14 literary love stories

Exploring different shades of love

I was standing in the romance section of the bookstore a few weeks ago and admitted defeat: I've cooled a bit on rom-coms over the last few months. I'm chalking it up to reading a few duds in a row and the oversaturation of the market.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for the boom in the romance genre. It's fantastic that more people are reading romance and that we are getting more and more stories from different voices. I have found so many authors and stories I love as I have explored the genre over the last five years. I generally know my taste in romance, but it's been hard to find books that match that amidst all the options lately, for whatever reason.

I know that my interest in rom-coms will return. It's akin to a reading slump. Sometimes you need a break from something to let your love rekindle. In the meantime, I've found myself leaning towards literary love stories.

Love is one of the strongest ways humans can connect, and I still love reading about it. I enjoy the deep dive literary love stories usually take into what it means to be human and have many emotions, and even though they don't always have a happy ending, their messiness appeals.

So, as we head into Valentine’s Day week, I wanted to share a few titles in this genre that I’ve loved and a few that are on my TBR.