Image credit: Victoria Ford / Penguin
Some people enjoy good company, cheer and novelty socks for Christmas. For others, it’s all about festive romance: kisses under the mistletoe and a Spotify playlist with plenty of bells and carols in minor keys. If you have one such romantic on your Christmas list, and you haven’t got a handy love interest to introduce them to then a book can conjure similarly warm and fuzzies before they're swept off their feet in the New Year.
We’ve selected some of our favourite tales of lifelong affairs, thwarted passions, star-crossed lovers and a fair few rolls in the hay, from this year’s hottest releases to time-honoured classics you may have missed.
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Would that we’d ever had a break-up this civilised! Six months ago, Harriet and Wyn broke up…and they still haven’t told their friends. Or anyone. Their favourite time of year is their annual holiday to a cottage with their best pals, but with the cottage up for sale, this is the last time they’ll spend there and they don’t want to spoil it. But can they hide the truth from the friends who know them best?
Someone Else's Shoes by Jojo Moyes
A queen of romantic fiction, Jojo Moyes is also brilliant at writing about the tricky tapestry that family and friendship weave in our lives. Sam and Nisha don’t even realise they’ve crossed paths until it turns out they’ve each got the other’s bag by mistake. Both are in difficulties: Sam at work, and Nisha has just been handed divorce papers. The answer might just lie in each other.
Again, Rachel by Marian Keyes
Twenty-five years after Keyes’ much-loved heroine debuted in the ironically-titled recovery novel, Rachel’s Holiday, her heroine returns with what seems to be the perfect life. She has a great job, a lovely boyfriend and dog – but when her ex, Luke, reappears in her life, they must both confront what drove them apart six years ago, even after so much history together.
The Burnout by Sophie Kinsella
Sasha is exhausted. When she literally hits a brick wall, she decides to take a break and visit the Devon resort she adored as a child to get some rest and hopefully find out how to get her life back on track. However, it’s tired, out of season, and there’s a grumpy man monopolising the beach and drinking whisky – not ideal. When messages appear on the beach, they join forces to investigate.
Yinka, Where Iz Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
At thirty-one, Yinka’s major problem is her mum and aunties who keep trying to find love for her, which, ironically, is getting in the way of her finding happiness. When her cousin Rachel gets engaged, Yinka arms herself with a plan to find a date for the wedding, and to find herself the husband of her dreams. But what if what Yinka needs to find is herself?
If your recipient loves unlikely couples, then this slow-burn TikTok hit will be right up their street. Prep school student Wren is beloved by all on campus. When her untroubled life collides with that of bad boy Crew, whose family own the school, she discovers that there might be more to life than good grades, while Crew learns to care for someone other than himself and his father’s expectations.
Jilly Cooper’s own favourite of her novels is also the best entry point for new Cooper readers – and with the Disney+ adaptation coming next year, there’s an even better reason to discover this wickedly funny and cheering read that is the late 20th century’s answer to Middlemarch. Cooper’s long career in journalism made her a master observer, and her characters are all as real as they are flawed, fabulous and worth rooting for.
Just Got Real by Jane Fallon
tThis revenge comedy will have you gripped through to New Year. Joni is happily divorced, and when she finds Ant on a dating app, she tweaks the truth a bit. They fall for each other and become an item but when Joni finds that Ant is still playing the field, she decides to see if she can turn her rivals into allies and get revenge on their boyfriend.
Talking at Night by Claire Daverley
This beautiful and tender debut has young love at its heart. Will and Rosie meet as teenagers when he befriends her twin brother. They’re opposites in every way, but they become close enough to wonder if they could be each other’s great love. When their future is ripped apart, it should be the end, but their paths keep crossing over the years until it’s time to ask if they should rekindle possibility.
In Memoriam by Alice Winn
This quietly devastating story of young, secret love and war took the Waterstones 2023 prize for debut fiction and captivated a world of readers. Schoolfellows Gaunt and Ellwood fall in love with each other without being able to let the other know. When Ellwood enlists in the Great War, Gaunt determines to follow him on what he imagines will be a jape.
The perfect read for anyone facing the rocky path to love in their twenties. Tia’s expectations of finding love on the apps are incredibly low, so when she connects with Nate, she can’t believe they’ve found each other. However – they haven’t yet had The Talk about where they stand. Can Tia overcome her fear of what he might say in the hope of gaining real love?
Caleb Azumah Nelson’s debut novel is a short and heartachingly beautiful story of a photographer and a dancer who meet at a pub in London. Their connection is instant, and they fall slowly and sweetly in love, despite the challenges to their relationship from outside forces.
Open Water is a look at existing in a world where you’re seen only as a Black body, and a tender book about love. This rapturous, addictive debut has been something of a sleeper hit, winning awards, a slot in the bestsellers' lists and becoming one of Waterstones' Books of 2022.
The enemies-to-lovers trope is a popular one, and no-one does it better than Jane Austen in Pride and Prejudice . Elizabeth Bennet's first encounter with Mr Darcy involves him insulting her family and everything she knows, so it doesn't seem like a relationship for the ages. But the Bennet family is in need of financial security, and when Mr Bingley falls for Elizabeth’s older sister Jane, Elizabeth finds herself constantly thrust into Mr Darcy's company. Austen’s classic novel is romantic, yes, but also witty and astute.
Dodie Smith's I Capture the Castle features one of the most famous opening lines in literature, and is the perfect introduction to Cassandra Mortmain, a teenager living with her impoverished parents and siblings in a crumbling castle. When two American brothers – the heirs to the castle – arrive, Cassandra finds herself falling in love for the first time. Smith's novel is a coming-of-age story that's as much about finding yourself as finding love.
A moving and funny novel about love, sex and heartbreak, A Love Story for Bewildered Girls follows three women. Grace has no husband and children, and is envied by her straight friends. When she meets a beautiful woman at a party, she falls into the kind of sudden and desperate love she's been longing for. At the same party, lawyer Annie meets the man of her dreams, who also happens to live up to her mother's standards. And across town, Violet is falling in love with a woman for the first time in her life.
Anna K is a modern retelling of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina , set in New York. Anna K is the golden girl of high society: beautiful, kind, unbelievably rich, and with a perfect boyfriend. But a chance encounter with playboy Alexi Vronsky could be the catalyst to bring Anna's perfect life crashing down around her shoulders. With a vast cast of characters that would make Tolstoy proud, this is a love story for the Instagram generation.
Image: Bianca Bagnarelli for Penguin Random House
