Books

7 Romance Novels To Read Based On Your Favorite YA

by Caitlin White

Young adult books and romance novels have a lot in commons, and I don't just mean the lovey dovey. Both categories of books are often maligned as "not real" literature, whatever that means, and both have rabid fan bases. So it only makes sense for the two communities of readers to come together. To assist in the merging of fandoms, check out this list of seven romance novels to read based on your favorite YA book.

Whether you're a big-time fan of fantasy and magic, crime stories, science fiction epics, or straight up girl-meets-boy, girl-meets-girl, or boy-meets-boy stories, you can find a story to love in both young adult and romance novels. Let's just say romance novels add even more of that hummina hummina, steamy love that you need in your life sometimes.

Young adult lit fans know that questioning readers just need to give them a chance to see how much there is to love in YA, and the same is true for the romantics. By basing your first (or hey second or millionth) romance novel read on an already fave YA novel, you know you're in for something up your alley. So check out the list, find a YA book that you love (or matches one you love in plot or theme) and pick up the romance novel for you.

1. If You Love A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas...

...Read Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning

Sarah J. Maas fans know that their favorite YA author is iconic when it comes to building creative new realms, particularly the world of the fae that she creates in A Court of Thorns and Roses. If you're captivated that that dark world, you'll love Darkfever, a romance novel that follows MacKayla Lane as she tries to figure out who killed her sister and is propelled into a dangerous new world. There she meets the mysterious Jericho and V'lane, a ruthless faery who can create sex addiction in women.

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2. If You Love Written in the Stars by Aisha Saeed...

...Read Priya in Heels by Ayesha Patel

Arranged marriage and a clash of generations take center stage in both Saeed and Patel's novels. Priyanka Patel is a straight-laced, obedient daughter: She's finishing her medical residency and agreed to marry the man her traditional Indian parents have chosen for her. But, when Priya treats a hot, Irish-American musician at her hospital, she starts to question the life her family has lain out for her, and the two tumble into a sexy, forbidden romance.

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3. If You Love A Mad, Wicked Folly by Sharon Biggs Waller...

...Read The Suffragette Scandal by Courtney Milan

Holler for women's rights! A Mad, Wicked Folly and The Suffragette Scandal are both set in England during the women's suffrage movement. In Courtney Milan's novel, Miss Frederica "Free" Marshall is outspoken in her support for the women's rights movement and writes for her local paper on the issue. So when Edward Clark's aristocratic family, who once left him for dead in a war-torn land, vow to take down Free and her cause, Edward joins her team against them. Needless to say, sparks will fly.

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4. If You Love The Fifth Wave by Rick Yancey...

...Read State of Emergency by Summer Lane

End of the world narrative? Check. Earth turning into a war zone? Check. A high school student with a name that sounds like Cassie or Cassidy? Check! State of Emergency is straight up The Fifth Wave fans' alley. In Summer Lane's new adult romance novel, Cassidy is trying to survive on an Earth taken down by an electromagnetic pulse, but when she meets handsome soldier Chris, the two team up to find Cassidy's father and fall for each other.

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5. If You Love Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger...

...Read Riveted by Meljean Brook

Sure the plots may be very different, but steampunk fans are going to love both novels. Riveted is a passionate steampunk romance that's part of a series but works great as a standalone novel. David is a scientist who, after surviving and explosion, now has mechanical legs and a mechanical hand and eye. Annika is traveling the world searching for her sister, and she meets up with David as he searches for his mother's people.

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6. If You Love Catching Jordan by Miranda Kenneally

...Read I'll Catch You by Farrah Rochon

If you love YA sports stories like Catching Jordan, you need to get in on Farrah Rochon's I'll Catch You. Payton Mosely is ambitious in her new career as an NFL sports agent and she is dead set on wooing bad boy star Cedric Reeves as her first client. Spoiler: She does. But let's just say she has a little trouble keeping this relationship strictly professional.

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7. If You Love Paper Towns by John Green...

...Read Driving Her Crazy by Kira Archer

Roadtrip novels! Kira Archer's romance novel is about figuring out who you are in one life-changing roadtrip. Cher Debusshere is the black sheep of her family, so she's already in a bad mood about coming home for her sister's wedding when obstacles get in her way and she ends up having to share a rental car with a stranger. A hot stranger, but still. Mechanic Nathaniel "Oz" Oserkowski is Cher's complete opposite, but you know what they say about how opposites attract.

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Beginning on August 1, Bustle will host Romance Novel Month, a celebration and examination of the romance novel genre. But don't worry, romance readers: the coverage won't end in August. We're proud to support romance novels, and we will continue to do so all year long.

Images: Alyssa Foote/Bustle