Fans pick 100 books like How to Love

I read The Sky is Everywhere shortly after it was published in 2010, very early in my own pursuit to become a published author. So clearly, I remember absorbing the novel’s final words, closing its cover, and thinking I want people to feel like this after reading the stories I write. In other words: enchanted, affected, and wonderfully content. Lennie’s story of loss and recovery, punctuated by rash decisions, dreamy poetry, and swoony first love, is one that’s stayed with me for more than a decade. 

I’m fascinated by books that take place in college, a rich transitional time where characters are still teens–insecure and figuring things out–but also with new adult responsibilities and freedoms. 

This book took me back to those late teen years of uncertainty and new adventures. The protagonist, Penny, is thrilled to be away from home at the University of Austin, Texas, but even more thrilled by meeting Sam, an aspiring filmmaker who works in a local café. These two couldn’t be more awkward, and through most of the book, they are too anxious to actually meet up and only communicate through text. Their final meet-up, like any good romance, is thrilling.

I loved the snappy dialogue and texts and the deep development of Choi’s characters. I also loved that author Choi’s website is called Choi to the World.

The Last Thing You Said is one of those romances for which a happy ending feels utterly impossible—until its final pages. Main characters Lucy and Ben are struggling to cope with their sorrow after Trixie, Lucy’s best friend and Ben’s sister, suddenly passes. Further complicating Lucy and Ben’s grief are their romantic feelings for each other, feelings they were only just beginning to acknowledge the day Trixie died. This story is gorgeous and intense; it broke my heart a hundred times before slowly and satisfyingly piecing it back together. 

This story’s protagonist, Jessi, remains one of my favorite YA protagonists; she’s the sort of girl I would’ve loved being friends with as a teenager. And the Cohen boys… it’s no wonder Jessi is so enamored with them both! A poignant narrative centering around unimaginable tragedy, Some Other Now combines two of my favorite romance tropes: the boy next door and the love triangle. It’s a story about best friends, broken families, and love in all its fiercest forms, written with thoughtfulness and lyricism.

If I had a dollar for every time a witch asked me for a love spell, I’d never have to work again. All jokes aside, love is utterly magical, and magic is often used in finding love. I adore this book because it’s so thorough. Before any spells or rituals are revealed, it focuses on self-love and healing the past. These are fundamental practices that a lot of other love spell books skip.

It also has information about how you can write magical intentions to attract the right person ethically. Of course, there are also tons of effective spells and rituals. There’s also a Damiana cordial recipe that’s absolutely phenomenal. 

This book is heartbreaking and magical. I thought at first it was a romance novel, but a speculative twist took me by surprise. I became enthralled in those chapters not wanting to leave them. Not quite believing the brilliance of the premise. My daughter had gone through a very similar situation, so every emotion felt raw, and I completely engaged with Anna’s dilemma. How could she choose what to do? I tentatively told my daughter about it and after reading it, she agreed it was amazing too. The ending, which brought me to tears, is hopeful and poignant. It is such a unique story, but I won’t spoil it by mentioning the theme portrayed in it. 

I know that including a Peter Pan reimagining where the narrator is a fairy in Neverland seems odd for a list like this, but this book captured my heart as few others have.

It focuses on Tiger Lily but is told from Tinkerbell’s perspective: an outsider is looking upon an outsider. The unique perspective and beautiful narrative made me, a girl on the periphery, wonder what stories even the quietest of us have to tell. 

Willow Aster’s debut novel is one of my all-time favorite second chance romances. The story of Sparrow and Ian is one of deep love and unbelievably bad timing. Life seems to constantly put them together only to rip them apart but somehow they keep finding each other. True Love Story made me believe in soulmates and the power of letting go of the past to create a beautiful future. It will break your heart and mend it back together in the most beautiful way!

I highly recommend this book, especially if you’re in a reading slump. This is the exact one that brought me out of mine. I needed to not only feel I was in another world but escape my very own.

With Stephanie Garber’s writing ability being able to make you hear, taste, feel, see and smell every single detail of her words, I promise you’ll never want to leave her vision. Jacks starts out very mischievous and cruel, but his protective behavior of his “little fox” leaves you begging for his heart. It’s no wonder they call him the prince of hearts.

There’s so much mystery and puzzle pieces to put together, you’ll feel like a detective while lost in a story of love.

This book is charming, charming, charming. Did I mention that it’s charming? But it’s not all sweetness and light. I love books that weave together beauty and danger, and dazzle me with imagery that paints vivid pictures in my head. The prose is extraordinary, full of deception, danger, romance and glamour, hard choices, and sinister forces. The fair folk are exquisitely described, but beneath their perfect exteriors, they are opportunists, decaying, hollow, and cruel. The writing is quite beautiful, the plot and characters entrancing. I wish this was a series because I had a serious book hangover upon closing the last page.