A Story Just Like the Books

Arts & Culture
Written By Sawsan Adel

Have you ever read a book and had to put it down to calm your nerves as your face turned cherry red, blushing and giggling over a scene? But not just any scene—a scene where the enemies finally turned into lovers and the lead characters finally gave up hiding their emotions after pages and pages of pushing and pulling away from one another. Have you ever wondered whether life will treat you to something similar? A story to call your own and a tale that has finally been born into your reality instead of one you read and fangirl about in books? If so, then you’re not alone. As a community of romance readers is building, we can proudly say that we might as well prefer fictional men in books over those in reality. Why, you might ask? Solely because they check all the boxes of what love is and should be.

A Romantic Getaway

Reading other people’s stories is soothing and relaxing. It’s one of the many ways we escape into the world of romance and love, feeling every emotion through the words written by an author who understood what readers want and delivered it in the best way possible. When love is the emotional sensation of being adored and appreciated, escapism is the distraction needed when the real world feels heavy and unbearable. This is also known as book therapy: the feeling of leaving the world you’re in behind and diving deep into another universe through the pages—a world that is nothing like your reality. Some might call it being delusional and unhinged, but it’s an emotional getaway and a psychological experience of feeling happy and soothed by the guaranteed happy ending of a life you’re yearning to be part of.

Book Boyfriends

Everyone is familiar with the term book boyfriend and the nostalgia that inhabits one’s soul when an emotional attachment formed through the pages comes to an end. As readers are greeted with the grand finale of the plot and the two words that signal its conclusion—“The End”—we know that it’s time to say goodbye to the characters who healed us, body and soul, as much as their stories broke something in us. From the gentle lovers who took time admitting their love to the possessive ones who would burn the world, if they had to, for their beloved, they all made us daydream and smile at an empty wall as we highlighted every quote and passage that screamed love and devotion.

Let the Emotions Speak

From an emotional perspective, book boyfriends and fictional men are not merely the heroes we once crushed on in our teenage years—the symbols of innocent, young love. No, they are more than that. Fictional men in books are the sentimental fulfillment of what we demand in our adult lives: maturity, possessiveness, gentle attachment, and, most importantly, an equal share of the love and contentment that we all demand and yearn for nowadays.

Men Written by Women

Despite the variety of options within this theme and its plots of endless romance, readers tend to lean toward fictional men written by women. Men written by women are the best option for a romantic escape; they embody everything women want from love and demand from their partners. In other words, they act as guidebooks for men to learn from. As BookTok creator @FreyaValerio stated in an interview with Elle magazine, “When a woman writes a man, there is no doubt they will be better in fiction than in real life.”

It’s More Than Romance

All romance readers agree that picking up a romance book or having a stack of them in their basket is always met with judgmental eyes from readers who are more interested in nonfiction and biographies. And that is where the misconception begins. Romance books are more than what the word suggests. Using your imagination might lead you toward the physical aspects of this genre, but when you dissect each theme within a plot, you will find a lot more. Romance authors nowadays inject social issues and topics that matter to society into their love stories, from mental health, social justice, and equality to climate change, abuse, and other darker themes that inhabit our world.

But Will It Ever Be Me?

From Carter Beckett to Archer Chadwick, Tiernan Callaghan, Jameson Miles, and more, each of these characters has hidden traits and a distinct personality. But when it comes to their romantic lives and emotions, they continue to make us readers wonder if it will ever be us between those pages one day. Will we have a tale so special and emotionally powerful that it brings everyone to tears whenever the story is repeated over dinner, sending chills through those who were part of it from the beginning, all while the little ones laugh and giggle at how cringeworthy it is? Despite it all, it would be ours to live and laugh over.

The thought of it might seem far away, but a human’s imagination is created based on what we see and experience on a daily basis. So, if your romantic life is based on what happens between the pages and blushing over characters who finally made it through, keep going—because one day, their stories will be yours to tell. Under no circumstances should you label yourself a hopeless romantic, for life is full of surprises, and you never know when it will be your turn to be the main character. Your story might not be as good as Carter and Olivia’s from Consider Me, Tiernan Callaghan and Lila Ferrante’s from Bad Bishop, or Jameson Miles and Emily Foster’s from The Stopover. But it will surpass theirs, and you will have something to call your own: a story just like the books.

Recommendations for You

Romance books are divided into multiple categories, and each has a trope and theme of its own. Some readers lean toward soft, contemporary romance, others love its darker side, and some enjoy the athletic side of the genre. Regardless of your preference, here’s a short list to get the next few months going with new books and plots to dive into.

Sawsan Adel
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