Valentine’s is coming up, and whether or not you have someone special this holiday, it’s always nice to experience those butterflies in your stomach and that warm, fuzzy feeling in your chest that comes from being with a significant other or from just reading a good romance novel.
So in light of this season of love, we’ve curated a list of romance novels ranging from genres of contemporary, fantasy and historical fiction that are sure to capture your heart.
Lovely War by Julie Berry
Lovely War is a Young Adult historical fiction romance with a fantastical twist. It’s the peak of World War I when Hazel, a pianist, and James, a newly minted soldier, meet at a London party before James is dispatched to fight in the trenches. Aubrey Edwards, a gifted Harlem ragtime musician, is also being sent to war where he meets Colette Fournier, a Belgian refugee, in a YMCA relief hut. Thirty years later, in the midst of World War II, at an elegant Manhattan hotel, the Goddess Aphrodite recounts these two intertwining love stories to her husband, Hephaestus, and her lover, Ares, the God of War. She attempts to answer the question: Why are Love and War forever drawn to one another? As the story unfurls, it becomes apparent that this is not just a tale of the romance of four lovers, but a layered narrative of prejudice, trauma, friendship, music and hope.
The Spanish Love Deception by Elena Armas
Spanish Love Deception is an Adult contemporary romance full of crowd favorite tropes like enemies-to-lovers, slow burn and fake dating. Catalina Martin is in a crisis. It’s four weeks til her sister's wedding in Spain and she told her family that she’s bringing her American boyfriend. The only problem is she’s single—has been single for six years after her last relationship blew up in her face—and now she needs to find someone to fly with her from New York to Spain and pretend to be her fake boyfriend. And her only option—the one person who unexpectedly volunteered for the job? The 6’4 blue-eyed pain in her ass, her workplace archnemesis, Aaron Blackford. To Catalina, it sounds like a recipe for disaster, but perhaps it is one that could lead to a Happily Ever After.
A Court of Thorns and Roses Trilogy by Sarah J. Maas
The A Court of Thorns and Roses Trilogy is a New Adult fantasy trilogy loosely based on Beauty and the Beast, and Hades and Persephone. The first book opens with 19-year-old huntress Feyre killing a wolf in the woods without knowing that the creature is actually a faerie—one of the dangerous, immortal beings who once ruled their world. A beast appears, demanding her life in exchange for the one she took, whisking her away to his estate in the magical land of the fae. Feyre soon realizes that her captor is not a beast but Tamlin, a fae and a High Lord, and she finds her feelings for him transforming from icy animosity to burning passion. But all is not as it seems in faerie—an ancient, evil darkness is plaguing the lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it or lose Tamlin and doom their world forever.
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
The Song of Achilles is a retelling of the Iliad, specifically the tale of the legendary Greek hero, Achilles, told in the perspective of his best friend and lover, exiled prince Patroclus. The novel humanizes the characters of Greek myth, and takes readers through the development of Achilles and Patroculus’ relationship—from their blossoming friendship when they meet as children, to their growing romantic feelings at adolescence as they train with Chiron the centaur. When Helen of Sparta is kidnapped and heroes of Greece are called to fight in her name, Achilles joins the war with Patroclus in tow. Despite its strength, will the bond of Achilles and Patroclus be able to stand firm and true in the throes of war, especially at the hands of the cruel Fates?
Love and Gelato by Jenna Evans Welch
Love and Gelato is a Young Adult contemporary romance. The novel begins with 17-year-old grief-stricken Lina begrudgingly visiting Florence for the summer to fulfill her mother’s dying wish that she spend a summer in Tuscany and get to know her father, a man she had never met and never even heard of. There, Lina receives a journal that her mom wrote while she had studied in Italy. In order to understand her mom better, and with the guidance of the journal, Lina follows her mother’s footsteps as she explores Italy alongside boy-next-door Ren. As the story progresses and Lina begins to fall in love with the charms of Italy, she finds herself in the face of uncovering a secret that will change everything she knew about her mother, father, and subsequently, herself.
We hope this gives you a few new titles to read this February. What are you waiting for? Get comfortable, open up that book or kindle, and start living and loving vicariously through these swoon-worthy, breathtaking stories and romances.