Romantic stories
Having one or more major plotlines dealing with romantic relationships
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable
Kevin McCoy is a Catholic and Sadie a Protestant in divided Belfast.
Needs an understanding of the religious-political situation in Northern Ireland.
Coping with, Growing-Up, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Unobjectionable
Arthur Ransome is a young English journalist based in Russia during the Great War who is used by both sides to carry information and messages to and fro.
Well-crafted semi-biography of Arthur Ransome's life in Russia around the time of the Revolution. Accepted marital infidelity. Some description of the sexual excesses of Rasputin and others. Love for a country not one's own. Courage in crossing war-torn countries in difficult conditions.
Biographical, Historical, Romantic, War
Style: Weak
Attitude: Take Care → Positive
A father and mother are convinced that the 20th century will corrupt their three daughters and so they buy a secluded farmhouse and base their life on the Bronte family.
Girls, Romantic, Thought-provoking
Style: Good
Attitude: Take Care
Sam, a Bradford student, gets to know Jenny, a Kingston schoolgirl when he uses her father's camera.
Unexceptional boy-meets-girl story; some references to Sam's previous sex.
Romantic
Style: Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Unobjectionable
Piers Medley, a young Sussex forester at the time of the Reformation, takes in a girl whom he rescues from vagabonds.
Personal religious difficulties in post-Reformation England, including the marrying of professed Religious. Goodhearted generosity in a difficult situation.
Historical, Romantic, Thought-provoking
Style: Good
Attitude: Edifying
16-year-old Ralph Hollis is yearning for a career in the theatre, while his father is furious that he won't find real work.
A young man trying to do what he wants in life without going against his family. The support the family offers even with its spats and storms. The joy and companionship of working in a theatre.
Family, Growing-Up, Romantic, War
Fair Stood the Wind for France
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable
John Franklin is forced to crash land in wartime Occupied France.
Historical, Romantic, War
Style: Good
Attitude: Positive
Chiara, sent to a convent without any feeling of a vocation, meets Silvano, seeking sanctuary in the nearby monastery when the two houses are asked to provide pigments for the painting in the Basilica in nearby Assisi.
Lightweight whodunnit. Positive and coherent portrayal of the religious life, vocations and love among young people.
Detective, Growing-Up, Historical, Romantic
Style: Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Positive
Following on from the [series:percy-jackson original Percy Jackson series], the gods of antiquity are under threat from the earth goddess Gaia and cause the Greek Demigods to throw in their lot with their Roman counterparts whose existence had been hidden from them.
Classical gods fathering half-blood children. Young characters maturing as they overcome adversity. Some very mild young-teen romance based on a trusting friendship and shared adversity. Many classical references in a modern setting.
Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Friendship, Mythical, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable → Positive
Paolo & Constanza's mother Rosemary Crivelli agrees to take in some fugitive Allied servicemen risking reprisals by the local Gestapo.
Wartime bravery from a mother and her teenage children. Chaste romance between an older teenage girl and an Canadian serviceman. Betrayal by a villager followed by reconciliation (personal and sacramental). Positively-presented Catholic piety.
Adventure, Romantic, War
Style: Weak → Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Unobjectionable
Nora Grey finds herself partnered for the Sex Education course in Biology by the dark and unknown Patch who seems to be able to tell her a lot about herself, making her uncomfortable in the process.
Dark and Light angelic beings closely akin to humans and who can possess humans to a limited extent. A very physical attitude to sex education although without anything explicit. Some self-sacrifice by friends and relatives for each others' good.
Romantic, Spooky
Style: Classic
Attitude: Edifying
Jane Eyre becomes governess to the ward of Mr Rochester, with whom she falls in love.
Classic, Girls, Historical, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Positive
Art & Myrtle Mumby have to flee when their house, Larklight, is overrun by giant spiders.
Brilliantly imaginative; gently mocking Victorian ideals and sensibilities; quietly reconciling faith and science. Wild battles with gruesome spiders; questionable actions by a powerful being. Easy acceptance of other races and sexes. Undemonstrative love between family members and friends.
Adventure, Fantasy, Growing-Up, Humorous, Romantic
Style: Classic
Attitude: Positive
The story tells of the adventures of John Ridd after his father is murdered by the Doones.
Classic, Romantic
Style: Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Fairly Positive
Jason, Piper & Leo are thrown into the world of half-blood children of gods and embark on a quest to free Hera-Juno from the clutches of a mysterious enemy.
