Hi guys! I’m searching for a novel that’s a passionate, captivating and intense romance that isn’t:
- BDSM fan-fiction like 50 Shades
- Lame like Twilight
- Centred on a toxic male character or a woman lusting after being roughed up and treated like dirt
So basically an intellectual and engrossing read without toxic elements.
Thanks!
by magical_bunny
10 Comments
You should read the opposite of always. It has time travel in it though.
This Is How You Lose The Time War is an epistolary romance between two agents of opposing spy agencies. Each agency exists in a different version of Earth’s future: i.e., if humanity’s story goes one way you’ll get one agency, and if it goes a different way you’ll get a different agency, and so on for infinite permutations. The two agents are time traveling trying to change timelines to make their agency’s future more likely. It’s not really about the time-travel, though: it’s an absolutely beautiful, heartbreaking love story.
Red, White, and Royal Blue — a very fun, non-toxic romcom
“Intellectual” or literary romances are typically tragedies tbqh. The English Patient or The Deep Green Sea are prime in the genre.
Wild Reverence by Rebecca Ross. An interesting mythology with beautiful prose. Truly romantic and not just lusty. Amazing read.
Try T. Kingfisher’s Paladin books or something by Olivia Waite.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
A few romance authors I’d recommend for you are Emily Henry, Mhairi McFarlane, and Katherine Center. Also r/RomanceBooks is one of my fav subs, the people in there will absolutely provide stellar recommendations for whatever specifities of romance you’re looking for!
Part of Your World by Abby Jiminez.
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Intermezzo by Sally Rooney!!! Intermezzo by Sally Rooney!!!