Must-Read Small Town Romances | Top Ten Tuesday

It’s been a while since I participated in Ten Top Tuesday, which is a meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, but I wasn’t sure what to post, and when I checked the topics for this month, this week’s topic “books set in X” really caught my eye. So I decided to make a list of romance books set in small towns that I have read and loved in the last couple of years. I kind of cheated and included books in a series just as one entry on the list, so there are more than 10 books in this list, but I couldn’t pick just 10.

After Hours on Milagro Street and Full Moon over Freedom by Angelina M. Lopez

Both of these books are set in a small town in Kansas and they have a big Mexica-American family at the heart of the story, some paranormal elements, female characters that go through a lot of character growth, and really sweet but steamy romances. In After Hours on Milagro Street, there’s an opposites attract romance with forced proximity. In Full Moon over Freedom, there’s a second chance romance between childhood friends.

Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage

This is set in a small town in Wyoming and if you like cowboy romances, the brother’s best friend trope, two main characters with tons of chemistry, and a reformed bad boy, this book is for you!

Curves for Days by Laura Moher

This book is set in a small town in North Carolina and it’s a slow-burn romance with two plus-size characters, it includes the grumpy/sunshine trope and there’s a big focus on the healing and character growth of the heroine.

Built to Last by Erin Hahn

This is set in a small town in Michigan. It’s a second-chance romance between childhood sweethearts, and it’s a perfect example of a low-angst, low-conflict romance book done right.

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter

This is set in a small town in South Carolina, and it’s a romance between someone running TO a small town and someone running FROM a small town that has to come back. It’s a friends-with-benefits, interracial romance with a plus-size female main character.

Lovelight Farm, In The Weeds, and Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison

These books are set in small town in Maryland. Lovelight Farms is a friends-to-lovers romance with a fake-dating plot. In The Weeds is a second-chance, grumpy/sunshine romance, with forced proximity. Mixed Signals is a friends-to-lovers, sunshine/sunshine romance with a little fake dating.

Delilah Green Doesn’t Care and Astrid Parker Doesn’t Fail by Ashley Herring Blake

This series is set in a small town in Oregon, both books are sapphic romances and deal with complicated family relationships. Delilah Green includes the sister’s best friend trope and one of the main characters is a single mom, and Astrid Parker is a rivals-to-lovers romance.

Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez

A big part of this is set in a small town in Minnesota. It’s an opposites attract romance where there’s an age gap and the woman is 10 years older than the guy, and it deals with heavy topics such as past abusive relationships.

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

A big part of this book is set in small town in North Carolina and it’s an enemies-to-lovers romance between two people who work in the publishing industry.

All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata

Set in a small town in Colorado, and it’s a slow-burn romance, with a grumpy/ sunshine dynamic, a single dad as a protagonist and a bit of forced proximity. It has a very outdoorsy vibe and there’s a lot of hiking.

Is there any particular setting that you love in books, like a specific city or country, large city or small towns, beaches vs snowy places?

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February 2023 Wrap Up: so many good books by Black authors

February is over so it’s time to talk about all the books I read for Black History Month. I found two new favorite books and I’m excited to tell you about them!

Here are my thoughts on the books I read in February:

The Year of the Witchlings by Alexis Henderson (4.5 stars): This was atmospheric and a little gruesome. It had vengeful witches, a haunted forest, and a lot of ritualistic acts, there were blights, sickness, and curses. Nonetheless, people shouldn’t go into this expecting it to be a scary book. There was a big focus put on the themes that this book addressed; religious abuse, domestic violence, pedophilia, and the way women and girls are made to pay for the wrongdoings of men are themes that are really well incorporated into the story and are treated with the necessary care. The writing is fantastic, especially considering that this is a debut, and I also really enjoyed the romance which is a relatively small part of the story. I think I understand what the author was trying to say with the ending, but it didn’t entirely work for me, that’s why this doesn’t get a full 5-star rating.

Ring Shout by P. Djelí Clark (4 stars): The writing in this was great, the narrative voice was distinctive and compelling, the fantastical elements were well connected to the thematic content of the book, and there were some very disturbing scenes. But the most powerful part of this book was the depiction of the history of racism and oppression and the exploration of hatred and revenge vs righteous anger and justice. This book did a lot of things right and I can see that, but while I was interested while reading, I was never truly invested.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B: Alston (5 stars): This was such a fun, entertaining, fast-paced, magical story. This book has a lovable main character, who in turn has a sweet and super smart best friend, and some understanding and empathetic mentor-like adult characters in her life, and I was rooting for all of them. I really appreciated that most of the adults in this book were actually not terrible. I enjoyed the way this incorporated common elements of fantasy- such as a magical school, supernatural creatures from werewolves to bigfoot, magic mixed with technology, and so much more- but adding new elements that make them feel new and fun. The ending felt a bit rushed and I saw the twist coming, but that didn’t affect how much I liked this book.

