I’ve passed by Leah Konen’s The Romantics, a few times at the library, but I finally decided to buy it several weeks ago. The cover definitely caught my attention. It was cute and described the story as a rom-com about love told by Love. I think Love narrating a story is very unique and quite fitting for a rom-com.

But what I really liked about this book was how self-aware it was about rom-coms while still giving the readers the parts of genre we know and love like a meet-cute, an adorable setting, and quirky characters just to name a few.

The Romantics follows high school senior, Gael, who’s view of love is shattered after he catches his girlfriend kissing his best friend and while dealing with his parents’ divorce. But we don’t have to worry about Gael, because our trusty (and meddlesome) narrator Love is here to help guide him in the right direction to the right girl at the end.

One interesting part of having Love tell the story is the labels he places on the characters that describe how they view love and how they act in relationships. For example, Gael is a romantic, someone who is really into being in love and openly expresses their affection for someone.  The girl he starts seeing after the breakup, Cara, is a serial monogamist. She is someone who feels the need to always be in a relationship. It just made me wonder which label would be most fitting for me?

I also like that the characters are not all in high school and the story doesn’t just focus on high school relationships. Cara and Sammy, the babysitter for Gael’s little sister, are both in college. I just feel like you really have to hunt for YA books that have college characters in them. The story also goes into detail about Gael’s parents’ relationship and what led to their divorce.

So if you want to read something that veers off the path of the typical YA romance (but not too much—we need some hope in this world), then go ahead and give this one a try.