TTT #75: My Favorite Contemporary Romance Books

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

In honor of Valentine's Day, here are some of my favorite contemporary romance books! I stuck with young adult and new adult books for this list.

1. Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover

2. Things We Know by Heart by Jessi Kirby

3. The Distance Between Us by Kasie West

4. The Unexpected Everything by Morgan Matson

5. Losing It by Cora Carmack

6. Walk the Edge by Katie McGarry

7. The Way to Game the Walk of Shame by Jenn P. Nyugen

8. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

9. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

10. 738 Days by Stacey Kade

TTT #32 - Romances I Do Want/Don't Want in My Books

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

Give me LESS of these types of romances in my books
1. Insta-Love - I am over it. I am more partial to a slower building romance or friendship. Not just, "I saw you and you were pretty and I said hi and then I knew I loved you. The end."
2. Love Triangles - Unless it is expertly well done, and I don't feel like the author is just using it because they can, and if it actually MAKES SENSE then I think they are okay. BUT for the most part I'm not a fan.
3. Characters Not Sharing Their Feelings - I know every relationship has its ups and downs, but when characters just refuse to actually talk about something and then it leads to a horrible miss-communication,a break-up, or worse, drives me insane!
4. A Dark Past - I like romances to be complicated and such but a lot of the time I just want one (particularly New Adult books) that doesn't have such damaged characters. I think overall I just prefer romantic comedies, a romance that offers a lot of cuteness and a lot of laughs.

Give me MORE of these types of romances in my books
1. Hate to Love -A book that has two people that annoy the crap out of each other or happen to be sworn enemies, but they end up falling in love anyway in the end... sold.
2. Best Friends to Love - Who doesn't love a romance where the characters discover the deeper feelings they have for their best friend?
3. Kissing - I am not asking for full blown sex scenes, but some steamy kissing... I can't get enough of that. It is also very frustrating when it takes so freaking long for a couple to kiss even though they already admit they like each other, that is just ridiculous. I like to shout at them "Let's get a move on folks and kiss already."
4. More Uniqueness- I'll take just about anything that is out of the norm.

How do you like your romances in your books?

The Bookish Report & A Quick Apology

Here are all of the top bookish stories, blog posts, pictures, and videos I found this past week. I put this post up every Sunday so come back again next week for more bookish awesomeness. 

** Sorry my posts have been few and far between these last two weeks. I picked up extra shifts at work and I got a really bad cold, which made it so I was either working, sleeping, or being lazy. I also apologize for taking forever to visit all of my lovely blogger friends' blogs and to respond to comments. Hopefully I'll be back doing all things blogging at full swing this week!

Click away and enjoy your Sunday!

News

I know Valentine's Day has come and gone but I thought you all deserve a very true post describing why books are better valentines than people.

Whether it is a first amendment right or not, why would people want to view pornography in a public library? Ummmm no.

source: thereadables.tumblr.com

If you are looking for something bookish that is aesthetically pleasing then see this list of 15 cool typography designs of your favorite literary quotes.

I have never heard of Booktrack and to be perfectly honest I'm not all that glad that I did. You can actually make sound affects to go along with a novel. Ummm... I would pass on this, I prefer reading my book in the quiet and immersing myself completely in the story. Booktrack claims that reading needs to be reinvented and this is the way to do it, having books that have a soundtrack and sound effects that go along with it. I don't know but this seems weird to me, and I like reading now as it is just fine. I guess this would be cool for kids, but other than that I just don't know.

Blog Posts

I think all/any books count toward your reading goals, but I don't think everyone does. Take a second to read Buckling Bookshelve's post on the topic, its a great read.

Simply because the infographics rock, okay so does the content, you need to check out Seriously Social! Survey, Infographic, and Giveaway over at The Book Addict's Guide. Hurry the giveaway ends today.

Did you know that a book series could be canceled? I guess that is a thing now. :(

If you have every wondered what are some different ways increase your blog readership then it can't hurt to read Parajunkee's Ten Quick Tips to Increase Your Blog Readership.

Instead of flooding this section with all the different interesting Valentine's Day posts on the blogosphere this year I decided to choose just one, which was very hard to do. I went with Read My Breath Away's post that has young adult authors writing funny poems and cute little vanlentines messages from their main characters' point of view from their books. Sorry about the word jumble description of the post, just read the post already. 

Picture

A Valentine's Tribute to My Husband (How He Understands & Supports My Love of Books)

So it's Valentine's Day and I wanted to do some kind of love themed post, and then I realized that there are already plenty of posts out there this week that are full of Valentine's Day reading suggestions and I don't think I even read enough romance novels to make a well done and thorough list on my own anyway, so I'm skipping that. Therefore, If you are looking for some check out Epic Reads' list of contemporary young adult romantic reads.

