Books'n'Bytes

Gift Guide

Gift Ideas for the Romance Reader

Six romance novels you can gift confidently. Rita Mae Brown when they want comic Virginia, Elizabeth Adler when they want Paris in winter, Warren Adler when they want morally complicated, Janet Evanovich pre-Plum when they want forced proximity on a sailboat.

6 books on this list.

  1. Rubyfruit Jungle
    Rubyfruit Jungle

    by Rita Mae Brown

    Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown 1973 review. The landmark coming-of-age novel about Molly Bolt, a smart, queer Florida kid who refuses every social script she is handed.

  2. Venus Envy
    Venus Envy

    by Rita Mae Brown

    Venus Envy by Rita Mae Brown 1993 review. A Virginia gallery owner mistakenly told she has weeks to live writes the truth to every important person in her life. Then she does not die.

  3. The Last Time I Saw Paris
    The Last Time I Saw Paris

    by Elizabeth Adler

    The Last Time I Saw Paris by Elizabeth Adler 2001 review. A widow inherits a Paris apartment, a chateau, and a daughter she did not know about in this gentle expat romance.

  4. Mourning Glory
    Mourning Glory

    by Warren Adler

    Mourning Glory by Warren Adler 1996 review. A broke single mother in Palm Beach starts trolling funerals for wealthy grieving widowers. Then she actually falls for one.

  5. Love Overboard
    Love Overboard

    by Janet Evanovich

    Love Overboard by Janet Evanovich review. A 1989 contemporary romance about a Vermont woodworker booked onto a schooner cruise with a captain who is not what she expected.

  6. Alma Mater
    Alma Mater

    by Rita Mae Brown

    Alma Mater by Rita Mae Brown 2001 review. A coming-of-age novel set at a small Virginia women’s college about a senior who falls in love with her best friend during her last spring semester.

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