Top Ten Tuesday: Favorite Romances

This is a weekly meme hosted by the gals over at The Broke and the Bookish

So they said we could take the category on anyway we wanted so this will be a combination list of favorite romance category books, couples, or just books about love in general.

1) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen-Yeah yeah, I know: this is probably on EVERYONE'S list. I'm not being original at all. Boo hoo. Don't care, this is one of the best written romances ever. It's so influential that it's practically got its own genre going of PandP re-writes/sequels/etc. 

2) Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen-Much as I love Pride and Prejudice, it's actually not my favorite Austen book. I know, I know, I suck. But this one is my favorite. Don't ask me why, I honestly don't know why. I just know I like it more then Pride and Prejudice.

3) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte-Eyre has always been my favorite of the war between Eyre and Wuthering Heights. True, Rochester has issues as a male lead (locking up your wife and marrying a woman while still married is so NOT ON. I get he had reasons but dude, you could have handled that better). But this is mostly my favorite for the great character of Jane Eyre herself. Everything else is secondary as far as I'm concerned.

4) Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell-Oh Fiddly Dee Dee. Who says romances have to end happily ever after? Not Gone With the Wind! Who says your main character has to be likable? Not Gone With the Wind! I just love how much this book DOESN'T follow what many consider the typical characteristics of romances. 

5) The Caster Chronicles Book 1: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl- Many of my favorite romances honestly don't fall into the romance category at all and BC is an example of this. You can have your Twilight, I will take Ethan/Lena over Edward/Bella any day of the week. Lets just say that there's a good reason that the producers decided to release the movie on Valentines Day and it's not just for extra money.

6) Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins-I'll be the first to tell you: contemporary romance is not really my thing. Outside the occasional romantic comedy, I just can't get into them for some reason. So the fact that I got into this says a lot about the enjoyability of this book.

7) The Parasol Protectorate Series Book 1: Soulless by Gail Carriger-Another example of a romance I enjoyed that's technically not romance, it's urban historical fantasy. Yes, that's a thing, I promise. I just love the snarky yet affectionate couple that is Conall/Alexia. 

8) The Mediator Series by Meg Cabot-Again, technically a paranormal mystery series but love story between Suze and Jesse in this is fabulous and I am really bummed that we will probably never ever get a movie or tv show about this. Or if we do, it'll be done by Disney like all of Cabot's stuff so far and get butchered like all of Cabot's stuff so far. Do not get me started on the travesty that was the Avalon High movie.

9) Delirium Trilogy Book 1: Delirium by Lauren Oliver-Yes, I have a dystopian on here. But hear me out: this takes place in a world where love is basically outlawed. Yes, a large chunk of it is Lena falling for Alex but the book also shows just how much we need love/passion of any kind to make our lives fuller. The book celebrates not just romantic love, but family love, friendship, and just passion in general. 

10) Beauty by Robin McKinley-Beauty is still my favorite retelling of all time. This is the book that got me hooked on fairy tale retellings way back in the day. It is still my favorite retelling of Beauty and the Beast ever (and yes, this includes the Disney movie ;ducks;).