Book Recommendations: Love is in the Air (Not Just the Romantic Kind)

February is the month of love, even though that fact and statement makes me roll my eyes. What with the whole Valentine’s Day or week, it’s the month where everyone focuses on love and romance. A lot of book bloggers take to recommending their favourite romance books (which is awesome, you can never have enough romance recs) but I wanted to do something slightly different.

I’ve read a lot of brilliant and captivating books written around the theme of love, whether it’s romantic or platonic or of any other kind. Love is such an expansive emotion and it feels like a shame to limit it to simply romance, which is why I want to recommend some books that revolve around love 🙂

I do have romance recommendations in her as well but most importantly, I guess I just want to celebrate love in all its forms ❤

Book Recommendations: Love is in the Air

The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh

Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages, while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources. Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, each year a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea to serve as the Sea God’s bride, in the hopes that one day the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.

Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.

Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. With the help of a mysterious young man named Shin—as well as a motley crew of demons, gods and spirits—Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and bring an end to the killer storms once and for all.

But she doesn’t have much time: A human cannot live long in the land of the spirits. And there are those who would do anything to keep the Sea God from waking…

~ Goodreads ~

This book is about Mina, the girl who sacrifices her soul to protect her brother and save the rest of the village by agreeing to be the Sea God’s bride. It’s such a breathtaking, heartwrenching and gripping story! Despite the number of hurdles thrown at Mina, she bravely faces them head-on because of her love for her brother and her village, and a desire to save them all. I was so moved by how much Mina was motivated by the love she had for her village. Every time she was down in despair she would think about them and gather her strength to stand back up. I simply flew through this book which is achingly beautiful and a wonderful story all in all. A must-read in my opinion!

The Boy Who Steals Houses by C.G Drews

Can two broken boys find their perfect home?

Sam is only fifteen but he and his autistic older brother, Avery, have been abandoned by every relative he’s ever known. Now Sam’s trying to build a new life for them. He survives by breaking into empty houses when their owners are away, until one day he’s caught out when a family returns home. To his amazement this large, chaotic family takes him under their wing – each teenager assuming Sam is a friend of another sibling. Sam finds himself inextricably caught up in their life, and falling for the beautiful Moxie.

But Sam has a secret, and his past is about to catch up with him.

~ Goodreads ~

Brothers Sam and Avery break into houses and live in them to find a semblance of a home. Both Sam and Avery love each other to bits and pieces and this book made me cry my heart out to see the sort of ordeals the two had to go through. This book has such an adorable romance as well, between Sam who gets stuck in the chaotic house he tried to live in and Moxie, a fierce artistic girl who lives in that very house. There’s an adorable I-will-stab-everyone girl and soft-boy kind of thing going on between the two and it makes my heart melt. All in all, this is just such a wholesome and emotional book bound to make you cry but also make your heart feel whole at the same time.

Nothing Burns As Bright As You by Ashley Woodfolk

From New York Times  bestselling author Ashley Woodfolk,  Nothing Burns as Bright as You  is an impassioned stand-alone tale of queer love, grief, and the complexity of female friendship. Two girls. One wild and reckless day. Years of tumultuous history unspooling like a thin, fraying string in the hours after they set a fire. They were best friends. Until they became more. Their affections grew. Until the blurry lines became dangerous. Over the course of a single day, the depth of their past, the confusion of their present, and the unpredictability of their future is revealed. And the girls will learn that hearts, like flames, aren’t so easily tamed. It starts with a fire. How will it end?

~ Goodreads ~

This book is such an intense, lyrical and haunting story of love and toxic co-dependence. Written in verse, we explore the journey of two best-friends who become something more as each loses themself in the other. But not all love is the bright and blooming kind, sometimes it can lead you through much darker paths. This was such an intriguing concept and very well-written by the author. I’d rather not say more for the fear that I might spoil things but wow, this book is sure to blow you away.

You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

Liz Lighty has always believed she’s too black, too poor, too awkward to shine in her small, rich, prom-obsessed midwestern town. But it’s okay — Liz has a plan that will get her out of Campbell, Indiana, forever: attend the uber-elite Pennington College, play in their world-famous orchestra, and become a doctor.

But when the financial aid she was counting on unexpectedly falls through, Liz’s plans come crashing down . . . until she’s reminded of her school’s scholarship for prom king and queen. There’s nothing Liz wants to do less than endure a gauntlet of social media trolls, catty competitors, and humiliating public events, but despite her devastating fear of the spotlight she’s willing to do whatever it takes to get to Pennington.

The only thing that makes it halfway bearable is the new girl in school, Mack. She’s smart, funny, and just as much of an outsider as Liz. But Mack is also in the running for queen. Will falling for the competition keep Liz from her dreams . . . or make them come true?

