Lit Wicks: Nerds in Love

Welcome to Lit Wicks! This is where we pair an author’s backlist with candles to really immerse yourself in the reading experience. All of the candles featured in these post are from Etsy, which means there is often worldwide shipping and that you’re supporting independent crafters and sellers. The Etsy candle rabbit hole is one I have gone down many times.

Instead of focusing on an author for September, we figured we would switch it up with a theme! For this Lit Wicks, we’ll be recommending candles for books that feature some awesome nerdy heroes and heroines.

If you’re curious about what other authors have received the Lit Wicks treatment, check out our category page. And if you’d like to suggest an author’s backlist for a future Lit Wicks column, please email me!

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Vision in White by Nora Roberts: When I first asked my lovely co-Bitches what books they would want to include in a post on nerdy characters in romance, Carter from Vision in White was the first response from Sarah. Carter is a hero that is definitely more beta than alpha and he’s also an adorable English teacher. Shoutout to my fellow word nerds!

Candle: Fly Paper Products — English Lit 101 9oz. ($18)

What does English Lit 101 smell like, you ask? Fir, balsam, and ginger. However, I don’t remember my English Lit classes every smelling that good.

Level Up by Cathy Yardley: This is a sweet little book that promoted much squeeing on a podcast episode with Sarah and author Bree Bridges. The heroine is described as being a “geeky introvert” and is a video game engineer. For this scent, I found a candle made for one of our favor video games: Stardew Valley. It’s a cute casual game where you restore a farm, become close with the townspeople, and if you’re like me…marry the weird emo kid who fixes motorcycles.

Candle: Polished Pixel Shop — Stardew 8oz. ($5.50)

This candle is smells like cucumber and melon! $5.50 is a good price for an 8oz. candle; not sure if that’s a typo. The scent also comes in wax melts!

Earth Bound by Emma Barry and Genevieve Turner: This is a romance set during the space race in the 60s and features characters actively involved in space exploration. Carrie reviewed this one and liked the change of setting for a historical” romance. When I think of the 60s, I think martinis, so I searched for a martini-inspired candle.

Candle: JKM Soy Candles — Lavender Martini 9oz. ($16.50)

Obviously, this candle has notes of lavender, but includes hints of lemon zest, mint, and bergamot as well. Buyers have the option of choosing a cotton wick or a wood wick, which give a more crackling flame to the candle.

A Week to Be Wicked by Tessa Dare: This is the second book in the Spindle Cove series and it earned an A- from Carrie a few years ago. Sarah also summed up why this book should be included, “Road trip with paleontologist heroine and a dinosaur bone.” If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will.

Candle: Litspiration Candles — Explorer 9oz. ($16)

I was really taken with the words on the label: adventure, courage, curiosity. How do these things interpret into a scent? Well, the candle supposedly smells woodsy, green, and with a hint of musk.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell: I’m so happy Sarah suggested this one because “nerdy” can be interpreted in so many different ways. Sarah wrote a review for this one and the squee cannon was on full blast. She said, “The TL;DR: this book is wonderful. It’s so much empathy and understanding and emotion layered into narrative form I can’t even tell you.”

Candle: Icey Designs — Fangirl 8oz. ($18)

This is a candle that was designed specifically for the book and smells of oranges and vanilla cream. If that doesn’t appeal to you, Novelly Yours has a Fangirl candle that smells of pumpkin, mocha, and coffee.

Another Fangirl candle suggestion is this marshmallow, fanfic, and fluffy pillows scent from Light the Pages Candles. They all kind of sound yummy to me!

A Princess in Theory by Alyssa Cole: The heroine, Naledi, is a epidemiology grad student and that sounds all kind of intimidating. As a former grad student, I’m definitely not looking to get another degree and I can only imagine the additional hard work it takes to go into a STEM field. (All the labs I needed to do during my short-lived stint as a chemical engineering major scared me off pretty quickly.)

Candle: The Fragrance Lab — GRL PWR 10oz. ($17.60)

GRL PWR smells like raspberry violet macarons, which I think matches the pinks and purples of the cover rather well.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang: I love this dang book, and I love how each character has their own things that they like to nerd about. For Stella, it’s order, number, and patterns. For Michael, it’s fashion and clothing. I wanted to find a scent to marry masculine and feminine without being too overpowering or cloying, since Stella is very sensitive and particular about scents.

Candle: Acacia Accents — Sugar & Spice 12oz. ($18)

Sugar and Spice contains notes of clove, vanilla, and orange. What really sold me on this one is the description in the listing: “It’s warm and comforting smell is the perfect way to make any room feel cozy.”

I Thee Wed by Celeste Bradley: This romance was full of catnip for Carrie: ballgowns, delicious food, and two scientists falling in love. Admittedly, I had some trouble finding something that matched Carrie’s delight, but the cover gave me some heavy spring/summer vibes. Plus, a good book can make you feel dreamy and swoony.

Candle: Frostbeard — Midsummer’s Dream 8oz. ($18)

This candle smells like sweet citrus, clover, and violet. The cover also inspired me to pick this candle by Totally Wicked Candles that smells like a lemon pound cake.

Beginner’s Guide: Love and Other Chemical Reactions by Six de los Reyes: “Seriously, if you love science and experiments and science nerdery, you’ll probably really like this book,” is what Sarah wrote in her review of this book. However, do you know impossibly it was to find a “science-y” candle on Etsy? SO IMPOSSIBLE! That meant I had to get a little creative.

Candle: Light the Pages Candles — It’s Elementary 7oz. ($10.93)

Because of Sherlock’s deductive reasoning and hypothesizing, I felt a Sherlock-inspired candle might be a close match for the heroine, Kaya. Besides, tea and fresh cotton seem like a great pairing for a candle. Sarah also pointed out that the hero runs a coffee and tea shop!

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Which candle/book pairing is your favorite? We’re always happy to do a Lit Wicks: Nerds in Love, Part Two, so leave us some suggestions below!