The best books to warm your romantic heart

Although To All The Boys I Loved Before is marketed for young adults, it is a novel that any age will enjoy.

It’s incredibly fitting for me and anyone who struggles with overcoming the fear of expressing their feelings for someone; it is often easier to write about those feelings instead of openly telling them! I relate so much to the innocence and inquisitive personality of the protagonist, Lara-Jean Song Covey.

Her traits are similar to that of my own main character, Luna, in The Way We Were Before. They both share a deep love of family values that drives the decisions that take them through the plotted journey of their stories. It’s a light-hearted trilogy that will warm your soul. 

I’ve always loved stories that explore the themes of love and loss and how they entwine as one. All The Bright Places is no exception to this. Be warned; you may shed some tears!

The emotional connection you create with this book is something I tried to tap into with my own writing, and I hope that the authenticity of All The Bright Places is something that can be found in my own work. I love this book with my whole heart. I often write characters with past trauma, which becomes apparent as they begin working on themselves through the plot's unravelling.

I see so many similarities between my own characters to that of Violet Markey, a main character in All The Bright Places. She is what I consider to be an inspiration to my own writing from the very beginning. It’s truly an emotional tale filled with important topics of conversation that deserve to be heard. 

I remember how engrossed I was when I first read this story.

This is yet another inspiration for the plot of my own story. It’s another story that explores how characters faced with grief can come together, connecting through the loss in their lives.

I’ve always been fond of broken characters who help repair each other. In Letters to the Lost, the characters begin writing anonymous letters to each other about recurring issues in their lives. There is something quite heartwarming about the way others can help you heal. I think it’s a beautiful story, something I wish I could say I’d written. 

If you’re looking for something a bit more light-hearted, The Love Hypothesis is definitely for you.

Although it explores the enemies-to-lovers trope very well (my favourite type of trope to write and read!), it also takes on comedic undertones that give the story such a refreshing feel. Hazelwood is a great romance novelist (and a seriously smart STEM worker) and someone I look up to when it comes to the intricate creation of her plot.

The book was impossible to put down! I love reading her work so that I can improve upon my own enemies-to-lovers plotlines. 

A gut-wrenching but provokingly beautiful story that highlights an illness that isn’t spoken much about in fiction.

The relationship between Stella and Will is such a heartbreakingly warming story that gives the reader a new-found understanding of how cystic fibrosis can impact an individual's life. I enjoy reading stories involving new, important conversations that need to be had, especially on topics we don’t often see in novels.

I think it’s important for writing to help spread awareness. It’s something that I myself want to do more in my own work.