Valentine’s Day and February in general can be a bittersweet period for many. I love love and all that comes with it but the overly commercialized, over-the-top declarations of it during this singular day make me want to unplug from it all.
For a change, this year, I’m opting out of romance. Romance books that is. And going the non-romance route toward love. Anti-valentines, if you may. The month of February offers a terrific opportunity for each of us to remember all the other forms of love around us. Admittedly, when you take romantic love out of the picture, there is room for all kinds of beautiful dynamic experiences to bloom.
From friendship and its dynamics to the twists of family relationships to the greatly under-explored connection between people and non-human creatures, I’ve compiled a list of books that will be an excellent escape from all Valentine’s day cliche. Explore love in all its many forms with these non-romance but love-filled books.
THE LAST HOUSE GUEST BY MEGAN MIRANDA
In the small resort town of Littleport, a friendship between wealthy visitors and local service residents is highly unlikely. Until Sadie and Avery.
Wealthy summer girl Sadie Loman and Littleport resident Avery Greer have been inseparable every summer for the last decade- until Sadie is found dead at the infamous end-of-summer party. Ruled out as suicide, Avery can’t help but feel that someone knows more than they are sharing.
A year later, new evidence surfaces indicating that Sadie’s death may have been murder, and Avery is now under suspicion. Still grieving her friend’s death, Avery sets out to clear her name before she is branded her best friend’s murderer.
The Last House Guest starts off our list of books about love with friendship and its complexities. Explore the elusive nature of memory, dizzying plot twists, and intricately plotted crimes with this edge-of-the-seat book.
Rave Review
‘Dizzying plot twists and multiple surprise endings are this author’s stock in trade… And, oh boy, does she ever know how to write [them].’
Marilyn Stasio, New York Times Book Review
DOG SONGS BY MARY OLIVER
In the spirit of celebrating non-romantic love, we explore the special bond between dogs and humans. If you are a dog person, this book about love for canines will appeal to you.
The author welcomes us to her beautiful relationship with her dogs that have accompanied her during her daily walks, warmed her home and even inspired her work. The book is a collection of poems that begin with small everyday moments that every dog owner can relate to and then unfolds into an exploration of meditations and the world around us through Oliver’s extraordinary point of view.
The tremendous influence dogs had on Mary Oliver’s life goes to show the powerful connection in the human-canine bond. Dog lover or not, this powerful collection of poems demonstrates just how much our animal friends can impact our lives.
Rave Review
“Renowned for her love of nature, Ms. Oliver writes exquisite, lyrical poems that . . . remind the reader of how much there is to love in this world. Nowhere is this love more evident than in Oliver’s latest collection, Dog Songs . . . These poems will make you smile, laugh, cry and nod your head in delighted agreement.”
The Bark
SERENA SINGH FLIPS THE SCRIPT BY SONYA LALLI
Happiness does not look the same for everyone. That’s what Serena tries to prove to her family in this savvy novel.
Marriage and children do not fit in Serena’s definition of happiness. Self-reliant, smart, confident with a top level job, Serena believes she is winning at life but with her younger sister’s wedding fast approaching her family’s pressure is also rising. The battle to show them that she and her sister are two different people with different desires out of life continues.
This strong belief begins to crack when her new found friendship with a co-worker shows her that there is joy and happiness in letting people in and not having to stand all on your own.
Serena Singh Flips The Script is a book about friendship written in the beat often spotted in typical romance books, which makes the book even more unputdownable.
Rave Review
“Sonya Lalli’s savvy novel puts relationships in all of their forms–family, friends, and romance–on even footing as a young woman works to find happiness.”
Shelf Awareness
THREE THINGS ABOUT ELSIE BY JOANNA CANNON
There are a few things you need to know about Elsie; some require a little more explaining than others. But first, her friend Florence needs help.
Eighty-four-year-old Florence is admitted to Cherry Tree Home for the Elderly against her wishes; however, her friend Elsie is making her stay much more bearable. Unfortunately, she accidentally falls in her room, and as she awaits help, she lays on the floor contemplating the life she and Elsie have lived. Flashes from her gap-filled memory begin to appear- is the new resident in the home from her past? Are their secrets coming to light?
This is a book about love and friendship- past and present. A poignant and captivating novel that paints a vivid portrait of aging, loneliness, memory loss, and the illuminating beauty of friendship.
Rave Review
“A heartwarming meditation on friendship and the way people we love shape us for the rest of our days.”
Bookpage
JUST KIDS BY PATTI SMIT
Just Kids is a memoir by legendary American artist Patti Smith. A book in the form of a love letter to her longtime bestfriend Robert Mapplethorpe.
In a book she promised she would write, Patti lets us in on a never-seen-before side of her beautiful friendship (which got romantic here and there)with the phenomenal photographer. The memoir chronicles her life as a budding musician and how it intertwined with that of Mapplethorpe. Making a pact to take care of each other during a time of heightened tensions in the worlds of rock and roll, poetry, and art, the two would go out of their way to provide for one another.
