Did you read anything romantic for Valentine’s Day this year?

I don’t think much of Valentine’s Day as a holiday and didn’t plan anything at all – even our traditional candlelit dinner didn’t happen this year because pandemic apathy yawned and swallowed me whole. But last week, I read a few books that are appropriate for this time of year, and I want to share them with you.

My favorite type of humor is the kind that reminds you of the universally ridiculous qualities of being human, and these two slender books of poetry, John Kenney’s Love Poems (for Married People) and Love Poems (for People with Children), are that reminder.

There are some uncomfortable parts, some unsavory language, and the reminder of how badly we can treat those we are in intimate relationships with – even just in our heads. But reading these books, there was the feeling of being one person on a whole planet full of people having absurd experiences with their loved ones – moments we can laugh about together because we’ve all played a role in some version of the same story. These cheeky books made me laugh out loud again and again.

I also read the first two books of Helen’s Hoang’s romance trilogy, recommended by a friend from book club as fluff for a bad day. I liked book two the best, so I’ll feature that one and let you decide whether or not to read book one (The Kiss Quotient – decent plot, interesting heroine, more graphic sex than I preferred).

The Bride Test, or book two, focuses on different, but interconnected, characters. The characters are introduced in book two in such a way that you would be OK reading it on its own (one character in both books gets mentioned frequently but as I’d already forgotten his name after the first book, I didn’t know he was for most of the second. Didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the book).

One of the love interests in each story is on the autism spectrum, and both books spend a fair amount of time exploring how an autistic person engages differently with the world and in romantic relationships – and what that’s like for the people in their lives.

The Bride Test was appealing to me because while there were some graphic scenes, there was more time spent on how the characters interacted, what they were thinking and feeling, and how they were learning to be  – both on their own and in relationship.

With romance novels, I typically set the bar pretty low for plot believe-ability. Being able to play fast and loose with reality is part of what makes this genre fun. It comes as a turn-off (heehee), though, when our incredibly hot man and his gorgeous love interest have comically brief and petty arguments, always followed by them being drawn back together by their animal magnetism. Sometimes I want to wipe a little of the glitter off so that it feels a bit more like something that would actually happen.

The Bride Test combines serious chemistry with conflict in a way that demonstrated a relationship is being built, and not just on physical compatibility. Here, we learn about boundaries, conflict resolution, and self love. This romance novel did a good job of walking the line between being smutty, sweetly romantic, and solving problems both in the bedroom and out of it.