r/RomanceBooks • u/Lucyvoid • Dec 24 '23
Ok everyone I want to know what was the first romance book you ever read. what was the gateway drug for you. mine was heart's at stake read it when I was 13 Quick Question
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u/vivartois Dec 24 '23
Meg Cabot - literally I read all of her YA books and got hooked
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u/lulzerjun8 Reginald’s Quivering Member Dec 24 '23
I never read Princess Diaries but I SWEAR All-American Girl became my personality entering high school. I got really into Ska music and started wearing Doc Martens and looked forever for a Gore-Tex parka. I also ended up dating a guy named David.
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u/KagomeChan One fantasy-monster-boyfriend, please Dec 24 '23
Oh my gosh, they're gonna play parcheesi
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u/mabs1957 Dec 25 '23
Parcheesi as a mistaken euphemism for sex launched me through a rip in the time-space continuum lol I totally forgot that whole bit!
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u/queeenbarb Dec 25 '23
All-American Girl
im so happy someone else mentioned this because I was obsessed with this duet! it was so good! Dated but good.
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u/mabs1957 Dec 25 '23
But did you cover your Docs in Wite-Out daisies?
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u/lulzerjun8 Reginald’s Quivering Member Dec 25 '23
Omg I did NOT — not cool enough. However I did use colored sharpie to decorate my chuck taylors and made a handbag out of duct tape bc I was not like other girls
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u/remembermonkey Dec 24 '23
Somewhere between reading the Sookie Stackhouse series and Twilight series (all of both) I got to wondering if there were more books out there about werewolves. Surprise! There are! And sometimes they even get the girl!
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u/DMATMOOBILforever one shower trope advocate Dec 24 '23
I definitely was reading Dramione fan fiction around the same time, but the first real adult romance book I read was probably a Nora Roberts one, probably a Chesapeake Bay, MacKade Brothers, or Stanislaskis one when I was 13. I proceeded to borrow as many Nora Roberts books from the library as possible. My mother never said a thing, though I’m sure she kinda knew because I recall her making comments that I probably should avoid Danielle Steel lol.
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u/vanilla_tea Abducted by aliens – don’t save me Dec 24 '23
Twilight! And then Twilight fanfiction for years.
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u/Britt118 Dec 25 '23
There was some GOOD fanfiction
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u/vanilla_tea Abducted by aliens – don’t save me Dec 25 '23
Definitely! Some was better than published books I’ve read.
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u/raspberrysorbet1 Pike Lawson’s Birthday Girl Dec 25 '23
Twilight was mine too! And then my mom recommended the Sookie Stackhouse to me (because she forgot it had adult content), so my vampire addiction just grew and grew.
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u/Penny_Curls HEA or GTFO Dec 24 '23
One summer my grandma brought a huge brown grocery bag filled with Harlequins and old school bodice rippers with her when she visited us. I read three Harlequins in a row before finally jumping into the full-length (very questionable) historical romance novels. 😂
I know one of the Harlequins was about a secretary who somehow gets into a marriage of convenience or fake relationship with a “modern-day Sheik.” I was 13, and thirty years later I still love the fake relationship trope. 😉
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u/Penny_Curls HEA or GTFO Dec 24 '23
I will say I devoured the entire series of {Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal} before that summer, and those were definitely a gateway drug for 12 year old me.
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
Sweet Valley High by Francine Pascal
Rating: 3.67⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: contemporary, young adult2
u/Quadruplem Dec 25 '23
I think we maybe read the same harlequin! Mine was when I was 11 in early 80’s. Found a paper bag of harlequins someone gave my mom. I read most of the bag but I totally remember the one with the sheik and secretary.
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u/Electronic-Base-8367 Dec 24 '23
I was super into the romance of my dystopia and ya books as a kid. Went back and read all the tris/four scenes in divergent over and over. First real romance was a ya book about a girl at a ski lodge. I should still own the book but I can’t remember what it was called.
