For this Tuesday’s topic, Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm has asked us to name Top 5 Cute Romances. Well since I am not into YA, it is difficult for me to come up with bubblegum romance, but here are five books which are propelled by romance.
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte (1847)
I know, I know, Heathcliff and Catherine might very well be the most unpleasant, selfish people ever. And perhaps in real life I would dislike them immensely. But there is something about their love that moves me immensely. I must add, however, that I am similarly moved by Hindley’s love for his wife.
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens (1859)
Can unrequited love be called a romance? I don’t know. All I know I shed buckets of tears as Sydney Carton sacrificed himself for Lucie.
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene (1951)
It should have been sordid: an aspiring writer’s affair with the wife of a civil servant but Greene makes it a poignant study of an extra-marital relationship with associated emotions of pain, guilt, anguish, and jealousy.
The Night in Lisbon by Erich Maria Remarque (1962)
He is a Jew. She is a Christian. And this is Hitler’s Germany. Will their love survive the Nazi rhetoric, the gestapo, the concentration camps, and being refugees always on the run?
The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott (1966)
English Daphne Manners falls in love with Indian Hari Kumar in the twilight years of the Raj but can love overcome differnces maintained by centuries of discrimination and oppression. Throw DSP Ronald Merrick in the mix and we have a ‘dangerous geometrical situation’.
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Have you read these novels? How did you find them? Are there novels of romance that you’d like to recommend?
a hot cup of pleasure 
Wow . A list from which I haven’t read a single book 🌸♥️
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Well, you have some great reading ahead of you. 😉 Seriously though, if you read and review any of the books, let me know. I’d love to read your views.
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“It is of all the books I ever read the one I should least like to be a character in myself.”
Lewis Carroll’s view of Wuthering Heights.
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Welcome to the blog, James.
Lol! I don’t blame him, except for Hareton, Nelly, and Lockwood, the rest are quite a handful.
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I’m with you on Sydney Carton – one of my list of things to do when I get a time machine is to go back to just before he gets on the tumbril and whisper “She’s not worth it” in his ear… 😉 Yes to Daphne and Hari too, but I didn’t enjoy The End of the Affair nearly as much as I expected to, so I’d have to replace that one… with Darcy and Lizzie, of course!
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Oh I love this FictionFan! What fun to have a time machine and stop the characters from being foolish or suicidal. Wonder if we can think of Fan Fiction (!) as a kind of time machine 😎
In The End of the Affair, my sympathies were with the cuckolded husband. Daphne and Hari were really star-crossed, weren’t they?
Sorry not on the Lizzie/ Darcy bandwagon. (Does that throw me out of the Romance Club?)🤔
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What?? Clearly you haven’t read Pride and Prejudice often enough – you must read it again and again until you learn to love it properly… 😉
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You know what, I suddenly had a vision of Hell: a place where we would be forced to read books that we don’t like or watch movies that we couldn’t sit through even for five minutes 😆
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Fantastic list! I love the classics being listed as Romances and I found one to add to my TBR pile: The Night in Lisbon.
Thank you!
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Welcome to the blog, Rebecca. Well since I am not into YA and its ages since I read MBs, I could think of only these books.😀 Glad you enjoyed the list.
Night in Lisbon is really worth reading. Hope you enjoy it too.
Thanks for the follow. Most encouraging.
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Two of my favorite authors are on your list: Greene and Remarque. Most people know Remargue’s ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, but many may not know LISBON. It is worth reading – if you can find a copy.
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They are really good, aren’t they? Makes me wonder why I haven’t read more of them.
I was lucky enough to find LISBON in a library. I am kind of always asking people to read it. So glad to find out that you too are fond of it.
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I was interested in which romances you would like. I have never been interested in books labeled as romances, but recently discovered Georgette Heyer’s Regency romances, and remembered that you had reviewed one that I thought would be interesting, The Reluctant Widow. The Night in Lisbon sounds good.
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Bless You, Tracy. Here I was racking my brains to come up with Romances and Heyer’s Regency Romances didn’t even enter my mind though there was a time when I used to devour them. The Reluctant Widow is interesting but it is Heyer’s debut romance, THE BLACK MOTH, that is my all-time favourite. It was also the first Heyer I read. Do read that.
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