Category Archives: Romance

Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

In 1956, when divorced, working-mom Ava Lark rents a house with her twelve-year-old son, Lewis, in a Boston suburb, the neighborhood is less than welcoming. Lewis yearns for his absent father, befriending the only other fatherless kids: Jimmy and Rose. One afternoon, Jimmy goes missing. The neighborhood in the era of the Cold War, bomb scares, and paranoia seizes the opportunity to further ostracize Ava and her son. Lewis never recovers from the disappearance of his childhood friend. By the time he reaches his twenties, he’s living a directionless life, a failure in love, estranged from his mother. Rose is now a schoolteacher in… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Divorce recounted
  • Bullying

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

With or Without You by Caroline Leavitt

Stella is a nurse who has long suppressed her own needs and desires to nurture the dreams of her partner, Simon, the bass player for a rock band that has started to lose its edge. But when Stella gets unexpectedly ill and falls into a coma just as Simon is preparing to fly with his band to Los Angeles for a gig that could revive his career, Simon must learn the meaning of sacrifice, while Stella’s best friend, Libby, a doctor who treats Stella, must also make a difficult choice as the coma wears on. When Stella, at last, awakes from her two-month sleep, she emerges into a striking… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Anxiety
  • Dementia
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Drug abuse
  • Pregnancy
  • Hospitalisation
  • Stroke mentioned
  • Death of parents mentioned
  • Death of a sibling mentioned

Stray by Elissa Sussman

Stray by Elissa Sussman

Princess Aislynn has long dreamed about attending her Introduction Ball, about dancing with the handsome suitors her adviser has chosen for her, about meeting her true love and starting her happily ever after. When the night of the ball finally arrives and Nerine Academy is awash with roses and royalty, Aislynn wants nothing more than to dance the night away, dutifully following the Path that has been laid out for her. She does not intend to stray. But try as she might, Aislynn has never quite managed to control the magic that burns within her-magic brought on by wicked, terrible… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Self-harm

Drawn That Way by Elissa Sussman

Drawn That Way by Elissa Sussman

Hayley Saffitz is confident, ambitious, and intent on following in the footsteps of her hero, renowned animation director, Bryan Beckett. When she’s given a spot in his once-in-a-lifetime summer program, Hayley devises a plan: snag one of the internship’s coveted directing opportunities. Dazzle Bryan with her talent. Secure a job post-graduation. Live her dream. Except she doesn’t land one of the director positions. All of those go to boys. And one of them is Bryan’s son, Bear. Despite Bear’s obvious apathy for the internship, Hayley soon realizes that there’s more to him… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism mentioned
  • Sexism
  • Sexual harassment

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

Funny You Should Ask by Elissa Sussman

Then. Twentysomething writer Chani Horowitz is stuck. While her former MFA classmates are nabbing book deals, she’s in the trenches writing puff pieces. Then she’s hired to write a profile of movie star Gabe Parker. The Gabe Parker–her forever celebrity crush, the object of her fantasies, the background photo on her phone–who’s also just been cast as the new James Bond. It’s terrifying and thrilling all at once… yet if she can keep her cool and nail the piece, it could be a huge win. Gabe will get good press, and her career will skyrocket. But what comes next proves to… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Divorce
  • Alcoholism (recovery)
  • Weight loss & gain discussed
  • Death of a father mentioned

We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

We’ll Never Be Apart by Emiko Jean

Murder. Fire. Revenge. That’s all seventeen-year-old Alice Monroe thinks about. Committed to a mental ward at Savage Isle, Alice is haunted by memories of the fire that killed her boyfriend, Jason. A blaze her twin sister Cellie set. But when Chase, a mysterious, charismatic patient, agrees to help her seek vengeance, Alice begins to rethink everything. Writing out the story of her troubled past in a journal, she must confront hidden truths. Is the one person she trusts only telling her half the story?

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Psychiatric hospitalisation
  • Death of a partner
  • Murder
  • Fire

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean

Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in—it isn’t easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, northern California town. Raised by a single mother, it’s always been Izumi—or Izzy, because “It’s easier this way”—and her mom against the world. But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father’s identity… and he’s none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess. In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the country she always dreamed of… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Emesis
  • Bullying

Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean

Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean

When Japanese-American Izumi Tanaka learned her father was the Crown Prince of Japan, she became a princess overnight. Now, she’s overcome conniving cousins, salacious press, and an imperial scandal to finally find a place she belongs. She has a perfect bodyguard turned boyfriend. Her stinky dog, Tamagotchi, is living with her in Tokyo. Her parents have even rekindled their college romance and are engaged. A royal wedding is on the horizon! Izumi’s life is a Tokyo dream come true… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Sexism
  • Classism
  • Panic Disorder & panic attacks
  • Bullying

Mika in Real Life by Holly Miller

Mika in Real Life by Holly Miller

At thirty-five, Mika Suzuki’s life is a mess. Her last relationship ended in flames. Her roommate-slash-best friend might be a hoarder. She’s a perpetual disappointment to her traditional Japanese parents. And, most recently, she’s been fired from her latest dead-end job. Mika is at her lowest point when she receives a phone call from Penny—the daughter she placed for adoption sixteen years ago. Penny is determined to forge a relationship with her birth mother, and in turn, Mika longs to be someone Penny is proud of. Faced with her own inadequacies, Mika embellishes a fact about her life. What… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Racism
  • Sexism
  • Rape

Empress of All Seasons by Holly Miller

Empress of All Seasons by Holly Miller

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace’s enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete—all except yōkai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren’t hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yōkai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life… Read more.

Goodreads • The Story Graph

Trigger & Content Warnings

  • Slavery
  • Rape
  • Child abuse
  • Parental abandonment
  • Self-injury
  • Childbirth
  • Forced adoption
  • Exile
  • Death by starvation
  • Murder
  • Poisoning
  • Explosions
  • Fire
  • Cyclones
  • Animal attack
  • Animal cruelty & death
  • Bullying