Five Books For People Who Think Romcoms Are Corny, fun stuff edition

A bonus recommendation, our monthly playlist, a poem, and more

The Embrace (Lovers II) by Egon Schiele, 1917.

Welcome to this month’s Fun Stuff Edition of Five Books For, a newsletter for people who love great stories. This edition used to be paywalled so if you haven’t joined us for this before then welcome! As always, we have a bonus recommendation, a poem, a playlist and some reading links, all in keeping with this month’s theme of romcoms. I hope you’ll find something to surprise and delight you. If you’re not already subscribed, you can receive this newsletter directly to your inbox by clicking the button below. Everything is free although if you’d like to support the newsletter with a paid subscription, I would be overjoyed.

Let’s dive in!

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Bonus recommendation: Red, White And Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

“That’s the choice. I love him, with all that, because of all that. On purpose. I love him on purpose.”

So what’s it about? Alex is the son of the USA’s first female president, currently running for re-election. At a British royal wedding, Alex gets into a physical altercation with British Prince Henry, and they end up accidentally destroying the wedding cake - a PR disaster. In order to manage the optics of the situation and avoid detracting from his mother’s re-election campaign, Alex and Henry find themselves pretending to be friends on a diplomatic visit and soon find they don’t hate each other as much as they thought they did. As they grow closer, their relationship shifts from a friendship into something more, and when their emails and photos are leaked to the press they have some tough decisions to make. Will they ever be accepted for who they are, given their public roles? Or can they find a happy ever after?

What’s great about it? This is a book that’s both fun and touching as we watch Alex and Henry navigate their feelings, their sexualities and the expectations and responsibilities of their public lives. The romance is quite slow burning which I like as it gives you time to get to know the characters, and the supporting cast and their various friendships are one of the highlights of the book. It’s also fun to see a romcom set in the world of politics and royalty.

Give it a try if: you like queer romance; you’re fascinated by the royal family or by political dynasties; you like books with an enemies-to-lovers premise; you like books where the lovers have to navigate external pressures or long-distance love; you like books with a coming of age angle.

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This month’s playlist

There are quite a tight set of conventions for romance novels, one of which is that the protagonists must break up or lose each other towards the end before reconciling for their happy ever after, so I thought that a few power ballads might be the perfect choice to accompany this month’s reading. Plenty of angst and drama and lots of love - and great fun to sing along to! Perfect for when you’re cooking. We had a family birthday this week so tomorrow I’ll be in the kitchen making a cake and singing along to this while I do it.

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This month’s poem

Sunshine

By Pat Parker

If it were possible 
to place you in my brain
to let you roam around
in and out
my thought waves
you would never 
have to ask
why do you love me?

This morning as you slept
I wanted to kiss you awake 
say I love you till your brain
smiled and nodded yes
this woman does love me.

Each day the list grows
filled with things that are you
things that make my heart jump
yet words would sound strange 
become corny in utterance.

In the morning when I wake
I don’t look out my window
to see if the sun is shining.
I turn to you instead.

Source.

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This month’s reading links

Analysing and measuring romance as a genre: the University of Pennsylvania’s Price Lab for Digital Humanities used Goodreads data to explore the cultural field of romance novels and the huge ecosystem of sub-genres which exist within it. Interesting stuff. (Public Books, free)

How did you meet your partner, if you have one? This article by romance author Lauren Forsythe wonders whether online dating spells the end of the real-life meetcute, a staple of romance novels (LitHub, free).

“I don’t think I have fantasies that stem from disempowerment. I think I have fantasies that stem from empowerment. But in many ways, that empowerment only has meaning if you can show its lack, and so I think I write about overcoming disempowerment.” This article is fascinating - it interrogates the tension inherent in many romance books around agency and empowerment. Is romance a feminist genre or a regressive throwback, and why are so many women in love with it? (Aeon, free)

Oa the subversiveness of romance as a genre. (LitHub, free)

I hadn’t watched many Disney movies until I had a toddler to watch them with (so fun!) and I loved this analysis of how the focus of love within them has shifted away from the romantic and towards the familial. Considering that Disney has been blamed for decades for setting unrealistic relationship ideals through its cultural influence, it’s interesting to consider what this new focus might mean for younger generations. (Aeon, free)

To make you laugh: Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is a website dedicated to the romance genre and has a feature called Cover Snark where they examine some of the more, er, interesting cover choices of the genre. The polar bear and penguin in this edition is particularly humorous. (SBTB, free)

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Thanks for reading!

I realise that romance can be a divisive genre and would love their your thoughts about it. Are you a fan? Have I persuaded you to give it a go? Or is it a genre that you just can’t get into? Let’s chat in the comments, or you can reply to me directly vía DM or email. I’ll be back next month with a new theme and more summer reading joy.

Happy reading!

Kate

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