My favorite romances~

Happy Saturday peeps! 

If you've read Hush Puppy already, you'll know there's a bit of romance involved.  Someone asked me to name five favorite romance books recently.

 I have to admit, I did a bit of an uh-oh.  While I love romantic elements in books, I haven’t read any true romance novels in awhile. So, here are five (not necessarily romance) novels with romances that I loved reading.

Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Anne of Green Gables series  by L.M. Montgomery

Bridge to Tarabithia by Katherine Paterson

I think these books appeal to me because they’re about first love and all the crazy, mixed up feelings that come with that. They aren’t muddied up with baggage.  For the most part, they’re full on, head over heels, I’ll die without you-type love stories. I guess I like it complicated and messy, as you can see from my writing.  Many of these stories inspired the romance in Hush Puppy.

It's the story of Corrine Lamb, a seventeen year old, black girl, and Jamie Armstrong, a poor white boy, living in a backwater North Carolina town.  Intelligent Corrine, abandoned by her mother, and artsy Jamie, forced to play football by a redneck father, both dream of leaving their podunk town and never looking back. 

Their shared love of literature and a dream of a better life brings them together and a romance blossoms between them in a secret place of their own in the steamy North Carolina woods.  When Jamie is involved in the accidental death of a white girl, he’s terrified of his abusive father.  Corrine takes the blame to protect Jaime, with dire consequences for herself and her dreams of the future.  Her life in danger, Corrine’s left wondering if Jamie ever cared about her at all.

There's a certain Romeo and Juliet theme to the story because Corrine and Jamie keep their relationship secret from the rest of the world, although at one point, Corrine tells Jamie, "I'm not killing myself for you."  I love that "what happens when you fall in love with the wrong person?" question.

And of course, Bridge to Tarabithia was major influence on the story, mainly for it's themes of friendship and loss. It's a beautiful story everyone should read at least once.  What are your favorite romances? Let me know~