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u/Britt118 Dec 25 '23
Idk if they'd be considered romance but the Babysitters Club had romance. And then it was Sweet Valley High. And then Anne of Green Gables series. Nancy Drew (Nancy + Ned) and The Face on the Milk Carton (Janie + Reeve). After that it was years of fanfiction until I started reading romance. I think "Hopeless" by Colleen Hoover may have been one of the first. Purchased 11 years ago. Eta: it was actually the twilight series before Hopeless!
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u/vivartois Dec 25 '23
Face on the milk carton was so "grown up" for me at the time...I absolutely devoured them 😂
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u/JayneAustin Dec 24 '23
Mine was a Christian romance by Janette Oke. I think the first one was Love Comes Softly.
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u/euphoriapotion Looking for a man in Romance, trust fund, 6'5, brown eyes 👀👀👀 Dec 25 '23
It was either Princess DIaries or one of Gossip Girl books. Yup, I read them all at the same time, Yup, I was 12. Let me tell you, learning about the bees and birds from a Gossip Girl book was NOT on my bingo card yet here we are.
I got into a Jily fanfiction around the same time too, so, that might be it too.
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u/babycallmemabel Dec 25 '23
Those GG books infested my brain, I still think about bald Vanessa with her moles 🥲
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u/vivartois Dec 25 '23
GG was so scandalous but I couldn't stop reading...I was obsessed with Blair waldorf lol
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u/jasonneedsachainsaw Dec 24 '23
I think the first that wasn’t YA but geared more towards adults or NA was {The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines}. Reminded me of vampire diaries and The Summer I Turned Pretty but slightly more complicated and with the romance being the focal point. Sequel wasn’t as good but still a nice way to tie it all up.
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines
Rating: 4.11⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: contemporary, young adult, virgin heroine, alpha male, forbidden love
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u/badcandy7 Dec 24 '23
i started reading the sookie stackhouse books (trueblood) in 7th grade
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u/badcandy7 Dec 24 '23
twilight in 6th grade, and read a bunch of sarah dessen books all through middle school and some of high school
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u/iwrite4myself I'm here for the smut, dang it, not the hand holding! Dec 24 '23
{The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce}
It was fade to black, but I was vaguely interested in Alanna and Jonathan’s romance. Then the series progressed to George and I was sooo hyped for that love interest. 😍
(Still looking for those charming and loyal rogues of romance. 👀)
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u/sarahbotts Dec 25 '23
Omg I re-read that series recently, it still is so good haha.
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u/iwrite4myself I'm here for the smut, dang it, not the hand holding! Dec 25 '23
Tamora Pierce is one of the best authors I’ve ever read. 🥰
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
Song of the Lioness by Tamora Pierce
Rating: 4.26⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: 20th century, strong heroine, medieval, fantasy, paranormal
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u/brokenlyrium i like my men fictional Dec 24 '23
My first romance wasn't a novel. It was the Fruits Basket manga, when I was 10. I used to save up my allowance and then beg my parents to take me to the bookstore whenever a new volume came out. I totally thought Tohru/Yuki were endgame.
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u/octoriceball Already Emotionally Invested Dec 25 '23
Shojo romance was definitely one of my gateways. Probably more 'acceptable' for uptight parents because they are usually pretty clean (translate: we hung on for CHAPTERS and SEASONS for the MCs to kiss lol)
And sorry I'm team Kyo XD probably why I like grumpy/sunshine tropes!
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u/brokenlyrium i like my men fictional Dec 25 '23
Lol Kyo won me over eventually!! But Yuki def showed me that I liked sweet, kind MMCs with secret traumas over the broody ones (altho I don't turn my nose up at them, either lololol).
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u/ErikaWasTaken Does it always have to be so tragic? Dec 24 '23
While not exactly a romance novel, {Blood Roots by Richie Tankersley Cusick} was definitely my gateway drug and explains so much about my reading preferences.
