My Heart is Booked Blog

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books and has since been continued by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer. This week’s prompt is to recommend a book for the following genres: Romance, NA, YA, Fantasy (submitted by Tabatha @ Broken Soul Reviews).

These four genres are my most read, so it was quite difficult to narrow it down to just a handful of books. I decided to showcase lesser-known/under-appreciated books rather than the popular selections that you’ll see at the forefront of any booklist. If you have any recommendations, please don’t hesitate to share!

Romance:

There are so many different sub genres for Romance, but I decided to feature the ones I read most often, which are Contemporary Romance and Paranormal Romance.

Ok, so The Hating Game might not be that unknown in the Romance genre (it’s set to become a major motion picture), but this was the book that got me into the genre and I couldn’t leave it off the list in good conscience. If you haven’t heard of this book, it is a hate-to-love romance centered on two individuals who work side-by-side and are now competing for the same promotion. Thorn does an excellent job cultivating these characters and their relationship amid growing tensions and high stakes. Those who love enemies-to-lovers in Fantasy Romance or PNR, should consider this an appropriate cross-over to get you hooked on the Contemporary genre.

Normally, my go-to rec for PNR is the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning and, by all means, if you are interested in this genre, you need to read the Fever series. However, I decided to showcase The Bargainer Series by Laura Thalassa, which is far lesser known and much less of a commitment (only 3 books compared to Fever’s 10) if you are just starting out in the genre. I enjoyed the audiobook of this one too. Callie is half siren, but living in the human world. Desmond is the fae king of the night also known as The Bargainer and he’s come to collect his debts.

YA:

Admittedly, I don’t read much in the way of YA Contemporary. I’ve chosen two YA books that I recommend. One is a YA Romance, the other is a YA fantasy.

Adorkable by Cookie O’Gorman is exactly what the title promises to be: an adorable romance featuring a cute dork and her jock bff. This book features friends-to-lovers and fake dating. What more could you want?

I’m cheating a bit with this one because Raybearer doesn’t release until next month, but trust me when I say you will want this book on your shelves! This book has folklore, adventure, magic, romance, found family, diverse characters, and a thrilling plot. I have a full review that you can view here.

NA:

For those of you who aren’t familiar with NA, it stands for New Adult. Typically this genre features a main character that is 18-25 years old (sometimes considered 18-30). Many times, the MC will be in college or a recent graduate. Some popular NA books include ACOTAR, Fangirl, and Beautiful Disaster. Often NA books are shoved into other categories (YA or Adult) for convenience or marketing, so you’ll have to dig a bit deeper to discover them, but it is worth the struggle.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab is undoubtedly popular. However, I thought it was important to include in this list because so often people associate NA with Romance and that is not always the case. Yes, often authors will bump the age of a MC a few years just to get away with deeper (no pun intended) erotic scenes. Vicious is not NA for it’s eroticism (or lack there of). These are mature characters whose story begins in college and continues for many years. The dark, twisted nature of the material fits better in a mature genre as well, not to mention plenty of violence.

Fantasy:

Fantasy is my most read genre, but I do read a lot of popular or hyped books. Though there are many sub-genres of Fantasy as well, I’ve decided to just share one underrated series as my Fantasy recommendation.

Truthwitch is book 1 of the (yet unfinished) Witchlands series by Susan Dennard. There are currently 3 full length novels and a novella published with another book planned for 2021. These are shorter books for the epic fantasy genre (between 400-500 pages each), so they are a great for trying out the genre without a huge commitment. The story follows four different characters as they fight to save each other and their kingdoms on the brink of war. These books are marketed as YA, but I believe they more accurately fall into the NA category.

What recommendations do you have for these categories?