I have been a hopeless romantic my entire life. To be fair, my mom named me after the heroine in a romance novel, so it's sort of my destiny. I've been in love with falling in love since I watched The Little Mermaid and Ariel fell in love at first sight with Prince Eric. But the truth is, love doesn't follow along the lines of a Disney movie- it's often far from it. That's why with Valentine's Day coming up, I wanted to write a Top Ten list of books about discovering different kinds of love.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
When Claire Beauchamp Randall finds herself thrust back in time thanks to the autumn solstice and a circle of standing stones in Scotland. In her journey to get back to her time and her current husband, she coerced to marry and eventually falls in love with Jaime Fraser.
In Jamie, she finds passion, strength, and a connection to a soul that she had never felt before. She has found her true love.
Claire and Jamie's is a love story that spans beyond the realm of time, and make you believe that your soul mate exists and nothing, not even a pesky few hundred years, will keep you apart.
High School is a tumultuous time for most people, but for Eleanor the challenges at home made finding her place in the world even more difficult. She was a loner and alone, and nothing was going to bring her out of her shell until Park shared a comic book with her.
Eleanor and Park were not perfect, but they were perfect for each other when they needed someone to lean on.
Aristotle and Dante are two boys that each needed a friend. Ari has a brother in prison that no one talks about, his dad is stoic from what he experienced in the Vietnam War, and he escapes to the local swimming pool to escape the silence of the house when he meets Dante. Dante is a soulful boy who likes art and poetry that is searching for his own identity.
Ari and Dante become lifelong friends and eventually discover that their friendship is something more. Sometimes finding the person that you love means finding yourself first.
Reading this book was an emotional rollercoaster. Never have I felt more sadness and frustration for a couple of characters.
It's a not so typical love story. Matt and Grace fell deeply in love during college, but life and circumstances happened where they completely lost touch with each other. Matt finds her again through a missed connection on Craigslist and they try to pick up where they left off.
They struggle to find the love they shared in college, and find out how to carry on a relationship after so many years were missed and how much both of them have changed.
Hazel is a sixteen year old cancer patient that has closed herself off to the world. She believes she is a ticking time bomb because she's dying, and wants to limit the people that she hurts when she passes. Augustus is a seventeen year old amputee that breaks through Hazel's walls and they fall in love with each other.
Even though their time is short, they find a way to love in a way that completely changes both of them.
When Henry meets Clare at the library she works at, it's the first time he has ever seen her. But Clare has known Henry for most of her life. Henry is afflicted with the ability involuntarily travel through time. Clare first meets Henry when she was a young girl in the field behind her house. He gives her a list of dates that he will come back and continues to meet with him to give him food and clothing.
Henry and Clare find each other over and over again, but their relationship isn't perfect. They experience the hardships of marriage, loss, and loneliness, but learn that true love is something worth waiting for.
Anna is born specifically in order to save her older sister, Kate's life, who has leukemia. The bone marrow she is able to donate works at first, but eventually Anna is asked to donate a kidney, which may save Kate's life or the surgery could possibly kill her. Anna starts the process for medical emancipation; to be able to choose which medical procedures she goes through.
Anna and her family find a way to love each other and forgive each other, even if it means letting go.
An elderly man in a nursing home reads a story to an elderly woman every day. The woman suffers from Alzheimer's and the man is the woman's husband. The story is theirs- the love story of Noah and Allie.
When Allie gets sick, Noah is dedicated to loving Allie in every way that he can, so that the times she remembers she knows how much she is loved. Even though Noah doesn't need to be in a nursing home, he stays, because that is where Allie is. While young love is passionate and exciting, dedicating yourself to your partner for the rest of your life is the true value of your relationship.
At 15 years old, Charlie has experienced two traumatic losses- his best friend's suicide and his favorite aunt's death. As he starts high school he is sullen and withdrawn, before he's befriended by a couple of seniors, Sam and Patrick.
As Charlie navigates the dynamics of high school and relationships, he discovers the depth of his trauma and the affect it has had on his life. He discovers that you can accept the past that you will never change and make the choice to move forward with your life.
Gerry and Holly were inseparable since they were kids. They fell in love and got married, then Gerry got sick and passed away. Holly found herself facing 30 years old, heartbroken, lost, and missing her husband. But before he died he wrote letters to her to be delivered after he passed. Each one was signed P.S. I love you.
Gerry helps Holly through her heartbreak knowing how hard it would be to let her fall in love again with some one else, but he also knew Holly needed to heal her heart after Gerry died. He knew that loving someone justly meant letting them go.
Disclosure: I do receive compensation for the links provided, but it does not influence my reviews, or the books I choose to read. All thoughts and opinions are my own.