What Would Make Me Enjoy A Romance Book?

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to make a confession: I'm romance curious. Usually, I avoid romance novels like the plague STDs, but I can't help being curious about them. Romance is the highest selling book genre. I know lots of readers who only read romance. I want to know what inspires that kind of dedication.

Romance is a difficult genre for me because I'm dead inside. A book probably isn't going to hook me by provoking emotion. So, what would make me enjoy a romance? Let's figure that out together.

I Read 200+ "Best Books Of 2025" Lists

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It took over a month, but I have searched the Internet and read, watched, or listened to over 200 "Best Books Of 2025" lists. Why would I waste my time doing this? Because I'm insufferably nosy and want to know what everybody is reading. I also have a bad case of FOMO. What if there's an awesome book in the world that everybody knows about except me? I can't let that happen!

While I was perusing the lists, I jotted down the titles of books that sounded intriguing. That's what I'm going to show you today.

Which book did I see most often on the lists? My Friends by Fredrik Backman was popular. Sunrise On The Reaping by Suzanne Collins was definitely the darling of 2025. I saw it so many times! I also saw a lot of funny books. I'm highlighting a few of them in this post because we all need more humor in our lives.

Here's what I'll (hopefully) be reading in 2026.

The Sunday Post #396

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the Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

2025 Reading Statistics

Welcome to my 2025 reading stats post! This is where I represent all the books I read in 2025 with pie (charts). Friends, last year kicked my ass. I only read 52 books, but that's okay because several of them were awesome. Here are the best books I read in 2025. You should read them in 2026.

Okay, let's make graphs. The color palette for my graphs is inspired by Pantone. I don't know if normal people pay attention to the Pantone color of the year, but 2026's color is Cloud Dancer, which is . . . white. Actually, it's off-white. Gray white? Beige white? It's boring white. It's giving "sad beige baby" vibes. I tried really hard to pair Cloud Dancer with colors that make it look less depressing.

Enough yapping. Here are my reading charts, inspired by off-white.