if you're still doing this: top 5 romance novel couples!!!!! also tropes and/or authors, basically i could listen to you (so to speak) talk about ROMANCE forever and ever
ahh BACK AT YOU (as in, I could totally listen to you talk about romance endlessly. but also 'back at you' in a 'i would be very invested in whatever kind of romance-related list you were willing to make'
omg ok:
TOP 5 ROMANCE NOVEL COUPLES (I'm trying to ensure that this list is different from what my 'top 5 romance novels' would be. Criteria being 'how much would I like to live in the world of these two people for as long as possible'):
Violet and Sebastian (The Countess Conspiracy by Courtney Milan) - ok so this is also my favourite romance novel in general but I LOVE THEM. IMO one of the best parts in the book is the entire conversation they have about automatons. Their dynamic is perfect. I love them
Alex and Genevieve (What I Did For A Duke by Julie Anne Long) - The whole entire rest of the world has very fixed perceptions of who these two people are and what they expect of them. But its cool because they get each other. Idk romance for me is two people understanding things about each other in ways that no one else does. And not in an obvious 'I have a tragic secret' and then 100 pages later - 'I'm going to tell you my tragic secret.' This isn't like that at all. They like each other SO MUCH. I love how much they like each other.
Jemma and Elijah (This Duchess Of Mine by Eloisa James) - they just hit sooo many of my buttons
Violet and Martin (Her Best Worst Mistake by Sarah Mayberry) - objectively this is not an amazing book. I mean, I LOVE IT but still. Anyway, the relationship between these two characters! Using animosity as a shield while harbouring what should be insignificant details about each other; how fiercely protective they are of each other by the end. I would read all the books about them just living life and doing stuff
Harry and Dizzy (As You Desire by Connie Brockway) - I THINK. THIS WAS SO HARD. I COULD HAVE PUT ANY NUMBER OF PAIRINGS HERE INSTEAD. But I love these two a lot! The friendship and the bickering and the knowing and the longing. The best part of The Other Guy's Bride is them being all old and happy.
TOP 5 ROMANCE NOVEL TROPES:
Novels that start with the leads having some kind of prior connection? Specifically I'm ALL ABOUT people who have been best friends since they were 5 year olds. Or my best friend's brother/my brother's best friend/etc - that kind of thing. I'm most into it when its two people who know each other and have histories of being there for each other but I just generally enjoy when there's already a dynamic between the two in play that gradually changes BECAUSE REASONS
Second chance romance! I'm so here for people who were dramatically in love with each other but then something happens and they're apart for 'X' number of years (I don't like when the 'X' is part of the narrative tho - no one wants to read about two people being on opposite sides of the world or whatever) but then suddenly they're reunited and are awful to each other till things work out. This has to be a specific brand of awful otherwise I get annoyed. Why do I like seeing people be mean to each other? I do not know. But I love resolving issues and falling in love again etc etc - see my faves: Private Arrangements, At Your Please, This Duchess Of Mine
MAY/DECEMBER - DO NOT JUDGE MEEEEEEEE
In the case of m/f stuff, starchy uptight hero falls for heroine who rumples his hair and turns his life upside down. I always like when initial impressions are proved wrong but especially in this context - see my faves: Her Best Worst Mistake, After The Kiss, Like No Other Lover
People without homes building/finding homes in each other instead - see my faves: Morning Glory, A Summer To Remember, Written On Your Skin
TOP 5 ROMANCE AUTHORS - oh man I don't know! I'm so bad at reading backlists. I know the the kind of stories I'd like to read and if something is very, very NOT that then I'll leave it aside (even if its by an author who has made me happy in the past.) But I LOVE Meredith Duran! I think she's awesome. Also Courtney Milan, Julie Anne Long and Sherry Thomas
