More of an explanation for my history with romance books: I’ve always been mildly repulsed reading any story that focuses too heavily on a romantic relationship. Which is ironic, since I’m very active in fandom and shipping (pairing two or more characters together romantically). But when it comes to original stories, as soon as romance enters the picture the best-case scenario was I would grow bored, or worst case I literally could not continue the book or series because of the focus on romance. I think it’s a mix of being unable to relate to the protagonists’ experiences at all, as well as being really put off by the lack of communication or constant misunderstanding that’s often pretty prevalent in romance novels. There has to be conflict, after all, and with romance it’s hard to find conflict elsewhere unless it’s a romance in another genre, like fantasy.
My first foray into the romance genre this year was Caroline Bonin’s A Barista’s Guide to Love & Larceny (read my review here). I chose to review this book because I wanted to ease myself into the romantasy subgenre, and thought a story being pitched as cozy and magical would give me a good foundation. I think it was a good start to my journey into romance, because there was also a more adventure-coded plot in the novel which gave me the ability to not focus solely on the romance. Ultimately though, I found myself falling into old pitfalls of only focusing on the fantasy elements, and even though I enjoyed the characters, the relationships I really enjoyed weren’t the romance itself. Still, the romance was pleasant to read that I didn’t have any strong negative reactions to it!
After that, I tried to start reading A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick, a book that’s been on my to-be-read (TBR) list for a while now after seeing the author develop it in Tumblr’s writing community. It’s another romantasy with a queer cast featuring older protagonists and a slice-of-life aesthetic. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t grabbing my attention at the time and so remains on my TBR shelf until further notice.
I took a bit of a break from reading romances after that, focusing on books I knew I’d be more likely to enjoy—which was necessary amid all the readings I had to do for classes already making me reluctant to pick up any book. It wasn’t for another two months when the Tucson Festival of Books came to town that I tried reading another romance: A Summer of Dandelions by Whitney Amazeen. After meeting Amazeen at the festival and hearing her pitch the book (as well as her other book, The Wrong Kind of Falling) I was excited to dive into her work. For reasons unrelated to the romance I had to DNF (did-not-finish) them, so I’m not sure how I would have reacted to the romance plot. The basis of it seemed like it would have been enjoyable—fake-dating and secret relationships, it was a mix I wasn’t used to seeing in fiction and I really wish some of the other factors didn’t put me off reading these books.
After those two failures at reading romance, I really struggled to find any that was going to capture my interest. I ended up reading multiple books with prevalent romantic subplots: N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season—which I actively enjoyed even though it’s not a young adult (YA) novel—and A Wild Radiance by Maria Ingrande Mora (my review). The true love triangle in A Wild Radiance was a fun change of pace from the love triangles that I’ve been scorned by in the past, however, and it made me more open-minded to seeing that trope I think.
The last true romantasy I ended up reading was The Heart Trials by J. Elle (review). My issues with the book’s world-building notwithstanding, the romance ended up being very predictable but still pleasant to read. The two protagonists ended up being the most compelling characters in their dynamic and how their priorities shifted to focus on each other. It did, however, feel very similar to how Mare and Cal’s relationship in Victoria Aveyard’s Red Queen series was portrayed, which ended up making me feel a bit repulsed as I could really only think of the issues I had with those books.
Now, my experience reading romance is not going to be the same as any other aroace person—personal taste does play a major part in it. However, going through these books and looking at the stories I did enjoy or which ones I could tell started to make me feel uncomfortable, I think part of it is the point-of-view (POV) the stories are told in. Third person POV is more distant, and I realize I tend to enjoy those a lot more than ones told in first person. The first person invites the reader to imagine themself in the protagonist’s place (and what especially repulses me personally is even the idea of being in a relationship myself) so that may very well be the source of discomfort when I read romance.
I don’t think I’m going to continue seeking out romance or romantasy, however, I am glad that I took a chance on a lot of these—I feel less like I will DNF a book now just because romance becomes more prevalent in the story.
Grace McCool, Pine Reads Review Writer & Editor