Top 5 Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Thoughts on Tomes and created by Lainey @ Ginger Reads Lainey. You can check out the group’s Goodreads page for this month’s topics!
This week’s theme is Books Without Romance or they can be books with very little romance as well. I personally am a huge fan of books with little to no romance, it’s a big pet peeve of mine when romances cloud over the plot and all other happenings. I’m very happy to find books like this and share the ones I’ve read as well!
I will link up my reviews for each title as well if you’d like my full thoughts!
5.) This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
While I suppose it could be debated a little bit since it sometimes feels like the two main characters are developing feelings for each other throughout, this is still very much romance free. This is a story about monsters and monstrous humans and that’s where the focus stays, there’s no getting muddled up in any lovey-dovey moments here!
You can read my full review of “This Savage Song” here.
4.) Vicious by V.E. Schwab
Um…yeah here she is again! Schwab really is a master at keeping the plots of her books straight and interesting without getting too lost in any romance. This is a very complex novel about two men that gain “superpowers” and turn into enemies but the lines between who’s good and who’s evil blur very much.
One of the characters does have a girlfriend and the other character loves her as well but it’s very briefly mentioned and serves more as a motivator in the story than it does an actual romantic subplot. So no romance!
You can read my full review of “Vicious” here.
3.) Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff
Have I talked about this book enough on my blog? Yeah, I don’t think so either. This is an amazing fantasy story with fantastic world building and a brutally unpredictable storyline, plus the heroine is a badass! I digress, there is a point in the story where Yukiko becomes a bit smitten with a boy but it is extremely brief and hardly mentioned. Plus when you get to the end of the book you definitely wouldn’t say there is any romance either…..trust me.
You can read my full review of “Stormdancer” here.
2.) Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry
I cannot recommend Christina Henry’s books enough, honestly, and them being very romance-light is one of the reasons. With “Lost Boy” there is a point in the story where a character has a crush on someone but other than that it’s very romance free. It was nice to see a female character whose sole purpose wasn’t to be the love interest.
You can read my full review of “Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook” here.
1.) Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
What’s great about this book is how diverse it is with the characters’ genders and sexuality. We see both a transgender character as well as an asexual character, which I though was absolutely fantastic! Plus there was no romance at all, it was really great that we got to see such diversity like this and the author didn’t feel a need to push any of the characters together.
You can read my full review of “Every Heart A Doorway” here.
Have you read any of these books as well? What did you think of them?
Do you agree about the “non-romance” in any of these books? Disagree?
What are some books you’ve read with little to no romance? (please tell me I love these kinds of recommendations!)
Do you find that you enjoy books with little to no romance more or less?
Let me know in the comments!
I haven’t read any of the books on your list, BUT I do plan on reading Stormdancer. I’ve seen so much love for this book and it’s kind of refreshing to know that romance is not a focus.
Brianna at Listful Booking
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I recommend Stormdancer all the time to everyone so I’m glad you want to give that one a try! It’s really amazing and I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
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I didn’t realize that there wasn’t any romance in This Savage Song – I bought it a while ago but haven’t read it just yet. I also have Every Heart a Doorway but haven’t read that either – definitely going to have to get on this – I could use a read without a romance. Thanks so much for sharing!
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Yeah. Me too! It is on my TBR list but I remember there was 2 characters in the plot and I just take it for granted xD
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Nope no romance in that one! Like I said in the post though that it could maybe be debated if they grow feelings for one another or not but it’s definitely not flat out stated ever so that counts as zero romance in my book!
Every Heart A Doorway is just an excellent book all the way around so I really hope you enjoy that one, it’s definitely a pretty quick read! 🙂
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I love how V.E. Schwab writes amazing books without romance and they’re still just as good as her books with romance!
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She really is the queen of….well just everything, haha! Most of her books are really romance free but the stories are still amazing! I haven’t read any yet that have a super defined romance though! 🙂
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Definitely loved Lost Boy. This Savage Song is on my tbr list. I think its refreshing to read a book without romance sometimes. It is overused.