Amari and the Great Game by B.B: Alston (4 stars): This book was definitely not as strong as the first book in the series. It still had excellent writing and lovable characters that were easy to root for, I loved that Amari made new friends and that there were more kids with significant roles in the book, and the world and magic were still very interesting. Nonetheless, the whole Great Game storyline wasn’t as compelling as it could have been, and, just like in the first book, I was able to guess the people behind the mystery very early on.

Bet on It by Jodie Slaughter (4 stars): This is a soft, character-driven romance focused on mental health. The hero in this book has PTSD and the heroine struggles with generalized anxiety disorder, and the portrait of those experiences was really thoughtful and it felt like a lot of care went into it. I really appreciated how the main characters recognized and understood parts of each other’s struggles with mental illness, and I loved how caring and supportive they were. Also, they had great chemistry, there was lots of sexual tension and a few really good steamy scenes. Finally, I really liked the friendships in this and how both characters had/found friends who were supportive, kind and compassionate.

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa (4 stars): I had a hard time at the beginning of the book, but this ended up being really fun and entertaining. As always, Mia Sosa has the most ridiculous premises but she ends up making them work. I liked the main characters, their chemistry, and their friendship, the writing was really good, and there were some iconic scenes like a karaoke scene where the hero recreates a Magic Mike performance and a sex club scene. Overall, really enjoyed it.

Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America by Ijeoma Oluo (4 stars): This book is really accessible and as always Oluo writes with so much patience, while also effectively delivering her point across. This book explores the ways in which the system has been set up to cater to white men’s success even when they do the bare minimum, and how white supremacy hurts everyone. I think the idea of “works according to design”, which Oluo addressed in the book, perfectly encapsulates what this book is talking about. As a person that is not from the U.S., I learned a lot about specific historical events and data that support Oluo’s ideas, which I didn’t know about and found fascinating.

The Push by Ashley Audrain (4 stars): It took me a while to get into this book, I almost DNFed, but it picked up and ended up being a fast, entertaining, and a little anxiety-inducing read. I felt so bad for the main character the entire time. This book addresses the hardships that mothers face: the lack of support, the expectations placed on them, and the uneven distribution of childcare responsibilities between mothers and fathers. But beyond that, it’s a book that does a good job exploring intergenerational trauma and the nature vs nurture debate. I usually don’t lack flashbacks but I think this book used them very well.

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette (between 2.5 and 3 stars): I’m sad to say that this was very meh, I read it quickly and I didn’t hate the reading experience but there wasn’t anything particularly good about it. The first half of the book is focused on introducing the characters and showing the day-to-day life of the protagonist in a very repetitive and not that-interesting way, and the “investigation” of the crime doesn’t really start until late in the book which made this drag. But that isn’t even my main complaint about this book, I think the main character was such a bad sleuth, she asked obvious questions, didn’t connect the dots, and was very naive. Also, the characters around the main character, especially her two best friends felt like caricatures. The ending was so anti-climactic.

What were the best and worst books you read in February?

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February 2023 TBR: the books I’m reading for Black History Month

Black History Month is about to start and I decided to put together a short tbr with the books that I want to prioritize during this month. I’m hoping to read more than the 6 books on this list but I’m leaving space for some mood reading.

These are the books that I’m planning to read:

The Year of the Witching by Alexis Henderson: I’m embarrassed to say that this is the third year in a row that this book makes it into my Black Heritage Month tbr. But hopefully, the third time is the charm! This is witchy and sounds like something I would love and I need to finally read it.

Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark: I have read a few books by this author and enjoyed them, and I have heard nothing but great things about this one, so I’m excited to give this one a read.

A Deadly Inside Scoop by Abby Collette: I love cozy mysteries but most of the popular ones are written by white authors, so one of my goals for 2023 is to find more cozy mysteries written by authors of color, and I have heard great things about this one.

Bet On It by Jodie Slaughter: this sounds like such a cute romance and I have heard that it has really good mental health rep. Also, it seemed like this is steamier than the cover suggests and there’s some sort of bingo-based sex pact. I’m intrigued!

The Wedding Crasher by Mia Sosa: I really enjoyed The Worst Best Man and I was looking forward to this companion novel, but the mixed reviews when it came out made me hesitate to read it. Nonetheless, recently I have heard a lot of people talking about how much they enjoyed this so I’ll give it a chance.

Mediocre by Ijeoma Oluo: I read another non-fiction book by this author, So You Want To Talk About Race, and I thought it was brilliant, so I’m looking forward to her newest release.

What are you planning to read for Black History Month? What are your favorite books by Black authors?

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