Dystopian Genre Romance Books
The truth is we were born to love and so, is the fact that it is just natural for us to almost always fall in love with every romantic story we read. Dystopian books may come with dreadful plots, but a few of them bring a bittersweet love story, which makes everything feels better and right.
Oh, what love can do, indeed! Undoubtedly, love pulls every reader’s heartstrings. Novels like “The Twilight Saga,” “The Hunger Games Trilogy,” and the “Divergent Trilogy” showed us just that. And since we’re talking about it, I’ve come up with my list of dystopian-romance books.
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Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel (1984)
Often published with its numerical form, this classic masterpiece from the brilliant author George Orwell doesn’t only give us that clever storyline with thought-provoking and mind-blowing plots but as well as sparkling love amidst the terror.
This Orwell’s final novel conceptually focuses on the ramifications of exceeding enforcements of absolute despotism, strict mass monitoring, and oppressive or iron-fisted legislation of all individuals and each behaviour in a society.
Nevertheless, within its dark and sad ruling of totalitarianism comes a dazzling of hope in love when the characters in the story fall in love with each other, proving once again that love will win against all the odds.
Synopsis:
“Nineteen Eighty-Four,” as its namesake suggests, takes us to the year 1984 in a place in an imaginative future where the earth has fallen casualty to an appalling world of sufferings and afflictions.
The plot showed us how Great Britain becomes a powerful autocratic state named “Oceania” or “Airstrip One,” clouded by perpetuating war, history misrepresentation, propaganda, and ever-present government monitoring.
Under the ruling of a “Party” with their leader called “Big Brother,” who apparently enjoys extremely violent strategies in governing or regulating laws and who may also not exist, they employ a group of secret police called “Thinkpol” or “Thought Police.”
This so-called police reveal and punishes their citizens, who exhibit what they call “thoughtcrimes,” which, according to their law, are unapproved government political and personal thoughts.
However, with the ugly and horrifying ruling system, a diligent and highly-skilled member of the “Party,” Winston Smith, begins to go against the party and defies the odds as he enters a forbidden romance with Julia, his associate.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 328 pages
Goodreads rating – 4.18/5
My rating – 9.98/10
Brave New World
Another mind-boggling dystopian fiction literature that comes with a bit of romantic spice is “Brave New World” by the remarkable Aldous Huxley. The author sets the plot of the story in a futuristic post-apocalyptic setting known as the “World State,” creating a society filled with environmentally engineered citizens fitted to an intelligence-based social stratification system.
Huxley’s creative mind allows him to create a world of anticipation run by massive advancements in various science and technology subject matters, such as classical conditioning, psychological manipulation, reproductive technology, and sleep-learning, combined to build a perfect dystopian world.
One of the specialists for the sleep-learning procedure in “Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre” of the World State is Bernard Max. He’s a member of the upper-class society, yet he’s a misfit. Bernard’s character stirs romance and thrill as he falls in love with the young and beautiful fetus technician Lenina Crowne while he fights his way against the Director, who wants to exile him.
Synopsis:
The plot chronicles the futuristic autocratic society of “World State,” where sleep-learning specialist Bernard Max struggles due to incomplete psychological conditioning. Despite his upper-class status, he lacks the qualities of an Alpha. Most often, he’s resentful, jealous, and angry, unlike his fellow utopian citizens.
He falls in love with Lenina, a fetus technician at “Central London Hatchery and Conditioning Centre,” described as young and beautiful. However, Bernard doesn’t like the idea of her sleeping with different men, as the law permits.
As the story progresses, Bernard ended up in the “Savage Reservation,” but with the help of John, the Director’s illegitimate son, he was able to return to the utopian community. His return prompts the fall of the Director, who planned his exile.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction literature with Romance
Pages – 288 pages
Goodreads rating – 3.99/5
My rating – 8.99/10
The Handmaid’s Tale
This critically acclaimed dystopian book of Margaret Atwood backdrops the not too distant future of New England, known as Gilead, a state under totalitarianism that overthrown the government of the United States.
Atwood concentrates on the journey of repressed women, who fight for their rights to obtain their independence and identity in a society where men hold the majority of the position in the government.
Due to the unbelievable, gripping plot of “The Handmaid’s Tale,” it has received numerous awards and recognitions from prestigious award-giving bodies, such as a “Prometheus Award” and “Governor General’s Award.”
Now, the storyline is one of the longest-running series on television with several honours received.
Synopsis:
The story mainly follows the life of the main character Offred, who narrates her journey while living in Gilead, taking readers to an enthralling adventure and thrilling intrigues in between the storylines.
Gilead’s law revoked Offred’s marriage to her divorcee husband after they declared all divorces as null and void, tagging her as a “wanton woman” in the process. Following the new ruling, Offred’s husband, Luke, is still legally married to his first wife, making her an adulteress.
In her attempt to run away from Gilead, she got separated from Luke and their daughter. However, as known that she can bear a child, she becomes a significant entity of the government. With that, she became The Commander’s handmaid, who needs to get pregnant for him and his infertile wife, Serena Joy.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 314 pages
Goodreads rating – 4.11/5
My rating – 9.95/10
The Book of Ivy Series (The Book of Ivy)
Former criminal defence lawyer Amy Engel created this empowering and exhilarating two-novel plot story, “The Book of Ivy Series,” dominated by a lead female character. The author circles the story in a post-apocalyptic setting that happened after a violent nuclear war.
