Honestly Kayla… I’m DYING to see you force this “romance era” into existence😂 I feel like you need to just do something unhinged like challenging yourself to read romance and you can’t end the video until you give a romance book 5 stars👀⭐️
@@venusv8268 it’s just a joke lol. No one *needs* Kayla to get into Romance but she jokes about it enough to make it a thing. It would honestly be beautiful and hilarious to see her compile a bunch of failed attempts at liking romance - even better if she really does find one she’d rate over 3 stars. Also 39:58 - sounds like she’s already working on this 😂
Oh dear. The thing with K. Webster is that she (and dark romance in general) is an acquired taste AMONG the romance community, much less to someone who hasn't been in the genre in a while. I'm so sorry you were not adequately warned. I hope your next romance venture fares better!😄
"Or if I start sobbing, I'll turn the camera on for the views." An iconic Kayla one-liner. If I didn't love books, I guarantee you I'd still be here just for you as a person/your sense of humor. I started Reckless Girls and didn't get too far into it, but I do wanna complete it, for sure, especially after your review of it. I also love that you started this video in February. The dedication is incredible, as per usual. (I also got The Hacienda as my BOTM and I'm VERY intrigued by your reaction to the first few chapters alone, honestly.)
Just a heads up since I saw it in your screenshots, Exquisite Corpse is an EXTREME horror book. It’s a splatterpunk so it’s super gross/disturbing and has every TW known to man. I remembered you saying you didn’t like splatterpunk in a previous video so I just wanted to let you know! Great video btw, I always get my book recs from TikTok so I was super excited when I saw this upload☺️
If you get into your romance era you mightttt like The Brown Sisters books. They hit a lot of your top tropes. Get a life Chloe Brown: grumpy/sunshine. Take a Hint Dani Brown: fake dating. Act your age Eve Brown: enemies to lovers. & you might like It Happened One Summer by Tessa Bailey (grumpy/sunshine) but I have a feeling you might hate that Piper is a social media star. So a different Tessa Bailey book I would recommend is Window Shopping (grumpy/sunshine) !!
i think she might like the Brown Sisters books too!! Esp how much those books deal with real world issues alongside/within the romance. But i feel like she wouldn't like Tessa Bailey because her writing & characters are v heteronormative, esp It Happened One Summer and the way in which it keeps being emphasized that Brendan is a "real man" because he doesn't shave and is hairy and gruff and doesn't really care abt his looks like 'LA men' 😖😖 i hated it happened one summer for these reasons 😅 I think she might like Beach Read and/or Book Lovers? but idk tbf
I came to the comments to see if anyone else was suggesting the Brown Sisters books! Definitely in line with the tropes, and I am only just now dipping my toe into romance books and enjoyed them A similar vibe/style and similar tropes are also in the Well Met series by Jen DeLuca - the first is enemies to lovers/forced proximity and the third is fake dating All books in both series are also super quick reads!
I just finished reading Dorian Gray for the first time and as I was reading it I was like I need to DM Kayla and tell her this is the toxic friendship book she’s looking for. 10/10 a new favorite classic for me
one day i NEED a video about your fave & least fave plot twists!! i know it would be hard to do without spoiling some books, but every time you say this book has your fave/least fave i am so intrigued to pick the book up just because I'm curious haha!
Kim Jiyoung Born 1982 is so good I think you’ll really like it! Before the Coffee Gets Cold was good and cosy but I think it was missing a little subtlety but that could be down to the translation.
When you mentioned that all the Alice Feeney's books have a main character whose name starts with an A it reminded me about a work problem I often run into. I'm a tv screenwriter in Finland and I mostly work in writers rooms. In my past projects we have always had to make a conscious effort not to name our female characters with names that start with an A because that's where our mind always goes first. So it could be that Alice Feeney has this big thing for the letter A or she could just be an author who struggles to name characters like the rest of us haha :D
That is so interesting! I was thinking maybe because her own name starts with A. But also I kind of like the irony of a thriller writer having to be incredibly creative with plot but not names 😂😂
That reminds me of the rule I heard where you can't use the same first inital more than once when naming characters. So if your main character is named, like, Amelia you can't name her love interest Alex or something else that starts with an A. I've always ignored that rule personally lol.
I was not expecting Brideshead Revisited to be in that lmao. It's my all-time favorite book but I feel like you would absolutely hate it. On one hand, it's beautifully written and one of the main inspirations for The Secret History, on the other it gets very... Catholic. BTW, if you want to continue your sad girl journey I highly recommend The Quick and the Dead by Joy Williams. I feel like you would absolutely love it.
Brideshead Revisited is one of my favourite books as well, and the miniseries was really good, too. I didn't know it was an inspiration for The Secret History, that is very interesting! Makes me want to re-read both books.
@@28bruch I love the miniseries! Probably my favorite adaptation ever produced. I read Brideshead a couple of months before THS and you can definitely feel the influence. Richard's initial attraction to the group feels a lot like Charles' fascination with Sebastian and his family, and their subsequent disillusionment with both, not to mention the obsession with aestheticism and love both novels have.
