Lists

100 Must Read Books with Love in the Title

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Danielle Bourgon

Staff Writer

Danielle is an educator, theatre artist, and book lover from Toronto, Ontario. She acknowledges that this is the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, and most recently, the territory of the Mississaugas of the New Credit where she is grateful to live and work. When she’s not drinking tea and reading on the couch, she’s recommending books to her students, friends, and family. She’s a feminist, a nerd, and a baker. Oh. And she has Hogwarts tattooed on her arm.

The topic of love is one that gets endlessly covered in literature. So I thought that finding 100 Must Read Books with the word “love” in the title would be a piece of cake. In some ways it was. What was harder was to find books from a variety of genres that matched that description. Not to mention trying to find books that were diverse that featured love so explicitly. So as we head into that lovey-dovey time of February, I’d love to challenge authors and publishers to be more aware of this. Love has many meanings and the books with love in the title should be just as varied.

Illustrated Children’s Books

mama-do-you-love-me-coverMama, Do You Love Me? By Barbara Joosse and Barbara Lavallee 

This beloved story of a child testing the limits of her independence and a mother who reassuringly proves that a parent’s love is unconditional and everlasting is a perfect first book for toddlers.

Love by Matt de la Pena and Loren Long

From Newberry Medal-winning author Matt de la Peña and bestselling illustrator Loren Long comes a story about the strongest bond there is and the diverse and powerful ways it connects us all.

Love You Forever by Robert Munsch and Sheila McGraw

An extraordinarily different story by Robert Munsch is a gentle affirmation of the love a parent feels for their child—forever. Sheila McGraw’s soft and colorful pastels perfectly complement the sentiment of the book—one that will be read repeatedly for years.

I Love You, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt and Cyd Moore

A vividly illustrated bedtime story that shows how the unconditional love of a mother can be tested through the relentless questions of her little boy.

One Love: Based on the Song by Bob Marley by Cedella Marley and Bob Marley

Adapted from one of Bob Marley’s most beloved songs, One Love brings the joyful spirit and unforgettable lyrics of his music to life for a new generation. Readers will delight in dancing to the beat and feeling the positive groove of change when one girl enlists her community to help transform her neighborhood for the better. Adapted by Cedella Marley, Bob Marley’s first child, and gorgeously illustrated by Vanessa Newton, this heartwarming picture book offers an upbeat testament to the amazing things that can happen when we all get together with one love in our hearts.

full-full-full-of-love-coverFull, Full, Full of Love by Trish Cooke and Paul Howard

Warm, welcoming illustrations spice up this rhythmical ode to the joys of family and food—full, full, full of pleasures for all.

The Unexpected Love Story of Alfred Fiddleduckling by Timothy Basil Ering

Expect something unexpected when a duckling lost at sea adopts a musical new friend in a whimsical, heart-lifting story from Timothy Basil Ering.

Honey, I Love by Eloise Greenfield and Jan Spivey Gilchrist

To one young narrator, it’s the simple things that mean the most, like sharing laughter with a friend, taking family rides in the country, and kissing her mama’s arm.

The Love of Two Stars by Janie J Park

In this ancient Korean folktale, Kyonu and Jingnyo, a farmer and a weaver, live in a kingdom in the starry sky. They fall in love the moment they meet, forgetting all about the cattle to care for and the cloth to be made. This angers the king of the starry realm, who separates them and tells them that they can meet in the Milky Way once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh month. But when the time finally arrives, Kyonu and Jingnyo cannot make it across the river of stars to be together. Their tears of sorrow cause endless rain upon the Earth until the magpies and crows think of a way to help them.

Dinosaurs Love Underpants by Claire Freedman and Ben Cort

Dinosaurs were all wiped out / A long way back in history / No one knows quite how or why / This book solves the mystery. You may wonder why dinosaurs became extinct, well here is the answer…They were all wiped out in a mighty Pants War! Join T-Rex and the rest of the gang as they slog it out to gain prehistoric pants supremacy in this hilarious follow-up to the award-winning Aliens Love Underpants.

Middle Grade Novels

love-that-dog-coverLove that Dog: A Novel by Sharon Creech

Jack hates poetry. Only girls write it and every time he tries to, his brain feels empty. But his teacher, Ms. Stretchberry, won’t stop giving her class poetry assignments—and Jack can’t avoid them. But then something amazing happens. The more he writes, the more he learns he does have something to say.

Color Me Dark: The Diary of Nellie Lee Love, the Great Migration North by Patricia C McKissack

An ordinary girl living extraordinary events. Her family, Love, characterizes her comfortable, secure world in Bradford Corners, TN. Until Uncle Pace is murdered by the KKK.

Love, Ish by Karen Rivers

Things Mischa “Ish” Love will miss when she goes to Mars: lying on the living room floor watching TV, ice cream, her parrot Buzz Aldrin. Things Ish Love will not miss when she goes to Mars: mosquitoes, heat waves, missing her former best friend Tig.

Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli

LOVE, STARGIRL picks up a year after Stargirl ends and reveals the new life of the beloved character who moved away so suddenly at the end of Stargirl. The novel takes the form of “the world’s longest letter,” in diary form, going from date to date through a little more than a year’s time. In her writing, Stargirl mixes memories of her bittersweet time in Mica, Arizona, with involvements with new people in her life.

Love Sugar Magic: A Dash of Trouble by Anna Meriano and Mirelle Ortega

Leonora Logroño’s family owns the most beloved bakery in Rose Hill, Texas, spending their days conjuring delicious cookies and cakes for any occasion. And no occasion is more important than the annual Dia de los Muertos festival.

Young Adult Fiction

I Believe in a Thing Called Love by Maurene Goo

Desi Lee believes anything is possible if you have a plan. That’s how she became student body president. Varsity soccer star. And it’s how she’ll get into Stanford. But—she’s never had a boyfriend. In fact, she’s a disaster in romance, a clumsy, stammering humiliation magnet whose botched attempts at flirting have become legendary with her friends. So when the hottest human specimen to have ever lived walks into her life one day, Desi decides to tackle her flirting failures with the same zest she’s applied to everything else in her life. She finds guidance in the Korean dramas her father has been obsessively watching for years—where the hapless heroine always seems to end up in the arms of her true love by episode ten. It’s a simple formula, and Desi is a quick study. Armed with her “K Drama Steps to True Love,” Desi goes after the moody, elusive artist Luca Drakos—and boat rescues, love triangles, and staged car crashes ensue. But when the fun and games turn to true feels, Desi finds out that real love is about way more than just drama.

Love, Hate & Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

A searing #OwnVoices coming-of-age debut in which an Indian-American Muslim teen confronts Islamophobia and a reality she can neither explain nor escape—perfect for fans of Angie Thomas, Jacqueline Woodson, and Adam Silvera.

Love Letters to the Dead by Ava Dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more—though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was—lovely and amazing and deeply flawed—can she begin to discover her own path in this stunning debut from Ava Dellaira, Love Letters to the Dead.

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue—the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn’t always like, and the best friend who hasn’t said a word—at least not in a language Josie understands.

Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann

Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting—working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she’s asexual). Alice is done with dating—no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.

But then Alice meets Takumi and she can’t stop thinking about him or the rom com–grade romance feels she did not ask for (uncertainty, butterflies, and swoons, oh my!).

the-game-of-love-and-death-coverThe Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough

Meet Flora Saudade, an African-American girl who dreams of becoming the next Amelia Earhart by day and sings in the smoky jazz clubs of Seattle by night. Meet Henry Bishop, born a few blocks and a million worlds away, a white boy with his future assured—a wealthy adoptive family in the midst of the Great Depression, a college scholarship, and all the opportunities in the world seemingly available to him.

The players have been chosen. The dice have been rolled. But when human beings make moves of their own, what happens next is anyone’s guess.

Achingly romantic and brilliantly imagined, The Game of Love and Death is a love story you will never forget.

The Geek’s Guide to Unrequited Love by Sarvenaz Tash

Graham met his best friend, Roxy, when he moved into her neighbourhood eight years ago and she asked him which Hogwarts house he’d be sorted into. Graham has been in love with her ever since.

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

Sixteen-year-old Lara Jean Song keeps her love letters in a hatbox her mother gave her. They aren’t love letters that anyone else wrote for her; these are ones she’s written. One for every boy she’s ever loved—five in all. When she writes, she pours out her heart and soul and says all the things she would never say in real life, because her letters are for her eyes only. Until the day her secret letters are mailed, and suddenly, Lara Jean’s love life goes from imaginary to out of control.

In the Age of Love and Chocolate by Gabrielle Zevin

Now eighteen, life has been more bitter than sweet for Anya. She has lost her parents and her grandmother, and has spent the better part of her high school years in trouble with the law. Perhaps hardest of all, her decision to open a nightclub with her old nemesis Charles Delacroix has cost Anya her relationship with Win.

Love is the Drug by Alaya Dawn Johnson

Emily Bird was raised not to ask questions. She has perfect hair, the perfect boyfriend, and a perfect Ivy-League future. But a chance meeting with Roosevelt David, a homeland security agent, at a party for Washington DC’s elite leads to Bird waking up in a hospital, days later, with no memory of the end of the night.

Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block

Her life by the sea in ruins, Pen has lost everything in the Earth Shaker that all but destroyed the city of Los Angeles. She sets out into the wasteland to search for her family, her journey guided by a tattered copy of Homer’s Odyssey. Soon she begins to realize her own abilities and strength as she faces false promises of safety, the cloned giants who feast on humans, and a madman who wishes her dead. On her voyage, Pen learns to tell stories that reflect her strange visions, while she and her fellow survivors navigate the dangers that lie in wait. In her signature style, Francesca Lia Block has created a world that is beautiful in its destruction and as frightening as it is lovely. At the helm is Pen, a strong heroine who holds hope and love in her hands and refuses to be defeated.

Classics

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs—yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite

The modern classic about a dedicated teacher in a tough London school who slowly and painfully breaks down the barriers of racial prejudice, this is the story of a man’s integrity winning through against the odds.

