Readers Advisory: Romance

Readers Advisory

Hello all! As you may know, I'm a Librarian. A few months ago, I sat on a diversity panel at a Librarian event. On this panel, we talked about our experiences with literature as minorities and our feelings on how the literature has changed as we've grown into our roles as librarians.

During the questions portion of our panel, we were basically asked various versions of the same question, "how do we get diverse books into the hands of kids if our community isn't diverse?"

Now you readers may be thinking, "I'm not a librarian, how does this apply to me?" Well I'll tell you. The media has created this image in our minds, if we see the cover of a book and it's full of brown faces, the world assumes (even if they don't realize they're doing it) that this book must be for brown people. If a movie trailer plays, and it's full of brown faces, the world assume the movie must be for brown people (even if they don't realize they're doing it). Well the world is wrong.

I'm thinking about making a Readers Advisory blog series. I'll choose a genre, romance, sci fi, dystopia, so on and so forth, and I'll present three of four books, some you may be familiar with and have lovely sunkissed frekled faces with someones hair blowing even when there's no wind, and others will not.

If you're a libraian and you're struggling to diversify your readers advisory, I'm here for you. If you're a reader, and you're looking to diversify your bookshelf, I am also hear for you.

Hello world!!

For our first Readers Advisory post I've chosen the Romance genre because I'm sitting on my couch alone, even my plants are dying, so why the heck not!

For Penny Lee high school was a total nonevent. Her friends were okay, her grades were fine, and while she somehow managed to land a boyfriend, he doesn’t actually know anything about her. When Penny heads to college in Austin, Texas, to learn how to become a writer, it’s seventy-nine miles and a zillion light years away from everything she can’t wait to leave behind.

Sam’s stuck. Literally, figuratively, emotionally, financially. He works at a café and sleeps there too, on a mattress on the floor of an empty storage room upstairs. He knows that this is the god-awful chapter of his life that will serve as inspiration for when he’s a famous movie director but right this second the seventeen bucks in his checking account and his dying laptop are really testing him. 

When Sam and Penny cross paths it’s less meet-cute and more a collision of unbearable awkwardness. Still, they swap numbers and stay in touch—via text—and soon become digitally inseparable, sharing their deepest anxieties and secret dreams without the humiliating weirdness of having to see each other.

As bubbly as champagne and delectable as wedding cake, Once and for All, Sarah Dessen's thirteenth novel, is set in the world of wedding planning, where crises are routine. 

Louna, daughter of famed wedding planner Natalie Barrett, has seen every sort of wedding: on the beach, at historic mansions, in fancy hotels and clubs. Perhaps that's why she's cynical about happily-ever-after endings, especially since her own first love ended tragically. When Louna meets charming, happy-go-lucky serial dater Ambrose, she holds him at arm's length. But Ambrose isn't about to be discouraged, now that he's met the one girl he really wants. 

Sarah Dessen’s many, many fans will adore her latest, a richly satisfying, enormously entertaining story that has everything—humor, romance, and an ending both happy and imperfect, just like life itself.

Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting--working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual). Alice is done with dating--no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com-grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

When her blissful summer takes an unexpected turn, and Takumi becomes her knight with a shiny library employee badge (close enough), Alice has to decide if she’s willing to risk their friendship for a love that might not be reciprocated—or understood. 

Tall, meaty, muscle-bound, and hairier than most throw rugs, Dylan doesn’t look like your average fifteen-year-old, so, naturally, high school has not been kind to him. To make matters worse, on the day his school bans hats (his preferred camouflage), Dylan goes up on his roof only to fall and wake up in the hospital with a broken leg—and a mandate to attend group therapy for self-harmers.

Dylan vows to say nothing and zones out at therapy—until he meets Jamie. She’s funny, smart, and so stunning, even his womanizing best friend, JP, would be jealous. She’s also the first person to ever call Dylan out on his self-pitying and superficiality. As Jamie’s humanity and wisdom begin to rub off on Dylan, they become more than just friends. But there is something Dylan doesn’t know about Jamie, something she shared with the group the day he wasn’t listening. Something that shouldn’t change a thing. She is who she’s always been—an amazing photographer and devoted friend, who also happens to be transgender. But will Dylan see it that way?

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So here are a few books that falls under the romance genre. Enjoy!