Cue Cupid flying out of this email and hitting you square in the face with his arrow.
I love people, I love my husband, and I love my cat. But I hate Valentine’s Day. Every business is overflowing with hearts, cookies, and flowers. Everything’s fuchsia, red, or pink. Seriously, why is this a holiday?Â
To make matters worse, all of my favorite book influencers, bloggers, and sellers are only recommending romance books. There’s no escaping the love fest.Â
I have famously avoided every popular smut book on the market (I’m looking at you, ACOTAR), so Valentine’s Day and romance reads are not high on my TBR.Â
That being said, if there’s a bandwagon, I will always jump on it for at least five minutes, just to see where it’s going. This Valentine’s Day, we’re recommending books about love— all kinds of love.Â
If you’re planning to throw chocolates at the TV Elle Woods-style this Valentine’s Day, grab these books first. Â
By Dolly Alderton
There’s a reason you’ve seen this book everywhere. Dolly Alderton takes us on bad dates, chats over drunken FaceTimes, and agonizes about career shifts. The non-fiction and personal essay structure of the book leaves us questioning if a happily ever after is in the cards for Alderton. Brilliant, truthful, and only slightly cringy, this book is the best friend you didn’t know you needed.Â
By Sophie Cousens
Life isn’t going great for Lucy Young. Her job stinks, her love life is a mess, and none of her friends’ lives suck this much. When she stumbles upon a wish machine, she just wants to skip to the good part. And when she wakes up the next morning married, the boss of a company, and a mother of two, she begins to question if she was already at the good part after all.
By Katherine Center
After years of struggling to make it in life, Sadie finally got her golden ticket in the form of a national portrait competition. Things are looking up for her. Until she gets in an accident and winds up with facial blindness— making faces a disjointed puzzle in her brain. Add her perfect man (a veterinarian) and her arch-nemesis (bowling jacket guy) and Sadie has a lot more than faces to puzzle together.Â
The Things We Leave Unfinished
By Rebecca Yarros
When Georgia came home to settle her late great-grandmother's estate, she never expected she’d have to battle for the rights to her great-grandmother’s final novel with smut writer Noah Harrison. As the two are forced to pour over old love letters Scarlett left, Georgia holds fast to the knowledge that true love should stay on the page.Â
By Jessa Hastings
Love is messy, especially for Magnolia Parks and BJ Ballentine. No one can keep the two away from each other, no matter who else they may be dating. Gossip Girl for Londoners, the Magnolia Parks universe is messy, luxe, and potentially the best book series you will ever read.Â
*We cannot pay your therapy bill after reading this book
By Ashley Poston
Clementine is just trying to survive this crazy thing called life. Unfortunately, that becomes a bit more difficult when she finds a strange man sitting in her late aunt’s apartment like he owns the place. Things continue to go haywire when she realizes the man visited the apartment seven years ago. Maybe her aunt was onto something when she said the apartment was a pinch in time…