Guest post written by The Odds of Getting Even author Amanda Sellet
Amanda Sellet is a former journalist and the author of romcoms for teens and adults, including By the Book, which Booklist described in a starred review as, “impossible to read without laughing out loud.” She loves old movies, baked goods, and embarrassing her teen daughter.
About The Odds of Getting Even: A fling with a mysterious stranger leads to a rollicking adventure in the wilds of South Dakota in this madcap and romantic follow-up to Amanda Sellet’s Hate to Fake it to You.
For those of us who consume large quantities of our favorite treat—be it chocolate chip cookies or romantic comedies—any variation on the traditional recipe teases the palate with a pleasant sense of ooh, this is new! Whether it’s salted caramel and wasabi peas in the cookie dough or a dash of espionage in a rom-com, it’s refreshing to see people take risks with a familiar form.
As someone who has been hoovering up romantic comedies since the era of Bridget Jones, I am loving the genre blends we’re being served right now. Here are a few of my favorite twists on the theme. Feel free to make up your own tongue-twisting portmanteau nicknames.
The Mystery Rom-Com
A lot of cozy mysteries have a romantic subplot, so it’s not surprising that so many romance authors are taking their flare for banter and tension into the amateur detective space. Some of my favorites in this vein are Moorewood Family Rules by HelenKay Dimon; It’s Elementary by Elise Bryant; She Doesn’t Have a Clue by Jenny Elder Moke; The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year by Ally Carter; and One Death at a Time by Abbi Waxman.
The Paranormal Rom-Com
If you like your vampires, shifters, and witches on the lighter side, you’re in luck. Magical creatures and speculative twists are back in a big way. If that sounds like your jam, a few titles I have particularly enjoyed are The Folklore of Forever by Sarah Hogle (witches!); Do Your Worst by Rosie Danan (curses and magic!); My Vampire Plus-One by Jenna Levine (self-explanatory!); This Spells Love by Kate Robb (alternate lives!); and Love and Other Paradoxes by Catriona Silvey (time travel!).
The Adventure Rom-Com
Do you remember where you were the first time you saw the trailer for The Lost City? If I could bottle that sense of hope and possibility, I wouldn’t need so much refined sugar. For fans of treasure hunts, spy stuff, international travel, and mysterious strangers, I suggest checking out some of these gems: To Have and to Heist by Sara Desai; Something Wilder by Christina Lauren; The Jewel of the Isle by Kerry Rea; The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter; and Errands & Espionage by Sam Tschida.
The Historical Rom-Com
Yes, these have been around since the era of Jane Austen, and you’d be hard-pressed to find funnier writers than Loretta Chase and Julie Anne Long in any genre, but I’m thinking here of the subset of historicals that are written with a bit of a wink, and don’t mind mixing a modern sensibility (and sense of humor) with their cravats and crinolines. A few I have enjoyed lately are The Trouble with Anna by Rachel Griffiths; Alexandra Vasti’s Halifax Hellion novellas; Alexis Hall’s historicals; and India Holton’s utterly unique paranormal historical capers.
The Crossover Rom-Com
Sometimes I get the feeling a marketing department flipped a coin while deciding how to package a book. Heads we give it a rom-com cover, tails it’s litfic. (Some might refer to “upmarket” or “women’s fiction” here, but I would be lying if I said I had any idea what those terms really mean.) In my personal filing system, these books have two distinct qualities: a thread of thematic seriousness underneath the comedy, and elevated writing that makes me sit back and think more of this, please!, particularly at the sentence level. For specific examples, I highly recommend One on One by Jamie Harrow; I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue; Love in the Time of Serial Killers by Alicia Thompson; Casket Case by Lauren Evans; and The Predictable Heartbreaks of Imogen Finch by Jacqueline Firkins.
The Western Rom-Com
Confession time: I have not read the big hits you all love, due to diving more deeply into the sub-categories mentioned above for reasons of research and whim, but I adore Amy Barry’s historical western romps and was thrilled to see that a third installment is arriving this summer. Pick up Kit McBride Gets a Wife and Marrying Off Morgan McBride now so you can dive straight into Seven Brides for Beau McBride when it hits the shelves. If you prefer a Western-ish fantasy with dragons and demigods, the month of July also blesses us with a new book from Megan Bannen. The Undercutting of Rosie and Adam is an epic romantic adventure that also manages to be warm, human, and very funny.
The Full-on Farce
For a while there, every book with an illustrated cover (which is to say “most of them”) was described as a rom-com, regardless of the author’s intent in writing the story. Maybe you set out to explore economic inequality, inter-generational trauma, chronic illness, grief, war, and the history of tin mining, but there was also a romance and one time someone cracked a joke, so definitely a rom-com! Because the term itself no longer guarantees the presence of comedic content, it’s delightful to discover stories with absurdity steeped into their very bones. I’m talking about the ones that go all in on silliness, with preposterous situations and behavior that tosses realism out the window like a rotting banana peel. There may be pointed subtext and moments of genuine emotion, but the surface vibes—tone and attitude and plot—make no pretense of seriousness. A few recent and long-time faves include Just Like Magic by Sarah Hogle; Siri, Who Am I? by Sam Tschida; the movie Clue; Wild Life by Opal Wei; A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales; Cold Comfort Farm; the Stephanie Plum mysteries by Janet Evanovich; most of Sophie Kinsella’s bibliography; and Bridget Jones’s Diary.
This is also how I would categorize my books, including both Hate to Fake it To You and The Odds of Getting Even. The latter is a deliberately over-the-top tale with a pinch of Western, some adventure, and a romance that does not shy away from the ridiculous. Warning: those who assume the aim is a documentary-style recreation of the mundane realities of life are going to be confused! So be aware going in that comedic exaggeration is the point and enjoy the ride. If you love to laugh and have never struggled to identify irony in the wild, this just might be a flavor that appeals to your taste buds.