The catastrophic nuclear war left the United States in ruins. Along with the rubbles of the country, a small surviving group of individuals came together. However, the band didn’t end pretty well as more conflicts arise with the decision of the governing body of their new nation. Which family should govern the new world?
The family of Westfall lost, but peace and order reign after fifty years of following an agreement of the sons of the winning group will have to marry the losing side’s daughters in an annual ritual.
Ivy Westfall is the daughter of the losing family, who is about to marry the son of the president. The story gets into a spiral of more suspenseful twists and turns, as Ivy is leaning forward to falling in love with the man she was supposed to kill to regain their family’s power.
Synopsis:
It’s Ivy Westfall’s turn! The year came for Ivy to complete her mission, and that is to kill the son of the president, Bishop Lattimer, who is going to be her future husband to restore the power of her family.
However, things seem to flip as she begins to fall for Bishop, who is either a highly skilled actor or a straight-out caring person, as to what her family warned her. Ivy starts to doubt about her missions, as she realizes that Bishop might be the one who truly and completely understands her.
Will, she waiver? Yet, the truth remains that she can’t run away from her fate. She has to kill Bishop because she’s the only one in her family who can restore the legacy of Westfall. Will she choose love over her family?
The Book of Ivy
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 282 pages
Goodreads rating – 4.16/5
My rating – 9.75/10
The Revolution of Ivy
The second novel of Amy Engel’s series comes with a different turn of the original purpose and mission of the lead character. “The Revolution of Ivy” places her in a daunting situation where she needs to make a valuable decision between love and what she’s fighting for after deserted by her family.
Synopsis:
Ivy Westfall is alone and out of the Westfall’s borders. She chose the more civilised path and form of cruelty. From murder schemes and forced, arranged marriages, Ivy prefers living and surviving in a brutally savage environment, as she’s cut out by her family.
Forsaken by her family and parted from Bishop, she must find a way for her to survive on her own. Her journey becomes tougher as she has to face numerous dangerous creatures, both man and nature.
However, in love, there’s hope, while beyond the fence, Bishop appears again in her life. As he comes back to her, she has to decide whether she will return to her family and make a stand for what she believes is right and just, or lose everything that she has fought for in her life.
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 290 pages
Goodreads rating – 3.92/5
My rating – 9.92/10
VanWest The Past
A Windsor native, Kenneth Thomas beautifully crafted a dystopian novel that comes with a zest of romance. His “VanWest The Past” is the first book of his series, as his profile says that he’s going to write for its second and third editions.
The next book in the series is “VanWest The Present,” set to release in the last month of July of this year. The third version, “VanWest The Future,” on the other hand, is yet to be announced.
Synopsis
The story focuses on “The Past” of the main character, which is an Enforcer, who is living in the post-apocalyptic world of the year three-thousand. He works under the dictatorship of a tyrant ruler referred to as the “Universal Council.”
His mission is to travel through time and space and end a group of rebels aimed at changing the past of the earth. As he goes through each of his tasks, he uncovers his dark beginnings and his distinct ability. In his journey, he falls in love with the daughter of the leader of the rebellion.
With him falling in love with the daughter of the renegade sector’s leader, he needs to return to the present where he needs to face a hard decision. Will he save her or not? Along with that is a choice he also needs to make, and that is to whether take part in the establishment of the “New Beginning” or remained loyal to the “Universal Council.”
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 195 pages
Goodreads rating – 4.95/5
My rating – 9.95/10
Eve Series
Anna Carey’s “Eve Series” is a trilogy that chronicles the life of an eighteen-year-old girl named Eve. The story takes us to a devastatingly dreadful world after most populations on earth got wiped out by a deadly virus that hit it more than a decade ago.
Living in a heavily guarded area of her school, Eve discovers the horrifying truth about the place she has known her life as her home. After learning the shocking reality, she tries to escape from the only place she has ever known in the dystopian world.
The series includes “Eve,” “Once,” and “Rise.”
Synopsis:
After the tragic outcome of the virus that hit the world, the earth becomes a dangerous place to dwell. For Eve, all her life since the post-apocalyptic society she’s in, the only place she has known is the heavily guarded school.
In that place, lives more than two hundred orphaned children, including Eve, promised a bright future in the “New America.” However, before graduation, Eve unravels the dark secrets that the school is hiding from them.
Eve leaves the only place she knows and sets off on a mysterious and deceitful journey in seek for a place where she can survive, and along the way, she met Arden and the boy who’s about to win her heart, Caleb.
Eve
Genre- Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 336 pages
Goodreads rating – 3.69/5
My rating – 8.75/10
Once
Genre– Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 354 pages
Goodreads rating – 3.90/5
My rating – 8.95/10
Rise
Genre – Dystopian Fiction Literature with Romance
Pages – 310 pages
Goodreads rating – 3.74/5
My rating – 8.75/10
Final Say
All the novels I listed above speak highly of how love and romance bring hope and relief in a terrible dystopian society where totalitarianism is exceedingly vicious and extremely controlling, giving you no freedom at all.
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