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This week’s promo for Top Ten Tuesday is a Valentine’s Day freebie. We here at MBJ, not being big subscribers to Valentine’s Day, decided to talk about the Romance Novels we are currently reading. We are also including the upcoming romance novels that we are planning to read or are on hold at the library and a book that is romance adjacent.

Just Finished Romance Read

Dark Lover

J. R. Ward

Sash recommended that I start the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, which is the first book in the series. I really enjoyed it, even though it felt a little dark during COVID. I can’t wait to read the rest of the series, the Brotherhood seem like cuddly badasses, and I can’t wait to see them meet their mates.

I hope to write and post a review later this month, but Sash has written reviews on Lover Unleashed and Lover Reborn if you want to give them a read.

• CARMEN

Barefoot in the Dark

Suzanne Enoch

Barefoot in the Dark is the sixth instalment of the Samantha Jellicoe series by Suzanne Enoch. I first read the series some years ago and thought I had finished I, but Enoch had other plans. Barefoot in the Dark was published in 2018, while the others were published between 2005 and 2007. Quite a big gap there.

However, I was excited for this book even though it leans quite heavily on the British man and American girl cliché love story. Samantha is/was a high-class cat burglar, which is cool but not worth the read for various reasons. Review coming soon.

• SASH

Currently Reading Romance

The Duke and I

Julia Quinn

I have been currently reading this for a while in preparation for the Bridgertons series on Netflix. Because of school, though, I haven’t been able to finish the book.

This means that I haven’t watched the show, and I won’t let Sash watch the show either. She has read the books, yes, all of them, a long time ago and loved them. And, is being super patient waiting for me to finish the book before watching the show.

• CARMEN

Real World

Amy Jo Cousins

I’m torn. I read the first book, Off Campus, of the Bend or Break series by Amy Jo Cousins. I loved it, mainly because of the blossoming relationship between Tom Worthington and his roommate Reese Anders. I loved reading an LGBTQ+ romance. I loved them so much I skipped all the books in between and jumped right to Real World, which is book 5 in the series. Real World is pretty short, pretty sure it’s a novella, which is okay because I want more Tom and Reese now that they’ve graduated.

• SASH

Marriage of Inconvenience

Penny Reid

Marriage of Inconvenience is the seventh book of the Knitting in the City series by Penny Reid. I was pretty stoked when I saw this book while browsing through the online library database.

Though it was published in 2018, a year after the sixth book Dating-ish, I didn’t realize it had been released until a month ago. I wish there Goodreads would notify us when the next book in a series has been published (I should recommend that).

Anyways, I’m pretty excited about Kat’s love story. The Knitting in the City series is what got me into knitting. I even went so far as to start a knitting club a few years ago, though we only met one time, so not really much of a club. It was fun, and I still knit and crochet and all because of this series.

• SASH

Next Romance Read

Mad and Bad: Real Heroines of the Regency

By Bea Koch

This is our pick that is romance novel adjacent. The author owns a romance bookstore that I follow on Instagram, The Ripped Bodice: A Romantic Bookstore. It is supposed to be a feminist popular history book that is supposed to break the myths put forward by regency romance novels about women.

I want this book to be good, and I hope it provides a new outlook on regency fiction. I have always wondered if the women depicted in regency romance novels are in any way historically accurate.

• CARMEN

On Hold at the Library

The Ravenels Series

Lisa Kleypas

I am waiting semi-patiently for this series to come available in one of the library apps we have. I read the first of the series when it first came out but never followed through. To make up for my lapse, I put the entire series on hold to read in order one after the other. I’m going to have a Lisa Kleypas marathon.

• CARMEN

Who’s That Earl

Susanna Craig

At first, this book made the hold pile because of the cover. I thought it was a different cover for a romance novel. Plus, the title reminded me of the TV show New Girl.

Then I actually read the synopsis and wanted to read it even more. The heroine is a writer of gothic novels while living in a castle in the Scottish Highlands now owned by an old suitor. The main draw is the setting for me; I love all things Scotland. Now that I know that it’s part of the Love and Let Spy series, I will be putting the second book, One Thing Leads to a Lover, on my TBR.

• CARMEN

Even though we don’t subscribe to Valentine’s Day, we hope that you get to eat lots of chocolate while reading.