Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week’s theme is books that you wish had more/less X in them. Even though Valentine’s Day is a week away, I decided to choose tens book that I wish had less romance in them. Romance is often a great aspect of a book. It’s always fun to find new characters to ship. Sometimes, however, romance consumes too much of a book. Sometimes, too much romance detracts from the characters or other major aspects of the story for me. Here are my choices (any reviews will be linked to the book’s title):
There were so many directions that Girl Online could have followed. The main character suffered from anxiety. She was bullied at school. She ran a successful blog. However, the book focused more on generic, “cute” moments between the main character and a stereotypical YA love interest. I wish this book contained less romance and focused more on the main character’s growth.
The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
I was actually okay with most of the romance in this book. However, I didn’t like how the many character fell in love with the love interest so quickly. She was so set on revenge, but it fizzled out quickly after meeting the love interest even though their interactions were very brief. Throughout the book, I wished to see more of some of the magic and rebellion subplots.
Stealing Snow by Danielle Paige
There are several reasons why I wished Stealing Snow has less romance. I swear Snow mentioned Bale’s name at least five times per page. Instead of focusing on her character growth, the plot focused on her relationships to every male she encountered. There’s a love square in this book, which devotes a lot of the book to romance. However, with so many love interests, none of the relationships have much depth.
One of my largest problems with this book was the romance aspect because it comprised a lot of the plot, but never wowed me. The love triangle seemed lackluster. Mare and Cal’s relationship had a lot of insta-love, so his willingness to give up everything for Mare never felt believable. Kilorn fit the boy back home trope perfectly and his gestures towards Mare have been done countless times in other novels.
The Row didn’t necessarily have a ton of romance, but I didn’t think it was necessary to the plot. In my review, I mention how this book reminds me of many Lifetime movies. The romance in the book was very stereotypical. I wished the book focused more on the main character’s pursuit of the truth instead of cute moments between the protagonist and her love interest.
How to Keep a Boy from Kissing You by Tara Eglington
Obviously from this book’s title, the main plot revolves around romance. However, I didn’t like how the romance aspect was handled in this book and think it went a little too over the top. Aurora, the main character, looks down on guys she deems inferior and frequently throws temper tantrums when she interacted with her love interest. A lot of the cartoons were too cartoonish or stereotypical which caused all of the relationships within the book to fall flat for me. If this book focused on other issues presented, like Aurora’s relationship with her family, I think I would understand her actions better.
Which books do you think focus too much on romance?
Beauty and the Bean Boots 
I agree with Red Queen. Why does every dystopia book need a love triangle ugh.
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