It's that time again when the whole world is obsessed with love. These romantic reads will get you in the mood for romance and/or will be an excellent accompaniment to a box of chocolates and a bottle of wine. They might also give you some (naughty) ideas of how to celebrate Valentine's Day. While a few of these titles are pure escapist fantasy, there are few stories of real-life romance, too.
Abigail Heyworth, rebel heiress, has spent the past ten years in a relationship (with a woman!) and traveling the world doing good. Eliot Cranbrooke is a warm, funny and sophisticated American businessman. As they keep meeting through family and friends from Paris to middle America, their relationship gets oh-so intimate and oh-so complicated. This is a sexy, flirty, humorous, emotional and epic contemporary romance. Oh, and the lingerie...don't get Eliot and I started on that!
Mia Strong is a young med student with a passion for gaming, loads of debt and a determination to remain single. The obvious solution is to auction off her virginity (she's 22. It's time.) Enter Adam Drake, the hot young CEO and founder of a gaming company. Their relationship should be quick and love shouldn't be a factor--ha! This is an agnsty, absorbing geek-romance set in stunning locales around the world.
If anyone should have this whole romance thing figured out, it's real life Harlequin editor Patience Bloom. From her teenage years at boarding school, to her funny experiences dating online, she's always comparing her real life to that of a romance novel. But while an expert on fictional love, real life love took a while to find her. She details it all in this humorous and heartwarming memoir.
Love Illuminated: Exploring Life's Most Mystifying Subject (with the Help of 50,000 Strangers) by Daniel Jones.
From the author of the New York Times column, Modern Love, this book examines the high and the lows of love based on the thousands of "love letters" that crossed his desk. This is a great read if you're serious about love.
Scribbling Women and the Real-Life Romance Heroes Who Love Them by Various Authors. This anthology collects real life romance stories from dozens of real life romance authors including, Katharine Ashe, Leanne Renee Hieber, Hope Tarr and Sarah Jane Stone. Even sweeter: all net proceeds from this novel will benefit Women in Need, an NYC-based charity that helps homeless and underprivileged women.
For more book recommendations, check out my Pinterest board or "Maya's Must Reads."