BOOKS Snuggle up with a book that lets the love shine in. Here are our romantic reads to get you in the mood for Valentine’s Day.
Whether it’s a historical saga, a torrid bodiceripper or a contemporary tale of love in our times, there are plenty of romantic reads out there to enjoy with your Valentine. Here are 10 choices to warm your heart .
1. Last Chance In Paris
By Lynda Marron (Eriu)
From a new voice in
Irish fiction comes this story following an Irish couple’s make or break trip to Paris as they try to save their marriage. Other characters with emotional issues who emerge in the city of love include a student from Boston torn between love and duty, a Hollywood producer looking back with regret at his life, and a Ukrainian refugee trying to protect her older sister.
2. Island In The Sun
By Katie Fforde (Century, Feb 15)
Bestselling author
Fforde recently received a lifetime achievement award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association, and is a force to be reckoned with for her uplifting tales of romance. So fans should bag a copy of her latest. It finds Cass on an unusual photography project in the Caribbean where she falls for her travel companion Ranulph who is in search of rare stone carvings her father wants her to photograph.
3. One Love
By Matt Cain (Headline Review) Writer, broadcaster, commentator and ambassador for Manchester
Pride Matt Cain tells the uplifting tale of Danny and Guy, who become friends at university and 20 years later, when both single for the first time in their adult lives, return to the Gay Village of Manchester Pride. Danny plans to tell Guy he has always been in love with him. Told in two timelines, 2002 and 2022, the novel highlights challenges they faced and why they never got together in the first place.
4. The Bride
By Ali Hazelwood (Sphere)
From the author of The Love Hypothesis comes this paranormal romance involving a dangerous alliance between an Alpha werewolf and a Vampyre bride, who surrenders herself to her mortal enemies the Weres to keep the peace – and to fight for the only thing she’s ever cared about...
5. The Memory Of Us By Dani Atkins (Head of Zeus, Aria,, Feb 15)
Three-times winner of the Romantic Novelists’
Association award,
Atkins draws on her own experience of a cardiac arrest in lockdown to bring readers this story about Amelia, whose heart attack leads to her having false memories of a man named Sam, and a love story that never existed. Enter her sister Lexi who seeks help from local vet Nick – looking uncannily like Sam – and together they set out to trigger true memories for Amelia while falling in love themselves.
6. Enchanted Hill By
Emily Bain Murphy (Union Square & Co) Glitz and glamour in 1930s’ Prohibition Hollywood is the setting for this tale of second-chance romance with a dose of mystery and intrigue. The story centres around Cora Mccavanagh, an aspiring PI posing as a maid at Hollywood magnate Truman Byrd’s legendary estate.
In between champagne-fuelled parties, Cara searches for damning evidence for a high-profile client.
But when a romantic figure from her past reappears, new desires emerge and the stakes are raised, as a single false move could send both their secret identities crashing down.
7. Once Upon A Leap Year
By Anna Bell (HQ) From the author of Note To Self comes this enjoyable romcom, which follows the paths of two leap-year babies who meet on a trip to Calais. It soon becomes clear there’s a spark, but at the time both are with other partners.
The story follows them every four years on their birthday over the next two decades as they share each other’s significant moments – weddings, babies, jobs, family illnesses – and then fall in love.
8. Big Date Energy
By Bethany Rutter (Harperfiction) The journalist and blogger, who writes about fat bodies, plus-size fashion and body politics, brings us this steamy queer romcom.
It follows serial monogamist Fran who has waited years to be single and, fresh from a break-up, becomes determined to date as many people as possible.
That is until Ivy, the one who got away, shows up unexpectedly and throws Fran’s plan off course.
9. The Wedding Of The Year
By Jill Mansell (Headline Review) Set in a picture-postcard Cornish village, there’s a wedding about to take place, but like all good romantic tales, nothing goes quite as planned.
The story focuses on three main characters – bride-to-be Freya, wedding guest Lottie, and Ruby, the vicar’s wife – and how their characters interconnect.
Along the way there are secrets and lies but ultimately this turns out to be a wonderfully feelgood, funny read and a classic.
10. One Day
By David Nicholls (Hodder & Stoughton) With a new tie-in cover to the forthcoming Netflix mini-series adaptation starring Ambika Mod and Leo Woodall (which started yesterday), this timeless classic sees Dexter and Emma meeting for the first time on the night of their graduation from the University of Edinburgh.
It then follows their paths in life, their ups and downs, both together and apart, and somehow managing to remain the most important people in each other’s lives.
This is sheer magic and certainly worth revisiting.