A Little Bit of Love

So, I am not a fan of Valentine's Day.  I'm very single, and Valentine's Day seems to be designed to make single people feel pretty bad.  But that's just my feelings.  This time, I decided that I'd share some of my favorite romance novels with you!

1.  Devil in Winter, by Lisa Kleypas
Devil in Winter was the first historical romance that I read.  At the time, I didn't know that it was part of a series or what it would lead to, but I thought it sounded interesting.  It kick started a love of historical romances that still exists for me.  Evie Jenner is practically a captive to her mother's family.  She's the sole heir to her disreputable father's huge fortune, and her mother's family wants that for themselves.  To escape their plans (and their household), she heads for the only man as desperate as she is and offers him the Devil's Own bargin.  Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent, is so desperate for a bride that, just the week before, he had tried to elope with Evie's friend, Lillian Bowman.  When Evie offers to elope with him, as long as he will allow her to see her dying father, he takes the deal.  However, Sebastian is a libertine and Evie is incredibly shy and has a slight stutter.  How could these too opposites create a working marriage?  They do, I can tell you that!  They have desire on their side, and there is even a book that features one of their children in another series by Ms. Kleypas.


2.  Always, by Kindle Alexander

This one is a hard hitter, and I'm nto going to lie, I'm nervous about including it.  I read a lot of books that might be considered on the fringe, or easily offensive to some people.  While I don't want to ofend anyone, seriously, I'm not makeing you read the book, shut up.  Always is a story about two gay men who have a better romance than pretty much anyone else.  Avery is a big man in politics and from a political family.  Kane is a restaurant owner who was disowned by his super religious family.  Together, they're beautiful.  One thing that I love about this book (and many others by the duo that make Kindle Alexander the author), is the way that problems are presented.  They are legitimate issues that Kane and Avery face, namely Avery's political career.  Yet, they face the issue as a couple.  This book follows Kane and Avery's life as a young couple, new parents, and to the end.  I guarantee, you will cry.




3.  Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follet

Many people will look at the 1000+ pages of Pillars of the Earth and then gently set it back down on the shelf and move on to find something shorter.  I urge you not to.  This is a gorgeous work that presents love in many different fashions.  I wanted to make sure in this post that I didn't just stick to our own preconcieved notions of love.  Pillars has love between characters, with the most vibrant romance being that of Jack and Aliena.  Their love is troubled from the beginning, but by the end they have a happy ever after.  There is a love of God and religion, but not always in the way you think.  Prior Phillip is certainly a God loving man, but each of the characters has their own relationship and method of worship.  Bishop Waleran certainly embodies a love of power, where King Stephan and Queen Maud are fighting for the same throne in a love of duty and what they each believe to be the proper course for England.  They aren't married, promise.  But different types of love are represented so thoroughly in this book that I can't sit here and name them all.  If you're less into large novels and more into movies, Starz did a fabulous mini series based off of the books featuring Ian McShane, Hayley Atwell, Eddie Redmayne, and Matthew McFaden.

4.  The Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, by Claire B. Dunkle

 I've linked the first book of the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy here, but all three books are wonderful.  These stories take place in the 1800s and feature humans, Goblins and Elves.  The best part about these books is that they really push for you to love someone as they are.  In the first book, Kate and her sister, Emily, have come to Hallow Hall, their ancestral home, as orphans.  Their guardian is a cousin who is jealous of the fact that they shall inheirit, and he is a mean and slimy man.  Kate, however, catches the eye of the Goblin king, called Marak, and he wishes to steal her away and make her his bride.  She is terrified of him, but when her sister goes missing, she trades herself to Marak for Emily's freedom.  Unfortunately, Emily was not being held by the Goblins!  In the second book, Close Kin, Seylin goes off in search of the Elves he believes that he belongs to when Emily unknowingly shuns him. His search for self and Emily's chase after him leads them to find a small band of Elves.  In this band is Sable, a woman who, in order to save herself from death, scarred her own face.  She knows no love, and doesn't expect any.  It is the Goblins who teach it to her.  The third book, In the Coils of the Snake, is my favorite.  It takes place about forty years or so after the first two books.  Seventeen year old Miranda is a human who has been raised to be the Goblin King's wife.  When Elves return to their ancestral home, Catspaw, the new King, must marry an Elvish bride.  Miranda feels cast aside and is found by a noble Elf named Ash.  He takes her back to camp.  This book focuses less on love itself but more on overcoming predjudices.  A fact of all Elvish and Goblin marriages, at least for the kings, is that there are no children of them unless there is acceptance and love between the couple. 

5.  Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen

Say what you will, but Austen's classic Pride and Predjudice is one of the best romances out there.  It's so well loved that there are hundreds of spin offs and retellings, more movies and specials than you can shake a fist at, and more copies than the world knows what to do with.  Lizzie Bennet, blinded by her own pride and her percieved predjudice towards the wealthy, refuses Mr. Darcy, who is battling his own pride.  Her family doesn't help matters, certainly, but the affection between Lizzie an Jane is a great thing to aspire towards if you have sisters.  The range of characters is just so intense and everyone is individual enough that you can't forget them.  Except maybe poor Mary Bennet.  Still, I might know one or two books just for the middle Bennet sister!







And here's a bonus:  My favorite romantic movie is The King and I or Anna and the King.  The story of Anna Leonowens and the King of Siam is a beautiful one.  They are from two very different worlds, but the still find things that they have in common with each other.  It is, however, pretty much the epitome of a doomed love story.  She's a proper British woman and he's a polygamous king from a "barbarian" country.  In the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I, King Mongkut dies in the final scenes, seperating them forever.  In the movie Anna and the King, a young prince Chulalongkorn looks over his father dancing with Anna.  The sheer longing between the characters makes my cry every time.  Good tears, though.  Always good.

What are some of your favorite stories of love and romance?  Does love always have to be romantic?