February is a month of romance, hearts, valentines and love. While Valentine’s Day focuses on romance, love in many forms can fill our lives throughout the year.
If you’re craving a good love story, whether it’s from a feel-good romance story, something with some heartbreak, or a story of the love of longtime friends, consider adding some of these titles to your reading list.
“Becoming Mrs. Lewis” by Patti Callahan
This historical novel offers a glimpse into the unlikely relationship between Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis. Their connection began by exchanging letters as friends and developed into a great love story.
“I’ll Push You: A Journey of 500 Miles, Two Best Friends, and One Wheelchair” by Patrick Gray
Two lifelong friends make a 500-mile trek on the Camino de Santiago, after the diagnosis of a neuromuscular disease, leaving one friend without use of his arms and legs.
“The Last Letter from Your Lover” by Jojo Moyes
Jennifer Stirling wakes up with amnesia after a car accident. As she tries to piece together memories, she discovers a love letter from an unknown man. Forty years later, Ellie Haworth finds the love letter and tries to find out what happened to the lovers, hoping for her own happily-ever-after.
“Silver Thaw: A Mystic Creek Novel” by Catherine Anderson
After years of living in fear of her husband, Amanda Banning has left for a fresh start. But she’s having a tough time providing for herself and her daughter. Writing her secret yearnings on slips of paper and sending them into the wind helps her cling to the hope that things will get better and that she can find happiness again. Book one of the Mystic Creek series.
“My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead: Great Love Stories, from Chekhov to Munro,” edited by Jeffrey Eugenides
A collection of love stories including works by Raymond Carver, Alice Munro, William Faulkner and Eileen Chang. “When it comes to love, there are a million theories to explain it. But when it comes to love stories, things are simpler. A love story can never be about full possession. Love stories depend on disappointment, on unequal births and feuding families, on matrimonial boredom and at least one cold heart. Love stories, nearly without exception, give love a bad name.” (from the introduction)
“Unmarriageable” by Soniah Kamal
In this one-of-a-kind retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider.
“Enemies in Love: a German POW, a Black Nurse and an Unlikely Romance” by Alexis Clark
A true and deeply moving narrative of forbidden love during World War II and a shocking, hidden history of race on the home front
To pick up a copy of one of these great reads, stop by the Sequim Branch Library, located at 630 N. Sequim Ave. For more information, call 360-683-1161 and the library is there to be loved 24/7 at www.nols.org.
Emily Sly is the Library Manager at the Sequim Library.