I was very much in the "I hate romance" club and only read horrors, thrillers/suspense and mysteries for years because romance books made me cringe so badly. However, since my own life is so shit currently, I've found an escape in romance books... I feel like they have changed from years ago... Emily Henry writes more relatable romance and I loved the brown sister books.
It’s so weird for me to even see Lala acknowledge Crescent City!! Lmfao! Idk why, but I just associate your BookTube with an entirely different dimension than the fantasy BookTube. Also, you’d hate C.C. So good call.
Wait…. I read Rebecca because I thought you LOVED IT! I’m having a tear in the timeline. It made me then read Mexican Gothic and others and helped me discover my love of Gothic Fiction!
Haha well I'm glad I could help you get into gothic books!! I thought it was good, but not what I was expecting genre-wise. I thought it would lean much more into the horror and spooky vibes, since I had read so many books *before* it that were solidly in the horror genre and said to be "inspired by Rebecca." Overall I probably said I would still recommend it, so I'm glad it worked out! 🤗💕
From an esthetician: pore size is generic and determines how naturally dry or oily you are (which you can balance out) you can cover up pores and unclog them but not make them smaller. That is just one of the things the industry made up for you to be self conscious of.
Oh gosh romance is sooo tricky. I know fantasy isn't your #1 genre but I always recommend Radiance by Grace Draven, it's relatively short and is actually really wholesome but still fun and angsty. And I recently read A Strange and Stubborn Endurance and it was absolutely incredible (also one that maaaay make you cry, I teared up!) and it's fairly light on the fantasy elements. I don't know how you are with historical romance but I am reading A Lady's Formula for Love and it features a bodyguard, slightly older characters, a tiny age gap, kind of a grumpy/sunshine situation, and a Scottish hero. I'm only halfway through but I am LOVING it and highly recommend the audio book. And obviously, the Veronica Speedwell series romance gets better and better with each book!
I personally did not like Before the Coffee Gets Cold due to the messaging around sacrifice that you mentioned as well (especially the last story was really awful to me). I read it translated to German, and disliked the writing style a lot, but I’m giving it the benefit of the doubt that something might have gotten scrambled there in translation. Regarding your romance era: It is kind of hilarious to me that you “started” it with a dark romance. XD
When she pulls up K. Webster book, "wtf is she thinking, she's gonna hate it." Thanks for not disappointing me lol. It's been years since I read it but remember loving it at the time. Dark Romance is not for you, I don't think you would enjoy any of it. Its definitely an acquired taste.
The fact that you rated romance tropes had me dying of laughter . And then going into your "ideal romance" you would need to explore sometime in the future had me on the floor
kayla listen I NEED you to make a video about how you organize all of these different videos and the footage from each and like - it seems so overwhelming and you seem to do it with ease. please please share your secrets!
The love hypothesis hits all those tropes you said you liked 🙈. (Fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, forced proximity, and maybe not enemies to lovers but bad first impression maybe 🤔) To be clear I’m not sure you’d like it but it hits most of the tropes 🙈
I recently read the traveling cat chronicles and SOBBED in the absolute best way. Before the coffee gets cold was wonderful but I don’t remember crying
It's cute seeing your old video screenshots. It brings back memories because I swear I found you originally because I was looking up cloth diaper videos.
I feel ya with the audiobooks. With audiobooks and mysteries, I can’t go back and reread passages that eventually make me figure out the twist way before the end😂
Omg Kayla if you’re going to give romance a shot it needs to be the unhoneymooners! It’s: enemies to lovers, fake dating, close proximity, a bit grumpy/sunshine (not true g/s but a I think it’s still a bit applicable), and set on an island! I am not much of a romance reader, but I really like that one! Especially while eating fruit or drinking a smoothie.. I just had fun with the island vibes 😂
I got the twist in whispers and the roars super early... but I actually still really liked the book. I thought the romance felt really misplaced in it honestly... like tone deaf sort of.. I almost feel like this book would have been better if it wasn't a "romance" book. but other than that, I did like the book and for some reason couldn't put it down. I personally think she did a pretty good job with the subject matter... and I really wish I could hear what someone that experiences this thinks of how she handled it.
I think you’d enjoy From Lukov with Love by Mariana Zapata which is an enemies to lovers, slow burn, sports romance. It’s also a good one for beginner romance readers.
I’m so bad at consistently commenting since I watch all my RU-vid on my tv but your vlogs always turn me around when I’m in a poor mood and seem to come at the perfect time! Loved this one too!
You mentioning Calia Read reminded me that I found your channel after you reviewed 'Unravel' about 6 years ago 🤯 I completely forgot about that book, yet my Goodreads said it was a 5 star 😂
I highly recommend Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander for the grumpy sunshine trope, also they work together so there's a bit of forced proximity. The love interest is non binary and as a trans guy I thought the way specific details of their transition were handled was awesome and something I've never seen in a book before. And as a bonus the descriptions of food and cooking were amazing.
