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Emily Henry books are either top tier great or just meh for me, Book Lovers and Funny Story are the two that really worked for me and I think if you haven't tried Funny Story it might work for you! It's got a similarly entertaining gimmick to Book Lovers in that it follows a character who got left by her fiance for another woman and the male romantic interest is a very sweet "just let me love you and be nice to you" type.

In theory, I love romance. But I dislike most romance books, precisely because of the male protagonist, who is often unpleasant, and the enemies to lovers theme. I love established relationships or friends to lovers, when the couple are kind and helpful to each other right from the start of the plot. The conflict can be that the cruel world does not allow them to be together or for some reason threatens their safety and lives.

If you want a beautifully illustrated retelling that bases itself strongly in the novel, but brilliantly highlights ad absurdum and brings out the novel beyond just the plot.....I'd STRONGLY recommend DRCL Midnight Children by Shinichi Sakamoto The first 4 volumes can be found online in english

You've got so many good takes, I can't even list em all! I feel VERY SEEN by your list of The Formula basics at the start, thank you so much for putting it into words!

I’m a woman who generally dislikes romance books. And honestly, it’s usually the first criteria that I can’t vibe with in them. I usually find the female main character to be extremely immature, insufferable, and completely unable to relate to. The male character is usually slightly more tolerable to me, but they usually eventually annoy me as well. It’s funny because I disliked Love Theoretically sooo much. I didn’t find it funny at all, I just found it annoying and completely oblivious to the fact that her feminist worldview was constantly being debunked by reality. The female main character was supposed to be super smart but she just…wasn’t. The author couldn’t even make up a fiction to fit her narrative. Believing men get ‘pee-erections’ and being mad at a man a decade later for bringing up a very va1id criticism of her field of study wasn’t a good way to convince me the main character was smart. It was just embarrassing. Fourth Wing, oh boy. Yeah, I don’t like dragons in my sx. Or sx in my dragons. The main character was absolutely insufferable Mary Sue and she picked the wrong guy. They deserved each other though, they were both terrible. Although I guess her best friend who just wanted to protect her instead of seeing her put her life in danger for no reason other than defiance dodged a bullet with that one. Never read any of the others you mentioned, but those were what you liked, we have very different tastes. LOL Although I do plan to try Emily Henry. I might actually like her if she writes books for ‘adult attention spans’, as the immature tone of most romance books is one of the many things I usually dislike about them. I also tend to enjoy reading things that are more serious in tone. The only popular romance I’ve read recently that I actually did like was Divine Rivals. I was very surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did, as I usually don’t like YA much either. The sequel wasn’t quite as good, but it was still way better than Fourth Wing. I can’t exactly pinpoint why, but I just thought the relationship and way love was presented was way healthier than others. Unlike a lot of romance, it wasn’t just based on the characters being h0rny, but actually getting to know each other as friends/rivals before the romance started. At the end of the day, maybe I do just kind of dislike my own gender though. Because I dislike that most other women like things like Fourth Wing and Love Theoretically. I think the MCs of those books had absolutely awful mentalities, and that’s mostly why I didn’t enjoy them. And I feel like those same mentalities are why a lot of women DO enjoy them, because they think the same way and can relate to the immature way these characters did thought and did things. And yeah, I don’t like that. It’s embarrassing to me that so many of my sx are that.. not-smart.

Try Outlander or Nicholas Sparks.

Really interesting sounding books! Thanks for sharing

I only accept romance in fanfiction since most of the time are much more variaties of relationships :)

*What's the Total Collection of books that you have?*

*What's the Total Collection of books that you have?*

I’ve realised I don’t dislike romance but I do dislike how many of the characters are made. In most of the popular straight romance books it’s always the same type of characters just tweaked slightly, and I usually dislike the MMC as they’re usually rude,brash and annoying until they randomly change all of sudden? It’s why I loved the romance in Hunger Games because Peeta was a cute nice guy right off the bat. I recently read a YA romance ‘I wish you would’ and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but I genuinely think that it was because the male love interest was a nice guy. In general I definitely prefer queer romances and tend to enjoy them far more.

In my opinion I don't really think romance is for girls, they just tend to portray men in such a light of "knight in shining armor" and all that and the very outdated gender norms which have faded away with time. They just make us keep believing in these men and kind of "fool" women. IDK all have their own interests but it is very common to what people discuss nowadays that girls at a young age have been sold the Disney princess dream and romance books seem to do the same thing to adult/young adult women. Idk keep and open mind and just drawing the line between fiction and reality is important ig. I always wondered if that made me pick me or not a girl's girl but I just refuse to live in delulu, have been trying to find some close to reality genres except for self help. Might try contemporary and literary fiction.

I liked it because it reminded me of the show Severance but will give the other recommendations a shot!

