The best romance novel of all time is not a romance novel: This is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Do you want a swoon worthy romance? Do you want a relationship to root for? Do you want to become deeply invested in a love story that does not concern you? If so, I would recommend you read This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.

Yes, you’ve heard me right. For a great romance, I am recommending you read a sci-fi novel.

This is How You Lose the Time War is not the most accessible novel. If you are used to reading contemporary rom-coms, it might not be what you are used to. The novel does not ease you in with a relatable world and quirky characters. Instead, the novel throws you in the deep end. You might say that, it thrusts you into a strand of time. The novel not only starts in the middle of the action, but it also does not have the most traditional characters. In fact, I have no idea what any of the characters in this novel look like and I only have a basic understanding of the wider world the novel takes place in. This might be strange to say as I have read the novel three times and wrote an essay on it. Yet, the joy of the novel is that it makes almost no sense but perfect sense at the same time. You don’t need to understand the ins and outs of the world because the romance is what draws you in.

At its core, This is How You Lose the Time War is an enemies to lovers romance. Red and Blue work for rival time organisations and are working against each other to manipulate the time line. This science fiction element forms the background of the novel. The intricacies of time and politics in the novel are almost unimportant. What matters is that the wider world has forced Red and Blue to be enemies.

Despite working against each other, Red and Blue start to communicate with each other. They leave each other letters which start off goading and full of banter and evolve into the most romantic lines of fiction you will ever read. Alongside this, the characters evolve. My personal favourite part of the novel is watching Red come into herself and embrace her inner thoughts. When you think of science fiction, you will probably think about some of the most famous evolutions or transformations of all fiction. But forget Frankenstein, The Fly, and X-Men. The sci-fi evolutions we should be talking about are in character development.

Because This is How You Lose the Time War is a novel focused so much of characters (both their relationships and their inner selves), it manages to be the perfect romance novel. It is forbidden love done perfectly. I’d say read the novel even if it seems intimidating. This might annoy sci-fi fans, but forget the world and just focus on the romance.

Wrapping it Up April 2020: Books I Read

I still have kindle unlimited, so expect a continuation of the easy to read romance books. I think I will try and make an effort to also read some more literary stuff this month as well… but that might not happen. I think I’m going to try and get ahead on my Goodreads challenge during this time. This year I had a secret want to try and read 100 books, but I didn’t think I would realistically be able to do this. But now I’ve officially changed my goal and am gonna give it my best shot.

Leo Loves Aries – Anyta Sunday

This book is almost the same as the book I read by her last month. I mean it was different… but it was also very similar. I enjoyed it, I don’t know if I would continue the series but it was fun and easy to read. Like Pisces Hooks Taurus it follows someone naive and unaware of their sexuality falling in love with someone they are living with without realising it. This author has a niche and she sticks to it.

Trick Play – Eden Finley

Another series, where the author has a bit of a niche, although Eden Finley’s books do differ a bit. They are all sports romances. I liked this book more than the first one in the series and to be honest, I am probably going to continue a bit with this series. It’s very fun and easy to read series. I love the fake dating trope and I really like books that focus around fame, so this series is one I was always going to enjoy. The books are slightly more interconnected than I would like, but that’s a minor gripe. If anyone has any other romance books about fame, fake dating or not, let me know!

Rebound – Eden Finley 

This is a short story in Eden Finley’s Fake Boyfriend series, it was good for what it was. But not my fave in the series but it was alright. If follows some side characters from Trick Play but to be honest I struggled to care about them.

Deke – Eden Finley

Yep, I continued the series. This is the third book in the series. Again it is a sports romance with the fake dating trope. This time it followed a hockey player and a reporter. In this one, both characters were already comfortable with their sexuality, but the hockey player did not feel the need to come out yet. The relationship in this one was perhaps my favourite in the series, although it had less fake dating than I would have liked. I decided to stop reading the series as the next one doesn’t interest me as much, although I might give it a go, let’s be honest.

Fired Up – Riley Hart

I moved on to another series. This one I enjoyed less than the other romance books I have been reading. I enjoyed the family aspect of this, but I wasn’t obsessed with the relationship. This book follows two high school friends/enemies ten years after high school. One is now a notorious football player and one is a firefighter, although in many ways their careers are irrelevant to the plot. For a book which seems to be so much about firefighters, it is not about that at all. I don’t rate the portrayal of sexuality in this book, but other elements were interesting.

Evidence of the Affair – Taylor Jenkins Reid

I always forget how much I love short stories until I read a new one. This book is only 100 pages long and it is so well developed and includes so many complex and interesting relationships. If you liked The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or Daisy Jones and the Six, it is just as well done as those full-length novels. This story is about a woman who finds out her husband is having an affair through a letter and then starts a pen-pal-type relationship with the husband of the adulteress. It is told completely through letters and this device works so well. Even though the book goes in the direction I expected it to, it was so good. I’m tempted to write a proper review of this story, I enjoyed it that much.

The Cruel Prince – Holly Black

I have full thoughts coming up on this book., so I will just talk about it briefly for now.  I decided to read this book because I had it on audiobook and had an idea for a post. I hadn’t read any fantasy for ages and now I want to read some more.

The Bell Jar – Slyvia Plath

Reading this book during this time might have been a bad choice. The Bell Jar is obviously a fantastic book, but as the subject matter is so sad it was hard to read. The book follows a woman who is depressed so I did struggle to read it. I would definitely recommend reading this book, but perhaps just wait until all of this is over. 

Pop Star – Eden Finley

I didn’t enjoy this book as much as I expected to. It wasn’t bad, I just wanted more from it. Also, I should have known it would be connected to her other books, once I realised that some of the characters were from another one of her books I was a bit annoyed.

Frankenstein – Mary Shelley

This is obviously a great book, it is a classic for a reason. Audible have some books available to stream for free online, and this was one of them. To be honest, the reason I read this a mixture of thinking it would be useful for a piece of university work and because it was narrated by the wonderful Dan Stevens. The book is great, and so is the audiobook.

All Eyes on Us – Kit Frick

Towards the end of this month I stopped reading as much physically, but I did continue to listen to audiobooks. This book was pretty much everything I expected from it, it promised to be like Pretty Little Liars, and it kinda was. It had moments where it was a little rediculous and some other small factors annoyed me, but overall it was enjoyable.

Twas the Nightshift Before Christmas – Adam Kay

Another audiobook. After listening to Adam Kay’s first book last month, I wanted to listen to his Christmassy one… even though it is not Christmas at all. His books have a perfect amount of humour to emotion and I find I really enjoy listening to them.

White Teeth – Zadie Smith

It took me ages to read, but I finally finished it. It was such a good well crafted book, but it wasn’t quite what I needed at the time. Sometimes I read books for literary merit rather than liking specifics in the plot. It was great, it just wasn’t any of the things that I particularly love in a book. I definitely preferred Swing Time, the only other Zadie Smith book I have read.