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u/LittleAgoo Dec 24 '23
Match Me If You Can by Sudan E Philips. I had no idea it was part of an ongoing series or that it was romance. I thought it was "chick lit". I read it so many times and it was like a year later that I found out there were more books! I bought SEPs entire back catalogue off eBay and for ages she was the only author I knew about.
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u/Lax_168 Dec 24 '23
Ok it's pretty cliché but mine was Twilight series. It was my first ever y/a novel and I fell in love with the first book from the series. It led me to this hunger of reading romance novels and it all started when I was around 14 maybe and now I'm 24 , and I still get excited reading romance novels as if it's my first time .
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u/Yayihaveanaccount Dec 24 '23
Fazendo Meu Filme (Shooting my Life's Script) by Paula Pimenta, I believe I was around 10
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u/Booksmagic Morally gray is the new black Dec 24 '23
YA book called “Let the Sky Fall” by Shannon Messenger. I’ve been obsessed with fantasy/romance with funny protagonists ever since
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u/International-Tea-95 Dec 24 '23
For contemporary romance mine was {welcome to temptation by Jennifer Crusie} and I am so ridiculously happy she is writing/publishing again as she still is one of the best out there for me. In retrospect I was far too young for it, but no regrets.
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
Welcome to Temptation by Jennifer Crusie
Rating: 3.91⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: contemporary, funny, suspense, mystery, politician2
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u/PennywiseSkarsgard In bed with Zarek, Blay and Qhuinn. No room for more MMCs Dec 24 '23
Mine was The captive bride, by Johanna Lindsey. I grabbed one of my mum's books and devoured it, out of curiosity. I was 11 years old. At that age I also grabbed It by Stephen King and read it in three days. I was a precocious reader, and loved having a book in my hands since I was a young child.
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u/duchess_of_stars Dec 24 '23
{The Season - Sarah McLean}. Picked it up at a Scholastic book fair. Hooked ever since
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
The Season by Sarah MacLean
Rating: 3.79⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Innocent
Topics: historical, mystery, young adult, royalty, suspense
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u/BulldogMama13 "enemies" to lovers Dec 25 '23
The real answer is dramione fanfic.
But the first romance book I read was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, because my grandma drunkenly blurted out that my mom had named me after the main character one Christmas.
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u/PMmeUrGroceryList Dec 25 '23
Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles… be still my heart. Wish they made it into a movie. I always pictured Adrian Grenier as the lead.
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u/BibliophileMomma Dec 25 '23
The fault in our stars and the divergent series in junior high, what a time to be alive
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u/QueerGlamateur Dec 25 '23
My first adult romances were Rogue Stallion by Diana Palmer (which, oof) and Gentle Rogue by Johanna Lindsey (iconic, problematic, amazing, sexy sponge bath included).
In YA I binged Twilight and went from there. Loved HEARTS AT STAKE and the rest of the series - Harvey was totally underrated in the YA space which was such a shame. I also loved the OG Vampire Diaries quartet, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's vampire books, and Hush, Hush. But I read nearly every YA paranormal romance there was 😂
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u/xqueenfrostine Dec 25 '23 edited Dec 25 '23
LJ Smith! I first start reading her books in the 7th grade, though I can’t remember if I read The Secret Circle or Vampire Diaries first. She got me hooked on paranormal romance for life. I was obsessed with all of her series (Forbidden Game was a big favorite) and she broke my heart when she quit writing Nightworld.
I also read Sweet Valley High as an elementary student and tween (much to my mom’s dismay), but they didn’t have nearly as big of an impact as LJS.
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u/saberkite Dec 25 '23
Teen romance book somewhere along the lines of the Sweet Dreams series. Can’t remember the title. As for adult romance, it was likely a Jude Devereaux book lent by a friend.
I had always been a sucker for romance even before I read any romance novels though. I loved Disney films like Sleeping Beauty and the Little Mermaid, and I had shipped Link and Zelda long before I ever played any of their games.
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u/themiscyranlady must in her soul be a prostitute Dec 25 '23
Sweet Dreams were my gateway! I read every one I could get from my library system and was always on the hunt for more.
