Books

From the unrequited to the fated: 11 romance novels that explore love in all its forms

Find your addictive Valentine's Day read.
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Popular culture has so much content about love that it feels like we’ll never run out of things to say about humanity’s most sought-after emotion.

However, nothing is sweeter than fiction.

While we can’t possibly experience every type of love story possible in our lives, because, for one, that would be exhausting and second time is a finite resource, we can read!

Whether it was a beach read that exceeded expectations, a classic like Pride and Prejudice, or a guilty pleasure like Twilight, every reader has that book with a love so clearly written, it feels like it’s almost happening.

These page-turners are so romantically captivating, all responsibilities get thrown out the window, the pages are unashamedly stained, and they breed an obsession akin to falling in literal love.

On theme for Valentine’s Day, here are 11 books with or about romance that will take over your life – for better or for worse.

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romance books

Love Stories – Trent Dalton

Trent spent two months in 2021 asking people, “can you please tell me a love story?” and from those observations and reflections comes a warm, funny and moving book that pays tribute to the feeling we don’t always understand but definitely need.

$24.75, Booktopia.

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romance books

The Stationery Shop of Tehran – Marjan Kamali

Set in Iran in the 50s, Roya falls in love with the handsome Bahman at her favourite stationery shop run by Mr Fakhri. However, Iran is changing around them and on the night before their wedding, the couple plans to meet in the town square, but when violence erupts, Bhaman never arrives. 60 years later, Roya finds herself at a college in California, but fate intervenes.

$17.95, Booktopia.

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romance books

Red, White & Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

Alex Claremont-Diaz is the first son who has a great marketing strategy for his mum, President Ellen Claremont. But when photos of a fight between him and his nemesis Prince Henry at a wedding leak, they stage a fake friendship between the men for damage control. However, the first son and prince find themselves in a secret relationship that could cause a major scandal.

$22.95, Booktopia.

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romance books

How We Love: Clementine Ford

Australia’s feminist icon wrote this memoir to understand love in all its forms, which is a nice break from stories about pure romance. She details her experience of losing her mum, her first love, and motherhood.

$22.50, Booktopia.

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romance books

Seven Days In June – Tia Williams

Eva Mercy is a single mum and erotica writer. Shane Hall is a reclusive award-winning author. When they meet a literary event, their chemistry is insane, but people don’t realise they already shared a week-long love affair years earlier and wrote about each other in their books. However, they’re pretending they don’t know each other, but how long can they deny their chemistry?

$48.25, Booktopia.

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romance books

Love in the Time of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez

This work of magical realism is about Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza, who fell deeply in love in their youth. However, Fermina chooses to marry a wealthy doctor, and Florentino is distraught. Over decades, he becomes a successful businessman and has 622 affairs until Fermina’s husband dies, and he plans to declare his love again.

$33.75, Booktopia.

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romance books

Everything I Know About Love – Dolly Alderton

The High Low‘s Dolly loves love, and this memoir about her experiences in early adulthood is a beautiful ode to many of life’s purest moments but none more than friendship. However, it also dives deep into the painful heartaches and losses we must overcome to grow. It’s also getting made into a television show, so it’s best to get your hands on a copy ASAP.

$20.35, Booktopia.

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romance books

Like Water For Chocolate – Laura Esquivel

This worldwide bestseller translated from Spanish is magical realism at its best. It follows the unusual history of the all-female De La Garza family and Tita, the youngest girl, who is forbidden to marry her one true love, Pedro after her mother dies as per Mexican traditions. But over the next 22 years, freak tragedies, bad luck, and fate will bring them back to one another.

$17.95, Booktopia.

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romance books

The Course of Love – Alain de Botton

Modern philosopher Alain de Botton wrote this novel to discover how to survive, endure and flourish in a relationship after the honeymoon period. Characters Rabih and Kristen find their love is complicated when they settle down, start a family and build a home – it’s a more realistic view on relationships that isn’t bleak.

$17.25, Booktopia.

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romance books

Less – Sean Greer

A failed novelist is about to enter his 50s when a wedding invitation from his former boyfriend of nine years who is engaged to someone else. Unsure how to accept or decline the invitation, he accepts every literary invitation from events around the world. But can our novelist escape the past on his 80-day journey? Less is a touching novel filled with passages worth underlying with pen, for it speaks to the flaws and beauty of the human heart.

$22.75, Booktopia.

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romance books

People We Meet on Vacation – Emily Henry

Alex and Poppy may have nothing in common, but they became best friends after sharing a car home during college until one fateful vacation ruined everything. However, two years later, Poppy realises that the last time she was happy was when they were friends, so she convinces Alex to take one more holiday with her – but what could go wrong?

$33.25, Booktopia.

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