February: Romance Recommendations

-need I say more?

Naturally, I had to see how close the source material was starting with The Duke and I, the first of 8 novels, each focusing on a different sibling of the Bridgerton family (who are conveniently named alphabetically) trying to find love in upper English society.

Just like season 1 of Bridgerton, The Duke and I focuses on Daphne who seeks marriage but is being friendzoned by all the eligible bachelors in the ton. On the other hand, Simon refuses to marry and have children so his dukedom will die out to spite his late father who neglected him as a child. Daphne and Simon decide to fake courtship to attract and detract attention respectively but attract feelings along the way. And most of those feelings are horny.

The Duke and I delivers the steamy pay-off to the sexual tension of Jane Austen’s novels. That said, there is still a lot of sexual tension despite the act being carried out and Quinn finds the balance, using enough flowery language to prevent her writing from reading like fanfiction smut.

Honestly, her writing surprised me. As Julia Quinn is American I worried she wouldn’t pull off writing Regency England but she clearly loves the genre and other than the odd Americanised spelling (yes, s not z), you can’t tell she’s not from here.

If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been getting into Regency romance lately but always struggling with the older language so a modern take like this is just what I was after. Quinn makes the genre accessible whilst also spicing it up.

Horniess aside, it’s really charming and genuinely funny and Quinn makes you care about the characters, Simon in particular.

I wasn’t sure if I’d be totally on board with this but now, I’m intrigued to continue reading the rest.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Another popular Netflix adaptation about fake dating! Except for this time, it’s high schoolers. But you’d be amiss to dismiss this as just another YA romance.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is the first of a trilogy about a half-Korean, half-white girl, Lara Jane Covey (a perfect protagonist name that’s marginally beaten by her iconic love interest’s) who writes love letters for all her crushes and stores them in a hatbox her late mother gave her. But then one day, they’re all mysteriously sent out to their recipients including Josh, who was just dumped by Lara’s Jean’s sister Margo before she went to college. To deflect the notion Lara Jean might like Josh, she enlists another recipient, Peter Kavinsky (cool name, right?) to pretend to be her boyfriend and he agrees hoping to make his ex, Lara Jean’s former friend Gen, jealous. And, well, you can imagine what happens.

Obviously, the premise sounds similar to The Duke and I and probably many other novels but there’s something about this series that’s unique and I can’t quite put my finger on it.

Admittedly, the characters’ situation is very contrived and almost frustrating - like, why can’t Lara Jean and Peter just admit they have feelings for each other? But that’s the whole point and the magic of romcoms isn’t it? The misunderstandings, the heartache - it’s all relatable and human. It’s easy to judge from the outside but we’ve all been there haven’t we? Not admitting our feelings. Making mistakes as a teenager. First love.

TATBILB captures that. It’s a light and fluffy read and makes you beg for more by the end. And I think it’s deliberately written that way so you’ll want to read the next one. Jenny Han clearly had a three-act story in mind when she penned this first one and after watching how the movies played out, I’m interested to see the differences as the novels progress.

The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary

I read The Flatshare this time last year at the beginning of the very first lockdown (do you remember those days? How we thought it would all be over in just a few weeks. Ha!) when I’d just lost my mother-in-law to a battle with cancer and it pulled me and my fiancee through what was already a difficult time.

Now we’re in the middle of the third lockdown (or is it fourth? I’ve lost count), and my attention span has been struggling again, I thought it was time to revisit my happy place and finally listen to the audiobook read by one of my favourite humans Carrie Hope Fletcher.

Even though I knew what was coming I was still astonished by both the craft and how much I enjoyed it.

There’s a damn good reason why this book became a phenomenon in 2020 - it is a perfect romcom. A recurring thing I’ve seen emphasised as essential to the genre is misunderstandings and not only is this story full of them but it masters them to such a point that you want to scream because you’re so desperate for the main characters to get together.

The premise of The Flatshare is simply this: Tiffy and Leon share a bed...but not at the same time. Leon has the flat during the day and Tiffy at night and they communicate, and fall in love, through post-it notes to each other.

Author Beth O’Leary was fascinated by the idea of whether two people could fall for each other without ever meeting and she does not rush Tiffy and Leon meeting, instead taking her time to build their characters and their relationship so that we fall in love with them too.

The Flatshare is laugh-out-loud funny, genuinely sexy at times and yet also not afraid to tackle deep issues such as trauma and abusive relationships. Even though it occasionally delves into cliches, it earns them because the characters feel grounded.

Carrie Hope Fletcher is spot-on casting for Tiffy and Kwaku Fortune’s imitation of her and other characters is hilarious.

If you’re looking for a good romance novel that is refreshing, feelgood and unputdownable, look no further. Read the book or listen to the audio version and I promise The Flatshare will get you through and you’ll want to read it again before this lockdown is over.

Other books I read in February

Here are the books that didn’t make the cut for this month’s theme!

• Me by Elton John

• Pride by Tim Tate

I read these for LGBT+ History Month. Both of them touch on the AIDS crisis and the gay community in the 1980s, which I have delved into on an article where I interviewed writers who lived or experienced the effects of that period in time.

You can see my ratings of these books and keep up to date with what’s on my bedside by following me on Goodreads.

Next month...well, your guess is as good as mine! See you there.