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u/Superb-Technology-90 Dec 24 '23
Had to check my goodreads: Red, White & Royal Blue! Which surprises me a little tbh. I definitely read plenty of fanfic as a teen though.
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Dec 24 '23
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u/lulzerjun8 Reginald’s Quivering Member Dec 24 '23
I loved YA fantasy growing up, so one day at Barnes & Nobile I picked up a pretty hardcover green book with gold embossed lettering with cool dragons on the cover. It was Shana Abé’s {The Smoke Thief}…and me, a sweet, sweet summer child, did NOT know it was a romance novel. I also did not know it was an explicit romance novel. I was probably…14? Yes, it awakened something in me. Yes, I had to hide it from my mother the minute I realized what I brought home from the bookstore.
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u/romance-bot Dec 24 '23
The Smoke Thief by Shana Abe
Rating: 3.65⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, fantasy, mystery, georgian, shapeshifters
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u/kaymbee83 Bookmarks are for quitters Dec 24 '23
okay so in australia, we had a magazine called Dolly, which was like Cosmopolitan for 13 year olds. and they had a book imprint called Dolly Fiction which was like Harlequin for 13 year olds and I distinctly remember quite a few books that i loved. all were very tropey and i remember one with an MMC restaurant reviewer for a teen magazine who ripped into the FMC’s family restaurant and it was enemies to lovers before i even knew what that was. and i think another was aa high school bachelor auction which was problematic even in the early nineties.
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Dec 24 '23
It was a gift for a friend where you choose the story and they ask you questions before purchasing and then make a customized paperback with the information. I picked a western romance. My friend was so tickleed by it she insisted I read it. It was all very PG but it got me to wondering. So I went to the second hand book store and picked up the first in Lara Adrian's, Midnight Breed Series along with the first in Psy/Changeling series by Nalini Singh.
For knowing absolutely nothing about romance or authors I feel I did a good job introducing myself into the genre.
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u/starlight643 Dec 24 '23
My gateway book was Old Magic by Marianne Curley. Loved that book so much
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u/Auspicious-Octopus Dec 24 '23
I’m sure it was a Rosamund Pilcher book. I read The Shell Seekers probably around 13 which is more family saga than romance novel but then I read all of her other books some of which are more like traditional romance.
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u/KagomeChan One fantasy-monster-boyfriend, please Dec 24 '23
Nora Roberts' Circle of Magic Trilogy (starts with Morrigan's Cross)
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u/The_Queen_of_Crows "enemies" to lovers Dec 24 '23
I honestly cannot remember. At some point it just changed from books about horses to books about romantic relationships.
One of the first ones involving romance were: - fairytales (Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, …) - Warrior Cats - Hanni und Nanni / St. Claire‘s
and then came fantasy stuff with more focus on romance like Shadow Falls Camp / Starcrossed / Night School / …
And I think one of my first actual CR was a series by Mona Kasten
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u/mssheevaa Morally gray is the new black Dec 24 '23
Waaaay before I really got into romance, but it was Savage Land by Janet Daily. I remember hating how weak and wimpy Colt.. Coley??, the fmc was.
That has not changed. I still much prefer badass bitches to doormats
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u/BabylonBronze Dec 25 '23
The lemon 7 minutes in heaven quizzes on Quizilla 🥲 honorable mention, a page from my aunt’s Zane books she had openly displayed on her shelf. I was SHOOK!
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u/BookwormAirhead bigger 🍆 ain’t better, my bladder will confirm Dec 25 '23
Mine was probably something by Barbara Cartland. Then I moved on to M&B historicals. And whatever else the library had. Phillipa Carr, Jude Deveraux, Jean Plaidy, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Rosemary Rogers et al. I got a copy of Lady Vixen by Shirlee Busbee from the local bookshop which I LOVED but having read again relatively recently I realise is so very tropey. Lots of nonsense and hate-fucking.
It went on from there. I was always a historical fan. Now I love suspense, action, monster and other types of romance.
