Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted at That Artsy Reader Girl. Each week you compile a list of ten books which coincide with that week’s theme. You can find everything you need to know about joining in here!
This week’s theme is ‘Books I Enjoyed That Are Outside of My Comfort Zone’, so I’ve decided to talk about Romance! I mentioned last year that I was unkind to the romance genre for far too long, and I’ve been keen to explore more of it – particularly historical romance and romantasy.
Romance I’ve read
His Scandalous Lessons by Katrina Kendrick: This was my first foray into an all-out historical romance novel near the end of last year, and I really enjoyed it! If there’s something I’ve discovered about myself when it comes to reading romance, it’s that I love the ‘protagonist hires someone to teach them romance and then accidentally falls in love with them’ trope.
Entreat Me by Grace Draven: Draven is well-known as a romantasy author, and this was the first novel of hers that I read back in the spring. I had so much fun with it and she’s an author I’ll be keeping on my radar whenever I’m in the mood for a romantasy novel.
The Beautiful Ones by Silvia Moreno-Garcia: This is actually my least favourite of Moreno-Garcia’s novels, but if you’re in the mood for a Fantasy of Manners this is the novel you should turn to. It’s a good story, the writing’s lovely and the characters are people you really grow to care for.
Sofia Khan is Not Obliged by Ayisha Malik: This novel is so much fun, and I feel like I never really see it around the blogosphere! It’s often described as a Muslim Bridget Jones, but I think that does it a disservice. It’s very much it’s own thing, an own voices Muslim rom-com, and it’s brilliant.
The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli: It’s odd that ‘Romance’ is a genre we don’t want to assign to a lot of books because of the stigma, but what are Albertalli’s books if not a romance? I love this book a great deal and I wish it had been around when I was a teenager.
Romance on my TBR
Well Met by Jen DeLuca: Enemies-to-lovers set at a summer Renaissance Faire? Yes please! This sounds like so much fun.
A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole: I really enjoyed Cole’s novella in her Reluctant Royals series, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, so I keep meaning to try her novels.
Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston: This book has been EVERYWHERE this year and I’ve yet to see a negative review of it. I’m not usually into modern day royal stories but I’ve seen so much glowing praise for this book that I need to check it out for myself.
The Princess and the Fangirl by Ashley Poston: I haven’t read Geekerella – do I need to read it to read this book? I’d love to know! – but I will always gobble up f/f stories and this novel sounds really cute.
The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite: This book ticks so many of my boxes: it’s sapphic historical fiction and it includes a heroine who’s trying to make a name for herself in a STEM field. I have a copy on my kindle, I just haven’t got to it yet!
Jessticulates 
I saw on Amazon that “Well Met” has got some GRAND reviews, which makes me really want to read it! (Plus, it DOES sound really cuuute!) Pretty sure I’m going to pick up a copy, and hope it’s a good read. 🙂 Thanks so much for visiting Finding Wonderland, Jess.
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Honestly, the lady’s guide sounds amazing.
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Well Met and Red, White & Royal Blue are so good!
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I love Geekerella and The Princess and the Fangirl and I don’t usually read romance. Some of the characters crossover between the two books, but I think you could read The Princess and the Fangirl first if you wanted since it’s a companion novel, not a direct sequel. There may be some minor spoilers, though. You’d have a better idea of WHO the characters are as well if you read Geekerella first.
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I agree, Red White & Royal Blue seems universally loved! I love books about royalty, so I’m looking forward to reading that one!
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I need to try Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I’ve heard really good things about her.
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I can’t believe I didn’t have any romance on my list. I have just started to explore it as well and I should have also had Becky on mine and Upside is actually my fave of hers! Well Met and Red, White & Royal Blue are also on my TBR!
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I should probably read more romance, they always look fun! I don’t mind people calling Sofia Khan a Muslim Bridget Jones, the author did say that’s what she set out to write, so I think that’s where it came from originally (and I loved both 🙂
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Historical Romance is one I don’t read much of but I love! I just read The Duchess in His Bed and it’s so freaking good! I loved it! The seduction game is on point!!!
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I really want to read The Upside of Unrequited at some point.
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I’ve heard a lot about Sofiya Khan is not obliged. It sounds really fun and interesting!
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The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics is on my TBR for this month!
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I love Upside of Unrequited! It’s my favourite read of 2018, it means so much to me, and you’re right: the romance in it is so good. I have Lady’s Guide on my TBR too, sapphic historical fiction is something I want to read way more of!
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The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics does sound interesting. I’m not generally a big fan of romance, but I’ll have to give that one a go. 🙂
My TTT.
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Yes, Red White & Royal Blue really has been mentioned everywhere.
Here is our Top Ten Tuesday.
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Red White and Royal Blue was on my list today–adult romance is definitely outside my comfort zone but I ended up loving this one!
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