13 Memorable Love Stories
'The Ninety-Ninth Floor' by Jana Fawaz Elhassan, translated by Michelle Hartman(01 of13)
"An intimate and intense novel that shines a light on both the overt and hidden tensions of the Middle East."Two star-crossed lovers—one Lebanese and the other Palestinian—meet in New York and try to reconcile their contentious romantic and political feelings in this novel from a Lebanese author who's never been translated into English before.Read full book review.
'To Capture What We Cannot Keep' by Beatrice Colin(02 of13)
"A novel of soaring ambitions, public and private."A French engineer working on the construction of the Eiffel Tower meets a Glaswegian widow, and their romance is as risky as the tower project itself.Read full book review.
'Serious Sweet' by A.L. Kennedy(03 of13)
"With sometimes-battering extremes of emotion and pain that ranges from personal injury to corrosive political nastiness, Kennedy's urban odyssey offers an unusual and often powerful love story."Two people try desperately to make a connection in this angry, sad story of damaged lives and the personal and national politics that abet the problems.Read full book review.
'The Portable Veblen' by Elizabeth McKenzie(04 of13)
"McKenzie’s idiosyncratic love story scampers along on a wonderfully zig-zaggy path, dashing and darting in delightfully unexpected directions as it progresses toward its satisfying end and scattering tasty literary passages like nuts along the way."On the brink of her marriage, a charmingly quirky, unassumingly intelligent, and winningly warmhearted young woman forges an unusually strong bond with a squirrel.Read full book review.
'The Decent Proposal' by Kemper Donovan(05 of13)
"A Labrador retriever of a book—you'll find yourself smiling even when it knocks over the furniture and drools on your leg."Boy meets girl—for big bucks—in this high-concept Los Angeles rom-com.Read full book review.
'Crosstalk' by Connie Willis(06 of13)
"In other hands this novel could have been mere cliché, but Willis’ exuberant humor and warmhearted, fast-paced plotting transform it into a satisfying, if old-fashioned, romantic comedy."Think smartphones and social media are threatening privacy? Imagine if you could hear everyone’s thoughts—and they could hear yours.Read full book review.
'The Hating Game' by Sally Thorne(07 of13)
"A breezy tale perfect for a day at the beach, this one’s a real winner."Lucy Hutton absolutely detests her office mate Joshua Templeman. He’s a pompous, self-important, obnoxious ass. But, she’s got to admit, he is pretty cute.Read full book review.
'The Radius of Us' by Marie Marquardt(08 of13)
"A rushed ending is only a small distraction in this otherwise eye-opening story. (Fiction. 14-18)"As in Dream Things True (2015), Marquardt explores the American dream, this time through the lenses of two traumatized teens.Read full book review.
'Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?' by Kathleen Collins(09 of13)
"Astonishing and essential. A gem."Published for the first time nearly 30 years after the author's death at age 46, this gorgeous and strikingly intimate short story collection focuses on the lives and loves of black Americans in the 1960s.Read full book review.
'In the Country of the Blind' by Edward Hoagland(10 of13)
"The incomparable Hoagland's 25th book is not only one of the most rewarding novels of the year, it's also one of the sexiest."Having lost his job, his wife, and nearly all of his eyesight, a former Merrill Lynch stockbroker braves a strange but compelling new existence in northern Vermont among hippies, drug dealers, evangelicals, and struggling farmers.Read full book review.
'Half a Lifelong Romance' by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen S. Kingsbury(11 of13)
"With compelling protagonists and a host of memorable supporting characters, this novel tells an emotionally complex story with a number of powerful moments."Two star-crossed lovers navigate romantic confusion, familial interference, and looming war in this novel, set in China in the 1930s and '40s.Read full book review.
'Tender' by Belinda McKeon(12 of13)
"McKeon regards the characters in her keenly wrought love story—for all their flaws and fragility—with insight, sensitivity, and a compassion that proves contagious."In McKeon’s exquisite second novel, two Dublin young people—poet and student Catherine and aspiring art photographer James—tumble into a friendship that, though its lines shift and blur, ultimately helps bring their identities into focus.Read full book review.
'Idlewild' by Jude Sierra(13 of13)
"A lovely, finely wrought romance that reminds us that to truly love another, we must know our own hearts."A widowed restaurateur falls for a young waiter in a Detroit-set romance with heart, sweat, and tears.Read full book review.
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