Good reads for the Valentine’s month. #30ColoursOfLove

 Posted on February 9, 2021 by Ruchi

Romance has been one of my favourite genres for a long time now. Whenever I feel low, there’s nothing like a warm romance novel and a hot cup of coffee. We are already in Feb, and even though all had pinned high hopes on 2021, covid surges in many countries including mine has again put a damper to the mood. Yet, as I said there’s nothing a good romantic novel can’t cheer up. The list of my favourites can be endless, but here I’m listing five of them which leave you pondering and wanting such a kind of love.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Hazel Grace and Augustus are battling cancer. Their beautiful love story leaves you teary eyed and thoughtful. Both the teenagers know the numbered days they have, yet they can’t stop falling in love with each other. Together, they travel to Amsterdam to meet an author who has written their favorite book. The book ends abruptly leaving them wondering. They do not find answers from the author, but together they create beautiful memories.As Hazel says,” You gave me a forever, within the numbered days.”On return Augustus health worsens, and he dies. With his death, Hazel discovers the answers she had been seeking for. The book is a roller coaster of emotions.You fall in love with Hazel and Augustus.

I fell in love, the way you feel asleep slowly and all at once.

The fault in our Stars, John Green

If I Stay by Gayle Forman

This is a beautiful, poignant and touching tale of a seventeen old year girl Mia. The story is told by Mia as she lies critical in an Intensive Care Unit. She is the sole survivor of a car crash where her entire family vanishes in the blink of an eye. She is critical at verge of life and death and goes through an out of body experience. The story shuttles between her past memories and her present. She has lost everything, her parents, her little brother, yet she still has something, her love for music and her friend, who’s just like her soul sister and her boyfriend. Her grandparents, her cousins, her aunt everyone want her back. She is convinced she does not want to come back, but their love keeps pulling her back. Is the decision so easy? Will Love be able to bring her back?

“Either way you win and either way you lose. What can I tell you? Love’s a bitch.”

If I Stay – Gayle Foreman

Me before You – Jojo Moyes

Louisa is a witty and intelligent girl who finds herself jobless one day. Having left without finishing her degree, she gets the job of a caretaker for a paraplegic young man. Will is an intelligent and wealthy man but having been left quadriplegic in an accident has lost his will to live. They are like chalk and cheese. Louisa wants to live and enjoy life, Will is always angry, irritable and bitter. Though the relationship starts on a sour note, Louisa slowly wins his heart. Will on the other hand supports Louisa become more confident and independent. Is Louisa able to change Will’s mind? This love story is a roller coaster of emotions.

Sometimes, Clark, you are pretty much the only thing that makes me want to get up in the morning.”

Me before you, Jojo Moyes

A Walk to Remember – Nicholas Sparks

Another story of teenage love, told in a flashback by the protagonist about the year when he was seventeen and how the events in that year change him. Love can give you a purpose in life. Landon is a spoilt brat, who’s always in a bad company. Landon has dated girls but Jamie isn’t his kind. Jamie is a shy girl, daughter of a minister. The kind of girl who makes one feel bad, even though you haven’t done anything wrong. He would have never fallen for Jamie, yet they unexpectedly fall in love. Jamie’s presence in his life acts as a catalyst for change. Jamie’s physical presence in his life is short, yet her love stays around him like the wind. The story ends tragically and leaves you teary eyed.

Take a risk. Dare to move. Love is a leap of faith.

A walk to remember, Nicholas Sparks.

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

Ella is a middle aged woman who has a beautiful home, three children and a successful husband. Yet, there’s emptiness. She embarks on a manuscript about Rumi and Shams of Tabriz and his forty rules of love. This work changes her life and in her quest for the author, she discovers herself. This is not a love story yet it is all about love and faith.

A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…Divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.

The Forty Rules of Love, Elif Shafak

Have you read any of these ? Do share your experiences.

This blog post is a part of the Petals of Love Blog Hop hosted by Swarnali Nath.We’re a bunch of 30 writers across the globe, coming to you with 30 different pieces on Love. In the month of February, we will be celebrating different colours of love, together in our own ways.