Top 10 Tuesdays: Ten Love Stories Still on my TBR

I had so many ideas in mind for this weeks’ Valentines-themed freebie, that it took quite a while to settle on one. My first idea was to discuss some of the tropes that I’d like to see more of in romance stories, but I struggled to come up with a list of 10. I also thought of compiling a list of some of my favourite romantic quotes, but realized how difficult that would be since I’m terrible at keeping track of quotes that I enjoyed unless I remember to mark them on Goodreads. Instead, I finally settled on making a list of 10 love stories from my TBR. I realized as I was going through my list how few straightforward love stories I actually have. Many of the romance books on my list are YA books that involve some sort of tragedy, which didn’t quite seem like an ideal fit. I managed to find quite a few great options, and eventually narrowed it down to 10 of the books I’m most excited for.

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

1) Other People’s Wedding by Noah Hawley

This book has been on my TBR for two years already, and it seems like such an interesting plot. It is about a wedding photographer named Laurie, who starts a project to document what happens to the couples whose weddings she’s photographed. At one of them, she meets a wedding crasher who she immediately feels sparks with, and later realizes that he appears in photos of many of the weddings that she’s taken pictures of. Laurie seeks this man out and finally manages to connect with him, but their relationship is affected by her past. The whole concept of wedding crashing and Laurie’s photography project seems like such a unique angle that I’ve never read before, and it sounds like a great backdrop for a love story. This is one of those books that interests me every time I look at the synopsis, but somehow never manage to pick up.

2) You Had Me At Hello by Mhairi McFarlane

Aside from a title based on a classic movie quote, this book’s cover artwork caught my attention. It is about a couple named Rachel and Ben, who broke up ten years ago. When they meet again after a decade, it starts to feel like nothing has changed except that Ben is now married. I tend to love stories that involve couples who were separated by circumstances and reunite several years later, after they’ve had a chance to grow up. The fact that Ben is now married though does put me off a bit since I’m not really into books about cheating. Obviously I don’t know whether Ben decides to cheat since I haven’t read this yet, but it does seem like a possibility. I’m willing to overlook that though if the story is written well. From what I’ve heard about Mhairi McFarlane, she’s a very funny writer and all of her books sound like they would appeal to me if I’m in the mood for something light-hearted.

3) The Truth About Happily Ever After by Karole Cozzo

I first heard about this book on one of the blogs that I follow, but unfortunately I can’t remember whose. This book is about a girl named Alyssa who works as a theme park princess. According to the Goodreads synopsis, Alyssa’s summer starts to fall apart and her long distance boyfriend starts to become more distant. I’ve never even seen a book involving a character who was a theme park princess, so that alone was a selling point for me. I do think it’s a bit unfortunate that it seems the long distance relationship doesn’t work out, because that’s something that almost never happens in any book, but this book sounds so fun. It sounds like a nice, cute story and I’m looking forward to reading this one, whenever I finally decide to pick it up. 

4) The Love Interest by Cale Dietrich

I actually had this book down last year as an option for my espionage thriller prompt, although I doubt it really qualifies as a thriller. My library couldn’t get a copy in time, so I had to switch it for something different. This book is about a secret organization that cultivates teenage spies, with agents called Love Interests. The book focuses on two main characters, a “Nice” called Caden and a “Bad” caled Dylan, who are competing for the attention of the same girl. I was initially put off because I thought directly calling the groups “Nice” and “Bad” seemed a bit generic, but the book itself seems pretty interesting. I’m not 100% sure I’m right about this, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that the boys might have feelings for each other instead.

5) Ghosted by Rosie Walsh

I only found this book on Goodreads recently, and the title was what drew my interest in the first place. This book is about a woman named Sarah who immediately develops a connection with Eddie, quickly falling in love with him and the feelings seem to be mutual. When Eddie leaves for a vacation, he never follows through with his promise to call her. As weeks go by, Sarah becomes more worried and wants to uncover the secret behind why Eddie really disappeared. When I first heard about the concept of ghosting in general, it shocked me that people would actually do that to each other. I don’t think it has been addressed yet very often in books, but it definitely seems very current. This book won’t be released until this summer, and I’m looking forward to seeing the reviews as they come in.

6) The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory

I’m always a little on the fence about the whole “fake date” trope, but this book just sounds like a lot of fun. On the one hand, they are very predictable and you can almost guarantee that the couple will fall in love for real, but on the other, it can be really fun to see how it all plays out. This book is about a woman named Alexa who agrees to go to a wedding with Drew, a man she got stuck in the elevator with who is looking for a date to his ex’s wedding. The date goes better than either of them expected, but they soon have to return to their regular lives. This book has only been out for a couple of weeks, but it came up on several lists of anticipated debuts this year. Reviews for it so far seem pretty positive, although it is still very early to tell.

7) Chemistry Lessons by Meredith Goldstein

This is another book due out later this year, and seems like a cute YA contemporary. It is about a 17-year-old girl named Maya who is suddenly dumped by her boyfriend, and discovers that her scientist mother was conducting research on pheromones to enhance human attraction before she died. Maya wants to continue this research with the hope of winning her boyfriend back. Honestly, what first drew me to this book was the cover art because it seemed so cute. I also know there’s been quite a bit of demand lately for female protagonists who are more into the sciences. This is the kind of YA book that could easily go either way. Sometimes I love YA contemporary romances, but sometimes they can be kind of boring.

8) Love and First Sight by Josh Sundquist

I’m also a little on the fence about this book because it seems like it has the potential to be very problematic (and it’s rare that I use that word). This book is about a 16-year-old high school student named Will who is blind, and develops a crush on a girl named Cecily. After their relationship begins to develop, Will undergoes an experimental surgery to give him eyesight for the first time, and he discovers that Cecily does not look the way he expects nor the way others described her. The main reason I think this book could be problematic is because the synopsis seems to imply that Cecily is not very attractive, and I’m finding it difficult to imagine how they could possibly describe her in a way that would not offend people. However, it also seems like it has potential for a great message about looking beyond people’s appearances and falling in love with who they are as a person, which is a message I would definitely support.

9) The Love that Split the World by Emily Henry

This is another book that has been on my TBR for about two years now. It is about a girl named Natalie who starts to see small things that are “wrong” in her hometown, including the whole city disappearing for a few hours. Natalie receives a mysterious message from an apparition telling her “You have three months to save him,” and meets a boy the next day who seems to be the one the message was about. Part of the reason I’ve put this book off for so long was because I’m not 100% sure it’s the kind of story that would appeal to me, but it has been compared to The Time Traveler’s Wife, which is one of my all-time favourites. I’ve seen very mixed reviews for this one, which has also made me pretty hesitant to give it a try. I’ve seen it described as everything from sci-fi to fantasy to magical realism, and even some reviews which say it is not really a romance at all. It seems pretty tough to know what to expect from this book, but sometimes that’s a good thing.

10) Indecent by Corinne Sullivan

This book is coming out next month, and it’s another one where I’m not quite sure what to expect. The synopsis describes it as a story about an introverted (and inexperienced) woman named Imogene who becomes a teacher at an all-boys prep school, and also becomes involved with one of her students. Even though I don’t support student-teacher relationships at all in real life (except possibly if both people are of age, and even then, it’s questionable), I always seem to be drawn to books about them. More than the plot itself, the Goodreads page also mentions that this book explores issues of class, gender, and blame/victimhood, which seems like it will be an interesting angle on the story. I think I’ve only ever read books where the teacher was male and the student female, so this would definitely be a different perspective. I don’t think I’d consider it a romance, but it seems very relationship-focused.