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Original poster

Romance Novels for 13 year old????

32 replies

Gobbledegeek · 15/12/2023 22:39

My 13 year old DD has just asked for a romance novel for Christmas and I have no idea what to get her!

She loves Jane Austen - watches the adaptations, reads the abridged versions for kids and dips into the real books. I'm guessing she wants something like that but more modern so she can read the whole story. She also likes Downton Abbey and the gentle girly films like Princess Diaries.

I don't think she'd want anything too 'teen' but I dare say she's heading into that territory with this request!

Someone told me to skip YA books and go for easy adult authors like Katie Fforde but I haven't read any so don't know how appropriate?

Any guidance out there for me??!

Thank you!

OP posts:
CuttingAllTheFlowersStill · 15/12/2023 23:11

I remember reading the Flambards trilogy as a first 'romance' but not sure if it would be a bit dated.

mambojambodothetango · 15/12/2023 23:10

Mary Barton, North & South, Middlemarch, Anne of Green Gables.

Original poster
Gobbledegeek · 15/12/2023 23:04

Thanks everyone! There are some great suggestions there. She'll have a complete romance library soon!

OP posts:
OhGingleBells · 15/12/2023 23:02

Little Women and Jane Eyre are perfect for that age and have some lovely romance! With Little Women you’ll want either a version that combines the first two books (Little Women and Good Wives) or to buy both books. The third and fourth have a fair bit of romance too.

Anne of Green Gables takes a while to get properly romantic but it definitely does later on - Anne’s daughter has a romantic storyline in the last book so you could get her all eight books.

I appreciate that these aren’t “modern” but the characters are around her age at the beginning so they should suit her better than Austen.

If not, there are some Cathy Cassidy books that may be of interest. “The Chocolate Box Girls.” There are five or six books about a set of sisters and deal with romance among other things. The girls are young teenagers so it’s all very tame.

“The Fault in Our Stars” is good - a tragic romance about two teenagers with cancer.

“Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret” is an interesting one. There’s some romance and a couple of kisses involved.

“When Lightening Strikes” by Meg Cabot. Think there are a couple of sequels too. Great story with a solid romantic storyline in there too.

The Hunger Games and the prequel have a lot of romance in too. Not necessarily books that would immediately appeal to a romantic girl but definitely a viable option.

CrispsandCheeseSandwich · 15/12/2023 22:56

I read Katie Fforde at that age. There's maybe a very mild bit of sex stuff in the ones I read if I remember correctly (and I mean brief descriptions where it's clear they're going to have sex, but no actual sex is described) but that's about it.
That was some of the earlier ones, I don't know any she's written recently.

crumpet · 15/12/2023 22:47

Georgette Heyer.

LittleOwl153 · 15/12/2023 22:46

My 14 reads Katie Fforde, Carole Matthews and a few others. She likes the Christmas stories! She's also into Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir... but theÿ are historical (tudor mainly) novels.

Teen wise maybe HeartStopper - bit of a thing earlier in the year... The Summer I Turned Pretty is a current fad alongside the series.... or Karen McManus I can't remember the title of the books but there is a series....

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