Literature and Love: Our Favorite Literary Novels with Romance

For fans of historical fiction, this epistolatory novel celebrates life, literature, and finding connections in unexpected ways. London-based writer Juliet Ashton unexpectedly finds inspiration for her next book in a letter from a man she’s never met. As the two correspond, Juliet is enchanted by his friends and their wonderful community. Enter the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, a group formed when members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their home. Juliet and the society build everlasting bonds that will change her forever. Charming, warm and witty, this book will envelope readers in its warm embrace. 

This coming of age novel follows Selin as she embarks on her freshman year at Harvard University. She quickly learns that her college years are a series of firsts: first time living away from home, first big adult mistakes, first love. Thoughtful, sensitive and honest, Batuman takes Selin on a journey of self-discovery sure to resonate with readers of all ages.  

Have you ever yearned for a second chance? Seven Days in June follows two writers reconnecting fifteen years after an intense and deep love affair that ended badly. Shane, a reclusive award-winning novelist, and Eva, a single-mom and bestselling erotica writer, pretend not to know each other when they meet at a literary event one steamy Brooklyn summer. Although Shane broke her heart years prior, the remnants of their connection live on through the books they’ve written. This book packs a punch. With humor, romance, and an exploration of creative life in America today, Seven Days in June is a must-read.  

A series of childhood mistakes set our characters down winding paths propelled by fate and questionable decisions. Can forgiveness ever truly be found? Are we worthy of it? When thirteen-year-old Briony misconstrues a flirtation between her older sister, Cecilia, and her childhood friend, Robbie, in the summer of 1935, she inadvertently sets off a wave of events that changes their lives forever. From the chaos of World War II through the end of the twentieth century, this book follows the repercussions of fateful day, and Briony’s lifelong pursuit of atonement.  

Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez delivers a breathtaking look at the enduring power of love in this classic novel. Florentino and Fermina are enamored with one another, but she ultimately decides to marry someone else. Does Florentino give up on her? No. He waits. They live separate lives for over fifty years and still he yearns for Fermina. When he hears of her husband’s passing, he attends the funeral in hopes of rekindling what they once had. There’s a reason why this extraordinary work has been called one of the greatest love stories ever told.  

Reading Sally Rooney’s writing feels like eavesdropping on people you really, really want to know, and this is especially true when it comes to the ways Frances and Bobbi navigate friendship in this emotional and funny debut novel. Aspiring writer Frances and her beautiful best friend Bobbi are drawn into the glamorous and sophisticated world of a photographer and her husband, Nick. As Frances and Nick’s relationship moves from flirtation to infidelity, Conversations with Friends takes readers on a wild ride through artistic and sexual self-discovery. 

This nonlinear roman à clef debut from a critically lauded poet is written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother. It depicts a family history of intergenerational trauma and fierce love. The letter writer, Little Dog, feels like an outsider in a variety of ways. As a teenager, he emigrated to America from Vietnam with three women who make up his world: mother, grandmother, and aunt. As a gay man, an immigrant, and the first of his family to attend college, he attempts to reconcile the violence of his past with the identity he’s trying to find. In short, it’s like real life: messy, tragic, lovely, and painful all at once. Listen to Ocean Vuong discuss the novel on the B&N Podcast. 

It’s hard to predict what books will endure, but this understated elemental novel, blending stark realism with a dash of magic has the feel of an instant classic. Hamid tells the story of Saeed and Nadia, a young couple who meet while living in a city on the brink of war. Nadia wears a full black robe, not because she’s religious — she isn’t — but because she wants to move independently through the unnamed Muslim city. As an unmarried woman, she has made the unorthodox decision to live on her own. Saeed is enchanted by her independence and individuality. As violence escalates around them, they fall deeply in love. They make a risky choice to leave the world they know when they hear about magical doors that will transport them to stable countries. As they step through the doors with their fellow international refugees, they hope that their love can survive. 

If you’re looking for the kind of love story that will break you, anything by Jojo Moyes is a safe bet. Each of her books is filled with heart and characters you can’t help caring about, and none more so than Me Before You, which tells the story of Louisa, a sheltered girl whose life changes when she takes a job caring for Will, a suicidal man who resents that he must use a wheelchair following a terrible accident. Their love grows and endures through any number of challenges but may not be able to overcome all. This book will definitely make you cry buckets—but it will also make you laugh, and nod your head in recognition, and hurry to Barnes and Noble to buy her next book, Someone Else’s Shoes.  

Perfect for fans of Me Before You and One Day this moving love story is unforgettable and emotional. We recommend you prepare yourself with a box of tissues and a box of chocolate as you embark on this sweeping love story. Dannie lives her life by the numbers unlike her lifelong best friend who’s whimsical and believes in fate. After nailing the most important job interview of her career and accepting a marriage proposal from her boyfriend, Dannie is shaken when she awakens and spends exactly one hour five years in the future next to a different man with a very different ring on her finger.