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Glad you loved Lost Boy, it’s one of my favorites this year so far!
I agree, sometimes romance (and all of the tropes that come with it) get overused in books especially YA. It’s nice to read a book that doesn’t get distracted with romances! 🙂
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Quite nice, or at least if there is romance, it is so nice to see it as an extra instead of taking over the whole plot or distracting the MC, lol.
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Lost Boy is on my TBR, I think, but I haven’t heard much about it yet. I’ll have to check it out soon. I have TSS and Vicious on my shelf and I can’t wait to get to them because I loved her writing for the Shades of Magic series. Great list!
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Lost Boy is really dark, twisted, and creative I really loved her take on Neverland and its characters! Hope you enjoy it if you get a chance to read it!
If you loved the Shades of Magic series I’m sure you’ll love Schwab’s other boks too especially “Vicious”! 🙂
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Every Heart A Doorway is such a good book, I need to read the second one soon 😍
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Same here! I really want to read the sequel but I also can’t justify spending so much on such a short book! But Every Heart A Doorway really was fantastic, glad you enjoyed it as well! 🙂
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great list! 🙂
“stormdancer” sounds really good! i need to check that out! also “every heart a doorway” – everybody is so happy with that book! :O
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Thank you!
Stormdancer is a book I recommend aaaaaallllll the time so I hope you do check that one out! And Every Heart A Doorway is pretty hyped up by everyone but I thought it was worthy of all that love! 🙂
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that sounds good to me 😀
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I’ve been wanting to read This Savage Song but for some reason I can’t seem to be able to read that much anymore so this duology’s still on stand-by. I already have so many books I really want to read that I don’t know where Vicious will fit in!
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Hopefully you enjoy both This Savage Song and Vicious when you get a chance to squeeze them in! Schwab really does such a fantastic job with her books! 🙂
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I can’t wait to read This Savage Song! I have heard so many amazing things about it, plus Victoria Schwab is one of my favourite authors so there is that as well! ❤
Stormdancer sounds very intriguing and I definitely plan on checking it out! I haven't actually read anything by Jay Kristoff yet. I think I will start with this series, as it's already completed and I won't have to wait for the sequels to come out. Great list Heather! 🙂
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I’d love to see what you think of This Savage Song, especially since I liked it but didn’t think it lived up quite as much to her adult novels. Of course I’ll always read her books regardless haha!
I’d also LOOOOOVE to see what you think of Stormdancer, or really just any of Kristoff’s books since I worship them practically, haha! That’s smart to do the completed series first too because the way the first book ends is torture!
Thanks Anna! 🙂
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I love Every Heart a Door Way SO MUCH. I’ve really gotta read This Savage Song and esecially Vicious. Actually mad at myself for not having read that one yet 😂
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I have a good feeling you’ll really like Vicious, it’s just so unique and well written. I could honestly sit and rave about it all day! I’d really love to see what you think of that one though! 🙂
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I’m definitely not a huge fan of books that overdo the romance which I found is a huge part of the YA genre. If there’s one book I’ve loved so far this year which had absolutely NO romance whatsoever it was A Tale for the Time Being by the Japanese-American writer Ruth Ozeki.
Donna Tartt has become my favorite author just because I’ve noticed that even though in The Secret History and The Goldfinch there is some allusions here and there to romance, they never seem to play any pivotal role…
I totally rambled just cause I haven’t yet read any of the books you have listed but am definitely going to be adding Every Heart a Doorway to my TBR – sounds fascinating 😀
I look forward to reading more from you soon Heather… Happy July Reading 😀
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YA really is full of romance-focused plots but there are a few of those hidden gems that don’t! Thanks for the recommendations I’ll have to check some of them out!
I really hope you enjoy Every Heart A Doorway when you get a chance to read it, it’s a really interesting little book! 🙂
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