Instead I have decided to share with you a little bit about my husband. It's kind of a Valentine's Day Surprise for him. :D My husband and I don't overly celebrate Valentine's Day, but we do recognize it and I had the sudden urge to share with you the bookish ways my husband manages to rock my world. Now, my husband isn't perfect, (he sometimes leaves the toilet seat up, he can be really messy, among other small things) but in the end I love him, he is my everything and he is really good to me. I very rarely get personal on my blog and besides random mentions I never really talk about my husband. Just to spice things up for one day I decided to do something just a little different. So here it goes...(This is not a full list. I'm sure there are more things he does but I can't think of them right now, I blame it on my cold.)

A Valentine's Tribute to My Husband (How He Understands & Supports My Love of Books)

1. He buys me bookish gifts all the time for everything. Even when he gets me mainly other gifts for a special occasion that cater to my other needs, such as children movies, he always manages to give me a small bookish gift as well, such as a reader gift card, or a bookmark, something to make this bookish girl smile.

2. He lets me talk to him about books...ones he hasn't even read and never plans to and are in no way close to what he likes to read. Whether I need to gush or rant he is always a willing listener.

3. He holds me when I cry after reading a very emotional book. He doesn't judge or question (although he does occasionally, okay usually, chuckle at me) he just lets me sit on his lap and he strokes my hair while I blubber away.

4. If I need someone to go see a book to movie adaptation with me at midnight... he is always there, even if he works the next day. (Seriously he even did this for me for a Twilight movie when my girlfriends couldn't make it, that is real love people!)

5. When we are out running errands, which are normally no fun, he occasional surprises me with a visit to...you guessed it...a book store! I don't even have to ask or request it. He is the best.

6. He never (unless it is an emergency) bothers me while I am reading. Now at first he did, but once he learned I would bite his head off he stopped and now respects my need to read uninterrupted.

7. He took me to Harry Potter World at Universal for our honeymoon. Yup, I guess I'll keep him.

Thanks for hanging in there with me while I talked your ear off about my husband. Whether you are curling up with your husband, best friend, fiance, boyfriend, family member, dog, book boyfriend, or are single and proud, I am wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day!

If you haven't found a guy/girl like this yet I hope you do. I don't believe he/she has to love books as much as you do (like that's possible, ha) but they need to support or at least respect your bookishness. Keeping my fingers crossed for all my friends out there to find their special someone. (Not that you need one, but if you want one.)

Valentine's Day Review: The Marriage Bargain by: Jennifer Probst

The Marriage Bargain by: Jennifer Probst (2012) 

Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC

308 pages

Genre: Romance

Barnes and Noble Summary: A marriage in name only . . .

To save her family home, impulsive bookstore owner Alexa Maria McKenzie casts a love spell. But she never planned on conjuring up her best friend’s older brother—the powerful man who once shattered her heart.

Billionaire Nicholas Ryan doesn’t believe in marriage, but in order to inherit his father’s corporation, he needs a wife and needs one fast. When he discovers his sister’s childhood friend is in dire financial straits, he offers Alexa a bold proposition.

A marriage in name only with certain rules: Avoid entanglement. Keep things all business. Do not fall in love. The arrangement is only for a year so the rules shouldn’t be that hard to follow, right?

My Review

I decided to pick up a sexy romance novel to review for Valentine’s Day. Sadly, I didn't make the best choice. Many recommended this book to those that were fans of Fifty Shades or Bared To You. Although I wouldn't necessarily call myself of a fan of these books, I enjoy a good steamy romance on occasion and they fit that bill. This book did not.

The Marriage Bargain was missing a lot of steam and a lot of originality. I know romances have a general plot usually accompanied by cheesiness and that doesn't usually bother me, but this one seemed so familiar that I cringed a little. I had the occasional laugh while I was reading, but there was just nothing overly special about this book.

The characters were okay, but nothing to write home about. Although I really liked Nick he wasn't anything too new. I did however enjoy that there weren't huge dark horrible secrets/pasts that the characters had to deal with, like in Fifty Shades and Bared To You. That was a nice relief. On the other hand, there was way too much "I really like you but I’m not going to admit it crap."

I think if you are looking for a light read and don’t mind the repetitiveness of the romance genre that is obviously displayed in this novel then you would probably enjoy this book. For some reason it just didn't have me sold. I feel like it should have been either more cute with more comedy or more steamy and dark. I just felt like the book was trying too hard. 

Rating: 2.5/5   BUY The Marriage Bargain

Happy Valentine's Day!