Top Ten Tuesday: Ten favorite romances

Happy Top Ten Tuesday! In honor of Valentine’s Day, today is all about romance! Specifically, favorite romance tropes.  I have a few favorite tropes, so I’ll break it down by category.  I also want to say that it was so hard to choose just ten books overall, so please please please, if you want more examples, let me know!

Imagine not only living by someone your own age, but having that person be utterly adorable and having them feel the same about you.  Never happened to me, but it seems like it would be great.

Examples:

I love a book (and a guy) that can make me laugh. Sometimes I’m up for some serious heartache, and other times I just want something light.  It’s very, very rare that a rom-com will disappoint me.

Examples:

I don’t know if I’d go for my opposite in real life, but sometimes reading about people who are like night and day that actually end up falling in love is great.  It’s particularly great when one is a grumpy jerk and the other is a ray of sunshine.

Examples:

Is there anybody alive who hasn’t fallen in love with their best friend at some point? Whether anything came of it or not, I think we all have a soft spot for these stories.

Examples:

I swore I would never get into “those stepbrother books.”  Well, I did.  Oops.  It’s not so much the taboo for me, but they always have such good buildup before anything happens!  These authors make you work for it! There’s none of this sex-by-page-two nonsense with this trope.

Examples:

Honorable mentions (or, if this were called Top Twenty Tuesday):

  • rockstar romance
  • best friend’s brother
  • brother’s best friend
  • unexpected coworkers
  • roommates

What are your favorite tropes?

How excited are you for SOME KIND OF PERFECT?!

“What we decide will inevitably shape the lives of our children.
​For better or for worse. We can’t foresee.”

​~ Connor Cobalt, Some Kind of Perfect

This epilogue to the entire Addicted series, as well as its spinoffs, had its release date officially announced today.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll be holding my breath until April 22, 2016.

Only a little over a month away!

More information here.

Goodreads Amazon

When we last saw Lily and Lo in Ricochet, Lo was back from rehab and 90 days sober, with a brand new outlook on life. Lily was regularly going to therapy and proudly 90 days celibate. In Addicted for Now, Lily and Lo must come to terms with living in the real world. Lo has access to alcohol again. Lily has to deal with sleeping next to her boyfriend without giving in to her compulsions. Staying sober was easier without access to alcohol. Staying celibate was easier without sharing a room. But both Lily and Lo are determined to make it work.

Of the three Addicted novels I’ve read so far, Addicted for Now is by far my favorite. I think that’s because instead of being about their addictions tearing them apart, this book focuses much more on their recovery, on finding healthy ways to deal with their triggers and focus their energy on more positive things. It also builds the relationships a lot more, particularly the relationship between Lily and her sisters.

Of course, no book is complete without some serious drama, so Lily has to deal with someone threatening to out her secret – to release to the press that the heiress to Fizzle is not just a sex addict, but one who’s gone so far as to hire male prostitutes. Knowing that the news would cause Fizzle stock to plummet, not to mention make their already strained relationship with her parents worse, Lily withdraws more and more into herself, becoming afraid to even step out of the house. The news hits Lo hard as well, since he knows that Lily has made significant progress, but still isn’t ready to reveal her secret. Lily worries that the stress will drive Lo to the nearest bar. And when the leak is revealed… I was both shocked and not at all surprised.

I need to catch up on my recent Netgalley approvals, but then I’ll be diving headfirst into Rose and Connor’s story. I can’t wait.

Final rating: ★★★★☆

For my 2015 reading challenge, I’m crossing off #43: a book that takes place in your hometown. (I would like to mention that Princeton, NJ is not my hometown, but I could not find any books that take place in the tiny Wisconsin town I was born and raised in.  Princeton is, however, where I live now, so I figured it’s close enough.)