angelreads, Author at Angel Reads

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Reading More Romance Books | Discussion

Nov 16, 2017

I’ve always been a young adult book kind of girl. It’s what I have been reading since I was at least 12-years-old. And in reality, I thought I wouldn’t ever read anything else. But, over the last year or so I’ve been reading more and more new adult and adult romance – and I love it.

As I’ve been in the blogging and online community for nearly 7 years now – I’ve seen a lot of discussions about romance books, especially from the YA community. And most of the time it wasn’t great. It didn’t paint new adult and adult romance books with a great eye, and it put me off. I felt that it wasn’t good to read them, that if you love YA, that you should not read romance. Obviously, that is a really stupid way of thinking and don’t know exactly where it came from. And it wasn’t until the middle of last year that I started to let those worries go, that I fell in love with romance books and now I don’t want to put them down.

Now romance books for me are a great way to just let myself go for a while and not worry about anything else. And because a lot of the time they are contemporary, I don’t need to worry about world building or new languages. I just fall into the book without a care in the world.

There are many misconceptions about romance books that I feel the prey of for many years. And I still think that there are many other readers that feel the same way.

It’s not all about the sex

I think this was my main misconception about romance books. It’s one of the first things that I thought it was about. Sex, Sex and more Sex. Maybe it’s because some of the biggest romance books that are highlighted in the media did include that. Fifty Shades of Grey and Mills and Boon books were what immediately came to my mind.

But in reality, it isn’t like that at all. Of course, there are the romances that do sway more to the erotic fiction side – and that is totally okay. They aren’t for me, but I don’t give a crap if you do read them. But then you can also get series like Laura Kaye’s Hard Ink and Raven Riders, where some are sexier than others. It’s not just the story, but different characters like people behaviour different. Check out my reviews of Ride Hard, Ride Rough and Ride Wild.

There are many romance books that have maybe 1 or 2 sex scenes and that’s it. Some of them aren’t even that graphic. Some romance books don’t even have sex scenes. So to say that romance books = sex. Is such a major misconception, that I know I fell for and hope others now, don’t feel the same way.

Romance books have substance

Along the same lines that romance books = sex. There is also the impression that there is no substance to romance novels, that it’s all about the romance and sex. And nothing else. But do you know how many romance books have made me bawl my eyes out?

Okay yes, I am a cry baby. But there is something about romance books that make me more emotional. I have learnt so much from them. About sports, the army, health. Romance authors do there research just as much as anyone. If you want some Ice Hockey romance recommendations, check out a post I did a couple of months ago.

The Flight & Glory series by Rebecca Yarros has taught me so much about the army life in the US. If you didn’t know I’m a massive fan of fighter jets and army plans so getting to see these in books was so cool.

And while many romance books explore relationships, they also explore life. It’s not all sunshine and daisies. It’s grief, hurt and finding love. And that is what I really love about romance books – that I can feel so many emotions in 300 pages.

It’s good writing

Another aspect of romance books that I’ve been around is that the writing is bad. Just because these books focus more on romance doesn’t mean it’s shit writing. Obvious there are many that aren’t great writing wise – but that is with every readership and genre. It’s isn’t just romance books.

Over the last year, I’ve probably read 40 or so romance books. I’ve had ones that I loved and ones that aren’t that great. But that is like everything else. You don’t know what you are getting into until you pick up and read.

Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy have become two of my favourite romance authors. I love their writing and while there are clique storylines. I still have so much fun reading them. From Ice Hockey to ex-army. They are so much fun. And you know what bets these two authors on their own? When they collab, the Him and Wags series are some of my favourite romance books. That deals with different aspects of life on many different levels.

***

There are a couple of people that I need to mention quickly that really changed my outlook on romance novels. Firstly, Danielle Binks – she loves YA just as much as any of us do, but she also loves romance. Danielle was one of the first people that I saw that read both young adult and romance books – and I loved it.

I can’t write a post about romance books without mentioning Tash. I’ve known her for many years, we started blogging at similar times and have become great friends. I use to read her romance reviews and think ‘I need to read this book’. Now we talk for ages about romance books, I am also getting recs from her – and it’s great.

Overall, if you want to read young adult and romance books then do it! Don’t be scared or worried about being judged. Read what you want to read, don’t let others dictate what you can’t. Or convince you that reading romance is bad. Because people I love romance books now. I won’t get enough of them, I will continue to read them – and there are so many interesting ones coming out soon.

Do you read romance books? How much do you love them? What are some of your favourites? Have you been pushed away from reading new adult and adult romance? Let’s Chat!

Books I Want My Future Children to Read

Nov 14, 2017

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they post a new Top Ten list that members at The Broke and the Bookish will answer. Everyone join as you please. This week’s topic is Ten Books I Want My Future Children To Read.

Reading has always been apart of my life. I grew up reading and loving the written word. It’s made me into who I am today. And the one thing that I want for my future children; is to love books as much as I do. Obvious I would never push them into reading, but I would definitely encourage them to read, to fall in love with characters and worlds.

