Top 5 Romance

Welcome to my unapologetically casual top-5 series. Follow the tag ‘Top 5 2023’ for more. There are no stars and no metrics. The only criteria is how much I enjoyed the book, and how well its strengths place it primarily in a given category. Yes, books can appear on more than one list if they fit.

Romance:

I can just hear them now. True romance fans are screaming at their phones, because this list is not remotely like any other top x romance list on the internet. That’s because while there may be many like it, this one is mine. Sometimes, I am in the mood to take a break from swords and sorcers, robots and lasers, or ghost and ghouls to just… chill. When I find myself in that headspace, a romance with a healthy dose of speculative elements fits the bill.

Top 5:

5. Legends and Lattes – I loved this book, and the only reason it isn’t higher on the list is because I don’t think it is primarily a romance. However, the romantic subplot is as subtle and charming as they come. Do you like coffee? Do you play table-top role-playing games and love sessions where you don’t roll a single die? Both you say? Then this is the book for you.

4. The Invisible Life of Addie Larue – it may be cliche, but you never appreciate what you have until it’s lost. Ironically, this heartbreaking romance where a cursed woman literally cannot find love is one of the most romantic things I have ever read. The depth of the longing on these poetic pages tugs at my soul. 

3. Miss Percy’s Travel Guide to Welsh Moors and Feral Dragons – Normally, when I pick a series for these lists, I link the first book, but for this example, I feel compelled to specifically call out MPG #2. After the protagonist takes care of her internal conflict in the first novel, she is free to explore connections she had long put aside as impossible for someone of her age and situation. Her romance is a beautiful, redemptive story. 

2. This is How You Lose the Time War – Are you looking for 1000 ways to say ‘I love you’? Check out this campy, weird novella. It’s Romeo and Juliet with rival Time Cop agencies told in a series of letters. The slowly unfolding enemies-to-lovers arc is absolutely delightful. 

1. The Night Circus – Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, the NC features rival magician apprentices chosen and raised to defeat one another by the whims of their wizardly patrons. Of course they fall in love. It’s practically inevitable. The way they fight for one another despite the impossible forces keeping them apart is beautiful and inspiring. 

Honorable Mention – The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Club – Not even remotely fantasy, this historical fiction about a British woman stuck on an occupied island in the English Channel during World War II is a stealthily charming romance. You don’t even see it coming until it’s there, then, like the protagonist, you realize it was with you all along.