From Russia with Love by Ian Fleming

Every major foreign government organization has a file on British secret agent James Bond. Now, Russia’s lethal SMERSH organization has targeted him for elimination. SMERSH has the perfect bait in the irresistible Tatiana Romanova, who lures 007 to Istanbul promising the top-secret Spektor cipher machine. But when Bond walks willingly into the trap, a game of cross and double-cross ensues, with Bond both the stakes and the prize.

love-toni-morrison-coverLove by Toni Morrison

Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison’s spellbinding new novel is a Faulknerian symphony of passion and hatred, power and perversity, colour and class that spans three generations of black women in a fading beach town.

Love’s Labour Lost by William Shakespeare

The play opens with the King of Navarre and three noble companions, Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, taking an oath to devote themselves to three years of study, promising not to give in to the company of women—Berowne somewhat more hesitantly than the others.

Art of Love by Ovid. Translated by James Michie

In the first century a.d., Ovid, author of the groundbreaking epic poem Metamorphoses, came under severe criticism for The Art of Love, which playfully instructed women in the art of seduction and men in the skills essential for mastering the art of romantic conquest. In this remarkable translation, James Michie breathes new life into the notorious Roman’s mock-didactic elegy. In lyrical, irreverent English, he reveals love’s timeless dilemmas and Ovid’s enduring brilliance as both poet and cultural critic.

 

Contemporary Fiction

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

Geek Love is the story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias set out—with the help of amphetamine, arsenic, and radioisotopes—to breed their own exhibit of human oddities. There’s Arturo the Aquaboy, who has flippers for limbs and a megalomaniac ambition worthy of Genghis Khan…Iphy and Elly, the lissome Siamese twins…albino hunchback Oly, and the outwardly normal Chick, whose mysterious gifts make him the family’s most precious—and dangerous—asset.

Love Medicine by Louise Ehrdrich

Set on and around a North Dakota Ojibwe reservation, Love Medicine—the first novel by bestselling, National Book Award-winning author Louise Erdrich—is the epic story about the intertwined fates of two families: the Kashpaws and the Lamartines.

With astonishing virtuosity, each chapter draws on a range of voices to limn its tales. Black humor mingles with magic, injustice bleeds into betrayal, and through it all, bonds of love and family marry the elements into a tightly woven whole that pulses with the drama of life.

Filled with humor, magic, injustice and betrayal, Erdrich blends family love and loyalty in a stunning work of dramatic fiction.

love-in-a-fallen-cityLove in a Fallen City written by Eileen Chang. Translated by Karen S. Kingsbury

Eileen Chang is one of the great writers of twentieth-century China, where she enjoys a passionate following both on the mainland and in Taiwan. At the heart of Chang’s achievement is her short fiction—tales of love, longing, and the shifting and endlessly treacherous shoals of family life. Written when Chang was still in her twenties, these extraordinary stories combine an unsettled, probing, utterly contemporary sensibility, keenly alert to sexual politics and psychological ambiguity, with an intense lyricism that echoes the classics of Chinese literature. Love in a Fallen City, the first collection in English of this dazzling body of work, introduces American readers to the stark and glamorous vision of a modern master.

P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern

Holly couldn’t live without her husband Gerry, until the day she had to. They were the kind of young couple who could finish each other’s sentences. When Gerry succumbs to a terminal illness and dies, 30-year-old Holly is set adrift, unable to pick up the pieces. But with the help of a series of letters her husband left her before he died and a little nudging from an eccentric assortment of family and friends, she learns to laugh, overcome her fears, and discover a world she never knew existed.

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff

Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die; Cherish, Perish leaps cities and decades as Rakoff, a Canadian who became an American citizen, sings the song of his adoptive homeland—a country whose freedoms can be intoxicating, or brutal. Here the characters’ lives are linked to each other by acts of generosity or cruelty. A critic once called Rakoff “magnificent,” a word which perfectly describes this wonderful novel in verse.

Endless Love by Scott Spencer

David’s and Jade’s lives are consumed with each other; their rapport, their desire, their sexuality take them further than they understand. And when Jade’s father suddenly banishes David from the house, he fantasizes the forgiveness his rescue of the family will bring and he sets a “perfectly safe” fire to their house. What unfolds is a nightmare, a dark world in which David’s love is a crime and a disease, a world of anonymous phone calls, crazy letters, and new fears—and the inevitable and punishing pursuit of the one thing that remains most real to him: his endless love for Jade and her family.

Graphic Novels/Comics/Manga

Soppy: a Love Story by Philippa Rice

SOPPY is Philippa Rice’s collection of comics and illustrations based on real-life moments with her boyfriend. From grocery shopping to silly arguments and snuggling in front of the television, SOPPY captures the universal experience of sharing a life together, and celebrates the beauty of finding romance all around us.

bingo-love-coverBingo Love by Tee Franklin, Jenn St. Onge, Joy San, and Cardinal Rae

Bingo Love is a LGBTQ romance story that spans over 60 years. A chance meeting at church bingo in 1963 brings Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray together. Through their formative years, these two women develop feelings for each other and finally profess their love for one another.

