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Romance novels that focus on character-driven romance, where the relationship takes a while to develop. These books can be real steamy, but not of the insta-lust variety. I'm talkin' real character and relationship development throughout the course of the story that builds and builds and builds. Contemporary and historical books welcomed!
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1,895 books · 3,366 voters · list created March 14th, 2016 by Molly (votes) .
488 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Molly 2008 books
234 friends
Vicky 3496 books
2217 friends
Sali 2228 books
262 friends
Siri 895 books
2 friends
Lina 2888 books
3 friends
Susan 1695 books
1 friend
Duffette 3750 books
79 friends
Dominique 847 books
12 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-8 of 8 (8 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Molly (new)

Molly Thanks to whoever recommended Broken Heart Syndrome! It was GREAT!


message 2: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Jan 10, 2017 01:35AM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Molly wrote: "Thanks to whoever recommended Broken Heart Syndrome! It was GREAT!"

I had a similar experience with Checkmate. Had never heard of the book and didn't know the first thing about it when I started reading it, but it was great. I had such a good laugh, as it turned out to be romance mixed with a solid and healthy dose of humor :-)


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check.


message 4: by Thanya Maziel (last edited Jan 13, 2020 12:13PM) (new)

Thanya Maziel Booklovinglady wrote: "Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check."


Could you please also remove blossom in winter? It's not fair that so many lists are showing this book in the top spots when the voters are certainly campaigning for it. There are lists that remove giveaway votes and spam.


BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) @Thanya Maziel
The creator of this list is also a GR librarian, so I think you should ask her, as it is her list.


Parvati Patil Thanya Maziel wrote: "Booklovinglady wrote: "Mjspice wrote: "Why is Pestilence here twice?"

Should be solved now, as I had the system perform a duplicate check."

Could you please also remove blossom in winter? It's no..."


I second that.


message 7: by Cute (new)

Cute Bookworm interesting list here! slow burn is something where there is lots of angst, emotions are lined up yet unclear - there is a constant turmoil / tug-of-war with a lot of steam/sensuality - but - but - not the word salad bang-bang - rich and high quality writing is what generally leads to slow burn - definitely my favorite genre <3

one am totally digging right now is sophista by amayra <3 <3


message 8: by Arden (new)


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Good news, romance readers. The new year is about to get spicy!   Or steamy. Could be steamy. Actually, insert your own wink-nudge euphemism...

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