Beth O'Leary is a Sunday Times bestselling author whose novels have been translated into more than thirty languages. Her debut, The Flatshare, sold over a million copies and is now a major TV series which first premiered on Paramount+ in 2022. Her subsequent novels, The Switch, The Road Trip, The No-Show and The Wake-Up Call, were all instant bestsellers. The Road Trip is the latest book to be made into a Netflix adaptation, a show I watched hungrily with my daughter recently, reminding me just how bloody awesome Beth’s books are.

Beth is a dream of a writer. She writes books you just fall into. Hook, line and sinker. And none more so than her latest outing - Swept Away. Set in Northumberland, Lexi and Zeke meet in a pub, sparks fly and they end up in eachother’s arms. But this isn’t a normal one night stand. When the houseboat the Merry Dormouse becomes untethered, Lexi and Zeke are flung together on the treacherous adventure of a lifetime. It’s an absolute triumph, full of joy, sweetness, contradictions, and desire. I laughed, cried, and felt so bereft as I turned the final page. I welcome you aboard and know you’ll absolutely love the ride as much as we have. Utterly swept away.

So, it goes without saying that we were giddy when Beth agreed to be our Guest Editor this Spring. As usual we invite our Guest Eds to share a bookish theme, a collection of books they have adored with a single thread running through them - and unsurprisingly Beth chose Romance with a Twist. Beth, thanks for joining LoveReading this month, and thanks for sharing these wonderful recommendations with us all.

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Romance with a Twist

I love a pure, one hundred per cent, undiluted romance novel − meet-cutes and tropes galore − but every so often I come across a romance with a twist, and it always thrills me. I just love a novel that takes me in a slightly unexpected direction. Romance is a genre known and loved for its sense of security: we know we’re heading towards a happily ever after. So what happens when you throw the reader a little off-balance along the way? The answer is, it gets even more exciting.

In my own writing, I always like to push at the edges of the rom-com genre, whether that’s giving a twist on a favourite trope (there is after all only one bed in The Flatshare . . . ) or introducing a mystery within the love story, as I do in The Road Trip and The No-Show. In my new novel, Swept Away, it’s the location that brings the twist: my forced-proximity love story takes place in a houseboat lost at sea. It means that the novel ends up sailing in the direction of an adventure story, which was so much fun to write, and I hope the departure ultimately really strengthens the love story.

Because that’s the thing: if you’re going to mess with something as perfect as romance, you need to know you’re going to nail it. (No pressure, me.) All the books below absolutely nail it. Each one brings a unique, original twist to a beautiful love story, and they’ve all stayed in my mind long after reading because whatever that twist was, it took the romance to new heights. If you want to swoon, sigh and perhaps even let out a shocked gasp or two . . . give these titles a try.

The Man Who Didn’t Call by Rosie Walsh

I think about this book all the time. It’s just so clever. 

When Sarah meets Eddie, the connection is instantaneous and powerful, and they have the most amazing seven days together. Then he heads home, as planned − and never contacts her again. 

Her friends think she’s just been ghosted, but Sarah can’t believe Eddie would do that. As she tries to find him, and unravels the truth about why he doesn’t get in touch, you’ll find yourself totally blind-sided. I love a twist that only deepens the emotion of a story, and The Man Who Didn’t Call is a perfect example of exactly that.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

The concept of this one is totally mind-bending, and − like all Rebecca’s novels − it’s so original too. Dannie has always stuck perfectly to her five-year plan, but on the day she ticks off two of her biggest goals (nailing the interview for her dream job, getting engaged to the ideal man) she falls asleep and has the strangest dream. In it, she’s married to someone else, and living a very different life − and it feels so real.

She files the weird dream away and forgets all about it . . . until, five years later, she turns a corner and comes face to face from the man from the dream. 

Dannie is the perfect character for this setup, because she’s so stuck on the idea that our life’s path can be set, and the whole novel really challenges us to ask what might happen if we let ourselves question the life we’ve chosen. This novel is smart, thought-provoking and gripping − you should definitely give it a try.

The Wedding People by Alison Espach

This is a really brave book, all about how far we can fall and still pick ourselves back up again. It forges into territory where the romance genre rarely goes: its main character, Phoebe, is planning to die by suicide at the start of the novel. The author doesn’t shy away from discussing Phoebe’s depression, and the darkness in this novel is what makes it so original, and so brilliant; we feel real joy and connection as Phoebe manages to find her inner strength again. 

The love story is very much there, and it is central enough that I would still call this a romance, but it’s perhaps equally a book about loving and caring for yourself. It’s also very, very funny − there is a dark, wry humour to it that really sets it apart.

Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes

I can’t actually tell you the super original thing about this book, but you’ll just have to trust me − if you thought Rachel’s Holiday was an incredible novel (which surely you did) then you’re going to be blown away by this one, its sequel, written and set twenty-five years later. Back in the nineties, protagonist Rachel had a spell in rehab that changed her life; now she works in that very rehab centre as an addiction counsellor, and her life seems perfectly settled. She has a partner, a lovely home, a great job. But is everything quite as settled as it seems?

The Sight of You by Holly Miller

Holly Miller’s debut novel blew me away. It’s a heart-wrenching love story with a major twist − Joel, the main character, is haunted by dreams about what will happen to the people he loves. It’s such a burden in his life that he chooses to keep everyone at a distance − he can’t bear knowing the future, good and bad. But when he meets Callie, he just can’t keep himself from beginning to care about her.

When I finished this novel, I had tears dripping down my chin − I was in bits. It came out a few years ago now, but is well worth trying if you didn’t get to it back in 2020.