~ Goodreads ~

This is a truly heartwarming story that explores many complex themes like anxiety, being true to yourself, love, family and acceptance. Seeing Liz battle anxiety and get support from all around her while she learned to accept who she is, was a wonderful journey to take as a reader. Self-love is such an important theme and this book truly emphasizes it while giving us an adorable sapphic romance. I also loved seeing a male-female friendship that didn’t go down the romance lane – it was so refreshing!

Where The Lost Ones Go by Akemi Bowman

Eliot is grieving Babung, her paternal grandmother who just passed away, and she feels like she’s the only one. She’s less than excited to move to her new house, which smells like lemons and deception, and is searching for a sign, any sign, that ghosts are real. Because if ghosts are real, it means she can find a way back to Babung.

When Eliot chases the promise of paranormal activity to the presumably haunted Honeyfield Hall, she finds her proof of spirits. But these ghosts are losing their memory, stuck between this world and the next, waiting to cross over. With the help of Hazel, the granddaughter of Honeyfield’s owner (and Eliot’s new crush), she attempts to uncover the mystery behind Honeyfield Hall and the ghosts residing within.

And as Eliot fits the pieces together, she may just be able to help the spirits remember their pasts, and hold on to her grandmother’s memory.

~ Goodreads ~

Eliot loves her grandmother too much to forget her but after her death, it seems like her parents just don’t want to talk about Babung. Determined to talk to her beloved grandmother, Eliot finds herself exploring the mystery of the ghosts of the Hollow. This book offers a great mystery as well as an exploration of grief and relationships. It’s heartwarming to embark on this journey and see Eliot coming to terms with her Babung’s death. She has a huge heart and is still coming to terms with her sexuality and feelings. I think this is an exceptionally great book for middle graders, especially to start a conversation about love, loss, grief and acceptance.

You can read my full review of this book here: Reviewing Where The Lost Ones Go: A Story About Love, Grief & Ghosts

The Ones We’re Meant to Find by Joan He

Cee has been trapped on an abandoned island for three years without any recollection of how she arrived, or memories from her life prior. All she knows is that somewhere out there, beyond the horizon, she has a sister named Kay, and it’s up to Cee to cross the ocean and find her.

In a world apart, 16-year-old STEM prodigy Kasey Mizuhara lives in an eco-city built for people who protected the planet―and now need protecting from it. With natural disasters on the rise due to climate change, eco-cities provide clean air, water, and shelter. Their residents, in exchange, must spend at least a third of their time in stasis pods, conducting business virtually whenever possible to reduce their environmental footprint. While Kasey, an introvert and loner, doesn’t mind the lifestyle, her sister Celia hated it. Popular and lovable, Celia much preferred the outside world. But no one could have predicted that Celia would take a boat out to sea, never to return.

Now it’s been three months since Celia’s disappearance, and Kasey has given up hope. Logic says that her sister must be dead. But nevertheless, she decides to retrace Celia’s last steps. Where they’ll lead her, she does not know. Her sister was full of secrets. But Kasey has a secret of her own.

~ Goodreads ~

I love reading about siblings who are very different from each other and especially in this story, we get such different narratives from both sisters who are hellbent on finding each other. Both of the sisters find themselves enveloped in loneliness with only the memories and love for each other that keep them going. I would say it takes some time to wrap your head around the world, especially if you don’t read a lot of heavy sci-fi. But I feel the world is haunting in a way and I love how Joan got some of the political and class nuances in the story.

You can read my full review of this book here: 5 Reasons to Read The Ones We’re Meant To Find by Joan He

Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore

There hasn’t been a winner of the Miss Meteor beauty pageant who looks like Lita Perez or Chicky Quintanilla in all its history. But that’s not the only reason Lita wants to enter the contest, or why her ex-best friend Chicky wants to help her. The road to becoming Miss Meteor isn’t about being perfect; it’s about sharing who you are with the world—and loving the parts of yourself no one else understands. So to pull off the unlikeliest underdog story in pageant history, Lita and Chicky are going to have to forget the past and imagine a future where girls like them are more than enough—they are everything.

Witty and heartfelt with characters that leap off the page, Miss Meteor is acclaimed authors Anna-Marie McLemore and Tehlor Kay Mejia’s first book together.

~ Goodreads ~

Miss Meteor is such a beautiful book about accepting yourself and loving who you are. This is one of the most wholesome books you can read. I love every single character in this book, they’re all a family at this point. I literally couldn’t stop thinking about the characters even in the short intervals I was away from this book. It has such beautiful diversity! Pansexual characters, Latinx characters, fat representation, more queer rep, sapphic relationships what else could you possibly want??

Have you read any of these books? What are your thoughts on them?

Do you tend to read romance in February or go with whatever floats your mood?

Do you have any romance recommendations for me? Drop them in the comments!