The Romance Book Tag

In honour of Valentine’s Day, I thought this would be a good chance to try a new tag. Just a few days ago, I saw Heather at Bookables do the Romance Book Tag on her channel, and it looked like fun. Like her, I’m still pretty new to the romance genre so I probably haven’t really read enough books to really answer all the questions, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. Even though I haven’t necessarily read many books in the romance genre specifically, I’ve read quite a few YA books that involve romance. One of the reasons it took me a while to really get into romance is because I assumed that they would all be too similar. I get very easily bored of reading the same kind of storyline over and over, and I often look for something more in the romances I do read, especially when they are YA. I like when the books involve a strong or at least an entertaining storyline outside of the main relationship. I’m sure this tag will be worth revisiting again at some point in the future when I’ve read more romances, but I’ll give it a try!

1) The first romance you remember reading

Technically, it would probably have to be a Nicholas Sparks book. I’m pretty sure the first one I read was A Bend in the Road. I started reading his books when I was around 12, but for some reason, when I think of reading romance, I tend to think that it started when I read The Hating Game back in 2017. Even if I were to count The Hating Game as my starting point, it’s technically not accurate since by then I had already read The Rosie Project and Me Before You, but for some reason, my brain doesn’t classify those as romance in the same way as The Hating Game is.

2) The last romance you read

I’m currently reading The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory, but I’m only about a third of the way through that right now. The last one that I actually finished was If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane back in September of last year. Unless you also count YA romances, in which case it was I Love You So Mochi by Sarah Kuhn in December.

3) The romance you’re most likely to recommend to a newbie

I don’t think I’ve read enough in the genre to really make a valid recommendation, but I’d probably pick something like The Hating Game or The Unhoneymooners. If I was going to go for a YA romance, definitely Tweet Cute!

4) An underrated romance you wish more people would read

Again, I’m not familiar enough with the genre to really know what’s considered underrated, but one book that I really enjoyed and rarely see talked about is Goodnight Tweetheart, which I read back in 2016 and I had a lot of fun with it. I loved it because of the unique style.

5) An overrated romance you wish people would stop talking about

Anna and the French Kiss! To be fair, I haven’t read it but every single thing I’ve heard about it just makes it seem unappealing. I like YA romance generally, but this one seems extremely overrated, especially given that it involves cheating. I feel like I’m forgetting a very obvious overrated adult romance, but I can’t think of anything right now.

6) An auto-buy author

For romance, I’d have to say Christina Lauren. I’ve only read a couple of their books so far, but I keep stocking up on them all and I’m hoping to read a few more this year. I also tend to automatically buy anything by Sally Thorne.

7) An author you used to love that you’ve since abandoned

To a degree I could say Nicholas Sparks although abandoned is a very strong word. I haven’t completely stopped reading his books, but they definitely don’t have the same draw for me as they used to.

8) Your favourite trope

I love any romances that involve some kind of friendship or relationship that develops through interacting online. I also love hate-to-love, friends-to-love, forced proximity, and generally enjoy fake dating. I also often like second change romances too.

9) Best book with your favourite trope

I thought The Unhoneymooners and Beach Read both did hate-to-love very well. Another favourite was The Flatshare because of the way the two characters bonded through post-it notes, which was similar enough to social media.

10) A book you didn’t like even though it had your favourite trope

I think I’ll have to go with a YA option for this one as well since I don’t remember any adult romances that I didn’t really like. My least favourite YA romance was Textrovert, which was especially disappointing since it involved a relationship that first develops via texting. In fact, the texting was about the only thing I liked in that book. I thought the two main characters were both pretty bland, and I was very disappointed to find that the texting element was dropped fairly early on.

11) Your most hated trope

Mostly the very typical answers — I don’t really care for insta-love or love triangles, unless they are done very well. I especially have a hard time buying into insta-love because I find it so hard to get invested in those relationships (in most cases) without it constantly bothering me that the two characters just met! Other than those, I’m also not a big fan of accidental or sudden pregnancy as a trope. I’m not even sure why this one bothers me, but I find myself being a little annoyed with it every time.

12) A book you like even though it has a trope you hate

The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare has one of the best love triangles I’ve ever read, although I’d consider that more fantasy than romance. I also really liked The Sun Is Also a Star, which had insta-love since it took place in the span of only one day, but I thought it handled it very well.

13) Your problematic favourite

I’m not sure I can answer this one because I haven’t read enough romance nor am I familiar enough with most authors to know who might be considered problematic. I almost want to say Jane Eyre because Mr. Rochester is definitely problematic because of the whole attic situation, but I’m not sure that’s really what the question means. Also, Me Before You because I’m in the minority who actually really enjoyed it.

14) A book everyone else loved that had you scratching your head

The DUFF! I loved the movie but found the book so disappointing. I was surprised to look at the reviews for it after I’d read it and see so many people say it was their favourite. It might have been because I saw the movie first and this was very different, but I couldn’t get into it. I also didn’t love Love & Gelato nearly as much as everyone else seems to.

If I had to pick an adult romance, I actually think I’d have to go with A Walk to Remember. I didn’t hate the book by any means, but I loved the movie so much already and couldn’t help finding the book underwhelming. To be fair, I’m not sure how popular the book itself was, but I seem to remember it being a favourite for a lot of people around the time the movie was first out.

15) Your favourite “Romancelandia” person to follow on Twitter

This is literally the first time I’ve seen the term “Romancelandia” so I have no idea how to answer this one.

16) A place or person you go to for recommendations or reviews

I mostly go to ChelseaDolling @Chelseadolling Reads because she reads a lot of the same kinds of romances that I tend to love, and I’ve already picked up several great recommendations for her. I’m also subscribed to Jessica @ Peace Love Books and I love her videos, although I don’t necessarily read the kinds of books she does.

17) A book that has a character that reminds you of yourself

Cath from Fangirl!

18) A romance cover you love

19) A book you’ve reread more than twice

Definitely The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks. It was one of my favourites of his books, and I know for a fact I’ve read it at least twice since I once chose it for a book report in school after I’d already read it at least once. There are other romance books that I probably would re-read, but haven’t picked up again yet since there are so many more that I still want to try!

20) Best romance audiobook

This may be the best because it’s the only romance audiobook I’ve listened to, but I really enjoyed the audiobook for The Bromance Book Club. It was so much fun!

21) Best romance/rom-com movie

A Walk to Remember is definitely up there as one of my favourites, and I also love Clueless and Legally Blonde if those even count as romance. I also liked How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days (although I seem to remember liking it more the second time around). 50 First Dates is fun too.

I’ve actually never seen some of the most popular ones. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Bridget Jones’s Diary. I’ve never seen Notting Hill or Love Actually.

22) Favourite heroine

Probably one of the classics like Jane Eyre or Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice, but from a recent book, I loved January from Beach Read and Tiffy from The Flatshare.

23) Favourite hero

I feel like hero (and heroine, really) is a very strong word for the characters in the kinds of romance I read. I really liked Gavin from The Bromance Book Club and I loved Leon in The Flatshare. Or to go for a classic, again I’d have to say Mr. Rochester (as problematic as he is) or Mr. Darcy. Oh, and I also really liked Michael from The Kiss Quotient!

24) Your all-time favourite romance

I’m surprised I didn’t mention this one until now, but I’m long overdue for a reread. My favourite would probably be The Time Traveler’s Wife.