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#TopTenTuesday: Best Families/Friends in Romances

Dini @ dinipandareads36 Comments

We’re back with another Top Ten Tuesday, a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s prompt is: Genre Freebie (pick a genre and build a list around it! i.e., best/worst romances, non-fiction for travelers, memoirs for foodies, classics that feel timeless, romance novel kisses, science fiction that feels too real for comfort, women’s fiction for newbies, etc.)

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’ve been on a romance/romcom reading streak lately. I’ve tried picking up countless SFF books that I’ve been excited to read but intricate world building, science speak, and made-up/new languages do not seem to be the thing for my weary and anxious mind right now. But romances/romcoms have been a solid winner and they’ve brought much joy into my life!

I’ve come to realise that one of the reasons I love romance is because of the family/friend characters in the stories; not all of them have it but the ones that do are a shoe-in for favourites! I am a total sucker for great banter between siblings and groups of friends. They’re the kind of interactions that worm their way into my heart and make me feel happy and light–not to mention they’re usually the ones that have me “awwing” and cackling like crazy! So today I’ll be sharing a list of romances that have great families/friends and that you should definitely check out if you’re looking for something light-hearted, funny and maybe just a smidge sexy! 😉

I can’t speak for the series because I’ve only read the first book of the Bromance Book Club but I loved the book club guys! Their banter was hilarious and I loved how seriously they took the club and their mission to better themselves through reading romance. I think if the bromance wasn’t so good, I might have loved this book a lot less because some characters were too frustrating!

Only When It’s Us is an eARC I read recently and it was fabulous! We don’t learn much about all the family members, but we do learn about one brother in particular. We also spend more time with the Bergman parents and they’re so sweet and adorable! The family banter really had me cracking up–it was so on point! I can’t wait to learn more about them all 🙂

I absolutely loved The Bride Test for its main characters but the one who won me over big time was Quan! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love him and how badly I need his story! He’s so supporting and understanding. I have a feeling his book is gonna be amazing (at least I hope)!

I devoured the Texting Series when I picked it up earlier this year. They were fun, fast and hilarious reads but what I loved most were the friendships. There are some great moments between our leading ladies who are all friends, not to mention that the bromance between Zach and Robbie is just… ugh, *chefs kiss* PER-FEC-TION! I love these friends so much!

The friendships in The Dugout were so heartwarming and hilarious! Milly’s friendship with her two besties was so sweet and funny! But the guys from the team had them beat! The banter between teammates in this book is probably one of my favourite out of all the sports romances I’ve read. Seriously, I had a perpetual grin on my face whenever they appeared–it was that good!

The Getting Lucky Series features one of my fave families in romance. The Knightley brothers are amazing but their parents and sister are wonderful too! I’m pretty sure it’s this series that made me fall in love with romances about brothers. Trust me, this one is full of feel good moments and hilarious family banter, including a group sibling chat that is just TOO GOOD! Not to mention that they live in this incredibly quaint/adorable seaside town that I’m pretty sure I want to live in forever?!

I didn’t end up loving Red, White and Royal Blue as much as I’d hoped (because I’m the devil) as Alex just frustrated me a lottle bit. But I can’t deny that Alex’s family/friends and Henry’s sister and BFF were incredibly fun characters! They’re the kind of people you know you’d wanna be friends with as soon as you see them because they’re the life of the party but they’ll also always have your back!

We all know how much I loved The Simple Wild. It is one of my favourite romances and while that has a lot to do with Calla and Jonah, it also has a lot to do with the healing family dynamics and the Alaska friends. Simon was an amazing step-dad and the scenes with Wren really broke my heart in the best way. This is such an incredible read. You should definitely pick it up if you want to feel all the feels!

The Loveless Brothers Series is another brothers romance series and it’s honestly the brotherly banter and family dynamics that 100% has kept me reading this series. The romance is steamy and there is always plenty of chemistry between our MCs, but the brothers ribbing each other is perfection and has me constantly giggling like a school girl. It’s a fun, easy to read series full of good feels 🙂

Okay, I’m going to cheat a little bit with Check, Please because it’s not really classified as “romance” but I definitely think it counts as “LGBTQ+ sports romance”. Yes it’s mostly about hockey but there’s a pretty big romance storyline too. I just discovered this comic the other day (the whole thing is available for free online!) but I’ve already caught up with the whole thing and can’t wait to see how it ends. This has the best and most hilarious friendships, the sweetest romance and the most southern cinnamon roll marshmallow MC who is extremely loveable. You won’t regret picking it up!

Do fun-loving families and hilarious friends make you love a romance even more or is it just me? Have you read any of these?

36 thoughts on “#TopTenTuesday: Best Families/Friends in Romances”

  4. I have The Bromance Book Club and The Bride Test on my tbr cart waiting to be read, and I FINALLY picked up The Simple Wild on ebook, so I can’t wait to get to that one, too. I’m so happy you loved all of them. Great choice this week! ❤

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    • Yeah, that’s absolutely true too! I love all kinds of books with great family/friend dynamics! It always adds so much more to the story ❤ I think I might especially love this dynamic in romances though 😂

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  7. I just finished the Texting series and I had so much fun reading it! I might be a little bit obsessed with this type of romance (penpals, texting/online romances) lately, I blame Dear Aaron (don’t know if you read it).
    Anyway, I’ve got a few of these books on my TBR but the Loveless Brothers series wasn’t on my radar… Maybe I should check it. 🙂
    Great post, Dini!

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  9. DINI YOU GENIUS!!! I’ve been looking for an author whose surname begins with Q to read and HELLO MEGHAN QUINN! Which one is the best do you think…. I mean I’ll probably ignore this advice and go for whatever is cheapest on kindle because *priorities* Oh Dini I bought so many kindle books today already because I was feeling the pandemic blues! BUT I NEED ME MY ROMANCES RIGHT NOW 🙈😂 Love the ttt Dini, it is perfectly you 🥰💚💕

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    • BUY MEGHAN QUINN!! Haha she makes TWO appearances in my romance list with awesome family banter. I would go for the Getting Lucky series if you’re still looking for more romances (even though you comments five days ago and I’m just now getting back to responding. Soz! Haha)!

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  12. Weirdly enough, I adored Red White and Blue, and as fun as the Bromance Club was, i found some of the characterisation a little bit of a miss for me. I laughed out loud so many times though! The guys were just too funny! (And I hear you, some fun, light reading is a a great antidote to reality)

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    • I know a lot of people loved RW&RB and I have a very unpopular opinion 🤣 I just found Alex’s character not as loveable as I’d hoped and I found myself often getting irritated with him haha BUT that’s not saying that I didn’t still enjoy it! I do agree some characters in Bromance were meh (especially LIV!) but the guys were so awesome they 100% made up for it 😍 Haha

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    • Omg YAY, Tanya! I love the Getting Lucky series and I am SO excited for the last book. Needed it yesterday, thanks 🤣 I really hope you love the Knightly brothers and family and town as much as I do! ❤ Happy reading!

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  14. Yes, I love romance for the family and friend stuff too! I feel like family is certainly something fantasy genre can work on. 🙂 Great list, I’ve read several of these, will have to check out some of the others–always on the lookout for new romances!

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