I watched this Tiktok video (link at the end of post) by an author named Nicole McKeon and it has made me realise that maybe it's not romance as a genre I don't like and choose not read, but it's because there is no yearning in the way she has described it in Pride and Prejudice (there are spoilers if you're reading this).

For those that are more well versed in romance, historical romance, I would love some recommendations to add to my TBR because I have honestly brushed off any romance recommendations because I felt that I was just not a "romantic" person or I find "romantic grand gestures" and "enemies to lovers" tropes too cheesy to be enjoyable. Maybe I'm just not reading the kinds of romance that I like.

For example, I like Rin and Nezha's relationship across the Poppy War trilogy, and Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy in Pride and Prejudice, and Aragorn and Arwen in LOTR, and Elphaba and Fiyero in Wicked.

I'll link the video below, but know that you can click on the link and I've removed all tracking from the url, so you won't know my username and I won't know yours (X has watched your video). You can also find her directly her handle on Tiktok is: @nicolemckeon_author and as of today (9/12/26) it's the 1st video next to her pinned one.

Link:https://www.tiktok.com/@nicolemckeon_author/video/7581555898410159374

Edit: Thank you all for commenting and making recommendations! I will get around to responding to your engaging and well thought out comments soon. For those interested, I have created a public shelf for all the recommendations, so you can add them to you own collection.

loveislikebread's Romantic Endeavours bookshelf

How many books do you read at the same time? And how many is to much? 🤣 Most of the time I read up to four books at a time, switching between them, depending on my mood. I must say that I almost never read two books of the same genre at the same time. Otherwise I will mix up stories. 🥲

What was your TBR before and after Pagebound?

Mine was a humble 20, now it's 40+ and my interested in has over 90 books 😀

I honestly thought I'd go through my whole TBR by joining this but it seems to have the opposite effect 😂

Recently I’ve fallen into a reading slump and have the worst time trying to keep my attention on anything I read. This has always been an issue for me. I suspect it’s because being online for 10+ years has corroded my brain 😔. Any tips on how to keep focused????

Wow we are 70k users on Pagebound! Just saw the newest Substack and wanted to share in case you haven’t seen the stats! Thank you all for such a welcoming community and the founders for creating this space for us ♥️

Let's spread some love for this app, while also giving nice "tips" or reasons to stay here to the new users. I go first:

🔸The lack of influencers. Right now this is the perfect intersection between personal and social. No ego or popularity battles, just a village full of villagers.

The last book I'll read by Hazelwood will be Mate and then I'm done (this is obviously not a promise). I can't stay away of the damn thing, these books are dangerous to me... Anyway, by now it should be obvious I am enjoying this, but I can't say this is too rich in terms of plot. I don't know, maybe it's too mundane for me. And it's not even that kinky. Bride was more of an interesting read to me.

 so far I’m getting through this really quickly but I’m not liking it. I don’t know how to really explain it. I’m interested but it’s not a good book. There’s no plot, the characters have two different personalities and they’re very one-sided. The main character is very annoying so I’m really just reading it because it’s fast paced. Also they don’t spend more than two pages on any plot point unless it’s sex.

ahhh i am done. i enjoyed their story, i know some people are like "skip it" but honestly, for me, context matters in a universe and i love having all the possible details for the rest of books.

Okay okay I caved. There are too many days between Fridays so here I am starting from the beginning. I totally understand that the books are pretty much stand-alone but that’s not how your girl works.

I was thrown books and yelled at (with absolute love lol) by friends to read this series so I can also watch the TV show Heated Rivals. So here i am 🤣🤣🤣