Love is Love edited by Marc Andreyko

The comic industry comes together in honor of those killed in Orlando. Co-published by two of the premiere publishers in comics—DC and IDW, this oversize comic contains moving and heartfelt material from some of the greatest talent in comics, mourning the victims, supporting the survivors, celebrating the LGBTQ community, and examining love in today’s world. All material has been kindly donated by the writers, artists, and editors with all proceeds going to victims, survivors, and their families. Be a part of an historic comics event! It doesn’t matter who you love. All that matters is you love.

To Love Ru, Vol. 1 by Saki Hasemi and Kentaro Yabuki

Rito Yuuki is your average high school student-awkward, shy, and hopeless when it comes to confessing his feelings to the girl of his dreams. But one day, an alien princess on the run suddenly appears in his bathtub! When Rito finds himself engaged to the beautiful Lala after a misunderstanding, he becomes embroiled in the chaos of extraterrestrial politics, rival alien suitors, and harem hilarity! The story continues in To Love Ru Darkness, when Lala’s younger sister Momo begins her own machinations to marry Rito…but it can only happen if he is coronated as king of their interstellar empire, which would allow him to marry as many women as he wants!

I Think I am In Friend-Love With You by Yumi Sakugawa

I have a confession to make.
I think I am in friend-love with you.

What’s friend-love? It’s that super-awesome bond you share with someone who makes you happy every time you text each other, or meet up for an epic outing. It’s not love-love. You don’t want to swap saliva; you want to swap favorite books. But it’s just as intense and just as amazing.

And it’s this search for that connection that comic-book artist Yumi Sakugawa captures in I Think I Am in Friend-Love with You. It’s perfect if you’ve ever fallen in friend-love and want to show that person how much you love them…in a platonic way, of course.

Violent Love, Vol. 1 by Frank J. Barbiere and Victor Santos

Daisy Jane and Rock Bradley were two of the most notorious bank robbers in the American Southwest. And then they fell in love.
Join Frank J. Barbiere (Five Ghosts, The Revisionist) and Victor Santos (Polar, The Mice Templar) for a pulp infused criminal romance oozing with style and action! Collecting issues #1–5 from the new hit series!

Non-Fiction

My Life, My Love, My Legacy by Coretta Scott King

The life story of Coretta Scott King—wife of Martin Luther King Jr., founder of the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change, and singular twentieth-century American civil rights activist—as told fully for the first time.

redefining-realness-coverRedefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock

In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Those twenty-three hundred words were life-altering for the People.com editor, turning her into an influential and outspoken public figure and a desperately needed voice for an often voiceless community. In these pages, she offers a bold and inspiring perspective on being young, multicultural, economically challenged, and transgender in America.

Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

A celebrated writer’s irresistible, candid, and eloquent account of her pursuit of worldly pleasure, spiritual devotion, and what she really wanted out of life.

Love Warrior by Glennon Doyle Melton

The highly anticipated new memoir by bestselling author Glennon Doyle Melton tells the story of her journey of self-discovery after the implosion of her marriage.

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

All About Love offers radical new ways to think about love by showing its interconnectedness in our private and public lives. In eleven concise chapters, hooks explains how our everyday notions of what it means to give and receive love often fail us, and how these ideals are established in early childhood. She offers a rethinking of self-love (without narcissism) that will bring peace and compassion to our personal and professional lives, and asserts the place of love to end struggles between individuals, in communities, and among societies. Moving from the cultural to the intimate, hooks notes the ties between love and loss and challenges the prevailing notion that romantic love is the most important love of all.

Love’s Work by Gillian Rose

A devastating confrontation with mortality leads Gillian Rose, one of England’s most distinguished thinkers, to illuminate the deepest issues of our lives: love, friendship, sex, illness, and death. Rose’s crisis gives her search the force of immediacy and intimacy; her willingness to face life unsentimentally propels her toward the unexplored border between life and death. As she confronts the dilemma faced by all humankind—how to teach the mind what the heart knows, and the heart what the mind understands—Rose finds that attention to loss becomes the silence of grace, and that the personal becomes the universal. Extraordinarily candid and elegant, Love’s Work is radiant as both memoir and philosophy; it provides a new model for introspection.

Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard

Critically acclaimed, award-winning British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard details his childhood, his first performances on the streets of London, his ascent to worldwide success on stage and screen, and his comedy shows which have won over audiences around the world.

everyone-loves-you-when-youre-dead-coverEveryone Loves You When You’re Dead: Journeys into Fame and Madness by Neil Strauss

Neil Strauss can uncover the naked truth like nobody else. With his groundbreaking book The Game, Strauss penetrated the secret society of pickup artists; now, in Everyone Loves You When You’re Dead, his candid, surprising, and often hysterical interviews reveal the hidden sides of 120 of the world’s biggest celebrities, from Hugh Heffner to Johnny Cash to Snoop Dogg and beyond.