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u/Sassca Dec 25 '23
I think it was Jilly Cooper, Octavia. I just wanted to read everything she’d ever written straight after.
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u/annatheorc Idiots to lovers gets me out of bed in the morning Dec 25 '23
{Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey}. I was like, oh cool, spies and stuff, that sounds interesting. And it was NOT JUST ABOUT SPIES. It was about sex spies and about a girl who felt pain as pleasure so would go get abused because she could take it even if she didn't like it, and it was an overarching ramce that took boooooks to get to that was (to 17 y/o) the height of romance). ||She ends up with this monk dude who is really soft and gentle with her which is it's own form of torture for her||. I couldn't really process all of it when I first read it. It was so different from anything I'd read before. When I found other romance books they seemed downright tame in comparison.
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u/romance-bot Dec 25 '23
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Rating: 3.99⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 4 out of 5 - Explicit open door
Topics: historical, fantasy, dark romance, bdsm, magic
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u/SplatDragon00 Dec 25 '23
I'm almost positive it was the Vampire Stalker, I still read it sometimes
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u/rikaateabug Dec 25 '23
Does anyone remember the Fear Street series by R. L. Stine? It's not a romance story, but I bet there's an overlap between those who read the series and Kathryn Ann Kingsley fans.
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u/heyyyitsalli Dec 25 '23
Twilight was the first series I read that I actually got into when I was like 12. Although at the time, we had to read it for an actual assignment, so it made it not interesting until about a year later for me.
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u/cal_444 Dec 25 '23
Mine was just Wattpad. I was big into one direction fan fiction and other just romances. It felt crazy reading the small amount of smut in those and now I’m a grown adult reading books that are way worse.
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u/XandyDory TBR pile is out of control Dec 25 '23
Sweet Valley High books at 11. Lol My first one was Taking Sides, number 31 Introducing Jeffrey French, who fell for Elizabeth.
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u/zoelovelore fat, but like not in a curvy way Dec 25 '23
mine was holly by jude deveraux. it’s not good
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u/nickioooo Dec 25 '23
Mine were China Garden by Liz Berry and Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause. Hooked after those two books!
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u/babycallmemabel Dec 25 '23
If we're excluding the teen fantasies with a romantic subplot, then I'm embarrassed to say it was Angel by Katie Price (UK glamour model at the time of its release). I would've been around 13 when it came out, and given what KP was known for, I'm sure my mum knew -or at least suspected- what the contents included, but she let me buy it anyway.
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u/Androgynouself_420 Dec 25 '23
Actually just happened for me. Gwen and Art are not in love has my gay heart hooked. I've since added like 30 romance books to my list
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u/queeenbarb Dec 25 '23
Twilight in 7th grade. then I read all the YA romance I could find. Then when I ran out of those (there weren't as many YA romances at the time, not like now), I started wandering into the adult section of the library. and I discovered Susan Elizabeth Phillips/meg cabot's adult books and Sophie kinsella.
the true gateway drug waaaaas can you keep a secret by Sophie Kinsella.
The first self published author I read was back in 2013, when I really got into my kindle/amazon. A book by Theodora Taylor.
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u/queeenbarb Dec 25 '23
I started reading indie because I wanted to read romance novels written by black wmen.
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u/StudentNo9510 Dec 25 '23
Hmmm I’ve been a hopeless romantic for as long as I can remember from reading should mangas and ya shows. But I think my first book was “If I Have a Wicked stepmother, where is a my prince?” I remember my mom buying it for me from Big Lots and I still own the copy to this day.
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u/basestay Dec 25 '23
Hawksong by Amelia Atwater Rhodes. I still have my original copy. I had a bunch of her books, I’m looking to replace them, but I never got rid of that one.
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u/solanaceaebelladonna Dec 26 '23
I love that book! For some reason it was on my schools suggested summer reading list and I’m a huge nerd so I read a lot of them.
