I didn’t really like the topics this month, but I refused to let the day go by without catching this last Wednesday.
This week’s Top 5 Wednesday topic was He Fell First, and if there’s anything that I love in my romance it’s the man (or the other partner) falling first.
1. The Victor trilogy from Theodora Taylor’s Ruthless Triad
In Victor, Dawn catches Victor’s eye in a random club in Japan, and sets in motion an epic story of betrayal, endurance, and love.
When I say that this story is a ride? Oh my gosh, this was when I knew that Romance is truly the wildest genre. The second book alone is enough reason for this couple to have never made it. Victor was wildly obsessed with Dawn from the beginning.
To be fair, Her Ruthless Crush was very cute. They were teenagers in the same school together, and Victor was even given the chance to go and live a completely normal non-triad life with Dawn. Unfortunately, that was devastatingly ruined by Dawn’s dad.
Then we get Her Ruthless Owner, where Victor calls himself taking revenge on Dawn instead of straight up murdering her dad. Except, even in the midst of all of the angst and betrayal, the two of them can’t seem to help falling in love with each other.
And finally, in Her Ruthless Husband, Victor and Dawn are given the chance to try again. Of course it works out, but not before they deal with the stuff that held them up in the first place.
Now, I’ll stand ten toes down in saying that Phantom was my favorite story in the Ruthless Triad series. Simply because, of the three cousins, Phantom always had his shit together despite the fact that he looked and acted like the real gangster. However, Victor and Dawn’s feelings were relatively instantaneous, and Victor’s obsession was strong enough to hold up something like 15 years’ worth of a story.
Theodora Taylor hasn’t missed with me yet, but the Ruthless Triad series was some really good work.
2. Sinful Desire by Asia Monique
In Sinful Desire, Cian O’Sullivan and Gianna Bianchi have been carrying on a secret romance for years, but maybe it’s time for the two of them to go public.
This was definitely a love-at-first-sight type of situation, just like with Victor, but these two really don’t say much to each other for something like 3 years due to the age difference. Then you find out that Cian basically had a whole setup ready to go for when Gianna finally agreed to date him, and suddenly it’s on.
Now this definitely wasn’t my favorite book for this series – I’ve honestly never been a fan of stories that are essentially just a collection of scenes that took place during the timelines of previous novels. I’ll always give the author props for not reusing scenes, but I just can never get around it feeling like a bunch of snippets connected by what seems like a plot but really isn’t.
I still enjoyed it.
3. Sol by Nikki Clarke
In Sol, Shay wants to get herself an alien lover just like her sisters. However, when her alien lover turns out to be someone she doesn’t expect, can she go with the flow? Sol sees Shay literally because of a random picture from Shay’s sister’s mind, and that is enough for him to be in love.
This story is so wild but so real, and I have to give it to Nikki Clarke because I think her growth as an author really shows in this series. Sol’s instalove is top tier, but you really become endeared to Shay over the course of the story.
She’s so annoying at the beginning because she wants this big adventurous love story like her sister. Then, when she gets it, it’s almost too much to handle. And the whole time Sol is just trying his best to keep her alive and not die on the inside because she’s suddenly not about having an alien boo anymore.
Nikki Clarke probably only missed with me once, but I’m consistently in her corner.
4. Something to Live For by Kaye Blue
In Something to Live For, Hunter has only ever wanted Bell. Bell barely knows Hunter, but she trusts that he will not hurt her. And that just might be enough.
This whole series takes place against the backdrop of a zombie apocalypse, and the author set these characters up in a way that had me wondering about the state of Black Woman/White Man Interracial Romance. However, the premise of a man going back into a zombie-infested town just to save a girl he spent all of high school crushing on, but never actually talking to, is a little bit too hard to pass up.
Hunter loved Bell. And when he finally got her, he took her somewhere that should have been their own happily ever after. I cannot knock a man who is willing to build a life for his woman.
5. The Roommate Risk by Talia Hibbert
In The Roommate Risk, Jasmine Allen neither dates nor does relationships. However, a couple of weeks of playing roommates with her best friend, Rahul, has her reevaluating her position.
I remember talking to my esthetician about this book. I was so enthralled with how much Rahul loved Jasmine’s everything, but my esthetician just did not care for it. It just wasn’t her cup of tea. I couldn’t understand it.
Talia Hibbert is the second time – first in original fiction – that I’ve ever seen an author have to have the male main character do a whole detox after it doesn’t work out with the female main character. Like the girls are getting their hearts broken every day, but now these boys need to go and see their therapists for borderline obsession. And I love it, honestly, because that’s just how it feels.
It wasn’t until I started writing this that I realized that I had a few honorable mentions. In Eden Appiah-Kubi’s Her Own Happiness the male main character definitely fell first. Go Gutierrez badgered his own brother for Nyla Weathers in Theodora Taylor’s His Pretend Baby. Norio Nakimura was willing to give Lilliana Tucker everything in His Revenge Baby. And don’t ever let me start with the werewolf books!
I’m always down for instalove, and I know that romantic gestures in this genre can also look like crimes, but you really can’t top being wooed by someone who clearly wants you. Having the male main character (or just the other person in the romance) fall in love first is just top tier.
There’s really nothing like it.
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Eurydice Howell 