Romance is blossoming on TV with summer’s arrival. Every week, we watch for the “right reasons”. Couples form and reform amidst the blue skies and turquoise seas of an isolated location. We know the perfect reads to go with your favorite show.
Your Favorite Love Reality TV Show Will Choose Your Next Read
1. 90 Day Fiancé — A Cuban Girl’s Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey
For Lila Reyes, a summer in England is drastically different from her Cuban American upbringing in Miami. Initially, her unhappiness on the foreign island is overbearing. But a chance to attend the Cordon Bleu school, as well as a prospective new love interest give her more than enough reason to stay. For fans of 90 Day Fiancé, this delicious read brings Cuban flair, poetic language, a slow-burn romance, and plenty of emotional layers to a quaint English town.
2. Love is Blind — Serious Moonlight by Jenn Bennett
Birdie Lindberg has an overactive imagination. She also has her own history that she is hesitant to share right away. Enter Daniel Aoki who shares her appetite for the unknown. The pair find a true connection from deep down on the inside. For fans of Love is Blind, it takes time to lower their defenses and open up to one another. This young couple take a leap of faith to pursue the mystery and to become more than friends.
3. Love Island — Made in Korea by Sarah Suk
Like Love Island, being ambitious and cutthroat to get what and who you want will always bring drama. Senior Valerie Kwon is talented & accomplished in her own right, as well as has her own student-run business V&C K-BEAUTY. When new kid Wes Jung arrives, he competes by selling is own K-pop branded beauty products. As their business rivalry escalates, it becomes more personal – and soon, feelings are growing in addition to their competition.
4. Are You the One? — We Can’t Keep Meeting Like This by Rachel Lynn Solomon
If your perfect match was standing right in front of you, would you even know it? How many chances would it take for you to realize unrequited love isn’t so permanent? With awkward moments and hilarious banter, this novel is perfect for hopeless romantics and fans of Are You the One? The Seattle wedding business is insular as it is frequent. In the case of Quinn Berkowitz and Tarek Mansour, they keep running into each other with each bridal meltdown or catering snafu that arises. Wedding after wedding, the pair grow closer. With a little mental health assistance, Quinn is opening herself to love more than ever before. Are You the One? uses every compatibility test to ensure love all the same.
5. 12 Dates of Christmas — Sky Blues by Robbie Couch
Despite a heartbreaking, homophobic email spreading in his small, insular town, Sky Baker is determined to create the most swoon-worthy, gayest prom-posal for his crush. With help from unexpected friends, Sky has thirty days to make a splash! Just like 12 Dates of Christmas, finding a date before a major event is nerve-wracking but exciting. Sky Baker is just as eager and full of love to give.
6. The Circle — All Eyes on Us by Kit Frick
Try being catfished and stalked at the same time. For The Circle participants, every move is watched as they hide their real identities. Amanda Kelly and Rosalie Bell are both Carter Shaw’s girlfriends. For Rosalie, hiding her homosexuality from her parents will provide some reprieve. For Amanda, her entire identity and states in her town is tied to being Carter’s girlfriend. It is EVERYTHING. Soon, both girls need to break away from the expectations because no one is ever truly who she says she is.
7. The Bachelor or The Bachelorette — Better Than the Movies by Lynn Painter
If you are a sucker for rom-coms, witty banter, or poignant emotional moments, join Liz Buxbaum’s journey as she schemes to get her crush. For fans of the Bachelor/ Bachelorette franchise, the hope and awkwardness to find a movie-worthy romance is on full display. Tinged with moments of grief and lots of romcom tropes, this is worth the read as Liz discovers if who and what she wants is for the “right reasons”.
8. Indian Matchmaking — When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
How can two people consent to marry someone chosen for them by others? In India, it’s estimated that 90% of all marriages are still arranged as family elders find a ‘suitable’ match for their descendants. For Dimple Shah, the notion of an ‘arranged marriage’ is horrifying. Finding the “Ideal Indian Husband” is very low on her priority list. This aspiring female coder would never trade her dreams for a potentially ideal partner…Yet, somehow, the stars will align when Rishi Patel meets his future spouse at the same summer program. Indian Matchmaking embraces the uncertainty or skepticism common in love matches. Things may start off bumpy but fate works to get these intelligent, ambitious teens to fall hopelessly in love.
9. Bachelor in Paradise — A Pho Love Story by Loan Le
For fans of Bachelor in Paradise, two Vietnamese-American teens fall in love amid their families’ age-old feud about their competing, neighboring restaurants. Linh Mai and Bao Nguyen’s unexpected romance requires secret meetings and stolen kisses. They have individual concerns about their career interests (or lack thereof in Bao’s case), as well as how they approach that with their parents. Every stolen moment is precious time until secrets are finally revealed.
10. Too Hot to Handle — Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott and Mikki Daughtry
Can you love someone you can never touch? If Stella Grant or Will Newman breathes less than five feet from each other, ether one of them could die. Just like Too Hot to Handle, touch is sacred and bittersweet. A yearning builds over time that grow beyond mere physical pleasure. In both instances, participants must be aggressively honest about their intentions. Just a little bit of the space can make or break their fate. The stakes are high for everyone. Like Too Hot to Handle, the award Stella & Will get for staying away from each other can change their lives dramatically.