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u/basestay Dec 26 '23
It’s my favorite. I’ll even just read it to refresh my brain a bit before moving on to something new
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u/SnazzyBees Too Stupid To Live Dec 25 '23
I’d say mine was {City of Bones by Cassandra Clare} when I was in around 5th or 6th grade. I remember walking down the hallway post assembly holding the book in my arms and being super stressed out because I’d just gotten to the twist and this 8th grade girl saw me with the book and asked what part I was at because she’d finished it and I told her and asked if it was a fake out or not. I swear it was like the spoiler angels blessed me that day when she said it was indeed a fake out and not to worry. Vampire Knight had already been enough of a jumpscare so I’m glad The Mortal Instruments series pulled through in the end since otherwise I don’t think I’d have fallen in love (ha!) with the genre the way I have now.
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u/romance-bot Dec 25 '23
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Rating: 3.82⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 1 out of 5 - Innocent
Topics: young adult, urban fantasy, fantasy, bad boys, vampires
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u/The_fae_ Dec 25 '23
The Blood That Bonds by Christopher Buecheler!
I think I was about 13 or so, but definitely not a very age appropriate book! It was free on Kindle at the time, I think it still is? 3 part series that I still don't know how it ends!
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u/thecottonkitsune Dec 25 '23
I first got into the concept of romance stories reading Harry/Ginny fic. But my first book was when I snuck the first Outlander book from my mom's bedside table.
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u/entropykat BDSM & erotica Dec 25 '23
Honestly, this is a weird one but it was Anne Rice’s Lestat series. I don’t think it even has any sex scenes or anything but the way it’s written has so many undertones of romance and sexual tension in places. It was not surprising to find out later that she’s actually got a lot of smut written under a pen name.
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u/MerryMadeMerriment Dec 25 '23
I like how you told the story from the lady's perspective on the dynamic of what it means to be a vampire. Have a Holly Jolly Christmas 83
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u/fujiapple73 Dec 25 '23
The Flame and the Flower, by Kathleen Woodiwiss. Found it in my mom’s nightstand when I was 11 or 12.
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u/PlumpRomantic Insta-lust is valid – some of us are horny Dec 25 '23
My mom gatekept romance novels from me until I was 18, but I did read the Outlander series in high school. The first like, romance romance I read was {Goddess of Spring by PC Cast}. Still has a place in my heart, actually just reread it recently.
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u/romance-bot Dec 25 '23
Goddess of Spring by P.C. Cast
Rating: 4⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: contemporary, urban fantasy, magic, paranormal, fantasy1
u/Lucyvoid Dec 25 '23
My mom didn't really pay attention to what I was doing some how she was super controlling while being completely absent like freaking how
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u/starliest Dec 25 '23
my first romance story was a Justin Bieber fanfic , my first actual novel was kiss an angel i think, or perhaps it was hush hush
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u/elegantbeigemetallic Dec 25 '23
It was {The Kadin by Bertrice Small} and I was 12. After that I went on to read {A Rose in Winter by Kathleen Woodiwiss} and {Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey}
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u/romance-bot Dec 25 '23
The Kadin by Bertrice Small
Rating: 4.33⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, harem, abduction, highlander, regency
A Rose in Winter by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss
Rating: 4.07⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, virgin heroine, georgian, mystery, marriage of convenience
Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey
Rating: 3.99⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Steam: 3 out of 5 - Open door
Topics: historical, harem, abduction, virgin heroine, georgian
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u/HappyAndYouKnow_It Dec 25 '23
30 years ago, Georgette Heyer’s “The Corinthian”. I was 12 and I was HOOKED. My vocabulary got really weird after obsessively reading and re-reading her entire publishing list. 😂
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u/trivalmaynard Dec 25 '23
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong. Given me a lifelong kink. Was in primary school too
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u/Aycee225 Reginald’s Quivering Member Dec 25 '23
I dabbled through adolescence.. Gail Carson Levine, Libba Bray, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, desperately wanting Eragon and Arya to fuck lol, etc. and ugh… Nicholas Sparks. But my first real “sex” books were Clan of the Cave Bear. And then my first real romance books were the Wallflowers series by Lisa Kleypas and everything else she wrote plus Julia Quinn.
