I feel like I’ve read lots of books that didn’t feature romance as a main plot point… for example, right now I’m reading Life of Pi. The main character was interested in religion and after being a castaway for many days, has held steadfast to his religious beliefs. He also grew by eating meat, due to the circumstances of being stuck on a lifeboat, after growing up as a devout vegetarian.

Other books I can think of are Hatchet, The Council of Animals, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Barn 8… these are just books that I’ve recently read.

I think it is difficult to find books devoid of any romance, but there are plenty where the main characters grow because of something beyond romance.

Even the thrillers I'll read have hints of romance, wanting to be romantic, or possible relationships. I'm not sure I've read anything that doesn't have it.

I don't think there's any women mentioned in Storm of Steel, let alone romance. Just good old fashioned trench warfare with a heavy sprinkling of artillery. Although that's really a memoir, not a novel, so I don't know if it counts.

There's also Remarque's books, while All Quiet on the Western Front does have a small sex scene in it (no romance, though), I don't think The Road Back had any sex or romance at all. It's got a small flashback to the main character going to a brothel and then backing out at the last minute, but that's it.

Those are interesting. From the sounds of it, those are all war type books or heavily plotted around battle type situations where there's not much down or free time

Thats interesting youve found it in thrillers also. Do you care about the romance or kinda just accept it as being an unavoidable thing?

I personally and working on 2 Scifi, an urban fantasy/paranormal, and a paranormal book where I'm making conscious decisions away from character romance as a subplot (not making any celebate by any means, im just not addressing any of it on page and leaving that to the read to decide if they truely care about assigning a sexuality or sexual experience level to them) because I find the lack of non romance annoying. I have friendship plots, which some will probably construe as romance, but I'm personally not writing with that being the intent.

Many of the books I've read are heavily obvious about it being romance and not friendship, which I'd personally rather read a friendship focused book over relationship drama.

Interesting. I don't think many of the ones listed are to my interest sadly, but perhaps that just shows my wants are counter intuitive to the genre I'm reading in.

Guess it's a bit like asking for a pizza at a dessert bar. They'll probably have something called pizza, but it won't be the pizza I'm expecting 😅.

No worries! My favorite books are historical dramas and tend to be filled with romance, though what I crave from them is the women fighting for their independence and getting involved in science.

Hopefully someone else has some different recommendations for you to consider

Thanks.

I do dip out of those genres from time to time. Have you read the Essex Serpent? I believe thats a historical drama romance. I mainly grabbed it cause it has Tom Hiddleston on the cover 😂. Really not sure what to expect since I don't have apple either so I can't watch the show they made from it.

My favorite genre is very specific and you managed to call out a book from it - yay!

I’ve read Essex Serpent and watched the show. The book is better, but I did enjoy Tom Hiddleston lol. If you liked that, check out My Name is Mary Sutter and The Signature of All Things.

Lord of the Flies, although books with child characters might be cheating.

I'll definitely keep that tabbed.

I rarely, but sometimes so want a romance book or plot from time to time.

😂 wouldn't call it cheating, just gaming the system

The rook has very little, one of the characters is highly suggestive but theres never any smut or even kissing I don't think. Not even consensual hand holding.

I don't think that's an accurate description at all. They are all focused on the war, mostly because I was trying to think of books without women and there's not many women on the front lines of WW1, but even in war there's huge amounts of downtime. All Quiet especially is mostly focused on this part, and I'd estimate a good third of Storm of Steel is simply Junger describing what he and his comrades did while taking cover from artillery.

The Road Back is set immediately after the war, so if course it has nothing to do with combat at all.

Wind in the Willows I think, Traveling Cat Chronicles

Historical drama with a woman fighting for independence and getting involved in science - “The Girl in His Shadow” There is, I believe, one little kiss but it’s a very minor subplot. Great book.

Ah. My bad, I was really just guessing based on the titles. I'm usually not a history/historical fiction reader so im usually just guessing about what the books are about

I don't know how I managed this - maybe my inner prude has been censoring my reading choices my entire life -- but most fiction books I've read do not have a romance component at all, never mind sex. I'm amazed that it's such a strong element of fiction that readers have to actively avoid it!

You didn't mention a preferred genre so some recent favorites: Klara and the Sun (Ishiguru), Dutch House (Anne Pratchett), The Good Omen (Terry Pratchett). I'm about to read Squeeze Me (Carl Hiaasen) - fingers crossed if there's any sex it's hilarious.

I re-read Dune recently - Paul marries, Jessica loves Leto but I don't see the relationships as love stories. They feel like part of the grand arc of the entire series.

I do have Dune and good omens on my list.

😂 I wish my mind would censor so it wasn't so obvious. I suppose it's a bit similar to people having trigger warnings on books where its not so much a trigger but they know thet wont enjoy it-for example my mom is fine with romance, but anything like bully romance or worse she can't stand. she HATED Zodiac Academy to the point she didn't bother finishing the first book because of the level past bully romance it was.

I've read a few where it wasn't a "in your face" thing the entire time, but it was extremely heavy handed for huge sections. I'm mainly reading ya scifi and fantasy since the handful of story ideas I have are all ya new adult types and common advice is "read a lot to write better".

It is definitely prevalent in those categories, though for some you have to squint a bit to see it's there.

It doesn't bother me as long as the focus is on other things. If the romance takes up too much of the story, then I lose interest. If I wanted romance I'd read romance.