I totally understand this feeling! I find a lack of enjoyment and understanding for the enjoyment for some of the most popular romance books. An author I recommend that has amazing romance stories is Abby Jimenez. This author does a great job at balancing BOTH characters/love interests in her stories so they feel like well rounded characters in their own right. She writes contemporary romance that has a lot of depth, touching on deep topics about people on an individual level and the complications of love; 'how do you love someone else when you feel so broken from the way you grew up?' for instance.

I drop stories all the time because they get overcome by romance. I want adventure, I want interesting or cool characters, I don't want "waaah does she love me waaaah", its boring The love interest are usually really boring too. Cardboard like you said, or I see "sociopath but you are the exception" a lot. Or they're a glorified plot-device who pops up to solve the current issue and drag drama with them every time.

The title is so relatable ugh

Love the way, how you share the review on books. I would love to send you my book for review, share your email with me. ✉️

1:42 dude man, no wonder I find myself DNFing so many books that go into romance plots. I usually have NEVER felt any romantic connection to ANY of the male leads, the most I usually get with them is, “I would love to be their friend because they’re so funny and sweet” and worst is “I hate this guy so bitterly and feel no remorse for him whenever he starts sobbing” I have liked the romance plots of straight characters, but it’s definitely not like, the main couple of a typical straight romance book. I’ve only liked the main couple in a straight romance book, I kid you not, TWICE. However, I realized I didn’t think the male lead was pretty hot (in fact, the good male leads were someone I wanted to be pals with), I had more of a connection and liking to the FEMALE LEAD. So if the male lead character can be someone that I would want of befriend, and the female lead is someone I want to befriend, BOOM, I eat the romance up.

How are you replenishing the damaged cuticle -- hyaluronic acid mask? I don't mind the topic switch, btw, and would love to see how that peg wall for your kitchen has held up...and def encourage you to show off more of your talent for interior design and art!

Used a whole bottle of sun-in throughout a month on my hair tips and it dried them out like crazy. I don’t hate the results but I don’t think I’d do it again 😅

I also not a huge fan of romance (though i have ships too) due to either constantly getting ruined by authors or being unhealthy/toxic or ships being overrated by fans (which is either a ship with toxic dynamic or not canon in the begin with yet some fams act like as if the ship is canon). I more inclined to familial relationships and i love them more. I have nothing agaisnt tropes or romance in general unless it doesn't contain problematic stuff (red flag behaviors like being jealous so much/pedophilia/abuse etc.) and it doesn't glossed over.

I'm tired of how much heterosexuality is shoved down my throat, and since romance books or books that shoehorn in romantic relationships are mostly heterosexual, I'm not interested. I also have negative interest in sex scenes.

I don't really like the BookTok popular romance books where they sleep together after like 5 conversations, where the heroine is always sassy, small, snarky, beautiful and doesn't look strong enough but you bet she will shock our male love interest with her abilities!!! And then we have the rugged, 7 feet tall dark haired man with dark eyes and so many muscles that his abs have abs. He's always angry and hates all women except our main heroine. I'm so over this. But I have a different problem, and I honestly can't figure out why. I always hate the heroine more than the love interest. When the man is problematic, I'm like "to be expected" bcs I have no expectations for the male gender even in a book character form, but no matter how nice the heroine is, I just always hate them. Do I hate all women? Because I just never form a connection with the heroine. I either find her annoying, too sassy, too confident or idk, and trust me, I'm all for women being confident, but I'm so over this trope of the heroine being this fearless beast who's just like "this might kill me but here I go anyways bcs I'm strong and independent!!!". I don't really know how to explain myself very well, but when reading Bridge Kingdom, Serpent & Dove, Powerless, Fourth Wing, etc. I was just so annoyed by the heroine and her quirky personality.

Regardless of genre if the characters are one dimensional, for me, I won’t get invested. I need to care for the characters or at least be intrigued. I need to have reasons to follow this characters story. To care or root for them. That’s where it starts for me. Without good characters the story and world will feel disconnected. Distant. And pointless.

I adored Chlorine and yours is my favourite review by far.

I don't read romance books and because of your video I found out why. And the love interest is usually the problem. I remember being in the middle of reading the whole twilight saga and thinking "why does she love Edward so much? What is is? She wants to be with him for eternity but I kind of missed the point why." I love classic romance novels and the best man I ever came across is Faramir!

There are so little romance books nowdays that I enjoy reading about that have truly good made male leads I tent to find better romance stories in books in which the main plot is not the romance itself

No, no, you've unfortunately been subjected to the book-tok-ification of publishing. I too, hate a lot of the tropes mentioned and love the Romance genre - but you've gotta look hard for something that will suit you. Look, if the genre is so big it can produce a book about amish vampires in space, you can find something for you. Promise.

I like the idea of that mysterious pop song. I'd be interesting if the band's replicated song becomes a worldwide hit, and then years and years later, the exact same thing happens with the song again, this time to a different person. The circularity is cool. On that note, I think you'd love Borges - circularity is a key theme in his works. Great stuff!

