Falling in Love Anonymously Part 2: Romance Books With Characters Who Fall For Each Other Sight Unseen

I’m back with even more books about falling in love anonymously so if you can’t get enough of this romance book micro trope then dive in with me for another episode of the She Reads Romance Books Podcast for even more books to add to your TBR list!

Episode 5: Falling in Love Anonymously Part 2

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Books Mentioned in the Episode:

Check out my book review of Hello Stranger.

Show Notes:

Hey readers, I had so much fun in my last episode reminiscing about romance books I love where characters fall in love anonymously, that I realized I had a lot more books in this fun micro trope to talk about.

So I’m back with part two of romance books where characters fall in love anonymously, and I’m going to share five more books that I absolutely love in this trope.

So if you want even more, then tune in and give a listen and hopefully I’ll be able to say anonymously, a lot better in this episode.

If you’re new here, hi, I’m Leslie Murphy, your host to the She Reads Romance Books Podcast, where I share my favorite book list of the best romance books worth reading, so you know exactly what to add to your must-read list. Let’s jump into today’s episode.

I honestly think what I enjoy most about the romance books on this list is that a person’s appearance is totally taken out of the equation and people fall for each other’s personality and the vulnerability they share in being their true selves through their words, whether it’s on paper or in emails or in texts.

Of course, I think physical attraction is a key part of a lasting relationship. But I think how looks are taken out of the equation to start in these romance books really makes them stand out to me in some way, and I love how it seems a lot of romance book authors are sort of jumping on and using this micro trope.

Jumping in with part two of my book list, is book one, Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan.

This book is about a former audiobook narrator, Sewanee, who is convinced to work on one more romance novel with Brock McKnight, the industry’s secretive voice.

The two begin communicating via email, which sort of sets the foundation for a real connection between them beyond their work together. I won’t go more into the storyline to prevent any spoilers, but it’s a really fascinating book in terms of the backstory to Sewanee and the relationship she has with her grandmother.

And, if you’re at all into audiobooks, then of course the author, Julia Whelan, who’s an audiobook narrator herself, narrates the audiobook. So it’s definitely one to take a listen to, but also to add to your TBR list if you love how people fall in love anonymously, and this is between two audiobook narrators which I think you’ll really, really enjoy. 

Book two on my list goes to Hello Stranger by Katherine Center. This book is a neighbors to lovers romance of sorts, but it’s really a unique one to add to the list because the heroine begins to fall for two men who aren’t necessarily anonymous to her because they communicate via email or notes or anything, but it’s because she can’t see them.

She is an artist and she ended up having this last-minute operation to remove something in her brain, but that operation left her with a probably temporary condition of face blindness, which is actually a real condition that I had no idea existed.

Sadie is coping with her face blindness and she begins to fall for her dog’s new veterinarian as well as her annoying neighbor that she calls Joe. Now there’s definitely moments in this romance where I’m like, just tell them about your condition and that you cannot see his face. But of course she doesn’t.

She holds it pretty close to the vest. But it’s a really adorable story in romance book where I really learned something new, which is always really cool, plus just a very unique storyline that I thought Center chose to write about – about two people sort of falling in love anonymously.

I should say one person is falling in love anonymously, but it was definitely worth a read, and a really cool one that I had picked up this year. 

Book three in this list of romance books where love is found anonymously goes out to Dear Mr. Brody by A.M. Johnson.

Now, this is a gay romance, a teacher student romance and, I’d say, a slight age gap romance. There’s about eight years between the two characters.

Donovan is a newly divorced man who’s only now sort of grappling with his bisexuality. Parker is a 24-year-old vet who signed up for a creative writing course taught by Donovan, but it turns out that they’ve actually met before and have been talking to each other anonymously online.

I obviously love the part of the story of them bonding online, but it’s also a very sweet and eventually hot look at Van exploring his attraction to men and Parker obviously being a big part of that, in sort of helping him to explore it.

So this was one of those great books that I picked up just randomly, I think in Kindle Unlimited, and oh man, I’m so glad I did. I mean, I’m a big fan of MM romance books and if you are too, this is one that I would highly recommend you read, not only because it’s really cute about them falling in love anonymously, but they’re just two really great characters who deserve, you know, happiness in their life, and they find it in each other. It was great. 

But four of this list goes out to Dirty Letters by Vi Keeland and Penelope Ward. This is a childhood, friends to lovers romance between two people who were pen pals as kids but never met.

Our hero lives in the UK, our heroine lived in the US and they wrote each other constantly until one day their letter writing stopped. But then, eight years later, our hero Griffin writes Luca, the heroine, a pretty scathing letter saying how could you just ghost me like that after all that we’d shared together?

But it comes out why she had stopped writing, and from there they do pick up again and start communicating and it really becomes this romance book that focuses on a pretty important mental health issue.

I love romance books that shed light on mental health and as Griff learns more about what Luca is struggling with, he’s just this really great, patient and kind hero.

But then, of course, they do decide they want to meet in person and I won’t go more into that. But I thought it was such a really well-done romance book and one that you would enjoy if you love how people start to fall for each other as you know, childhood pen pals that later blooms into full on romance later in life A really good book by this romance book duo that I highly recommend. 

Book five on my list is Stay by Sarina Bowen in Elle Kennedy, another really popular romance book duo, and I’m just so glad to include this romance book on the list because it’s a must, much deserved throwback title that if you haven’t yet read it, you should.

It came out in 2017, so really not a new release, but if you love books by these co-authors, then it’s definitely a must read, and you know that, since if it’s by Bowen and Kennedy, it’s a hockey romance. 

This one features in NHL star Matt Erickson, who’s still pretty hung up on the implosion of his marriage. He’s sort of recognizing how hockey makes it really hard to have a relationship and he also has two kids, so he utilizes the virtual assistant services of Haley’s company, but they’ve, you know, he’s never met, never supposedly seen her.

But she comes to know exactly who he is because she’s had a lifelong crush on the hockey stud. Neither of them, like I said, have seen each other, although Haley does figure out who her client is.

But the best part about between these two is that they’re both divorcees, which I’m trying to think like, maybe it’s not quite a super popular, you know, characteristic trait for romance book characters, or I can’t really think of a ton that I’ve read people who are divorcees, but they both are.

So, it’s a great book to read if you like that piece to it, or if you just love fun and flirty banter that they exchange in their text back and forth and stuff. Plus, it also involves some cute kids who play a role too, which is always fun, or at least I enjoy it when kids are done well in romance books. 

So book five is Stay by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy, if you are a fan of hockey romances.

And that’s it. That totally wraps up my list of romance books about characters who fall in love anonymously, if you haven’t read or listened to my previous episode, it’ll give you five more definitely, check it out.

But I’ll leave you with a book I just finished up recently and it is Salt in the Wound, which is a prequel from Sierra Simone, to her upcoming romance release, Salt Kiss, which is sort of a modern day look at the Tristan and Isold story.

Now I’m totally intrigued, even more so, after reading this book, because her New Camelot series that starts with American Queen, where it’s definitely a MMF storyline between these three characters and that’s definitely where you’re going to find in this book.

But the prequel sort of sets up the female and the dominant male of the story and Simone also sort of brings in this idea of religion that’s in a lot of her books, which I find really fascinating. So yeah, I’m really interested to read Salt Kiss after reading Salt in the Wound. So if you’re curious, give it a check out yourself. 

Alright, guys, thanks so much. Happy reading.

Related Episodes:

• Falling in Love Anonymously Part 1

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