February 2021: Love is in the Air, or, At Least, on the Page

Happy February everyone! The days are getting longer, there's a hope of spring just around the corner, and I have officially stuck to this reading and writing journey for 31 whole days. Valentine's Day is well on its way, and love is in the air. Um, well, at least for me, love is within the pages. This February, I have vowed to fall in love... with fictional characters. This month, I plan on reading all things romance!

My love of romance novels is a newfound one, and I only really started to read them in the past year or so. For some reason (the world tricked me into thinking they were less impressive literature), I had convinced myself I wouldn't like them. This is honestly ridiculous since I grew up during the romantic comedy renaissance of the 2000s and cheesy love stories filled my formative years. I can recite the entire script of 27 Dresses. I am unashamed to admit I turn on the Hallmark Channel the moment I see a snowflake fall outside my window. I was in the top 5% of Taylor Swift Spotify listeners this year. I love a happily ever after, and I I feel that I, and many others, have not given romance novels a fair shot. If you, too, are a hopeless romantic and would like to also fall in love with romance novels, read on for a list of some of my favorites I read this past year. If you're way ahead of me and found out years ago these books were incredible, I would appreciate your sage guidance, feel free to comment your favorite love story below and help me build my February TBR!

1. The Bridgerton Series books 1-4 by Julia Quinn

The Duke and I: ⭐⭐⭐

The Viscount Who Loved Me: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

An Offer From a Gentleman: ⭐⭐⭐

Romancing Mister Bridgerton: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Colin is by far the best Bridgerton, I will take no comments on this at this time)

If you have a Netflix account or frequent the internet, you have probably heard of the new hit historical romance series, Bridgerton that has been smashing streaming records. I would like to say that I was ahead of the curb and read the books way before loving the Duke of Hastings was cool, but alas, I only read the books in anticipation for the show, and I haven't even finished the series yet. All of that being said, I absolutely adore this series, honestly more so than the show (both are great, though. I'll never say no to a Regency Era England love story).

The Bridgerton series follows the eight Bridgerton siblings as they navigate the London Season and fall in love, all while their tales are followed by a gossip columnist, Lady Whistledown, whose identity remains a mystery. Each book centers on a different sibling's love story, and Julia Quinn uses all of the tropes. We get fake dating. We get enemies to lovers. We get fairytale retellings. We get childhood crushes. Need I say more? To fans of the show, I do want to say that aspects of the books are different so you won't get everything in the novels, but they have the same energy. On a side note, I just want to say I am absolutely bitter that I had to read FOUR books to find out who Lady Whistledown is and the show revealed it after ONE season.

2. The Brown Sisters Series By Talia Hibbert

Get a Life, Chloe Brown: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Take a Hint, Dani Brown: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Brown Sisters Series follows Chloe and Dani Brown as they find themselves and fall in love along the way. Chloe Brown, a chronically ill computer geek, decides to take more risks in life after a near death experience. She creates a list of seven tasks she thinks will help her "get a life", and enlists the help of her the reluctant handyman who works in her apartment building, Red Morgan, to help her along the way.

Dani Brown is not looking for a relationship and has no interest in romance. But then, she finds herself being rescued from a fire drill gone wrong by Zafir Ansari, former sports star turned security guard. When a video of the rescue and speculations of their relationship go viral, Zafir's sports charity starts to get a lot of buzz, so he and Dani decide to fake date in order to keep the ruse up and help Zaf's new publicity continue.

Talia Hibbert's books were my first ever contemporary romance reads, and they set an incredibly high standard. Hibbert's writing is witty and fun, and she includes diverse characters. She writes about women of color, characters with chronic illnesses, and characters who experience trauma and anxiety and learn to handle them in healthy ways. The final Brown sister, Eve Brown, gets her own book coming out this March, and I cannot wait!

3. Beach Read by Emily Henry

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Augustus Everett and January Andrews were rivals in their creative writing classes. January is a firm believer in happily ever after. Augustus' writing always ends in tragedy. Now, both are best selling authors, January in romance and Augustus in literary fiction, and both are, well, out of ideas. By a twist of fate, they are reunited for the first time after college when find themselves neighbors in the beach houses they rented out for the summer. Together, they strike up a deal to help get each other out of their writing ruts and finish their books by the end of the summer.

Here's the deal, I always thought that enemies to lovers was not a dynamic I particularly liked until I read this book. You see, I had been reading a lot of fantasy, which is more "we fundamentally disagree on our morals and I'm trying to kill you" enemies to lovers, and contemporary romance is more "you insulted me once in a writing class years ago and I have never forgotten it" enemies to lovers. More witty banter and fun, less actual hatred. Emily Henry developed a rivalry I loved. Beach Read was fun and heartfelt, and truly the perfect summer read for me.

Okay, so there are three, or rather seven (series count all as one, right?!) of my essential romance reads from 2020, and I am thrilled to add to this list this month and throughout 2021. If you have a swoon worthy suggestion, please let me know in the comments below, and get ready for some lovey-dovey posts coming to your timeline soon!