Ahh, Valentine's Day. A day for love and romance and all those lovely, fuzzy things we probably should be doing all year round! But alas, it's still rather charming to dedicate a specific day to your beloved and/or favourite person. 

We love reading about love in the Willoughby office. In fact, we love love almost as much as we love reading! 

With that in mind, we wanted to share with you some books, both old and new, that we can't wait to dig in to over the Valentine's period, to extend the fuzziness for an extra few days!

A Contemporary Romance- Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Emily Henry is queen of the modern romance! Coming out in April, Great Big Beautiful Life follows the story of two writers, relative newcomer Alice and Pulitzer-prize winning author, Hayden, competing to write the biography of an elusive and enigmatic heiress, Margaret Ives. But when Ives only provides half of her stories and the two writers realise they're starting to like each other, the whole situation becomes a whole lot more complicated!

A Classic- Madonna in a Fur Coat by Sabahattin Ali

This classic Turkish novel from 1943 is a beautiful novel of love and longing, when a man leaves Turkey for 1920s Berlin and has a chance meeting with a woman, which will change the trajectory of his life. Beautifully written, moving, and set against a backdrop of early twentieth-century arts and politics, it's a stunning novel of yearning, unrequited love, and beauty.

A Willoughby Fave- Big Swiss by Jen Beagin

Big Swiss follows Greta, a 45-year-old transcriptionist for a sex therapist, who falls in love with a client while listening to her sessions. She names this client ‘Big Swiss’, as all she knows about her is that she is tall and…Swiss!

When she coincidentally overhears Big Swiss’s voice at the dog park, they soon enter a complicated affair. But with both characters carrying their own separate traumas, their relationship inevitably becomes complicated and unhinged.

It’s weird and absurd in the best way and will have you laughing out loud more that it probably should!

A Queer Romance- Disappoint Me by Nicola Dinan

From the author of the bestselling and critically-acclaimed 2023 novel, Bellies, comes Dinan's beautiful and complicated love story between a 30 year old trans poet and a corporate lawyer. Told in a dual narrative and oscillating between the present day and ten years previously, it's an interesting and heart-filled novel of queer love, redemption and healing.

Anti Valentine's Day- No & Other Stories by Kirsty Logan

Kirsty Logan is the Queen of the Uncanny and Empress of Weird. Her latest short story collection, No & Other Stories, is another serving of dark, unsettling, and often funny tales which subvert our notions of romance and love. In one story, we meet a woman in wartime London who prefers her husband as a ghost. In another, two sapphic lovers use ghost possession to con horrible men. There are stories of monsters and the monstrous, the snarky and the sexy, and the tender and brutal. If you like your reading odd (and sometimes blood-soaked), this is the perfect collection.

Non-Fiction- Love in Exile by Shon Faye 

Shon Faye is best known for her powerful bestselling 2021 book The Transgender Issue, where she explores the reality of living as a trans person in the world today. In Love in Exile, Faye combines her trademark mix of memoir and wise cultural critiques of society at large, to delve into the specifically modern issues arising in our romantic lives, arguing that the state of romance today is a collective issue, as opposed to a personal one. Infused with intelligence and Faye's refreshing wit, Love in Exile is a beam of light in a landscape of dating apps and lonely hearts! Read and feel refreshed and romantically resilient.

How we managed to condense our reading down to six titles we don't know! Let us know what you'll be reading on Valentine's Day and beyond. 

Valentine Gift Box ❤️

Our Valentine Box is the perfect way to show your valentine or galentine that you are thinking of them. Or perhaps the perfect opportunity to spoil yourself?

Containing a gorgeously romantic read, a ceramic charm, scented candles and a delicious bar of Love Cocoa chocolate, this is a delightful gift that will win the heart of your bookish love!

We'll wrap it all and add a gift message from you, too.

Buy here

If you'd like a surprise read each month picked just for you, why not treat yourself to a Willoughby Book Club subscription? Think of us as your personal book concierges, and let us take the stress out of deciding what to read next.