Julie had an excellent suggestion for this week’s If You Like: marriage of convenience plots. It’s one of my favorite plot tropes. What happens when you take two people and put them in a situation where they’re stuck making it work? Will they grow and learn together? Will it be a massive disaster? The stakes…

If You Like will return in its regular spot next week. (As always, if there are any genres or themes you want me to cover, just let me know.) Stay tuned for a special Teaser Tuesday announcement coming up tomorrow…. In the meantime, enjoy the holiday Monday!

One of my favorite tropes (aside from governesses) has always been the Inherited House. Heroine unexpectedly inherits House, usually from relative she knows only vaguely or not at all. There’s usually some drama associated with this, some mystery, an attractive local, and, of course, the fun of unpacking and discovering the House. The house can…

For obvious reasons, I have weddings on the brain right now. But they do provide good literary fodder, too, particularly for madcap comedy (it helps if you view it all as comedy, no?). So, if you like fiction about weddings, you’ll probably like…. — Donna Andrews, Murder with Peacocks. My absolute favorite, wedding-themed novel. Sheer,…

We all have our own bizarre trope preferences. One of mine (result of a childhood reading Victorian-set gothics) is books with governesses in them. If you like books featuring governesses, you’ll probably like…. — Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre. How can one not lead off with Jane Eyre? It’s the origin of all other governess novels.…

Since Pink X looks like it’s going to be set largely in Bath, if you like books set in Bath, you’ll probably like…. — Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both of which take place partly in Bath; — Georgette Heyer’s Bath Tangle, Lady of Quality, and Black Sheep, among others; — and I know…

If you like gothic tales with a hint of the ghostly and a literary slant, you’ll probably like…. — John Harwood’s The Ghost Writer, which combines turn of the century ghost stories, a creepy inherited house, and a mysterious pen pal; — Diane Setterfield’s The Thirteenth Tale, in which a dark and twisted past is…

Apologies! The dog ate my homework– or, in this case, the computer ate my “If You Like” post. This is a reconstruction of the post that was supposed to have gone up yesterday. Sadly, the internet gremlins ate it, so this is what I remember of it. Lora wanted to know about romances set in…

I’m cheating. This isn’t a real “if you like” this week. I’d intended to do an “if you like” on romances set in the 1920s and 40s. (Thanks for the suggestion, Lora!) But then I started re-reading Melissa Nathan’s Persuading Annie. I hadn’t read it since, oh, 2004 or so. It immediately sparked a series…

At Angel B’s suggestion, in honor of the Hunger Games, this week’s If You Like post will be about favorite books of our tween years. I don’t know about you, but I had plenty of guilty pleasure reads in those teen years, including: — Lois Duncan’s teen suspense novels (my favorite was Down a Dark…