The Love Gap: A Radical Plan to Win in Life and Love by Jenna Birch

A research-based guide to navigating the newest dating phenomenon—”the love gap”—and a trailblazing action plan to help smart, confident, career-driven women find (and keep) their match.

Double Cup Love: On the Trail of Family, Food, and Broken Hearts in China by Eddie Huang

In the follow-up to his bestselling coming-of-age memoir Fresh Off the Boat, now a hit show on ABC, celebrity chef Eddie Huang tells a powerful story about love and family and what really makes us who we are. After growing up in a wild first-generation immigrant family in the comically hostile world of suburban America, Huang begins to wonder just how authentic his Chinese identity really is. So he enlists his brothers Emery and Evan and returns to the country his ancestors abandoned. His immediate goal is to sample China’s best food and see if his cooking measures up to local tastes—but his deeper goals are to reconnect with his homeland, repair his frayed family relationships, decide whether to marry his all-American (well, all-Italian-American) girlfriend, and figure out just where to find meaning in his life.

Love, Loss, and What We Ate: A Memoir by Padma Lakshmi

A vivid memoir of food and family, survival and triumph, Love, Loss, and What We Ate traces the arc of Padma Lakshmi’s unlikely path from an immigrant childhood to a complicated life in front of the camera—a tantalizing blend of Ruth Reichl’s Tender at the Bone and Nora Ephron’s Heartburn.

 

Short Story Collections

Islands of Decolonial Love by Leanne Simpson

In her debut collection of short stories, Islands of Decolonial Love, renowned writer and activist Leanne Simpson vividly explores the lives of contemporary Indigenous Peoples and communities, especially those of her own Nishnaabeg nation.

love-beyond-body-space-and-time-coverLove Beyond Body, Space, and Time: An Indigenous LGBT Sci-Fi Anthology edited by Hope Nicholson

“Love Beyond, Body, Space, and Time” is a collection of indigenous science fiction and urban fantasy focusing on LGBT and two-spirit characters. These stories range from a transgender woman trying an experimental transition medication to young lovers separated through decades and meeting far in their own future. These are stories of machines and magic, love, and self-love.

Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories edited by Stephanie Perkins

Maybe it’s the long, lazy days, or maybe it’s the heat making everyone a little bit crazy. Whatever the reason, summer is the perfect time for love to bloom. Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories, written by twelve bestselling young adult writers and edited by the international bestselling author Stephanie Perkins, will have you dreaming of sunset strolls by the lake. So set out your beach chair and grab your sunglasses. You have twelve reasons this summer to soak up the sun and fall in love.

The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories edited by Mahvesh Murad

A fascinating collection of new and classic tales of the fearsome Djinn, from bestselling, award-winning and breakthrough international writers.

Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson

Falling in Love with Hominids presents over a dozen years of Hopkinson’s new, uncollected fiction, much of which has been unavailable in print. Her singular, vivid tales, which mix the modern with Afro-Caribbean folklore, are occupied by creatures unpredictable and strange: chickens that breathe fire, adults who eat children, and spirits that haunt shopping malls.

 

Poetry

Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair  by Pablo Neruda

Drawn from the most intimate and personal associations, Pablo Neruda’s most beloved collection of poetry juxtaposes the exuberance of youthful passion with the desolation of grief, the sensuality of the body with the metaphorical nuances of nature. Pulitzer Prize-winning poet W. S. Merwin’s masterly translation faces the original Spanish text. This edition also features an insightful Introduction by Cristina Garcia. More than eighty years after its publication, Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair stands as an essential collection that continues to inspire lovers and poets around the world. (See even more love poems here.)

love-robot-coverlove, robot by Margaret Rhee

A collection of love poetry that undercuts and reassembles narratives, ‘Love, Robot’ is an experimental text that humanizes our relationship with technology. Illustrating relations between humans and machine in a science fictional world, the collection offers a tense, and complex portrait of love, reflective of our contemporary moment. As a cross-genre collection, ‘Love, Robot’ draws in multiple forms and allegiances: narrative poetry, algorithms, chat scripts, and failed sonnets through a playful exploration of love. Through a vision of the artificially intelligent future, ‘Love, Robot’ reveals, and questions the contours of the human by asking what happens how robots fall out of love.

To Love the Coming End by Leanne Dunic

Love is remembered as a jungle of flora and fauna cleaved by tectonic shock and human fault. Our restless narrator stirs between Singapore, Fukushima, and Vancouver with prose that engulfs like radioactive mist. Personal, geographic, political, and cultural environments take on one another’s qualities, culminating volcanically in the Tohoku earthquake that shatters Japan.

Mother Love by Rita Dove

In settings as various as a patio in Arizona, the bistros and boulevards of Paris, the sun-drenched pyramids of Mexico—and directly from the Greek myth itself—Rita Dove explores this relationship and the dilemma of letting go.

Love in the Face of Everything: An Anthology ed. By Christine Marie Mason

9 new American poets on the passions, intimacies, heartbreaks and expansions of all kinds of love.

