i luv luv (and representation).

For today's blog post, I wanna talk about my favorite genre: romance!

I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise given what I write, but I don't think I've ever had a space to gush about my favorite books and the inner workings of my mind when I read about two people that have been pining for each other all book finally confessing their feelings and all the tumultuous consequences of being vulnerable with a Special Someone.

I also thought it would be neat to talk about representation given that it does heavily affect the kind of books I'll reach for first. For context, I'm Filipino-American. And as of like 6ish months ago, I also found out I'm nb femme. As you can imagine, it's pretty difficult finding a book with a character that I can fully relate to, but I'm not too picky and as long as it's written well, I'll eat up any kind of romance slop.

So, why romance? Why not something else, like horror or sci-fi or insert third genre here?

To be honest, I tend to drift towards more "easier to consume" media. While it would be nice to get into a whole discussion about Burning (2018), my mind is simply much too small to glean any deeper meaning beyond surface level stuff. Romance is often times formulaic, cliche, cheesy, and yet I eat it up every time, om nom nom nom. We can all relate to that feeling of seeing that Special Someone: the way your heart races, the way your body subconsciously leans into their gravity, the way you wonder how their palm would fit against yours. GAUH I love it, it's a fun way to feel despite The Horrors.

Granted, I also use romance as a sort of… not defense mechanism, but I can't think of the right word. Safety blanket? Idk. Anyway, whenever I've been unlucky in love, I tend to gravitate towards romance media to kind of fill that void. In highschool, I got rejected by a friend I developed feelings for (She let me down gently, it sucked for a while, but we were still friends afterwards without anything awkward between us). I drowned myself in slice of life romance anime in an attempt to live vicariously through these characters where, despite everything, things just happened to turn out alright in the end. A Happily Ever After, if you will. (A lot of the names of these animes evade me now, but I do remember Nisekoi and Kaguya-sama being standouts.)

I'm about two years out of the game at this point, but still, I find myself seeking out romance. More specifically, YA coming-of-age, slice-of-life romance with Asian main characters. They're comfortable, cute, and easy to consume for my chud brain. The references to Asian culture are always nice to see, and while I have yet to find a book with a Filipino character, I can still find bits and pieces of me within these stories.

Often times, a romance book isn't just a romance book; love makes us look at ourselves in comparison to another person to see if we fit together. We'll change who we are in an effort to make the other person love us back, hiding the things we hate about ourselves and making up desirable new traits out of thin air. In a lot of media centering around Asian Americans, we often see them shun a part of their heritage so their crush doesn't see them as "The Weird Asian Kid". Fresh Off The Boat, Didi (2024), my own life; while it (hopefully) doesn't happen as much nowadays, this was the reality of being Asian American, and media that highlights these occurrences makes us feel seen and understood.

All this to say that, as I read these romance books and find pieces of myself in these characters, I'm slowly believing that I am someone capable of being loved because of who I am, rather than in spite of it. Cheesy, sure, but I like cheese.

My Favorite Romance Books

These books are ones that have heavily influenced my writing as it is now and I highly recommend them if you want something easy and cute to read. (Spoiler free btw)

Super Fake Love Song

Nerd boy meets cool girl and accidentally makes a fake rock band to impress her. How long can this lie last? Read to find out!

This is probably my favorite book of all time and is the only book I've ever reread. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. The narration is fun and has so much personality to it, the relationships between the main character and his friends and family are really well made, and I really like how it touches on identity and the ever-changing state of human beings. The book has some minor issues, but nothing that takes away from my enjoyment out of it. It's super super super super super cute.

I Hope This Doesn't Find You

OH MY FUCK, I think I need to reread this one actually. ACADEMIC ENEMIES TO LOVERS AUGHHHH what more do I even have to say about this.

It's been a little while since I read this so the details are a bit fuzzy, but FUCK I remember all the pink hearts bursting from my chest as I read it. You'll enjoy it, I swear. And if you don't, that's your problem.

Eliza, From Scratch

Academic overachiever with her entire senior year planned out finds herself in a culinary class after a scheduling mishap. For the first time in her life, the girl who has always been the best finds something she's the worst at—and the only way she can improve is by enlisting the help of the charming yet annoying Thai (hi def) boy that sits next to her.

This book was SOOOOO good, I hope the author releases another book soon, I'm just in love with her writing. The banter was fun, AND THE FIRST KISS AUAUGHHH SO FUCKING SOFT HOLY FUK i loved it. While I did love the romance, a good brunt of this book also touched on culture and grief and family and READ THIS BOOK NOWWW!!!

Honorable Mentions: There Is No Antimemetics Division and This Is How You Lose The Time War

You're probably looking at the first book and thinking "Wtf that's not a romance book." I'm here to tell you that you're Wrong.

Both of these books opened my eyes to what a romance can look like. There's love in everything if you look close enough. (i.e. the invention of rubber medical gloves) I teared up multiple times while reading through them and I hope I can one day write something that can produce a similar reaction.

0cta Hi Thoughts

The first time I took 20mg (Average dose is 10mg) and ate a Wendy’s cheeseburger ft my favorite gay boy, miguelito #happypridemonth

Anywho, that's the end of this blog post. I hope you got something out of this, enjoyment or otherwise. 읽어주셔서 감사드리구요 다음 주에도 오세용. cy@. Talk to you all next week.