My List of Favorite Books with Romance

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I decided to put together a list of my favorite books with romance in them.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: Okay, hear me out. I read this book before the movies came out and before the last book was even published. I have since grown weary of the whole vampire love story, but there are a few reasons why the first book captured me, even as I grew irritated throughout the series: the love story. I think it goes back to Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Except in that story there was no fear that the Beast would eat Bell. That “danger” was ever present as their relationship grew. But, the second thing I loved about the love story was the development. Again, due to the whole vampire danger thing, their relationship grew slow. Even the slightest touch felt like so much more. Say what you will about the series, Meyer knew how to wrap the reader up in the emotion of these two individuals and that is what propelled the story to rock star fame.

Hold Tight by Harlan Coben: This is not a love story in the traditional sense…I think Mr. Coben would actually take offense to me saying it has “romance” in it. But, this book is about a dad who risks his life to save his son, who has gotten wrapped up in a mysterious danger. That relationship captured me. This father went through physical and mental torment as he tried to find and save his son. His plight and dedication helped Coben do what he does best, create a suspenseful mystery.

Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt: Most who know me would not be surprised to find this on the list. I am in love with this book. It is the shortest book I’ve ever read and yet it is my absolute favorite. This book is about childhood love. It shows the unrealistic expectations, the illusion of love despite all odds, but it also has that fantasy element of immortality…without the walking dead thing mentioned above. The movie created a few years ago touched on the magic of this book, but it didn’t capture the innocence and the intensity. I especially love the ending, which finally brings reality into the fantasy world.

In all fairness, I’d like to say there is one Romance series that I loved. I read it when I was in the seventh grade. However, as I tried to search for the name of it, I found that there are a thousand different romance genre books about an orphaned girl who goes to live with a few cowboy brothers. The first book marries her off (I think to a lawyer who came looking for this orphan) and then the subsequent series marries them off. All I remember definitively is that one of the brother’s names was Colt. The fact all that information was not enough to find the name of this book is the number one reason why I no longer read the genre.

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!