Top Ten Tuesday-Books With Romance I Can Deal With

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.  http://www.thatartsyreadergirl.com/top-ten-tuesday/

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Anyone who visits my blog knows I am not romantic, I don't read romance and I try to avoid it in the genres I like as much as I can. But there are some books that I loved in spite of a romance element, big or small, and I want to feature them today.

1) Patricia Briggs-Mercy Thompson
Despite love triangle fears which don't develop, her romance with Adam is very much a slow burn, taking several books to get going. I liked both characters and felt that they were a good fit as a couple. They have ups and downs but it never overshadows the main plot and that's why I enjoy it. The other characters are just as entertaining and fun and there is an excellent gay relationship which focuses on the partnership and not sex. 

2) Jeaniene Frost-Night Huntress
I loved the characters of Cat and Bones so it felt natural to root for them as a couple and the author wrote in great chemistry and humour to their relationship which kept it real. The side characters were also well written. I just skim past the sex scenes scattered through the series and that's fine as the plots are really good. I wasn't as big a fan of the spin offs as they focused more on the relationships and less on a plot.

3) DelSheree Gladden-Someone Wicked This Way Comes
This book is YA and features complicated emotional relationships rather than teen angst. Van loves Ketchup but her brother keeps trying to kill him because of a genetic rage illness, and he also wants to kill his new girlfriend Ivy because of it. Heartbreaking and different, the siblings try to find ways to control the rage while cults try to kill them and others want to harness their power for evil. Great series.

4) JK Rowling-Harry Potter
I found the kids developing feelings for each other in books four to seven entertaining as they were realistic relationships with jealousy and stupidity. Again I never felt that it dominated the plot and it provided plenty humour in the darker end books in the series. It helps when you like the characters but I still say that Ron and Hermione just never seemed like the ideal couple!

5) SM Wilson-The Extinction Trials
Storm and Lincoln take part in trials to win a place on the trip to the dinosaur world of Piloria to plant a virus and kill the dinosaurs to claim the land. Each has an agenda which makes trust difficult. I liked that the relationship between them was emotional and mental rather than physical, exploring the trust issues. The dinosaur plot is certainly King in this excellent trilogy.

6) Carrie Vaughn-Kitty Norville
We do explore Kitty's relationship issues but there is not much angst and it is very much in the background to the plots that are going on. I don't dislike her love interest but I was never greatly excited with it. It's there and it's ok, so I can deal with it. I do wish that Kitty would be more of a leader and deal with her Pack issues at times!

7) George RR Martin-A Song Of Ice And Fire
Each relationship in this book is very complicated-incest, arranged marriages, forbidden secret weddings, political pairings for power, undercover spying, spousal murder...there is nothing simple about love and weddings in Westeros! The plots are woven with these relationships and I loved that complexity which leads to a lot of trouble. 

8) Patricia Briggs-Alpha & Omega
The book looks at the relationship between werewolves, with Anna emotionally and physically damaged so a lot of her relationship with Charles is about building trust and repairing damage, rather than sex. I also loved Charles wolf side-Brother Wolf-who becomes a character in his own right, and how this series is part of the Mercy world yet feels totally different. 

9) Philippa Gregory-Tudor and Plantagenet series, Wideacre trilogy
Despite not liking romance, I can't get enough of the relationship angst between Henry and his wives and mistresses, lords and ladies and their courtiers and all the backstabbing and treason that comes with it. (I also like her Wideacre series about power and incest.) I'm sure sure why I love this kind of thing so much-maybe because it is fiction based on facts, twisted and adapted to add interest.

10) The Apocalypse Established relationships
I love apocalypse books because we usually join an established couple or family, avoiding all the pesky falling in love and on-off relationships which can bug me. The focus is on surviving and emotional issues rather than a ton of sex. I also like zombie books where people are not jumping into bed together all the time!