If your local bookstore is socially distancing while letting in customers, and you want to go on the cutest date ever, try out this romance book scavenger hunt! This reddit user Teslok posted these ideas that I am shocked no one has adapted into a rom-com yet!
The first ideas is titled “Just The Covers”. You and your partner wander over to the romance section and devise a list of romance book cover tropes, like shirtless dudes, a girl placing her hand on a dude’s chest, or a tiger showing up for some reason. Try to find the cover that includes as many of these weird details as possible. You can also search for the dumbest descriptions on the back of the covers, which will usually feature some hysterically stereotyped phrases.
For the next idea, which this user titles “Between The Covers”, the goal is to flip through a book and find the the silliest nickname for a character’s privates. There will definitely be some gems waiting for you. Next, each of you picks a romance book and bets on which book will have a sex scene the fastest. Then flip through the book and see who was right! The winner gets to choose where to get take-out or what to watch on Netflix or something!
Finally, as a bonus round, see who can find a diverse cover model on a book the fastest. Are there any romantic leads who aren’t white? This will definitely be harder than you think. Look, someone has to call out this problematic practice in the publishing industry!
So who wants to try this out?! Even if you’re single, masking up with a friend and doing this would genuinely be hysterical! Romance tends to have some pretty blatant tropes, so the genre lends itself well to these activities!