For some, there’s nothing more romantic than cozying up with a book on Valentine’s Day. Or maybe you’re going out and need something to read while you and your date wait for your table to open up when out for a fabulous dinner to celebrate the holiday. (It’s not unprecedented: Some of us always carry a book.)
So read on for romance.
“After Hours at Dooryard Books” by Cat Sebastian
In this novel set in a radical Greenwich Village bookstore during the tumult of the late-’60s, Patrick, a bookseller, takes in Nathaniel, a mysterious stranger who seems to fit in with the shop’s anti-establishment regulars.
“As Many Souls as Stars” by Natasha Siegel
A historical fantasy romance about the struggle between light and dark, this novel tells the story of two women entwined by a terrible bargain binding them across the passing centuries.
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“Carnival Fantástico” by Angela Montoya
A fortune-teller in a traveling carnival troupe teams up with a handsome military deserter – plus, he’s her ex! – investigating his family’s corruption in hopes that together they can solve their problems in this magical romantasy.
“Daddy Issues” by Kate Goldbeck
A debt-ridden, twentysomething PhD hopeful is living with her mother and working a dead-end job, hoping to find a way out, when a single father moves in next door with his 9-year-old daughter.
“The Everlasting” by Alix E. Harrow,
Harrow, known for “The Ten Thousand Doors of January” and “The Once and Future Witches,” delivers the goods again with a novel involving time travel, a formidable female knight and a soldier turned historian with a mission.
“Just for the Cameras” by Meghan Quinn
In this novel set in the Bay Area, a professional football player and a sexy zookeeper agree to engage in a fake public romance – there are reasons! – but what happens when the feelings start to seem real?
“Julia Song is Undateable” by Susan Lee
The title character is a success as the CEO of a cosmetics company, but a disaster at romance. So in an effort to appease her Korean grandmother, who just wants her to be happy (and married!), Julia Song hires a dating coach and …
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“The Re-Do List” by Denise Williams
In the wake of a painful breakup, a young woman agrees to dog-sit for her brother during his military deployment; she gets help from her brother’s handsome friend, who’s been given one order: Stay away from my little sister!
“Son of the Morning” by Akwaeke Emezi
In this paranormal romance set in the South, a young woman raised by a group of powerful Black women encounters what may be a literal boyfriend from hell in a tale of secrets, artifacts and powerful clashes between heaven, earth and beyond.