romance element in them that aren’t defined solely as romance novels, and now we’re getting hybrid genres like Romantasy, it’s getting harder to know what’s romance and what isn’t. I don’t tend to read too much of the ‘chick-lt’ style romances however, I am very partial to an Emily Henry novel and People We Meet On Vacation is very close to my heart!
Leap Year – ‘One Ring to Rule Them All’ – the year for proposing. A book with your favourite couple
A couple that is being mentioned more frequently than Taylor and Trav this month is Iris and Roman from Divine Rivals! Excuse the double negative, but I can’t not choose them again here! Their romance is so endearing! When I’m reading Roman’s parts, I can’t help but seeing him as Matthew Goode who played Henry Talbot in Downton Abbey!
Romeo – Could be a book boyfriend, could be your favourite male character
I don’t even know if I have a book boyfriend anymore?! Back in the day, I used to say it was Rhysand from the A Court of Thorns and Roses Series, but now I’m not entirely sure who I’d pick or if I’d have one at all.
Juliet – Could be a book girlfriend, could be your favourite female character
Favourite female character – Aelin Galanthynius is winning every time! I love the sass, the vulnerabilities, the sacrifices, the strength – she would definitely have to be my no.1 gal pal!
Love Triangle – love it or hate it
Done right, a love triangle can be a great plot twist to mess with my reading brain. I always end up falling for one pairing, then get devastatingly upset when it swings in the other direction. In the right author’s hands, the love triangle is dynamite – in the wrong hands, I’ll be rolling my eyes until that element is over. I’m not going to say spoilers but there’s a pretty hardcore love triangle in the Throne of Glass series that I was not on board with until about book 6 out of 7… 😂 Thank god, it all came good in the end! I should have trusted SJM more!!
Enemies to lovers
In my brain, Jude and Cardan from Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series are the ultimate enemies to lovers pairing. The hate in that first book, followed by the love story that unfolds within the rest of the series, truly turns their hatred into adoration. That’s not to say that it’s all plain sailing and happily every afters from there on out.
Sweet like chocolate – a book that is positively delicious
Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye had so many tasty food references, that it’s hard not to think about the deliciousness of it! I’m a big fan of Japanese cuisine so parts of this literally had me drooling.
A Rose By Any Other Name – a book with a romance that you didn’t expect
I’m going to say the Comoran Strike series by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling). For starters, these are crime novels and although we’re on book 7 (which I still have yet to read) the relationship between Cormoran and Robin is so tentatively dangled in front of us…! It isn’t so much the fact that it’s an unexpected romance, but it’s more a case of being ambiguous as to whether they’ll actually end up together or not!
A book that broke your heart
Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo (Six of Crows Duology Book #2).
Me: Leigh Bardugo, how could you?! This was so not how the story was supposed to play out! Where was their happy ever after? They deserved it after everything they went through! I’ll cannot reread this duology ever again. I will never forgive you for this!
Also me: Ooh – brave, gutsy risk-taking with that ending… You’ve got some writer’s balls there Bardugo! Well done!
How are you wrapping up your February? Have you read any of my books picks above? Do you like romance in books as the main course or as more of a side dish? If you’d like to take part in the February book tag, then consider yourself tagged! As always, drop me a comment to chat!
T xx
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