By Zoe Doyle, Sarah Lundy and Amy Wright
February is the designated ‘month of love’, with roses, chocolates and poetry verses making their way to loved ones. While romantic love is often the focus of this season, there are innumerable types of love that we experience throughout our lives - that of our family, friends and ourselves. To celebrate the diversity of love, we have selected books that feature this theme in its many forms.
Found Family
Anne of Green Gables by L.M Montgomery
Anne of Green Gables most certainly deserves a spot on this list as it highlights the fact that our true family is not always the one we are born into, but the one we find along the way. It is a charming portrait of the trials of growing up for a young girl on Prince Edward Island in the late 19th century. Anne Shirley is an eleven-year-old orphan sent to live with siblings, Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, at Green Gables in a case of mistaken identity – the Cuthberts had wanted a boy. Anne quickly wins them over, as well as the rest of the town, despite the trouble that usually finds her.
Self Love
Jane's Patisserie by Jane Dunn
This may seem like an odd suggestion for self love, as it isn't a self help book or a ten step plan to manifest your best self. However, I would argue that food is the way to everyone's hearts, including your own. Whether you're feeling low or you just need a distraction, baking is an amazing way to kill some time, enjoy the process and have something delicious at the end to top it all off.
This book, and Jane's blog by extension, has slowly become my best baking friend. If you're looking for the ultimate act of self care, bake yourself her NYC chocolate chip cookies. I've made them so many times now and I cannot get enough of them. It also makes everyone around me happy, too - bonus!
The Start of a New Relationship
Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon
The beginning of a new relationship is one of the main themes of Everything, Everything, in which the main character falls in love before she has even left her home. Having always been trapped inside due to a severe medical condition, Madeline begins to talk to her new neighbour, Olly, on the internet. As their unusual relationship develops, the couple are faced with multiple challenges in their attempts to meet up. This book is perfect escapism if you are looking for a cute and compelling romantic comedy this month. There is also a film adaptation to watch, too.
The End of a Relationship
Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams
A book about the ending of a relationship may not seem like an obvious read for the ‘month of love’, however Queenie is the perfect book to help you get over someone and laugh out loud in the process. After going through a drawn-out and brutal break-up with her long-term boyfriend, we see Queenie make a multitude of mistakes at work, within her friendship group and with dating apps – experiences that are likely to resonate with many modern women. Queenie is funny but also thought provoking, covering important topics including race, tokenism and mental health. Whilst the book is devastating at times, you can’t help but love Queenie and her flaws.
Familial Love
House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland
The bond of sisterhood is pushed to the extreme in this young adult, fantasy horror. As children, Iris and her two older sisters disappeared and returned months later with no memory of what happened to them. Nor did they return quite the same – their appearances changed and people are suddenly being drawn to them, compelled by their strange beauty. When Grey, Iris’s eldest sister, goes missing again, the sisters follow a breadcrumb trail of clues to find her, while being chased by a mysterious horned man. The novel is dark, earthy and deliciously creepy. The shared trauma of the sisters' past creates a unique and all-consuming bond which is tested as secrets are unveiled.
The Strength of Female Friendship
Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton
for our screens in 2022, Dolly Alderton's funny, brilliant and comforting book is one I recommend again and again. At face value, you may pick this book up thinking you were reading a memoir of Dolly's previous romantic relationships, but the common and fierce theme that runs through the centre of the book is the strength and beauty of female friendships.
It perfectly shows why these friendships have such a huge impact on us and why they're so vital to young women as we navigate our lives. It makes us appreciate the unique and powerful love that these relationships never fail to give.