As the celebrations for International Women’s Day commenced on March 8, I want to further commemorate the holiday by highlighting some of my favorite female authors. With help from TikTok giving a platform for women to share their favorite book recommendations, my love for reading has recently been reignited.
It is a common stereotype for romance or rom-com to be portrayed as female-dominated genres. This fact used to embarrass me, as if liking something popular or feminine diminished my worth as a person. As if it made me mainstream as if being basic was the worst insult imaginable. However, being surrounded by women on social media who unapologetically consume romance books has allowed me to reclaim my love of reading for entertainment, rather than academic purposes.
One of my new favorite authors is Colleen Hoover, a young adult and romance author who has recently gained popularity online in impressive strides. Her novels are intense and shocking, immersing the reader in real tragedies that force them to evaluate the image of love that is so commonly perpetrated in romance. One of the first books I read of hers was It Ends With Us, which is a heartbreaking narrative of a woman who finds love and loses it. Its success caught the attention of actor and filmmaker Justin Baldoni who picked it up for adaptation. Hoover is also currently in the process of writing a sequel to the novel, which is set to be released in Oct. 2022. While I recommend this book wholeheartedly, I do recommend checking the content warnings on all of her works.
Another female author I have come to adore is Taylor Jenkins Reid. Her interconnected standalone books, including The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones and the Six, and Malibu Rising are all gracing the bookshelves of every prominent BookToker on TikTok. Daisy Jones and the Six was the first novel I read of hers, and while I was apprehensive at first, I quickly fell in love with her writing style. The story of the fictional band, Daisy Jones and the Six, is told through an interview format detailing their rise to fame and their inevitable downfall. The life of frontrunner Daisy Jones is not simply about love, it is also about self-discovery, addiction, and growing up in the ‘60s and ‘70s. The complexity draws you in and drops you right in the throws of the L.A. rock and roll scene. Similar to It Ends With Us, Daisy Jones and the Six is also in the process of being adapted into a television series for Amazon Prime Video, however, the release date has not been finalized.
Reading these epic displays of love has allowed me to live vicariously through the characters, to feel their emotions– everything from joy to loss. I absorb it all. In some ways, I think it makes me a better person: more empathetic, aware, intuitive. At the very least, it makes me a better reader.
Above all, I think it is vital to reflect on how women in the age of social media have worked to reshape the stigma around romantic relationships portrayed in books. Today’s authors have made love stories about more than two people instantly clicking and spending the rest of their lives together; now, the face of romance has a deeper complexity of tackling intense issues from domestic violence to addiction. Representation in the media is so incredibly important, yet often a rarity. However, the female powerhouses perched at the top of the New York Times bestselling list are working to change the status quo, and that is something worth celebrating this International Women’s Day.