Love in the Last Days: After Tristan and Iseult by D. Nurkse

A contemporary requiem—an earthy yet elegant reconsideration of the Tristan and Iseult story, from the former poet laureate of Brooklyn

The Ordering of Love: The New and Collected Poems of Madeleine L’Engle

Madeleine L’Engle’s writing has always translated the invisible and intricate qualities of love into the patterns and rhythms of visible life. Now, with compelling language and open-hearted vulnerability, The Ordering of Love brings together the exhaustive collection of L’Engle’s poetry for the first time.

north-end-love-song-coverNorth End Love Songs by Katherena Vermette

For Katherena Vermette, Winnipeg’s North End is a neighbourhood of colourful birds, stately elms, and always wily rivers. It is where a brother’s disappearance is trivialized by local media and police because he is young and aboriginal. It is also where young girls share secrets, movies, cigarettes, Big Gulps and stories of love—where a young mother full of both maternal trepidation and joy watches her small daughters as they play in the park.

Romance

Secret Love by Brenda Jackson

Celebrity actress Diamond Swain needs a peaceful place to hide out from the news-hungry paparazzi—a place like Whispering Pines. And yet from the moment she arrives at the remote Texas ranch, Diamond finds herself at odds with its rugged owner, Jake Madaris—a man who challenges her to care about more than making it to the top.

Jake doesn’t have time to babysit some Hollywood star. Then he comes face-to-face with beautiful, compassionate Diamond and is drawn into a whirlwind, secret romance. But is what he shares with her strong enough to overcome the media’s prying eyes? Together Jake and Diamond must discover what’s truly important…if they’re to claim a love that lasts a lifetime.

Love Story: A Novel by Karen Kingsbury

From the day they met, John and Elizabeth were destined to fall in love. Their whirlwind romance started when they were young college students and lasted nearly thirty years—until Elizabeth died of cancer.

Popcorn Love by K.L. Hughes

A prominent figure amongst New York City’s fashion elite, Elena Vega is a successful businesswoman and single mother to an adorable three-year-old son, Lucas. Her love life, however, is lacking, as those closest to her keep pointing out. At the persistent urging of her closest friend, Elena reluctantly agrees to a string of blind dates if she can find a suitable babysitter for Lucas.

The Thing About Love by Julie James

Two undercover FBI agents can hide who they are from everyone but each other in the latest novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Suddenly One Summer.

love-by-the-booksLove By the Books by Té Russ

The last year for Carmen hasn’t been the best…and that’s putting it mildly. But things are starting to look up. Especially when she meets Sebastian, a lover of books and an obvious man of her own heart.

Love on my Mind by Tracey Livesay

Tracey Livesay makes her Avon Impulse debut with a sparkling and sexy novel about a woman who will do anything to fulfill her dreams…but discovers that even the best laid plans can fail when love gets in the way.

Love, Lies and Spies by Cindy Anstey

Juliana Telford is not your average nineteenth-century young lady. She’s much more interested in researching ladybugs than marriage, fashionable dresses, or dances. So when her father sends her to London for a season, she’s determined not to form any attachments. Instead, she plans to secretly publish their research.

Spencer Northam is not the average young gentleman of leisure he appears. He is actually a spy for the War Office, and is more focused on acing his first mission than meeting eligible ladies. Fortunately, Juliana feels the same, and they agree to pretend to fall for each other. Spencer can finally focus, until he is tasked with observing Juliana’s traveling companions…and Juliana herself.

As Long as You Love Me by Ann Aguirre

Most people dream about getting out of Sharon, Nebraska, but after three years away, Lauren Barrett is coming home. She has her reasons—missing her family, losing her college scholarship. But then there’s the reason Lauren can’t admit to anyone: Rob Conrad, her best friend’s older brother.

Duchess in Love by Eloisa James

Gina was forced into marriage with the Duke of Girton at an age when she’d have been better off in a schoolroom than a ballroom. Directly after the ceremony her handsome spouse promptly fled to the continent, leaving the marriage unconsummated and Gina quite indignant.

love-and-lists-coverLove and Lists by Tara Sivec

Twenty-five-year-old Gavin Ellis has always had the love and support of his family ever since he was a little boy and couldn’t stop talking about his penis. He’s also always had their unsolicited advice and uncanny knack of embarrassing him at all costs. Now that he’s an adult and trying to convince the love of his life to love him back, things haven’t changed very much from when he was younger.

When Gavin’s best friend Tyler suggests he make a to-do list of items that will ensure he wins the girl, Gavin is one-hundred-percent on board: after a few six packs.

Love Overdue by Pamela Morsi

Buttoned-up book lover DJ is all sensible shoes, drab skirts and studious glasses. After an ill-advised spring-break-fueled fling left her mortified, she’s committed to her prim and proper look. When she’s hired by a rural library in middle-of-nowhere Kansas, she finally has the lifestyle to match—and she can’t wait to get her admin on.

