If you love monstera plants, try reading… a romance
Don’t be thrown off by the “monster” in its name: monstera is a decorative addition to any home, as any lover of this plant knows. The monstera offers large, heart-shaped leaves that conjure Hawaii vibes. Give it regular waterings and a deep pot with lots of drainage, and it’s guaranteed to love you back. If you love this eye-catching plant with its signature heart-shaped leaves, you might just be a romantic at heart.
Check out American Royalty by Tracey Livesay, which follows female hip-hop star Danielle as she meets Jameson, an introverted prince in charge of a royal concert where she’s invited to perform. The sparks between these two fly fast and furious, but can their wildly different lifestyles lead to a happy ending?
If you love rubber plants, try reading… an inspiring memoir
Green and glossy, rubber plants — also known as Ficus elastica — are known to reach incredible heights across a range of temperatures within just a few years. If you’ve got a lot of room in your home, or simply like watching the rubber plant’s incredible growth, you’ll enjoy having this dramatic, attention-grabbing greenery in a pot in your home. Not to mention, it will add oxygen and moisture to the air. Not surprisingly, it may soon outgrow its pot.
Like the rubber plant’s meteoric rise, readers love rags-to-riches stories, especially when they’re pulled from real life. Witness the rise of late Vans shoes company founder Paul Van Doren in Authentic. From being a high school dropout who worked at a rubber factory, Van Doren worked, learned, and grew until he was able to start his game-changing company, which transformed the landscape of the shoe market.
If you love fiddle-leaf fig plants, try reading… suspense
With its big, showy leaves growing from an upright trunk, the fiddle-leaf fig is the perfect centerpiece to any room. This plant digs a warm, wet environment, and requires rotating so all the leaves get a dose of sunlight. If you can give the plant what it needs, many varieties of the Ficus lyrata can grow quite tall.
Suspense novels are often more tantalizing when they involve murderers you don’t expect, like killer Gretchen Lowell in Heartsick. This novel, the first in Chelsea Cain’s series about the twisted relationship between Gretchen and detective Archie Sheridan, sees the detective forced to visit Gretchen in jail after she tortured him because she may hold clues to the killer he’s trying to catch.
If you love money trees, try reading… a book about luck
It turns out you can grow a money tree. This easy-to-grow houseplant is associated with good fortune, making it a boon to any home. The money tree’s braided trunk is also particularly distinctive and striking. With moist soil, lots of indirect sunlight, and a draft-free location in your home, the money tree may bring you abundance — or, at the very least, a profusion of compliments from visitors.
If you love money trees with their fabled lucky associations, try a book that also plays with the theme of luck. In Kate Clayborn’s Beginner’s Luck, Greer wins the lottery with her two best friends, allowing her the chance to invest in her education, gain independence, and even find romance with a photojournalist. But will one mistake bring her bad luck instead? Snuggle in an armchair by your money tree and find out.
If you love succulents, try reading… a book set in the American West
If you’re a low-maintenance plant lover or live in a hot climate, you know the glory that is keeping succulents. Cactus fans know these hardy houseplants require very little water. With many varieties in a range of sizes, cacti can add a pop of delight to any surface of your home — including reading nooks. To keep it happy, give your cactus a lot of bright sun with good drainage.
Native to North America, the cactus is undeniably a symbol of the American West. If your personal reading nook is filled with adorable succulents, you’ll most likely enjoy a good western. When the Night Bells Ring is set in a near-future ravaged by drought. As two women travel west in search of water, they stumble upon an old ghost town with a haunted history — and terrifying ancient creatures still residing in its abandoned mine.
If you love spider plants, try reading… a story about parents and children
Spider plants don’t just grow up, they grow out, with long, green-white leaves that look stylish whether they’re sprouting from a pot or draping from a hanging basket. What also makes this plant distinctive are its “pups,” or the baby spider plants it produces. Aside from being an eager parent, it’s also a houseplant that’s easy to maintain, requiring just indirect sunlight, even watering, and the occasional repotting.
Spider plant enthusiasts might enjoy stories about the bond between parents and children. In the New York Times bestseller One Italian Summer, Katy is left bereft after the death of her mother, Carol. But when she decides to still take their mother-daughter trip to the Amalfi Coast alone, Katy is startled to come face-to-face with Carol — as a young woman. You won’t easily forget this tearjerker tinged with magic.
About the Author: G.G. Andrew
G.G. is a freelance writer and author of romance and women's fiction, including the short story "Everything Left Unsaid" in the collection A Million Ways: Stories of Motherhood. A Texas transplant, she lives outside Houston with her husband and two sons, both of whom are on the autism spectrum. In her spare time, she enjoys browsing bookstores, yoga, paper crafts, cooking, genealogy, and anything related to Halloween. She's probably drinking tea right now.
