Kiki is the type of heroine who goes on her own, independent journey to discover her fullest self, but she’s also hardened herself against the potential for romance. Why You’ll Love It: Those who follow the insightful and wickedly funny Bolu Babalola on Twitter will know that she is a self-described Romcomoisseur, so of course the anticipation for when she would finally pour her understanding of the genre into a book was already high! The result, Honey & Spice, could not be any more of a brilliant, discerning, and entirely human portrait of romance.

From grumpy meets sunshine to rom-coms and fairy tales reinterpreted to fake relationships abounding, these fabulous romance reads may actually help you beat the heat-provided you’re also taking care to drink water at the necessary intervals! July can notoriously be a hot month, and the books below aren’t necessarily the easiest way to cool down, if you catch my drift. These days, that sounds pretty subversive all on its own, doesn’t it? Even knowing the destination doesn’t make the journey any less compelling, especially when it can offer us reassurance of optimism, the strength of love, and the power of a happy ending. How many of us have retreated into the pages of either a new story or a comfort read, especially these last few months? (You can’t see it, but I’m slowly raising my hand…) Perhaps you’ve gone the audiobook route so you can listen to old favorites again and again.

In a reality that seems primed to stress us out as often as possible, the escape that fiction provides cannot be trivialized. It simply cannot be stated loudly enough that romance authors are out there doing important work.

Piggly wiggly howard