What’s your favorite opposites attract romance?
A while back, a friend who doesn’t didn’t read romance asked me to recommend a historical romance. I suggested Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm. I ran into her this weekend and she raved about the book. I asked what she liked most and she said–more or less–that in a polarized world she loved reading about people who were opposites in every way finding love with each other.
I’d never thought about Flowers from the Storm as an opposites attract love story but sure enough, it’s tagged as such at AAR. So is another book I adore, Meredith Duran’s Bound by Your Touch. Looking through our tagged books, I saw I’ve written ten DIK reviews of books tagged as opposites attract. That’s almost a quarter of all my DIK reviews. Clearly, this is a trope I like.
Of the books, I’ve reviewed, I’d have a hard time picking a single favorite opposites attract. Reckless by Anne Stuart, Uncommon Passion by Anne Calhoun, and Holly Black’s Folk of the Air series are all just so. damn. good.
How about you? Love or loathe opposites attract romances? And if you love them, which are your faves? Let us know–we’ll add in the tags and add them to our Opposites Attract Amazon store.
Oh, gosh. Where to start….Ruthless by Anne Stuart is right up there with Reckless. Jennifer Crusie’s Welcome to Temptation (grifter family girl and town mayor). Loretta Chase’s Last Hellion (hellion and reporter/reformer) and I love the Mr. Impossible and Lord Perfect already mentioned. Olivia Dade did Spoiler Alert (geologist and world famous actor) as well as ATF that Maria Rose mentioned. Lucy Parker has the ray of sunshine and the grumpy critic in The Austin Playbook (love her books). Then there’s Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas (well-born quiet woman and self-made merchant) who also did Chasing Cassandra (best lines ever, “Can I have her? I’ll give you a railroad..” and “I’ll be your oyster”). Venetia by Georgette Heyer!! (utterly sheltered miss and The Rake Damerel) There are so many more – this one of my favorite tropes.
I looked at my Goodreads folder; I don’t have that many entries there but the ones I do have that I really enjoyed are Beautifully Unexpected by Lily Morton, Proper Scoundrels by Allie Therin, Battle Royal by Lucy Parker, All the Feels by Olivia Dade, Can’t Help Falling by Cara Bastone, Her Pretend Christmas Date by Jackie Lau, Best Laid Plans by Roan Parrish and Sink or Swim by Annabeth Albert. Sometimes I have trouble distinguishing between opposites-attract and enemies-to-lovers though. I suppose any kind of grumpy/sunshine pairing would qualify as opposites attract.
Of course now that I checked out the tag there are a bunch of books I’ve read that I should tag properly as they are on the AAR list!
Battle Royal by Lucy Parker fits the bill, as does Merry Measure by Lily Morton. Jay Hogan has written several good ones, including Against the Grain and Off Balance. I love easy-going Doyle and uptight Larkin in The Madison Square Murders by C.S. Poe. Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series is based on an this premise, with a suspicious and often nervous “human” paired with a taciturn werewolf to solve some murders. Excellent series.
A few that spring to mind:
Mr Impossible by Loretta Chase (the buttoned-up scholar and the cheerfully unintellectual action hero)
Hummingbird by LaVyrle Spencer (the morally upright small town spinster and the supposed train robber)
Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating (the sensible adult and the adorably kooky ray of sunshine)
I read the title and thought Flowers from the Storm. Glad to see I wasn’t off base.