Classical gods fathering half-blood children. An enjoyable if slightly disappointing adventure quest. Heroism as friends help friends and people have to work together to save the lives of others.
Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Friendship, Mythical, Romantic
Style: Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Fairly Positive
The joint Greek-Roman crew of the Argo II must sail to Rome to confront Gaia whose plan is to overthrow the Olympian Gods altogether.
Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Friendship, Mythical, Romantic
Style: Classic
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Fairly Positive
To trap a brilliant German agent, Richard Hannay has to pose as a pacifist, assisted by Mary Lamington, Blenkiron, Peter Pienaar and others.
Straightforward plot. Elements of endurance and loyalty. A subtle, if unredeemed, villain. Some demeaning references to native Africans. War as a job to be done.
Adventure, Boys, Classic, Historical, Romantic, War
Style: Average
Attitude: Positive
The four Penderwick sisters befriend Jeffrey when staying in a cottage in the grounds of his mother's house.
Endearing holiday story of four sisters and a boy. Jeffrey's mother, alone since his father left, is about to remarry. Mr Penderwick treats his daughters gently, admonishing them sometimes in Latin.
Friendship, Girls, Growing-Up, Romantic
Style: Classic
Attitude: Positive
The five Bennett sisters: Jane, Elizabeth, Lydia, Kitty and Mary are at or near marrying age; their mother is keen to marry them off and rejoices when Mr Bingley, a personable young man, comes into the neighbourhood with his friend Mr Darcy and seems interested in her eldest daughter.
Classic, Girls, Romantic
Style: Classic
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Positive
Erstwhile King Rudolf of Ruritania is drugged and then kidnapped the day before his coronation; his guards Sapt and Fritz happen upon Rudolf Rassendyll, an Englishman abroad, who bears an uncanny resemblance to the king, due to the king's ancestor's having fathered a child somewhere in the Rassendyll ancestry.
Swashbuckling adventure with a dashing hero, a bearded villain and a lovely heroine.
Adventure, Boys, Classic, Historical, Romantic
Style: Average → Good
Attitude: Take Care → Positive
Ellen, defying her aunts' idea of what a modern young woman should do, takes up the role of Housekeeper at a school in Austria run on alternative lines for children of rich parents.
Marriage as merely a convention. Generosity and maternal care by Ellen for the children and others in her charge. Bravery of those helping Jews escape from Nazi detention. Ironic view of militant spinsters, pretentious playwrights, and alternative lifestyles.
Growing-Up, Romantic, School, Thought-provoking
Style: Average
Attitude: Some Care Needed → Positive
Percy Jackson has lost his memory of Camp Half-Blood and battles his way to the Roman Camp Jupiter where he must convince the Roman demigods that he isn’t a threat to them while he tries to recover his memory.
Adventure, Boys, Fantasy, Friendship, Mythical, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable → Positive
Art, Myrtle and Mrs Mumby visit the new Starcross hotel on an asteroid near Mars only to discover that a more sinister scheme is afoot, involving mind-controlling top hats, a time-travelling ship from the American War of Independence, and a set of French Secret Agents.
Imaginative cybersteam adventure story. Slightly less pacy than the original. All manner of heroism, bravery, self-sacrifice, humour, and gentle romance.
Adventure, Fantasy, Growing-Up, Humorous, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable
The Duke of Avon, a French-English aristocrat, rescues Leon, a Paris street urchin from his brother's abuse by employing Leon as a page.
Historical, Romantic
Style: Good
Attitude: Unobjectionable
Jean Paget a young Englishwoman who speaks Malay is caught in Malaysia when the Japanese invade.
Classic, Romantic, War
Style: Good
Attitude: Positive
The story of the voyage of several hundred Jews fleeing prewar Europe across the Atlantic.
Historical, Romantic, War
Style: Good
Attitude: Positive
Susan lives with her mother and has no idea who her father is.
Family, Romantic
Style: Average → Good
Attitude: Positive → Edifying
Meg crosses dimensions to where The Dark Thing is holding her father captive, taking Charles Wallace and Calvin to help her free him.
Intriguing if slightly dated sci-fi morality tale. Strong bonds of family and friendship. A warning about creating a perfect state if the cost is the loss of individuality and love.
Adventure, Fantasy, Friendship, Growing-Up, Romantic, Thought-provoking