A decolonial feminism by Françoise Vergès is so excellent! I read it for my gender course and in fact wrote one of my exam essays on it haha! highly highly recommend 🙌
Lease on Love by Falon Ballard hits 3 of your 4 top romance tropes - enemies to lovers, forced proximity, grumpy sunshine. I read it in one day. A long one that is a slow burn that also has the same 3/4 is All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata. It also includes hiking :)
ok listen Reckless Girls isn't groundbreaking and was just a 4 star for me BUT it is such a fun book and is probably the fastest i've ever read a book of that length!! so excited to read The Hacienda!
you will for sure love dorian gray 😌 I'm not going to claim it will be like a new fave but i think you will really enjoy reading about dorian and the twists are great, I feel like I can confidently say it will be at least a 4 for you
I think you might like The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas - not exactly a tearjerker, but an at-times heartwarming time travel story w interesting/unique rules and a murder mystery. I think you've just got to find your romance niche. Romance truly casts such a wide net. Based on those tropes, maybe The Romantic Agenda by Claire Kann (fake dating, close proximity(ish), grumpy/sunshine); The Charm Offensive by Alison Cochrun (fake dating (kinda), close proximity, grumpy/sunshine); Conventionally Yours by Annabeth Albert (enemies/rivals to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, close proximity (but it’s a roadtrip))
okay - I didn’t think I liked the bodyguard trope but as soon as you said it my mind went to joe & queen Clarissa for some reason?? and now I wanna watch the princess diaries 🥲
Never thought I’d see you read dark romance 😂I swear I read romances now (which still surprises me) and I laughed so hard at the part you read of whispers and roars 🤣🤣please don’t let it stop you from romances lol there are some good ones out there 🤣
Kayla, you need to read the “Stillhouse Lake” thriller series by Rachel Caine. I loved the first one and picked up the 2nd one straight away. Loving that too. There are 6 books in the series and I can’t wait to read them all (because the story telling and characters are so addictive) which is astonishing because I never read series and hate fantasy mostly because the books are mostly part of a series.
I read the first book this year and loved it. Can't wait to get to the rest. I know Lala doesn't tend to read series but she should give the first one a whirl.
There are healthy body positive makeup gurus, like Angelica Nyqvist, Heather Austin, Beautbean, Annette's Makeup Corner, Jen Phelps, Emily Noel and a bunch of others. We are beautiful with and without makeup--but makeup is just fun!
For romance I really wish you could try historical romances! Super bingeable! I’d probably say start with Tessa Dares “the duchess deal” a hilarious marriage of convenience, forced proximity, grumpy sunshine, wounded hero. She keeps calling him pet names and he hates it trope. Lol
I feel like you could totally be in your romance Era, but you keep picking up the not so great romance choices 😂 if you want a great, sarcastic, funny romance with only a couple of the "steamy" scenes...I would 100% recommend A Deal With the Devil by Elizabeth O'Roark.
I also don't read too much romance. However, I just read Chef's Kiss by TJ Alexander and WOW, that's a slow burn romance that's not just about the romance. It features bi and non-binary characters! Oh, and food! That's my rec.
"Before the coffee gets cold" really disappointed me but it was ok and i agree with you about the message on parenthood... i am going to read the other 2 books so i must of liked it a bit lol... i thought the order of the stories for that one made sense....
I was so shocked when you picked up the K Webster. I’ve read some of her books and enjoyed a few but Whispers and the Roars is terrible. The twist in it was so strange and it’s such a heavy topic but I was laughing at the whole thing because of the writing. Dark romance is definitely different. I’ve loved some dark romance but I’m very selective with it. I would say stay away from K Webster. The content only gets more depraved and has incest twists.
I read The Hacienda and loved it! I know what you mean about Before the Coffee gets Cold, it feels like each story is meant for a difference type of audience. the story I really liked was The Sisters and I also got emotional 🥹 with Husband and Wife! Great video!
A forced proximity, grumpy sunshine romance I've read recently and loved is A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske! It's also a male male romance with an interesting magic system
I LOVED THE HACIENDA! It was a 5 star read for me. I thought the prose was absolutely beautiful. An author friend/critique partner recommended it to me. I’m not a huge horror fan, and I’ve never read MEXICAN GOTHIC or REBECCA. I read it in May, I believe. That is the only book I read of the stack you read, but I’ve heard of a few of the others. BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD sounds like an incredible book and I love time travel, so I think I will check that one out. Great video! 💜
Did you ever try a slow burn romance like Mariana Zapatas? I don‘t care at all about cute rom coms or most other romances that everyone seems to like, but there are some that make me cry and laugh out loud all the time and are instant favorites.
Hi Kayla, always love your experiment videos. Saw something recently that sparked an idea for an experiment video and wantedto share. I found on Etsy (and I'm sure they are on other sites like ebay) mystery bundles of books. Maybe having mystery bundles choose your TBR. Like getting a thriller or horror collection and trying to find one or two books you think you might like or were already on your radar. Don't know thought it would be interesting. Keep up the great work.
The last book that made me ugly cry was, And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman. It's super short but super sweet and sad.
