My love affair with romance began during a particularly stressful phase of life. When my own world was chaotic, a happily ever after was a balm. Still, I’ve always been drawn to novels where it felt impossible for the couple to beat the odds. That’s why the Bad Thing From the Past is my favorite micro trope.
The Bad Thing can be an event, a secret or a mistake that stands between our couple and their happy ending. Often, you’ll find yourself tearing through the pages to figure out what happened; other times, the Bad Thing is a known entity that seems insurmountable. The emotions in the following novels are as heightened as the stakes — making their happy endings a gasp of pure relief.
Talking at Night
by Claire Daverley
I love books about the people and places we can’t seem to forget, and Daverley’s debut novel is one of the finest examples (I liked it so much, I blurbed it). A budding romance between two teenagers, Rosie and Will, in a seaside town in Norfolk, England, is abruptly shattered by a tragedy. As the years pass and they struggle to move on from that fateful day, the pair keep finding their way back to each other in this gorgeous, melancholy story of grief, longing and love interrupted.
How to End a Love Story
by Yulin Kuang
The Bad Thing in this sensational debut novel (which I also blurbed) by Kuang, a screenwriter and director, is very bad indeed. When he was in high school, Grant Shepard made a mistake that altered both his and Helen Zhang’s lives forever. Thirteen years later, Helen and Grant find themselves working together in the writers room for the TV adaptation of her young adult novels. Kuang whips you around on a roller coaster of emotions with stunning finesse: You’ll snort with laughter, fail to fight back tears and find yourself blushing from one scene to the next.
Carry On
by Rainbow Rowell
Whether she’s capturing the complexities of falling in love as an adult (last year’s remarkable “Slow Dance”) or crafting a world around teenage wizards in their last year at an elite magic academy, Rowell always delivers heart, wit and emotional heft. In “Carry On,” Simon Snow (the orphaned Chosen One who’s not great at magic) and his nemesis/roommate Baz Pitch (elegant, evil, possibly a vampire) band together to fight the villainous Humdrum — and their feelings for each other. There are Bad Things galore in their past, including the many times Simon is sure Baz attempted to off him. The first in a three-book series, this is an utter delight.
Read our review.
Seven Days in June
by Tia Williams
This heart-wrencher is not only one of my favorite love stories: It’s one of my favorite books, full stop. Williams’s sweeping, second-chance romance alternates between past and present timelines as it follows Eva and Shane, who spent one tumultuous week together as teenagers. Now Eva’s a single mom and the best-selling author of a vampire-witch erotica series, and Shane is an intense, reclusive literary superstar who shocks New York’s Black publishing community by turning up at one of Eva’s events. You will race through this one to find out what happened between these two, and whether they can make it work.
The Road Trip
by Beth O’Leary
O’Leary accomplishes the near impossible with this book, expertly navigating not only between alternate timelines but also between the hero and heroine’s points of view. Addie and her sister are driving to Scotland for a wedding when they’re rear-ended. To make matters worse, the other driver is Addie’s ex-boyfriend Dylan, who is on his way to the same wedding and now needs a ride. At first, we’re not sure why Addie and Dylan broke up, only that it was Very Bad. But as we rewind to the heady first days of their relationship over a summer in Provence, we begin to untangle what went wrong. All of this comes teeming with O’Leary’s hallmarks: immersive settings, warm British humor and one-of-a-kind characters.
Same Time Next Summer
by Annabel Monaghan
I know I’m reading something truly exceptional when a hot wave rolls through my chest. It doesn’t occur often, but I can vividly recall it happening during the middle of the night when I was greedily gulping down “Same Time Next Summer.” Monaghan transports readers to a ramshackle beach house on Long Island, where Sam is planning her wedding. But things get messy when her teenage summer love, Wyatt, shows up. Did he break her heart? Yes. Do we know why? Not yet! I inhaled this book in two sittings to get to the bottom of their story: It is, as I said when I blurbed it, everything I want in a summer romance.
Queen Move
by Kennedy Ryan
Ryan has a remarkable ability to create characters so fully realized, you feel like you’re snooping on real people. Kimba and Ezra were born on the same day and best friends since they were in diapers. But when Ezra’s family suddenly had to move away, the once-inseparable families were ripped apart. Twenty years later, Kimba and Ezra are reunited as adults with complicated lives and enough secrets to sink a ship. The sex is hot, the drama is sky-high, and I especially loved seeing the pair’s friendship develop.
Out of the Woods
by Hannah Bonam-Young
A romance centered on a married couple who’ve been together half their lives is bound to feature a luggage carousel’s worth of baggage. Sarah and Caleb met as teenagers, shortly before her mother died; they tied the knot at 19 and are closing in on two decades together. But Sarah is feeling stuck and stifled by Caleb and his habit of constantly coming to her rescue. Still in love but fearing for their future, she talks her husband into a weeklong couples therapy camping trip with a group of kooky strangers. Bonam-Young deftly toggles between sincerity and spice, interweaving heavy subject matter with humor and plenty of heart.
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