Published a few decades after Mapplethorpe’s death, this moving memoir is written with the same lyrical quality as the rest of her work of formidable art. It’s an ode to the city of New York of the sixties and seventies and a prelude to fame for America’s greatest creatives.
Rave Review
“Reading rocker Smith’s account of her relationship with photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, it’s hard not to believe in fate. How else to explain the chance encounter that threw them together, allowing both to blossom? Quirky and spellbinding.”
People
THE INHERITANCE OF ORQUÍDEA DIVINA BY ZORAIDA CÓRDOVA
Rumor has it that Orquidea is a witch!
Her family knows better than to ask too many questions about it even though they have wondered for years why the pantry never runs out or why Orquidea never leaves her home- not even for weddings or birthdays.
When Orquidea summons the entire family to visit her and collect their inheritance before she dies, they hope to finally get answers to the questions they’ve held for years. However, her transformation leaves them with more questions than ever before, nobody is second guessing the witch theory.
Seven years after her death, Orquidea’s gifts begin to manifest in her descendants, but a hidden figure seems to be out on a quest to tear the family apart and destroy Orquidea’s line.
With a threat prevailing over them, we see the ties that bind a family together come into play in this spellbinding book of love, magic and mystery.
Rave Review
“An expertly woven tale of family power, threaded with as much mystery as magic. This book is simply exquisite.”
V.E. Schwab, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
GINGERBREAD BY HELEN OYEYEMI
The magic of a mother-daughter bond.
Gingerbread holds a special and mysterious place in children’s classic stories, and the mystery continues in this delightful tale of a family’s legacy and it’s unique inheritance- a recipe. Harriet and Perdite Lee look like your single-parent family next door, but when you look a little closer, there are signs that show they may not be exactly who they seem.
This contemporary fairytale by Helen Oyeyemi takes readers on a magical journey that will unearth long-buried secrets, stir up jealousy, reforge love and friendship and give you a gingerbread craving. The author’s creativity and imagination in depicting the bond of mother and daughter is inimitable and reader-addictive.
Rave Review
“Helen Oyeyemi is a master of reinventing tropes from traditional fairy tales to say something entirely new about the world we live in. She twists familiar stories in entirely unpredictable ways, and her books never end up where you thought they would when you started.”
Vulture
ON CATS BY DORIS LESSING
In the spirit of celebrating love in its diverse forms, here comes a book about love for the sly, domesticated creatures that accompanied the author throughout her life.
Doris Lessing was fascinated by cats from a tender age and would grow into real love. In this one-of-a-kind memoir, Lessing lets us in on her life with these handsome domesticated felines, their adventures together, the rivalry, the bonds formed, and the simplicity of it all.
She tells us about herself through cats, how they affected and influenced her and her them, and the connection that grew between them- a language so fluent between them it bordered the spoken word.
It is no secret that Lessing had a deep love for her cats, and this special little book shows the lasting paw prints these felines have left in her life. No author has been able to convey the unique relationship humans and cats share.
Cat lover or not, this book is just too beautiful and romantic in a furry and fuzzy kind of way to pass on. Ps. If you look closely, it’s not really about the cats.
Rave Review
“Lessing’s prose catches at the heart, close-ups of cats in unforgettable word paintings.”
Pittsburg Tribune Review
A TALE FOR THE TIME BEING BY RUTH OZEKI
A Tale For The Time is a unique book about a friendship that traverses decades and continents.
We meet Ruth, a skilled novelist who lives in a remote island. She discovers a Hello Kitty lunchbox washed ashore and in it is a diary she can’t help but read and is hooked. But whose diary is this and whose story is she reading?
Enter Nao, a sixteen-year-old girl from Tokyo who struggled with bullying and extreme loneliness all through highschool. She chose journaling as her escape from her lonely life and chose to use it to document the life of her Buddhist nun grandmother who led an extraordinary life.
Even though the three are worlds apart, with a huge time gap, their stories intertwine and present a unique kind of love. A stranger’s love for a lonely teenager, a teenager’s dear love for her grandmother and humanity’s love for the earth.
This is definitely an extraordinary love story you must read.
Rave Review
“Ozeki weaves together Nao’s adolescent yearnings with Ruth’s contemplative digressions, adding bits of Zen wisdom, as well as questions about agency, creativity, life, death, and human connections along the way. A Tale for the Time Being is a dreamy, spiritual investigation of how to gracefully meet the waves of time, which, in the end, come for us all.”
The Daily Beast
Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik
This is definitely one book that depicts love- true love that is far from romantic but sure is essential and beautiful.
Welcome to Freesia Court, where five besties believe there is nothing tasty desserts, good coffee, and a shoulder to lean on can’t fix. Together, they form their neighborhood book club dubbed AHEB (Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons). A book club that becomes more than just the books they read; it becomes their lifeline as they hold each other up for four eventful decades.
