Hi reader friends!
Welcome back, and if you’re new, thanks for dropping by! If you don’t know, here in the Bookish Things category on my blog, we talk about all things books, from books, reading challenges, author interviews and more!
This week, we’re talking about 5 Awesome Contemporary Romances to Read in February 2020! I decided to put a little twist on this reading challenge, by making each of these five a lesser-known read. We’ve got to share some love with the amazing reads that didn’t make it mainstream too, you know.
I’ve selected books from all sorts of writers and demographics with varying degrees of steaminess, so everyone is sure to find something great to read! (I can’t deny that the common theme with this selection is that of fine arts. What can I say? As both a reader and an artist, I love some good writing about ballet and painting!) Let’s hit the books! (not literally)
First Position by Melissa Brayden
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Anastasia Mikhelson is the rising star of the New York City Ballet. She’s sacrificed creature comforts, a social life, as well as her own physical well-being for perfection in dance. Even her reputation as The Ice Queen doesn’t faze her. Though Ana’s at the peak of her career, competition from a new and noteworthy dancer puts all she’s worked for in jeopardy.
While Natalie Frederico has shown herself to be a prodigy when it comes to ballet, she much prefers modern dance and living on her own terms. Life is too short for anything else. However, when the opportunity to dance with the New York City Ballet is thrust upon her, it’s not like she could say no. Dealing with the company’s uptight lead is another story, however. When the two are forced to work side-by-side, sparks begin to fly onstage and off.
—Melissa Brayden, First Position
This critical and adoring review of First Position, sums up the subject matter, the writing style, and the quality of the work, and I couldn’t agree more!
100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons🔥
When 16-year-old poetry blogger Tessa Dickinson is involved in a car accident and loses her eyesight for 100 days, she feels like her whole world has been turned upside-down.
Terrified that her vision might never return, Tessa feels like she has nothing left to be happy about. But when her grandparents place an ad in the local newspaper looking for a typist to help Tessa continue writing and blogging, an unlikely answer knocks at their door: Weston Ludovico, a boy her age with bright eyes, an optimistic smile…and no legs.
Knowing how angry and afraid Tessa is feeling, Weston thinks he can help her. But he has one condition — no one can tell Tessa about his disability. And because she can’t see him, she treats him with contempt: screaming at him to get out of her house and never come back. But for Weston, it’s the most amazing feeling: to be treated like a normal person, not just a sob story. So, he comes back. Again, and again, and again.
Tessa spurns Weston’s “obnoxious optimism”, convinced that he has no idea what she’s going through. But Weston knows exactly how she feels and reaches into her darkness to show her that there is more than one way to experience the world. As Tessa grows closer to Weston, she finds it harder and harder to imagine life without him — and Weston can’t imagine life without her. But he still hasn’t told her the truth, and when Tessa’s sight returns he’ll have to make the hardest decision of his life: vanish from Tessa’s world…or overcome his fear of being seen.
—Abbie Emmons, 100 Days of Sunlight
100 Days of Sunlight is a poignant and heartfelt novel by author Abbie Emmons. If you like sweet contemporary romance and strong family themes then you’ll love this touching story of hope, healing, and getting back up when life knocks you down.
Glitterland by Alexis Hall 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on love, hope, happiness, and—most of all—himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations.
Then a chance encounter at a stag party throws him into the arms of Essex boy Darian Taylor, an aspiring model who lives in a world of hair gel, fake tans, and fashion shows. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he cooks a mean cottage pie and makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety.
But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can’t see past the glitter to the light. Can a man who doesn’t trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can a man who doesn’t believe in happiness ever fight for his own?
—Alexis Hall, Glitterland
Blossom in Winter by Melanie Martins🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
If you haven’t seen my blog post in Bookish Things, “Author Interview: Melanie Martins” then you might not know I love this book! I devoured all 391 pages in less than two days because I literally could not put the darn thing down! (Who needs to work, anyway, right?) At least that’s what you’ll be thinking when you pick this book up. It’s fast-paced romantic thriller that is completely wild from start to finish. Don’t take it from me, here though, check out my Goodreads review that says it all.
Petra, a seventeen-year-old Dutch-American and the only heir of finance tycoon Roy Van Gatt, has always had her life rigorously planned and supervised by her strict father. From her internship at his hedge fund firm on Wall Street to her degree in economics at Columbia University, Petra is all set for a bright future in finance.
But everything falls apart when she develops a dangerous relationship with her father’s business partner and utmost confidant, Alexander Van Dieren. A Dutch nobleman, known as an unrepentant heartbreaker, twenty-three years her senior, and who is, above all else, her beloved godfather.
A twisted obsession for some, unconditional love for others, but one thing is sure: it’s a relationship that might cost them everything...
—Melanie Martins, Blossom In Winter
Roomies by Christina Lauren
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For months Holland Bakker has invented excuses to descend into the subway station near her apartment, drawn to the captivating music performed by her street musician crush. Lacking the nerve to actually talk to the gorgeous stranger, fate steps in one night in the form of a drunken attacker. Calvin Mcloughlin rescues her, but quickly disappears when the police start asking questions.
Using the only resource she has to pay the brilliant musician back, Holland gets Calvin an audition with her uncle, Broadway’s hottest musical director. When the tryout goes better than even Holland could have imagined, Calvin is set for a great entry into Broadway—until his reason for disappearing earlier becomes clear: he’s in the country illegally, his student visa having expired years ago.
Seeing that her uncle needs Calvin as much as Calvin needs him, a wild idea takes hold of her. Impulsively, she marries the Irishman, her infatuation a secret only to him. As their relationship evolves and Calvin becomes the darling of Broadway—in the middle of the theatrics and the acting-not-acting—will Holland and Calvin to realize that they both stopped pretending a long time ago?
—Christina Lauren, Roomies
Further reading:
Thumbnail photo by Brigitte Tohm.