Love how you keep saying "do something" -- GET OUT! 😂 I've known a few translators and they were very passive in a disturbing way, esp when sharing stories from their jobs that made us all wonder if you have to be a bit touched to master other languages, similar to realtor acquaintances -- just could not unsee what they've described, am more the advocate type who gives a 💩 even when I prob shouldn't

I'm kind of laughing at how you said Antkind needs editing. I haven't read it, but I remember Charlie Kaufman saying in an interview that he was made to cut down the book from something like 900 pages to its 720 page length now. I got the impression he felt the book's too short, hence my laughing at how absurd that may be. But I definitely am going to read this. I generally love Kaufman's writing, though sometimes I wonder how much I can take of him depicting pathetic, middle aged men whose personal lives are a wreck. In fairness, he's great at writing that, but it can be kind of depressing to watch.

I searched 30 years for an animated short I saw when 11, and it was sooo amazing when I finally found it thanks to a Canadian post -- I cried and laughed and felt like it was no longer some imagined fever dream, was spectacular 😊

I’m just adding all the books from your videos to my StoryGraph lol

I read My Husband and Pretend I’m Dead and LOVED them both. About to start Pizza Girl after I am done pondering Rouge.

Ever since I was a kid I was indifferent to disliking romance in any media I consumed. When I was 16 I discovered that it's just straight romance I don't like I love gay romance stories. About I year ago I figured out it's because I'm aroace and I like it because I can disassociate myself from the romance.

They call them the "love interest" but you realize that the male does not know anything about her except her mother died and her favorite color is blue. I don't see the real interest in that love 😂

I thought “Patriots,Traitors and Empires” was a great read about the chapter of Koran history during the last century of colonial occupation. Though fair warning it is very critical of the U.S’s involvement in the Korean War. In so far as to claim it was an imperialist endeavor and the subsequent South Korean regime were military dictatorships propped up by the U.S. while also painting the DPRK in a more sympathetic light.

a little off topic, but you are so pretty :33

Please share your top 5 novels that include relationships you aspire to experience someday or reflect ones you initially enjoyed. PS: Love your comical videos like this one and this may be why I prefer fiction with a relationship rooted in how one person plays against another individual's wordplay•cleverness•cynicism.

We’d have fewer arguments if humans could differentiate between preferences and morals… Chocolate ice cream or Vanilla? It’s a preference. Just because someone doesn’t like your favorite flavor doesn’t make them mean or wrong.

You can hate anything you want. You only become a dummy if you tell other people they can't like it. I don't care for kale. I don't like Adam Sandler movies. I don't want to watch sports. I don't enjoy snowboarding. All of these things are totally fine for someone else. The appeal of these books is that the jerk is controlled. Christian Grey modulates his behavior for love. Edward Cullen restrains himself for romance. In a world with uncontrolled monsters, half the romance and the dream is the fantasy of a controlled one. It's the same reason roller coasters are fun... For someone else. ... still dont wanna read em, tho. I do not personally like them.

wow i definitely judged the ministry for the future by its cover... why did i think that books was a generic self-help book 🤣 now im interested in it!! i feel like collectively, april was a terrible reading month for a lot of us lmao. i know it was my worst month of the year so far

Book lovers was nice. For one it was refreshing to not have the mfc cute and petite and the mmc tall(above 6ft) and big. Just found your channel. Nice video

I thought I hated romance as well, but I eventually realized that I just dislike straight romances. As a lesbian, there was not a lot of representation for wlw relationships and I just could not relate at all to straight relationships. Now that wlw and mlm romance books are becoming more accepted with publishers, I’ve found a few that I really enjoyed.

안녕하세요! ㅋ

Loved this! I've often had similar worries because I don't usually enjoy romance fiction. I think you're absolutely correct about the conditions for enjoying a traditional romance novel: the female protagonist needs to be (at least emotionally) relatable, and the male love interest needs to be attractive. I would add that I think it's also a genre thing: most romance novels fall into really specific genre categories--slice-of-life and dystopian/high fantasy--and I think a lack of interest in romance fiction can sometimes stem from a lack of interest these genres. I don't usually go for either (dystopian/high fantasy is usually too much for me, slice-of-life isn't quite enough) and found that 90% of my issues with romance fiction completely disappeared when I switched genres--which was a relief!

Okay thank you for this video!!!! Loved!!!

I loved natural beauty. On top of what women have done to achieve beauty standards her acceptance of the sexual abuse was a huge commentary on what women will also do or subject themselves to to be accepted. The cannibalism was an added bonus

I read “All the lover in the night” while the main character isn’t a failure she does fall short of societal expectations and is a great read in the same vein as some of these. Definitely recommend.

If I hear any slander about The Charm Offensive I will riot