As they navigate stay-at-home life, children and grandchildren, shattered dreams, new jobs, and fresh starts, we get to see the true definition of love and forgiveness. A romantic love story about friends that will make you want to start your own neighborhood bookclub.
Rave Review
“It is impossible not to get caught up in the lives of the book group members. . . . Landvik’s gift lies in bringing these familiar women to life with insight and humor.”
The Denver Post
THE MAGICAL LANGUAGE OF OTHERS: A MEMOIR BY E.J. KOH
As we continue to explore the numerous forms of love around us, Eun Ji Koh introduces us to an intergenerational love story between the women in her family via this heartfelt, poignant memoir.
After a decade in the US, Eun Ji’s parents return to South Korea, leaving Eun Ji and her brother in California- a world that turns strange with the absence of their mother. Despite being so far away, Eun Ji’s mother stays in touch by writing her letters seeking forgiveness and reassuring her of her love, but they are in Korean, and Eun Ji doesn’t quite understand them.
Years later, Eun Ji finds the hidden letters and decides to translate them. In this process, she learns about her grandmothers- the horrors they witnessed, the people they were, and how her experiences and theirs all tie together.
In this beautiful memoir, Eun Ji takes us along as she grapples with forgiveness and intergenerational trauma, as well as her journey to finding answers to critical life questions.
The Magical Language of Others is a book about love and its complexities, especially with family.
Rave Review
“Weaving the handwritten Korean letters, the English translations and longer chapters recounting her own story intertwined with those of the women who came before her, Koh (who is now based in Seattle) renders a uniquely beautiful work of literature.”
The Seattle Times
HOW THE PENGUINS SAVED VERONICA BY HAZEL PRIOR
A cranky old woman, her estranged grandson, a group of scientists, and a colony of penguins. Welcome to Antarctica!
Veronica McCreedy is not close to her family. At eighty-four, she is looking to leave her wealth to someone or something worthwhile. She watches a documentary about penguins being studied in Antarctica. With nothing but time on her hands, she calls the scientists conducting the studies, informing them that she would be visiting the base. Without taking no for an answer, despite numerous attempts and protests, Veronica makes her visit. Not too long after her arrival, she convinces the team of scientists, though reluctantly, to rescue a little penguin that had been orphaned.
Her grandson Patrick also visits as he makes his final attempt at connecting with his grandmother. It is a rollercoaster of unlikely-to-like-each-other people that ends up teaching them all about the essence of family and beautiful connections.
Rave Review
“A warm and witty journey of self-discovery. Prior proves that it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be. But it might require a trip to Antarctica. And penguins.”
Wendy Wax, USA Today bestselling author of My Ex-Best Friend’s Wedding
ARSENIC AND ADOBO BY MIA P. MANANSALA
Lila is moving back home. Back to that small town, she escaped as soon as she graduated high school. And she is not going back entirely willingly, but with a love life that is falling apart and a family business in need of saving, her life seems to be turning into a typical rom-com story.
Being back home means being surrounded by family, which includes nosey aunties who won’t give up matchmaking Lila. She knows they come from a place of love but that love also comes with great judgment. Everything is fine until a well-known food critic drops dead after Lila serves him a meal. The food critic also happens to be her ex-boyfriend.
Lila’s rom-com life immediately shifts to a crime thriller, with the cops treating her like the only suspect. With the help of her friends and a nosey auntie network, Lila puts on her Agatha Christie hat and embarks on her own investigation, which lands her on the edge of danger.
A mystery crime thriller about love between family, friends, and making peace with the past, Arsenic and Adobo is sure to get you hooked.
Rave Review
“This debut introduces readers to Filipino American food and culture, with its emphasis on family. There are cozy tropes (the close-knit community, the food business), but the emphasis on the Tagalog language, the culture, and drug dealing in a small town add gravity and individuality to this outstanding series kick-off.”
Library Journal, starred review
BIG FRIENDSHIP: HOW WE KEEP EACH OTHER CLOSE BY AMINATOU SOW AND ANN FRIEDMAN
It has been said numerous times, in different languages, by different people since history- relationships take work. But how about friendships?
A close friendship also requires work, and we get to read about just how much it takes to build and what this ‘work’ looks like through the friendship of the authors: Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman. They are the hosts of the hit podcast Call Your Girlfriend, where they are known not to shy away from frank, difficult intimate conversations, and they bring that same energy to this inspiring and, quite frankly, entertaining book.
They share the sweet, charming, messy, heartbreaking phases of their friendship as well as why and how they have weathered the storms over the years. A book that is refreshingly honest about the value we place on our friendship that is nothing short of entertaining.
Rave Review
“[A] thoughtful and highly readable story… Friendship is a choice. With this book, Sow and Friedman remind us that laziness in tending to friendships is dangerous, and that regardless of the circumstance, whether geography or pandemic, friendships must be nourished, or they will wither.”
New York Times Book Review