Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

Share and discuss book ideas for
Task 10: Read a romance book that doesn’t have an illustrated cover.

What does this mean? A blank cover with title only? A photograph type cover?

Karen wrote: "What does this mean? A blank cover with title only? A photograph type cover?" I would and am interpreting as either option

from the three teaser recommendations Book Riot sent out, this seems like it's meant to be a cover with photo-realistic people (or no people) on it, rather than the cutesy cartoony, obviously drawn people. The three suggestions they listed were:

A Love Song for Ricki Wilde by Tia Williams
An Island Princess Starts a Scandal by Adriana Herrera (hardcover)
The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan

All of these have people on them, but they look more like photographs or real people than drawings.

I love romance and I really don't care for illustrated covers, so I'm excited to see any suggestions people have for this one. I currently have A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adriana Herrera and It Takes a Rake by Anna Bennett checked out of the library and definitely won't get to either before 2024 is out, so both are definite contenders. I also have The Marquis Who Mustn't by Courtney Milan, Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin, and Rebel by Beverly Jenkins all ready to read as soon as I'm ready.

Taking the idea from someone’s posted Plans, I am going to choose a Jane Austen. Either a reread of Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park. There are editions with plain covers and it’s Austen’s 250th Birthday.

Cat Sebastian's Seducing the Sedgwicks series (starting with It Takes Two to Tumble) has non-illustrated covers. Another favorite is A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall.

I’m reading Sarah MacLean. She’s a pioneer in the romance genre, and there’s a new book in her Hell’s Belles series coming out in April 2025.

Which Jane Austen to re-read? Depends on my mood.

Or I'll read
The Duke and I

since I'm interested in Bridgerton after the Netflix series

I don't read many romances, so I'm looking for recommendations. I'm considering Slow Dance or A Love Song for Ricki Wilde.

I'm reading Twisted Love.

I recently finished "A Sweet Sting of Salt" by
Rose Sutherland (I cannot directly link from the app so here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...). It is not a romance-romance story, but the romance aspect is quite important. The setting is beautiful, there is a hint of magic, and it is sapphic. Cover is a photo!

Does "The Last Tale of the Flower Bride" count? I can't tell if its illustrated.

Here's some I've read recently with real people on the cover:


On my TBR:

I'm going to read Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown which is listed in the GoodReads listopia "Non-spicy romance".

I thought I would read Evelina by Frances Burney. My edition is a download from Gutenburg and it has a plain cover.

The only book that I can think of, is Beloved by Toni Morrison

I went into an Indie bookstore that specializes in Romance and I scanned the shelves for a book that didn't have an illustrated cover. I came up with a "Romance Adjacent" book (their phrase) Maybe in Another Life and it is also a double-dipper with Task 12. Read a staff pick from an indie bookstore because it was also marked as a staff pick! The edition I picked out in the store is not illustrated, but I know other editions are.

Eleonora wrote: "I recently finished "A Sweet Sting of Salt" by
Rose Sutherland (I cannot directly link from the app so here it is: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...). It is not a..."



Oh, this looks gorgeous. Thanks for the rec! I'm not a big romance reader so this sounds more up my alley.

I occasionally read romance, but never thought about the difference between cover types! I have several that are illustrated, so I looked and found The Art of Starting Over

I remember old romance book covers from the '70's(?) or '80's(?) that had photographs instead of illustrations, even though I don't read romance much anymore. The YA book The Popularity Plan is one example I found, and though it looks like cheesy, comedy gold, I may instead double-dip Forever... by Judy Blume as a childhood re-read.

There are three contemporary authors that friends have recommended to me who I know have photographs of couples on a lot of their covers: Beverly Jenkins, Alyssa Cole, and Courtney Milan. I haven't read any of their works yet, so I can't vouch for a specific title, but they all are rather prolific and have a lot to choose from.

I read The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley. It's a time travel romance. Good story, but too long, in my opinion.

Would Romantic Comedy work here? I'm not sure what counts as illustrated, but the copy I saw in real life was a photograph. Is it properly a romance?

Gail W wrote: "I'm going to read Nineteen Steps by Millie Bobby Brown which is listed in the GoodReads listopia "Non-spicy romance".
"

It's going to take a moment for me to wrap my brain around the idea that the kid from Stranger Things wrote a novel :-O

I ended up reading Lola & the Millionaires: Part One for this one. Very good if you like RH and spice/steam. I'm not familiar with omegaverse but this one IS really good.

Ooooh, ROMANTIC COMEDY! I have that on Mount TBR. I don’t normally read romances except for this challenge every year and there are TWO on it this year, so ROMANTIC COMEDY it is! Thanks for the great suggestion.

I read One Wonderful Night A Romance of New York, which I had on my Kindle and has a blank cover. It did have rather more car chases than I'm used to in a romance novel, but it does call itself a romance! It is rather dated now, but quite fun.

I don't knw what you man but i hve read a nice romance [book:Hunting Adeline|59050133|

For anyone still struggling to find a book for this task, I'm at the store right now and we can totally rely on the OG romance publisher: Harlequin, lol. They're still using photographic covers.

Elizabeth wrote: "I love romance and I really don't care for illustrated covers, so I'm excited to see any suggestions people have for this one. I currently have A Caribbean Heiress in Paris by Adria..."

I ended up reading one of the ones I own for this, Rebel by Beverly Jenkins, which I absolutely loved. I've never been let down by a Beverly Jenkins novel, so this was probably a safe choice, but absolutely no regrets, would recommend.

I am still deciding on my title for this one, but an option for fans of the show “Bridgerton”: you could read an edition of a Bridgerton novel with a still of the actors on the cover.

Rebecca wrote: "I don't read many romances, so I'm looking for recommendations. I'm considering Slow Dance or A Love Song for Ricki Wilde."

I ended up reading A Love Song for Ricki Wilde. I enjoyed it! It was interesting to read about the Harlem Renaissance.

I read .The cover doesn't look illustrated & this is the closest I will come.

Finally decided on In Search of a Prince for this prompt. The sequel To Win a Prince would also work.

Does Wellness by Nathan Hill meet the test for this prompt or no?

I read Moonstruck by Onley James