But it’s clear from day one that the small-town library is more interested in circulating rumors than books. DJ has to organize her unloved library, win over oddball employees and avoid her flamboyant landlady’s attempts to set her up with the town pharmacist. Especially that last part—because it turns out handsome Scott Sanderson is her old vacation fling! She is not sure whether to be relieved or offended when he doesn’t seem to recognize her. But with every meeting, DJ finds herself secretly wondering what it would be like to take off her glasses, unpin her bun and reveal the inner vixen she’s been hiding from everyone—including herself.

I Love You Subject to the Following Terms and Conditions by Erin Lyon

27 Dresses meets Bridget Jones’s Diary for the millennial set in Erin Lyon’s I Love You Subject to the Following Terms and Conditions.

In a world where marriage doesn’t exist—only seven-year contracts—you don’t marry, you sign. You don’t divorce, you breach. And sometimes, you just expire.

A Chance At Love by Beverly Jenkins

Loreli Winters never imagined she’d end up a “mail-order bride” in middle-of-nowhere Kansas—until the two adorable orphan nieces of a dusky dream named Jake Reed beg her to be their new “mama.” And one look at the dark, devastatingly handsome man is enough to entice her to abandon her California plans and stay put for a while in this one-horse frontier town.

Wilde in Love by Eloisa James

Lord Alaric Wilde, son of the Duke of Lindow, is the most celebrated man in England, revered for his dangerous adventures and rakish good looks. Arriving home from years abroad, he has no idea of his own celebrity until his boat is met by mobs of screaming ladies. Alaric escapes to his father’s castle, but just as he grasps that he’s not only famous but notorious, he encounters the very private, very witty, Miss Willa Ffynche.

she-whom-i-love-coverShe Whom I Love by Tess Bowery

Love would be simpler if it came with a script.

Marguerite Ceniza dies on the London stage each night, but her own life has barely begun. The ingénue is on the prowl for a lover, but while she burns with desire for Sophie, a confession could ruin their decade-long friendship. In the meantime there are always men vying to be her patron, and square-jawed, broad-shouldered James Glover can’t help but catch her eye.

Love on the Tracks by Tamsen Parker

Welcome to the Snow and Ice Games where the competition is fierce and the romance is HOT.

Rowan Andrews is the unexpected darling of the Denver Snow and Ice Games. Luge has never captured the American public’s imagination as much as figure skating or even hockey, but her outsized personality and dare-devil ways have got everyone’s eyes glued to the track. Including a certain chart-topping heartthrob.

 

Science Fiction

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

The author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook and Absurdistan, Gary Shteyngart has risen to the top of the fiction world. Now, in his hilarious and heartfelt new novel, he envisions a deliciously dark tale of America’s dysfunctional coming years—and the timeless and tender feelings that just might bring us back from the brink.

Time Enough for Love by Robert A. Heinlein

The capstone and crowning achievement of Heinlein’s famous Future History, Time Enough for Love follows Lazarus Long through a vast and magnificent timescape of centuries and worlds. Heinlein’s longest and most ambitious work, it is the story of a man so in love with Life that he refused to stop living it.

the-law-of-love-coverThe Law of Love by Laura Esquivel translated by Margaret Sayers Peden

This exuberantly romantic and wildly comic tale from the author of Like Water for Chocolate combines inventive printed fiction with Puccini arias on a CD! When a Mexican astroanalyst in the 23rd century searches her past lives for her lover, she encounters many adventures, including the fall of Montezuma and a plot by a reborn Mother Teresa to rule the planet. As the music in the CD releases the past lives, you see those reincarnations unfold dramatically in a series of colorful artwork.

 

Fantasy

Love & Sleep by John Crowley

The long-awaited new novel by one of the most important American authors of magical realism. In Aegypt Crowley opened the gates on a world of magic and mystery lying just beyond our own. In Love & Sleep, the second novel in a projected tetralogy, he renews his claim on the exalted territory of the imagination.

For Love of Evil: Book Six of Incarnations of Immortality by Piers Anthony

Parry was a gifted musician and an apprentice in the arts of White Magic. But his life of sweet promise went disastrously awry following the sudden, violent death of his beloved Jolie.

Led down the twisted path of wickedness and depravity by Lilah the harlot demoness, Parry thrived—first as a sorcerer, then as a monk, and finally as a feared inquisitor.

But it wasn’t until his mortal flame was extinguished that Parry found his true calling—as the Incarnation of Evil. And, at the gates of Hell, he prepared to wage war on the master himself—Lucifer, the dark lord—with dominion over the infernal realms the ultimate prize!

Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore

The undead rise again in Bite Me, the third book in New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore’s wonderfully twisted vampire saga. Joining his farcical gems Bloodsucking Fiends and You Suck, Moore’s latest in continuing story of young, urban, nosferatu style love, is no Twilight—but rather a tsunami of the irresistible outrageousness that has earned him the appellation, “Stephen King with a whoopee cushion and a double-espresso imagination” from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and inspired Denver’s Rocky Mountain News to declare him, “the 21st century’s best satirist.”

