Maybe it's because I'm an Aquarius, or maybe it's because I ate crayons as a kid. But people who know me well can confirm that I'm an oddball who has never fit neatly into boxes or been easy to categorize. Perhaps that’s why I've always enjoyed reading books that defy rules, break barriers, and cross genres. As an author, while I love grounding my books in reality for maximum authenticity, my stories definitely color outside the lines (see earlier crayon reference). I love reading and writing about the unconventional and the unexpected. If you're looking for romances that will take you off the beaten path, this list is for you.
Take a Hint, Dani Brown features characters so unique in their complexity that they immediately felt like real people to me. They are so multi-faceted that I find it impossible to describe them in all of their glorious fullness here. However, I can say that I particularly related to Dani's coexisting commitments to intellectual rigor and personalized spirituality, and to Zaf's internal wrestling matches between fear and courage, as a hopeless romantic with anxiety issues. Having a curvy, bisexual heroine also places this book "off the beaten path" for the romance genre. Throughout, this wonderfully realistic romantic comedy had me alternately laughing out loud and sighing at the deeply satisfying love story.
'Talia Hibbert is a rockstar! Her writing is smart, funny, and sexy' Meg Cabot
'The author's charm and wit sings off the page in this delightful fake-romance fare' Bolu Babalola, bestselling author of Love in Colour
USA Today bestselling author Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him 'rescuing' her from their office building goes viral - perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory and Helen Hoang!
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown and an occasional roll in the…
Nowhere have I seen Cold Magic categorized as a romance, but as a reader, my experience of the book (and the rest of the trilogy) was definitely centered around the epic love story. But that's what places this book in the "off the beaten path" category for me – it could sit on several different sections in a bookstore or library: science fiction, fantasy, Steampunk, mystery, action/adventure, romance, or all of the above! Books like this are a gourmet feast for the imagination, particularly when they're handled by a masterful writer and builder of worlds like Kate Elliott. If you love discovering new series that will delight and surprise you while entertaining all the different parts of your brain, you will love The Spiritwalker Trilogy.
From one of the genre's finest writers comes a bold new epic fantasy in which science and magic are locked in a deadly struggle.
It is the dawn of a new age. . . The Industrial Revolution has begun, factories are springing up across the country, and new technologies are transforming in the cities. But the old ways do not die easy.
Cat and Bee are part of this revolution. Young women at college, learning of the science that will shape their future and ignorant of the magics that rule their families. But all of that will change when the…
Lena thinks she knows her future: in her small village, nothing much has changed for two hundred years. Women farm and fish, plant and harvest: a cooperative, productive, peaceful life. Until the day a soldier rides in, to ask the unthinkable of the women: learn to fight. Invasion is imminent,…
In a genre where "happily ever after" so often means marriage and children, it is definitely unconventional to start a romance novel with themes of relationships ending and infertility. (I feel safely in non-spoiler territory, here, since these themes are introduced in the first two pages.) It's an intense start to a deeply emotional and richly layered contemporary romance set against the glitz and grit of the Las Vegas strip. This is my favorite kind of romance, in which two wonderful but wounded souls redeem and heal each other by courageously embracing the deep power of love. Add in Rosanna Leo's smooth, masterful writing and perfectly timed razor-sharp wit, and you have an incredible read ahead of you!
Alex just acquired Sin City’s hottest casino hotel, and he’s determined to make Vice the ultimate pleasure palace—along with the mind-blowing new club, Covet. But behind the successful entrepreneur façade, Alex struggles with a past that continues to haunt him, day in and day out. After a surprise hookup with a beautiful stranger, he thinks he’s found the perfect distraction…until she walks out, leaving him with an unfamiliar ache which the pulse-pounding nights of excess at Covet can’t soothe. When their paths cross once again, Alex realizes Dana is so much more than a mere distraction. He wants her—all of…
Glimpses of Wilderness is an absolutely enchanting example of the YA reincarnation/time travel romance genre – wait, there is no such genre, you say? Well, that's why I consider this romance "off the beaten path." It is truly a unique gem that transports you to a spellbinding world with a gripping plot and a beautiful, world-stopping love story. This romance has one hand on the ground and the other reaching out to touch the mysteries of the universe. I'm not usually a reader of young adult fiction, but for Lee Ann Ward's incredible writing, I'll make an exception.
No nightmares about my dad’s car crashing or my sister’s tiny face vanishing in a window of red. No, not anymore. Now when I sleep I fall into an expanse of frozen wilderness, the other life I’ve lived… The one I’ve lived with him. Anna experiences vivid dreams from a past-life she lived in the 1800s with her husband Robert and their children in the wilderness of the Michigan Territory. Much like her own mother grieving the man and child she lost, Anna can’t simply let go of the memories that haunt her. But when she runs into Robert in…
Crushed under writer’s block and a looming deadline, Mack escapes from New York to Seattle. She meets Charlie, a beautiful, generous, nearly bankrupt coffee shop owner recovering from heartbreak. For the first time, Mack has a muse. And then Mack starts using Charlie’s private stories in her novel…
Since Outlander was originally published in 1991 and now is the basis for a hit TV series, you may already be well-acquainted with this book. However, since I had no idea it existed until a couple of years ago, I'm going to recommend it here to anyone who has not yet discovered Diana Gabaldon's historical time-travel romance saga. Another book that would be equally at home in the general fiction, fantasy, or romance sections, Outlander draws us into the world of Claire, a 1940s combat nurse, as she is catapulted into Scotland 200 years earlier. Gabaldon is a master of every aspect of writing – quite a lot of mastery for a book this complex and multi-layered. A read that is 100% worth the hype, this is a true "Do Not Miss!"
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The first book in Diana Gabaldon’s acclaimed Outlander saga, the basis for the Starz original series.
One of the top ten best-loved novels in America, as seen on PBS’s The Great American Read!
Unrivaled storytelling. Unforgettable characters. Rich historical detail. These are the hallmarks of Diana Gabaldon’s work. Her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels have earned the praise of critics and captured the hearts of millions of fans. Here is the story that started it all, introducing two remarkable characters, Claire Beauchamp Randall and Jamie Fraser, in a spellbinding novel of passion and…
Psychotherapist Neve Keane knew that returning to work after being stabbed by a patient would be difficult. But entering her unit only to be surrounded by a crowd of people claiming they need her help to stop the apocalypse—that’s more than she bargained for.
When the crowd’s leader turns out to be a mutual patient of Neve and her best friend, streetwise Irish doctor Cornelius O’Brien, they are pulled into a deadly Byzantine plot. As they race to unravel the threads of a sinister conspiracy that leads from their hospital all the way to the White House, Neve and Cornelius realize they might be fighting to stop the end of the world, after all—provided they can survive the week with targets on their backs.
The Festival of Sin is a three-story light sci-fi arc about a young boy rescued in 6000 BCE and taken to the home planet of the Hudra. Parts two and three are exploratory excursions. It's a fish-out-of-water series. More than fish-out-of-water. Fish-on-another-planet.
Avery Mann, a retired pharmaceuticals executive, is in crisis.
His wife dies of cancer, his son’s marriage is on the rocks, his grandson is having a meltdown, and his good friend is a victim of the robocalls scandal that invades the Canadian federal election. Throw in a reckless fling with…