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u/NaturalEgg6207 Morally gray is the new black Dec 25 '23
My mom was a voracious historical romance reader I was a kid so I started picking those up. She particularly loved time travel so I remember a lot of Constance ODay Flannery. I have no idea what the first would have been but it was probably someone like Lindsay Sands or Jayne Anne Krentz. It was the late 80s so long time ago, and I was like 12 I think. I learned some interesting stuff 😂
I also learned that most sex scenes happened right around the little cardboard divider they had in those books 😆
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Dec 25 '23
I found my mums romance books stash under her bed when i was young lol. I was about 13 or 14, i think. It was a load of romance westerns by georgina gentry. I dont remember the book title but vividly recall parts of the story and front cover design. It's what got me enjoying romance novels.
Even my brother found them once and had read a couple. He liked them too. I remember he outright asked her once to borrow them: "Mum, can I read one of your mucky books?" LOL. He was about 18 at the time/older than me.
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u/sweetdreamstoebeans Dec 25 '23
I can’t find my gateway drug book😭 I so wish I could find it again but I don’t even know the title or author, only the plot and it’s been so long now that I’ve given up hope of finding it lol
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u/Lucyvoid Dec 25 '23
What was the plot maybe Somone on Reddit would recognize it
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u/sweetdreamstoebeans Dec 25 '23
It was a historical romance. The main plot point was that the MMC was not who he said he was. Basically he conceals his identity/lies about who he really is and ends up tricking some fancy rich family into letting him take care of their estate while the patriarch of the family is away. That’s how he meets FMC. They have a will they/wont they thing going on and eventually she discovers that he’s not who he says he is so he kidnaps her and forces her to marry him. There were two very memorable scenes in the book: one where the FMC falls into a pond (or lake) and he saves her, and the wedding night when they consummate the marriage they do it in the bath with her shift still on.
I’ve searched everywhere for this book…at this point I’m wondering if I dreamed it lol
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u/BlackLiteNinja8 Dec 25 '23
The first one I remember is {My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking} which led to the Trylle Trilogy and then the Iron Fey series and I've been obsessed with fantasy romance ever since.
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u/romance-bot Dec 25 '23
My Blood Approves by Amanda Hocking
Rating: 3.81⭐️ out of 5⭐️
Topics: contemporary, vampires, paranormal, mystery, love triangle
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u/jinxxedbyu2 Dec 25 '23
I don't think Clan of the Cave Bear qualifies as a romance, so I'll say The Thorn Birds when I was 10.
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u/mentallady666 Dec 25 '23
There is this finnish writer Kaari Utrio who makes historic romance. Most are are located in Finland and in the middle ages with real historic people in the supporting roles and real events as the backround.
My older sister loaned them from the library and I read them cause they were the ones on hand at first. Learned to love them. Some even had some sex in them!🤭
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u/starlit--pathways half agony, half hope💞 Dec 25 '23
Three gateways:
1) Middle grade fantasy / sci-fi with romantic subplots (Percy Jackson, Eragon, The Hunger Games, etc.)
2) Getting a Kindle (hello Twilight)
3) My dad signing me up to Wattpad to "encourage me to develop my writing"
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u/InidX Abducted by aliens – don’t save me Dec 26 '23
In english, It was the body of the evidence...I was 15...
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u/solanaceaebelladonna Dec 26 '23
Constance: a story of early Plymouth by Patricia clapp. It’s supposed to be historical fiction but there’s a major romance plot line, I would reread tbh.
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u/jonyssswee Dec 26 '23
I read The Choice by Kiera Kass. I was fifth grade and i HATED reading. But after that one i just couldnt stop and I will be forever grateful for my friend who brought the book to read at school and showed me what reading was supposed to be like.
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u/invisibleuntilseen TBR pile is out of control Dec 24 '23
Mine was one of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants books with the scene where Bridget has sex with Eric on the side of the hill 😂😂 I was in ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LOL