So today I am sharing the books that I would love for my hopefully future children to read. Like always these are in no particular order. Expect, I have spilt books for when they are younger and then some young adult ones that have changed me.

Books I want my children to read in their younger years

Harry Potter by J.K Rowling: I know I said that these are in no order, but if there was one series that I would want my kids to read – it would be Harry Potter. It shaped my childhood and it started and continued to grow my love of reading, writing, and creativity. It was one of the things that sparked my love for fantasy and the supernatural. It’s the series that made me believe in the impossible. My mum read this to me as a kid and I plan to do just the same with mine.

Anything Andy Griffiths: When I was younger I use to read Andy Griffiths all the time and I loved it. There is something about silly things happening in books as a kid and that is what Andy Griffiths books are. And now years later, Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton are still going strong. I work in a bookstore and a number of times the little ones come in asking for them, makes me feel great. Kids are reading and loving these books.

If I Ran the Circus by Dr Seuss: I can’t count on my hands how many times I read this book. I use to stay up late at night and it read it over and over again. Mostly I read it at night when I coudn’t sleep – but it’s one fo the bigger Dr Seuss books and just so good. It’s fun, crazy and always put a smile on my face.

Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister and J. Alison James: This was one of my favourite books as a kid. It’s just a beautiful book with glitter, colour everywhere and beautiful illustrations. It will be one of the first books that I would want them to read.

Possum Magic by Mem Fox and Julie Vivas: This has to be one of my favourite children books. It also has to be one of Australia’s most iconic children’s books as well – Australia animals and beautiful illustrations.

Books I want my children to read when they are older

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas: The Hate U Give is a brilliant and powerful story. It’s heartbreaking, poignant and so so true. It’s a book that everyone should read, and understand. The Hate U Give explores family, friendship and what is right. I wanted to cry, scream and hurt. I want others to learn from it and I would want my kids to learn from it.

Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan: I love Greek mythology so when I discovered this series I fell in love and I would love for my children to feel the same way. It’s not just the Percy Jackson series, it’s the whole world that Rick Riordan has created. I think he explores so many characters, worlds and aspects of life.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett: I loved this book when I read it in my early teens. Like a lot of the other books that I read it was magical. I loved going through the secret garden into a magical place.

When Micheal Met Mina by Randa Abdel-Fattah: I said it before by When Michael Met Mina should be on every high school book list in the country. The younger generations need to know that sometimes the government and media lie and manipulate the sense of asylum seekers. They need to know that most of these people are not illegal or jumping the queue, they are just simply people looking for freedom, safety and peace.

And that is it for me – yes it’s not ten, but you get the drift. What are some of the books that you would want your children to read? Do we share any that is the same? Let’s Chat!

Bookish Boyfriends of 2017 #2

Nov 12, 2017

A couple of weeks ago I shared some of my bookish boyfriends for 2017. And today I thought it was time to share more of the boys that have stolen my heart this year. I am always one for a bookish boyfriend – seriously most of the time, I fall in love with the love interest with the protagonist. Some of the books are from this year, some aren’t. And like always these aren’t in any order.

Jamie from Queens of Geek by Jen Wilde: While Jamie wasn’t a massive part of the book in a sense – I adored how much he cared for Taylor. I loved he pushed her just enough so she got out of her comfort zone. But the main reasons that I think he would have a great bookish boyfriend is that he understood. It was just really sweet.

Julian Blackthorn from The Dark Artifices by Cassandra Clare: My love for this boy is undeniable. I could talk about him all the time and just gush. Firstly Julian is very family orientated and damn that warms my heart. He not only had to grow up fast but had the deal with the burden of killing his father and then taking his spot in the family. But, he doesn’t care – he loved them. One of the main reasons why I love Julian is his vulnerability; it really shows that shadowhunters are still human in many ways.

John from Trust by Kylie Scott: John was an interesting character in himself and it did take me a while to warm up to him. I really don’t know what it was, but it didn’t take me long to find out who he was. I did at times feel that it was too hard to connect with him and maybe it was because Edie and John both had walls up that needed to be cracked. John has a tough past, so I wasn’t expecting him to easy to get to know.

Harris from No Limits by Ellie Marney: Harris, can I please just give him one massive long hug – or maybe multiple. Every page that he was on, I felt that his heart was along with it. I wanted to scream so many times that he isn’t worthless, that he deserves so much more. However, I did love this character arc. I felt that he grew so much that I just fell in love with him even more.

Zachariah from Keepsake by Sarina Bowen: Zachariah my sweet boy. From the first book in the True North series, he took my heart away. And then he got his own book and gosh did he tear me to pieces. Zach is innocent but cares so much and it just makes me smile so much.

And that is it for this post! Who are your bookish boyfriends/girlfriends? Do we share any of the same? Let’s Chat!