Reading Romance Books for a Week

Image by Seyedeh Hamideh Kazemi

I've been watching so many book lovers reading romances, not the sweet innocent kind, but adult romances for over a year. Chandler Ainsley being the primary culprit. And you know what? I just want to read some romances. Some will have smut and others won't. I've always loved romance but YA romance has gotten stale for me so I want to change things up. Come on this adventure with me as I rediscover romance books.

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa is the only book that I wrote out my reactions for each chapter. It's a wild ride. Spoilers ahead!

Chapter 3 - Okay so this girl is a firefighter. She's trying to destroy Pestilence and sacrifice herself in order to save the world. I kind of felt bad for Pestilence because he was saying please as she was getting ready to burn him! But, he's killed a bunch of people so I would say screw you and do it.

Chapter 4 - Oh shit, he's a zombie.

Chapter 5 - Already there is something silly. It always happens with romances especially enemy to lovers. The MC talking about "hate banging" with the guy that's destroying the world is remarkably ridiculous.

Chapter 9 - She's been shot and dragged around but still think he's cute?

Chapter 13 - Pestilence helping Sara with her wounds and the bathroom scene. I can understand now why this would be a good romance.

Chapter 15 - Pestilence being annoyed that she stopped talking to him. The scene with the hot chocolate as well. He obviously has a thing for her and doesn't even know it yet.

Chapter 16 - I love the humor in this. Pestilence decides to take Sara's off in trying human food so he decides to eat the apple pie she's found while she's trying to eat some too. Sara saying, "This is such bullshit" while he's eating her pie is hilarious. I'm loving this book.

Chapter 18 - Okay at least she got angry and yelled at him but I would have just run away or found a way to end him again because sheesh he killed that whole family. This is the part where you have to suspend your disbelief. He's not a "bad boy' but a villain killing people. I know he feels like it's his mission to do so but still.

Chapter 19 - Okay, I'm convinced. Pestilence's look of concern and him taking her away to safety while he's hurt was the sweetest thing ever.

Chapter 24 - He kissed her and basically admitted that he liked her in previous chapter. He doesn't want her dead. I'm falling for this trap of a book!

Chapter 30 - Him saying "I'm keeping her" and "When you laugh, I think I might truly die." Both sweet so maybe finally he'll decide not to kill everyone.

Chapter 31 - I like how Sara is thinking about him finding her beautiful when there are people dying in the next room.

Chapter 32 - "i'm going to die before you've finished with this world."

Chapter 35 - They really like the bathtub.

Chapter 42 - He wants children in a world he's destroying? Makes sense.

Chapter 48 - Male satisfaction lol. Some of the phrases romance authors come up with are hilarious.

Chapter 51 - Finally girl. He's killing everyone! She's finally decided to go against him and like the alpha male he is he locks her up for sometime.

Chapter 53 - This was such a weird ending. Her family is safe and sound and everything goes back to normal.

Final Thoughts: I don't know how but even with the premise of him being a villain, hurting her, and keeping her prisoner... this was actually a good story. There was action, romance, and a great pace to the story. The characters were funny. When Pestilence truly admitted that he loved Sara I felt his emotions. It's just such a complicated feeling liking this story. He was killing people. I mean he thought he had to but still. He wasn't exactly a good guy. Still, it's an engaging apocalyptic love story.

The Break Away by Michelle D. Argyle is a book I've seen around Goodreads for a while now. I decided to read it because for some reason it's tagged as a romance on Goodreads. I don't know what I thought about when I read the summary. Maybe that the guy she falls for was trapped to do what his family told him to and go along with the kidnapping. Maybe he's a prisoner as well. Never did I think I would be reading such a terribly written "thriller" mixed in with a love story. The love interest is CREEPY. She wanted to be with him and it felt like the author wrote it in a way where this was okay. That he wasn't creepy in wanting her when she wasn't ready. I just have no words. Goodreads users tagging this as romance are strange people. I'm the strangest of all for thinking this would have a tragic romance or something. Mistake noted. Never trust Goodreads.

The Deal by Elle Kennedy is a new adult romance set in college. I've read this book before and remember liking it. I did end up liking the story and characters. However, I did not remember how this book went down at all. First of all, the main character, Hannah, starts off telling her that she was raped in high school. What a wonderful way to start off a romance. I understand, everyone likes a tragic backstory in their characters. The love interest, Garrett, has one too. Him and his mother were terrorized by his father who abused them which comes into play in the story. Anyways, Garrett convinces her after many failed attempts to tutor her in a class because if he fails the make up test then he can't play hockey anymore. They become friends and fall for each other. They just don't want to admit it. Hannah wants Garrett to have sex with her in order to fix her. I'm not making this up. The sex scenes were just weird after that. They both made them so awkward. Otherwise, I did like the characters. The humor in this was well done. I'm convinced that all romances have to have humor to combat with some of it's ridiculousness. It could have done without Hannah's motives because it would have been a lot better read. I appreciated how when their was strain in the relationship that it was resolved in a mature manner. The ending gave me hope for the next book in the series which I plan to read in the future.

So. What did I learn? I learned that most romances have a ridiculous element to them. That I missed romances. I feel like I've read so many bad YA romances this past year and up to now that I needed to shake it up a bit. None of these books were perfect but I couldn't stop reading them. Romance is one of my favorite genres so it's time to explore it more. I ended up reading more adult romances the next week and although I enjoyed them, I seem to not like most smutty scenes. I just want romance. Two people falling deeply in love. Laughing along with the story. Something I can easily fly through but still written well. This is only the beginning of me exploring romance. A genre I thought I knew. I'm curious to see where it takes me.

Do you love romances too? What are some of the hands down best romance books you've read?