 

Cookbooks

The Love and Lemons Cookbook: An Apple to Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking by Jeanine Donofrio

Sometimes all you need is a little spark of inspiration to change up your regular cooking routine. The Love & Lemons Cookbook features more than one hundred simple recipes that help you turn your farmers market finds into delicious meals.

cookie-love-coverCookie Love: More Than 60 Recipes and Techniques for Turning the Ordinary into the Extraordinary by Mindy Segal and Kate Leahy

A new, edgier take on baking cookies, from a James Beard Award-winning chef and the owner of the popular Chicago restaurant, HotChocolate.

Salad Love: 260 Crunchy, Savory, and Filling Meals You Can Make Every Day by David Bez

Salads take the spotlight in this visually arresting cookbook that showcases a year’s worth of weekday recipes so exciting you’ll want to eat salads every day.
At the request of his co-workers who were constantly admiring his lunches, David Bez started the photo-driven blog Salad Pride, embarking on a year-long challenge to create one new salad every day. The blog instantly gained popularity for its creative salads that require no special cooking skills. The cookbook Salad Love pairs his vibrant photographs with accompanying recipes arranged around seasonal produce.
Recipes include Egg, Asparagus, Croutons, and Pecorino for Spring; Crabmeat, Avocado, Nori, and Cucumber for Summer; Kale, Raspberries, and Blackberries for Fall; and Manchego, Dried Apricots, Fennel, and Radicchio for Winter. Many salads in the book require only a cutting board and a knife, so lunches can be made fresh at your desk. With an emphasis on fresh, whole foods, and innovative flavor combinations, these salads truly excite and inspire.

Love Soup: 160 All New Recipes From The Author Of The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

Anna Thomas’s Vegetarian Epicure cookbooks have sold millions of copies and inspired generations. Now she describes her love affair with the ultimate comfort food. “From my kitchen to yours,” Thomas says, “here are the best soups I’ve ever made.” Her wonderfully creative recipes make use of fresh, seasonal produce—try black bean and squash soup in the fall, smoky eggplant soup in midsummer, or seductively perfumed wild mushroom soup for Christmas. Silky puree or rib-sticking chowder—each recipe has room for variation, and nearly all are vegan-friendly.

I Love India: Recipes and Stories from City to Coast, Morning to Midnight, and Past to Present by Anjum Anand and Martin Poole

In this, her eighth book, Anjum Anand presents her absolute favourite dishes from all over India. This is her tribute to her homeland, to its extraordinary food culture, drawn from its diverse regions as well as from a host of traders, settlers and immigrants over the years. Anjum offers her personal collection of the most authentic recipes she has gathered over years of travelling throughout the regions of India.

Everyone Loves Tacos by Ben Fordham and Felipe Fuentes Cruz

Tacos are the beating heart of Mexico’s food scene. Take your pick from over 65 authentic recipes for these little pocket rocket wraps, brought to you by Felipe Fuentes Cruz and Ben Fordham of Benito’s Hat, Burritos and Margaritas.

love-bake-nourish-coverLove, Bake, Nourish: Healthier Cakes, Bakes & Puddings Full of Fruit & Flavour by Amber Rose

This book showcases cake and dessert recipes that are healthier, seasonal and simpler than many other recipes out there. Nearly all the recipes are sugar-free, using honey, maple syrup or seasonal fruit as a sweetener.

Peace, Love & Barbecue: Recipes, Secrets, Tall Tales, and Outright Lies from the Legends of Barbecue by Mike Mills and Amy Mills Tunnicliffe

A one-of-a-kind collection of recipes, photographs, and behind-the-scenes stories from legendary pitmaster Mike Mills.

In Peace, Love, & Barbecue—a unique combination of cookbook, memoir, and travelogue—Mike Mills, the unrivalled king of barbecue, shares his passion for America’s favorite cuisine—its intense smoky flavors, its lore and traditions, and its wild cast of characters.

Balaboosta: Bold Mediterranean Recipes to Feed the People You Love by Einat Admony

Einat Admony is a 21st-century balaboosta (Yiddish for “perfect housewife”). She’s a mother and wife, but also a chef busy running three bustling New York City restaurants. Her debut cookbook features 140 of the recipes she cooks for the people she loves—her children, her husband, and the many friends she regularly entertains. Here, Einat’s mixed Israeli heritage (Yemenite, Persian) seamlessly blends with the fresh, sophisticated Mediterranean palate she honed while working in some of New York City’s most beloved kitchens.

Cooking with Love: Comfort Food that Hugs You by Carla Hall and Genevieve Ko

Carla Hall, co-host on ABC’s “The Chew” and Bravo’s “Top Chef All-Stars'” “Fan Favorite,” serves up her first cookbook, with 125 fantastic recipes that revolutionize comfort food by using ingredients that bring all-time favorites to a new level of deliciousness and taste sensation. Carla Hall originally won fans’ hearts on season five of Bravo’s “Top Chef” with her warmth, enthusiasm, and delicious food, and she went on to beat out contestants from all seven seasons to be named Fan Favorite of the 2011 All-Stars season. In 2011, Carla began hosting ABC’s “The Chew” and is now a familiar face to daytime television viewers across the country.

What are your favorite books with love in the title?